alacarte

The photos from Moishe's and Grand Sichuan are great, really mouth-watering! I'm enjoying watching your food-photography skills progress throughout the blog. But, no pressure.... :)

O'Neal's on 63rd/64th.

Thanks for the (contrarian) advice, simdelish. I think I'm going to test out this section of the recipe with slightly varying amounts of powdered gelatin and different recipe temps to see what works best. Doesn't look like this conversion will be as straightforward as I'd hoped.

I'm adapting a professional recipe for home cooks. The recipe (for a caramel sauce) calls for gelatin sheets dissolved in hot water. 1. Can I substitute 1 sheet for 1 tablespoon of gelatin powder? 2. Does the gelatin powder need to be dissolved in cold water, hot water -- does the temperature matter anyway? Thank you very much for any help you can provide, I appreciate it!!

...bonus points if any of these places serve meatloaf...

Carroll Hill indeed, you hopeless Manhattanite. ← correction: Carroll St.

I want to support you on this SethG, I really do....but I had to change trains twice to get out to Carroll Hill, and then to get back home to Manhattan we waited nearly 30 minutes (since trains are less frequent once rush hour subsides) to get a train back home. "Schlep" still applies, IMHO.

I understand that when the 'new' Yankee Stadium is built the on-site food options will be quite extensive.

Ouch. A magazine that "doesn't have a lot of advertising" is not likely to be around for very long, unless they are selling loads of subscriptions, which is unlikely by the second issue, or unless they have stellar financial backing. I agree that it's nice for the reader to not have to wade through tons of ads, but that's not a sign of a profitable publication. I bought the second issue of Chow on the newsstand, and I enjoyed it, so I hope it sticks around awhile. Let's hope those ad sales pick up!!

OK, dinner was last night, and here's the post-mortem. As I mentioned earlier, dinner was at The Grocery, in Brooklyn. It's a VERY small (maybe 10 tables in the dining room and another 10 in the outdoor garden) and very intimate. It's owned by two chefs who are VERY hands-on in every aspect of the restaurant. Chef Charlie is cooking your meal, but he's also the one who brings it to your table. He's also sitting at your table chatting when it's not full-on dinner rush, and I'm not surprised that he's monitoring the reservations too, which would not be the case at a larger establishment. Another note (I didn't know this before) -- our host accidentally canceled our 7PM reservation (had it confused with another event for another night) and had to call back and ask for a new reservation. Of course they were full for 7PM, but our host lives down the block and is a regular, so they fit us in at 6:30....meaning they expected to turn the table over for an 8PM or later reservation. The restaurant was about half-full when we left at 8:30, and I'm happy to say we were NOT given the bum's-rush out the door. By the way, the meal was great, one of the best I've had in some time. Despite the schlep out to Brooklyn, I'd recommend The Grocery to anyone in NY or heading to NY. The menu is fun and really made the most of seasonal ingredients and I enjoyed every dish I tried. Perhaps my favorite was the very creative "french fry salad" -- it's a salad of seasonal greens and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms -- I LOVE those mushrooms! The salad is garnished with a half-dozen crisp fries and a dressing made with (I think?) malt vinegar. The service is exceptional and they also throw in all kinds of little fun extras, like a chilled asparagus-leek soup in tiny silver cups and a trio of little scoops of sorbets at the end of the meal.

I talked with someone yesterday who recommended brewing double-strength tea (he suggested 3 teasp. tea and 4 cups water), then cool it down with ice, but never add cold water to the brew. When the ice melts, add more ice. He also recommended adding apricot puree to plain brewed iced tea -- I thought that sounded like a nice drink !

Interesting feedback. The part I find so odd is not the (veiled) reminder to be on time for the reservation, which I can appreciate -- rather it's the part about "the chef wants to know...." that I find a bit unusual.

"um, yes..."

A friend invited mr. alacarte & me for dinner at The Grocery in Brooklyn. When the reservation was made, our friend was asked: "...and chef Charlie asked if you expect to arrive on time." Huh? Has this happened to anyone else? I've never heard of this before.

What's your technique for making iced tea from the brewed stuff? When I try it always turns out too strong or too bitter.

I hope you also add to your list Big Booty Bakery on W. 23rd St. They have amazing looking stuffed brioches. It's owned by a Wall Street refugee turned baker. Gotta love the name of the place.

excellent pictures, as always!

I went to Craftbar for the first time since it re-opened in its new space on Broadway (the one previously occupied by Morrell's). It's a little different than the previous Craftbar, and more like big sister Craft now. The limited menu and gentler prices that characterized Craftbar are no more, and the space now looks very much like Craft -- a good thing, because it the larger space means more elbow room. I recognized some of the dishes from Craft as well -- for example, the raw yellowtail with lemon preserves appetizer, which I loved at Craft. Others are new, such as a tuna belly appetizer with thinly-sliced caperberries, also excellent. Mr. alacarte ordered seared grouper with heirloom beans and artichokes. It's been a long time since I've seen this picky eater so happy with a meal. I had a chunk of halibut with baby zucchini, stinging nettles, and nicoise olives, also very good. They don't have the wonderful sides of vegetables and potatoes that Craft does, but the menu was pretty substantial otherwise. I'd estimate that the menu now has double the number of entrees and apps that the previous Craftbar had. One other, more subtle difference: Mr. alacarte noticed that the same paintings of animals were hung in the new space. However, where the picture of a cow, for example, had the word "veal" painted on it, the paintings now include the words of vegetables that animals eat ("corn," "carrots," etc.) I guess the old pictures offended someone's delicate sensibilities? We asked the waiter about that, but he wasn't sure why the change had been made.

anyplace the tourists don't know about

We went to Prime Grill for passover -- we saw Ellen Barkin and hubby Ron Perelman at the next table. There's also a dairy Circa on Dey St, right next to Century 21. Thanks for all the updates! Has anyone been to Cafe K in midtown?

I understand that sushi restaurant Yama has its own fish supplier (also called Yama). I haven't tried to buy fish from them directly, but it might be worth a shot.

Your desserts look fabulous. In your Steak & Shake photo, what's in the bottle to the right of the picture? It looks like a bottle of yellow pickles.

Try Sean & Nora's in Barre. It's 5 minutes away from Montpelier. It's probably the only place in Barre worth seeing, though.

People swear by frozen leaves. I just prefer to use them fresh. I think time it such that you can use it.. they are inexpensive now. The other thing is to spend five bucks and get a tiny curry plant. That way you have them when you need them. ANd they are always fresh. Heck even I can grow a curry plant.. trust me.. I kill silk flowers. So if I can do it, anyone can ← I'd love to hear more about curry leaves. What are they used for? What is the taste like? I was under the impression that "curry" was a mix of spices, not a particular plant, so this is a new item to learn about.

I hope you'll post lots of food pictures. I'm looking forward to your blog. What are your favorite foods? I'm sure you have lots of Indian favorites, but do you have a favorite non-Indian food or cuisine?