Pan

Yeah, Cho Dang Gol makes its tofu parts of dishes, so that it lends a great texture in context. I haven't tried Seoul Garden yet but very much look forward to it. But I really think artisanal tofu is a lot better than Wonder bread.

Sue-On, you are such a generous person. It's wonderful how you try your best to give homesick students a taste of home. I'm glad you had success!

Beg to differ. Never was, either. Always overpriced and never more than merely solidly good, at best, from what I remember. Shun Lee Palace may have once been the best Chinese restaurant in the city, though.

That's partly cultural. I wouldn't be surprised by such treatment in the South, for example. Please feel free to start such a thread.

No. Sincerely, UWS emigrant and LES snob, Michael

Thanks, FG! "Tip well and prosper." Nice slogan! Seems like he cares about his employees (or at least wants people to think he does).

Todd, I've never been to EN and don't really plan to, given your appraisal, but I really don't think that the tofu with syrup (and, in Flushing, hot sauce) that you can get on the street - albeit soothing - is comparable to the varieties of artisanal tofu in a place like Cho Dang Gol. Have you been to Cho Dang Gol (forgive me if you already answered that question)?

I have to agree with Lady Young. And I'll give you an analogy from my line of work. The first time I performed on a regular recital series at a church in New Jersey that pays a respectable fee to the performers, I assumed there was no reason for me to bring a music stand. It turned out they had one stand, which would have been OK except that it was all the way down around my waist and I couldn't get it to come up closer to eye level. The church organist who's head of the series told me just to pull harder, whereupon I got it to come up - and hit my mouth, hard. I was bleeding from my lower gums and had a somewhat tender lip and had to play 1 hour's worth of music. So now, I check these things in advance or simply bring the music stand, just in case.

I can't believe I've missed this thread until now. This is one of the funnest threads on the site! GIMB, I love that you give the link to Huyfong brand Sriracha sauce as your sig. I really like that stuff too, though overall, I prefer Sambal Oelek (the one without the shrimp paste in it). Have you tried Sambal Oelek?

What you're doing is of course way outside my profession, but my thought was, why don't you ask them these questions? Is that a naive question on my part?

Here is Bruni's latest review, of En Brasserie. My reaction is: (1) He virtually trashed the place and then gave it a star. (2) He is probably unqualified to write a review of this place. Bruni tells us that this restaurant features artisanal tofu, and goes on to say that: In other words, this is a tofu-hater. How would it do to have a cheese-hater review Artisanal? And there's nothing odd to me about a restaurant featuring artisanal tofu. I enjoy Cho Dang Gol very much.

I don't know the place but will comment on the review in the Bruni thread.

Fat Guy, who is Tony Fortuna?

I'll be curious to see what serious pastry chefs (pro or amateur) have to say, but I think the reason to peel carrots is to eliminate dirt. I would think that with apples, the reason to peel them would be due to the texture of the peel itself. I'm not sure that unpeeled apples would be bad in muffins and similar confections.

My local very good shawarma place uses allspice in their chicken shawarma rub. However, it's Israeli, and I don't know whether Arabians would use allspice.

I've seen nasturtium flowers for sale at the Farmers' Market at Union Square, but I don't remember whether I've seen them sold individually or only as part of mesclun. I'm sure you could arrange to buy them separately, though, regardless.

I have to second this sentiment! Why not look into writing a well-conceived, perceptive column for this paper? Heaven knows, they just might be receptive given your degree of community knowledge and "culinary acceptance" in Greenville ... please, since your website contains some terrific writing, give it some thought ... ← Please post a link to that website.

I associate xiao long bao (soup or juicy buns) with Shanghai.

Are waitstaff you don't know showing you pictures of their children? Or is this at places where you're a regular and they've known you for x-number of years? I think that kind of informality is quite alright at a diner or other informal restaurant, under the latter set of circumstances, providing that the customer had broached the subject by saying something like "How are you? I haven't seen you for a while."

Dear Pan the musician, QA means to rehearse and go through the directors notes. In the business world, it would also mean to document your procedure to make sure that the end product or your transaction is going to run smoothly and the proper way each time. ← Thanks, Lucy. We instrumentalists don't use that expression, and I was trying to figure out what the abbreviation was for.

Yeah, I imagine so, Melissa. Still, you have to admit that people have different levels of tolerance for things. I get angry when wait staff repeatedly break into conversations to ask whether I'm "still working on" my food, but I don't give a damn about informality. Then again, it's not like I'm dining at Alain Ducasse every...um, ever.

I agree with some of the author's objections, but I think he is a real curmudgeon: Who cares? Not me! Then again, I suppose the author may be older and more old-fashioned than I. Now, this crosses the line from curmudgeonly to stupid, unless it's supposed to be funny. I also don't object to "How is everything?" if the question is sincere, or if the staff are willing to do something if I have a complaint in response. But you have to know what the situation is, and your complaints have to be reasonable, accordingly. The pepper thing is truly annoying, though. I want to taste the dish before deciding whether it needs pepper. And if it's Pasta Fra Diavolo, it had better not need pepper!

I have two further questions, now that I've read the whole thread up till now: (1) What exactly does QA stand for? (2) Are you always this organized?! [awe emoticon, if there were one]

That looks beautiful, Sam! But couldn't the onion be used for something, rather than just being tossed?

I think fresh mint would be much better than dried, and while as far as I can remember, I've never had Saudi Arabian cucumber salad, I have had that salad in Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian restaurants, and they used fresh mint or/and fresh parsley.