kathryn

Looks like everybody is either on Madison Ave between 23rd and 26th, or 26th Street betwen 5th Avenue and Madison this year, so each vendor is hugging the edge of the park. And the annex of E. 25th St between Madison and Park is proably gonna be for drinks? I also saw Snapple vending machines on the corners of the park. I'm a big nerd and walked around, taking notes. Here's my cleaned up diagram (it's big): http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11812930...7_4747_6551.jpg

I have been informed that this restaurant in Wilson, NC is closed. And their web site mitchellsbbq.com appears to be offline. I did find this news article about a lawsuit:

Hah, I wish I had. I didn't pay much attention until Off the Broiler wrote up the place.

The web site indicates that hours are noon to 6pm each day.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/06...ll-country-nyc/ 30 West 26th Between Broadway and 6th Avenue Opening June 8, and also participating in the Big Apple BBQ Block Party Notables: 1. Lockhart, TX style BBQ (like Smitty's, Black's, Kreuz...) 2. They have Big Red, Royal Crown, and Mexican Coke available as well as Lone Star 3. Bacon praline brittle 4. Blue Bell ice cream (Fedexed in from TX) 5. They are working on getting Shiner and Dublin Dr. Pepper (!)

I'm hoping so too! But it's a pretty stiff, thick plastic card so do they have hand punchers? Or machine ones? And I'm wondering how the punch card will work for merchandise -- what if your total when paying is not a multiple of $7 or whatever? Same goes for seminars. Last year, I used up the money I had leftover on Blue Smoke Magic Dust. The stuff is addictive, especially on popcorn.

The Bowery location also consistently has the delicious Thai Chili Chocolate.

Huh, I've never had to wait for a table at Clinton St. for weekday breakfast (around 10am, 11am). Note that Prune only serves their famous brunch on the weekends, like many NYC spots. Oh, and il Lab closes at 6pm or so each night; if you want after-dinner gelato from them, you can hit up the new Whole Foods on Bowery and Houston Street (not 1st and 1st), which has an Il Laboratorio del Gelato counter inside. Same product, more choices, and open later. Grom, the new spot in town, is on the Upper West Side, on Broadway and 75th. My friends tell me it's quite good but 1) there may be a line and 2) it's pricey in comparison to other options. If you want chocolates, by the way, the spot to go to is Kee's Chocolates in Soho, with Jacques Torres being a close second. Kee's specializes purely in inventively flavored truffles. Jacques is more general.

My favorite weekday brunch is at Clinton Street Baking Company on the Lower East Side, because they have unbelievably good, fluffy blueberry pancakes with maplbutter. And an addictive bacon/cheese/egg sandwich on their house-baked biscuits, with homemade tomato jam. You might also enjoy breakfast at Balthazar, Sarabeth's, or Barney Greengrass. Other favorites of mine for out of towners: Eleven Madison Park, The Bar Room at the Modern (not the dining room), Katz's Deli, Shake Shack, Momofuku Ssam Bar (dinner). The Union Square Greenmarket is open from early until 6pm, so you'll be able to stop by at any time on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday.

Oh, my worry is that if I did have an entire case, I would eat the entire case. It's my digestive system I'm concerned about! I'm also probably not going to get out to Queens before the weekend -- anybody going some time earlier this week?

From a friend who went to Queens this past weekend: "For any New Yorkers seeking Indian mangoes, I went out to Jackson Heights this weekend and found them for sale by the case at Patel Brothers (37-27 74th St.). They aren't out with the other produce, so you'll have to ask for them. They're $30/case." Anybody wanna split a case? I'm afraid what will happen if I have an entire case of them.

I often buy Tom Cat from my local Korean deli on St Marks, between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. They also have Balthazar and Orwasher's bread.

The L, 6, and F/V lines aren't really all that far away, and the neighborhood gets a fair amount of foot traffic, too. I've seen several new places open up near me recently, and they're mostly bars.

I do often see older people there -- I can't tell if they're a steady stream of new folks who came downtown to check it out, eat at the bar, and never come back, but I do see more older folks. It's "a few in their 50s" as opposed to "none." And I'm seeing mixed age groups that are most likely families. Sometimes it's a twenty something taking his folks to dinner at Ssam Bar and I'm the Times giving it two stars has got to be a factor. The other night around 10pm (!), I saw a family of 5 (mom, dad, teenager + 2 kids) sit down and enjoy some ssams and pork buns.

Keep in mind that because it's a holiday, many restaurants will be on a weekend (brunch + dinner service) schedule, so hopefully that doesn't mess up your plans. The Bar Room at the Modern is great, but doesn't Danny Meyer close some of his sit-down places on holidays?

Really? I see people ordering the tortilla Ssams all of the time at dinner. Usually it's in conjunction with the steamed buns and 1-2 other dishes, but they're quite popular, even at dinner. I guess I should lean over and ask if they'd been to Ssam Bar before, and if not, if they assumed the Ssam was the star dish to get?

This just in from Grub Street, Kyle Dureau Wants Shake Shack to Be Open 24/7 As Much As You Do: Hmmm, what exactly does he mean by "fat"? I'm assuming they're adding additional fat to the brisket and sirloin? Hmmmm. Year-round Shack?

Notes on the latest incarnation of the menu: - Seconding the fried artichokes dish (it's a replacement for the brussel sprouts) - The Mayan Prawns with egg vinaigrette are quite tasty -- thick, succulent prawn meat, that's reminiscent of lobster, with an oily vingaigrette that I found addictive. - The oysters seem to fluctuate a fit -- I found that the kimchee consomme goes better with the Maine oysters as they're briny-er - The lamb belly with preserved lemon is excellent, and making me wonder about my devotion to pork belly - Spare ribs are on the menu! But they were out when I went last. - They also seem to be doing a hamachi kama (yellowtail collar) often but they're always out when I'm there. - I still miss the apple salad, though. Alas. The waitstaff say that there was a lot of grumbling from customers when it disappeared for the season.

Unlike a lot of New Yorkers, I don't really eat out all that much. We get takeout or delivery only one or two days a week. The other days of the week, we cook. Or, rather, I cook or assemble all our meals -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Because I often work late at my full time job, or am out at my freelance gig at night, nearly all of my groceries come from FreshDirect: produce, meat/poultry/fish, staples, dairy, everything. I'd rather spend my time at home cooking than lugging 3 or 4 days' worth of groceries home. We end up getting one or two FD deliveries a week -- my boyfriend works from home, so he can receive the boxes during the day. I've been pretty happy with their selection and prices although their excess of packaging irritates me (we end up recycling it all but it's still too much). On occasion, we steal away to Whole Foods or the Union Square Green Market, but it's hard to beat the one-stop shopping convenience of FreshDirect. We live in the East Village, quite close to the new Whole Foods on Bowery. If we go to Whole Foods, it's to get supplementary or impulse items, like gelato or fancy seafood. Same thing with the occasional run to one of the Japanese markets on E 9th or thereabouts (Sunrise, JAS Mart, M2M). If I'm truly out of, say, bread or milk, we run over to St Marks Market, a 24 hour Korean deli and supermarket, that inexplicably has organic product, imported chocolates, and Balthazar breads. If they don't have it, I begrudgingly walk over to Met Market, which I dislike because it's cramped, dusty, and closes at 8:30pm on the weekdays (even earlier on the weekends).

Aw, I see! They are quite good, and I find them a good "intro to sweetbreads" for folks who are a bit squeamish. Something about the grill marks helps soothe the soul, as does the salt + lime combo. Mr. Chang was in the NY Times today, too. Rising Star Knows What, Not Who, Is Cooking:

How have the sweetbreads changed? I love crawfish and thought the dish was quite good if you dripped the meat back into the broth after taking it out. Wasn't all that impressed with the rice cake dish. The cakes themselves could have been cut shorter, as they were rather awkward to eat, and I found that the Benton's bacon really dominated the dish.

Some friends of mine in Chicago got a hold of a box of 12. I'm so jealous.

Hmmm...it looks like they were officially unveiled in Washington DC on May 1. So that first shipment wasn't for us consumers, but for the government officials instead. http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-05-08-voa27.cfm

Try Lucy's Greenmarket report: http://www.echonyc.com/~lwollin/greenmarket.html

They have removed the kiddie size from the menu for this season, although I'm sure you could probably get it if you asked nicely.