Nathan

Right - and you can only get Shake Shack burgers at the Shake Shack in NYC! The original post also said items which weren't seasonal or a "fluke." So I think that knocks off a bunch of items from places like Momo, WD-50, and the like. ← true. but you can get the shake shack burgers elsewhere! (just cause they're new to NY....(the Shake Shack is pretty directly modeled on Kopp's)

that's what the very first post said: "but for right now, let's limit it to dishes you can only get in NYC." so..that's what I tried to do in mine.

hmm...I think we're running far afield of the original parameters ("only in NY")... I'm not sure my pork leg with mustard greens qualifies at Sri (is this a traditional Thai dish?) tom kha gai certainly doesn't. I love the gelato at Otto and respect the gelato at Il Laboratorio....maybe the sweet corn gelato at Otto (which is great) is completely original? maybe the olive oil coppetta as well (Meredith did not invent olive oil gelato). ditto for patata bravas.

I'm going to disagree on the Shake Shack (which I love). neither of those are "only in NY". the burger is Wisconsin-style. the custard is Wisconsin-style (albeit not as thick). the concretes are St. Louis style. ditto for corn on the cob and the spicy beef tendon. which is why I'm withdrawing the tung-po pork from my list.

Le Bernardin Jean Georges Sripraphai

since vegetarians by definition have no culinary sensibility...no comment is needed.

LB's "Surf & Turf" JG's egg with caviar JG's frog legs with young garlic soup (ok..so technically those are probably on the menu at JG Shanghai..but i don't know for sure) cauliflower at Momofuku Ssam fried butterscotch at WD-50 pork leg with mustard greens at Sri raw scallop with rock salt at Yasuda fatty duck at Fatty Crab The Pork Chop at Little Owl mint "love letters" at Babbo goose liver ravioli with brown butter and sage at Babbo

there's a decent place in NoLIta on Prince and Elizabeth....Barbossa.

its discussed frequently in the cocktail forum. Julie knows what she's doing. like Pegu Club...it has a bit of a problem in that the majority of its business appears to come from typical drinkers ordering beer, wine or vodka crap. on the other hand...that's good for the place financially. for whatever reason...most NY cocktail discussions take place in the cocktail forum (where I think you'll find agreement that Flatiron belongs in the top echelon along with Pegu, M&H, D&C, and P.D.T.....)

none of those places are gonna suck.

yeah...you should have. he could eat anywhere then (besides Corner Bistro or Fatty Crab)...even some of the steakhouses. reasonably priced but pretty good WV spots for him: Perry Street -- lunch Otto Lupa Ino Ditch Plains AOC (AOC Bedford is much higher end but the prices reflect that) Blue Ribbon Babbo (pricier but so worth it...he can get a vegetarian pasta followed by the terrific "Sicilian Lifeguard Calamari") Bellavitae does he have any specific culinary preferences? it's my hood so there are simply too many options to list without more details. edit: life is easiest for solo diners in NY (except for tasting menus...most restaurants don't offer them for one..the b____ds)...because there is a large dining-at-the-bar culture here.

one interesting take on grapefruit juice is to use a more-bitter blood orange juice...(despite being bottled, the "Italian Volcano Orange Juice" available at both Whole Foods and Trader Joes is ideal for this purpose)....you can play with it in both cocktails calling for grapefruit juice and cocktails calling for OJ...as it lends special effect either way.

how many foodwriters are there nationwide? 275 is a lot. but point taken.

this doesn't make them right...but here are the professional guidelines for restaurant reviewers: http://www.afjonline.com/rcrit.htm

Surya's pretty good...agreed. I'm not happy with the rest of the GW/WV Indian.

true...Moustache is pretty good. he could also order some of the bruschetta and tremizzini at Ino.

she's literally an industry shill without culinary knowledge who can't write and relies upon tendentious sexuality to sell. the only reason anyone read her blogs or gave her a job is because she's reasonably attractive....(she's a failed actress who decided to take up this career path a couple years ago) you will find several articles on gawker with more information: http://gawker.com/news/new-york-daily-news...itic-289222.php http://gawker.com/news/daily-news/daily-ne...face-291725.php she also only recently started making negative comments about restaurants on her site...she relied upon openings and free meals so she could hardly be critical in the past. also, she simply regurgitates press releases on her site without admitting to their provenance.

Hi offcentre, Is your friend vegan, or does he eat seafood as well? I'm not too acquainted with any vegetarian restaurants in the area, but there any many things for your friend to be able to eat with just a bit of planning and traveling. For instance, at both Lupa and Otto, there are lots of vegetable starters and sides; Lupa has great pastas that are meatless and Otto certainly has a few pizzas that are vegetarian friendly, along with some nice, inexpensive pastas too. Italian is probably the easiest for those with vegetarian leanings. In the East Village, as Nathan noted, there are many more vegetarian restaurants, though I haven't eaten at any...and there are also some great Japanese noodle places where things like vegetable tempura and soba and udon noodles (though the dipping broth is made from seafood) can be had. I like Sobaya on E. 9th St. for that stuff. I don't think anyone should leave NYC without eating great pizza, a knish from Yonah Schimmel''s (which would be great for the vegetarian!), and some other stuff that just can't be had anywhere else - but which your friend is not going to eat! ← well, if he's a vegan he's completely screwed... if he's a pescaterian than there's not much of an issue. he can eat anywhere.

I think that if you really sent anonymous confederates to see if the treatment and dishes stayed the same...that what you would be doing would be a de facto (albeit both more complex and more "honest") version of the current system. it would also probably require a higher budget. I could see it working...but only for the Times...I doubt any other newspaper could finance it.

so Richman (not the best writer but I think he's the best restaurant reviewer around) writes up Soto here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...wnKk&refer=dine his key thrust? forget about the sushi and sashimi. it's good but not at the top echelon. but he thinks the cooked items are amazing and that's what you should be eating....

except that you would be engaging in anonymity by sending confederates. your system would just be a very complex take on the current system as it exists ad hoc.

there are some excellent restaurants in the area. none of them are very vegetarian friendly. it's some of the most expensive real estate in NY so the "local eateries" tend to be either higher-end (Perry Street, the not-very-good Paris Commune, the MP restaurants, the Italian places) or old restaurants with menus that haven't changed in 30 years. Fatty Crab is the best local not-high-end eatery. It's excellent. It's also completely non-vegetarian friendly (there might be a couple side dishes he could eat). Perry Street is superb and could accomodate him. It's not cheap but not expensive....in the $65-120 range for dinner. there is an excellent $25 lunch deal. Barbuto is pretty good and pretty affordable Italian. they could probably work with him. Pasita is a wine-bar with some excellent brick-oven pizzas...one or two of them might be vegetarian. he's far better off eating in the EV....vegetarians actually live there. someone else could probably come up with some recommendations for him. there is a poster on the NY board who went through a brief vegetarian phase who might have some suggestions.

well..RG purports this will be her strategy. her track record to this point is to either use her real name or even "Restaurant Girl"...no joke. but then many of her "reviews" were of comped meals that she was invited to. I suppose that now with a dining budget that might actually change.

1. oh..I think he's probably usually recognized at the three and four star level....even on the first visit. 2. that sommelier incident at RTR was proof he wasn't recognized. so is anytime that his party is kept waiting past their reservation time. 3. I specifically noted above that the longer a critic is on the job the higher the odds of recognition. thus rotation is a good thing. 4. like I said, it's the lower levels where it really makes a difference.

ok. yes, restaurants that recognize a critic garner an unfair advantage. the reviewer can adjust somewhat for being recognized....but only so much. it doesn't follow that Bruni is recognized at the same restaurant everytime. once he's recognized...he's probably always recognized at that restaurant after that (also probably a good reason for someone to only be a Times reviewer for so long)....or at least until after the review comes out. but that doesn't mean they caught his first visit or two. (why do I think this is often behind Bruni's reporting inconsistency on the same dish from one visit to another?) so...part of a review might be skewed...but not all of it. do I think three or four star reviews (especially of new restaurants) should be read with this in mind? sure. below that level? not so much. and any time he reports a service or waiting (or heating--for a dish) issue...that makes a review more valuable in my book. it's not all or nothing. and never being anonymous wouldn't help. why? cause if the reservation is made under the name "Frank Bruni"...restaurants with extra resources are privileged (bring in extra staff!!!) while no reservations restaurants are screwed. and if he still uses fake names but is easily recognized...a la Danyelle Freeman...there will still be the non-buzz (Rosanjin) or mom-and-pop operation that won't notice him or her. so they won't be on an even playing field. in sum, I think the playing field is more even with anonymity than without.