Before and after, for me. I'm not terribly concerned about anyone being able to claim "firsts" or "scoops" or "discoveries," and find those to be loaded terms -- loaded with class/ethnicity/inside-outside assumptions ("discovered" means what? by whom? etc). To me, Sietsema's value during his long run at the Voice -- one I hope will be continued elsewhere -- was the deep well of information and knowledge he brought to his project of casting the geographical and ethnic net very widely. Even if I wasn't scooting off to the places he mentioned, I learned an enormous amount about food -- accurate information -- from reading his columns. It doesn't mean he didn't have hits or misses, but by an overwhelmingly large margin, I found him to have a consistent point of view and taste that could give me far more direction than I can get from scanning multiple blogs with little blips that might talk about the same restaurant. He really knows an incredible amount, and I want there to be a continuing outlet for that knowledge.

Pretty funny, coming on the heels of the Voice's press release about the layoffs:
http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/restru...

I strongly suspect Kalustyan's would have them. You could call and ask.

It's a simple family meal. For the last few years I've been doing pork (tenderloin or chops) with sour cherry sauce made from the cherries I pit while watching Wimbledon and freeze. Roast potatoes, some greens.

I've never made cheese straws or cheese cracker/cookies before, but have a hunk of cheddar and was thinking these Cheddar cookies could be cute in holiday shapes:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spicy...

Was just wondering if this appears to be a workable/standard recipe, or anything I should know. No time for trial runs. Thanks.

Allegra, I just wanted to say a big thanks for all you have posted so far, and to encourage you to continue to add to it! I am definitely going to be returning to this thread after the holidays, and really appreciate hearing the results of your (and everyone else's) experiments.

I haven't had a chance to cook out of Duguid's Burma book yet, but I, too, had wondered why she didn't say anything about dao jiao as a substitute for tua nao. Realistically, I'm not going to get around to making tua nao for...oh, probably years. Was your side by side comparison of miso and dao jiao in the context of a certain dish, or just straight up?

This is a great tip, thanks.

I shouldn't be surprised, given that I generally have gotten a lot from missmasala's posts in the past, to find myself nodding vigorously in agreement on many, many counts, based on my (long delayed!) first visit to PokPok. I wasn't going to chime in since it was just one visit, but I just had to say a "me too!"

Meaning, you hit the nail on the head that it felt just like a Thai restaurant. We were there on a hot, sticky night, which just added to it, but I was incredibly happy crunching on the gravel and then coming across the back patio.

It sounds like our parties ordered similar dishes, and I had similar reactions. I thought the pak boong was fantastic, and the sai oua was very pleasurable as well. The latter was, however, a bit disappointing -- it was more like I was so pleased to be eating it again that it didn't matter that this was a relatively "eh" version. Part of the appeal for ordering it again would be that it come with nam prik num, which was quite good. In general, I was surprised not to see dips/jaews like this featured more prominently on the menu. I think Ricker could introduce folks not familiar with these northern Thai dishes to them, and could feature these as stand alones.

I also liked the northern laab/laab khua. I would have liked to see far more intensity to it than I got -- it wasn't as deep and "dark" as I expect this dish to get. It was, however, a tasty dish, though I think I was the only one in our party really lapping it up.

I wouldn't have ordered the khao soi as part of a meal, but a friend really wanted to, and I thought it was bad. And I see folks got on a discussion of it below, and I have definitely had some FANTASTIC khao sois before (and I have to say make a generally pretty good one too), but neither Srip nor this gives me any desire to order either one again.

What else, we did have a lovely fish -- steamed or whatever, I can't remember -- with a great green sauce.

The eggplant salad surprised me--I expected more balance and certainly some more heat and piquancy. Likewise, I think we got neua namtok, which was fine, but Srips on a good day is better.

We did NOT get that pork neck dish that others mention, though a friend who is a frequent PokPok eater also says it's fantastic, and I'd put that first on my list next time.

I am definitely going back and I'm definitely eating the entire menu through and through, because I love having someone trying to bring these foods I love here. But I'm a little puzzled as to why some of them haven't quite translated as well as I suspect he knows how to do.

I have no idea what the black dots are and whether it's safe or unsafe. But I've bought tons of preserved lemons and never seen that.

Thank you. What is mahlab usually used for? That sounds interesting.

(yea, you're here!) Good idea to replace some flour. I was just going to throw it in. Often I find mine doesn't really cook in the middle anyway--which is still okay.

I'll give it a try tomorrow. (Sour cherries have been in NYC for 2 weeks now, and usually it's a 3-week season).

This is an old recipe here on chowhound.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/281699

What do you think yould happen if I added some ground up almonds to the batter? I already use the almond extract.

Is the answer just a plain pizza dough? I have a TON of greens to use up as a main dish, and was thinking spanakopita but I don't want all that butter or to mess with filo. Should I just mix up the filling, and bake it in something like pizza dough or does that not work? Ideas for green-intensive main dishes (not pasta--did that last night)?

Thanks.

Thanks. I definitely want it to crack, so skimming off some oil from the other batches is a great idea.

Am in the midst of making a ton of khao soi for a crowd, and have run out of coconut milk for the last batch. I usually use Chaokoh or Aroy-D brands. The only brand available anywhere in the neighborhood is the Thai Kitchen brand, which has guar gum added as a "stabilizer" (but fortunately, no sugar). Can I use this? I don't WANT my coconut milk "stable" -- I want it separated -- but more importantly I don't want any gum that's going to screw up my curry. This sounds like bad news to me, but wanted to check. Thanks.

Dinner tonight needs to be cooked in half an hour, so the plan was pork tenderloins with sour cherry sauce (my frozen sour cherries from the annual Wimbledon pitting o the sour cherries).

But I've been handed two pork loins, about 2.75 lbs each, instead of tiny tenderloins.

What can I do? The time constraints are leaving the house at 2:30, returning at 7:30, dinner at 8 (yeah, I know).
1. Cut into 1 lb pieces and roast for half an hour?
2. Tie together and put in oven, and remotely start the oven at 6:15 at 350? (Not positive this oven does this--I am not at home--but I think it does and is quick-heating).

??

No, but I have borrowed one for the occasion.

Everything I read (and my intuition) says red potatoes are too waxy to make good mashed. But that's what I need to do -- mash the red potatoes (choosing my battles with family). Best way to get good texture?

Well, THAT was a surprise. Was at Rockaway beach today, happened on the new food stalls on Beach 96th Street and the water. The Thai stand, named something like Ode to Elephants, shocked me with giving me the best beef salad (yum neua) I have had in the US in at least half a dozen years. Much better than Srip's (but must say I have not done many of the ascending Queens Thai places). Everything about it was just "right" -- the right sear on the meat, the right heat for the flavors, very well balanced and extremely, extremely good. Also had one bite of an excellent simple, deeply flavorful moo ping (grilled pork), and ate a very good mangoes and sticky rice. Neither the yum nor mango were on the menu, but they were just serving them up. None of these were destination-dishes---I don't want to mislead here--and frustratingly, they don't have sticky rice (and ran out of steamed rice! A Thai place w/out rice!!) to eat with the yum. But for those parts, a surprising show of Thai-food love.

I rarely would think that a Thai spot meant to do quick beach concession food would be at all worth trying, but something about a few of their spare menu choices -- given the location -- made me give it a go. Someone in the kitchen clearly knows Thai food very, very well.

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SriPraPhai
64-13 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11377

Ode to the Elephants
Shore Front Pkwy Beach 96th St, Queens, NY 11693

I just got back from Rockaway beach (just a few dozen blocks past Riis), and ate at the new food stalls on Beach 96 Street and the ocean. To my complete surprise, the Thai stand (called something Elephants) had the BEST yum neua (beef salad) I have had in NYC in at least 6-7 years, if not more. The moo ping was also excellent, and I'm finishing their very good mango and sticky rice as I write. Friends had a fish sandwich from a place called... hmm... not Rockaway Tacos, but the stand next to it... and it, too was excellent--light fish, topped with a wonderful fresh salad-y concoction including some pickled vegetables, kind of like what you might get on a good falafel. Lots of picnic tables under a shaded tarp.

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Ode to the Elephants
Shore Front Pkwy Beach 96th St, Queens, NY 11693

Motorboat & the Big Banana
Shore Front Pkwy Beach 96th St, Queens, NY 11693

Fox's U-bet syrup? Package tightly and wrap in plastic.

I don't have the book in front of me, but from what I remember, I loved one of the miang kham sauces in TF -- sweet, fishy and spicy.

I also think some of the salads are fantastic. One that comes to mind involves trout, apple eggplants, and green mango -- I substituted shrimp -- and there is another one with sweet shrimp (that is, ordinary shrimp cooked in a sugar sauce) and grachai (he may call it wild ginger or rhizome or lesser rhizome--I ONLY find it frozen in the US) that is outstanding.

Since this is a revived, and somewhat wide ranging thread, I'll throw in my recommendation for Buka, a Nigerian place on Fulton near Grand or Classon (I think). Very cute place -- suitable for a date night -- friendly staff, cheap prices, and a pretty wide range of Nigerian food. I'm not at all familiar with these dishes, so don't have a benchmark for judging them. But we had a very good goat and black pepper soup, and some good sauces for dipping fufu. Worth giving a try.

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Buka
946 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238

I have yet to read anything to convince me that the food at Madiba--as opposed to the excellent drinks and staff--has improved over the years.

The Ethiopian restaurant in FG, Bati, is okay if you absolutely need a local injera fix--and sometimes that's exactly what I need-- but I don't find it much better than that. There's not a lot of depth to most of the cooking. But then, I find that true of much of the Ethiopian in NYC, with the occasional exception of the Awash branch on Amsterdam/106th, which sometimes can really be great (and other times be fine but unexceptional). To be fair, haven't eaten at QOS in a very, very long time.

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Bati
747 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217

I don't know of any Cambodian places in NYC any more other than the Cambodian cuisine food truck (same owner as the place in FG, though I don't think the amok was very good there back in the day). I always hear of some possible Khmer eateries in the Bronx, so you might want to make it your spring project to wanter around there.

Othewise, a Thai haw mok is much the same, though I don't think it would necessarily be gingery (and different cooks emphasize different herbs in an amok/ haw mok). I saw some haw mok for takeaway about two weeks ago at the little Thai grocery store directly across the street from Sripraphai. I think, but am not sure, it might have been made by Ayada.

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SriPraPhai
64-13 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11377

Ayada
77-08 Woodside Ave, Queens, NY 11373

Ate there recently. I don't love the menu, but I do love the space and the warm owners. Had a very good lamb shank, couscous not as good as a few years back. Owner said the cook was Moroccan, but I'm surprised the menu is less Moroccan than it used to be.

First time truly disappointed with Sri meal on Saturday night. Early, not crowded yet. Panang w/ beef overly sweet by a mile, with no warmth, let alone heat (no, it's not a spicy curry, but should have some balance and chil depth). Pak bung an overcooked pile of stems, couldn't taste the garlic. Pla goong/shrimp salad refreshing, but missing the chili jam that I think gives this salad its depth. Have had all of these there many times before, and never been this let down.

Uninspiring meal and not great value. Sad.

I am distrustful of a recipe that suggests you warm up a lime juice/fish sauce dressing. The heat would, I think, change the flavor of the lime, and throw off the balance of your dish (for instance, in making tom yum soup, you put the lime in only after you take it off heat).

I would try it again without heating the dressing; and I'd taste before throwing out. Fish sauce smells far, far more pungent than it tastes. To my mind, the smell and taste almost having nothing to do with each other.

The owners are Jeff Mancini and Sam Martinez, Jr., according to their application for a liquor license. Perhaps you could check with the consumer affairs department of the Attorney General's office and ask how to get your money back?

http://www.trans.abc.state.ny.us/serv...