ccrotty

we don't have a reservation, so I hope that didn't confuse them OK, now we're 16 total, for whoever gets there first.

I think we're at 14 for today's lunch at 7 Stars Pepper (2pm) 1 Anita 2 Cameron 3 Lauren 4 Rocky 5 Leslie 6 Jan 7 Gary 8 Judy 9 Richard 10 Johan 11 Steve R 12 Eden 13 Bill 14 Margaret Seems like a good crew -- are we missing anyone?

LOL. She can add that to her list of titles. Years ago, she performed the Miracle at the Arboretum, making cheese, fruit, and a myriad of other delicious comestibles appear to feed a more-than-slightly-stoned gathering of the faithful. Since then, she has been known by many as Our Lady of Cheesy Goodness. c

Pour a Guinness, put it on this electrical gizmo, and instant bubbles. The video is really cool. Guinness Surger c

Go get 'em, dog. We'll be with you in spirit(s). c

Might want to look for one without needle marks. c

The lead of a story in the current Economist about a Russian ban of Georgian and Moldovan wines & spirits began with this description of a drink guaranteed to revive the dead or dispatch the living: "The recipe for a cocktail called “Dog's Giblets”, invented by a (dead) Russian novelist, Venedikt Yerofeev, includes shampoo, superglue, brake fluid and insecticide." What other unlikely drinks would make the menu at a bar where the well wasn't limited to the usual alcohols and mixers? Certainly Douglas Adams' Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (recipe courtesy of Wikipedia): 1. Take the

Sorry, can't provide any more specifics about Piperade, but Scorched has the overall vibe right. I wouldn't go back (or recommend a visit) unless there was a strong reason: personal connection w/staff, report of life-changing food experience, unavoidable social commitment, state visit, graduation dinner, bail fundraiser, royal audience, "sit-down" with the Don...the usual stuff. c

But that consensus about the 'correct' way to evaluate Italian food is only one of many. Those who like al dente pasta and lamb's tongues will prefer Babbo to Olive Garden. But the consensus among those who value the bland and the bountiful will be that OG is superior. I don't see how one can claim that "Babbo is a better restaurant than OG" means anything more than "Babbo is preferred by the sort of people who like restaurants like Babbo more than they like restaurants like OG". Yeah, but saying that Babbo makes better Italian cuisine than Olive Garden and saying that Babbo is a better rest

You haven't seen anyone smoking a cigar with funny metal claws that spring out from his knuckles hanging around, have you? Or maybe a bald guy in a wheelchair? Got any strange dogtags that you don't quite remember where they came from?

I've always thought the hideous loaner jacket/tie was a deliberate move on the restaurants part to stigmatize those foolish enough to disobey their dress code... I can vouch for that, having been stigmatized in my early days on a business trip to L.A.. I'll never forget the smirk on that m___________'s face when he told me that tweed and elbow patches were "very New England." I like getting dressed for dinner, although the whole jacket thing is kinda arbitrary. I'd rather have a manners code: if the next table over can understand you, you're talking too loud. c

Hard to believe he had the same soup we did. (But I must say the onion soup at Cafe de la Presse is seriously good.) Yeah, I read the review and wondered what restaurant he'd been to and when I could go. If I hadn't seen Pulp Fiction, I might have thought that Garcon meant "Expensive and indifferent." c

He's probably sitting next to Wylie Dufresne on the next flight to Guangzhou. Gesturing to his wall of chemicals in the kitchen at wd-50, eerily reminiscent of a high school chem. lab, Wylie explains the method to his madness. “Let’s say, for example, you want to make a cauliflower panna cotta, but instead of using cream you want to use fat free milk. How are you going to get it to stay together? You use hydrocolloids."

Fried. Hot dog. Pizza. That's terrifying, and I like hot dogs. What, did she get product placement $$$ from Oscar Meyer? Edited to add oblig. Giada content: all I can remember from the one time I saw her on TV is when she took her mother shopping for custom-made shoes. And I thought, "Are you going to eat that?" c

I haven't eaten at Bistro Jeanty yet, but I like Jeanty at Jack's. I'll have to try the original next time we're up that way.