Jason Perlow

UTZ makes solid tortilla chips, in really good flavors. I like their "Guacachip" and their blue corn.

It would seem to me that in the early 1970's, the bar for determining what a four star restaurant is in the NYT was much lower. I can't imagine a four star Chinese restaurant today in NYC, even with the more specialized regional cuisines that are now avalaible. You would need service, atmosphere and not to mention food and ingredient quality that matches places like Le Bernardin, ADNY, Daniel, and Jean Georges. That just doesn't fit with what most chinese dining experiences are -- even from the standpoint of what chinese cuisine IS, which for the most part is served family style and focuses on hearty and value, even at the high levels at places like Grand Sichuan, Joe's Shanghai or Wu Liang Ye. In Hong Kong and Singapore you do have some very high end places, but still, they would never pass for what the NYT calls a four star now. Which restaurants that were deemed four stars by the NYT in the 70's still exist today? Or still have their 4 star rating?

There was a really cool "Vacuum Cooking" episode of Iron Chef on this week which I just watched. The theme ingredient was scallops -- these were the super fresh, in shell (with all the parts) kind caught off the coast of japan. The challenger chef, Senji Osada, is one of the prime practicioners of the method in Japanese cooking. http://www.ironchef.com/96/96_e13.shtml Overall, the panel didn't like most of his dishes. His approach in cooking is not really to season any of the food, so as to allow the concentrating effect of the vacuum bag cooking to showcase the natural flavor of the ingredients -- unfortunately this didn't really seem to work for the scallops. It would have been nice to see Osada butter poach some scallops and lobster like the way some fancy French restaurants do -- Iron Chef Sakai chose only to do one Sous Vide dish using Foie Gras -- which was an overwhelming success. Moderator's note: broken link. -- CA

Trix, my friend, are for kids. Silly rabbit. Ah, but BooBerry, now...where are the blue foods of yesteryear? Booberry is again being manufactured, but in limited quantities. It was brought back by General Mills in 2001, and increased production with more widespread availiability in 2003. I was able to buy some at Target last year. http://www.generalmills.com/Corporate/prod...es/BooBerry.jpg Your favorite cereals are back (eG thread link)

Ok, let me repeat, the expulsions will begin shortly.

Niman puts out a very solid product -- but Lobel's it is not.

What the hell is Ace K?

No, C2 is HFCS on top of Splenda. You confirmed it yourself by looking at the label, remember?

Its funny how "kicking and screaming" is the universal reaction to descending into the Pit of Wo Hop.

The account deactivations begin in five minutes.

there's a french influence on thai cuisine? On all of southeast asia. Vietnam and Cambodia more than any of the others, but it exists in Thailand. The French were in Siam as early as the late 17th century, you can find quite a bit of French architecture in Thailand today. re: http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/bangko...kokmapindex.htm The Thai Chef chain that we have in Jersey bills itself as French/Thai fusion.

Jason Perlow on why "New Indian" is not simply fusion cooking, unlike Asian food as treated with American techniques/ingredients: Eh? My understanding is much of the original Asian Fusion stuff was pioneered in France (this being a natural evolution of French influence on Vietnamese and Thai cuisine), but became much more popularized by chefs in the US, like Roy Yamaguchi, Martin Yan and Ming Tsai -- although the styles of these chefs are more "Pan Asian" than Asian Fusion. When I think of "Fusion" I generally think of the fusing of two disparately different cultures, such as French and Chinese, or Indian/French. Or something totally bizarre like Brazilian/Japanese like you find at Sushi Samba in NYC. Pan Asian and Asian Fusion are very similar cuisines however, and its hard to tell apart in many cases as the techniques and approaches used in both are similar if not the same.

I'm curious if the British approach to New Indian cooking is different from the American one. My guess is that it differs in seasoning based on the local palate and in localized ingredients.

Because Asian Fusion originated outside of the US. In Europe, I think. This is all semantics though. Its interpretive Indian food cooked in the US, with ingredients native to this country. So its appropriate to call it New Indian Cooking -- In America.

I liked that scene as well. I guess if its the end of the world and you have to bring some good booze to take with you in a London taxi as you flee from disease-ridden killer zombies, you gotta go for the quality stuff.

Actually, I like the way John Travolta eats his pizza in the opening scenes of Saturday Night Fever, if anyone here remembers. Double decker. Word. But could you even find a pizza parlor today that would serve slices with crusts firm enough so you could eat it that way nowadays? I doubt it. You try that with the stuff you can get at your average NYC pizzeria these days, you're gonna end up with a mess on your shirt.

For those of us who are, say, 20, can you please go into some detail about what particularly you didn't like about the Grimes era? Not being privy to any other restaurant reviewer eras, I ahve no basis for comparison. At least in the last 2 years of his reign, Grimes became a miserable wretch of a reviewer. You can plainly see he stopped enjoying his job a LONG time ago. At the end of the day, a food critic must enjoy food and the pursuit and pastime of eating and the fun that goes with it. In the end you could tell that this was gone for Grimes.

Yes, I think we all needed to hear this. With a few dozen reviews like these under his belt, Bruni will successfully be able to mask away -- although he may never be able to erase -- the pallor and disgrace that has overcast the Food Section of the NYT of recent days.

I think the true hot dog purist tends to favor the NY-style hot dog, with mustard and kraut. I could never fully appreciate the Chicago dog, or some of the crazy dogs they serve out in LA like the oki-dog or some of the creations at Pink's. I'm not even sure I like the Jersey-style Italian dogs either. I like sauteed onions and peppers and potatoes with Italian sausage though. Not dogs. About as far away from the traditional mustard and kraut that I like to get are the Sabrett's onions and sauce, or a chili dog. But in some ways I consider the chili dog a completely different animal. There are different theories as to what should and shouldn't be in a chili dog. I like it with meat and bean chili that is somewhat spicy, and I like it to be with raw onions, but no cheese. I also like it with a LOT of chili, so that you have to eat it with a knife and fork.

I'm going to say Tujagues (for Dinner and Drinks) and and Jacques-imos. Although I am not sure you really can call Jacques-imos a bar. Its a restaurant with a really cool bar. I'm not sure if you can actually eat at the bar at Tujagues.

I didnt know there was a difference between knackwust and knockwurst. See, I learn something new every day.

(okay, maybe not Lou Reda's place.) Crap.... Maybe not? ...That's a very hurtful quote. I waited a day to post this because I wanted to compose myself but I don't understand why you would decide to word your post that way. I didn't realize you were disappointed when dining with us. Lou, I was referring to some of the other stuff on RT 10, not An American Grill.

I've spoken to Grimes about checking out eGullet and offered a Q&A to him. He's about as interested in eGullet you and I would be in going for extensive reconstructive dental surgery.

YES! The bright green pistachio ice cream, with peices of cherry in it! God, why won't Ben and Jerrys or Haagen Daz make that flavor? Actually, I beleive King Yum in Fresh Meadows still serves it. Talk about an "Authentic" New York dining experience!

Actually, I like the way John Travolta eats his pizza in the opening scenes of Saturday Night Fever, if anyone here remembers.