mjc

I would agree that they are not usually very talkative, but I would not characterize it as rude. I've said in previous posts about the place, that I think it would be more fun if they were more engaging and talked about what they were doing. However, I have found that everyone there is more talkative when they are not "working".

so your not using a machine?

I would think that, the icyness probably has more to do with either your recipe or freezing process rather than cooking of your custard. You usually want to cook your custard to about 185F, after cooking it should be smooth and thickened. Whenever my ice creams come out a little icy its usually do to the freezing, for example while its it the ice cream machine i add something to the custard (alcohol, chips) that lowers the temperature and melts some of the custard. So I would suggest that you always make sure that all of the ingredients you add to the machine are cold. I usually refridgerate the base of my ice cream over night. You should also keep anything you plan to add to it cold.

probably Latin American Cafe at 134 East Post Road

As i've said before, I thought each of the desserts in the flight were excellent on my trip there and strongly reccomend trying it. Erez--What two desserts did you have and how were they?

there are two in white plains. One in the westchester mall and one at the start of central ave (its 200 central ave, across from the county convention center). Here's the website

I second City Limits Diner. Its a great place. Its an "upscale diner." It sort of has the spirit of a diner but the dishes are all very creative and ingredients of the highest quality. They also make there own artisanal breads and good pastries.

Finally made it to WD-50 tonight. I went with my folks and my cousins (5 total) to celebrate my birthday (my actual birthday was about a month ago, but this was the first time we could all get together.) Anyway, to sum up our evening I would use the word fantastic. It’s really a very cool room and the service is excellent and the food of course is excellent. I would say that every dish we had was very good, and most really stood out. I think that the meal was very enjoyable as a meal, but also as an intellectual experience. The bread box (it’s a wooden box) contains very flat, flat breads, perhaps you would call them crisp, covered with sesame seeds (black and white). They are incredibly light and have a great saltiness. For appetizers we had: Rabbit sausage, avocado, grainy mustard paper, and dried apricots—This was a nice dish, didn’t excite anyone all that much, but my favorite component was the grainy mustard paper. I asked a lot about how they make things, but I totally forgot to ask about how they make the papers. Corned duck, rye crisp, purple mustard, horseradish cream—This was good, but again I didn’t find it all that exciting. The duck was in strips wrapped around the top of a rye crisp and there was more duck and mustard and horseradish inside. Gambon shrimp, onion-clove compote, red pepper, and preserved lemon yogurt—This was very good, the shrimp were cooked perfectly and really were enhanced the compote and the spiciness of the pepper, the yogurt added great citrus flavor as well as cooling. Butternut squash-tamarind soup, scallop cous cous, lemon paper—This one was fantastic. The soup was excellent and contained no cream. The lemon paper was tasty and very cool. The cous cous was really amazing—it’s not cous cous at all, but finely chopped and cooked scallops. All of these elements really went well together Squid linguine, cantaloupe melon, serrano ham, sweet paprika—Another delicious and very cool dish. Foie gras/anchovy terrine, citrus chutney, tarragon—So this one of course I had read a lot about. I was really expecting a lot from this dish and it met my expectations. The foie gras was very creamy and the anchovy added a great salty flavor. What really put this dish over the top though was the crunch provided by the cocoa nibs sprinkled on top. For our Main Dishes we had: Cod, smoked mashed potato, pickled mushrooms, red pepper oil—Again this was great. The smoked mashed potatoes had a really great flavor and combined with the spiciness of the pepper oil really made the cod excellent. Artic Char, pearl barley, pea shoots, spice bread—This was my favorite main dish. The Char was basically uncooked—well its cooked in the oven at about 250 degrees for some time until its hot, but maintains a very uncooked appearance and texture. Sprinkled on top of the fish are spice bread crumbs. The textures again were great and the flavors pure autumn. Monkfish, snow peas, oyster mushrooms, bonito broth, mint oil—This was again excellent, I especially liked the bonito broth. Lamb loin, aged goat cheese, wild arugula, cracked wheat, arugula puree, hibiscus-date puree—This dish was good, but the least exciting of what we had. The hibiscus-date puree was a nice sweat compliment to the lamb which was very well cooked. Dessert: The desserts were all very good, but I felt that only two of them, maybe three, were created with the same spirit as the rest of the menu. Five pears, five ways—The ways were, consume, pickeled (in the consume), confit (in center of consume), sorbet (on top of confit), and chips (on top of sorbet). The sorbet was excellent with a great flavor and texture. The chips were very good as well. And the soup had a nice flavor. This was a good dish, but didn’t blow me away. Roasted pineapple, red chili jelly, lychee-cilantro sorbet—The pineapple is roasted with vanilla beans and Japanese long peppers and so has a spice flavor on its own. The red chili jelly had a great kick and the sorbet great texture and flavor. My favorite dessert was definitely the Parsnip cake, coconut-cream cheese sorbet, carrot paper. The Parsnip cake is light and in the shape of a financier. On top of the cake is a walnut tuile. On top of the tuile is a scoop of coconut-cream cheese sorbet, and leaning on the sorbet is a rectangle of carrot paper. This dessert is basically a carrot cake deconstructed and reconstructed. Each component was fantastic and all went well together, I especially liked the sorbet. Gianduja parfait, chocolate cream, passion fruit coulis—This was very good and reminded me of my favorite cake—The chocolate Royal. It had a nice Gianduju mousse and a paillete feuilletine crunchy bottom. Also since it was my birthday we got a little chocolate cake with a candle and tuile which was good. Finally they brough us Red Pepper Gelees. These perfectly captured the essence of Red Pepper. After dinner our waitress took myself and my godfather (cousin) into the kitchen and Dewy (Wylie’s father) showed us around. He pointed out the really cool bonnet suite and introduced us to Wylie. They explained to us some of the techniques for creating the dishes. The kitchen was really very well organized, very clean, and very calm. I’m definitely looking forward to going back again.

I've been to Crispo twice, though have not been back since early summer. The two times I was there I found the service to be good and the food very good. I especially like the procuitto with smoked mozzarela and creamy polenta. The homemade ravioli are also excellent and the prices very reasonable. The other impressive thing about the place is that from what I understand, the chef Frank Crispo, pretty much built it himself.

alanamoana, thanks for the ideas. That makes sense to me, that maybe they were cooked a little too long. I tried to cook these like a creme brulee, the edges were set and it was still jiggly in the middle, but only the very middle. Should the cakes be more uniform in color on the sides and on the top? This weekend I went to a local bakery/restaurant for a day to learn about natural bread starters. While I was there I saw them making creme brulee and they covered the dishes with a sheet pan, so that the tops would not brown at all. Would this be a good technique for the cheese cakes too?

I made minature pumpkin cheesecakes for the pastry club bake sale last week. I followed the recipe from the star desserts book. She calls for "fresh" cream cheese (meaning no preservatives) and mascarpone. They had a fantastic texture. The recipe also calls for a ginger snap crust (make ginger snaps-grind-mix with melted butter). I made them in 2.5 (diameter) x 2 (height) steel cake rings. I baked the crusts for about ten minutes and then the cakes. While the cakes were in the oven I baked them with a pan of water in their too (she said in the book that this helps prevent them from cracking). I did not grease the rings and the cakes unmolded pretty well I think-(though it couldn't have been a little cleaner. Most of them sunk down a little in the middle. I assume this is because there were air bubbles in my cheese mix (?). I sold out in 5 minutes--so that was cool. Here's a pic:

on a somewhat unrelated note, bouley has a book coming out next week, based on the cuisine of danube.

Tan. Everything is done at the counter--at least all of the equipment is at the counter. The pacojet is there. The ice creams are not nessesarily made to order, but are made as canisters are emptied. Next to the pacojet is an induction plate (?), a countertop convection oven, a robocoup Below are refrigerator, freezer, rack, etc. Don't know about the overhead--don't all restaurants have standard items? Do you mean because of less variety of items-like no fish, meat to store?

Haven't been to the chocolate bar, but I'll bet that the spicy hot chocolate is Jacques Torres Wicked Hot chocolate. Its flavor comes from allspice, cinnamon, ancho chilis, and chipolte chilis

Well I also agree that it's exactly the way a restaurant should respond, most of the time. It's in their best interests to see that a diner leaves pleased. It's better for them to take a loss on the dish than to hold to their right not to offer a second dish without charge, but lets understand that the diner doesn't have the right to demand such service and it is a mark of graciousness on the part of the house. Sammy has already corrected your misunderstanding of wine service, ritual and etiquette, but I don't think it can be emphasized enough how mistaken it is to say one can try a wine to see if one likes it before buying it. I trust no one comes away from reading any post on eGullet with that impression. You do have the right to refuse a bottle that is flawed and the reason you are offered a taste is to determine if the wine is "corked" or has other off tastes. If you order Sauternes with your scallops and then decide the wine is too sweet for your taste, you have no right not to pay for the wine. It is the responsibility of the diner to know what he's ordering and how it should taste. If you ask for a dry wine and the sommelier recommends a Sauternes, then you have a case for refusal, but if you just don't like a wine you ordered, it shouldn't go back. That's not how it works. I'm genuinely surprised to see anyone say that on a web site of this caliber and surprised that it didn't meet up with a greater reaction. I agree with you Bux. I believe this is the way a restaurant should act, but as I thought about it more, I think its also was "gracious", but again I felt that the response here to my post was that it was some extraordinary act by the restaurant, which I don't believe it was. Also I want to add again, that its not that I just didn't like that dish--but that it did not meet my expectations with regard to quality, textures, or flavors. Another thing was that I didn't say take this back, I'm not paying for it, bring me something else. I said I would like something else--the server asked no questions about what was wrong with the dish, but only asked me what I would like. I appreciate the correction on the wine service. Perhaps my right to post on a web sight of this caliber should be revoked. I clearly didn't totaly understand the tradition of the wine service, but I didn't mean to imply that you just get a bottle of wine to taste it. What I was trying to say was that when you order wine (i'm not talking about myself, but someone who knows wine) and it arrives and it is not what it should be, based on your experience or perhaps the description by the server/sommolier, meaning either an off taste or the wrong taste, you should be able to send it back. Is that wrong too?

Well, one of you isn't telling the truth I don't think we ordered the house special saute. I guess Cecil ordered/brought it for us. I'm glad he did, because it was great in the buns with the pork.

i'm curious what you mean by unsorbetlike.

so it isn't usually served with the pork then?

what didn't you like about the sorbet?

Thursday was my 25th birthday and I was supposed to go to WD-50 with my family, but something came up and they had to cancel. So instead I went out to dinner with my med school friends. It was a pretty large group (10 people) and with such last minute plans I thought that one of the best places to go would be China 46. This was definitely and excellent choice and we had a really great meal. (I had been there once before and wrote a blurb about it here). I asked Jason for his favorite dishes and he gave me some excellent suggestions (Thanks again). I guess we didn’t have anything new, but I thought I would post my impressions. The place was packed and we sat at the table in the front. The entire other room was filled with “Executives” from a Chinese Steel Company who were visiting the US and celebrating the recent triumph of the Chinese space program. Even though they were so busy we received excellent service and the owner Cecil took personal care of us. We started with the Spicy Capsicum Noodles, Pork/Crab Xiao Long Bao, and Jiaozi which are steamed dumplings made with lamb mixed with mustard greens. These were all excellent, I especially liked the Jiaozi. At this point my friends presented me with a gift. Well, not really what I would call a gift, it was a Betty Crocker Basics cookbook. It was a gag, and I quickly hid it under the table. They later gave me a panini press, which is pretty cool. Anyway, for main courses we had the Salt and Pepper Jumbo Shrimp. These were really great. They usually come 8 to an order, but he added two extra’s so everyone could try one. These are deep fried shrimp with the shells still on and a lot of salt. I was surprised that even though they were so salt and you had to eat the shell and legs, they were really delicious. We also had Dungeness Crab over Sauteed Flat Rice Noodle with Garlic. When this dish arrived it looked and smelled fantastic. It tasted good too. We had Sauteed Rice Cake with Shredded Pork, which I had here once before and really enjoy. We also ordered the Diced Chicken w. Spicy Capsicum Brown Sauce. This was a good dish too, the chicken was in chunks and was very moist. The sauce had just the perfect amount of spicyness. My favorite dish was the ruby pork with sesame buns. The pork was incredibly flavorful. The buns that you stuff it into were also great. They were really crispy on the outside and soft and flaky on the inside. I also really liked the spicy house sauté they serve with it, but could not figure out what is was. Does anyone know? Overall I think that was an excellent meal. I think that this is the best Chinese restaurant that I’ve been too and look forward to returning again. Here's a pic of the ruby pork. What's in the dish on the right of it?

there needs to be a "whoah" face

how do you all feel about wearing the jackets they provide for the refrigerator room? Everyone I bring there refuses to put them on, but it doesn't bother me. yeah, this is off topic.

should a burger rest after cooking?

I'm curious, what temperature should a burger be when it gets to the table?

here is the link to that story: link