KatieLoeb

Chris: You suck. I'm beyond envious. That looks delicious. Amer Torani is coming to PA in two weeks. I can hardly wait. There have been some clandestine trades of not-on-the-shelves liquors and aperitifs of late amongst the Philly bartending cognoscenti. I swapped a small bottle of Aperol for some "suitcase import" Amer Torani about a week ago. I should have some time to play with it at home tomorrow evening. Looks like a Brooklyn in my near future...

The Kirkland Signature anodized 14 piece set got a Best Buy rating from Consumer Reports, as well as high marks at ePinions.com, FWIW. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Small haul today. Four gorgeous peaches - two yellow and two white. A large glossy eggplant. Two delicata squash from Northstar. And a peach scone and a blueberry muffin at half price from the bakery's last minutes sale. Dulcita - my tiny gray and white kitty - is true to her name and has a sweet tooth. She's enjoying little bits of my muffin along with me.

Erik: I just finally got the St. Germain for my bar and have been tinkering with it this week. My latest variant seems a bit like yours. No proportions yet, as I'm still tweaking: Elder Statesman Plymouth gin St. Germain Lillet D'Arbo Elderberry syrup fresh lemon juice Dash of Fee Brothers Grapefruit bitters Fresh lemon twist A pretty deep fuschia in the glass. The juniper, botanicals and elderflower play together really well. Elderberry for color and sweetness, lemon and bitters to dial it back. Really nice. I'll have to take a picture when I've got it perfected.

Total southpaw here. Batting, writing, cutting, etc. I'm intrigued by the ambidextrous channel knife, as I've never been able to work one of those suckers correctly. They're meant to be pulled toward you, not pushed away. I make irregular not-so-pretty twists with a standard Y-shaped vegetable peeler. The fact that I make them to order seems to make up for their lack of aethetic appeal, at least with my clientele. But I'd love to make pretty Horse Neck twists for special occasions. Did you know that about 1500 lefties die each year, using tools meant for right handed folks??

Malvern is a bit of a haul for me from downtown, but I'll certainly go see what the competition is doing at my first opportunity. I'd love to chat with the sommelier and talk about list diversity, wine preservation and staff training. I think it would be interesting to see their approach.

The little cocktail book that comes with the bottle of the St. Germain calls it a "St. Germain Cocktail", but at Chick's we got real creative and are calling it a "St. Germain Spritzer." I certainly can't take credit for this one. I think this is one of Simon Difford's creations, in collaboration with the St. Germain folks. I drank several of these one evening in the Carousel Bar at the Monteleone Hotel in NOLA, and was instantly addicted. It is, undoubtedly, a most refeshing and light libation, lower in alcohol than most and a perfect aperitif or warm weather quaff. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying it.

I will happily second this suggestion. Dean, your wit, wisdom and hospitality know no bounds. Truly. And your long suffering wife is a saint in my book and will always remain so for allowing boatloads of carnivorous strangers to descend upon your lovely home and leave gutted pigs in the bathtub, at least temporarily. You have a blessed and lovely family, and I only hope that this means you'll be able to spend more quality time with them. They deserve it. And of course you know that you're obligated to let me know when you're visiting Philadelphia so I can make an attempt to return the hospitality. Perhaps a history trip to the touristy spots for the little Vermin as well as a tour of the better cocktail spots for their parents?? Just name the date and time and I'll be there... Best wishes on future endeavors and enjoy some well deserved time to yourself.

I'd get excited too, if not for the history of big name New York celebrity chefs whose tenure at Starr restaurants were short and left little influence on the menus or the (sometimes abysmal) service in their respective establishments. What's that sucking sound you hear from 7th and Walnut? Washington Square has been circling the drain for as long as I can remember, and not a whole lot of that Samuelsson magic ever stuck or remains. Does Chef Portale ever come down to Striped Bass anymore? Chris Lee was smart enough to get out of Dodge and is winning awards for his work at Gilt. I dunno. I hope for good things for Suvir, but teaming up with SRO might not be one of them... Perhaps if Hemant could get some independent investors and might want to enjoy the more laid back lifestyle and lower cost of living here in the city of Brotherly Love I might really get excited.

I actually had a very reasonable dinner at London Grill just tonight. I availed myself of the great $3 Happy Hour specials on food and drink. Two glasses of wine, a mini Duck Quesadilla and a mini Fish 'n Chips runs $12 ($3 per item) from 4-7PM. Mondays is "Meatball Monday" and my dining companion and I shared three pork and chile meatballs that were really outstanding. There were about six different meatball choices to be had at $6 per plate. Good stuff! Who doesn't like meatballs? Especially in creative flavors. Next time I'll try the Moroccan Beef meatballs. Those looked pretty good too... A plate of those delicious wings came to the fellow sitting just a few bar seats away. They smelled great, but we were full by then.

La Principessa Fentoni doesn't like the cured meat - only that it makes everyone so uncomfortable to think that she's eating it. Il Professore is a bad bad man. Like to pose the wee girlie with bad-for-babies food items. I've no doubt once she has teeth she'll really love all this stuff, though. By then we'll have moved her onto martinis in sippy cups. My understanding is that the chorizo is Spanish. All the food and wine is French/Spanish/Italian.

Ordered some Tiffin for lunch yesterday with a few coworkers and had it delivered. Lamb Vindaloo, Chicken Tikka Masala and Navrattan Korma, a mixed veggie dish. Everything was delicious. I ordered a garlic Naan for the first time and really enjoyed it. It was a little soft due to being steamed in the foil it was wrapped in, but was still excellent. Really garlicky! I'd caution others to make sure their dining companions eat some too, so as not to be the only offensive party at the table.

I've eaten a whole mess of LG wings in my time. They're very good. Not too sloppy, but with a good bite and a good amount of sauce and blue cheese to dip in on the side. Never had a problem with the amount of celery proferred to me, but YMMV. I'm sure if you asked for extra celery it'd be provided with a smile.

Bob: I'm particularly enjoying your wine and beer pairings with the lovely dinners you've been making from your RTM shopping. That rose and rubbed turkey London Broil sounds divine! And Lord Chesterfield is the little black dress of beer, n'est ce pas?

Ummm. Let's see. Last time I took a block of membrillo and melted it over low heat with apple juice concentrate and buzzed it in the blender. I would probably do that exactly the same way again and maybe spice it a little bit as I did with the rhubarb syrup (I'm really diggin' my Penzey's Chinese Five Spice lately) and just keep that behind the bar in a squeeze bottle as I do all my potions and syrups and creations. I could easily make almost anything with it at that point. I think it would be delicious with either rhum agricole, Ten Cane or cachaca if you don't like bourbon. Or perhaps some sort of quince sidecar variant?? I know Sam likes a fine sidecar. I dunno. I'll wait until it gets cooler out and then start playing with the more autumnal fruits and flavors. I'll keep you all posted. Good news via e-mail today. The Food & Wine test kitchen thought the Rhuby Daiquiri was pretty hot. I'm rockin' this week!

So what I've managed to cull from this discussion and a few offline ones as well is: a) Laban was told he was served a strip steak by the waitstaff. b) He reported that he was a served a strip steak as the cut of his Steak Frites. c) When informed that he'd made an error he refused to issue a retraction because both his receipt stated he'd had a strip steak and the (possibly misinformed) waitstaff had also stated the same. The problem here seems twofold. Obviously there's no level of consistency or staff training backing up what the waiter's best guess as to what you're eating might be on any given day at Chops. Also, Mr. Laban chose not to take the path of least resistance and simply issue the harmless retraction and be done with all this nonsense before it snowballed in a cartoon-like manner into this silly lawsuit. Pfft. This is really absurd.

Awesome! And as I told my crew at the bar tonight. Just because it seems that I'm wearing sensible black shoes, doesn't mean that there isn't a pair of lace up stillettos hiding somewhere you all can't see them... So Holly. When can expect you in to flog your 'tini for you?

Yeah! I think we need to order some more of that yummy Pearl pomegranate vodka and a few more big bottles of Ruby Red grapefruit juice. I just love being referred to as a bartrendrix. I am wearing black, after all...

In the end, has anyone actually addressed whether Mr. Laban has corrected his libelous claim that his lunchtime steak frite was a strip steak?? If he mis-wrote that, was informed of his error and refused to print a retraction and/or apology, I don't think the suit is as meritless as everyone says. He negatively miscategorized something fundamental to the restaurant's menu and livelihood. He refused to fix that. Chops will stay open (or close) on it's own merits or flaws foodwise, but something like that in print could clearly be damaging to business. Why on earth wouldn't Laban just print a retraction and be done with it?

Kathleen: Thank you for a glimpse into a life fearlessly and well lived. And to think I was worried about you when you took off and moved to Spain. Pfft! All things happen for a reason. You've reinforced my belief in karmic balance and given me hope and courage. Many thanks for the slice of a life we'd all love to be living. Simply marvelous!

Rocco has earned not only the disdain of the general public after that trainwreck of a "reality" program, but the disdain and vocal verbal abuse of his peers in the industry. That doesn't happen by accident. The fact that he's now relegated to radio and is seeking a cohost as a publicity stunt for this second rate attempt at a comeback speaks volumes about his "saleability". If there were a single investor that thought he'd learned an iota of humility from his self-created debacle, he'd have his own restaurant in a major market with his name emblazoned in gilt lettering on the front window. He doesn't. And that tells me everything I need to know.

Have I told you all lately that I love you? The rhubarb thingie is dependent on finding the fresh stalks and having time to make the Rhu-Goo at home. Clearly, we're past the season locally, but Whole Foods has had some the last few times I've looked. I think Chef Jim will be able to procure some for me in the immediate future. But the weather is turning cooler and my thoughts are turning to brown liquor drinks to suit the season. Will you all never forgive me if I decide to make Quince Manhattans or some funky Sidecar variant as it cools down outside? If I promise to keep you all up to date on the newest rounds of mad science will you still come visit me?

Or take Morimoto; I don't think there's better sushi around here. Yet the nyc location isn't getting very much attention. I don't think anyone considers it to be in the top tier of nyc sushi. ← Yeah, but by definition they're two separate restaurants merely funded by the same source. In theory, one could easily be far superior to the other based on staffing, sourcing of products local to them, etc. To compare the two and assume they have to be the same is to do both of them a disservice. And to presume it's the best thing around here just because there's a "celebrity chef" at the helm is also a disservice to everyone. I'm not defending Morimoto. I still think it's overpriced as hell for what it is. But to presume that the Philly branch and New York branch should be measured by the same metric is ridiculous. The markets are different. The clientele is different. There's little in common other than the name over the door and the source of funding (SRO). It's the comparison that's specious - not the restaurants or the concept. And certainly not the local competition - which for my money wins hands down. By the time I pay for transportation to Manhattan and all the incidentals (transit tickets or gas, tolls and parking) I'll happily "settle" for Fuji and get home in time for a decent night's sleep. And I won't sweat which guy was slicing my fish if I enjoyed it.

Just had some Pho-to-go earlier this week from Pho Hoa, on 11th just below Washington. It's next door to the 7-11 where Porky and Porkies used to be. Address is easy to remember - 1111 South 11th Street. It was very good! Broth was strong and well flavored and there was a boatload of meat and noodles on the side. Packed separately so the meat wouldn't cook and noodles wouldn't get soggy. Niiiice. I got the #15 which was the "beef with the works" pho -Noodle soup with steak, flank, tendon, tripe, and fatty flank. This was comparable to Pho Xe Lua which is also my usual go to. Place was very clean and professionally run. Managers were clearly career management types. There were non pho items on the menu as well and everything was reasonably priced. Cheap for the quality in fact. Menus were available in several languages and had photos of all the dishes on them. There's even a kid's meal! This is a chain, but in a good way. I was quite impressed and will undoubtedly go back.

Chris: There's an easier way to get date flavor into a cocktail. Try THIS. I've been playing with this with bourbon and rye and also with vodka. Nothing solid to report yet, but I'll put it into the New Cocktails thread if I hit on a winner.