While I’m ranting (heh), their highly self-lauded fresh-baked bread is truly awful. I despise how they cut their bread, with that little V-shaped plug they carve out of the top (who the frak does that but Subway anyway?) and I have had sandwich fillings there that quite literally tasted as if they had gone through a deflavorizing machine. That said, it’s probably better for your kids than McWhatever’s, but for me it doesn’t register on the “tasty food” scale.

I loved Domilise’s for many years, but I’m sad to say that after my last visit I’ll never go back. Email me privately if you want to know why.

It’s too bad … I’ll miss their hot smoked sausage in chili gravy po-boy, which was always my favorite.

These days I’m a Parkway loyalist, and if I’m in the Quarter I love me some Johnny’s. Hot sausage from Gene’s on Elysian Fields and St. Claude.

Where else do y’all like to get po-boys?

Go ahead and bug Vincenzo — I’ll be curious to see how close I was, even though I was watching Roberto like a hawk when he made it.

Let me state for the record: I know and love real New Orleans Po-Boys. Roast beef at Parkway, the “Peace Maker” at Domilise’s, even a plain old ham & cheese from the late-lamented Carrollton Ave. Streetcar Sandwiches of my college days, I’ll take them all, any time, any day, and weep for the fact that I can’t get ‘em here in the Bay Area. Should they be “protected” in New Orleans? Sure, I’ll fight for that.

But back to my point. Clearly, you’re no fan of Subway. Fair enough. Personally I think Subway has its place and is even quite good in its own context (not to mention my kids love the place and I’d rather that than Smack-In-The-Box), but whatever: To set up Subway as the foil to the Real New Orleans Po-Boy is just silly, honestly. They are not the same thing and never will be — it’s like saying that Port of Call makes a better burger than Subway. Of course Leidenheimer’s bread is the best; if that product was readily available anywhere outside of New Orleans our nation would be a profoundly brighter place. Bread bakers, commercial and otherwise, *the world over* should be required to apprentice at Leidenheimer’s shop. And the Mona Lisa is a better work of art, by any objective or subjective measure, than a swap-meet Velvet Elvis (which, truth be told, also has its place). I mean, duh.

And BTW, you know as well as anybody that a “dressed” po-boy means it’s got mayo on it (in addition to whatever else). Slather some mayo on that “gravy-dressed” (whatever that means) po-boy Ms. Whann tested and run those numbers again, please.

Have I mentioned that Manhattans make me belligerent?

And welcome back!

Cheers,

Mike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjK6wNIWzts

Well, at least I got a little taste of the 24 bitters … a little bird sent me a tiny sample. I have no idea where he got it, and I didn’t ask.

Oh, and I’m intrigued by the homemade gentian wine … I’d love to hear more about that, Sylvan.

http://gentian.rutgers.edu/ethno_drink.htm

Of everything you brought back though, I think the Nikka and Rhubarb liqueur are the two most intriguing.

Glad you had a blast, look forward to the travel posts!

I know the guys at Varnish were using Cocchi Americano in white Negronis as well, but I think that they use it in place of the Lillet without the Suze. Hmmmm…I guess that doesn’t really help at all, does it?

Regular Plymouth would work well, but I’m not sure what I’d swap out for Suze, as it’s got a fairly unique flavor. If you’re still seized with the need, come on over and I’ll make you one. I still have a little left from my old bottle.

B) I’m suddenly seized by the need to have a White Negroni, but lacking all but the Lille Blanc. What would be a good sub for Suze? Just go back to Campari? Or will my lack of Navy Strength Plymouth be my undoing here?

And Shropshire is ‘real’ England, enjoy that. Not far from a cool little town called Clun…

I know you’ll have a blast in London and beyond… one of our favorite parts of the world.

Odd numbers are also used in florist works but more for the esthetics of it. I myself don´t care for odd or not odd numbers i use what i like.(i hope i`m not doomed now..)

So sorry i`m not able to make it to London but oh well..sometimes life is up and sometimes down, have fun guys!

T

Fascinating. It does make sense, given that Modern Spirits flavored vodkas are 50 proof and meant to be taken with food. I also know that vodka comes out of the column still at a very high proof and is actually diluted to bottle proof … but I’d never seen someone actually use the term “diluted” on the label as a marketing point! There’s an 80 proof Borski sold next to this stuff.

I’d be curious to know if the intent of the distillery was for this to be taken with food. My guess is that unless it’s a neighborhood with lots of Russians or Eastern Europeans, it’s not going to be sipped with meals.

$8 for a 1.75l plastic bottle, we’re still talkin’ sad.

New layout looks great. Look forward to seeing you and Wes in a few days.

And the odd numbers thing is also a Japanese thing- you can’t even buy packaged things in even numbers! cocktail picks, appetizer plates, even packaged miso soup all come in odd numbers!

http://looka.gumbopages.com/archive/

Speaking of Martini olives … make sure your olives are ALWAYS chilled before using them as a garnish! Plonking warm olives into a Martini will warm it up in seconds, and that’s just nasty.

That said, this was from a much older visit — these days I prefer just my pastrami on rye with mustard, as you said. So, is it legit now?

At least I know better than to order it on white bread. I heard Milton Berle quoted on NPR the other day as having said, “Anytime someone orders a pastrami sandwich on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies.”

I’ve heard that about Katz’s Deli, but honestly … what the frak do I need with six times more pastrami than this on a sandwich, unless I’m going to stuff it into a doggy bag and take it home and make six more pastrami sandwiches? This really was enough for me.

We did get a bunch of free pickles, but not enough to spell Dave’s name properly.

Glad to see I’m not the only person saying “have a drink or three.” Two is just a bad, improper number.

Also, you get about six times more pastrami at Katz’s Deli here in NYC. And the pickles are free (I like their half sours in particular, and when you ask they give you at least 5 or 6 spears.).

Have fun in Europe; looking forward to the forthcoming food porn.

We should have the newly-designed template up in a couple of weeks, and it’ll look a bit more like the good ol’ version.

I did learn a really good nice technique from Misty Kalkofen at Drink in Boston, though … she observed, quite correctly, that dashes shaken from a bottle are very inconsistent, depending on the size of the bottle, how much bitters is left in the bottle, the energy put behind the dash, what type of little plastic dasher bottle is on the top, and is it leaking, etc. She measures dashes from an eyedropper bottle, and learned to gauge by eye how much in the eyedropper equals one dash. That way her doses of bitters are perfectly consistent with every drink. Pretty cool.

It’s optimized for iPhones, iPod Touch and Android phones, but I have no idea how it looks on Blackberrys or Palm Pres and the like. Worth a shot, though!

I love chinato, though, and though I’ve never tried that I bet it’ll be fantastic. But if you start swapping out sweet vermouth for chinato and quinquina, I might argue that it’s no longer a true Manhattan, but one of the many wonderful Manhattan variations. You could name it after a neighborhood in New York (if there are any left that don’t have a drink named for them), or maybe your own.

Thanks for the suggestion — I shall try it soon. And I think I need to do a roundup post of all the Manhattan variations I’ve collected — there are a ton of ‘em.

A good Barolo Chinato trumps all for a Manhattan in my book. Although they cost more than twice as much as Carpano does. I’ll have to watch that video when I’m not here at work…