johnb

Some boards, such as Las Vegas and New Orleans, were active in helping tourists find good places (in the case of LV, it was all tourists, but some visit there frequently and posted a lot). But both those boards have dropped off considerably since the new format -- in fact, I looked at the LV board recently and the first post was by Dave Feldman, a regular there, commenting about how it had fallen off.

Another example. And I believe Don himself has championed this one -- Giving the same 20% tip at a carryout (or even any tip) as at a full service restaurant. As if stuffing the food in a bag and adding a few napkins equals the work done by a server, including cleaning up and resetting the table, taking order, bringing beverages/water several times, serving, taking dishes away, wiping, bring check, take check, bring check back, etc etc. Yes it's crazy.

The inelasticity argument is and is not correct. Those faced with this type of situation (small businessmen particularly) tend to think of it as "what will happen if I raise my prices," and don't really think about it as "what if we all raise our prices." For the sake of argument let's say the average tip is 20%, and the BOH wage improvement requires another 5%. If *I* raise my prices 25%, that's only 5% on the bottom line (i.e. 20% to substitute for the now-unnecessary 20% tip plus 5% more to cover the improvement in BOH wages). Given that, some folks might go elsewhere if elsewhere didn't raise their prices. But this thing will cover everybody, so elsewhere WILL raise prices too. So the elasticity we're talking about is not customers choosing to go somewhere else to keep their expenditures down, it's customers choosing not to eat out at all. This is very different. Customers' typical reaction in such situations is to pull back for maybe a few weeks perhaps, but then it's right back to the old habits. Who is really going to stop eating out, and cook at home and do dishes, because the total check went from $100 to $105? I seriously doubt this proposal, if implemented, would have much if any effect on the number of meals being eaten in restaurants, at all levels. It's just another industry-wide price boost due to a cost increase in some supply factor, same as has been going on since the dawn of commerce. It will quickly get integrated into everybody's thought process, and once the dust settles business will go along as always.

Everybody looks out for his/her own immediate interest. For servers, the problem becomes the long(er) run. If restaurants are going to stay competitive they have to retain good kitchen staff in an era of shortages -- presumably, the ones who figure out how to pay kitchen staff and keep them are the ones that will stay in business and keep the service staff employed. My sweetie has a son who cooked for years but finally forsook it and moved to the FOH. I'm beginning to understand why.

Another NYT article (and an op-ed piece) that fold into the discussion here. The changing tip policy seems to be being driven in part by changes going on elsewhere in the business. The laws of supply and demand cannot be ignored. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/dining/restaurant-kitchen-chef-shortage.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/opinion/sexism-in-the-kitchen.html?ref=opinion The chef shortage article makes specific reference to the tipping issue a few paragraphs from the end.

I been thinking of trying cashews (mainly because I always have them in the house anyway). Has anybody used them?

It may be true that the "new" chowhound isn't as different from the previous version as many have come to believe it is. But there may a more fundamental issue at work in this change in look. As I said earlier today in a response to an email which has been circulating among some DC area like-minded folks (many of them already members here on DR), my take is that CH changed its look to attract a younger hipper crowd, that is more likely to generate revenue for the site, something that the older grey-hair demographic on CH has not done to their satisfaction. In short, as usual, it's all about money, and they don't really care if we old timers disappear since we weren't clicking on their ads anyway. So be it. Good opportunity for other quality boards like this one to gain members, and I hope it happens. The downside for CH is it may reduce their content to the point that they have shot themselves in the foot, if indeed that impairs their ability to attract these new members they want as they drop below the critical mass that's needed. Already some new boards have come into existence in reaction to the CH changes, further raising the critical mass problem. Challenging times for food-related message boards generally. We'll see how it all shakes out.

A good piece in today's NYT that fills out some history of how tipping took hold in the US and what some of its impacts have been, especially on women. "Why Tipping Is Wrong" by Saru Jayaraman on nytimes.com

Pho. Followed this recipe. Pressure cooker. I was amazed how well the broth came out -- as good as most I've had in Vietnamese restaurants. The rest wasn't quite as successful -- the noodles in particular didn't come out as well as I had hoped. But pretty good pho for the side of a mountain in North Carolina anyway. And an opportunity to put the Thai basil I've been growing in the yard to good use. I'm glad I did it, but not sure I'll do it again. A huge amount of work and lots of ingredients. I probably spent about as much on the beef alone as just having a two large bowls in a restaurant. But now I appreciate what it takes to make it -- that's worth something too.

The 50-lane part of the China story appears to refer to the approach to the toll booths, not the highway itself. The widest highway in the world is variously reported as a two mile stretch of I-5 near San Diego with 22 through lanes, or a stretch of I-10 in Houston with 26, but that includes frontage and HOV lanes. I often drive I-85 in Atlanta which, to the best of my recollection, has 16 lanes in spots.

Switzerland is often mentioned in discussions like this one as showing that civilians can have guns and its all OK. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Swiss context. I once lived there. In Switzerland, all fit males must serve in the military (it's like a giant, all-encompassing reserve system) and must by law keep their weapon at the ready at home, and I believe that applies even after they get older and are no longer considered part of the military. But they are trained military, not insane people. The insane ones, or whatever you want to call them, like the mass shooters here, don't get the weapons -- they're not part of that. That's the key difference, and that's why the Swiss "example" really doesn't apply in these discussions of gun policy in the US. Except of course to make the obvious point -- the key is not to ban all guns, but follow the Swiss example and don't put them in the hands of people who want to use them to kill other people. Maybe the best way to do that is to have a system where the government doesn't have to prove you're nuts to keep you from getting a gun, but the alternate but reasonable system under which, to have a gun, the burden is on you to show that you're not nuts, and that burden would become more rigorous depending on the nature of the weapon you want to have (e.g. shotguns, no problem; assault weapons, strong test). I fail to see why that would be such a burden on those who want to have a gun, but what do I know?

AFAIK Steve Siegel (I can use his real name because it's in his Chow public profile) has been on CH for a lot more than 10 years, but CH only shows posts going back about 10 years these days (I guess when the new software came in) so no way to know exactly. I've been away from DC myself for almost 10 years now, and we were having Chow get-togethers long before I left. Another one from CH who ought to post here (maybe is under another name?) is alkapal.

Been several years since this thread has been active. We'll be in Amsterdam next week, just for a couple of days. Any ideas? Nothing fancy or expensive, just some good eats. Is rijsttafel still a must have? Other Indonesian or other cuisines? Other specific dishes? What's a good strategy to find good stuff?

I have assembled gas grills in the past, but would never tackle it again -- frustration city. Definitely, whatever grill you choose, buy it someplace where they assemble them (usually at "no extra charge") and all you have to do is fire it up. Check Consumers Report for their latest ratings. There are other grill rating sites on the net as well. Last one I bought was a fairly inexpensive ($200 or so) Brinkman that had a high CR rating and it has been good.

There are many articles in Wikipedia that address this topic, and tend to cross-link each other. This one, which covers cuisine in all of Asia, has a pretty comprehensive list of Chinese regional cuisines in the "East Asia" subsection. Links are provided to all of them. As an aside, in my opinion the snarky comments many folks make about whether Wikipedia is "authoritative" belong at best in a past era. These days most articles are well curated and ample references to previous works are provided, and form the basis of the Wikipedia article. I think what is found there is usually about as good as one is likely to find in generally accessible references on most topics. Just my humble opinion.

I think it's fair to say that Fish Fry is pretty much a gut bomb operation at all the places there. Everything fried, and the fry oil might not have been changed recently. If your tummy is cast iron, go for it. Otherwise, caveat emptor. There are many stands, on Potters Cay under the Paradise Island bridge, that make conch salad. Worth a shot, can be very good, but sanitation as always is dicey. I just did some googling and came up with this Bahamas food tour site. Might be worth a shot -- I have no idea.

Bought it in 2006 when we built new house. Replaced it probably two years ago. I wouldn't claim they haven't improved. But they inherently have lots of mechanical and especially electronic parts and sensors that can go wrong, so you're taking a risk. I'd certainly go to the (DOE??--I don't remember) website where they have a calculator that you can use to figure out the energy you will likely use for each and see what the cost saving will actually be before I opted to take that risk. I wouldn't be surprised if one simple service call could set you back a year or two's energy savings. And being without hot water for even a day or two is no fun (remember, with a conventional heater you have the contents of the tank, but with a tankless you have zero). I have a DC story about the latter point. My sweetie and I once had a B&B in DC, which came with a giant water heater -- must have had a 100 gal. tank or even more. Anyway we had ourselves and four guests when DC had one of those cyclones come through (must have been around 2003) and left us without power for nearly a week. All six of us went into crisis mode with very short showers and managed to hold out for over 4 days. The water got pretty lukewarm by the end but at least it had enough warmth so you didn't freeze your buns trying to get clean. Take it FWIW.

I had a tankless gas (propane in my case) water heater and did not have a good experience with it. First issue was it cost a lot more to install than expected because those things need very expensive double-wall stainless steel vent pipe. If you have a place to install it where the vent can be minimized that would be less of a problem. Unfortunately for me I didn't and only discovered that when it was too late to reconsider. The bigger issue is that the electronic controls on tankless heaters are very complex. Complexity means high repair frequency and cost. Mine quit on me and the local plumbers weren't able to solve the issue even after hours of phone conversations with the techs -- I ended up having to replace it. I decided to go with a much cheaper and simpler electric conventional water heater. The truth is that conventional water heaters have been greatly improved in recent years (more insulation) and keep the hot water hot much longer than the old days, meaning you need less energy than you used to. Plus there are no moving parts so nothing much to go wrong. And way way cheaper. It would take a long time to get the extra capital cost back from the tankless one based on lower fuel use. Long story short; tankless heaters aren't the unmitigated boon they are often cracked up to be. Proceed with caution.

You can go bonkers reading consumer reviews; you'll find every viewpoint imaginable, and in the end, no matter how many reviews you read and what brand/model you finally select, it's something of a crapshoot. Hopefully you'll get a good one, but maybe not. I would suggest going for sealed (hidden) heating elements -- ten years ago, last I looked, those were available (and more expensive) but not a given. It may be different now.

You mentioned roasting in a subsequent post; I got hooked on convection because it is so much better (IMO) when roasting. I had a small countertop oven with convection and I found it did really good chicken and other items (the convection heat seems to seal the skin and thus preserve the juiciness of the interior meat). So when it came time to do the kitchen in the new house I went for an electric double wall oven such as you want. I don't know why it is "not good" for braising, although since the item being cooked is inside a closed pot I suppose it wouldn't have much advantage, but I don't see any harm. Convection's chief advantage is it makes the heat uniform everywhere, which is also good for baking. It also pulls the "cold" off the surface of whatever you're making more efficiently, thus making the heat work better. Kind of like how wind chill works on your skin outdoors, only in reverse.

I have it on good authority that Chang has become a resident of Rockville, and as such the Rockville location is where he will be spending most of his time.

Was in Atlanta yesterday, and happened to be at the fish counter (huge) at Buford Highway Farmers Market just as they were putting out some red snappers, so beautiful, so fresh. I couldn't resist, so brought home a 3+ pounder in ice. This evening I improvised a poacher/steamer in the largest roasting pan I own using lots of foil. Poached/steamed it on the stovetop. Included some onions, tomatoes, potatoes, savoy cabbage, and corn on the cob right in the poacher. Made a butter sauce with shallots and garlic and some herbs. So good!

Latest developments on The Four Seasons.

Tony Bourdain did an episode there in No Reservations which, IIRC, covered the high as well as low spots; the latter are to be found in the older traditional parts of town ("Old Dubai", around "the Creek") and in areas frequented by the imported laborers, which may be pretty much the same thing. Here is one link: "34 Things To Do in Old Town Dubai" by Oliver Robinson on timeoutdubai.com

Bingo! Of course, everything depends upon them both acting like rational powers, not like small-time hoodlums. Which would it be?