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scottie

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Everything posted by scottie

  1. I'm gonna pull for Huckleberry in Williamsburg. They serve food until 4 am, although the chef himself usually cuts out around 1. It's a limited menu, but I think the food is good enough and the atmosphere shmancy enough to warrant listage here. Not to mention the pedigree: Owners Stephanie and Andrew are Danny Meyer alumni, while Chef Seth Johnson did time at Resto. The food is good and the cocktails are great; it's kind of like Stanton Social upstairs without the obnoxious scene.
  2. Thanks, guys. All good ideas I'll be playing around with.
  3. I have a bunch of old speck and prosciutto in the fridge. It's all dried out and covered in salt crystals. I know it will never return to its former suppleness, but does anyone think I can revive this stuff somehow? Or use it for anything beyond seasoning soups and beans? It was so dang expensive, I hate to throw it out.
  4. Heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to show up in greater quantities, especially the cherry varieties. Lots of peppers, corn, eggplant, pole beans, favas, English peas, and apricots. Still some sour cherries and fresh currants. Dwindling supplies of sugar snaps. Garlic is getting much more mature. No scapes today. I wanted to report on two things: Squash blossoms at 4 for a dollar!!!! And fresh ricotta: Ever since the blurb in NYT, these guys have been selling out before noon. Today they sold out by 11:30. Good news is they reduced the price- $15 for sheep, $13 for cow. Fridays only- get there early!
  5. I heard that. I live so close to the L train, it's pretty convenient for me to hop on over to U.S. But then I inevitably shop until I can no longer carry anything else, or until I can no longer stand it. It is less convenient for me to walk to the greenmarket in my neighborhood, but if I manage to make it out of the house before noon on a Saturday, I'd rather go there than brave the awesome and terrible crowds of Union Square. MacCarren Park Williamsburg/ Greenpoint Corner of Lorimer and Bedford Saturdays only This one is fairly small. There is a meat vendor, a fish vendor, some dairy, and a baker (which sucks IMHO), in addition to a few veggie stands and some guy with honey. Pickings get really slim after 12. No one except the meat guy seems to bring nearly as much stuff as they would to U.S. But I do like the meat vendor, who is also at U.S. on Mondays. He has a good variety, even some fresh merguez.
  6. I helped open a restaurant here in NYC a few months ago. It was a turnkey operation, so fortunately most permits and vendors, etc., were already in place. We had three days to turn it around: cleaning, painting, new menus, ordering, cooking stocks and sauces, it was nuts. The planning process was about two weeks long. Recipe testing happened while we were already open. Staff training happened on the fly. It was all on the fly, and I'm proud to say that four months later the restaurant is doing really well. We enjoyed a good review in New York magazine, as well as a few good mentions in some other local rags. The first month, we had a hell of a lot of people turn around and walk out when they learned there were no longer any crepes available. But now they love it. It was crazy, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Good luck to you!
  7. I think this is true. "Dry pack" doesn't necessarily mean the scallops will be bone dry, it just means they have not been packed in the preservative solution. Any protein is going to give off a little of its juices as it sits, due to dehydration. And I don't see why scallops in different waters with different temperatures and environmental factors should not have different moisture content. I have bought wet-looking, "dry-pack" scallops at the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market that were absolutely fabulous and browned up terrifically. You ought to at least give them a try, IMO. edited to add: Chelsea Market here in NYC, that is. Sometimes I forget people live in other places.
  8. scottie

    Trout Roe

    Sounds delicious. How did it turn out?
  9. Do you think they might be available at Essex St. Market? They have such a wide variety of tropical fruit.
  10. scottie

    Trout Roe

    It is absolutely worth preparing. I have had delicious trout roe with creme fraiche and herbs. Some chopped shallots would be good, too. I don't know whether you have to do anything to it before eating it raw- rinse it, perhaps? Brine it a little? You can also fold it into some soft scrambled eggs- that would be good. Or you can make fritters. I would be very careful not to overcook it. If you don't have creme fraiche or sour cream, you can just whip your cream and add a little salt and some herbs. That would be delicious with eggs and roe. I hope you enjoy your treat!
  11. I always enjoy the Odeon. It's consistently reliable, and the wine selections are a cut above your average bistro. There's a reason it's been around for 20-odd years and counting. The steak tartare is pretty darn good.
  12. When I worked in the Bread Bar at Tabla, I'd often finish my shift with a Naan pizza. Rosemary naan, toasted first in the oven- it worked better if toasted and then topped, then toasted again. A dollop of tomato kalonji, some slices of potato (went great with the rosemary), scallions, red onions, and green chilies. Sometimes with goat cheese. Drizzled with olive oil. The challenge was always to make something new and delicious, as well as fast and filling, with the same old mise en place you're left with at the end of the day. I also made a lot of fried rice. Sometimes I'd make something for the bartenders. One guy once said, "I love it when you guys whip up something that's better than anything on the menu." These days, where I work we eat a lot of simple sandwiches with whatever leftovers are in the pots, slathered with house-made spicy mayo. Probably the grossest thing I ever made was a brisket-fat sandwich, but it tasted really good.
  13. I think you're talking about Trina, who runs Silver Heights Farm. She has a huge catalogue of rare and heirloom plant varieties; what she brings to the market is a small selection of all the plants she grows at her nursery upstate. The link has her email info; I bet if you emailed her with the herbs you require, she would have some if not all. You would probably get them as plants in a pot. And then you could always have them around, on your windowsill! Trina is at the Union Square market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. With the new configuration, she is still on the west side near her old spot. You can spot her dark-green pick-up truck from a distance.
  14. FYI, for a lot of FOH jobs in the finer restaurants, they will require you to backwait for up to 6 months before making you a full server. No matter how much experience you have in other cities. Just so you know; don't be discouraged. Also check out Shiftdrink.com, Shamelessrestaurants.com or WaiterRant for some insight into the FOH scene here.
  15. Other than bread and butter, I don't really know what "comebacks" could be successfully recycled. Not that any of them should be recycled, mind you. I have not heard the term "comeback." Hopefully, it is not in common usage anymore because the practice is no longer common. I can tell you that when I recently helped clean out the space for a turnkey operation- a new restaurant in a pre-existing space- we had to throw away all the butter that was in ramekins, because it was clear from the presence of breadcrumbs that the butter had been recycled and consolidated. Some establishments still clarify "comeback" butter for use in the kitchen- butter is expensive- but I don't know whether there's an official term in use for this. I love to read about the old days in the business. According to this, anything that was served on platters in what we would now call "family-style," but was not touched, could be re-served later. These days, perhaps that kind of thing would go for family meal. But once it's been on the table, it's illegal to serve it to any other paying customer. In the U.S, at least. That's why it's such a problem when the servers bring the food to the wrong table; you can't just whisk it away and give it to the right people. You have to cook it all over again, which puts the kitchen in the weeds.
  16. If you two are both male you might have some trouble getting into some places at peak times. You might want to bring a female along to increase your chances of entrance.
  17. Your story reminds me so much of my first job out of school. It was down South. I finally left for NYC, I did not want to move up north to the big city, but I realized that I could stay there, work with a bunch of hacks and check-cashers, and maybe become regionally successful eventually. Or I could move to a world-class dining city, and work with professionals who care about their field. Even though my first job in NYC was frying onion rings, it was so worth it to be around people who cared about doing it right. My advice to you would be: Stick it out and then move to a world-class food city: NYC, Chicago, New Orleans, D.C.. Maybe Atlanta. Even if you don't really want to live in those places, it's worth it to spend a few years in the company of people who give a shit. I have met and cooked for more prominent people in this industry in the past two years than I ever would have had I stuck around a similar town back down South. And my coworkers have been amazing. So good luck and let us know how it turns out.
  18. Babe's Country Cookbook From the movie with the cute talking pig. Some of the recipes are fairly good, but the writing is abysmal. Each recipe is introduced in the voice of the farmwife from the movie. Plus it just looks so cheesy on my shelf. Why God, why?
  19. Minamata Disaster The tale of an entire town poisoned by the Chisso Corporation factory back in the 1950's, which dumped methylmercury into the bay and contaminated the fish everyone lived on- starting with the town's cats. Not a pretty way to die. Or to live, for that matter. (Thanks to the Dead Kennedys for their edifiying song on this subject, "Kepone Factory")
  20. Sammy's is awesome and I love it. No one should be ashamed to love Sammy's Roumanian, even if the food sometimes sucks. The experience is great when you're in the right mood. Sammy's has the best chopped liver, but I also like Sarge's. I think Zabar's is too sweet.
  21. I would bet that most places do their own pickling these days. It's too easy not to.
  22. Tabla. They make their own bread (of course- that's why it's called Bread Bar), which is baked to order in the two tandoor ovens. They make their own pickles, pasta, chutneys, and charcuterie, though there's really not much of the latter. Heck, they even sell three of the chutneys in jars. They toast and grind all the spices needed on a daily basis. They grind their own meat when ground meat is needed. They break down whole pigs, lambs, goats, etc. I worked there for a year and a half and can say that Chef Floyd Cardoz and his staff maintain the highest standards of cleanliness, product quality and consistency that I have seen in this business. I imagine that Craft has similar standards. It has been a disappointment for me to work in other kitchens with lower standards. I mean, how hard is it to grind your own hamburger? Not that hard. Sure, Pat LaFrieda's meat is just fine, but at Tabla, that's what we got for family meal- not what we served to guests.
  23. I enjoy Masala Bollywood, and my Indian friend who is a cook likes it enough to bring his other Indian pals there. I take that as a pretty good endorsement. And much less crowded than Pongol!
  24. Quattro's Game Farm, which has a stand at the Saturday market in Union Square, always has some type of fowl bones: turkey, chicken, etc., usually for about .50/ lb. You can get an entire turkey carcass for two or three bucks, and sometimes it has enough meat on it to make a decent soup. Sometimes they have game bones, such as venison, so if you are playing around with stocks, they are a good source for that.
  25. I really enjoyed this book. It was very educational, and it has helped me to understand the evolution and genealogy of the restaurant scene here in New York City. I'll be curious to know how you like it. I just received My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals, a brand-new coffee-table book edited by Melanie Dunea. It's lots of fun and has some great photographs.
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