Dryden

Picked some up this past weekend - it's steeply priced, though - $90/lb for machine sliced and $99 by hand. But it is totally amazing...

A friend of mine is trying to figure out one of the banchan dishes they have at Kum Gang San - I was hoping someone might be able to help. She describes it as pickled, with a sort of escargot-like way about it... Does anyone know what it is?

Madeleine Patisserie, on 23rd between 6th and 7th is doing some decent ones, though not of top-flight Parisian quality. I've heard that the ones Jacques Torres does are of top-flight quality if you get them first thing in the morning, though.

I know a few people mentioned trying cranberry caviar, but has anyone had any success with it at all? Any tips?

From the momofuku homepage: "momofuku noodle bar is in no way related to Mr. Momofuku Ando"

River cafe used to have quite good food, and I think it's still pretty well thought of, relative to a lot of the places in this thread. The view, of course, isn't what it once was.

Eight mile creek definitely has this.

I went to Aureole maybe a year ago. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. It was just boring. Stylistically similar to a place like Gotham, but just not as refined and not as interesting to my palate. Most of the other folks there, I got the impression, were there very frequently and liked their food to not change very much or challenge them, which isn't a bad thing, but certainly doesn't describe 99% of the people on eGullet. One if by land - now that's bad.

Sorry, no.

Hoping someone else starts writing in this thread, or else I'm going to start thinking I'm the only person eating there. Finally had the chicken today (arrived a few minutes after noon). Will mentioned that they had made twice as much as before, so hopefully the supply issues will start to sort themselves out. It was very good, maybe not quite as good as the tuna, probably a bit better than the pork. For some reason, I'm not as fond of the ham and cheese, though my wife liked it the most. Soda for the day - lemon verbena. Really refreshing. Not as transcendent as the peach, but I don't know what could be (the peach is really that insanely good).

OK, went back today. I thought they were kidding yesterday... They don't have straws. Apparently, the park doesn't let them have them due to littering concerns. So bring your own. They also seem to be out of the chicken quite a bit, which makes me sad because I want to try it... Had the tuna, which was incredibly excellent. very creamy and flavorful. Also had the chocolate chip cookie and the blueberry muffin, neither of which were quite as good as the pound cake and panna cotta. The lowfat nature of the muffin really handicaps it. Yesterday, we had the lemonade, and it was really good. I thought it would be my drink of choice. Today, I had the homemade peach soda, which is one of, if not the very best beverage I've ever had. But it's quite sticky to drink, so bring a straw. I will more than likely be back tomorrow. This is so much better than all of the other food options in walking distance from my office...

http://www.mypicnick.com/index.php So we stopped by yesterday. Aside from a curious lack of straws, and being out of the chicken, the food was fantastic. Tried the ham and cheese (good), pork and roll (very very good), panna cotta (amazing), and the apple pound cake (so moist it should be illegal). If the (very) early returns are any indication, this is another great addition to park eating, very capable of being Shake Shack/'wichcraft good.

We've found that with Republic over the years as well. They are faster than anyone, on everything - no idea how they do it.

There's a lot of great food in the area. There are 2 very good Vietnamese restaurants right off of main street, Le Pavilion is excellent, and just across the river, the Would Bar and Grill is phenomenal. Anything specific you're looking for?

We had some great dim sum (quite comparable to Dim Sum Go Go, although not as much of a selection) yesterday at Chatham Restaurant in Chatham Square. Their baked goods are also great (the coconut bao and dan ta, especially).

15 east is damn good, and not just for the sushi, either.

To add a little bit more color: The ribs from Boston were very, very good. If I were in the right mood, I might even prefer them to Mike Mills' from time to time. They almost had a teriyaki flavor to them. The stew was kind of odd - really didn't know what to expect. I liked it, my wife and sister didn't care for it at all. I really missed Smoki O's - no one had any snoot this year, and it was missed. We also felt that they had finally cracked the code on lines and everything else, both days the event ran beautifully.

Capogiro smokes Il Laboratorio, too.

Wouldn't the originator of the model (although it is still quite a bit more formal than Ssam Bar, but may be even more casual given a Parisian context) be L'Atelier in Paris?

Yup. It isn't as good, overall. The flavors of Capogiro are much stronger and brighter, and the milky aftertaste that Capogiro magically doesn't have is present in GROM. And the range of Capogiro flavors are second to none. I will say that Grom's almond granita is painfully good, though utterly unlike gelato at all (obviously).

Schaller and Weber on the UES has them, and they're quite good.

I'd put laboratorio ahead of otto. Really haven't been that impressed by otto. Grom just below laboratorio. But ahead of all of them? Capogiro.

This isn't inconsistent with an experience we had recently there as well. Just after the restaurant opened, we stopped by and got some food to take out. Chef Psilakis was sitting in the bar and my wife chatted with him, as he indicated that takeout was something they were planning on doing. Fast forward a couple of weeks. The manager (not Michael Psilakis, to be clear) informs us, now that the restaurant is so busy, they will not be doing takeout, they have never done takeout, and that if we desire takeout, we should be somewhere else. The guy is, frankly, an asshole, which it pains me to say since the food is great and the couple of times I have spoken with Chef Psilakis, he seems like a genuinely nice guy.

New York Cake Supplies. 56 West 22nd Street.

Thanks!