therese

Okay, I'm going to have to point out that not all of Atlanta is as FoodTutor describes. There are plenty of us who've been here a long time (many even born here) and plan on staying a long time, and consequently do invest in the community. But a relatively large portion of the population is precisely the sort of transient nouveau riche (or not so riche) that she describes. She's unfortunately in an excellent position to see them up close and personal, given the location of the restaurants she's worked in [aside to point out that I know FoodTutor off line and so am familiar with those restaurants, even though I've either never or very rarely eaten in them]. Atlanta's very neighborhood-driven. Tell me where somebody lives here and I can probably tell you how long they've been in Atlanta and what their politics are and where they shop and eat.

And you'd be missing the best part about breakfast at home: you don't have to get dressed and leave the house to enjoy it.

You can get all those things delivered? Well, come to think of it, I can get Thai, Malaysian, and Mexican in addition to Chinese and pizza (and one of the pizza places is better than the others, except that the kids don't seem to like it, though I can't really say why). I agree with not needing to eat Japanese or Thai or whatever when visiting London or Paris---it may well be excellent, but it's unlikely that it's better than what I've got available around the corner. I'm making an exception for Indian, as it's so closely linked to England. One thing that is relatively exotic in this part of the world (I live in Atlanta) is northern and eastern European food. Very few German or Scandinavian or Polish restaurants of any sort, and they're generally so far away that I really might as well just drive right by them and keep going until I hit another land mass. So a Polish restaurant is a bit exotic for us. As for the plummeting value of the dollar, I'm going to buy everything with a credit card and not think too hard about it. If you just look at the prices and disregard the fact that there's that groovy little £ next to the numbers they all seems quite reasonable. Drinking plenty of alcohol makes this approach much easier, by the way.

I'm going skiing with my family and three other families (so a total of about 20 people) in Park City right after Christmas. We've been skiing as a group for several years now, and they're all nice people, but really crappy organizers when it comes to dining plans. So I'm going to push things along a bit this year and make plans in advance, thereby avoiding long waits and indecision and general chaos. I really despise herd dining, particularly when it involves children, but at least if I can find decent food it won't be quite so bad. So, reasonably good food that's not nosebleed expensive served in a restaurant that will tolerate children (no babies, and the youngest child is 10, so not really too dreadful). Fairly adventurous palates, even the children, so ethnic would be fine.

Thanks. Maybe I should be asking about gyms in the area that offer short term memberships.

Should the name of said establishment come to you, in a dream perhaps, do let me know. Or I could just wander Gloucester Rd in my jammies. Surely somebody would come to my assistance. Actually we will be needing takeaway, as the children will not joining us for either Gordon Ramsay's or the dinner dance at The Ritz. So delivery of roast chicken and potatoes sounds like a very good idea (the usual U.S. options being not very good Chinese and really atrocious pizza). Though we have a kitchen, and both children can manage simple meals, so we may just drop by Waitrose and have them pick out something they'd like. Yes, the Tube Guru's very user friendly. One of the nicest things about being a tourist in London is the Tube. The site itself leans a bit heavier than perhaps necessary on the "fuck the tourist" aspect of things, though. And speaking of the Tube Guru, using it to find a possible Sunday midday meal option yields the following in proximity to either the Cutty Sark or Greenwich stops: Trafalgar Tavern Admiral Hardy North Pole Gipsy Moth (where we've eaten before) Meeting House Anything else to offer? There is the pie shop right across the street from the Gipsy Moth, but I think we might like something a bit less frenetic.

Definitely more history, a very compelling argument. Anybody actually tried the newish chef's work? And of course now that I've read about New Tayyab I'm clearly going to have to try it. Doesn't sound as if there's any point (or need) to book, so we can play that one by ear. I looked it up on another site and mention is made of the necessity to BYOB. Is this still the case? And there's a sweet shop next door apparently, which will keep the kids very happy. Maybe we'll just skip the sights altogether, and just stagger from restaurant to restaurant. Oh, and this place would be perfect for you, nixienox, as it meets both of my "ideal for dining with young kids" criteria: ethnic and loud.

Just make it with the wine. My kids love it, and have been eating it since they were toddlers.

Okay, so just exactly how stoned does a person have to be to enjoy this experience? I'm thinking pretty darn stoned.

Great suggestions, and thanks to all. So far our plans include Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's for a mid-week dinner, either The Ritz (£75/person) or The Lanesborough (£48/person) for a dinner dance on Friday, St John one evening, Masala Zone (assuming the new branch is open) one evening, Wodka one evening, and Rules (pre- or post-theatre) one evening. Hmmm, that's six evenings, one of which is Sunday, and we'll likely have had Sunday dinner in Greenwich and will still be a bit jetlagged and so not likely to want dinner out. Maybe I'll move St John to a lunch slot---what would be interesting to see near Spitalfields? Do other plan their sightseeing around restaurants? And any suggestions for Sunday dinner in Greenwich? Finally, which dinner dance? The Ritz features a band called Ray Fernandez Sound whereas The Lanesborough had the Confrey Phillips Trio, with Confrey Phillips (assuming he still participates) having been a bit of a name back in the 50's. Any comparisons on the food to offer?

Piroulines are the bomb. I can't even have them in the house, so I only buy them for parties, etc.

The children are old enough that we no longer need to go to the trouble of actually tying them to trees and running away if we want to avoid them: we simply tell them to go away and they oblige. But this option might come in handy for nixienox and her younger brood.

Okay, so I'm going to have to say that the idea of eating at someplace called Texas Embassy while visiting London is, um, unappealing. And the menu does little to quiet my misgivings. In any case my husband is from Texas, so it would be a case of coals to Newcastle, or fajitas to San Antonio, or something. St. John, on the other hand, looks fantastic. The Spitalfields location (Bread and Wine) is even more appealing than the original actually. Herring roe on toast? It's a long way to go for breakfast, but I just might. And it's nice to know that chitterlings (or chit'lins, as they're often called here) can be sampled without the trouble of home preparation.

I've now sent email inquiries to all of the above listed establishments, clearly establishing myself as demented.

I'll check into it. Another option would be a nightclub that features either ballroom (very unlikely) or swing dancing (popular here, though still difficult to find in a nightclub setting). Some clubs have swing dances on off nights like Wednesdays, and then we'd have the flexibility of dining elsewhere.

Exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, particularly the nice dinner part of it, as that's often not a prominent part of these evenings. The Tenth's sample menu on the web site looks reasonable. Saturday is unfortunately not optimal, as we arrive around noon on a Saturday (April 2) and leave the following Saturday AM. My husband's an easygoing sort, but even he may balk at the idea of a gala evening that features jet lag. Friday's the best, and I'll contact both the hotel and the orchestra to see if there are any Friday options. And would this be a tux/formal gown sort of thing, or just jacket/tie/cocktail dress? Hmm, packing a tux in a carry-on... I'll write The Waldorf as well---I'd actually contacted them before our last visit, and was told they'd stopped having tea dances after 9/11 due to the decline in tourism, but if they're refurbishing perhaps they'll start them back up.

We actually stayed at the Millennium Baileys, home of Bombay Brasserie, on our last visit. But I'd not heard of it previously, and it was in the hotel (often the kiss of death in the U.S.), so gave it a miss in favor of Veeraswamy. So now's our chance. The Waitrose did seem quite sufficient to our needs, with a nice selection of ready-to-eat sorts of things. And I bought absinthe there as well, not the sort of thing I necessarily expect to find at my local greengrocer's. Of course, now that I know that there's a really posh Sainsbury's up the road I'll have to check it out as well. I'll look at the 1880 and see if it fits it with our plans. I've already booked at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's one evening, so here's hoping the experience is as pleasant this time as it was the last time around. I shudder to recall the days of dining (and I use the term loosely) with a 3-year-old, though yours may be considerably more patient than mine were. We're also not a fast food or chain restaurant sort of family, and generally relied on restaurants that were either ethnic or loud or both. Outside dining is also a nice option---the pub where we ate Sunday lunch in Greenwich (Gipsy Moth) had a large-ish outdoor beer garden that would have worked for a young child. This trip will be the second abroad for my children. The first was two years ago, to Venice, and they were pretty much perfect the whole time. Of course they're old enough now to stay alone if they don't want to go out with us, so even better.

Hey, I'll have you know that I've had both personal and recent experience with said dive. Though I tend to look beyond the, um, entertainment (The Clermont Lounge is also known as "where strippers go to die") and head directly for the dance floor: Saturdays after midnight features a local DJ, Romeo Cologne. But then I'm not actually a "Dame"---the dinner in Atlanta was open to anybody with sufficient scratch and the time to chase down the person at the Four Seasons responsible for booking spots at the dinner (which a friend kindly did for me).

About the same as anybody on a book tour who addresses an enthusiastic but decorous crowd in a formal setting---a little stiff, despite the fact that the entire crowd would really rather he just have taken off his clothes and told bawdy stories. Today's Atlanta Journal & Constitution featured an interview with John Kessler, local restaurant critic (though he doesn't do so much of that anymore, regrettably) that was interesting mostly for the fact that Bourdain didn't come off as particularly witty or interesting, because Kessler usually manages to make people sound witty and interesting. Grillbitch was, by the way, very cool.

Very nice. I feel like have a cigarette now. Except that I don't smoke.

Pham sounds very nice, and possibly an option for lunch if we're in the area, but we eat so much sushi and other Japanese routinely (kids included) that it's not the sort of thing we look for when touring. While I'm posting I'll go ahead and ask about options for Sunday dinner in Greenwich. We'll likely take a tour of Greenwich Sunday morning (if the weather's reasonable) with a visit to the Maritime Museum in the afternoon. Our last visit we ate at a pub with a garden, the Gipsy Moth. Not bad (roast lamb, I think), but a change would be nice.

Husband made Thanksgiving Dinner this year, all on his own (and a fine meal it was, too). He's from Texas (San Antonio) and both pecan and pumpkin pies graced the table.

Yes, it's still November, but I've just booked flights and lodging for a week's stay in London with my husband and two children, and now I'm starting to think about food. We've rented an apartment a few minutes walk to Gloucester Road Tube. I stayed nearby a couple of summers ago, so I know there's a Waitrose there. It was fine, but if there's a better option I'd be happy to hear about it. Bakeries and takeaway in the area would also be helpful info. The children are 11 and 14, both very well-behaved and used to eating a wide range of foods in both upmarket and ethnic restaurants. So I'm anticipating a couple of evenings out with them. In the interest of providing a thoroughly English experience I'm considering Rules (either pre- or post-theatre). Along ethnic lines we'd like to do Indian (or some variation thereof), either up or downmarket. By way of reference, we live in an area with lots of very good Indian options, and were a bit underwhelmed by dinner at Veeraswamy two years ago. We'd also like to do something along eastern European/Russian lines. Wodka sounds interesting (and near our apartment)---any firsthand experience, or alternate suggestions? An altogether eccentric request, likely not possible: dinner or tea dances. Web searches come across occasional references to both at the Savoy, the former on Fridays and Saturdays in the River Room, the latter Sunday afternoons, but the Savoy web site mentions neither, so probably old information. Any other options? Finally, upmarket for just me and the man: last visit we did lunch at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. Apparently not everybody's favorite, but we had a great meal and great service. This time we're looking to do dinner, again considering Claridge's, but also other outposts of the Ramsey/Wareing empire as well as Le Gavroche. Other suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance for all assistance.

Well, yes, except that you weren't even here on a Saturday for DJ Romeo Cologne's funk show. Did anybody crush a beercan between her breasts for you?

An interesting and well-written book, pretty much spot on accurate insofar as facts go (a friend of mine's one of the sources, actually), and I agree with his conclusions as well. You should read the book, NulloModo. It's not just about fast food, but about how food production practices in this country are pretty much depriving everybody but the best educated and diligent of even the semblance of choice when it comes to food.