jogoode

When are you thinking of going? Lunch, dinner? Do they even serve lunch? I'd love to go .

alacarte, I'm afraid this will be far from fool-proof, but i'll give it a shot. The F-train rules in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. For Smith Street spots (Sample, Chestnut, Bar Tabac, Grocery, Zaytoon (Pan's rec), etc...) take the F to either the Bergen or Carroll St stops. The Carroll St stop is also the one for Esposito's Pork Store and Brooklyn Bread Bakery (good if pricey heroes -- mentioned in Ed Levine's NYT article) both on Court Street, just west of Smith. From Manhattan, take the F in or take the ACE and transfer at Jay St. For BK Heights (Teresa's, Noodle Pudding etc...), take just about any train (express, too -- one reason why it's so damn expensive to live in BK Heights) and get off at Court Street/Jay St./Bourough Hall, depending on the train. For Atlantic Avenue access (Sahadi's, Bedouin Tent, Waterfalls Cafe, Tripoli, Bacchus, Soul Spot,...) take the F to Bergen and walk north a few blocks, or take any train to BK Heights and walk south five minutes. You can only get to DiFara's on the Q to Ave J. Sunset Park (Ocean Palace, Ba Xuyen) requires a trip on the R or W several stops past P Slope -- R to 45 St, or W to 8th Ave, for the truly excellent banh mi at Ba Xuyen. R to 53rd Street for a bustling Chinatown, vendors hawking all kinds of stuff, including some fried snack called "flover"(?). And isn't there a second BK Chinatown, near Avenue X. To find out, we should take the F.

I suggest Beyoglu for inexpensive, high-quality Turkish, if you don't mind walking to 81st and 3rd after the museum. They have a room upstairs that would accommodate lots of Daves.

my dad loves Bargemusic! I'll take him to NP next time he's there.

Zaytoon's is a quick walk from my place. I'll definitely try it. And this Yemeni place sounds very interesting. I've also passed the Lebanese restaurant Tripoli a few times and been tempted.

Ahhh, right. I saw Jason's mention of St. John and got over-excited. Batali is expanding his empire at an alarming rate.

I just checked, the rutabaga ravioli mentioned above is $15, and it's a main course. ---- Tonight at Sample, I had: -Fuet, the Catalonian sausage -Smoked mussels, from New Zealand, served with a bit of sweet plum jam (the new Yorker reported sweet tomato jam in its review) -Rellenos de Bacalao, from Spain -Giant White Beans, from Greece -Grilled "Borettane" onions, from Italy Cheese served with different breads and orange preserve -Garrotxa, a mild goat's milk cheese from Catalonia, Spain -Piave Vecchio, described as the flavor equivalent of a Reggiano-Asiago mix, from Italy A small glass of Coppo'Avvocata, Barbera d'Asti 2000 Everything is served on small plates, but three or four dishes per person is enough for dinner, or at least a good snack. I was sad to hear that they were out of saucisson du Beaujolas and no longer had the bluefin belly they featured a few weeks ago. My favorites of the evening were the onions, which were sweet but also nicely tart, I assume from having been preserved in vinegar, and the giant white beans, served warm in a bit of tomato sauce, their texture maintained, evidence of the potential of canned beans. The smoked mussels tasted strongly of smoke and needed the jam badly, but together they were quite delicious even if the mussels were unpleasantly chewy. Fuet was a tasty sausage; it was my first time eating it. Garrotxa was very mild, slightly tangy with a finish that reminded me of a blue cheese. I typically prefer stronger cheeses, although I turned down an offering of one of my new favorite cheeses -- affidelice au Chablis -- because I had eaten my weight in it a few days before. ) The piave vecchio was great, certainly a cross in taste (and texture) between Asiago and Reggiano. The only disappointing dish was the red peppers stuffed with bacalao. The peppers had lost their sweetness and firmness and they came in an indistinguishable creamy, red sauce. For dinner, I think Sample ends up being too pricey for what it is. With drinks, tax, and tip, it can easily cost thirty or forty dollars a person. But it is ideal for a glass of wine (about twenty by the glass, plus a few specials) and a few dishes after work, or as an alternative to one of those terrible bars that don’t offer food. It's open until midnight, possibly later on weekends. I love their concept and hope people in the neighborhood give it a chance. Today it was almost empty -- I hope this was due to the weather.

Amazing! Is this the place Hesser profiled in NYT a month or so ago? Shit I love offal. Plus it makes me feel so...unwasteful; so much so that even the vegan, sentient-being advocates at Vassar (my alma mata) might support my eating there.

Will the Q&A be moderated, you mean? Yes, it will. By little old me! I look forward to your question!

That's so true! Ask Steingarten what he thought of the article and whether he agrees with you.

I just moved to (or, I should say, I'm staying for a while in) Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. I never thought living in BK would keep me out of Manhattan, but it kind of has. For the last few weeks, I haven't eaten in Manh. except for a couple of F-train trips to Katz's, a trip to the 2nd Ave. Deli, some takoyaki at Otafuku on East 9th Street, and a trip to Beyoglu (for great cacik and ezme among other things) before a concert at the Met. Museum. I love exploring Sunset Park and Midwood as much as the next eGulleteer, but I'm trying to find good places in and around my neighborhood to prepare for the winter months. (Although I know I'll trek to DUMBO for Torres hot chocolate) I've been eating often at the Bedouin Tent, a small restaurant on Atlantic Ave. near Bond St., next to the dirt-cheap and competent French bistro, Bacchus. Bedouin is related to a few other restaurants, I think, one on Atlantic and one in Park Slope. The Merguez sandwich was very good, but not as good as their fine lambojim, pitza with ground lamb, tomato, parsley. Every piece of bread I've eaten there came right out of the oven, perfectly crisp while still slightly doughy. Good lentil soup and harira. Whenever I'm in Brooklyn Heights around breakfast time, I grab some tripe soup at Teresa's, on Montague. It's usually ready around 10 am. I've only once been to Noodle Pudding but was very happy with well-roasted, crisp-skinned half-chicken. Smith Street's Paninoteca 275 served panini to rival Bread in Soho, and thankfully without the scene. They are serving a spicy sausage and lentil stew this winter, which I have not tried, because I prefer to approximate the dish on my own with sausage from Esposito's Pork Store on Court Street. Charming Chestnut, on Smith Street, seemed rather ambitious for its size, so I stopped in for excellent grilled sweetbreads with pistachio relish. Wines by the glass are solid and to start they served bread with a high-quality herbed butter and pickles, both made in house. Fried semolina gnocchi with bacon and pumpkin and rutabaga ravioli are a couple dishes lined up for my next trip. They'll cost me something like $7 each. I think this may be the restaurant with the most potential. The chef is Savoy alum David Wurth. I haven't gotten to eat out as much as I'd like, but there seems to be a lot to try. Bar Tabac serves a fine burger. I haven't tried the infamous Grocery. I'm going to try Sample tonight, that little Smith Street restaurant that spends more time sourcing than cooking. Inexpensive and interesting wine by the glass, cheese from Artisanal, and preserved/canned treats from Italy, Lebanon, Japan, Spain.... I'll report later tonight. Has anyone been to any of these places and care to comment? I think Suzanne F once mentioned a meal at Bar Tabac.

What is the logic behind so many high-end restaurants not serving lunch on Saturdays? I understand that a lot of their lunch business during the week is the power lunch, expense account crowd. But couldn't they fill the room for lunch on Saturday with special-event lunchers -- people there for birthdays, etc who don't want to go for dinner and spend a ton? Or are these the people who don't make the place any money -- people, like me, who only lay out money for the pre fixe with no supplements and a glass of wine? I would think these restaurants would still make money filling the room with the latter customers, unless high-ends lose money all the time on lunch and I'm not aware...

We are delighted to have award-winning food journalist and author Jeffrey Steingarten join us for an eGullet Q&A, December 15-19. *** Jeffrey Steingarten is kind of a smart guy. As a student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took classes at both MIT and Harvard and served as an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. He went on to The Harvard Law School, where he learned to cook by watching Julia Child on TV in black and white. He came dangerously close to wasting his talent as a lawyer, practicing for some time as a legal consultant in Manhattan. In 1988, Vogue Magazine's editor, Anna Wintour, asked her friend Jeffrey to write several hundred words about microwaving fish; months later, with the gluttony for detail that has come to characterize his approach to food writing, Jeffrey sent her a 4000-word treatise. His knack for disabusing readers of their food phobias has taught us all what to say to that uncle who avoids a beautiful hunk of aged cheddar because he is lactose intolerant, to that aunt who would rather lose a limb than risk sucking down one raw oyster. Jeffrey has taken on wedding cakes and weight loss, ketchup and kaiseki, the biology of ripe fruit and the visceral satisfaction of raw tuna belly. For our benefit, he has subjected himself to the vegetarian cooking of Alain Passard, made over 600 potato gratins, and painstakingly translated complicated recipes to the language and capabilities of the home cook. He has let electrical needles pierce his scalp to find out whether his obsession with good food was luck or lesion. During his years as Vogue's food critic, he set out to systematically rid himself of all food biases, teaching himself to love lard, Greek food, ant eggs, and ultimately Indian desserts. Yet he occasionally lets his motives guide his investigation -- proving that salad is indeed a silent killer was surely a gift to himself. His two books, both collections of his Vogue essays, are educational, endlessly enjoyable, and essential for anyone with an interest in food. His first, The Man Who Ate Everything (Knopf, 1997), was a New York Times best-seller and the winner of the Julia Child Cookbook Award and the Guild of British Food Writers Prize for the year's best book about food. His second book, It Must've Been Something I Ate (Knopf, 2002), was recently published in paperback (Vintage), and granted "New and Noteworthy" status by the New York Times Book Review. On Bastille Day, 1994, the French Republic made Jeffrey a Chevalier in the Order of Merit for his writings on French gastronomy. He is a brilliant interviewee, with a history of ignoring all questions not related to food. I guess that's why he's here. Biography by Steingarten Q&A moderator, JJ Goode.

sounds beautiful. "pan con tomate", I assume, is that simple serving of bread rubbed with tomato I've heard so much about but never tried. You eat any last night?

Thanks, bourdain. I couldn't be happier with the sound of this place -- open late, casual, serves good tripe. How big is the place anyway?

I bet! OK, fine, I'll dig them up myself but keep what I find quiet

That's what I'm wondering. New York is the place where I finally get to taste at least a few of the things he loves and see if I agree. There are a lot of experienced eaters out there with shit for taste and, although I never figured JS for one of these, you never know. If he had ended up, in his "Lining Up" (It Must've Been) loving Tomoe Sushi, it would have colored all of his other judgments for me. But I wonder how someone who is a fan of both Steignarten and Tomoe felt about his appraisal. An experimenter, it's true

I guess you are feeling better. I, for one, would be interested in that jacket thread...

I bet you Bourdain will be knee deep in these cocks combs in a few hours...

I think Steingarten's position on Olestra is less positive nowadays. It might be interesting to ask him what altered his position in the Q&A starting on Sunday/Monday. And whether he follows up on his research in general.

I bet she'll get lots of extra credit -- maybe the school will skip her ahead a few grades -- if she brings in Jeffrey Steingarten to make one. At least, she should ask Jeffrey a few questions during the Q&A on Monday!

Bond Girl, I would think you'd love his recipes most of all You ever go through with your lobster souffle project?

Ah. Thanks Sammy.

I have always trusted Steingarten's taste. But most of the food he's written about -- in Alba, Kyoto, Paris, Chengdu -- I've never been able to try. That's why I feel so proud and excited when he recommends anything in New York. I did get a little frustrated when he came back from Thailand and demonstrated a longing for an authentic American Thai restaurant -- and for bitter, pea-sized Thai eggplants -- because I wanted so badly to take him to Sripraphai for their Southern Style Curry. He has managed to mention Balthazar a couple hundred times over the years. But has he ever gone bistro-hopping in Brookyln? The creamed spinach at db Bistro is his fav. City Bakery's tarts and Pearl's Lobster Rolls inspired entire articles... I remembered him saying the best food in New York was at Le Cirque, and I figured that this must have been a quote from ten years ago. But this article was first published in 1999. I know a lot of us would disagree with that statement, but I suppose it would be your favorite place, too, if you were treated like this.

Have you tried this yet?! You have to ask or tell Steingarten about this during next week's Q&A.