Sneakeater

If????????????????????????????????????? You wouldn't have to look at more than three.

Tug should really chime in, but my assumption is that she isn't looking for a place that's "relaxed enough to kick back and enjoy it". I think you have a very particular kind of preference -- which I understand and share to large extent -- that isn't shared by a lot of people looking for these "once in a lifetime" experiences. I mean, the food I've been most impressed with in New York in the last year is Eleven Madison Park, but I'm not recommending it here because I think anyone looking for a "show-stopping" experience would find the whole package -- not the food, but the whole deal -- too low-key and casual. Danube isn't nearly as good, but you just walk into that room, and you feel like it's a special occassion.

I guess I should just say to tug that, while all the restaurants rich has recommended are ones I really like, Annissa and Devi are ones that I have a feeling are more casual and everyday than the "event" place I think you're looking for. Of course, if I'm wrong about what you're looking for, then disregard that comment. WD-50 is pretty casual, too. But it's not everyday. The food is so special -- show-stopping, you might say -- that it doesn't matter. Certainly a "wow." You'd have to consider whether this kind of "avant-garde" cooking is beyond your husband's level of tolerance, though.

I really like Annisa, but I don't think I'd call it "show stopping".

It depends how bad the next course is going to be.

I vote you're creating something new. I also vote that all that matters is how good it is.

Here's the "Daniel" thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=4216&hl= See what people say for yourself.

I can honestly say that it's been so long since I've eaten there that my recollections would be worthless, even if I could dredge them up. But I have no doubt whatsoever that qualtiy there has been maintained. It's just that kind of place. Anyone else who can say something more useful?

Daniel is obvious (clearly New York's most festive NYT four-star restaurant), but I guess it should be said.

With the caveat that it's been two years since I've last been there, I'd also mention Danube.

You know, I hate to say it, because I personally have serious reservations about the consistency and value of the place, but especially given your husband's preferences, maybe you should consider Del Posto.

I would say Blue Hill doesn't have a "wow" quality. Even the food, good as it is, is very understated.

You said "live" again. If they ARE there, it's not perpetuating a stereotype to say so. If I point out that there are a lot of Jewish restaurants in the Diamond District cuz there are a lot of Jews who work there, am I perpetuating a stereotype or stating an indisputable fact? You're the one who's drawing conclusions from the facts Reichl stated.

"I'm not up on my Farsi, so it's a good thing I asked for an explanation. Otherwise I'd have ended up eating fish eggs." (Yup, it comes from the Farsi. You can look it up.)

Jeez. The point isn't to be be hard on her. The point is, she wrote something that's unintentionally very funny. Maybe it's too bad it happened, and certainly it's her editor's fault more than hers. But that doesn't change the facts that (a) it's public (i.e., specifically written for public consumption) and (b) it's funny. Things that are public and funny are fair game for quotation. I know that my intentions as thread initiator are fairly irrelevant, but I didn't post that quote to start a diatribe against ignorant food writers (and I intentionally omitted the author's name). I posted that quote because this particular ignorant food writer wrote something I found amusing, and thought that others here would find amusing. And I still find it so.

But rich, in this context, why should she have talked about Italian, French, Spanish, Icelandic, Finnish, German, Thai, Austrian, American, or other types of restaurants? Are you denying that there a lot of wealthy Chinese people in Las Vegas and that there are restaurants there that cater to them? (I don't know myself; but if Reichl says so, I certainly have no factual basis for disagreeing.)

That was a great (and illuminating) post, and I think you're absolutely right. The only thing I'll point out is your reference in your last paragraph to "non-seasoned diners." The point I've been trying to make is that a different approach may be warranted for the people here, who most assuredly tend to be well-seasoned (and in fact probably very tasty).

I was gonna make a point of that, but I decided I'd already been obnoxious enough this week.

Same duck story as Vervain, although fortunately I only embarrassed myself in front of my much-more-culinarily-experienced wife, who corrected me before I got to the waiter. (Years later, an associate accompanying me on a business trip to Germany did the same thing as Vervain, despite my insistence he'd been given the duck he ordered.)

Rich, she reported the expat communities in Vancouver and the Silicon Valley, not me. Vancouver is so famous for its Chinese restaurants that she probably found it unnecessary to say so. As for Silicon Valley, if you read her thread, it starts out with a discussion of how there are better (and different) Chinese restaurants in San Francisco than in New York. The Vegas thing was added as another example.

I once ordered a muscatel to go with shellfish. The wine steward pointedly poured us each another glass after we had finished dinner, when it was time for dessert. Two little consonents.

I have never pronounced a French word correctly in a restaurant. Not ever.

If you look at the last post in Ruth Reichl's "Chinese Cuisine in New York" thread here on eG, she says several of the same things she's reported to have said on Charlie Rose. On the subject of "Chinese money in New York," she makes it clear that what she's saying she thinks is lacking here is "a wealthy expatriate [Chinese] community - [as in] Silicon Valley in this country, Vancouver in Canada". So she's not talking about Chinese-Americans (as Rich says, obviously there are a lot of Chinese-Americans with money around here), but rather a wealthy Chinese expat community. I know there's a wealthy Japanese expatriate community here -- and there are the upscale and downscale Japanese restaurants catering to that community that you would expect (go into Karuma or Yakitori Totto, to take two extremely obvious examples: those aren't Japanese-Americans, for the most part). I don't know about wealthy Chinese expatriates one way or another (I mean, I know a few, but not any community with the visibility of the Japanese expat community).

And ya know, not to be overly anal (or argumentative) about this, but if you look back at the "star anise" post, the reporter who didn't know what "star anise" was took the trouble to call up the poster here who mentioned it to ask him for an explanation. So, really, that writer sort of did exactly what the Old Foodie in fact says she should have.

May I please make clear that Ms. Hale is NOT the person who didn't know what "star anise" (or "butter poached lobster" or a "vanilla chai emulsion") was? That's a completely different example posted by someone else in this thread. Just want to keep everything tidy. Ms. Hale has taken enough grief without being thrown someone else's.