Ian Greenwood

Catbird. Is that really food for humans.... soylent green perhaps..

Sorry...I’m with mudgirl on this one ...remembering my 16 year old daughter oooh ,tantamount to child abuse , probably closely followed by parent abuse for an extended period of time .

Having had many restaurants in Florida and shepherding them through more hurricanes than l care to remember it’s all about the insulation ,domestic and commercial..similar problems but somewhat different solutions . Most intelligent commercial refrigeration systems , you enter the walk in cooler and at the rear for obvious reasons is the door to the freezer. When you bag and stack the ice behind your freezer door and seal it ...it’s probably good for almost a week . Most domestic refrigerators have little insulation in the freezer..so if you have meat , shrimp etc .that you would like to save use a couple of small beer type coolers with an ice pack or two in there ..put them in the freezer with a bag of commercial ice and you will probably get a few extra days of life ...just don’t keep opening the door .

l ‘m sure you could ferret it out or perhaps use google if needed.... although if l did choose a nom de plume it certainly wouldn’t be .... “ polecat “

The World of late...is running on excuses...

Anonymity is often the cloak of the coward......

Papa chicken parm...... you were here ten days and ate chicken parmigiana eight times...maybe I’m wrong here but do I sense a pattern...visit Mexico ...and eat bad quasi Italian food ...maybe Cleveland next time lotsa choice there .

Thankfully...sunshiny and Kam ,your opinions really mean nothing and are probably not even relevant ...It will be the sands of time , Ismats ability to fix the perceived problems or perhaps not . In the end the consistency of the food ..the cost and the niche that this restaurant may or may not fill are all that counts . Ismat is one of the few professional Chefs in town ..he at least has the ability and knowledge to make this work . Restaurants are always a work in progress for better or worse until they fail , as the majority do .

Now that’s what I call a restaurant review....positive..informative..menu....prices...opening hours . Now we can all stop by or not and make up our own minds whether we like it or not . No fuss...no muss .

Although the U S D A does its best to regulate the primal cuts , along with a great deal of help from the major meat packers it can still be a little confusing as many “ cut “ names are somewhat regional . When I order a full rib eye I have to stipulate which numerical I want...there are 12 slightly different cuts ....lip on ,lip off , fullcap , bone in and so forth .The main problem with the “ cap “ or deckle steak as we used to call it , is that you basically have to ruin the rib eye to cut it correctly . So the cost can be prohibitive and you are left with a sub - standard ribeye or “ jillins “ original posted comment .

Sorry woocie I’ve got three cooking classes this next week , and an extremely busy social calendar....so this is not necessarily my highest priority .However you are somewhat right..l do not really consider a “ fried chicken and burger takeaway joint “ a restaurant. Ishmat is an accomplished Chef and a long-standing restaurant owner not a village family trying their best to make a living ... so I’m not sure he deserves a great deal of slack..I would expect none myself . I am glad it “smarts “ and so it should , it is so easy to criticize when you are not “ the man in the ring “ ...the bystander with nothing to lose .

Producing large quantities of correctly fried chicken is virtually impossible without commercial pressure fryers . Regular commercial deep fryers cannot hold the 325 degree temps needed when you drop 6 - 8 pieces of room temp chicken in there..never mind refrigerated ! The temptation is to raise the temp , which burns the coating before the chicken is cooked .The size of the chicken is also V I P. .. in the U S the bird of choice is usually a “ broiler / fryer “ which is a designated age and size , not to be confused with a “ spring chicken “.... not too many of them around here anyway....no offense ladies......

Twice in recent weeks I’ve bought wonderful fresh farm raised mussels at Costa Alegre , (near Tony’s and Superlake ) . I bought two kilos and found only half a dozen dead ones .They are not necessarily cheap 170 pesos per kilo but if like me you are addicted to moules and frites ..well worth it .perhaps not quite as good as Prince Edward Isle but awful close ...young , sweet from the cold waters of the northern Baja .

Nice B S walk back !

I’ m sorry I should have stipulated....”in Mexico “ ....let’s not forget we are in a small Mexican town , many of these wonderful would be entrepreneurs are families risking hard earned dollars in the hope of making a living , without professional chefs or service staff . The idea that we should denigrate their efforts so soon after opening just pisses me off ...unless you’ve ever been in the arena etc .etc ,you probably wouldn’t understand . Lakeside 7 asks how about soft openings ,wonderful...the only way.. if you can afford to give away food for a week or more ! Because of my usual high end competition my highly choreographed openings last at least two weeks and cost a significant amount of money . The first few days we only feed the staff...and l have at least four professional cooks /chefs , beside myself..then I gradually incorporate the public ,much to their chagrin... only two tables every half hour...no more than 4 -6 persons . The longer they can’t get a reservation , the more they want to come...we still limit numbers for weeks ! By now I’m sure I’m boring you all . My main point is... ‘’ give ‘em a chance ‘’...spend a few dollars...just maybe a sows ear will become a silk purse with your help . If