Noodlebot

I went to Rockmeisha last night after the Siestema review. The ramen wasn't as good as Ippudo, but we still really enjoyed it. Agree w/Siestema's description of the broth's porky flavor. I also loved how calm and quiet the restaurant was on a Saturday night at prime time--a nice break from the crowds and waits at Ippudo.

Cafe de Bruxelles

Stopped by today. The line was out the door, but only by about 10 people. Little did I know that it would still take an hour to get a couple of ice creams! The service behind the counter needs a little bit of organization on how to handle the tickets. Despite the way, I really enjoyed my salted pistachio caramel ice cream. It was really rich (so rich that my dessert-averse friend couldn't finish her small cup) but I thought nicely tempered by the salt. Peanut butter halvah topping was nice. I got a compost cookie to go and enjoyed that as cookies go--nothing out of the ordinary but a good fresh-baked cookie nonetheless.

Agree w/the Sapporo rec.

I had a 9pm dinner myself last fall. We were done by 11:30 w/a full tasting menu (that said, we're quick eaters and not lingerers). The restaurant called a car to pick us up and take us to the train. The car took about 20 mins to arrive.

I was taken there last year and thought the food was just OK. Sort of hotel food-like--good enough but uninspired and unmemorable.

In Manhattan, I like Ali Baba on 34th St.

*** from Bruni: http://events.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/dinin...ews/07rest.html

I'm also a fan of Madeleine. Very good macarons in a lot of interesting flavors. I took some of the pastries to my pastry-deprived parents in Virginia on my last visit and they loved the croissants and brioches--almond brioche was particularly good.

I went to the Bleecker St. outpost today and have to admit I was impressed. I went to the UWS one twice and came away feeling that it was overpriced and definitely not worth the lines. I don't know if it was the lack of line (although servers are still very slow spooning gelato, so I did wait a bit) or the fact that they've stopped levelling cups, leading to a more generous portion, but I've changed my mind about Grom. I had the bacio and torroncino gelato in a small cup. Both were very flavorful and had a perfect, creamy texture. I still love and will continue to patronize Cones, which is just a different type of "gelato," but Grom now surpasses L'Arte del Gelato, which I used to be a bigger fan of. By the way, a small cup was $5.15 (listed on the menu as $4.75 before tax).

go to Cafe de Bruxelles

If the criteria is under $25 for a pasta, I'm adding Apizz and Peasant. Peasant has the best lasagna in the city.

Po

My favorite items (went last weekend) were scallops in bacon and lamb shank.

I went to Pamplona tonight and was uniformly disappointed. I actually found the ingredient quality extremely low. Tuna tapas (served raw) was awful--it had a disgusting chewy consistency. Salt cod croquettes tasted like fish sticks. Only dates in bacon were OK, not great. Paella was salty, shrimp in it was fishy and tasted frozen, "chorizo" tasted like deli salami, and my fiance found a bone from the rabbit's spine as well as another bone in his portion. Service was also slow. Although there were 7-8 people working in the small room that was emptying when we arrived (9:30), we didn't get any service for 15+ minutes after we sat down. Both of the tables sitting immediately around us had to contest extra charges on their bill. Ours was fine. Will not be back.