juuceman

you (and me) are very special that way. but most of the world isn't. otherwise egullet and chowhound would have 2 billion members, rather than 10's of thousands. it seems to go without saying really. ← when i'm 500 miles from home, in the absolute middle of nowhere, and I see a Macaroni Grill, a Friday's, a Ruby Tuesday's or a Pizzeria Uno, I'm pretty happy.. I don't eat at these places when I'm home, or when I've had a chance to research the locale, or when someone recommends something, but for the most part these places will be as good or better than the hotel restaurant and they are consistent.. same thing when traveling and hopping off the highway to sit down for an hour or so and break up a long ride.. i'm not necessarily looking for innovative cooking when doing so, i'm looking to eat and be somewhat happy with it..

sorry, the Olive Garden is on 22nd and 6th, in the same building (The Caroline) that Outback, Cosi, and Best Buy occupy.

I live up the block from the 23rd street Olive Garden and regularly see people waiting in excess of 45 minutes to get in on Sunday afternoons. Suffice to say that they're not for the most part neighborhood folks. Some of them go to school in the area, many more were/are planning on shoppingin Best Buy, etc., but for a lot of people it's a destination spot.

no line Sunday around 11:30 but a line down the block by noonish.. the line inside, while wrapping around the store and to the cheeses, moves quickly.. the bulk of the people are moving slowly, looking at each and every thing on every shelf and in every case.. it's a lack of familiarity with the store, and its offerings, that's filling the place up.. it's weird.. i won't shop there regularly, i really do prefer the amalgam of the green market, whole foods and my grocer.. i do like the cheap cereal, milk, juice and other staples.. i don't like that the produce is packaged and that there's no butcher.. contrast this with whole foods (which had less than a five minute line at checkout) which didn't have any country style ribs in the butcher section but after 20 seconds the butcher just went in the back and cut up a whole slew of them for me..

Hello, weinoo. I am afraid you have got your facts wrong. At Lupa, the pasta prices do not change at all from Thurs night to Sat night. And the highest you will pay for a pasta -such as the tagliatelle with pork ragu -is $22. The only exception is if the pasta is made with expensive ingredients (as the previous poster Pan pointed out) such as truffles, etc. On the Saturday night in question, the only truly expensive pasta on the menu was a special: ravioli stuffed with pork stracotto and served with a mushroom butter sauce containing whole fresh chiodini mushrooms (which happen to be very expensive). And that pasta was only $24. The majority of pastas range between $12-17, which is a damn reasonable price here in New York considering that they are being made with the freshest ingredients and as good as any Italian grandmother. All the fresh pastas are made and shaped by hand. The tagliatelli that you so lovingly refered to as "leftovers" are not. And the tagliatelli are made fresh daily, each noodle painstakingly hand -cut by a human being. Fresh pasta at the end of the night is not served to customers the next day. It is rather sad that such artisanal pasta- making is going unappreciated and that there are people out there who are trying to nickle and dime quality. ← my understanding, from reading Batali's cookbook, is that fresh pasta is made once or twice a week, frozen in individual portions in ziplock bags, as this is the only reasonable way to keep half a dozen fresh pastas on the menu at one time..

don't know where else to post this - Amazon has the Le Creuset Six Piece set for $262 with free shipping.. Lifetime limited warranty, includes: 5-1/2-quart round french oven 10-inch iron handle skillet 8-by-12-inch roaster 2-quart 2-in-1 saucepan with 8-inch omelet cover Enameled cast iron with triple-layer nonstick surface, great from oven to table. For baking, broiling, braising, sauteing, and marinating Dishwasher-safe Amazon Le Creuset..

Sure...under 15-20pp. ← is that all in or entrees in that range?? Broome Street Bar has sandwiches, burgers and salads plus a glass of wine or a beer for that price..

I'd suggest a late night walk in at either Blue Ribbo or Balthazar.. eat as much or as little as you like at either place.. Blue Ribbon's menu is made up of more snacks, but Balthazar offers the raw bar option, a great bar, and great people watching.. both open and serving until at least 3 am.. I've not been to CookShop for brunch but have enjoyed 5 Points'.. Prune has a wonderful brunch, as does Barney Greengrass, on the UES.. if you're not planning your trip entirely around food, I'd recmmend hitting a deli enar your hotel, such as Sarge's, for eggs, lox, etc. before getting going on your day.. Saragura is a great option for Friday night..

I used to hit a restaurant in Brooklyn, Kar, for Chinese with my parents that had wonderful orange beef.. this is going back a while now, but it did kick ass.. recently had the orange flavor beef in Toronto and it had an oddly chocolatey taste.. I've not had the orange beef, but the sesame chicken at Shun Lee is great..

my experiences, and thoughts, exactly.. i wish Otto served a more similar menu to Lupa.. we've been frequenting Otto lately because it is so accessible to walk ins..

understood, and modified accordingly.. not the case here, the chef ignored the entire situation last night, as we were sitting right in front of him and he didn't say a word.. the setting was pretty far from confrontational, it was more of a dismissal and was handled pretty poorly overall..

while i'm glad they're doing well, and they've been packed every time I've been there in the past few months, they haven't handled the influx of people very well.. the service has been so uneven as to be ridiculous.. there's one waitress, who offers such atrocious service that she should be ashamed of herself.. it feels like the remainder of the wait staff understand that she sucks and have made accomodations for it, but her attitude and lack of professionalism left a bad taste in my mouth last night.. i can understand that she forgot to put our order in, it was crowded, and the chef did make up for it, apologizing profusely over the counter and providing rounds of drinks at no charge, but her complete avoidance of us for the remainder of the evening, even as she assisted the couple next to us at the counter, really turned me off.. then last night she copped an attitude when she fucked up and forgot to enter the pork buns as an appetizer, and not an afterthought to the main course, and of course, refused to come near us the remainder of the night making the waitress from another section take care of us garnered her a subpar 10% tip.. <modified to redact identiying description of waitress>

we walked into Otto around 10, waited less than 10 minutes, sat at the bar and had one of the best meals i've ever had there.. great wine, amazingly competent service, in a place that's always packed to the gills so they're used to dealing with the crowd.. all the suckers were at Babbo last night, it was perfect..

It's been reported in more than one media outlet, so I take it as true. However, I agree with the various comments upthread that the two sides are posturing. The landlord doesn't really want, or expect, Del Posto to leave. They are angling for a better deal. ← eater (here) has more info about this..

don't know that i agree with that.. i have grown to really enjoy this place over the past few months.. i've had many enjoyable meals on Friday and Sunday evening's at tables either right at the doorway between the two rooms or in the back room and never been rushed or felt like my table was being pushed to turn.. my girlfriend was prompted to leave her table (with 9 others) on a saturday night recently, but they provided them with a few drinks at the bar afterward in compensation..

I frequently order the following with one friend: onions and tomatoes shrimp cocktail bacon steak for three potatoes spinach pecan pie and streudel his mother gets to gnaw the bones and the one or two chunks of strip left.. if you order steak for two, supplement with bacon and lamb chops for everyone to begin.. or the off menu rigatoni bolognese..

i stand corrected.. January 31 is the public opening.. http://www.nysun.com/article/26406

Lupa is one of my favorite restaurants in New York. What do you mean by "it's what Lupa should be"? (I still haven't been to Otto yet, by the way.) ← I love Lupa.. it's one of my favorites as well.. what frustrates me a bit, although i deal with it pretty well, is that it's all but impossible to walk in and sit down for a meal without a reservation made a month in advance or a experiencing a lengthy wait.. coupled with the fact that the bar isn't really an option for waiting, and it's not the most comfortable of waits.. otto is huge.. the bar area is probably a bit larger than the entire front room at Lupa.. the dining rooms are at least the same size.. it's got a more casual vibe and offers some of the same antipasti and primi.. i just wish they'd offer the full Lupa primi menu at Otto, and then this would be the ideal restaurant..

it's ManhattAn.. food convenience isn't, in my opinion, all about having the top restaurant or grocery store in your neighborhood.. i like having a great local place for the two major meals that i eat in my neighborhood, brunch and late dinner.. those, and a great local pub, make it for me.. i walk to and from work.. it's 8 blocks.. i'm on a never ending quest to find the perfect low key local pub (anywhere in between 22nd and Park-6th and 30th btw. Park and 6th is fine if anyone has suggestions).. so far, Cedar Tavern is leading, although it's out of my direct way home and a solid 15 minute walk.. i like living in the Flatiron.. it's quiet at night and on the weekends (except for the club kids late at night) and it's easily walkable anywhere south of 42nd Street.. chances are if we're going somewhere fancy, we're taking a car, since she doesn't like to walk more than five blocks in heels.. so it's not big deal to have to take a cab to the Time Warner Center.. for a slightly older disposition, i think the Upper West Side is perfect, offers great shopping, lots of locals, and great 24 hour delivery.. the UES has some great shopping, notably Agata, but lacks most everything else i really love.. except for Szechuan Kitchen, which is still open, is on 79th and 1st, and offers some of the most consistently delicious chinese food in NYC takeout currently available..

private party tonight - Gourmet Magazine's 65th birthday party.. Meat Packing - near or across the street, from Del Posto..

don't know how true that is - they're having a private party toight, but the restaurant was still pretty unfinished yesterday..

I've been eating at Otto at least weekly for the past several months.. i hated it when it first opened, and i was subjected to the Taleggio and mushroom pizza.. it's gotten much better.. agreed, the vegetable antipasti are the way to begin.. anything Batali and friends do with cauliflower has been great.. the white bean bruschetta on tuesday's is awesome, better than any other rendition, at any of his other spots, that i've tasted.. of course, here it's $5 while it was free back in the day at Po.. Tuesday night's meatball pizza special is wonderful.. the pastas are uniformly great and for gelato it's the place to go.. i've spent hours drinking at the bar alone with a book, and i've drunk bottles with the doctors from Mt. Sinai who have a semi-regular residency here as well.. it's casual with great food.. it's accessible in that i can snag a same day reservation for two if needed, or we can wait at the bar for a while and enjoy life.. it's what Lupa should be, but maybe a bit too pretentious for a pizza place.. outside of nyc this place would fall flat, but it works here, and the location is genius..

there was a fire in this space over the weekend.. closed for the near future..

try quikbook for hotels.. usually good prices.. was in SoBe this weekend, don't understand why one would want to stay at the Delano or Shore Club.. we walked into the Delano every night without a line, need to show a room key, or anything.. shore club is open to the public, with the exception of the pool area, which was packed.. understand that some like the scene more than I, but it bordered on the insane in these places and i can't imagine coming home to it every night.. we had a great meal in the restaurant in the Raleigh Hotel.. solid food, well prepared, little attitude.. great fish and grilled meat.. nice back garden to eat in, not the epicenter of the scene though..

the summer corn done in a similar manner, with bacon instead of the shrimp, was heads above this dish, in my opinion..