jaybee

Everyone knows the little end is the best one from which to crack an egg. This was proven by British scientists in 1878, and the war with the farmers of Wales settled the point. Or was that the Falklands/Maldives war?

Two poached eggs with almost runny yolks on top of two nicely toasted english muffin halves each covered with a slice of salty grilled ham about 1/4 inch thick (or canadian bacon) the whole covered with buttery, lemony hollandaise sauce, garnished with a handful of watercress. A sprinkle of ossetra or bekuga on the side wouldn't hurt. BTW, Avenue Restaurant on 85th and Columbus serves superb EB as does SQC's place on 74th and Columbus.

Anyone who says that PL steaks are "bad" doesn't have any taste in steak. Anyone who doesn't think PL serves one of the best steaks anywhere in the world, doesn't know their steak from Salisbury. Anyone who ascribes PC to the motive to like PL steak needs a tongue transplant or should become a vegan. Case closed.

In the 70s and 80s I probably ate 100 of PL steaks. I n the 90s, for some reason, we didn't go very often (maybe 5 or 6 times). A few months ago, I went for lunch with a bunch of EGers. Lo and behold, it was the same taste, the same quality, the same experience that I've had from day one. Yes, I've had a few off-nights, but not really that bad and not many. Not being done the way you like it is a problem--too rare or too well done, no matter how good add up to a bad experience. But "tasteless?" Never happened to me, not in 125 times. So one of two things are happening here: , one is that you really hit an bad piece of meat; and, two, is that you really don't like the PL porterhouse. Perhaps you're a strip steak lover and really don't go for the taste and texture of the porterhouse? As for the sides, the spinach and potatoes have not changed one whit since I first ate there. Too much salt in the spinach for me now, but that's my taste. I've been to Sparks, Mortons, Michael Jordans, Smith and Wolensky, Christ Cella (when it was), Bruno's, Pietros, you name it, and none measure up to PLs. My advice, don't go there again. For some reason, what they do and what you like just don't match up. I'm not saying that as a put-down. Just a statement of fact. Someone wrote about being disappointed by their first Nathan's hot dog recently. They said the build up was so great that perhaps they expected too much. It can happen.

Rudolph Chelminski's book The French at Table has a chapter devoted to inexpensive eating, wherein he discusses the great buffet restaurants once popular at railway stations in Paris and elsewhere in the heyday of rail travel. This brought to mind the sorry state of buffet style restaurants in the US. Las Vegas is famous for the pig-out buffets that offer "all you can eat" for $4.95. I've heard people talking with wonderment at the lavish spreads, with meart, fish, fowl and all sorts of gross indulgencies. Having once tried such a table, I found the food to be tasteless and of low quality. Apart from popular breakfast buffets, that serve eggs, omelettes, french toasts and pancakes, usually freshly made, I am wondering if there are any really high quality dinner buffets extant in the US. Or are the economics of such so bad that it is unaffordable to offer a commercial gourmet level buffet?

When you order "balck and blue" you need to ask the waiter if they really know what that means. Many places don't, and many waiters don't. So say "do you know what I mean? Does the cook know how to do that?" If they say I'm not sure, then you know you wil have a problem. Tel them to go in and ask the cook if he knows. Few people order this way so most green waiters don't understand what it is. Some will just say medium rare to the cook afraid to look stupid.

I figured that a 600 degree fire would purify all the pork fat I've cooked on the grill. And I didn't mention the grill's traif history to anyone.

drip. drip.

Tuesday night a female customer at Fine & Shapiro stole my straw hat, which was on the hat stand about 30 feet from where I was sitting. Now that's a customer I can't afford!

Tommy, Plots is making a pale imitation of you.

Seriously? Have you eaten there in the last few years?

Maybe we need a "Lobelsky's" to sell outrageously priced kosher meat to rich Jews.

Loiseau won three stars with his new approach to cooking a number of years ago. His concept of "water cooking" seemed quite revolutionary at the time. I haven't heard much about it since. Has it has an impact beyond La Cote d'Or? Has anyone eaten there recently? I'm curious to know if his ideas and his cooking have held up.

I may be perverse, but I relish meeting someone like that. Remember Harry Callahan telling the punk "go ahead, make my day." It's very satisfying to reduce someone with that amount of fatuous ego and sadism to a substance resembling guacamole.

If pleasing a particular customer means losing self respect, or compromising the standards you've set for how you want to do business, then that customer is wrong, for you.

First, I had the butcher cut the chuck from steaks and grind it fresh, not the stuff in the tray. That was $9 a pound. I have used a ratio of 1:4 and 1:5 brisket to chuck. I think the 1:4 produces better results. I seasoned it with a mixture of five pepper blend and course sea salt on the patties before cooking. Often I'll mix the seasoning in to the meat when I make the patties, but not this time. I bought the meat at Fisher Brothers Leslie, by the way, which some have said is the "lobels" of kosher butchers in NY. I wouldn't know.

I entertained a couple who eat only kosher meat last weekend. I bought a mix of five pounds of fresh ground chuck and one pound of fresh ground #2 cut brisket. These made about 20 patties which were grilled on charcoal. The results were spectacular burgers. Once again, the mix of brisket and chuck worked very well to add flavor, meatiness and moisture to the burger.

It may be just me, but I would not go to SF and not eat at Tadisch's. The cioppino is great and the placew is real.

Rochelle Rochelle. A young girl's journey from Minsk to Pinsk. I wish I couda joined you. You did it right with the exception of Sarabeth's, which is a continual disappointment to visitors I talk to. Good Enough to Eat, just up the block has way better food. next time! Katz'...oh boy.

Not really. My rant just riffed off of his. Any excuse to play Howard Beale is fne by me. (Network) I said a long time ago, his was a case of ego bruise cause by either overestimation of Hans' regard for him or misinterpretation of Hans' "disappointed in you reaction" remark. Neither called for a 5 megaton response. But who hasn't blown their cork in an uncalled for moment? I was once sitting at a light that turned green. The woman behind me tapped my rear bumper with her car. I took this as her way of telling me to get moving, and I flew out of my car, stood looking down at her terrified face and bellowed "what the hell was the purpose of that!" She looked up sheepishly and said, "it was an acident. My foot slipped off the brake." "Oh" said I and walked back to my car feeling silly. Since then I stop for a ten count before popping off. FG, yes, his response to you was over the top, I agree. You stupid ignorant slut. Liza--tooshay.

Uh Nina, are you at work?

Bux we seem to have moved into the realm of music, but to set my own record straight, I did not imply (or infer) that you were calling anyone an idiot. It was Shaw who referred to the title of your thread as though to say there was a possibility that the customer (drrevenue) was the idiot, not the chef.

Before continuing to crucify Dr. revenue for calling Shaw an idiot, please note it was not he who used this characterization first. Now here we have Dr. Rev. all hopped up with indignation because he feels blown off by a chef who he thought cared about him. He airs his greivance and reveals the extent of his anger, and is attacked as an egotistical hothead, and FG implies that he might be an idiot. So he replies in kind. Going back to the original grievance, I don;t know how wel Has speaks English, but I have dealt with enough Englush-speaking Germans to know that "Dissappointed in your reaction" could have been his way of saying "Dissappointed that you were unhappy." The word "in" is the key one here. Dr. Revenue chose to interpret it literally as vernacular English. If Hans speaks perfect vernacular English, then he may have a point. But it is more likely he was saying "Im sorry" in cluncky English. But I can tell you that I am so tired of being ripped off and served poorly by American industry--airlines, car rental places, credit card companies, utilities, you name it, that I don't smile and take it any more. These people run their bullshit ads telling us how they want to serve us and how much they care, and then when it comes time to deliver real service, they treat you like a replaceable commodity. Howard Beale had it right when he told people to lift their windows and yell "I'm mad as hell and won't take it anymore." When I get shit treatment from some company or business, I go to the CEO, the owner, the boss, and tell him what happened. More often than not, I get more than an apology. I get my money back and some gesture meant to make amends. Recently, Amex gave me a $200 credit when I wrote to Ken Chenault about shabby treatment I received. RCN Cable sent a repair crew to my house on the weekend to fix a problem they had refused to fix, once I contacted their CEO via email. While I am not suggesting rudeness, and I think Dr, revenue could have gotten more nileage from a more artfully worded letter, I understand his reaction. Though I think he might have checked first to make sure that his German "friend" was not really blowing him off with poor English.

Somehow I've been able to keep track of my age without such help as yours. I guess this means I have a base of experience you can't hope to have and therefore my subjective pronouncements on taste are more accurate than yours. I will remind you of this from time to time.

Dstone, thatnks for all the words. I never heard them all. Jaymes, I agree with your assessment. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate.