egator

I’m not sure about a roach on the wall. But when I was looking at reception sites for my wedding, I checked out an old bed-n-breakfast. When the lady opened the door to show me the reception room, four rats larger than my cat (an 18+ lb. maine coon), were scurrying along the crown-molding, cursing us loudly for breaking up their play session. I wouldn’t go back there.

Like Germany? France, Italy. Really?

I didn't know we lived in the same town.

reesek must have been shopping there a lot, pulling off those stems again.

they ain't losing money. they build a buffer into the price to offset losses. don't you worry about that. They lost money somehow because they're out of business!

There was a large grocery chain up the street from my house where that happened all the time. The check-out cashiers couldn’t tell the difference between a yellow onion and a Vidalia onion, between a summer squash and a zucchini squash, etc. – really basic food items. To me that’s just bad management/business. If you are going to have employees whose job it is to price produce, then they should be trained to identify those items. Cart them over to the produce department for a tutorial. If you don’t want to take the time for training, expect to lose money because employee rings up asparagus as green beans. They were usually teenagers, which would always make me think, “my gosh, what does your mother feed you?”. On another note, we have a small local grocery/health-food store that is great. It has very good prices on produce, meat, cheese – and it’s the only place in town to get truffle oil & san marzano tomatoes. I love the place. The store also has those bins with nuts, oats and mysterious hippie food. What kills me is when I see people taking handfuls of macadamia nuts, raw cashews and the like. Especially because there is a very large sign that politely states they lose money when you sample. I guess some people just conveniently don’t notice the sign. The store rings everything up by hand (at lightning speed) and I have never had a cashier who didn’t know what vegetable/fruit she was ringing up.

Didn't know you were still counting Maggie! You can put me down for 58. Wish I would've known about e-gullet/amazon thing about 30 books ago.

Wow. That’s a first. I grew up in Miami and I’ve never heard “pretty” and “palmetto bugs” in the same sentence…ever. I’m curious. Do you think opossums are cute?

"Sometimes I like to brag, sometimes I’m soft-spoken. But when I’m in Holland I eat the pannenkoeken."

Libby Mae Brown, Waiting for Guffman.

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg.

I'll second that, fried or not. I went to Veritas a few weeks ago and had the sweetbreads appetizer; it was amazing . If they were fried, then it was very lightly, they were not very crisp. I had never had sweetbreads either & wanted to try them. Now I have Veritas sweetbread cravings & there's nothing I can do about it (as I don't live in NY). Good luck!

That is too funny. I must have missed that episode of the Sopranos. That always grossed me out when watching Emeril. He shakes hands will all those people in the audience and then, without washing his hands, starts to cook and THEN serves it to the audience. BLAHHH! I must admit I’m frightened that Tony’s mom and I have something in common. BTW, hello all. I’m pretty new here & have only posted on the NY forum. And even though I choose this to be my first post on the FM forum, I swear I’m not a OCD germ Nazi or anything!

Yep. I agree. (Am I to try to avoid simple response posts like this?)

One of sites I found on tipping the sommelier said never under $10 & over $50 is excessive.

Oh am I jealous! After looking up the tipping issue on the internet I'm even more confused. The opinions range from "it's customary" to "don't ever" (or you will be double-tipping them).

I am curious too. I never tipped sommeliers separately (if it is the custom, then apologies in advance to all sommeliers). I was in NYC a couple of weeks ago with my husband and we ate at Babbo. There I saw a woman discreetly slip the sommelier some cash. So we did the same (When in Rome & you’re clueless…). It was kinda awkward; it felt sneaky. Funny note, I think the woman was Frances Sternhagen (Bunny MacDougal, Charlotte’s mother-in-law on Sex in the City - can’t get more NYC than that!). We tipped 20% of the price of the wine. If it is customary, then I will have to fly to NY this weekend to tip the sommelier at Veritas because the wine he suggested was incredible. I think I’ll do it anyway, customary or not. It was that good. OK, I didn’t answer your question . You could probably Google it to find your answer. I would be curious to know from those “in the business” the percentage of diners that tip the sommelier separately.

....wool knit sweaters with pictures of little kittens on the front OK. But what about wool knit sweaters with (choose holiday) pumpkins, turkey or snowmen on them. Is there anywhere you can go to escape those?

On the subject of spotting tourists, I was thinking this might be fun, although not really related to food (but sorta related to this topic)... Finish this sentence. New Yorkers would never be seen wearing.... or, A surefire way to spot a tourist is... I'm gonna go with, New Yorkers would never be seen wearing white Keds or Wrangler jeans (but as a tourist myself, I could be wrong - please tell me I'm not wrong).

Thanks for the welcome & the info. I realized after I posted that I could've just put it in guy talk and simply asked, "I'm going to Veritas, Le B & Babbo. Do I have to wear a suit to all three?" Thanks. If my husband doesn't have to wear a suit 3 nights in a row, then he will be happy. And hey, if he's happy, then I'm happy! I won't lie, I'm just a casual as he is, so this is good news for me too.

Hello, I’m going with my husband to NYC in the beginning of June. We have reservations at Veritas, Le Bernardin & Babbo (can you tell I’m a Tony fan?). Thanks to all you NYC e-gulleters, I’ve found out plenty about all three. The information has been priceless (and very entertaining). I still have a question that I was hoping you could help me with. As far as the dress-code/atmosphere at the restaurants, what’s it like? Le Bernardin I have no questions about (formal), but what about the other two? Take us Floridians outta our shorts & flip-flops and we’re lost. If you have any other vacationing suggestions, then I’d love to hear them. After visiting last year, I found out that it’s just as hot up there as it is down here during the summer (yeah, that was a painful revelation). Look forward to posting in the future. Thanks for all your help, Liz