baw

I was just wondering how to hold my hungry belly over until dinner .. reading this thread did the trick! I have one too ... when I was in high school, i found a twisted nail (as in a thick metal nail) in a tater tot when I popped it into my mouth and chomped down. The cafeteria lady offered me a fresh bowl of tots .. from the same batch!

I went there a few weeks ago for the 'Elvis': gobs of peanut butter, honey, bacon, and bananas on wheat bread (my choice) slathered in butter and grilled ($7 or 8). Although satisfying at the time, I haven't been able to touch peanut butter since

fwiw - I just noticed that Rare Vos and Hennepin Farmhouse are available from FreshDirect for $10 for 4pk/12 oz bottles ..

Otto on a Saturday night can get pretty insane! A good time and good gelato, but definitely not a quiet or mellow atmosphere, if that is a priority for you.. Have fun!

ooops! .. FF = short for Foster Farms :)

I used to agree with sml's, phaelon56's and hest88's point of view on this, but my opinion has softened. I don't think its bad to choose to act on 'animal rights' 50% of the time vs 0% of the time, as long as you aren't preaching to me about what I should do. For animal/human treatment reasons (see Fast Food Nation for the human treatment side), I usually choose to not order non-fish meat when eating out if I don't know what the meat's source is (i.e. small farm, free range chicken vs Foster Farms chicken; I wouldnt even mention my ordering strategy to dining mates unless we are good friends.). That doesn't mean I never eat hot dogs at Grey's or eat FF chicken, and I dont think that inconsistency makes me a terrible person . I make it a point to order meat at restaurants that serves grass fed, organic and/or free roaming type animal products, and generally buy such products for my own home use but more often than not dont cook with meat. Much of my social circle follows the same sort of eating habits, albeit without label... I think we are the type of consumers the article is talking about. Following the "shouldn't wear leather" logic, I could be nailed for making eating choices based on animal/human treatment while wearing clothes that were made in sweatshops where human treatment is terrible, which I'm sure I do. I wont criticize someone for trying, as long as they dont preach to me, and I don't know anyone that does. Maybe you do, which is why it is more of a sore spot.. Just my 2 cents!

I'm glad I don't have one of those all night street carts near me, soba! I have a hard enough time resisting late night chowing as it is My favorite cart is the dosa man on the south side of Washington Square park. For $4, a huge and yummy masala dosa, a tiny thing of spicy soup, and some spicy coconut chutney (i think that's what it is). His samosas are also tasty. I dont go there much cuz there can be a long wait ..

I went to Bianca last night with 4 friends .. it was a wonderful meal. Here is what i remember: I looked briefly at the wine list, and just asked for a recommendation from the 'Good Values' section. There were many (20-30?) red wine 'good values', which I believe is less than $40 a bottle. We started out sharing some antipasti: a house-marinated sardine special, fried baby artichokes+parsley, grilled radicchio w/ proscuitto and parmesean. I only tried the artichoke and radicchio dish and they were delicious (esp the radicchio)! The portions were large enough to share, but modest enough to consume by yourself. For my entree, I had thin sliced filet mingon, barely seared and generously seasoned with salt and rosemary. The meat was juicy and tender; I loved it. It came with some very tasty roasted potatoes. My friends ordered the rack of lamb special, tagliatelle with ragu, and another pasta with sausage and red peppers. I didn't taste anyone else's entrees, but everyone seemed to enjoy their selections. For dessert, we shared: tiramisu, tartufo, panna cotta, and a plate w/ 4 cheeses. The desserts were all presented nicely. I enjoyed the panna cotta the most .. it was sweet and vanilla-y (i think), just how I like it. Does the preparation of panna cotta differ between different regions of Italy? The other desserts were nice. The cheeses we had were: a mild, gooey taleggio, a pecorino, a gorgonzola, and a young something-or-other hard cheese. They were served with 2 different honeys for the hard cheeses and 2 different marmalade-type condiments for the softies. The taleggio was my favorite, but they were all good. Overall, we had a delicious meal and great service; I will definitely be going back. Not including specials (I didn't see the bill) the antipasti were ~$7-10, the entrees were $9-$15, and the desserts (except cheese plate) were $6. The wine we drank was $27.

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but I hear that Gobo on 6th Ave near Washington Square Park is pretty great (the white bean+cremini casserole was specifically recommended to me). I couldn't find anything on the menu that was not vegan, but the website seems to use 'vegetarian'.

sushi

I also want to add my belated thanks to the lovely hosts, suzanne and hwoe, and to everyone else for their hospitality (and tasty pies). Im still amazed at how nicely the monstrous burger bun came out. thanks for that treat, kirk!

I'll bring a mushroom pie/tart

If there is still room, I would like to join the potluck too! I will bring beverages (any requests?), but I'm not sure what food item yet ... baw