Pan

Between Mosco and Chatham Square, if I remember correctly. I'll try to make note of the place's name next time I'm down there.

We have some new members now. Anyone want to nominate more places in this category?

Any notable new kosher places? Have any of you tried the new kosher Chinese vegetarian restaurant on Mott St.?

Thanks for that great post, WBC. I promise not to tell anyone. And here's their website.

John, good inspections also take money, let's not forget that.

That's arguably a political issue, though. If you were living in Canada or Europe or some other place where you didn't have to pay for your own medical insurance, would you feel differently about this?

Gosh, if you're including that, why not Tang while you're at it?

Bux, I think that if something were really dangerous for half the population, that would be a good reason to ban or at least severely limit access to it. At a certain point, one reaches a percentage where overall public health is seriously affected.

Am I right in figuring that Babbo is your standard for "not too expensive"? Give us some figures to deal with. If Babbo prices are OK, look into the Danny Meyer restaurants for American cuisine. Have you looked here yet? "THE BEST" of New York threads Fourth-to-last line of links in that thread: NYC Pizza Favorites, The best? (See also the NYC Pizza Survey) Click on NYC Pizza Survey and NYC Pizza Favorites. Then decide what appeals to you. Note that there are great pictures of pizza in the NYC Pizza Survey thread. Reservations are hard to come by. If you can't get into Babbo, consider Lupa. If you can't get into either, consider some non-Batali Italian restaurants like L'Impero. Go to Katz's. That's touristy, too, but so what? Touristy and great aren't always mutually exclusive. Get a pastrami on rye, don't ask for mayo (mustard is traditional if you like it; I have it plain), and don't forget to tip your counterman at least $1 per sandwich (unless you sit where there's waiter service). You can get half-sandwiches, too. Don't go on a weekend if you can help it; it'll be less crowded on weekdays. The big buzz lately has been the early days of The Modern at MOMA. That's probably more than you want to spend, but it's getting rave reviews from eGullet members. If you want to save money, walk west to 9th Av. Lots of good values around there. Au contraire, you're not giving us enough information! There are loads of restaurants near Central Park and in Soho. In particular, Central Park is a big place! Which part of the park do you plan on being near?

Oh well. That would have been my suggestion. One of my cousins used to be so late that we'd tell her a time an hour before we wanted her to show up. She's much more punctual now. I also did this with an former girlfriend -- told her to show up 30 minutes early for a reservation. Unfortunately, she did, and was left cooling her heels for 20 minutes until I showed up. She was upset but realized she had brought on my behavior, pledged to never show up late again, and has had a good track record from then on. She sometimes shows up later than we planned, but never when a reservation is involved, and always calls ahead. I think my suggestion would be that, if the relatives have caught on that you're telling them a time 15 minutes before the reservation, make it 30 minutes early. Seriously. I think 15 minutes late in many situations isn't horrible, but it is enough to be annoying when it's habitual.

I don't think anyone is suggesting you have to tip 25%. Precisely. Don't take out feelings of poverty on the waitstaff. You answered your own question above: If you believe you can't afford to tip that order, don't order those drinks. Waiters also put forth approximately the same effort in taking an order for a $30 entree as for a $7 entree, don't they? How about giving waitstaff a flat tip of $5, regardless of the price of what they bring for you? Nope, that's not the way it's done.

Bay scallops too, right?

Carp are very tasty to eat! The Chinese also like them. Try having a big one steamed with soy sauce, ginger, scallions, and cilantro. Yum!

Let us know what you think of it if you do go. What's the cross street?

In the summer of 2002, when my family's priority was to visit Burgundy and the Loire Valley, we picked up our rented car the morning we left Paris, drove it out of Paris to Auxerre, and then returned the car when we drove back to Paris from Angers (with stops in Le Mans and Chartres) about two weeks later. We did not use a car during the week or so we spent in Paris, and were glad about that. All those one-way streets are hard for an out-of-towner to get a handle on, somewhat as is the case in Rome, and the traffic was very bad on the way out. I liked Orleans very much and ate well there, but not at a starred level. It's also commutable by TGV from Paris, but I agree with the others: If you're in Paris for a week, stay in Paris. If you want to take day trips, make them short trips, such as to visit Versailles via the RER, or Chartres via the SNCF. These are trips of an hour or less. About the longest day trip I'd recommend is to Chantilly. Disclaimer: I normally choose what I want to see and then check out places to eat that are more or less convenient to those sights; I do not make purely gastronomical major trips.

Other notable American ingredients would include Maine lobster, Northwest/Alaska wild salmon, wild rice, the aforementioned crawfish, and Gulf shrimp. Cinammon is most definitely not native to the US, but instead, to India and Sri Lanka, and also has long been grown in Indonesia! See here.

Some will argue for Southwestern cuisine, but I haven't been to the Southwest and haven't had any really great Southwestern food in the parts of the country I've been to, so to me, the best American cuisine is Louisiana-style (Cajun and Creole). Great dishes? Jambalaya, crawfish etoufee, and shrimp creole come to mind, and in addition to pecan pie for dessert, add sweet potato pie, mud pie, and shoo-fly pie. For a good all-American dessert, apple pie.

I think it's definitely wrong to subtract the cost of drinks before calculating the tip. I understand the argument in favor of subtraction but disagree with it. If the reason for drink markups is so the restaurant can make a higher profit, the servers should share in that profit.

Well... I'm not sure I entirely agree that it's a matter of degree rather than kind. IMO, Di Fara is fundamentally "NYC slice shop pizza" elevated to the Nth degree. As such, it's fundamentally about the toppings rather than the crust. That said, I would agree that, within the context of pizza that is fundamentally about the toppings, he doesn't pile on the ingredients. Within the context of pizza that is fundamentally about the crust (e.g., compared to Franny's or Patsy's) it is a bit "piled on," though. ← I find nothing to disagree with here. I didn't say it was a matter of degree rather than kind.

Also called "coconut water."

By all means, dig 'em out.

Interesting report, Todd. It sounds like you've been to Vienna. I have not (unless going from one train station to another on the way from Italy to Hungary counts, and I don't think it does). I take it Asian-influenced fusion cuisine is uncommon in Viennese cafes nowadays? The reason I ask is that the way someone who hasn't been to a place or has been there but not recently thinks about the food there may be different from how it is now. I used to find it odd that Malaysian restaurants in New York were serving Tom Yam soup, which is a typical Thai soup. Tom Yam soup was never considered part of Malaysian cuisine in the 1970s, but now, it's served all over the place in Malaysia, so Malaysian restaurants in foreign countries have followed suit.

Right, Sam, but DiFara's hardly piles their toppings to the sky. We're talking about a matter of degree as much as kind, I think.

Pan, No fermentation at all, in fact very fresh buffalo milk is preferred because it has to undergo a long period of reduction/boiling. Did you find the yogurty taste in a plain or flavoured kulfi? ← Pista, mango, etc. I guess it's just very rich milk.

I believe that's candied (sweet preserved) waterchestnut slices. I like those.