bilrus

Obviously not a football fan. Ahhhh, TiVo. I love my Tivo - and this might actually be one places that won't have the game on to spoil the results.

Glad to know someone else in Omaha feels the same way. I thought I was the only one! There's one in DC too who agrees.

Obviously not a football fan.

I think Vengroff has it right. Would someone rather go to a two star place where they spend $40 or a two star place where they spend $150? I know that I would much rather have a good reasonable meal at two star Firefly than at two star Kinkeads.

Depending on what plans Jen has for the weekend, I/we might be up for this.

And to add to the "boyish-looking fellow" John W's question - Do you plan to use the star system for the upcoming book as well?

My guess is that the level that the restaurant is striving for also weighs in the grading. If Kinkead's is trying to be a four star place and falls short, should they get downgraded all the way to a zero or one star? Likewise - if a restaurant is trying to be a good solid restaurant, but has no airs about being four star, even it is the best possible restaurant in its category, should it be a four star?

You could add to that that he wants to make it in New York. A great number of very successful people have enough pride that failure get under their skin. This is especially true of perfectionists - which it seems applies to Keller. Maybe his failure to succeed in New York in the '80s is a source of wounded pride for him. Isn't it interesting that we can do these in depth psychological analyses of someone most of us have never met and many of us have never even eaten his food?

Would this topic be better on the Indian Board? You would probably get a much broader array of opinions. As for my opinion, I think a place like Heritage India, which I do really like, is a very traditional place. For more modern Indian, I would think someplace like Indique here in DC or Tabla in New York is more along the lines of 'updated' Indian. But even those don't really take things too far from the tried and true. I am curious if modern restaurants in India (and I guess England as well) are following a similar path to modern restaurants here in the US - inredients and technques from all over the globe - with restauants that could feature Italian, Japanese or African elements all on the same menu.

I don't understand the theory behind Burger King using these two or even Crest using Emeril for those annoying (is that redundant - Emeril and Annoying?) toothpaste ads. While these are big stars of Food TV (although you can't even say that about Bayless) Food TV is a farily small network in the scheme of things. Most of us on eGullet know who they are, but how many people really know them. Why not just go the route of "I'm not a chef/food personality, but I play one on TV" and put the guy in a big Touque carrying a spatula. Not to veer this completely off topic but I get the same feeling watching K Street on HBO. On there they use Politicians and Political Pundits in cameos without identifying who they are. I am in the business so I know them, but I can't help but wonder how many people are completely baffled by this program. I'm baffled by it enough myself. I guess niche marketing is becoming more and more mainstream.

Most men (and many women) are best viewed fully clad, IMO.

I doubt it will tarnish her culinary image and probably help her out in the eyes of her loyal food fans, which BTW, many post on FTV's forums claiming that the FHM shots were faked and really weren't Ms. Ray. edit: where's my coffee? Who else could work their face into those goofy, fake-sexy positions. It is exactly what I would have imagined she would look like in that position. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

My favorite is when they ask you how everything is, just as I am putting a large akward bite of food in my mouth - and then stand there and look at me waiting for an answer. I generally nod and think to myself - there goes a little bit of your tip.

As long as Rick Bayless doesn't end up in FHM magazine - I think I'll be fine with all of this.

Yeah - it was ok, but not anything to rave about. I had a scampi appetizer that reminded me why youshouldn't serve seafood and cheese together (at least not in the ratio they did with that dish - about 2 to 1 cheese to shrimp). It worked out OK though - got to read a lot of an interesting book and didn't have to do pizza in the room. Its Mark's next time though. About how far is it from the airport?

I haven't been there yet when this didn't make it to my table. The soft inside of the pitas make for great sopping too.

I am posting this here are in the West forum Simultaneously. I am leaving to go to Omaha on business in 15 minutes and wanted to find a place to go for a fairly nice dinner by myself with a book. Any suggestions? I will be cehcking the boards again this evening.

Hope everyone has fun and eats well (of course) while I am on the road for work.

Nice review that pretty well matches what everyone has been saying on this thread (without Vengroff's stunning visual aids).

Care to fill us in, Mark? I'd also like to know what "Shrimp Bruno" is. I don't know, but according to Google the Palm is the only place to get it. Sounds Yummy.

Maybe the same people who order the "Plain Broiled" Red Snapper. On another note - what an unappealing website.

I have made this green bean recipie the last few big holiday meals and really like it - of course it has bacon in it so how bad could it be: Green Beans with Bacon and Onions from Cooking Light Instead of cocktail onions, I make it with the little pearl white and red onions. They take a little onger to cook, but add a little to the recipe.

Mark, thanks for the Intel. In looking back at my post from last night I realized tht it probably came across as a little more cranky than it should have (probably because I was so full). I did enjoy my meal and would encourage people to try it out, especially as things come more into focus. I'm not just saying this because the chef reads the board. I'm saying it beacuse the city needs more places that are doing something a little different than the norm and that needs to be encouraged. This is why I went early in Ceiba's life. I would still stand by the comments about the full flavors not coming through, but my guess is that a chef as committed as Mark as described would read comments like this and make adjustments. Maybe I ordered things that aren't by nature as flavorful as others in their original state. My comments about having other restaurants that I am more interested in going back to are more a reflection of how many places I haven't been yet and want to try. My wife and I are spending a lot of weekend evenings (and money) trying to make up for lost time in going to new places. That comes at the expense of other places we have been to, tried and liked quite a bit. Just looking at two examples concerning participants from from this board. I really enjoyed our "on a whim" meal at Firefly and want to take Jen back somethime soon, but we haven't beenable to squeeze it in yet. And I still have yet to go to Citronelle (although I think that may be Jen's birthday dinner in December). I would assume that this is a tough thing for many restaurants - the fact that there are a lot of new a interesting places opening up, competing for limited diners and limited dollars. It's great from the consumer end, but I would have to imagine that it is a real pain in the ass from the chef and restaurateur side of the equation.

Did anyone else look at the title of this and think of Fred Flintstone's car tipping over under the weight of his bronto ribs at the drive through?

Jen and I made it there this evening. It was good, but I would echo what most have said - that I am not rushing back right away. Although that might be because I am completely stuffed right now. We started with the ceviche sampler. I am embarrassed to admit that this was the first time I have ordered ceviche on my own (as opposed to stealing a bite or two off of someone else's plate). It was interesting to me that each of the four fishes had a different very texture. My two favorites were the shrimp and the tuna, while my wife's favorite was the halibut. We then had the crab fritters and the duck confit empanadas. Both of these were good on their own, but the sauces that came with them - a "Spicy Scotch Bonnet Chili, Mango Lime Crème Fraiche" with the fritters and the afore mentioned "Sour Orange Huacatay Mojo" were overpowering and too spicy. Our entrees were the Seared Scallops with gnocchi, balck beans and a corn sauce. The gnocchi didn't add much to the dish, but I did like the slight sweetness provided by the corn sauce. The Pork Shank Feijoada was homey and very filling (that's why I am so stuffed right now). Nothing too flavorful aside from a light smokiness, but very satisfying. For desserts we had the churros and the Vanilla-Bean Cheesecake with Guava Jelly and Mango-Lime Salad. The chessecake was perfectly serviceable, but nothing special. The churros were perfectly crisp outside while retaining a chewy softness inside. I have to say that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to dip the churros in the chocolate or drink it so I did both. With our meal, we had several of the good, strong cocktails including mojitos and mango margaritas. I forget who mentioned that they thought everything was alittle under seasoned, but aside from the sauces with the appetizers I would agree. While I understand that not everything in the region is fierly hat, I do think of it being a very flavorful cuisine (or group of cuisines) and I didn't feel that here. This was similar to my one and only meal at TenPenh - I enjoyed it while I was there but I haven't been back in the two years since. There are a few other items I wanted to sample, but there are probably going to be other restaurants I would rather sample more. One other thing that was unusual. When we arrived at the host stand (we had made our reservations through Open Table) the host said "Russell party of two - your reservation says eGullet VIPs." I didn't mention anything about eGullet in my reservation so either someone at the restaurant is lurking or someone among us called ahead for me. Either way - thanks, whoever it was.