Orik

Hmm. The casual Sri Lankan place in our neighborhood offers a choice of long grain or Japanese rice. Most Indian places of any ambition will serve long grain rice, and Thai places serve the appropriate rice. It's easy to get rice imported from various countries in ethnic groceries or online. It stands to reason that Japanese curry, being a dish adopted into the local cuisine, will usually serve Japanese rice. I can see why idle speculation is appealing, but of course Japanese people travel Asia by the millions and eat the local rice everywhere they go, and of course there are millions of non-Japanese Asians living in Japan and that alone should give you a hint that you could get a wide selection of non-Japanese rice. As for import taxes on rice, they are very high due to the influence of the rice grower lobby, but then Japanese rice is so expensive that imports often still end up being reasonably priced. 554 rice products from outside Japan: http://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/-/555791/?grp=product Long grain rice at "spicy bistro taprobane":

Surely you jest. Can you explain what aspect of the cuisine at Blue Hill is "molecular", "cutting edge" or "adventurous"? ← I'm not Eatmywords, but perhaps he's like me. My sympathies if he is. Perhaps I could expand my previous post to support Eatmywords', although I don't generally think of Dan's cooking as "Molecular." On the other hand, he is a relative pioneer in sous vide cooking and works with some pretty sublime flavor combinations, it's just that they're far more sublime than one expects when one eats in a restaurant known for molecular cuisine. I recall the time I complimented Dan on a particular fish dish we had. He asked if I wanted to know the secret ingredient, in a way that implied I would be incredulous if I were told. Then he said "mango sorbet," holding up an empty container as proof. Trust me, there couldn't have been a pint's worth in a week's worth of fish. I didn't taste it. On the whole, all those terms are meaningless in comparison with the experience of the food itself. A meal at Blue Hill can be edge-of-your-seat exciting if you put yourself in the hands of the kitchen. That satisfies whatever I want out of cutting edge adventure. I don't know that I would have chosen to say what Eatmywords said, but I think I understand what he meant. In the end, I don't think Dan would be the spokesman for sustainable agriculture with as wide a reputation as he's received, were it not for the way in which he handles his provisions. Apparently he's making himself known in Spain for his "farm-restaurant" and will be a participant at Madrid Fusion next year. ← Well, I have to doubt the assertion that Dan B was a pioneer in the field of sous vide cooking, if only because the all knowing Wikipedia says Troisgros was doing it in the 70s. While I appreciate some of what they do (and, as you've said, their technique is not as simple as it appears in many cases), increasingly the result is bland and uniteresting even though the ingredients and preparations are great. (that is, they do exactly what they intend to do, but what they intend to do isn't great). Eatmywords' choice of words just seems very very odd in the context of their food. Also, as a side note, Blue Hill's bread and cheeses can be quite shameful.

Surely you jest. Can you explain what aspect of the cuisine at Blue Hill is "molecular", "cutting edge" or "adventurous"?

Todd, I've eaten at Yasuda many times, probably fifty or sixty, almost always Omakase at the bar, which is typically around 20-30 pieces. The food price per person has always been in the $90-$160 range, depending on what's available and how much we pig out. Having eaten at Ushiwakamaru a couple of times, I can say that it is a great deal for the price (compared to other places offering 15 pieces for $50), but if you eat 25 pieces there, the price starts scratching Yasuda (and that's without live uni or anything of the sort). While the fish at Ushiwakamaru are of very good quality (except for shrimp they used in Chawanmushi I had there once, which was bad) and the preparation of nigiri is quite good, the rice is nowhere nearly as good as at yasuda and control over wasabi levels could also use some help. I do accept your claim that the "combination" deal is better at Ushi , but Yasuda is still serves overall much better sushi.

Yes, do get as much cash as you can from the Citi ATM at Narita, because most ATMs in Tokyo won't take your foreign card. The only one we've found that worked reliably was in the basement of one of the buildings in Roppongi Hills.

Try Bangkok Center Grocery on 104 Mosco Street. Very nice people, they'll tell you where to find anything they don't have (if they know, that is)

Let's restate then: At any price, it would still not be a food item that I would go out of my way for. Traditional? possibly, I wouldn't know. But it would have been better (as in better flavored, better textured) if it were non-traditional. This is not to say that they're not doing a good job at replicating something that almost none of us have tasted, just that the something they're replicating isn't great. That's all. (and those who know me know that I don't have much of a problem spending $$$$ on good food)

If you've never been to naples (and I believe, although I'm not certain, that he grew up quite a long way away from there too), what difference does it make whether it's traditional or not? there are many traditional foods that suck, or were created to be affordable, like bread with a little bit of toppings on it Anyway, I think they just got their license, so no more $20 dinners for you, unless you stick to drinking the Kool-Aid.

Yes, but if you ignore for a second the fact that there's a dish called pizza and that there are various schools of preparation, and so on, and just imagine that someone opened a shop selling good flatbread for $17 a pop (and you have to wait quite a while to get it), do you think it would have many clients?

No, the price point is just one aspect of it. The other aspect is that it's just not particularly tasty. (Also, I can't get over the thought that the "sauce" looks like it was sneezed onto the pie) b -- maybe he should double prices and only be open twice a week.

no, I get it all right.

let me soften the reply I posted elsewhere. What a f'ing rip off. $50 for two slabs of flatbread with tiny bits of toppings on them that would have been better of if they were added after baking. (including a bottle of water and tip). We left very hungry and displeased. I can appreciate the quality of the dough and the ingredients used for toppings, but this was a case where the sum was significantly less than its ingredients (and certainly the food cost was next to nothing) - the very wide area with no toppings was slightly over baked, while the area under the toppings was wet and soggy. There was no sauce to speak of. New York must be one of the only places in ther world with a large enough concentration of wealthy suckers to sustain a business like this, which isn't very good at what it's trying to do, but charges as if it were.

Yes, it's well publicized that you're quite comfortable with your reviews (almost as well publicized as that story about Beaujolais, if you know what I mean ). The odd thing is that unless consensus already exists on a restaurant (in which case you always make sure to play along), your reviews always seemed to be completely random (this applies to your wine reviews as well) back when I lived there. Just my opinion, of course, fwiw. (a meal at Raphael was quite ho-hum, but that was a couple of years ago, maybe things have improved)

I loved the food (enough to return a second time during a relatively short visit), although generally I prefer more creative cuisine. The room looked better the first time (maybe because we ate at the horrible settings of Austral earlier), but a second visit made it seem a bit more kitschy. Still, I'd go back very frequently if I lived there (service was great too).

Borie was still there last month.

If only it hadn't closed about 6 months ago

Yes, you should visit Murray's to see how lucky you are to have the shop at Jean-Talon. While their selection is impressive, prices are ridiculously high in many cases and my experience has been that they are shameless in selling spoiled and mishandled cheese. Other cheese shops in nyc are Ideal Cheese (small selection, but trustworthy) and as already mentioned, Artisanal. If you have interest in Italian cheese, you might want to take a peek into DiPalo. In the Chelsea Market (again, very poor when compared to Jean Talon or Atwater), there's a good Italian products importer called Buon Italia that also has a nice selection of cheeses (although it's not a cheese shop per se)

with success came some questionable practices, at least at Pastis. On our last (ever) visit there, with an out of town guest lured by scenes from Sex & The CT, brunch order, including a medium rare steak frites, was filled in 3 minutes sharp. Of course, poached eggs, fries, steak, pancakes, are not foods that benefit from extended waits under a heating lamp, but we weren't going to ruin the realization of her fantasy.

kazuo, As far as Japanese food goes, I'd obviously like to dine at a couple of very good sushi places, but also to try types of cuisine that are not available here or available, but not very good by Japanese standards, such as ramen and Okonomiyaki. I also understand there are places specializing in Unagi, which I love. French restaurants that are not clones of Paris restaurants, that's also of interest. Mmmm...what else? Whale. Kobe Beef. Other things I'm not even aware of that I should try? Maybe a Kaiseki meal?

A question related, but not identical to ones that have been asked here before - if you had about 10 days in Tokyo, without budget constraints, where would you dine? I've consulted the guides that are pinned, they're no help, just lists of hundreds of places. I've also picked up a copy of Zagat, but I don't trust it at all for nyc, so why should Tokyo be any different?

It's very easy to compose a meal at LCB with little (or no) cream or butter in it, just as easy to compose a low carb meal. I can't see how ordering a raw platter and steak there is any different than at other brasserie/bistro places in the city. Looking back at a meal there, there was only one dish out of four that had any cream in it. I think you're trying to push an idea here of some imaginary modern, healthy cuisine, where flavor is obtained without the use of luxury ingredients or fat, but when you look at dishes served in top nyc restaurants, you'll see that idea has little to do with reality.

I love the Dordogne, but would actually recommend going there in early-mid October - most of the tourists have gone, but businesses haven't closed down for the winter quite yet. (yes, many good restaurants, hotels and B&Bs are completely closed). Burgundy might be a better option that time of year.

Bond Girl, I think you're right, just look at all those healthy dishes all over the place, butter poached lobster (at Per Se and Craft), pork belly at WD-50, a slab of seared foie gras at Bouley and maybe finish it all off with some Kobe beef at Megu? edit: More to the point, based on one visit, Brasserie LCB delivers some excellent and authentic traditional French cooking (one particularly lovely dish is their pig's trotter meat with foie gras) at reasonable prices for the neighborhood and settings.

I haven't tried their Shawarma, but the falafel wasn't bad at all. Patties were a little too mushy for my taste (I prefer Mamoun's), but that may be random. Nice salad selection and good hot sauce. Wouldn't mind having a branch in my neighborhood. Unlike the pizza place that used to be there, this is good enough to try even when you're not totally drunk at 2am. Pan, you should have complained about that fuzzy shawarma.

I've only sampled this once and thought it was horrid, artificially sweetened (as indicated by the recipe you've posted, although I suspect it was a VERY large pinch of sugar that they used, as if Cipolline isn't sweet enough) and with peas that have either seen better days or were cooked for too long. Didn't work particularly well with the steak. Could have been an off day, but that's just one of the reasons I wouldn't consider returning.