macrosan

Anybody seen Tommy's avatar ? Please send it back if you find it .... :(

Yep, that's my favorite at the Banana Leaf, fried pomfret. Now you mission Simon, should you choose to accept it, is to post a list of half a dozen Bengali London restaurants that do fish. Tanddor fish sounds really good...

Oh, bad mistake!!! I just met Plotnicki at the London eGullet ;) This guy has ludicrously expensive taste in champagne, orders falafel and kebab like world famine is going to set in tomorrow, and turns out to be a likeable, pleasant, chatty, interesting conversationalist. Not at all the sort of person to organize a dinner for New Yorkers :( So I volunteer. Only a Brit with the sensitivities of a Marine Drill Sergeant, the willingness to screw up totally and not care a damn, and a domicile at least 2,500 miles from all the participants could get this job done. I am honored and humbled by the trust you are about to place in me :humblesmiley:

Meaningless error ? Who, meeeee ???? Nope, this error was riddled with meaning. It means my last brain cell, which I had been carefully preserving for 11 years, has finally given out. As it happens, I now can make 6.30 on Friday 22 as a I have just had my afternoon appointment changed. Yvonne, I claim my prize of your cellphone number, which I then assume is also tattooed across your forehead so I can recognize you :)

Yep, that's what it is <!--emo&;) I was never a whiz with the regal "one" or the megalomaniac "I" so I far too often fall back on those editorial "you"s. I know I shouldn't, and I'm duly penitent :) I think on balance you're right, Bux. In a sense, not knowing who is the chef today adds a certain adventure to the eating experience. Maybe it'll get like tasting the wine. Waiter serves tiny morsel of meat on small silver platter; diner impales gently on fork, raises to nose and sniffs; "Hmm, nice bouquet. Definitely not Gordon, perhaps Charles or Allan"; diner places morsel on tongue, chews delicately; "Ahh yes, that's Allan alright. Yes waiter, that'll be fine, please bring the main courses". And Cabrales, yes --- until I do go to RHR (and I am certain I will fairly soon) I will indeed be curious as to what I'm missing. But right now that's about # 37 on my curiosity list, after places like Troisgros, ADNY, Fat Duck .....

That'll be me then. I usually finish up in the wrong place. But I usually enjoy myself anyway. If nevertheless an accident occurs, and I do on this occasion finish up in the right place, how will I know if I can't recognize any of you guys that I'm there to meet ? I don't think red carnations in my buttonhole will go down well in the East Village. Come to think of it, they might not do me any favors in the West Village.

I also don't find the need at the theater. Eating during a movie or theater performance or concert, in the dark, trying to keep absolutely quiet, is too stressful. And I can force myself to go a couple of hours without food :) However, whenever I go to a sporting event (specially American Football or Baseball) I take food with me regardless of the policy of the stadium. The food I've had from stadium concessions, specially in the USA, borders on the disgusting. My view is that if that's the best they can provide, I am under no moral obligation to buy. If their food was remotely acceptable, I would then not bring in my own. And given that I'm probably going to be in their stadium for upwards of 4 hours, I'm entitled to expect something to eat. Anyone here from Yankee Stadium, or Giants Stadium ?

In Britain I guess we have more Indian and Pakistani restaurants than any other nationality, obviously due to our historical links with the Indian Empire. I have probably eaten in as many as 200 different Indian/Pakistani restaurants around the country. And I can't remember seeing fish on the menu (apart from Chingri, or prawns) in more than a handful. One notable exception is an excellent South Indian restaurant, The Banana Leaf, near where I live, who have a few different fish dishes. Is this a feature of Indian cuisine, that fish are not widely used ? If so, I am surprised given the restrictions on meat in the two parts of the sub-continent (pork in one part, beef in the other). If not, then why is this part of the cuisine not "imported" to Britain ?

As it happens, Cabrales, I've never ever been into a Conran restaurant, and I doubt that I ever will and the reason for that is their reputation tells me they're not my sort of places. I could actually be missing out on discovering a nascent Ducasse or Ramsay in Bibendum, but that's a chance I'll take. On balance, I'm not likely to enjoy eating there. I've never been to a GR restaurant, but I had planned soon to go to RHR but not Claridges The main reason for this intention is that I had heard good things about RHR and not-so-good things about Claridges. However, now people are saying (here) that GR rarely cooks at RHR, and I have to say that makes me pause for thought. At the end of the day, RHR's reputation was created by GR's cooking. If others now cook there, perhaps I should wait to see if they earn the same reputation in their own right. If that happens, then I have no problem with the name of the restaurant, nor with the name of the chef. But if I were to go to RHR tomorrow, the impression I have from this thread is that the meal I get might or might not be up to the standard of GR's established reputation and stars. And considering the price I would be paying for the meal, I don't think I'll take that chance.

Bux, you're right in what you say, but you're surely missing the point. There is no question that after the event it's the meal you got served that matters, not who cooked it. The question is how do you come to believe before you get served that you are likely to be served a good meal in this place ? And the point being made is that you go to the restaurant because you have confidence in the "name above the door" based on his reputation for cooking good meals. I accept the argument that a world-class chef may also be a world-class trainer and documenter who can transfer all his skills to his staff. I'll also accept that some of GR's staff may actually be better chefs than he is. But that is a judgement that needs to made in advance by the customer, and he can only make that judgement if he is given the facts. As an example, I would guess that people go to Conran restaurants not for named chefs, but for the Conran imprimatur of style and defined quality. In fact, that's also why people go to Macdonalds. And that's fine, because the proprietor lays out his stall, and people buy from the stall knowing exactly what's on offer, and generally receiving exactly what they expect. GR's product is very singularly himself. He's the one who turned himself into a 'personality' chef, and who promotes himself and his own cooking skills. So that's all he has on his stall, but that's clearly not what his customers are getting. This isn't an issue of culinary distinction so much as fair trading.

Thursday 22 at 8pm. Just post the address, and I'll be there. If no-one else turns up, I'll still be there. If the place gets raided before you arrive, I'll be the one waiting to be bailed at the 27th Precinct station. Just tell me if I should eat first

Can't make tonite, but I could make Friday February 22. My plan was to drink and eat at the bar at Babbo, but this sounds like much more fun

Steve, I think you must mean Flatulus Gaius Shavius (Gaius to his friends), who is first referenced in Caesar's Gallic Wars in the immortal words "Gaius in tres partes divisa est...". Historians believe the three parts referred to were "Above the waist", "Below the waist", and "The waist itself" which apparently was of legendary dimension This thread is indeed metamorphosing into the "Michelin Stars" thread of old. I have to say that I find it strange how the contribuotrs to these threads seem to become more and more entrenched in their thinking as the threads progress, when I would expect reasonable people to go thru the reverse process. I am not a wine expert, I just like to drink the stuff. I had never heard of Robert Parker before this thread. If you gave me a glass of wine to taste, I could probably identify it's color accurately. And I don't understand what the fuss is about. It is clear to me that the Parkerphobes are ascribing aspirations to Parker that he does not hold. I do not believe he says that an 86pt wine is point something of a percent better than an 85pt wine. I guess he's saying that they're pretty similar in quality and both significantly lower than a 95 pointer. Similarly, the Parkerphiles are ascribing aspirations to Parker that he does not hold. Because in exactly the same way he is not suggesting that there is a natural order in wine, but simply broad ranges and scales of measurable quality. This process is no different from the Standard & Poors ranking of the financial status of companies, or whatsanames ranking of cars. These owe as much to art as science. They are broad brush measurements, not susceptible to mathematical certainty. The notion that the users of these rankings do not understand both the limitation and value of the systems is frankly arrogant and patronising. :

Thom, I think you made a mistake. This is the "England/UK" Board. You should have posted to the "Off the Beaten Path" Board. Shouldn't you ? (Edited by macrosan at 2:00 pm on Feb. 8, 2002)

We used to have the best Chinese restaurant in the world in Croydon, England. It was called the Tung Kum, and was owned by two Hong Kong immigrants, Tony (kitchen) and Eric (front of house). I can't bear to remember the food. It was miraculous, and once you became a regular there you were invited to make up your own menu, or to allow Tony to do so. I ate there on average 3 times a week for nearly two years. Sadly, Eric's interest in horses began to consume not only his passion, but also the business's profits. Tom, who did the firm's accounts, started to cook more than char kway teow and beef with mango (ohhhh that beef with mango), and turned his skills to cooking the books. Suddenly one day the shutters went up. A notice in the window proclaimed "Temporarily closed for refurbishment" and so we all knew the game was up. "Temporarily closed for refurbishment" is Hong Kong Chinese for "done a runner", and Eric and Tony were never seen again. I and my many friends and colleagues for whom the Tung Kum was a temple, will never recover from our loss, nor ever forget what Chinese food can be made to taste like. Oh Steven, you've got me feeling so sad :( just when I thought it was safe to go out for a Chinese again....

I ate large quantities of cashews and macadamia, and some Terry's chocolate, accompanied by a very pleasant 1991 Lirac. But then it did run from 11pm to 3am here ;)

I think you're wrong there, Tony. The whole premise of eGullet is that people can listen to others talking of their own experiences, and deduce from that whether or not they themselves would enjoy those experiences. So when I read Charlie's review of Flanagan's, I can ponder whether or not I might enjoy it. The better I know Charlie, or the more of his reviews I have tested, the better. But I can also rely upon Charlie's 'style' and language to help me in my assessment. What Indiagirl is asking us to do is not just to say "Go try it, girl" or "Nahhh you'll hate it". She is asking us to deliver a review of meat as food. It also happens that every single meat eater here also eats vegetables, so how can we possibly not also be able to give Indiagirl a relative view ? When I read Charlie's review of Flanagan's, I decide whether it's a "must visit soon" or a "maybe when I've run out of better options" or a "not ever" option. What Indiagirl will do is to conclude either she is missing something so wonderful that she will definitely go for it, or else it sounds so marginal that she will regret trying. The point is, I guess, that if she randomly gives meat a try, and then hates it, that she will feel that she has irreparably 'defiled' her traditions and upbringing for no good reason. So she just wants to know whether that's a risk worth taking.

I'm going to Babbo on a Friday night (Feb 22) and I intend to eat at the bar. On two previous visits, I arrived at about 6.30 and got a seat immediately. This time I plan to eat at about 9pm. Does anyone have an idea as to whether I'll get a seat at that time ? If not, what time gives me the best chance?

Done that, now for #10

Well, well, well :) FineCooking.com are the guys moving up the poll at an estimated 2,000 votes per week !!!!! Someone there obviously knows how to beat the one-vote-per-day bar The good news is that we should have Rosie back at #11 very soon :)

I ate at the bar on both of my visits, and found the seat and bar height and depth very comfortable for eating (very often a bar overhang is too shallow, so you either press your knees hard against the upright, or have to lean forward). More important, the service I got from a different bartender on each occasion was exemplary. They were both top-quality waitstaff in their own right.

In the excitement, your spelling slipped. I think that's Oy Vay :( OK Rosie, the SWAT team is at hand. I forget which of those sites overtook you, but them and us is gonna overtake the next one up within a few days. I am poisenally kicking in 60 votes a week, so it looks a soitenty to me :)

OK Adam, so Moris Farms produces TWO really great Morellini di Scansano :) I've never been a particular fan of Bordeaux, but last week at Foliage in London I was steered by the sommelier to a St Julien Chateau Gloria 1985. Superb. I'm now planning on revisiting the Bordeaux pages on the Cartes des Vins

OK people, after 145 posts and 1312 viewings of this thread, I think it's time to summarise for the benefit of the 862 new members who joined eGullet after the thread started, and of course for Tommy who unaccountably hasn't posted here yet. So here is my take on the debate so far .....

I had my first two visits to Babbo last October, and fell in love with the place (I ate at the bar). I can positively recommend the grilled lamb chops (exceptional) which I believe is a signature dish. I intend to try the pasta tasting menu, which looks fantastic, on a future occasion when I'm with a group. My review of my visits is at '>http://www.egullet.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?f...=5&topic=119