herbacidal

elyse, i should have non-new yorkers reading this, right? i think cutie pie is too much. cutie is just fine. okay, just finished dinner. rice noodles with beef innards and chinese vegetable (yeou choi) in soup there was also some leftover roast duck and beef and western broccoli on the table. i finished with an orange and an apple.

was dat?

I think it may be too specific. IMHO, Grimes has as much power over NYC restaurants as Laban has over Philly restaurants. More generally, the food critic of the largest daily in a given metro area has an overly large amount of influence over the tastes of consumers in that given area. This is at least true in the US. Cannot say about elsewhere. Now there are specific NY characteristics on top of that help elevate the NYT food critic to another level of influence beyond food critics in any other market, among them having said influence over the largest US media market and sharing a metro area influence with the base for much of the food media, but that has more to do with the critic's long-term influence and career development through cookbooks, etc.

drove by pico de gallo today. it does look good.

see how boring i am? no one since last night. 10:30 this morning, had a banana and a tunafish sandwich. actually, more like 2 open faced tuna faced sandwiches, each on half a cacia's kaiser roll. at about 1PM, i had a krispy kreme donut and about 3 little pretzels (not the Philly soft pretzels) at about 4PM, i had a vietnamese chicken hoagie (banh mi ga).

was this mentioned previously, if not here, then in some publication/media outlet somewhere, or I am having deja vu?

glad you were able to get by with azafran. judy's, right there on the corner of 3rd and bainbridge, might be a good place for a drink afterwards anyway. never been to tartine. i do want to go sometime though. i think it should be very good classic French, of which i don't have nearly enough experience with.

I mean that when you compare restaurant-cities on an international level -- such as NY v. Paris -- the Japanese restaurants in Paris aren't a consideration. They're there, but they're primarily of local significance. In other words, it's a slam-dunk that Japanese food is better in New York, on the whole or/and at the top level, than in Paris? But what about North African and Middle Eastern cuisine in Paris? hmm. i'm actually a little suprised japanese food isn't better in paris at least.

dinner tonight: leftovers: roast duck steamed ground beef new: some kinda chinese vegetable (yea choi), think chinese broccoli, but longer tilipia, pan fried with oil and soy sauce stir fried eggs, pork, scallions, and onions eggplant stir fried with shrimp sauce (this sauce they'll usually give you in Cantonse restaurants with seafood birds nest and other seafood dishes w/o distinctive sauces) rice of course (whenever i have these Chinese dishes listed it should be a given as part of dinner, including the previous 2 times in this blog) then i had a "Gala Primavera" apple and another prune plum

i take it you're responding to my response to torakris. but what the hell is ninotchka? i'm guessing it's some sort of russian word, but otherwise, i don't know the reference.

there's any number of places i would recommend. figs and azafran are two. melograno, a relatively new place at about 22nd and locust?? i've heard nothing but good stuff about. la baia is a place i've always liked but don't hear too much about (17th and lombard). i've listed places that i think are good and still aren't as popular as the most well known and crowded BYOBs (Chloe, Django0, La Locanda all come to mind). dmitri chimes' newest place at 24th and lombard (can't recall the name) is another, although he has another place a few blocks away at 22nd and spruce. if you wanna give azafran a shot anyway, there's several good BYOBs nearby where you'll can go if not. Gnocchi, Overtures (both on Passyunk between 5th and 4th and South and Bainbridge) and Tartine all come to mind. That's probably more than enough.

i just eat more when i'm out and about, less when i'm home all day. i expend more energy in the former, less in the latter.

i went to craftbar as well, last april i believe. i think i posted here about it as part of my NYC trip. had the fish stew. only other stuff i remember is really good staff and cool bathrooms.

you can also try the markets in chinatown and the major asian markets on washington ave (at 6th, 11th and 15th) all have seafood sections.

okay, 1) i think pigalle is a great choice. 2) i also think pasion would be a better choice, if you can get a res. it probably would be my top choice. 3) too many BYOBs in Philly, both very good ones and in general, that such that a corkage fee, would probably drive customers away after the first time. 4) deux cheminee and vetri are both good options. being former townhouses, the small rooms have no choice but to be conducive to romance. having never been in either, i cannot comment further. anyone?

yea, that's about right. never seen it anywhere else, including on congee, so you're one up on me there. I like pork fluff best just scooped out of the big plastic container with a spoon. supposedly we have a jar of it around the house somewhere. as far as chinese buns, just about every morning, my dad goes to the bakery and gets some coffee. usually, he'll get some kinda bun or whatever else they have around and bring it back when he knows i'm home. aside: chinese bakeries in chinatown are sorta like barbershops in black communities, ie social centers of the neighborhood. don't really have a favorite bao. ham sui gauk and jeen dui (glutinous rice paste as an outer shell, both fried, the former with pork bits on the inside, the latter with sweet red bean paste in the middle) would probably be among my favorites, as far as bakery items though.

just had: sandwich on a Cacia's (South Philly bakery) roll. the last sandwich i had was also a Cacia's roll, not Maier's. I toasted the bread instead of putting it in the oven, and it was better, but still not my preference. I prefer the taste and texture of Sarcone's (also South Philly bakery). Unfortunately, we have tons of Cacia's rolls in the freezer left over from something. the sandwich had: mendocino mustard, ham and provolone from Wawa, lettuce and tomato. also had a small duck leg (the kind you can buy in Chinatown as part of half a duck or a whole duck) and an orange

wasn't there a thread on one in toronto area? remember reading about it somewhere, but a quick glance led to nada.

today i've had: 11:00AM 20oz coffee, steamed beef bun, pineapple bun

well, there's the original in NYC. there's yours in vancouver and beyond. there's the UK. there's sorta one in toronto and area, but i think they're thinking there's not enough places to check. i think NYC and vancouver are the only ones that have actually scheduled meetings, although i haven't checked UK and toronto in a few days. and of course, NYC is the only one that has actually had a meeting.

is that $200 also including tax and tip? wondering if striped bass will fit the bill. other than that, have shola do a private dinner for you at studiokitchen. if you like interesting stuff, $100 pp inc. tip (wine you'll hafta bring yourself) will blow your mind. although it might be too private just the three of you. search www.citypaper.net for their article on studiokitchen if you want more info.

does anyone know what the "essence" is?

okay, the rest of my eats for today: 3PM, cup of La Colombe coffee. I had some ground at the bottom, which I didn't like, but I saw when she was pouring it was the bottom of the pot, so it didn't suprise me. 8PM, (12oz??) bottle of smoothie juice thing. Can't remember the brand, but refer to odwalla and fresh samantha. it was a strawberry banana. 11:30PM, some broccoli, finished the rest of that Jewish brisket on a roll (Maier's roll, wasn't soft enough for my tastes). also had 7 wings, not the complete wings, just the sections, just like most places have their buffalo wings. And a bottle of Sam Adams.

yea, that's about right. never seen it anywhere else, including on congee, so you're one up on me there.

Be careful eating furry meat. the fur's the best part. and if you know of anyone i left out, throw it in. i dare you, schneer. Is furry pork (yook soong) th same as "jue yook si" (pork floss)? Pork floss buns (a slightly sweetish baked bun topped with a mayo cream mixture and pork floss) have been the rage in Singapore and KL (chicken floss here though as using pork floss would automatically omit half the population) for the past couple of years or so. i think i know what chinese bun you're talking about, and that's not the same one.