Andrew Fenton

you know, I always like those little lamb chop hors d'oeuvres. eating them makes me feel like a viking. sort of a twee viking, but a viking nonetheless.

Incidentally, that was a problem for the Smoked Joint, too...

Monkfish "osso buco" looks good...

That is a good bargain. I've been reading Boni's book on Roman cooking, and it's tremendous. How much of her work is available in translation? edit to attempt an answer at my own question: Amazon has the translation of Talismano della felicita as well as the regional cookbook.

Those are some great looking fichi d'india. I know that Sicily Month is over, but I may have to pick some of those up to make granita. Umm.

That makes sense. I wouldn't particularly want to sit outside on that block of Locust; it ain't so glamorous, you know? But if you paid me...

Daniel, you are an evil genius.

OK, drive-by impressions of Ansill based on last night's visit: The shirred eggs are great, no doubt. The truffle adds a depth and earthiness to the dish; it's a natural combination, like truffle and goat cheese. I don't think the foie gras added much, though. It's a small piece (which is fine), but a little tough-- overcooked, I guess-- and I didn't get much flavor. On the other hand, one of us didn't eat foie, so it meant that I got more. Sweetbreads are very good. The texture (crispy/creamy) combination is great, and the pairing with peas, pancetta and chanterelles brings out some nice flavor profiles: sweetness, saltiness and, um, mushroominess. Country pate is very solid, hammy and satisfying. More cornichons would have been nice, but I'm a glutton for pickles; ditto toasts. Spaetzle (pan-fried) was crispy and good. Roasted peppers weren't all that exciting, but perfectly fine. We got a couple of desserts: lavender panna cotta, which our waiter accurately described as like eating some sort of crazy sexy flower, and the panino of the day: blueberry jam and chocolate on brioche. Fun to eat. With a $40 bottle of Viognier, the bill came to around $120 including tax and tip. Overall, a fun place. The food is great, and I'm psyched to try it again. As mrbigjas said, I can see it being the sort of place I could go back to regularly, and I'm glad to have it in my neighborhood.

I don't think we want to take this too far-- "Trekkie" or "newbie" aren't derogatory terms in the same way that, say, racial epithets are. If you call somebody a Trekkie, I don't think you have to worry about them beating you in the face with their Spock ears or plastic phaser. Still, I think the point is that, as I said, -ie ending words are diminutives. In some cases, they're neutral-- Royal Canadian Mounted Police becomes "Mountie"-- and in other cases, they're clearly negative: "druggie". Diminutives often indicate a difference in power, as when you're talking to or about children. Think about the difference between "dog" and "doggie"; you wouldn't use the latter when talking to an adult. (I hope). Think, too, about the difference between "communist" and "commie". You'd describe somebody as a "commie" if you wanted to discount or dismiss their political beliefs, as childish, for example.* If somebody were to take offense at "foodie", it'd be because the term is perceived as similarly dismissive. That said, I don't think it's offensive; and I'm even less worried about offending foodies than I am Trekkies. If they wanna come at me waving foie gras and pecorino foam, I say, bring it on. Whew, I'm tired. And hungry. Maybe I'll go cook up some wienies for dinner... *You mentioned "cutie". I'd suggest that "cute" and "cutie" differ in a similar way. "Cute" has a wide range of meaning, but it can include a sense of sexual attractiveness: "that girl in the blue dress is cute! I'll ask her out." But "cutie" or "cutie pie" are terms that are more likely to be applied to children, or other people are attractive in a non-sexual way.

Hi Ned- glad you liked the Italian Market. It's a hoot. I live pretty near by, and head over there once a week or so. The produce is often dicey (though cheap as dirt), but it's worth the trip for Sarcone's and the cheese shops alone. And the tamale lady is awesome. On Geno's, what Sandy and Phil A. said. If Geno's had the best steaks in the city, I'd maybe suck it up and go there. But as things stand, if I can't order my bifteck au fromage avec, I'll skip it, merci beaucoup, and head to one of the other better steakerias. And hey, next time you're in town, let me know; we'll go get a roast pork with greens and gossip about Lakeside...

There is at least one US producer of buffalo mozzarella: Woodstock Water Buffalo in Vermont. Has anybody tried their products, or other domestic mozzarella di bufala?

Know of some "ie" words that are used to label people and that are flattering? Aussie, lassie, goalie, Mountie, smartie, sweetie are a few. But it's also true that -ie is a diminutive, and diminutives aren't usually flattering.

Are those English muffins? A bold choice! I salute you.

Yeah, that makes me feel a WHOLE lot better. sigh. Anyway, you can get limes in Italy; I've bought them in Rome, at STANDA of all places. The fun part is asking for limes. Most Italians don't seem to have heard of them, and I'm not even sure what the Italian word is. Sometimes they seem to be called "limoni verdi"; other times just "lime". Price is an issue. I can get artichokes in the US. What I can't get are cheap, good artichokes from Puglia for like nine months out of the year.

Shalmanese, thanks for the comments. I will take them to heart. I'd never heard that about beets before; interesting. No, I didn't cook them. My idea was that the freezer would do the work of "cooking" the beets by breaking them down. It seemed to work all right, and it let me avoid using hot things in the kitchen. I did make the sorbet: in fact, the inspiration came from your description of fennel granita in the Sicily thread. It sounds like we followed similar routes: I cooked the fennel in sugar syrup, then pureed and strained it a little and added it to the orange juice along with some fennel seed.

Great suggestion! Also, if there is any crime in the restaurant, you will be all set to fight it.

Exactly. No offense, SeanDirty, but it sounds like you were the one who came in with an attitude. I don't buy the argument that because you're paying the restaurant, you don't have to follow its rules. If you don't like those rules, just don't eat there.

Ohba, if your urine tastes as sweet as Coke, you should probably go talk to your doctor; that's an indication of diabetes.

It's reasonable to question whether or not restaurants ought to have dress codes. But let's not pretend that restaurants that do are judging patrons on whether they are "rich enough". A pair of loafers aren't any more expensive than a pair of "nice sneakers"; similarly, a pair of Dockers will set you back a whole lot less than lots of jeans.

Preach it, V! The other night, I read this post right before going to bed, which was probably a mistake. As I tried to sleep, visions of frozen purees kept dancing through my head. When I awoke, the beets I'd gotten at the farmers market called out to me; and who am I to refuse? Chopped them into large chunks, along with a couple of seeded cucumbers, then froze them. I let them thaw a little bit, and then pureed them. (This made more sense to me than freezing the puree. I figured, you're trying to break down the cell walls through freezing; that won't happen if the cells have been pureed.) It seemed to work. The beets gave out a lot of juice (and I didn't have to , though the cucumber helped increase the volume and keep the whole thing from being too beet-y. Let it drip through the chinois and served it with an orange-fennel sorbet: Somewhere between a first course and a dessert, which in this brutal heat works fine for me. The presentation sucks, though. Vadouvan, what guidelines do you follow in plating, etc? I've always tended to follow the "lunchlady Doris" school of food presentation. Efficient, but not exactly elegant; any advice?

My favorite brand of Italian toilet paper is called "Sandy". Hee! Anyway, back on topic: I suspect it's possible to get chicory in the US. But I've never seen it. (On the other hand, I couldn't get collard greens over there, so let's call it a draw.) Mozzarella di bufala is pretty widely available in the US now, at least in major cities. But ricotta di bufala is pretty rare- I know you can get it in NYC, but I don't think in many other places. Looks like I'll have to head up to New York with a cooler and get some ricotta and canocchie one of these days...

Not a vegetable, but I've never seen vongole veraci in the US. It breaks my heart a little.

I'll join the others in thanking you, Franci, for your great information and photos of Pugliese breads... I'm sitting here munching on a bag of anise taralli that I brought back from Italy. They're delicious; fortunately I can get more here in the States! I had no idea of the Pugliese origins of panzerotti. They're available (if not all that widely available) at pizzerias in the Philadelphia and south Jersey are, and I presume in parts farther north as well. I confess to never having tried them, though. Do you know the etymology of the word panzerotto? I'd thought that maybe it was from pane, but googling isn't turning up much. This website speculates that it's from panza, a dialect word meaning "belly". Do you know?

Sounds like tonight will be a busy night...

When I was in Milan this spring, I had dinner at Antica Trattoria Milano (Via Padova, 344, near the Navigli), on the recommendation of the Slow Food osterie guide. It's a pretty good-- I had a fine osso buco-- and basic kinda place. There was also a VERY good gelateria right near by; but its name is escaping me right now. Definitely follow Franci's advice to walk around Navigli in the evening. I found most of Milan to be cold (in atmosphere, not temperature) and a little dull; but that's a nice area.