Stone

A friend and I went to Blue Smoke last night at 8 and found a 30 minute wait. Much too long for mediocre bbq. So we went around the corner to Les Halles. It was my first time, and the above posts describe it well. It's dark and the tables are close, but even though we were elbow to elbow with the next table I didn't find it uncomfortable. The meat display at the entrance almost made me drool. Since I'm trying to lose about 30 pounds this week, I skipped the steak frites and ordered the scallops. Given the cream and/or butter in the champagne sauce, I coulda had the steak. The scallops (4) were plump, fresh and delish. The sauce was good, but, I think due to the four dollops of salmon caviar, was too salty. The scallops were arranged around a bed of veggies that I couldn't really identify. They were cut almost like fettucine noodles, thin and crunchy. Coulda been a cabbage thing. Other than the salt the only downside was the topping of thin, frizzled, fried stuff. Again, I couldn't identify it (although I think it should have been obvious, perhaps thin onion stick? But not really. I was just blanking). It wasn't greasy, but it wasn't crisp either. Tasted like stale onion sticks. My friend had the onglet. The shallot sauce came in a ramekin on the side, which I think is a mistake. Pour it on. The steak was a little thin (not as plump and meaty as the onglet I'd had at Jules the night before) and slightly dry. The guy at the next table had a hangar steak. It looked thin and dry. Great fries though. The bill with one drink and three glasses of wine came to about $90.

Does this mean that I can grind up shrimp into a paste and add it kosher sauces? Or perhaps spoon some on pieces of toast and deep fry them?

Just watched the two episodes. "Are those real?" Did he really say that? He did. Why didn't Laurent, who I understand has a relationship with Rocco, walk up to him during the shift and say, "Hey, Rocco, the kitchen is missing a chef and they're swamped. You need to get down there." Wasn't Laurent in the meeting where Rocco decided to fire Tony? How could he pretend to be angry at the firing?

Take the pulled pork out of the freezer, whack off a large chunk, put it in a cast-iron pan over medium heat with a few drops oil, when it melts -- kick it up to sizzle. I'll often dice up some onion and garlic to throw in for the last minute or so. Q -- At first I was adding bbq sauce to the pork in the pan. I think it was a mistake. I got a bitter burning flavor that I assume was a combination of the sugars and pepper in the sauce burning.

You gonna start a restaurant? If you were, what kind?

Talk, pig, talk. what's the recipe?

My kitchen has a vent shaft (there's one in the bathroom as well) that leads up to the roof. It's got a little fan at the roof that generates a subtle updraft. When I open my living room window, the updraft increases and it does a pretty good job of getting the smoke out. I sear steaks, chops and chicken on my cast-iron skillet all the time.

Is there a fixed price for omakase at Nobu? At Japonica, an otherwise reasonably priced restaurant, omakase is something like $150 for two people.

I think Yank Sing in SF also offers a selection of tea.

What Zuni is to oysters, Plouf is to mussels.

Oddly, I find that this topic makes my skin crawl.

Foil trays. My friend almost spent $150 on a roasting pan the one time she would ever make a turkey in her life. I handed her two $3 foil trays instead.

I'm kind of embarrassed, but I have something to add. I find that when I'm really stuffed, but of course continuing to eat, I tend to stick my tongue out, place the food on my tongue and bring it into my mouth. O.k., not as blatant as that description, but something close. Don't know why. As for tongue drinkers, I've known a few women who, whether drinking from a glass or a bottle, would dart their tongue out to make the first contact before the receptacle hit their lips. Never decided whether I thought it was sexy, trashy or a delightful combination.

Zuni Cafe.

I also have to give Chipotle credit for the tasteful signage. Unlike Subway's uniform garish yellow plastic signs assaulting our senses everywhere, Chipotle seems to design their signs and store fronts to fit each location. There's one around the corner in mid-town Manhattan that has a wood/brushed steel motiff that fits tastefully (and subtley) with the front of the building.

Cute.

I've got room in my reservation. Send photos of the offered organs. (Cash accepted in lieu of flesh.)

I'm pretty sure this was intentional. By the way -- aren't there people out there who know what happened? I haven't been by 22nd street in a while. Is the restaurant still there? Still Rocco's? Who's the chef? What's the state of the lawsuit?

I think Rocco's next book won't be a cookbook. It will be a children's book: "Where's Rocco?" The way they cut the show, it appeared that when Rocco had his "we have to work this out" talk and JC said, "we'll talk tomorrow", Rocco forgot to say, "can't tomorrow, I'm getting honored at the CIA." Even JC would have to have understood why Rocco took the day off. On the other hand, Rocco could be so pissy that he didn't want to tell JC. But that's hard to believe. How could they let a runner (the cute woman) work there for a few weeks without teaching her how to open a bottle of wine? I worked at Pizzaria Uno, and the management taught me how to open a bottle of wine. (The producers must have cringed when she was fired.)

I read in the paper yesterday that Bouley failed a health inspection.

This is a tough category. The thought of comparing Sam Smith's nut brown and Chimay, on one hand, with Budweiser and Corona on the other hand is absurd -- even if they are both made in big batches. The first are two of the best beers in the world regardless of the volume. I hate saying this, but in some things, size does not matter.

I had a very mediocre meal at Thalassa a few weeks ago. It was a dinner party for about 15 people with a set menu. The grilled shrimp appetizer was terrific. Huge, tasty and well cooked shrimp. The zucchini blossoms stuffed with crab were somewhat of a disappointment because they were just crab cakes. Apparently the kitchen ran out of zucchini blossoms. I made the mistake of ordering the rib eye steak. It was thin, overcooked and dry. The fish choice didn't fare much better. However, my friends who live nearby tell me the place is usually great.

Light and clean aren't the only considerations! But they're better than dark, dirty, and shabby! Not in the East Village. It's about diversity. Dark dirty and shabby is part of what makes it the East Village.

Just had a chicken shwarma. Small, but very good. Quite tasty chicken. Excellent pita. What's with the no-lamb policy?

If you need light and clean, go to the upper east side. They've got that in spades.