herbacidal

Well, from my observation, the majority of Chinese restaurants in NY, and certainly the ones that I visited growing up in the suburbs, were Hunan/Sichuan -- thinner, spicier sauces (generalized observation), than the Cantonese, Mandarin that predominate in San Francisco. I find that people who are used the first style do not enjoy the second as much. As for Jews, there's a long-running joke/stereotype/whatever that Jews in NY have adopted Chinese food as their own. Just joking.

Except for the part about the Jews in NY, what the bleepity bleep does that mean? As far as the Jews go, you're implying that the presence of Jews contributes to better Chinese food?

I think at some point, Young Chow became bastarized into "House Special Fried Rice" and then "Ten ingredient Fried Rice" in which they went completely to hell with the rules of fried rice engagement. But yes, Young Chow only has shrimp, peas and ham (and egg) in it. can't say whether young chow and house special were originally the same. but i've always thought of them as. and i've grown up working behind the counter/ in the dining room of chinese restaurants.

saw that truck. wonder if you were there when i walked by. being a visitor, i wondered if i should eat there anyway, but was mighty full from rodizio earlier in day. how cheap, BTW?

lemme top that. when i was a kid, i didn't know what thousand year eggs look like before cooking, or at least didn't make proper associations. found a bunch once, thought they were regular eggs gone rotten somehow. had fun throwing them out our second story window, then following them up with a brick somehow, if i recall correctly. i got in some trouble that night.

$25pp, inclusive of tax and tip.

Well, that's the latest I have on that space.

hmm, i think i've read books that were less detailed. most definitely have read restaurant reviews that had less depth.

aw baby, you said it.

thanks cabrales. i've seen that page, and many others like it. most refer to the fujian / fukien soup. cantonese cuisine has a fully developed menu of the same name. it's supposed to last a few days or so. don't reallly know much about it otherwise. i should clarify, i don't know exactly that the fujian version is a condensed version of the entire cantonese menu, but i would suspect that given the intermingling between the two regions (right next to each other on the southeastern coast of China), that is what the soup is. guangdong province, which is where cantonese people are from, wraps around hong kong, and fujian province is just northeast of it across from taiwan. i would also suspect that it has just been expanded further by hotels/restaurants trying to promote themselves.

actually the dish is a more condensed version of an entire dinner. someday, i may actually try the dinner.

NOTE: Buddha Jumping Over the Wall will not be a dish at the dinner. The per person price would have to be raised significantly to integrate such a dish, and that's only the reduced version as compared to the full menu. In the original invitation, it was intended as a little bit of fun, a little bit of trivia. Apologies for misconceptions/misinterpretations implied by its inclusion.

WHERE: Lee How Fook Restaurant 219 N 11th St. (Corner of 11th and Spring Sts.) Philadelphia, PA 19106 (use rear private room) link to Yahoo Map at bottom WHEN: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 6:30 PM arrival, 7PM first course WHAT: Chinese Multi-Course Dinner in celebration of the Year of the Ram WHO: Followers of Buddha, and anyone else who feels like it! WHY: Buddha jumping over the wall is pretty special, we should celebrate it! I suppose the Year of the Ram isn’t a bad reason to have a party either. COST: $30 per person, inclusive of tax and tip RSVP: RSVP to Matt Lipman---- mattylip@excite.com Final RSVPs must be received by Thursday, February 13. After that date, withdrawals are not acceptable. Please be quite sure of your availability by Thursday, February 13. Sorry for the minimal time interval. Lee How Fook is BYOB, so bring it if ya got it! Family Style Menu Charcuterie of Selected Chinese Favorites Steamed and Fried Jiaozi Dumplings Jumbo Shrimp and Walnuts Lathered in Sweet Mayonnaise Seafood with Bean Curd Soup Stir Fried Snow Peas with Vermicelli and Confucius’ Hair Lobster Stir Fried with Ginger and Scallion Staring At You Southern Fried Chicken Playing Peek-A-Boo Ginger and Scallion Steamed Striped Bass Longevity Noodles Mixed Fried Rice Plus the Random Surprise Thrown In Here and There!! Kudos to anyone who can figure out the significance of “Buddha jumping over the wall”! As per our newest tradition, we will be passing around a container for a voluntary Philabundance donation at the end of the night. Full Disclosure: Herb Lau’s family has had an ownership stake in Lee How Fook for over a year, which is actually why this dinner can be put together this easily. Link to Lee How Fook's Yahoo Map

stopped by la colombe last friday. they were still fairly full. don't know how it compares to before though. looks like i may have been wrong, but i'll let things play out first before admitting that.

it's a french-mexican restaurant in northeast philly, where you'd never expect one. the chef is mexican, his wife does the books and the baking, on top of her full-time job. it is quite good. someone soon will see this and post on a recent DDC dinner we had there in December. I wasn't there myself, so I won't.

i allow that as being possible. i understand that is the reason most coffee shops are not particularly profitable, despite selling something that costs a dime to fifteen cents (cup, water, beans, sugar, cream) for $1 plus (sure, i haven't included everything else, just talking raw product costs). yes, you're right it would require more investigation on my part. i may just do that if convenient. i imagine as much as anything i will also hear from others about its success/failure.

they only charge a dollar a cup of coffee. they could easily charge more, but have chosen not to. just keeping it at that level limits their $$$s there. most of their money is made selling to regional (Philly, NJ, NYC) restaurants, coffee shops, caterers. yes the margins are tighter, but for the high end/stylish places in Philly (Perrier's places, Stein's, probably Starr's) and caterers (Peachtree and Ward definitely, probably RA, Culinary, Frog, Feast) and many coffee shops use La Colombe. Daniel and most of the top Frenchies in NYC also use La Colombe if I'm not mistaken. chowblah's boards and other sources mention that. a few years ago, they also bought another local roaster called New Harmony and probably use them as a complementary line, although i would have to investigate further. i'm willing to accept that logic you've defined, i just don't agree that that is the case. i could be wrong. we shall see.

now the whole sordid story finally comes out. interesting. i have no idea what's going there. haven't actually heard anything about it anywhere. it's just that there's a sign posted mentioned future patisserie, assuming my memory is correct. i suppose if i poked around enough, i could find out more, but been rather busy.

from what i recall, his mother/father/other family member got sick, and he went back to france to help take care of her/him. i actually thought it was a she. hmm. anyway, the space where it was, will once again be a patisserie, after passing through several failed incarnations. at least, it will be a bakery definitely, i'm pretty sure a patisserie. can't recall, remember reading the sign a while ago.

i understand the stated reason for their ban. i disagree with it on a business level. i agree with it on a connoisseur level. they have every right to protect the experience people have with their product. when did i ever say otherwise? not saying they have to cater to the trendy, hip, etc. just that for that given situation i would have. it's a comparatively small portion of revenues/profits. sure, way more money would have been required to open another shop than to ban smoking there. i just think that would have been a smarter biz move. maybe i'm wrong. suppose we'll see.

i doubt business can get much better. at least not double. it's already filled open to close. my point was that with additional capital invested in an additional store (key point here), they could have 2 stores, one for the smokers, one for the nonsmokers. to be frank, i don't think starbucks patrons are their target audience. i personally will go to almost any length to avoid a starbucks. i very much prefer the independents wherever possible. the fact that CA and NYC have banned smoking in restaurants does not necessarily mean everyone should. that just means that legislators in CA and NYC have been influenced (fairly or not) by their constituents to pass such a law. metropolitan makes what most consider the best widely available bread around. baker street bread is also very well thought of, and miel has such a reputation that i can't imagine them not making good bread. it'll just take time before bennett and boys get around to enough places.

i gotta disagree. i don't think they shoulda banned smoking. from a business standpoint, and from a philosophical standpoint. biz view, the coffeeshop as a moneymaker was a comparatively small part of their revenue and profits, i believe. most of their $$ were coming from roasting for restaurants and other coffee shops. but the coffee shop did serve a purpose for the company as far as identifying la colombe as "cool", which extends to their coffee. the smokers are overwhelming stylish asian and european immigrants, artists, and hipsters, the "cool" crowd. The possibility of their not being there or being there in significantly reduced capacities could hurt the business more as a whole. philosophical view, those who mind the smoke should not be there. waiters, and everyone else makes a choice with regards to smoking. tolerate it, as a patron/waiter/etc. or don't and go somewhere else. i'm a non smoker myself. all my clothes smell like smoke quite often, b/c i hang out with enough smokers in bars, coffee shops, plus people in the restaurant biz. it's something i accept, but i choose to continue to have these friends, and patronize these places. back to business view, i think they should have opened another place around the corner or something and made it non smoking. they would have probably easily been able to fill both up by gaining back their customers that they lost to other places, plus vacancies have been cropping up, and will probably increase.

i expect that posting reviews of the monthly meals should not be that much of a problem. pictures, also probably not a problem, now that we have more willing photographers. we typically have 40-60 attendees. every one thus far has been a monday/tuesday dinner i believe, with the exception of the rib run in south jersey, which was a saturday afternoon.

studiokitchen is not for profit. it is mostly a one man op. he has someone come in most nights to clean the dishes, but that's about all. he cooks and serves. it is a food studio that he set up to basically continue to hone his skills and develop a menu while he bides his time before opening a restaurant. the catering business is more for profit though, although he keeps certain restrictions there as well, just not as many. he also does cooking classes.

Yo!!!!! Holly, I'm just saying your eye ain't the same as Shapiro's. I figure she does more of them/has done more since she does get paid for it. The pics were really good, way better than any I could do. You can punch me out next time you see me.