bilrus

Maybe someone at Per Se has been reading along on this thread and somehow you went to the end of the list.

I would assume it will be the same as it is at French Laundry and as it was before the fire - 2 months to the calendar date.

That's all I needed to hear.

My meal there last year might have been one of my two favorites of 2003 along with a nearly perfect evening at Babbo. That means surpassing stops at French Laundry, Inn at Little Washington among others (yeah, I know, I spent way too much money on food last year). The combination of the setting, the food coming out of the kitchen and the hospitality of our friend Mark made for a great evening. That said, we weren't in the kitchen, but at a table on the front row looking into the kitchen.

Can you tell us more about the menu?

On the 23rd I was offered 5:30, 6:30 or 9:30. That sounds like two seatings to me, and that is a Sunday.

I think it might be because the meaning of the name here has taken on some negative connotations. I went there for lunch today and the staff already had on the Balducci's uniforms and the bags were already in use. And Jason, their sandwiches are still $6.95.

I have used the Squid brand in a few cooking classes I have taken, but can't find it as readily as Tipars, which it seems that most of the grocery stores here in the DC area have started carrying. Squid seemed a little more pungent, while Tiparos is a bit more mellow, without being too sweet.

Enjoy, Robert40.

I was also rescheduled for May 23rd (our wedding anniversary as luck would have it). I asked and she said mid-May reopening and the last date they are currently taking reservations for is June 20th

My thoughts exactly.

One thing to note at Wegman's. As of this Sunday they are going to begin closing at midnight (I didn't see the re-opening time) - "in order to better serve our customers". My guess is that the level and consistency of business is higher than they expected and they need the overnight hours to keep the place stocked and clean. Of course, this could have been the plan all along.

There have been a number of various threads that discuss knives in general and particularly the Shun knives. You could try to search for those on here. I recieved the larger Shun Chef's knife and a Shun Pairing knife for Christmas (spurred by a thread on here somewhere) from my wife. She also bought the Santoku for herself (she doesn't do much cooking, but the 10 inch chef's knife is too big for her to handle). I liked it so much I returned the Chef's and kept the Santoku as my everyday knife. It is much sharper and stays much sharper than my Henckels knives and I love the handle design. You'll see in those other threads that there are a lot of options, many more expensive, but these are a pretty good value.

My standard go-to dish is Beef or Chicken Kaprow (or kapow or gaprow or basil chicken/beef). Basic meat in a garlic/chili/basil sauce. If not done well it is too sweet (just like all Thai food), but if done right it can have a nice zippy kick. Sala's version in one of my favorites.

I in for that too.

Yes!!! I had the arugula procuitto pizza and except for the burnt parts on the crust, the whole thing was floppy. The crust was way to thin. Tasted good but still disappointing. It also does not reheat well at all I think it must be different from pizza to pizza and not systemic, because I had the same one with arugula and mine was perfectly crispy all the way through. Not crunchy-crisp, but it defintely held up when held out straight, without flopping over.

I didn't really notice any over salting, but I have been on a salty kick lately. Agreed that the donuts were a little heavy, one more so than the other two on my plate. My pizza was very good. I had the one with prosciutto and arugala. An interesting mix, basically a salad on top of the pizza, but the light lemony vinagrette worked well with the rich meat. And the crust was nicely crisp throught unlike the centers of the pizzas at Matchbox, for example. I thought it was on a par with Paradiso, though not quite as good as Two Amys. And, if you haven't gathered from earlier posts I loved the meats and cheeses. The only miss on the plate for me was the unidentified soft cheese that was little bland. But the "blue cheese stuff" and the pecorino were very good, served with a nice crusty grilled bread. I know little about wines, but both choices worked for me and I am going to be on the lookout for them in the future. I'm loking forward to trying one of the pastas which looked good from a distance. I'll be back.

Before I went last year, I had read so much about how bad the room was that I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised by the place. It's not special, but it's a step up from most of the Holiday Inns or Airport lounges (per Tom Sietsema) I have been in. Maybe the food drew my interest away from the decor.

As much as I love both Nectar and Firefly I'd be game for something cheaper too.

Definitely fun and good food to boot. I was dreaming about cured meats last night.

To "push the envelope." Because that's what he does best. i am probably the least qualified person to be saying this, but which envelope would he be pushing? I think the envelope he is trying to push is more on the business side - the idea of pulling off a superior product in two different (in many ways) places.

It looks like I will be only 1 instead of +1 - my wife is stuck working late.

The French Laundry only launched a "modern' website sometime last year. But they could take advantage of it.

I should be easy for others to recognize me, as there is a good chance I will be the biggest guy (and hopefully by default the biggest person) in the room. There are several pictures of me at various eGullet meals on the site - including a particularly unfortunate one of me here eating cotton candy at 2941. You can read more about me in my bio. I look forward to meeting everyone tonight.

I have been willing to give the benefit of the doubt so far, but as time continues to pass it has become more of an annoyance than anything. We never actually had a conversation with anyone when our reservations were cancelled (originally March 4th). I had left a cell phone number because we were going to be travelling to New York. The only way I knew they called was the one call from a New York number on my missed calls list and the fact that I was aware of the fire through eGullet. The number they called from was not a working line when I tried to return the call. I know they have a policy of not leaving messages when trying to fill the waiting list, but I am surprised that they didn't leave a message in this case. If I hadn't have been on eGullet, I wouldn't have known about the cancellation until I called to confirm two days in advance -- too late to make travel changes. I feel for them with the fire and the delays, but if there are events that are out of your control, you should do what you can to properly handle the things you can control. I am going to be happy to go there once (if?) my reservation is rescheduled. But if it isn't rescheduled, then I probably would be unlikely to return to either restaurant. I hope that isn't the case, beacuse it would be more my loss than theirs, I'm sure.