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What? You didn't try Steve's, on Bustleton, which handily trounced the nearby outpost of Jim's one late evening when I compared them?

According to one Jeffrey Steingarten, in It Must've Been Something I Ate (p. 256): It's still listed in the yellow pages, at 13 Doyers Street.

The original Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay closed sometime in the late '70s. Most of those who remember it consider the place currently doing business in part of the same space (the rest is sort of a mini-mall -- not that there's anything wrong with mini-malls) to be but the palest imitation. Edited to add this aside to Irwin: Sunday after Sunday, we were able to persuade the waiter to substitute a whole lobster for half a lobster and half a chicken, at no extra cost. In retrospect, perhaps we shouldn't have tampered with the Shore Dinner prototype; I'll bet it was a splendid half-chicken.

To remain OT just a bit longer: don't forget the crudités, the Uneedas, the oyster crackers served in the same kind of low waxed-paper cups that they used as finger bowls, the mounds of butter pats, and the Lyonnaise and julienne potatoes -- and the clams, the fried clams! -- but now we're really off-topic, no longer discussing even Irwin's Shore Dinner. This doesn't merit its own thread, does it?

Ah, the biscuits, and they served a pretty good steak, too. As for the pie, I was just reminiscing about that over in this thread.

So then that would be the... authentic experience?

Aren't onglet and hanger steak one and the same piece of meat?

So has anyone actually bought and tried this Calphalon One stuff? All I recall seeing around the site was some general derision and dismissiveness when it was first introduced.

According to this Newsday article, CremaLita's calorie count is 70, not 60 as the company claimed, though still above the 40-calorie federal "low-fat" maximum. For reference, Smoochie's also claims 60 on its web site. From the article: This sounds like a sensationalist tempest in a teapot. At nine grams of sugar per four ounces, Smoochie's is not low-carb. Does anyone know the sugar content of CremaLita? How about Tasti D-Lite? Has anyone done an independent taste test?

A-Z may be found in NYC at the Librarie De France on the Rockefeller Center Promenade.

Well, that might just settle things. Also, from an earlier part of the article cited by Jamie:

Where's Mr. Cutlets when we really need him?

FG: Varying thickness to achieve target weight would make sense if steaks from the wider and narrower portions of the short loin -- and, perhaps more significantly, from larger and smaller loins -- were to be used interchangeably. I could just as easily see Luger's allocating the broadest porterhouses to threes, the mid-sized ones to twos, and the very smallest, in pairs, again to threes -- anything to remove judgment from the cooking process. According to their web site, raw steaks for two (threes are not sold) vary in weight from 36 to 38 ounces, a 5.5% variation; since no one but Suzanne carries a ruler and scale to restaurants, more variation is probably tolerable at table than mail-order. Thickness differentiation may be thus unnecessary within each "steak-for" category, and possibly also across categories. Which pretty much leaves us back where we started. Is the visit-to-visit variability in Luger's quality greater than at other steakhouses, or are we just more critical of it? Could the position of a given steak on the loin be a minor contributor to this variability?

Have you ever really gotten a three that was thicker -- as opposed to broader -- than a two? That would be an improvement, perhaps worth the risk. I thought they were cut to uniform thickness to simplify cooking.

Speaking of clicking on links, click through to the reviews of Totonno's and Lombardi's.

The, um, other one actually, like territory had been marked.

I recall going to Fuleen several years ago with some friends and greatly enjoying their preparation of various kinds of seafood featured live in the window. The reason I never returned, perhaps unfairly, was the pervasive odor of cat in the dining room. (Just to be clear, that's cat as in litter box, not cat as in entrée.) I trust that you didn't encounter this problem.

A quick, satisfying, and unbalanced lunch at Great NY Noodletown during a visit last week to Great NY City: Crispy, moist, savory roast duck; Enormous (ENORMOUS), sweet, crispy, juicy salt-baked soft-shelled crabs; and Delicious flowerless flowering chives with more of that beautiful duck, some mushrooms, and a bit of brown sauce. (Sorry, but the Adjective Police tell me that I've exhausted my quota for the day.) Oh, and a little bit rice, Atkins forgive me, so I shouldn't go hungry. Pondering the meal afterwards, I realized that despite the enormity and excellence of the crabs, something was just naggingly missing. That something was browned butter.

Moderators, even Directors, are permitted to start threads, are they not? How about a directory, cut by geographical location, season, and product, of retail (i.e., not trade-only) purveyors to seek out and to avoid, Greenmarket and otherwise, something like an old-fashioned fat-guy.com critical survey, kept up-to-date? A mere Zagat-style compilation of threads, even those by the storied and scholarly eGullet Membership, might insufficiently critical to be perfectly useful, but it would be a start. (No, I'm not volunteering.)

Nice article, Trish, and your questions were right on. ICA was WAY much better than its ludicrous Vegas/WWF predecessor. A foil for Alton and/or interaction with or among the judges (especially if there's an expert on the panel) would be a plus. So would be a just a touch more of the campy gravitas of ICJ, and a limited, polite in-studio audience -- but nothing approaching, um, that ludicrous Vegas/WWF atmosphere. The show has promise. Edit: Inserted campy gravitas.

Funny, I never much liked the stuff. This page from Mo Hotta Mo Betta also suggests some alternatives, including Matouk's.

It's always heartwarming to read a sentence like this. So, for those who do not join FG's outright boycott (whether due to principle or the unavailability of a convenient CSA/whatever alternative), shall we start a thread about worthy producers, and what, where, and when they sell? Conversely, we can also identify the margarine-peddling hucksters.

The Redbirds were not El cars. If you really miss them, you might be able to find one or two in a transit museum; otherwise, it will take scuba gear. Do we need a subway/railfan thread, or is that too Off Topic Chattish?

The KC Rib Hut in Allentown, which served the best hickory-smoked ribs I can recall ever eating. It closed about a decade ago, though Wilfrid's more recent description of the product of one Texas Ted of Pennsylvania in a Washington, DC barbecue festival gave me brief hope. Alas, Google is helpful in tracking neither the Rib Hut nor Ted. Texas Ted of PA in DC KCRH on eG Edit: Acronym repair

Update: The former Atlantic BBQ site at 805 Belmar Plaza now houses a Mexican place, which must be new because the sign still says "Big Daddy's BBQ," or whatever was the name of Atlantic's successor. Though it looked cute and smelled good, dietary restrictions precluded my trying it.