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Vegan: Chilaquiles with Pepitas, Charred Corn, and Black Beans

Good to see that Kenji cooking with such intense restrictions is leading to some creative solutions already. Great idea for a series, I'll be following with interest.

From Serious Eats

Should Your Restaurant Take Reservations?

The tough part is that busier a restaurant gets (making reservations more convenient or absolutely necessary, depending on your lifestyle/point of view), the more difficult it becomes to have a reservation policy in place. I've worked in places that have taken both approaches, and with all the variables involved in juggling an hour wait or more, the controlled chaos approach of no reservations makes so much more sense to me. More efficiency = decreased wait times by more than you'd think = less cranky people, which is the ultimate goal for all involved, I'd say.

Just last week I had a party of twelve come in to my current place of employment, which doesn't take reservations, who told me they had made them at three other restaurants before deciding to come here. My first thought, after "wow" and "glad they're not in my section", was "Man am I happy I don't have to deal with that anymore."

Anyway, as a diner, I have the luxury of the off days approach, which is nice. Tuesday and Wednesday are my maybe-go-out nights, and I can't remember the last time I went to a busy place on a weekend, mostly because I'm pretty much always working.

From Sweets

Standing Room Only: Leon's Frozen Custard Drive-In

You would have been good either way, Nick, but I'm glad you went with Leon's for the kitsch appeal. Try a raspberry custard shake or chocolate malt once, it'll ruin you forever.

From Serious Eats

My Week Without Corn

Fantastic idea. I'm on board starting Saturday - baseball tailgate tomorrow, and Pops is smoking some undoubtedly corn-fed pork shoulder that I've been looking forward to all week.

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Ideas for Bison Chuck?

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Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

Vegan: Chilaquiles with Pepitas, Charred Corn, and Black Beans

Good to see that Kenji cooking with such intense restrictions is leading to some creative solutions already. Great idea for a series, I'll be following with interest.

From Serious Eats

Should Your Restaurant Take Reservations?

The tough part is that busier a restaurant gets (making reservations more convenient or absolutely necessary, depending on your lifestyle/point of view), the more difficult it becomes to have a reservation policy in place. I've worked in places that have taken both approaches, and with all the variables involved in juggling an hour wait or more, the controlled chaos approach of no reservations makes so much more sense to me. More efficiency = decreased wait times by more than you'd think = less cranky people, which is the ultimate goal for all involved, I'd say.

Just last week I had a party of twelve come in to my current place of employment, which doesn't take reservations, who told me they had made them at three other restaurants before deciding to come here. My first thought, after "wow" and "glad they're not in my section", was "Man am I happy I don't have to deal with that anymore."

Anyway, as a diner, I have the luxury of the off days approach, which is nice. Tuesday and Wednesday are my maybe-go-out nights, and I can't remember the last time I went to a busy place on a weekend, mostly because I'm pretty much always working.

From Sweets

Standing Room Only: Leon's Frozen Custard Drive-In

You would have been good either way, Nick, but I'm glad you went with Leon's for the kitsch appeal. Try a raspberry custard shake or chocolate malt once, it'll ruin you forever.

From Serious Eats

My Week Without Corn

Fantastic idea. I'm on board starting Saturday - baseball tailgate tomorrow, and Pops is smoking some undoubtedly corn-fed pork shoulder that I've been looking forward to all week.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Cauliflower-Potato Curry (Aloo Gobhi)

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I figure if I just make enough different recipes, I'll find myself not needing them anymore. Which is definitely my goal here. Curry tonight it is.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Cauliflower-Potato Curry (Aloo Gobhi)

Nick, that first paragraph could have been written by me. I have Julie Sanhi's Classic Indian cooking and that new 660 curries book, which are useful in their own way, but I still feel a little lost. Anyone have suggestions?

From Serious Eats

Things I Ate in Milwaukee

Oh, Apollo Cafe's tuna souvlaki is worth the stop. Open till 3 on weekends. And Beans and Barley for vegetarian goodness.

I'm done, I swear.

From Serious Eats

Things I Ate in Milwaukee

Oh, where to start. Nice to see Milwaukee get some love, there are a ton of great places to eat, though I wish you would have visited under better circumstances.

Beer first. Forget the Miller tour, Lakefront is the way to go. Try any beer by them or New Glarus (of Spotted Cow fame). Milwaukee Ale House does good work. I'm meh on most Sprecher beers, but their Black Bavarian and root beer are both excellent. If you see a Bell's beer on tap, particularly Two Hearted Ale, try it (a Michigan brewery, but who's counting).

Mexican: South side is indeed the way to go. Conejitos has a nice cheap paper plate vibe, Cempuzachi is a good one too. I like Riviera Maya for more traditional Mexican, Botanas for well done Tex-Mex, and any El Rey location for my cheap and good fix. Avoid La Perla at all costs.

Someone mentioned Comet for breakfast, but their open faced meat loaf "sandwich" seems like it might be right up your alley. Cafe Lulu is always worth a soup and sandwich stop - the Mediterranean steak pita with chips or the roasted veg salad with a tuna steak on top are both money.

Pizza, as has been said, may well be avoided, but either DeMarini's location would be my suggestion. I prefer Mama's for the sit at the bar and eat vibe.

For upscale but surprisingly cheap, Coquette Cafe (coq au vin) and Meritage (any braised meat on the menu) are great.

As for curds, like you guessed, most good bars in the city, my place of employment included. The corner bar culture is alive and kicking here, it's really one of my favorite parts about this city. Conversations with interesting functional alcoholic strangers FTW.

Simma's cheesecake. Singha Thai's pad thai. Not much good Indian, but Anmol does excellent Pakistani. Coffee: Anodyne > Stone Creek >>>>>>> Alterra. Bloody Mary at any Diablo Rojo place (Cafe Hollander, Cafe Centraal, Trocadero), though I find their food mostly overpriced and underwhelming. Sobelman's for a burger (still) - though I haven't been to Solly's, I hear good things. Jake's for Jewish deli goodness. Good call on the National.

I'm out of gas, but that should get you started.

From Talk

The 20 Dishes you need to know

What dbcurrie said. Once you go from "what recipe should I make today" to "what can I do with what's in the fridge that needs to be cooked today," you're on your way.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Ziti with Skillet-Roasted Root Vegetables

Nice work as always, Nick. I like brothy pasta dishes, but always seem to forget about them.

From Talk

Vegitarian-ism EPIC FAIL

Wow, a rational conversation about vegetarianism on a message board. Never thought I'd see the day :)

Agree with just about everything here. Once I started buying meat locally, I found myself treating it better - always stretching it out over several meals, making stock, etc. My cooking got way better, and so did my diet, taste and health-wise. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

And someone call Webster's on the "opportunivore" thing, it's golden.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Caramelized Tofu with Brussels Sprouts

Hated tofu myself, until I found that it must be pressed, and then marinated, before baking/pan-frying/whatever. Now it's in the regular rotation (and I'm quite the Midwestern carnivore).

From Talk

Christmas Eve or Day Hanukkah Menus/What you cooking?

No cooking for me, but I can't wait to head to my uncle's for the annual uber-German Christmas meal. He basically stages a raid on the Usinger's outlet and gets a zillion varieties of i-forget-what-wurst. Hated it when I was a kid, but now, some blood sausage, ham hocks, spinach with warm bacon dressing, silts and herring all sound pretty good. And yes I will be going for a run on Christmas day.

Y'all have inspired me to try some latkes this weekend. Easy but time-consuming is the general consensus, right?

From Talk

What is your favorite cook's treat?

"...drippings and bits that are used for gravy, before the gravy period starts. I sneaked up to my boyfriend and shoved some in his mouth and his expressions of joy were obscene."

I'm not alone! Awesome.

The juices on the bottom of the plate after meat has rested? Yeah, those are getting drunk. Shameless carnivore.

From Talk

I can make ___ but I almost always buy it.

Hummus. I can make a decent one, but there's just something about the stuff the co-op by my house makes. I shamefully conceded victory some time ago.

From Talk

Where Does the Bobby Flay Hate Come From?

Guessing I might be in the minority of males here, but I'm a fan of his stuff. I tend to like so-called celebrity chefs based on how well their cooking/books/ideas can help me at home - selfish, I know, but hey. If I can steal from them, they can do a striptease while shaking babies for all I care. And Food Network would probably air it.

Anyway, my dad is a solid griller who wanted some new ideas, and I got him a Flay cookbook and a bunch of dried chiles for his birthday. The recipes always work, his food is better for it, and I'm happy. Whatever gimmicks he pulls with his producer-cultivated persona are incidental to me.

From Talk

What's the deal with sherry vinegar?

As far as I know, good sherry vinegar has a relatively high acidity - around 8%. It's strong stuff, and can be overpowering, so I use it in strongly flavored dishes to round out the flavors. I dump some in a quick saute of bitter greens, use it in cabbage slaws when I want them to cut through and really contrast heavy meats. Toss a sherry vinagrette with roasted or grilled potatoes while they're still warm for an odd little potato salad. Great for deglazing and making reduction sauces. Used it once when I had no red wine in an old school beef stew. In other words, I like it a lot.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Bucatini alla Lipari (Bucatini With Raw Nut Pesto and Tomato Sauce)

Did half walnuts, cashews, bit of almond to top it. No fresh herbs. This one's going in the regular rotation.

And yeah, 1 lb = 2 people over here, but I don't mind leftover pasta at all. Eaten cold, in fact.

From Talk

What do you put on pasta?

Put me in the olive oil, garlic, and anchovy camp. Lotsa pepper. If I'm slightly less lazy, bacon, canned tomato, and onion. Maybe some balsamic or capers.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Bucatini alla Lipari (Bucatini With Raw Nut Pesto and Tomato Sauce)

Looks great, will be trying this tonight. Nick, what nuts did you use? I'm thinking heavy on the walnuts myself.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Fat'

Agreed on the bacon fat - I almost never make a skillet bean dish without one, among other things. The girlfriend was skeptical when she first saw me saving it, but was quickly converted.

From Talk

Okay now that Fall is around the corner....

Same as most of you, I guess - stash the grill, and fire up the oven. It's braise and roast time.

At the moment, I am heavily craving two fall things - roasted and pureed winter squash as a pasta sauce with pine nuts, and brown rice and lentils cooked with some apple cider and allspice with caramelized onions on top.

From Talk

Good Stuffed Bell Pepper Recipe

Just bookmarked this page. Well done, y'all - you can definitely stuff a pepper with just about anything.

ham, would you be using a gas grill, charcoal, or a smoker? Because I've done stuffed peppers on a Weber, indirect heat for about 20 or 30 minutes, but never the old school ground meat and rice type - once with cheese and veggies I sauteed for a bit, once with mostly cooked brown rice and lentils. Wouldn't trust the meat to cook through before the outside of the peppers get too blackened. If you were smoking some meat, though, and threw them in for an hour or so, I could see this working. Worst case scenario, you finish them in the oven.

From Recipes

Essentials: Feeding Your Friends (With Migas)

"...since I was chatting instead of paying attention to seasoning the results were not up to snuff."

I feel your pain. For a while back there, I couldn't seem to make a group meal without all four burners and the oven going, trying to have everything finish at about the same time (I learned to cook in a short order environment, so it was what I knew, I suppose). Works fine for 3 or 4, but any more people than that and I would inevitably screw up something, even if I'd made it a dozen times before, even if I made a point of not leaving the kitchen until the food was done. Frustrating and stressful experience to know it could have been better.

I guess I don't have a "go to dish" per se, but I do have a new unofficial rule: only have one or two things to focus on, and rely on dishes where a) the bulk of the work is done the day/morning before that b) are almost impossible to screw up and c) can be flavored in many different directions, depending on crowd and mood. Some things that come to mind - braising meat the day before, so all you have to do that day is turn the braising liquid into a sauce and toss the meat on the grill/broiler for a few minutes before serving. Works with ribs, chicken, most pig parts. No worries about when it's going to be done ("sorry guys, maybe one more hour on the roast while the pilaf dries into a brick..."), plus the resulting sauce can really power the other side dishes.

Cold salads - slaws, grains in vinaigrette, shredded beets or carrots - stuff like that works wonders. My new personal favorite - thanks to Bittman - twice-baked potatoes. Make them ahead, twenty minutes of reheating that day, and you can put almost anything you want in there. My last two have been leftover lentil dal with yogurt and cilantro, topped with vinegar pickled onions, and miso, ginger, and walnuts with a bit of milk. Really versatile, worry free.

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TruckBoatTruck got 66% correct on How Much Do You Know About New Orleans Food Culture?

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