MitchW

That’s why I have one of these…Elite Gourmet EJO800 High Power Torque Automatic Battery Operated Electric Jar Opener, One-Touch Electric Operation, Easily Remove Most-Size Lids with Auto-Size Guides, Black/Gray https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C26M8Q44?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_ct_VESK2SZ1MBSXXC5VBM0J&language=en_US

If wingding is Meredith, Meredith moved up to Connecticut, and seems quite happy tending to a garden, amongst other things.

Cacik, a Turkish yogurt/cucumber soup, made very similarly to tzatziki. Often served in lieu of a salad, before the rest of the meal. Lots of fresh herbs; in this case dill, mint and parsley. I like to serve it pretty thick, but it can be thinned out with water, to give it more of a soup consistency. Pan fried chicken thigh, green beans (blanched and sautéed in chicken thigh drippings), and spud puppies.

Certainly, Batali was a douche. But you can’t deny that Lupa, Otto, and Babbo were sorta groundbreaking in the NYC restaurant scene, early in their day. nor can you deny the great, early FoH teams at Lupa and Otto.

I totally agree. And I'd venture a guess that it's a fairly new innovation, once bartenders became (or pretended to become) cooks.

I've had a "few" (okay, many) Negronis in Italy; nary a one was made with any sort of vinegar, be it balsamic, rice wine, or fig. But that's just me, of course. Yes - use what you have lying around, I guess.

Trust me, I am.

I prefer to think of it as enjoying the classics (as it relates to cocktails) as they're meant to be!

I had poached some shrimp, scallops and halibut... Insalata di Mare. Pasta "salad" and broccoli rabe, cooked to hell.

Don't black vinegar (which I think is mostly made from rice/wheat) and balsamic vinegar (which I think is mostly made from, well...grapes?) have totally different taste profiles? I mean, I get why they're doing it in Modena and Emilia, but why muck with that most perfect of drinks - a real Negroni?

He basically sold that Underground Garage concept single-handedly, all around the country.

I like Password!

Green salad, potato salad, chicken thigh.

What would you call it, as it's not a Last Word? Penultimate Word? Last Ward? 20 Variations on The Last Word

I think you should argue with Gio about that.

I'm just going to start this thread with this little ditty from one of the best pizza makers around, Gio - at Luigi's Pizza, in Park Slope. https://www.instagram.com/p/C8AuFBCyiNo/ That's a quick couple of slices I had a while ago. They know what they're doing... No smoke signals!

Oh, you got the old rabe chef!

I guess its moment has been going on for a while (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/kitchen-notes/tomato-tonnato-is-the-sauce-of-the-summer), since this piece is from 2022. But I know I saw it at least once in Montreal recently, and on the return trip it was ordered at Twelve, in Portland. With the asparagus. Did a simple asparagus vinaigrette last night: Served alongside: Roasted chicken thighs. Potato salad. Corn.

There is tonnato on so many menus right now. It's the something of 2024. Though it's still best with vitello.

While @Sneakeater likes the New Yorker cartoon about Hot Sauce, I think this week's cover is pretty good.

I often cook broccolini without cutting it up as I find it not anywhere near as fibrous as rabe can be.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen - even though it has taken a long time (about 25 years, actually). Once, one of our favorite restaurants, with fine service, cooking Roman/Italian food just about right, then falling out of favor for reasons maybe not totally related to food. So, before a show at The Bitter End (!!), we decided to pop in for a few bites, as it's just around the corner. The apps we started with were pretty good; baccala croquettes and marinated artichokes. No complaints there. I ordered a special pasta (linguini with Jonah Crab) and here's where things started to go awry: Now, I have no problem paying $38 for this pasta (I think they may feel a little guilty about charging so much, but then they've basically doubled the portion size), but enough with the bread crumbs! And so much Jonah crab - which was basically tasteless. Kind of a hot mess, as was Significant Eater's ricotta gnocchi, which lacked both sausage and fennel in the sauce, at least to our taste. We didn't order secondi, as how can one eat another full plate of food after so much pasta? So maybe the play here is to order apps and secondi? Oh, lest I forget - don't order the broccoli rabe...this is how it is served: And this is how it ended up: Impossible to eat, as it wasn't cut into any sort of pieces, which if you are going to not cook broccoli rabe as they do in Rome, is a necessity. I could not cut this broccoli rabe into pieces with the knife I had on the table. Oy. Note how I cook and serve it at home, if I want it to remain bright green: Either that, or cook the hell out of it!

Top 3? And probably didn’t do too many steroids.

Is that a “golden” car wash?

Wild gulf shrimp. Anson Mills grits.