Megan Blocker

That's such a good point...I always think of the Rainbow Room as the place where we have our corporate Christmas Party. I've never been there when it wasn't for work!

yes but they have a 15 year old with them, so I think Pegu may be out.. ← It would probably be ok, so long as they weren't at the bar...maybe calling ahead to ask would be a good idea, though. Ditto with all of these, really.

I would say, if you're willing to sacrifice the view, go for Pegu Club - it's pretty convenient to dinner, and you won't get a better cocktail anywhere.

Well, daisy took all my suggestions! Of these, my favorites are Rise (especially if it's warm out) and Stone Rose - partly because you can make a reservation, which is always nice if you're traveling in for a specific purpose. It's not too crowded before dinner, so I wouldn't worry about that...

Could Alpana Singh be moving to NYC? Just hedging Megan's question... Just to clarify my earlier post, I didn't mean to suggest that Le Cirque was "Hooterizing" by employing only female sommeliers. Rather, I was simply answering M.X.Hassetts' question of whether or not such a move would be legal...u.e. ← Oh, of course...but even if it's legal (which, as a former recruiter, I highly doubt - though an affirmative action arguement could possibly be made, based on the low number of female sommeliers), it's weird, which is more my point. As happy as I would be to see a restaurant this visible in the industry employ female sommeliers, I find it to be an odd goal, and, given the way he put it, almost chauvinist or objectifying, like the whole reason he would hire them would be for the attractiveness factor rather than their qualifications. Hence the Hooters comparison. ETA: Looking back over the posts, I see that there's no quote from Maccioni on this, just commentary...so I shouldn't leap to conclusions of the reasons for all-female sommeliers...but still, weird.

Yeah, they may have also felt bad about the price of nicer knives...I know I sometimes look at certain registries and am agape at the lack of options under $200 or even $300.

Is this legal? ← no. but i wish him good luck as i'm pretty sure there are only 5 women sommeliers in manhattan, and they're not going anywhere. ← He could be recruiting from out of town, no? That's so...odd. Not that I don't think championing women in the wine world isn't worth doing. It just seems like a weird touch at a place that isn't Hooters or Scores.

What about some sort of ravioli? Maybe in the style of the beef cheek ravioli at Babbo?

Filet with horseradish whipped cream or creme fraiche on crostini. Really good, especially garnished with a little chopped parsley between the beef and the cream.

I ate raw sea urchin right from the water in Maine when I was fourteen, which seemed mighty exotic at the time!

And why shouldn't we? Yum!

Oooooh. I hate posting after Alinka! This morning was scrambled eggs with parsley and pepper on top of a slice of pumpernickel toast. Now I'm off to get some coffee across the street. I love Sundays!

You're brave man, John...thanks for doing some recon - enjoy those peanuts!

Il Corallo Trattoria on Prince Street is pretty solid, and I've never spent more than $25/person on a full meal (wine, dessert and coffee included). What about Regional (Broadway and 98th)?

What are those? did you get some? And, do you lick 'em, stick 'em, and suck 'em? ← No, we went for the Champagne instead - we wanted them to think we're classy! Here's a link to an Alabama Slammer recipe...it's whiskey, amaretto, creme de noyaux, and orange juice. Quite potent.

Synchronicity!!! How funny! The Au Bon Pain awnings ARE very distracting. Especially after a cocktail or two... You know, our waiter offered us tequila, too, in an obviously joking kind of way. We replied that what we really wanted were Alabama Slammers.

Oh, man. Once and for all, where on EARTH is the "barf" emoticon? Well done, Daniel.

Last night a group of six of us went to Tocqueville to celebrate my friend Hall's birthday, and had a great time of it. The only other time I'd been to Tocqueville was also with Hall, for lunch about four years ago. They're all moved in to their new space on 15th Street, and it's lovely, despite the fact that it sort of feels tucked in behind the neighboring Au Bon Pain. We arrived promptly for our 7:15 reservation (we'd kicked off the evening with cocktails and snacks at Hall's apartment a few blocks away) and were ushered past what looked like a lovely, posh bar area and up a twisting staircase to a small room overlooking the main dining room. I'm normally the type of person who likes to be in the thick of things at restaurants, but with a group like ours, it was nice not to feel like we were invading on anyone else's space. The room had three tables, all occupied - there was a group who were clearly business associates, and a canoodling couple at a small table in the corner. The service was great - pleasant and attentive, though not overbearing, and very accomodating. We started off with a bottle of the house Champagne (a 2001 Scheurebe) and got down to the business of perusing the menu. It's a good menu - not too many choices, with entrees heavy on the seafood and with an entry each for lamb, chicken, pork and beef. For my appetizer, I went with the escargots, langoustine and sweetbreads. The plating for this was great - the langoustine came wrapped in the thinnest slice of bacon (at least, I think it was bacon) I've ever seen, and was succulent and buttery. The escargots came on a tiny piece of toast spread with garlic confit, and the sweetbreads were served crispy - I could taste some black pepper in the crust - and on top of a generous pile of chanterelles. Other folks at the table tried the chicken egg (rave reviews), the sea urchin carbonara (more raves, from Natasha, who started South Beach today in preparation for an upcoming vacation, and was scarfing down all the carbs she could get), and the special white truffle risotto (for the birthday boy), which came with a chicken jus. It was really good...the chicken jus, while rich unto itself, really cut through the perfume of the truffles in a nice way. Normally, I can do about two bites of a truffle risotto, but I think I could have eaten that whole thing, if Hall had let me. With dinner with had a white wine (a Pouilly Fume, I believe - Miles did the ordering) and a red (no idea what this was - I'll try to get details!), since we had a few different entrees going on. Two people had the salmon (a poached filet and some belly, served with marrow), one had the beef (24-hour pot roast and 60-second sirloin), one had the Chatham cod (more on that later), one had the black bass, and I had the suckling pig. The salmon went over well, though I didn't try it...I'm kind of sick of salmon these days, and couldn't be bothered. The beef looked marvelous, though I only tried the sides...one side was a smoky potato puree, and it was delicious. It also came with "aromatic root vegetables," one of which seemed to be a vanilla-scented baby turnip. Really interesting, especially with the bitter chocolate sauce on the plate. My pig was outstanding - my waiter said the meat came from five different parts of the pig, and I definitely was able to identify the belly and the shoulder. It was wonderful - meltingly tender with crispy skin (thick on the shoulder, thinner on the belly), and served with fried mandioc. I would have this again and again. And again. The cod was...dull. Chewy. Blah. So, we sent it back (and the waiter was very gracious and kind about it) and had it replaced with the scallops - which were out of this world. Definitely the best dish we tried. They were seared and served topped with foie gras. Underneath, a small salad with artichokes and a cider vinaigrette. Wow. The scallops themselves were sweet, tender, and not at all chewy or tough. The foie gras melted in your mouth (and wasn't too bad with the crispy madioc, either), and the vinaigrette cut through the fat and meatiness beautifully. Dessert was good, though not so wonderful as the rest of the meal. I had the chocolate souffle, which was really more like the standard molten chocolate cake - but still delicious. They served it with a neat sabayon made with stout, which I really liked. A couple people did the assorted house-made ice creams, which were very good, and the apple confit and creme brulee were also good. The coffee was really good - a nice way to end the evening and settle my very full stomach. All in all, a great experience. I'd love to go back and eat in the main dining room!

Sour grapes come to mind. ETA: Not when I read your story, though!

Though I hang my head in shame to admit it, I must say that I have a new cookbook - Patsy's Cookbook, courtesy of Frank Sinatra's favorite eatery on 56th Street in Manhattan. Given to me as a gag hostess gift by my friends Miles and Hall, who got it as an audience gift when they went to see a taping of Martha last week. So ashamed.

I think the original Larousse recipe was layered with jam...go for it!

Daniel is sort of near Bloomie's - only six blocks (five blocks north, one block west)... As for the 23rd Street location...yes, I think you're right - that area is now riddled with big chain stores, so these are the restaurants to match. Isn't Outback also in that neighborhood?

Every foodie wants to believe that, but it's just not true. I've met plenty of folks who, even after being spoon fed the superior alternatives, just haven't cared enough to depart from their previous routines. To most people, the quality of what they eat simply is not important. I repeat, they assign it zero or close to zero importance. Deal with it. ← Yup. One of my closest work friends is like that. He likes good food, and can even recognize the difference between what's good and what's crap, but he would never bother to go out of his way to find it, let alone make it a primary consideration. He's lived in New York for four years, London and Amsterdam before that, Paris before that, and Sydney before that. Not exactly bad food spots. But still, doesn't care.

Do you have a broil feature on your oven? Maybe that would work. ← Yeah, I like that idea of just broiling the top crepe...and if you keep one in reserve, it doesn't matter if the experiment goes awry...

First time for everything, SweetSide! My mother would be so proud - Mom, I spoke in a short sentence!