rlibkind

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I shall be in Madison the weekend of April 20. I've done L'Etoile (and thoroughly enjoyed it), but wondering if anyone can comment on Harvest. And how the new leadership at L'Etoile is doing. And are there any new restaurants that take a similar approach? I figure my main activity during the day on Saturday, while SWMBO is busy with alumni stuff, will be to circle Capitol Square at least three or four times, since it is scheduled to be the first outdoor market of the year. Thanks.

Quite honestly, it's hard to do bad mussels, so long as they are neither under or overcooked. As for grit/sand, well, you often don't know that until you cook and taste. Now, if you get a batch of mussels where they are particularly heavy, well, maybe then you can tell in advance. I rarely find grit a problem since virtually all the mussels we eat today are farm raised. Aquaculture of mussels is one form of aquaculture which has vastly improved the product from the consumer's point of view. Sizing is better, they're cleaner, much less grit. Pea crabs are still a problem, and totally unavoidable and unpredictable. You don't know there's one in a mussel until you bite down on the li'l crunchy thing. Harmless but disconcerting. And it's not like if you find a pea crab in one mussel you're going to find it in the rest of the bunch. Phil, I gotta comment on your search for the "best". I understand where you're coming from, but I find our constant seeking after the "best" (and I'm as guilty as anyone) sets artificial standards. The "best" mussel I've ever eaten is the one that satisfies my craving for mussels then and there. You can point me to the "best" mussels, or pizza, or beer, but unless I've got the craving for that food at that point and place in time, it doesn't matter. It's like at Sunday's Brewers' Plate, where someone asked me which beer I liked best. Silly question. I paraphrased the old Yip Harburg lyric: When I'm Not Near the Beer I Love, I Love the Beer I'm Near." Same with mussels. Or pizza. Or Chocolate. Or just about any other food. Does that mean we shouldn't discriminate against the bad, or discuss the relative merits or one preparation over another? Of course not. But to say this one is "best" and all others merely "decent" misses the point. Enjoy the walk through the wonderful forest while you appreciate the character of the individual trees. But don't fail to behold the beauties of Arden in search of the perfect tree.

Not necessarily. The produce stands at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market regularly underprice supermarkets, usually with better quality. Now, during the growing season some individual farmers also sell at the RTM, and their prices can be higher than a supermarket's but the quality is way, way better, and the lettuce hasn't traveled the breadth of the continent to reach you. In the case of one RTM non-farmer produce stand (Iovine Brothers), which sells fruits and vegetables year-round and purchases most of its supplies through traditional wholesale channels, it also has contract growing arrangements with a local farm during the season, and those products are always sold below supermarket prices (but at better quality). The roadside farm stands I patronize appear to price competitively with supermarkets (sometimes underprice supermarkets) with generally superior product.

Rembrandt's does a commendable job with mussels. Tomato-ey broth with a little sausage and some capers. Very sop-up-able.

Carrots. Julienned or 1/8-inch slices, cover in pan and cook for 5 minutes with a little orange juice and a little butter or neutral oil (not EVO!), then uncover and add your choice of flavor (I like just a light touch of minced fresh ginger) and cook for another couple of minutes. Carrots should be just barely tender. Serve at room temperature. If you didn't add a contrary flavor during cooking, top with freshly chopped mint.

This was the third annual iteration of the Brewers' Plate. I missed last year but was at the first year's and this year's. Someone asked me which was my favorite beer. Well, I just paraphrased the ol' Yip Harburg lyric from Finian's Rainbow: When I'm not near the beer I love, I love the beer I'm near." Of course, I didn't find an IPA I didn't like, and there was a chocolate cherry brew that was better than it had any right to be. I'll leave it to the true beer afficionados (I'm a rank amateur) to discuss the relative merits of the individual brews. The food was by-and-large superb. Here are some dishes I particularly enjoyed. Where I recall which restaurant served it, I've put that in parenthesis: Bluepoint oysters on the halfshell Smoked tuna belly bruschetta Smoked brisket Rabbit shredded like pulled pork Arancini di riso Gnuddi in sage brown butter (London) Charcuterie (London) Country paté with cornichon (Patou) Scallops (Patou) Pulled pork (Down Home Diner) Almond cake with cappucino topping (James) John & Kira's Chocolates Good thing I didn't drive -- I must have knocked off nearly two liters of beer (that's a lot for me, a pittance, I know, for others) and stuffed myself silly over the course of more than two hours.

Isgro doesn't have a stand at the RTM. Termini's does.

When you use the Parkway garage ( it's the garage over the Maggiano's and Chili's, across Filbert from the Marriott: entrances from Arch, Filbert and Cuthbert [just off 12th]), be sure not to stay longer than two hours; after that the RTM discount just gets you a couple of bucks off the full rate, which will be considerably more than the $3 RTM rate for up to two hours. Also, don't use your credit card at the entry gate -- if you do you can't get the discount.

Getting back to your original question. Yes, it is safe to use as called for in the recipes. But if you want to leave it out, your sausages will still taste fine; perhaps not quite as savory as they would be otherwise, but still pretty good.

I agree that it may not have been up to Buford's past efforts, but that would be expecting a lot. Can't hit a homer every at bat. I disagree about it being "maddeningly hagiographic". Hagiographies generally don't discuss warts. The article may not have lambasted him, but it hardly put him on a pedestal. The bit I enjoyed the most was Ramsay's response to Bruni's review:

There's another spot to imbibe at the RTM! Blue Mountain Vineyard has opened up a wine bar, sort of. Basically, it's a couple of small tables. You can order by the glass to enjoy with a lunch you bought from one of the other vendors. Just like the Beer Garden, it's for consumption within the store only. Okay, what goes with Tommy DiNic's pork?

Uh, I can think of a few.

Bill Buford's take on Gordon Ramsay and what makes him tick can be read on-line in this week's New Yorker. The updated account of who was responsible for the infamous Aubergine reservation book theft was news to me.

I tried the corned beef sandwich this weekend (I usually stick to pastrami, but ya gotta branch out in the name of science). Alas, although it had decent flavor, it was overcooked and arrived on the very good rye bread in a mostly shredded state. The few visible slices indicated it was sliced correctly, however, across the grain. I still like Hershel's. And as I said a week ago, they've got a show going on. But they need to attain consistency and then take it to the next level. I remain optimistic that with time and the attention its owners appear dedicated to devote, they'll get there. After all, they've barely been open a month.

Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. After fermentation, it can be eaten cooked or uncooked. Canned kraut is, for all intents and purposes, cooked. Jarred kraut can be cooked or uncooked. Kraut in plastic bags is generally uncooked. The best kraut is barrel kraut which hasn't been cooked or packaged. An eastern European deli probably would be selling fermented but uncooked kraut, which some people might refer to as raw kraut. This is what you'd want to start with if, for example, you were making choucroute. At a German deli you can frequently purchase wine kraut, which has been cooked with wine (usually a nice riesling) and some added flavors, perhaps juniper berries.

More merchant changes: the Pet Lady (pet toys) is gone. Bee Natural will extend its stall into that space, on the opposite side of the seating area nearest Arch Street. As reported last week, Andros has also give up its stall. The Scrapplefest is set for Saturday, April 21. So far, the RTM has lined up Hatfield as a major sponsor. In his monthly newsletter to merchants RTM General Manager Paul Steinke is asking the merchants to come up with prepared foods featuring scrapple. Like, scrapple ice cream. (Hey, if an ice cream shop in Bar Harbor can do lobster, Bassett's can do scrapple!) Customer counts through March 4 are running better than five percent ahead of 2006, according to Steinke's newsletter. This year the RTM counted 875,706 vs. 832,500 for the same period last year. Both years represent counts prior to the opening of the Flower Show, but do include other big convention center shows, including the wholesale crafts exhibition which is a large draw. As of Friday, Iovine no longer offered those one-pound clamshells of Florida strawberries for a buck, though they do have one-pint containers for a dollar. However, O.K. Lee was selling the one-pound packs for only 99 cents. It's the end of the clementine season. If you find them at all they are likely to be expensive. However, Iovine had a reasonable deal on Spanish mandarins (tangerines): a five-pound box for $4.99. Mexican Altaulfo mangoes are a buck each. Still a couple of weeks away from seeing ramps. No fiddleheads yet, either, though in some years they appear as soon as early March. If all this sounds familiar, let me quote from an entry I made this time last year: Nothing like seasonality. Here's my shopping list from Friday: HATVILLE DELI ($0.75) Eggs (half dozen) LANCASTER COUNTY DAIRY ($3.30) Milk MARTIN'S QUALITY MEATS ($3.45) Turkey bacon FAIR FOOD FARMSTAND ($6.26) Ground beef GIUNTA'S PRIME SHOP ($3.64) Chicken, boneless, skinless breast 12th STREET CANTINA ($5.75) Enchilada sauce IOVINE BROTHERS ($8.58) Mandarin oranges Spring mix salad Baking potatoes SALUMERIA ($15.80) Olives Torrone HERSHEL'S EAST SIDE DELI ($5.50) Lox Edited to add shopping list

Has anyone here considered nucelar fission?

What I've enjoyed at the RTM stall are the roast pork or roast duck plates "with vegetable". No broth put over them. Just the meat, rice (with a light flavoring sauce) and a green vegetable whose name I always forget but that I enjoy. Of course, before serving they nuke the plate to warm it up. Oh, well.

DTBarton has it right. If you've got good fresh spanish mackerel, just treat it simply as you would a Boston mackerel (they are closely related). Takes well to simple broiling, and baking, too. It also has an affinity with tomatoes -- the acidity helps balance the richness of the meat.

Payard sells them online, and they are very good.

Since there does not appear to be a single topic devoted to the challenges faced by public markets, I thought I'd start one here. While the topic must necessarily discuss specifics of individual public markets, let's try to keep it focused on common problems and opportunities rather than gripe sessions about individual markets. An article from today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the Future of Pike Place Market discusses concerns common to many markets. Indeed, this article was brought to my attention by Paul Steinke, GM of Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, because, as he said, it raises "many issues that are similar to what we are facing at Reading Terminal Market. Among these are: - "sanitized" markets - competition from Whole Foods and smaller neighborhood farmers' markets. - changing areas surrounding public markets - merchants' resistance to change - balancing role as tourist destination and serving local residents

Geez. I've been visiting appy stores and delis since I was 10, maybe younger, (lo, 50 years ago!) and I can't recall ever seeing or hearing of "white lox". That's an entirely new one to me. I did a quick Google search and found only two references. One was from the L.A. Times in an article about a bunch of comics getting together The other was a Chowhound entry of someone remembering "white lox" as a "special treat", "fattier and less salty" than regular. Which leads me to wonder if what some might refer to as "white lox" is something completely difference, i.e., perhaps sturgeon or sable? Given the paucity of relevant web search results, I'm guessing "white lox" really isn't white lox.

Another vendor has closed shop at the Reading Terminal Market: Andros. I'm told the owner of the prepared food outlet, whose education and background is in financial services, simply got an offer in that industry he could not refuse. If smoke got in your eyes Saturday at the RTM, it wasn't because of the strains of an old song wafting through the air. A mishap with the roaster at Old City Coffee sent the unappetizing aroma of burnt coffee, along with a lot of smoke, through the market at noontime. It even set off the smoke alarms. I only got furrowed brows and mean stares when I asked one of the OC workers if I could have some extra drark roast. I've revisited and reevaluated Heshel's East Side Deli. Follow this link to read it. Still waiting for more definitive signs of spring. The closest I could come was the $1 one-pound clamshells of Florida strawberries at Iovine Brothers. This batch was much more flavorful and sweet than the ones in late January and early February. Foster's Gourmet Cookware will be closing shop this summer. Ken Foster told me he'll be combining his the RTM shop with his Third Street store (Foster's Urban Homewares) at a new location, Fourth & Market. The 12,000-square foot, single-floor facility will have four times the combined footage of the two stores it replaces. Ken said he'll also have truck bays for his growing web store business. Here's my shopping list from Saturday: IOVINE BROTHERS ($7.54) Strawberries Shallots Fruit cup (medium) Black seedless grapes LANCASTER COUNTY DAIRY ($3.39) Milk FAIR FOOD FARMSTAND ($6.54) Raw milk cheddar Blue cheese Sweet potato GIUNTA'S PRIME SHOP ($7.26) Ham steak HERSHEL'S EAST SIDE DELI ($5.60) Salty belly lox MARTIN'S QUALITY MEATS & SAUSAGE ($3.30) Turkey bacon Edited to add Foster's info

In my initial post, despite concerns about its first week of operation, I said I'd hold off a more definitive judgement and give Hershel's more time to get its act together. Well, the act may still need some fine-tuning, but they've got a show. Yesterday I sat down at the counter had ordered a cup of knaidel (matzoh ball) soup, pastrami on rye, and Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. The soup arrived in about a minute, and the sandwich two or three minutes later. Quite unlike the long wait I had on my first visit. The soup was quite good. Some fresh onion, celery and carrots (just like grandma used to make, if my grandma had been a good cook; she wasn't) in a tasty chicken broth with enough fat to provide viscosity without overdoing it. Four or five knaidel, each about half the diameter of a golf ball, helped fill the cup. Knaidel come on two varieties: dense and more dense. Hershel's is of the "more dense" variety. I happen to like them this way, and have yet to meet a matzoh ball that could be considered "light and fluffy"; spongy, yes, light and fluffy, no. On to the pastrami: This pastrami is unlike most ecause it actually has seeds on the outside! In the old days, you couldn't make a pastrami without seeds (coriander) and other seasonings visible on the exterior. Today, most pastramis get their flavor solely from the flavored brine injected during curing prior to smoking. Steve Safern, co-owner of Heshel's, said he buys his pastramis cured and smoked but not cooked from his supplier in Chicago (not Vienna Beef, which to my taste makes too salty a pastrami), then seasons them himself before cooking. The meat on my sandwich may have been carved a bit too thick for my taste, but, unlike on my first visit, it was properly carved against the grain. Besides, while I may like my slices a tad thinner, others prefer the thick slice. The meat was full of spicy flavor, with sufficient smoke to be interesting but not overwhelming. The slathering of seasonings made for a very delicious pastrami sandwich. The meat would have pleased my mother, who preferred her deli sandwiches very lean. I would have liked a tad more fat, but again, that's a matter of personal preference. (Next time I'll ask for a fattier cut.) So, my return visit conclusion: much improved and a very good sandwich, indeed. The staff also seems to be getting the kinks out and working more smoothly and efficiently. Edited to add photo

Well, it makes a lot of sense. If you don't eat out a lot or hang out with folks (in person or online) who do, and you want to make sure you get good value for the buck, following his recommendations is entirely logical. Laban is clear about his likes and dislikes and direct in his guidance. Then again, one would hope that anyone rigorously following each and every epistle every week would develop some independent taste. Edited to fix word choice