raxelita

Perhaps you should read the book before responding to it. Cook sees the trend of consolidation as a problem, a serious one, and exhaustivly explains why. It also explains why simply "not going" won't correct the problem. The discourse is not whether Superstores provide access to more interesting things, its whether they are able to provide affordable sustinence to the most people.

I recently read "Diet for a Dead Planet" by Chris Cook (The New Press). It a great analysis on the problem of superstores and how they affect our health, along with the last 100-year triumph of the mega-farm in the U.S.

Oh, this thread just made me realize the alliteration of my dining weekend: Balthazar: Great Kumamotos, Best Steak Tartare, and dense little blackberry cake with remarkable coulis. Blue Water Grill: I've always loathed this place, still do. The interior makes my skin crawl. I ended up there by accident sort of. BLT Fish: Fabulous Hamachi and Octopus (never had octopus so tender) apps. Nice melon/fromage blanc sorbet dessert. The ceiling was open, which was quite nice.

It's quite easy to take notes unnoticeably using a small, top-spiraled notebook and keeping it at you lap. I've done it for years and never made a scene. Long as you're just jotting down short bits, you can do it covertly.

Holy God, has anyone tried Breadshop's Vermont Maple Granola? I've been known to clear a box a weekend, all by itself, no milk or nothin. Anyone tried this stuff? It has this wonderful sweet/salty composition. On really childish days I'll go for an enormous bowl of froot loops and 2 percent... once every few years or so....

There's always Dumpling House on Eldridge, and Dumpling Man on St. Marks. You'd be saving for a really huge late-alphabet splurge.

Xing? Sorta fancied-up Chinese (chef from 66 consulted on the menu) in Hell's Kitchen. I'm a sucker for any kind of General Tso's and their Singapore Noodles aren't bad. However, if you aren't a cocktail drinker, much of the fun is lost. The prices are pretty low. http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails...staurantid=5939

Don't forget to consider Xing. I'd recommend Danube or Davidburke and Donatella (which will get you extra points...oh wait this isn't scattergories..) since it sounds like D is the next available letter. Ps - Hey Red Wine, I'd love to hear your reports on Alto. I have high hopes for them.

Rec: Aquavit (def $200), Aix ($150 if only one glass of wine), or AOC Bedford (they have a $29 prix fixe before 7pm) Want to try: Ama and August

I've heard they are featuring a new eponymous chef each year, beginning with Francesco. Anybody back my sources up?

Part of the excitement for me of going out to schmancier places, is the possibility that something will be so perfectly composed and in-sync that I will need to pause. For instance, the beet salad at a recent trip to Cafe Bolud just made me forget about everything else for a minute...or a Kobe Tataki that was just so unforgettably smooth at Mecca (SF). When dining out, you are beholden to someone else-- their standards, tastes and whims. The better part of the time my standards, tastes and whims don't match up with the chefs'/restaurants'. But I still search for that moment when it all works, the moment that makes it worth it.

Perhaps I'm being a dork, but can people think of places to get a really good egg/cheese/meat/salt/pepper on bagel or mushy roll? My local brooklyn deli once made the best out there: onion bagel warm and all oily from fats with a good inch of ham, two fried eggs, cheese on both sides and tons of black pepper, but lately the've been skimping on the insides and the bagel takes over. There's a joint I hit near one of my jobs on broadway by houston that follows my specs but the results still end up bland. Any tips on where should I go, Midtown or Downtown to get the perfect morning gut-bomb?

After attempting to gussie it up--making it into french toast, bread pudding, etc., I've determined that I like it best as Jason does, straight out the package. It was a part of my diet while living in SF, but I haven't seen it around NYC. Does anyone know where it can be found over here?

The maitre' d offered to throw him out for me, but I declined, not wanting to cause a scene. Looking back, it would have been better to have him booted to set an example.

Ah yes, I was ass-fondled by a passing man but last week while talking to another table. I couldn't slip away quickly enough to i.d. him. And bartending not long ago I was asked how much I cost, point blank...

It helps to look at the person in the eye (engage, that is) while they're speaking to you so you can tag them in your mind: "She is the Mixed Greens SOS/ Pork Chop med-well compote-on-side no-starch woman (NUT ALLERGY)." And most people like eye contact anyway. If you are focused and not daydreaming (or drunk), it's not really so hard to remember a series of say, four or five things. Servers will usually go "in back" immediately to write down a table's order, so they can keep track of it all night. Most restaurants I've worked don't have a problem with you covertly sketching symbols at a table of 3+. One of my main problems in the business, is, of course attitude from customers. Behavior that would not be acted out or tolerated in any other situation is totally acceptable in a restaurant. I think it's the one place for a person to feel in control of their lives and they take it out of hand...Just a little pop-psychology I'm working on. It also doesn't help that the FOH/customer relationship these days is automatically tense, often to the fault of the industry. Many customers lately are on-guard about being fleeced on cocktails, supplements, and specials or worried that they're being hurried along to make way for the next table, that the FOH becomes their adversary, their barrier to having an enjoyable evening.

I recommend staying within the first two parts of the menu. The more "main" dishes were spotty on a recent visit, particularly the pork cheeks, which were dry and soft in a most unpallatable way, and overpowered by thier accompanying saurkraut. Superb: Seak tartare with Quail egg Octopus salad Tuna carpaccio Quite good: Tarte flambee Arctic Char tartare Wild Salmon with reisling cabbage peekytoe crab salad shrimp salad Check menupages.com for prices and full menu.

I know a few Brooklyn spots that are cash only, and one I know of only takes amex. Very annoying, as I tend to forget each time I visit these places and am stuck searching for an ATM after an otherwise nice meal.

Disturbing that after one visit she could determine that she saw through the wool while 90% of Kellers other patrons remain blind. While the review makes some legitimate complaints, a few gripes really bothered me... She was appalled by an apology intermezzo. Why would she have prefferred to just sit there while the meal was re-made? It was a kind (and customary) gesture, and these things are never expected to be the highlight of the meal. She was incredulous of a slightly improvised take on a classic (walnut biscuits instead of just walnuts with the cheese course), but doesn't say there was anything wrong with it. And Kellers goat cheese/beet vinagrette combo fails miserably, but for no particular reason. It just didn't live up to the sum of its parts. Is it just me or does it seem Robinson has an ax to grind?

Compelling descriptions, thanks.

A Kee's balsamic chocolate set me free yesterday. I urge all to try.

Pasta tasting menu vs. reg tasting menu for a celebration dinner?

Oh, terrible to hear. I ate at CB recently and recieved oysters as a pre-amuse gift. It went: two oysters each, then selection of amuses, then first course... So you never recieved anything resembling seafood after the oysters? Did they try to make any amends with extra desserts, or at least aknowledging their mistakes?

tis not the season, for black nor white.

It is certainly not fancy. Occupies a little basement room on Elizabeth @ Spring, just down from the over-rated cuban place. They make warming soups (I recall one of chicken broth, corn, and avocado that helped my cold), great shrimp tacos, solid carnitas, v.good sopes. service is pleasant though absent. Drinks tasty and inventive. I only go during off hours to avoid waits. Cacio stands out to me because while the prices are going rate for the area, the charming service and quality ingredients place it above its neighbors. So have we a working definition here for "not fancy?" I'm not sure whether to be talking New Pastuer or Landmarc, both of which I'd consider "not fancy" and great, but totally different occasion joints.