Lisa1349

James, Currently, I have chosen the Bhalsen line of European cookies, which are incredible as are the LU cookies. The L'Ecole cookie from LU is also popular. I feel there would be room for both lines of cookies and will order them within a few weeks. In the meantime, I encourage you to give Bhalsen a try, especially the butter leaves which I could not make better myself - and I'm a pretty good cook/baker. Salt packed anchovies are indeed available behind our smoked fish counter. Salt packed capers in small jars will be available within 2 weeks. I'm trying to get the real deal from Pantelleria. Also new this week is varietal apple juice from France: Gala, Braeburn, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious are available in our beverage case. Also popular is 100% blood oj from Sicily and mandarin juice of the same origin. I'm posting publicly to get you to introduce yourself to me! I think you like being a mystery man...

Indeed, we were both right! The actual price is $6.99 and $7.99. The unit prices on the shelf tags were mislabeled at $12 and $14 per pound. Oops. Ussingers is getting a call this week.

Our Custom Catering Services department features our cheese in trays with accompanyments starting at $44.95 which is more than enough for 10 people. Our cheese cave, during slow times is more than happy to fulfill any 'cheese to go' request.

I did some research because this seemed way out of line to me. We carry 3 kinds of Boar's Head Frank products, ranging in price from $6.99 to $7.99. The franks we have which are indeed $12.99 are Niman Ranch Fearless Franks, made with hormone/antibiotic free beef. I also learned that many companies who only deal with direct sales (meaning you can not buy Boar's Head wholesale from any other company) have 'suggested' retail prices that we must adhere to. Petrossian salmon/caviar also operates under the same deal. New this week: we've added hot sandwiches, 2 different ones daily, from 12-2. So far I've seen meatball, roast beef, roast pork and sausage with all the fixins - provolone, rabe, long hots, carm onions etc. Yum!

Volvic's big in NY? I didn't know. I first saw it in HK. ← While Volvic is popular in NY, "Manhattan Special" is a fantastic coffee soda, available all over NY.

Friday night.. 7pm sound good? I can stop by there and ask them to reserve some tables if we have enough people to warrant it. My favorite combo is pancetta with roasted peppers. I'm also a big fan of their white pie.

I got some at Sue's Produce on 18th st around Easter. Early I know, but I couldn't resist.

When do you propose? Things are getting closer to under control at work and I might be able to run around the corner for pizza. Friday night? Saturday afternoon? edit: I'm game on a non pizza club day for the Lorenzo/Jim steak challenge.

We've added another checkout line today to make 4 registers working hard to get you home to enjoy the goodies. We've also got the fee peach bitters and use fee syrups at our coffee bar. Volvic water is on the way to rejoin the ranks of the rest! I'm thrilled the Manhattan Special is moving, I took a chance stocking it mostly as an "I miss NY" thing.

We do have Spanish ventresca in a can. We also have Jose Serrat tuna plain and with peppers. Thanks for all the well-wishes!

I've missed having a life but this project has been very rewarding. I don't recall when I've witnessed so many happy people under one roof. Our grand openng is just the beginning - upstairs opens in about 2 weeks, then there will be KitchenAid demos twice a month, I will do demos with our products and oh, yes we still have leases on 2 locations around the corner... look for things to come. The product lineup is vast and will continue to evolve sublimely. If you stop by to oogle, I may be running around, but please ask for 'Lisa A'

I had the smoked duck club for lunch a few weeks ago. Fantastic. Also started with chicken and boursin dumplings - outstanding. Colleague had fish and chips and was less than thrilled with the batter. It LOOKED fine but was chewy and underdone while the fish was cooked. Others agreed it was not their norm.

After what was the first of many farewell pies to be consumed at Lombardi's, we enjoyed the Mojito (on Katie's recommendation) as well as blood orange that was a fab combination. I had burnt sugar and grapefruit w/campari. This was a mistake. Mixing gelato and sorbetto should be warned against by the service people. I hadn't even noticed the grapefruit was sorbetto (without dairy) until the textures collided in my cup. Burnt sugar was heavenly, not so burnt it was bitter - nice and sweet and creamy. Grapefruit also nice but a tad icy. Beau's friend John had nutella and bannanas foster, a winning combo. I also must note that the beau and I both ordered smalls, yet mine was nearly half the size of his. I compensated by eating his extra I intend to have the straciatella by itself very soon. Looks divine.

Lazaro's pizza reminds me of any small neighborhood pizzeria in NY that's been around since the dawn of time. That brings good memories to me - it's not the best pizza but I don't find it offensive.

Thanks for noticing Sandy, that we're making lots of improvements. We're more aware than ever that cheese is more readily available and we need to make sure our customers make it a point to come to us for the quality goods. We make offerings to the cheese Gods daily that the dollar will be better positioned amongst the euro, but it really makes a big impact on cost. Not only on the actual price of the product but on shipping as well. Some products have increased by a third or more since I began working there 2 years ago. Cheese popularity has also increased causing further price increases. We frequently encounter farmers who cannot keep up with demand. Hence, any product they have left now costs more to gauge how badly you want it. American Artisanal cheese prices are not competitive either. The cost to produce cheese here, where farmers are paid subsidies NOT to produce milk is absurd. The movement to mandate olive oil production also hurts prices in that market. IGP and DOP designation, soon the norm for most oil adds the cost of certifications and regulates which olives and where they are from can make up your bottle. It removes some of the previous inconsistency from one batch to the next, at a cost. Many don't know Italy is currently the largest IMPORTER of olive oil. To be repackaged and labeled 'bottled in Italy'. Spain is the largest oil producer. We are working hard to streamline our shops, in preparation for our move around the corner in Rittenhouse Square, scheduled for May. It really is going to be a retail experience like no other in Philadelphia.

Had a chef tasting about 3 weeks ago. Granted, I was dining with some of the staff so extra hoops were jumped through. What an amazing experience. 9 courses, 3 people- everyone had different plates and wine for each, 27 tastings. My palate was tired for 2 days just thinking of everything so fabulous. Sommeliere did an amazing job. Lobster 'pot pie' and tuna ceviche (separate plates) were the highlights.

Why is it no one has asked for the recipes yet? I'm especially interested in the marble cheesecake brownie! Pretty please, with no cool whip on top?

I was looking into some Itlaian regional specialties and picked up A-Mano 2001 Primitivo from Puglia, on sale a few weeks ago @$10.99. It was a little harsh and acidic for me, flavors of underripe raspberry/blackberry but was lovely in the poached dried figs I used the rest of the bottle for. I'm going to use the hysterical labeled Goats-do-Roam from South Africa in braised lamb shanks and drink it with as well.

I had the privilage of making risotto at work 5 nights a week for a few years. We made wild mushroom and duck risotto finished with white truffle oil. The duck was duck confit- changed between butternut squash, corn and baby leeks depending on season. I've noticed that the additions at the end are really to make a 'sauce' for the rice. You do want to get as much creaminess as possible from the rice. Then add loads of butter/parm/flavored oil to emulsify in. Add them off the heat - beat together - put back on gentle heat to heat through, you'd be amazed how these additions cool it down. I used to have a couple spoonfulls before the long ride home on cold nights to keep me warm. Lately I've made red wine risottos to go with braised short ribs.

It was great to meet Kurt, Janet and Kathy, hopefully you can join us on out local jaunts, too. I now realize Kurt's avatar must be his 5 yr old with Korean BBQ on her face? I also forgot special thanks to Katie for fabulous wine donation. Did I mention Janet's great cookies? Anyone get a pic? I like to investigate the pizza toppings places are using. For example, I was thrilled at DiFara's when the peppers were Cubanelle, green italian frying peppers. At Totonno's, they were roasted reds. It was a bit odd that the mushrooms at DiFara's were steamed and added after it came out of the oven. I might have liked them roasted. It's interesting that Mr. DeMarco doesn't shred his low moisture mozz, it might make the top a bit less wet, giving everything more surface area to evaporate liquids. But hey, he's the one making God knows how many pies a week, not me. Pics and avatars don't seem to be working at the moment, I'm interested to see the Sicilian at Sullivan St. Bakery from Sam. I don't preach that L&B is the best pie ever, but it is unlike most others in BKLYN and I like it. Ours on Saturday had the most char I've ever seen from them, however. Gary's ganache went wonderfully with the Brooklyn Brown ale I was drinking at Totonno's. This was also my first anchovy pizza ever! I wouldn't have enjoyed it without the garlic.

Just got back. Super major thanks to Rich for driving and handling the van in stellar fashion. Shucks golly gosh what a nice bunch you all are to hang out with. Special thanks to Janet and Gary for cookies and GANACHE. DiFara's artichoke porcini was tops for me. Hopefully some pictures will turn up soon.

I bought a bottle of Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka because I like the idea of it. When I got home, I realized I had no real plans on how to use it. I've been mixing a drink I had dubbed "The Nutty Dutchman" but last night it became the 'Chocolate Covered Almond'. Equal parts chocolate vodka and amaretto, with a splash of cream. An idea of the vodka with maraschino juice tasted good in my head, not in the glass. The beau added Dooley's Toffee Liquer and made a choco toffee-nut, but it curdled. Yucky. If the card reader works tonight, I'll post a pic.

All except for DiFara's. We can rotate between the van and the pizzeria, or find a larger pizzeria. How much does the van come to, with tax and all the hoopla? How many axles does it have? I think the Goethals and Verrazano bridges charge per axle.

The DiBruno gang had a social outing ending at the Smoked Joint Friday night. Yum! We started with the eggplant pizza, smoked babaghanoush (sp?), wings and sweet potato fries. It's hard to believe that no one has mentioned how incredible the wings are! Smoked and grilled... yumm. I loved the BBG, I was obliged with more pita crisps when I wouldn't give up the plate to the waitress because I wasn't done, nice service touch. The fries were great, rarely do you see steak cut sweet potato fries as they have there. Nice ranch style dipping sauce. I might have too-high standards for pizza, but their version didn't make me swoon. It seemed more like an open face cheesy pita than pizza. Disclaimer: I was 3 bourbons and 1/2 an oversized Allagash White Ale to the wind by appetizers. We all split large BBQ combos, pulled pork, ribs, brisket and chicken. I didn't try the chicken because I actually was full, but sampled leftovers yesterday were moist and happily smoky. The fact that there were leftovers between 9 hungry food-o-philes says a lot, they feed you there. The brisket passed the 'cut with a fork' test and was my favorite. The pulled pork was appropriately tender and actually pulled. Often you find chooped pork in it's place. All benefitted from the balanced vinegary-slightly sweet sauce on the table. The root beer beans were my ideal baked beans. A texture that told how thay started with dried beans, not canned, and cooked them to perfection. Chunks of meat, no cloying sauce. I'm not a huge collard fan, but others who were with me loved them. I prefer very cheesy, thick mac-n-cheese. Theirs was a bit too thin for me. There was also a strange seetness that didn't seem appropriate. Nice crunchy crust, however. We forgot about corn bread. For this we should be banished from the culinary world, I know. After stating repeatedly that corn bread was the item I was most looking forward to - it was missed. Badly needed was a simple "Should I bring corn bread for each table?" and I wouldn't have to whine now. There was no floppy white bread, but we hadn't asked, either. For dessert I ordered my own root beet float. Served with Virgils, a great micro brewed root beer and a huge cookie on the glass. Others had a cookie plate with ice cream, the cookies were oatmeal raisin, a PB&J sandwich butter cookie and choc chip macadamia. Sodas are served in not so mini pitchers. This is cool. The beers are large. Your napkin is a red hand towel - also necessary. The kitchen is open and made me long for the good old days of sweating on the food. One dislike: our party of 9 couldn't sit together. The tables along the upper railing are attatched to the railing and can't move. I didn't see any space except the bar that could accomodate a larger party. I will be back, with less than 9!

The current owners are the second/third owners. One of the second generation of original sold 6 years ago and works for us, Fred DeSantis. He still wears a Ricci Bros shirt at least once a week. I keep meaning to get over there, I've heard how great it is.