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I agree, JJ. I think a 2-star rating for a cheap restaurant is likely to be an exceptional occurrence.

I don't understand precisely what you mean; please elaborate. Are you suggesting that stars are all about price and ambiance? I prefer for them to be about the quality of the food, above all. Robyn, I'm not concerned about the Times going bankrupt. In the future, their paper edition is likely to decrease in circulation in favor of their web presence. In the meantime, it's not my business to try to figure out what kind of reviewing would maximize profits for them. That sounds a little cold-hearted, but keep in mind that I don't know anything about how to keep a newspaper profitable, whereas I'm sure they do.

Tasty pics, Dean! The chicken soup is Tom Kha Gai.

Susan and Russ, I'm really enjoying this blog, now that I've had a chance to catch up with it from the beginning. What kinds of vegetables are in that bag of vegetable chips?

Sripraphai deserved a review a heck of a lot more than Indochine. I don't share the feeling some of you have that stars are sacrosanct expressions of cost or/and formality and that an exceptional informal restaurant can't possibly deserve to be awarded stars. Based on my own interpretation of the Michelin scale, Sripraphai is "worth a detour." In their scale, that gets 2 out of 3 stars. Of course, we all know that Sripraphai would never get any Michelin stars, but just taking the logic that it's "worth a detour," I'm pleased to see it getting 2 NYT stars. I'm not so sure it's one of the best Thai restaurants in the country, though. New York, yes, definitely. Better than any number of west-cost Thai restaurants? That I'm by no means sure of, but I have no sufficiently recent comparisons to make. As for Klong possibly deserving a star, if it deserves a star and Sripraphai deserves none, then stars are based solely on decor and ambiance and are a joke. Fat Guy, perhaps you had something at Klong that was as good as the general standard of food at Sripraphai. If so, please tell us what that was, because based on my experience with their food so far, they seem like a solid, good neighborhood Thai restaurant - which in this city is nothing to sneeze at - but probably nothing more. Sripraphai is certainly more than a solid neighborhood Thai restaurant.

A virtual taste? Thanks, hzrt8w!

I've always gotten that impression from the Times, though I haven't always agreed.

I can cite Spicy & Tasty as a bit of an analogy. They didn't receive 2 stars but did get a rave from Asimov in "$25-and-under." He raved in particular about the Smoked Tea Duck, a dish which in several trips before his review came out I had never thought of trying. Ultimately, when I did try it, I found it OK but nowhere near as good as a rendition I had in Shanghai, nor as interesting as many other dishes of theirs. The publication of the review has resulted in the appearance of a fair number of often more or less clueless non-Asian customers (including a couple, half of whom "didn't like spicy food"). The wait staff will try to steer new non-Asian customers to items they think they might like, but the dishes I order have not been toned down one iota since the review. Yeah, that was kind of clueless, wasn't it? Bruni doesn't know the city yet, but given his jaunts to various neighborhood restaurants in Brooklyn and now Queens, I give him credit for trying to learn. Another critic might well ignore the "Outer Boroughs" completely.

My thought on reading the Sripraphai review last night was that this was Bruni taking after Mimi Sheraton. I was surprised by the two stars, but kind of pleased. That said, I don't think a rave in the $25-and-under column would have been out of place.

Thanks, Ron. I really enjoyed your blog.

What do they say the average percentage tip is there?

Must be a calculated decision on their part that they're more likely to make extra money on people who would be one-time guests anyway than on repeat business. In my case, those places were 0-2 in their decisions.

This menu was in Hungarian (of which I do know enough to read asvany viz=mineral water), though I think it may have also been in German and possibly English. But clearly, locals would have known that a restaurant in that location was a ripoff.

How about ratatouille?

I didn't know what conpoy was, so I looked it up. I also found two definitions of sea moss. I would think the first definition, "[n] any of various red algae having graceful rose to purple fronds (e.g. dulse or carrageen)," is the applicable one.

Wow, that was fantastic! Looks like you had a great time, and thank you so much for sharing!

I also loved taking the Star Ferry and looking at the Hong Kong skyline and the hills beyond. And there are also amazing views from the other side of the hills, but I imagine it would be harder to get there. When I visited Hong Kong, I spent most of my time staying at the Ma Wui Hall Youth Hostel, from which at night we had a breathtaking view of all the ships in the harbor. But I had to take the 12 bus to the last stop (past Kennedytown, when I was lucky) and then walk up something like 500 steps to get there, unless I wanted to take a taxi and someone was willing to drive up a bunch of narrow hairpin curves. It was amazing that the trip was through semitropical jungle within city limits! Is Hong Kong still pretty wild in the hills on the southern side of the island?

I heard on BBC World Service that the Hungarian paprika ban lasted 3 days and then was lifted, but I haven't yet found a web source for that.

Stuffed, though perhaps with extra baked separately and basted. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!

I visit my parents on Thanksgiving, and it's been a 3-person affair in the last few years; if my brother makes it in from San Francisco, it'll be a pleasant surprise. My father usually cooks a chicken. It'll probably be something like roast chicken with a gravy made mostly from the juice of the chicken plus blackened onions and such-like that will be roasted with the bird; and cranberry sauce and some type of stuffing (chestnut or cornbread, probably), accompanied by broccoli, spinach, or some other type of green vegetable and probably potatoes and sweet potatoes. My mother does like pumpkin pie and normally buys one from a local bakery. I prefer sweet potato pie. Last year, I bought a pecan pie that was very much appreciated.

Thanks for the report and I'm glad you all had good meals! As I'm still learning more restaurant lingo, I don't know what the "pass" is. What is it?

I don't think I want to eat that. Have fun.

You're right and I say, stick to your guns! Any time a customer asks for something, it's not a gift. A comp is just that - a gift. Gifts are given freely. It's really presumptuous and rude for a customer to ask for a gift!

See more here: Sticky, glutinous, or sweet rice.

That's a fun site. Thanks!