elivesay

Zona Rosa is next door to a bar owned by a close friend of mine. I'm at his bar way more than I should admit, and we have observed many times exactly what Amanda Hesser pointed out in her last paragraph - it is usually empty. So one Wednesday night soon after it opened, feeling all neighborly and rather sorry for their lack of business, a group of about ten of us ventured there. This was a spur of the moment decision after having a few drinks. After a few drinks at Zona Rosa, please understand the level of tequila in my blood stream prohibited me from remembering too many details about the food, except that I really enjoyed it. I do remember the service was good, but it took *forever* for the drinks to come from the upstairs bar. Considering we were pretty much the only ones there, we were somewhat confused, but understanding, and simply resorted to ordering a round in advance. I can't remember the amount of the check, but figure food and at least three drinks per person times ten, and we dropped quite a bit of cash. Their avocado margarita stood out as particularly interesting and delicious, so two nights later five of us went back just for drinks. The staff recognized us from before. This time we went straight upstairs to the bar, hoping for better luck with the speed issue. We ordered five avocado margaritas and were told they weren't making them that night, not because they were out of avocados, but because they were too labor intensive for the demand. This, I should point out, was on a Friday night around 7:00. Again, my friends and I are pretty laid back and understanding, although this time slightly annoyed because we are all either current or former bartenders and/or bar owners and never heard of such a concept, especially if business is slow and you have the ingredients. We shrugged our shoulders, chose some other drinks, all of which were nice and exactly as described on the drink menu, made a few "gee, I wonder how long this place will last" comments and had a good time and no other complaints. I'm being too long-winded so now I'll get to my point and a question. I'll freely admit I've never made an avocado margarita, but I'm sure they had some avocados lying around, as well as some tequila and whatever else and a blender, and it wasn't like we were only ordering one. Although that's not the sort of thing that's a deal breaker between me and good food, which they do seem to have and I fully intend to try again in a more sober state, it just didn't sit quite right in my mind as good customer service. If the place were established and terribly busy, I would be more understanding. But if you are new and don't have much business, and we are repeat business and next door neighbors, is it unreasonable for me to be disappointed they wouldn't make the drinks? Barring the small possibility that making these drinks is extremely complicated and time consuming beyond my imagination's capabilities, I think not. But I'm open to opinions

You're killing me, Tommy! They are worse than I remembered! You have to be drunk or otherwise altered to have the courage to *go* there. Edited to say that while there are no doors for the individual urinals, I do think I remember a door to the men's room itself because I noticed the lack of a sign and wandered in there. To my horror

i don't even recall *any* doors on the men's room at CBGBs. maybe a curtain. either way, best to hold it. oh my. The first time I went there, I asked my friend to point me to the ladies' room. He said, uh, we'll leave and I'll take you someplace else, you can't go here. I laughed and said that was simply ridiculous and went off and found it for myself. I should have listened to him...

CBGBs is pure trial and error. The only things on the doors are more of those band stickers that are on every other surface there. If you walk in and see a urinal, well then you know where you are.

that's evil!

I was just commenting on this subject to my boyfriend last week. We ran into some random bar in Midtown to escape the cold. I went to the ladies room, which had nothing but some sort of Xena-woman painted on it. A man in a similar style was painted on the men's room door. I came back from the experience thinking, while I agree there is much room for creativity on the "Men/Women" theme in some establishments, a bloody bar really should stick to the basics because I can see the possibility for my own confusion if I wandered back there after a few drinks.

My boyfriend is a Captain at an upscale restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. The way I've seen him handle this when we've gone to nice restaurants is to leave one tip for the table, and if he feels the Captain was especially attentive and accomodating, he will tip him separately in cash as we say goodbye. When he works, he works as a team with two waiters, and they split the table tip evenly three ways (after the set aside for the busboys, bartenders, etc.). Sometimes he gets something handed to him separately as the customer leaves, sometimes not. If it is a regular customer, he will get a separate tip more often than not.

Sorry. That's exactly what it is. All the stuff in his regular mix, without the cayenne, which I think he listed as "optional." I like to think my kids are a bit more open than most of their peers in what they will eat, but they really didn't think Baby Bam was an improvement to mac-n-cheese, or anything else we tried. They didn't even like the things WITHOUT the Bam. I didn't expect fabulous gourmet meals from this cookbook, but I did expect some average-tasting things the kids would have fun making. Not the case. Just a bunch of below average renditions of American kid-friendly dishes.

Emeril's There's a Chef in My Soup. It's a cookbook aimed at kids. I will say it does have adorable illustrations. My daughter saw it at Borders and thought she and her brothers would have fun with it. Heck, I was just pleased she was asking me to buy her a cookbook. I didn't really look at it until we got home, and then I saw that many of the recipes include what he calls Baby Bam. We made a couple of things the kids wouldn't even eat, despite the fact they helped make them. The book now resides on the bookshelf no one sees to avoid well deserved guffaws from guests.

Within the past three years, I lost 20 pounds two different times on Atkins. Then I gained back every single pound (and more) when I went back to eating carbs. I finally gave up on Atkins and joined Weight Watchers three weeks ago. I've lost about 7 pounds so far. I'm going to try to avoid sounding like a WW commercial, but I like being able to eat absolutely anything I want, and the going-to-meetings thing and weighing in weekly seems to work for me. But after being on Atkins for so long, it's taking a bit of work to rewire my brain circuits. I've finally discovered the bottom line in my weightloss success is not so much WHAT I eat, but controlling the portions. Atkins doesn't really address the portion control very well, so when I would start eating carbs again, there was no net change in my diet from before Atkins, and the weight would pile right back on. And, oh, the carb binges I would have! I think it makes it so much easier for me to deal with feeding the kids this way, as well. Pretty much anything I make for them, I can also eat. Last night we made pizza, and this morning pancakes. I ate some of both. Not in the way or in the amount I would have in the past, but at least this way I don't feel completely deprived. And I should say I've not increased my activity level in the least. The NYC walking I do daily (approx. an hour) is all the activity I'm willing to do. Good luck, therdogg. I'm sure you'll find the right balance.

I will never again substitute my hand for the top part of the Kitchen Aid Citrus Press. See that top swingy part which squishes the fruit against the nub while the machine with all its mighty power juices it? Last night I decided it was adversely affecting my efficiency and thought if I only use the pulse control, why not use my hand instead? I got to the third lemon half and found out exactly why I shouldn't use my hand. Luckily it was only the lemon that flew against the wall. I escaped with only a few scrapes. Whew! I know, I know...with 670 watts I should have never even allowed my brain cells to form the thought (the 670 watts = machine, not my brain ). But it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Yes, yes, yes! My grandfather would send me out as a kid to go pick them, and I'd come back with a purple face and very few blackberries to show for my labor.

When I was a kid in Tennessee, my farmer grandparents didn't have dairy cows, but would get what we called "cow butter" (I guess to distinguish it from store-bought butter) from local farmer friends, who churned it the old fashioned way from fresh-from-the-cow milk. I've never had anything else that came close to the taste of that gorgeous butter melted over my Mamaw's biscuits.

Thanks, Fifi. I'm happy to be here. Thanks, Dave. Now I feel like a ding dong. But I'm a eGullet virgin, so I'll use that as an excuse, for now.

Thanks. I did look for a thread, but I'm new here so I must have missed it. I'll look again. I must say I wasn't looking forward to getting those grooves on the grill side properly seasoned.