Nathan

you can believe whatever you want but you're not entitled to your own facts. yes, cancer diagnosis is increasing...but that is not the same thing as saying that the actual incidence of cancer is increasing. all that we really know is that oncological mortality is decreasing. just like mortality of all kinds. the major issue with sugar appears to be caloric...which isn't a difference between refined and "natural" sugars. overconsumption is not an intrinsic property of an ingredient. and I'm not interested in links to random webpages. you're more than welcome to post citations to peer-reviewed scientific articles. only those are credible.

good points all....but I think the WV wins that category still pretty easily...especially when considering variety...

And consumption of organically produced foods increase every year. No correlation? Eileen ← fossil fuel emissions go up yearly too. no correlation?

I bet that records of mortality rates and food-borne illness would show that we're a lot safer. ← A LOT safer. and that includes infant mortality rates and mortality related to congenital anomalies (birth defects). in fact, despite the presence of chemicals, pesticides, artificial sweeteners, etc...infant mortality rates and birth defect rates in developed countries are far lower than in developing countries. despite the hysteria..."natural" is bad. (people once opposed the steel plow on the same grounds) one other thought: when it comes to the food stalls of Singapore....well, that's Singapore...not Champawat. ← The US, which uses many of these chemicals actually has the highest infant mortality rate of any developed country. Third world countries, the ones with the highest mortality rates, have no medical care available for mothers or infants. That is the cause of their infant mortality. Eileen ← 1. this is simply incorrect according to WHO data. (the U.S. is higher than most developed countries. 2. the U.S. defines infant mortality more broadly than some developed countries. 3. infant mortality in the U.S. is decreasing (with the exception of 2004). 4. infant mortality in the U.S. among non-African Americans is similar to the European average. 5. the U.S. leads the world in premature deliveries (this is a positive)...this has a sharp effect on the infant mortality rate. is your thesis that African-Americans have a special susceptibility to environmental chemicals?

Last night I was with a friend at the bar at Dell'Amina and we were discussing the difficulty of making Fernet Branca cocktails. noticing the Foretti biscotti liqueur at the bar, we thought we'd get the bartender to let us dabble with it. after various attempts we ended up with something to be proud of (we thought): 2 rye 1 Branca .5 Foretti (it's very sweet..) .25 Carpano Antica 2 dashes Regan's orange bitters. this rocked.

another criterion: late-night sophisticated eating. in midtown you're mostly f----ed. in the EV you have Ssam Bar and I'm guessing a lot of places are open til midnight. in the LES...well, you have Schiller's. NoLIta has Balthazar and a lot of places serving til midnight. but the WV rules this category. strangely enough...Morandi is pretty much dead and stops serving shortly after 11....even on weekends (the first McNally failure?)...meanwhile diners are walking into a packed Dell'Amina on weeknights at 12:30...Mas serves til 4, Blue Ribbon serves late, Spotted Pig serves food til at least 2...etc.

Stopped in here last night with three others...one of them Dave H who will hopefully post his thoughts. We tried: fluke sashimi (pretty good...maybe a tad too much acidity...but a standard dish these days). gyoza composed of shrimp and something else...(very good...not standard gyoza but more ravioli) house made tofu with dashi and wasabi (terrific...kind of reminded me of the type of dishes you get at Tsukushi) crispy shrimp (a generous bowl...good but nothing special) sauteed pea shoots...(very good) house pickles (fine) and a variety of tempura...the best were the skookum oysters (these are really really good)...and the peppers. the meat tempura options (specifically the chicken and pork cutlets) were kind of bland. the menu has expanded significantly...including a couple traditional entree choices....not just the blackboard options and the tempura (the blackboard options are now on the daily printed menu as well). there's also a $50 tasting menu. the cocktail list still looks like a bad hangover from an Asian fusion restaurant of five years ago. service was solid. I'll return again.

well, yeah, the molecular content of foodstuffs doesn't change just because they're "organic"...

As I noted above, this is completely false. I'll take the "chemicals"

oh, and cancer mortality rates go down every year as well.

I bet that records of mortality rates and food-borne illness would show that we're a lot safer. ← A LOT safer. and that includes infant mortality rates and mortality related to congenital anomalies (birth defects). in fact, despite the presence of chemicals, pesticides, artificial sweeteners, etc...infant mortality rates and birth defect rates in developed countries are far lower than in developing countries. despite the hysteria..."natural" is bad. (people once opposed the steel plow on the same grounds) one other thought: when it comes to the food stalls of Singapore....well, that's Singapore...not Champawat.

Buona Noce?

I've lived in NoLIta and I now reside in the WV. If I had to pick one neighborhood to live in solely on the basis of food...it'd be the SW part of the EV (proximity to everything...including Ssam Bar, PDT and D&C!). now leaving the food and cocktail question aside, the perk to my current hood is that having Giselle for a neighbor beats NYU co-eds....and the restaurant options aren't too bad either.

ha!

then PDT should immediately send a demand to clubzone that they remove the listing. it's the first thing that pops up when you google PDT and NYE

http://www.clubzone.com/events/event77662.html

heh...I saw it on the site....at least they seem to think they are selling tickets for it!

the simple scientific answer is: safer than at any point in human history. (I'm uncertain what "pure" means in this context)

PDT is doing something. price yet to be announced...but apparently tickets will be sold through clubzone.com

but after Esca, those places can't hold a candle to Babbo, Lupa, Otto, Del Posto, Peasant, Il Posto Accanto, Del'Amina, Bellavitae etc.... as for neighborhood eateries, I've eaten at Eatery, Vynl (which also has a Chelsea branch) and Marseilles....and they're basically glorified diners compared to places like Little Owl or Savoy. midtown/HK does have Japanese and the four stars. it also has the best African south of 125th and the best Manhattan Asian outside of Chinatown. It also has the best Manhattan Greek (the only good Greek restaurant downtown is Snack Taverna/Snack).

midtown/HK is missing the neighborhood eateries (places like Little Owl, Shortie's, Back 40, Savoy), Italian and winebars.

oh I'm not complaining about where I live now...with easy access to both the shops on Bleecker and Chelsea Market...and there's a number of very good restaurants and wine bars. but I'd rather have the Momofukus, PDT, D&C and Chinatown on my doorstep...

what it comes down to is that anywhere below 20th and north of FiDi is awesome. and between the N/R/W/Q/E/L....it's generally pretty easy to cross town as well...

unfortunately, JG, Per Se, Masa, Yasuda, LB, Esca etc. are all above 14th street...

Balthazar, Fiamma, Lure, Pegu. it's only a couple blocks south of Canal to Bouley, Bouley Upstairs, Megu etc.