LaNiña

That reasoning would mean that every industry has the ability to know ahead of time what will sell. If only...

In my family, we make something that I've known as "mayufka" in Polish - it's just cottage cheese with the following mixed in, chopped not so fine: radishes, cucumbers, scallions, green pepper. Also salt and pepper. And some sour cream. I learned at some point that "mayufka" is the name for a May party, so perhaps at some point this was a dish traditionally prepared for such a party.

Oh it is not. The vast majority of the buying public has no idea of the level of taste and discernment you speak of. They buy for value. And price, at least where food is concerned, is influenced by all kinds of t hings other than quality - weather, scarcity, availability, overproduction, fuel prices, etc., etc.

That makes no sense. You can't say on the one hand that the market doesn't know quality but people do. First of all, the market IS the people - it's the people voting their choices with their dollars. Second, you can't say that only conoisseurs and people of taste care about quality and then claim that "the people" care about quality. Either refined taste is ubiquitous, or it belongs to an experienced, educated minority. You can't have it both ways.

2512 Steinway St., Astoria. Closed Mondays. He's about to close up for several weeks, so call to check. No reservations. 718-728-9858.

I think the texture of the eyeball is similar to the texture of well cooked chicken gizzards. Ali is indeed a most gracious host, but he and I do have a big lovefest goin' on, it's true. I'm sure you can imagine how much fun it is to hang out with this guy outside of his restaurant - he's wonderful in that context too. The tables you spoke of are made by Mustafa, who is Ali's brother. Mustafa owns a restaurant a few doors down, called Mombar, which is also terrific. A bit more formal, more menu-based, a little more expensive, and around 3 times the size. I'll go there when Ali goes on vacation. I've been eating a lot lately at a little Ecuadorian place in my neighborhood called El Conquistador - they make a really good cow's foot soup - could be a good thing to try as you continue your cow's foot dish exploration. I also want to note that Ali makes all kinds of things, and not primarily offal. I pre-ordered this meal for us.

I was just teasin' ya. Me love fresca.

I never ate while sitting in a pool of fresca, must try it...

Ok, I shall attempt to list what we ate. Please consider this an initial list, with not much detail. We'll all fill in. First, the booze: to start: sherry - oloroso 3 whites - a south african chardonnay, a fat bastard chardonnay, and the Chassagne Montrachet. reds: an australian grenache, a rioja, and a cotes de languedoc. simon brought his usual contribution of terrific single malt scotch for the end. Food: we started with a salad - lettuce, tomato, onion, with a marvelous sprinkling of middle eastern "hocus pocus" as Ali likes to call it. Also, a cold sliced beet salad. Then the meats started coming out: sweetbreads brains cow's foot soup tripe soup kidneys spleen hearts two different preparations of liver aboo zalouf, the head meat of a sheep (or was it a veal head this time)? that's the dish that contained the eyeballs, with some tongue and cheeks, too jaybee's wife ellen had a sauteed shrimp dish, which was good - she allowed me to eat the shrimp heads. yum. for dessert, apple slices with honey, some middle eastern pastries, turkish coffee, mint tea, and I shared a really good cigar with Ali, courtesy of jaybee. I also did a little tango with Ali at the end. Ok, that's a start.

I know, I know, it was just scary to have it happen.

I'm with you on that one.

I suppose one could use kasha as a kishke filling, but it wouldn't be the most traditional way.

Heresy, I know, but I was there on Tuesday for the 4,789th time and it was off. Same with 2 visits ago. Hmmm.

Hey, I was always a late bloomer.

Oh, Jin where were you when I was tarred and feather on CH?

I suppose my question arose because I hear (not from you, mind you) so many people I know say things about "stuffy" restaurants, when what I think they really mean is that they're uncomfortable with formality, and perhaps even elegance. Also, someone's unfamiliarity with the conventions of manners in the context of fine dining tends to make a person defensive, and therefore the place gets declared to be stuffy or pretentious, when what they really feel is their own discomfort at feeling out of place. With this crowd, I think we could probably separate the issues, which seemed interesting to me.

In your experience, JD, what are the distinctions, between stuffiness and formality, pretension and politesse?

Plotnicki's a friend of MPs, la la It helps him to do as he please, la la Okay, okay, I saw "Iolanthe" at the Savoy in March. I'm still laughing.

kishke, not kasha.

Set it to music and we'll have our own G&S operetta. Ha! That would be hilarious - the egullet G&S operetta. Jaybee, start writing (note: anybody familiar with Anna Russell?)

There's no inefficiency in the market. The market measures what it measures with the greatest efficiency of any system imaginable. But it doesn't measure what tastes better. It measures what people like better. Now you can side with the people, or you can side with what tastes better. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not sure it necessarily measures what people *like* better. It measures what people spend money on.

Yes, Wilfrid, good point. This is one of the reasons I keep going back to Le Perigord (the restaurant, I mean). I want those places to stay.

If I think Yiddish but dress Brittish, can I come too?

Note: this event is in a different restaurant, and partner is a different wine shop. P.S. I'm not going.

Traditional kishke is not pork. No traditional Jewish food has any pork anywhere near it. It's stuffed derma - cow intestines. NOUN: Beef casing (intestine) stuffed with a seasoned mixture of matzo meal or flour, onion, and suet, prepared by boiling, then roasting. Also called kishke, stuffed derma. ETYMOLOGY: Possibly Yiddish gederem, intestines, from Middle High German darm, intestine, from Old High German. Note: in the tradition with which I'm familiar, chicken fat is always used in the filling, too.