Pan

Joes? Dipaola's? Where are these places?

Welcome, Chef! How about a major existential question -- or two? What do you like best about your job, and what do you like least about it?

All sources are fair in the search for knowledge.

Green mangoes must not grow in the part of Malaysia I used to live in. Where do they grow, other than China? Does anyone have a botanical name or any other alternate names? How do they taste when they're ripe and fresh?

touregsand, where I've been, the dish you're thinking of is called aushak, but a web search on "aush +recipe" immediately turns up a main dish like you described but also including pulses (see here, but be warned about the possibility that you will be assaulted by very annoying ads). Aush, in my experience, is a very black-peppery soup with noodles, yogurt, and several kinds of bean. Here's a soup recipe which came up second in my search, however.

Nope. I'll price it next time I see it.

Emma, did the coffee get better again after that? Fat Guy, when I saw the title of this thread, the first word I thought of was "Gitlitz." That delicatessen, on Broadway near 77 St., made pastrami that made #3 in New York Magazine's list of good and bad pastrami places in New York back in the 70s. I wasn't much of a pastrami eater in those days, but I always enjoyed my family outings there.

It's frustrating if I can't trust that US product labeling laws are being complied with when products are imported to the US. Then again, I noticed some products with only Chinese writing on them, so... My other buys were some red dates (dried jujubes) and Ting Ting Jahe ginger candy. The jujubes were ostensibly "without stone" but had some complete and partial stones, anyway. I expect that, though, and it doesn't bother me. I think that jujubes and sugar really were the only ingredients in that box.

Wow, your customers are real wimps! Even a little chili turns them off?

I tried a new flavor tonight: Triple Chocolate. It was excellent, a must for chocolate lovers. The three types of chocolate are chocolate fudge swirl, truffle pieces (yum!) and cocoa. You can read about this flavor and see the ingredients here.

Besides, to realize just how much of what many of us call recent history the current generation doesn't know, you probably have to be a teacher.

Hi, everybody. Yesterday, I bought various things at a Chinese supermarket in Flushing, New York. One of them is called "Dried Green Mango." It's very green and has lots of granulated white sugar on it. The ingredients listed on the back are mango and sugar only. It's Mei Yuan brand from Taipei, Taiwan. Here's a picture: What is it? Is it a variety of mango? Is it unripe? Is it green mango peel? Is there unadmitted food coloring in it? It doesn't taste like sweet ripe mango, but I like it and would consider getting it again.

The art on display usually isn't to my taste, but the paintings that are currently hung are at least funny. My favorite joke is the painting with the black-with-white-spots man and the dalmation.

I've always liked marrow, but I don't crack open chicken bones for marrow unless they're fully cooked (no raw blood taste) and high-quality chickens that haven't been fed cod liver oil. [Yuck! ]

I sure don't know, but I'll be interested in whatever response you get. When I was living out in Stony Brook and Setauket (1989-92), I did a lot of cooking (and then I moved back to Manhattan for my last two years of school). There was a pretty good Italian restaurant across from the train station and a bit west, but it was kind of expensive. Other than that, I sort of vaguely remember an acceptable Chinese restaurant in the little strip mall with the Finast and King Kullen in East Setauket, and another acceptable one at the Smith Haven Mall. But all we're talking about is solid Chinese takeout places with tear-off paper menus with checkoff boxes. I'm really drawing a blank on anyplace else I knew personally that was even vaguely worth mentioning, though I was limited by not having a car. Mirabelle in St. James was (and I think still is) the famous French haute cuisine place in the area, but I didn't have the kind of money to ever have a meal there while I was on a student's stipend. And I can't offhand remember anyplace in Port Jefferson except for a fried fish/seafood place near the docks, which was just OK, if my vague memory is accurate. After recitals, I normally went into New York for the weekend in a car rented by my father and we would stop at Silver Pond in Flushing for a Cantonese dinner. I guess this is all fairly irrelevant information (seeing how old it is!), but at least a propos of the thread title. Good luck and enjoy ICON.

The last time I got delivery from Klong, I found it less than decent (distinctly old-tasting, tough shrimp), but that's beside the point. The reason I asked you the question I did is that I think good Thai food is slim pickings in Manhattan these days.

I don't know, but the vegan bakery near here sure doesn't use any sugar.

When were you in Nice? I really liked that place when I spent the summers of 1992 and 1993 in Nice as a student (actually, stagiaire de la flute traversiere). I had either a savory or a sweet crepe at least once a week, sometimes both, and enjoyed drinking some hard cider along with my order. I think "decent" is about right for Crooked Tree. I usually go there only between cycles at the laundromat around the corner. They make acceptable salads and, as you said, decent crepes. Nothing incredibly tasty, but the ingredients are, again, acceptable quality and the price is OK. Hearty food, but not worth a special trip.

Has anyone made parsley kimchi or some other kind of parsley pickles?

I went back to Col Legno for dinner tonight. I started with Spaghetti alla Fiaccheraia (described on menupages.com as Spaghetti served with a Fiery Sauce of Tomato, Onion, Pancetta, Peperoncini & Romano Cheese), which they gave me in a half-portion by request. I declined the offer of more cheese, as the amount of cheese was quite adequate. There was black pepper in the dish as well as the ingredients described above. I quite enjoyed it, though the pasta could have been a little more al dente. There was some sauce left over in the bowl after I finished my pasta, so people who prefer minimal amounts of sauce on their pasta may demur, but I happily scooped it up with bread. For a secondo, I tried their mixed grill for the first time. It's listed as Grigliata Misto (Mixed Grill of Chicken, Quail & Sausage, Dressed with Aromatic Herb-Infused Oils). I asked the waiter (who I've always felt doubled as the prioprietor, but I could be wrong) whether that wasn't a misspelling and whether it shouldn't be Grigliata Mista, but he seemed annoyed, so I was sorry I brought it up. Anyway, that's a lot of protein! It's a sausage, a whole quail, and a half a small chicken. Also on the plate were two slightly cooked broccoli spears and some fried roughly diced potatoes with skins on. I didn't love the potatoes, but they're not the point of the dish. The grilled things were delicious, and my only problem with them was that the quail was very hard to cut up. The chicken was grilled with rosemary and the quail with sage. I forget what herbs were in the sausage, but it was good. For those of you who like grilled poultry and sausage, do consider getting the mixed grill at Col Legno, regardless of how it's spelled on the menu. I had an iced Orange Pekoe Tea (the waiter said they had no iced tea but did cooperate by bringing one and, when needed, two glasses of ice for me to pour the hot tea into) with the meal and my check was $29.40 exactly, I believe.

I'm replying to my own post to note that La Tacita went out of business a few months ago. How long has Terrace in the Sky been in business?

Daniel, what other Thai restaurants in Manhattan do you consider decent, by way of comparison?

My experience as a youngster in rural Malaysia directly contradicts that assertion. Then again, they never just deepfried chicken. It was usually cooked in a curry.

Yeah, that's about right. I'd complain about an amuse bouche if it were truly awful (rotten, etc.), but that's never happened to me. The thing I like about amuses bouche, extra desserts, and intermezzi is that I get a chance to experience the invention of the chef (and pastry chef) in dishes that I wouldn't have known to order, but these are little tastes and don't create much of a problem in terms of eating too much (well, sometimes, I do find more stomach space for them ). Is it possible that Cuozzo is a bit jaded? It would be great if he would post here and tell us whether he is near the end of his time as a restaurant critic or needs to take a break from it. I've enjoyed his reviews, though.

Panang curry works well with tofu, so I wouldn't object to a good rendition of that as a main dish anytime. Along with South Indian vegetarian food, this sounds like about the best kind of vegetarian meal you can have. Plus, you're getting your protein in that dish. Some people just love to hate tofu, though.