cjsadler

Digging up a very old post. I see a couple recommendations for it, but no reviews.

I'd say it's been up and running for a week or two now. I live right around the corner and finally popped in today on the way home to have a look at the menu. Mostly pastas and wood-oven pizzas, all around $12 or so. Very nice inside, with high ceilings, the wood oven and the big windows.... Morela said it was run by the Cafe Milano people (don't really know much about that place, though). Lotsa open real estate in that area. City Lights is moving to the old Viareggio spot and it looks like the Greek place run by the La Tomate people (had some really poor gnocchi there the other day) is set to open in the old Peter's Passion spot finally.

I've heard/read quite a few reasons for this and am curious which are myths and which are true: 1. It allows gluten to relax (Heard this is BS, as if your dough is properly made, there shouldn't be much gluten in it) 2. It allows the moisture to distribute itself 3. Chilled butter has better plasticity for rolling (In my experience, chilled dough straight from the fridge seems more difficult to roll out) 4. Solidifies the butter so that the dough will setup before the butter melts, thus contributing to flakiness. (This seems like the real reason to me) 5. It prevents shrinkage (Possibly related to above reasons?) What's the real story? And how long should it rest/chill (I've heard 30 minutes and I've heard at least an hour).

Quinoa soup is good. That's an interesting article, too.

Yukon golds make the best oven roasted potatoes, in my opinion. Quarter and mix them with some olive oil and salt and spread on a heavy sheet pan*. Roast in the oven at 400. It will take about 40 minutes or so (I never really time it-- just check on their progress and flip once or twice). Take out when they are as crispy as you like. Yukons make excellent mashed potatoes too. *After my own disasters, I've learned that a heavy gauge sheet pan is key. If it's one of those flimsy grocery store ones, throw it right in the trash.

A chef once showed me the simple secret to her famous creamy polenta: use half heavy cream and half whole milk. This makes incredibly creamy and delicious polenta (the stock/milk combo isn't as good). You may be nervous about adding that much heavy cream, but I know from taste that alot of restaurants use it in their grits and polenta (seems like heavy cream is often the 'secret' to restaurant dishes). Not healthy, of course, but it does make it really good. Edit: Also, to get a 'creamy' texture, I've found that the double boiler method is best. Whisk the polenta into the simmering liquid of choice and then set-up in a double boiler. Cook for several hours, covered tight. Add more liquid as needed.

Made it there on Sunday to finally try the burgers. No flashy ingredients, just a really beefy hamburger served with a side of excellent onion rings. Delicious-- made me realize just how bland most hamburgers taste. Unfortunately, the roasted beet appetizer we ordered was mostly raw. Too bad, 'cause the roasted garlic dressing on it was nice. They seemed a little short staffed, with only one waiter working the entire floor (and it was pretty busy), but we got our food in a reasonable amount of time.

Is the Greenfield's Brazilian BBQ still open? If so, is it any good?

Has anyone tried the tart dough in there that doesn't use any liquid (it's just flour and salted butter)? I have a hard enough time as it is getting my tart dough to cohere into a ball. I just can't imagine this working. She says to knead it, which I guess you can do that as there isn't much risk of gluten forming here since the only water will come from any butter that starts melting. There's also a modified version where one tbs of water is used. This just seems so unorthodox to me, but I'm a very amateur baker. Maybe it works?

Would this be similar to a warm 'rice pudding'? It sounds pretty good. Yeah, exactly-- it's like a rice pudding made using risotto technique.

Red wine risotto is an interesting variation. There's a M. Batali recipe here. I usually add about twice that amount of red wine as I like the flavor of it to come through a bit more and then usually serve it with sliced Italian sausage on top. I've heard a few chefs talk about making dessert risottos, which seems interesting. Like an apple risotto which sautes apples instead of onions and then uses apple juice instead of stock. Never tried it myself, though.

I think the new 'Craft' cookbook (Tom Colicchio) has a recipe for you.

"Within days, he was vomiting up his burgers and battling with headaches and depression". Huh? Come on, now...

Tried another recipe out of this yesterday-- the chocolate-chunk caramel tart. It was delicious (though I didn't feel very manly bringing a tart to a Super Bowl Party). However, using her rich-tart crust dough recipe, my tart shrank big-time after blind baking it. I understand this is from over-handling, but I barely touched the dough (just molded it enough to come together in a disc... and it did come out pretty tender and flaky). Only had time to chill it for 10 minutes, so I'm thinking this is the culprit (?). As good as it was, I think next time I'd use all milk chocolate, as the dark chocolate tends to overpower the caramel flavor.

Is there a difference between Morton's and Diamond kosher salt? It seems to me that Morton's is more 'salty' (it seems like I really need to cut back when using it). Is it just a grain size difference between the two or what?

Oven cleaner, as suggested by Alton Brown, works really well, especially the stuff on the underside of the pans that's really cooked on there. I don't let it sit overnight, though, usually only about 15 minutes works. Just wipe it off-- very easy. He's right about the old, cooked on grease. If you don't continually keep the pans clean, you'll never get them back to their original state. "To remove the gunk on the backs of pans, Brown sprays on Easy-Off, lets them sit overnight and cleans them in the morning. (Using brute strength is a waste of time, he says, and steel wool can gouge metal.) This strategy won't work for old cooked-on grease, because the polymerized fat has bonded with the metal: It's one of the toughest things on earth, Brown says. " Food & Wine article about AB and cleaning

This book really is great and really makes you feel like you can make all these amazing desserts. My girlfriend is the owner of it, but I personally have used the recipes for streusel-baked pears and macaroon napoleons. They were both amazing (and I'm not much of a pastry chef, so that's a big credit to the book).

Went there last night with some friends. I ordered a couple of things off the 'modern' menu (or whatever it was called-- the menu is divided into modern/traditional/healthy). The crab dip was very spicy and interesting. Just lump crab in some sort of vinegar sauce with chili powder on top. Served with lettuce leaves for 'dipping' (you use them to make little lettuce wraps of sorts). For an entree I had the deep-fried squid. The squid was minimally breaded and cooked well (tender), but was overpowered by a lot of bitter, well-browned garlic. A separate plate on the side had a dark-grained sticky rice with coconut and sesame seeds. A nice change from steamed rice, but I didn't think it went very well with the squid. I sampled a few other dishes, including a fruit salad served with a garlic and chili dressing: pineapples, apples and a few other fruits with a vinegar-y, spicy, garlic-y dressing. Oddly enough, this worked really well. The traditional dishes seemed to be better than your standard Thai place, with more flavor and spice and less sugar.

Made a clafoutis based on the Saveur recipe. It looked beautiful, but the taste was way too eggy for me. Is this because I overcooked it? Or is this how clafoutis is supposed to be? Or is it just this recipe? Other recipes, such as M. Bittman's or J. Thorne's only have 2-3 eggs (the Saveur one has 6). Also, I'm considering trying one with pears. Should the pears be cooked first, or will they cook in the oven enough if I cut them small enough?

I'm considering buying one of the LC's from that link, but am having second thoughts. As I write this, I've got some beef bourguignon braising in the oven in what I usually use as a dutch oven: a calpahlon anodized aluminum 6-qt pot (bought it as part of a set back when I knew nothing about cookware). My question is: Will the LC dutch oven make that much of a difference?

Jenny-- Since you live in the DC area, there's a Le Creuset outlet at the Leesburg outlets. The stuff is still pretty pricey, though, even with a discount of 25% or so. I'm still trying to get myself to bite the bullet and invest in a 7 quart dutch oven.

Many thanks, Craig. That certainly must be it.

We got it by the glass, so I didn't get to see the label. My dining companion now wants to track down a bottle of it. She called the restaurant (Babbo, NYC) and was told by the bartender that he thinks it was a ramato (the wine was indeed copper in color) and that the producer was Deni. Tried a web search, but couldn't find anything (perhaps the producer's name is spelled incorrectly?). This is thin information to go on, but can anyone ID this wine?

Water and fat can combine to cause this nasty popping phenomenon when heated. The water vaporizes and sends fat flying in tiny explosions. Perhaps water got into the fatback from the blanching (?)

Had brunch at CK on Sunday and really enjoyed it. Contrary to the WP.com comments, the staff was very friendly and the food arrived on time. Started off with some donut holes, which were hot and delicious. As mentioned in the donut thread, they are fried to perfection, making a nice, crisp outer crust. In fact, they were so good that after brunch we ordered a 'dessert' of the donut sampler (so much for New Year's resolutions...) I tried the salmon cakes benedict, which were good, though the cakes were a bit too dense for me, with too many bread crumbs. The cheese grits were fantastic. Not sure what kind of cheese is in there, maybe aged cheddar? A lot of the other plates coming out of the kitchen looked excellent, especially the fried fish. The couple next to us, like DonRocks's dining partner, were going nuts over the tartar sauce. The server divulged the recipe as I tried to listen in. Tarragon, chives, parsley, capers, and horseradish, I think. I'll be back here for dinner soon. P.S.-- The burger is available on Sunday nights (in addition to Fri lunch), along with other dishes that aren't available during the week.