Stone

I guess I should take the subway instead of my motorcycle! Thanks for the suggestion. If it's raining tomorrow, you'll know where to find me.

Anyone ever go out there and take a tour? I thought about stopping by.

I'm guessing that those are bits of connective tissue. And if so, I'd guess that if you cooked them long and slow, they'd turn to collegen. But it's probably not worth it.

You've just described my kitchen. But I don't have an espresso machine.

Sorry for going off topic, but I recently laid out some slices of prociutto to form a flat sheet, sprinkled it with S&P and a bit of chopped sage and oregano, and rolled a pork tenerloin up snuggly. Browned on the range and bunged in the oven. Mmmmm. Pork.

Is tofu kosher for passover?

If you are lucky enough to live near Manhattan, these guys have the best domestic pancetta I have ever tasted... It is all I will use... Their salame, sausage and other regal pork products are all mighty fine also... They will probably ship to you if are fanatical enough. Salumeria Biellese 378 8th Ave. NY NY 10001 212-736-7376 Thanks. I'm sure this will beat the stuff I was getting at Safeway and Whole Foods.

I find it difficult to get good pancetta. A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper. When it's good, it's wonderful.

Dude. You guys eat marmite. Or vegimite. Or some kind of shite.

It seems that Burger King is always trying to make itself over. It's constantly changing it's logo. It had that wonderfully abusrd and immensely stupid "Where's Herb" ad campaign (I believe that was rated in the top-3 worst ad campaigns ever). It's constantly changing its menu items to catch up to McDonalds. But for some reason, it just doesn't work. Funny, because I find its burger far superior to McD's.

Based on my unscientific observations, tapas are more profitable. Call a small dish of shrimp an appetizer, and the restaurant can charge $8. Add one more shrimp and call it a tapa (tapo?), and the restaurant can charge $12. Turn a $4.50 side order of potatoes into a tapa and it's a $7 menu item.

I have to say that I'm surprised the concept of roasted cauliflower is so new to so many people. How many things can you do to a cauliflower? Steam, boil, saute, roast. It's not a long list. Or maybe cause I'm so lazy, my first inkling with any vegetable is to put olive oil on it and stick it in the oven.

Actually, there are a lot of examples of dress-codes that are targeted at certain groups. In DC in the late 80s early 90s, a lot of bars banned baseball hats, leather jackets and gold chains. Even though it was evenly enforced, the gold chain ban was clearly an attempt to keep out the then burgeoning rap/hip hop crowd. A similar analogy would be police departments that banned certain hairstyles, including cornrows and dreadlocks. Such bans primarily affect African-Americans. I don't have any reason to believe that a restaurant's ban against sneakers is racially motivated, but you can't be certain that it's not.

I can't help with your problem. But can you educate a Jew on what St. Josephs Day is? (I assume you're not spending the day popping little orange pills in your mouth.)

Finally. Science that benefits humanity instead of destroys it.

My vote has to go to Eli Zabar's E.A.T. I don't know if the prices there are cause for embarrasment or if Eli should be celebrated as a champion of American salesmanship. Don't get me wrong. The few things I've had from E.A.T. have been pretty good. They make excellent egg salad -- at $16 a pint. Or you can get a "double" egg salad sandwich for $10. I'm not sure what's double about it, except the price. (They do a good job of placing all the egg salad in the center of the sandwich, cutting it in half and wrapping the two halves together so that the "displayed" end shows a deceptively large portion of egg salad, while the other end of the sandwich is basicly bread against bread.) They serve a good broccoli with roasted garlic salad. It's bright green, fresh and crunchy. And $14 a pint. In case you're wondering, you only get broccoli and a few cloves of roasted garlic with that. No massage, no free tank of gas, no extra set of steak knives. Their lentil salad is also very good. Those tiny French lentils, parsley, a good balance of olive oil and vinegar. All that for only $12 a pint. The last item I've had from E.A.T. was roast chicken. It was delivered, and by the time it got to me it was a bit dry and somewhat shriveled. It tasted good though. It was $20 a pound. I thought about ordering some crab cakes. They're about the size of a ring-ding and cost $10. Not $10 an order, but $10 each. Any adult trying to make a meal of crabcakes will be set back $30 -- before dropping $12 for pint of tomato & mozarella salad. (Which consists, of course, of tomatoes and mozarella. Don't look for caviar, truffles or gold leaf.) I thought about an "individual" (read: small) serving of mac & cheese, but I'm trying to cut out carbs -- especially when they cost $15 a dollop. Why do they charge such high prices? I guess there's two reasons. High rent on Madison Ave. And, more importantly, they can. The place is always packed. God bless America. What gets your vote?

But you could pick up a pizza and take it to the Grassroots tavern and drink $2.50 pitchers of beer while playing darts. What are they doing to the village? There's a Quiznos on St. Marks in some garish white mall-type place. They're building a glass and steel "expo" center on Houston like this is the fucking West Side Highway. That asshole Ian Schrager is building a hotel at Astor Place that's supposed to look like a pair of pants. What the fuck? Isn't that what the Upper East Side and Jersey is for?

So I've been back in the East Village for 6 weeks, and I had a hankering for a big, thick, cheesy slice of pizza. I walked down to St. Marks. What? Where? When? WHY?

I wonder whether Keller is facing a cash-crunch dealing with the closing. I'm sure he (and his investors) sank a ton into this place, and they must be hemorrhaging cash due to the lack of income. How much insurance is available to cover something like this? I would think that an ordinary restaurant would have trouble bouncing back when they lost their first 6 weeks of business.

Woah. I've had FG's frittata. And I watched him make it. It was much more involved than he lets on. And, it was the best damn frittata I've had.

I'd do it, but I really don't have any time. (And I did my duty arranging in eG dinner in San Francisco.)

Why doesn't someone arrange an eGullet dinner here?

I'm thinking of making White Torrone. The recipe calls for it to be spread over edible rice paper. Where can I find this in New York? Also, the recipe calls for heating the stuff in a copper pot. Is copper necessary?

Seems to be going well. According to a blurb in amNY, "preliminary tests on a small group of bar and restaurant workers . . . show a significant drop in levels of a nicotine by-product." The tests check the levels of cotinine in the saliva. Cotinine levels in those tested droped by 85% just three months after the ban went into effect.

Chocolate chip ice cream. Black & blue steak with crumbled blue cheese