John William G

I recommend starting the meal at A La Lucia with their fennel with melted parmesan. I have had it three or four times and it is always delicious.

My wife and I ate dinner at Sugar Palm Thai and were very pleased with the restaurant. I agree with TheMatt that the space is quite nice, and the service was excellent. We weren’t very adventuresome in our selections—we had Por Pia Todd (spring rolls), pork Pad Thai, and Gai Cashew (sautéed chicken with cashews). I thought all three were quite good.

They do have a liquor license—they have a reasonable wine selection, and a few beers. (For some reason the beers aren’t listed on their menu; I had to ask our waitress about them.)

We will definitely be returning, and exploring the menu a bit more.

..How can the original recipe omit salt in brownies? Seems contradictory...

My wife and i both thought the brownies tasted fine without the salt. But I admitthat once I put a little salt on the first one, I added it to the second one, too.

I'd love to have the recipe for the Ancho Chile Brownies.

Here is an intersting aticle in the Times, about food trucks in Paris. Who knew?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/world/europe/food-trucks-add-american-flavor-to-paris.html?hp

We were in the Charleston area last week and visited several restaurants which are a little off the beaten path.

1. 17 North Roadside Kitchen, 3563 Highway 17 North, Mt. Pleasant: We had a very nice dinner. I started with a salad ($7) and we shared Fried Green Tomatoes ($8) and Pan-Seared Scallops ($13). The salad was fine; the tomatoes and scallops were delicious. The scallops came with braised pork and black eyed peas, and were cooked perfectly. I don’t recall ever having fried green tomatoes before, but based on these I’ll try them again the next time I see them on a menu.

For the main course I had a fried whole flounder with grits, collards, and chutney ($26). The only disappointment of the meal was the “creamy grits,” which were dry and not creamy at all. The flounder was very good.

The restaurant was clean and comfortable, and the service was excellent. Strongly recommended, if you are in that area.

2. Wild Olive Cucina Italiana, 2867 Maybank highway, Johns Island: I had a salad ($6) and baked penne with sweet sausage and red and green bell peppers ($15). The salad was fresh and tasty, and the pasta dish was good. My only complaint is that our white wine was served at too warm a temperature. Definitely a place to consider if you are on Johns Island.

3. We had lunch at the Heart Woodfire Kitchen, 1622 Highland Ave, James Island. I had the Veggie Burger ($9) with a side of Cannelini Beans. The food was good; the service was terrible. They apologized for the service, and blamed it on some folks who had not shown up for work that day. They have a nice collection of soups, salads, and woodfire oven flatbread; and some interesting beers to go with it. Another place you should consider for lunch, if you are in the area.

We'll bring the same cheese squares we brought last time. And probably some beer and/or wine.

My wife and I will be there; don't know yet what we'll bring.

If you have a Kindle you can get the first 6 chapters of the book free, to see if you like it.

If you are wondering (like I often do) if that bottle of stuff that’s been in the refrigerator for six months is still OK, you’ll find StillTasty a useful iPhone app.

Maurice Sendak. How bizarre is it that he died on the same day Colbert released his book with Sendak's blurb featured on the cover. Also, if you have not seen it, Colbert's two-part interview of Sendak is a classic.

I couldn't count the number of times I read his books to my children. They liked them almost s much as I did.

What was so bad about it? I ate there once, last autumn, and I remember it as being moderately pleasant. I haven't rushed back, but I don't have any lasting feelings of repulsion. Could you bolster this post with another level of detail?

I would also be interested in the details. My wife and I ate there about a week ago and had a nice meal. We had crab cakes and a pear salad, both of which were quite satisfactory. We had no problem with the service.

Can anyone tell me what has happened to Senseo coffee? It used to be in all of the grocery stores, but now I can't find it anywhere.

I can make the 10th for lunch;not certain if I could make dinner. The 14th is a bad day for me.

Sayeer is now aware of donrockwell.com because I wrote it down for him when he asked how I had found out about his restaurant. I suspect he will stop in and read these comments, and the meal I had deserves effusive praise.

He has definitely read this site. My wife and I stopped in for an early meal today, and he came by our table and asked how we knew of his restaurant. When we said we read about it on this site he asked why we weren’t having the Special Soup, since he knew it had been praised here.

We had the egg rolls, Chicken Masala Chow Mein, Curry Chicken and Mango Ice Cream. Everything was good, but we both thought the masala noodles were excellent. The setting is quite nice, and the service was very good. We recommend it.

I'm interested, too.

I tried the recipe in Cooks Illustrated, and the croissants turned out well. I think their recommendations concerning butter, flour, and occasional freezing of the dough make it easier to fold the dough, roll it out and shape the croissants. There is an on-line video of the entire process if you are interested: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/byissue/default.asp?docId=36108&selDate=166&currentVideo=y

I’ve made croissants a number of times, and although they usually taste good, for various reasons I have never been completely happy with them. The New Cooks Illustrated (Jan & Feb 2012) has a “new” recipe in it, with several new suggestions (at least new to me). First, they highly recommend European style butter, like Plugra, and a high protein all-purpose flour. They make several other suggestions in the article, some of which are new to me. I have purchased the butter and flour, and intend to try the recipe this coming weekend. I will report back if it seems an improvement over the usual ones.

John William G called it The Husk (no doubt an innocent typo). The New Yorker correctly identified it as Husk.

Yeah, I shouldn't have capitalized the "T" in "The."

I've eaten at both of the restaurants, and thought the meal we had at the Husk was very, very good. If any of you are going to Charleston and want to try it, make your reservation early as it is quite popular.

Recipe for the Jalepeno Cheese Squares please?

1 lb longhorn cheese (or mild cheddar)

1 sm can evap milk (3/4 cup)

1 sm can chopped green chilies

1 lb Monterey jack cheese with jalapeno pepper

5 eggs (beaten)

Grate cheese into large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and pour into a 9 X 13 baking pan. Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve hot.

The recent New Yorker (31 Oct 2011) has a long and interesting article in it about Sean Brock and his two Charleston restaurants (The Husk and McCrady's). Actually it starts out as if it is about them, but ends up being more about changes in southern cooking, and attempts to grow again and cook with foods that were common in the south hundreds of years ago. Quite interesting.

We’ll bring some Jalapeno Cheese Squares, and homemade Italian bread, probably with some tapenade.

We were in Williamsburg this past week we did eat at the Fat Canary. I had corn soup with bacon and mushrooms, and sweet soy grilled pacific salmon for the main course. The soup was excellent, and the salmon quite good. My wife had a pork chop with toasted walnut and Gruyere bread pudding, which she said was very good. The restaurant was crowded, but not too noisy, and the service was quite good. I don’t know what the competition is like in Williamsburg, but if you’re looking for a nice meal there I would give the Fat Canary serious consideration.

My wife and I will be there. Don't know yet what I'll bring.

We will be in Williamsburg for a couple of days later this month. This restaurant was recommended to us by friends: http://www.fatcanarywilliamsburg.com/home.html

Anyone ever been there?