Suzanne F

"Chicken-fried" strips of London broil, marinated first in Perk's Lemon Blast Reheated l.o. Basmati rice mixed with marinade from meat (then recooked) Steamed chayote cubes Cilantro garnish Avocado/orange/pickled onion salad plates (small) Mixed salad with creamy yogurt/garlic dressing Brooklyn Brown beer

And where is he supposed to put the garlic cloves, pray? (Yes, this is a test. )

"What does not kill me makes me stronger."

adieu.

More places to consider and debate: Gigino (Greenwich Street, Tribeca) yeah, that's where "Dinner Rush" was filmed, but dare you not trust a place Phil Suarez has an interest in? Noodle Pudding (Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights) Possibly my favorite Italian restaurant: warm, comfy, and homemade.

You can say that again. But Ron is right, too, about there being hidden good food. A time and place for everything, though. Edit to add: I don't travel much, but when HWOE does, I usually research for him and provide a list of places he might try. The regional boards here and on Chowhound are a huge help. Also the WCR membership directory, so that I can send him to support my "sisters."

Not every item is available at every station. Maybe that's why you didn't even see some stuff posted. A lot are hot-dog-only. A few are clams-and-seafood (includes frog legs). But alas yes, all lines have those slotted plastic fast-food signs. (Last time there: fall, 2002.)

I try not to stand on them; it's too hard to scrape them out of the treads of my boots.

Cole slaw on a Reuben? Oh, no; gotta be sauerkraut. Not that I eat them. However: cole slaw with turkey and swiss on rye (+ Russian dressing),

Maillard. What most of us confuse with caramelization. I love Cho Dang Gol. In several visits, I doubt we've duplicated any panchan. And the food doesn't seem to be "adapted" to Western tastes (that's just conjecture, though). Which is great, because to us spicy = comfort. But what I love most is the pleasure and pride the staff takes in the place and its food. We tend to order specials -- once it was raw oysters and boiled pork belly, to be wrapped in lettuce with chili paste and lots of raw garlic -- and the staff looked genuinely happy that we enjoyed "their" food.

Yes, Laurie Colwin's spinach is delicious. At least, it is when made without the celery salt (that's MY snobbiness), and with jalapeno Jack cheese, which she said was in the original. Do not be put off by the "convenience" of evaporated milk and pickled peppers; using them means you can make it anytime at all! (without having to run to the store for cream). Early on in this thread, Jason mentioned Gage and Tollner's as having too much cream. I quite agree. It tastes like cream with spinach, instead of spinach with cream. That balance is very important, nay critical.

Oh, Soba, another cold?! He Who Only Eats says you should wash your hands more. For tonight's dinner, I actually faithfully followed a recipe in a cookbook! Cardoon Khoresh, in New Food for Life, ancient Persian and modern Iranian recipes, by Najmieh Batmanglij. A stew of beef, onion, cardoons,* parsley, and mint, flavored with saffron, turmeric, and verjus. Very, very tasty; but the next time I make it, of course I will change it so it looks prettier (no long cooking of the herbs ). Steamed Basmati rice, cooked according to the instructions in Seductions of Rice. Cast iron skillet-cooked sesame-coated bread (I found some old pizza dough in the fridge that needed to be used up) with dripped yogurt and Syrian zataar. Mixed salad with balsamic vinaigrette, made as usual by HWOE. Seltzer, because I had no idea what the stew would taste like. *Cardoons, for those not familiar, look sort of like an oversize gray-green head of celery, and taste rather like artichokes. I looked for recipes in Elizabeth Schneider's Vegetables from Aramanth to Zucchini and she pointed toward the Persian book, which I just happened to have. Lucky me!

Welcome, Cheryl! This is what friends are for.

I also don't remember peas -- maybe, maybe not. Color may have only come from the scallions and the seafood. But I'm sure fermented black beans were NOT included. That would have been waaaaay too exotic for 1950s Queens County. After all, for us shrimp and pork and lobster were about as exotic as you could get. I wouldn't characterize the sauce as either brown or white -- it was just sort of grayish from the ground pork, and streaked with white from the (not-very-thoroughly-mixed) egg, and kind of gloppy from cornstarch. My mother and sister both had fits from the eggy stuff. Is stuff like that even still available???

Yes, Sparrowgrass: your meal puts me to shame. There's no way here in NYC that I could get as perfect a meal as yours was.

Hear hear! Nathan's may not be the ne plus ultra of hot dogs anymore, but how can you NOT go there?? (Especially after a visit to the Aquarium.) Of course, as always the key is to ask for WELL-DONE. And yes, the french fries are excellent by comparison to what you get most places. The last time I got Mrs. Stahl's knishes (last October), the potato was a total disappointment: tasted as though it was made from dehydrated potato powder. On the other hand, the cheese (with onion, I think?) was manna from heaven. Rich, creamy, a hint of tanginess, a hint of sweetness.

Ah, but wouldn't it be great to try? The one time we tried to go to Gargiulo's (W. 15th Street & Mermaid Ave.), they wouldn't let us in because we weren't "appropriately dressed." But I'd still try it; after all, how many restaurants last 96 years?

We used to enjoy the burgers at Mr. Henry's (on Pennsylvania Ave.). And Market Lunch in Eastern Market still does great breakfasts, and crabcakes. Literally on the Hill, we've been to Bistro Bis twice lately and liked it. The last time, when we casually mentioned that we would be sharing everything, they split each course for us and plated it separately. They have a caramelized onion-and-goat cheese tart that is very, very nice.

Oh! I read about Chez Sophie years ago. It sounded so wonderful -- a true labor of love. Now I'll have to try to stop there on the way to or from Vermont. Thanks so much for the reminder.

Ah, then you'll enjoy my post from yesterday (4/7/03) on The Dinner Thread. Oh, all right, I guess not. After all, I DID eventually turn those currants into jam. It only took about 6 years.

Great idea, Trillium. Deserves its own thread, methinks. And here it is!

On the discussion thread for TDG: Desperate Measures: Storage, Trillium raised the question: what do you do with your storage containers when the cabinets are full? Trillium likes Metro shelving. I like old bookcases, and the tops of the cabinets. What about you?

A number of years ago, Gwen Kvavli Gulliksen was the chef at the Getty in L.A. I don't know if they've kept up her standards, but it was excellent when she was there.

The current (April 2003) issue of Chef magazine has a piece about the chef/owner of XO Cafe in Providence having trademarked "The Greatest Burger on Earth " -- sirloin mixed with duck fat, stuffed with barbecued duck confit and black truffles; rubbed with smoked grey Danish salt and Madagascar pepper; sauteed in butter; topped with pate de foie gras; served on a brioche roll with microgreens and tomato chutney. Accompanied by housemade potato chips drizzled with Gorgonzola cream. $24, dinner and late night. Well, anyway, it's in Providence.

If only it had been crisp! What I remember is strips of duck (meat, fat, and skin) coated in ground almonds, and served in some undefinable brown sauce over yes, shredded iceberg lettuce. But who knew any better? Remember that I grew up in Flushing, NY, in the 1950s and '60s -- LONG before there was any good Chinese food available there. (For the record, we always went to Joy Wah.)