johnb

I seem to recall it is normally written as two words, and the two word version you refer to is the one that has three pronunciations. This is fine by me, since I always used the fides not the feedaze myself, and had only recently come to believe I had been pronouncing it wrong. So apparently fides is OK after all. Now I can move on to something else to worry about.

Agree. I'm sure I'm in the vast minority on this, but IMO pizza doesn't achieve its full potential goodness until it has cured for a while, preferably overnight, preferably out on the counter. Reheating is contraindicated.

Finding myself with 4 or 5 lbs. of carrots in the back of the produce drawer (must have been a helluva sale -- I don't remember, but my sweetie can't ever get enough carrots), and checking the weather, it seemed a good idea to do a stew. So I have several chicken legs going, with some smoked sausage and a bit of pork for good measure, along with a few carrots, celery, fresh herbs, onion, and smashed garlic. Soon all the aromatics, with their flavor extracted, will be removed and lots of carrots and potatoes, some dill, and maybe some other stuff will be added. Knowing me, a nice dollop of fish sauce too. Looking forward to dinner.

Further to the reopening of Brennans mentioned earlier, it turns out that the General Manager is none other than DC's own Christian Pendleton, who came from Ashok Bajaj's Knightsbridge Restaurant Group (Ardeo, Bardeo, 701, Oval Room, Rasika, Bibiana, etc.). Also Hook and Indebleu. This is a link to an article with a video that has him giving instructions to the staff on opening day. http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2014/11/brennans_restaurant_french_qua.html Looks like DC has gotten into the business of providing staff for the New Orleans restaurant industry.

Calvin Trillin has likened "shrimp scampi" to "beef pork". That would, of course, be beef pork served with au jus sauce.

Another possibility in the FQ for seafood is GW Fins. Everybody says it's the best, and always mentions their "scalibut", their signature dish ($32). That may be more than mid-priced, but that's how seafood is. Full disclosure -- I haven't been myself; have been trying to get there but never succeeded yet. Maybe next trip -- for us the FQ is always a challenge because most of the time we have our three Irish Wolfhounds in tow. Some say Mr. B's Bistro in the FQ has the best BBQ shrimp in town. I've had them and they're very good, no doubt about it. Another place my sweet bride always insists on is Drago's for char-broiled oysters. They invented them, and I've never yet had better ones than theirs. Their main location is out in Metaire, but they have a branch in the Hilton which is just outside the FQ, near the Casino. On the subject of po'boys, avoid Mothers. Best place by reputation in the FQ is Johnny's, but it's another place that, alas, I haven't been, so can only mention its reputation. Here's a far out possibility. "Big Pink", the fabled Brennan's Restaurant (yes, in the FQ) is about to reopen, but the specific date is not exactly clear. You might want to pass by (417 Royal) and see if they are doing a soft opening and you can sneak in. It would be a major feather in your culinary travel cap if you could pull it off. Slade Rushing is the Exec Chef, and it promises to be a Really Big Deal. I have been very pleased with the food at MiLa, Slade and wife Allison's place, so I imagine it will be worthwhile. Not cheap or even mid-priced though.

Herbsaint is a good idea, but it's not in the Quarter, although if memory serves it is right on the aforementioned St. Charles Streetcar line (the line to the Garden District). It's walkable from the Monteleone, but not what I'd call a short walk. And Mahoney's po'boys are worth the trip.

It depends a lot on what type of coffee/what type of grind you require. To make espresso, you need a very fine and very uniform grind, and you only get that with an expensive model -- lots of folks like the Rocky mentioned by Zora. OTOH if you are a french press person, or even a drip person (coffee, not personality) you only need a coarse grind and uniformity is less of an issue. For that you can go cheap.

+1. Even Daymon Ruyanesque in spots.

$49 is a very reasonable price for Noah's Mill; it's a typical "price point" for bourbons in that category. I've paid more for it than that in Kentucky. Like anything else, what something is worth is up to you. Me, I pay the price for bourbon, but when it comes to, say, vodka I buy the cheapest plonk I can find. YMMV.

Four Roses single barrel. Inspired to try it again by Dean Gold in a comment made in a Pappy van Winkle thread. Nice caramel and a bit of spice in the middle. I like it more than I recall from the last time I had some, but my go to is still Noah's Mill.

KBD is indeed a mysterious company. They are family owned. Unlike most others they have gone out of their way to shun the spotlight in the past, although I seem to recall reading something more recently that that is less so these days. They did recently rejoin the distillers association. In any case, they do put out good stuff. There was a period during which they didn't distill but brought in whiskey from elsewhere for their own aging, but more recently they have gotten back into doing their own distilling. They were founded by the Willett family, and still use the Willett Distilling Company name on some of their products. In addition to Willett, mentioned above by Dean, they make Rowan's Creek also mentioned Dean. Dean appears to be a KBD fan.

There is no way PvW can be "worth" the price it commands. Same as Lafite or Romanee Conti. In every product category, there is one or a few that are generally thought of as being "the best." For whatever mysterious reason, PvW became that for bourbon. Maybe it really is, maybe not. Who knows. It doesn't matter. There are always a lot of very rich guys who insist they must have "the best" but really don't know much outside of however they got rich. They will always compete to get "the best" and drive up its price because it shows everybody else how rich/smart/powerful they are. Anyone who wants to play that game, that's fine. But don't confuse the price spread with any inherent quality spread. It ain't there. Now I'm going to get myself a nice glass of bourbon. Probably Noahs Mill. Comparatively undiscovered, and that's a good thing.

I think that while it may be something of a mixed bag these days, Whirlpool is still their primary source. I have found that one way to know what you're getting is to go down the row and open the doors of the various models on display -- focus on those with prices similar to the Kenmore you're interested in. Often they sell the manufacturer's own brand stuff, so when you find one whose interior matches the Kenmore, you have found the manufacturer. There are often several models in the same line -- check the features (bells and whistles) and you can probably get pretty close to the same model. Having read seemingly millions of reviews of appliances, I've concluded it's a crap shoot. You just never know what you'll get. My only advice is don't spend too much ; $4-500 for a DW ought to do it. Beyond that and it really is mostly bells and whistles. Basically they all clean dishes.

Well, this is sorta my point. I don't think the user ought to be required to fully memorize the recipe before going into the kitchen to try it, particularly given that a mistake as one goes along can be troublesome. Others may have better short-term memory than I. But how many fully memorize a complex new recipe, and don't need to refer to it during preparation? Why not format the recipe correctly, making it easy to use as the process unfolds, so the issue doesn't arise? Again, I love Fushcia Dunlop, and have nothing but respect for what she's accomplished for aspiring home Chinese cooks, but too often her recipe formats, frankly, suck, and it's just not necessary. I wouldn't say that my suggested approach presumes everything is prepped prior to cooking. In this case, for example, even a novice cook could see that one could prep the meat ingredients while the potatoes are cooking, if that is what one wants to do. More generally, it would be possible to add such notations to a recipe done in the format I suggested, but the recipe writer has to stop somewhere, hopefully before specificity becomes the enemy of creativity. Like everything in life, it's a balancing act, and everybody's preference is different.

A long response. I like the engineer guy. He's posted some good stuff. He's on the right track with this recipe format, but I think it would be hard to follow in the heat of preparing something in the kitchen. I have thought about this problem over the years. Badly formatted recipes are a pity. Fuchsia Dunlop is a perfect example. Great dishes for which she is to be widely commended (James Beard award), but recipes so poorly formatted that they unnecessarily get in the way, especially when doing a dish where you have several steps compressed into a short time. When I took some professional classes years ago, the teachers shot out recipes staccato, and it was a job to keep up. Of necessity I developed a style of writing them down that worked for me, and further developed the format over the years. I even thought at one time of putting together a cookbook based on the format, and wrote several recipes using it, but the idea died for various reasons. The key is to clearly separate the recipe into its two basic parts: First, prep and assembly of everything needed grouped into a complete mise en place, and then the actual cooking steps with cross-references back to the ingredients list. Nothing earth-shattering, it's done to some degree in any recipe, but it's seldom done methodically. To illustrate, I took the recipe linked above and re-wrote it in my format. Here it is: (sorry spacing is a little dicey due to the web page) PREP INGREDIENTS AND GROUP THEM AS FOLLOWS A. 1 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and rough diced B. 1 lb. unsalted butter softened C. Salt Ground white pepper D. 3 Tbls. Vegetable oil E. 1 medium onion diced 1 celery stalk diced 1 medium carrot peeled and diced F. 1 lb. ground lamb G. 1 Tbls. flour H. 1 tsp. dried rosemary 1 tsp. dried thyme 1 pinch ground nutmeg 1 cup beef broth I. Salt Pepper J. 2 Tbls. butter cut into small pieces Paprika COOK IN STEPS AS FOLLOWS 1. Cover potatoes (A) with water and boil until tender; drain, then add back 1/2 cup of water 2. Add butter (B] and mash well; add salt and pepper (C] to taste: set potatoes aside 3. In skillet heat oil (D); add vegetables (E); saute (low heat) until tender; add lamb (F) cook until just done 4. Add flour (G), mix well: add spices and broth (H), and cook until liquid thickens; add salt and pepper (I) to taste 5. Place meat in casserole, cover with mashed potatoes; dot and sprinkle with butter and paprika (J) 6. Bake at 400 F for 30 min. Just to read it It looks like overkill, but when you're in the kitchen actually doing it it works. It does pretty much the same thing as the linked version, but to me it's easier to follow. You cook step by step, simply reaching for each group of pre-grouped ingredients in the order needed and check them off as you go along. Not something that those who post here need, but helpful for those less practiced?

Full renovations have recently been announced for Newark (United) that will involve placing thousands of iPads at tables in the restaurants and elsewhere, where passengers will be able to order their food, check on their flight status, and buy goods for delivery to their seats. This is similar to a system already in place at LaGuardia (Delta) click click

I have a different view. Regarding learning something new, unless I'm mistaken, using the 6 will not require learning anything especially new. The new operating system will offer some new stuff, but if one wants to ignore it that won't be a problem. If you want, just keep doing what you've been doing. But still, why bother to make the change? Well, to look at the cost side, assuming you have a 5, it won't cost you anything. You can trade in the 5 to cover the upfront cost (at least with Verizon), and the monthly cost to you will be the same either way.* And you'll get to start over with a new warranty, which has some obvious value particularly in contrast with your 2+ y.o. old phone. But still, why bother, particularly if you don't care about any of the new whiz-bang stuff? Of course there will be some new stuff that probably will have some value no matter who you are. But, in my view, the best thing will prove to be Apple Pay. And I'm not talking about the coolness and convenience. The important thing is the enhanced security. I think this is major and has been greatly overlooked. Apple Pay is head and shoulders better than any other payment system in existence. Yes it will take a while to achieve critical mass and won't be of great value until then, but something has to eventually solve the problems of the credit card system we have and I think this has the best chance to be it. Even if fraudulent purchases made on one's card are covered, getting new cards and making all those changes is a PITA -- I went through that after Target, and I'm expecting the Home Depot shoe to drop any day now. The security features of Apple Pay (they amount to three factor authentication: token, cryptogram, fingerprint) will greatly reduce fraud and will lower the cost of card processing, most of which goes to cover fraud. In other words, it has real advantages for the consumer-on-the-street. Mastercard and Visa wouldn't have had literally a thousand people each working on this for the last year, which they did, if they didn't think it is going to have an impact. I think this is really big and predict that within 5 years Apple will be deriving more revenue/profit from card payment processing than any other product line save the phones themselves. They may have to open it up to Android devices, and even offer a cheap dedicated non-phone device themselves, but the potential profits are so enormous I think they might. I know Apple is talking about extending Apple Pay to the 5's using bluetooth in place of NFC, but the 5's will never have the special security chip the 6's have, so can never be as secure; they will also process at a higher "card-not-present" rate.. Bottom line: I think it's worthwhile to make the switch. *Update: I just discovered that Verizon will now knock $10/month off your bill once you go past two years. So the relative cost of a new phone is $240 over the 2 year contract life.

Take heart my friends. Soon (probably a lot sooner than anyone thinks) we will not only have Apple Pay at every table, but will also have Apple Menu. We will order and pay from our own phones, never to touch any device or piece of paper with any germs but our own. Combine that with those little conveyer belts they have in some sushi places and we will have the completely automated dining experience. Don't laugh. This is not a criticism of Apple. If Apple doesn't do it, Google will. Only a matter of time. The future is ours. Carpe diem!

But aren't you being just as judgmental as you say he is? I agree with Waitman. Some people take the view that anything goes, including in how we choose to sample artifacts of other cultures. Others, such as Todd, think you need to experience other cultures on their own terms in order to actually experience them. To me, both views have merit, and anyone is free to advocate one or the other (and we often do). To say someone is a dick for taking one of these two positions is, to me, really not much different from what Todd did in the first place. It is true that he did it in, shall we say, a forceful manner, but as I read it that wasn't the basis of your criticism. (Note, no aspersions were cast on the four diners as people because nobody knows who they were and because they will almost certainly never become aware of this exchange, unless you want to argue that he shouldn't have mentioned their ethnicity, which to me is another and separate issue, and which you might argue he did principally as a way to say indirectly that he wasn't casting his aspersions on still another bunch of clueless Americans and that's not what his comment was about).

Tonight: Hanger steak, pan grilled, with a sauce made from pan drippings, butter, mushrooms, rum, and blue cheese. Kohlrabi, buttered Idaho potatoes, halved long way, microwaved, then finished in the oven with a bit of olive oil Ch. Patache d'Aux Médoc '89

A few thoughts: Macau and Las Vegas are the world's premiere gambling destinations. Macau, by far the largest, fundamentally exists as the place where rich Chinese businessmen go to gamble, and these guys think nothing of placing million dollar bets at the baccarat tables in the private rooms. They are its market, and the amount of money floating around there is beyond imagination. Las Vegas has two primary customer bases; young Californians who drive in to party on weekends, and the slightly older crowd that flies in from all over to soak up the entertainment/restaurant scene. Both gamble as well, a lot. Both Macau and Las Vegas have a stranglehold on their respective markets, which will not be soon breached. Both are money machines as a result. Recently, Singapore has joined the party. Atlantic City, on the other hand, has never had much glamor. Its primary customer base was always retirees who came on organized bus trips, or by car, mostly to play slot machines, a very low-end business. These folks couldn't care less where their slot machines are located -- the shorter the bus trip the better. Borgata, and then Revel, were attempts to bring a little Las Vegas glam to Atlantic City. While limited, there is apparently enough of a market for that to support one but not two; since Borgata was first on the scene, it grabbed that market. Revel never could get enough business to make a go of it. It's no surprise that Las Vegas Sands and Wynn, the two big operators in both LV and Macau, both took a pass on Atlantic City. Atlantic City's biggest problem is that its retiree customer base now has many other options. Indian casinos and other casinos now have come into the picture, because state limits on casino development have been greatly eased. LVS even has a development in Bethlehem Pa. These places are nicer and easier for Atlantic City's customers to get to. In essence, AC has had its legs cut off. If AC has a future, it isn't in the gaming business. Maybe they'll come up with a viable strategy, but I wouldn't hold my breath. It's going to be a tough time for those folks who are now looking for a new job.

Good points. Cooking only half the turkey devolved from the cooking method. I've made chicken-under-a-brick many times; my method is, after spatchcocking, to saute the whole thing both sides in an iron skillet, then weight it down with a second iron skillet and put the whole assembly in the oven. I did the same thing with the turkey, but only half could ever fit into a 12" skillet. I could have done two complete skillets full, but that wouldn't have fit into the oven as a practical matter, and there was no reason to cook so much. And anyway this whole thing was something of an experiment, with guests as guinea pigs. But it worked out fine. For my "dinner" tonight, the first night of my temporary bachelorhood, I just now had a lovely turkey salad sandwich topped with, what else, a very thick slice of tomato, which will shortly be followed by another tomato slice topped with anchovies and balsamic. The dogs will be having some de-boned turkey bits from broth-making added to their kibble. For the remainder of the turkey, for part I'm still leaning to some type of turkey/tomato stew (cacciatore?), and for another part perhaps either some Chinese stir fry or something Indian. Your turkey tetrazinni idea also sounds good; I wonder if I could work in some tomatoes. Did I mention I have lots of tomatoes?

I just received an email from John and Karen, as I'm sure many others did as well, that they have spots open for Sept. 19 and 20.

Joe I'll jump in here. Charles may reply differently later, but when we were there (thanks) I would say the room is so small and the group was so convivial that it was somewhat, or a lot, like a communal table anyway. We had had an opportunity to chat with the the Conte group (the chef from DC) before moving into the dining room (hors d'oeuvres and drinks were served on the porch, where we gathered). Chef Moran (the chef from Nashville) showed up late, after a few courses had been served, but the size of the room facilitated conversation anyway (he indicated he would be soon be trying a meal at Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, and I gave him my take on what to expect and what to order to be sure of the complete experience there). It was also quite easy to have a look into the kitchen, and to engage John and Karen in conversation. Bottom line is it's a small, extremely informal, and intimate setting.