slkinsey

It's not really an Époisses if it's not raw milk, though, is it?

Based on the discussion in this thread I would check out Dowel on 1st Avenue and 5th Street.

Bux, are you sure you're not confusing Epoisses with some other cheese. I've had plenty of Epoisses, and I don't think I would ever have described the rind as "hard" or particularly inedible -- even in the riper examples. Usually looks something like this. Vacherin Mont d'Or, on the other hand, sounds more to me like what you're talking about.

I can't help noticing that you both have separate "solo" books on cocktails, etc. in publication. Those of us who have followed your work are familiar with the opinions and philosophies you share. I am curious if the two of you could weigh in on areas in which your approaches to and philosophies about mixology differ. We don't often get two cocktail experts at your level on the boards at the same time. So, rather than only answering questions and offering advice to people like me who don't have the level of expertise and historical knowledge you share, I think it would be very interesting for us if the two of you discussed/debated/expanded upon some of these issues here. I, for one, would love to be a sideliner and occasional participant in a discussion about cocktails and mixology between the two of you.

I don't mean to get off topic, but what is the definition of "gnocchi"? I've seen recipies entitles "gnocchi" that include neither flour nor potato. Gnocchi is the plural of gnocco, which means "lump" -- so any food that is in lump form may be described as "gnocchi" (as in gnocchi di patata) or "gnocco" (as in gnocco fritto).

Here is an interesting Filipino food blog with recipes: The Radical Chef (a Filipino food, cooking & recipes journal)

I've been a regular at @SQC pretty much since they opened. It has its ups and downs -- especially with respect to FOH and service -- but the food is rarely less than excellent and I think it's the class of the UWS among restaurants of its kind. John: @SQC stands for "at Scott Quentin Campbell's." Scott is the chef and owner. The restaurant is usually called "SQC" rather than "At SCQ" by locals and regulars. This is probably why Michael couldn't find the original thread, which left off the @. Michael: it's interesting that Scott says he's never heard of eGullet, since I've told him about it at least a dozen times. He usually says something to the effect that he can't understand how a working chef could possibly have enough free time to play around on a discussion site.

Di Fara qualifies not only as a "regular" oven, but really as an "older regular oven that isn't in very good shape."

Um... it sounds like they don't serve white people in sneakers either, so the question doesn't make any sense. That said, if you would like to start a thread on discrimination by restaurants via a dress code, please do. That's not the subject of this thread, however.

Hound all you like - oddly enough there was never a picture taken. Perhaps just as well.... if there had been it might be plastered all over the Internet by now! Dude... it's way too late for that.

Nice kitchen! I might as well tell you now that I will get eGulleters to hound you to the very ends of the earth until you post a picture of yourself dressed up as Mr. Peanut.

Perhaps they grow older and therefore larger because they aren't fished much? Interesting tidbit from here:

Some mollusks, like the geoduck can have gigantic siphons. From the link: Sand gapers, though, are apparently gigantic examples of Mya arenaria.

Today is the day when we all learn that Italian for "Joe" is "Beppe." You should sign BeppePW today.

Congratulations Gerhard!

As mjr_inthegardens points out, NY Metro is out with the "Best of New York" for this year. Winners for pizza were: Best Restaurant Pie: Giorgione Best Bar Pie: Beacon Best Pie In Transit: Figs (at Grant Central and La Guardia) Best Worth-the-Trip Pie: Di Fara Pizza Best Myth-Shattering Pie: Nick's ("myth shattering" because it is a regular oven) Best Old-School Pie: Totonno's Hmm... I've always thought of Patsy's East Harlem as the definitive "old school" NYC pizza, but we'll have to see what we think when we hit Totonno's later on.

This reflects the quality of the inhabitants, rather then the produce. Until recently Monkfish was used as bait for instance. The clams are good, very sweet, even more so then scallops and with more flavour. That's a good way of putting it. So... we await the results of your chowder-making efforts. I've never used the Ducasse/Psaltis Mix trick of using pureed clams in the broth for extra flavor, but I am anxious to try it the next time I do a chowder.

Damn those Vikings! Re the quality... what is the quality over there? I assumed the quality was not so good when you said they were used mostly for bait rather than food.

Well, the East Coast of the US and the West Coast of Scotland are two sides of the same puddle. Scotland is a good bit further North, though, and a different ocean environment, which may be responsible for the difference in the quality of softshell clams.

What you might consider is doing a variation of Doug Psaltis' technique at Mix: puree a bunch of flavorful clams (razors, for instance) to simmer in the chowder, then add some smaller, more tender clams (I like cockles) off the heat at the last minute to cook in the resitual heat of the chowder. In New England, most of the clams used for chowder are those which are too large and tough to be eaten as-is. They are chopped up and used for chowder. This is to say that a little chewyness in the cooked clams is not inappropriate.

GOOEY-duck.

"Ark shell" is kind of a catch-all for clams of the genus Arca with a "heavy toothed shell with a deep boat-like inner surface." They look like this.

Not to mention that Waltham is "Wal-tham" (with the 'th' sound elided) rather than "Walt-ham." And then, to make matters even more confusing... Waltham = "Wal-tham" but Chatham = "Chat'm"

Were the gnocchi cooked before you froze them?

Saint Joseph's day, also known as San Giuseppe is the traditonal day of Saint Joseph, just like Saint Patrick and Saint Andrew and all those other guys have their own day. It is quite traditional in Italy to have more of a celebration on your name day (i.e., St. Joseph's day if your name is Joe) than your birthday. San Giuseppe is a very big deal in Southern Italy, and especially in Sicily. I'm going to be making sfinci this weekend as my nod to the tradition (deep fried dough lumps filled with sweetened ricotta, etc.).