chef4cook

Out of curiosity, why does it matter if the chef is male or female?

I'm kinda curious about that myself?

Actually, this dinner will be a bargain at only $10,000 a head. The $25,000 dinner was in Bangkok. And what a success it was. From the $1 million generated, they have been able to distribute a whole $61,000 to charities.

It seems to me that if this is a "Charity Event" why would only $61,000 go to charities. When I do charity events I donate my time, food,staff,etc. Surely the remainder of the $1M couldn't be admin. fees and such? Just wondering?

I have the same dislike for undercooked egg whites.

Asparagus is one vegetable that I have never liked. One exception is wild asparagus. I'm not sure why but I can eat this gently sauteed in butter.

That's too bad. Stella's perservered while the entire Eisenhower Avenue corridor built up. It would seem that a lot of potential customers moved into that area over the past several years and no one seems bent on capturing them, unless they all are goint to Ted's Montana Grill.

I ate there years ago when Alison Swope was the Chef. It was decent.

I finally made it over to "Cheesetique" in Del Ray. They seem to have a very nice selection. Italian, French, English, Spanish, Domestic. I sampled the "Stinking Bishop" from England. Wonderful cheese with a long finish. Not quite as "Stinky" as I would have liked but still good. I Also sampled a cheese from Wisconsin similar to Talleggio that was quite good (The name escapes me). They also have a 30 day Pecorino Toscano that is really nice. Very lactic. I tasted a very nice Colby too. The cheeses seem well cared for. They are not organized in any particular way which, makes for sort of willy nilly shopping. Plus, the cheese case is very low so that you spend most of the time bent over. The prices are about what you would expect for a speciality cheese shop. The cured meats are ok. Not a big selection and nothing you can't find elsewhere. Overall I'd say it's a nice little shop and I for one am glad to see another individually owned business around. I heard that a butcher will be opening on the same block soon! A good artisan bakery and that's all you need.

Apparently I'm "Gruyere"

Just an open question.

Is it me, or is Branzino the hip fish of the aughts -- the new Chilean Seabass? Never heard of it until a couple of years ago, now everybody's cooking it. Did Mario do this?

You are correct Anna my spelling error! As to Waitmans question, I don't know about Mario but I have been cooking Branzino for at least 12 years.

I like to serve "Bronzino" (Euro. Sea Bass) Whole. I usually buy them 1-1.25# each. Scale and gut including the gills and fins. Season liberally inside and out w/S&P. Score the fish down to the bone on both sides. I stuff the cavity w/thyme, sliced shallots and sometimes slices of lemon. Liberally oil outside (I use olive oil or blended oil) then place on a hot grill to mark and crisp the skin. Then I finish in a 400 deg. oven for about 4-6mins. Remove and drizzle w/ lemon mosto oil. The flesh pulls away from the bone perfectly. It's mighty good eatin.

Ilaine don't sweat it! This is nothing. But when we do get a big snow I usually make sure I have plenty of coca-cola, coffee and cream. You know, the essentials.

RE: fennel

Italian sausage has fennel seed in it, and that is the flavor that Mrs. Dan Cole objects to. The fennel bulb does not taste the same as the seed and only has a strong anise flavor when raw--when braised in liquid or roasted, the anise flavor almost or completely disappears. I don't think it would work to put fennel bulb into Italian sausage--it wouldn't give Dan Cole the fennel seed flavor he prefers, and the texture is unlikely to be what he is expecting.

mdt has offered the right suggestion, to which I would add, stuff one version into casings and leave the second version loose. That way, there won't be any unfortunate mix-ups.

I beg to differ that braised fennel's flavor disappears. It does not. Having said that, I use the seed (toasted) when making sausage.

I pretty much stopped watching FN a couple of years ago. Except for the occasional Iron Chef. Like many I know, I was Emeril'd to death (No offense to Emeril, he can cook but his plate presentation blows!). Rachael used to be nice to look at with the volume off. Since I don't cook out of cans or from bags of chopped anything FN holds no interest for me. But I do love Bourdain's tell it like it is, in your face kinda journalism.

right now, I like beef dogs on a potato bun with mayo and dijon or ketchup! And speaking of southerners, My mom was from SC and when she made hot dogs for us she put mayo on them. She put mayo on fried egg sandwiches. She even used to make me mayo and grape jelly sandwiches that I loved!

I have to say, The WP food section has gotten pretty poor as of late. I think they need to do a little bit better than "Man-Catcher Brownies". As a man, even I find that offensive. I've been thinking about going to the WT's anyway.

Hey guys,

I've got a couple friends who recently got engaged, and a buddy and I are talking about buying them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant....but they live in Baltimore. I perused the Baltimore Dining Guide and come up with the following top-runners:

Pazo

Saffron

Bicycle

LP Steamers looks awesome but I don't think it qualifies in the "romantic" category (and Charleston is out of our budget, sadly). Most of the threads on the above three are pretty sparse and/or old...anybody have any recent recommendations?

I've always heard good things about Pazo. Timothy Dean Bistro is also supposed to be good and reasonably priced. Thats about it.

Yeah, but if they're charging full price, shouldn't we expect full value, right from the get-go? I totally agree that there should be a grace period, and that a brand new place needs some time to work out the kinks, but, not if a customer is paying full price - For me, I'd rather wait a bit to try a place. But for the people that don't, I'd just expect the restaurant to make some kind of compensation (comped dessert, something) if they screw up early on.

Also, right after I saw that article, I came straight here - I'm expecting this thread to keep me entertained all day

I agree that waiting is the best way to go. My feeling is that bashing a restaurant on opening night is wrong. Period. Plus if a new chef working in an exsisting restaurant doesn't have his/her shit together when they put out a new menu then shame on them. Another period.

I thought it was an interesting read. It certainely shows the power the "Internet" plays in our lives. I also think that, knowing a review of a new restaurant can be online in an hour, will push those opening restaurants to make sure everything starts out right. Opening night mis-steps are to be expected but should not be a reason for half assed food or service. However, restaurants should still be entilted to a grace period to work out the kinks before they get bashed.

Actually, if anyone on the board sees a triple-spaced post, would you please cut-and-paste the URL of the post, and PM the poster? Thanks.

And I'm sorry if I'm cranky, but I'm working on a problem right now. In fact, I could use some help.

If anyone can get me the answer, I'll take them out to dinner at Maestro.

Anyway, I need f (4, 2) resolved to an integer value for the following function:

------------------------------------------------------

f (x, y) =

y + 1 ........................ {when x = 0}

f (x-1, 1) ................... {when x > 0 and y = 0}

f (x-1, f (x, y-1)) ........ {when x > 0 and y > 0)

-------------------------------------------------------

It seems pretty simple, so probably won't take too long to resolve. Nevertheless, I can't seem to get the answer, and am willing to pay accordingly to the first person who can get it solved.

First person to PM me the answer gets it.

Thanks!

Rocks

I suck at math. What are the letters doing in there?

My god !

i didnt think todd gray "quietly" plied at his trade...his wife, ellen, is a PR machine. (not a value judgment, just a fact)

I would have to agree with Jonathan. I can't remember when I picked up a trade mag that didn't have something about Todd and Equinox in it. Ellen is a powerhouse at PR! I wish I had someone doing that for me. But, as far as Todd coming "Back", he never left! Todd always has his hand in something for food or charity, and it's well promoted.

Very funny read.

I respectfully disagree with you. The DC ban was forestalled for at least several years. The credit for that goes to the lobbying organizations and their members.

As far as a chef smoking a cigarette in the kitchen? I've seen FAR worse, so please spare me the outrage.

We've all seen worse Danny Boy but the point of this thread is about SMOKING IN RESTAURANTS!

Anna,

I totally agree with you! I absolutley hate walking into a building through a cloud of smoke. I recently happened to be in a restaurant kitchen where the owner was smoking in the kitchen! I can tell you I would never be able to be in that enviornment.

I don't care who smokes and who doesn't. It's there body. However, as it relates to me I care not to be around smoke. I wreaks havoc on my throat, my sense of smell goes to hell and my cloths stink, not to mention the pounding headache I get from breathing someone's exhaled poison. I am in favor of the ban. The arguement that people will run to virginia is ridiculous. I doubt anyone is willing to travel any great distance just to smoke in a restaurant.

Well, I guess somebody had to do it!