Andrew Fenton

That makes sense, and sounded like where the discussion was aiming. Thanks! Anyway, I can't think of any horrible diner/family restaurant/meat n' three meals. Plenty of mediocre ones, where the food is edible, just not all that great. But I admit, I tend to take two kinds of road trips. Either I plan out the route carefully, trying to plot in advance the places where I'll eat, often sacrificing speed to do so. Or I'll be in a big ol' hurry to get where I'm going, and wind up eating right next to the interstate, at the Waffle House (if I'm lucky) or Denny's (less lucky), sacrificing gustatory pleasure for the pleasure of getting moving again. In either case, I minimize the chance of a really lousy meal. Unfortunately, I also minimize the chance of serendipity...

You know, that's not a bad idea. I've never been happy with Thai food in Philadelphia. But I bet that with some advance planning and notice, you could get something really good.

I tried 5 Guys this afternoon and was disappointed by the fast, courteous service. No fighting, no fireworks. Oh well. Anyway, I thought the burger was pretty good. Not as in "Philadelphia's best" good, but as in "head and shoulders over other chain burgers" good: greasy, sloppy, with lots of onions and pickles. And as other have remarked, very good french fries, and lots of 'em. I'll try Bootsie's one of these days, too.

Yeah, I shoulda gone three: that sweet spot when both summer and fall fruits are available is not something to miss. Still, I'm made out of sugar, and melt in the rain...

I'm afraid I don't really know what a "family restaurant" is: do you mean a restaurant run by a family? Or one that welcomes families as its clientele? Either one could be good, and I've had fine meals at both types of places. It sounds like your experience could have been improved by some research in advance. There must be some good places to eat around Annapolis Royal, right?

Hooray for Campania! It's maybe my favorite region of Italy. I love its hill towns and the gorgeous coast. I swoon over its history and unmatched archaeological sites. And as I wrote back in the spring, I'm absolutely in love with Naples, a gorgeous, thrilling city, with food as good as one can find anywhere in Italy. I have a couple of Campanian cookbooks that I'm looking forward to using-- including one written by a friend's parents, who run a guest villa in Cuma and cook amazing food there. I began the month last night. Taking advantage of the cooler weather that had followed Ernesto, I fired up the oven and made that crown jewel of Parthenopean cuisine, pizza Margherita. No pictures, I'm afraid; it all went into our hungry mouths before I even thought to bring the camera out.

And I'm saying that academic dishonesty is a bad way to start the semester. That's all I have to say about that.

No offense, dude, but what do you imagine your professor would think if he knew you were trying to get other people to do your homework for you?

Kentucky Fried Sushi

Nuts and Gum: "together at last!"

As much as I love Delorenzo's tomato pies, I must agree with aaron that it is just too far to drive from Vineland and then to endure the inevitable wait on weekend nights would put you right over the top. Oh and if anyone in your party needs to use the restroom after the long drive, well there isn't one! No bathroom is a real drag. And it's a long way from Vineland; but it's worth the drive, at least once in a while. Delorenzo's makes a truly exceptional pizza.

Sorry to hear that. The Rib Shanty was really great.

Good work, Kent. That's interesting stuff. I want to respond to a couple of points you made: This is something I noticed with pre-salting my chicken. It changed color-- thought not to a beautiful dark brown like yours. Instead, it developed these spotty brown patches that were awfully unappetizing. Once I'd roasted it, you couldn't see them; but it went into the oven as a sort of leprous bird. I put rosemary under the skin of the bird before pre-salting, and the meat (especially the breast meat) was thoroughly infused. Shiitakes would work just as well, I'd imagine. Dried porcinis would be even better. Wow. I am totally going to try that next time.

Basically, what Katie said. But to add a couple of points, first, the tofu is really something special. The description (tofu with ground pork, chili and basil) made it sound like ma po tofu (except for the basil part); but it's really nothing like that. The 'fu itself has the texture of really good sweetbreads, crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside: krispy kreme, if you will. My other fave was the roti canai. If you can go wrong with fried bread + curry, please keep it a secret from me. This reminds me a little bit of my all-time favorite at Rangoon, the thousand layer bread. Call this single layer bread; whatever you call it, it's good. It's a nice place. I'll be back, for sure.

Personally, I'd like to see the NJ legislature pass a law to end the suffering caused by watching this same argument recycle again... and again... and again... oops, sorry. Carry on!

You know, it took me a while to remember what a "mother" was in a vinegar context-- I thought maybe your pickles had decided to breed, and was a little grossed out...

That's why the doctor is always telling you it's not healthy to eat all those greasy burgers, see? It's got nothing to do with your arteries.

Fun fact I recently learned from this article in the NYT: jackalopes are just bunnies with really really bad cases of warts. I don't think I would eat one...

"Come for the burgers, stay for the floor show!"

Matthew, I don't have a lot of personal knowledge of the Piedmont, and I'm sure you'll get some good recommendations. But in the meantime, here are a few possibly useful threads: ecco qui, and another, another, one more, and a fifth. Search tip: I found these using the search box on the Italy forum with the searches +barolo +piemonte and +barolo +piedmont There are others that may be relevant as well. Good luck and buon viaggio!

And she mentioned that Chickie's has a roast pork sandwich, something I've managed to miss in years of eating there. (Of course, she also said it wasn't very good; so I guess I'll stick to the hoagies.)

Plasmas! Superfluids! There are lots of other phases of matter that aren't solids or gases... but I'm just being obnoxious, particularly dangerous when I don't know what I'm talking about. Carry on. edit to add: and you can't eat plasma, neither. But I hear that Adria is working on it.

Yow! Well, I have two thoughts: first, I like the pasta names: "Triassic Tortellini", "Layers of the Earth Lasagna", "Mammoth Mushroom Raviolis" (sic), and the oddly disappointing "Rigatoni". Why couldn't they have named it after the mighty earthshaking lizard, the Rigatonasaurus? I ask you. Second, why didn't I think of this dino-restaurant idea first? I wanna be a millionaire, too...

Maybe you can also start raising chicken fingers? Or birds with particularly meaty nuggets.

Well, Russ, the devil made me do it the first time; the second time I'll do it on my own. Which is to say, I tried pre-salting, using the Zuni Cafe method (as described by some guy here), and it was pretty great. I used a 4 lb. supermarket chicken, pre-salted and stuffed with a ton of rosemary and (in the cavity) sliced lemons, and let it sit in the fridge for about 30 hours. The resulting chicken was succulent as hell, with a nice crispy skin and rosemary-infused breast meat. I couldn't taste any lemon flavor; maybe the juice kept it moist, or maybe it didn't do anything. Was it better than brining? Honestly, I don't know. I've always been happy with brined chicken, but it's been a while since I've roasted any chicken. I'll try brining a chicken in the near future and compare it. But this is unquestionably a good technique.