Pan

Ned, I agree that lime juice is the thing to add. I'm sure they grow limes in Vietnam, but do they grow lemons?

I had dinner at Bao tonight with two family members. I was still pretty full from a late lunch at Teresa's, so I mostly picked at the dishes the others ordered. I liked the food. We shared a papaya salad, which I found uncriticizable, with one major exception: The cilantro (I chewed one sprig) tasted weird, to the extent that I spat it out. But otherwise, I thought the salad had a perfect balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty/fishy (from fish sauce; the shrimps were fresh-tasting). I subsequently had a bite of a banh mi gai, which was quite nice though not as great as the one I had at Banh Mi Saigon Bakery. The chicken was nicely marinated and grilled. My mother got a shrimp main dish which was good but which I found very subtle; it didn't blow me away but was fine. The waterspinach with garlic was a good accompaniment. I thought it could have stood to have more garlic, but again, it was fine. We also shared a dessert, yuca flour waffles with coconut cream, something else that was syrupy (probably cane syrup?), and pieces of pineapple that had been in some kind of red berry sauce (strawberry sauce?). The dessert was very pleasant. Total bill including tea (with refill of water) and one Brooklyn Lager was some $56 plus tip. I think that's a fair price for the neighborhood. If I lived closer, I'd go from time to time. As it is, I am likely to have occasion to walk past the place for some more days and may try the pho next time. Service was good, the ambiance was pleasant (just a bit dark for my taste, but fine), and the place seems like a very solid neighborhood restaurant to me.

I wrote above that it was goat phaal. Actually, it was lamb. Yeah, I definitely believe that was the spiciest thing I ever ate in New York. The spiciest thing I ever ate was a chili - um, I mean goat curry at a wedding banquet in Malaysia. Wedding banquets usually had excellent food, but those cheap bastards used megadoses of chili to save money.

Normal beany goulash? That's not what I remember from eating gulyásleves in Budapest! Do you use beans in your goulash? What kind of beans? Beany soupy stuff sounds more like pörkölt to me. I just did a search to check where the accent went in "gulyásleves," and found some references that might be of passing interest to some of you: Wikipedia entry on Gulyásleves Wikipedia article on Goulash (someone might want to edit some of the spelling in this one)

Hate to be all Politically Correct and all; but, geez, when will people stop saying things in the new world were "discovered" by Europeans? Besides, it should be "West Indies" not "India". Chilies are a New World fruit, and were unknown in Asia or Europe until Columbus (and others) brought them back and started passing them around. ← You're quite right, of course. It was when people first came across chilis in the Americas that chilis were "first discovered," and that was obviously many thousands of years before Columbus showed up in Hispaniola. But who wants to mess up a good story about a trip to India.

That's good to hear, and I've changed the thread subtitle accordingly. I went to the place a few years ago, when it was further east and indeed two or three doors off 1st Av. I had goat phaal, and though I'm pretty much of a chilihead, that stuff was over the top. But it wasn't so much even the hot-pepperiness that got to me, but the fat. I was duly warned that the phaal was potentially dangerous to my well-being, and I finished perhaps 2/3 of my dish anyway, so the restaurant is not responsible for the fact that my stomach was upset all that night. Since the restaurant is approximately a block from my apartment, it would make sense for me to try the place again. But I won't get the phaal.

Great report, Vadouvan! (Though I like pictures, too, and would look forward to any post with pictures.) The menu looks exciting! One question: What does the "naturale" in "SEA URCHIN NATURALE" mean?

Hi, Zuke! I've enjoyed your posts on the Cooking board very much, but I've never read anything as reflective as this. I'm glad you agreed to be a blogger. I'm curious about which part of Russia your ancestors are from -- or was it just your neighbors when you were growing up who were of Russian German heritage?

Sue-On, what's dow cee? Yet another great pictorial, Ah Leung! And I love this dish.

Understood, but this is the New York forum. Feel free to start a thread about dessert menus in KC in the Heartland forum.

joiei, Kansas City is a little far from New York. Do Chikalicious' 3-course dessert prix fixes count?

Look here for the rest of the article: Chili out there? No, just hot

Pan, please carefully note that I said "more often than not." I did not say "always." ← Noted, but I clearly see the balance between corruption and benefit differently from you, and in any case, this is a much broader topic than can be contained in this thread or even this site. I will say this, though: Some regulations are pure red tape, but others have made things a lot safer for a lot of people. How one quantifies these things in relation to food probably depends as much on which regulations one has in mind as one's ideological biases (which we all probably have in some way or other). Also, deregulation...well, let's not talk about that, or this thread may spiral out of control. [biting my tongue, um, fingers, to prevent them from typing about a non-food-related instance of collossal corruption related to deregulation...]

We're in complete agreement, John. Indeed, both action and inaction carry a price, as you said. It's obviously best if good judgment is used, and flexibility is needed to deal with the unintended consequences of any action. Extremism on regulation ("No regulation!" or "Total regulation!") does not serve the public good. In the case under consideration in this thread, however, if there is no clear evidence that advertising to children actually causes changes in kid's eating habits, it seems questionable to restrict that. We know that the corporations buying the ads think those ads will cause people to buy their products, but that belief or hope on the part of the corporations and the ad agencies they hire constitutes tenuous evidence for the ads' actual effectiveness.

I live in New York, and I've seen how regulation has cleaned up the Hudson River so that it is now supposedly safe to fish in (though I still would not like to eat fish from the river). Even the Gowanus Canal, previously the paradigm of a toxic body of water (or rather, extremely stinky toxic chemicals in solution), is now fished. I don't think that's due to consumer buying habits. And I don't think that the Clean Water Act which helped clean up those bodies of water bred corruption rather than a solution (or, rather, fewer toxic chemicals in solution in our waterways). I'll take a blue, fishable Hudson River over the brown stench of my childhood any day. As you see, blanket condemnations of regulation take us way beyond the question of marketing to children...

That's a long walk if the trains aren't running. But in that case, enjoy!

Passage to India is in Harrisburg, however. Or was. Is it still there in the Quality Inn, and how's the food there lately?

Hardly a modest effort, Jamie. Thank you so much for taking out the time to share a bit of your world -- and your humor -- with us. I just have to find a reason to justify a pleasure trip to Vancouver...

In 2006, I will eat more vegetables. I will make more tea? I will find a new good felafel/shawarma place in my neighborhood (I hope). I will learn more about Korean food. I will teach music -- wait, this is a food site. I will read eGullet every day (I do already, though). This is the year I will try some restaurants in Astoria, Queens. I will taste some wine I've never had before. I will use chopsticks frequently (but I already do). I will give more money for disaster relief. I really should cook occasionally. Maybe I will, if I become part of a "we." My kids don't exist except in an alternate universe.

I think it's fine to expect a confirmation a day in advance, but two days in advance is too long. A lot of things can happen in the interim. I think it's very pretentious of them to start out with such a policy, when they just opened. Maybe Per Se or Alain Ducasse could get away with it, but a just-opened restaurant? P.S. If you want tips on photography and Photoshop, have a look through threads in the Technical Support forum. Thanks.

Daniel, I want some of that cod NOW! Klary, nice recovery. So glad to have you back, in one piece, and cooking beautiful dinners again.

In terms of the spread of meat roasted on skewers, that's widespread indeed, considering that the Peruvians have anticucho!

Now, just how cold was it in Vancouver this afternoon? Tell us about the crispy-looking thing to the right of the chestnut pocket. Was it just a sugar crisp or a cookie, or was it some kind of fruit chip? (The first thing I thought of, actually, was crystallized ginger, but I felt sure that in that case, you would have mentioned it.)

First thought: Good God! Second thought: Wow!

browniebaker, it seems to me that the choice comes down to what you want to do. If you want a romantic dinner without the kids, that's an issue independent of whether they would be out of place, wouldn't fully appreciate the cuisine or whatever. I don't think any of those issues are really relevant, based on what you've told us about your kids. (And do we have to revisit the ugly debate about whether children should disappear from places where some of you don't want to feel their presence?) Bottom line: If you want to take the kids, take them. It sounds like they'd have a blast. But if you want to have a romantic dinner with your husband, you don't need an excuse for that: Just hire a babysitter and deal with your kids' unhappiness. I knew that my parents sometimes went to adult parties (not that kind, you dirty-minded readers! ) and took it as normal that I'd be left with a babysitter in that situation. My parents hired very nice babysitters who played well with me, so I usually wasn't unhappy.