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The appearance of those beautiful gevulde koeken reminds me of really good Chinese coconut custard cakes (I forget the Cantonese name for them). I wonder whether the Chinese cakes have a common ancestor with these.

Eid el Fitri (various spellings), the celebration of the end of Ramadan, has a lot of foods associated with it. I don't know if we already have threads on Eid; I suppose we do, but I'm not sure how to search for them effectively, as "Eid" is a 3-letter word and thereby not searchable using the site search. If anyone could post a link, that would be great.

There's a new Sri Lankan place in my neighborhood. I walked in and it smelled like mothballs. I beat a hasty retreat. After first claiming I was smelling the "smell of curry," they claimed it was the fragrance they use. Whatever.

Thanks for the complete list of restaurants. I find some of the listings very surprising, if not perhaps bizarre. But where are the bibs gourmands?

For those who don't frequent the area around the United Nations headquarters, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is on 47th St. between 1st and 2nd Avs. K, you don't talk too much. The way you talk (and write) is part of what makes you so charming and funny (in a good way). Enjoy!

I don't think that restaurants in France are awarded one star based solely on food. There has to be some level of formality, and there also has to be a decent wine list. I haven't checked, but do any brasseries in Paris get a star? I don't think so, but I think some are listed without stars.

If that was their main goal, why didn't they give out fewer 3-star ratings?

The reason all rating systems are flawed is that none of them will fully coincide with any individual's own personal rating system or experiences. Of course, some are more flawed than others, and that has something to do with both the methodology used and the criteria the raters used vs. your own criteria.

Courtesy of www.superpages.com: Felidia Ristorante Inc 243 East 58th Street, New York, NY 10022 (212) 758-1479

Doc, that just goes to show that organic and small-scale are not synonymous, but adjectives referring to different parameters.

Point well taken, Dryden.

Can you think of any similarly non-luxe restaurants in any other place that have gotten a star from Michelin? I tend to think that luxury is too important to their set of criteria for such an informal place to ever get a star, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I want to know which restaurants got bibs gourmands from Michelin and which are listed without stars.

Daniel, you sure have been doing a lot of cooking! What kind of chop, pork?

Maggie, I was wonderful whether something had happened to you. Take care of yourself. Have plenty of tea, etc.

What I love about these interviews is how vividly Chef Santamaria's personality, philosophy, and passion come through. He seems like a warm and generous man, and also really intelligent and with lots of business smarts. I was struck by his discussion of the likely impact on Barcelona of changes in flight paths and the time frame that he expects those changes to happen.

I haven't known anyone who's made the fish sauce themselves, but it's exciting to see a Hmong girl here. Welcome, and I hope you post about Hmong food.

Kristin, do Japanese people use plum sauce much? I know that plums have historically been greatly appreciated in Japan; beautiful plum trees appear often in paintings by masters from various historical periods.

That really looks great, and I love the idea of lean spareribs! Spareribs are so often incredibly fatty.

Saburi seems to be too new to be on menupages.com or citysearch.com. Could you please tell us what prices are like there?

Indonesia is a huge country with tremendous regional variation. There has been immigration from many parts of Indonesia to Malaysia, which is one of the reasons that various Indonesian dishes are available in Malaysia, but there's even more Indonesian stuff you won't find easily -- or at all -- in Malaysia. As for Singapore, with all the prickliness of Malaysian-Singaporean rivalries, it may be hazardous to express an opinion, but I think on this mostly non-trash-talking site, we'll probably get agreement that the differences between Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine are more analogous to regional variations within the Malay Peninsula than the difference between food in Selangor and West Papua. Keep in mind that the border between Malaysia and Singapore is easily traversable by a causeway and a bridge, so it's hard to imagine that there's little similarity between chili crabs, for example, on both sides.

Intermediate steps are great! But most importantly, did you feel better after eating the soup?

I just thought of one: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but doesn't Charlie get stuck in the works? So not for really young kids.

gaf, you consider Gramercy Tavern mid-priced? If so, I guess that shows that it's really all a matter of perspective. Mid-priced to me is more like $40-60/person. But I suppose there's no point in debating that question, just as debating the meaning of "middle class" in some other forum wouldn't be likely to produce much of a consensus (among Americans, anyway).

I realize this is a side issue in this thread, but I usually took a couple of small cans or cartons of apple or orange juice to 1st and 2nd grades and also drank Hawaiian Punch, otherwise known by many as "bug juice." And that was in the early 70s.

Warning: The chilaquiles are a way bigger portion than the regular items, like 2 1/2 times as much, so keep that in mind. Yes, they're really good.