Gastro888

I hope they have good dancers. Nothing worse than a half-assed lion dance done by people who don't know or don't care about what they're doing. Ugh.

Read the "Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen" by Grace Young. There's a great section that explains Chinese New Year and the traditions and foods surrounding the holiday. This is a Cantonese/Toisanese cookbook so the recipes and traditions would apply to that part of China, however, the traditions are pretty much the same across the board in China except for certain regional differences. If you are going to prepare jai, you're supposed to eat it the first day of the New Year. Technically, you're supposed to be vegan the first day of the New Year if you're very observant. Also there have been reports that the black seaweed moss (fatt choy in Cantonese) that is important to the dish is banned in HK due to impurities or something like that. Happy New Year!

Oddly enough, three slices is considered quite generous. In NYC, the majority of ramen shops give you about 2 slices of pork on their standard sized ramen. If you get the house special or a larger ramen, it's 3 slices. Does anyone know if that's how ramen is served in Japan?

Why don't you guys try to do dim sum on Chinese New Year, 2/18/07? Who knows what goodies might be rolling out on the carts that day?

Hog maws are part of the gastrointestinal system of the pig. Asians use them in stews and braises - really good eats after they've been cleaned well. Guanciale is made from the jowl of the pig - think of the meat around the jawbone. There's a place in NYC called Buon Italia in Chelsea Market that sells guanciale at a very reasonable price. I know it's not nearby but you could hop the $25 bus from Chinatown on day go shopping and come back with a bag full of wonderful Italian goodies.

Not even a brief cab-ride? Oh pooh. I don't blame them but Grand Central is not really the best location for high-end dining. Try menupages.com?

JLK: Why not try cabbing it a bit uptown into the 50's and try: Leverhouse Dona Brasserie 8 1/2 (nice setting) Just a few suggestions. Hope this helps.

Go try Fatty Crab & Kytofu. I've not heard anything about Knife & Fork, but I've heard good things about Fatty Crab & Kytofu. Me personally, I go to the Malaysian restaurants in Chinatown and Flushing but that's my personal preference. While you're over there, try and stop by the Chelsea Market and visit Buon Italia for some great pastas, cheese and cured meats that are hard to find in D.C.

In DC: -My parents' cooking, especially my dad's. -Anything at Palena. I know, I'm a sucker. -Any banh hoi dish at Huong Viet in Eden Center, especially the grilled pork. Oh yeah. Pork fat. -The ca phe su da at Song Que in Eden Center. (I know, it's a drink...) In NYC: -Fried dumplings at Shanghai Tide in Flushing. Best.EVER. -Burger at Peter Luger's (if I worked on Wall Street, I would've gotten the steak instead.) -Pastries at Financier -Anything on the menu at Cafe D'Alsace

Depending on where it is downtown, even with a base price of $8, you'd probably still get people considering the cost of the average lunch during the week. Pho doesn't take a long time to eat - sit, order, season, slurp and go. My main concern as a patron would be the lingering smell of pho on my workclothes after I ate. I plan my pho outings carefully - I don't go when I'm freshly coffed or dressed. Apres-workout is the best for me. ;-)

Don't bother. If you're gonna do the truffles, do 'em right. Try to find out who the D'artagnan sales rep is for the Washington, D.C. area restaurants and ask if you can purchase truffles from them.

Unlike some foodstuff, with truffle oil, you get what you pay for. Watch out for brands that use synthetic flavors instead of infusing the oil with real truffles. This is is more common with white truffle oil than with black truffle oil. With the black truffle oil, some companies cheat by using cheap truffles from countries other than France. I've heard from alot of chefs that they dislike using bottled truffle oil for this reason. This is not to discourage the home cook for doing whatever their heart desires or whatever makes their eggs heavenly; hell if it was $20 for truffle oil or pumping gas in my car, well...

Good luck trying to find a decent pho place outside of VA or MD. Do y'all think a pho joint would do well in the city?

Ok, I'll 'fess up one of my weird eating habits. I loved a Budget Gourmet Swedish meatball entree, nuked for 7-8 minutes until the meatballs are somewhat dried and the gravy corners turn brown and crusty. Why, I don't know but damn, I love me some overnuked industrial food. I love me some chicken tail, too. I don't know why more people don't eat it - it's the best ratio of skin:fat:meat:bone. Oh yeah! I have a friend who will eat a cheddar cheese & peanut butter & mayo sandwich on wheat toast. Bleah.

Thanks, hillvalley, you're too kind! Truth be told, I gained my knowledge via blood, sweat and tears. Literally. Also, size is not an indicator of quality. It looks great to shave (or as P. Diddy said to the waiter at Daniel in NYC, "Shave that b****!". For shizzle.) tablesize but sometimes the smaller tennis ball or golf ball sized white truffles are more pungent. If you do choose to purchase a black truffle, make sure that it doesn't have any holes or cracks, that it's not too dry, and that they're very dark and when you press it, it's not rock hard. Of course when buying either type of truffle, you should be able to smell it before you crack open the container. Hell, at the height of the season, if you sell truffles, you walk away smelling like them at the end of the day! And definitely don't buy it at a grocery store where it's been sitting under lights in a warm case with way too much rice. That probably contributed to the rotting truffle from Wegman's as well. (By the way, the retail level gets the "second" grade of truffles. Restaurants, especially the high end ones, get first pickin' of the best of the litter.) *edited for grammar and other whatnots

Here here. Black truffles this year weren't that great until late last month. $25 wholesale isn't bad for Burgundies (blacks) but awfully high for summer truffles considering they've not developed any fragrance at that time. The price for the same winter truffle skyrockets the week prior to Christmas all b/c of demand and marketing. (Yay, marketing! ) And honestly, $1250/lb for black truffles is a freaking joke. How much profit do they want to make anyways? I would say the black truffles pictured on the post along the bottom row are about two ounce size. A one ounce truffle is the size of a small walnut. As for the white truffle that "tasted like cardboard" that most likely did *not* come from Italy - I would say Croatia, especially if that truffle was unnaturally white and clean looking. That Wegman's truffle was probably on its last leg when it was purchased; truffles last about shy of a week if they were bought fresh and properly kept. Try not to store them with too much rice as the truffles need a wee bit of moisture. The best way to store them is loosely wrapped in a paper towel and in a glass bowl with a glass lid. I would try to go the restaurant route, if you have connections. You'll be able to get the better quality and hopefully a better price. Good luck! (Sorry for the somewhat rambling post, just wanted to address several points at once.)

Understood. I spoke up because comments like that encourage the negative stereotype that Asian owned businesses are xenophobic and ethnocentric and it's unfair to assume what's going on. Back to the topic at hand...my friend had what she deemed "the world's best pho" at Huong Viet in Eden Center. I must admit the broth is very good - not oily and it's well seasoned. However, it's only plain beef that tops this pho. No tripe, tendon or fat brisket. Boo. (And I challenge anyone to find a great bowl of pho in NYC. Darn near impossible. )

Maybe they hired a really good cook? Maybe the head cook made it? Maybe they got a really good batch of bones/meat/weather? Asian owned businesses seems to be picked on more for this particular issue compared to other ethnic establishments. Do you really think a small mom-and-pop joint like that would go through all that work just to make two different stocks? It takes up too much time and money. Business is business and they don't care who comes in and their food as long as they enjoy and pay for it. As long as your money's green...

My friend made spanakopita (forgive me if the spelling's incorrect) w/ baby bok choy instead of spinach in her Greek cooking class a few weeks ago in my culinary school. It tasted fantastic and I definitely want to try this in the future as I'll probably have baby bok choy on hand rather than spinach more often than not.

I can't wait for Palena tomorrow! A final hurrah at Palena. I'm kinda glad I don't live nearby as I'd be eating their wonderful burger and fry plate at least once a week. I wonder what pasta they'll have on the menu - maybe I'll be greedy and get the pasta, burger and the fry plate. Hmmmm. I love Palena but my only gripe is that I wish the portions on the cheese plate were bigger than the little smidges of cheese they give out. I need more that just the wee bit that's on the plate. Then again, I am known for being an eater...

My icky one was dome shaped like a mini steak and kidney pie and wasn't nice and round like a good mochi. It was more white than green while the tasty one was a dark green. From the taste of the "good" mochi, I really thought they made it in house. They probably go to H Mart or something and pick up a pack. I'll just stick with some sashimi for dessert next time or head to Black Salt.

The last time I had the original ice cream mochi was about 2 months ago. I had this newer, ickier mochi about 2 weeks ago. I don't know when they changed it, but I wish they'd change it back to the original one. It's such a bummer that they offer these perfume bombs now.

Kotobuki rocks, HOWEVER, I've one small (but important gripe). They changed the green tea ice cream mochi! It's not the same thing that it was before, a small jewel of a dessert that tasted NOTHING like the frozen pucks you get at the Asian markets. It tasted homemade, and it was soft and perfect. These new ones they have are too perfumey (overwhelming smell of jasmine) and the mochi has the texture of firm taffy and not the gently chewiness of the original mochi. And the ice cream lacks the matcha flavor that I love, crave and NEED after a great dinner at Kotobuki. The yellowtail rolls remain stellar.

Curry shrimp with potatoes and onions over lo mein at Maria's with a side of milk tea and condensed milk & jam on toast. Comfort food, HK diner style. Ahhhhhhhh.

I'll try that next time. We'll see what happens. What bugs me about ca phe su da is that sometimes they don't put enough sweetened condensed milk at the bottom. That makes the drink straighten your nose hair strong. Who here gets the desserts at the pho places? I like the tapioca in coconut mlk with bananas. Stellar dessert that one is. I'm not too crazy about the other desserts, though.