herbacidal

sorry, that was probably a little more than you needed.

Okay, let's run this down. Of the ones you are seeking, there are none that specialize in these cuisines in Philly. As for non-Cantonese, here you go. Fukienese / Fujianese suprisingly few of these places given their population The only one I can think of right now is the northwest corner of 10th and Arch. Don't know the name, but it's right there on the corner, under the Friendship Gate. Shanghaiese New Joe Shanghai is the only one; tried it, decent enough, not enough experience with it Taiwanese roughly middle of the eastern side of 9th St between Race and Cherry Sts. is someplace with name similar to Taiwan Noodle House other possibility is across from New Joe Shanghai, the restaurant that is in that building all by its lonesome, in front of the parking lot and next to the little alley, that may be Taiwanese, I'm not sure That's really it. Are you aware of any places in New York that specialize in the other cuisines? Szechuan is one I'd really like to see. Brief summary of Chinatown development on east coast of US: it all starts with New York City. Most Chinese go to where they have friends or family. A few go each to Boston, Philly, DC, and etc. that way. Most others initially go to New York. Some leave New York because they can't make a living in Chinatown there because too many people fighting for too little a market. Then they go to Boston or Philly. Then elsewhere, if necessary. It's why the East Coast has progressively smaller Chinese populations the farther you go from New York City. New York has gotten too expensive for many of the immigrant communities at the bottom of the economic barrel. In the last 5-10 years, both Mexican and Chinese (mostly Fukienese) have been steadily coming to Philly from New York, giving us tacquerias and hopefully more Fukienese restaurants. Also in the last 5-10 years, Mexicans have become the new bottom rung of Chinese restaurants' workforce just like any other restaurants, undercutting even the unskilled Chinese, who had a set place within the Chinese restaurant community.

i think Xe Lua is definitely the best Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, probably the best outside of South Philly. For me, the only wild card is South Philly, where I've never had Vietnamese food. Don't have a reason, Xe Lua is plenty good enough. If I'm ever closer to someplace in South Philly and want Vietnamese, I'll look into it. Til then, Pho Xe Lua is my place for Vietnamese.

really, pete's does that? hmm. oh well. i like pete's, but i only get one of 4 things there: reuben, sausage and cheese omelette, cheeseburger, or chipped beef plus the obligatory b/w milkshake

dive bars can be neighborly. they don't have to be dangerous. they should be pretty dirty anbd skanky, and look like about $10 is spent on upkeep annually. the "old man" bars can be great dive bars. if they get enough people. for me, if it doesn't have a good cross-section of people for me to look at and interact with, it's not a dive bar. my old fav, mentioned above, had guys in suits, bikers, college kids, art students, 80 year olds w/o teeth who would nudge you to buy them drinks, etc.

i never used to like the pork and thousand year egg jook when i was a kid. but now i do. my favorite though is chiu chow jook. (hey, let's marry the threads!!) dice green peppers, onions, leftover meats, etc. stir fried with some spices (now if I could also remember what spices) throw that into the plain rice porridge. mmm mmm good.

my impression is that most of the overseas Chinese communities (IE everywhere but China and Taiwan) and Taiwan used traditional Chinese. If they use simplified Chinese in Malaysia and Taiwan, that's news to me. The people abroad tend to be "old folks" types, and simplified wasn't used when they were still around, why would they change their habits when they were abroad? At least, that was my theory. The modernity aspect of using simplified Chinese was only appreciated by students in China. I thought that many of the older folk (above 40??) in China used traditional Chinese. At least that seemed to be true the last time I was in China was in late 1997-early 1998. Just more support for my theory. I had also thought that most of the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia were Cantonese. Anyone know one way or the other?

for me, it's a host of things. A) that high an amount of sweetness does nothing for me. for example, whipped cream i think is a tremendous waste of time and effort. B) I like the idea of fruit at the end of the meal. if nothing else, good palate cleanser. right amount of sweetness also. fruit, just fruit. C) I've worked with enough pastry chefs. I've helped create desserts. I've seen some heavily worked on pastries. I don't think I've seen anything awe inspiring (in person at least) as far as spun sugar sculpture or whatnot, but I've seen a reasonable amount of creative desserts. They don't float my boat. I wouldn't mind being a pastry chef, though. The creation of a memorable dish would be pretty fun. I would very much enjoy that aspect of it.

very true. in that respect, no different than english. except it's a little easier to throw something together on the fly in english since there is an alphabet. such as y'all, although it is a contraction of you all, it was nonetheless created based on its development orally. i suppose in chinese, you would put components together to form a word that would appropriately reflect a meaning and sound.

they were on the menu? i skimmed it, but i guess i missed the roll. how's the gelato, and the pastries if you've tried them?

first, Greg: 1) welcome from me as well! 2) say hi to Greg Ling for me, from Herb Lau, a classmate of his sister's at HR. 3) at the top right of each post is a button you click on to quote that post. after clicking it, you then remove whatever it is you don't want in the post. at the bottom of each post, you can email or private message (a private mailing system for other users of egullet) the post's writer. as an example of private message (PM), i'll send one to you of this message.

yea, i wanna hear about the american diner replacement and its quality. how long was epicurean there? isn't there a new place on walnut somewhere between 38th and 40th? can't think of where, maybe a replacement for college buffet? thought i remember hearing something, but i'm rarely in the area.

I'm planning on taking a laptop and filing reports from "el camino." what's connectivity like in mexico? no clue as to how telmex and any others have the country wired.

i must agree with jinmyo. i appreciate the art of pastry. i admire the more creative and artistic things done. i just wouldn't eat most of the things within the pastry field that are deemed artful. it is my opinion that most of the particular chinese and japanese dishes that are especially sweet are attempts to mimic and/or attract western tastes. it is a relatively unsubstantiated opinion right now and i have not investigated this statement very much.

sounds pretty lousy, sara. i'm suprised he lasted that long. totally agree about the diversity of dining options.

Did I do something wrong? not really, was just kidding. so philly diner is that place that was eat at joe's at one time, right there with the movie theater, ice cream place, and other stuff.

we'll cut you some slack since it's your first. i liked morning glory when it opened. heard it's gone down since the first year, eighteen months of its existence. where's philly diner?

i popped in yann's yesterday. is it on the menu? it was rather late. croissant was decent.

i'm gonna guess Lorenzo's.

has anyone noticed katie's promotion?

I'll have to look for these, I miss the digestifs I used to eat in China. They were actually much like Carr's Whole Wheat.

lessee, oreos, check. Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies, check. Carr's Whole Wheat (Crackers?), check. Girl Scout cookies with the macadamia nuts, check. ah, four's enough.

yea, me wonders if rules with using more than 1 offer/coupon/discount would apply, as more often than not, they would.

all i gotta say is that you all better be at heather's house. that's october 25, right?

while i wasn't being deliberately provocative, i am enjoying this thread immensely. I wouldn't say that. I would say that the similarities between the 2 cuisines meant it was easier for Cantonese restaurants to take the best-known dishes of Zhejiang and incorporated them into the menu to have as large a set of offerings as possible to provide the customers. Did the same though with a few of the Hunan and Sichuan and Beijing area. That in itself doesn't mean it's a major cuisine. Even minor cuisines have their value and worth. Well, so it is the major component of Shanghaiese food. Actually, that is probably true, as I don't really recall any really distinctive food from Shanghai. The folding in of Zhejiang and other areas is definitely reasonable. Jiangsu cuisine I don't recall distinct dishes really, a shame because I was there for 3 months. I just considered it a dish from up north, non-Cantonese, even though it's not really that far north. That's another lacking/failing on my part.