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Oh man, I can say pretty unequivocally that though there are lots of good ethnic eateries in Berlin, there was at one time at least one Mexican place that was quite horrifyingly bad. I had been in Europe quite a long time (well, for me. Probably 2 months or so), and the idea of Mexican sounded really good for some reason. I'm pretty sure I ordered enchiladas, and it came out in a little casserole type dish, hot from the oven. At first glance it looked okay, but at first bite I was sorely disappointed. I (thankfully) don't remember the whole thing, but I do recall that they used creme fraiche instead of sour cream, and I think the cheese melted on top of whatever it was tasted a lot like gruyere. The filling was above all bland. I think they substituted mild paprika for any sort of spiciness that might generally be included in such a dish. I'm really sort of glad I can't remember the rest. It was a pretty disturbing experience all around and I don't think I or my girlfriend finished our meals. Oh well, at least the drinks were strong. Surprisingly enough, I actually did have a pretty passable Mexican meal in Budapest once. Why do I go to Europe and order Mexican, anyway? I can't explain that at all. --Ben

I actually got some morels at Uwajimaya almost a month ago. They were pretty cheap, and when I got home I found out why. A bunch of them were moldy. They were packaged in very small groups so I just threw away the moldy ones. However, I actually ended up getting slightly sick eating them. Yuck. Oh well, they didn't cost much.

Hello Everyone, I would like to say a belated thank you very much for the great recommendations! We went to Picholine fairly late the night we arrived and had a stunningly amazing meal. We asked the sommelier to provide us with wine pairings and they were just about perfect. I've never had wine work so well with food, but I'm a relative novice when it comes to true fine dining. The wine service alone was truly inspirational. They started us with a little selection of amuses that included a wild mushroom panna cotta, a bit of sea bass ceviche, and a totally awesome potato/cod puff sort of thing. We all had the following 4 courses: Sea Urchin Panna Cotta - Chilled Ocean Consomme and Caviar Warm Carpaccio of Buffalo - Pomegranate Vinaigrette and Shaved Chocolate Millbrook Venison - Parsnip "Pain Perdu" and Huckleberry Jus Wild Scottish Wood Pigeon - (A special for that night) served in a ravioli with foie gras and a breast with root vegetables, chestnuts, and brussels sprouts leaves Then we had a cheese course picked by Max McCalman to pair with a very nice sauterne which included: Holzige Geiss - Swiss goat Evora - Portuguese sheep Ardrahan - Irish cow Caerphilly - Welsh cow Vacherin Fribourgeois - Swiss cow This was a really thoughtful selection of super interesting cheeses that all were terrific with the sauterne and the little selection of cheese accompaniments. We had 2 desserts: Semoline Cake - Blood Orange-Fennel Marmalade and Olive Oil Ice Cream Chocolate Souffle - Peanut Butter Sorbet and Malt Foam This whole meal really was outstanding. I didn't write down the wine pairings, but the sommelier did a pretty amazing job with all of them. So that was pretty hard to beat, but after we saw Ennio Morricone (amazing) at Radio City Music Hall the next night we went down to momofuku ssam bar at about 11:30 and were seated immediately. We had: Seasonal pickles Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Ham Grilled Veal Sweetbreads Steamed buns with pork belly Momofuku Ssam (and maybe something else?) This was all really delicious too and a welcome follow-up to the relative formality of Picholine. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here too. The creativity here was pretty impressive. I loved the American ham served as it was. The sweetbreads were also a bit of a revelation as I'd never had them before. Really yummy all around. So thank you all again! We'll certainly be going back to NYC again, at least for the food. There are so many other great suggestions to try. --Ben

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions! I will look at Mas for sure, and Momofuku. Someone also mentioned Picholine and Telepan in a PM, both of which are certainly more formal. Any thoughts on those choices? They seem to serve 'til 11:30 or 11:45, though I would have to confirm that Picholine is willing to do tasting menus that late. I'm not really set on something more formal, but my cohorts had suggested that they kind of wanted a big blow-out dinner, so I framed my question with that in mind. I personally just want something really amazingly delicious. Momofuku may be just the ticket in that case. Has anyone been to Momofuku that late? Is it likely to be crowded? We actually have two nights, but the first will probably be dedicated to pizza. Lunch on Saturday will probably be a tasty deli (or two.) I've found lots of good suggestions for both of those options on this very forum! Again, thank you all. I don't think I found any of these options on my own, and they're all definitely worth considering. --Ben

My girlfriend, a friend, and I are going to New York next month, Saturday, February 3rd, to see a concert (Ennio Morricone!) at Radio City Music Hall, and we'd very much like to go out for some really amazing food afterwards. The show starts at 8:00pm, and I'm not sure when it will end, but I'd guess we'd be making reservations for something like 11:00 or 11:30. It appears to me that most of the higher end restaurants stop serving food at about that time, even on a Saturday. I've spent some time searching the forums and I've not come up with any great ideas, aside from maybe Babbo (pasta tasting menu)? Price isn't too huge of a concern as long as it's less than a couple of hundred dollars per person. Ideally I'd like the option of a tasting menu, possibly with paired wines. Cuisine is up in the air, but I think at least one of us isn't terribly adventurous when it comes to sushi, so that's about the only consideration. What other options are out there? I very much appreciate any input! I thought these would be slightly easier requirements to meet in NYC, but I haven't had a ton of luck so far. Thanks! Ben

Hey, I noticed they were offering bahn mi a while back! I like their food but we always forget to go there. Can you talk about this some more? What do they offer? How much are they? I think it would take a lot to convince me to go there for a sandwich rather than wander a couple of blocks further down to Baguette Box... Speaking of Baguette Box, does anyone else remember the pork confit sandwich they had for a very short time? I daydream about that sandwich. --Ben

I actually eat here about once a month for dinner and just about as often for brunch. I think Crave is really quite good! (I guess I wouldn't go there that often if I didn't. ) The service at brunch is sometimes a bit spotty. If you do go for brunch try to get there well before noon on a weekday. The (small) place gets very packed on weekends and during the weekday lunch hour. Dinner service is much more reliable than brunch service. If one were to go to dinner at Crave I'd probably recommend going Tuesday-Saturday. That's generally when the owner/head chef is cooking and it often really shows in the preparation. Once again though, it does get pretty packed for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. Oh yeah, and Tuesday is half price wine night! Yay! I think even if I didn't live about 3 blocks away I'd still go here pretty often! Just about everything on their menu is very thoughtfully made with a lot of care, though some dishes just aren't quite "there." The daily fish specials are sometimes not quite as well conceived as the regular menu, but they're never inedible and sometimes a little more adventurous than the standard stuff. I'd classify it pretty much as described on their website, "contemporary comfort food" with occasional flashes of delicious excellence. I think they've improved quite a bit since opening. The chef changes the menu 3-4 times a year, generally to good effect. The online menu isn't at all up to date right now. She just added this sort of interesting lamb shepard's pie that I'll probably order at least one more time. It's basically a spicy lamb stew topped with mashed root vegetables. Quite good. I think the flavors reminded me of Indian food a little bit but I can't really remember the actual spices used. (hence my desire to order it one more time.) The desserts generally sound interesting but are usually pretty much just very sweet, and I often find them fairly dull. There are a few interesting things, but I think the chef is more successful with the rest of the menu. There was a goat cheese cheesecake with raspberry reduction recently that was pretty tasty. Anyway, good stuff, and this is my first post in the PNW forum! Hello! I've been reading here for a long time (3 years? 4?) and I finally decided I could/should contribute a bit. Thank you all for the excellent recommendations over the years. (whoa, I just wrote way more than I'd planned.) --Ben

My parents' morel hunting neighbor in Oregon will only tell us that he finds them, "Under bam trees near water." What bam trees are I don't know for sure, but I believe he means cottonwoods. He seems to always come away with a few pounds of them during the season. Luckily he was always nice enough to give us a bag or two. We also dipped them in egg, breaded them with cracker crumbs, and fried them. Ah the tastes of childhood... Anyway, I have tried his advice, and found a few handfuls, but never in the quantities he has brought home. I think on or around dead cottonwoods near water would be the ideal location. (hey, my first post.) --Ben