slkinsey

I always laugh when I think about the various liquors and ingredients of which Pegu Club is going through unprecedented amounts. I am quite sure, for example, that they are going through as much Rittenhouse rye, Punt e Mes and Green Chartreuse as the rest of the island of Manhattan combined. And I've got to suspect that they're going through a significant percentage of NYC's Laird's applejack now, too.

Do T'afia and Noe have distinct bar areas that people go to, or is it more of a tiny little place where people wait for tables at the restaurant?

They usually jump up on my side of the bed. . .

Off the top of my head, I've seen Rittenhouse, Old Overholt, the Old Potrero bottlings, Wild Turkey, Van Winkle, a couple different kinds of Michter's, and Beam at Pegu. I don't think I've seen Pikesville, but I could be mistaken.

I am in Houston until November 20 doing some performances. Pretty soon the rehearsal schedule will lighten up, and I thought I might like to try a few places in town with real cocktails. I'm primarily looking for quieter places with adult drinks and an upscale atmosphere. No loud college beer and frozen margarita places or pickup joints. I'd like to taste the best Houston has to offer in mixology. Suggestions are welcomed.

One of the cool things they have going at Pegu is a whole array of single-flavor tinctures behind the bar: clove, cinnamon, grains of paradise, pepper. . . you name it. I've been meaning to make a tincture of Sichuan peppercorns to see how that might work. Could be interesting. . . could suck. "Tincture" in this context means, more or less, "the volatile parts of a substance, separated by a solvent (alcohol, in this case)." Audrey can probably supply any specifics, but my understanding is that it's something like: one ounce of whole spice toasted, ground up and mixed with vodka for X hours, then filtered.

Everyone is also getting their response to the announcements out. From Per Se: From ADNY:

For those who are interested, here is the complete list of NYC Michelin restaurants: Manhattan 66 202 Restaurant 21 Club 44 & X Hell's Kitchen 5 Ninth 71 Clinton Fresh Food Abboccato Acappella Acqua Pazza Aix Aki Alain Ducasse [Essex House] -- *** -- 5 couverts red Alamo Alcala Aleo Alto AMA Amuse Annisa -- * -- 2 couverts black AOC Bedford Apizz Aquagrill Aquavit Aroma Kitchen & Wine Bar Artie's Deli Artisanal Asia De Cuba Asiate Atlantic Grill August Aureole -- * -- 4 couverts black Avra Estiatorio Babbo -- * -- 3 couverts black Balthazar Banjara Bar Americian Bar Masa Barbetta Basta Pasta Bayard's Bayou Beacon Becco Bellini Ben Benson's Beppe Beyoglu Bice Biltmore Room Bistro 60 Bistro Cassis Bistro du Vent BLT Fish -- * -- 3 couverts black BLT Prime BLT Steak Blue Fin [W Hotel] Blue Hill Blue Ribbon Blue Ribbon Bakery Blue Ribbon Sushi Blue Water Grill Boathouse Central Park Bobby Van' s Steakhouse Boi Bolo Bombay Talkie Bond Street Bottega Del Vino Bouley -- ** -- 4 couverts black Brasserie Brasserie 81/2 Bread Tribeca Bricco Bridge Café Bruno Bryant Park Grill Bull and Bear [Waldorf Astoria Hotel] Cabana Café Boulud -- * -- 3 couverts black Café Centro Café de Bruxelles Café Gray -- * -- 3 couverts red Café Mogador Café Sabarsky Calle Ocho Canaletto Candle Café Capsouto Frères Casa La Femme North Casa Mono Caviar & Banana Cellini Cendrillon Centolire Cesca Chanterelle Chelsea Bistro China Grill Cho Dang Gol Chubo Cipriani Dolci Circus Cité Compass Craft -- * -- 3 couverts black Craftbar Crispo Cru -- * -- 4 couverts black Cube 63 Da Antonio Da Giacomo Da Silvano Da Umberto Daniel -- ** -- 5 couverts red Danube -- ** -- 3 couverts red Davidburke & Donatella Dawat DB Bistro Moderne Del Frisco's Della Rovere Devi Dim Sum Go Go Diwan Django Donguri Dos Caminos Downtown Cipriani Dylan Prime El Cid El Faro Eleven Madison Park EN Japanese Brasserie ESCA Estiatorio Milos Etats-Unis -- * -- 1 couvert black Etcetera Etcetera Extra Virgin Felidia Fiamma Osteria -- * -- 3 couverts black Fig & Olive Firebird Five Points Fives Fleur de Sel -- * -- 2 couverts black Flor's Kitchen Four Seasons Frankie and Johnnie's Frederick's Madison Fresco by Scotto fresh Fuleen Seafood Gabriel's Gallagher's Gari Gascogne Gavroche Geisha Giambelli 50th Gigino at Wagner Park Gigino Trattoria Giorgione Giovanni Gnocco Gobo Golden Unicorn Good Enough to Eat Gotham Bar and Grill -- * -- 3 couverts black Gramercy Tavern -- * -- 3 couverts black Grand Central Oyster Bar Grand Sichuan Eastern Great N. Y. Noodletown Hangawi Harlem Grill Hasaki Hearth HEDEH Hell's Kitchen Home Honmura An I Coppi I Trulli IAN Ichiro Ida Mae Il Buco Il Cantinori Il Cortile Il Menestrello Il Monello Il Mulino Il Nido Il Palazzo Il Riccio Il Tinello Inagiku Inoteca Iron Sushi Isabella's Ithaka Itzocan Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar Jane Jarnac Jean Claude Jean-Georges -- *** -- 4 couverts black Jean-Luc Jewel Bako -- * -- 1 couvert red Jewel Bako Makimono Joe Allen JoJo -- * -- 2 couverts black Josephs Citarella Jubilee Kai Keens Steakhouse Khyber Grill Kings' Carriage House Kirara Kitchen 22 Kitchen 82 Kittichai [60Thompson Hotel] Koi Koi Komegashi Kurumazushi La Goulue -- * -- 2 couverts black La Grenouille La Mangeoire La Masseria La Paella L'Absinthe Lan Land Thai Kitchen Landmarc Lavagna LCB Brasserie Le Bernardin -- *** -- 5 couverts black Le Bilboquet Le Colonial Le Gigot Le Perigord Le Tableau Le Zie 2000 Le Zinc L'Ecole Lenox Room Les Halles Les Halles Downtown Lever House -- * -- 3 couverts black L'Impero Lo Scalco -- * -- 3 couverts black Luca Lucy Lupa Lure Fishbar Lusardi's Macelleria Magnifico Maloney & Porcelli Mamlouk Mandarin Court March -- * -- 3 couverts black Markjoseph Steakhouse Mark's Marseille Mary's Fish Camp MAS Masa -- ** -- 2 couverts black Matsuri Maz Mezcal Megu Mercer Kitchen [Mercer Hotel] Mesa Grill Metrazur Mexicana Mamma Mezzaluna Mezzogiorno Michael Jordan's Michael's Molyvos Momofuku Noodle Bar Montrachet Morton's Mosto Mr. Chow Nadaman Hakubai Nam Nanni Nebraska Beef Nello NEO Sushi New Leaf Café New Wonton Garden Nice Matin Nice Restaurant Nick & Stef's Steakhouse Nick's Nicole's Nippon Nobu -- * 2 -- couverts black North Square Nyonya O Mai Ocean Grill Oceana -- * -- 3 couverts black Odeon Old Homestead Olives One if by land, two if by sea Ono Oriental Garden Orsay Orso Osteria Al Doge Osteria Del Circo Osteria Laguna Otto Ouest P.J. Clarke's Palm Palma Pampano Paola's Paradou Park Avenue Café Park Bistro Park Terrace Bistro Pastis Payard Pearl Oyster Bar Peasant Peking Duck House Pellegrino's Pepolino Per Se -- *** -- 5 couverts red Periyali Persepolis Petrosino Petrossian Phoenix Garden Picasso Piccolo Angolo Picholine -- * -- 3 couverts black Pietro's Ping's Seafood Pipa Place, The Po Pongal Pongsri Thai Porcupine Post House Prune Public Pure Food and Wine Quatorze Bis Raffaele Raoul's Red Cat Remi Rene Pujol Riingo Rocking Horse Rosa Mexicano Rothmann's Roy's New York Sachiko's on Clinton Salt San Domenico NY San Pietro Sapa Sapphire Sarabeth's Sardi's Savore Savoy Scaletta Scalini Fedeli -- * -- 3 couverts black Schiller's Liquor Bar Second Avenue Deli SEO Sette Mezzo Sevilla Shaan of India Shaburi Shaffer City Shanghai Pavilion Shun Lee Palace Siam Inn Silverleaf Tavern Smith & Wollensky Snack Soba Ya Solo Sparks Steak House Spice Market Spigolo Spotted Pig -- * -- 1 couvert black Stanton Social Strip House Suba Suenos Sugiyama Sunrise 27 Surya Sushi Ann Sushi of Gari Sushi Seki Sushi Yasuda Sushi Zen Sushiden Sushiya Sweet-n-Tart Restaurant Tabla Table XII Tamarind Tao Taormina Taste Tasting Room Teodora Thaiso'n Thalia The Capital Grille The Harrison The Manhattan Ocean Club The Mermaid Inn The Modern -- * -- 3 couverts black The Sea Grill The Steakhouse at Monkey Bar Tocqueville Tomoe Sushi Town Trata Estiatorio Trattoria Dell' Arte Triangolo Tribeca Grill Trio Triomphe Tropica Turkish Kitchen Tuscan Square Union Square Café V Steakhouse Va Tutto Vatan Vento Veritas -- * -- 2 couverts black ViceVersa Vivolvo Vong -- * 2 -- couverts black Wallsé -- * -- 2 couverts black Water Club WD-50 -- * -- 2 couverts black Wolfgang's Steakhouse Wondee Siam II Woo Lae Oak Xing Yama Yangpyung Seoul Zarela Zebu Grill Zoë Zutto Brooklyn Al Di La Applewood Areo Banania Café Blue Ribbon Sushi Chestnut DuMont Elia Five Front Garden Café Henry's End Locanda Vini & Olii Noodle Pudding Osaka Pearl Room Peter Luger -- * -- 1 couvert black Queen Quercy River Café Saul -- * -- 2 couverts black Savoia Sea Stone Park Café The Grocery Tuscany Grill Bronx Riverdale Garden Roberto's Restaurant Queens 718 Restaurant Bann Thai Brick Café Jackson Diner KumGanSan Malagueta Piccola Venezia Sapori D'Ischia Sripraphai Taverna Kyclades Tournesol Trattoria L'Incontro Water's Edge Staten Island Aesop's Tables American Grill Carol's Café The Parsonage

I don't know for sure, but I would be surprised if it is possible to purchase "regular supermarket milk" that hasn't come from cows that have been treated with rBGH. If one is avoiding rBGH milk (which just so happens to come from industrial megafarms) and also doesn't choose organic simply for the sake of being organic (thus eliminating non-local organic megafarms), that equals a preference for local small farm milk.

Right. I would, for example, choose "conventional" milk from a small local dairy farm over "organic" milk from a megafarm in California. That said, it is usually the case that small local farms are "organic" or "natural" or whatever, and unlikely to use antibiotics (never mind something like rBGH). This may be for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the fact that the small dairy business is not a huge money-maker and things like "organic" and "grass fed" and "natural" help justify the higher prices these dairies need to charge to stay in business. Unfortunately, "our milk is worth twice the price because tastes 1000 times better" doesn't cut it with most consumers.

Yes, I agree. Any one of the thee points I mentioned (and I am sure there are others worth considering) can of course be approached from a scientific as well as moral or political standpoint. And let us not forget the culinary standpoint, which is the basis on which I stand against rBGH milk. Not because I believe that the use of rBGH necessarily produces milk that doesn't taste as good, but rather because I believe that the goals of those who use rBGH do not commonly align with the goal of making a milk with superior taste. I personally feel that there is no convincing evidence that drinking milk from cows treated with rBGH can be associated with any health risks that would not be associated with drinking milk from cows that were not treated with rBGH, all other things being equal. I further feel that making a choice to drink organic milk based solely upon the use or non-use of rBGH is not an informed decision. This is not to say, however, that there aren't plenty of good reasons to drink organic milk -- mostly having to do with the fact that these cows often have a better diet (perhaps even grass) and are likely to be on a smaller, more slocal farm, etc. But, I think there would be no meaningful difference between milk from a small local, grass-fed dairy farm that used rBGH and the identical farm next door that did not.

There has been some interesting discussion here, and I'd like to see it continue. In the hope of fostering better and more interesting discussion, I would like to offer the following moderator's note and ask you all to read and understand what I am saying before continuing here: One goal of the eG Forums is to engender a free and lively exchange of thoughts and ideas relating to the subject of food. To this end, Society members are expected to comport themselves with all due civility when engaging in discussion and debate in the eG Forums. In particular, members are cautioned to address the substance of a counterpart's arguments in a debate, and never to make ad hominem arguments or personal attacks. That said, not all opinions and arguments are equal or equally well-supported in the eyes of science. This is something that should be considered before throwing one's hat into the ring. We should understand that questioning the foundation of a counterpart's arguments is not necessarily a personal attack if there is a reasonable basis for that assertion, and endeavor to meet the challenge rather than taking offense. Likewise, we should take pains to frame our challenges and comments in language that is respectful and not inappropriately confrontational, and to make sure that we are not putting words into our counterpart's mouth. At the same time, we should own up to the logical implications and extensions of the arguments we are making. Scientific discussions can be a little rough-and-tumble, and strong points are often made that might offend those who are not used to this style of debate. Those who are not used to this style of debate should keep this in mind and try not to take things personally. Those who are should keep this in mind and try to tone it down just a bit. Now, let's get back to rBGH. At this point I will take just a moment to frame the discussion. When we are talking about rBGH, there are several aspects that may be considered: The direct impact on human health. "Is drinking milk from cows treated with rBGH bad for me?" The effect of using rBGH on the health and welfare of the cow. "Is rBGH bad for the cow?" The other effects of using rBGH on the environment. "Is rBGH contributing to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, etc?" I've seen many of these separate arguments combined in this thread in ways that confuse the core issues, and I think we would be well-served to keep in mind that they are not connected.

This stuff is the bomb! I was introduced to it by Patrick O'Sullivan, who runs the bar at Seppi's in the Parker Meridien. He is one of the City's foremost experts on Irish whiskey, and a stop at Seppi's will always be profitable for someone with an interest.

I was able to taste the full range of Van Winkle bourbons at a press event for the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, including an 18 year they make special for Blue Smoke. My favorite was the 15 year. They bottle it at something like 107 proof, and the extra intensity of flavor makes a big difference.

This is actually really tasty. I have a couple of good books on Italian Jewish cooking (believe it or not, there was a time when Italy was a center of European Judaism). One of the best recipes in the Italian Jewish tradition was one where you would roast a chicken for the meat course, and for the pasta course you would simply deglaze the roasting pan and toss the drippings with fresh pasta and a little parsley. I have often made this either as two separate dishes or by pulling the chicken meat apart and tossing it together with the fresh pasta and drippings. The best place to keep it is in a tightly covered jar in the freezer. There, it will keep more or less forever. I'm like the king of rendered animal fats. In my freezer at the moment can be found jars of rendered duck fat, goose fat, chicken fat, beef fat, bacon fat and lard. All of these I have rendered myself except for the lard (it's difficult to get enough pork fat to be worth rendering, and Faicco's pork store renders some beautiful lard). I have in the past kept rendered lamb fat (too strong flavored to be useful) and rendered ham fat (tasty!). This, of course, in addition to the various un-rendered animal fats I have stuck back there in the form of guanciale, fat back, etc.

Well, there is some question in my mind as to whether we, with our modern palates, would have found a JT-style whiskey cocktail circa 1875 palatable. There are, of course, plenty of cooking techniques that were developed to mitigate the taste of meat that had turned, but I think most of us would agree today that fresh, unspoiled meat is necessary for making a good dish of food.

Non mi rompere i coglioni. I agree that it's likely to be closer to 20F in a cocktail right out of the shaker. I just thought 30 or 35 would be a compromise temperature. What would be really interesting would be to re-taste the gins after they were stirred with ice. The problem with that is that it's impossible to ensure that they would all be diluted and chilled the same amount. Better would probably be to add 20% filtered water to each sample of gin and then bed down the glasses in a container of crushed ice to chill (the ice bath can be made colder by adding either salt or some cheap alcohol like 91% rubbing alcohol from the drug store).

Interesting stuff, TallDrinkOfWater. I assume you've tasted these all at room temperature? I'd be interested to hear your impressions of the same gins at a temperature closer to the temperature at which you'd be likely to actually drink gin -- which is to say, cold. There are a lot of things that come out at room temperature (both good and bad) that are entirely different down at 35F. Same thing is true once the spirit is diluted, which would also make an interesting experiment. Higher proof gins like Junìpero, Tanqueray and Navy Strength Plymouth that finish hot at room temperature/full strength can completely lose that (usually negative) characteristis when diluted and/or chilled.

Certainly no reason to use something expensive. But you might also want to stay away from the super-cheap stuff, as it tends to be way too sweet. I find that Cava works fairly well, and isn't too expensive.

Well... I'm not so sure I'd call this a Bourbon Old Fashioned. With all that soda (equal parts!) it's really a highball: a sweet Bourbon & Soda with a little bitters. An Old Fashioned goes something like this: muddle sugar and bitters in the bottom of a glass, add two ounces of strong booze (I like 100 proof rye, but I've had good ones based on applejack, bourbon, gin, rum, etc.) and stir to finish dissolving the sugar, add a big lump of ice or several large cubes, stir to chill, toss in one or two fat strips of lemon peel. That's why the classics are often going to be the best. They're usually two- or three-ingredient drinks, and one of those ingredients is likely to be something cheap (vermouth) or really cheap (lime juice). None of the ones I listed calls for more than three ingredients. So it's certainly possible to go to the store and see whatever is on sale and choose drinks based on that. I also think lostmyshape's idea of choosing an expensive ingredient like Cointreau that is used in smaller amounts and doing several weeks of Cointreau drinks is a good one. And it could start with a discussion of what triple sec is, what Cointreau is, what less expensive alternatives exist (Marie Brizard) and where it is appropriate to use a less expensive alternative, etc. The fact is, of course, that there is no such thing as a good cocktail made from shitty cheap booze. This may be why few college students get into home mixology. No amount of clever mixology can disguise a Margarita made with five dollar industrial tequila and Leroux triple sec. There is, of course, a whole family of mixed drinks (I hesitate to call them "cocktails") that was more or less invented to mitigate the pernicious effect of lower quality liquor: the highball. But I don't think a column on mixing a Whiskey & Ginger would be very interesting.

This, of course, inevitably brings me to the fact that humans in First World societies don't really need to worry that much about nutrition. We're not undernourished, we're overnourished. Thus, the problem with obesity, which could be described as a "health disorder resulting from overnourishment." All this is to say that, at the levels consumed in First World societies, it's a wash as to whether the produce comes from next door or halfway around the world. Whoever is eating the stuff is probably going to be eating enough of it to get more than enough of whatever nutrients there are to be had from that food. That is perhaps for another topic. I only add it here to lend further support to the idea of buying whatever tastes best.

As I have pointed out elsewhere, "organic" definitely does not mean "more healthy" when it comes to food. There are plenty of "organic" pesticides, for example, that are far worse for humans and the environment than the common "not organic" ones. And, as others have pointed out above, it is also the case that dairy cows already have elevated levels of BGH due to selective breeding and it is further the case that rBGH will simply be digested if it is in the milk you drink anyway. How much more these levels are raised by rBGH is an interesting question. I have parents and friends who are chemists and medical researchers, and I've heard enough from them that I am not concerned about rBGH in my milk. And, as others have pointed out, Pasteurization is taking care of many of the other things we might be worried about. I don't agree that things like the increase in diabetes (much of which I believe can be traced to better diagnosis), obesity and other things can be traced or even significantly associated with rBGH. Increases of things like obesity can also be positively correlated with things like number of telephone poles per capita and other indicators of a modern, first world lifestyle. If anything, it's a fact that children in America drink far less milk than they did 30, 40, 50 years ago. I know that when I was a child it was milk, water or nothing. We weren't drinking all the sweet fruit juices -- never mind sugared soft drinks -- that kids drink today. Go into a third grade classroom and see how many kids are drinking milk compared to juice. Back in the 70s it would have been 100% milk. All this is to say that I don't believe there is sufficient evidence -- or really any convincing evidence at all -- to begin thinking that humans are substantially and negatively affected directly by drinking milk from cows that have been treated by rBGH. Where there is some cause for concern, in my opinion, is in the secondary effects that come from using rBGH. Primary among these is that rBGH is associated with higher use of antibiotics, and a higher use of antibiotics will lead to the development of more antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and strains of bacteria with greater resistance. That, in my opinion, is the real concern. As for what kind of milk to buy. . . just buy the kind that tastes the best. I like to buy Ronnybrook, which doesn't use rBGH but also does not market itself as dogmatically "organic" either. And it's 100 times better than any supermarket organic milk I've ever had. It is often going to be the case that the smaller producers who are making the best-tasting milk will also be organic or anyway won't use rBGH. But I'd still rather drink great tasting milk from a small local farmer who is not organic and maybe even uses a touch of rBGH than pedestrian organic milk from a megafarm in California.

Bryan, to be honest most of the very best and most classic drinks are not complicated at all. To wit: Margarita: 2 oz silver tequilla, 1 oz Cointreau, 1 oz fresh lime juice (shake/strain) Daiquiri: 2 oz white rum, 0.5 oz fresh lime juice, 0.5 tsp superfine sugar (shake/strain) Mojito: 2 oz white rum, 0.5 oz fresh lime juice, 1 tsp superfine sugar, mint leaves (lightly muddle mint and sugar; add rum, lime juice and ice; top with fizz water) Sidecar: 2 oz Cognac, 1 oz Cointreau, 1 oz fresh lemon juice (shake/strain) Martini (old style): 1.5 oz Tanqueray, 1.5 oz Noilly Pratt, 1 dash orange bitters (stir/strain) Manhattan: 2 oz rye whiskey, 1 oz red vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters (stir/strain) Pegu Club: 2 oz gin, 0.75 oz orange curaçao, 0.75 oz fresh lime juice, 1 dash each Angostura and orange bitters (or 2 of Angostura) (shake strain) Aviation: 2 oz gin, 0.5 oz maraschino, 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice (shake/strain) These are all three ingredient drinks, easy to make and classics every one. I'd suggest purchasing Dave's book Killer Cocktails : An Intoxicating Guide to Sophisticated Drinking, which has lots of funky easy-to-make drinks and explains the cocktail craft perfectly for someone new to cocktails; Gary's book The Joy of Mixology : The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft, which has some good information on how drinks are constructed and can be grouped into families; and Ted's book Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum Cocktail to the Zombie, which has a lot of . . . (wait for it) . . . forgotten cocktails, all accompanied by interesting stories on their history, etc.

I'm with mrbigjas. Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure I'd pay 90 bucks for a fancy plated cast iron skillet. I didn't cover nickel surfaces because it's not a very common metal for cookware. I assume nickel was used in this case because the cast iron pan is plated via electrolysis, something that couldn't be done with stainless steel. It's a mistake to assume that nickel is totally benign, however. Nickel is one of those things that is essential in minute quantities but can be very bad in larger quantities. Too much nickel can lead to increased rick of lung cancer, nose cancer, larynx cancer and prostate cancer, allergic reactions, dermatitis and other nasty things. I'm not sure these things would happen from occasional use of a nickel cooking surface, but I'll say this: I won't be buying one.

Thank you, Darcy for this amazing resource! You did all this work yourself? Great! I have a nice repro copy of the book at home, but actually I think this web version makes it a more useful resource for research, etc. Some of these are fairly simple concoctions, but still amazingly good. One of my standards with any spirit is derived from his Whiskey Cocktail. It's hard to go wrong using this formula with any spirit (except vodka), and this formula with Laird's bonded applejack and Fee's aromatic bitters is one of my all-time favorites.