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What will you stuff the portabellos with?

Good point! I had forgotten about that. I do my best to avoid all bell peppers, and especially green ones. Do I hate the taste? Actually, no, but they are bad for my stomach. Hot peppers are OK for me, oddly enough.

Yep!

I appreciate the explanations. I'm actually familiar with kewra water, but didn't know or recognize the other spelling.

Some translation would be welcome. I feel like I just read something from a technical manual. Yes, I did fully understand the first two sentences (Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh is evidently a cookbook, probably in Urdu), but while you're expounding on jarakush, baobeer, and mitha ittr, how about also telling us what keora is. And while I know from Malay that laz(z)at is "delicious" (from Arabic), what is "taam"?

Steamed white rice. When I'm eating it by myself (which is at least 90+% of the time), I take some of the side dish with my chopsticks and use the rice container like the rice bowl in a restaurant (hold some of the side dish over the rice bowl some of the time and otherwise put some of the side dish in the rice and eat the side dish plus rice coated with the sauce from the side dish or whatever). Chopsticks most of the time, except that when I'm done eating the noodles and other stuff in a soup, I'll pick up the container and drink the remainder if I feel like (much as I'll do that with the soup bowl in a Chinese restaurant). I eat anything that's good, and particularly enjoy diced ginger and stir fried scallion and garlic pieces. If there are some canned mushrooms or other canned things that have that "can water" taste, I may not eat them. Also, while I make a greater or lesser dent in the hot pepper supply in Sichuan- and Hunan-style dishes, I seldom eat them all. In dishes with only a few hot peppers, I may finish those, too. Nope. But you knew I didn't think so, didn't you? A little of both. I have some favorite dishes at the local Grand Sichuan that I order repeatedly, but I do make some effort to try other items. My favorite place for takeout is my favorite Chinese restaurant in New York (actually in Flushing), Spicy & Tasty, where I ate in tonight. I usually take out from that restaurant only when I can't eat everything I ordered to eat there, or if I'm taking stuff up to my folks'. They find some of the food there too spicy but like the restaurant a lot, anyway. Congee Village is another good place for takeout, and I probably get more takeout from them than any other place except the local branch of Grand Sichuan. I also sometimes stop by New York Noodletown when I'm in the mood for Beef Muscle Wonton Noodle Soup and Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce. My least favorite place? That would have to be someplace I haven't ordered from in a long time! Well, I've had some scary delivery experiences (rusty nails in soup!), but I can't remember a terrible takeout experience other than the last x-number of times my mother took food out from Empire Szechuan on 97 St. and Broadway. Man was that stuff awful! Inedible, really. Oh well. Are you sorry I answered? [wry smile]

That place looks awesome! I take it, they serve the new-style Nasi Kandar? Where is the place? The Roti Tisu looks like an Utthapam, which is South Indian (Madras-style, in my experience, though I wouldn't be surprised if it is traditional over a wider area). Also, is that tomato puree on the right of your banana leaf, and what's in the dark sauce?

Presentation at that price point? Sheesh! What garlicky sauce at El Malecon! And the chicken's big enough, as far as I'm concerned.

How was the food, juuceman?

I long ago concluded that the Pollo a la Brasa was better at El Malecon than at Flor de Mayo, and it was cheaper to boot! Since I've never looked back and I probably made this decision over 10 years ago, though, I might not be right anymore. But when I think of rotisserie chicken, I definitely think El Malecon first. In my neighborhood, Mancora is pretty good.

Tupac, could you please be more specific? Some of us (I'm thinking of Sam Kinsey in particular) want the crust to be very thin, and crisp. Was it burnt, or do you just prefer a thicker, chewier crust?

Repeat after me: It's ok to spend money. It's ok to spend money. It's ok to spend money.[...] ← Besides, remind yourself how far you are under budget.

That makes sense, Yetty.

I should add some props for Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. Just walk past all those stalls; you're bound to find something(s) to please you! Good stuff in the Mamak (Indian Muslim) neighborhood around Masjid India, too.

As the snows drift away and Spring comes, it would be a good time to revive the Survey. Shall we discuss where to go next? I think it's time for one of the new upscale joints that some participants in this thread have already gone to and other haven't, such as Franny's and Una Pizza Napoletana, but there are a lot of possibilities. Shall we shoot for early-mid April?

Relaxed muscles? Seriously, don't worry about it.

For SF, how about the Mission, for taquerias?

[Edit] Nata de coco is apparently a coconut product: http://asiaep.com/my_com/status/nata.htm It seems to me from the pictures on that site that nata de coco is that coconut jelly sort of thing. No, I guess that isn't a fruit.

JJ, I'd argue that Sripraphai is an exception, and that usually, when the clientele becomes mainly non-Asian, the food gets watered down and adulterated in various ways. I forget the title of the thread I'm remembering...

What I like about Michelin producing a New York Guide is that we will have more to talk about. Look, we're onto the fifth page already, and the guide hasn't even come out yet. But another thing to consider (sorry if I mentioned this before and am repeating myself) is that Michelin will fill a niche here, because I think we would all agree that even at the best of times, the New York Times' star ratings are not comparable to Michelin star ratings. And I think we'd overwhelmingly agree that these are not the best of times for the New York Times main reviews. Of course, that's a subject for another thread...

What about some expensive mushrooms, such as morels? I'm guessing the young women won't go crazy for foie gras. But seriously, you can get some really high-quality conserves imported from France, some really good imported cheese -- but that all depends on what the women you serve want. Have you asked them for suggestions or some items they might consider more high-end?

Yeah, that's really odd. You'd think they'd want that fragrance in the air. Did they serve any fruit in that hotel for those who wanted it? If so, what kinds?

Think location. This is a restaurant on the periphery of Chinatown. There are loads of Chinese people all around there. What does it mean in that context if the clientele of a place is mostly non-Chinese? I also disagree with your premise, and we've discussed this before in another thread. While there is no one-to-one relationship between the absence of Asians and a poor-quality meal in an Asian restaurant, I can tell you up front that in my experience, there is just about a 100% correlation between a mainly non-Asian clientele and mediocre-to-poor Malaysian food in this city. That doesn't mean if the majority of the clientele are Asians, the food will be good; that's another story.

Something that came to my mind immediately is the cold dish of Aromatic Beef.

www.superpages.com (Verizon Yellow Pages) search results for Garden of Eden: Click 'em here. (Ignore the first result, "Garden Of Eden Floristry.")