Pan

Of course not! Some of us are New Yorkers.

What advice do you have for making tasty food that's low in potassium, sodium, phospherous, and water content (e.g., eating thick soups from time to time is OK, but no thin soups)? This is for a loved one who has always enjoyed delicious food and has so far found that the advice of nutritionists tends to be directed toward a very bland and boring diet that some Americans like, but he doesn't. Phospherous can be covered some with a pill called "Phoslo" which binds with phospherous, but there's no pill that binds with potassium, so the overall consumption of that nutrient really has to be low (i.e., a combination of foods heavily weighted toward low-potassium items, with moderate amounts of moderate-potassium foodstuffs and low amounts of high-potassium things). The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference is a really useful site for finding out the amounts of nutrients in foodstuffs. Reports on foodstuffs covering only one nutrient can also be found here (warning: PDF file downloads). As an example, the PDF on potassium shows that orange juice, grapefruit juice, white beans, dates, raisins, and baked potatoes are very high in potassium, while white rice, lettuce, and carrots are among the items very low in potassium. (One does have to watch out for differences in the "common measure" given for different items in the PDFs.) I look forward to all the wondrous creations I'm sure you'll come up with!

Whoa! You put HOW much butter in those cookies, Lorna? They look -- well, let's just say I'm glad looking at them is no-cal, because I'd love to eat them all up!

Hey, not ALL East Coast cities are walking cities, Mademoiselle Canard. I've moved to Englishtown in NJ this past year, and I MISS South Beach SO MUCH! The only thing I can do here without my car is eat mediocre ice cream, semi decent Asian, or go through the local junk shop.[...] ← For all of you who, like me, had never heard of Englishtown in your lives, feel free to look here: http://www.idcide.com/citydata/nj/englishtown.htm And a relevant quote to show that this is not the kind of community most of you would think of when using the word "city": In New Jersey, a community with a population of 1,764 can be officially designated as a "city," but that doesn't mean that most people are thinking about such small towns when they use that word. I'm sorry but not surprised that there is little variety of good food there, given the observations many people made on the "Small Town Dining -- Spare Me, Why France is better than America" thread.

I had occasion to be in Chelsea at suppertime tonight, so I went to the 24th St./9th Av. location. The menu has changed since the last time I was there. I don't see the dishes for the Prodigal Daughter, but there is a page of "Specials" on something like the 3rd-to-last page of the menu. I ordered one of these specials: Squid with Sour String Beans. It was terrific. The string beans were cut very small, and they were crunchy but tasted pickled, or at least marinated in vinegar. There was more vegetable matter than squid, but that really didn't bother me. Only people who like very spicy food should order this dish, because you cannot avoid eating the many little bits of dried red pepper mixed in with the string beans -- but I like hot food. Also in evidence was a much smaller amount of Sichuan pepper. Some of the pieces of squid had notochords (?) that were too tough to chew up, but again, I really didn't care much. Try this dish; it tastes great!

You don't want to go to any Malaysian restaurants in New York. Do you mean the Malaysian restaurants here in NYC suck? ← Let's put it this way: I've never been to one in New York that was better than "boleh tahan" (so-so) at best, by comparison with an average-quality stall in KL. Yesterday, I had a meal at Oversea, on Canal near Orchard, and it was fine (=boleh tahan), so if they do it again next time, maybe that'll be a new (to me) contender. I wonder if their ownership knows the great Oversea chain in the KL area....But if we are to discuss this tangent in more depth, we should reconvene in the New York forum.

Interesting....does this include the Inwood park area or is that further north?[...] ← Columbia University's main campus centers on 116 St. between Broadway and Amsterdam. Dyckmann St. is about 5 miles north of there! I figure if money is really no object, you can hire a driver or a limo to take you to wherever you want to go and choose your dwelling based purely on aesthetic considerations... I think if I had unlimited funds, I might choose to live in a beautiful brownstone in the West Village.

The Sichuan restaurants I've been to in New York all use whole Sichuan peppers. And unlike some of the rest of you, I happen to like them.

Some of you may also want to try out the instructions in the Beef Noodle Soup, Niu Rou Mian thread in the China forum.

There are also all sorts of varieties of laksa, as you can see in the laksa thread.

I think it's a big mistake to bring in New York Times music reviews as a contrast with food reviews. The space allotted to music coverage -- and the music listings -- has been drastically reduced over the years, especially recently. There was a time when debut recitals at Weill Recital Hall were regularly reviewed in the Times. Nowadays, it seems that only those series which advertize in the Times (Young Concert Artists, Concert Artists Guild, et al.) get reviewed. Ever. There have been lots of newsworthy debut recitals by Artists International winners in the past decade or so (including yours truly, in 1996), with significant world or New York premieres, but I feel safe in saying that none were reviewed in the Times. And I don't mean by the main reviewer; I mean by anyone. (Note that Artists International never advertizes in the Times, but also that there are more performers in their season than in YCA's or CAG's.) Furthermore, whereas I used to be able to get any concert I was playing listed in the Times, since they didn't list me the last time I sent them a press release, I've given up on them (perhaps a mistake, but I doubt it). So yes, at least in terms of classical music performances, the Times is covering big names and series that advertize in their music pages almost exclusively. That is, unless things have suddenly changed while I've been mostly ignoring their music reviews. Now, in terms of the point about the Hell's Kitchen Grand Sichuan meriting a star, I agree, though I'd sooner give a star or two to Spicy & Tasty in Flushing. I don't think Spicy & Tasty has a wine list, but they do have excellent, classy decor for those who think that's necessary for "dining." I don't, but I do like looking at their copies of ancient Chinese stone figures and such. cru, I think that we should accept that different people have different views as to what "dining" consists of. Your description of dining causes me to think of 3-to-4-star restaurants, not 1-to-2-star restaurants (though some would fit into your criteria). Although I have to wonder whether your criterion of "flatware" would exclude any Chinese or Japanese restaurant from ever being able to attain a star rating from you. Would you be willing to swap that for beautiful formal dishes and porcelain spoons?

Aha! Another example of regional differences! It's a fairly standard dish down these parts. The bits of bone-in pork chop are tenderised (lightly, hopefully) and battered or crumbed, and deep fried. Then they're heated or sauteed in a sweet-sour plum sauce with a touch of chilli. I think. How would you lacquer spare ribs? Don't you need to have skin on the meat to lacquer it? ← Dunno. You could marinate them with five-spice powder or something.

I won't actually put that up as my sig, because I respect you too much to show you up that way.

Ondine, what are Peking Spare Ribs? Are they laquered like Peking Duck, or are they cooked some other way?

Classic line, Daniel! I'm almost tempted to use it as a sig.

You might want to reconsider suggesting that your taste and opinion are "common sense," as it seems to imply that different opinions may lack sense. I happen to disagree with your point of view, "common sense" or not. I don't see why wine service is of importance in a Korean or Thai restaurant. I'd go further and say that I'd generally be less likely to enjoy food in a Korean or Thai restaurant that had a long wine list. Thai food is more likely to be served with beer, Korean food with soju, to take some examples (not to mention tea). My feeling is that a restaurant with a long wine list is trying to appeal to non-Asians. I'm a non-Asian but don't want watered-down Korean or Thai food. And I also see nothing wrong with a starred review for Sripraphai; though one star might have been more appropriate than two, I really wasn't much bothered by the star rating. Nothing, if that's what you want to do on your own time. But I don't think the New York Times has only Eurocentric people for an audience, and Eurocentrism, which is usually associated with some kind of prejudice against things non-European (such as a desire to square the round pegs of Thai or Korean dining into the circle of French formal service), is fortunately out of favor politically, at least in highly diverse cities like New York. And like it or not, it's predictable that New York will become increasingly Asian, Latin American, Caribbean, and African in the coming decades. (Depending on future events, a net emigration of Americans to Europe, rather than vice versa, would not surprise me. But that's a topic for another time and place...)

I agree with dockhl. You have to try TJ's stuff before you trash it. Not all chains are wretched refuse. I will definitely stop by this location and check out what they have to offer. When I've been in California, I've enjoyed some of their products. One thing is staying in my mind while I'm writing this: I was at a TJ's in some town not far from Sacramento whose name slips my mind, and was given a sample of a "Thai chicken salad." I wasn't expecting much, but it was actually quite good and, despite the addition of slivered almonds, tasted really Thai to me! I could have easily seen getting some of that and having it in sandwiches.

When I saw the teaser of food pics, I thought California, but I didn't guess it would be you. mizducky is a person of excellent taste, folks. Any Afghan food in your immediate future?

Off-topic, but I'm pretty familiar with Madrasi cuisine and recommended to my date that she order Madrasi food, but she preferred to order Navratan Kurma, and I was not about to order her around. I ordered Iddly, Meddhu Vadai, and an Utthapam (and OK, Mulligatawny, which is not a southern specialty). She had the mediocre experience, more because she disliked the specialties I ordered than for any other reason; I had a good experience. In Kuala Lumpur, the mamak vendor who made my breakfast most every day for a month or so stood outside the Pasar Chow Kit with his griddle, making roti canai or chapatti on it, depending on what the customer ordered. Yes, words can change meaning when fusion occurs.

I just realized that the fried flatbread I was thinking of as an alternative to roti canai was actually chapatti, not paratha. I've had roti telur and I think I've had roti sardin (if not, something similar), but I don't think I've had roti pisang. It's interesting that it can be savory. A thread was recently started about bananas in savory dishes. More on-topic, though, I now realize that what I had were mini murtabak, and that I should probably go to a southern Indian Muslim place if I want to increase my odds of getting a good murtabak. Would that be a Chettiar eatery? How do you recognize a _southern_ Indian Muslim place?

Apparently, only members can view threads on anothersubcontinent.com, but thanks for the link to the photos! The result does look something like a murtabak, but bigger. Paratha in Malaysia used to normally be unfilled and an alternative to roti canai (cooked on a griddle and topped with different sauces, to the taste of the customer). Is filled paratha in vogue in Malaysia nowadays?

So in that respect, Austin has you beat!

I think it's at least partly a tribute to the diverse origins of the worker-owners.

You linked to onigiri.blogspot.com, not to your own blogspot. I'm posting this in case others are as confused as I was. Also, did you go through all the steps Austin did? I see only three photos on your blog.

Well, my standby local diner, Teresa's, is Polish, and the dishes I find most interesting there are Ukranian borsht, tripe soup, roast duck with apples and prunes (though you're not guaranteed to get moist duck every time), and babka french toast. Ask me in a few weeks, and I might decide some other things are more interesting.