Stone

I thought London cheese shops had no cheese. Just a runny bit of brie, but the cat got at it.

I think this thread proves that we don't need no high-faluting, hoity-toity "Symposium" in order to have a serious, intelligent, and brisk dialogue about cutting-edge gustatory issues.

this link gives info for a cookbook called "Indian-Jewish Cooking." Although the author is Indian, she comes from a Jewish-Baghdadi family, and there are a lot of Baghdadi recipes and influences.

Golden Delicious Apples. (They don't call them delicious for nothing.)

The last time I went to the Persian place, I had a chicken in pomegranite sauce that was one of the most interesting dishes I'd ever had. The sauce was dark brown, almost mole. Not very sweet, but almost chocolately, with the tang of the pomegranite.

I went through a phase where I picked up a piece of fish almost every night for dinner. The fish guy recommended tilapia, warning me that it was nothing special, but cheap and easy. It was all that. (I believe it's the most farmed fish in the world.) I would buy a few filets, dust them with seasoned flour or cornmeal and quickly saute them in some butter or oo. Nothing special, but cheap and easy.

This is great. I had Afghan food last night, and plan to revisit the local Iranian restaurant (they insist it's Persian) soon. Do you have more recipes?

I'm not sure if this might be what you're looking for, but I recall a business on Brighton Ave in, I think, Cambridge. It had my favorite sign of all time. Very large with a picture of a rooster. It proclaimed: Live Poultry, Fresh Killed.

Interesting -- most the people I trust who like Slanted Door go there for lunch. I assume there is a huge difference in attitude; I wonder if there is also a difference in quality of food (given a slower pace) or perhaps that people don't expect as much for lunch and, therefore, the food gets higher reviews. It's nice to hear that Tommy's is more than a place for the post-college crowd to drink tequilas. I think I'll go tonight.

I don't think you'll be impressed by Boulevard. Danko is supposed to be excellent, one of the top 5 in town. Although I don't know anyone who's been to Masa, I've heard it's very good.

??? You know how you can go to Pottery Barn and buy "character" for your apartment? The art deco alarm clock, old fashioned black phone, 50's style chotchkies for your desk. I feel that a lot of restaurants here (and elsewhere of course) look like they've bought their ambience from Pottery Barn. It's just too slick and polished to be actual character; you know it didn't develop naturally.

Whilst in Milan (pronounced, Milano), I dined a great little resaurant eating a full meal of primi (the linguini with lobster sauce was a pile o' excellent pasta in a delicatlely light cream sauce and half of a lobster), secondi, etci. A few days later I found myself in the same area and popped in for lunch. I ordered only some pasta. The waitress looked at me like I was nuts. I looked around at the other folks and couldn't believe that they were all ordering tons of food. My lunch came and it was so oversalted, I assumed the chef was trying to punish me for my vulgarity. When I tried to complain, the waitress suddenly understood no Englich.

I've heard that canned or dried abalone is almost as good as fresh. Anyone agree with this? (I've never tried either.)

Will we see periodic Daily eGullet reports come out of this? By the way, is adding the "Outer Burroughs" to the "Best of New York" on par with adding Chez Panisse and French Laundry to the best of San Francisco?

I'm late. But as a 36 year-old child, I think I'm qualified to say that this thread is, well, childish. Have at me if you will.

When is it this year?

Do you mean that Hoisin sauce is sometimes called plum sauce (my understanding was that plum sauce (which I usually get with moo shoo) was just hoisin)? In SF, they give a thin, bright, neon red sauce with egg rolls (if they give anything -- oddly, they usually don't give a dipping sauce with potstickers, although they make excellent potstickers out here).

Sorry I've never heard of duck sauce. Is it a condiment available in jars like plum sauce? Thanks I think you can buy it in jars, but I don't know how good it will be. It's a thick, sweet sauce, a little citrusy. Usually a dark, orangy color. Chutney-like.

Speaking of mushrooms . . . I always thought Wood Ears were those thin, brown fungus jobs often found in ju shiang -- almost like shavings. A restaurant out here has a dish with Wood Ear mushrooms, but they're white and ribbony. They look like ribbons of rice noodles that are stuck together at the base. (Sorry, no photo.) They're great, but I've never seen them before. Are these the same animal.

A mixture of duck sauce and hot mustard, about half and half.

Japonica -- The one on University? That's probably my favorite sushi place in the city (I agree that it's 2nd tier). The owners are sooo nice. I loved walking over for their chirashi-zushi. Best bowl I've had. (They cut the pieces large because I have a large mouth.) (I assume the 2002 version of this list is coming out soon. I did a search for Japonica because I had a craving for chirashi-sushi last night, and found this.)

FG -- I know you're all hot about hand-slicing, but if they set the machine to slice thicker, wouldn't that do the trick? I agree that thicker slices offer better texture. But other than that, what's the deal? (This is probably discussed elsewhere, but I couldn't find it.)

(I don't really know that Glenn fellow yet.)

Biggest kitchen waste of time? Click here. Oops, I meant this:

From what I've read, thermal carafes seem to be the way to go for auto-drip coffee.