• Travel to Montreal and hit the town

• How an embarrassing encounter with Moroccan turmeric and neroli oil rekindled one man's love of baking, especially if it's this Glazed Orange Flower Madeline Cake.

• Despite salmonella freak-outs, some bars still serve cocktails with raw eggs

• For many Chatham fishermen, cod are just out of reach

• Frank Bruni shares his experiences with a frustrating new NYC online restaurant reservation system (and then writes about it again, and again)
  

• Want your own vineyard? This company will help you find it

• Jersey's brew pubs are serving up some mighty fine stouts

Sheer wanton excess is the name of the game for some restaurants, as New York Times food critic Frank Bruni found upon his visit to Le Cirque.

In the article, Bruni outlines some of the decadent, near-sinful entrees that lined the table, including fois gras-stuffed ravioli, white truffles, and immense cuts of beef and lamb. Bruni expertly sums up the scene, noting that while the food is enjoyable and the staff, inviting, "[they are] probably...contributing to what is a yeti-sized carbon footprint."

Excessive eating and drinking at restaurants is nothing new. In most cases, it's encouraged. In fact, some might say, what's the point of going out to eat if you don't self-indulge?

We saw this lifestyle secondhand in Bill Buford's "Heat," which depicted the author's experience as a chef alongside chef and Food Network star Mario Batali. Buford unabashedly detailed Batali's oft-hedonistic outings, nights filled with lavish food and drink, and plenty of it.

But then, who are we to judge? If we were privy to such a lifestyle, would we not imbibe in what is probably considered more than our fair share? Perhaps. But Bruni makes a good point in that these lifestyles are being - (and should be) - looked at under an increasingly sharp microscope. In a world that has, in the past few years, become less self-absorbed and more self-aware, is it possible that excessive eating and imbibing will become not only passé, but looked down upon?

This week, a slight departure from pure food and dining with a story on where animals that were once destined for the dinner plate actually go for sanctuary. Also, beef jerky becomes haute cuisine, sort of.

In the kitchen, Mark Bittman does chicken wings and blackberries come into season.

On the dining scene, Frank Bruni vists Perilla, the restaurant by Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle, gluten-free menus are becoming more popular, and the best way to eat during the summer is a series of starters.

To me, summer is not complete without tons of freshly picked cherries. Now don't get me wrong, I don't live anywhere near where I can actually pick them myself, but luckily there always seems to be a large number of cherry trucks lurking around the parking lots of my local malls which I visit often, if not obsessively. This week, the New York Times Dining Section covers a couple of different ways to make the most of these tantalizing bites, whether you are using the fresh and sweet kind, or the sour variety. Find out how to make your own Maraschinos (sooo much better than the store-bought ones) or whip up a batch of Spiced Brandied Cherries.

News flash: It is hot outside. Really, who wants to cook for an hour or more? If you are crunched for time this summer but still want to eat tasty, home-cooked food, The Minimalist Mark Bittman lists 101 (yes, 101) fast meal ideas in this column very appropriately titled Summer Express.

Sweet or savory? Everyone seems to have a preference, but it doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other as Frank Bruni reveals after visiting P*ong, a New York restaurant where you will find delectable sweet treats rubbing elbows as though they belong on the same plate with some of your favorite savory flavors.

Still looking for more recipes? Choose from Yogurt Rice (Thayir Choru), or Torchio Pasta served with Oyster Mushrooms, Braised Chicken and San Marzano Tomatoes.

Finally, saddle up to the side of the (health)bar and order an organic cocktail. Mixologists everywhere are jumping on the antioxidant/vitamin-rich bandwagon and are incorporating healthful ingredients into their various libations. Thought drinks were expensive before? I can only imagine how much these will set you back.

Way back last October I had the distinct privilege of attending a taping of Iron Chef America with my fellow blogger, Jonathan. The challenger that day in Kitchen Stadium was cowboy chef, Tim Love. This was well before Chef Love was ridden out of Manhattan on a rail out after a wave of negative reviews of his restaurant, Lonesome Dove. Frank Bruni slammed the New York City outpost of Chef Love's much acclaimed restaurant in Fort Worth. The Brunster didn't even dole out any stars. He was reduced to a kindergarten sort of rating system, citing the Dove as "satisfactory."

In the interest of fairness, I must admit that I never ate any of the dishes such as "bony, dry antelope ribs," which caused my man Frank such dismay. I did, however, get to sample the Prairie Butter, which caused the Village Voice's Sietsema to wax rhapsodic. After what seemed like an eternity watching the taping, this signature appetizer proved quite the pick-me-up when Jonathan and I chowed down on it afterwards at Lonesome Dove. The jalapeño margarita and ice-cold shot of Tuaca, and Italian liqueur flavored with vanilla and citrus, also helped shake off the fatigue and the remnants of a raging hangover. I'm not quite sure what Tuaca has to do with cowboy cuisine, but Love seems to like it quite a bit. And just what is Prairie Butter? Well let's just say that any cowboy who gets city folk to belly up to the bar and chow down on split buffalo femurs and the gloriously greasy marrow therein can't be all bad.

But enough of the trials and tribulations of the New York City restaurant scene, as they say in Kitchen Stadium, "Allez cuisine!" By now you're probably wondering why this is being written so far after the actual battle took place. Two reasons: It just aired last week, and more important, due to ICA's strict privacy restrictions no one can reveal the secret ingredient or winner of the battle until after the episode airs. So if you haven't seen Morimoto vs. Love, I advise you not to read the jump.

Restaurateurs have a love-hate relationship with food critics. They love them when they get a good review and hate them when they don't. A lot of seething goes on in the kitchen when the review is bad, but that is usually as far as it gets. Once in a while, however, a restaurant owner will be pushed over the edge, as Jeffrey Chodorow was when he read Frank Bruni's review of his Kobe Club. Chodorow took out a full-page ad (rumored to have cost around $40,000) in this week's NY Times Dining section blasting Bruni ("in crazy-person tiny type") and accusing him of being biased, unqualified and, essentially, of having a personal vendetta against him and/or his restaurants.

The letter was addressed to Pete Wells, who recently came to the NY Times as the editor of the Dining section, possibly in the hopes that Wells would take some sort of action against Bruni. Wells has since said that the Times will take no action and Bruni himself spoke to the NY Post, saying that he has no vendetta against Chodorow. Nor does New York magazine's Adam Platt or The NY Post's Steve Cuozzo - both of whom gave the restaurant less-than-flattering reviews at the same time as Bruni.

[thanks, alanna!]

The best cocktail city in the world right now is London, according to Audrey Saunders, the owner of New York's Pegu Club. The drinks are fantastic and innovative and the bartenders making them can be more of a draw than the chefs in the restaurant's kitchen. The hottest London bartender is Dick Bradsell, owner of Dick's Bar and MatchBar, as well as several other cocktail spots, none of which will put style over substance, preferring to up the ante in both departments.

Anyone who grew up on a farm that raised chickens has probably come across unlaid eggs inside a older hen when it was slaughtered. Chef Dan Barber, of Blue Hill, has recently started harvesting such eggs and adding them to his menu. Naming them "immature," as opposed to "embryonic" on the menus has helped sales, but the strong flavor isn't for everyone.

In Korea, dining trends come and go within days, but fried chicken is one that has been around for 20 years and seems to have been perfected in that time.

The curious cook tried to make his own homemade rice wines, trying to avoid the off "mousy" flavor that can sometimes arise.

Get in on a staff party for the employees of the Spotted Pig.

Frank Bruni eats at Kobe Club and gives it zero stars.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes mackerel.

Frank Bruni has some very astute observations about the way that restaurants present themselves these days. Chefs are artists and the meal is art. While once a diner could still eat what they wanted, when they wanted to, those decisions are now given to the restaurant and to the chef, each of which has a vision (usually of an expensive tasting menu) and vanity to preserve.

Even with advertising deals, cookbooks and tv shows, chefs are still making most of their money at their restaurants. And it's not as much as you might think, at least not until the chefs have already hit the big time in terms of popularity.

Issa Moskowitz, of the PPK, talks about being vegan, being punk and then shares some recipes: Devil's Food Cupcakes with Fluffy White Filling and Chocolate Icing, Spicy Peanut Stew with Ginger and Tomato and Butternut Squash Rice Paper Rolls.

Winter is a good time for smoking - smoking meats, that is.

Americanized haggis leaves out the offal (most of it, anyway) and is much more popular with consumers as a result.

Frank Bruni dines at The Waverly Inn and Garden and gives it one star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes Farfalle with Gorgonzola, Arugula and Cherry Tomatoes.

The silicone cookware industry is growing every year and the NY Times goes to great lengths test out the properties of silicone bakeware, which make up 7% of the bakeware market overall. Their conclusions? It is not nonstick, but stick resistant. It is not good for everything. High quality silicone products are expensive, while others may contain fillers that compromise their heat resistance. The final list of the products included potholders and a few other things on the "recommended" list, while cake pans and measuring cups made the "not recommended" list.

Until recently, the food was always secondary to the coffee at Starbucks, but now that the company is trying to compete with McDonalds and other quick-service breakfast places, they are quickly trying to make up lost ground.

Kidfresh is a children's food store, meaning that everything except the food has been scaled down.

Frank Bruni dines are Eleven Madison Park and gives it 3 stars. The Bar Room and the Modern also gets 3 stars.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, talks about granola.

Time Out New York has just done something a bit unusual. They have turned the tables on New York's critics and have given them reviews using a panel of distinguished experts in each of the various fields covered. Of course, at Slashfood, we're more interested in what they thought of NY's finest food critics, than of the art or theater reviewers. All were scored on a scale from 1 to 5 in the following categories: Knowledge, Style, Taste, Accessibility and Influence. Those scores were then averaged to reach a final score. A star rating might have been a little more appropriate, but this seems like a balanced way to quantify their performances.

Topping their list with a score of 4.08 is Peter Meehan, from the New York Times. He is usually featured in the "$25 and Under" column. His reviews were described as "smart, witty and very sensible...fair and almost always [place] the consumer first." Number two, with a score of 3.78 is Steve Cuozzo, from the New York Post. "Entertaining as hell to read... it's just too bad that he works for the least credible outlet in town." The other reviewers reviewed were: Adam Platt, multiple publications, 3.72 (No class at all: The words subtle and elegant are not in his vocabulary."); Irene Sax, NY Daily News, 3.68 ("The best cheap-eats columnist ever."); Frank Bruni, The New York Times, 3.64 ("Bruni is the George Bush of restaurant reviewers: He's a little man in a big job who got lucky but has never acknowledged the need to learn on this big job.... He's got an unfortunate, clear bias toward the Italian palate, and it shows in print."); Robert Sietsema, The Village Voice, 3.4 ("A joke."); Moira Hodgson, New York Observer, 3.3 ("stylish and congenial")

The issue of Alan Richman's dislike of New Orleans and its food is brought up, with a particular focus on his assertion that Creoles do not exist. It's not all that difficult to find an actual Creole living in NOLA and once you find them, they'll probably share some of the food that they're famous for whether Mr. Richman likes it or not, including: Calas, Artichoke and Oyster Casserole, and Beef Daube Glace

Harold McGee starts a new column, the Curious Cook. which will explores the science of food. The subject of this article is blue-green garlic, a color that results from sulfur compounds that are the result of pureeing onions and garlic together.

The 66-year old Essex Street Market, on the lower East Side of Manhattan, bridges the gap between "of the bodega and the universe of the gourmand," where you can't expect to know who is going to buys what or how they're going to pay for it. It's completely unpretentious and the food is great.

It's the start of latke season and it's hard to resist the lure of a hot, crisp, fried potato pancake.

Frank Bruni eats at Tocqueville and the Tasting Room and gives them two and one star, respectively.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, talks more about his hugely popular no-knead bread recipe.

Where to find tableware like the Achatz and Adria's.

Worried about how to make it through the holidays with a (hopefully not too unruly) family? The NY Times shares some etiquette tips that should help get you through some sticky situations, but if everyone can just focus on the food and try to be polite - sharing any controversial opinions the next day - everything will go just a little bit more smoothly.

In a piece that rehashes some of Chowhound-founder Jim Leff's background, there is some discussion of groups that splintered off the main boards even before the site was bought by CNET. Some contributors moved to egullet.org and others can be found at Opinionated About Dining and Mouthfulsfood.

A lot goes into finding a really good sommelier. An applicant needs to have wine expertise, passion and enthusiasm - and all must be conveyed to the customers convincingly, but without obsession.

Here's a brief holiday food guide of sweets and savories, along with the names of a couple of mentions of places to find good cookware.

Frank Bruni dines at Porter House New York and gives it one star.

Looking for something really different to do with that raw turkey in the fridge? Mark Bittman, the minimalist, suggests turning it into turkey confit.

Our Daily Bread is a new documentary on the food processing industry. Whether you want to watch depends on what you still want to eat.

Frank Bruni returns from Italy, where he has spent time exploring all that Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont have to offer food-wise, eating his way through cheese, offal, pork, breads and sausages. The food is often heavy and rich, but for most food lovers, it sounds like a trip to these two regions could take you near to culinary heaven.

In The White House Chef , chef Walter Scheib III talks about his experiences - and difficulties - working as the head chef in one of the country's most well-known kitchens.

SmartFresh is a preservative that comes in the form of a gas. It can be sprayed on fruits and vegetables to slow ripening and increase shelf-life. Though it does not reduce the flavor in the least, it does decrease the aroma of the fruit for a time after application. It is being using for some fruits, like apples, in the US, but is popular abroad.

In Australia, high school students are learning to make wine.

The new New York Michelin guide is out and Essex House lost its three star rating because it is closing to relocate in January.

Frank Bruni dines at Harry's Steak and Cafe and gives it 1 star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes ranch, yogurt/blue cheese and carrot miso salad dressings.

Last week, we got to know our very own Josh Ozersky through A Hamburger Today's interview series called "Grilled." This week, the burger boys have gotten a few words from New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni. He may be the dining critic, but it can't be about sushi on the sly and Joel Robuchon all the time. Sometimes a man just needs to eat a good burger (though Bruni does say that the second to last burger he ate was a pair of tiny beef and fois gras burgers at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Some choice quotes from the interview:

• On which is his favorite fast food burger: "the Hardee's Thickburger"
• "the Peter Luger burger, served only at lunch, didn't do it for me"
• On avocado as a topping: "I don't want it crowding my wondrous, gorgeous, sexy burger."

If you're a restaurateur in New York City, or even in the surrounding metropolitan area, or heck, anywhere in the United States, you might want to be on the lookout for this man. He looks a little bit like Ray Liotta, doesn't he? It is Frank Bruni, the dining critic for the New York Times, and many restaurants have "Wanted" posters in their kitchens and staff rooms instructing their employees to look out for him. If he shows up - it requires special attention.

According to this particular listing about Monsieur Bruni, "he looks very young, his guests are very often female, he is extremely polite with staff," and his "questions about food are asked in a very casual, unassuming manner."

Gee, that is so very helpful. Aside from his being polite with staff, it sounds like it could be just about anybody in the dining room.