mrbigjas

wow, that would be good news. i think i'll order up a bottle of that luxardo amaretto katie was raving about.

thanks for the info rick. what kind of shipping do you have to pay for that?

i've heard from several korean friends that woo rae kwan wasn't by any means the best korean around, but that the food was generally solid and that their selection of banchan was a standout. i've never had anything but very friendly service there, and last time we were there with a group of people they brought out more banchan than i've gotten pretty much anywhere else, including such specialties as the hot dog with kimchi and the whole pickled fish...

i wouldn't say that--heck, your money is as green as anyone's. it's more likely that they don't know the english names for them, or that there aren't really english names for them. there are lots of things at asian markets like that--i find that posting questions in the various fora here usually nets me some kind of answer.

Maybe there's different kinds of dried bamboo shoots. The dried and reconstituted ones that I've had definitely had a pungent smell to them. Pungent to the point where if someone didn't know where the smell was coming from they'd be wary of the dish. ← thanks seitch. it was definitely... uh... different. but again, not like they had done something wrong; i trust this restaurant to make things correctly. it was just... i wasn't sure what that funkiness was.

hmm... thanks for the answer about the shoots. i don't think it was the nuoc mam, though. that was the gingery condiment that was served with the soup--i know what fish sauce smells like, and this wasn't it. i'll keep trying to figure it out...

We dubbed this wine "The Big Roach" the other day at SK. (Can you tell it wasn't our first bottle of the night?) A few more swigs and were devising advertising campaigns with the slogan "Eat the Bug!" We were really getting somewhere until some stickler pointed out that it actually means "the Big Rock." What fun is that?!? Anyway, it was really quite nice in the elegant LaTour white Burgundy kind of way... ← i drank a bottle of this one recently too, and agree with the above. a solid performer in every way.

i think this discussion is kind of interesting--it's hard to define what the best burger in town is, if you don't define what you're looking for in a burger to start with. often, i like a nicely charred outside. a beefy, rather than burger-y flavor--like a good steak, ground up. i like a brioche roll, because after all in the same way that a pat of butter enhanced a good steak, a ridiculously buttery roll enhances a good burger. i like it with blue cheese, and caramelized onions. other times, i'm right with holly--very few adornments, a smaller, greasier patty that'll stand up to squashing, american cheese and a whitebread roll. and ketchup, maybe with some hot sauce mixed in. i think those are two different styles of burgers--and while i don't necessarily disagree that the restaurants are doing it to make money, i love the giant steakier burgers that i posted above as well as the smaller ones. mmmm burger

i came to the realization this past time that clear plates would be perfect for allowing plate licking while retaining the ability to make conversation...

a couple more for your consideration: 1. black sheep. they make an excellent burger there--BUT. sometimes if they're in a hurry they do that thing where they press it on the grill, which dries out a burger and makes it overcook more quickly. go on an off-night. their fries are also solid. 2. brasserie perrier makes a consistently great burger, and i do mean great. served on a brioche roll--i recommend it with blue cheese and caramelized onions. and (holly take note) when they're on, which has been about two of the three times i've been there, they make perfect fries. about 1/4-3/8 in. thick, and they must be twice fried, as near as i can tell, because they're perfectly crisp on the outside and giving inside.... they make it worth it to get fries. usually i don't even bother with fries if i have a couple and they suck. but these are the bomb. i don't understand the thing with the sweet potato fries, really, because they're never crisp. and i think they make the regular fries soggy too. bleah. but anyway, yeah, brasserie perrier. one of the best burgers in town, and on thursday evening they have a happy hour 7-9 where they pour house wine for like $4 a glass and lager is $2.50 or something. so even though the burger is like $13, it can still be inexpensive.

thanks for the report, arice. i was talking to someone today who saw the advertising brochures for space in the renovated building, and he said that woo rae kwan was in the drawings. not that that really means much of anything specific, but he somehow has the impression besides that, that they're coming back. i certainly hope so.

last night we were at a vietnamese restaurant here in philadelphia, and i ordered a soup that was listed as duck and bamboo shoots, with rice noodles. doing a little research i think it's called bun vit sao mang? they brought out the plate of condiments, which involved bean sprouts and basil, as usual, but also red cabbage chopped up. and a very gingery, slightly thickened sauce that i haven't seen before. when they brought the soup, it was really... let's say pungent. the condiments and the ginger sauce definitely lessened the effect, but the smell was there and not to be denied. i'm pretty adventurous and there aren't many things in the world that i don't like, but this smell made me sit up and take note, and not in a good way. one thing i noticed was that i was expecting regular bamboo shoots, like fresh or canned, and these were definitely dried and reconstituted. i've never had dried bamboo shoots before--were they the source of the smell? or could it have been something else? (p.s. we ate a lot of it anyway; i don't know if it's something that i'll get used to, but i'm certainly not going to reject something just because i ordered something new that i don't like all that much) i'm hoping that this is a common enough recipe that you guys can answer this one...

i don't mean to nitpick--i really don't--but don't you think that recommending two mexican restaurants in the 'or try this' section is a little lame? i mean, i know there are no other spanish places in town (although i seem to remember craig laban reviewing one out in like avondale or somewhere, a couple of years ago), and i know jose garces created the menu at el vez. but really, mexican =/= spanish. ok i know, what else are they gonna recommend? i know. but still i couldn't help thinking of that onion article "Restaurant turns out to be Spanish, not Mexican" when i read it.

shime saba = sushi grade pickled mackerel.

does that mean woo rae kwan is open again? please say yes.

it's no secret; that's exactly what he did. somewhere there's a photo of him doing it, probably...

that would explain why it tasted so familiar to me, i bet.

exactly. it's not a bug, it's a feature!

that first one was shime saba (pickled mackerel), with spicy yuzu sorbet, a granny smith and cucumber salad, and hackleback caviar, with mint oil. and a potater chip. the second was a potato terrine with neuske's applewood ham and sage, a poached egg injected with truffle jus, and lobster choron sauce. and that's lemon oil around the edge of the plate. one was a flourless chocolate cake with smoked chocolate and the candied kumquat, and the other was 'chocolate milk' with foamed malted milk on top and shola's version of rice crispies.

it seems that these stories fall into just a couple of categories: 1. 'that meal sure did suck, but the people are nice and just can't cook/don't know how to entertain', and its corollary 1a. 'the meal sure did suck--the people are nice, but they just didn't try very hard' 2. 'the meal sure did suck, but more importantly the people were awful', and its corollary 2a. 'the meal didn't even suck that badly, it's just that the people were awful' (for corollary 1a, there's a great episode of northern exposure in the 5th season, where joel falls solidly into this camp, called 'the big feast') i have an inexplicable love for that stuff. it's so embarrassing.

all your points are true, but considering you can get one for a hundred bucks, i'm still thinking about picking one up for experimentation purposes.

it was listed as orange on the menu, but i suspect kumquat

this is embarrassing but i totally woke up at like 6 this morning and started thinking about all the parts of that meal (including the recipes that i'm gonna rip off at home), and then i couldn't get back to sleep. i think there's something wrong with me.

i was at their takeout/lunch place about a month ago, and everything was excellent. i always have loved fork. there just aren't that many restaurants around that have had that level of consistently good food, service and atmosphere year in and year out. as old city gets more insane every weekend, they just sit there doing their thing, and doing it right. maybe it's time for me to head back for dinner...

not the green curry, the stir fry curry. with some carrots and celery; a side of yu choy with oyster sauce. i would have made the green curry, but i didn't have coconut milk. and it turned out so good that i'm glad i didn't, now. that's a great idea, just keeping them around all the time.