beans

No truce! We're not at war! I sincerely meant I missed the straight from the hip, tell it like it is chef discussions. I agree, something needs to be created with two hands from whole ingredients *somewhere* in a commercial kitchen. That's what is reserved for our changed daily, featured entrees showcasing the talents of our esteemed and fearless kitchen leader. The man loves commanding a small kitchen army, but also totes in his own personal stash of saffron, which sometimes has a way of sneaking into one of his beautiful dinners. Maybe this should be continued into a new thread Bicycle Lee? Good discussion.

Interesting. I'll tell ya, our kitchen got a 100% on our last 4 surprise health inspections. Our CEC takes tremendous pride and has done very well to keep all in line with cleanliness routine. However, I'm not so sure about our cleaning crew and their level of pride while mopping down the toilets. They are clean, but get a look at any of the corners or where a moulding (sp?) is in contact with the tile flooring.... edit: typo

Depends upon the quality of the chocolate and the percentage of cacao solids. At first I hated it, but then that was when I tried, at age 5 or 6, a Hersey's dark chocolate fun size candy bar (what is the name of that thing?) Dark Chocolate is lovely with a good, aged glass of whisk(e)y.

This is a worthy cause and discussion. (Hasn't it been had before?) State of oHIo is quite conservative; that and/or greedy. No BYOB because they want every little tax penny they can garner. If you buy wine for home consumption purposes, then surely you'll go out and purchase more wine when you go out to eat. Cha-Ching! $$$$ Surely something they will not relinquish any time soon. Yes, out with the old. In with the new.

Apparently! Work with a kitchen of an assorted crew that cannot make Chicken Marsala the same way twice and it has been off an on the Fall/Winter menu several times throughout the last 14 years. Some of the same fellas since the beginning of time too (grand opening)! Where I work, extensive prep work has been eliminated for cost purposes. This is a high volume machine that cranks out six figures in sales on any given weekend night. From scratch is not possible. (And we don't use SYSCO). Good presentation, good tasting food at an accessible and attractive price for the patron while maintaining a reasonable food cost in tow, that's what where I work is all about. Oh, yeah, and cranking out the cocktails. Welcome to eG. I seem to miss the opinionated chefs discussions. Try one of these little devil tempting fried cheesecakes. They are frighteningly good. (And BTW, it was a finer dining establishment that I first ordered one of these. They couldn't afford nor had any interest for a pastry chef. They spent all of them salaried $$$ on a decent CEC that could produce pastry, if the demand for same was present). Your volley.

Kristin: That's a hoot! Gee, beer with caffeine (not sure it is still around anymore), beer with fibre. What's next? And I used to like Sapporo.

not every restaurant is fine dining either.

huh?

I found this article this afternoon, while trying to find out any and all info on the Bols Pumpkin Smash liqueur. (Designing a Halloween menu). I also found Bols has Wasabi Smash and a Mango Smash product as well. Yum. (I haven't tried them, but the idea sounds very mixable into the next cocktail I would like to try out). It is lengthy, but well worth the read for anyone interested in cocktails and current trends. Cordials and Liqueurs by Robert Bradford, December, 2002. Cheers! edit to fix link

Welcom to eG ambra. Tipping has been discussed at some length not too long ago. Use the Search feature to yield additional tipping discussions, but this one comes to mind: Clickety Here Thank you for the URLs on the toxicity and negative physical effects of this urban myth.

Hi Paula. This is a signature coctail from Rise, located within the Ritz-Carlton, (14th floor, I think) Battery Park, New York City. While I don't have the proportions, this is what it is made of: Citrus Vodka (Absolut Citron, Skyy Citrus, ???) Peach Liqueur Midori Melon Liqueur Blue Curaçao Fresh Lemon Juice Sorry, I cannot be more specific. Keep searching! Or experiment! Cheers!

Heh. Well, beans, I absolutely loathe Bob Blumer and wouldn't mind at all if his toaster van fell into a pool and electrocuted him. Apparently if you consider yourself zany and have Lyle Lovett hair, you're "Surreal." The "Surreal" goes back to his first published book (early 1990's). His surreal artwork sold and it stuck ever since. Isn't it too easy to make fun of those in the media?

Sorry, but what does Visine in someone's drink have to do with tipping? Isn't there already a tiresome thread on that on the eG? Please let it die there. Newsflash, but there are those in the service industry that does take pride in their job, and do it well. More than you think. And even a few with principles, morales and scruples. Oh, and don'tr stiff your server. Give them less, express your distain with an appropriate manager or read your menu when it states 'Parties of x amount or larger are charged an xx% gratuity.' I'm not saying in any way that you were, but there are high maintenance, difficult guests one must wait on too. If there are problems, request a different server with management. There are always pro-active ways to correct the situation, while in progress too! Communication is a two way street. edit: to really get what I wanted to say all in one post

I find the sound quite a bit less offensive than every possible excuse for a close up of the woman to slowly lick food off of her fingers or a wooden spoon and moaning contentedly. Very exaggerated. Very annoying. All that's missing is the cheesy soft core porn music. Perhaps instead of the loud crackling bags? I realize she's an attractive and clearly "sensually involved" large breasted woman. So what. Really - all that's left is to show is the woman deep throating a balloon whisk, ferchissakes. Enough already. What she said! (And I thought it was just me that got bored with all of it!)

Oh my God! Don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch please!!!! Unless that server is gunning for a nice lawsuit and loss of employment, at a minimum, there is *much* urban myth to these stories. Sort of bragging -- only to display exactly what sort of witch one has chosen to be!

Wooo hoooo! Up the collection to +1 I've just returned from a lovely trip to Sam's Club and found only one copy of Gordon Ramsay's just desserts for a song. bourdain wrote the Foreward. It's my evening's worth of reading.

Me too! Oh, I *love* pears. And almonds! Usually I pair up the pears with hazelnuts for Fall though... This thread is sounding more and more delicious as it develops.

Actually, my mom did so I would eat it. After I got used to it, the knickname stuck, and the preference in taste too. Although, I never use it while I'm in Cleveland. It's a Sitka only thing.

Oh that reminds me, that's the same in my Grandparents' home in Alaska. In coffee and the finishing splash on your morning, lumpy oatmeal.

tommy- Those dishes are lovely! (They are the same ones in the larb photo right?) Stone - What about the popular Fiestaware? My bachelor ex-roomie went for those. They're sturdy, not too feminine, and I think they can be bought piece by piece if need be.

ouch!

Gee, how many of us have purchased our parents knives?!! I know I did for one father's day -- a decent chef's, bread and paring knife. Oh, and a cutting board too. Some reason or another, (was this a trend? I seem to remember other friends' moms having one of these too) my mother had a funky, thin wooden board and also a glass one too. I think the glass board was a gift from their kitchen cabinet maker because they opted not to have one of those pull out drawer kinds. At that point, they had the one serated multipurpose dull thing and a few twisted point cheap steak knives (a screw driver in a pinch). They still do.

I was curious too. I got an email just a moment ago from a cust service rep and she assured me Almond Breezes are kosher and are produced using dairy equipment. I look foreward to thebaker's sharing that pastry cream recipe.

I got almost beaten to a pulp on those fanantic forums when I agreed with bourdain's comment about salmon caught in the wild.... Those boards catapulted me over to eG.

Oh, that's cool. I think my steady stream of hate for the FN fanatic forums seeps out every now and then. Doh!