jordyn

Here's an interesting webiste: http://www.AirlineMeals.net/ Pictures and descriptions of various meals on many airlines.

Unfortunately, I was very unassertive in France, and did not bring back any menus, but I think it would be possible in many places just by asking (others with more French dining experience will be able to provide more conclusive answers). The only three star that I have eaten at, Michel Bras, has the menu printed on pieces of paper that would be easy to provide to guests upon request. I would be shocked if they denied or looked unfavorably upon such a request. As an alternative, a digital camera with the ability to take close-up pictures would at least allow you to take home a "copy" of the menu.

Balut was recently featured on the television program Fear Factor. Each contestant was required to consume two portions (embryos) within a three or four minute time period. Fear Factor generally tries to present edible items that are so "challenging" that contestants will be unable to eat them. Other items that have been featured include pig rectums, live ants and a "spaghetti" of worms and coagulated blood. I suspect that often the aversion to eating these items is psychological, but at other times the taste may be quite an impediment as well. Note that in the case of the balut, the contestants did quite well: all were able to eat both embryos in the specified period of time. Is Balut generally served raw?

Cabrales: Not sure what a "normal" capacity is. I'm under the impression that the bar at Veritas serves roughly the same food as in the main room (although you can order a la carte instead of a three course prix fixe). Bar Demi, on the other hand, definitely has more bar-like food, although it's a sophisticated sort of bar food. Another option that has been mentioned elsewhere and that I sampled on Tuesday is the "Chef Behind Bar" event on Tuesdays at merge. The food is fairly good, and one of the best values in the City at $1 per "bite". Of course, the wine selection is not nearly as good as the other places that you mentioned.

What do you mean? Is Garrison upstate? Poughkeepsie? Albany?

Cabrales: I've been once before, and am thinking of stopping in tonight because I have late-ish dinner plans. Bar Demi has quite a nice selection of wines by the half bottle (probably as many as I have ever seen anywhere), and upscale snack food. They also have "flights" of food--a few dishes that are designed to be paired with a specific type of wine. I think all of the food comes out of Verbena's kitchen. The space is extremely cozy and quite attractive in a minimalist sort of way. I believe fellow egulleter, nesita, is the manager of Bar Demi. Here is a webpage about Bar Demi.

And, to follow up on Nina's question, do you allow diners any flexibility in terms of specifying requirements of a tasting menu (for example,no tomatoes, or vegetarian, or friendly to a particular type of wine, etc.?) We had a thread a while back on accomodating diners' preferences in such situations versus keeping the kitchen running relatively smoothly and it would be interesting to hear how you approach the problem.

A question for Michael: For you, what is it about eGullet that explains the obsessive appeal? Are there specific characteristics of the site that set it apart from others?

Now that I think about it, my phone's flip is not so much sturdy as unobtrusive. I imagine it would be quite easy to break, but it seems to be always getting out of the way.

I believe the T68 is a one-piece phone, and quite compact as such phones go. I like a well-desiged flip. The Ericcson T28W is an example of such a phone; mostly a brick, with a small flip element that has thus far proven very resilient.

Cabrales: I purchased my phone from an authorized VoiceStream reseller, not from VoiceStream itself. This is a common arrangement and not one that should provoke a significant amount of concern. (Although vendors who hack their phones may be ones that I would think twice about doing business with...) I was actually able to convince Voicestream to unlock my phone somewhat prior to the 90 day window, but I don't know how reliable this would be. I can't comment about any specifics regarding the V66 vs. the V60. Generally I find Motorola phones to be less appealing than either Nokia or Ericcson phones, in terms of styling, user interface, and battery life. However, these differences are often quite minor and subjective in their nature.

GordonCooks: Do LBF and Morimoto accept reservations more than 30 days in advance? Do you happen to know the speciifc details of their reservation policies?

Steve P: That was completely non-responsive. I asked, "Are these messages helping you acheive your very reasonable goals?" Instead of answering, you respond with "Hey, I didn't start it!" Really, it's not very interesting to me who started it. I'm interested in finishing it, and I'm wondering why this conversation is still happening if no one can articulate any useful purpose that it is serving.

Steve P and Cabrales: Both of you have expressed very reasonable goals. Let me ask this, however: Do you think that the rhetoric on this thread has helped get you any closer to your goals? Do you think that further discussion is likely to lead to a desirable result?

Most Amtrak tickets are not interruptable mid-journey, although all or nearly all New York to DC trains stop in Philly. However, it may not be much more expensive to get a ticket that goes New York to Philly, and then Philly to DC. I'm hoping to go to Morimoto soon as well. Maybe in August. How hard is it to get reservations?

I feel like people are trying to 'win' something here, but the irony is that the more we talk, the farther we get away from the worthwhile goal of a happy and sustainable community. What's the endgame here? Why are we still talking? I have some old high school debating trophies lying around. If people want, I will be glad to send them to anyone who needs some affirmation of their rhetorical abilities before they are willing to stop yabbering.

I've never eaten a meal in Milwaukee, but recently I overheard a conversation about a place called Mr. Pizza. I don't know anything about the food, but apparently they have an interesting wine list, with something like 200 wines by the glass. The conversation in question was at Pride Moutain vineyard, where it was revealed that Mr. Pizza was apparently one of the few places in the midwest where those wines could be sampled.

It's not that they went unnoticed, it's just that there's nothing to say without making his ego too big.

Steve P: While you were on vacation, we had a troll come in and respond to a bunch of your messages. By your logic, we might conclude that because you were at the center of all of this troll's post, you might somehow be culpable for their activity. Obviously, such an assumption would be absurd--but no less absurd than your claim that John is somehow responsible for certain for some of the trolling that has ocurred in this thread. The fact is, trolls will prefer to use contentious topics as their base because they are more likely to incite a response. We can use this knowledge to either stay away from contentious discussions entirely, which seems unlikely and unproductive, or take it into account when deciding whether or not it is worthwhile to continue the agony of certain threads.

No. Grimes demoted it to three stars last year.

Nina: Do you have any examples? I know this was experimented with for a while, but I'm under the impression that the airlines were not happy with the results and quickly reversed course. Even the government, which long had one of the strictest policies regarding the use of miles, has recently relented and now allows employees to make use of miles for personal business.

This is pretty much non-negotiable from the airlines' perspective. They want your loyalty to last longer than your job.

In fact, the IRS has recently made an explicit statement that frequent flier miles are not taxable.

Steve P: I don't think anyone's forcing anyone to do anything. Fat Guy is suggesting that this conversation is not serving a particularly useful purpose at this point, and may have a negative effect on the overall community. I happen to agree with him--you obviously don't, but I'd be surprised if anyone "forced" you to stop writing by deleting your message. This seems like a perfectly reasonable approach. Maybe you should contact them and see if they will allow it. I suspect John may even be gracious enough to provide us with the appropriate contact information.

What happens if you leave the company?