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From Drinks

From Behind the Bar: On Drinking for Free

This is causing me the most awkward problem with my favorite bartender right now--I like to sit at the bar to eat and chat with him, and have a glass of wine, but I've been trying to cut down on the amount I drink. I literally just want that ONE glass, and he refills it when I'm not looking, despite direct protestations every time. I feel bad not drinking it, because I know the staff well enough to know that the owner has cut back on the amount of money budgeted for buybacks and it will just get poured out if I don't. What's the best way to tactfully tell him I'll be a regular as long as they have the duck rillette and some roast veggies on the menu, so he can save the free drink to butter up someone else?

From Slice

What's Your Drunk Pizza of Choice?

Another 5 College grad with fond memories of Antonio's in Amherst...these days, though, my drunk slice is the same as my sober slice: Joe's Pizza on Carmine Street, close by and excellent.

From Talk

Deep fried PB & J

They make an AMAZING PB&J pain perdu at a restaurant called Recette near where I live, featured here:
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/08/the-brunch-dish-pbj-pain-perdu-at-recette.html

It is a seriously killer take on the form; if you're up for deep frying, I'd definitely give this a try as well.

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Recent Posts

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Recent Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

klw07 answered "JG Melon" to Where Serves Your Favorite Burger In New York?

From Slice

klw07 answered "Yes" to Do you blot the grease from your pizza?

From Slice

klw07 answered "In a skillet" to How Do You Reheat Your Pizza?

From Serious Eats

klw07 answered "Medium-brown " to How do you like your toast done?

Recent Quizzes

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 55% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Apples?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 90% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Tropical Fruits?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 42% correct on Pop Quiz: Pancakes!

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food Preservation?

See more polls and quizzes by klw07 »

Recent Comments

From Drinks

From Behind the Bar: On Drinking for Free

This is causing me the most awkward problem with my favorite bartender right now--I like to sit at the bar to eat and chat with him, and have a glass of wine, but I've been trying to cut down on the amount I drink. I literally just want that ONE glass, and he refills it when I'm not looking, despite direct protestations every time. I feel bad not drinking it, because I know the staff well enough to know that the owner has cut back on the amount of money budgeted for buybacks and it will just get poured out if I don't. What's the best way to tactfully tell him I'll be a regular as long as they have the duck rillette and some roast veggies on the menu, so he can save the free drink to butter up someone else?

From Slice

What's Your Drunk Pizza of Choice?

Another 5 College grad with fond memories of Antonio's in Amherst...these days, though, my drunk slice is the same as my sober slice: Joe's Pizza on Carmine Street, close by and excellent.

From Talk

Deep fried PB & J

They make an AMAZING PB&J pain perdu at a restaurant called Recette near where I live, featured here:
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/08/the-brunch-dish-pbj-pain-perdu-at-recette.html

It is a seriously killer take on the form; if you're up for deep frying, I'd definitely give this a try as well.

From Serious Eats: New York

Win Tickets To 'The Food Porn Party' at NYC Food Film Festival

I think dumplings--so many ways to light them, so many pretty colors in the fillings, and so so delicious!

From Sweets

We Try The Triple Double Oreo

The best Oreos ever are the package that you keep on a sailboat. Weirdly soft but with some interior crunch, pungent cookie smell...I know it's weird, but I swear it's true.

From Recipes

Bread Baking: Cinnamon Rolls

At what point could you hold this recipe if you wanted to do most of the work in advance and then, say, pop them in the oven just before breakfast the next morning?

From Serious Eats

Served: A Few Ways to be a Bad Restaurant Customer

I wouldn't normally want to be the only customer in a restaurant that was closing down, but I have to be a little sympathetic to that woman considering you're a hotel restaurant and she was eating alone. If I'm a guest at a hotel and I'm staying there for business by myself and I may not even want to be in the city that I'm in that particular night, it is a huge pain in the ass for me to have to go out and wander around an unfamiliar city looking for somewhere to eat late at night. I know you think of the place as your restaurant (and in terms of management, of course it is, and you had every right to make the call) but she probably just thought of it as "the hotel restaurant" and expected to be accommodated like a hotel guest. She may have had no idea that it's "an early closing town"--I'm from New York and frequently get myself into trouble expecting to sit down for dinner at 9:30 in unfamiliar cities, so I try to remember that's not normal everywhere--and even if there's another place next door, it's still an unnecessary stress when you're already out of your element.

From Serious Eats

Goodbye, Dumpling

Oh, Kenji, I'm so sorry! I saw you and Dumpling walking along the Christopher Street pier on Memorial Day weekend (and of course wanted to say hi, but am not in the habit of greeting internet strangers in a tiny black bikini) and he was just so obviously the happiest, friendliest little dog, trotting along with his little face turned towards the grass to people-watch. I've so enjoyed the slideshows; RIP Dumpling :(

From Talk

paperless waitstaff: how do you feel about memorization?

It definitely doesn't impress me at all. I was part of a group of seven dining out a few weeks ago at a restaurant in NYC that specializes in small plates--the kind of restaurant that asks you "Have you been here before?" because they need to explain to you how the menu works. We ordered about nine different dishes, as well as two orders of a few things, and a cheese plate with five selections, and she wrote NOTHING down. Nobody was impressed, we were all anxious as to what we were actually going to get, and she came back probably four times to verify the orders. At that point, just write it down! We were ultimately happy since she ended up sending out two additional dishes we didn't order but didn't have to pay for, which was nice--but not good business for the restaurant!

From Serious Eats

Served: Why Small Restaurants are the Best Restaurants

I love little restaurants, and frequent many in my neighborhood. But I have to say that I could see having each menu item written as a story being incredibly annoying. I could see it working if the story explained how the dish was put together (i.e. "someone will first salt, then freeze, then sear that duck breast for optimal juiciness" is enticing, and at the end of the sentence, I know that I'll be getting a seared duck breast) but spare your diners more poetry about the idyllic lifestyle of your free-range proteins. It's the kind of idea that can seem fun for people who are wholly passionate about food, but ultimately, your servers will be answering the question, "So...what's in that?" dozens of times a night if that information isn't included on the menu.

From Talk

The French Macaron?

Macarons are fussy. They have to be very fresh, they have to be room temperature, they have to have good proportions between the cookies and the filling, and the flavor combination (between cookie and filling) has to be right as well. I love almonds, so I like the distinct almond taste of the cookie, and I love the combination of lightness and chewiness when they're really fresh. The gummy, heavy, dense cookie that you often see in the US is just too too much. It's like a big jammy California cabernet compared to a classic French bordeaux--same level of impact, but all the subtleties are lost. The best macarons I ever ate were a box of nine assorted from Pierre Herme, on the grass in a park next to a little carousel on the Left Bank (I'm aware there are other pleasure factors at play beyond the cookies there) and I definitely have gone back to his over Laduree and other big patisseries.

From Recipes

Cook the Book: David Lebovitz's Orbit Cake

His website recommends dusting the pan with cocoa powder after buttering, a trick I now now steal for every other chocolate cake that's likely to stick, and I skip the parchment paper. One of my favorites.

From Talk

Affordable, non-adventurous restaurant in Manhattan

Il Vagabondo, on the UES. I've used it for boring eaters over and over. Classic Italian red-sauce joint with an indoor bocce court, it used to be an Italian social club, and the pastas are all about $15-$20; meat is a bit more but not expensive, and the wines are gently priced as well. It's fun when you have a big group of people drunk and playing, good for celebrations.

http://www.ilvagabondo.com/

From Talk

Is Food Service A Young Person's Game?

Did you read this--Tim and Nina Zagat on why you shouldn't open a restaurant? Because I think it addresses exactly the question you're pondering...if you don't have a WSJ subscription it's all over the web too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576245032809751832.html

If you enjoy cooking, cook! If you have a lifetime membership to a cooking school, start learning technique. You sound like you're focusing entirely on the things you *could* do before you've even actually done them--reading a lot, taking online classes, and daydreaming are not solid foundations for a career or a business plan. You're putting the cart MILES before the horse--forget "putting away your chef's hat," you don't even have a prep cook's hairnet at this point. Start cooking in your home, for your friends, every night, meal after meal. Develop your palate, develop your techniques, decide if this is actually something you want to do for hours and hours a week by DOING it hours and hours a week. After that, when you've put in the time and are a seriously experienced amateur and qualified to be someone's personal chef or operating a food truck, then you can decide if you want to try to make a career out of it.

From Talk

Taking Myself to NYC for 30th BDay... Where to eat THAT meal??

Ooh, seconded for Torrisi! Also Osteria Morini, which is nearby if you get shut out.

From Talk

Taking Myself to NYC for 30th BDay... Where to eat THAT meal??

Best birthdays in NYC I've been to: reserved the back room at Freemans followed by a whole Magnolia cake; giant blow-out bash at the Spotted Pig; tasting menu at Masa; incredibly luxe dinner at Daniel. Are you going to be alone? In that situation I might try for a Batali restaurant and eat at the bar and be social, though they'll definitely treat you right at Le Bernardin, but frankly, my hands-down favorite restaurant in the city right now is Fedoras in the West Village. New, fun, young, delicious--if you tell them it's your 30th they'll make sure you enjoy yourself.

From A Hamburger Today

Chain Reaction: Cracker Barrel

My father insisted indignantly for years that we'd once had lunch at a restaurant he loved called the "Chicken Biscuit" near the midpoint of the six-hour drive from our house to my grandparents' house. Every time we made that drive he would refuse to stop anywhere else and scour the road signs for it for hours until we all started screaming in protest and he had to stop at McDonalds. Then one day out of the blue, he looked up at a sign for the Cracker Barrel and said, "OHHHH." And the food wasn't even that good when we finally stopped. The moral of this story is that if you want to attract a loyal clientele who happens to wear glasses, choose a simpler typeface for your logo.

From Drinks

Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Evan Williams Bourbon vs. Jack Daniel's

You lost me at "beer" while I lapsed into fond memories of too many nights up to our elbows in bar peanuts at the Moan and Dove. It's not any Pioneer Valley pilgrim's version of walking distance, but I do hope you're including it on your list.

From Slice

United States of Pizza: Massachusetts

ANTONIO'S! Light of my life, savior of my college nights. Rare were the weekends that didn't see some nostalgic alums back for a few slices, and I feel their pain now. Vinnie's Pizza in Williamsburg (www.vinniesbrooklyn.com) is now run by some former Antonio's employees who moved to NYC, so that's where I've been going for the occasional fix, but I miss the original like crazy.

From Serious Eats

Served: We Finally Have Kitchen Staff! And a Love/ Hate Relationship with My Job

This is a wonderful column. And you most certainly are building something--from the way the napkins are folded (and whether they're linen, cotton, or dishrags) and the candles lit in the bathroom to what's hanging on the walls and playing on the sound system, you're building an environment, an experience, an atmosphere. Any poetry lover knows that there is as much meaning in the spaces between as there are in the letters--to create a space is assuredly creating something. It's easy to lose track of that when you're buried in invoices, I know, but that's just the mise en place for your masterpiece! Be proud of your work--it's a good thing you do.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Fried Dumplings in Chinatown, NYC

But the real question here is...why are there no French bulldog pictures in this post??

From Talk

Who amongst us, has the best pickiest eater story?

My brother used to refuse to eat any crackers, cookies, etc., that were broken--he said when they broke, "all the flavor fell out of them." What kind of kid turns down cookies, broken or otherwise?? But as it turns out, a lot of small children that I've babysat for or known since will refuse to eat "broken" foods if they know that's not how they're supposed to look.

I was more or less the picky eater, though--I survived on tuna fish and challah bread for about 10 straight years. Then one day I started eating and never looked back! My parents got the big "I told you so" on that one.

From Drinks

Why Coffee Dates Make Great First Dates

I don't do coffee dates. Dinner is a date; coffee is a job interview. If you can't keep your wits about you when you're drinking, then you obviously shouldn't drink, but for those of us who drink responsibly and like adults, go on a real date. Dinner is seriously not that huge a time commitment--it's what, 90 minutes of your life compared to 30-40 for coffee?--and here in New York, at least, if you're not willing to commit that amount of time to getting to know me, odds are you're not going to commit to anything else, either.

From Serious Eats

Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 153: Is Losing a Pound a Month a Worthy Goal?

Do you ever feel like it's time to consult a professional other than your scale about gains you are making or could be making in other areas of your health? If you were to begin exercising more often, for instance, and started putting on muscle, you'd probably gain poundage but lose inches and body fat percentage. Your doctor or a trainer can measure that for you, and I found it helpful. The scale is useful for keeping yourself on track, but maybe having a different set of criteria to meet and different tools to meet it would give you renewed motivation and get you past the plateau you've been on.

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Recent Posts

klw07 hasn't written a post yet.

Recent Favorites

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Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

klw07 answered "JG Melon" to Where Serves Your Favorite Burger In New York?

From Slice

klw07 answered "Yes" to Do you blot the grease from your pizza?

From Slice

klw07 answered "In a skillet" to How Do You Reheat Your Pizza?

From Serious Eats

klw07 answered "Medium-brown " to How do you like your toast done?

From Slice

klw07 answered "No ... Love is thicker than sauce." to Your sweetheart doesn't like pizza: dealbreaker?

From Serious Eats

klw07 answered "Some other method (please share below)" to How Do You Eat String Cheese?

From Serious Eats

klw07 answered "American " to What Kind of Cheese Do You Like on Grilled Cheese?

From Slice

klw07 answered "I like my crust nekkid and eat it plain" to Do you eat and/or dip your pizza crusts?

From Talk

klw07 answered "Butter and syrup" to How Do You Top Your Pancakes?

See more polls by klw07 »

Quizzes

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 55% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Apples?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 90% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Tropical Fruits?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 42% correct on Pop Quiz: Pancakes!

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 75% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food Preservation?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 42% correct on How Much Do You Know About Chocolate Chip Cookies?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 55% correct on How Much Do You Know About Chocolate?

From Serious Eats

klw07 got 55% correct on How Much Do You Know About New Orleans Food Culture?

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