Sneakeater

Don't stop with reading the thread. Eat there already. Oriental Garden is truly excellent. Has been for years, and (this is not to be taken for granted) still is.

Is the Tour a regular feature of theirs? Could they really deny it to you if you order it?

Of course, their 5:30 is our 6:30. That's almost dinner time.

Imagine that there were restaurants next door to each other, at the corner of 42nd and 9th, with menu input from Laurent Gras and Bill Telepan! We really are living in some kind of golden age, in a way.

To me, Half King would go into that thread emsny wanted to start about places you used to like, but have fallen from your favor cuz you think they've gotten worse.

I guess I should add Carl's Steaks. Tia Pol is very close, but not quite there. (It probably would be there if I could get a seat every time I try to.)

No. I can say pretty certainly that I haven't been there since Bistro du Vent opened. Now I have to try it again. Thanks.

As of a few months ago, Le Jardin struck me as being pretty bad. There's a thread relating to it somewhere on the eG New York board.

I would think that "special occassion" means that you only go there on special occassions. If you go someplace every other month, I don't think it matters how "luxe" it is for purposes of this thread.

Tell you what, Matt. Meet me in the parking lot on Orchard St. just south of Houston for the fight at 4 o'clock this afternoon. Gotta run now: I've got a 2:30 plane to catch.

And Priscella.

So you think the one block from Esca to Bistro du Vent made such a difference? (It might have: 43rd St. is a lot different from 42nd St.) But then how do you explain the longstanding success of Chez Josephine, basically right across the street? ← Or the West Bank Cafe right next door to the Bistro du Vent location. ← Which, as I say above in my review of Bistro du Vent, isn't even very good.

So you think the one block from Esca to Bistro du Vent made such a difference? (It might have: 43rd St. is a lot different from 42nd St.) But then how do you explain the longstanding success of Chez Josephine, basically right across the street?

Tasting menus are a different issue. But I've eaten alone at Babbo more than I've eaten there with others.

Glad THAT's resolved.

I've been thinking about it, and I feel I also have to mention Al Di La. It's local for me, but it's far more than mere HMR. It was my wife's and my regular spot. We went all the time. I haven't gone recently only because I haven't been able to bring myself to return since my wife died last year. But if that didn't happen, I'm sure it would have continued to fulfill Fat Guy's criteria for inclusion here.

Looking over my list (given its post-operative condition, I can't currently contemplate my navel, so I have to do something), I'm somewhat surprised to see Perry Street. I generally go to shiny new places a few times and then abandon them for newer shiny places. But for some reason Perry Street has stayed in rotation over the course of a year or so. I think it's because the ambiance is so comfortable, and the food is so very good but so easy to process (by which I'm not talking about its digestability).

Pegu Club, if cocktails count as food

This is a great topic. It's a bit hard, though, because most of my "habitual" repeat dining is in connection with other things: most commonly, places that are near performing arts venues that I go to a lot, so I go to the places a lot. So, for example, is the Parker Meridien Burger Joint, which I go to a lot of the times I go to Carnegie Hall or City Center but which I genuinely like a lot, a "meal of necessity" or a repeat? I'm going to say that it's a repeat, because I genuinely look forward to it (in contrast to most of the places I go to after the 92nd St. Y, which are pure "compromises"). Blaue Gans Grand Sichuan International (Hell's Kitchen) Parker Meridien Burger Joint Yakitori Totto Perry Street New York Noodletown Franny's And -- this is weird -- based on the last several months, Cafe Gray (it won't continue, I'm sure)

I'd be astonished if you couldn't eat at Le Bernadin alone.

When my friends and I get together, the subject at hand is more like, "infusing nuts with alcohol."

Although there's a successor to that original Miracle Grill, which Pan has reviewed favorably (http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=89086), which according to his review still has garden seating.

The one in Chinatown is terrible. I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that it was originally affiliated with the good GSIs, but no longer is.

Nah, it was empty before that.

It closed because it never took off. I was there fairly frequently, and it was always pretty empty. Amazing for that neighborhood, where mediocre restaurants are usually packed. I never got it. Even low-level Laurent Gras food is much better than what you expect in the Theater District. And it wasn't expensive or anything. This is really Batali/Bastianich's first failure. On a side-note, without being aware of it in advance, I happened to wander in there for a late supper on what I soon learned, to my surprise, was closing night. It was the strangest atmosphere I have ever experienced in a restaurant. There was this sort of crazed, what-the-hell, anything-goes atmosphere among the staff (which seemed to consist of two people). (To show you how wild things got, they even let me order a family-style for-the-table tasing menu when I was the only person at my table. The waiter was astonished.) The food was still delicious, though.