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Whatever you say, guys. But just in case anyone wants to know where the place is (courtesy of superpages.com): Noodle Pudding Inc 38 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (718) 625-3737 It's in Brooklyn Heights between Cranberry and Middagh Sts., near Cadman Plaza. Citysearch gives the following hours: Sun, Tue-Thu 5:30 pm-10:30 pm; Fri-Sat 5:30 pm-11 pm. They also rate the price as "$$$($31-$40)." Is that accurate, in your experience?

I salute you, but it's not just the mechanics, it's also about how to make space read, which even many studio majors aren't taught nowadays. By rough analogy, it would be great if every food critic knew how to construct a creative dish -- or at least how to analyze its composition expertly -- not just in terms of technique, but how and why the sum is (or is not) greater than the parts. But it's also true that there are many ways to gain knowledge. For example, although I've never painted a canvas, I learned a great deal from listening to and observing my father, who is a painter. I could see how someone could learn a lot about food just by having parents who owned a restaurant or by hanging out with people in the restaurant industry, without any formal training.

Seconded. To fully satisfy me, it has to have a firey chili aioli, like the Cafe de la Fontaine did in Vieux Nice.

I would have to agree. Of course there are exceptions, like former sports stars who are terrible commentators and don't really understand the game on an analytical level, but as a general case, if you weren't brain-dead while you were working on the field, in the kitchen, or whatever, and can speak or write articulately, your experience should help.

Yeah, that's hard to find in places like the US, isn't it?

I'm sympathetic to your views, Jennifer, but I think I share them only partly, because if we take them to a logical conclusion, that would mean that anyone writing political criticism would have had to have worked for a political campaign or something, and I don't believe that, so I guess that, in theory, I also don't think it's absolutely necessary for restaurant critics to have had experience other than as a writer and discerning customer in order for their views to be of some use. But I think there's another thread somewhere where we talked about the qualifications for being a restaurant critic vs. other types of criticism. (I can't remember the name of the other thread.)

In an impromptu celebration of Chinese New Years, I walked through Chinatown on the way to J&R to get a new mouse, but when it started to rain again, I went home instead of going for dinner in Chinatown. I got delivery of Hunan Chicken and Sauteed Broad Beans with Sour Cabbage from Grand Sichuan St. Marks. Excellent dinner, though I should try to remember to have them hold the green peppers in the Hunan Chicken next time (my stomach is pretty intolerant to green peppers, so I removed them from the dish).

Good thread, cru! The parsnip soup amuse at Hearth was fantastic! For cheaper soups, I enjoy several of the offerings at Teresa's, such as the Cold Borsht, Ukranian Borsht, Chicken Soup, and Tripe Soup. For Shanghainese noodle soups, I like to go to Yeah Shanghai. If congee counts as a soup, Congee Village has good ones.

I enjoyed your report, elicious. But I'm curious where you read that Hearth's prices are "extremely high." Cheap eats it isn't, but in a city with restaurants charging hundreds of dollars for dinner, like Masa, I don't think one could call a ~$60 dinner "very expensive." And it seems like we agree that the price is fair for the quality they're putting out.

What is kosher "shrimp" and "crab" made out of?

Asking for the food to be made spicy at Sentosa produced no result for me last time (or, to be precise, dishes that seemed to have absolutely no chili in them whatsoever), so I haven't been back. Malaysian restaurants in New York and most of the Malaysian restaurants in the US are really Chinese-Malaysian restaurants that serve food that for the most part is often cooked by Chinese restaurants in Malaysia and eaten by Chinese Malaysians. And that includes non-Chinese dishes like Kangkung Belacan and Roti Canai.

A show of hands: Did anyone really, truly, say to their mother, "Oh yeah? Name one!" when she told them this? ← My mother once put her leftovers in an envelope for the starving people in Europe. I think I mentioned this before in a similar thread.

RLR, I can't resist asking whether Sentosa made the food properly chili-laden for you or watered it down. Gong Xi Fa Cai, everyone!

What products do you miss most when you're away from Southeast Asia? And who makes the best x, y, and z products? Naturally, the second question wouldn't apply to fresh fruits or foods made to order in restaurants, stalls, or coffee shops, but it might apply to prepared products like, for example, belacan/terasi, fish sauce, dried anchovies, and various kinds of snack foods. I realize that some of these questions have been addressed piecemeal in other threads, but I think this thread will be useful as a single place to share information on some good products.

I think there's only so much one can expect of individual customers. If a majority in a given jurisdiction believes in more equitable pay, they can choose more equitable ways to distribute that pay, as well. I recall that in Alaska, every resident got (still gets?) a payment from the state government that was not called "welfare," but their personal share of the oil profits, for example. But as you can see, this kind of discussion goes way beyond food-related topics and gets into more general questions of socio-political economic views and policies. So getting back to the topic, I don't think that if most customers knew about the disparity in pay between their waiters and the cooks on the line, they'd want to pay more in order to tip the kitchen, nor do I think it would improve things if waiters were thereby tipped a lower percentage in order for customers to tip the kitchen. Do you honestly believe that customers want to pay more to dine out? Isn't that like arguing that Americans would rather pay more to "buy American" (Canadians would rather "buy Canadian," etc.) instead of buying things made cheaply in sweatshops in China, Mexico, and so forth? How well has that turned out? (For the record, I don't think that it's workers' "fault" when they are badly paid, but neither is it customers' fault.)

Sounds like eating in NYC's Chinatown ---- have a great dinner, then cross the street into Little Italy for a fab dessert! ← If you know great dessert places in Little Italy, please post about them in the New York forum. I don't know of any.

Well, my parents have non-stick pans and the non-stick surface gradually came off. Would you argue that the bits of non-stick surface we obviously ate were good for us? And if the surface comes off so easily, do you really believe that "proper use" is unlikely to have any effect on people? Only if it's really inert, I think.

Klary, what's sambal brandal? A Dutch name for sambal belacan/terasi (shrimp paste with hot pepper), perhaps?

I'd rather have some food available for gathering, whereupon I suggest to you that the farmworkers who picked the food are the most valuable and underpaid workers in the food chain. But that's the way it is. As you know, the pay of workers is regulated by the laws of supply and demand, absent union contracts or well-enforced laws on minimum wages and so forth.

I'd make a different argument, which is that there is no important reason for some new technologies. Instead of a non-stick pan, use a little oil. A little oil won't hurt you.

BanjoDan, I merged this thread with a couple of older threads which might have some relevant ideas for you. I'm not sure where St. Anne's Warehouse is, but the place I immediately think of (though it's actually past the Brooklyn Bridge Overpass, so not actually in DUMBO) that's fancy and has good food is the River Cafe. I don't know if you're looking for a jacket-and-tie place, though, or how much you want to pay. I also haven't been to River Cafe for about 2 1/2 years or so, but nothing others have said has led me to believe that the quality of the food on offer there has deteriorated. For a cheaper option, you may want to consider Grimaldi's for pizza, but it's not fancy.

Sara, you've been the most down-to-earth and gracious guest I think we've ever had for a Q&A. It's been a blast having you here, and like the others, I hope you'll check back from time to time as your schedule allows. You're always welcome here.

What's in that dessert, Melange? vkn, that carrot halwa looks great! When it's really well-made, that's one of my favorite desserts. Awesome work, everyone; I'm just continually amazed by the beauty and allure of all the desserts displayed in this thread!

Well, for excellent Korean, you don't actually have to leave Manhattan, though there's great stuff in Flushing, and Northern New Jersey folks like Jason will tell you that restaurants across the Hudson blow away anything on these offshore islands. But you can start here: THE BEST: Manhattan Korean If you want to go to Little Korea right away, Han Bat may be a good place for you to start. As I wrote in the first post of the Han Bat thread: They have really good bibimbap, and your waiter/waitress will probably show you how to mix it if you've never had it before. I'll also mention that I had an excellent meal at Seoul Garden less than two months ago and look forward to exploring more of their extensive menu in repeated return visits. Some of the other cuisines you're looking for are harder to find in New York, though we do have a "THE BEST: Vietnamese" thread (and also, by way of contrast, an "Is New York Vietnamese any good?" thread), but one of the best cheap meals I've ever had in New York was a banh mi from Banh Mi Saigon Bakery on Mott St. between Grand and Hester.

We actually have a thread on this topic: Favorite defunct restaurants As a child, I loved Foo Joy on Division St., enjoyed Gitlitz on 77th St. and Broadway, and also liked two Chinese restaurants on the Upper West Side: Chun Cha Foo, a "Mandarin" restaurant between 91st and 92nd on Broadway, and a restaurant whose name I can't remember that served Sichuan-style food and was located on the 2nd floor of the block-long building between 109th and 110th Sts. on Broadway. I also used to like a Manchurian hotpot place right on Chatham Square in or near the current location of Goody's on East Broadway. Much more recently, it was a shame that the really cheap, good pierogies at Leshko's gave way to the more fashionable sceney places whose presence is dictated by rising commercial rents in the East Village. (Of course, the increasing safety and relative wealth in the East Village has also caused many positive developments in dining in the neighborhood, but that's another topic.)