H. du Bois

That would explain the cape.

JJ, I loved this article. You had me from the title, which still makes me laugh. A few years ago I spent several months without the use of my left hand due to an injury, and the only cooking I could manage during that time involved heating up frozen entrees in a microwave. I never realized until then just how much of a two handed occupation it was, or how facing an onion with a knife in one's only functioning hand causes one to reconsider the wisdom of the entire endeavor. LOVED your vision of what being a food writer might entail. Hey, if you find out how to make a living writing about cheese from that sunlit office in Paris, do let me know. I want one of those jobs, too.

I don't see how keeping the handles clean would be an issue, but then again, I don't have a dishwasher. Anyone who washes dishes by hand knows well that using a brush will get anything out of any crevice. (Yes, those same brushes that keep crystal from spotting).

I still recommend that you get a broad range all-the-B-vitamins supplement. Ask your chemist for a good one - the health food store stuff is crap. I can't remember which B vitamin I was lacking (B3 or B6), but it ended up causing health issues for me, despite trying very hard to do everything right. Don't count on having reserves - you may not necessarily be inclined to eat the vegetables which are alternate sources of these nutrients. Good luck!

Can't wait to hear where you ended up!

You did that dish in your blog!!! I'd forgotten. I'm sure I'll end up at Tempo again, and will have to give it a try. (It's a neighborhood place for me).

I think they look fun. I like it that they're different from the usual cutlery.

I spent a year as a vegetarian when I was younger, and I have a bit of advice for you: - Go the ovo-lacto route - veganism is very difficult to do healthily, no matter how well-intentioned it may be. - Take a multivitamin supplement which is geared for vegetarians (they have them here in the US, I presume they have them in the UK). If not, get a multivitamin supplement that will provide you with the full-range of B vitamins. - Pay attention if you start experiencing strange health problems. E.g., a strange skin rash might not be an allergic reaction to something, but rather a symptom of a vitamin deficiency (mine was!). The above suggestions of focussing on world cuisines which just happen to be vegetarian are wise ones. Not only will you eat a variety of good food, but there are often good nutritional reasons for combining foods such as rice and beans. I think it's a great idea, doing what you're doing. When I went back to eating meat, I did so with a greater consciousness of what I was doing and why.

Don't forget this was written by a Brit. It isn't that expensive to put a car on a ferry to Spain or France from England and drive to the places mentioned in the article (relatively speaking, of course - travelling to those places from the States would require a pretty penny).

I'm tired of the notion that certain segments of the populace need to be protected from the possibility of offense. If a reader is too delicate of sensibility to withstand the reaches of the language in all its twisted glory, they can go live on an island and bring their marketed-for-mass-consumption texts with them. And leave all the good books for me, thank you very much.

The Art of Eating. I didn't read it chronologically, just picked off book by book by whim. An Alphabet for Gourmets was the one I started with, and it was a nice way to start.

At least I don't wear a cape. Excuse me, that was me with the cape. I have a demented vision of the two of you walking down Fifth Avenue with cape and stick. I think Tempo’s worthy of more than a drink and an appetizer in the bar (though there ain’t nothing wrong with that). If the large room makes you feel uncomfortable, ask to be seated in the smaller room in front (which is where they’d put you first anyway). I don’t find the smaller room stiff or uncomfortable, but maybe that’s just me. Cucina was a zeitgeist restaurant, and everything that the Fifth Avenue restaurant scene is now is due to it, however faulty the origins. It’s hard to deconstruct it because it was popular due to its particular place in time. When they first opened, I thought they’d lose their shirts, but it was packed on opening night, and never faltered. It brought the moneyed restaurant-going crowd into that neighborhood, and once they stopped being shy about walking that section of street, everything turned. And here I am talking about Cucina in the Tempo thread, after having said that it should be judged on its own merits. I’ll shut up now.

Bethala, I agree with your comments completely. I didn't find the space stiff, but I always found the separate rooms strange, unless they do a lot of banqueting. My critique of the space is that it didn't feel different enough from Cucina, which perhaps works against it, as people seem to think it's just a rehash of Cucina, which it's not. It was better than I'd expected. I'd go back for the porchetta and the cocktail alone.

So you're that scary stick-shaking dude!

I went here Friday night (relatives in town, spur of the moment), and I think this restaurant is worth mention. It is different from Cucina, at which I was a regular, but it does share some of the same sensibility. Same space, similar colors. I can't vouch for whether he's the same chef, but he does look like the man who ran Cucina in its later years. For drinks, I had something wonderful called a Junipero 102, which was made with gin, fresh lime juice and an Italian muscat. Wonderful twist on a martini, and I'm definitely having it again. My sister had a pomegranate margarita, which was very sweet - perfect if you like that sort of thing, not so perfect if you're hoping for tartness. My mother had a bellini made with prosecco and a fruit juice (passion fruit?) that was very, very good. I'd order that another time, too. My appetizer, the house made porchetta, was amazing. It's officially billed as "paper thin slices of suckling pig with three fennel stuffing and pistachios." I can't imagine how tricky it must be to assemble such a thing and slice it so fine. So worth the effort, though. My mother had the wild greens with warm goat cheese roulades, and I'm definitely getting that next time I go (one taste was not enough). My entree was the striped bass, which was as nicely cooked a piece of fish as I've had in a long time. My sister had the cod special, which I liked less than mine (but that's just because I chose better). My mother found her seafood pasta too salty for her taste. I'm far more familiar with Tempo Presto next store, but hadn't tried their gelati before. Rather than have dessert on premises, we stopped by Presto to pick up some scoops of gelati and ate them at home. Good. Dangerously good. I'm not sure it's a good thing knowing that something so wicked is so close at hand. I liked Tempo. I'll go there again. Everything on the menu was appealing, and the service couldn't possibly have been nicer. Right now this particular section of the Slope has more good restaurants than you can shake a stick at (lucky me!), which may be why Tempo hasn't got a higher profile than it does. But it isn't for lack of the essentials. In fact, I think the cooking there aims for something higher than Cucina did. It should be approached on its own merits, which are many.

Don't own a garlic press. People who come to visit always end up rummaging around for one, and are shocked by the absence thereof. Am afraid to use a mandoline - I value the fingers I haven't yet mangled. I know it's irrational, but there it is. Have a bread baking machine that was a gift a number of years ago, have used it twice. Don't foresee using it much, either. Never thought I'd use a microwave for anything, but I love blasting my coffee hot again before drinking it - I make it in a french press. And I have a crank pasta maker which I completely forgot I owned until I found it recently while looking for something else. I still do intend to use it. One day.

Tried the gelati at Tempo Presto the other night (why I haven't done so before shall remain one of the mysteries of the universe). We shared three flavors - the pistachio, the nutella and the Cafe du Monde. My companions and I each agreed that the Cafe du Monde reigned supreme (although if I'd been served either of the other two without a comparison, I'd have been thrilled with my choice). Good stuff.

My only comment is that the last couple of times I got called for jury duty, they only gave you an hour before you had to be back, which doesn't leave you many options beyond the greasy fast food across the street. Can these places be got to and from quickly, and will they feed your friend quickly as well?

Shoulda worn that cape to Gallaghers.

I'm spoiled by the excellent quality of NYC tap water, which I drink constantly. I'm shocked sometimes by the poor quality of tap water elsewhere, though. I'd filter tap water with Britta filters before I'd buy quantities of bottled water if the taste of my tap water was poor. Bottled water has its uses - I'd rather drink it than soda in a movie theatre, and it's a lifesaver on the street on a nasty hot day. I do think the price of it is ludicrous.

Now there's a thought.

Had one a couple of years ago from a farmstand up near my mother's (Lake Ontario, not Finger Lakes). It was spectacularly good. I'd forgotten they existed until then. I haven't seen one before or since, save for eating grape pie at the festival in Naples when I was a kid.

The black bass was what I wished I'd ordered instead of the rabbit.

Interesting. Now see, that's what expectations will do for you - if I'd read this before I'd gone, I'd have been disappointed. I wasn't, but I credit that to going with no preconceptions whatsoever.

I have no idea what train of thought brought this to the forefront of my mind (it's hot as hell here in midtown Manhattan - I'm in the wrong time, place and frame of mind), but it arrived there nonetheless. If anyone is planning to tour the Finger Lakes region in the autumn (and they should - it's the best time of year to do so), there's a regional seasonal specialty that you should seek out: grape pie. Never had them anywhere else. Never seen them anywhere else. You can find them at farmstands that sell baked goods. I don't know what their provenance is - the village of Naples has a grape festival each autumn - perhaps there. But the pies, which are made with seeded concord grapes, are incredibly good. Intense flavor.