darkstar965

Laughed out loud quite literally. And, no, not an Indians fan though though Major League was mildly entertaining and I am a Tito fan.

Is Mango Tree an independent? You didn't say but now curious since Diplomate is of course part of a serious empire in three cities with Stephen Starr. The place has impressive process discipline befitting the company behind it.

OK. "International matchbook collectors society"? Was there really such a thing? If my dad had been aware of that, he'd likely have been a member.

You know what my favorite thing about that Rosa Mexicano post has been? Aside from the....uh, candor? The two posts that followed it, by all accounts serious ones. The first wondering if the "good" NY location is different from the local disaster. And the second wondering whether a colleague's CIA trained son made a good career move accepting a job at the RM enchilada station. Maybe those weren't serious? :-)

Please count me among the fans of your music posts, which I've only recently begun to discover and enjoy.

And, "She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963)." Fairly "inescapable" in that capacity as well. Source: Wikipedia

The bad-night theory could explain the service miscues but not the line layout, cleanliness and food-quality concerns?

With you on the personal preference for natural fibers but, for uniforms, all polyester isn't alike. Some are actually quite quick-drying and breathable. There has been significant innovation with textiles over the past 10-15 years.

Just came across this and unsure an employer review forum here was ever created. But, if interested, this does exist for larger corporate employers. Vault.com was the first to do it and now glassdoor is probably the biggest. The reviews and content aren't much edited and include ratings, salary information and even intetview questions along with lots of reviews. I could totally see this being a viable business for restaurants, bars and maybe other small employers but probably more likely to scale and be valuable to job searchers and staff if they were the only audience/stakeholders. http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/index.htm

Did you forget to take the protective wrappers off the handles? Cooking under the influence maybe? :-)

Made a big batch of our favorite chicken cacciatore with Montebello linguine. Salad with a basic sherry and balsamic vinaigrette. Plenty of Reggiano for everything. Only regret? Cold rainy day and car in the shop meant no BreadFurst baguette to serve alongside the dish, Leftover Pinot Grigio

What do you feel has declined with the 2Amys pie? While I'm also a big fan of Edan's, it seems very consistent with ten years ago to me with just the occasional aberration if someone is impatient or distracted at the oven. Agree on Range. Never made it to Orso.

LOVE the entire post. But, it's the excerpted part that makes me regret a bit we decided to cook at home tonight. See you soon, Chef. And, please keep doing WHAT you're doing and HOW you and your team are doing it.

What? This game has prizes? Where's the mod? :-)

Probably still true but this is changing now, a couple of years later, as one might expect. Aside from the full-service restaurant there now which I haven't tried, you can get pretty amazing lunches from Fiona at District Fishwife or from Andrew Evans at the BBQ Joint too. Have you had a chance to visit yet, Don? Guessing so given how popular UM has become with so many great food purveyors. I'm at RRO @ UM semi regularly though have a much tougher time now deciding where to have lunch with District Fishwife and BBQ Joint (and the Maketto popup to a lesser extent since more snacks). Last week, was here for lunch and posting mostly because I had a new dish and these guys don't normally change the menu very much. The new dish (perfect for WDID?, eh?), available most every day but not on the printed menu yet, is an excellent oyster po' boy. I'm not expert on New Orleans cuisine to comment on the sandwich's authenticity but I can report it was really good. Good-quality french bread whose provenance I didn't ask about, thin sliced green onion, a delicious and savory remoulade and just a few ultra thin jalapeno bits adding some heat but very much in a lesser supporting role to the starring flavors of delicately friend oyster and the remoulade. The chips are hand-cut very thin and were unusually good. Big recommend and now curious to do a po'boy crawl of sorts to compare.

Good guess in keeping with the hint about the spot's focus being more on ingredient (oyster) versus the cuisine (New Orleans). But, wasn't Hank's. Reasonable too but not so much a single or narrow ingredient focus at WT. And, just kidding here but you should have had an unfair advantage and gotten this one?! We have a winner! This has been a periodic special at Rappahanock at Union Market but has been popular so now available most every day. Will post a few words about it on their thread.

Can see this varies widely depending on the person. It has to do with data that an iOS device (iPhone, iPad) associates with any photo. The data, called "exif" drives orientation. It's usually not a problem apple-to-apple (though can be depending on the sending and receiving op system versions) as often as with iOS to Windows. Supposedly, the newest versions of both OSs are handling this better. One of a zillion articles and blog posts about this here for any interested. Can really be a pain. http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-your-iphone-photos-sometimes-appear-upside-down-2014-10 Nope, wasn't trying to make guessing that po' boy's provenance that tough! :-)

Indeed. They quoted your effusive line about "that sauce" which also got my interest just above. Here you go. Congrats...or something. :-)

"Same" right side up or same inverted?

Good guesses both but no on both. OK, another hint. So far, the (good) guesses gave tended toward the regional cuisine rather than the key ingredient. The latter is the way to go.

True for all four or so copies posted upthread? Some were rotated when posted. If you can, try the original one in post 1163 above. The thumbnail looks upside down but it launches righttside up on an ipad for me.

Exactly! Should be fine on Apple devices and inverted on PCs. There may be an app or plug in for this I'll investigate for the future. As for where it was, maybe I can answer some other questions? You got the high-level components right. The type of po-boy is important, which no one has yet guessed, but what else would people want to know? There aren't that many spots that serve these handcrafted like this around town,

I wanted to share an update now that we've had a chance to try carry out versus delivery. First, the storefront is a little tough to find until they get a clear sign up. Located in the alley directly behind the small Wagshal's shopping plaza, the entrance is on the east side beneath a large green canopy that says "Apex." Toward the right, but still under that green overhang, is an industrial door with only a small pig graphic on it and no text. That's it and, as soon as you open the door, it's more obvious you're in the right place as it's nicely and appropriately appointed inside. Still on the space, they actually have a fair bit of square footage but it's mostly dedicated to prep areas, the smoker, warmers, service area for the staff and a longer corridor through which you enter. There is a small customer area with a large bench for waiting and a single small two top not for dining. They are planning some kind of outdoor seating that may be for customers of the deli and market as well as Pitmasters but sounds like that may be at least a month away. This will be important, I think. Some will criticize any 'q that isn't consumable where made. That said, while I wouldn't be among them, I do think figuring out a few or several tables down the road would be a good thing. This is a modern and novel take on a classic yet regionalized American cuisine. Tim Carman's oddly mixed review about the Union Market BBQ Joint (Tim evidently takes off points if it's not Texas style) mentioned that Andrew Evans' BBQ doesn't conform to any one style whether Carolina, Texas, Tennessee or wherever. I think that description better suits Pitmasters than it does Evans' fabulous food. We tried a few new (to us) things this time including: - the "Carolina Chopped Pork Shoulder Sandwich." This is indeed chopped versus pulled. And, the vinegary sauce with which it is made is the obvious nod to Carolina. The chopped bits probably average about 3/8" cubed. Piled generously on a good but large and soft potato bun, this makes for a messy, difficult-to-handle sandwich. Getting past the differences with other versions, this had excellent flavor and we enjoyed it. - "Sidewinders (fries)" Like everything here, the quality of the ingredients, seasonings and preparation all evidence the quality for which the small company is known. That said, everyone has different preferences here and we didn't love these. The seasoning was nice but the thicker, medallion cut makes for bigger, heavier potatoes tough to crisp well. - "Collards" We had these our first time and evidently other customers felt as we did. Namely that they seemed more quality, fresh, stir-fried greens than recognizable as southern collards. To their credit, they responded to feedback by upping the seasoning in a sort of flourless pork dropping "roux" and braising them with more bacony bits. We liked this improved version more though still getting used to the flavor profile without vinegar. - Key Lime Pie. I asked and they confirmed they squeeze genuine key limes (versus the more prevalent and somewhat similar Persian limes) to make this fluffy, nearly pure-white version topped with fresh whipped cream. The other non-traditional aspect was the pile of white chocolate shavings on top, which we just scraped off. The pie sits in a thin crust I think is grahm cracker but that flavor didn't pop so much with the tall pie and cream above it. I'm more a traditionalist on this dish. The Pitmasters take is of high quality and tasty but Msgr. Landrum's version would get my vote easily in a head to head contest. Pitmasters uses great ingredients and a lot of care with the food and packaging. It's novel without being experimental or odd. It's honest and clean if a bit restrained. And, it will surely continue to evolve. We'll be back.

This is a PC/Apple interface problem. There's actually a good deal of info about it online and both companies (Microsoft and Apple) are aware of it and unwilling to recode around photo exif data. I've had the same trouble emailing photos from iOS to people running Windows. I'd love to hear from any members here using Apple (macs, MacBooks, iPads, iphone) and whether some or all of the versions of this photo I've posted above are right side up for them. Thank you!

This is a big deal. Mark is exactly right that, as unfortunate the reality, this city doesn't have enough customers who value what a small artisan bakery does relative to SF and NY...though worth noting that the much smaller and more narrowly focused Clear Flour outside Boston has succeeded for a very long time. That aside, generating some reliable wholesale business is a big deal here indeed. Wishing him and other future bakeries well!