Thanks all! I'll report next week.

Hi gang - if you have a two night, three day mini-break in Phillie, what are the best, fun, dining options?

thanks

Maria - from reading your steps, I see at least one thing I've done right and three things I've done wrong. I have had 1 tbsp of flour and butter for each cup of milk (right), but I've only cooked it for a minute or two (mistake one). I've then added three cups of milk all at once (mistake two) and the milk has been cold (mistake three). Finally, I've often just ended up dumping in all the cheese at once after I remove it from the heat - not thinking about the chemistry of it all, simply thinking that it needed to be melted (not bonded - which seems obvious the way you've described it)

Thanks - I feel that I should try this again tomorrow night!

please do - it is perhaps impatience that is ruining the stove top method!

thanks to all - I suspect that there are two problems - one is the switch to lower fat milk. The more important issue (having read the mac n cheese thread and these posts) is not cooking my butter/flour enough and perhaps not using enough flour. I may have eased up a bit on the flour to keep it smooth.

I'll give it a go next weekend!

I've used everything, from plain old grated kraft, to hand grated 5 year old cheddar or hand shredded mozza. I don't generally chunk it, but use it shredded. I've added the whole lot at once and put it in bit by bit, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I seem to be incapable these days of making a milk based cheese sauce, without the cheese separating as soon as I add to the thickened milk. I do the usual butter & flour cooked for a minute or two, then three cups of milk heated till just boiling and then thickened. The last three times I added the grated cheese (after I had taken the pot off the stove) it separated. I have good pots, so I don't get it. For the past year I have been using 1% organic milk - could that have anything to do with it (not that I could see how).

Please help!

Thanks!

Lived in Cabbagetown and Riverdale for a decade, so this was a fave. Went last night and the meal was a near disaster (saved only by the company). The new owner may have a rep for being light on his feet in the kitchen, but the 'management' of the place is terrible. They simply don't have enough stock, which leads me to believe they have over-extended themselves. No specials at all (?). Our first two wine choices - sold out/ third choice had only a single bottle available - the list is only 10 bottles long in the reds. They ran out of the beef tenderloin (a staple) - which ended up being ok, as they have fiddled with the classic and now it is devoid of the horseradish and mash of old and now sits, bare, atop a greasy stack of 'asiago' potatoes - which tasted not at all of cheese without a single veg in sight (which is nuts in March when asparagus is $2 a pound). Service was slow and indifferent (the wine fiasco was greeted with a shrug and a 'nothing I can do') - I understand the old owners have bought the Ben Wicks around the corner - next time I'm out in the hood, that is where I will try.