Oysters are a bad example. They can be farmed sustainably and easily. Seafood that can’t be farmed will certainly become more expensive later on.
It’s been years since I’ve had an oyster, or even seen any. Maybe I’ll take a look during a month with an “R” in it.
Jane and Michael Stern wrote a book about ‘continental cuisine’ of the 50’s and 60’s, I think it was called American Gourmet. This one focussed on things like Veal Oscar, Creme Brulee, Flaming Shishkabob, and all manner of things dosed with brandy and set on fire. The kinds of things the jet set ate at ritzy big city restaurants. You just don’t see that kind of thing any more, expensive or not. We live in an Applebee’s world now, everything smothered in bacon and melted cheese. (oh, you know what I mean, not JUST Applebee’s, meaning part of a chain that is not unreasonable for a middle class family to celebrate a birthday.) … One has to search out a restaurant that would serve raw oysters on the half shell, and you will pay a LOT.
Yes - for example, Carnegie Deli in NYC has a Reuben on their menu. BTW, that’s an indication it isn’t a real kosher deli, since it’s against the kosher laws to have meat and dairy together. Most true kosher restaurants serve one or the other, but not both.
Gulf oysters can be pretty reasonable, here on the Gulf. Except that the Texas oyster beds are still recovering from Hurricane Ike. And the raw oyster season ended early here: http://www.robbwalsh.com/category/oysters/
Alas, the Louisiana oyster beds are in deep trouble…
I have had the Reuben sandwich at Arby’s. It is tasty, but it is not a Reuben IMO. I haven’t had a good Reuben sandwich since I left the Northeast ~30 yrs ago.
Jason’s Deli. I’m sure there’s one near you. If there’s not one closer, I know there’s one at near Hulen Mall.
I don’t know how authentic they are, but I like them. They have a slightly healthier Turkey Ruben that I like, also. However, I’m pretty easy to please, so YMMV.
ETA: Sorry, bump, I didn’t read down to see you beat me to it.
A Reuben must be grilled to be a Reuben. The workers at the one near the Hulen Mall always look at me like I have three heads when I ask if the Reuben is grilled, and they always say no. Or at least, they did when I still asked them about it. Nowadays I just get a corned beef and swiss on rye, mustard, which is nice, but they overstuff the sandwiches. And anyway, I can and do make the same thing at home. For that matter, I could make a Reuben at home.
I might just have been going to the wrong places, but I haven’t seen a Reuben on a menu (other than at Jason’s, and as I said, theirs is not a real Reuben) for years.
Okay, who’s up for a roadtrip to Warren’s Seafood restaurant culminating a Fenton’s icecream run? I should never read SDMB food threads at midnight…
This is one of my favorite restaurants and they have a number of old-timey items on the menu. They also serve an old-fashioned relish plate when you arrive - carrots, celery, pickles, onions on ice. I think there’s herring too.
Oysters are largely farmed now and there is no reason to think they won’t be indefinitely.
Gordon Ramsey always has the teams making that on Hell’s Kitchen, so I assume it’s not entirely out of existence. Granted, I’ve never had it or even seen it on a menu, but I don’t go to fancy type places like Ramsey would run.
That jibes with my experience. You won’t usually find it at chain places, but any other diner/deli type place with a sandwich section on the menu will almost certainly have it, no need to search out a specialty shop.
I must live in a very unfashionable neighbourhood, cos steak Diane is on the menu at my local pub (far from fine dining, but does decent food), and at the nice family-run Italian restaurant in the next village.
Anyone seen a Black Forest gateau recently, though?
Me. I know a couple of places where Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is available.
(This is regarding Beef Wellington.) Someone posted to one of the threads on Ramsay’s show Hell’s Kitchen that the reason he has them make it is because the meat is wrapped in puff pastry, so you can’t tell by looking at it if the meat is done. So it’s a competency test. (Similarly, risotto tests another cooking ability, according to the same poster.)
I made that for my tea two nights ago. Didn’t realise it was considered a rare dish, now.
My GF’s parents own a pub/restaurant in the countryside, and some form of thermidor is usually on the menu (sometimes crab, sometimes lobster).
No kidding. I had a facebook ‘argument’ with a guy because he was bragging about making ‘real’ Hollandaise sauce - uh, it’s really no harder than making white sauce, yah?
Anyway, he felt the addition of white pepper made the dish challenging. I wish I was kidding.
Anyhoo, the thing you never really see anymore is a steakhouse with a salad bar - you know, the kind with the pale green lettuce salad and baby corns all lined up under a sneeze guard?
There’s actually a place here that still serves it, but at this point they do it because it’s a novelty - they’ve retained the 1970’s disco decor as well.
Just saw it on the menu the other day at Hamilton House in Hamilton, Indiana, a little lakeside tavern. I ended up ordering the fish basket, though.
Common inside the Beltway as well. Hell, my office cafeteria makes a passable Reuben.
Lobster Thermidor, Steak Diane, and Beef Wellington are not common anymore, because people don’t order it. Its 2010, not 1975.
And, who uses canned/jarred hollandaise? That crap tastes like bland cheese whiz. No respectable restaurant serves it. Only $4.99 breakfast joints use that crap.
As for making hollandaise, many people think they know how to make it, but they don’t. Until you can achieve a stable 3 oz : 1 yolk butter to egg ratio or better, your technique needs work. And if it comes out the color of yellow mustard, you cooked it too fast.
I don’t go to many steakhouses, but the one right up the hill has a salad bar with all those things. It’s also a fixture at some mid-range restaurant chains, like Claim Jumper’s and Marie Callendars.
I was also surprised to see Reubens described as a rarity in any metropolitan area. They’re very common here.
Ryan’s/Fire Mountain is or was a chain of AYCE buffets, and they had a grill where you could get steaks cooked to order, as part of the buffet. They weren’t GREAT steaks, but they were all right. And they had an absolutely outstanding fresh fruit and veggie selection. I think that they’re in some kind of bankruptcy action right now, though. I know that the locations we went to have closed.