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yvonne johnson

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Everything posted by yvonne johnson

  1. g. and I confirm. g. is baking baguettes, following Amy's recipe. I will bring Scotch. Need to wash down that dough with some unclogging fluid.
  2. Is Coren's review online? Couldn't find it, but I did find an email from Coren to his editor that's funny. Background: Coren began a book review with the following sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Very clever. All 26 letters of the alphabet in a 35-letter sentence." An editor later changed the sentence to "The quick brown fox jumps over A lazy dog," now a 33-letter sentence. Coren's e-mail to the editor at the Man Guardian (you'd never see this type of swearing in the poncey NYTimes, that's for certain): http://media.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,7...,776983,00.html
  3. Yes, indeed. Interesting and tasty, if a bit on the sweet side. Yvonne, would you prefer "eGulletarian" -- or does that sound a little too cultish? I tend to use eGulletarian, and I've seen "eGulleter", but eGulleteer sounds new to me, though I see Varmint used the term. The eGullet zine piece was written by "eGullet staff" and in it "eGulleteer" is used again. No big deal......eGulleteer has a certain ring to it. egulleteer musketeers.
  4. Sounds interesting. PS: I didn't know we were called eGulleteers.
  5. Didn't Leslie Brenner win a writing award for an article on dining in cruise ships? FG's ideas remind me: at the Milstein Pavilion (Columbia Presbyterian Hospital), there is a rather ncie dining room for private patients and it has a grand piano in it. Seen it but not eaten there.
  6. I think I saw this movie at La Scala (?) in London, opp Kings Cross, where one could drink beer. Pity about the English remake. Word for word (like La Femme Nikita) but not quite the same. I think I saw both movies then went and ate something.
  7. Oh, dearie me. What have I done? By the way, I'd never heard of him, this Lunn fellow, till today. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=tv....3D%26ie%3DUTF-8 Some kind of whacky comedian on the BBC?
  8. This is Wilf Lunn Amazingly uncanny. Especially the beret.
  9. That was funny and food related: "I really loved The Naked Chef, will I like The Naked Lunch?" (Being reminded of Foyles, however, gave me the shivers.)
  10. I was looking for Martin Amis' and Rushdie's books [await Majumdar's wrath] a while back at B&N. Exasperated, I asked a staff member if they had any. "Oh", he replied "they are stolen like hotakes, so we keep all their books behind the counter at the checkout and you have to request them there." Now, wouldn't you think they'd like to save customers' time and put up a notice saying so?
  11. Liza, when the waiter described the dish I thought he said cod roe, but it tasted much finer than the cod roe I've had.
  12. Dinner at 71 Clinton Fresh Food (71 Clinton Street (bet. Rivington & Stanton), 614-6960 on Saturday. We didn’t manage to eat there when Wylie Dufresne was at the helm, but the chef, Matt Reguin (who I believe was Dufresne’s sous chef for a time), is producing exceptionally good food. My starter, a special, was Tasmanian trout (I think there is a discussion with Adam Balic on this fish somewhere) was salmon-like, served at room temperature, barely cooked/cured—hard to tell—on top of a vegetable or roots (I’m not doing a very good job) that resembled soft bean sprouts. On top was a very thin spread of roe and chives. This dish was so light, delicious and, yes, fresh. I tasted g.’s Nantucket bay scallops (small and sweet) with blood orange, frisee & fennel as well as the potato, applewood smoked bacon and goat cheese tart which had a lovely, flaky pastry. Appetizers: $8-$12. Next I had diver sea scallops. These were big, sautéed till golden, sitting on a bed of tiny cubes of Serrano ham, salsify and green apples. G. had organic Wagyu sirloin, potato puree, porcinis, chard & bone marrow with red wine reduction and he said this was of the best dishes he’s had at a restaurant in quite a while. I tasted the potato and I think it’s the creamiest and tastiest I’ve had when out. Our friend was pleased with his sea bass. Mains: $19-$27. Mason 2000, Veilles Vigne, reminiscent of a red sancerre. A little cold, though, when presented. Our friend and I found the desserts—1. apple cobbler with ice cream that had a hint of ginger and 2. the chocolate sponge with peanut butter flavored cream within and accompanied by ice cream with peanut brittle on outside—uninteresting compared to what had come before. G liked them more, though he thought they were under-sweetened. The space is not much bigger than a postage stamp. There were around 30 diners and a handful of people at the bar, and although the banquets are very comfortable, it feels very crushed with tables an inch apart. Nonetheless, we were very happy and the service, in the main, was efficient and friendly. Its sister restaurant (Alias at 76 Clinton) and café (aka at 49) might be worth a try.
  13. OK, here are some more figures: "NYC has by far the largest urban parks system in the US, occupying some 26,000 acres (10,350 hectares) exclusive of state and federal lands...comprisng more than fifteen hundred parks and playgrounds...golfcourses, historic houses...wetlands" The Encyclopedia of New York, edited by Kenneth T Jackson (1995) "London has over 17,200 hectares of urban park." http://www.independence.org.uk/html/body_l...ondon_info.html I'm finding it hard to come up with other on-line sources for London, but several tourist sites say London has 1700 parks.
  14. Another park, up there, the Cloisters area. Not that I'd sit there either. Come on, folk, this is getting a little silly. We're going to put Kikujiro right off living here.
  15. If Robert Moses were still alive, we'd get a high speed train to the airports of NY. Since everyone is still on the parks, Washingtion Sq Park, Madison Sq Park, Union Square are hardly green. I never sit in them. Tompkins Sq Pl feels more like a park. Parts of Riverside aren't bad. But in Manhattan if you don't go to Central Pk, you don't get anything like the pockets of lush green areas that Central London offers, partly because the squares are so nice.
  16. I was listening to public radio (there's a point: BBC wins hands down; while we're on the media, British newspapers are better; tv, UK wins by miles) the other day and it must've been a historian or urban planner talking, but he said the mark of a civilized city was its ability to get people to the airport quickly via public transportation, and so on this front London with its Heathrow Express (14 mins into central London) wins; in NY it can up to an hour in a cramped taxi; taxis: black cabs are far superior to yellow ones. Back to food. Play my old record again: Vegetables taste so much better in London. They actually taste of something. There's no really good mutton here. Ditto pork with crackling. I was a bit surprized by Simon's comments. Blue Hill over St John? I think it's debatable at the high end too.
  17. Just to clarify: I'm a big fan of thin pizzas. I've not been to Naples, but in Florence and Venice I loved the thin pizza bases. My complaint was that the base of my pizza at Otto last night did not have any flavor. Also, I'm not a big fan of tons of toppings. Last, g. noted that the base of his pizza was a lot drier than mine, so at the moment there appears to be inconsistency. No big deal, the place has just opened.
  18. Do we have to assume this, Jason? I was assuming that the pizza was to everyone else's taste. Apart from me and bpearis, I didn't see anyone else comment on it negatively. And I was wondering if the texture of the base was related to being cooked on the griddle. Not unless there is inconsistency, that is, Suvir, FG and others had a different dough than me, g. and bpearis? From the photos, the bases look the same as what we had, but I imagine the salt and oil content could be very different in different batches. But as you say, time will tell, and I'll certainly go back.
  19. Raw: Raspberries (with cream or ice-cream, or in trifle) Cooked: Raspberries: crumble, summer pudding
  20. A friend gave us a bottle of A'bunadh* made by Aberlour. It's a single Speyside malt that is 60.2% Alc/Vol. Only a tinge of peatiness, incredibly dense. Usually I add just a few drops of water, but this can stand a lot more. It's very nice. http://www.aberlour.com/enjoying_aberlour/abunadh.asp * means, "the origin" in Gaelic, I see
  21. Thanks, Andy. I enjoyed your write-up. Just one thing to add. If I'd never been to Babbo, I think I'd get the impression the food was lighter and less bold than it is. For example when you mention lightness of touch, and say that "richness only really creeps in at the dolci stage", that is different from my experiences. The meat sauces on the pasta are incredibly rich, and the short rib (both in the restaurant and made at home from the recipe in The Babbo Cookbook) is one one the richest dishes I've ever had. By the way, when you coming over to NY, Andy?
  22. I agree with you, FG, Craft is on the pricey side. The side orders really push the price up. Craftbar next door is pretty good value I think.
  23. I'd be interested in returning to Arqua (Tribeca). It used to be one of our favorites. It has a lovely room that has delightful views of the go-go dancing spot (maybe now closed) across the street. Le Madri (18 st, Chelsea) has been done over. Looked a but cutesy in the Asimov review, bit many years ago I had wonderful venison there. Aside: Did anyone see the story in Style section of Sunday NY Times yesterday that there is an Italian Acceditation Society (something like that) that will go all over town issuing certificates to those restaurants that offer authentic Italian fare? From memory--cold pasta salad out, hot pasta with cold tom sauce in (or was that cold pasta with warm sauce?). All seems a bit silly.
  24. There are a couple of separate points here. Batali would have been economically foolish not to comply with the wishes of diners who were buying expensive wines. If they decided to up and go without paying (not that I'm condoning that) the restaurant would've lost a whole lot of money on unpaid wines. Also, if they are big spenders then you want them to become regulars. Second, I understand the kitchen is tiny at Babbo. I realize many restaurant kitchens are, but I got the impression Babbo's is more so than most. Wouldn't that maybe go against the practice of cooking special dishes for diners?
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