Sneakeater

Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

Probably they're not speaking to each other anymore.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oddly, this appears to have come up before: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=93424&hl=devi

I actually think that most people who regularly eat in that level of restaurant in New York are so jaded as to find truffles, if not ordinary, then not out of the ordinary.

Then are you going to ask for advice as to what presents to ask for? (I'm in absolute love with the Manchurian Cauliflower appetizer. Some have said it's too sweet and goopy. I think it's just delicious.)

FWIW, raji has nailed EXACTLY how I feel about Devi.

I don't know what's going on with these SOs on your birthday. I remember one birthday I had to fight with my wife to get her to take me to Pico, which I really wanted to try. (I didn't know then that I could start an eGullet thread to shut her up.) I mean WTF, you know?

(FUCK I wanted you to be at that Liebrandt restaurant.)

MAJOR loss for NY. Jordan, thanks for the few months you gave us.

Tell your date he can go to Tabla on HIS birthday. Jeez.

But that's not to say that Tabla overreaches or anything. Tabla does what it does superbly.

I love Bread Bar -- but not for a birthday celebration. (emw is going to kill me for that.) I personally prefer Devi to Tabla. But that's at least partially based on my preference for traditional over fusion. But if you share that preference, then you'd probably also share my preference between the two restaurants. Every time the comparison comes up here, though, more people here seem to prefer Tabla over Devi.

I personally think that raji makes up half those "Japanese" terms he throws around, and you're just the first person to have called him on it.

Keen's (if you can get a reservation). Korean places on 32nd St.

DITTO (even down to the "once").

I think The Bar Room at The Modern may suffer from heighened expectations. Those of us who first experienced it as the more casual front room of a new fine-dining establishment seem to think more of it than those who first experienced it as this highly-touted harbinger of a new era in dining. Interestingly, though, Momofuku Ssam seems NOT to have this problem.

Because you can walk in (which no one can do in the dining room but your college roommate). And because . . . .

Carl's Cheesesteak, 34th-35th & 3rd.

This falls into the "beyond" category. http://gawker.com/news/frank-bruni/frank-b...shed-247368.php

Today eater reports that Ed Witt is leaving Varietal. So BOTH Witt AND Kahn are leaving? That'll make it lot easier for them to concentrate on their wine program.

All I know is that it was initially ALL delivery (I think), and only recently added an eating-in option.

For one thing, because part of what may render this place critic-proof is its relative uniqueness,* based both on what they're offering and the following its principal already has. If ten places like this opened up, they might not all be critic-proof. __________________________________________ * I know: there's no such thing as "relative uniqueness".

Somebody send this to the SLA.

There's already a really long thread about how shitty Bruni is. But people who engage in boosterism have got to understand that there are some people it's always gonna turn off. It's just one of the risks of engaging in boosterism. It can backfire.