Lex

I love Sierra and Anchor but they're a little heavy to be considered summer beers. Not that I don't drink them in the summer - I just need to be in a nice cool bar to appreciate them best. A taste for Rolling Rock is genetically imprinted - you either have it or you don't. I do. The ad campaign was stupid but the beer still sells for attractive prices. 16oz. cans of Bud? Only if the alternatives were Coors Light and Zima. And 16oz. cans tend to get warm after you had a few and the pace of drinking slows down. Warm beer on a hot afternoon is not for me. Over the past few years my summer beer of choice has been Yuengling lager. It has a nice flavor while remaining light enough to qualifiy as a summer beer. It's made in a family owned brewery in Pennsylvania and, at $10 for a 12 pack at my local beer distributor, attractively priced.

Add me to the list of Bonnies true believers. Their wings are deep fried and then shaken in spices - no gloppy sauce. Order the "medium" heat level - the "hot" wings become overwhelming after 2 or 3 pieces (not that it stopped me.) The place is legendary in Park Slope, and for once the reputation is deserved. I usually go with a friend, split a large order of the wings, and then finish with one of their great burgers. Brooklyn Lager is on tap plus a "guest" beer, along with a number of excellent bottled beers. Bring a big appetite.

so i can kick someone out of my bar if they wear a lot a perfume? cool. i hate perfume. it stinks. Unlike tobacco, perfume in limited amounts is considered a pleasant scent. Of course it's a question of degree, but a woman who poured a bottle of the stuff over her head would be unwelcome in most venues. So by all means, throw her out. And what's your position on this new constitutional "right to stink"? Theres an active thread on this very topic here - http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...ST&f=1&t=20532&. The kick off post was: "Last night at dinner the sommelier had a particularly rank odor, as if he hadn't showered after playing 4 hours of soccer. There's no good way to deal with this so we grinned and bore it. We left a nice tip as well, because the server's service was excellent. What would you have done?" According to cinghiale, the sommelier was merely excersing his constitutional rights. The other people on the thread perceive it to be a problem.

You have discovered something new - a constitutional "right to stink". I have no idea whether 2nd hand smoke is hazardous or not but I *do* know that it smells bad. Normally an individuals' rights extend up to the point that they begin to infringe on the rights of others, in this case the right of other patrons to not smell something which the vast majority view as foul. Does your "right" to emit an odor trump our "right" to clean air? I've got another test case for you. Chew 12 cloves of raw garlic. Have a friend forgo bathing for a week while visiting the gymn regularly. Have a third friend mousse her hair with rancid fish oil. Then visit a bar as a group and see what happens. When they kick you out, sue. I look forward to hearing the results of your day in court.

Actually, I'm the one who brought up Hitler and Stalin (I was a joking of course.) Bourdain is responsible for the Rumsfeld and Robert Moses references. (Very nice BTW - Moses gets far too little credit when it comes to crushing the little guy.) I'm surprised no one has invoked the Giuliani bogeyman. He's only been gone for 18 months and already he's been ommitted in a slanging match on political oppression. He would not be pleased.

I'm not saying NJers don't count - they are a very important part of the commercial life of NYC. What I'm saying is that the potential long term impact on the NY bar and restaurant scene is restricted to NJ *smokers*, a 30% fraction of a group that is already a minority. And even that effect is likely to be diluted. I am told by experts that some NJers actually are friends with people from NY and see them socially from time to time. These meetings will most likely continue to occur in a place that is the most convenient to the widest number of people. The afterwork crowd composed of a mixed group of NYers, CTers, LIers, and NJers is extremely likely to tank up at the pub that is just down the street from their office. The NJ smoking contingent in the group will go outside for the occasional smoke and go back in to rejoin their friends at the bar. And BTW, I live in Brooklyn so feel free to bash Manhattan any time.

Isn't it traditional to invoke Hitler or Stalin under these circumstances?

my short answer is/was "NJ". don't discount it. it's happening. and it's been documented in the new york times as well (so, you know, it *must* be true). The ones that are going to NJ undoubtedly live there. I just can't see NYers schlepping out to NJ just for the privilege of getting all liquored up in a smokey bar. The trip back would be a bitch. Besides, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the NY smoking ban creates pressure for NJ to follow suit.

So the short answer is, you don't know where they went. The Bennigans / TGIF alternative doesn't make much sense. Why would they avoid their old comfortable gin mill because it's non-smoking and transfer their allegiance to an ersatz McPub which is also smoke free? Maybe your oppressed blue collar proles are spending more time with their wives and children. Would that be so bad? I'm betting they'll be back soon. (After all, you can only spend so much time with the wife and kids.) They'll miss their friends and their drinks and in no time at all they'll learn to step outside, have a smoke, and step back it. It's not that hard at all. The earth will continue in it's orbit and we'll find new things to bitch about.

Where do you think they went? Did they decide to stop drinking because they couldn't smoke?

"Soup of the day"?

Boy, if I tried this with a buzz, the smoke alarm would be howling, I'm afraid!! I learned from sad experience with other "buzz foods" to use a timer. That's why a toaster oven works well.

Unless you work there or create them at home... that's cheating. OK. I'll try another. Place Triscuits on a flat pan, cover with matching squares of gruyere, capped with thin pepperoni discs. Place one or two drops of tabasco atop each disc and bake in a 400 degree toaster oven. An evil pleasure.

White Castle.

I see you've been channelling Cabrales.

Ajay, I am not trying to start a fight, I was asking a question. Since Nina included the phrase "Outer boroughs strongly recommended" in the threaqd title I thought it was more than appropriate to address this aspect of her post, in spite of your advice to "read thread titles more carefully in the future." I also said "The downside is that outside of yourself (Nina), postings about outer borough restaurants are almost entirely absent from the site unless they concern one of the regular "restaurant safaris" that you (Nina) organize or the periodic Peter Luger threads." If you are disputing this, please point out the large number of outer borough restaurant threads that I have missed since becoming a regular reader of this site last July.

Nina, thanks for your excellent suggestions. I've been to Spicy and Tasty a number of times and can vouch for its quality. I find it a bit ironic that a thread designed to suss out ethnic food in the outer boroughs boomeranged back to Manhattan immediately. I'm trying to figure out why. My guess is that the overwhelming majority of New York area Egullet posters are Manhattan residents who would prefer to eat in convenient locations. I can't really blame them. The downside is that outside of yourself, postings about outer borough restaurants are almost entirely absent from the site unless they concern one of the regular "restaurant safaris" that you organize or the periodic Peter Luger threads. Your thoughts? Edit - spelling

"Amazing".