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From Serious Eats

Black Pepper: Friend or Foe?

It's funny, a couple years ago I came to a similar realization and when the waiter came with his giant pepper mill and now, I almost always say no. Maybe a grind of fresh pepper would do my meal well but like you said, I don't know that without tasting it and hopefully the restaurant has properly seasoned my meal. I mean, wouldn't the chef throw a grind of pepper over my dish if it needed it?

From Serious Eats

Video: How To Make Eggnog

Maybe it's just me, but I much prefer the egg nog Alton Brown makes where you separate the eggs, beat the whites to stiff peaks then fold them in. Also, bourbon as the liquor is fantastic!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/eggnog-recipe2/index.html

From Serious Eats

Video: How to Peel a Banana Like a Monkey

I have been since I first was shown in High School. It's way easier than the way people normally do and the peels look like cartoon banana peels. If you look at banana peels in cartoons it's true, that little handle thing is always at the center of the opened peel. I always bruise the fruit if I open the "traditional" way too.

From Talk

Describe your latest or greatest sandwich creation

The best sandwich I think I've ever made was on focaccia. I grilled thin slices of zucchini, put them on with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, marinated eggplant, provolone and fresh basil. Also made a basil vinaigrette to put on the bread then closed up the sandwich and grilled it between my cast iron pans.

Took them on a picnic to watch some fireworks, damn those were good.

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From Serious Eats: New York

Alexanders answered "Only huge tables or private parties" to When Is an Automatic Gratuity Acceptable?

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Alexanders answered "No way" to Grocery store self-checkout lanes: way or no way?

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Alexanders answered "Ratatouille" to What's Your Favorite Food Movie?

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Alexanders got 37% correct on How Much Do You Know About Regional Sandwiches?

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Alexanders got 50% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Lemonade?

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Alexanders got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Beer?

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Alexanders got 14% correct on Pop Quiz: Pancakes!

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Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

Black Pepper: Friend or Foe?

It's funny, a couple years ago I came to a similar realization and when the waiter came with his giant pepper mill and now, I almost always say no. Maybe a grind of fresh pepper would do my meal well but like you said, I don't know that without tasting it and hopefully the restaurant has properly seasoned my meal. I mean, wouldn't the chef throw a grind of pepper over my dish if it needed it?

From Serious Eats

Video: How To Make Eggnog

Maybe it's just me, but I much prefer the egg nog Alton Brown makes where you separate the eggs, beat the whites to stiff peaks then fold them in. Also, bourbon as the liquor is fantastic!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/eggnog-recipe2/index.html

From Serious Eats

Video: How to Peel a Banana Like a Monkey

I have been since I first was shown in High School. It's way easier than the way people normally do and the peels look like cartoon banana peels. If you look at banana peels in cartoons it's true, that little handle thing is always at the center of the opened peel. I always bruise the fruit if I open the "traditional" way too.

From Talk

Describe your latest or greatest sandwich creation

The best sandwich I think I've ever made was on focaccia. I grilled thin slices of zucchini, put them on with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, marinated eggplant, provolone and fresh basil. Also made a basil vinaigrette to put on the bread then closed up the sandwich and grilled it between my cast iron pans.

Took them on a picnic to watch some fireworks, damn those were good.

From Talk

Restaurant recommendations in Japan?

MOS Burger. I know it's fast food burger but a Mos Burger and coffee shake are one of the foods I miss most about Japan. Eat there at least once, trust me, you'll wanna go back.

Other than that I can't really name restaurants that well, but if you can get someone who speaks Japanese to take you to an Izakaya place I highly recommend that as well as hitting up as much yakiniku and deep-fried deliciousness as possible.

Final note, if you want cheap awesome food, go to a grocery store or the basement or roof of a department store. Whenever I was stuck having trouble finding somewhere to eat, I just ate the stuff from there. Grocery stores always have good pre-made food.

Anyways, enjoy your trip and be open to try as much as you can.

Go to Himeji castle btw. It was one of my favourite places

From Talk

What would be your favorite items to find on a Brunch menu?

Ok, this kinda turned into a long post but I really am passionate about this stuff.

Starting with what's most important and it's been said but really, make sure you get coffee that is not only good but stands out. Ensure all your service staff understand how important coffee is to brunch, it often makes or breaks a tip for me. If you aren't on the ball with refilling the cup, it will usually cost you. Nothing dampers a meal more than repeatedly going to take a sip of coffee from an empty mug for half or even a quarter of your meal. This does apply to any meal but is especially important for brunch. For a type of coffee I'd recommend finding a unique local roaster to get your coffee from. Advertise the fact that you get it from them and it really doesn't hurt to have more than "regular" and "decaf". Some of you may scoff, but coffee is comparable to wine and should be treated in some regards similar. If you treat it with even a third of the regard you give wine, people will take notice. Noteworthy is that good decaf always costs more than good regular, if it doesn't you gotta hope your supplier is taking the hit because often the cost of extra processing results in using inferior beans and since the processing detracts flavor, decaf lovers will be left in the shadows. Although, seriously, I wouldn't bother with decaf but would offer decaf americanos for the same value. I might be underestimating how much decaf is served but it seems better to take the hit on giving free refills for the decaf americanos than having a decaf pot that gets stagnant and disgusting, souring the decaf drinker's entire meal because he keeps taking sips of bitter or burnt tasting decaf coffee. Of course, having a fine selection of espresso drinks will go a long way, people love those things. (Still a black coffee man)

Something else is make your own petite croissants fresh for people and serve them hot. Maybe with a little compound butter or preserves. A place by my house does that and I love it. It's such a great start to a nice brunch.

As for french toast, make it like no where else. People will tell you to gussy it up with flavorings and such but try this. Cut all your bread for the next day the day before and leave it out to go stale. Make the egg mixture the night before and let it sit overnight in the fridge too. Soak the bread for at least a half minute or so a side, let that sit, fry it till golden brown, bake in the over at like 350 or something for 10 to 15. Trust me, it beats the pants off of any fresh bread french toast I've ever had. I can't order french toasts in restaurants anymore because I started doing it this way. I started with the recipe from Good Eats and went from there. If you don't get what I mean, watch the episode Modern Toast and give it a whirl. You'll never go back, I guarantee.

Another thing I find is never done right, hollandaise. It's SUPPOSED to have lemon in it. Over 80% of eggs benedict I've had give me more a bechemel or bearnaise. Just having a nice lemony hollandaise with the traditional ham and English muffin goes a long way. I do like a lot of the fancy ones, especially if you incorporate the caviar mentioned earlier. Delicious.

Don't underestimate the importance of simple choices on stuff like breads and jams. Getting high quality jam or marmalade for your toast (preferably made by your restaurant both bread and preserves). Make sure you have sourdough at the very least. Brunch is a lot of getting all the little things right and innovation.

I know I just keep going but I'm really passionate about brunch and can never find a place that really fills my needs or expectations.
Having set dishes that are unique is great when they are things people won't think of putting together themselves but if you are flexible in your more basic breakfast like the hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, sausage and toast collection of breakfasts it will make a lot of people happy. Being able to add, exchange or take away things for a sensible cost goes a long way. I mean a really long way, most places charge about 4 bucks just for a few more sausages, or to add bacon. Some places won't let you interchange the two, or mix and match.

Lastly, I agree on not going with any kind of dim sum fusion thing. If people want dim sum, they will go out for dim sum. You want to bring in the brunch crowd. A topper on all this, I love a good not overpriced mimosa. One place that forevers tops my list for brunch did the croissant thing I mentioned, does dishes a'la carte and has $2 mimosas. Classy atmosphere to boot. It's the closest to what I've always wanted in a brunch place except they don't have great sausages.

These are just the suggestions of a man that loves food and is especially fond of brunch, the meal and the concept. A meal that should be spent in leisure and good company.
Again, I apologize for the length, I hope things go awesome and I'd love to hear how things turn out.

From Talk

Who's your most/least favorite food personality on Food Channel?

The AB! I love to see how many fans he has. I've been a devoted Good Eats watcher since the first episode I saw. FoodTV canada doesn't show enough good eats, barely comes on it seems. Heh, I see I'm not the only one who's had a crush on Giada.

Also see that I'm not the only one who can't stand Bobby Flay. I always disliked the guy but man, that Iron Chef America where he beat Sakai. Complete bs, so biased. They tied on everything but presentation?! Sakai's had super awesome detailed french style presentation and Flay's big thing was "I poured soup into this bowl until it over-flowed. It's like in japanese culture where they fill a sake cup till it over flows". How does that win out? he was just being sloppy and lazy.

I gotta say that I have always rather liked Michael Smith and the License to Grill guy was awesome. I haven't seen his show for a long time so I forget his name, but all his grilling rocks. Oh, the Food Jammers rock too, love that show.

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Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

Alexanders answered "Only huge tables or private parties" to When Is an Automatic Gratuity Acceptable?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders answered "No way" to Grocery store self-checkout lanes: way or no way?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders answered "Ratatouille" to What's Your Favorite Food Movie?

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Quizzes

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 37% correct on How Much Do You Know About Regional Sandwiches?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 50% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Lemonade?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Beer?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 14% correct on Pop Quiz: Pancakes!

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 70% correct on How Much Do You Know About Hot Dogs?

From Sweets

Alexanders got 70% correct on What's Your Ice Cream IQ?

From Serious Eats

Alexanders got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Breakfast Foods?

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Alexanders got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Cheese?

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Alexanders got 20% correct on Pop Quiz: Breakfast Cereal Trivia

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