sara

Coquette is the perfect option--thanks much. And sure, I'd always love to hear about Madison restaus. I've been to L'Etoile, which I like alot. I'll be living on Hancock, right near downtown, plenty of opportunities to eat out I hope!

Makes me wanna get married, period! (hint hint liamdc ) Steve, how much for a cake like that? $5, $10?

Mulberries?! Where where?

Yum, looks great! And I love the colorful retro website. Why Silver Spring???

On hillvalley's recommendation LiamDC and I went to Aji Nippon tonite. I really went to have noodle soup, but faced with their extensive sushi menu, we succumbed. We were happy with our choice! We started with a small dish of uni with squid--this was a great combination of flavors, and a great deal at $4.50 for the dish. We greatly preferred this to the terayaki scallops, our next course, since the scallops were nothing special. We then had negemaki--this was very flavorful beef with scallions, quite nicely done. For our sushi we had yellowtail, fresh eel, and sweet shrimp, along with two rolls: fatty tuna, and cod roe with yam. The rolls were especially good, as mentioned earlier the rice was perfectly done, and that cod roe roll was just bursting with taste. This was plenty of food for two, and along with two drinks it was about $50. A nice deal. The waitress was exceedingly sweet, and while the place was empty when we arrived at 7:30 it was much more full by the time we left at 8:45. Sure, this felt a little like cheating on Koji, but it was a nice, slightly lower key alternative to Sushi Ko once in awhile.

Wow, you are all terrific!! I am set! I will have people meet at the Ferry Plaza-that's where I'm dying to spend my afternoon before the Hog Island happy hour anyway.

Oh silly Andrew! You are MISSING OUT. I have NEVER had a wait at Chloe--just go on a weeknight and go at 7:30 or 8 instead of 6:30 or 7; I'll bet you no wait. Really, pm me--we can make an actual bet on this if you want!

I went to Angelina recently and found it highly mediocre. Starr should know better than to try and do Italian in NY... You need to revisit Pasion--I think it's slid tremendously in the past few years. My last meal there was simply awful. Ever since Guillermo Pernot got involved with Trust...which is now a Starr restaurant. Will we soon be able to say that about many of Philly's restaurants??

Starr generally doesn't do good food, but there are two notable exceptions imo-- Morimoto and El Vez. El Vez was just recently featured in Esquire by Mariani; it's quite good, tho pricey. Morimoto is outstanding sushi. I just don't know why Starr feels the need to penetrate NY, unless it's to swagger with his nemesis, Chodorow. Which is a dumb dumb reason. But it'll be nice to have him divert his attention from Philly; give someone else a chance to open a new restaurant and have an original idea.

All the restaurants owned by that group that has Carlyle Grand, Sweetwater, etc...plus a couple of Jose Andres's places...I know there are others I can't think of at the moment.

Thanks much for this report. I'll be moving to Madison in August, and will visit Milwaukee for the first time before the Norah Jones concert. Where can we have an early dinner beforehand? Should Sanford be saved for an occasion with more time allowed? I want to knock the socks off my also-moving-to-WI-for-me boyfriend...

I found a place called Emile's Coffee and Tea at Polk and Market--seems convenient. Is it nice? Also is it walking distance from Swan--it's 1 mile, but I want to be sure it's downhill, or at least not uphill...

Hi I'm planning to do a trip from DC to Richmond on a july Saturday that includes some wineries and lunch in Charlottesville. Can any recommend a good lunch spot, preferably NOT too near the U??

I was just thinking about how annoying these policies are, since I want to go to Zatinya (NEVER BEEN) over 4th of July weekend (no, not on the 3rd or 4th, but maybe on the 2nd), with a group, and we can't make a reservation...annoying. I wish places would at least take them on super-busy holiday weekends, but I get they have no incentive to, huh?

Is there a Peets nearby? That'll do fine for this East Coaster.

Tonite was Friends and Family night--anyone go and have a report?

Why should the etiquette remain the same when someone price gouges? If a car dealer is markin' it up by $5000 over sticker, do you honor their protocol, and "just go to another dealer?" Why should I pay triple retail for a wine that I can open up and enjoy simply by walking down a flight of stairs in my own home? For "the privilege" of having it in this particular restaurant with this particular cuisine? I call bullshit. Charge double for the food, charge half for the wine, and stop making criminal profit on something that can be purchased at the liquor store down the road. If I do one thing in this world, it's going to be for fine dining establishments to change their profit structure away from liquor, and towards the only two things thing that distinguish them from happy hour at Calvert-Woodley and MacArthur Liquors: their presentation and their food. Yeah, I know: selection, inventory, pairing, pouring, glassware, blah blah blah. In precious few establishments, that's true, but in 95% of all restaurants, it isn't. I'm right, everyone else is wrong, and that's the way it should be. Rocks. I completely agree with this. I thought what Mark was saying in an earlier post was interesting, that bringing wine to a restaurant reduces his income, reduces the restaurant's profit, etc. I hadn't thought through that. But another way to think about it is that essentially restaurants are running small wine stores, with sommeliers as the salespeople. Certainly it's their job to maintain a nice stock, serve the wine properly etc. But ultimately they are selling wine-- and why should I pay 3 times more to buy wine in a restaurant than at any other wine store? Sommeliers and restaurants do not make wine, they simply sell it. They do however make food, and can charge what they want--even though sometimes it's clear to anyone knowledgeable about ingredients that they are overcharging, we're still usually willing to buy it (i.e. a softshell entree at a restaurant with one crab often costs $20, but that same softshell costs $3-5 at the store), add some linguine and suddenly the dish is $20? I think it's normal to be upset when one feels ripped off. Still, when you're in the restaurant it's up to you to behave well. Be pissed later and don't patronize the restaurant again. How do restaurants such as Friday Saturday Sunday in Philly maintain a nice wine list with nothing marked up more than $10 over cost? See list here: Fri Sat Sun Sure, it's not as fabulous as the lists at Nectar or Citronelle--but how do they do it? They've been in business a long, long time, and in a city full of BYOs no less.

Thanks--giving our long trip to get there, the short walk to this place is appealing..

I think the Marine Room is nice for the view, but the prices are steep and the food doesn't merit that, IMO.

Don't forget Taqueria Poblano!

Oh fellow migraine sufferer, thanks so much! I am hoping some ramen will cure my aching head...

Oh you are wonderful wonderful! I have to go try Daruma for lunch, for sure. Where is Hinata?

I very much agree. I greatly prefer small plates to big ones--it lets you sample more, build a meal, share with friends. Literally dozens of restaurants I've been to during the past year in DC, NY, Chicago, LA, are all doing this--I'm sure more of this will come to Philly soon. The Tasting Room is one of my all-time faves Katie, but you can do the same at Public, Spotted Pig, etc etc in NYC...

Hi I'm trying to find a place to meet friends for coffee or a drink mid-afternoon near the Ramada at 1231 Market. I'll be coming from Swan Oyster Depot and going to the Ferry Building after for happy hour, so somewhere in between would be great. I don't know SF well enough to know if this is a geographically reasonable request... thanks in advance!!

I've done HH at Black's -- very nice. Can anyone say more about Daruma or Matuba? In the mood for Japanese...