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Ericandblueboy

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Everything posted by Ericandblueboy

  1. Both. I expect to tip, not pay a service fee and tip.
  2. This was supposed to be Peter Prime's fancier dig but he and his sister went separate ways. Peter just signed up with Bammy's, and Jeanine Prime took over both Cane and St. James. I was going to try this place out until I saw this on the website: I'm not sure what the service fee is (as a percentage of the check). I'm less enthused about trying this place now - may not ever go. Website.
  3. City vs. Real round 1 was the best game of the season so far.
  4. Buddha clearly knows a lot about the show and cooking in general but some of the other chefs just don't want his advice - very frustrating to watch. Shocked that Buddha was the next to last person picked in Restaurant Wars - are these people crazy?
  5. Buddha, Jackson and DeMarr seems to be head and shoulders above their competition, with Evelyn just a step down. Some really not very good chefs on the show this season. Feels like more than usual.
  6. Champions League semi are two EPL teams vs two La Liga teams. Man City takes on Real Madrid and Liverpool takes on Villareal. Liverpool almost guaranteed a spot in the finals. I think Real has been lucky to get this far - City should be in the finals.
  7. Really expensive brunch https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ffdbc852534fa7c0385a3ab/t/621bd8794a55c861be66e6db/1645992059172/Brunch+Menu+(Complete)+2-27-22.pdf Not for me
  8. $3 per oyster is the going price (sadly) except for happy hour specials. In any case, I wouldn’t go back to Vola’s - mediocre to decent food. I also wouldn’t go back to Hank’s. The Salt Line has good oysters. Henlopen Oyster House has even better oysters. Eventide in Portland has great oysters.
  9. Champions League quarterfinal draw: Chelsea vs. Real Madrid Manchester City vs. Atletico Madrid Villarreal vs. Bayern Munich Liverpool vs. Benfica Champions League semifinal draw: Manchester City or Atletico Madrid vs. Chelsea or Real Madrid Liverpool or Benfica vs. Villarreal or Bayern Munich
  10. Stayed in Chinatown (Hotel Mulberry, down the street from 3 funeral homes) for a couple of nights. XFF was just down the street and I had always wanted to try this famous place out. I ordered their spicy cucumbers and pork noodles. The cucumbers were sitting in a sauce but really didn't absorb any flavor. The noodles had great texture but I'm not a fan of their proprietary sauce - you can choose your level of spice but I'm not a huge fan of vinegary sour sauces. Very little protein and very little veggies in the noodle dish. Glad I tried it but will not be going back.
  11. Went to the village location for dinner. The lobster knuckles escargot style were delicious - albeit not quite as meaty as actual escargot. The buttery sauce is great for dipping the accompanied grilled bread. The pasta with clam sauce was meh - too lemony (I don't use lemon when I made pasta with white sauce). Tasty broccoli rabe.
  12. Went to Kossar's in LES this past weekend. A bialy with scallion cream cheese is now $5. I don't think it was worth $5. It was a generous amount of cream cheese, too much than needed really. My jaws did feel tired from chewing too.
  13. Took a last minute road trip to Portland. I stopped at Lamies Inn and the Old Salt Restaurant for the night on the way up. For some reason I had this place starred on Google Map - probably because I saw it on some TV show, but the food is just good. I didn't find the place particularly exciting. Rolled into Portland around lunch time and I went straight to Eventide. Started with a dozen oysters with pickled red onion ice and kimchi ice. I love the pickled red onion ice, whereas I don't think the kimchi ice went very well at all with oysters. Then I had fried oysters and broiled oysters (pictured). I love that place. Dinner was at Central Provisions - an Asian inspired restaurant. Started with Uni Crudo, served with umeboshi sorbet. I just looked up umeboshi - it's pickled plum-like fruit. I thought it was weird. Second dish was Winter Citrus salad with XO sauce, I thought the combination was great except for the very bitter citrus bites. I also some fried pork croquettes and finished with a Lapchoung Terrine served on scallion pancake with Sichuan pickles and hoisin sauce. I love pate and I love scallion pancakes - and I loved them together. Next day I went to Ramona's for a roast pork sandwich. It was a good sandwich, filled with lots of pork and broccoli rabe, but it's not as flavorful as Tony Luke's in Philly. Perhaps I should've gotten an Italian sub. Dinner was at Solo Italiano, solely because they have sea urchin dishes on the menu. The best dish was Ricci con Pane, sea urchin on toasted focaccia with shaved pecorino, and tomato pesto (pictured). I was told the pastas are small so I ordered 2. First came Linguine alle Veraci, made with Manila clams. Their pastas are very good, all hand made, with good chew. Next came Maccheroncelli Carbonara di Mare, uni emulsion, pecorino, guanciale, and a single seared gulf shrimp. As usual, I bitch about the lack of uni flavor. In fact, the dominant flavor is from guanciale, whereas I would've preferred equal billing. On the last day, I went to Duck Fat for some fries and a duck confit with pate banh mi sandwich. I think the fries were food but not better than your average frites. I did really enjoy the pressed duck confit and pate sandwich in the style of banh mi with pickled veggies. Dinner was at Scales, another Street restaurant (Fore, St. & Co). This place on the water is the most light-filled Street restaurant, with lots of space, seafood displayed, and wonderful service. I sat at the bar and started with a bowl of steamer clams with white wine broth and drawn butter. With the steamers, I peel off the condom and remove the stomach, then swish the remains in the butter. Then the $49 pan roasted lobster. It's probably 1.25 lb or less, but it was really good. Cooked but very tender, and I loved the "fines herbes" sauce. Even the broccolini with guanciale side was delicious.
  14. I wish restaurants would stop serving outdoors in the cold. Omicron is no worse than the flu. Stop wasting energy so you don't catch the flu.
  15. @Tom Sietsema fairly recently wrote about some new old school dishes at Convivial. So Steve and I went to check them out. We started with Quenelles Nantua (light crayfish dumpling, Cognac-cream sauce, dill, trout caviar). I've only had the pike quenelles at La Chaumiere before and was eager to try a different version. I have to say the textures are similar, i.e., light and fluffy. The dumpling (there's only 1) itself didn't have a ton of flavor, but the sauce is intense, like a lobster bisque. The crawfish were overcooked and not really worth eating. At the same time we had Pâté en Croûte (foie gras, duck breast, cured pork shoulder, veal sweetbread, Banyuls-pork reduction, pistachios, savory pie crust). These went very well with the freisee salad. For our entrees, we had to try the Pithiviers de Pigeon, with "layers of green cabbage, foie gras mousse and squab (young pigeon)...beneath a veneer of puff pastry." That dish is amazing - super tender squab and luxurious foie gras. Lastly we ate Cassoulet au Confit de Canard (confit duck leg, Toulouse Sausage, cured pork belly, garlic sausage, stewed Tarbais Beans). It was tasty but we couldn't finish it - too much protein. With wine, dinner was about $100/person before tax/tip. Well worth the money.
  16. Had brunch there today with the kids. The donut holes were dusted with sugar and cinnamon powder, 6 for $10. The fried calamari was nicely seasoned and crispy. The portion was just enough - not too much so you don't get full just eating them. The biscuits were topped with poached eggs and then gravy. The pizza is definitely not Neapolitan, but the crust is soft and pretty tasty.
  17. Not sure but it was awhile ago. For awhile, Roberto was running a cooking school out of his house via Zoom.
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