Nathan

"- that you can get everything you can possibly imagine to go." I second this!

brunch is something we do at least once if not twice every weekend. its a casual, usually light, meal with friends at about 2 in the afternoon. many of the finest restaurants in NY serve brunch -- Jean Georges, Perry Street, Eleven Madison Park etc. however, it is usually an ala carte menu (with some expensive items off the dinner menu and some cheap (but usually very well-made) "brunch items" -- lox on a brioche or Belgian waffles....all refined and innovated somewhat...but along that line. I know of nowhere in the city where it's a massive spread and a $100 a person meal. (there might be some hotels that do this for tourists...I don't know)

I've always wanted to eat there. I had reservations for brunch a couple years ago and got there to discover that it wasn't quite "brunch" as a NY'er would understand it. We ended up leaving (feeling embarrassed but a giant spread wasn't what we were looking for at the time)...it's too bad because if I had been prepared for it...it looked wonderful. Glad to hear it's still the same.

"Not surprising. Have you had their pizza? " try the housemade sausage pizza at Zaffiro's...a dive bar on the east side of Milwaukee (a city that I lived in for 4 years) I've never had its equal in NY of course, if you were stupid enough to order a "plain pizza" (known as "cheese pizza" outside of the east coast) you would only get what you deserve.... I think many complaints about non-NY pizza stem from people asininely ordering plain pies.

good Cubanos in NY but I lived in Miami...where they are better. (of course, NY has better Cuban food than Miami in general (because it's less authentic....authentic Cuban is very bland)

Daniel, Until 2 weeks ago I lived a block and a half from No.1....never had one before NY...now I crave them weekly.

oh, I do like knishes....throw those in

I think you have to have grown up on the east coast to appreciate plain pizza...(it is the only place where people eat it....elsewhere in the country there will be that one person who will order a plain pie and everyone will look at them like "??????$&^%&*^*(???") What's amusing is how when I say this people here will respond "so you prefer Chicago-style deep dish?" Actually, no. It's just that those of us not from the east coast are used to these things called "toppings"

Bahn Mih pastrami steak best French in the country NY things I don't like: bagels (I don't get the point) pizza (what is the point of plain pizza?) hot dogs (Chicago-style is better)

I should add that someone may well pop up saying that insofar as it is a fish and shellfish based stew it has Italian antecedents. This is both true and banal. It would be equivalent to calling New England clam chowder "French" because it also has Mediterranean antecedents. I do understand that there is some controversy over whether cioppino originated first in SF or whether it came from elsewhere in CA.

there is no such thing as "San Francisco-style cioppino" because there is no other style. "cioppino" has never been made in Italy. there is nothing Italian about a purported "Italian" restaurant that serves cioppino. thus, technically speaking, whether they served cheese with it or not, it has no relevance to this forum.

lol. It is true that Italians do not serve cheese with seafood. However, there is nothing authentic about an "Italian" restaurant serving cioppino. Cioppino was invented in San Francisco and has no relationship with Italy. Whether they sometimes put cheese on it in SF I do not know....maybe they do.

you know, the real concern that we should all have is the heavy use of dihydrogen monoxide in the cooking process. scary stuff.

I think the Siesta might happen. yeah, the Black Velvet is an old Irish drink...never really thought of it as a coctkail...more as a variation on a Black and Tan. in many parts of the U.S. (though I've never seen it in NY) bars will serve Guiness and Cider and incorrectly call it a Black Velvet. (Guiness and Cider is actually a Snakebite) I believe the point of both the Black Velvet and the Snakebite is to make Guiness palatable for summer...they are not year round drinks.

ah...ok...cross out the Blood and Sand. a Manhattan is a good idea...not familiar with the Brooklyn. Frenet Stock, Frenet Citrus and Slivovice are Czech liquors (the Slivovice is similar to a grappa)... I'm going to taste test a pear sidecar tomorrow.... any good tequila drinks? (personally I drink tequila straight or with a little cointreau and a dash of club soda) thanks

I realize that. my point was that $300 is too dear for mere cooking demonstrations and $1000 is too dear for dinner (for me)

I've never been there...but I had the impression it was a cheap but very decent red-sauce place...if not quite "Southern Italian." with that said, what is their specific price range? with care one can eat at Babbo or Del Posto, with wine, for under a $100 apiece (and could order some "red sauce" dishes)

f______! I will be out of town most of the day on Saturday... granted I don't think they're cooking that breakfast and lunch....and the $1000 is too dear for me....but it's still very tempting...my credit card is very very fortunate that I won't be here that morning/afternoon.

Via Emilia?

We had quite warm service....but then they seemed kind of impressed that we had a Caucasian Mandarin speaker in our party. I imagine that the service could have been quite different otherwise.

I've compared them to crack for years actually. completely addictive.

I think I remember everything on Bedford (I have probably traversed that street over a hundred times....literally)...but for Grove or Barrow I have no clue. so, point taken.

So I'm throwing a little housewarming party in my new digs this Saturday and I've come up with a tentative list of drinks but I could always do with a couple more suggestions; oh, and as I'll be out of the city all day on Saturday I have no prep time at all. here's a list of what I know I can make with what I have on-hand: Sidecar (including the maraschino and calvados variants) Aviation (including the apricot variant) Monkey Gland 20th Century cocktail Pegu Club what I egotistically call the "Definitive Negroni" Corpse Reviver #2 (I have suitcase absinthe) and for the sweet "chic-drink" types I'll do the "French Martini" or something I call the "Panty-Dropper" (excuse the moniker, its a long Hamptons-related story) I'll have beer and wine as well. other liquors in my bar include: pear liquor good tequila blanco (I forget the brand, but it wasn't cheap) Kirsch Frenet Stock Frenet Stock Citrus Slivovice (sp.?) anything I can do with these? thanks. edit: since I have Kirsch I guess I could try to make a Blood and Sand but I better experiment this week to get it right first.

"But seriously: go to Little Owl and walk two or three blocks in any direction." There are about 8 restaurants on Bedford total (and most of them aren't within three blocks of Little Owl). Moustache is next to Little Owl. There is a Portugese restaurant up the block (the name escapes me). Chumley's is within a couple blocks. Ditto for Snack Taverna. There is some sort of Italian place within about 3 blocks. Further east on Bedford are Mas, AOC Bedford, Cafe Henri, Blue Ribbon, Ino and Ditch Plains. On the Carmine intersection with Bedford are Deborah and Shopsin's. What did I miss? "Or walk up W. 4th St. between 6th Ave. and 8th Ave. You'll pass tons of these places." well, I already mentioned two of them: Extra Virgin and Metropol. Throw in The Place, Mary's Fish Camp and Smorgas Chef as well. But you do have a point -- there are some no-name local places on those blocks. edited to remove Barbuto...which although close to the intersection of W. 4th is on Washington and thus not close to 8th ave.

" think more to the point is that many blocks in the West Village have a multitude of spots that none of us could even name." actually, I wonder if one could come up with the names of more than one or two WV places (other than say those generally crappy tourist places on Bleecker between 5th and 6th Ave) that a. hasn't been media-reviewed and b. that you haven't heard of. I've never felt intensely curious about Metropol, Extra Virgin et al...but they've all been written up and covered. as for Jarnac. people do travel to the WV specifically to eat there. and the website is clearly aimed at such people, even if it purports to be something else.