banquo

Don't hesitate. As others, and the LA Times, have noted, this is the real deal. The food is great, the decor great, it's fun and the service is friendly but unobtrusive. In my opinion, it's better to sit on the Blanco side of the restaurant: it's more romantic. If you like a more bistro and casual feel, then sit on the red side. There are a lot of choices on the menu, so once we learned they offer a tasting menu, we went with that. For $65 this is a steal. They give you a lot of food. We went to Minibar the year before, and I feel this is just as enjoyable an experience. Of course, the two places are very different in several respects, but I'm in awe of Andres' ability to pull off this kind of stunning food in such a large capacity format. One thing to keep in mind, however, is one implication of having such a large menu: the likelihood of being served something not to your liking is greater than in a typical 4-star restaurant. However, although I didn't care for a couple of dishes we were given, I could see the thought and cleverness behind them, and that was enough to leave a good impression of those dishes. That's the good aspect of getting the tasting menu. If you don't like something, push it aside and make room for the many other things that are coming that you will like.

Went last month. Very good; well worth it. I thought it was better than Terra, the other dinner we had that weekend.

I was there past 10pm last night and it was humming along as we left. There were no seats in the main room when we came in at around 9. So, we ate in the bar area and for what it's worth I found it incredibly loud and difficult to carry on a conversation. The food is uneven. As others have mentioned, the langue de veau is outstanding. I'd take it over a Katz's pastrami sandwich if I had to make a choice. The onion soup was subpar. The gougeres along with the other breads were delicious. The marinated salmon which comes with a potato salad of sorts required a touch more seasoning. All that plus a nice glass of white wine came to under $50, not including tip. Worth it in my opinion, although obviously I would make different choices in the future.

Went here for the first time a couple of nights ago. This place is outstanding. Out of 27 courses, only one clunker. The smoked oyster and apples is one of the best bites of food I've ever had. The chefs are engaging and helpful. I was slightly apprehensive about spending the cash needed to eat here, but it's well worth it. And fun, fun, fun.

I like everything about this place: it's cool, friendly, casual, and the ramen is awesome (Santoka might have a slight edge but that's irrelevant since it's, you know, in NJ). Well, I don't like everything: the wait sucked and the bar area was seriously overcrowded. Going as a single might be the best bet. They have booths that seat up to 8 that seem to make no sense: I've never gone to eat ramen with 7 other people. Perhaps they're expecting a late night crowd scene though.

The grocery store in K-town 32nd St. has sea salt in 5lb bags (or thereabouts). I can't remember the exact price, but I think it's reasonably priced (otherwise I wouldn't use it all the time).

I just bought a sushi knife (a yanagiba) and since cutting newspapers for the first couple of days was getting old, I wanted to find some fish to cut. I was just at Mitsuwa a couple of weeks ago and I know they have decent fish, but today I was too lazy to go head over there. On some old information I got from this thread, I headed to St. Marks. The JAS market there had no fish whatsoever. I don't know whether this was an aberration, but it was a complete waste of time to try it out. Luckily, there is a new market on St. Marks (new to me at any rate) at about the middle of the block. FYI: The store is very attractive; their produce looks first rate and things looked well organized. It had salmon, scallops, and tuna. I bought one of each. The tuna was a disaster. Evidently not well handled, since the texture turned out to be mush. Worse than what you can get in Chinatown. I should have know better since it had that irradiated neon glow of manipulated tuna. The salmon was better, and not a bad value at 11.99/lb. The scallops were slightly better than the tuna but not by much. So, does anyone know of any place in Manhattan to get decent quality fish for sashimi and sushi? The suggestions on this thread are old and I am hoping for fresh leads. Or, is it the case that one just has to head over to NJ?

Thank you for that post. It's the most surprising and delightful post I've read in years. Delightful because I love Alan Richman; surprising, because, well, how can one just be invited to dinner at his house a propos of nothing? I just saw Ratatouille last night and when the critic Anton Ego appeared, it did cross my mind that Richman might be the inspiration. Your description of Richman in the last few sentences could be used, in fact, to describe Ego's character.

I took on the challenge today (a Saturday), and got myself and wife to Mitsuwa to try Santoka. It's worth it folks. I'm no ramen expert or anything, but it's the best I've had since moving to NYC. Perhaps there were some places that were better in So. California, but that was so long ago I remember them only in dreams. To be honest, I'm not going to go to NJ the next time I happen to be in the mood for some ramen, but I'll certainly go there without hesitation if I'm looking to get the best ramen I can get. I have nothing to add in terms of describing the ramen, but the food court there is more than serviceable in terms of comfort. There was a small line to order and wait, but not too bad. And the trip via the shuttle bus shouldn't deter--although they've now raised the price to $3/one way. Once at Mitsuwa you can pick up, like I did, a 1.8L bottle of Wakatake dai ginjo sake for $62, as well as some pretty decent looking sashimi. Not bad at all.

The grocery store in K-town (on 32nd) always has pork belly. I find it superior to what I've found in Chinatown. The latter tends to be less well butchered and less substantive than the K-town product.

I think the cryptic criticism was directed at the original post and not your point, Doc. On that point, perhaps Chefboy24 can elaborate on the nature of the 'bomb' that he is about to drop.

From 2003-2006, Grand Sichuan Eastern (on 2nd Ave and 56th) was my favorite restaurant in Manhattan. I took everyone I knew there, including every out of town guest I had during those years. It was a great, great restaurant. Alas, my last 3 meals there did not bear much of a resemblance to the food I was served earlier. Although it is still open, I suspect it has changed ownership or else the chefs during the 'glory years' packed up and left. Either way, not worth going to any longer. So, except for some rare trips to Flushing to eat at Little Pepper (which is excellent by the way), I hadn't had Sichuan food for some time. I went to Szechuan Gourmet tonight, in part due to Eric Malson's report above, but also because of some raves on Chowhound. I wanted to see whether this place could rival my beloved GS Eastern. We were 2 and ordered enough food for 6. While the prices are a little higher here than at the Grand Sichuan restaurants, the portions are fairly generous. Our order: Sichuan pickles Dan Dan noodles Ox tongue and tripe in peanut/chili vinaigrette Mixed vegetables (eggplant, asparagus, and green beans) stir fried in garlic Baby Shrimps stir fried in chile/miso with chinese celery Fish Fillets with napa cabbage, mushrooms and cellophane noodles in chile broth The fish fillet dish was served in a gigantic metal bowl, and could have easily fed 6 people. I was already familiar with this preparation from GS and Little Pepper. It is basically fillets of fish braised in a searing hot broth flavored by cabbage, fennel seeds, mushrooms and chile oil (perhaps there is some addition of stock of some kind as well). The fish was perfectly tender and fresh. Szechuan Gourmet's version is very much like Little Pepper's. In addition to the chiles already swimming and bobbing in the broth, they placed a tablespoon or so of ground chile on top of everything (at Little Pepper it was more like a couple of tablespoons). In other words, incredibly spicy and almost to the point of being uncomfortable. This was tasty, but I prefer the GS version because it was less spicy and the broth itself was more heavily flavored; you could actually ladle it over your rice and eat it that way. After the first couple fillets, my mouth was on fire and I had to stop eating it for fear of annihilating my taste buds. The ox tongue/tripe appetizer is something I always order if available. I don't think any version can compare in flavor to the one GSI (formerly on 9th Ave and 50th) used to serve. But the version I had tonight was excellent in different ways. More subtle flavors. More contrast in textures. The tripe was especially noteworthy because of how plump they were. I don't think I've ever had tripe that were so full in the mouth and juicy (is that an appropriate word to describe tripe?). The Dan Dan noodles were decent, but nothing above the ordinary. The most surprising dish was the baby shrimp one. I was hoping the preparation would be similar to the dry-sauteed 'New Sichuan' method that GS Eastern used to such great effect. When the dish came out I was immediately disappointed, because it looked like a typical Cantonese preparation. Even after the first bite, and perhaps due to the numbness from eating too many chiles, I kind of shrugged my shoulders. Decently cooked but nothing special. But as we went through the meal and I took more and more bites from this dish, the distinct taste of coffee and dark chocolate came through, and it was spectacular. I've never heard of chile miso (I take it they don't use Japanese miso, but rather prepare their own fermented bean paste?), but whatever it was I want more of it. Overall, I think our meal was excellent, and no doubt I'll be returning. Incidentally, the room is rather nice: quiet, decently lit and comfortable. One reason I don't go to Wu Liang Ye in midtown is because I find the room dark, cramped and oppressive. Now I have no intention of returning to WLY, since I think the food is better at Szechuan Gourment. Also note that they have hot pot here. I saw 3 tables going to town swishing their proteins and vegetables into spicy looking broth. So, thanks Eric for the report. It got me out of my sichuan slumber. I foresee many happy sichuan meals this Winter.

Around $220 or so is my typical total for 2. We typically get about 18 pieces each. It's a good deal, given the quality. I agree with LPShanet's assessment of Shimizu. I'm surprised it doesn't get more publicity on the boards. The one drawback with the place, I think, is the variety of fish. But, no doubt, what he does have is 1st rate. A second drawback (perhaps just my preference) is the temperature of the rice. In my opinion it is too cool. I prefer the temperature of Yasuda and Ushi's rice, although I do not prefer the looseness with which those two places pack their rice.

I've heard of the heritage turkey for a couple of years now but after the recent NY Times article, I've decided to finally get one and cook it for Thanksgiving. I know of some online sources (Heritage Foods, D'Artagnan), but I wanted to know whether there are any grocery stores in Manhattan that are selling them. And leads? Thanks.

Ali's Kabab Cafe in Astoria, Queens. Just went there last Saturday, and Ali is in fine form. We had braised lamb shanks, sweetbreads, baby chickens, marinated hanger steak, whole roasted tilapia, tripe in tomato sauce, and some other salads I can't recall right now. No menus. He'll just recite what he's serving for the night and you choose what you want. BYOB. He sells wine, but it's not great, so it is a better idea to bring your own. No corkage fee. It was around $40/person. Not exactly a date place, so I don't know whether it would be appropriate for a anniversary dinner, but if food is of primary importance, it's a good choice. Ali, as you'll find out if you do some research, is quite a character, and half the experience is interacting with him. 25-12 Steinway St.