riteus's Profile
How do you organize your spice rack/cupboard?
I organize mine by "category" as it makes sense in my head. Each category gets a section in my pantry.
Savory Dried herbs and spices (caraway, fennel, cumin, coriander, sumac, etc.)
Sweet Dried spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla bean)
East Asian (soy sauces, vinegars, chili sauces, oils, five spice, star anise, sichuan pepper, white pepper, dashi, etc.)
Sub-continental Asian (mustard seed, ginger, cardamom, turmeric, tamarind, galanga, lemongrass, kaffir, fish sauce, garam masala, rose water, coconut milk, etc.)
Latin (dried chilies, Mexican oregano, epazote, achiote, etc.)
My fridge has sections of sauces, including Japanese misos, wasabi, kewpie, Korean bean pastes, more chili sauces, and usuals ketchup, mustards, pickles, horseradish, etc.
I have sections of oils, rice, pasta/noodles and a dedicated section just for my giant storage of tomato paste.
I don't have many "useless" spices since I go out of my way to use them up. My cooking is inspired by which spices/ingredients I have left and have targeted to use up.
Greatest Cuisines? French and...
Luckyfatima,
Indian is also one of my favorite cuisines as well. In fact, I go way out of my way to eat Indian all the time to Jackson Heights, East Village, and Astoria. One of my personal dreams is to go and travel all of India specifically to taste these cuisine variants. But to call it a multifacted/"great"cuisine is hard for me to do simply because of the judgment criteria I had established in my earlier post.
One of the premises I established was that cuisine needs to be continually nurtured and refined in order to cultivate. In order to continually nurture and cultivate, you need an abundance of resources, time, and money. India has been plagued by great periods of poverty in our modern history (1800s-2000s, slave/colonial state, civil war and independence, relgious partition and violence) which has really hindered its culinary progress. With the recent economic development spurred by investments in emerging markets, India's cuisine has been on the rise, but it's still relatively short-lived compared to others.
I hope to discover more about Indian cuisine and have sampled a great many ethnic versions. But to compare it to the cuisines that I have tried to objectively classify as "great" is still premature. Perhaps it will get there, but I just don't think it's there yet.
Of course, you can completely disagree with me, and you are more than entitled to your own opinion.
Salle A Mange Review - Mont Royal
My wife and I went to Salle A Mange tonight on Mont Royal at 7:00PM.
The ambiance was quite nice as was the dining room design. I love how they display their meat refrigerator with windows so you can see the quality of their ingredients. Ambiance Grade: A.
The service was fine, nothing great but it was serviceable. One problem was that I was not quite clear who my waiter/waitress was. One person took our order, then she never came back to our table. Another brought us our dishes. There were times when our glasses and the water bottle for the table were empty, but no one seemed notice. In the end, the waitress who brought us our check was the original waitress who took our order. We only saw her at the very beginning and the very end. Nobody was friendly and everyone seemed to go through the motions without seemingly any enjoyment. Service Grade: C+.
The food was tasty but way too heavy on the fat. We ordered three appetizers and one main dish. Of the appetizers, we ordered tempura zucchini blossoms, seared foie gras, and seared sweetbreads. Flat out, the tempura zucchini blossoms were very bad. The batter was rubbery and quite starchy without having any light or fluffy crisp texture. It really felt like oily globs of starch. The blossoms weren't stuffed with anything but were drowned in a bed of flavored mayo. So in essence, it was like eating oily, chewy, globs of nothing covered in mayo. The seared foie gras was good, not great. Knowing that foie gras is greasy, they didn't do anything to clean up the plate to reduce the greasiness. The toast underneath the foie was drenched in duck grease, and there was so much extra grease remaining that it formed a thick layer on the plate. The sauteed mushrooms and corn soaked up the grease and acted as vessels for the fat. The salad was a welcome relief to break up the fat flavor. Overall, this dish accomplished in delivering the foie gras taste but should have done a better job balancing the overall fat-acid ratio. In the end, it was just really fatty. The seared sweetbreads were a tad overcooked, but still pretty good. The sauce it came in was a concentrated bacon cream served with braised escarole in the cream sauce. Although I like the idea of the bacon cream, it was simply too much. It felt like I was eating melted cream cheese mixed with bacon. Again, it should have been a lighter sauce or had more acid on the plate to balance the taste.
The main was the duck lasagna topped with a shaved carrot and sea bream salad. The duck ragout itself was a tasty marsala wine base. It had lots of different mushrooms and had fresh, razor thing lasagna pasta. However, after just one bite, you could tell that it was finished with overly generous amounts of butter. I was stuffed after taking just three bites. By time I was half way through it, I was basically fighting my wife for the fresh salad on top. The ragout was simply way too rich. I struggled to finish the dish, but I did nonetheless. When the lasagna was done, another waitress, one who I didn't recognize, brought the dessert menu. We were both gasping for air when we said we were not going to have dessert and just wanted the check. Food Grade: B-.
The final tally was $90, or $105 including tip. We had water, 3 starters, and 1 entree. In summary, it tasted good but was way WAY too rich. Being a connoisseur of gourmet and ethnic food, I was really looking forward to this meal, but was sorely disappointed. Although the chef was talented, it was clear that he had taken the shortcut of overloading his food with fat and oil to make it tastier. None of the food was balanced and it was just swimming in grease. If you love extremely fatty, creamy food (which I know a lot of people do), this might be worth trying out. But if you're a fan of balanced (or wholesome, or not clog-your-artery-from-one-bite) food, you might want to skip this place. My wife and I will personally never be coming back anytime soon.
Overall Grade: B-
Greatest Cuisines? French and...
Your observation is interesting although, I think, not founded. Your opinioin is based on your cultural upbringing.
For example, wine is distilled grape, in all variants and shades.
The Japanese have sake, which is distilled rice. It is supremely refined and comes in unlimited varieties and quality no less decadent than wine.
The Chinese have rice liquor (different and stronger than sake), oat liquor, bran liquor, and rice wine (similar to sake). All of these have various levels of quality and refinement no less worthy than wine.
It is because we have only exposure to wine in the west that we are naive enough to think that it is any better. Conventional and pro-west perspective coupled with French branding power and haute snobbery have led us to conclude that wine is the best.
And by the way, all beers originate from the original Viking/Scandanavian/German traditions. Beers are no less sophisticated than wine especially given the uprise in artisnal and craft beers these days.
Greatest Cuisines? French and...
The study of food is the study of human survival throughout time. Two ingredients are essential to classify "great" food, and in this case, cuisine: 1) time and 2) resources. So to talk about great cuisine, it's important that the culture be around for hundreds if not thousands of years AND it must have had enough empire to accumulate the resources -- ingredients, equipment, wealth, spices, luxuries -- it needs to prepare, shape, and educate its consumers. And without continued wealth, it's hard to sustain the education and technique, which leads to lost recipes and cooking skill.
Of all the cuisines on this globe, only a few of them have been fortunate enough to have had all of these factors. The ones that come to mind are obvious:
1. French - the greatest cultural empire of modern Europe with a decadent high court and tons of wealth to create elaborate banquet. Because the empire is relatively modern, most of its influences have lasted and impact our very own lives.
2. Italian - Rome's empire and Renaissance decadence incorporated ingredients from all over the world, but was long ago enough that exotic elements have been lost given its more recent history of "second fiddle European power" status and poverty in the 1900s. That being said, it combined and refined tastes and techniques so perfectly that it is still the foundation of many western kitchens today.
3. Chinese - one of the longest span of uninterrupted empire throughout human history covering a massive land mass with many tribes of people, trade, and riches, Chinese placed particular emphasis on academic knowledge and technical skill. Lots of cuisine has been lost and displaced due to its recent and violent history of Communism, isolationism, and poverty, but it is now on the rise once more with great economic growth.
If you fully understand and have fully appreciated the many aspects of these three cuisines, you will notice that their dishes have infinite combinations, preparation techniques, and almost limitless ingredient base. Of these three, perhaps Chinese is the only one where one cook cannot master most of these techniques within a life time due to sheer ethnic/tribal diversity and the quantity of available ingredients.
The "second tier" of great cuisines embodies cultures that have had either time or resources sporadically throughout its history. This list of "honorable mentions" include:
Greek - lots of time and riches a long long time ago but was unable to sustain and continue development of its cuisine within modern history
Spanish - recent empire and relative wealth but not enough time to refine or perfect a limited ingredients base
Japanese - long-lasting, moderate empire throughout history but with limited resources and ingredients
Indian - very long empire with lots of ingredients and spices in particular but plagued by extreme poverty throughout many periods of its history, making it hard to ever focus on cuisine development and cultural refinement
Of course, at the end of the day, it's all your own opinion. But if you were to have some basis for judgment, this is a good one to start with...
Restaurants with best views?
Wow. Haha. I can't believe it. In that case, please disregard.
Shiner Bock
I'm a Texan and I love my Texan brew.
I also know that Shiner doesn't distribute north of Virginia. But I'm always secretly hoping that some place will carry it.
Does anybody know of a place that has Shiner Bock? I crave the best beer in the USA.
live crawfish in NYC?
Good call on Mara's. I've often walked by there and have looked in many a times. They claim to have crawfish boils and I'm interested in checking it out at some point.
Baked Empanadas
Ruben's Empanadas are award winning. I haven't had them myself, so can't verify. It's downtown Manhattan, close to Broom St on the west side, don't remember exact address. I'd start there.
HELP! NYC
For cookies, try Amy's Bread, Billy's Bakery, or Balthazar. All three are gourmet, non-Italian, and are really good.
REAL thai food
They say Sripraphai is supposed to be "the best." And most will recommend it because it's the highest Zagat rated among Thais. But if you want to stay in Manhattan, I highly recommend Pam Real Thai. It is very authentic and very flavorful, not too sweet, and has plenty of spice and sourness. It's also cheap.
Biscuits and Gravy
Whatever you do, don't go to Pink Teacup. Yuck.
I asked for biscuits and gravy. They refused to serve it to me as a dish. They only had biscuits with butter and insisted that they could only give me gravy on the side. So I said, "Fine, I'll take it on the side and then pour it on." I ended up ordering 2 side orders of biscuits, 1 side of sausage, and 1 side of gravy and an empty plate. It was brown gravy = fail. It wasn't enough gravy for even 1 biscuit. And it wasn't good. I'm not sure why the call themselves a southern restaurant. Don't they even know that southern gravy is white?
RICE BALLS
Zaiya. Hands down. It's cheap and really good.
There's also one in Midtown east, but I forgot the name. It's around 50s and 2nd Ave. They're pricey but have a lot of variety.
Chicken Fried Steak.
I'm from TX too. CFS in NYC isn't very good, you're looking at a 6/10 at best. I heard Duke's was ok, which means it's probably very mediocre at best. Chili's is Chili's. I wouldn't trust Brother Jimmy's (their regular food is barely passable) and Cowgirl's is very so-so as well. Acme tends to be bland and a little bit tough but is an ok alternative, gravy is very heavy and lacks proper seasoning.
Never tried Bubby's or Cracker Barrels. My friend once told me Micky Mantle's had CFS and got me excited, but he's not a foodie, so I probably wouldn't trust him.
Good luck, it's tough to find. If all else fails, Acme might be your best bet, but don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.
Where are the best croissants outside of France
I hate trendy places, but I have to admit that Balthazar has a damn good croissants. Best croissant I've personally had was in Quebec City, and I consider myself a pretty good judge of taste.
Bagel Survey
Best bagels in my opinion:
1. Barney Greengrass (dont' know if they make their own or if not, who their supplier is)
2. H&H
3. Murray's
4. Bob's
real bubble tea
Ten Ren is good but they do use either evaporated milk out of a can or sometimes powder. But their teas are very good. Ask for a little less sugar and either the jasmine or red tea and you won't be disappointed. For variety, I like the taro and almond flavor teas as well.
ribs in nyc??
I'm from Texas, I know my BBQ.
The place you probably went to a while ago might have been Brother's BBQ, in The Village, near Blue Note Jazz. It's now gone.
BBQ in NYC is very mediocre from my point of view.
Serviceable options include Daisy May's (never tried), Blue Smoke (huge pork ribs, no smoky flavor, thick sauce), Bone Lick Park (good smoky flavor, so-so sauce, mediocre sides), or Dinosaur BBQ (never tried but have heard good things).
Virgil's and RUB are a class below Blue Smoke and Bone Lick.
In general, I have to admit that BBQ in NYC is a 7/10 at best.
Fresh Direct -- How's the Fruit?
Quality is so-so at Fresh Direct. It's very inconsistent at best. If you want, just go to Flushing and get Driscoll strawberries. They're not organic, but at least you can look, touch, and smell them before buying.
wrapped lotus leaves
Sticky rice is usually stuffed in banana leaves, a southern Chinese street food called "Zhong Zi." Lotus leaves are used with more delicate versions of the dish, usually served at a nicer Cantonese restaurant. You can usually find lotus leaves version of these dishes at dim sum (try Palace 88, Golden Unicorn, Ping's) or for dinner at Oriental Garden, arguably the best food out of all of the choices.
Restaurants with best views?
Easy. Nirvana on Central Park West. It overlooks the park and the inside decor is amazing, dark red tents, very romantic. Food is good, not spectacular but solid. It's located high up and overlooks the park, gorgeous at night. A bit on the pricey side.
Italian Recommendation on the UWS
The guy who typed in all caps and can't spell is dead on. Gennaro's is one of the best in NYC, nevermind the price. Tops in pasta, grilled meats, and osso bucco. Great and refreshing salads. Tiramisu is among the best along with their chocolate desserts. Price is less than $50 a person including wine. A true gem and it can compare to the likes of the super-trendy heavyweights, such as Il Mulino, Babbo, etc.
I'm a gourmet, chef, and resident NYCer for 15 years. If you're looking for UWS Italian, to not hit Gennaro is a mistake.
Manhattan weekend visit food itinerary
Jeez, man, you're gonna be really uhh....FULL....hehe.
Balthazar is ok, trendy and overpriced but decent food.
NY Noodletown is good, try Big Wong's as an alternative.
Nix Ciao Bella (mediocre gelato) and try Cones (really good artisanal ice cream) on Bleeker between 6th and 7th Ave.
For yakitori, try Kenka or Yokkocho (upstairs), both are on/near St. Mark's/Astor.
Angelshare is adjoined by Yokkocho, it's the same place.
53rd and 6th foodcart is the jam! Good choice!
Never heard of Chinese Mirch. If you want great Indian, try Banjara in East Village.
Katz's Deli is tasty, but overpriced and heavy.
I've been to several Cubans, but none of them stand out too much, so your guess is as good as mine.
Don't know anything about Les Halles, but Bourdain is just doing TV now, I believe.
No Serendipity. Try Chikalicious (yes, very girly) or go to Veniero's or Billy's Bakery instead.
If you follow some of my suggestions, you won't regret it.
