sara

I was a grad student for the last 5 years --the entire time I've been on Egullet and then some (Thank god that's over). I've never made more than $30K annually, and usually more like between $15-20K. Yet I've dined at at least 30-40 restaurants a year where the entrees were over $15, usually in places like NYC or San Francisco (you can see my postings on those boards). It can be done--you just skip the nice shoes/clothes/car/apartment/etc. Gotta have your priorities in order, even when slaving away for higher ed. ps. I was at Penn for grad school. Would never have spent my money at Le Bec (overpriced snobby sexist old-school French) or Susanna Foo (overpriced Chinese) but certainly loved Morimoto.

I've used POM in margaritas, along with some lime juice--that's nice. I also used it in a pork-chop marinade--that wasn't so good, the taste just didn't take.

I actually think this *is* sticking to food-- or at least sticking up for food. I'm interested why Grimes did this piece--I suppose he's not on Egullet huh? It went nicely in the theme issue, so maybe he was asked to contribute; however, I'm wondering if it's something he'd been jonesing to write for awhile. That's what inspired my strong reaction to it--damn straight, it's about time something like this was published in a big paper! I'm curious about his reader mail on this piece and whether they'll publish any of it. Or if Ms. Hesser will have a rejoinder? I sense she has a different take on this issue...no real basis for that sense, just a feeling.

Heard about Thai Square many times--where exactly is it in Arlington?

Yeah, that's something I've been thinking a lot about lately-- as an unmarried (but probably not for long) childless woman, my ability to dine out has been structured by several factors--my income, that of my parents, and that of my boyfriends. Many of the great expensive meals I've been to haven't been on my dime. But once kids enter the picture, and the price of dinner rises, well, I just can't see doing it as often--putting aside the whole issue of bringing kids to nice restaurants and the pros/cons of that--and that's depressing. (Now don't all you parents jump on me with the joys of parenthood-I do want kids, I look forward to the happiness they bring, but this one part is depressing.) My bf recently noted (with surprise, shocking to me) that being in a relationship makes dining out more expensive--and I wanted to laugh; yeah, that's because you're paying for two!! Now sure, that'll end soon when I have a real income (until last month I was a grad student), but paying for a whole family of four at $20 an entree?? But one question is whether restaurant prices are truly out of each just because dinner for a family of four is prohibatively expensive? I think not.

I sent out Grimes's piece to several non-Egullet friends, and got an interesting response from a libertarian friend in North Carolina, who wrote (in part): "The unanswered question in Grimes' piece, however, is whether there exist any circumstances in which fine dining is, in fact, immoral. I argue that there are two: 1. If one treated fine dining as the highest good, superceding all else (i.e., if one worshiped fine dining as a god) -- Theologically, this would be sacrilege. However, even if one were not religious, the absolute adoration of fine dining would be silly. Should good food replace friendship? Compassion? Love? 2. If one's fine dining prevented other, more "moral" actions. If one literally spent all of his/her disposible income and time on cuisine at the expense of donating to charity, volunteering, etc., then that person could be faulted for having skewed priorities. As Grimes would note, fine dining is not bad in and of itself; however, if it completely superceded other goods (see # 1), then it could be problematic." The worship of great food--that sounds like a religion that could get me to church on time!

Oh I've done that MANY times--I make restaurant reservations prior to booking flights; even choice vacation destinations based on where I want to eat. At the most extreme, I once cancelled my attendance at a conference in Dallas because the Mansion at Turtle Creek and York Street, the only places I really wanted to go, were closed on the nights I'd be in town (Sun/Mon)--so I couldn't see the point of going!!

How have you managed to not beat him to death with a champagne bottle? I thought I had it bad because I knew so many people that are "health nazis", vegetarians or kosher that like to "pick apart" my dining pleasure. You got me beat my a mile. I think there are laws against it.

Plenty of places to do that in N.O. Personally, I'd go to Herbsaint--great drinks, wonderful food, nice bartenders. You could also try Rene Bistro if you want a larger bar.

Been doing that for more than a year! (menus from dinners, plus receipts reflecting what we ate). It's a great keepsake. I also love my end of the year credit card statement--it breaks down my expenses and my restaurant percentage is always the highest (around 1/3 of all my charges) and they also give me a list of all of the restaurants I've dined at. Nice.

I have a cousin like this-- he faults me for taking time out of my day to eat, which he views as a complete waste of time. He lives on energy shakes, made in a blender. He won't even allow his girlfriend to keep a dining room table in their home because that encourages sitting down to eat--a waste of time. Needless to say, traveling with him in New Orleans last year was MISERABLE. Every time I slurped an oyster or ate some gumbo he stared me down.

"Quite telling" of what, exactly?

had he mentioned that it would have taken all of the controversy out of the article.

What's interesting is that according to another article in the same issue of the magazine, people from the lowest socioeconomic quintile (lowest 20%) and people from the highest socioeconomic quinitle (upper 20%) spend nearly the same proportion of their income on eating out (just over 5.5%). I'm surprised Grimes didn't reference this data in his own piece. Certainly what the lowest 5th buys with their approx $1K/yr spent on restaurants is quite different than what the upper 5th spends with their $4.5K. But I think the proportionality is quite telling... Here's the other article: Parsimony (The hard copy of this piece has the chart with the data I'm referring to)

Good food, and a good cookbook. She's not afraid to use plenty of the good stuff in her cookin'.

Mark, I don't see the winners listed on the website. Who won for Best New Restaurant?

I did the same thing--tho a different quote! But I strongly considered using the one you chose!

Actually, they did have a good bit of meat in them; and she threw in a 5th for free that was definitely a large.

A fabulously erudite and witty piece by Grimes in the Times today, on the merits of dining out well. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/magazine/06FOOD.html

A few notes on Liam's report- My meal at Smokejack's was definitely reminiscent of a favorite brunch at Prunce in the Village several years back-- the Chicago Matchbox Bloody Mary, and pasta carbonara (according to the menu, a great way to get your bacon and eggs). I found Trattoria Delia to be lacking. Granted, I didn't try the heartier meat dishes, and we dined there in the spring, rather than the winter--which this place with its dark environment seems to be meant for. My dish was beyond a little oily-- there was a visible pool of oil around my linguine on the plate, and on the soft shells. There's no way that linguine was homemade--something I've come to expect from Italian restaurants with reputations for good pasta.

I got wonderful medium crabs, already cooked, at the Dupont Farmer's Market today for $1 each! The vendor is also selling them by the dozen for $10. A delicious deal.

The Dupont Farmer's Market had great looking soft shells today for $5 each. The vendor told me that while restaurants and stores only carry soft shells for a few months each year, fisherman go out and get them April-September; she'll have them at the her stand til September.

This is a fairly common policy at restaurants that consider themselves 'elite' I think. I've seen it, for example, at all of Stephen Starr's restaurants in Philly--especially Jones--where my aunt arrived to meet me for dinner at 5 pm on a Tuesday and they refused to seat her until I arrived, even though the ENTIRE restaurant except for 2 tables (and it's a big place) was empty. Outcome? She left and insisted we go elsewhere. Rather than stating that this is common and one should "get over it" can we discuss why this policy exists, and where it is and isn't productive? Rather than a policy couldn't this be left up to the judgment of a well-trained hostess? If the restaurant is full of available (unreserved) tables, it seems silly to enforce this rule--on the other hand, if it's a Saturday night at 7 pm, and you are a table of 3 (meaning you need a table holding 4 usually), and only two of you are there, then I can see their reluctance to seat you--since if the 3rd person doesn't show, then they've 'wasted' a table of 4 on a table of 2. See? Others in the industry like to comment?

Wow-thanks so much; especially for the photos!! These look a little bigger than the ones I've seen, but I can make them smaller I'm sure.

The citysearch website says the happy hour is 5-7 pm daily; any idea if that includes weekends??