docsconz

Brooks, Thanks for the links. I'm hoping to saute up some of these puppies for a dinner party on the 24th. Sauteed with a some butter, garlic and capers from Pantelleria - Yum, but only if they're fresh. .

As much as I love fresh softshells, I can't stand the frozen ones. They usually come out soggy and tasteless.

To broaden the question, does anyone know any good internet sources for fresh softshell crabs?

I just got some Tibetan Yak Cheese from igourmet.com just because my curiosity was piqued. It is rather barnyardy - definately redolent of hay and grass. While it is interesting, I cannot say that it is my favorite. Perhaps it will grow on me.

I feel your pain You are so right that it is a vicious circle. another ironic twist is that demand can actually rise because a product does become expensive and hard to come by. Once again, using an example from the world of wine, the effect on availability and price of a high-scoring Parker wine. I am certainly jealous though of anyone who can regularly experience the delights of high quality extremely fresh seafood on a regular basis. This is one area where coastal europe has it all over the US. I remember the markets (esp. seafood) of Barcelona, Palermo, Venice, Siracusa and Naples with rapture. I particularly remember the live octopi climbing out of their buckets just off the boats outside of Palermo I'm looking forward to a return trip to Catalunya and the Basque countries for a little fine dining at the end of September. I'm hoping to extend and finish our trip in Portugal, where hopefully, I will be able to find and experience some of the delights you have mentioned here and in other threads.

Based on these descriptions, I'm happy to say I couldn't relate to either one

Wow, That is extremely depressing. I expect the prices have gone up as delicacies such as these have become more desired outside of their traditional zones. They are in effect victims of what eGullet represents - the burgeoning interest in all things food. That is the unfortunate conundrum that is certainly not limited to Iberia or shellfish - look what has happened to the price of wine, specially high-end wines, with the exponential growth in oenophilia of the 90's.

I'm cooking for myself this week as my wife and children are on spring break vacation in South carolina, while I'm here working. I generally take the opportunity to make things I like that don't necessarily go over so well with the rest of the crew for various reasons. When my wife is away I usually take the opportunity to make veal dishes. The other night I grilled some chops with sea-salt and pepper and then drizzled a little 25y/o juniper balsamico tradizionale from Acetaia del Cristo on top and served it with marinated grilled zucchini (my kids hate zucchini) and grilled maitake mushrooms. I drank a half-bottle of 1997 Zenato amarone. I made enough to have leftovers for dinner last night at work. Tonight I'm going to saute veal scallopine in butter and fino sherry with asparagus, oyster mushrooms, garlic and piquillo peppers. I'll bring leftovers for lunch tomorow. Dessert will be an heirloom navel orange from Rising C Ranch. Tomorrow night i'll probably raid the pantry.

Huh? Why not use a top notch sparkler for pairing with any food? This seems to be what it is best suited for IMO. I'm assuming you drink top notch still wine with food. Why not indeed. I think expensive champagnes are wonderful and generally better than lesser priced sparklers, primarily because of the subtle nuances they possess and would be so with most food pairings. IMO these nuances are less pronounced with spicier foods and thus the expense is not as easily justified. This argument doesn't really apply to rich foods, and so I apologize for being unclear in this regard with my original post. Of course, if I was given a glass of Kristal with my spicy Thai curry, I wouldn't turn it down

Unless there is a great outcry for 8/8, I think Sunday the 15th will likely be the best date. The weekend of the 7th/8th will likely be particularly crowdded, second only to the Travers. I will leave it until the end of April for people to voice their opinions before finalizing the date, however, if we don't see a groundswell of opinion for another date, I think it will be safe to plan around this date.

I can't beat a dead cat, but I'll always remember my Christmas eve dinner for my family that was almost spoiled by having an open kitchen. My main course was broiled lobster with tarragon butter. My lobsters were quite alive and needed to be dispatched. I had never previously dispatched lobsters for broiling before, although I had previously placed them in boiling water. I had read about pithing the lobsters to kill them, that is, placing the knife blade in the middle of the head behind the eyes. While it worked, I and the people watching me do this in the kitchen were not quite prepared for the continued neural activity that ensued. Unfortunately I wasn't quite quick enough with the rest of the butchering to minimize the impact. Needless to say that blunted the appetites of most (not me) watching. Actually, the lobsters turned out quite tasty

Champagne is one of the best and most versatile "food" wines there is and IMO way underutilized in this respect. While I wouldn't necessarily use a top-notch sparkler for this purpose, they tend to be excellent with spicy and rich foods. One of my personal favorites is Taittinger's Comte de Champagne. It is generally priced around V-C's Grande Dame (another personal favorite). Wish your husband a Happy Birthday for me!

BLT Steak (Amanda Hesser) Food for even more thought Enticing review.

I just reviewed my pics and now realize why I didn't post them after my trip While the mozz pics are good as souveniers, they do very little to illustrate technique so I won't waste everyones bandwith

Before the May 20th re-opening date, I had a request in with them for May 13th. When they rebooked me they apologized that they could not accomodate that request, but the re-opening would not be until the 20th. My suspicion is the 1st of May is when they will be re-opening the reservation line, but not the restaurant. If the restaurant does re-open then I will be more than a little annoyed because it would have been better and easier for me to reschedule earlier in the month.

Geo, Welcome to eGullet. Nice report! One of the reasons the 2000 Bordeaux vinyage may be so popular with the press is that it is so forward - more Napa than Bordeaux. Thoughts?

Some cuisines are more difficult to pair with wine, but as I learned from Bikky at Amma, my preconceived notions about what cuisines are or are not wine friendly aren't always true. i always thought Indian food would be amongst the most difficult to pair and especially pair well. Bikky disabused me of that notion. I have previously had successful pairings with Chinese and Thai. Of course, Japanese is great with rice "wine", although I have yet to experience a really good pairing with grape wine. Felonius, I agree absolutely with your last post (with the exception of the last paragraph) - at least my viewpoint is the same.

Actually the website is not the easiest to navigate nor the most informative (at least not yet). Anyone know what they have going on on Mother's day?

A clickable link.

Sounds awesome. When I get home tomorrow I should post my pics frm making mozzarella di bufala in Campania this past November. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one to make it. I just observed and ate it Man, was that good. That is where I got my avatar.

Doc did they give you an "even exchange"? I had a Tuesday evening at 7PM for four people. I now have a Thursday evening at 5:30 for four people. I would prefer my original time, but this will do.

In other words, the antithesis of "premium" vodka! Thanks for the citation.

I really don't like it when my wine bottle is removed from the table, either. Aside from a bad wine list, that is perhaps my biggest pet peeve with wine in restaurants. Any thoughts as to the rationale of the restaurant for doing this. I have experienced this in many a fine restaurant.

Nice photos and descriptors. I haven't been to Montreal since last fall. It ha been too long. I don't think I've ever had chinese food in Montreal

Digijam, excellent post and welcome to eGullet. It sounds like a meal great for the food and the fun. Where did you stay for your visit and did you get to any other restaurants in the area?