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Fat and Happy Food Slut

Shake Shack at Home

Great video. Now that I've got the patty and bun right, my only other question is about the beef blend. LaFrieda has three options on Fresh Direct,and I wonder which is closest to the Shack's carne cocktail. I've been getting the brisket blend, but it seems a little less fatty than what I've had at Madison Square Park. The FD website is hopelessly vague about ratios.

Txikito, New York's Introduction to Basque Food

Txikito is just "chiquito" rendered in Basque spelling. Let's not overhype the name.

Yes, I Admit It, I'm a Member of the Fat Pack

Food critics, like porn stars, experience pleasure for the benefit of an absent audience and do so in quantities likely to eventually put their health and even enjoyment in jeopardy. I certainly appreciate the benefits and sacrifices of the former, but I remain dubious about the latter.

Sex Before Dinner or Dinner Before Sex?

No salacious details asked for nor desired. Just curious about sequencing of two of life's greatest pleasures.

Yes, I Admit It, I'm a Member of the Fat Pack

Call me Presbyterian or presbyopic, but I don't see "glutton" and "gourmet" as synonymous, nor "fat" and "foodie". My use of "fat and happy" as a screen moniker has always been figurative (ahem), not causal.

Chefs Benefiting More Chefs

So glad to see C-CAP's good work getting the acclaim it deserves. Here's my digest of the dishes on offer at the 2008 Benefit. No press pass for me, but this was one check I was happy to write.

http://fatandhappyfoodslut.com/2008/02/28/c-cap-2008-5-perfect-plates/

Overused Food Words

Oops, make that, "reduced to 'so and so gets it.'"

Overused Food Words

"Gets" for "understands," especially with the adverb "really." For instance, "so and so really gets the New York restaurant scene," or "really gets food," or "really gets service." It's a lazy, imprecise and charmlessly colloquial locution, and I hope it heads to the blogosphere tar pit as quickly as possible. Even worse when reduced "so and so gets it."

Eating in Barcelona the Serious Eats Way

Jean Luc Figueras has closed. Wouldn't trust the replacement quite yet.

Eating in Barcelona the Serious Eats Way

Jean Luc Figueras: In the designer Balenciaga’s former mansion in the Gràcia district, this place deserves way more press than it has received: Gorgeous and beautifully balanced Catalan-French food, sincere and highly competent staff with superb language skills, and a lovely romantic setting. If I lived here, this would be my anniversary and birthday restaurant of choice.

DC Pizza and Some Hot Coal-Oven News

New Haven's Frank Pepe's and Sally's offer New York expats a coal-fired option outside the City's five boroughs as well. And as far as I can tell, their ovens aren't belching forth toxic fumes into bucolic Wooster Square. This pollution issue seems like a non-starter.

Thai Restaurant Hunting This Weekend

Made third and final visit to Wondee Siam III. One mediocre meal, two terrible. Should have stopped after first disaster.

Drunken noodle dish was likely product of drunken chef, or at least of man not in control of his blowtorch (burned noodles tasted of gas).

Decor is pretty good and plating is lovely, especially by Yorkville standards, but little foot traffic and bad front of house management translate into hovering waiters, poor pacing and uncomfortable lunch time atmosphere.


On the Contrary: Batali Shooting Two 'Iron Chef' Shows Next Week

Maybe we'll have to go back to watching the public television cooking shows, which may have lower production values and little in the way of studio orchestras but certainly offer plenty of instruction.

And isn't Mario to do a PBS show with Gwyneth Paltrow where they explore Spain? Or did I imagine reading that blurb?

Restaurant Girl Eats 'Aroused Scallops'

Of course, "aroused scallop" woud make more sense if she were referring to the mollusk's shell, which has a rather famous association with the female sex organs and female fertility in general. Not sure where the sheath of black-truffle pate fits in.

Restaurant Girl Eats 'Aroused Scallops'

Carrie Bradshaw's columns were well written? Parker may have played her as a good writer, but the proof wasn't in the prose. Glad to hear Gael Greene--the original and far superior Carrie Bradshaw of food writing--give her two cents' worth on her new peer.

Breakfast in Ironbound District of Newark

Falo.

Breakfast in Ironbound District of Newark

Muito obrigado pelos conselhos e sugestoes!

Overused Food Words

"Spot on" is starting to grate. Credit, or fault, Top Chef.

Tap that Glass

Remember the drought of a few years back when some restaurants in New York stopped serving tap water and pushed the bottled stuff as a more enviornmentally friendly alternative? Ah, life before "food miles" and "carbon footprints."

During those dry days a bartender at a reputable seafood restaurant --ironically, with Water in its name--filled my martini glass with ice water to cool it off then dumped the contents down the drain. The same place wouldn't serve New York tap by the glass. Oh the inhumanity!

What's the Weirdest Thing You've Ever Seen in a Fancy Restaurant?

Let's remember that the Bruni article was about those dining under the influence not just of alcohol but also more potent stupefacients, i.e., drugs. I guess for some Haute Cuisine really is High Cuisine.

Overused Food Words

I'd add "aggressively seasoned." Unless the chef is trying to menace or do harm to the diner, the term just doesn't make much sense.

Sour grapes about Spanish Grappa (Orujo)

Many thanks for the suggestion. I checked, and they don't have it.

Question of the Day: Overrated Food Books

I'm talking about good reads touted by the food press as great reads. As a start, here's my list.

Fried brain sandwich

Lamb, pig or calf would do, though I'd prefer not to risk brain function with Mad Cow Disease, poetic a form of justice as that might be.

Ratatouille: The Greatest Food Movie Ever?

There are plenty of great food movies, but there are few great movies about food. Those mentioned above would certainly make a foodie's list, but not a cinephile's. I'm hoping that with Ratatouille the two lists will coincide.

Shake Shack at Home

Anyone tried using the Fresh Direct Pat LaFrieda burgers to replicate the Shack burger at home? I feel like I'm getting close, but something's missing with the outer crust of the burger and the bun/patty ratio.

Mario Batali Spanish theater

Every article on Mario Batali that mentions his college years notes his double major in Golden Age Spanish theater and Economics. Especially after his recent show with Paltrow on Spanish food, the Spanish studies background seems pertinent. So here's my question. Since when can anyone major in Golden Age Spanish theater? You can major in Spanish literature or language but not in Spanish theater, especially not theater of a single era, at least at any university where I've studied or taught. Did he invent his own major, because otherwise, something is fishy? My impression is that a single comment has been repeated without fact-checking time and again. Anyone have the answer to this question?

Overused Food Words

Words or phrases that need to take a time out from food writing. I'd start with describing anything as "nutty" that doesn't have nuts and any reference to Riesling as the "best-kept secret" of sommeliers.

Fried brain sandwich

Anyone know where to get creamy delicious fried brains in New York? Had a great fried brain sandwich at Evansville, IN's Hilltop Inn--http://fatandhappyfoodslut.com/2006/12/21/5-best-and-worst-evansville-eats-joys-and-killjoys/-- but I've come up short back in the City.

Smoking Foodies

Can you be a foodie and a smoker at the same time? There seem to be a lot of great smoker chefs-from Bourdain to Batali and half the Michelin guide-but I have to wonder if tobacco doesn't dull even the great ones' palates.

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