tommy

i'll change my mind about the play on "fuck" if she uses "PhoKT". for the record.

thanks for the link. although i just slapped the crap out of my screen.

PhoKT? (for those who don't know, if i'm not mistaken, the woman's name is KT)

for a restaurant, i think it's kind of stupid and played out at this point. and that's coming from someone who thinks farts are funny.

riffing on chris's suggestion, Pho-sho (pho-show). phe phi pho yum. oh man, that was poor. Pho Phun.

charging a corkage fee is pretty much standard and accepted. this applies when you're bringing a bottle of wine to a restaurant that sells wine.

i did. as i said, i don't bother considering it because i wouldn't be bringing a bottle that couldn't be found on most lists (or at the very least most lists have something comparable). for me, i think it's only appropriate to bring something that couldn't be found on the list. if i had any sort of extensive cellar, i think i'd consider it more often. but as it stands now, i'm mostly drinking young, readily available stuff. i don't even know if i'd bring a bottle to your restaurant on a no-corkage night. i just wouldn't bother bringing, say, a bottle of zin when you have a reasonably priced amarone, primovito or zin on the list. although i wouldn't care if someone else did.

i haven't heard this. but that's good news for sure.

beth, that would probably be your best course of action. i'm guessing there are quite a few internet/security/privacy savvy people out there who simply do not participate in the poll because of the concerns voiced here. people like us have no time or desire to second guess posted privacy policies. i don't think it has anything to do with giving too much or too little credit to the publication.

every meal i've had at Esca has been at least great. i've never walked away unhappy, even factoring in the price.

from their privacy statement i'm not convinced the information given for this poll is completely confidential and not shared.

ideal storage temps and treatment aside, i have no problem asking a server to throw a quick chill on a 10 dollar bottle of red (which is what i usually drink ). and i've certainly never had an 85 degree bottle, nor have i eaten at any places where the overall temp of the restaurant was 85 degrees. thankfully.

where could this shard of metal come from? was it mixed in with the food? or just on the plate. either way, not good.

my guess is that commercials aren't rolled out into every market at the same time. and then they don't necessarily run with the same frequency. i've only just noticed them, although i live in the NYC area and watch quite a bit of TV (but fewer commercials since Tivo).

sounds like it'll be a pretty place. unfortunate name. "wolfgang" certainly says "puck" to me.

thalia has always been a good spot, even with its seemingly constant rotation of chefs. there's always db bistro moderne.

mmmmm. goooood. i'm not sure, but i think with anything like this, you're not required to fill out all of that junk. you can just request to be entered into the thing. but i don't care enough to bother doing that.

for real? i just put in fake info except for the email address. i assume that works. i mean, they're not going to *call* me to verify, are they?

yeah, but it's really *good* breaded pork cutlet.

what kind of sauce is supposed to be served with this stuff? the sauce i get is usually a sweet-ish A1 type of thing.

that must be a very handsome egullet member. although i'm not sure if he really gives zagats much weight.

i get an error when i click submit: "Sorry, this CGI is only available to sites hosted with EarthLink, Inc. Please visit: http://www.earthlink.net/biz/hosting/ to explore EarthLink Web Hosting and E-Commerce solutions. " lovely.

smoking and portuguese restaurants seem to go hand-in-hand. however, i think El Cid, in paramus, frowns upon smoking in the dining room. at least during the week. on weekends, i think they offer 2 rooms: one for smoking, and one for non-smoking.

oh that's ok. i just didn't want anyone to think that i didn't like it for whatever reason. it took a few hours. faster than you might imagine though. probably quicker than the french laundry's tasting. my limit is about 2 hours, 2.5 hours. after that, i get uncomfortable.

you and me both. i've had my tongue in places that the NJ department of health would clearly not give the "thumbs up" to, and i seem to be relatively healthy. like i say, i don't give this stuff too much thought.