Stone

I would think that there are some South Asian dishes that share "Thanksgiving" spicing.

I've had a lot of good stuffing recipes that were very interesting and tasty. But there's not much that I like better than good old Stove-Top. Yes, it's too salty, but what a lovely, unapologetic hunk of carbs.

I was at Blue Hill SB on Saturday afternoon. It's absolutely beautiful right now. Go before the leaves drop.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

The Second Ave location is maddeningly inconsistent. I've had superb orders of qhizhou spicy chicken, which come in a relatively dry preparation with chunks of meat and wonderful sharp flavors. Spicy chicken with broccoli, loaded with sichuan peppercorns and chilis, etc. But other times, the dishes are total failures. Gristly chicken, bland spicing, covered in oil. It's as if the different chefs are working out of different recipe books.

Stone, I would blind-taste with you any day. ← You're on. You buy the good stuff (cause I don't know what's good), and I'll buy the cheap stuff (cause I know what's cheap). We'll meet in Topeka with corkscrews drawn.

That's not something you read everyday. I'd love to see someone recreate that blind taste test that made the rounds a few years ago. If I recall, they did a number of variations: They put the same wine in different bottles, and found that tasters preferred the wine with the classier labels; they had tasters sample the same wines in a group, and solo, and found varying results depending on whether there was a crowd; and in one, they asked tasters to rate a series of red wines, and no one noticed that one was actually white wine with food coloring. A wine person I know believes that Winers belittle these taste-tests the way that religious people belittle calls for God to make himself known ("God doesn't do parlor tricks.") He said that if wine tasting was reduced to scientific taste tests, it couldn't stand up.

I've made butternut squash gnocchi a bunch of times. I got the recipe from either Lydia or the other Italian lady. I believe the basic dough was flour and mashed squash with a few amoretti crumbled in. If I can dig it up, I'll post it. Surprisingly easy and shockingly good. I usually serve it with a light butter/sage sauce.

Has anyone else noticed that there is great pizza up here? I've gotten a few pies from a little place on 9G, just south of Rt. 41 (don't know the name). Excellent, especially the crust which is flavorful and chewy. They use real sausage, not that ground, gristly stuff. I've also gotten great slices from a place in Red Hook (next to George Coles) and Rhinebeck.

It's true...Stone makes a mean BBQ, even if he does keep pork butts warm in his couch ← Hey. I just got that.

Anyone eaten there? What's the story?

This post-season is shaping up to be better than 1986 (Mets over Houston in 7; Boston over Angels in 7 -- sorry Donnie Moore.)

Isn't this one of the places for sushi? Like Tomoe and Blue Ribbon? I went there last night and was very disappointed. I ordered the chirashi. There was a good portion of sashimi, but the fish was warm and somewhat soft. Not mushy, but certainly not toothsome. Some pieces fell apart when I picked them up with the chopsticks. Didn't smell funny and tasted fine. Odd. Am I gonna die? And what's with the rice? Do they add sugar to it or something?

you might want to zip up to Mount Abu, and old British Hill Station. My vague recollection of Ahmedabad, from 1988, is that it's a fairly industrial city. But I only passed through.

You want to just tell us where this new place is? The website you linked to, the Jersey Shore's largest resource, is, not surprisingly, blank. (I would have expected at least a picture of salt water taffy and/or Lee Press-On Nails.)

I've been curious why I don't notice pork used outside of Goan cuisine. It is simply due to the Muslim influence?

I think it would get gummy if you tried to cook with only tomato water. Can you freeze tomato water?

Elaine Honig is a freind of mine. I'll pass on the report.

After having a non-bloody mary at BHSB, this weekend, I figured I'd try my hand at this fresh concoction. How do you make tomato water? I saw recipe that seemed to say you just chop the tomatoes, run them through a food processor and strain. I don't see how this would turn out a clear product.

Isn't ethylene gas the reason that one rotten apple really does spoil the whole bunch? (That and peer pressure, of course.)

FYI -- Although Citysearch says Sri's open until 10 each night, I just confirmed that in fact they close at 9:15. Hopefully I'll make it Friday.

According to today's Post (hey, someone left it in the john), Schwartz's reaction to Rocco's hiring was mixed: "he's not well-educated."

I recall that eating crow is a specialty up there.

I'm not sure why you're focusing so much on the eggs. We mentioned that they were overly salted. Are you suggesting that this is not a valid criticism? Neither Curlz nor I suggested that this -- or any other part of the meal -- would stop us from returning. Nor did we suggest that any restaurant had to be 100% 100% of the time. But that doesn't mean that we are wrong to point out the restaurant's errors. I'm certain, Bux, that if I scrolled through your posts about various restaurants some would include criticisms of various aspects of a meal. That's the point of the exercise -- reporting the good, the not-so-good, and the bad. I think any suggestions that errors, such as significant delays in being served, should be shrugged off and omitted is, well, odd.

So when it comes to reviewing or discussing restaurants, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"