Stone

not that i'm aware of at the MSG shows. No. They put on one hell of a show. Entwistle can never be replaced, and the "replacement" didn't even try (the one downside to the show was that he was not loud enough where the bass was needed). But we all got our money's worth. And can we talk about Pete Townshend for a second? I saw them one the first money tour in 1982. He was never a great guitar player (Live at Leeds, notwithstanding.) I've seen them twice in two years. I can honestly say that while the rest of us have spent the past 20 years getting older, that guy has gotten better. He is now one of the best guitarists I've seen. And he still puts on a better show than anyone in the business. God bless Pete Townshend.

In my desperate search for a good sesame sauce recipe, I sent a letter to my favorite restaurant back home begging for its recipe. I assume the lack of response is because they didn't understand my letter. There was a thread on cold noodles a while back. Not much more help than here. One think I can tell you, Tommy -- don't use tahini. For the love of all that's holy, don't use tahini.

No kidding. I never put gypped and gypsy together. (I assume that's the link.)

I would expect that the chef would leave the kitchen in the hands of someone who could cook the dishes on the menu well. It's not like going to see The Producers to see Nathan Lane and the little castratto. When the actor in a play is out, there's no hiding it. True -- the understudy may be great, but can't be the same.

just because you know him don't make him not a flamer. In fact . . . .

I wouldn't be surprised if our good Dr. Revenue is a hoax. I do a small bit of playing on other forum sites -- usually movies. And there are always a bunch of jerks who rant and rave and FLARE instead of engaging in interesting debate. They generally ruin the purpose of the site. I think Dr. Revenue is egullet's version. Even when the debates over Sea Bass and subjectivity got testy, it was always friendly. Dr. Revenue -- customers are not gold nuggets. The saying that the customer is always right does not mean that every restaurant owner in the world must kiss your, mine, or anyone else's ass. Every person with a job has someone to whom they're accountable. I have clients and bosses. Food writers have editors and their public. Even Bill Gates has clients that he needs. But do we have to bend over every time one of them acts childish? You claim this man was your personal friend. But when he didn't respond to your first email in the way you wanted, you sent this friend a scathing and insulting email. I have spent 7 years as an associate at large law firms. I've seen and received similar screeds from partners. They are not acceptable in the workplace, and they are much less acceptable between purported friends. And then, when this friend didn't kowtow to your arrogant claim that, although your relationship was one of friendship, you are your friend's golden nugget, always right and your friend must kiss your ass at all time, you started this thread. I commend you for not naming names at the outset, but what type of friend would place this fight in the general public? When I was about 21 years old I learned the obvious lesson that the cute bartender wasn't flirting with me because she wanted to sleep with me. To paraphrase Bubba -- "It's the tips, stupid." Maybe the owner had a different understanding of what your "friendship" was. Or maybe he thought you two actually had a friendship and he was dissapointed to realize that what he thought was a friendship was actually your power trip to get your butt-kissed by a restaurantuer. Did anyone think that maybe the owner doesn't want this guy back? I try not to read too much into your choice of screen name.

I wonder how Bourdain would have replied had he received DrRevenue's email. Personally, I think the restaurant owner's decision not to respond to your email was probaly an appropriate exercise of discretion (which in this instance was likely the better part of valor), and I assume his tongue still smarts from his having bitten it.

I agree with Plotnicki. As for the enforceability of the 30 day policy -- I refer to the previous thread where I recall it was discussed ad naseum. In the end, don't you think it's a matter of subjective taste? Discuss.

We had a thread a while back on the issue of restaurants requiring a credit card to guarantee reservations. It was started by one of the better posters on egullet -- quite a brilliant fellow, and damn good-looking. Here's the link: Credit Cards (It quickly devolved into a legal discussion over whether making a reservation created some type of enforceable contract. Lawyers.) At first I thought restaurants were crazy for asking for a credit card. Then a restaurant owner posted that he's had some friday nights with a full reservation book -- requiring him to turn away reservations and customers at the door -- only to have a half-empty restaurant when customers fail to show up. And then I noticed that I have friends who will make reservations at four or five restaurants on a Friday night to give them an option depending on their mood when they're ready to go out. This did seem very unfair -- although I doubt my friends ever thought about the problems the restaurant might have if a bunch of people blew off their reservations. (I learned from one of Fat Guy's old articles that I should always call to cancel a reservation if I've changed my mind. I had never thought about it, but when I started calling to cancel, I found the restaurants surprisingly grateful for what was a very easy gesture of curtesy.) My thought now is that if the restaurant wants a credit card to take a reservation, it's their option, and I have the choice of not making the reservation. One might say that the restaurant is going to lose customers -- but I leave it up to the management to judge the risk/benefit from the practice. My guess is that if it's busy enough to request the credit card, it can suffer the loss of a few customers. Although I've showed up at some credit-card-reserved dinners one short of the reservation, I've never been charged the $10 for the missing party. I probably would be pissed off if I was, but again, it's the deal I made.

Use more lighter fluid. lot's more.

refer to another thread your started, asking somewhat the same question...Is Wilfrid Right? (shoot me now). Guilty. I was waiting for Plotnicki to explain that, in fact, uni are delicious under any reasonable objective standard, but too complex for me to understand; only so I could be defended by scads of others who'll say that my if my pallet doesn't like uni, then so be it because the complexity of flavors in uni doesn't make it any better than boring old steak. (any takers?) But I will try uni again when I go to a sushi bar of high-repute. I am glad to know that many of the uni lovers qualify their enjoyment with very high standars.

In a recent thread on favorite sushi, I was surprised at how many people said that uni (sea urchin) was their favorite. So I tried it -- again. I tried the first piece with no soy/wasabi. I put it in my mouth and chewed. I kept telling myself: texture doesn't matter, texture doesn't matter, texture doesn't matter, texture doesn't matter. I kept telling myself, the taste isn't that bad, the taste isn't that bad, the taste isn't that bad, the taste isn't that bad. But it does, and it was. I can't explain to myself what was so displeasing about the texture. I've certainly eaten lots of food with similar texture. And I can't explain the taste that I found so unpleasant. But it was. I'm tempted to say that uni must taste differently to others. No one could like what I was tasting. Then I told myself that I don't understand the complexity of uni. But even if I read a treatise on it, I don't think I would like it. What am I missing?

Do you need help getting the wheels off your new home?

I bought some of Paul Newman's sauce recently after not having had (to my knowledge) store bought sauce in years. I was shocked by how sweet is was -- which was why I stopped using Ragu, Prego, etc. I think I'll always find time to make my own sauce -- even if it's just garlic in butter -- before using store-bought again (except when my nieces and nephews come over and I don't get the option). However, I 've never seen the brands mentioned above. Are they "gourmet"? I am curious if people here think there's a store-bought sauce that's worth it.

I like fussili. I usually have onion and garlic around. Saute in evoo, toss in a can of chopped clams (they're good enough) and a handfull of frozen peas. If I have stock or an open bottle of wine, I toss some in.

Management is supposed to weed out bad employees anyway; that's management's job. Fascist. Poor workers are first entitled to adequate notice, warning, and time to cure. Then they need proper job training in order to raise their abilities to an acceptable level. If, after appropriate job training, they are still unable to meet the minimum standards, they are obviously "differently abled" and a new position must be found or created to take advantage of the inherent skills that are present within each of us. Weed them out indeed. People are not crabgrass. (I'm tired.)

Is this really the first time we've discussed the general concept of tipping at restaurants? I assumed it had been done before, and only expected a rant against tip jars popping up all over. Intersting stuff though. Do people who think that tipping is a good idea at restaurants because it incents better service think that tipping should spread to other areas? We already tip barbers/hairdressers. Shoe-shine folks. How about the dry cleaner that hands you your clothes? How's about the person at the Gap following you around to refold the stuff you pull off the shelf? How about the guy at the record store who recommends a good album? How about the mechanic who just charged you an obscene amount of money for ten minutes work?

Why do people assume that if there was not tipping, or if tips were automatically entered into the bill, the service would get worse? There's no tipping for most service jobs, and the service is what it is. I assume that if people got crappy service at a restaurant, they wouldn't go back, and the owners would hire better waiters.

A waiter at a wedding asked the patrons, "do you want chardonnay or caberet?" After all, that's what life is.

I'm not sure what type of service people expect at Starbucks. But if tipping encourages their annoying habit of shouting out everyone's order three times, like poorly stereotyped sushi chefs, they're not getting a penny out of me.

It's not just a city in China anymore. It's in Starbucks. The corner cafeteria. The record store. I tip at restaurants because, well, primarily because society tells me to. (Insert "Resevoir Dogs" quote here.) But waiters earn $2.XX and hour (it was #2.10 when I did it 12 years ago), and hustle their asses all over the restaurant dealing with the biggest pricks on the planet -- customers. So I give 20% -- including alcohol and tax. The person behind the counter at Starbucks starts off at, according to the sign in the window, at $8.95. And she poors coffee for a living.. From a spigot -- no 64 oz curls for her. Should we tip her -- and everyone else who puts a cup on the counter?

Have you tried Luna Rossa on Hyde Street? Probably not as good at Pane y Vino, but also very simple, unpretentious Italian food. Same owner as the new Noi in Noe, but I didn't like the food there as much.

"May be?" Beer is good for you.

I hated olives until I was about 32. When I spent a week in Croatia, there were bowls of olives at every restaurant, and when I didn't eat any I got nasty stares. So I started eating them. Now I love plain olives (mostly the wrinkly black ones). I'm not such a fan of olives with pimentos, and I still find the flavor of olives in cooked dishes to be too strong. (To me, puttanesca is appropriately named.)

Please go fuck yourself as many times as you like. I assume that if Tommy could do that, he would never have a free moment to be on the Web.