slkinsey

Now, that would be tasty! Or, even if just eating as straight roasted cauliflower tossed with some anchovy butter and sprinkled with parsley and red pepper. Sigh... bergerka doesn't like anchovies. I made a bunch of different panini for a large gathering last month, and the marinated white anchovy, red onion and hard cooked egg tramezzino was the first one to go.

Three cheers for Amanda Hesser who wrote an article for the NY Times on one of my favorite treats from the sea: the anchovy. Her opening echoes much of my own thought on this oft mistreated and misunderstood little fish: I, for one love anchovies. Especially salt-cured anchovies and especially fresh anchovies. Interestingly, Ms. Hesser states that she prefers oil-cured, finding specimens preserved in salt "sometimes slimy, sometimes dry." Not my own experience, but to each his (or her) own. I love anchovy dressing on bitter greens (punterelle, of course), raw anchovies lightly cured in lemon juice and olive oil then sprinkled with parsley and crushed pepper, evoo and anchovy sauce on pasta with either preserved or fresh anchovies, marinated white anchovies in a sandwich with slices of hard-cooked egg, good anchovies on an Italian-style pizza, and an anchovy or two always enlivens any low/slow braised meat dish or stew. Now, having read Ms. Hesser's article, I am eager to make some anchovy butter for melting over steaks and chops. What a great idea! What are some of the ways you love to eat anchovies?

Fish have kidneys? Um... yea, they do. Edited to fix link.

Sounds a little like pruno.

An archive of pre-opening discussion may be found here.

Hmmmm... seems like they say it's ingredients, expertise and equipment... sounds familiar, no?

Now that Per Se is up and running, please direct your discussion and reviews to this thread.

The web site has some information. By public transportation, it looks like the way to go is to take the A/C to High Street (first stop in Brooklyn) and do the short walk down to the bridge. Keep tuned to this station.

In my opinion, he clearly has some kind of social anxiety disorder that he's learned how to function around by simply avoiding certain situations.

Eric... I can't freakin' believe you went there without me!! I have been dying to try this place ever since I heard about it. You must go back there with me immediately, immediately, immediately! How am I ever going to get Kathleen to try a dish containing fermented fish kidneys?

Let's keep this as a running list of attendees and edit as appropriate: Grimaldi's, Sunday 2/21 @ 12:00 PM JosephB & Donna alacarte slkinsey & bergerka sherribabee SarahD Pan (if well)?

From today's NY Times: Wasabi leaves are available at Agata & Valencia, Dean & DeLuca and Whole Foods markets in packages of 6 leaves ($3.50 - $5.00/package). The Times says that "their flavor echoes the cleansing forcefulness of the root, but without the sinus-cleansing fire." French glacé melon is available at Fairway for $6.99/lb. -- marketed as "dried melon." The Times says is "resembles dried fruit but is fragrant, lush and moist, with a rich concentration of melon flavor." They suggest it as an interesting wintertime pairing with prosciutto.

Yes! That Pioneer is one of the little-known beer treasures in Manhattan. If there is another store on the island with a better and more interesting selection, I am not aware of it.

On the other hand, if one wants to meet drunk college girls... well, I digress.

Yes, but it's cheaper and the food is infinitely better. They don't have to rely on the mariachi-meets-Chuck E Cheese shtick Mama Mexico does either. It's a totally different kind of place. Groups of underage Columbia girls are rarely if ever found sucking down frozen margeritas at Noche Mexicana. That alone is enough to tip the balance away from Mama Mexico for me. Plus, if you want to pay those prices, it's not that far to Gabriela's on Amsterdam and 93rd. To get away from Mexican for a while, and to further explore one of the UUWS's restaurant strengths (inexpensive ethnic), has anyone bougut from Krik Krak on 101 and Amsterdam? They're a mostly takeout Hatian place I've been curious to try. And how about A on Columbus and 107th? That's a funky little "French-Caribbean" place we've always enjoyed.

where is it located? 852 Amsterdam @ 102nd. 212/662-6900

I think you meant to say the "Southern Italian dark roasted profile." In the North, the roast is more or less a "full city" roast taken just a little bit further -- nicely dark, but still not all that much oil on the surface of the beans. In the South, the roast gets darker and darker.

Sweet Maria's has a short article on blending that may be of some relevance here. Among the things they say there is: Anyway, espresso is a drink that must be produced from a blend, and really from a blend specifically designed for espresso. A moka-java blend would be disappointing as espresso, but a single varietal would really suck. No amount of roasting is going to make a varietal that is fundamentally bright into a mellow cup of espresso. I think the deal is that there is no single bean that has all the characteristics one would like in a cup of espresso.

We'll make a day of it: a morning of tacos de cesos, the to the E. Village for spleen sandwiches; for lunch, mixed grill at Pampa(?); and an all-offal dinner at a Batali place. For dessert, we'll have to creative. Baba au pig's blood? But seriously, I'd love to go mid-March, when my temping ends. Is Noche Mex still tiny? Whoa, Nellie! Youse mind an interloper on this excursion? Sounds like something worth coming up to NYC for. Absolutely, dude. Look for an announcement of Sam 'n' JJ's NYC Guts Tour coming sometime in mid-March. I am leaning towards "Gutapalooza," but there is some popular sentiment for calling it "The Offal Truth."

GREAT post, Rachel! The poached eggs would be perfect for a tiny frisée aux lardons-inspired salad in a multi-course meal. As for you, Cool Hand Shaw, what we got here is a failure to communicate. You throw down the gauntlet and there's gonna be a deviled quail egg eating contest.

If I may make a plug for my omelette-making implement of preference, a French steel purpose-designed (and cheap) omelette pan, this pan almost always provides a very light browning.

After reading Steven's excellent unit on omelettes, I thought I would demonstrate a slightly differnet classic technique. Now, I actually prefer Steven's JC-influenced "jerk and pull" technique, but those who prefer a drier omelette without browning the eggs might prefer to give this one a try. This afternoon I decided to make some caramelized shallot omelettes. I beat the eggs with a little water, salt and white pepper. I use a French steel omelette pan. It is technically a "three egg omelette pan," but I find that this means three medium eggs or two extra large eggs. I used two extra large. To use a French steel pan , you heat it up on the stove and pour in a little oil. Then take the pan off the heat and wipe it out out completely. A little butter into a lukewarm pan over medium high heat. When the butter is completely melted and the foaming has subsided, the pan is ready. In go the eggs. Here is where the technique differs. At this point the eggs are rapidly scrambled into small curds with the tines of a fork held parallel to the surface of the pan until around 3/4 done. On go the shallots. Reverse the grip to a palm-up, thumb-towards-the-body grip, tilt the pan and bang on the handle. This causes the eggs to slide towards the away lip of the pan, which is steeply curved in a classic omelette pan. As the eggs slide up the curve of the pan, the far side of the omelette flops back over onto the eggs. Turn out onto a warm plate. The finished omelette. As you can see, the curds are apparent and the exterior is not as smooth as the omelettes prepared by the other method. Ordinarily the exterior would be more uniform, but I let the curds set up a little too much while taking the pictures. Omelette making is a speed-cooking procedure. Here it is dressed with a little Red Devil hot sauce. You can see that the interior is nicely dry (the liquid on the plate is from the hot sauce -- there was no oozing from the omelette).

We love Noche Mexicana. It's our go-to place in the nabe for Mexican. Cheap, good and only a few blocks away. Another interesting place is Taqueria y Fonda la Mexicana on Amsterdam and 108th. They feature, among other things, tripe tacos, pig ear tacos, beef tongue tacos and beef brain tacos. JJ, when are we going?

This is totally cool, and definitely a uniquely UK thing. I am curious... what would you all say are the defining characteristics of a gastro pub, what constitutes a good one, and are there any dishes that are classic "must have on the menu" pub dishes?

Getting this bad boy. Fully stainless. Grinds 260 lbs. per hour. Weighs 70 lbs. 1 HP/650 watts. 300 bucks. Seems plenty powerful for what I need to do, without having to worry that it will choke on poultry and small game bones. The more expensive/powerful ones just seemed like overkill, since I don't have plans to grind up up 400 pounds of elk sausage in my Manhattan apartment any time soon.