donbert

Thats a great list. I have the same problem where I remember how to get to places but have no idea what they're called nor can I give directions to them in Cairo. The only things I would add are: 1.) If you're in Sharm el Sheik, make sure you visit the "Sinai Star" in the old market area. They have the best fresh sea food that you just order by the kilograms. 2.) There is one good thing McDonalds is good for outside of the US, which is the apple pie. Unlike the states everyone else deep fries them and they taste great. Just make sure you don't burn your tounge I'll see if I can contact my friends out there for more recomendations but make sure you make it out to Tabbouli. Don't bother looking through the menu, just ask for the "mez" which is like a cross between a chef's tasting menu and tapas. You'll get a bit of everything and leave stuffed. My only beef with the place is that after dinner if you order sheesha (aka hooka or naguila) and tea, they give you lipton tea bags.

A couple years ago I lived in lower manhattan and didn't have any reasonable places to shop for groceries so I relied on Fresh Direct for about 6 months, but I haven't since I moved out to Park Slope and joined the <a href="http://www.foodcoop.com" target="_blank">Food Coop</a>. From what I remember I never got produce that was "bad" but most of the fruit wasn't ripe (even in their respective peak seasons) and it took a while to get used to ordering by weight rather than count/eye. At the time I considered using <a href="http://www.urbanorganic.com/" target="_blank">Urban Organic</a> for produce and using Fresh Direct for meats and packaged foods. The only reason I didn't end up using Urban Organic was because a friend of mine who had used it the previous year said that it took a lot of effort to finish all the fresh produce you'd get every week and he ended up having to can most of it towards the end of the summer. Also you don't get much say in what you get, which was good in that it forces you to cook seasonal things and try thing/recipes that you might normally have but bad in that if you want anything else you would end up going to a market anyways. On a non-food related use for Fresh Direct, I know a few people who have throw large dinner parties and ordered everything from Fresh Direct just to get their boxes for moving. They're just about the perfect size for all the small stuff you need to pack.

I think I saw them at Tehuitzingo Deli and Grocery (on 10th Avenue, between 47th and 48th streets) while I was there checking out their tacos. You can ask others on <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=65141" target="_blank">this thread</a> if anyone else recalls seeing them. I believe they were in the back left refrigerated case near the Mexican soft drinks in glass bottles.

If all you want is good cheese, just go to Murray's or any other favorite cheese shop of yours and spend what you would expect to blow at Artisanal for better/more cheese. (Especially now that the weather is nice, you can take things to a park for a picnic) Having worked in a gourmet cheese shop I just don't have the patience to deal with wait staff and general pretension of the place. Just give me the cheeses and a knife, you don't even need to unwrap them or put them on a nice plate/board.

Taqueria y Fonda La Mexican has been a favorite place mine for a few years so I went to Tehuitzingo today to see how it compared and I have to say that I was impressed. In terms of tacos Tehuitzingo was as good and I'd say that their Carnitas (especially their Enchilada Carnitas) and Chorizo were better than Taqueria, but I wasn't that impressed with their sopes. I was surprised that they had chicharron tacos and fresh chicharrones and can't wait to go back to try everything else. On my way out I spoke to the owner who told that he plans to move one of the refrigerated beverage cases out soon to make room for more seating and they deliver all the way to Rockefeller Center, where I work. Not sure how the tacos hold up when delivered but if I'm feeling lazy I'll give it a try and report back.

I've been meaning to try Taro since this thread was started but didn't have a chance till last night. Given its decor and location I was surprised by the quality of fish. I ordered the $30 omakase and had the following: spicy snow crab and avocado salad over cucumber 1 toro 1 salmon and avocado 1 yellowtail 1 fresh water eel (the chef said it wasn't unagi, which apparently lives in brackish water...) 1 snow crab 1 fluke 1 round clam tongue 1 scallop 1 Spanish mackerel 1 sweet shrimp (head was fried and served as a side) 1 asparagus tempura 1 shrimp tempura roll 1 spicy tuna hand roll 1 miso soup The total came to $45 with two glasses of cold sake. I forgot to ask for the fresh wasabi, but everything has the perfect amount of wasabi already in it. Does anyone know what kind of wasabi used in the nigiri and if you can ask to have fresh wasabi used if it already isn't? I found out that they get their fresh fish flown in from Japan twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so those are the nights I'll be going from now on. Final thoughts: It wasn't Yasuda but I foresee myself becoming a regular here, whereas if I wanted to afford being a regular at Yasuda I would have to give up the hope of someday having children.