Nathan

that's a rough budget. fabulous food isn't going to happen. and most places with that kind of party room are usually booked by now anyway... Blue Smoke or Hill Country?...they both have the space and hit the price point...

cakes are cakes. this cake has cheese in it, ergo, I call it a "cheesecake"...(I know crap about desserts)

oh it was nothing major. one of them was Chace Crawford (I certainly don't know who that is but my companion did): hostess: "I really really want to seat you but we just don't have any seats right now." celeb A: "I understand, it's no problem." we walk past the hostess: "oh, you're leaving!!!! ok, you can have their seats at the bar!" edit: I should say that the really amusing part for us was how horrified the (quite young) hostess was at having to deny them entrance.

see, I think it's great regardless of price point.

as someone who is dessert-averse...I finally sampled the cheddar cheesecake with ham cream. ham cream's time has come. the apple works nicely in the dish as well. I really really love this restaurant. it's not overrated...it really is some of the best cooking in NY right now. I crave it. can't really say that about anywhere else. (once you've had that tripe salad you wonder why you bother to eat anywhere else ever again)

the shrub drink is superb...great way to introduce pastis to the pastis-averse. love the new menu in general...my only caveat (and it's an extremely mild one) is that the menu is heavy on the vieux carre style drinks...which I love....(especially recommend the Rye Witch)...but the menu could perhaps have a bit more balance across different styles and categories. on the other hand, they're perfect for fall... heard an amusing conversation between the hostess and the B-list celebs that took our seats as we left...

Sorry, I think this got posted before I was finished. Anyway, Are these pictures copyrighted? And if so, will and must the establishment adhere to the photo on the menu (the food pictured/depicted) when it gets served to the customer ? Just to be highly critical, I have sent food back to the kitchen, asking to please serve it the way I saw it on the menu, and for that reason only, ordered it. Now, a slightly different subject, though pictures also. Supermarket flyers with food pictures. I am referring to only foods shown fully cooked/perpared/ready to eat, but actually advertising the base raw product for sale. Example : A beautyfully "Standing Rib Roast" , perfectly roasted to a medium rare, lusciously moist looking, hardly any fat (deckel off), depicting definitely the shorter end of a USDA Meatbuyers Guide product 112A. The so advertised product "Angus Beef Rib Roast" $......, in the case, cryowrapped and in no way will this piece, when cooked, look anyway near the roast that is depicted in the flyer. Do we have any copyright issues ( No statement on the flyer where the pictures come from ) or simply 'false advertising' ? ← the photographs are copyrighted by the photographer. automatically (just like the written word or any other visual art). the photographer usually licenses the photo to the advertiser.

Mayur has it absolutely correct.

eh...it was less spicy than the not-very-spicy squid salad (especially since they dropped the Sichuan peppers...but it was very very good.

the word is "early winter". realistically...I'd guess January.

last night we had an excellent special....get it while they still have it. porchetta with braised fennel. add some brussel sprouts with pancetta for a contorini and you have one heck of a dish...

combo. you dip it in a garlicky aoli that appears to have some mustard as well.

on Saturday night I sampled: apple kimchi. seriously fricking good. spicy tripe salad. not spicy in the slightest but in an incredible broth. better than the (very good) tripe I had last night at Babbo. the lamb shoulder is 10 times better than the lamb belly. it's a massive portion of very gamey/lamby lamb....comes with a classic red wine reduction. it's basically a standard three star French entree. but for $23! seriously. it basically seems to just be "let's show them that we can cook classic French if we feel like it"...

I can agree with that. (It was also sloppy of me to say that it was the "Zagat article" that was being responded too...it's the Zagat survey results that have been criticized.)

finally got around to eating here (Resto is just not near anything...): really liked it. bitter ballen are good (how could they not be?!). the poularde was excellent. so was the burger. the beer selection is excellent and serving a glass with the appropriate insignia for each beer is a nice touch. if it wasn't in Murray Hill I'd probably eat here all the time...as it is, it's still a perfect winter go-to.

I went back to Bar Room at the Modern for the first time in a couple months. there are several new and quite haute dishes on the menu, all of them very good: squid wrapped in pancetta, pumpkin and chestnut soup and a new duck preparation. also a variety of seafood dishes that I didn't try this time. finally got around to the famed farm egg with sea urchin foam, lobster and asparagus. I really wanted to like this dish but the parts just don't come together...

Grub Street, Eater. but anyway...the point is merely that the Zagat survey is completely unreliable (for obvious reasons!!!!!). for frick's sake, they report average checks at some restaurants that are literally impossible....

Nathan, do you have any links to those articles? I'd like to check them out. ← here's one: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10112006/enter...teve_cuozzo.htm and he generally slams Zagat here: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102007/news/...books__stuf.htm

the Zagats may very well know that their survey results are all wet...but the entire basis of their schtick is that their surveys are substantively valid...remove any part of that and the entire edifice falls.

Brick Lane does indeed have the best Indian lunch buffet that I've had.

about 1000% better.

that Zagat article was roundly pilloried in the press for "fuzzy math"...basically all that it proved is that either a. Zagat voters don't eat at the restaurants they claim to...or b. they have enormously faulty memories (probably both)...in some cases the purported average check was less than the cheapest dining option at a given restaurant!!!!

you have two choices at this late notice: the lounge at Perry Street... Bar Room at the Modern (which, even if it doesn't have reservations available, is quite accomodating for walk-ins)....

"hip" is too variegated a term for me to comment on (arguably, if it's not in Brooklyn it can't be "hip")...as for "stylish", for great food, two places come immediately to mind: Tailor and Perry Street. I'd surmise that Soto might hit the spot as well. stylish with decent to good food: seconded Kingswood, Rayuela, Waverly Inn, Cafe Cluny. I'd throw Babbo in as well. all of these places easily fit your $70 pp before alcohol criteria.

Pala is terrific. ostensibly "Roman-style"...(in Rome the toppings generally aren't that chunky..or plentiful). tried four different pies. all of them good. especially the inferno...spicy soppresetta balanced with a sweet, chunky cherry tomato sauce. best pizza I've had in NY. they're also running an antipasto bar.