cbergmann

Up until a year ago I used to be crazy for China 46. Then right before my very eyes and mouth the food went right downhill, surprisingly right under the owner's eyes as well. The fried foods became greasy, the pork both greasy and 'porky' and not in a good way, and the seafood less than pleasant. I had also sent two sets of friends there, one of whom went several times early in the year and had loved it and then had the same bad experiences at the same time I did, and the others, serious Shanghaifood lovers, went towards the end and gave me an earful from how disappointing their meal was, but I had had a similar meal there the day before and could only agree with them.

You've commented on the bean puree many times before and you actually make the case for the fellow who thinks that the large serving of wasabi he got was not an accident after all: It was his contention in one of the posts that the bean spread is such a popular appetizer (thanks to your posts perhaps) that realizing the sheer quantities which they would have to make up and keep on hand each day , versus the tiny amount of wasabi they'd need for those diners (it is an Italian restaurant) who actually ordered sushi, that it's highly unlikely that any server could mistake the containers or buckets that you serve these two green items from.

Nothing will ever replace the happiness that comes from a large shelf overflowing with cookbooks. When I peruse one on-line that I like, I order a hard copy of it. And frequently I order cookbooks online just from descriptions or endorsements I have read of them elsewhere. I am sure that this is the case with most food lovers, cooks, and such. But this is of course not a legal argument. The problem of course would be someone who downloaded the contents of a cookbook (or any book) electronically and published and sold copies from which the author did not receive compensation.

The one time we dined at Lucien the started of fresh grilled Mediterranean anchovies was rather nice with the rest of the meal thoroughly nondescript. This placed it many notches above a thoroughly tired, old, sad meal we had at Alouette. I find nothing very authentic about Balthazar save for that the food resembles the industrial food at some of those beautiful restored bistros in Paris all owned by that same large restaurant group whose name escapes me. I have had hit and miss meals over the years at Jardin. And while our one meal at Quinze was not exceptional, we have had several at Tournesol that genuinely were.

I am going there for pre-theater on October 4. What does this mean? Will there be one chef or another? Will I have a dinner caught in limbo and be better off dining elsewhere that evening?

Tom's comments should possibly have been split amoungst the two threads that Jason created earlier but since there here, Sucsi and sascimi are the phoenetec Italian spellings of two Japanese words (as are "sushi" and "sashimi" the English versions) but they don't derive from any Italian foods by that name, just are used in Italian for the items in the "sushi" craze that has swept not just the US but a great deal of the world. Nobody would question the condiment of a dab of wasabi with the concept of raw fish sushi in any spelling, but they probably would question serving a large portion of it as an appetizer and saying it was an Italian bean antipasto.

If this is similar to the Young Zhouw (sp?) pork shoulder shredded with the buns they are all winners in this restaurant.