mrbigjas

i had a mcdonalds coffee relatively recently and thought it was terrible. and it was fresh--the guy was pulling out the pot to pour my cup as it was brewing. i also recently had a starbucks regular coffee, and it was awful as well. but it cost like a dollar more than the mcdonalds. edited to say: but also at the mcdonalds i ordered a hash browns, and after i pulled out when i opened the bag i found a sausage egg & cheese mcmuffin. this categorically cannot happen at a starbucks, and therefore mcdonalds wins the contest!

ah, gotcha. that makes sense, then. edit: i just realized we crossposted--i didn't see what you'd posted there when i wrote that last one.

inquirer & daily news 1/30 - 2/4 craig laban likes fleming's steakhouse in radnor lari robling likes tiffin, and really who doesn't? table talk, including yunique noodle house in the bellevue, and rum bar and a bunch of other stuff. philadelphia city paper 2/1 lew bryson writes about irish whiskey. he doesn't mention black sheep, though, where they have a truly kickass selection elisa ludwig on tiffin top five ethnic grocers philadelphia weekly 1/31 as we've discussed, snackbar doesn't thrill kirsten henri like it does mister phil, here. tribune-review 1/30 - 2/4 dave desimone on a wine and cheese tasting karin welzel on a cuban party michael machosky lunch-reviews folino's karin welzel writes about the shiloh pittsburgh city paper 2/1 angelique bamberg and jason roth get a slightly more authentic chinese meal at little asia in oakland

this one was interesting -- the pepper didn't come in until half a minute or so after you swallowed. what's up with the pricing on this one? i used to buy it all the time a couple years ago, and it was like $15 or $16 for a liter bottle. now it's up to like $23 -- like, a 50% increase in not that long a time. still, good stuff. this was the sleeper of the night for me. rich and earthy, not as aromatic and fruity as the others. i'd like it on some cod. or some chickpeas. this one is so sweet and floral, it's really one of the most distinctive oils. the manzanilla, to me, had a kind of angular, clay-ey taste to it. i just realized that maybe that might be the art supply flavor? or something? the aroma you get from a potter's wheel, or a glaze? you shoulda tried it with the lentils. how much of that could we really taste, though? having been grilled, couldn't it have been any of them?

i've read that it's from girasole.

that thing was out of control. like capigiro's pistachio gelato does, it tasted more like mozzarella di bufala than the actual mozzarella does. what's up with that? anyway, grassy mozz, grassy oil... yes indeedy.

you know it! i hear they're great roasted in a cheeto crust. let us pause to remember the classic movie half baked: hahaha weed birds. sign me up for one... no, THREE, man!

the blue foot tasted more... chickeny. almost as if it had been salted more, which you can see wasn't the case. but more than the flavor, to me, was the texture. the eberly bird was good, but it had a rubberier texture that was a little offputting compared to the other. it exuded more juice, too. it was almost like it was cooked less or something--which, i mean, you see the cooking time of the two birds, that wasn't true either. at the time, i wondered if there would be as much of a difference if the birds were roasted rather than cooked sous vide. seems like the bluefoot would have much more of a chance of drying out, because of that texture issue. wouldn't change the flavor though. at the end we decided that we should do a similar taste test but throw in the whole foods, bell & evans, and a good ol yellow perdue chicken too. it would be hard to disguise the perdue, though.

mix up the vetri oil. it makes all the difference.

What Katie said. Hmph. ← dudes the whole thing was instigated and whatnot right here on the board, although damned if i can find the original original post that v. was referring to in starting this thread. anyway, some impressions of the evening: i've tasted a lot of wine and drunk enough wine over the years that you'd think i'd be better at tasting. truth be told, i'm not that great at it. and adding the different sensations and... well, oiliness, that tasting oil straight up involves, it threw me off even more. even with the amplifier glass, i was struck more by the similarities between the oils than the differences. i was expecting more noticeable variations between the oils, but the second i took a sip, it just came back to whoa, ok, olive oil. there were, of course, outliers, and a few were the oils from non-european places. the tunisian oil had the peppery burn that many do, but rather than showing up in the finish like it does in a tuscan olive oil, say, it came right out in front. the becchina olio verde (italian, but still noticeably different) smelled and tasted like a straight up bag of grass clippings. the yellingbo had some chemically scent to it that was hard to put my finger on. the other area that surprised me was that there was actually a difference in mouthfeel to the oils--not that that's really possible, if you think about it, since they're all just oil. but the way the taste perceptions make your mouth react, i guess... it wasn't just that some were 'rounder' tasting, they FELT rounder in the mouth. and there were several tasting techniques that we experimented with. v. had brought the granny smiths to clear the palate, as hathor suggested upthread, but at first we were all hesitant to try them, in case the green appley flavor would influence other oils. well, after a test, it turns out it did indeed do a great job of clearing things out without unduly screwing things up. in addition, the vetri and the becchina had sediment in them--stirring that up made a real flavor difference. prior to the mixing, they were good but a little boring, even. but with the sediment mixed in, there was a striking difference--actually with both of them i got a match-head smell right when they were first poured after the mixing, but that dissipated quickly enough. just like with wine, though, tasting things on their own and tasting them in a food context is a very different experience. after smelling and tasting 13 oils in a row (i could never be a wine judge), palate fatigue was setting in. and this is when we started eating, and things woke back up. when you use a nice oil to finish a dish, i feel like much of the oiliness is lost in the food, and what you are left with are the aromatics coming off the dish--it acts like a spice or herb in this way. so for instance, the lentil stew was a hot dish, with plenty of spice and fat. i first chose the carm for it, because i thought the kind of thicker, earthier scent would go. it was lost almost immediately--it wasn't aromatic enough to come off the dish. the aguibal manzanilla, which was a more angular, raspier oil that i really enjoy, did the job perfectly. a few drops on each spoonful and this almost piney scent would emanate from the bite, only to be swallowed up by the chorizo and bacon. fantastic, and fleeting. or the ceviche--i thought the yellingbo would be nice at first, but it wasn't; it couldn't stand up to the acid that cooks the dish. the moulins mahjoub, though, had the stones to carry it off. ok this has gone on too long. can't read if too long. the evening was tons of fun, i learned a lot about how a tasting like this might work in the future. and i think i'ma have to get one of these. p.s. v. was wrong about the chickens. everyone knew in one bite of each, not three.

aw come on now, i've been to sk as many times as most (but only once to snackbar), and i know what's inspiring what when i see it. and taste it. the execution might not be the same, but many of the concepts are. of course, maybe everyone's doing things like that in all kinds of places in NY and chicago and whatnot, and i'm just associating it with sk because that's the only place i've had it here. if so, fair enough. i haven't been out of town in nearly six months...

just admit it: it's your studiokitchen fix now that studiokitchen is no more...

maybe it should be expanded to cover more than just laban.

yeah that's the part that hasn't changed much. still nice oysters (windy points this week, or so they said--i thought they were known for being big, but these were quite small, and all the better for it); giant shrimps in cocktail sauce, lumpfish, paddlefish and salmon roe, some maki rolls, smoked whitefish and trout, peppered mackerel, smoked salmon, and a red and white tuna tartare.

well, a couple of us stopped by the tria school last night for their class on austrian wines. and i don't know what happened after i left, but while i was there it was highly enjoyable. it was in essence a standard wine class--speaking about the different cultivation techniques, soil composition, what to look for in various grape types and whatnot. but it was pretty focused (in this case, on austrian wines, obviously) and only $40--the kind of thing you don't see a ton of around here. unfortunately i had eaten something bad earlier that day so i had to bail from the class early to go home and puke for a while. so i don't know if there was anything more to the class than just the standard stuff. but it was fun! i know these sell out quickly, so i'll be keeping an eye on the schedule and doing it again.

took my parents to lacroix for brunch this past sunday, and i'm here to tell ya that it may be even better than it was before. the raw bar hasn't changed much. the cold appetizer area still focuses on similar things -- little bites of foie gras (in a candied kumquat half), tempuraed things in soups, salads of beets, quail eggs -- although the actual dishes have changed. there was a charred scallion and maitake mushroom salad with black truffle vinaigrette that was one of the rockinest things i've had recently. the place where things have improved is the hot area. rather than beef wellington, it was venison. and it was ruby rare. lamb chops were not overcooked. a pork belly with orange-rosemary marmalade. wild boar loin with ginger jus. and the sides were just as good. barley and apple pilaf. smoked scrambled eggs with tuna confit and piperade. creamed kohlrabi. mushroom and sweetbread gratin. a saffron custard with a mussel in it. the dessert buffet was good too, but by that time i was just running on adrenaline so it's all a blur. anyway: still $52, still a good deal. wines still very pricey. if you make even the slightest effort to do justice to everything, you won't eat till the next day. if you haven't been, go back.

ok then. philadelphia inquirer and daily news 1/23-1/29 laban on kitchen 233 in westmont restaurant week is on now we missed the belgian style ale party at iron hill on friday table talk, including carmine's and others rick nichols complains about not being able to drink coffee on the train philadelphia city paper 1/25 elisa ludwig on the filipino food at cebu in old city drew lazor reports on philly cooks top five polish pit stops philadelphia weekly 1/24 brook midgely on qvc food styling pinot, a new shop of wine stuff in old city pittsburgh tribune-review karin welzel on chili lunch review: double-wide grill in south side karin welzel again, on bravo franco, downtown pittsburgh city paper 1/25 boulevard bistro in oakmont

now, how would you know that? do you have meat grading experience that you haven't told us about?

this is true. i made it last night and served it on duck breast. it almost overwhelmed the duck breast but tasted fantastic. i can see how making it in a mortar and pestle would be better than with a food processor, though. you can never really get the silky texture with a food processor. you say it freezes well, and i'm testing that as well...

the other day i had a chocolate-covered mint oreo. i don't usually eat stuff like that, but DAMN was it good. i don't think i'd notice if it was made with a non-trans fat, though. i just don't eat them often enough to notice a minor difference in texture or something. man that was tasty though.

for anyone reading right at the moment, these hearings are being shown on PCN right now (comcast channel 186 downtown)

makes sense to me--the difference between medium and sharp cheddar is aging, after all, isn't it?

ok then, nearly missed another week. i'm trying here, but things get away from me. inquirer and daily news, 1/15 - 1/22 laban on copper bistro table talk joe sixpack on dogfish head's hops cannon rick nichols on fogo de chao and on his ongoing kitchen renovation new chef and owner at happy rooster city paper 1/18 ashlea halpern starts eating meat again (of course prompting a flood of annoying letters from both sides) elisa ludwig checks out miraku feeding frenzy, including king edward's steaks, which replaces the notorious penn steaks at 13th & bainbridge! woo! philadelphia weekly 1/17 freegans and learning about your supermarket's dumpster policies main line magazine, jan/feb rich pointed out that main line magazine is now on line, so despite its incredibly annoying java interface that prevents you from linking to the the articles themselves, there you have it. which reminds me, speaking of local magazine writing, why not philadelphia magazine? the answer is because i can't figure out which article was published when, and i'm not gonna hang around on their website trying to keep track of any random update they do. any of the rest of you write for magazines? try to get them to make their online presence reflect their printed content. and then maybe they'll be included in a local media roundup no one reads. <snap snap snap> same goes for philadelphia style, whose dining section appears to mostly be a blog--although they do link to philadining et al's thread on xochitl in this entry. (aside: we went out to xochitl last friday and lemme tell ya that cocktail they make with the hibiscus and the pama liquer is fantastic) ANYWAY, moving across the state... pittsburgh tribune-review 1/15-1/22 a nice article on rhone wines karin welzel on curries lunch review of lucci's in squirrel hill alice t. carter writes about UUBU 6 and then a couple days later, karin welzel does too diners! pittsburgh city paper 1/18 la cucina dolce in monroeville that's all for now. time to finish up the special jas style... (shot of bulleit bourbon, washed down with chesterfield ale) (although i'm out of chesterfield, so tonight it's yuengling premium) ...and it's off to bed...

there's iberico sausage around now, running about $40 a pound at dibrunos, but i haven't seen the jamon itself. booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

at penn there was a food truck outside of hup, and it had a champ cherry umbrella. and it was run by this really nice pakistani couple. and an egg & cheese sandwich was a dollar. and they'd give you a pretzel with anything you ordered. so on those mornings when you're heading home after being up all night partying (not that i would know anything about that of course, i was up early for... uh, church! yeah that's the ticket!), for $1.75 you could get a cup of coffee, an egg & cheese, and a pretzel. and if there's a better deal than that i'd like to know it. p.s. it's been a couple of years but to my knowledge the truck is still in existence, in that parking lot between hup and the penn museum.