herbacidal

Just look at everything in the world. There's the list.

There are probably some Vietnamese coffee shops. I remember what I believe to be one on 8th just north of Washington Ave. I suspect they'd have it.

Ditto. Spicy, nice little kick to them. I wouldn't mind them spicier, but that's probably hard to do without the spiciness dominating and overwhelming the flavor.

Perhaps I should bring that. The good thing about doing it as strong as I do it is that you have to dilute the flavored vodka with regular vodka to bring down the strength. Does anyone coming from NC want to bring oysters? Will there be a crew of folks doing shots?

Where's Isaac Newton's?

Is that so odd? Seems to me that chains everywhere seem to dominate in suburban locations. That's the stereotype, anyway. ← I'd definitely say chains dominate in suburban locations. I'd also say that chains do pretty well in urban locations as well. Maggiano's in Philly, Olive Garden and others in Manhattan. I'd say chains do better in urban areas than independently-owned places do in the suburbs, on average at least.

Hmm, that's interesting. Please elaborate on the Vietnamese vs. Southern Chinese palates.

There's a lot of good places around. Cherry's on Haddonfield road in Cherry Hill, Primo's on Haddon Ave in Westmont, and Dati's at 24th and Passyunk in South Philly are all good.

Do they have water ice in Pittsburgh? It is an Italian-American thing(ain't it?) so I can imagine it there, can anyone confirm?

In the Philadelphia Inquirer , Craig LaBan wanders through Pompeii, version 2.0 as the new location starts to come into its own. Rick Nichols gets responses from people all over the place as people respond to Miracle Whip as an alternative to Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. Dan Sewell mourns the passing of a Cincinnati institution as La Maisonette closed its doors for what might be the last time. In the Philadelphia Weekly , Lauren McCutcheon ventures into the former grocery now known as Mercato to see what Evan Turney has cooked up, before doing double duty as she lets us in on the little secret known as Prima Pizza. Neil Ferguson checks out a bar this longtime Philadelphian’s been wondering about for some time as he buzzes into the Watusi II. In the City Paper (Philadelphia), Elisa Ludwig nearly runs into her crosstown rival as she spotlights the newest restaurant in the gayborhood Mercato while Carolyn Wyman scopes out the best spots for Center City Sips. In the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , Karin Welzel looks at Café Euro, and finds that its combination of simple fine dining and good burgers will rightfully appeal to a diverse dining public. Karin notes the continued dominance of shrimp since it leaped over canned tuna in 2001 as America’s seafood of choice. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette , As far as wine goes, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher find both pleasant and unpleasant suprises at Disney World, with its 300+ sommeliers on staff. In her swan song, outgoing food editor Suzanne Martinson gives basic tips on balancing your diet and exercise to suit you.. The Pittsburgh Tribune Tribune staff check out the ‘burgh’s museums not for their art but for their food as the museum cafes get poked and prodded. Michael Machosky wanders through the latest idea from the Big Burrito as Eleven is put through its paces. The Morning Call Susan Gottschall gets a taste of la vida Mexicana as she checks out La Placita in Allentown.

Wow, good lease negotiation. When is your vanilla shell construction supposed to be complete? When it is complete, how long will it have been since you began occupying the space during construction and whatnot?

Are they really the same thing? Based on my limited experience with the 2 (once for yakiniku at Yakitori Taisho which may not count, about 3 times for Korean BBQ) I don't think of them as the same. Based on further research just conducted mid-post, they are much closer than I thought. It's more of a mind-block as much as anything. And the seasonings, as mentioned. The setup for Korean BBQ that I'm used to uses a buffet. At Yakitori Taisho I sat at a counter. I suspect the mental block may have as much to do with the style of service as much as anything.

Evan, IIRC that place opened and closed within a heartbeat. I don't think there is a place like that in town. I would say that the scene is ripe for that kind of thing, except that the buildout for that is much higher than for most restaurants because each stove needs its own exhaust. I personally don't like that kind of cooking, but if it could be done with varying kinds of soup broths and cuisines, so that Szechuan would be available as an option as well, I'd be eager for that. I recall the rumor about a Szechuan hotpot place like that that was planning to open in the space that became Joe Shanghai briefly but don't know that it ever actually opened. A shame, Szechuan hot pot was the highlight of one of my China trips in the 90s. But in the latest Chinatown news, there's a new Vietnamese restaurant that opened where South East used to be at 10th and Arch.

So, that's a roundabout way of saying the crowd's primarily hipsters and Sex and the City-type folk, 22-35?

DDC did Persian Grill once a year / year and half ago, and it was quite tasty. As far as Andrew's allegiance goes, Italians don't do grilled meats, or if they do, I suspect it's in a much different way than Middle Eastern, Afghan, Persian, etc. Thus far, I haven't heard of that aspect of their cuisine that does. Can anyone tell me otherwise? As far as other cuisines with grilled meats, I'm dying for a Japanese yakiniku place in town.

The immediate followup question: will you be getting a break in rent from the landlord as a result of the delay?

The only thing worse than making that mistake would be having a glass of OJ right after it... Evan ← Really? I think the citrusy goodness would mix well with the salty goodness. But hold me back while I'm leaning over puking.

Probably more of a pastry shop, although I imagine any Persian bakery would have both bread and pastries. I doubt they're broken down into boulangeries and patisseries like French cuisine. My friend was looking for Persian baklava. Next time, we expect to check out Greektown and JTM, and I'm sure the baklava in Greektown will be very good, but the preference was Persian.

I would agree. Ha moon is how you would say Xiamen in Cantonese.

Is there a Persian bakery in JTM? Or anywhere else in town?

Three hours south puts you right around Saratog Springs. There are already some threads here on Saratoga dining options which include strong recommendations from John Sconzo (docsconz) for Chez Sophie - but that's only open for dinner. For lunch I'll suggest two options: 1) Hattie's Chicken Shack on Phila Street in downtown Saratoga. Old school Southern cooking but the owner who took it over from Hatie McDaniel about 5 - 6 years ago has updated the menu with a few newer items. The fried chicken is outstanding and I'm also very fond of their greens. Allow about ten minutes or so to get from the highway over to these places. ← Is Hattie's open for dinner? Don't have time to check right now. I'll check in a few hours. Is Saratoga Springs' downtown large? Carswell, it's a bit of laziness, but even searching within Google and Egullet took 10 minutes before I could get Schwartz's address.

Yup, that's it. I forgot to mention that bit. In my head, it was already at I-287 before crossing the state line and becoming I-87. I forgot about that portion of I-87.

I like this idea: none of the soups on the Chinese menu are translated, and I expect that some of them must be good. And there are a bunch of duck dishes that don't have translations either, and they can't all be tongues or feet... Well, I guess they could be, but they might be good, it would be nice to know how to order them! And we have to find those dumplings for Percy, maybe if someone can pronounce "Zhong Shui Zhao" correctly for us, we'll get somewhere... ← Well if you're really adventurous you could just point to one and order it, and then figure it out when it comes out. I've done similar things in non-Chinese eating establishments.

Well you know, I've been very jealous of your road trips to here there and everywhere.

It's not that the diner is early in the trip, it's more that it's a decent bit off the route. Daniel, We're going from Philly north to Montreal. Just past NYC is just about when I think we should take a meal break. Barnstormer sounds good. Directions? Yahoo Maps doesn't work right. Also, is there a good place about 3 hours south of Montreal off I-87?