Pan

Yeah, that's way beyond a run-of-the-mill article, very well-written. Congrats, jbonne, and good move getting some comments from Mr. Cutlets for the pastrami feature.

Wow, it's over already? A couple of questions: (1) How did you pick the places you hit, or rather, how many of them did you know something about before you went in, and how? (2) Can you imagine spending more time in some of the places you particularly liked (like Wisconsin) on another trip? I'm already looking forward to reading your reports on Road Trip IV!

Hey, the garlic is good for your health, and the olive oil isn't bad. You might need more roughage though...

Not a joke, just a lighthearted jab. I have actively disliked "American cheese product" for as long as I can remember. But there's no accounting for taste.

I'm going to suggest collard greens as a side and sweet potato pie as a dessert, but hey, it's up to you.

[...] Is that "American Cheese Product"? Just a little ribbing. Carry on!

Get used to these bans. One place after another is putting them into effect, whereas I know of no place that repealed such a ban. I will withhold further comment, because I think that previous threads arguing pro and con on bans in New York and various other places have covered all that ground, and the only thing that's changed since then is that time has passed and more and more places are proposing and instituting these bans. Meanwhile, people still go to bars and restaurants in droves.

Scoats, I don't think you ever got back to us on how your trip to New York was and where you went.

Spaghetti are a variety of noodles, aren't they? ← Spaghetti is spaghetti and noodles are noodles. ← Explain. Spaghetti are one of the varieties of pasta that are in a noodle shapes. I find "spaghetti noodles" redundant, but more or less in the same way I find "pumpernickel bread" redundant -- probably simply because I know what these things are in one word and don't need a more general term to follow. Spaghetti and linguine are two different types of noodles. Keep in mind, too, that Italian pasta is commonly used in non-Italian food, including Chinese noodle soups. Have you gone to Chou Zhou restaurants where you're asked if you want "rice noodles or spaghetti noodles"? Alright, I usually am asked "You want rice noodle or egg noodle?", but in neither case do I find the question in any way bothersome.

I think the closest idiomatic translation of itadakimasu into English (!) would be "bon appetit"! But whereas "bon appetit" is a common thing to wish your dining partners before a meal, there is no similarly universal idiomatic expression functionally equivalent to gochisousama, so I think your translation of that is best.

Spaghetti are a variety of noodles, aren't they?

Or it could be black tea with cinnamon or cinnamon sugar.

That was very eloquent, and I hope you'll pardon me for not responding in kind. The same things that bother you bother me (except for "forte," which I pronounce "FOR-tay" without a real "y" sound [quite similar to how I pronounce it in Italian], whether I'm using the musical meaning or not), but let's keep in mind that beef and veal come from boeuf and veau or common ancestors thereof and that we English speakers don't generally form the "z" in "zucchini" with a "ts" sound. "With au jus" bugs me because it's so unnecessary and also because, until I saw threads like that, I might have wondered whether "with au jus" stood for "with orange juice" (I'm guessing that the "s" in "jus" is often pronounced by English-speakers). Isn't "gravy" a perfectly good English word? But that's not the way language works. Usage changes over time and thus is language shaped and reshaped.

As browniebaker pointed out, in "bonne" and "bonnes," there is a hard "n," not a nasal "n" as in "bon" and "bons." I hear the vowel as an "o" sound, not an "uh" or "ah" sound, but not an "o-w" sound. There is no exact equivalent in my accent/dialect of English. It's sort of half between "bone" and "bun" to me. Then again, I am no native speaker of French.

Thanks, I'll get on it. Of course, if this does happen, I'll eventually report back on how it was.

Bon (Rhymes with Don ) BOOSH ← Don is pronounced "Dahn" where I come from. "Bon" uses an "o" sound followed by a nasal "n" rather than a "w" sound. ← Bonnes is pronounced "bun." The entire phrase is pronounced "bun BOOSH." ← Oh, I got confused about the gender/number: "bon" vs. "bonnes." "Bonne(s)" is pretty close to "bun," at least in some parts of France. (Based on my experience with the Nicois accent, I'd expect them to pronounce that word with two noticeable syllables...)

Varmint, I'm really loving your pictures! I know it sounds trite, but I really do almost feel like I was there, too. I can empathize with the obvious enjoyment on your children's faces.

We should add cafe con leche. These expressions all have the same literal meaning. I'm not a coffee drinker and therefore not an expert in the differences between versions of coffee with milk, but one might consider the fact that bread, pain, pane, and pan also have the same literal meaning, but everyday bread isn't the same in the U.S., France, Italy, and Spain, for example.

mea culpa! so should i say "cafe latte", or what is the right thing to say? milagai ← Yes. "Caffe latte" literally means "coffee [with] milk." "Latte" simply means "milk," and that's what you'd get if you ordered "latte" in an Italian bar. (Bars in Italy are places to get both soft and hard drinks plus panini, croissants, etc.)

Yeah, I had to zoom in once. The menu looks terrific for both lunch and dinner, and it doesn't price me out. Any advice on how far in advance I'd probably need to reserve a table?

I hope you can also get some comfort from knowing that you're doing the right thing. I also hope you will be able to open in September as you desire.

Bon (Rhymes with Don ) BOOSH ← Don is pronounced "Dahn" where I come from. "Bon" uses an "o" sound followed by a nasal "n" rather than a "w" sound.

What adventures you have! I look forward to the next installment.

I think it is more likely that we already have a word for tea - that being tea. When 'chai' was introduced big time into the US market (through Coffee Beanery, Starbucks, and the like) it was masala chai. However, there being no other chais around that the average consumer would no about, and the marketing people probably wanting to make it easy to remember, and not sound too foreign, most likely just shortened to plain old chai.[...] ← Same with "latte," another one that annoys me and doubtless doesn't bug you at all.

All that information and all those links are much appreciated! I'm particularly intrigued by Indigo Grill, as it serves a kind of food I don't think I can get in New York. It's a little pricey by my standards, though it looks possible to get dinner there for $35-40 total (but also $50 or more). But more importantly, how good is it? Does a dish like "Pumpkin & Sesame Seed Crusted Brie on a fresh corn tortilla with mole negro, honey roasted garlic & grana-scallion flatbread with serrano jelly" work? If it does, I will keep the place in the front of my mind for my trip.