TrishCT

I believe it was settled.

At Roberto's, sadly the table ain't yours for the night. Lots of folks are milling about looking at you waiting for you to leave. I learned my lesson...no Roberto's if there is a list.

Had dinner Saturday night at Roberto's. A mistake I will never make again. We had planned on arriving around 5 p.m., but traffic was a nightmare and we got there right at 6 p.m. We were put in the book and I knew there were 7 tables ahead of us. We were hungry at 6 and starving by 8 while still standing outside, waiting. We were seated a little after 8 p.m. Our dinner took another two hours (unbelievably slow service) so we weren't out till 10 p.m. Food was good, but four hours for dinner was too long and my dining companions weren't happy at all--they were exhausted. Food- Buffalo mozz caprese, delicious. Rigatoni with lamb ragout, and pecorino -- rich homestyle sauce, fresh pasta, very good. Veal limone-- way oversalted as was a chicken dish we ordered. Roberto was too busy to even come by and say hello to us. That was kind of an ouch considering how long we had been waiting. But things are less personal when the place is packed. And the noise factor? My husband said it was louder than a Monday night football bar serving nickel beers. Not a lot of fun. Avoid on a Saturday night.

Cross Tyler Florence off my fave list. Caught a couple episodes of How to Boil Water recently... he is a camera hog, and not very gracious to his co-host.

Caught part of one of Paula Deen's shows this weekend. She made her famous lasagna... the one with about 5 lbs of cheese, including fresh mozzarella, swiss, cheddar, cottage cheese and of course cream cheese. What lasagna would be complete without that....

The banana pudding with chessman, the gooey butter cake, the krispy kreme donut pudding.... none of those are Paula's recipes. I collect local cookbooks from around the country, like the kind put out by churches or women's groups for fundraisers. Those recipes have been printed... and re-printed for years. That seems to be the kind of cooking she favors. To me it's hit or miss. Paula's schtick is like a diabetic grandmaw who's caught with her hand in the cookie jar...oooh I'm so naughty...

I enjoyed the trek to Malaysia. Fascinating country, nicely portrayed. I notice that Paris is being repeated next week... Are there only four episodes or are there more new ones to come?

Even though it is sweltering hot tonight I am making her chocolate mousse recipe. It was the first thing I tackled from her French Chef cookbook when I was a kid. One thing of many I truly appreciate about Julia was the amount of time she really took to make sure her recipes were adaptable for the average american cook. She was always good about telling you what recipes freeze well and how long things keep. Since she and I shared a birthday (August 15) ...I'll raise a toast to her in a few days as well. Bon appetit.

There was a recent post on a travel Web site by someone who recently dined at Ben Benson's and said the wine list was especially good, he also enjoyed the steak as well.

Eff, I dined at River Cafe not long ago...beautiful flowers, gorgeous views of the Manhattan skyline, ultra gracious service, and good food. The food is not the caliber of a 5* dining place, but it was quite good. Highly recommend for a wedding party. Check out therivercafe.com.

The Jersey show was entertaining. Man that HoJo's was a piece of work. Gotta love mario as well. Tony puts the FU in FUN!

The milk chocolate creme brulee at The River Cafe in Brooklyn is delicious. It comes with some mini beignets and bananas foster dipping sauce. Really good stuff. River Cafe serves a dessert/bar menu in one of its rooms so if you are nearby you can pop in just for that.

4 a.m. here in CT and I am getting up to finish editing the paper... but had to stop by quickly to say Tony's new show was the F word. Fun! Well done...interesting....and the Rocco and rats comments.... good synergy.

Wow, Peter I think you archived my reivew of Good Taste. Sadly, it is no more... gone. I haven't been to Carminuccio's in two years so don't know if it is still good. However, I can vouch that First & Last Cafe in Danbury still serves wonderful wood fired oven pizza.

ViceVersa, Le Madeleine, or even the 21 Club which has a pre-theater special might fit the bill for you.

Good reminder for the Fourth... When I was the chief elected official of a town I had to go to NYC for a bond rating review. I was warned that one of the reviewers was notorious for falling asleep during these presentations. I brought visuals, including a portrait of a streetscape project I had planned. To my surprise, the reviewer was very animated and asked a million questions. When the review was over he was still chatting with me. Our banker said he never saw such a thing with this guy. It turned out the reviewer was also interested in a streetscape project for his town and he loved what mine was doing and wanted to use it as a model. Sure!! We got a very nice bond rating upgrade and our banker took us to Windows on the World on his expense account for a three hour lunch. I will never forget it. Terrific food, excellent drinks, wonderful views of the city. It was a real New York experience. Sadly, lamented.

Chris, which one the finale? Or the whole series? Higher rated than the first Iron Chef special, or does that not count because it was a special?

White Truffle Girl--- If you get a chance to speak with Jacques Torres, please let him know there is a woman somewhere in CT that fantasizes about covering him with melted chocolate and licking it off... Being a newspaper reporter, I have to protect my sources so I can't reveal the name of that woman.... And yeah, there is no way I could ever make what Jacques made....but I liked his show because it was like watching a master artist paint. Back to topic... I think Dan & Steve can cook. And I think they can probably teach me a thing or two. And they are fun. In general though, I have little to no use for the FN these days. It just doesn't sing my song...and I am on the NOT liking Sara Moulton side of the griddle. It's mostly a personality thing...she strikes me as condescending and I was never wowed by stuff she made. That said, I don't like the new Iron Chef either. It's all about food, whereas the original series, which I loved, had much more drama and pathos. Also, since when was Gordon Elliott annointed the great judge of talent? I did not enjoy watching him critique the contestants. He strikes me as a buffoon and a shameless hawker of Campbell's soup. He used to be on a show...what was it... A Current Affair, I think. He was shrill then, and that's still his schtick. I like Marc Summers, used to love Double Dare, but hate Unwrapped. I look forward to watching ABourdain on travel. Over and out, T

Gifted Gourmet-- Same here, I never got to vote!!! The Web site never clicked in, kept coming up as busy. Well at least Dan & Steve won, and I will tune in to watch them. Deborah was the fave of one of the judges the whole time...but luckily the viewers knew better.

Dan and Steve or Deborah eh.... DAN AND STEVE

Julia Child did not consider herself a chef. 'Nuff said.

Still no word....

I watched the first episode of HK thinking the premise wasn't great but Ramsay was entertaining as...well... hell. After three episodes though, the show's grown tiresome, just too much of the same thing. There's no educating going on, it's all performance. The show's lost me. I may tune in now and again, but it's not must see tv. I am more engaged by Food Network's Who wants be a FN star show.

After watching the pitches last night it struck me how familiar some of these contestants seem... Susannah indeed resembles Rachael Ray physically, and her pitch is similar to the Cooking Thin and Weight It is (or whatever it's called) show. Heather was a riinger for Sandra Lee, Eric is a lot like that other chef who used to have a show, I can't member his name, but he is also black and big and really sweet--(Curtis something maybe?), Michael is a lot like that Surreal Chef guy with the toaster/trailer, Deborah resembles B. Smith physically, and is really boring, and the gay couple reminded me of those two jewish guys (I think Melting Pot?). Hans didn't remind me of anyone. But I think his ingredient list scares the FN execs. I'll be honest... I like Eric, the couple, Michael, and the creativity of Hans and would watch shows with any of them.

Bao, you make some interesting points. Hans clearly made the most inventive and delicious looking egg recipe--frittata soup. (At least I think most would agree with that.) Yet he was in the bottom two and almost cut. I think the food should matter. For just one elimination round I'd like to see each contestant use the same ingredients and be judged on the dish they make from it....without scoring them on their abilities to read the teleprompter and give folksy homilies at the same time.