H. du Bois

Chris, buy a cooler and fill it with ice and bring your fish back home. PS: love your tag line.

The only problem with Wegman's (and I presume it goes for any grocery chain store) is that what they stock can differ by location. Thus, while you might find some exotic fresh foodstuffs at the Pittsford NY or Princeton NJ branches, don't expect to find everything everywhere. That said, they're a great chain. I'm with Fatguy - I loved the old Balducci's. Right now I'm falling in love with Fairway, although their produce is only just okay if you're used to shopping at the greenmarkets. In England, I loved the Waitrose chain.

Smaller is good. Tart is even better - sweet is always better with a little kick to it after a meal. Even though I love chocolate, it's not what usually calls my name (that would be lemon). Although isles flottantes always trump anything else if I see them on a menu.

I've been using a spiced applesauce recipe from the Staff Meals at Chanterelle cookbook, which I like lots. I use macintoshes, my preferred apples, because they're both tart and sweet. Peeled, cooked in a little bit of water, with a bit of salt, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. I've got some old Apfelwein (sp?) that a friend brought me from Cologne a few years ago that I'm going to start using in place of the water.

Ovo lacto vegetarians are the ones that do eat dairy products, so ghee wouldn't be a problem, as long as she likes it. Grammercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe are both Danny Meyer restaurants, so that same dedication to service applies to each. You can't go wrong at any of his places. Ethiopian food can be really spicy, but not all of it. It's very good!

Queen of Sheba it is, at 46th Street and 10th Avenue. These little ethnic restaurants aren't upscale, but the food can be very good (and far preferable to what's marketed and sold within the tourist ghetto). Raji could probably steer you to the best Japanese food in the midtown area. He could probably also recommend more vegetarian dishes than I can think of off the top of my head. Since you want to try something nice, normal and non-ethnic, I will suggest to you the restaurant responsible for the best NYC meal I experienced as a mixed couple: Union Square Cafe. Very good food, superb service. They'll take great care of you as a vegetarian - even if they don't offer much on the entree list, most of their appetizers are suitable for ovo-lacto vegetarians, and for an appropriate extra percentage, they'll make you entree sized portions of whatever you like.

I think there's an Ethiopian restaurant on 9th Ave. in the high 40s - I'll have to ask friends I went with what the name is. For Japanese, my husband used to order oshinko (pickled vegetables), sushi rolls made with cucumbers or pickles, miso soup (which is made from soybean products) and vegetable tempura. You can get vegetable udon - a soup made with buckwheat noodles - if they don't use bonito in the broth (bonito are fish flakes used for flavoring). All are delicious. Near where you'll stay is a lunch cart you can check out, if you want a NYC street vendor experience. Moishe's (parked on the NE corner of 45th & 6th Ave. on weekdays) has great falafel.

Sounds like my marriage, only it was my husband who was the ovo-lacto vegetarian, and I who was the carnivore. Well, I don't know where the Sofitel is, but in this town there are thousands of small ethnic restaurants that can easily accommodate you both, and right off the menu. Chinese, Japanese, Ethiopian, Italian, Mexican - they'll have vegetarian entrees for you. Oddly, it used to be at the really high-end places where we had difficulties, although I think that's now changed. And many of the new American cuisine restaurants serve a roasted vegetable entree, although that can get boring. As long as you're willing to wander about and look at the menus posted in the windows, you can eat your way all around this town, and both be satisfied.

Or, god forbid, if a tourist mentioned that they were wearing a fanny pack.

I work in midtown by day, and live in Brooklyn. I'll stay in town to do any number of fun things, but I won't cool my heels for several hours to ensure that my wait in a grocery store line is less than insane. Not even for Balducci's. You know, I'm absolutely willing to concede that Trader Joe's magic is completely lost on me. I've been dragged to several in California by starry-eyed Californians ("have you been to Trader Joe's yet? I just LOVE Trader Joe's!"), and I've eaten a number of their products when staying with friends in NYC who are such aficionados they used to drive to the New Jersey store before the New York branch opened up. People seem to really like their stuff. Me, I think it's just okay for what it is. And just okay for what it is doesn't warrant braving Penn Station at rush hour style crowds, or toilet paper shortage in the Soviet Union style brawling for what little remains on near-empty shelves. Not for me, at least. If it were sane and well-stocked and crowd-free would I be willing to give them another shot? Sure, why not.

I work, so peak times are my only option. I'd rather have my teeth drilled without novocaine than wait in lines that long unless it's REALLY worth it. IMHO, it ain't.

So I went to the infamous Trader Joe's Manhattan last night, lured by curiosity and the promise of inexpensive goods. I did get into the store without having to wait in lines outside. As for the inside ... The produce was unexceptional, from what I could tell from afar - I couldn't get close enough to either handle it, or read the prices. The aisles were completely jammed with people, most of whom were carrying handbaskets, but some of whom pushed carts (New Yorkers with shopping carts are scary). It was hard to see the stock for all the people at first, but after several passes up and down one aisle, I can finally assure you that they do indeed sell frozen fruits and vegetables. And crackers, though the shelves were almost completely denuded of them. Then I noticed a line of people which was wrapped completely around the entire circumference of the store. I asked a man holding a pole which announced that he was the information man if that was a line for the registers, and he very gently confirmed that it was. "Might I suggest that you only purchase only 8 items or less," he said kindly. "That line is far shorter." Reader, I fled. Past the line of people with 8 items or less, which appeared to have only 40 customers or so within. I did go next door to buy cheap wine. Far shorter line (only 22 ahead of me - I counted). Somehow it doesn't feel so bad braving the crowds and the wait if there's a drink at the end of the tunnel.

I forgot - two New Yorky things I craved badly when I was living abroad: - pickles - iced coffee (the rest of the world hasn't got the ice thing down yet)

Get gelato at Tempo Presto. Blue Ribbon Sushi is terrific. For markets, there's a new upscale market on Union Street, (I think between 5th & 6th Avenues, but maybe it's 6th & 7th), south side of the street. Really good, but pricey.

Hear, hear. I do like seeking out those differences in the world.

A good Basque restaurant. I keep dreaming of a pork loin poached in Basque honey dish I had in Spain. I've never seen a Lao restaurant anywhere. I'd love to see Lao food here, too - it's terrific.

I have personally found it a mistake to eat them before. I find that eating them before adds to the drama.

Things I've always missed when I was elsewhere: - thin crust pizza - genuinely good takeout Chinese - sushi - Nathan's hot dogs, eaten either before or after a ride on the Cyclone - fruit carts - an everything bagel with a schmear (and none of that fruit bagel crap) - that you can get everything you can possibly imagine to go.

The vision that came to my mind was the children's garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

Daniel, that's very poetically put. Just think, I've been addicted to them for years, and I didn't even know they were different from other chilis! (I just knew I had to eat them).

You have no idea how much I miss Smitty's. It's been gone many years now, and I still crave it. Some stubborn part of me still hopes that when I go back to visit, it will be there again.

I agree with your assessment too - it's definitely a neighborhood place, not a destination. I'm really glad it's near where I work, though - it's a cut above most take-out Chinese in the midtown area. In fact, I had the pork with eggplant yesterday. Good, but not as much fun as the spicy dishes. How can you tell that the hot peppers are Sichuan?

I don't begrudge anyone else their love of her or their pleasure in her work. But personally, I'd rather watch Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The man is great at teaching the cooking of quick and simple food. And, my favorite part of all - even though he was born in France, he can actually speak real English! Not a syllable of baby talk to be heard anywhere.

I don't mind the premise of what she does at all. I don't mind her success at it, or her wild popularity, either. I don't even mind what she cooks. What drives me absolutely bonkers is her cutsie baby talk. I want to scream to the heavens to make her stop when she does that. I'm not sure if it's an adults should not talk like that thing, or whether it's a respect for the English language thing, but it's got nothing to do with cooking.

I get take-out from them about once a week. I have no idea what peppercorns they use! I've never ordered anything but the luncheon specials, so I can't say what the larger picture is, but they've been fine so far.