WK2

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I lived in downtown Wilmington for a year. It's not exactly a food mecca, and it might have changed since I was there three years ago. Having said that, Domaine Hudson is fine. Deep Blue is the main fancy seafood place in town, and is good but not spectacular. Iron Hill Brewery is a decent enough brewery/chophouse. Toscana Kitchen has good Italian downtown, though there is also a pretty decent little italy. Mikimoto's was thought to be the best Japanese, though I thought it was only ok. There's also some decent places along the waterfront - I can't remember the names aside from Harry's Savoy, but if the weather is nice they're pleasant enough to sit in. Outside town (and I realize you didn't ask about this) Sovano Bistro in Kennett Square is truly excellent (as in, would survive even here in NYC), though it is far. Krazy Kat's is pretty good, as is Pizza by Elizabeth (upscale pizza). Honestly, we most enjoyed eating at Wilmington's cheaper places. Libby's diner is an anachronistic local scene with satisfying breakfast. Charcoal Pit has excellent hamburgers. Tijuana Taco shop and the adjoining bakery (get the Churros) are very good. Mrs. Robino's Italian is out of the 1950's, but cheap and tasty.

And honestly, I've never had a huge problem getting a seat at D&Co. Maybe we go out at wierd hours because both of us get sleepy, but honestly the most I've waited is half an hour.

Like others on this thread, I'm not sure I understand the problem with Ozersky, even if he is biased. We no longer live in a world where we particularly need to obsess over the reliability of one critic, or one outlet, or one newspaper. Rather, the confluence of the big (and small) New York dining blogs creates a pretty efficient market in restaurant and food information, reliable, unreliable, petty, important, whatever, and it's all to our benefit. Take Ozersky, for example, and the supposed shilling for La Frieda. Even if Ozersky's efforts have unfairly elevated La Frieda, the probable alternative to the supposedly shilled information is not the same amount of perfectly unbiased information, but either no information or less information. As it is, Ozersky has introduced a lot of us to a part of the food chain that otherwise would have remained shrouded. Isn't that helpful, even if Ozersky might be too taken with La Frieda (if indeed he is)? The problem reminds me a bit of recent complaints I've read about journalists granting anonymity to administration officials without sufficient cause. Frankly, I'd rather have the info given anonymously than no info at all, and would have assumed the same was true of most people.

I met the bagel-twinkie person, or at least one of them. You get some goofy results out of focus groups, sometimes. "People love our cream cheese. (yay!) People really love bagels (yay!). But buying bagels and putting our cream cheese on them is inconvenient (boo!) It involves knives and things. Also, people like breakfast bars (yay!) So let's somehow combine our cream cheese with bagels in something that looks like a breakfast bar! But I think the worst product is the ready made peanut butter sandwich. I mean, come on. It can't take more than 30 seconds to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for your kid.

A few of my favorite coffee and something sweet breakfasts: An espresso and an apricot filled cornetto at Zibetto (italian espresso) on 56th and 6th (no seats) (or, even, get your croissant or pastry at Bouchon in Time Warner and run it over to Zibetto for the coffee). Pain au chocolat and cafe au lait at La Bergamote (19th and 9th, and 52nd and 10th) The "country breakfast" at Amy's Bread (I'm not a huge Amy's fan, but I love the combination of biscuits and jam) (multiple locations) Cream (not raspberry) bomboloni at Sullivan Street Bakery I'm sure someone will eventually mention Artichoke for a slice of pizza. As for other lunches, you can make a bit of a study of the burger renaissance, if that's your thing. In midtown, there's Burger Joint, Beacon, 5 Napkin Burger, City Burger.

We hit halfsteak tonight. Exactly as described above, a perfect place when you want a good dinner but don't feel like paying too much. I also don't want to eat huge chunks of beef, although I like it, so the six ounce portion was perfect. I have to say that I feel like the various appetizers and the desserts are kind of a waste of space. Two beers and a halfsteak seems like the right answer next time I visit. I just wish it was somewhere more convenient. Ugh re: 10th avenue and 15th.

I've eaten at both in the past year, though not as often as some of the others. I preferred Per Se, for a couple of reasons. Tasting menus at both. 1) I find Ripert's cuisine a little too clean, a little too surgical. As paradoxical as it is to call 3-star food gritty, I thought PS's food had a little more edge. 2) I love fish. But fish after fish after fish at Le Bernardin became tiresome, to my surprise. 3) The service at PS was seamless, whereas I had a few minor niggles at Le Bernardin. 4) I like the room at PS better. On PS versus France, I have to say that the 1 star restaurants in Provence I dined at this summer were as good or better than Le Bernardin, while PS is better than they are. I have not had the Parisian 3 star experience, though.

Finally got to Beacon, based on Fat Guy's long running recommendation. We thought it was terrific - chophouse to be sure, but comfortable and cheerful and tasty. Incidentally, we ran into tourists on the way out who balked at the pricing after staring at the menu for a bit. I tried to persuade them to go in anyway and order the burger, but no dice. I shudder to think what else they ended up with in that stretch of town.

Thanks much for the Blue Hill follow up, and for Artisanal. I would never have thought of it as a party space...

So what do we do with Bruni's latest review of Michael's? I realize this may be ignorance of a long and successful history, on my part, but I just don't see it as a review worth doing. Does anyone interested in New York food eat there expecting good food? I suppose the answer to my question is the existing two-star review, but I'm still a little puzzled.

I love Blue Hill, but I think it's a little small, unfortunately. I think they can handle something like 60 or 80 - is that right? I'm not surprised everyone had a blast, there, though. Their food is terrific.

Hope there's no objection to a wedding related post here. I'm helping to plan my wedding, and want to explore just having it at a restaurant in manhattan (my preference probably was some sort of historic home, but it appears that anything with good food will range into "Per Se" territory) . Any thoughts from the trusted eGullet crew? We'd like a little dancing and some decent food for about 120 guests (though one can always hope it'll be smaller!).

And to Bruni's point, I bet the average Ducasse customer is more likely to complain about a sub-par dish than the average Momofuku customer. ← I'm reminded of an old gentleman in France who took a bite of a baker friend's baguette, narrowed his eyes, and said "you've switched to the winter wheat". In other words, I agree. Underestimate the wealthy bourgeois diner at your peril.

Hope this hasn't been posted on before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything (I saw a mention in the Nice Matin topic) I stopped by here for lunch today. Delicious, deeply flavorful burger, cooked exactly at the medium rare I requested, topped with caramelized onions, rosemary mayonnaise and comte cheese. A good burger bun as well - light and airy, well matched to the meat. The fries, on the other hand, were a different story. Had I known, I would have brought my own from Mcdonald's. Broken nibbles of crunch. Of course, I ate them anyway, since I can't control myself around fries, but I didn't enjoy them. It's possible I got a bad batch. Apart from the burgers (which also include tuna, lamb, and vegetable offerings), the menu includes, oddly, sushi rolls. At lunch, the servers were pushing them aggresively, but the last thing I want with my burger is sushi. Sushi, to me, is clean flavor. Burger isn't. The combination is a bit dissonant. Pricing, at 13.95, is predictably high. On the other hand, I *did* bring half a burger home.

Certainly all true. Thought it was more of an indicator than anything else. But I do note that you could do the same with a normal reservation for a better sense. Also, Eater links to a discussion at Porfolio of the same topic, making the point that Chang could defray rising food costs by auctioning some seats each week. (http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-movers/2008/06/29/momofuku-ko-datapoint-of-the-day?rss=true) I've always wondered why restaurateurs didn't experiment with various pricing gimmicks (my favorite to try would be pricing by the minute), but Chang especially has the leeway to do something interesting. Maybe, but there are some special circumstances: 1. As you noted, it's for charity. 2. The reservation is open-ended as to date and time. 3. Only one was made available this way. (Given number 2, it would be impossible to do them all this way.) ←

I think this is a great way to guess the current market rate of a Ko reservation (i.e, what they could charge if they wanted to reduce demand to supply). My guess is that some of that price is driven by a desire to give to charity, but that Masa like pricing would probably keep the chairs full for now. That dinner for 2 at Ko ($500 value: 2x $100 + $150 wine pairing) just closed at $2,870. ←

I liked Artichoke too, but was surprised to see that they were using large blocks of what looked like poly-o cheese. I realize there's a long tradition of that cheese on New York pizza, though I'd still rather eat actual mozzarella. In any case, it is somewhat remarkable in the context of a culture where people spend a lot of time obsessing about the provenance of various buffaloes that a place serving cheese you can buy in the bodega would do so well and be so respected. edited to fix a spelling mistake

Had lunch here on Sunday. It was delightful, but I'm just posting my blog entry here: ------------ I have a moment now to speak a little more freely on Blue Hill, so some further tasting notes. I'm not sure one can approach Blue Hill without conceding the centrality of its location. Of course, the farm is the source of much (though clearly not all) of the food you're going to eat. But there is something special, to my mind, in driving to a place with the sole intention of eating, and luxuriating in the experience. Perhaps a stroll before the meal, perhaps a melancholy wander afterwards, as you realize the meal is over. When I lived in Scotland, I had the same fundamental feeling about the Peat Inn, a similar countryside oasis, though I doubt I had pinpointed what exactly I found so alluring. Even were Blue Hill to serve middling food, the fact that it is on a farm, with geese, and butter, and eggs, and nature would make it worth a quick trip. Thankfully, however, Blue Hill's food is hard to describe as middling. Lacking a lot of the technological sizzle of a WD-50 (although Dan Barber, Blue Hill's chef, is said to admire Ferran Adria), or the pork sodden, sometimes flailing, virtuosity of Momofuku Ko, this is Chez Panisse for the east coast, food coaxed gently from the landscape. It is rhubarb season here, and hence, a rhubarb jus surrounding a light, delicate island of Maine Crab. Asparagus is fresh, and it is that fresh asparagus that is nestled next to the delightfully runny egg, breaded and deep fried to a crusty, golden, crunch. It's spring, and there's spring lamb, cooked to a boggling tenderness, sitting delicately atop literally nothing but the freshest possible carrots wading in their own clever "butter". One detects only a few notes of dissonance - the (nonetheless delicious) chocolate bread pudding rather than something fruity, while wonderful looking strawberry layer cakes streamed by to some other tables (why chocolate at all? The season demands clafouti). The fact that our table was graced with the beet burger amuse bouche (masterful), but not, oddly, the light herby spritzer others received in addition. And, above all, the dainty portions, which are perfect for my taste, but probably stand right on the precipice of seeming like a bit of a mockery to others (we thought, laughing, of what exactly our respective parents would say, or do, with the plates of food we were presented). But these are quibbles. The meal was well priced. It was delicious. The settings were a relaxing escape from the concrete canyon of New York city. Blue Hill should continue to be a success.

They're certainly available in New York in full force. I sauteed and added them to my risotto last weekend. The risotto included ramps in addition to the usual garlic/onion. Delicious, though the ramps do get the tiniest bit strong. And I'm not sure I understand the objection to the taste (seems like asparagus to me), but different strokes and all that...

I'd send them to Otto, for a less expensive pizza and gelato meal.

Just as a factual note, the pork elements last night were (a) rind (b) english muffin © trout with bacon (d) pork belly kimchee consomee (e) apple pie (f) "smoked" egg (no, not pork, but it's clearly a play on pork, or at least to me)

To be clear, my initial post this morning wasn't necessarily aimed at Chang's pork obsession, but his fat obsession. I'll accept that the right answer for me might be something like "don't order tasting menus and expect a reasonably sized dinner, you idiot", though I'll stick to my theory that this was exceptionally difficult on the gut. I think I woke up smelling of assorted fats. On the above issue, it's like those tasting menus, except that those restaurants usually serve other food, as you note. The foie gras or truffle tasting is a one night, or seasonal, or special event treat. If Chang cooked like this on a theme night, I'd totally agree with you. But the pork thing is more than that. As you say, it's his idiom, his style, and so I think other poster's criticism of his emphasis on pork is logically consistent. I haven't eaten enough meals at his places to decide for myself whether it's warranted, but I think one can at least plausibly claim the cuisine is limited in some way.

Had dinner here last night. All the same dishes, with variations, as the rest of you, all very good, but one note for now I'm not sure anyone commented upon. Did people not think the food was overbearingly heavy? I realize that's not a great metric for rating a restaurant, but it almost seems to me that part of designing a menu is making the whole plausibly digestible if one eats everything enthusiastically. Pork rind, muffin with pork, foie gras, bacon puree, deep fried rib, pork belly. I mean, I would very happily have done without the foie gras any day of the week. Oh, and I know good restaurant cooking is often very heavy, but this was a level beyond in my experience.

Not a truly deep cookbook, but I've always found Nigel Slater's "Real Fast Food" a great resource. It reminds me in style and cadence of those funny wartime ration book cookbooks, but many times more delicious. I can't even think how many times I've leafed through it for a quick pantry style meal rather than go out for a burger.