Alex

For Michigan, without a doubt, cherry pie. Possibly this one.

Yes...with risotto, there's a certain crackling-type sound when the rice is ready for the first addition of liquid (usually white wine).

I assume by "downtown" you mean the Loop. If so, then I'd say those places are downtown-ish, i.e., within a few minutes of the Loop. Lao Sze Chuan is in Chinatown, just a bit south; Green Zebra is in West Town, just a bit north and west.

On the higher end (but not too high), Green Zebra, definitely.

North Pond would be good. Naha might be another option for you. It's only about a mile from your hotel, so it's certainly within a ten-minute cab ride (or a pleasant 15-minute walk). I can't comment on the noise level at dinner, but when I was there for lunch things were pretty calm, so I imagine it would be the same at dinner. BTW, I've often stayed at the Hyatt Regency -- big, but very nice. If they're still offering the relatively reasonable "room with a view" upgrade, I'd opt for that.

Story here More details should be revealed at tomorrow's press conference.

Look at what article was on my nytimes.com home page this evening. I wonder if their tracking cookie detected my visiting the Zingerman's web site earlier today. Anyhow, the deli is open until 10 every night. (And all tracking cookies have been deleted.)

I thoroughly understand. Grand Rapids' metro area is about half a million, with a Jewish population of less than one-half of one percent. Fortunately, though, there are good ties with the religious community in general and reasonable awareness of what Judaism is about, so Passover stuff arrives on time (even k-f-P Coca-Cola!) and our local paper always has a seder-related feature story or two. If you have time before or after dinner, you might consider taking a short detour to Zingerman's Deli. They sell the best polenta I've ever eaten. Rugelach, too, if you're not keeping kosher for Passover. Actually, there are lots of "best ever" items.

Interesting -- the menu also is all over the place, so I wouldn't have given Pi a second thought if you hadn't mentioned it here. Is the roasted pork sandwich the one listed on their lunch menu as "Apple Marinated Sliced Pork Loin?" What makes their pizza so good? I'm going to be in Southfield in a couple of weeks and was planning on eating lunch at Tomatoes Apizza, but if this is better...

I agree with Mark -- there's no reason not to make homemade, especially if you have a food processor. (I know, I know -- let's not start in on hand-chopped vs. mechanical.) Chopped liver is pretty hard to mess up -- just adjust the salt and freshly ground pepper to your liking, don't make it too smooth, and add a dab of oil in the unlikely event it's too dry. I cook my onions very, very slowly, until all the liquid has evaporated and they've started to caramelize -- this also adds some sweetness and an extra layer of flavor.

If Novi's too far (a shame, as Diamond Jim Brady's would be a quick-as-a-wink recommendation from me), how about Five Lakes Grill in downtown Milford? Brian Polcyn's place has gotten consistently great word-of-mouth for years, and his charcuterie is an absolute specialty. Not too far from Brighton, either. Hope that helps. Seriously, though: Diamond Jim Brady's is awesome, and worth the, what, 20 minute drive on I-696? It does, of course, depend on where you are in Brighton, too, but considering that it's *right* off of the Novi Road exit, you can't ask for a much easier-to-access place than that, with Mary Brady doing what she does best in the kitchen. I *really* love DJB's. ← Yes, both Novi and Ann Arbor are almost all expressway driving, 70 mph speed limit for the most part. Unfortunately, Five Lakes Grill is closed on Sundays. Here's the website for Diamond Jim Brady's. Here's the Novi thread. For Ann Arbor, I recommend Zingerman's Roadhouse.

Brighton is about 16 miles from Novi and about 20 from Ann Arbor, but if those are too far, then, as you surmised, Brighton is chain central. Two non-chain restaurants that locals seem to like are The Brighton House (conventional American, e.g., surf and turf, whitefish, prime rib) and Ciao Amici's.

Hey, what's with this merged topic?

Riffing on this, the beef (and pork) industries appear to do much more PR than the lamb folks. I can vaguely recall a lamb ad or two, but have no problem remembering "Beef -- It's What's For Dinner" (with its irritating use of Aaron Copland's music) or the equally obnoxious but catchy "Pork -- The Other White Meat."

After reading through the whole topic on eGullet, I had to get Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I hope you mean four who will have been present at both, rather than four who are still participating members. It would be pretty sad if it were the latter! ← Both, actually. It was a pretty small group, though -- 18 adults (and one child), of whom only half were eG'ers. The missing five may yet lurk, but they don't post any more, at least not on eGullet.

No kidding! We've come quite a ways in five years, eh? You know, as of today, there will be only four of us who also were in Grand Rapids in 2003.

The magazine is called Hour Detroit, one of those semi-fluffy but mildly useful regional publications. Mon Jin Lau is in Troy, a northern suburb. It's been around since 1969, beginning its life as a straighforward Chinese restaurant, eventually morphing into a multi-Asian format. Here are a couple of brief blurbs: msnbc.msn.com Hour Detroit

Well, Ms. Alex and I finally made it to Vie. True to Ronnie's word (of course), it was a fine experience. We opted for six small plates served in three "courses," plus dessert, rather than the traditional app +entrée. We started with salads: -mixed lettuces, local turnip slices (I guess they were out of the marinated and shaved fresh hearts of palm listed on the web site's menu), garlic and herb vinaigrette, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano -local beets, burrata, wood-grilled onions, Meyer lemon, lemon olive oil and aged balsamic A great start. This was the smallest, sweetest, turnip I've had in a long time, and the kitchen didn't skimp on the Parmigiano. The vinaigrette was perfect -- finally, enough salt and not too much acid. The beets were wonderful, but Ms. Alex allowed me only a couple of tastes. Primi: -ricotta gnocchi, pan roasted oyster mushrooms, Werp Farms sorrel, sweet butter -seared Au Bon Canard foie gras, warm English crumpet, local squash butter, Wisconsin black walnuts and walnut vinaigrette The gnocchi were light as (insert your choice of simile here); the mushroom and butter added depth. We originally planned to order the eggs and truffles, but they were out, so we ordered the foie gras. This dish had the sweetest accompaniments I've ever had for foie gras, but it worked wonderfully. The walnuts were an inspired choice. "Fish Course": -pan-seared hand-harvested sea scallops, mussels, wood-grilled fennel, Marcona almonds, lemon, local honey -olive oil-poached bluefin tuna, microgreens, something else (Yeah, I know, I should've written it down.) The scallops were my favorite of the evening. I'm a fennel junkie anyway, and this combination of seafood, fennel and Marcona almonds is going on my got-to-make-this-at-home list. The tuna, on the other hand, was the weakest dish of the evening. I felt that the delicacy of the tuna was overwhelmed by the oil. Desserts: Ms. Alex had the warm caramel gooey butter cake with almond chocolate chip ice cream, almond lace cookie, and almond toffee square. Ronnie discussed this earlier. I had an ice cream trio -- buttermilk, chestnut, and almond chocolate chip. The tart-sweet buttermilk was a revelation. We appeared to earn some wine cred by ordering a very pleasant Contrapunto Albariño, which worked well with everything, except perhaps the foie. Apparently not too many folks order that one. Service was, as expected, prompt and professional. It was a few small glitches short of a perfect evening. The house was slammed, with several big tables, so I realize some slack is in order and therefore I won't enumerate them here. Well, maybe one: the straight-metal-back chair was very uncomfortable, especially for a nearly three-hour meal.

Excellent idea, Tammy, teaching Liam to appreciate fine beverages.

In for both events on Thursday. Bits, please.

In Evanston, home of Saturday's activities: Dream About Tea Argo Tea

Accompaniments: -Seared scallops w/ blood orange butter sauce and navel orange segments -Salmon w/ lime-ginger-garlic rub, redskins w/butter and parsley, roasted asparagus w/truffle oil -Palazzolo's Tahitian vanilla gelato w/strawberries and Callebaut chocolate sauce

You can check each restaurant's web site. This is the Restaurant Week's web site, but I didn't see any menus. Kiki's Bistro has the menu posted on their web site. Naha doesn't intend to post theirs; you'll have to call.

A bottle of Tattinger, accompaniments tbd.