mongo_jones

i officially hate you all. is this place related to chinese islamic in sgv?

have you ordered it? it may be all too literal...mmmmmm balls...

haven't read the whole thread closely so forgive me if i am recycling. it seems to me the question has to broken out a number of ways. at the least: *quality and cost of ingredients *skill, experience of chef and other key staff *non-food related ambience costs (crockery, glassware) *rent *decadence (the desire to eat/own the most expensive anything) in other words a $300 (or $3000) meal experience involves some proportion of all of the above. the question for sushi is whether cost/quality of ingredients flattens out at some point. even if that is true the chef's skill comes into play. even if that flattens out (say at some rarefied strata occupied by 7 sushi chefs in the world) there's the criteria after it. so, if you're looking just for numbers 1 and 2 to be hit you may not wish to pay masa's prices (i would like to hold out the utopian possibility here that the best sushi chefs don't automatically move to restaurants at masa's price points). however, if you're looking for the total experience (even if you're not quite decadent) and can afford it then it is a different matter. of course, none of this applies only to sushi chefs or sushi. as for fatguy's diamond analogy, while i too find diamonds (and other jewels) to be completely useless the analogy doesn't work. a diamond is not a single use item. food, on the other hand, even for the most anally retentive, passes through you in a day or two at the most.

well, if it helps people not say dev-ee with a hard d and a bitten off e... indians might not get worked up about this stuff the way some egulleters do about mispronunciations of foie gras etc. but things like this do sound very funny to our ears (yes, i speak for all one billion of us). a pronunciation guide to transliterated hindi/sanskrit would have helped the wachkowski brothers avoid some howlers in the last matrix movie as well--ramakandra, my ass!

to put this in context that is like 9 and 5 out of many more than a hundred for each cuisine. (does anyone know what the exact numbers in sgv and k-town might be?) that's outrageous about guelaguetza as well! i bet they get all the chin chin locations right though...

yup. think "day-vee" with a soft "d" sound as in "there"

i will say that mon kee's used to be quite good till about 5 years ago--since then they've gone downhill fast (in my opinion, of course). we stopped eating there finally after two indifferent meals in a row with not very many other patrons around us. but hollywood's right: the zagat reviewer base (largely anglo) misses the boat completely not only on the san gabriel valley but also koreatown. i don't know what the story is now but the last time i bought the l.a zagat (2-3 years ago) there were probably less than 10 sgv places listed and less than 5 koreatown places (if that many).

korean seafood places on redondo pier--mmmmm crab and steamed rice...you can make it for a late lunch, wander the pier, take pictures of the floating dead gulls, buy crap trinkets and make it back to lax with loads of time to spare (avoiding the 405).

What's really funny is that I was serious. Howver, I was a bit embarrassed about not knowing what apparently everyone else knows. I'm not a big empanadas person. ← now you're going to have to drive down there. bewarned: unless things have changed, it is cash-only.

my favorite thing at versailles is their grilled halibut with garlic--though i think that might be slightly > $10. lots of cheap eats at cha cha chicken off of bay and pacific in santa monica as well. has anyone mentioned the lunch sushi combo at menori sushi on robertson (north of pico)? i think it might be below $10. that's a great reasonably priced sushi place, by the way.

OHMYGOD - I just remembered! Empanadas Place on Venice Boulevard, up by Sawtelle! Amazingly good and Shawn and I rarely spent over $10 a person! Gads, I miss that place. The family all too briefly tried to open one in Redondo Beach but then I ended up driving to Venice for empanadas! ← that's the one i meant--though i suspect jschyun was just being a smartass.

$10 should go quite far at empanadas place too, right?

it might also be interesting to ask if there is one overwhelming ethncity of new yorkers on egullet--or just american egulleters in general.

I'll go a step further. I haven't had anything memorable in any high end Los Angeles restaurants my last 2 trips. Last fond memory I have is of Chinois on Main (which I don't think is super-high-end) 3 trips ago (and maybe close to 10 years). I will also add that Chicago has better high end restaurants which are more traditional than those you mentioned. We love going there. I especially recommend going during the Navy Pier Art Show or during Architecture Week (if you like art and/or architecture). Robyn ← "high-end" los angeles isn't what i had in mind--though the best restaurants in that category are good enough to not drag down the overall index. i know many new yorkers think they have the best chinese in the u.s--this is an understandable delusion i suppose. however, when you factor in all the mexican, the various central-american, the korean, the vietnamese (a little to the south but within reach of l.a for sure), the japanese, the thai etc. los angeles just has a much greater depth of range. if you're weighting high-end european/french/new american in this discussion then that's a different matter.

i think it would have to be hong kong or singapore. los angeles is the one american city that can compare--with its wealth of mexican, central american, chinese and east asian restaurants alongside california cuisine.

someone should start a thread on american beers you wish would be available more widely. if i were to leave colorado i'd definitely put fat tire on that list. as it is i wish i could get shiner bock and abita amber more easily everywhere.

has fat tire started distributing outside colorado?

aren't there entrees at campagnola on westwood that start below $10? i assume you aren't including places in the san gabriel valley--there's tons of places there (including chungking) where a solo diner could eat well for $10. for indian/bangladeshi in l.a the best deals, BY FAR, are india sweet house (pico, short of crescent heights) and aladin (vermont, btwn. 1st and 2nd)--at both places two people could eat for $10! edit to add: these would be my top two choices for the relevant food in l.a even if money wasn't an issue.

shurely shome mishtake

yes, and this is why pooling of all tips upto 15% would protect waiters in these circumstances. in this case it wouldn't make much difference whether your service had been exemplary, crappy or just so-so: a cheapskate is a cheapskate. as glenn points out i am not suggesting that everyone always tips at least 15%--i am suggesting only that when tips in excess of 15% come in the part upto 15% is unrelated to the extra excellence of your service--these are people who would begin at 15%. thus pool everything upto this point to protect people serving people like in your example, and allow people to keep the extra which is a true recognition of their individual service.

doubtless someone has already suggested this but if not, and at the risk of being branded a communist or union-supporter (better dead than red, right people?), what would be the argument against the following system: all waiters pool the portion of their tip upto 15% of the bill--since that is what you would get merely by not dropping the soup on the patron or sticking a finger in their rectum* (in other words in most restaurants you don't really have to do much to earn a 15% tip). any tip you earn over that 15% of the bill is yours. this way you safeguard against your co-workers being stiffed by people like me, and you get to keep what you get for going over and beyond. *then again i haven't eaten at the avant garde places--perhaps there's some kinds of truffles that can be best enjoyed while a supercillious waiter sticks a finger up your ass.

i say "heeng"--much easier, really

the basics: red chilli powder turmeric curry powder garam masala powder 1st level add-ons: coriander powder cumin powder specialist: amchur (mango powder) asafoetida basic whole spices/seeds: cinnamon cardamom cloves peppercorns cumin seeds black mustard seeds

hear, hear--my first 6 years in los angeles were car-less. i used to take the bus from first westwood and then santa monica to downtown l.a, and all parts in between.

do you deliver? we have a dinner crisis in process right now.