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Per Eater, Frank Bruni reviews Momofuku Ssäm Bar in tomorrow's Times. Eater is taking the two-star bet, and so am I.

Actually, I think it hits the point precisely. There are times when you want this type of experience, and Bouley Upstairs is the ticket.But there are times when you don't want "lousy coffee," "a very poor bread service," "service hiccups," a wine list that "sucks," no reservations, and tables scrunched so tightly that you need the agility of a Romanian gymnast to reach them.

I echo FG's comments about the room: I don't really understand what there is to complain about.

I nominate Café Gray, which has some of the city's best food in one of its most unpleasant spaces.

I can't reconcile this comment with my own experience there. I think the cuisine at FdS is somewhat underplayed, but in two visits I've never had any quarrel with the amount of food served for the price. (Last time, they actually comped us an extra dessert; I don't know why.)

I think this perfectly states the merits of the BLT's versus other steakhouses.

I'm sure EMP served food to hundreds of people that night. They didn't serve you because you didn't have a reservation, hadn't called ahead to check availability, and expected a service (dining at the bar) that they weren't offering that day.About a year ago, a friend and I went up to Blue Hill at Stone Barns to have dinner at the bar. I had done this twice before in the past, and had no reason to doubt that it would work a third time. Unfortunately, they were closed for a private party, and weren't able to accommodate us. Were we disappointed? Yes. Did I blame the restaurant? No. From now on, I know to call ahead. The lesson is that if you haven't made a reservation or called ahead, this is indeed unreasonable. It might all work out, it might not.

I never made it to Honmura An, and clearly now I never will. Ruth Reichl awarded three stars in 1993. I can't find a re-review, so apparently it remains a three-star restaurant to the end.

I went to Les Halles Downtown during Choucroute Month either last year or the year before. I agree they do a terrific job, and at those prices it's a steal.

That certainly was the case at Country. The whole room was deuces wild. Since every table got the identical menu, the kitchen was geared up to crank out a limited repertoire very quickly. I have no complaint about the quality, which was excellent, but it came fairly quickly. I think we were already on our second course (out of six) before the wine came.

In that sense, Country was a pretty good deal last night. They served a tasting menu for $135, which is their usual price.Not that they didn't get their pound of flesh in other ways. The four-course prix fixe at $110 was unavailable, and they billed my cc for $270 a month in advance. But at least it was the same price that they charge for a tasting menu every night of the week.

You think they had vacancies at GT? As Frank Bruni reminded us in his review, GT is perennially near the top of the Zagat popularity list. It's precisely the kind of place that couples on a once-a-year splurge—those who don't do this all the time—would tend to choose. They were probably more full than EMP.

At BLT Prime, the aging box is in plain view, behind a glass door. They are dry aging, unless that room is just for show, and the real aging is done somewhere else.

So? Their tables were all taken, and on that occasion they weren't serving bar food. It's the same at Per Se, except they do it every night. What's inexcusable about that?I mean, it's nice to know that, on most evenings, you can walk into EMP without a reservation and be served. That doesn't mean they are obligated to provide this option every day, or indeed, on any day.

It is utterly immaterial to me whether you eat at a DM restaurant or not, but I wouldn't make such a decision based on the restaurant's performance on Amateur Night. There are a number of cases where I've had disappointing experiences on such occasions, then gone back on a "normal" night when it was totally different.I can certainly see why a restaurant would decide not to serve the tasting menu at the bar on V-day. Why they would discontinue the practice entirely is less clear, but maybe they want bar seats to turn over more quickly.

If the one & only thing you want is a world-class porterhouse, you are more likely to get it at PL than anywhere else. Their whole operation is geared towards doing one thing (and practically nothing else) well.I think the gap between them and other steakhouses has narrowed. On any given night there are a good half-dozen other places where you could quite conceivably have a Lugeresque porterhouse, without the hassles of going to Luger: long lead times for reservations, having to pay in cash, gruff wait staff, the trip to Williamsburg, etc., etc.. At BLT Steak & BLT Prime, they serve many other cuts besides porterhouse (though they have that too), along with excellent sides, a good seafood menu, so I think they are better overall restaurants.

I think restaurants are telling us a half-truth. Certainly it's true that Valentine's Day is one of the busiest nights of the year. But there are many successful restaurants (like Babbo) that are full almost every night of the year, and manage to serve a full menu. So it's unclear why so many of them have to pare down the choices to such a pronounced degree. The reason for the higher price is obvious: they do it because they can. My girlfriend and I dined at Country last night. They charged their usual price for the tasting menu, but that was all you could get, and they charged my credit card a month in advance. Although it was a very good meal, I nevertheless felt it was a mldly "dumbed down" version of what their best efforts would be like. We could understand why, since there were probably a lot of people there for whom this is a once-a-year kind of thing. At the table next to us, there was a guy who looked like a Wall Street trader. He paid in cash, from a wad of bills about two inches thick. His date looked like a 22-year-old Swedish au pair, and she seemed thoroughly bored with the food.

I don't think that is one of the criteria for two stars, or that it should be. I mean, some people don't especially like the room, but some people don't like the room at Le Bernardin.My concern with DP is that I hear too many reports of uneven food and/or service, which at a Michelin two-star should not happen.

Cafe Gray serves three-star food in one of the most unpleasant spaces in town. Poor Gray Kunz. He is a genius in the kitchen, but he's saddled with one of the most bone-headed interior designs in history, and there is nothing he can do about it.

Babbo has one Michelin star, not zero. Del Posto's two-star status was a definite surprise to me. I continue to see reports of inconsistency there, so I just can't explain it. Chef Humm arrived too late in the year to be fully rated, so its current status is based on the previous chef.Obviously any rating system can't be perfect. I find it a little hard to explain that La Goulue, Etats-Unis, and The Spotted Pig have one star, but Chanterelle has zero.

It's interesting that you say that, as I thought BLT Steak was fairly innovative (by steakhouse standards). Obviously, the BLT clones are now repeating the pattern. Still in the works.

Actually, Ramsay is at $80 for the 3-course prix fixe, $110 for the tasting menu — right in line with all of the others.

I think I've had this debate with Bryan before, but one mustn't casually toss out phrases like "moderately priced" — even with the relatively modifier — for one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.Just a few random points of comparison: At EMP, the price is $76 for 3 courses, $88 for 4 courses, or $120 for the tasting menu. At Gramercy Tavern, the price is $76 for 3 courses or $98 for the tasting menu. At The Modern, the price is $85 for 3 courses, and either $125 or $155 for the tasting menu (two are offered). At Country, the price is $105 for 4 courses or $135 for the tasting menu. Del Posto is hard to compare, as the menu is a la carte, but the tasting menu there is $120. At Cru, the three-course prix fixe is $74, and the tasting menu is $110. In short: for restaurants in EMP's class, the price, which is very expensive, is about typical. The differences are inconsequential, as any diner who can afford one of these can probably afford any of them.

They are nearly identical. BLT Prime is slightly easier to get into, and is the only one of the two that's open on Sunday. I like the BLT Prime space a little better, but I find both overly noisy.

My g/f lived in Sweden for a year, and she thinks it's very Scandinavian. (Look at the on-line menus for a few high-end Swedish restaurants, and you'll see the Swedes are much more broad-minded than you're giving them credit for.)As bang-for-the-buck goes, I think the front room at Aquavit, at a much lower price point, may be the better deal.