jogoode

Dtom khaa gai and stewed duck noodle soup at Sripraphai Tripe soup at Teresa's Chicken and tamarind leaf soup at Karihan Ni Tata Bino, in Woodside

Sashimi sushi! My God! If you ever want to chat more about eGullet or about what other steps you can take, feel free to PM anytime!

Steven's right! I graduated from college in 2003--I can't believe I've been out for three years--and joined eGullet during my senior year. I had been writing occasionally about food for my college newspaper, but my editors knew no more about food and writing than I did. No one was telling me that my writing was weak; I was writing about whatever I wanted, in whatever style I chose. In other words, I wasn't improving, and I wasn't learning about the challenge professional writers face: selling your ideas, selling yourself, writing in the very different styles of various publications, and building a portfolio. When I started writing, and later editing articles, for the Daily Gullet, I was interacting with editors, getting a sense of the editorial process, and being forced to raise the level of my writing. I went from having no way to prove that I was qualified to edit a greeting card to having a resume sporting experience with a respected and adult-sounding organization (eGullet Society sounds so much more real-deal than college newspaper ). I owe almost every success I've had to my time with eGullet, and no, Steven didn't pay me to say that. Don't get me wrong, though. Working for your college newspaper is great--anything to keep you writing. Make sure to write articles about various subjects, but also work to develop expertise in a specific subject, preferrably one there aren't a lot of experts on. Plently of people know French and Spanish food, so try learning about Laotian food or spirits or, I don't know, Japanese dishware--anything that might some day be big. Then magazines and newspapers might even come to you.

Alidoro, my friend. 105 Sullivan St., between Spring and Prince Sts. 212-334-5179 Closes at 6pm. It's hard to make the leap, but what's the harm in one day paying three or four more dollars for a sandwich. I look forward to trying Starwich, but will pass on the truffles.

Bruni veers into "taco stand" territory to address what he feels are significant restaurants. But let's be clear: He reviewed La Esquina because it was buzzing like mad and because it's not a taco stand. It has waiters and an enormous tequila list (look, here's your wine program!). He reviewed Sripraphai because it's the best Thai restaurant in the city. So let's not pretend he's starred to Dumpling House. Film critics have similar flexibility, depending on the publication. If a short film or documentary is significant enough, it gets full treatment. $25 & Under is where everything else goes--and I think Peter Meehan does a great job.

No one's suggesting that he hand out stars to restaurants that don't deserve them. I'm just saying that chefs cooking great food deserve to be recognized, even if they aren't shooting for three or four stars. With explicit standards comes inflexibility that would prevent a reviewer from praising a restaurant that deserves praise. Had your standards been laid out 10 years ago, Reichl, as I said before, would have been holed up at Daniel. To gripe about which restaurants are being reviewed seems misguided, because the big ones are going to be covered eventually and because most of the arguments I've heard for or against including a particular restaurant betray Eurocentrism. If Al di La and Sripraphai had both received one star, we'd be mum about Al di La and still be up in arms about Sripraphai, though neither takes reservations and both, at least now, look presentable.

Because those are your criteria for a star-worthy restaurant. With these criteria, Reichl would've spent all her time at Daniel and much of New York would have missed out on great Korean and Japanese. To get one star you need to have a wine program? Talk about a European bias--or at least a high-end bias. Al di La, a restaurant that does Italian food well deserves to be starred, but Sripraphai, a restaurant that does Thai food well, does not because there's no wine program? No cute hipster servers? Why doesn't the Times reviewer just rotate his weekly reviews between Le Bernardin, Jean Georges, and whatever Batali's latest venture is. Then we can all read about banquettes and sous vide and opah. He fails to encourage our chefs? Doesn't one fail to encourage chefs by sticking them in $25 & Under unless they have big investors and a pedigreed chef? Bruni might have dropped service from the mini reviews--does that mean the summary below the main review's text?--but he still writes about service in the main review. So there's your service. Edited for italics

It's clear from the research presented above that each critic interprets the Times star values in a different way. After many months of Bruni's reviews, why can't we finally accept his interpretation, even if we don't agree with his taste? al di la: Great Italian food, pleasant atmosphere, relatively low price point. Sounds "very good" to me. Again, if we can't recognize that Alto's two stars mean something different than these two stars or Sripraphai's two stars, then we're admitting that words mean nothing and stars mean everything. Of course, if you've been to al di la and don't think it is a very good Italian restaurant, well, that's another thing altogether.

I'm not sure whether things have changed since the chef change, but I've been to Cafe Boulud four or five times over the past few years during Restaurant Week and was more than happy with the food. I still remember a delicious veal tongue salad with lentils and cod in sauce Diable with bacon and the most amazing sweet corn. I also remember accidentally ordering a glass of Mersault--it cost almost as much as the pre fixe. OK, no restaurants go all out for Restaurant Week like Meyer's places. But I'd give it a shot, especially since an unfettered lunch there costs over $60. By the way, has anyone been since Carmellini left? Felonius?

Amen. Never was particularly impressed with Mamoun's falafel despite the raves. Sure is cheap, though.

I like that Bruni mentioned how many times he ate certain dishes. I don't remember seeing this in his other reviews; regardless, it deserves praise. And how about some context when quoting that bit about the mismatched and chipped plates:

Oh man, I like Chennai Garden a lot. Their bhel puri--and they give you a huge bowl of it--and dosas, paper and regular, are excellent and inexpensive. Skip the buffet, though.

Also, as I've noticed people mentioning that they've brought such and such Japanese friend to this or that sushi bar: The average Japanese diner is no more qualified to recognize good sushi than the average America diner is to judge great French or New American food. It is that person's experience that matters. Raji is not Japanese (I don't think ), yet he seems to have eaten at a lot of great sushi places. That's why his opinions have weight.

Not sure what you're suggesting when you say, "If you speak Japanese and see Yasuda yell at his staff at they break things down at the end of the night, you'll understand what I mean." I understand that you're opinion of Sushi Yasuda is not entirely based on the sentiment expressed in this comment, but to dismiss a restaurant because it's chef yells at his or her staff or because it has a Web site is silly and shows the same prejudice against sushi as the common "I'm not paying this much for Chinese food" shows against that cuisine. No one would suggest that Daniel Boulud was anything less than a great chef because he spends $100,000 a year on flowers and has a slick Web site. Yasuda's Web site was written by one of the owners, someone who loves sushi, believes in what Yasuda is doing, and wants to promote something in which he has a stake. That the place is attractive has nothing to do with the quality of the fish and rice. You prefer other sushi bars, and that is that. I've been to Ushi and Tsuki, but for my money, I'd much rather go to Yasuda. I know we've had this discussion before, but Yasuda is not nearly as expensive as it is often assumed to be. Ordering per piece at Tsuki brings slightly larger pieces of fish for more or less the same price as the same fish is at Yasuda, where the quality of the fish and rice are, in my opinion, much better. Also, I think Kuruma is excellent, but the size of the fish and the rice is less to my taste than those qualities at Yasuda. Masa may serve great sushi, but I wonder whether you could go there and have a meal of just sushi? I doubt it, so I consider it more of a modern kaiseki place than a sushi bar that deserves consideration here.

Thanks, alacarte! And thank you, Pan. Now I'm obsessed with the pickled pork. Has anyone else tried anything interesting here lately?

Here's the info and (shameless plug) my review.

No dice. I could only find a few syrups there: orange, almond, and a couple others. I'm looking for ginger and apple.

Any supermarket?

Hi All, Where do you guys go to get your cocktail supplies? Can I get bitters, flavored syrups (preferably Monin brand), and jiggers in one place?

A reminder: This forum is closed to new posts. Anything posted after 12pm will be deleted.

As of now, please refrain from posting anything in this forum. Ruth has a very busy day, but will try to sign on later this afternoon (and possibly tomorrow morning) to answer some of the outstanding questions. Thank you so much, Ruth, for taking the time to join us and for your thoughtful responses!

Here are Amazon links to the Shoba Narayan and Angelo Pellegrini books.

The eG Spotlight Conversation with the engaging and responsive Ruth Reichl is going great so far. Just a reminder that it ends on Friday afternoon—that means you have just two days to post new questions or follow up comments and questions to ongoing discussions. If you haven't already, I hope you'll join the conversation!

Just a reminder to all that the eG Spotlight Conversation with Ruth Reichl has begun and will run through Friday. I hope you'll join the conversation!

Ruth Reichl and Garlic and Sapphires The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters is honored to have Ruth Reichl, one of the most important voices in the food world today, join us for an eG Spotlight Conversation. She is editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, editor of the weighty Gourmet Cookbook, and author of three memoirs. It is a rare writer who builds a reputation as a restaurant reviewer, a powerful but beleaguered position whose product is by nature formulaic. Yet few have engaged the task with such skill and enthusiasm as Reichl. While reviewing restaurants, for the LA Times and later for the New York Times, she wrote beautifully and passionately of truffles, toro, and kimchi. This egalitarian view of food, along with her unorthodox, novelistic reviewing style, outraged her critics and delighted her fans. Garlic and Sapphires, her latest memoir, recounts her occasionally tumultuous tenure at the New York Times and the lengths she took to avoid being recognized by the city's chefs and restaurateurs. In it, she offers readers a great deal of herself, depicting her fear of failure, her writing and reviewing processes, and her struggle to retain her identity. Since 1999, Reichl has steered the great ship Gourmet, guiding it toward some of today's most pressing food issues—sustainability, food and health, and the ethics of eating. She is the real thing—articulate, knowledgeable, hungry. Stan Santos (aka SobaAddict70), Margaret McArthur (aka maggiethecat), and I invite you to join the eG Spotlight Conversation with Ruth Reichl, as she takes your questions about her life, her writing, her newest memoir, and of course, what she eats. Welcome, Ruth. Let this latest eG Spotlight Conversation begin! To post a question, click "New Topic" at the top of this forum. Each question will be its own topic. Once a question has been posted, we ask that the membership refrain from any additional posts or commentary until Ruth has had the opportunity to respond to the post directly. Once Ruth's response is up, the topic is open for in depth discussion by all members, and we warmly encourage followup conversation. Please note that this eG Conversation may be moderated, and your question may not appear as soon as you post it. Also, we may edit new topic titles for clarity. More on Ruth Reichl: My Sister the Spy in the Daily Gullet Excerpt from Garlic and Sapphires: Food Warrior in the eG forums Recipes from Garlic and Sapphires in RecipeGullet: Matzo Brei Spaghetti Carbonara Gougères