Orik

and... We had two cocktails - Dartagnan and Richelieu - both very nice, both dominated by armagnac/cognac [2] and prune juice. As an appetizer, we shared a foie gras platter. I believe it had one piece of pan sered foie gras, served on an onion marmalade (excellent), two (armagnac soaked) prunes stuffed with foie gras mousse, two pieces of 'foie gras sushi' rolled in prosciutto (which completely overpowered the foie gras), two pieces of terrine (very good) and a slice of pate with some jelly (ok). Priced around $40 She had lamb chops as an entree, these were simply prepared with a delicate herb crust. The meat was of excellent quality, especially for those who prefer milder flavored lamb, but in a [1] comparison with Diwan, the tandoori chops win by a long shot. $28 or so. Cassoulet, which consisted of white beans, cooked al dente, in a liquid sauce with some meats (confit of duck, several types of smoked ham and sausage) that did not contribute much to the overall taste. I think it means they did not soak the beans prior to cooking and that the overall cooking time was too short...but anyway, it is very bad, skip it. somewhere above $20 I can't give a reliable description of the dessert (but I'm sure it had some armagnac and/or prunes in it) Overall, I would say Dartagnan is slightly overpriced for what it serves, but that with proper amounts of Armagnac and wine, dinner there can be a pleasant experience. I'll tell some stories about that block of 46th st in a different thread (perhaps titled 'most horrible (food related) things you've seen in the city'), but hopefully you won't see them happening. Service was good. [1] unfair and unwarranted, held only because they're both a block away [2] I won't pretend to be able to tell the difference when mixed

Do you find the combination of foie gras and braised short ribs appealing?

At least it hasn't evolved into a discussion of table manners like another, somewhat related thread... What I think is the problem with the restaurants on your list (at least the first four, haven't been to ADNY), is that they combine the pretense of being French haute-cuisine restaurants with total failure to deliver that dining experience in each and every aspect. If any of them were able to give me a 90% guarantee of being served a meal that is worth the price (by Paris standards, maybe with 30-40% added for cost of living adjustments), I would be happy, but for now I just avoid them and spend my $350/meal money where the probability distribution is better. As for pockets of non 'CIA Standard' menus, you can spot them here and there, but you're still not going to be served wild hare in blood sauce or similarly gamey dishes anywhere I know of. edited for syntax.

So would you conclude that we need real estate prices to crash and tourists from to stop coming here for Bway shows in order for restaurants and theaters to become innovative again?

And, by the way, I hope that only people who have a thorough and first hand knowledge of both Turkish and Greek gyro/doner kebab try and answer since otherwise you're wasting my time, and I'm not afraid to say it on the board I got some PMs saying gyro is an american invention, made of pressed ground meat, while doner is (supposedly) made of sliced lamb.

I typically find myself there in hours and states of consciousness that make it harder to evaluate food, but I don't care much for their gyro/doner. I did notice that an egyptian place just opened next door, with hookahs, belly dancers and a largely egyptian crowd, haven't tried their food yet. Back to the topic, did anyone try Village Shawarma yet? (although it may be argued that like doner, it is not identical to a gyro)

I agree wholeheartedly. There are many ways to modernize and improvise on the classical themes and concepts (e.g. what Cyrus Todiwala does in London, what Tamarind does in New York), but what tabla does (as any other establishment under the same ownership I dined in) is certainly not the way to go. As for MJ, I think much of her writing was done when access (and openness) to indian spices, flours and other ingredients was much more limited than it is today. I can tell you that when I wanted to cook indian food in Israel, her book made it feasible, while I would probably have given up if I tried to find all the ingredients for a meal out of Todiwala's book.

It's hard to tell who is at fault in this case, but some basic analysis of the time between when the reservationist at L'Astrance becomes available (3:30pm Paris time) and the time when tables are no longer available for the non-french (around 3:40pm), leads me to believe that astrance makes very few tables available to random foreign diners. I would guess that there is a better chance of getting a table based on last minute cancellation. By the way, judging by the recent stiffening of no-show and last minute cancellation policies (Gagnaire actually warns that you will be charged 100e per person), it seems that this has become a much more serious problem than it used to be.

There is an excellent market on Albert Cuypstraat, I believe it operates Mon-Fri from around 9am until around 4pm (although some stalls open later and/or close earlier). Most of the produce sold there is not portable, but the cheese stalls offer some of the best of dutch cheese. I'll also be there again soon and would be happy to hear about other markets and shops of interest. edit: mogsob - the problem with the homemade brownies is that their effects are rather unpredictable (and the timing can be most inconvenient). edit2: a brief report of a recent decrease in the number of food stalls here.

The service at Soup Kitchen International (a.k.a. the soup nazi) is best summarized by this sound bite (click)...to the best of my knowledge they do not serve lamb chops We were there yesterday, surprisingly it was quite empty (although it was relatively busy during the week) and yes, I did sample the Rogan Josh (described as containing morrels (sic)) recently. Some dishes on the menu referred to a certain Suvir (do you know him by any chance? ) I think you may be right about the confidence issue...at Bukhara Grill on 49th st. they started out only adressing me, but now that they recognize us they refer to her directly. Edit: By the way, Suvir, I'm not very familiar with Goan cooking, but the shrimp dish is not unlike a refined version of a Sri Lankan dish they often make with either shrimp or squid (I don't know the name), I think the same types of chilies are used.

If they would serve me their tandoori lamb chops in the style of soup kitchen international, I would still be a very happy man Seriously, the tandoori dishes are just extraordinary and as already mentioned, so are the shrimp and crab appetizers. There are a few items that probably should just be taken off the menu or executed with more care, like the Rogan Josh, which I tasted once to find cubes of very dry meat in an uninteresting sauce. I think the service is acceptable at these price levels, but Sivan says she finds their habit of only addressing her through me very annoying. I wonder how a single female diner would be treated.

Does anyone have information regarding the current availability of monkfish liver in New York?

You pervert. Anyway, there is a nice collection of messages on Za'atar here: click me And it's not just westerners who have a hard time pronouncing Ayin correctly (not to mention the subtle differences between Kuf and Kaf, Chet and Chaf) but many Israelis (including myself) who pronounce it za'atar due to their ashkenazi upbringing. I've always used it for sprinkling on hummus and labaneh or for making the parallel of garlic bread (pita with za'atar), but have considered it as a candidate for crusting a saddle of lamb. I've found the variety sold here as Jordanian to be practically identical to what you can get in Israel, probably based on the same kind of Hyssop, but I know there are many other plants that pass as Za'atar in the middle east.

Our dinner at L'Impero ended with an espresso that reminded me of a certain scene in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. Fortunately, my table manners are slightly better than those of the Castiglianie brothers. It was an irritating meal in many ways. An otherwise perfect dish of soft polenta and mushrooms was compromised by grit. Squid ink pasta, promising to be served with sea urchin, shrimps, mussles and baby octopus contained approximately 1/24th of a sea urchin. The pasta itself needed a minute or two of cooking to be considered al-dente. Fennel crusted lamb was served on a bed of poorly handled eggplants (I would guess no attempt was made to remove their juices prior to cooking). The only dishes that were decent were ravioly of duck meat and (traces of) foie gras, roasted kid (which the kitchen fortunately did not manipulate much after roasting) and a trio of marinated fish and shellfish (scallops, shrimp, tuna). Service suffered from moderate levels of incompetence, expressed in a very long delay before our order was taken (just over 30 minutes) and in dishes being nearly dropped by overloaded servers several times. The chef was observed hovering around a certain female diner's table for much of the evening and would only go back to the kitchen after being summoned for the third time (rather urgently) by a staff member. L'Impero offers a fixed price dinner consisting of an appetizer, a pasta, an entree and dessert for $48 (with some dishes adding $4 and some unavailable as part of the menu). Dishes are also available at regular menu prices, which I estimate to be around 30% higher.

We've dined at the Lexington branch several times now. It is better than the one on 2nd ave but not quite as good as the clinton branch (we hardly ever get a chance to go to the one in chelsea). The 'sushi bar' at Lex does not seem to be making any kind of progress (or maybe it is undergoing VERY slow and subtle changes at the molecular level) and judging by the average number of tables we've seen occupied, the place could very well close before the sushi bar opens.

His Bechamel has half the flour you actually need and the ragu should be done with stock. A couple of finely chopped chicken livers in it would also be nice. Finally, the cooking time should be a lot longer (2-3 hours) over very low heat. There's a better recipe in "Italian Family Cooking" by Anne Casale

A recent visit to the Park avenue location was similarly disappointing. We had hoped that a decline in the quality of the entrecote was just a random event, but friends have expressed their (unsolicited) opinion that it had recently changed for the worse. We decided to give them one more chance in the coming months, otherwise we'll just have to get our entrecote at Prune.

That is probably the case, but it would still be interesting to try. I guess if Sushi Zen fails me I will just have to cook one at home.

Thanks cabrales, Jayask, I'll report after the weekend...

I've often wondered about the taste of turtle, but never got a change to try it. Recently, I've seen relatively large soft shell turtles being sold alive or quartered in Chinatowns (Manhattan and SF) and I was wondering whether any of the manhattan or flushing chinatown restaurant serves them. Non chinese options (or referrals to previous discussions) are naturally welcome.

Thank you Toby! "If it flies but it is not an airplane, swims in the water but is not a boat, has four legs but is not a table, the cantonese will eat it"

Austrian soup dumplings?

I'm thinking braised in veal stock and white wine with pears, grapes and Moroccan spices and the braising liquid strained and reduced, then poured into a goat cheese souffle.

No - but I did nick Le Gavroche logo'd towels from their bathroom It's peeps like you that make three star restaurants switch to paper towels.

I think if you examine the universe of all possible meals at these establishments, you will find that there is a non-zero probability of eating one meal at PA that is better than one meal at L'Arpege. Certainly you can eat very poorly at PG if you make the wrong menu choices. I agree that 20% may be a high estimate, but when dealing with unknown probablility distributions I tend to think of: impossible - 5% quite unlikely - 20-25% no clue - 50% quite likely - 75-80% certain - 95% In any event, it would be unfair to me to make a similar statement to yours regarding Blue Hill vs ADNY, but I guess that comparing the number of dinners in both establishments (probably 30 in BH vs 0 in ADNY) would indicate that our preferences are similar