Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

^wish

Oh wow... I totally grew up with that vintage GE model. I remember my mom making grilled cheese on the flat side and the cheese oozing out and turning brown an crispy on the griddle... good memories.

Why has my comment not shown up all day!

I don't see any assumption made about going to the Hamptons. These cookies are sold in almost every bodega, specialty food store, and supermarkets in Manhattan. If something is ubiquitous enough to be sold at every Gristede's I would say it is pretty "common" and not reserved for the Hamptons elite.

Good bad for sure! I agree that it has a lot to do with expectations. On the bad good burger tangent, for example, I went to BRGR a few months ago for the first time in years expecting a great burger. It flat out sucked, guess it has gone way downhill, and I was extremely disappointed.

Another thing is that as much as I may fit some nasty labels like "foodie" or even "snob", I think part of that is being open to *everything* and that includes the low end of the scale as much as the high end. It isn't all about foie gras. I grew up with pizza as my #1 go-to favorite food and it probably still is. I had frozen pizzas, english muffin pizzas, pizza bagels, and even started making my own dough in high school when my mom got a bread machine. There is a time a place for "bad" pizza, and I do not even think it needs to be qualified as "well, it's good for a frozen pizza".

I live a block from Donatella's and 4 from Co. I go to both enough, plus Keste even more often. That said, I have probably 2 frozen pizzas per month, and STILL make english muffin pizzas twice per month and it is good gooood pizza! And on that note - I think Amy's original pizza is awesome, I still get Elios sometimes (for real, nostalgia makes it yummy), and the best english muffin pizza recipe is - toast the Thomas's first, use tomato paste, american cheese, and broil til browned. Hah.

Love the tiramisu there.. if the prices were a bit more reasonable (or serving size a bit larger), I'd be there twice per week but instead it is more of an occasional treat.

Ah funny, I see that I commented on that old review in 2008 about my "Javanese gf" ... we just got married a few weeks ago and have been to all of the restaurants I had asked about :)

I am looking forward to this at Rangers games this year! Combining two of my biggest passions, good eats and hockey!

Simon, the NY Times article a few weeks ago addressed your concerns:

"Beyond that, the Garden is attempting to shrink the annoyance threshold as well. Instead of the lines that baseball fans endure at that Lobel sliced-steak cart at Yankee Stadium, or at the Citi Field Shake Shack, which can cost two innings per ShackBurger, Garden customers will find two dozen high-end food outlets over 10 floors of the cavernous bowl with its 19,763 basketball seats.

Mr. Vongerichten will sprinkle six concessions throughout the arena. Mr. Carmellini will have five, as will Mr. Nieporent; Mr. Marshall will have two. Some will be in the topmost section. "

I am pretty excited to try these at a few Rangers games this season! A trip to the game is an expensive night out, I do not mind spending a few bucks more for some better grub (and combine two passions, sports and food.)

Simon, per the NY Times:
"Beyond that, the Garden is attempting to shrink the annoyance threshold as well. Instead of the lines that baseball fans endure at that Lobel sliced-steak cart at Yankee Stadium, or at the Citi Field Shake Shack, which can cost two innings per ShackBurger, Garden customers will find two dozen high-end food outlets over 10 floors of the cavernous bowl with its 19,763 basketball seats.

Mr. Vongerichten will sprinkle six concessions throughout the arena. Mr. Carmellini will have five, as will Mr. Nieporent; Mr. Marshall will have two. Some will be in the topmost section. "

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/dining/madison-square-garden-gets-a-new-menu-with-its-upgrade.html?pagewanted=all

We tried and liked Java Village... unfortunately, we cannot just wait for the bazaar. My wife is from Java and needs to get her fix once per month!

Welcome back Carey. I said on an earlier thread, I really hope you can shed some light on Malaysian cuisine's twin sister - Indonesian cuisine - which is under represented in restaurants here as well as in blog coverage. I hope you can hit some restaurants and do individual write-ups, not just one article encompassing them all. I have been to Kuta in the LES which is just OK if not authentic... never been to Satay Junction, Bali Nusa Indah (heard it's bad now), or Sanur in Manhattan. I have been to Mie Jakarta, Upi Jaya, and Minang Asli in Queens and would probably rate them in that order.. haven't tried Java Village yet.

Sugartoof - That is not a very good comparison at all. It is not like that, and you are brewing extra-strong coffee. It would be like making a 100% fresh fruit puree, not a frozen concentrate.

lalalex - As many people pointed out, you do not need a Toddy to do this at all... I use one for convenience sake and easy cleanup. The Toddy instructions are to use 1 pound of coffee (tell your coffee shop to make it course ground for cold brew) with 9 cups of water, add room temperature water and let it sit 12-14+ hours, then filter and you can keep it fresh in your fridge for 2 weeks. I buy Intelligentsia or P.T.s coffee, which comes in 12 ounce bags. Initially, I lowered the cups of water proportionately, but then I found that the yield was disappointing (and expensive) and that my 12 ounce of coffee with 9 cups of water for 14 hours still gave me the same result.

As southernwayfarer pointed out, the resulting coffee is a concentrate and you can control how strong or diluted to serve it. The Toddy instructions recommend a 1 to 3 coffee to water ratio. My coffee shop recommended the opposite, like a 2 to 1 coffee to water ratio. That was a bit strong in flavor for me and had me bouncing off the walls as well. I have found that the "sweet spot" for me personally is a hair over a 1:1 ration, maybe 3:2.