tommy

aboslutely. i'd hate for my host to have to stop their cleaning/cooking/whatevering for 3 minutes to chat with me and pull a vase out of the basement.

WE NEVER GOT TRUFFLES. dija order them?

here they are.

if i say you will you will. are we clear? i suppose your question is reasonable. i'm not all *that* familiar with the regional styles of thai to even guess if they'd go over in Everytown USA. but i'm guessing not. i'm just glad we have 30 thai restaurants in northern NJ, and 5 or so worth visiting in manhattan. many of which offer a good varietly of northern and southern thai dishes. of course, the "outer boroughs" are a powderkeg of excitement when it comes to thai food. or so some will have us believe. and now that i think about it, i'm wondering how well diversified the "chinese" really are in the US. for every shanghaiese and sichuan place (with "authentic" food), i'm thinking there are about 1,529,302 "chinese" restaurants. but i could be off by 546,934 or so.

dirt-bag-losers eat at Houston's, and it's just as well they have some sort of policy in place to keep their disgusting underarm and mullet hair falling onto the floor. kidding. hair doesn't fall out of mullets very often. it can't get past the Esso cap.

OK...We had that feeling when we were there...Will bring friends there sometime soon to revisit. My only issue re: the specials board is that it's a bit overwhelming. Am I supposed to memorize these before I'm whisked away to my table? no, you shouldn't be expected to memorize it. any more than you'd be expected to memorize specials that are recited at just about every other restaurant that doesn't print them on a menu (which, in my experience, is too many). but you might consider taking it in for a few minutes. i've never had a problem narrowing down choices from that menu to a few choices. and when you're confused, or undecided, ask cecil. the number of specials on their menu, to me, is one of the aspects of this restaurant that makes it great. i understand that this might not be for everyone, however. personally, i'm whisked, and then i go back to take a look at the big specials menu with my partners. it's part of the fun for me.

quite frankly, if i don't have to pick out big bits of lemongrass and galanagal, i wonder what the heck is going on as well. i agree. for a dinner party i might pull them out if preparing for guests, but at a thai place, leave 'em in there, 'cause that's half the fun. as far as the name goes, i don't get too wrapped up in trivialities: it's a thai restaurant in NJ. and given that, their food probably represents north, south, up, down, east, west, and -i influences. they could call it Golden Tommy and i wouldn't be too upset, as long as they're giving me some good food.

lalaland, i know how annoying it is to hear that you "ordered wrong", but, you ordered wrong. seriously, the recs on markk's above linked site, and just about everything on this thread, are going to be pretty damned good. and like markk said, if you have any doubts, or are feeling rushed or anything, i wouldn't hesitate to ask for cecil's help.

dude, there's a place out by teaneck that my friends go to. i don't know what they have, but i know they have awesome "lobster tails" (not sure of the real name). i'll find out the details, unless someone else knows.

me too. i think it's safe to say that egullet helps create a "buzz" for certain restaurants. it's the nature of the beast. if rosie says a place is good, i'll likely try it even if i wouldn't have before. if i say a place is good, everyone tries it. that said, the interest that is created only lasts if the restaurant is producing. i've had several experiences where i simply thought that the restaurant did not live up to the hype. mostly in NY. and the hype seems to die down (although that's why hype do). in NJ, i think expectations are a bit lower, so i'm usually pleased with the finds from egullet, even though i may not return again and again.

and that would be this , perhaps: Sriracha: i go through a lot of that, too.

fuck yeah. the place, along with dying for all intents and purposes in the early 80's (as far as i understand the history and greatness prior to that), morphed into a friggin meat market dance club that completely represented everything i hated about the gentrification of hoboken. having spent a few nights myself in the "cadillac bar" and the "new" "boo-boos" (which once was a great place for local artists and bands), i can also say that 95% of the people who frequented the place didn't live in hoboken at all. great for the owners. bad for hoboken. that's what i say. good riddance. i'm ashamed that it dragged the broth house name through the stale beer swill all of these years.

absolutely. and you can look through their bins and pick up utensils and stuff that will last a lifetime and cost a few bucks. it's not the prettiest place, nor should it be, but you can spend an entire day in there. i know because i have.

probably not interesting in the least, but i was just searching for some info on something else, and came across my first post about pimms. this is from a couple of years ago, and the thread itself is actually worthy of review. here. this was back in the day when egullet had about 300 members.

i always recommend bridge, especially to those who live/work near. every time i do, someone else suggests that it's too expensive and that if you were serious you'd hit the bowery. but i don' t like subways.

i don't think brad means that. i think he means that emeril sells magazines. i think of myself as a person who is very serious about food. a "real food and wine lvoer". probably more serious than 99.999 percent of the US. i eat out more, i cook more, i certainly drink more, and i care more. and i happen to like emeril and have been to several of his restaurants and will continue to go. but i'm the exception. he sells magazines to other people as well, and that's the point behind magazines: to sell magazines. regardless, my work here is done. almost.

to play devil's advocate, it's probably reasonable to base a judgment of his on-air persona vis-a-vis food from watching "live", as the food is clearly over-the-top and sometimes even a bit disgusting. but to extend that into a judgment on the man's talents as a chef, or his knowledge of wine, etc, seems misinformed or ignorant at best. you bring up a good point about how he takes more heat than his contemporaries. i think it's clear, though, that people think it's cool to hate emeril. it's not cool to hate batali. and people, as you know, are sheep. when i think of the other "hated" people on TVFN, they all seem like very nice people (rachael, that southern lady, et al). perhaps people hate things they can't be. maybe we need a thread on the psychology of the TVFN viewer.

well, yeah, i'm sure that's a major part of it--but the truth is only a very small percentage of those exposed to emeril on tv etc. will be able to eat at his places anyway. well i'm not talking about the people who are watching him on tv. i'm talking about the subset of people slagging him off. it's not about being able to eat at his restaurants (although i'm not sure exactly what that means). it's about not being negative and talking out of one's ass.

i'll remember this the next time i go to a dinner party in france. until then, though, i'll continue to bring, and appreciate the gift of, flowers. and a bottle of champagne is a pretty standard token as well. it helps if it's something besides that stuff in the orange label...i like to put some thought into it and have a brief backstory as to why i chose the wine. i should note that my friends know that i go to popeye's for chicken and eat it with prosecco. at a recent party, they brought over a bottle of cava and a 20 dollar gift certificate to Popeye's. it always fun when the gift is, well, fun.

i wonder of all of the people who think emeril is an "actor" or a "joke" or a "buffoon", how many of them have eaten at his restaurants or at Commanders when he was at the helm. i'm no magician, but i'm guessing that's a very small percentage. and there you have it.

oh come on!!! people have always had resentment for successful people. and the internet has made it really easy to whine about it. just take a look at foodtv's boards.

there's only one way to find out, and tomorrow is Friday.

i think it'll be too sticky sweet. in fact, now that i think about it, i remember decent results with *diet* generic lemon soda. although i say "decent" and really mean "piss poor".

one problem with this request is that few brits will admit to liking pimm's.

let's talk about where we might find that stuff in the US to go with our pimm's. that's the *last* thing i need. but yeah. if one of you brits can fill me in on what soda or combination of drinks approximates that lemonade of yours, i'd be a happy guy. one theory was that really cheap "lemon lime" soda (generic brands) gets close. i didn't find that to be the case.