Random Alias

See you guys there.

Supposedly, one of the best is 3 hours away, but you know if you drive real fast... http://www.ibiblio.org/lineback/bbq/jnt4.htm

Reservations are made. Name is: eGullet More info (including a map): Citysearch: China One

8 and counting.

6 and counting. I'll make reservations Tuesday night - so anyone with addtions/cancellations please let me know before then.

Yes? No? Maybe?

Just out of curiosity I checked and there are something like 20 steakhouses within a 10 mile radius of Crabtree. Edit: I need to add, that I won't be surprised if it is another steakhouse. I just hope it isn't.

God I hope not. We need another steakhouse in Raleigh about as much as Bill Gates needs another million. I bet there's no fewer than 5 steakhouses within 10 miles of Crabtree.

Here in Raleigh, Harris Teeter for everyday. Whole Foods for seafood, cheese, and assorted snobby stuff. Back in Seattle, Larry's Market. Back in Florida, Publix.

How about: China One Thursday April 15th (i.e. Tax Day!) 7:00pm It'll give you a reason to get your taxes done before midnight.

Why is it that there are probably 500 of the country's "top 5 restaurants"? Why are you messing with the fantasy? We know about the reality. Don't mess with the fantasy, okay?

It's cryptic as they give no explanation. http://newsobserver.com/business/story/343...p-3050866c.html The former Sheraton Hotel at Crabtree Valley Mall is about to get a $30 million makeover that will give Raleigh its first luxury hotel. Sanjay Mundra, chief executive of First American Hotels in Cary, and Dicky S. Walia, who operates Welcome Holdings in Raleigh, will announce today that they will open the hotel as a Westin franchise in the summer of 2005. ...They also said they have a letter of intent from one of the country's top five restaurants but declined to name which one. .

Revisiting an old topic. Had Allen & Son 2 weeks ago...and it was perfect. So good that I'd wish I'd bought an extra pound or two --coarsely chopped, great flavor, very little fat, not too much sauce. Then last thursday, I had to go to Burlington and figured I might as well stop at Allen & Son on the way back, esp. with the memory of my last visit so fresh in my mind. This time it was loaded with fat and gristle and had way too much sauce. When I got home and tried it, I wish I hadn't bought any at all. It was really pretty bad. I don't have a hell of a lot of memory to go on, but I'd guess the first time I ate there was somewhere in between these two experiences. So....when Allen & Son is right, it's a good bit better than Murray's, but when it's wrong...it can be pretty bad. Murray's, on the other hand, is always consistant or it has been the 10 or so times I've been there.

Sorry that I haven't posted until just now. This week has been a pain in the ass and I'm afraid I wouldn't be good company this Friday --I'm feeling a bit surly. A future date would work better.

I was out of town last week so I haven't really been tracking this board recently. Taqueria Mi Mexico might be an odd place to have dinner with a large group of people. It's got fast food ambiance and you're eating off Styrofoam with plastic utensils. It's really more of a lunch spot. That being known, I'd still meet up with people there if that's what everyone wants to do, but this week isn't really doable for me. Next Thursday would work though. I think we need some more suggestions on restaurants though. I'd offer up some, but I'm afraid most of the places we eat at on a semi-regular/affordable basis are all pretty boring. I'd love to get a line on some good '$15 per person' type places. The only suggestions I have: Champa - Thai at Brier Creek Peking Garden - Chinese at Milbrook & 6 Forks Dos Taquitos - Mexican at Millbrook & Creedmoor They're all pretty good, but I don't know if they're intersting enough to warrant a special trip.

Sounds like fun. I'd love to try the Lantern, that's one of those places we always mean to go to, but never quite work up motivation to drive out there. As for when, I love Thursday nights, but I know for those of you with kids that might not be as easy. Either ways, start tossing our restaurants and days and I'll chime in. btw Varmint, have you ever tried Taqueria Mi Mexico? It's on Peace street right near Broughton. I think ownership has changed since I've been there last, but it used to be a good place for lunch whenever we were in the area. They had one tasty chicken burrito there.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm passing them on to our friends in Tacoma. From The Bayou sounds interesting, although the idea of traveling from NC to WA to get some cajun food is kind of strange. Although truth be told, there's not a lot of Cajun food here.

We're taking a short trip back up to the Pacific Northwest and will be visiting some friends in Tacoma. Can anyone reccomend a good place for lunch? They live near the University of Pugest Sound and I imagine we won't have a ton of time to drive someplace far away. Here's a map of the immediate area will be in if that's helpful. A Map Thanks for any suggestions.

Looks like quite the grinder. I know what you mean about the Kitchen Aid being messy too. Everytime I use that thing I'm finding little bits of whatever I'm griding in a nice 1 ft. radius of the grinder, but for now it's all I need. One day I'd like to replace the Kitchen Aid grinder with something a bit nicer. I can't help notice though that that model you have won't grind hands and, unfortunetly, that's a deal breaker for me.

Half the fun of Iron Chef was watching them cook 'unusual' items that you couldn't really imagine eating (no doubt, some of the present company excluded). The other half of the fun was the campyness of the production and translation. And maybe there was some worth in seeing the actual cooking and getting an idea or two, but that was never the primary reason I watched it. Iron Chef USA isn't going to work if it tries to immitate the original. The humor, camp etc. just won't work. They should just focus on making it a competition.

I don't think intention has anything to do with it at all. I intend a lot of my things to be a work of art, and I'm not referring to my cooking! However, despite my intentions, I don't think they'll bring in too much at auction. Just because someone won't pay you a lot of money for it, doesn't mean it isn't art. You meant it to be art, and that makes it art. Getting a lot of money for it is simply a matter of convincing everyone else it's worth a lot of money. You can call a urinal art: Duchamp Or take a pair of handlebars and a bike seat and call that art: Picasso Or splatter some paint around: Pollack Or paint a canvas half black and half gray: Rothko Or just go for broke and paint it all one color and call it art: Yves Klein Or you could just paint something exactly as it looks But that urinal from above would probably get more at auction. And besides, a camera would be quicker. Estes So I guess my argument is that if someone can take an ordinary bike seat and call it art, or paint a canvas all blue and call it art, then it doesn't seem much of a stretch to call a dish of food art. The fact that you can eat it doesn't really matter (or maybe that's just another aspect of the art). Regardless, given enough time, enough wine, and a small hammer you could probably eat a urinal too....and you could call that performance art.

It's art if the person making it intends it to be. The easiest way to understand this is take a person you share nothing in common with, someone's who's views and opinions are 180° from yours, and let them decide what gets to be art.

What Varmint said. I made two batches of penne side by side, one toasted, one not. It's easy enough to taste the difference, the toasted has a slightly nutty flavor comapred to the penne straight out of the box. But put any type of tomato based sauce on it and I don't think you're going to notice. Makes the dish sound fancy though. I ran across the idea in a Tom Douglas recipe that was with a cream based sauce. He claims it changes the texture too, but that's a subtle change at best. Either ways, it's not much work. Just have to keep a careful eye on it because it goes from toasted to brown in about 20-30 seconds. Once some of the penne starts to get a pinkish hue, you have to check it about every 5 seconds.

Good Morning. If you ever wonder why people for the most part don't post about the events until late the next day, just go to one. So much food...so much great food...it's hard to even move much less form coherent thought. It's pretty amazing the number of things I tried for the first time last night. With the exception of bottarga, and beef cheeks, not so much the ingredients, but the dishes themselves. I would 'order' them all again, so I wonder if everyone could post the recipes to what they made? Or if it's a copyrighted recipe, a link or reference to it? Essentially this is what I made, just substitute toasted penne in place of the garganelli: Garganelli with Duck Ragu The toasted penne is easy enough, just place uncooked dried penne on a sheet pan in a 400° oven for about 5 to 6 minutes until it just starts to brown. Cool, and then cook in boiling water as usual. Thanks again to everybody for the food and company, and especially to Dean and his in-laws for hosting --20 people preparing 6 courses is definitely a study in controlled chaos. I think Dean could tell I was 'impressed'; he turned to me at one point and said, "You don't host a lot of dinner parties do you?"

First Pics. (excuse the walls, we're in the middle of removing wallpaper and repainting) Ready! Set! Go! What's a little crowding among friends? Now it's just a slow cruise to the finish. See you guys tomorrow.