Holly Moore

Having been there - amid the food technicians, flavor tecnologists, operational mavens and marketing whizzes - all reeking of compentency - I would suggest that far more "technical expertise" has gone into the development of a Big Mac than into any "fine eats."

A plate of pecan sandies and mini-oreos. Rinsed down by a glass of lemon diet coke to keep the calories down.

The late Chef Louis Szathmary who ran "The Bakery" in Chicago - considered one of Chicago's finest restaurants in its time (and where, as I remember, one entered through the kitchen), also opened one of the first Soup restaurants in the country. $5 got you a bowl of chicken soup with half a chicken in it and some good, crusty bread on the side. A lot of chefs of great restaurants open a glittery bistro with still relatively high menu pricing and sleek decor, but Chef Louis is the only chef I can recall who has made his food available to the masses.

I did one long, cold, lonely year in Stevens Point Wisconsin back in the early 70's. Had to fly to Chicago every once in a while. The best choice was a prop place, seating 8 or 10 flying out of Wausau. I think the airline was Midway, Midwest or something like that. Maybe it's how either Midway or Midwest started. The pilot was the owner. His wife did the food service. I remember a jug of fresh sqeezed lemonade and a picnic hamper of smoked sausage, Wisconsin cheddar and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Some one took the provided kitchen knife and sliced up the sausage and cheese. Someone else poured the lemonade. Truly a party in the sky between Wausau and ORD.

Ah, but there is much to discuss beyond shucking about Bowen's Island oysters. Not only that these are marsh oysters in clumps as opposed to the more typical individual oysters and are the oysters truly roasted or steamed, but one can easily get into a half hour conversation with the guy roasting the oysters about the marsh around Bowen's island, cooking techniques, seasonal variations and such. Also - spade as opposed to shovel for best transporting the roasted oysters from pit to table, does the wet burlap bag placed over the oysters while they roast enhance or detract from the flavor of the oyster, iodine versus more modern medical balms for treatment of the nicks and cuts, and the best way to remove Bowen's Island mud from one's shirt. Or one can shut up and finish the mound of oysters in front of him so the next shovel full off the grill heads his way. Seriously, I agree that it is easier to find complexity in high cuisine, but there are exceptions. The first that comes to mind is barbecue. All manner of regional variations, all manner of cooking within those variations, all manner of sauces to serve with the barbecue, etc. Add sides, and heritage of barbecue and barbecue around the world...

As stated elsewhere, 16 page strings intimidate me. I read the first two pages of this topic and then surrendered and clicked on "reply" to add my two bits. I apologize in advance if I am simply repeating what was astutely put forth by others on pages three through 15. I see fine dining and cheap eats as anything but divergent concepts. Price of a meal has little to do with fine dining. Fine dining can be a seven course menu at Daniel. It can just as well be a shovelful of roast oysters at Bowen's Island, a lobster in the rough at Waterman's Lobster, a bag full of cheeseburgers from White Manna, a pint of clams from Woodman's of Essex, a plate of 'cue with a side of "hash" at Sweatman's, or a cheesesteak with extra wiz at Steve's Prince of steaks. Much of what goes into what is generally regarded as the "fine dining" experience is fluff that has nothing to do with the cuisine, itself. The multi-million dollar decor, the imported china, the finest of linens, the elegant floral arrangements. Fluff. The emperor's new clothes. Any cuisine must speak for itself and not depend on pompous gilt and glitter to validate the meal or suplement/enhance the "fine dining experience". They say that only the finest of ingredients are selected by "fine dining" chefs. That's nice. But the same can be said for a Waterman's lobster, a Bowen's Island oyster or a Sweatman's smoked pork shoulder. Fresh, locally procured, top quality. Complexity of preparation. Got me there. But I'm not sure the complexity of a three star entree is any more worthy of respect that the pure simplicity of a plate of barbecued ribs, a side of smoked, baked beans and a couple of ears of fresh Jersey corn. The skill of the preparer. I have great respect for a fine chef. But, like Studds Terkel, I have equal respect for the skill of the guy who gathers and roasts the oysters at Bowen's or who runs the pits at Sweatman's. Each excels at what he does. Each takes tremendous pride in his product. Each has committed years of hard work to perfecting his craft. My goal for fine dining is to eat very well and do so comfortably with minimum pomp and ceremony. Any time I can "fine dine" without suffering a starched shirt, menus in foreign languages and legions of upward facing, gratuity grabbing palms, I figure I'm way, way, way ahead of the game.

Will have to give it a try, along with Libby's Lunch and Fink's, my next trip to North Jersey.

Not sure where you can pick them off a boat, but the aforementioned Watererman's Beach and also the Lobsterman's Coop have boats docking at their restaurant. But I think that's the case for many of the Maine Lobster Pounds. My best advice is to avoid the places overrun by tourists, but that depends on where you're going to be.

Don't know where the Millinocket area is, but the New England portion of my site Eating the New England Coast has a bunch of lobster, clam and similar restaurants up and down the coast. Nothing yet on Bar Harbor though. My three current favorites are Red's Eats on Rte 1 in Wiscasset for lobster roll, Bet's Fish Fry in the Town of Boothbay just before Boothbay Harbor for Fried Haddock, and Waterman's Beach (won a Regional Beard Award) in South Thomaston for Lobster. I don't tend to eat all that upscale in Maine, so someone else can point you towards the fine dining.

Halved strawberries, dabbed with natural peanut butter. I haven't tried this yet, but I suspect it would really be special if the peanut butter and strawberries were encased in a rich chocolate.

Maybe it's a father thing. My father who grew up in Jersey and then California also sprinkled cantelope with salt. A Hungarian friend introduced me to open faced sandwiches of soft, sweet butter and sliced radishes sprinkled with a little salt. Delightful addition to a summer table.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to repeat the opportunity - but about 10 years I flew Singapore Airlines around the world - first class. The details are blurry, but I remember the only champagne available to make a morning mimosa was Dom Perignon, that they never ran out of caviar or fois gras, and that all the meals were incredible no matter how long or short the leg of the flight.

For American cuisine, I've found John Mariani's Dictionary of American Food and Drink quite useful, especially back when I was writing my column and had to appear universally astute. Elsewhere in the world, I agree on The Foods of the Western World. A similar reference that I've also used has been Dictionary of Gastronomy by Adre L. Simon and Robin Howe.

Just saw in one of the weekly papers, Bella is replacing the Waldorf Cafe. Chef is member of Slow Food. Opening in August. Re Italian. Some of my favorite restaurants are Italian, but..... There are so many of them. I'm thinking close to one out of every two restaurants in Philadelphia that has opened in Philadelphia over the past few years has Italian cuisine.

20th and Lombard is indeed Center City Philadelphia, though pretty much a residential neighborhood. Last time I checked there are two restaurants on that corner - the Waldorf Cafe - a classic and very good restaurant renaissance survivor - and Chaucer's - a great place for a beer and a burger. Off and on there also has been a separate restaurant above Chaucers.

John, at first I thought you were talking about putting peanuts in boulliabaisse. I scanned the ingredient list and instructions. No peanuts. It wasn't until I had finished reading the entire post that I got it. Sad, really. I'm thinking Snoopy, Woodstock and Charlie Brown sharing a tureen at a sidewalk cafe in Marseilles.

Snert - Dutch Green Pea Soup Snapper Soup as was made by the Old Original Bookbinders with a super rich veal stock base. Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Soup with Dumplings, Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls. Turkey Soup a couple of days after Thanksgiving. My mother's lentil soup. Oyster Stew prepared from heavy cream. Made to order Cam Chowder (similar to Oyster Stew) as sometimes found along the Maine Coast Mexican/Puerto Rican Fish Soup/Stew

If nothing else I strive to be tangentfully useful. Tequilla's is on the 1600 block of Locust in Center City Philadelphia. In my experience it is one of the finer Mexican restaurants in the country - very little border fare, mucho regional Mexican cooking from all of Mexico. Among other dishes, Tequilla's prepares excellent and traditional huevos rancheros. I often have them crumble in some chorizo lest I eat a vegetarian entree.

Out of curiosity from what locale do Texas fried clams come? Are they Ipswich clams flown in from New England or is a suitable clam available off the Texas Coast?

I'm sure there are some extremely adequate coffee roasters in New York City. But according to an article in this month's Philadelphia Magazine, a few pretty good New York City chefs - Jean Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse - and even, gush gush, MARTHA, import their coffee from the provinces, namely Philadelphia. The coffee is La Colombe. La Colombe Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia also uses La Colombe.

It's my experience that the odds favoring poor service are much greater in a restaurant that is very slow as opposed to very busy. Think it's for a couple of reasons - first, no rush equals no adrenaline. Second, servers by nature, tend to gather in packs and gossip about all manner of topics, not the least being any server who isn't working that shift. When the restaurant is slow the chances are the servers are huddled back in the kitchen or in a server area gabbing and gabbing. It's times like these, when no servers are in sight, that I use my cell phone to call the restaurant from my table to make sure they are still open.

Put on your old clothes, pack a first aid kit to repair nicks from the oyster shells and get thee to Bowen's Island a little bit south of Charleston. Bowen's Island @ HollyEats.Com

Plate painting has been around for quite a while, to the point that I have even encountered versions in Jersey diners. However the chef at Boothbay Harbor Maine's finest, Christopher's Boathouse, has devised an approach I have not seen even in the finer New York City restaurants. I am unsure of the purpose of labeling the dish. Perhaps to help our server distinguish between lamb shanks and grilled salmon, perhaps to reassure this diner that he was indeed receiving the lamb shank as ordered. I used a tine of my dinner fork to change the "H" in shank to a "P" but I suspect my jocularity was lost on the dish machine operator.

I kinda like the idea of living on the QE2 like the woman on, I think, 60 Minutes or one of those shows. There is also a Condominium Ocean Liner set to roam the world. Either case I'd have a permanent "Do Not Disturb" sign on my stateroom door for whenever the social director came acalling. Either that or split residency - Boothbay Harbor, Kennebunkport or Sebago Lake Maine Spring to Fall, Austin Texas in the Winter. But there's nothing wrong with Philly, either.

Steve - I think any major city has the wealth of universities and diversity of lower income immigrants. I doubt if it is any more so in DC, but could be. I agree that both probably account for much of the demand for ethnic cuisine. One bit of common wisdom goes that one can almost always find a good SE Asian restaurant near a military base. The logic being that those returning from Vietnam and Korea had developed an appetite for and knowledge of the various SE Asian cuisines and wanted it. I took that bit of common wisdom one step further, concluding that with the Pentagon, the beltway bandits hiring ex-military and the bases around DC, along with State Department and other US Agencies, that there would be sizable demand from those posted overseas. I was also influenced by a visit to the International Safeway store in Northern VA a while back. Those showing me around said it existed mostly to feed embassy row and those working out of the embassies. I put two and two together and came up with three, four or five. Not sure which and I don't know DC well enough to run specific comparisons between cities. Guess I was wondering if, for the above reasons, 1) DC has more diversity of cuisines and 2) if cuisines have been introduced into the US in DC and expanded to other cities.