We went to Woodland for the first time on Friday night.

Not impressed.

All we got were burgers. I ordered mine medium--it came out closer to well done. DGF order medium rare--it came out closer to raw. My burger seemed overworked... the texture was tough.

The product doesn't justify the prices, either. Draft beers were $7-9. The very mediocre burgers were $14, I think. It felt to me like the owner is simply trying to cash in on the proximity to the arena.

I doubt we'll be back.

Yeah, I think $25 pp rules out places like Stone Park and Blue Ribbon. Pork Slope is very tasty food, but it's a little "junky." Whenever I go there I usually feel like I've just eaten an entire pound of potato chips. Though I must admit, their Irish Nachos are a stroke of genius. Get the small, not the large. Seriously. I don't care how hungry you think you are.

People don't mention it very often, but AOC Bistro is pretty nice (it's on 5th ave and Garfield, 1 block north of 1st st). It's nothing super special, but at your price point it is certainly "pretty good." We usually go there and cobble together a meal from apps, oysters, mussels, or something like that. Their few pastas are also moderately priced. The place has a nice vibe. We usually sit at the bar.

http://www.aocbistro.com/

ETA - responding to jen kalb, not Bob Martinez.

I don't want to sound argumentative, but I really have to disagree with your assessment this neighborhood isn't good for cooking at home.

Let me start by saying I've only lived in park slope for about a year (right near 5th and 5th). I've lived in NYC for 13 years, and this is the best, most "cookable" hood I've lived in. (8 years in midtown east, 2 in Gram-Murray, 2 in Boerum Hill, now PS). The latin grocery on 5th between 7th and 8th is my staple. There's the C-Town if I need a larger, more well-stocked store, there's the Associated by Union, there's A&S if I want a butcher, and then there's Fleischer's if I want to go to an upscale butcher. True, there's no fish monger on 5th ave, but if I walk up to 7th ave, there are two practically side by side, as well as a wonderful cheese monger in between them.

No, there's no proper bakery. But in this day and age most groceries carry high quality fresh bread. And there is no shortage of places to get sweets, either for home or during a post-prandial stroll.

Jen, where do you live? If you find 5th Ave so bleak, I want to know where you are that you have better options. And I also want to know if there are any apartments for lease there. :-)

Sadly, I think it's so.

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/...

It's not as bad as some options, but distressing just the same.

And at the start of the bread-baking process, I get the water to 105-110 to mix in with the yeast.

I haven't been to Brucie in about a year, mostly because we moved to Park Slope. I *liked* it, but it was never true love for me. Their food always felt improvisational to me. Some dishes were very good, but there were more clunkers than winners. Again--haven't been there since early in 2012.

I've always been partial to Bar Tabac. I'd take Seersucker over Char No. 4, but they're comparable, and both are good.

How about Frankies 457, way down on Court? The OP doesn't specify what constitutes Outrageously Expensive. Maybe Prime Meats or Buttermilk Channel would work?

Thanks guys.

Antilope - I used diamond crystals, so it wasn't that it was over-salted. I will confess that I measured one T of yeast, and then it looked "about like a half T" for the rest. My eye is pretty good, but I can't swear to that quantity. Nice tip on the freezer though. I'll store yeast in the freezer in the future.

maria - It tasted fine, but if that's a trade-off, I'll ditch the semolina next time. I'm waiting until the remainder of the dough ferments a bit to see if it makes any appreciable difference. I made the dough Saturday morning and baked a small loaf from it on Sunday.

Thanks again! I really appreciate there being one thread I can throw out random bread questions with the hope that someone will share insight and experience.

Hi All --

It's me again. I have another question. I made a batch of the following over the weekend:

http://jezebel.com/no_knead-refrigera...

I read somewhere (I thought here, but I guess not...) someone suggested "up to a third" of the flour could be substituted with semolina, and it would magically transform the flavor. For some strange reason, I happened to have semolina flour, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The trouble I had was that the dough didn't really rise as much as I'd thought it would. It never quite doubled. I let it rise for well over two hours. It got close, but eventually after 90 minutes it simply stopped moving. The resulting product was somewhat dense; not quite like a bagel, but not nearly as light as I'd have liked. It's not a total loss, just a little bit disappointing.

My question: was this due to the semolina? Or is it more likely some of my yeast had given up the ghost? I had several partial packets of yeast and one fresh one in my fridge. Some of them may have been rather old (6-12 months old).

Insight? Thank you!

I don't mean to hijack this thread but....

I've had both delivery and takeout from Cotta Bene, and both times the only way to describe it is disgusting. The crust was almost gummy, and the cheese has a "funk" that didn't seem like something anyone had intended.

I guess I just don't like their pizza. Oh, I like delivery from Pepperoncino, though I haven't ordered delivery in probably two years.

NO! That's just a bowl of leaves!!

I kid.

I'm pretty new to baking bread at home.

What kind of thermometers do home bread bakers use to test the dough temperature in the kneading stages, as well as to test when it's done (aside from the Drum test).

Also, some recipes I've read recommend misting the loaves with water a couple of times in the first 5-6 minutes, in addition to placing a CI pan with water in the bottom of the oven.

It seems that opening the oven to mist is counterproductive. Any thoughts on that?

I guess I've been doing something non-traditional for many years. I don't use any fruit in my bulgogi marinade. Though I read somewhere that soy sauce has a similar enzyme and will tenderize the meat at a somewhat slower pace.

I usually use 1T of sugar per every 1.5 lbs of meat. And I sprinkle it on the meat before I do anything else. I suppose this would be called a "sugar cure," but it only goes for maybe 20-30 minutes. The sugar definitely reacts with the meat in a way I don't entirely understand. After about 20-30 minutes, the sugar will have entirely melted into/onto the meat.

After that I use about 1/4 cup soy, 3-4 thinly sliced scallions, 5-6 cloves of minced garlic, ~1T sesame oil. Optional ingredients, depending on what I have at hand: minced ginger, a bunch of freshly ground black pepper, korean red pepper flakes, sesame seeds.

Marinate 2-24 hours. Without the fruit, the meat doesn't over-tenderize.

I've never seen gochujang in bulgogi either.

Disclaimers:

1 - I'm not korean, and the sugar cure was an accidental discovery.
2 - I usually use whole flank steak marinate as above, grill it to R/MR, then slice thinly, and serve with rice, doenjang, lettuce and banchan (kimchi at least).

You may want to try the butcher shop on 5th ave between 2nd and 3rd street,west side.

I can't remember the actual name,but the big sign over the door says Prime Meats. They may be willing to order it for you if they don't have it in stock. They don't necessarily have organic, grass-fed, bedtime-story-read-to products, but their prices are reasonable.

Oh, another place I very deliberately use scallions instead of regular onions... Guacamole!

It started several years ago when I had scallions and no onions. A friend of mine wanted to watch/write down my guacamole recipe. I used four full scallions with three avocados, along with other traditional guac fixins.

She went on to custom print a "cookbook" for me and our friends (egit's eats?). Once it was set down in black and white, it's just what I do now. Scallions are part of my recipe, not onions. And I'll specifically buy scallions for guac even if I have onions.

I don't know about your area, but I'd have to think that just about any full service butcher would grind the lamb for you, to order.

Isn't that why they exist?

I've used this sauce as an accompaniment with seared scallops too. To "fancify" it a little bit, I add a little extra oil and even a bit of water, then I really buzz the crap out of it with an immersion blender.

Then push it through a fine mesh strainer. It is BRIGHT green and beautiful. And tasty.

Before you go crazy adding all sorts of extra things, you may want to try just adding a little salt. And maybe some olive oil. Also, I'm a bigger fan of lemon zest than lemon juice in this sort of thing.

http://www.tastespotting.com/features...

I usually do this with an immersion blender. It's so simple, yet so good.

This recipe doesn't include the noodles, but I'm confident you all can figure that out.

One thing to be very careful of... check and see if there are any events at the Barclay's Center that night, and at what time. If you think there may be a dinner-time conflict, you should probably avoid anything that's along the Flatbush/Fifth/Sixth ave corridor (Kaz an Nou, Kalashkat, Va Beh, Woodlands, etc). It can get very crowded over there.

It's great for the resto/bar owners, but not so much for ppl trying to make curtain. Fort Greene is a little bit further away from the BC, and there may not be so much of a pre-game or concert crowd.

I've never been to Woodlands (it's fairly new) nor Kaz-An-Nou. But one nice option might be Stonehome Wine Bar, right up the street on Lafayette.

Berlyn is literally right across the street. I went there once for pre-theater drinks. Seemed nice enough, but I've never eaten there.

I will confess I've never been to Henry's End. This is mostly due to the fact that I only seem to get to Brooklyn Heights on weekends, and it's always been too crowded.

However, I'm partial to Jack the Horse, right around the corner. Further down, on Atlantic avenue is Colonie, which is excellent. There's a newish place, also on Atlantic called Red Gravy. I guess it's gotten some mixed reviews--mostly due to price/portion, I think. I've yet to try it, but it's not terribly far from your hotel.

If you're willing to walk 15-20 minutes, there really are a ton of good places.

I went there about two years ago, when it was BYO and $165. I raved about it at the time, and I still rave about how good it was. But at this point I simply can't afford it.

I spoke to Chef Ramirez after dinner and he was saying that at that time they were just breaking even. They weren't making any money without a license to sell wine.

Sounds like they're making up for lost time, unfortunately.

Wow, thank you so much for posting this. I've booked Monday With Jesse for March, 2013. REALLY looking forward to it.

I hope to have the energy to post a full report afterwards.

I haven't been there myself, but I've read good things about Maimonide of Brooklyn. It's vegan, if that matters to you.

http://www.mob-usa.com/

It's a little bit of a walk from the hotel, but if you're feeling spry it should take you about 15 minutes.

I haven't been to RG yet, so I'm in neither camp as yet. However, I wonder if the idea is to treat their pastas as a sort of "mid course" to be shared rather than as your main dish. If so, they should state that.

You'll read about similar gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes over the prices at Scarpetta. I've also done the same at Peasant, where a dinner for two may consist of 1-2 apps, 1 pasta and 1-2 entrees. Sure, it gets expensive, but those two places aren't necessarily trying to fit into the Big Bowl o'Pasta genre.

If you look at his other two places, Saul and Vanderbilt, they're more geared for the small/shared dishes.

Yeah, 12th street tends to fly under a lot of peoples' radar. It's an interesting scenario there. They have a more formal restaurant right on the corner. But if you go into the bar part right up 12th street about 30 yards, it's really just a Bar. The upside is you get access to the full menu from the restaurant. The downside is I think the prices for "bar food" are actually at restaurant levels.

Despite the fact that I like it there, I only remember it exists about once every 6 months.

It's in the OED.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definit...

In fact, it's probably in every dictionary.

Sometimes we don't get to make the rules.

Since Dad just threatened to "Stop This Car," I'll say only this to the OP. As you obviously know, PM and Frankies is the same owner. So it's not a matter of Baby Hostility; at least not on the part of the owners. I actually see "no strollers" signs pretty frequently in places that clearly allow children. Maybe they don't have enough space. Maybe it's a matter of staff safety. Maybe strollers are sometimes stolen or "exchanged" for a better model. Maybe "neatly folded" strollers have a way of being knocked over when they're leaned up against a wall. I really have no idea.

It sounds like they totally bungled their half-hearted attempt to accommodate you, and actually offended you more than if they had simply said "Absolutely No Strollers No Way No How" from the very start. I'm sure The Franks didn't set out to offend you or any other diner with children. They're smart businessmen and have been running decent places for many years.

As far as Buttermilk Channel is concerned, since they were full of diners with children, did you notice what they did with the strollers there? And for that matter, what do they do at F's Spuntino?

As someone else up-thread suggested, you may want to find a parent's forum for the neighborhood. I'm sure there are lots of other people who've encountered this at PM and other places, and maybe even have spoken to restaurant owners about the whys and wherefores of their various policies. Your observations about Buttermilk Channel vs Prime Meats bears this out. Word has gotten around, and parents clearly know who accommodates them better than others.

I just asked google, and I was told my altitude is roughly 49 feet above sea level. So that's not it.

I'm going to go with the acid in the tomatoes. It's not that the skins were tough. The beans simply weren't entirely cooked through. "Toothsome" is one thing. These were Rare to Medium Rare.

Next time: cook them first, separately. And maybe as sunshine642 suggests, they simply weren't cooked, as per standard cooking times.

Wow, you guys are amazing.

The market where I got the beans has a fairly large Latino clientele. I obviously don't have any idea how long the beans were on the shelf, but I would think not "years." I'm guessing that kind of thing turns over fairly frequently.

C.Ham, I never gave much credence to the salt thing. Or I'm not such a connoisseur of beans that toughness would even be noticed, let alone keep me from enjoying it.

The tomatoes, however... that's probably it. This isn't the first time it's happened to me that a chili won't "finish." I probably use canned vs dried about 75:25, in general. And I feel like I'm more apt to use dried if I'm making a soup or something to feature the beans, rather than a "junky" improv chili recipe.

I just hope I remember this in the future. As I just implied, when I make chili it's usually just a matter of throwing in whatever is at hand (that fits in chili).