jm chen

Just past Mercato (which is fabulous) there's Tria at 12th & Spruce. Generally less crowded than the Rittenhouse location, and should be able to fit your budget and timeframe.

You know, starting about a year ago they seemed to slowly disappear from the usual outlets (Williams-Sonoma, DiBruno's) and be replaced with the Amarena cherries instead, which come in a blue and white jar like this. Very similar though of course not identical.

Vetri if the food is most important. Morimoto if the bragging rights are. Le Bec Fin is also a high-end extravaganza with chandeliers and a dessert cart and another trappings of luxury, so is probably unlike anything he's had before. (And since he's 16 you don't have to worry about the ruinously high wine pricing.) Brunch at Lacroix seems like it would also be sumptuous, and isn't part of the buffet set up in the kitchen?\ Regardless of what you choose -- what a lucky nephew, and what a great reward for a job well done!

I just made this one and it's really excellent. Thinking of serving with semolina cake for an upcoming dinner party. There are so many great recipes in this book that don't involve messing with custard, so I tend to stick with those, but my husband requested Rum Raisin a few weeks back so I made an exception. OMG that was tremendous, tremendous stuff. Just the right richness, and the rum-soaked golden raisins had this great tangy-rummy thing going on.

This Iowan says: Amazon.com gift certificate or a copy of All About Braising.

Sampled a few dishes last week and left pretty happy. The manchego rolls was guava butter were definitely out-of-this-world. The chaufa was also excellent, and the pork belly buns were very good (if not as mindblowing as the Momofuku Ssam Bar version, but really, what is?). The duck wonton soup had incredible broth but I didn't care for the wonton itself. My dining companion is a huge fan of the Peruvian dish aji de gallina, and Chifa's version is a very loose interpretation thereof, so that was disappointing although there was really nothing wrong with the dish as it was presented. Certainly not in the Tinto/Amada realm for us but a nice change of pace.

Looks like everything turned out beautifully! I will have to try that musakhan recipe... and a couple of the others as well. Are the grapefruit and avocado on the endive dressed with anything beyond a little olive oil and citrus juice?

Brown up some thinly sliced shallots and wild mushrooms, deglaze with water or sherry or whatever you've got. Put the gnocchi in the pan, glug of olive oil, heavy on the pepper. Presto.

A nice vegetable side dish might be a warm butternut squash and chickpea salad with tahini dressing. Recipe here. Meatballs either on skewers or in lettuce cups could be good in an appetizer smorgasbord. Lentil soup with merguez for a first course?

I don't believe Kanella has ever served breakfast, and I'm pretty sure they no longer serve brunch. So is the "Cypriot breakfast" plate on the lunch menu? Or was this brunch from a few months ago but they were in denial that it was brunch because the word "breakfast" is in the dish name? I share your confusion.

I wait patiently, ask for a platter, nod/smile, and tip. Then I go back to my office and enjoy the chicken and falafel, both of which must be laced with crack, as addictive as they are.

In a similar situation where maxing out the check and enjoying the food were both goals, I picked Vetri, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Have the grand tasting menu plus a cheese course and maybe an extra pasta course in the middle, with wine pairings and the half-bottle supplement you mentioned. You'll succeed.

The new location of Melograno is bigger than many of the other BYOs, and the earlier you go the better your chances are, so that might fit.

Or somewhere on the vast premises of Distrito?

Ditto. Both the smoked beer and the Gruit, I thought were out of this world. The third one was a Finnish style, a sahti, that I didn't try. The smoked beer was especially nice since the smoke is subtle -- not one of those crazy German rauchbiers that tastes like liquid bacon. (Beer that tastes like bacon; not as pleasant as you'd think.)

Leave room between meals for Capogiro.

I faced the same question last year. Don't go to Barclay Prime; $100 will not go far. Parc sounds right to me.

The surest way to get your hands on some of Shola's cooking in the near near term: a cooking class at Foster's.

The platter, which is just the meat plus beans and greens, is good. But the potatoes are incredible. Platter is $12, potatoes are $5, so with tax it was almost $20, but that's enough food for two, so take a friend. And drink water.

Totally depends on what you get. For a shake, fries, and burger, yes, but if you're just interested in the burger they're between $3 and $8 depending on complexity. Bahn Mi is a great idea.

How about Porchetta? Oh, or Shake Shack. A fun New York experience and a heck of a lot cheaper than a sit-down restaurant meal of almost any stripe. The wait is long but the Stack is magic.

Nice place for a group, 8ish, Sunday night. Really no complaints, though I pitied the vegetarian in our party: almost no options for her besides beet salad and omelette du jour. Luckily, she enjoyed both. As for me: skate grenobloise... ahhhhh.

Corduroy. Period. End of story.

If Ideal Cheese had a 1/2 lb minimum on bellota before, they don't now -- we picked up a 1/4 lb of iberico bellota paleta for $25 this weekend. They also had the non-paleta jamon (the "mack daddy" referred to earlier?), but the fat vs. meat ratio looked the same and the price was $45 instead of $25, so... shoulder was plenty tasty enough. We discussed whether there might be such a thing as iberico bellota lardo. The guess was that it would be possible, but if it cut into the supply of existing/known cuts (such as the jamon), they wouldn't bother.

1. Holy sh&t. 2. You're welcome. I like the flavors with herbs & spices -- the combo of pineapple-mint and lime-cilantro sorbetti was a great one a few weeks back, and of the gelato flavors which sound horrendous but taste delightful, I keep an eye out for honey cumin. Nicely done, u.e.