I have not been but heard similar complaints. A friend of mine who loves Zarate's cooking said that everything was very good but the portion sizes were smaller than Picca which he already considered small. He said it's the type of place where you can easily spend $100 per person and still leave hungry.

I remember that there were a lot of complaints about portion size at the downtown Mo Chica when they first opened and I think they increased them a little in response. Maybe the same will happen here.

I don't know La Botte but Providence, Melisse and The Bazaar are much more expensive than your suggested price range.

I'd recommend Eva -- good food, good atmosphere, nice people, intimate space, not too loud and $150 sounds easily doable.

It's worth $37 for sure. I just wasn't willing to commit to staying in town that weekend two months out.

Lucques' cassoulet night is the same day again this year. I'm going to that instead. I was bummed to have to miss out on that last year.

Unfortunately, I'm not going this year. I sat on the fence too long on the early bird tickets and they sold out before I was ready to commit. I kept expecting them to add a lot of restaurants and they really didn't add that many. The list doesn't look nearly as good as past years and I'm just not interested at full price. I'm curious to hear about what some of the new places -- Allumette, Littlefork and Bizarra Capital -- bring though.

The Gramercy Tavern which I'm sure will be good but I don't really covet and El Cellar de Can Roca which looks interesting but I don't know much about. I would be very interested in a cookbook by Alain Passard but much less so in a graphic novel about his kitchen. Not much interest in Ottolenghi or J. Chang.

I should be tired of these chef/restaurant cookbooks as I think it's not an accident that I haven't cooked from so many of the ones that I bought last year. One only has so much time to cook elaborate meals and it can be hard to track down all the ingredients. Yet, they are always the ones that grab my attention.

And our lists would have more overlap if I hadn't stopped myself at 12.

I was really embarrassed and disappointed in myself when I counted up all the cookbooks that I bought last year that I still haven't cooked from.

I've run out of room on my shelves and vowed to cut way back on my purchases this year. So far, so good. I haven't bought a single cookbook through the first two months of the year.

But today, I saw this:

http://eater.com/archives/2013/02/26/...

It's going to be hard to maintain my restraint. So many ones I'm intrigued by here like

Family Table
Daniel: My French Cuisine
The Scarpetta Cookbook
The A.O.C. Cookbook
Spaghetti Junction
In the Charcutterie
Manresa
COI: Stories and Recipes
Pok Pok
Cooking from the Heart
Untitled Chris Bianco Cookbook
Alex Atala

Decisions, decisions...

I agree. I'm just not in the habit of buying such expensive beers in case quantities.

Thanks.

Interesting. I'd have to imagine that the Supplication and Consecration are about $250 for a case. I wonder how many people would really want to buy those in that quantity, even if it is their only way to buy it. I don't think I would and Consecration is probably my favorite beer.

I was only speaking about Pliny and Blind Pig, which is what the OP was asking about. Those beers simply aren't available by the case anywhere. They are sold on tap or in 500 ml bottles, sold by the bottle.

Russian River is a small production brewery. 50% of their sales come occur directly at the Santa Rosa brewery. They recently pulled out of Washington state because they felt they didn't have enough beer to meet their local California demand so I'd be surprised if they sent PA a lot of beer to sell by the case.

If you're seeing any Russian River beer sold to customers by the case in PA, I'd be curious what it is.

You won't find it anywhere by the case. Most retailers I know that carry it have policies of limiting customers to 3 bottles. Even with those policies meant to stretch out supplies, it sells out fast.

I live in CA and only see Blind Pig a couple of times a year in the bottle. Pliny is a bit easier to find but it's out of stock much more than it's in stock at my stores.

The RR web site lists the stores that carry it. You just have to keep trying if you really want it.

The list isn't that impressive yet although I'd say that only Fred62 strikes me as a really questionable pick. I think they are targeting having 40 restaurants so I assume that it will get much better.

Early bird GA tickets are available at half price ($37) through Voice Deals right now. I'm leaning toward picking one up through that and assuming it will in the end be well worth that amount at least.

In a somewhat related matter, someone asked Jonathan Gold today in his Wednesday chat whether he was planning to hold another Gold Standard event. It sounds like he won't be doing that but that they may hold a separate but related event that he'll curate around the time of the LA Times Taste event.

I had it last year at a beer festival. To be honest, I wouldn't have known it wasn't the Elder if I hadn't been told so and there weren't a long line of people geeking out over it. I'm sure that there are subtle differences but I couldn't tell you what they are without being able to do a side by side taste comparison.

ABC Rhubarb Farms is a herb vendor who I think would be most likely to have them. I know I've seen Dandelion Greens there but I'm not sure about the Roots.

Their facebook page lists all the farmers markets that they attend on their "about us" page.

https://www.facebook.com/AbcRhubarbFarm

They also list this email address for contact information:

Lccooper1010@yahoo.com

so maybe email them first and ask if they will have them or if they know a vendor who might be likely to.

Wow, that does sound like a completely different type of class. I was assuming that the OP had read a badly worded and misleading review. But that review is pretty detailed and clearly describes a different type of class.

I probably still would have asked more questions before committing to spend $1000 but I can understand better how the OP had different expectations. Mozza didn't create those expectations but if they changed the format of the class in the last year or so, you would think that they would be more prepared for people coming with different expectations and either try to make sure that people knew the format going in or be more accomodating/understanding when someone had complaints.

I have mixed feelings here. I feel bad for you that it wasn't the experience you were expecting, they absolutely should reply to your email, and like perk my gut reaction has always been that it was terribly overpriced. That said, I'm not sure what they could do after the fact to make things right. You got the impression that the class was "hands on" from a third party reviewer, not from anyone at Mozza. Just because you were disappointed doesn't give you the right to any refund or discount.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I think I'll pass on the foraging though.

Sorry about that. I meant to say tomatillo and chicken soup.

Anyone have any ideas? I've tried Whole Foods, Gelsons, Surfas, Spice Station, Monsieur Marcel, and a handful of other places but keep striking out. I'd prefer to buy from a local store but would consider online sources too if I could buy a non-bulk quantity.

I forget the exact name of it but the tomato and chicken soup recipe is my most favorite soup.

+2 on Boo's

Last couple of times I looked for Gary at the farmer's market, he was a no show. I talked to someone at information desk and they said that he had been pretty inconsistent about coming lately. I would call or email and confirm that he's going to be there before lugging your knives to the farmer's market.

K&L Wine carries the Elmer T. Lee:

http://www.klwines.com/content.asp?&a...

Their local store is in Hollywood on the corner of Vine and DeLongpre, a few blocks south of Sunset. You might also talk to David Othenin-Girard, the spirits buyer at K&L. He'd probably have other suggestions. Maybe they could even special order Old Charter for you. Probably not but there's no harm in asking.

Beef Hearts marinated in an aji pepper sauce and grilled are a very popular dish called Anticuchos in Peru. I would assume that you could make the same dish substituting Lamb Hearts for Beef Hearts. I've never made them but I've eated them in restaurants a lot.

I don't know about the gravy, ham and cheerios but cow milk isn't good for cats. They have a hard time digesting it. I keep goat's milk around as a treat for my cat though. She loves it and it's much easier for her to digest according to my vet. I always err on the side of not giving if I don't know whether it is ok for them but I assume that most meats and fish are fine.

Went yesterday again for the sandwich. They were sitting there pre-made but I didn't notice any difference in quality. Mainly came to say that I tried some of the peppers stuffed with proscuitto and parmesan from his deli case and that they were outstanding. I don't think that I'd mentioned either that I've tried the stuffed shells and they are delicious. His ricotta cheese is super creamy. The meatballs are pretty good too but I don't think I'd necessarily buy those again as it's pretty easy to make those cheaply. I did buy one of the important frozen pizzas with truffles. I'll report back when I have a chance to try it.

It's not a dish that I've had a lot in LA. I like Big Mista's and Mess Hall does a pretty good one too.

I've probably made the mushroom and sausage rissotto from Rao's cookbook more than any other dish I've ever cooked. Love it. Never been to either restaurant though.

Reverie is a gem. They make good wines at a reasonable price point and have an interesting mix of varietals including non-traditional ones for Napa such as Tempranillo, a 100% Petit Verdot, a Barbera, a Malbec and a Roussane. The tour and tasting is free with an appointment. The people are great and the setting was nice. It was one of my favorite stops on my last trip there. Wish I had known ahead of time about Von Strasser as I have heard good things about them too but didn't schedule the timing in a way that I could visit both.

He's moving to CNN where he'll be doing a new show similar to No Reservations.