cdh

If there's no show, and we can do the Rodizio at that price point any time, then I'd push it off until a later date. Two culinary blowouts in a week is seeming a tad bit decadent for my present circumstances. I really wanted to see the flamenco... lets hold out until they're performing, As to a spur of the moment get together for a tasty beverage or such, I'm game.

I'd like to come along too! See you all tomorrow.

All of this farm cuisine is not just typical of the midwest. I got doses of just this sort of cookery on the family farm in Princeton, NJ. Granted it was really something of a family time warp, but the farm on which my grandmother and her 7 brothers and sisters were born ( 1899 to 1912) and raised stayed in the family until this year, and my great aunt and uncle (my grandmother's youngest brother and sister who never left home) farmed the place until the mid 80s, when they were in their 70s. Their cuisine sounds just like this "midwestern cuisine" that everybody here is talking about. Absolute simplicity, overcooked vegetables, and beef (farm raised) cooked beyond well done to fully stringy. Garlic was anathema, largely because "it is smelly", and was not ever allowed into the house or the cuisine. The condiment for just picked Jersey tomatoes was apple cider vinegar and pepper, and they were served in a dish, not a plate. Stewed onions, in a flour thickened sauce were another staple. Succotash (lima beans and corn, both fresh grown) was another. All of this reminiscing makes me wonder how much the place matters to this cuisine, as it is the time warp aspect of it that seems more consistent.

Good Manhattan bars that can do an Aviation for you: Angel's Share. The King Cole Bar at the St Regis. Maybe (but I'm not sure) the bar on top of the Peninsula Hotel. That's all the places I've had one... and I'm not sure about the Peninsula. Good luck in the hunt.

Thanks to Chef Tim for letting us sample his culinary creativity last night! What a spectacular evening! Pictures will surely follow since Lisa made sure to capture each of the dishes before they were devoured. The space, the food and the company were all first rate, and the four and a half hours it took the meal to progress from the delicious scallop through to the fried rice pudding wonton seemed to fly by. There were about two dozen of us altogether, and we were seated in the private room at the stern of the ship, which was a truly elegant space. We walked in to find a properly set table with the white linen tablecloth and array of beautiful flatware and glasses set out before us. The waiters poured a glass of lovely bubbly (Marquis de la Tour Blanc de Blanc) for each of us, and the friendly chatter began. I'll leave the details of the seven courses to our fine photographer to flesh out, but I'll say that everything showed that real thought and hard work went into it. Just wait until you see the pictures of the scallop and the gnochetti with chanterelles and parsley puree... my two favorite courses. After the meal ended, our gracious host Chef Tim gave us a tour of the kitchen, which was quite a space to find aboard a ship. Yet another wow moment. So once again, I must say a hearty thanks to the beneficent Chef Tim, and exhort anybody who didn't get to the Moshulu for this extravaganza to go and check it out.

Pity your distribution system doesn't give you the opportunity... even us Pennsylvanians can get our hands on it. And it is a great product.

Huh? "taste that is elusive to the point of erudition"????? Huh? What does this mean????? So invisible it is learned??? ! This just doesn't make any sense to me. Is he trying to say that it is subtle in its simplicity, or that its apparent simplicity masks an underlying complexity, or was he just reaching for an apropos alliteration that the Times editors let slide? Maybe I'm just dense, but that description makes no sense and is all but worthless to me. Anybody care to clarify it for me?

Don't think copyright... but there is trade dress protection, the most famous case about which dealt with the interior decor designs of two Mexican chains... So there is some protection... just not copyright.

Chris: In your day job, have any stories similar to this made the rounds? What is the general attitude of the cops who get called by guys like this restaurant owner? That side of the story seems kinda interesting... how much importance is assigned to calls about trespassing of this sort?

Their grapefruit vodka makes a stellar vodka tonic too. Perfect citric aroma that works so well with the bitterness of the tonic. Worth checking out.

I'm coming too... see you all there!

Hmmm... sounds like an unpleasant guy runs the place... nobody told him he was going into the hospitality industry??? Putting on the lawyer hat for a second, if he told you to leave and you didn't, then he might be able to get you for trespass... but probably only civilly, which would mean he'd have to front a lot of money for a lawsuit against you, and would likely only receive nominal damages, like a buck or so. If he never even told you to "git offa my land" you're totally in the clear... So if the guy really wants to be an ass, he might be able to spend a thousand bucks to get a judgment and a dollar from you, and thereby either prove that he was right, or prove that he is an ass... or both.

Hmmm... this leads to the classification issue brought about by Prohibition and expatriate bars. Was, say, Harry's New York Bar in Paris a French bar serving French cocktails, or an American bar serving American cocktails to Americans who came to Paris to drink them. I tend to lean toward the latter interpretation, as I'd bet most drinks claiming to have originated there, like the Sidecar, are not viewed by the French as products of native ingenuity or tastes.

France still owns a bunch of islands in the carribean where rum is made... some rums are, actually really products of France... just the Departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, etc... which still count as French soil.

Sounds like you're half way to something like the Fish House Punch... maybe a riff on that would work... The Recipe sub the apricot for the peach, toss in some rum, and mixing brandy or something of the ilk, and call it a Cocktail Maison Peche... or some such. Probably best whipped up in batches and pushed as a promotional aperitif some evening...

Let us know what you've got to play with, and we'll certainly be able to brainstorm ideas for you. When you say weird liqueurs, how weird are you talking? Maybe just a menu of digestif liqueurs might get them moving... particularly with a little descriptive blurb that explains what they're in for if you've got some really left field stuff... and an investment in a few dozen little liqueur glasses to serve them in... As far as drinks that scream "this is French!!!" , not many of them are cocktails... Vermouth over ice. Dubbonet. Lillet. Pastis and water. Kir. None of these are anywhere near the strength of an American cocktail, nor are they built using a spirit as the primary flavor component. You might be barking up the wrong tree if authenticity is what you're really after and cocktails are what you're looking for.

Fundamental misconception... NYT openly disavows "newspaper of record" title, and just did so the other week. See this article: Paper of Record? No Way, No Reason, No Thanks.

When in an office with a hot-water tap on the water cooler, I've always stuck with oolongs and greens that brew well with water at about 180F, as that is the usual temp for such hot-water taps in my experience. No need for boiling water for the teas I happen to like.

You mean to say that egregious D'ag is still there just below 110th St? The injustice of truly worthwhile stores going under while the worst supermarket in the area keeps plodding along... (OK, it is not the worst supermarket ever, but is significantly below the level of everything else that was in the neighborhood.)

AAArghhhhhhhh! This is awful news... Now I'm feeling oooooooold, and I've not been out of Columbia 10 years yet. With Mama Joy's sad departure a couple of years ago (I'm still mourning the loss of their brisket heros), the death of UFM and now West Side too, I'd have no idea where to shop in that neighborhood. I really credit the cheese sections at UFM and Mama Joys with broadening my palate, and much of my early culinary experimentation (after getting off the CU's meal plan the second semester of freshman year) was significantly influenced by the broad selection and good prices at UFM, West Side and Mama Joys. Do culinarily adventurous kids at CU still have any options in the neighborhood, or would they be forced to walk a mile down to the Gourmet Garage at 96th to get some interesting ingredients? Truly disheartening... I still remember West Side's prepared entrees fondly... mmmm... spanikopita...

Update time-- This beer's fermentation took off like crazy after about 24 hours--- very steady stream of gas coming out of the bubbler for about three days. Since I had to go out of town (and still am), I removed the brew bucket from the 70 degree ambient temperature of the room it had been in for the first few days and parked it down in the cellar, which is much closer to 50 degrees at this time of year. Hopefully by the time I get back in a few days it will be ready to bottle... but given how big a beer it is, I might just have to rack it and let it continue. We'll see once I get to sample it.

I'm nearly through my supply, which is what prompted the new brew project... Mine took about a month to carbonate fully in the bottles... which made me quite pleased I had the tap-a-draft thingy which really did carbonate the first 6L on bottling day, and provided me with a few weeks of fine beer before I started trying the bottles and finding them not quite there yet. Was a great project, and a fun brew with you all! I'll keep everybody up to date on the progress of the Belgian Blonde that has been in my primary for a week and a half now... feel free to join in that brew too if you feel like something in the vicinity of a Duvel, or a strong Leffe Blonde. I've not been in NYC much recently... if I find myself up there any time soon, I've still got my two give away bottles that I'd gladly tote along to swap.

Have had the thought, and looked around for quinine, but had no luck sourcing any. Would love to know if there is a commercial source of the building blocks of tonic.

I'm visiting a friend who has been singing the praises of his Nespresso machine to me for a while. At home I have the grinder and pump machine and had been a little skeptical that little plastic capsules could come close. My skepticism was a little irrational since I'd gotten a pod accepting machine for use at the office and had no problems with the coffee that came out of the Illy pods. So now I'm here, and so is the Nespresso machine and a half dozen different varieties of the little plastic pods. I'm actually somewhat impressed. The espresso comes out with a beautiful crema, and tastes like a well made shot. The different blends that I've tried so far have shown that there is certainly some diversity of selection. Not the same as if you had a home roasting setup and a broad selection of green beans to play with, but a nice breadth of flavor profiles is available. My one remaining argument against supporting the nespresso system is that it supports the Nescafe empire, with its tendency to view coffee as a bulk commodity and drive prices down to the point that some growers of unusual and interesting beans can't make a living doing so. Just my thoughts for the moment... pretty good coffee system made by a giant corporation.

I'm in if it is on May 3rd! This is sounding exciting!