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Oops. Marcella's.

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

@Philly53: What about the M&M Pizza makes it your favorite?

Damn, never heard of it. Is it open off-season or only during summer? Thanks!

Aloha from Hawaii. As a kid in Oregon, Mother's iced Animal Cookies had 3 iced cookies. Pink, white AND chocolate.

Funny story... When Mother's announced their 75th anniversary some years ago, I called the company. I suggested that for their 75th anniversary they put back in the chocolate iced animal cookies. The woman at Mother's said to me, "How old are you?" I said old enough to remember pink, white AND chocolate Animal Cookies. We both had a good laugh. I was in my early 40's when Mother's had their 75th anniversary.

To this day, iced Animal Cookies are still my favorite cookie. I still want to see iced chocolate Animal Cookies... then again, I remember licorice popcicles too - they were white in color and tasted like black licorice.

And please bring back Gauchos! Most of us love peanut butter type cookies. Aloha everyone!

Happy PB&J day!

Thank you...for some reason the places the serve it in Indiana and Michigan like to add diced cucumber????

Well, I've tried it and didn't like it at first. I live in N.J. and a Chicago native moved near me and opened an authentic Chicago Hot Dog joint also selling Italian Beef. Everything imported from Chicago. After awhile I sort of aquired a taste for this style of dog, but had to be in the mood for it. The Vienna Beef dog isn't as tasty or well seasoned as Sabrett, Nathan's, Best (my persoanl favorite from Jersey, not Best Kosher which is no longer being made), Boars Head or others, but blends in well with the other ingredients. A New York/New Jersey style beef dog would overpower everything else and throw it out of balance.

Personally, I prefer the salad on the side. Our hot dogs are made to enjoy the flavor of the meat with a little mustard only or a minimum of toppings. We also have quality German style dogs made with beef and pork, which is rare in Chicago. These dogs are high quality, but in a completely different style with a different spicing. Many from Chicago have only experienced dogs while in N.Y. that have been boiled at streetcarts and are bland from sitting in the water all day. These are not indicative of the better dogs. A Sabrett served at Papaya King or a Nathan's from Coney Island is infinitely better than a lukewarm, bland Sabrett that's lost it's snap from being in the water too long. Where I live in N.J. there are some carts that prepare what we call "dirty water" dogs to where they are fresh, hot, and delicious while retaining their snap.

Although people in Chicago claim boiling or steaming is the "authentic" way of preparing a dog, this isn't true everywhere. Char grilling or griddle frying (like they do at Nathan's and Papaya King) better brings out the flavor of the dog.

Tatse and preference is largely determined by where you grew up and what you were exposed to. There are exceptions. I know of 2 Chicago natives who moved to New Jersey and love the deep fried pork based dogs at Rutt's Hut better than anything in Chicago. I also know of people from N.J. who moved to Chicago and prefer their dogs.

I'll take a quality natural casing dog (kosher or German style depending on mood) lightly grilled and topped with mustard only. If you don't start with a quality dog, it doesn't much matter what you do to it. If you do have a quality dog, it doesn't need all the extra crap to mask it's flavor.

I agree with those that have said to use only approximately 1/3 WW flour. I know you won't have time, but a few months back I got some King Arthur Flour sourdough starter, that I've been diligently keeping alive. I'd say it's just about time to make some sourdough bread!

Had an amazing meal at Paley's Place in Portland recently. I definitely recommend it.

Oops, meant City Market. They're the ones who had a whole porchetta in their deli case and the live dungeness crabs. Amazing shop.

@juliebugs - thanks! If you're in the Northwest you really should swing through town. It's really a cool place. They also have a huge used bookstore called Powell's Books, it takes up an entire city block and is about three or four stories tall. Like the Strand on steroids. Great cooking, food and wine section :)

Oh, also went to the Sake One brewery and visited Elk Cove Vineyards and Montinore Estate.

Interesting. I was thinking about moving to Portland after my move to Hawaii, but I was worried about the food offerings. This is looking hopeful, but who knows what the climate will be like in 20-30 years (my timeline).

At some restaurants I've worked at, it defintely is akin to getting the codes for the nuclear football to process a GC. One large, corporate chain particular, a server cannot even do a void, let alone separate checks, gift certificates, or ANY other out of the ordinary transactions without a manager coming over and doing a bunch of things in the computer first, and certain transactions the managers have to process themselves, you aren't even allowed to. If you can let a manager know a few minutes ahead of time that you're going to need them to process a GC, it ups your chances of them not getting entangled in something else for which extricating themselves might be near impossible. Without warning, you might open the book, see the GC and then begin the process of tracking down the manager and then trying to get them to quit what theyr'e doing to come to the register with you to process it, and it can take a LOT longer. They can be locked in the office, checking someone out, they can be expediting a big party's order and can't leave the pass, they can be in the back cutting meat, they could have sneaked out for a smoke and are nowhere to be found, etc.

Also, there are a lot of restrictions on GCs that most customers don't bother to read, so presenting it up front to make sure you can use it avoids the server having to open the book and say "I'm sorry, we can't accept this on holidays, it says so right here at the bottom" at the end of the meal, when the customers have already ordered and eaten assuming they would be saving some money with the GC, now they're pissed off because they can't use it because they didn't read the fine print, and I can guarantee you that means no tip for the server even though it's not their fault. Mention it up front, or, just put it on the table so the server can see it up front, it can save you a lot of hassle.