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slkinsey

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    NYC Pizza Survey

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    My thoughts are that it's good to get one "standard" round plain cheese/tomato pizza everywhere we go, to be used as a basis for comparison. This makes it the easiest to concentrate on the crust, sauce and cheese, which are the three elemental pizza constituents.

    Personally, I'd rather get more pizza rather than calzoni... just because calzoni are kind of tangential. That said, if you think they are good enough to be worthy of note, I defer to your judgment.

    We're at 8 people, so maybe 1 round plain and then 3 square pizzas with different toppings? With the toppings, I imagine it's easier to go with all the same topping rather than doing half-and-half. But really, Pan, this is your place and you certainly know it better than I. Do what you think highlights Di Fara's strengths best.

    Seville oranges

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    Monkey Gland (perfect for the year of the monkey)
    Made with one ounce gin, an ounce orange juice, and a dash of both anise and grenadine, the Monkey Gland takes its name from the work of Russian doctor Serge Voronoff, director of experimental surgery at the Laboratory of Physiology of the Collége de France. Shaken with cracked ice and served up, the drink makes us think we feel better, even if we really don't.

    When drinking this classic, however, we never discuss its namesake ... something about imagining poor monkeys forcibly donating their sex glands to humans pathetically hoping to prolong life turns us off all food and drink. That's even before we consider the tedious operation of grafting slices of the monkeys' testes to the inside of patients' scrotums. But the good doctor insisted his grafts did the trick: "Like my old rams, they become young in their gait, full of vitality and energy." A 65-year-old man even required a second graft after two years, having been "over-prodigal of the vital energy supplied by his first one."

    Shudder... shudder...

    N'western U's cafeteria honors MLK w/fried chicken

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Martin Luther King, Jr. was not about food.

    Neither was St. Patrick, or Rabbie Burns, or Jesus, etc.

    I think the whole thing is misdirected. Why on earth would food, ANY food, be used as a vehicle through which to honor Dr. King?

    For the same, or similar reasons the people above are associated with food.

    Try starting a Jesus day in your local cafeteria. Once you figure out what to serve, WHATEVER you serve, I'd be interested in seeing how the whole thing goes over.

    You've never heard of Christmas Dinner?

    Ditto a Robert Burns day. (BTW -- what foods ARE they associated with?) And while I admire Burns's poetry, I don't consider him a symbol quite on the order of Dr. King.

    If you don't think he's a symbol, then you're not Scottish. As for the foods, perhaps you might want to take a look here where several of us are discussing upcoming meals in honor of Robert Burns (and, by extension, Scotland and the Scottish people) at which certain traditional foods will be served.

    As far as St. Patrick's Day goes, most Irish people I know are thoroughly humiliated by the spectacle that St. Patrick's Day has become, it's association with drunkenness, etc.

    Note that I didn't say whether or not I thought it was appropriate... but you can't convince me that it is any less appropriate than it is on any of these other days, and others like them. I would be willing to bet, however, that your Irish friends wouldn't feel that way were it not too often an excuse for public drunkenness in America. In Ireland, where it is also celebrated with a meal, the celebration can be more reserved and decorous.

    ANY FOOD, has absolutely nothing to do with King or his message. Therein lies the slur. It is demeaning.

    Obviously a lot of Scots, Irish, Christians, and other people who arrange festive meals to remember and honor certain historical figures do not share your sentiment.

    Espresso vs. Coffee

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    I'll decline to declare either to be the "best" but will nearly always opt for drip coffee over espresso if the espresso is of questionable quality (which is the case in many cafes and nearly all the restaurants in which I've ever sampled espresso).

    Crucial point here! Mediocre espresso can be horrible -- much worse that drip coffee prepared with a similar lack of skill.

    N'western U's cafeteria honors MLK w/fried chicken

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Most yankees who came across this type of cooking would likely have seen it in a black household or neighborhood, because there just weren't that many non-blacks eating greens, or ribs, or whatever iconic food you want to select, up north.

    This is definitely true. Growing up in Boston as the son of Southerners, I can tell you that none of my peers were being served things like the mustard greens, grits, fried porkchops, etc. that were regular features of dinner at the Kinsey household.

    Espresso vs. Coffee

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Your point is well made that only good coffee beans can make good coffee of any type. After that, it comes down to what one likes in a cup of coffee. Many would argue, and I would agree, that the espresso method is one which extracts the purest essence of the coffee bean and therefore produces the "best" coffee. In my own view there is a clear heirarchy of coffee making techniques that goes something like this: espresso is better than presspot is better than drip. I even prefer caffè Americano (espresso diluted to drip coffee strength with hot water) to drip coffee. Certain coffee making techniques, like percolation, are guaranteed to make a bad cup of coffee out of even the best beans.

    So... I would contend that a good cup of espresso is better than a good cup of drip coffee. But, at some point, one has to allow for matters of taste. Some people may simply not like the intensity and small volume of espresso. That doesn't make them Philistines, it just makes them people whose tastes have evolved in a different direction. That said, it also seems an inescapable fact that some people prefer bad coffee over good coffee -- not eGulleters, of course. :wink:

    THE BEST: Cooked Whole Fish in NYC

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Esca does a whole salt-baked branzino for two that is excellent. They bring it to the table still under the salt crust, and then fillet/debone/serve tableside. Served with nothing more than extra virgin olive oil and a slice of lemon.

    I think Milos also makes a damn good whole fish. Certainly in competition for best in the city, and perhaps the odds-on favorite. Extremely expensive, though.

    NYC Pizza Survey

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Okay... that's eight so far. We'll undoubtedly be going back at least once more, so there's plenty for others to go next time.

    Pan, I'll be catching a ride out there and will check with the driver as to arrival time. How many pizze do you think we should get?

    I'd say we need one round, plain cheese/tomato pizza, one artichoke (a must-have, as you point out)... a square pizza is also a must-have, right? Since you're a regular, I think we'd be happy to put ourselves in your capable hands. Eggplant doesn't do too much for me, but I am happy to eat from the other choices if the eggplant looks really good on Saturday.

    N'western U's cafeteria honors MLK w/fried chicken

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I disagree with you there Sam. I think the Mazto ball soup is the appropriate analogy (especially with the comments the student made in the letter) because the focus is brought not upon Dr. King's works, but his race. So the Matzo and Brisket focuses not on Eintein's work, but his religion.ago.

    Dr. King's work was all about race. His memory and reputation is inextricably tied to black America in much the same way that Einstein's memory is inextricably tied to physics. Serving foods that are traditionally associated with black Americans on the day dedicated to the man who is most associated with furthering their cause -- indeed, to the point of giving his life -- strikes me as being just as appropriate as any menu constructed along similar lines (e.g., serving corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day). If Einstein's work and fame had been fundamentally or substantially about furthering the cause of the Jewish people, which it was not, then serving typical Jewish foods on "Einstein Day" would not strike me as inappropriate.

    Really, while I don't think this menu is inherrently any less appropriate than any similarly constructed menu, I do think it was poor judgment on the part of the cafeteria simply because "fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread" has been used in a pejorative sense, and is taken as such by some people.

    On a related note... I wonder why we serve certain "traditional" foods on some holidays and not others? People drink green beer and eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day, and yet do not drink red wine and eat pasta on Colombus Day.

    NYC Pizza Survey

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Okay... so, who is going to Di Fara's for the 2:00 meet-and-eat on Saturday? Please PM me and I'll put up a list on the thread (this way the thread doesn't get too cluttered up).

    We should decide what we're having, too. My feeling is that at least one pizza should be plain cheese and tomato sauce, and after that we can go for the specialties of the house (it sounds like Pan's on top of those). Among the things we can discuss while stuffing our faces is how to go forward, how to present our "findings" and whatnot.

    It looks like we've decided that it makes sense to hit the "Big 5" first and then the other guys. So, this is my thought: I have no designs on being the "captain" of this survey. I think it will be a lot more fun if it's more democratic. So we'll agree on some evaluation and reporting details on Saturday, then we'll see where this takes us. I'll take the lead, with Pan's help for the inside stuff, in organizing the first outing. After that, maybe we can get some other pizza enthusiasts to take the lead in organizing trips to the other B5 places. Then, if anyone has a particular fondness for a NY pizzeria they would like to bring before the survey, they can take the organizational lead and get the ball rolling in this thread. For the lesser-known (i.e., non-B5) establishments, I think it will help if the person proposing a trip make the case for why that pizzeria is worthy of special note (what the pizze are like, any specialties, atmosphere, whatever makes you like the place).

    I'll probably propose a few of the faves from my neighborhood, but other than that I'll just do administrative housekeeping in the thread (deleting, merging, trimming, moving the occasional post to keep the focus on pizza, etc.). For example, I might go back and archive all the detail-planning posts leading up to a gathering once we're visited a particular pizzeria.

    Sound good?

    Espresso tampers

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    What I like collecting are Italian coffee supplier branded espresso and capuccino cups -- usually 2 of each. I have Miscela d'Oro, etc. Right now, I'd love to get some of those squarish Sedafredo cups and some of the Rancilio cups. But they tend to sell them by the half dozen. I don't suppose there are two other eGulleters who would like matched pairs of Segafredo and Rancilio espresso and capuccino cups?

    Espresso tampers

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted · Edited by slkinsey (log)

    I use a 58mm Ergo Packer from Espresso Vivace. I like it quite a bit, and haven't felt the call to get another one (yet :laugh:).

    Edited to add method:

    I slightly overfill my filterbasket, sweep the excess off with a finger... then I put the tamper on, lean on it fairly hard, take it out, tap the portafilter to dislodge the grains from the sides, tamp again and release with around a 1/4 twist. Sometimes I like to spin the tamper on top of the tamped coffee. It doesn't really add anything, but I like doing it anyway. :wacko:

    NYC Pizza Survey

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    the "BIG FIVE":

    Di Fara

    Patsy's (East Harlem)

    Lombardi

    Totonno (Coney Island)

    Grimaldi

    These are places that I think might bear multiple visits. For example, it would be interesting to go back to Di Fara after hitting the other B5 places and see how our impressions have changed.

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