Atomic Lunch

Hey all, I need a restaurant with a private dining room within about five blocks of the Time Warner Center. I would prefer fine dining, but would go more casual if the food were really amazing. This is for a family event of about 14 people. Unfortunately the private dining room at Asiate only seats 12. Any suggestions? BTW, location is important as we have older people who will most likely be walking there. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out, especially EMP. As far as budget, I reached out to Per Se and it's out of my league. I'm on more of an Asiate budget. I think I'll save Per Se for a romantic dinner for two and not bring the rest of the family along.

I am tying the knot and not making a huge fuss about it. Immediate-family-only is keeping our numbers under a dozen (probably 10) and we don't need a storybook wedding. We do want a kick-butt dinner, though. Ideally the space would have a great view or a ton of charm. The food should be awesome. And if the space were big enough to bang out that whole ceremony part, well, that's bonus. Asiate is already on our short list. Any other suggestions? Strong, strong strong preference to stay in Manhattan. Oh, and I know some of you are going to suggest that we just get a big table somewhere, but for a wedding dinner we really do need a bit of privacy. Not necessarily a whole banquet hall, but think back on some dinners you've had spoiled by an obnoxious tourist at the next table, and imagine if that were your wedding. At least some privacy is a must.

So I think it's finally time for me to retire the chipped and mismatched plates and bowls and get a real grown-up set. So the question is, where can I go to get a full set of Fiestaware without paying the crazy NYC prices? I'm not looking for seconds or factory imperfects, I just don't want to overpay for a chic boutique. Also, I'd rather stay in Manhattan since I have to schlep the things home. thanks,

I've been watching the DVDs and they are really funny. It's hard to know why Fox does this: cancel shows before they even get a chance to develop traction. This was a really good show, though. There was an unaired episode (nine unaired in total on this set) called Rabbit Test that had me laughing until I cried. I think one of the things that really worked against this series was how it was presented. I've seen it a dozen times on this board alone: "It doesn't have much to do with the book." If you forget the book and just watch it as a TV series, it's great. If you watch it with book in hand, like a kid at a Harry Potter movie, listing the disparities, you'll be so busy you'll never see the really good writing. You either love Bourdain or you're disgusted by him. This show on the one hand had his fans pissed off that it wasn't more true to the book. On the other hand, the girl I watched the DVD with said "he's not going to eat the head off of a live sewer rat, is he?" They should have changed the name of the series, bumped up Bourdain's title so that they could prominantly feature it in the opening credits and promos. But then Fox might have cancelled it after six episodes rather than just four. Why would anyone even take a series to Fox anymore?

Man, I hate to say it, but I"m losing patience with the Shake Shack. I was there yesterday late afternoon. It wasn't peak hours and it was raining. I fully expected it to be one of those rare occasions when you can walk up with no line. No luck, the line was relatively short but more than I expected considering the aforementioned variables. The line went down to the edge of the gravel area. I soon found out why the line was so long. I waited for between five and ten minutes and the line simply didn't move at all. People were not walking away from the ordering area, people weren't moving forward. The line was at a dead stop. I can understand that the food is made to order and I'm willing to wait for a fresh made, delicious burger. But there's no reason why the order part of the process should be the bottleneck. The line has been moving a lot more slowly so far this spring than it was last year. I don't know if the credit cards are confusing them or what, but something's got to change. I don't mind waiting because a lot of other people got a hankerin' for a burger before I did. I DO mind waiting because someone can't take an order and exchange money. I walked away as I have roughly 50% of the time, hungry, empty handed, and annoyed.

I'm so depressed. I absolutely LOVED their marzipan pigs. Watch, there will probably be another starbucks in that location. Will we be the last generation to have known interesting and unique? I wish I'd known they were closing, I would have stocked up on pigs.

I actually would like to address the issue of whether the shake shack gives you the runs, and I will attempt to do it as delicately as possible. I do sometimes find myself urgently looking for a restroom about 40 minutes after eating at the shack. Luckily there's an NYSC nearby so it's not a huge issue. And here's the important part: given that it's a kind of a "one and done" experience I am confident that it has nothing to do with food poisoning or bacteria. I have two theories on this. First, the burgers can sometimes be a little greasy. I have commonly heard that if you're not used to greasy food, it can encourage motility. Also, I know most people arrive at the shack hungry. No point in waiting in that line if you're not ready to eat. So if you drop a big ole' burger and a big honkin' shake on that empty stomach, you're flirting with upset. Particularly if you're just a little lactose intolerant, as most adult humans are. With nothing else in your stomach to temper it, all that dairy can just run amock. I personally wouldn't go to shake shack on a date or right before a movie, but the line would make either of those impractical, anyway. On an unrelated topic, is it just me or does the line go a lot more slowly now that they take credit cards? I was there Sunday and the line to pay was excruciatingly slow. There was almost no wait for the food. Clear where the bottleneck was. A

I was very excited when I heard he was moving to 42nd street as I work on Times Square. Expecting the lines would follow him, I waited until a day when I was taking an off-peak lunchtime and wandered down to check it out. I have to say I was very disappointed. First and foremost is the soup. I mean, if the soup isn't great, everything else is just window dressing. And the soup wasn't great. I used to go to his old place and, despite being out of work at the time, spent rather a lot for his soups because they were just that good. His new stuff is just okay, but not worth the money or the walk. He had three different bisques, but it's hard to make a big bowl of hot cream taste bad, so I went for something that required a little more skill, the chilli. All I can say about it was it was just okay. Now, let's talk about the rest. He's got salads. Whoopee. There's an indoor portion so your last few minutes on line are indoors. Yay. Instead of Al's stern face there are a handful of chipper young people serving up your food and very loosely and gently enforcing the rules (have money ready, move to the left.) I've only lived in this town for just over two years and already I'm kind of immune to whether the counter people are friendly or not. The thing that struck me most is how touristy the place has become. There are soup man t-shirts and mugs and he has TVs up on the walls so patrons can watch his interviews. And every interview seems to deny that his fame is based on Seinfeld or that he is a phenomenon of the show. It seems the strategy is to call attention to the Seinfeld angle by denying, which is a good strategy, just a little transparent. So Al has made his shift from purveyor of damn good soup to tourist attraction. I doubt we'll see midwestern families trading in their "I Heart NY" t-shirts for "I heart Soup Nazi", but I'll be spending about as much time there as I do at the top of the empire state building. Oh, and a final note, they still give a piece of fruit with your order. I got a crab apple so tiny that I wouldn't have bothered throwing it at anyone when I was a kid. I took a picture of it to send to a friend and put it next to a quarter for scale - they were about the same size.

The article quoted someone who "recently" bought a cup of soup from the Manhattan location. He's not open again, is he? I stopped schlepping up there to check months ago. His website hasn't changed. I could go for a good cup o' soup right now....

There's a place on the upper east side, just around the corner from me, that has hummus to die for. It's called "OK Falafel House", though there's no way you would know the "OK" part from the sign. It's on 2nd between 91st and 92nd. The guys who work there are great, too.

Man, I have to be thinking of another place. It can't be the same place. Not that little hole in the wall that looks, to a hungry neighborhood wanderer, like it's going to be a gem, then leaves that wanderer sorely disappointed. Not that place with the dry and flavorless rotiss and the tough and unappetizing fried. Maybe my timing has just been preternaturally bad, but the only thing I ever thought walking out of there was "at least I didn't pay a lot." So, do I give the joint another try? Or discount the article? East Side Poultry, bah!

I have to ask, what's the "New York Danny Rose" attitude? I'm familiar with the Woody Allen film Broadway Danny Rose, but I remember it being about a loveable loser who keeps getting into strange situations. As far as the New York attitude, I don't think I'm qualified to speak on this, having not lived here for very long, but I think it is a perception from outsiders thing. In my experience, New Yorkers aren't mean, but we are at home and we have places to be. Working on Times Square, I see a LOT of tourists and American tourists tend to think of every place as an amusement park. Lots of tourist destinations encourage this as it brings their money. So while I am always happy to take a picture of a tourist for them, or explain subway directions, I get very annoyed when they are blocking the sidewalk or slowing down some other aspect of life. I'm sure this applies doubly to restaurant workers where the same tourist attitude could expect the server to put on a big show, take longer to turn than a regular table, and end up tipping very little. I'm sure your daughter didn't fit this bill, but it is possible the people at the deli were expecting it from her. I have come to expect typical tourist behavior from tourists I encounter.

Ah, Pio Pio... It's right around the corner from my apartment. When I was out of work I scarfed down a lot of Pio, $4 for half a chicken as long as you go eat it somewhere else. Put the same half a bird on a plate and eat it on one of their tables and it's $10. Still, it doesn't have the low-class charm I'm looking for. Less evidence that it was recently rolling over a very hot charcoal fire. Keep those suggestions coming, I'm building a to-do list!

I used to go down and buy his soups for $7 a pop when I was out of work. The mulagatawny actually makes me feel high. Their soups are better than mine. Oh, hurry back to us, soup nazi!