beans

Again, I don't get this judgmental thing about what others choose to drink. And before anyone gets upset by that, remember it is my job to please the guest and provide what they have requested. I'll tell you our Jäger sales outsold our well vodka last season -- a first ever. And! We are certainly not a college bar. I'm witness to many a 30-40 something year olds ordering up Jäger Bombs, Sex with Alligators and Oatmeal Cookies. I enjoy Jägermeister. Particularlly, the non-US import variety. *HUGE* difference in taste and mouthfeel texture. I'd almost state it is nearly a different product. Tremendous differences in taste. Yes! A different vodka in a cosmo can be detected by me -- since my cosmos only contain Absolut Citron as a base.

Hmmm. We'll have to tap into cocktail historian Drinkboy for the accuracy of that statement. I wholly disagree. Actually I tend to believe that most are not trying to replace or overhaul the beloved martini. Think variations on a theme. What sake-tini recipe are you working with? The sake is substituted for the vermouth. And there are things such as wrong creations?

I suppose it is my unique view of being the pouring servant that I don't give any status to what current trend -- classic or new. edit to add about the -tini thing: If I made a variation on the cosmo and called it a _______-tini, at least then other bartenders would have an idea of what it is. I blame it on the neat category thing that is an essential part of the multitasking demands of being a bartender. Sure I could name it, say a "Starry Night" but who else would know what that is? Including my fellow co-workers let alone another bar or in another city! Not that I am saying the -tini thing is right or correct, but to one who pours for a living, it does make some sense. And I don't feel that it has bastardised the word "martini" either.

Cinnamon schnapps is wrong? Blackberry brandy is a key ingredient in our Rum Runners. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of them in this bartender's book.

You know, I just don't get the disrespect to the current cocktail trends. I find it akin to making fun of a FTV show host's appearance. (She's fat; she's too skinny; she's got a big head; she's got an annoying voice, ad nauseum). Moot and inane. There, a thread with Drinkboy's and my .02.

Tn is a state that does mandate training and certification. There may be others. I think the mandated training and certification is similar to alcohol awareness such as what these folks do.

No. [welcome to eG jbonne!]

Are you sure it wasn't Bristol Bay sockeye?

This made my day! GREAT pic!

Spill the beans Chris and say who!

What do you mean by sake-tini? * * * * * * * I've seen two variations on the sake cocktail concept- A gin or vodka base with sake used in place of the vermouth... which, when garnished with a cucumber, is quite nice, and is really not that far from a real martini (if you believe in the authenticity of vodka martinis.) Without jumping into the semantics end of it all.... YES! Those "sake-tinis" are rather refreshing and quite good. We've also soaked thinly sliced diakons, that were decoratively cut with those fancy vegetable cutters, in sake for the garnish. I've never felt that Grey Goose was so fantastic that it couldn't be mixed. Now Glacier, Blue Ice, Liquid Ice, Zyr, Ultimat, Wyborowa Single Estate, etc. that's a whole different story. But then I make margaritas with Patron, but would never consider using Porfidio. That JWGold was a waste of a fantastic spirit, wedding or not, however I wouldn't really classify it as a "crime" per se. How about the klutz that drops a bottle of Château Margaux wasting it all over their basement floor? (I'd lay on the floor and shamelessly slurp) Or the one (I did watch someone do this) that drank King Louis XIII as a shot in one quick motion. Surely those are worse than a palate that does not quite appreciate the wonderful complexities and/or subtleties of a particular hand crafted, small batch -- possibly limited in production, carefully and lovingly aged spirit. Then there are those such as my seafood allergic, half Swedish, half Tlingit, Seattle residing cousin that drinks those sorts of things for the arrogance. He's one kid that should have been an adult during the excessive 80's. (Ask him why he purchases, eats or drinks x, y or z and he'll answer because it is expensive!)

And the large pawed kitty too? I am in awe of your adventure.

Our standard LIT: In an ice filled tin add half an ounce of vodka, rum, gin and triple sec. Add sour, flash blend, empty into glass and top with cola. We dropped adding the tequila as our bar manager felt that 2 ounces of liquor was sufficient per drink -- people who slam them down and drink five within one hour are a bit tiresome! Thankfully those drinks are not in such demand anymore.

While surfing for recipes on lychee jelly/preserves/jam, I discovered this book: A Passion for Preserves, by Frederica Langeland. Anyone have a copy? I'd be interested in hearing about it, although I won't be using her recipe for Lemon Curd! I just purchased a copy for $4.00. Yipee! Two packages to arrive next week! This book, and a Kitchenaid Food Processor from Kohl's! eG often places a dent into my kitchen expenditures....

I've done all of the above. When I know I'll be using it after refrigeration, while it is setting up/cooling off, I'll give it a jiggle or a quick stir to keep all of the little golden nuggets evenly distributed in the suspension because if left alone it will all settle to the bottom. But if you forget all is not lost. It is a soft set and easly to scoop out. Once it hits the dough or bread it is fairly easy to spread, but then I'm doing most of this in a fairly hot commercial kitchen. It warms up to room temp pretty quick, but I try to scoop portion out the amount I want to use into a smaller bowl covered with saran (things that have wings have a way of making unscheduled stops in all of the wrong places in a kitchen) and return the batch in the ziploc container to the fridge. This butter sauce is very easy to work with. All is adjustable to taste. edit to add: You are pestering sweetie! Sharing is good. Especially when it involves garlic creations. :drool:

Why? I've been and am management (as far as some training, hiring recommendations, most inventory control and management passwords/swip cards/codes for our POS) and get tipped. Income is income and tips are reportable income for taxation. However, now that we are in season, my primary focus is promoting teamwork and bartending. But I'm still hourly, not salaried. Similarly, if for whatever reason one of bars or server sections are completely in the weeds, a manager will jump in to assist -- picking up a table or two or pouring some drinks. They keep the tips they receive on their guest checks and as a standard barstaff practice, we will hand them some $20's as appreciation for digging us out of the hole we were in. Where are there laws prohibiting same? Are there any in any of the States or District of Columbia? Meh. At least not in oHIo!

I have used Herb Ox Chicken low sodium (5 mg) loose in a jar, but from this website I see they are also available in packets, not cubes. I'm sure there is a better option, I just haven't found it yet. I'd recommend aiming for the lowest sodium type possible and using unsalted butter so the salt doesn't overwhelm. link fixing -- I hope it works.

Exactly! I came back to the thread to express those precise words. *sigh*

i'll make sure i throw the wine guy a fin the next time i'm in Cleveburg. don't wine guys in cleveburg make more than servers and bartenders? like, real actual salaries and stuff? pfffft. I know of restaurant managers right now that are getting a share of tips and are hourly, or are hourly with a few waiting tables/bartending shifts each week to catch them up on making a few bucks they deserve but the owner can't afford to pay out. Servers at the the best restaurants are the ones right now earning the big bucks (at an hourly of $2.13/hr). Then again, $30,000 is quite different here than NYC. We're stodgy and cheap here when it comes to paying staff and find every way to capitalise on working someone a shift or two to make up in earnings with customer tips that otherwise would have never happened five years ago. Nothing glam about working in the biz or wine-ing (how do you spell this one?) and dining here except for the few notable chefs in this town, and two of three hotshots are chef-owners scraping to get by too.

Not in Cleveland! Our general manager didn't even earn $75,000. He and the executive chef were the highest salaries of the entire restaurant. edit to add: marcus - tommy's first referenced website states the dollar earning range from $$ to $$$$ at the top places. How many "top" places are there and how is that defined? Further, if you will note $$ equals the range from $30,000 to $75,000. $30,000 is still a bit high from the few I know in Cleveburg.

This is somewhere between a composed butter and a sauce. It keeps well and is soft, but solid when stored in the fridge. It is the California Pizza Kitchen Pizza recipe for Garlic, Shallot Butter Sauce I frequently use on pizzas. (It is found in their CPK cookbook). For a batch (from memory -- I may have to correct in a future post, as well as paraphrased as best as possible in respect to copyrights): Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat and add 1/4 cup of minced shallot. Begin to saute. After a couple minutes I add 3 tablespoons of minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme. (I stagger this as I find the garlic will burn quicker than the shallot and it is awful when that happens). Saute, stirring frequently so as not to allow anything to burn until all is a light golden brown colour. Deglaze with 1/2 cup of a full bodied chardonnay, the juice of a half a lemon, 1 teaspoon/cube of chicken base (without MSG); salt and pepper to taste. Stir until all is combined and is reduced to about 1/3 of a cup. Add 4 tablespoons of butter. I tend to cut the butter into 4 pieces and remove the sauce from the heat. The butter melts quickly. I store it in one of those new ziploc containers, designated just for this purpose. Beware, this sauce creates a heavenly aroma. This produces a fantastic garlic bread to accompany salads or pasta. In fact it has created a loyal hospital administrator customer at my family's pizza shop which lead to several catering jobs. [Last week, we made two medium sized pizza pan orders of these garlic toasts on wafer thin pizza dough at about 10:30 a.m. for a small office birthday lunch to be delivered at 11:00 a.m. We only needed a little more than 1 1/2, leaving some of those little beauties as left overs. Yum. Thin garlic toasts for breakfast!] edit to add: when creating garlic bread and/or thin toasts with this sauce, I spread it on and then top with a bit of freshly grated parmesan.

jackal10, my postal address is...! I ran into that problem when I lived in Alaska. Nothing as sophisticated as the Fairy Godmother of Jam Christine Ferber but simply lovely, wild berries. Huckleberry, salmonberry, blueberry, thimbleberry, raspberry, cloudberry, strawberry, rose hip, and combinations thereof. Still a few of the jars have remained on my shelf only because I'm trying to enjoy every last little drop I have left. And if I remember correctly, I was considering doing something with the stone fruits I picked up from the travelling Chelan Produce truck that visited Sitka every few weeks from Washington State. It was a Saturday tradition to hunt through all of the garage sales for extra mason jars on the cheap.

So? Cleveland has several Carrabbas. It is a chain, after all, with the same menus (with perhaps a few differences in wine lists or an entree or two) and standard operating procedures.

Now I blame you. I just got back from running over to Borders Books to purchase their only copy.

We don't employ one.