Nathan

the thing is, if one has had positive experiences at a restaurant before, doesn't it make sense to dismiss one bad experience (which was service, not food-based) as an outlier?

I'd have to look at regulatory opinions (there's a good chance that there's no published case law on the subject) for context on this. without that I don't have the foggiest clue whether it constitutes "bourbon". but I only go to that kind of effort if I'm getting paid for it

so you had a poor server. how was your meal?

neat...usually Lagavullin 15 at home. sometimes a couple drops of water...depending upon my mood.

urban renewal is I think directly tied in to a city's status as a "restaurant city"... urban renewal becomes successful when affluent young folks live "downtown" (not in the suburbs)..and the commensurate stores, restaurants and nightlife appear. Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee have become poster-children for successful urban renewal. Buffalo and Detroit are seen as the opposite. both have absolutely desolate downtowns that shut down when the workday is over. until that changes they wont' be "restaurant cities". (yes, I know Detroit has a Greektown and I've seen theater and eaten in the WSU area.) I've spend a considerable amount of time in the downtown of each of these cities (except for Cleveland but a considerable amount has been written on its resurgence)...the difference between the two groups is beyond drastic. as for the "Detroit metro area"...yeah it's huge...and extremely broadly defined. if Ann Arbor and U-Mich. are part of the Detroit area and restaurant scene...than NYC gets Yale and Princeton just to start (both are closer to NY in terms of transportation time than Ann Arbor is to Detroit)

the plural of anecdote is not data. PKU is not autism. correlations are infinite in number. the vast majority of them are not causative. almost all complex phenomena do not have monocausal explanations. many/most illnesses and disorders are (for all practical purposes) random. but...human beings have an innate desire and tendency to seek an easy explanation for everything. it's understandable, albeit often wrong. I'm not going to say anymore on this subject cause you're going to believe what you want to believe. but there is absolutely no scientific evidence that aspartame is dangerous at all to humans in any quantities actually consumed by humans. this has been tested, studied and examined to almost the limits of absurdity. I don't have a horse in this race. I don't like sweet things to begin with and don't really drink soda. but food (for obvious reasons) is one of those areas where pseudoscience and misinformation are most commonly seen.

You should know that Babbo also sets aside a few tables for walk-ins. My wife and I went about an hour after opening on a holiday Saturday and were given a table -- with an expiration date, but fair enough -- before we'd finished our first glass of wine. If we'd gone earlier and perhaps on a different day (holiday Saturdays are slower for wealk-ins, I expect, but a Wednesday would probably be even better) the wait might even have been shorter. If you can't get your rezie, you can check if that's still the policy while you have them on the phone, and they'll probably give you better hints than I. ← there are 6 walk-in tables and about 12 seats at the bar...all available for walk-ins. you're best off telling the bartender that you're a walk-in looking for dinner. they keep a list. don't show up at 5 (opening time or before)...there are always about 25 tourists lining up beginning at 4:30 for the walk-in tables. show up at 7-7:30 and you shouldn't have to wait very long (especially if you're willing to eat at the bar...easier seats to get than the tables).

another vote for JG

a bunch of us ate here last night: I enjoyed it a great deal. although the brisket and ribs that we had were a little below RUB.. the sausages were the best I've had in NY (imported from Kreutz Market)...the jalapeno ones especially. as good as anything Usinger's puts out. the sides were better than RUB. the prime rib lacked smoke...as did the brisket (although still pretty tasty). however, they were out of the "moist brisket" (we were stuck with the lean) and out of the beef ribs. so I wouldn't call it a fair sample. as well...it's a much more enjoyable place to hang out than RUB. live music, long racuous tables...its the perfect place for a party. I'll go back soon.

Yasuda is great. in the EV go to either of the Momofukus (but not Ssam Bar for lunch!). in NoLIta I'd recommend Balthazar for breakfast/lunch and Peasant for dinner. for cocktails, NY's best are: Pegu Club, Milk & Honey, Death & Co., Flatiron Lounge, PDT, Brandy Library, Little Branch

that's it...I'm going this week!

blech About Saigon Grill, it's crackered-up (americanized), for sure, but still everything is well prepared and fresh and it's just a damn tasty restaurant. But you might join the boycott. I dunno for cheap eats on the UES, I'd venture north for all sorts of latin food ← I'll admit that I tend to first assess Vietnamese restaurants by their pho. Pho Bang and Nha Trang, although not great, have significantly better pho than Saigon Grill. the rest of the menu I'm not so familiar with...

well...are we counting Pontiac, Grosse Pointe, Auburn Hills, Howell, Livonia and Dearborn as Detroit?

personally, I find it odd that those disorders have risen exponentially since the introduction of Care Bears. of course, the simple (and generally undisputed among scientists) reason for the rise in diagnosis of autism et al is that they started looking for it. ADD/ADHD didn't exist as a specified disorder before the 1980's (like many, I suspect it's simply a diagnosis of normal childhood hyperactivity (primarily in males)). as for autism, the reality is that autistic behavior was simply classified as "retarded" or "slow" and that beginning around 1980 the APA (and others) began pushing the specific diagnosis of autism. in other words, this is the classic mistake of confusing a rise in diagnosis with a rise in the underlying phenomena. put differently, introduce a more sensitive test for anything and you will find a higher incidence of whatever it is you're looking for. introduce a new phenomena altogether (ADD/ADHD) and of course it will rise since it's starting at zero. example: after the BSE crisis in Europe, diagnoses of CJD (albeit not new-variant CJD) went up significantly in the U.S. obviously, some excitable types took that as indicating that BSE was here. the reality is that doctors were looking for it due to heightened awareness)

I don't have a sweet tooth so I could care less either way. Just because something is carcinogenic in some quantitities for some animals (which is doubtful anyway as your link shows), doesn't mean that it's carcinogenic for humans especially in any quantitity that humans actually consume. of course, hypothetically, even if it did have adverse health consequences, those may be less than that caused by the consumption of sugar. so, yeah, I could care less and don't care if it's used.

personally, I think you'd be happier at Bar Room at the Modern...at Maze/London Bar it could be rather racuous...it won't be at Bar Room. the food at both is good...but better for the price at Bar Room.

Lima's Taste is the Peruvian place. for garden dining...true, Surya or AOC (not AOC Bedford!)...both are only ok food wise. Raji made good Asian recommendations its just that most of those aren't in the WV. other WV spots worth considering: Ino, AOC Bedford, Ditch Plains, Mas, Blue Ribbon. the food at White Horse is blah Sysco bar food. it's not a bad spot for a beer during the week...on weekends its an UES frat boy crowd (literally).

Per Se charges one set menu price for everyone. as a sidenote, there is a clear difference between having service included in the menu price and having a gratuity added on to the bill (as many restaurants do in tourist areas and many also do for parties of six more). the first is enforceable (its part of the price of the meal)...the second is not. now if a restaurant instead of putting the "gratuity" on the bill put a "service charge" or "cover" (as often seen in Europe)...that could change matters.

see the first post on this thread.

to be precise, since you're staying on W. 11th you're staying in the WV or "West Village" "GW" is today often used to refer to the no-man's land (NYU and Washington Square Park) between the WV and EV.

interesting..the Blue Moon recipe I'm familiar with is gin, Yvette or Violette and lemon juice...no egg white. the third recipe is quite similar to a Jupiter Cocktail.

Maraschino liqueur or the marascino cherry? Robert's last line from his piece in the Spirit World was "If you can find true brandy soaked cherries, I always recommend going that route instead of using the modern maraschino cherry. Another option is to buy dried bing cherries, and reconstitute them in brandy." So if not Aviation, maybe call it a "Skyline". ...http://www.oldenburgvanbruggen.com/spoonbridge.htm (sorry, couldn't resist) ← he's talking about the garnish....not the ingredients! now that I think about it...what you're drinking is actually a Blue Moon....(well, the original used Creme Yvette but Violette was often substituted...as with the Avation)

doubtful. they're in the same city.

virtually all of those restaurants offer relatively accessible dining at the bar...

suits like these are usually primarily about forcing the defendant to change his/her business practices...and secondarily about damages (lost profits and the like). as for the legal fees...well, having a Complaint drafted may not be cheap but it's usually simply part of the cost of negotiations...if this dragged on through the entire litigation it could get every expensive for both parties...another reason why virtually all commercial legal matters settle. put it this way: I wouldn't be flabbergasted to see the suit quietly dropped in a few months while a couple changes are made at Ed's.