R Washburn

It isn't listed as a 4 or feve star restaurant in the Mobil guide (2003) five stars: Restuarants ALAIN DUCASSE New York NY 3 3 CHARLIE TROTTER'S Chicago IL 9 9 THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ CARLTON Atlanta GA 2 7 THE DINING ROOM AT THE RITZ CARLTON San Francisco CA 1 1 DINING ROOM AT WOODLANDS Summerville SC 1 1 FRENCH LAUNDRY Yountville CA 6 6 GARY DANKO San Francisco CA 5 5 TRIO Evanston IL 1 1 JEAN GEORGES New York NY 6 6 LE BEC-FIN Philadelphia PA 2 22 MAISONETTE Cincinnati OH 40 40 SEEGER'S Atlanta GA 5 5 INN AT LITTLE WASHINGTON Washington VA 14 14 Looks like La Maisonette is the all time 5-star champ at 40 years with Le Bec-Fin a distant second.

I think the fact that the author concluded that: Is what justified the single star.

According to Zagat 2004, it's "burger joint at Parker Meridian." Yes, that's correct, a small "b" and a small "j." Look it up in the phone book Joseph. There is only ONE Burger Joint. How amny times exactly is it that you have to hear this information? Of course if you walk by the restaurant the sign reads:"Big Nick's Burger Joint". The place in the Parker Meridian is only identified by a neon depiction of a burger.

Definitely a below average burger at the "Olive Tree". The Parker Meridian Hotel alone has THREE restaurants serving better burgers than the "Olive Tree's", IMHO.

I find Judson grill's much tastier, although they tend to overcook them. I saw a couple next to me order welldone burgers and they looked like hockey pucks.

Fauchon (56th and Park ave.), and Petrossian (58thst. and 7th ave.) are my current favorites.

I think that Levine had it right in rating Judson Grill the best high end burger. Bluesmoke is good, but IMHO the Judson Grill burger is in a different league. Was everyone's burger cooked to order? I usually find that Bluesmoke errs on the side of undercooking.

I am pretty sure that, with the possible exception of the last vertebra, there is nervous tissue (spinal cord) in the tail. It may also be, though, that the farther the cord is from the brain the lower the titer of prions.

That explains alot. In all seriousness, you seem to be arguing that refraining from eating beef because of BSE is an irrational fear, yet you are abstaining from eating beef. Why? Wouldn't coming down with BSE fit in to the realm of freak accident?

True, but BSE is not an example of sacrificing public health for industrial profit, and any aditional measures taken will not significantly make us safer. The other examples you cited are much more serious health threats, and should be dealt with. OTOH many technophobes are more afraid of the best solutions then they are of the original problem. Only if you compare a hunter-gatherer living in a tropical paradise with a 21st century migrant laborer or sweatshop worker. T

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is a bacteria that is immune to most, if not all, of the US's last-ditch-effort antibiotics. Not good stuff at all. I think I just read that it cannot be killed by heat either. I would be more concerned about Vancomycin resistant S. aureus, since that is the antibiotic of last resort against Staph. BTW ~10% of our population are harboring S. aureus at any given time, as a harmless colonization of our nose or groin region. It is only when Staph makes it in to our bloodstream that there is a problem. Regarding heat killing, in my experience clinical isolates of S. aureus are much more sensitive to heat than E. coli strains. I discovered that heating S. aureus (in this case an MRSA strain) to 55 degrees Celsius, for even a few minutes results in more than 99.9% killing via the induction of naturally occuring prophages in the bacterial genome. I can't imagine any MRSA surviving in a well done burger

I think we are something like a million times more likely to either choke to death on a burger or succomb to pathogenic E.coli then get BSE.

Really. I think you mean "degree of civilization" might be a little abstract and debatable. Civilization (an organized group of people with division of labor etc.) is not an abstraction. Is civilization positive? I think the most concrete measure would be life expectancy, which has increased something like 7-fold from Neolithic to modern times. Also all that free time given to us by the division of labor, has allowed us a chance to do more with our lives than simply fight to exist and reproduce. Such things as being concerned with producing beautiful and great tasting food, rather than merely absorbing life sustaining calories. Regarding the risk of getting Mad cow disease, The NYT reports that there were 150 suspected cases of BSE in humans in Britain vs. 200,000 cows with BSE. We have one cow. I am liking my chances with the US beef supply. Frankly, I am more worried abou getting "Teflon flu" from an overheated non-stick pan.

So you don't think civilization is a positive thing? Controlling and altering Nature is what Man is all about.

Why do you find genetically altered cows scary? I don't think there is much chance of us accidentally developing a "super cow" and having it take over the world. The whole "Mad cow" hysteria just underscores the inability of people to assess risk. Even in the UK, with its long history of scrapie (the sheep equivalent, and likely source of BSE), there has only been a handfull of human cases of BSE. Our beef supply must be hundreds if not thousands of times safer then Britain's, yet people here are terrified of Mad cow. Personally, I am a lot more concerned about getting a lethal case of hepatitis from my green onions or catching Legionaire's disease from breathing to close to the mister in my local supermarket. Those are statistically much more serious, and immediate, threats.

Shaw, the evidence for prions is at least as strong as the evidence that HIV causes AIDS. The whole idea of infectious protein (which has even been found in Yeast) was so revolutionary that the resistance against the idea has been extreme. In fact, the only way I can see to protect our beef supply 100% from BSE is to develop a genetically modified cow that has the gene for Prp deleted. This has already been done in mice and results in a viable animal that is incapable of being infected by prions.

My understanding was that they don't make anything on the premises, but have a bakery in NJ. While that is a problem with croissants, it shouldn't matter with the cakes and tarts.

Holly's right, but it I think it closed a few years ago. Regarding Miel, how does it stck up against Yanni (sp.?) the patisserie that opened in the Fishmarket space at 18thst. and Sansom? The stuff I tried from there was pretty good, although not as exciting as "Madamoiselle de Paris" (alas!).

Steven, Le Cirque offers a nice Saturday lunch both at the bar ($25 prix fixe) and in the main dining room (same menu as the weekday lunch). I think Atelier also offers Saturday lunch, but I am not 100% sure it isn't a brunch menu, like the Nougatine's.

Do you mean back when it was a sheepfold? I think the gift certificate was a very thoughtful gift, even if egulleteers would have preferred $300 for "Daniel" or "Mix". I haven't been to Tavern on the Green in years, but I think it is probably a great experience for Tourists, and non-food obsessed NY'ers.

In that case why don't we go for the Piper's Kilt with their all you can drink "brunch". A burger plus unlimited refills for $11.95.

Do you mean Burger Joint?

I would go with Cafe Boulud or Bouley.

It can't be that exclusive, since they solicited me to join when they first opened. I think Bruno invited everyone on the so-called "shmuck list" at Daniel, plus his own regulars.

I find physical size has a lot to to do with that. I am hardly ever bumped, but my wife (who is about 1/3 my size ) gets pushed around like crazy. One Fairway shopper actually pushed her headfirst into a cart!