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I used to stop in occasionally to buy their PB, one jar each of smooth and crunchy, as housegifts for certain friends, plus, of course, a few jars as a special spoon treat for myself. When properly mixed and chilled, even the smooth was beautifully grainy, and not the sticky paste that generally passes for peanut butter. Then, one time a year or so ago, shortly after they changed the jar shape and label style, I got bad jars of both kinds -- kind of lifeless and stale-tasting -- and I didn't return. It may just have been coincidental, but the jars that time were labeled as having been packed in Brooklyn, rather than at the store. Did they perhaps go large-scale and commercial, sacrificing quality in the process? Is the PB served on-site different from what's sold in jars, even at the store? Was my experience anomalous? Now that you mention it, further investigation is required.

Just to be clear: There's currently a barbecue place doing business in the location you describe, but it shares neither Atlantic's name nor its phone number. Someone oughta check it out.

Further research on Atlantic BBQ: Superpages.com lists it at 308 Ninth Avenue, Belmar, 732-681-8811. www.atlanticbbq.com lists it at 805 Belmar Plaza, 732-681-8811. As noted upthread, that phone number has been disconnected. Curious, I drove by, though I had no time to stop. 308 Ninth Avenue is a private home, squarely in the middle of a residential neighborhood. 805 Belmar Plaza houses what looks like the former Atlantic BBQ, a grungy storefront with a different name and a different phone number. It looks like Mr. Atlantic sold his business, transferred the phone number to his home, and then let the number lapse. Next time I'm around, I'll stop in.

Knowing that I'd be passing by, I called to check the operating hours of Atlantic BBQ. The phone (732-681-8811) has been disconnected. Another place, Southern House of Ribs in Point Pleasant Beach, burned to the ground about a year ago. Is this a trend? Have the pitmasters been playing with matches? Any suggestions for real barbecued (i.e., smoked) ribs, unencumbered by gloppy, sugary sauces, and preferably not those toylike babybacks, in the stretch from, say, Belmar to Barnegat? Establishments still doing business are strongly preferred.

For the sugar-conscious, will the ribs be available minus that stick(e)y glaze?

Pretty good meal the other night at Les Halles (for the persnickety: LAY-AHL, and a brasserie, not a bisto). Very nice frisée with lardons, a Roquefort-topped crouton, and a dressing with a secret ingredient (chicken liver); delicious foie gras with coarse salt and prunes in a reduction (liver + salt + prunes + sauce = a beautiful array of tastes and textures in each bite); tasty but slightly tough (and too thin) entrecôte; tough and not-so-tasty veal paillard, insufficiently redeemed by its sage butter (I’m told that the D.C. branch has better veal); fresh, crisp, meaty fries that could have been just a shade browner and tastier; nice greens with more of that dressing; good mixed berries. Excellent service by all, albeit at a slack hour. Fun as always. $107 for two with foie gras supplement and non-alcoholic beverages.

Surely, Halliburton must be involved...

I recall the Nedick's dog also being spiced differently -- nutmeg or mace, perhaps? -- and softer in texture (filler?). It's been a while, though.

Not any more...

Sorry, but although they were pictured, no hands -- impeccably clean or otherwise -- were mentioned either under Tools or in the procedural description.

It's always good to run into another of Julia's children. Our Lady of the Tossed Omelet does, however, permit the use of a spatula for final neatening. Nicely done!

I find myself in the city this weekend. Have you room for one more?

I’m just back from a brief tour of the Southland, full of ‘Q, more ‘Q, country ham, fried chicken, biscuits, and all sorts of other good things. Just to make sure I wasn’t hungry, I swung through Amish country on the way back and stopped for a very filling buffet. The route was I-95 (through Philly for a Steve’s cheese steak) as far as Richmond (King’s Barbecue), inland to Lexington (more on which below), down to Charlotte (to find the Chicken Coop closed), back up the Blue Ridge Parkway (Peaks of Otter) and Skyline Drive (Mrs. Rowe’s, a disappointment), across Dutchland (that buffet at the Leola Family Restaurant), and then back via the PA and NJ pikes. When not eating inexpensively, I took in local art, architecture, heritage, and scenery, hiked strenuously up on the Parkway, and saw four movies. Return of the King is ponderous, pretentious twaddle, beautifully realized. For the record, and I say this as a long-time rib man, there may be no reason for the existence of any form of barbecue other than Lexington-style chopped pig. The small amount of thin sauce (vinegar, hot pepper, and just a touch of tomato) perfectly reveals the sweet porkiness of the meat and the delicate perfume of the smoke – barbecue reduced to its essence. The NC pits, in order of visitation and coincidentally preference, were: Lexington #1, Tar Heel, Backcountry, a Lexington spin-off (?) for breakfast, and an unrecorded fast-foodish, chainlike place just off the highway. I found Lexington #1’s pork the sweetest and porkiest, Tar Heel’s the smokiest, and liked the others less. Hushpuppy morphology was even more varied, ranging from crusty corn logs dotted with onion, to dense, wheat-inflected balls both large and small, to huge, soft, sweet, corny doughnuts. As for “unknown NC barbecue gems,” the Lexington tourist map, which I no longer have, showed at least a dozen places, probably more. Now back to Atkins, strictly.

Lunch today at Carl’s: One Whiz, wit’. BREAD. They got it about right. Other reports notwithstanding, half a long loaf, not an individual roll. MEAT. Chopped in advance – I prefer sliced – into huge mounds on the grill. Too dry, though properly greasy, despite periodic watering. WHIZ. Troweled on too daintily to leak as it should. ONIONS. Slightly underdone, slightly underrepresented. SERVICE. Fairly speedy, despite intrastaff chit-chatting. Are previous eG complaints responsible for that pile of drying meat? ODDITIES. The default is wit’; if the order-writer makes no notation, onions come. The menu offers a breadless Atkins steak. Not Steve’s, but not bad. Definitely the real thing – finally!

Try the New Leaf Café, in scenic Fort Tryon Park, where I recently had a surprisingly fine lunch. The chef is said to be ex-Gramercy, 21, and (are you around, Matt?) Bid.

Two questions for the price of one, if I may: First: I’ve noticed a change - an evolution, perhaps, or a generation gap - in Lobel’s instructions for grilling a steak. Your older recipes recommend coating the meat (and the grill) with oil prior to cooking, whereas your newer ones, including the “Guide to Grilling the Perfect Steak” on your website and packaged with your mail-order steaks, recommend searing the steak first and then lubricating it. What gives? Second: Speaking of change, is the quality of meat sold by Lobel’s via mail-order absolutely identical to that sold on Madison Avenue? Given the scarceness to begin with of the product you sell, have you had any problems maintaining quality while expanding your business? Thanks and best wishes.

Beautiful, but just reading this makes my teeth and pancreas ache.

Sorry, I don't buy it. I think it's one of those "it's how we've always done it" things. The crust is not formed by oil, it's formed by coagulated proteins. Salting the meat makes perfect sense, as it draws water-soluble proteins and sugars to the surface of the meat. So in a minor way, coating with oil might actually inhibit crust formation by interposing a layer between the heat source and the meat. When the meat has become encrusted, it releases from the cooking surface anyway, so the idea of ensuring a non-stick experience doesn't make sense to me either. Don't the instructions accompanying a Lobel's mail-order steak suggest oiling the steak after its initial searing?

You're paying for the painting, not the paint; all things considered, a Blue Hill tasting dinner is a bargain. As others have said, ask that "the chefs just cook for you" whatever inspires them that day.

I ate at Blue Hill last night, with a visiting cousin who wanted something that he “couldn’t get in Allentown.” Cheap regional potshots notwithstanding, I hadn’t been to Blue Hill for a little while, and our dinner reminded me just how much I like the place. I won't recap the entire tasting menu just now, but the butter-poached lobster – served with little snap peas, the peas themselves separated from their cut-up pods – exemplifies its spirit and imagination. Simply a wonderful meal, the best I've had there.

The old Lundy's? Nick, I've met you and you're just not that old. Shall we start a Lundy's reminiscence thread?

I happened past Nathan’s today. Though the outdoor windows have been reformatted, the clams and other seafood (frogs’ legs!) remain available in the indoor area to the left, as do the chow mein sandwiches -- at the indoor burger counter. Sadly, however, I didn’t see the dipped roast beef or “barbecue” pork sandwiches anywhere, or, now that I think about it, the deli sandwiches. A Kenny Rogers chicken franchise and cheese steaks have been added indoors, and outdoor seating has replaced the old corn/custard franchises way over to the right. Nick, where was the “cavernous dining hall?” There used to be a small, cramped dining room around the back on the right by the bathrooms, but otherwise I don’t know what area might meet that description. Could the indoor counters just have been closed for the winter? Even so, I wouldn’t call that area cavernous.

I still prefer the food and the atmosphere, however small the premises, at Pearl. To be more precise, I prefer Pearl's versions of the signature chowder and lobster roll; the steamers are about the same, and only Mary's does the knuckles. My one experience with Mary's grilled whole fish found it overcooked, overherbed, and way overpeppered; a grilled filet and the salt-crusted shrimp were excellent at Pearl. Pearl, along with Shopsin's, is one of my very favorite places to while away a lazy weekday afternoon. Not that I would throw Mary's out of bed, of course.

Wilfrid, you must be a Jim Knipfel fan. Ruby's, which is the place I think you mean, is up on the Boardwalk in the block behind Nathan's. I've never been in, but it looks suitably divey.

The el terminal has been demolished, the candy store along with it; the former, at least, is nominally under reconstruction. Visit Nathan's (there's also a branch up on the boardwalk, which, unverified rumor holds, prepares the the dogs differently from the mother ship) and do the length of Brighton Beach Avenue. Past Brighton Beach in Sheepshead Bay is a strip of seafood and kebab restaurants along the shore on Emmons Avenue; avoid Lundy's. There are more Turkish/Greek/Israeli/Russian places along Coney Island Avenue, which intersects Brighton Beach Avenue at Mrs. Stahl's. I haven't been to Totonno's for a few years, but the last time wasn't great. Consider stopping at Major Meats, at 1515 Mermaid Avenue across from Carolina, for a chat with Jimmy, a charming font of information about the history of the neighborhood. He also happens to sell well-trimmed, well-marbled USDA Prime rib steaks for ten bucks a pound in his time warp of an old shop. Ask him about the local fish smokehouse that also sells retail. (I've never tried it myself.) If you arrive on a Spring Saturday morning, you might be able to hook up with the fellow who conducts a Coney walking tour. Of course, there's always DiFara's. Good luck. Edit: I see that Wingding already mentioned the demise of Phillip's. After spending a few hours with Jimmy, however I'm no longer quite so pessimistic about the area's prospects; for example, the Mets just built a brand-new ballpark on Surf Avenue for their minor-league farm team.