Pan

Perhaps we should have a count of numbers of people complaining. In any case, the star rating of the brasserie has no effect on my reaction to the concentration on a particular customer, rather than the restaurant. Yes, the nature of the customers is part of the experience of restaurant-going, but mentioning one particular regular's name four times is not what I think of as a restaurant review.

Humph! Compare a cheap Parisian bistro to the Li Family Restaurant in Beijing and then check in again.

Is this review really primarily about a restaurant? LCB Brasserie Rachou may well be satisfied with a mixed 2-star review, but I really have to question Bruni's focus on the age and personal behavior (especially personal behavior outside of the restaurant) of the customers. We're supposed to think that it's revelatory that A. Alfred Taubman frequents the place? Isn't it a little much that the name of a customer is mentioned four times in a review of a restaurant? This isn't supposed to be an article about an ex-con price-fixer, is it?

I've seen fresh durian for sale in New York many times, though I've seen fresh mangosteen for sale here only rarely.

Longer than that. They and Rikyu have been around since the early 70s at least, if I remember correctly.

And I agree with Fat Guy's views on Zagat, which is way short of a "democracy." However, if it was one, the most popular eateries would be chains like McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC. So if you'd rather rely on the views of the masses than patronize the places reviewers for the New York Times like, by all means go to those chains, but you won't find me there - and somehow, I don't think you'll be going there, either.

Free refills on soda? Where are you? Never in New York!

I don't see your equation. Reviewers you don't like hate something; therefore, it's good?

No, but I'm intrigued. I just checked www.menupages.com. Their page describes their food as "Creative Roman Cuisine," and their prices are OK: $7.95-10.95 for appetizers, $6.95-10.95 for salads, $10.95-14.95 for primi piatti, $14.95-17.95 for secondi, $6.95-10.95 for dolci. The items on the menu look interesting, too.

Michael, funny how you should bring up air mata kucing when talking about longan. Coincidence? Mata kucing is longan, but in its dried form that's brown in color. Tell me you already knew that. Nope, I didn't know that, but I guess I might have suspected something. Strangely enough, I've never liked fresh longans!

See my report on dinner at the Li Family Restaurant here.

I would have thought that service was included in the charge in the UK, as in France, Italy, etc. Not so?

Langsat and duku are similar but not the same in Malaysia (or at least the East Coast of the Peninsula). I did indeed eat both the first time I was in Malaysia, but not the second, when I think I missed their season. However, I enjoyed mata kucing juice (air mata kucing). Anyone know another word for "mata kucing" (literally ="cat's eye")?

The Green Tree. A favorite of my family in the 70s. They made good goulash with nokedli, too, though all their vegetable sides were made from frozen vegetables. Out of business for a long time. I enjoyed Eclair for a long time. At a certain point, I understand that Cake Masters "stole" their pastry chef. Eclair deteriorated and Cake Masters had a renaissance. Sadly, both are gone. My local Cake Masters branch was near 100 St. on Broadway, and I still remember that when I was little, they gave me a free rainbow cookie (my favorite) with every purchase by my mother. Speaking of bakeries, remember Barton's on Broadway, which used to be between 96th and 97th before they levelled everything to make way for those Columbia condos? I used to like their chocolates so much. Then, last fall, I got some from a shop on the Upper East Side. Seems like they weren't as good as I thought back then. On the corner of 96th and Broadway, there used to be a coffee-and-donut house called Ye Olde Shoppe, I think. I didn't frequent it, but my nursery-school girlfriend (with whom I'm still in touch) used to have breakfast there before elementary school every day, she told me recently.

I went to an upscale pearl tea house in Shanghai. At a certain point, I asked where the toilet was, and walked in the direction I was point in, all the way to the wall. It turned out that the icon for "men's" was a pipe. I had assumed that door led to a smoking lounge, not a place I'd want to go to. The icon for "women's" was a high-heeled shoe. No characters or other indications were on either door.

Lengkeng=langsat? Duku? I don't know why there are no good rambutans or magosteens to be found in New York. To my surprise, I discovered on my recent trip that really high-quality fruits of both types are sold in northern China, and apparently they're growing them in southern China now.

Perhaps. The food source I liked best on Wangfujing, though, was at the Beijing Shopping Centre (I think that was the name - the older shopping center with the clock on it). It looks like a normal department store until you approach the back of the ground floor and notice all the jade jewelry for sale (I can't understand what makes one item more than twice the price of another, as they look like the same color combination to me). But up a short flight of stairs all the way at the back is a shop where they sell all kinds of dried and preserved fruit, hundreds of sweets, nut brittle, meat jerky and sausage, traditional medicine (dried sea creatures are prominently displayed, and bear bile and very expensive ginseng roots are on sale), and chocolate. My brother or/and I went there just about every day we were in Beijing. I particularly recommend the sweets, many of which had unexpected filling (like the ones with coconut in the batter, filled with high-quality pineapple jam). Unexpected, of course, because I don't know how to ask what the filling is and even if I did, I wouldn't understand the answer. chengb02, I found that there are places in Beijing that are open late, at least in the summertime, though I'm not sure how late. We stumbled upon an area where every restaurant was making crawfish with spicy red sauce and kebabs, for example, among other things. If you take a cab to the Asia Hotel and just walk south along the street, you'll see them. One of the restaurants is Muslim, and it seems like they're serving the same food (except for haram [forbidden by Islamic Law] stuff, of course) as all the other eateries on the block, all of which have sidewalk cafes as well as indoor areas. We had a tasty dinner at one, but man was the place smoky!

Black cardamom is much earthier than green cardamom. I don't think I've ever seen white cardamom, which would be odd, considering how good the spice stores are in New York. Monica, can you find white cardamom in DC?

Who are Mr. Zagat's peers, and is he respected by them?

Yeah. I've mentioned some before. My favorite was Chun Cha Foo, a Mandarin restaurant between 91st and 92nd on Broadway. Up on 100 St. was the Harbin Inn. Some of the Cuban-Chinese and Dominican places have been around seemingly forever. La Tacita de Oro, a Cuban-Chinese place, was in the old wooden former-general-store corner building on 100 St. and Broadway for the longest time until a few years ago, when they were forced to move and moved half a block south. And El Malecon, though previously under a different name I forget, has been between 97th and 98th on Amsterdam for as long as I can remember. I think La Rosita, further north on Broadway between 107th and 108th Sts., has been there equally long. Cleopatra, though for a few years called At Our Place, has been there a long time, but it used to be a straight Egyptian restaurant (with a few Mediterranean touches, I guess). Of course, now it's been Cleopatra's Needle for years, the food is different, and the interior is radically changed from the former groovy but dark 60s style, but it is in the same location.

Tailgaiting exists among sports fans in the New York area, too.

Why is that?

Victor's Cafe was on the corner of 71 St. and Columbus. I was taken out there for my birthday when I was, I don't know, 9 maybe? That would make it 1974. No-one's mentioned Gitlitz yet in this thread, the good Jewish delicatessen that was for many years on 77 St. and Broadway. Too bad it's gone. Another place that I haven't seen a mention of here is the oddly named Turkish restaurant, Genghis Khan's Bicycle. (Do you think they were dropping Acid when they named it? ) It was on something like 74 St. and Columbus, and I remember my brother taking me out for dinner there when our folks were out separately. He must have been 15 or 16, making me 9 or 10. I remember having Imam Bayildi for the first time at that meal.

Nothin' to do with moussaka, kawan.

Does anyone think that sake is a better pairing with sushi than grape wine? Just curious. I don't think wine needs to be drunk with everything, but far be it from me to argue with anything that gives you enjoyment.