kathryn

BTW, Jim Meehan of PDT and Joseph Schwartz of Little Branch, have collaborated on a Speakeasy Cocktails e-book available only on the iPad. I've played with it a little and while the material probably seems a bit basic to us here, there's plenty of video demos, photo galleries, and original recipes (some from PDT). The focus is on technique, tools, and classic cocktails. The modern recipes are towards the back. The official title is Speakeasy Cocktails: Learn from the Modern Mixologists. There's a video demo of the app here.

Second Sprecher, rated #1 in a tasting of 25 root beers by the New York Times a few years ago. I like my root beer float with Sprecher and some local ice cream (last time I used Blue Marble out of Brooklyn). Frosty mug, of course.

We got ours on Friday. It's a gorgeous little volume. Great photography, high quality paper.

Just ordered it off of Blurb. $8 for shipping? Yikes! ETA: I have had friends make books on Blurb and and also complain about the shipping rates. Uf.

I've not been yet but Slice has some photos and a review: http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/05/first-look-zero-otto-nove-salernitano-pizza-in-the-flatiron-district.html (Just judging from the photos, I think I like my crust a little puffier.)

Just note that the all duck lunch is weekdays; there's a weekend lunch menu that does have 1-2 of the duck menu items on there, but the weekend lunch menu is closer to the regular dinner menu. Weinoo--get the scallion pancake with your duck lunch next time!

The Egg is a signature off-menu dessert dish: http://michaellaiskonis.typepad.com/main/2008/01/the-egg.html

Yes, and Zabb has the same sort of sign up in their foyer. The big difference is that Zabb Elee's chef is formerly of Poodam's.

We dined at Mugaritz and Arzak in 2009 and felt similarly. Mugaritz had amazing service and atmosphere, but the food was better at Arzak. The service was worse at Arzak due to a large party (with kids) that the servers spent most of their time on. Is Arzak following the indoor smoking ban?

No mutton this year. The pre-cooked and flash-frozen pie explains why the center of mine was cold.

Huge lines for Ed Mitchell's. Smoked turkey was surprisingly delicious: moist, smoky, flavorful, tender. Whole hog just as good as previous years. Long line for Big Bob Gibson, too. Also just as delicious as previous years. I love their sauce. Surprisingly 17th St line didn't look insane (skipped as I was getting kind of full). Desserts seemed kind of weak this year. Blondies, brownies, and root beer floats from Blue Smoke and a separate fried pie stand. AVOID the fried pie stand. Ugh. Cash only (no FastPass cards), multiple entangled lines (general line consisted of three -- two to pay and one to pick up, in addition to the unmarked FastPass line), people cutting (or trying to cut in front of us, we told her off), slow fryer, overall confusion.

Del Posto feels very formal to me. Dress up. It's a very nice room.

One side is typically 28 oz. The other is usually 16 oz. or 18 oz. The Naranja is a little oddball in that it's 17 oz. But I find the seal on the weighted tins to be excellent and they are definitely high quality. Most of the high end NYC cocktail bars use them now.

So, basically the same lineup as last year, minus two vendors?

Did you happen to see if they are using Japanese weighted ones? We have the Naranjas and they are nice and sturdy. And make an excellent seal. http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/category-s/46.htm

Do you know if they do dim sum also? I know that's a somewhat separate discipline, but just curious. I don't believe that they do.

Try South China Garden for Cantonese seafood, if you're looking for a new place to try in Manhattan.

Is it possible to get into Asador Etxebarri at the last minute?

The one time I went, I had a bad experience with an undercooked and oversauced pretzel pancake, so be careful there. Maybe get the sauce on the side--it was overwhelmingly sweet. I usually don't ask for modifications since I want to experience dishes the way the kitchen intended them, but it was unfinishable.

Re: PDT The issue will be making that reservation, since they only take them at 3pm on the day of. If your flight is delayed for whatever reason, there's a chance you'll be in the air still at 3pm. But if you are on the ground already, get through (it's usually pretty busy), and they have availability, I believe you can ask for bar seats in lieu of a table, but it's been a while since I tried. I think they only have two 2-top tables to begin with.

Yeah, it's the combination of visiting on a Sunday + a holiday Monday that will kill a lot of your plans, since the upscale, 4 star heavy hitters aren't typically open for Sunday dinner anyway.

For Monday lunch: Jean Georges or Del Posto, perhaps? I noticed you're coming from New Orleans. Does it have a strong sushi scene? Perhaps Japanese for an upscale weekday lunch on Monday (Yasuda, 15 East, etc)?

IIRC many ramen-o-philes generally hold Ippudo as best in town, with Totto being very close behind.

Alfama is reopening after being closed for 2 years. Check out the menu here and see if it has the dishes you are looking for: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/alfama-returns-in-midtown/

Giuseppe Gonzalez (who can be found most nights now at Painkiller) also created this: Stormy Mai-Tai 1½ oz Angostura Aromatic bitters 1 oz lime juice ¾ oz orgeat syrup ¾ oz curaçao ½ oz light rum Shake all ingredients but rum well with ice and strain in to an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Top with crushed ice and swizzle lightly. Float light rum on top and garnish with a sprig of mint.