EJRothman

Thanks for the reply guys. None of the wines are all that delicate - only reds, mostly cabs and zins. Also no access to sunlight or direct heat. I'm hoping the replacement wine fridge they send me is in better shape. Honestly the Avantis seem like pretty cheap models and the casing is pretty thin metal. If the next one is also dented I'll probably just keep it. Figured it was worth one shot to get a non-damaged one.

Hi all, First post for me in years (I used to be much more obsessed with food - now just moderately obsessed). Anyway, how long can I leave wine that I want to age sitting on racks in room temperature without any negative effects? I recently went to CA and bought up a bunch of wine, some of which I plan on aging. I ordered an Avanti wine fridge, which arrived today pretty banged up. I am sending it back for a new one. The wine has been sitting out in my living room on racks now since mid-January and will probably be left there for another week or so until I get the new fridge. I'm probably just being parinoid, but can is it ok to leave the wine there? The room is probably in the low-70 degree range and pretty stable. Thanks, Eric

That's neat idea, give the reviewer stars on his review: Babbo - 3.5 stars Megu - 2 stars Bouley - 0 stars Wolfgang's - 0.5 stars I'll play: Babbo - 3.0 stars Megu - 2.5 stars Bouley - 0 stars Wolfgang's - 0 stars

I thought this week's review was terrible. Some people may feel there was some buildup to the ending climax of discussing the steak, but I just felt like he was sidestepping the issue. Then at the end Bruni just gives up and rolls over gives us a two bit description fitting of my assessment of my personal analysis of a steak I would make on my home grill any given weeknight. Whether or not the NYTimes should be reviewing steakhouses is beside the point, IMO. I was more annoyed by the pedantic self-amused tone Bruni took throughout the review. It reminded me of the guy who tells a joke and laughs his ass off while everyone else in the room looks around at each other unamused. I don't care what the shrimp cocktail is like, I don't really want to know about the seafood options - a simple, brief mention that they exist would be fine. I want the majority of a steakhouse review to wax poetic about steak. Why it was good, why it was bad, what could be done better, etc. As I stated before, this discussion was left to the end and was miserably lacking in depth. That's what the review should have been - the steak, the normal sides (creamed spinach, potato, tomato and onion), then decor and service. Cut the seafood and dessert crap, cut the heath warnings (which are about 10 years behind the times and probably off-base, anyway). So far Bruni is 0.5/3 in quality reviews in my book with the 1/2 rating going to the Babbo review which was good overall, but fell short. I also dislike the man's failed attempts at humor, and sympathy-baiting style. -Eric

I find, as you described, the craving is often for starchy foods such as bread. Try eating lower carb count products that will still satisfy the craving. Supermarkets have tons of low carb breads, most of which taste decent enough to kill the craving.

While that may be the case, this type of review is problematic. A NYTimes review cannot assume prior knowledge. It must be able to be taken at face value because only a minority of readers will pick up the paper knowing the history of Bouley and this it is striving to be a 4-star place. As many have said, this review reads like a 2-star review at best. Clearly Bouley is still serving excellent food and should be considered a destination restaurant like the other 3/4 star places in NYC. Readers of a 3-star review should walk away being excited about trying the place, not avoiding it like the plague. Bruni's review does the latter not the former, and for that it is misguided. I ate at Bouley this past Thursday and had a wonderful meal. I am nowhere close to a reviewer, but my experience was top notch and I had no complaints. -Eric

No need to apologize about the course selection. I personally liked the layout of the meal and felt that it was a proper balance and transition from fish to meat just the way a multi-course meal is supposed to flow. Again, everything was wonderful and a good time was had by all of us. To answer your question about my age, I am 22 years old - 23 in November.

As far as I recall there was none in my meal last night.

I dined at Bouley last night and had a fantastic meal. It began and ended with the same amuse-bouches wongste reported and a few of the dishes were the same as well. Everything was excellent. I do not have the stamina to write up a full report and I do not remember the intricacies of each dish off the top of my head, but my sister took note of everything while we were eating and either she or I will post it at some point soon. I am nothing close to a professional food critic but there was nothing about my experience that would incline me to say the restaurant deserves any less than 4 stars. My thanks to chopjwu12 and the kitchen. -Eric

Henry's End as in the place on Henry Street in North Brooklyn Heights? I have never been there but the people I know who have say that it is good, but nothing close to 4 stars - based on the reactions I seen, I'd say Satisfactory-1 star. Please provide more info if possible.

Right, but I don't have a good sportscoat (or any sportscoat for that matter), and thus am reduced to suit or slacks/shirt as I am not going to buy a jacket specfically for this dinner.

business casual ranges in definition from dockers and a polo shirt to slacks and a button down. While anything in this range is acceptable to my office I prefer to look as presentable as I can and go with slacks and a button down. I have no problem wearing a suit on the day of my reservation. I just wish my father would do so as well. He's the one who picked the damn place, even though there are a number of restaurants I would have prefered to go to. We'll see how this experience holds up. Based on what I have been reading, I am going in with the expectation that the dining experience will be sub-par for the caliber of the restaurant. My best meal to date was the tasting menu at Aquavit so that's what I'll be using as comparison.

OP weighing in here. Originally I asked this question here because I was too lazy to call. However, I did end up calling and was told the "no jeans, no sneakers, jacket suggested" line. However, first hand observations can be helpful in that they offer a window into what people usually wear. Although the Hawiian shirt sounds tempting, I will probably go business casual or wear a suit. What do you guys think? I will be going there straight from work where the dress code is business casual. Should I bother wearing a suit that day. My father doesn't seem to want to wear a suit and it might seem odd (though it doesn't really matter) if I showed up in a suit and he was business casual.

I'm eating dinner at Bouley on the 17th. I need to know what the dress code is. Much thanks in advance.

I called yesterday. They seemed perplexed that I would even ask if there was a BYO policy. So that was a no go. I then asked if I could have a faxed copy of the wine list in order to be able to do some research beforehand. That was also met with a "no." It's too bad they won't let us bring in some bottles. My father has some great stuff in his cellar that he's picked up in the ccourse of 30 odd years. I thought it would at least be within their ability to fax us the list. It didn't seem like an unusual or burdensome request. Any way you could pursuade this to happen? If you could, that would great - just send me a PM. Thank you in advance for trying.

It's a graduation dinner (me college, my sister high school) with my family. I do plan on going withthe tasting menu. I am going to call to find out about the BYO situation and ask for a wine list to be faxed if possible.

I have a reservation for June 17th. I haven't been able to read through this entire thread, but early on the thread a post was made (in 2002) that one could bring their own wine for a $35 corkage fee? What's the back story to this and is it still possible to do this? -Eric

Why they sell ground lamb in supermarkets im patties instead of a in bulk like other ground meat always confused me. Anyway, I like to make lamb chili with ground lamb. Crumble the lamb into a large, hot skillet and brown it. Drain off some of the fat (or not), then throw in a holy trinity (onion, celery, pepper (I like to use red instead of green). When the veggies have softened, add curry powder to taste. Next add whole san marzano canned tomatoes, roughly chopped with a wooden spoon. add stock (beef, etc.) to cover, and stir in canned, rinsed kidney beans. Cook on high heat until the liquid is reduced to your liking and serve.

I think your best bet is to go to a natural foods store and see what's out there. There are all sorts of flours and pastas that are wheat-free. Some, of course, taste better than others, but it's possible to find a good balance. Spelt pasta is delicious - I prefer it to wheat pasta - and you can also find many wheat-free bread machine recipes online that will utilize non-wheat flours such as spelt, rice, oat, soy, etc. Best of luck.

Uh, have you been to the Astor Place/St. Marks Place Starbucks? They (along with the nearby Barnes and Nobles) bathrooms are disgusting! Worse than the bathrooms in shady Chinatown greasy wall places.

I have to say, it's been entertaining to read everyone's posts here. Although most are complaining, everyone still seems to be watching the show. Many people say that Rocco looks like a fool and this is bad for his career, blah, blah, blah. A few thoughts come to mind. First of all, there is really no such thing as bad press. Any coverage is good coverage. Second of all, as another member pointed out (I think it was Varmint), there are six episodes to this show. Being that it is a fictionalized version of reality it has been edited so things go badly, then get better, and Rocco triumphs in the end. Of course, I don't know this will be the case, but I'd be willing to bet on it. Lastly, and this is sort of the overarching theme, I guess - The field of Political Science teaches (basically) that people are stupid. That's why people don't vote, don't know the issues, and plain don't care. Same holds true for this show. No one will remember the disasters (especially after Rocco's triumphant finale) and even so, no one will care. They will go, they will eat, they will be impressed. There is no way that Rocco's career will be anything but bolstered by this venture, he has exposure and that is all that matters. -Eric

I sit here on this Sunday night digesting the last of my lobels steak (actually, that's not true, I just remembered I have a hanger steak left, but anyway). Between family and friends I placed seven orders each with the $50 credit. The meat was fabulous and was consumed at two barbeques, one on Friday, the other earlier tonight. After finishing this exquisite meat, I decided to try to use my work e-mail address and different credit card to get more meat with the credit. Much to my chagrin, the offer is no longer the same and although there still is a Morrell Wine deal, it is not nearly as good. The new offer is two free Wagyu steaks with a $200 order. The Lobels experience was fabulous although all to ephemeral - an experience to remember. -Eric

To start with, I haven't read through this entire thread, so if what I'm about to say has already been said, then I apologize in advance. I am also somewhat confused as to how this thread even got so popular, since it seems to very closely parallel the other "war on fat" thread (which has been linked) only with different players this time. Now for the post: The biggest myth that the food industry has decieved the general public with is that "low fat" translates into weight loss, or prevents weight gain. The most evil incarnation of this movement has to be Nabisco "Snack Wells" products. For every gram of fat that a company removes from a product they replace with many more grams of sugar. The net result is an equal or even higher amount of calories in the "low fat" product. I haven't been able to weed through the "is a calorie a calorie" argument, but from my own limited and admittedly biased knowledge I believe that refined carbohydrates such as sugar will lead to insulin spikes and thus weight gain. This means that "low fat" products are even worse that their lower sugar regular fat bretheren. I can only infer that the dimwitted folks who began the "low fat" trend came up with the flawed and simple reasoning that since fat has 9 cal/gram and protein/carbs have only 4 cal/gram, then eating less fat would lead to less overall calorie consumption. But, when 1 gram of 9 cal/gram fat is replaced with tons of sugar (carbs) the net result is added, not reduced calories. Furthermore, since sugar is pure energy, the body does not need to do anything to break it down, and it is immediately used, result in a lack of satiety, leaving you hungry for more food (hence calories). Fat sits there for a long while, giving you that warm and fuzzy "post 48oz steak feeling" where eating is the last thing on your mind. Now I don't suggest anyone just eat fat with reckless abandon, but I feel it is much less of a cause of over consumption of calories than the sugar that generally replaces it in "low fat" crap.

Two points: First one is that "Strive" Low-carb bars are quite tasty. Second point is that this discussion is neglecting a smaller yet important (to me, at least) segment of the low-carb community, and their products. Weightlifters are most concerned with high levels of protein in combination with reduced amounts of carbs. There are tons of bars (and shakes) catering to this market segment. From personal experience, many of the bars are pretty bad. But then, just when you think all hope is lost (like when they discontinue your favorite protein bar ) you come across another one so perfect in every way that you think realize all is right in the world. For me, this product is known as NITRO-Tech Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip bars. They are made by a company called Muscle-tech. These bars taste like wad of Jif peanut butter, mixed in with semi-sweet chip chinks, and covered with chocolate. Be warned, that they are much larger than your average chocolate bars, and are about 300 calories with a signifcant amount of fat, but they are very tasty, and very high in protein. As for protein shakes, these seem to be more tasty on the whole. I have limited experience various brands sinceI found that Met-Rx Chocolate shakes tates really good, and I drink those. -Eric

Bowl of various whole grain cereals = to about 6 cups, dry. Top with (in winter) 1 banana and 1 pear (anjou or bartlett), or in summer (1 banana, 1 pear, handful of strawberries, 1 peach and maybe other summer fruit). Fill bowl with skim milk until cereal is covered. Breakfast of champoins!