Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

What about the fries?

Newsflash!

Marcel Vigneron: still a major ass!

He'll need a traditional jigger and a strainer. Along with the bitters I would suggest a nice vermouth, maybe two (dry and sweet). The traditional bartenders book is the Mr. Boston guide. I also like the Bartender's Black Book. BTW, great idea for Christmas presents.

As payback for the Krispy Kreme donuts, about 6 months later my wife visited family in Maryland. She asked what I wanted her to bring back for me. I said "the only thing I really want, you can get for me".What's that she asked? I said, "crab cakes". Om her trip she convinced a local neighborhood restaurant to sell her half a dozen uncooked crab cakes. Stuck them in a foldable nylon lunch cooler with an ice pack and flew them home with her. I hadn't had crab cakes made with blue crabs in forever and a day. I ate all 6 in one sitting.

Habit is great for burgers. If you're looking for something else though, I would recommend Cafe Fiore for very nice rustic Italian or Jonathan's for tapas. Also, if coming on Saturday, come early. Our farmer's market, which also in old town Ventura, is from 6am to 12pm. Small but a stand sells great tamales for a nice breakfast.

I use it when I mix Bloody Marys. It gives them a certain, I-don't-know-what.

Speaking of which, to the powers that be at Serious Eats: I'd like to see more articles, recipes or maybe even a dedicated column on cocktails, liquor and mixology. I feel it is woefully disregarded here on this site.

Before they were so prevalent on the west coast, I once flew home 2 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts from Atlanta, GA to Los Angeles. Just stuck them in the carry on and in to the overhead. 5 seconds in a microwave and they were just like out of the fryer.

Wait...did I just admit to eating chicken McNuggets on Serious Eats?

Oh the shame.

Right there with ya rps.

The whole concept of sous vide cracks me up. My mom used to do this when I was growing up, it was called "boil-in-a-bag". I understand there's more to it than that but really, did Escoffier need a $450 machine to poach a duck breast?

Seaweed a "pantry" item? Hmmmmm

I would highly recommend Emeril Lagasse's "There's a chef..." series of books. Very well written for kids and adults.

http://www.amazon.com/Emerils-Theres-Chef-Recipes-Everyone/dp/0688177069/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257543662&sr=8-16

I would also like to add under the "fast food" category, Carl's Jr. has offered their interpretation of the Big Mac with what they call the Big Carl. Two patties with cheese, lettuce, no middle bun (which I think is key) and "secret sauce" (I.E. Thousand Island dressing) and it is darn tasty.