- Now that winter is here, The Paupered Chef explores whether one can reproduce as great steak in a home broiler as can be achieved on an outdoor grill.

- Some great photos, mostly seafood and vegetables, from Bisceglie, Italy from Josh Friedland.

- Mr. Bruni grabs a chat with John LaFemina. Initially the topic was about rhythms of crowds at new restaurants that are not big-splash openings, but the conversation veered over to the more interesting topic of how life with a liquor license changed economics at The Orchard. Interesting stuff, but truth be told, we are a bit skeptical about some of the numbers thrown around. Claiming a Saturday an average night gross of $12,000 with a check average of $65 (up from $35 without liquor), that would equate to 184 diners moving through the restaurant – assuming for a moment that all bar business is counted in the check average. With only 72 seats, that seems like a stretch as most restaurants struggle to get over the 2.5 full turns (say ¾ full at 6pm and 10pm, with 8pm jam packed) that this comes out to.

- Our semi-regular check-in with Regina Schrambling’s rant filled blog finds plenty of vitriol to go around here in the holiday season. Mostly directed at the usual suspects, there is a potshot at a newly relocated food writer: "The refugee from Gourmet incongruously writing food for the Daily News on Sunday seems to think readers want to throw their maxed-out credit cards at $176 caviar sets and $100 steaks, not to mention crap from Zingerman’s when Zabar’s is so close."

- In this restaurant version of the game telephone, this recommendation passes reasonably unfiltered from Calvin to Robert to Ganda and now to you. And the message? Well, it is two words – Super Taste (26N Eldridge Street). The irony of course is that by the time someone as in the loop as Ganda gets around to visiting she finds that: "the irrepressible Sietsema's moved on to the new Fujianese kid on the block. It's probably going to take me another year to catch up with him."

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