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Website: http://www.smalera.com/p

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The Ten Most Recent Comments By smalera

From Talk

Kurowycky's closing due to rising rent. Share rage, memories here.

@DocChuck re: Walmart. You say things went downhill when Walmart moved in to serve the Chicagoans and Californinans, but is Walmart not from NW Arkansas, where you are from? How far did they have to move in order to move into your town? I ask because I have been watching my favorite childhood eateries slowly close in my old town, years after Walmart moved in. Some lost business, but many are simply retiring, moving away, etc... I'm pretty sure people who were lucky enough (and willing) to experience Chicago's and California's amazing restaurants weren't clamoring for Walmart's frozen food section in its stead.

From Talk

Are they disgusting or what??

I really don't see why this question was couched with a "city person" being a blowhard about a "country" delicacy and getting his comeuppance when the southern "academic" turned out see this urbanite for his true snobby stripes. How about a plain and simple, "Do you (y'all) like grits?"

I live in New York City, I grew up in the suburbs of it, and spent a decent amount of time south of the Mason Dixon Line. And I do like grits, when they're made well.

From Talk

Which wich?

An Italian sub, overflowing with tasty cured meats, provolone, pickled hot peppers, fresh lettuce tomato onion, and oil and vinegar on a chewy sub roll, preferably with semolina flour all over the outside that will get on everything and make a big delicious mess while I try to eat it. With a small bag of chips on the side.

Banh mi is a close second.

From Talk

What's the secret in your chili recipe?

Well I don't know about all this leave out the beans stuff. What I think makes mine unique and tasty is twofold. First, interestingly, is the beer. I have a bunch of Magic Hat (can't remember the name of the actual brew) that is dark as Guinness, which I don't really like to drink. But including a bottle of it in my chili makes it awesomely rich and smoky tasting. I'd say it's even darker than Negro Modelo, which I actually enjoy. And I won't pour a lager or ale in the chili-- those end up tasting waaay too hoppy or grainy for me.

Second is indeed the beans. Black, red pinto, great northern and sometimes a 4th mystery bean. They all go in. I'm not making hot dog chili after all-- I'm making a meal (or more like ten of them)! Besides, beans ARE the musical fruit.

From Required Eating

The Power of Food Blogging

I had the unfortunate problem of being discovered as I was doing a review recently. Now, I'm not famous, but I just came with the tools of the trade (camera, notepad) and was just a little less discreet than I should've been. Suddenly I was being treated like a rock star. And that bothered me, because in writing a review, it's just not fair to review an experience that is so different from the typical diner's.

That said, there are other ways to get the rock star treatment. After a meal at 1789 in DC much like your first at Le Cirque, I was so underwhelmed I wrote a letter to the management, and received an offer to make things right. Unfortunately I couldn't take them up on it because it was literally one of my last days in DC before moving to New York. But I assumed that meant I wouldn't be shunted into a table in the boonies, barely waited on and have my entree come out before my wine was served, like the first time.

I would've been fine getting special treatment after writing a letter, a private interaction between customer and business. But the fact that as a food blogger you got it, makes me wary. For instance, you say now " I wrote a post on my website titled (perhaps inappropriately) Only a Jerk Would Eat at Le Cirque." But dude, that's what you're known for! I love that you come up with these great titles and descriptions. And it sounds like you were treated like a sucker the first time you ate there, so why not give them hell for it? As an individual and a family, I'm sure you appreciated the opportunity to have the star treatment. But as a food writer, you can't let that treatment make you suddenly decide you were too hard on the restaurant the first time, especially when you say the food wasn't much better the second time around. If you're going to take that meal on the house, you have to be doubly sure you are not going to be cutting the place any slack, and definitely not recanting what you've already written.

Regardless of my opinion, well done. I appreciated the enlightening and well written essay.

From Talk

Question of the Day: Ever eaten something while it was still alive?

The beating heart of a cobra. Oh, wait, sorry, I just watched Bourdain do that on TV. So, oysters then. But, oysters plucked right from a riverbed, below the boat I was on. Does not get any fresher, people. Also, don't forget, yogurt is live culture bacteria.

From Required Eating

Miller High Life's Century-Old Title as the "Champagne of Beers" Threatened by Krait's New Beerpagne

Yes, it found its way to the free table at my job, and a bunch of us cracked it open and tasted it. It was really, really, not very good. The only thing I can figure is it was skunked or the people making it have no idea what beer is. For example, that it doesn't come in champagne bottles.

From Required Eating

Intoxicating Wine and Liquor Stores

I recently went to a bourbon and cheese class at Murray's where "LeNell" was in charge of the booze-half of the course. Some of the pairings she and the cheese instructor created were AMAZING. But some were, eh, just there. What I admired about her approach was her intense knowledge of bourbon, the way it's made and the way each individual distiller blends their particular brands. Yet with all this knowledge, she was happy to cut loose, experiment and come across some sublime pairings at the expense of a few ordinary ones. Kudos to Tonya on her bourbon and her wine selections. I really need to pilgrimage out to LeNell's and see what her shop is all about.

From Talk

Experiences with Lodge pre-seasoned cast iron?

Sandro, how awful! As I'll probably be moving soon, you can bet my pan is going to be on the top of the packing list. And Serious Eater-- civil war era pans??! Wow! That's incredible. Imagine what foods have graced those surfaces over the years... mmm....

From Talk

Experiences with Lodge pre-seasoned cast iron?

Why did you have to replace them? In my understanding these things are supposed to last for generations. Just curious as to what happened... (and sorry, no experience with the preseasoned variety)

Responses to Comments by smalera

From Serious Eats: New York

Top Manhattan Slices by Neighborhood

I haven't scoured the city for the best slice, however, I have a fine palette for pizza.

These are my picks (in no particular order):

Fornino
187 Bedford Ave (off L Bedford Stop)
Brooklyn, NY 11211-2946
Phone: (718) 384-6004
-brick oven pizza with modern topping choices (e.g. truffle oil)


Grimaldi's (over Brooklyn Bridge)
http://www.grimaldis.com/brooklyn.htm
-brick oven pizza - classic New York pizza eating experience


Totono's in Coney Island
1524 Neptune Ave.
Brooklyn, NY
718.372.8606
-brick oven pizza - in fun coney island setting


From Talk

Kurowycky's closing due to rising rent. Share rage, memories here.

BaHa

you were way too kind to DocChuck. i remember blue shirts/white collars/
yellow ties/ SUV's w/CT plates eyeing MY rings after Martha shot her mouth off. i'd spilt a ring with Mc Sorely's kitchen for a coupla slices of rye
bread. i can still hear the teary eyed parking attendants wail "you cahr smell like GAAALIC", and IT was in the trunk.

last smokehouse in NYC, if i'm not mistaken.

best fresh in Maspeth

From Serious Eats: New York

Top Manhattan Slices by Neighborhood

I don't live in NYC, so maybe I don't know what the heck I'm talking about, but I always look forward to Pizza 33 for a slice when I'm in town... often one of the first things I inhale on my way from airport to hotel if it's remotely convenient to stop...

Am I clueless?

From Talk

What's the secret in your chili recipe?

A tablespoon of semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

From Talk

Are they disgusting or what??

I've disagreed with DocChuck in the past, but in this case I love how the question was posed, especially from a "been there, done that" point of view. All my former in-laws were from the south, some of whom thought they could "get" me by putting things in front of me they were sure I wouldn't like.

Dang it all, now I have a hankerin' fer grits again ...

From Talk

Are they disgusting or what??

I am a NYCer who desperately loves grits, but is dietarily restricted from eating them often. Oh the irony!

From Talk

Are they disgusting or what??

@smalera:

Good question: How about a plain and simple, "Do you (y'all) like grits?"

Answer: I guess, because that's not how I wished to couch my question.

Sorry if it (my post) offended you in some way.

From Talk

Are they disgusting or what??

Never lived in the south, born in NYC, now living even farther north. I eat grits whenever I can. Love 'em.

From Required Eating

The Power of Food Blogging

Just what the world needs, 100,000 amateur food critics...OMG! Scarey. If you want to be a critic why not declare open season on all computer companies who haven't perfected a computer to be compatible with MS. What about retail stores who repackage returned (often faulty) merchandise and sell it as new. Consumer goods that don't work or fall apart within a short time. What about lousy service in stores and government offices. Why pick on restaurants. If you really want to know something about restaurants get a job in one for a few months, then lets hear your "critique." When you're "critiquing," restaurants, ask yourself what kind of job your doing when you're at work...Man...make me soooo crazy...Why does EVERYONE wanna be food critique. Go have another hamburger. Then get a life.

From Required Eating

The Power of Food Blogging

If you are reviewing a restaurant I don't really think it right to take a free meal. In any other profession that would get you fired. Did you know that you were called a “a world-class mooch" by and article in the NY Mag?