Pan

Thank you, chengb02! I'd love to visit Dalian, but I think it'll be impossible on this trip, as we'll be based in Changchun for the 2nd half of it and Dalian is truly a long day's trip (7-8 hours) by any type of surface transport. No, I haven't yet left for Beijing. I'll be leaving next Wednesday (August 11) and coming back to New York on August 27. We're spending 9 nights in Beijing and then flying to Changchun on the 21st, flying back from Changchun to Beijing (and then back eventually to New York) on the 26th. I don't know for sure whether we'll make it to Shenyang or not, though I'm definitely interested; a friend of my mother's recommended Harbin, in fact, so it seems very likely we'll visit there (perhaps staying overnight). Regardless, I'd love any further recommendations you'd like to give. Even if I can't use them, someone else might be able to, down the line.

I thought this deserved highlighting. It's not everyone who's friends with their husband's ex-wife. I'm impressed!

We had a long thread on that, though I'm not up to searching for it right now...

I've made a comment about this review in the Bruni, Babbo and Beyond thread.

Bruni's latest review is of Ixta. He gave the place two months to address the criticisms he put in his "Diner's Journal" pre-review (or whatever you want to call it). Is anyone surprised that he doesn't find the place has turned itself around? And were two months enough time? I'm not sure, but I continue to think that using "Diner's Journal" to cover a place that will be reviewed in less than 6 months is pretty much of a waste of space.

Enjoy your vacation!

I wonder if you'd ever like to give us the name of the place where you're the Pastry Chef, in order to advertise it to us.

Yes, it makes a tastable difference. You're right; I don't know many restaurants that make the distinction, but I do know many Chinese restaurants where they'll take down a chicken that's hanging up, hack it in pieces, and serve it to you either by itself or over rice as Soy Sauce Chicken.

I agree with you, Bux. I hate it when restaurants lower the lights, and I usually complain, but it rarely helps.

I grew conscious toward the end of the meal that they were playing music with repetitive, thumping bass lines. That's distracting. If the music had been just about 10 decibels softer and not as thumping in the bass, it would have been OK with me.

I would think that the higher you are in the food chain, the more poisons have had a chance to concentrate themselves, so that large fish (e.g., tuna) are more likely to have high levels of mercury and DDT wiped out condors. Sorry for going off topic...

Sethro, I hope you told someone that the bathroom was out of soap and toilet paper! What you say about salt at Grand Sichuan strikes me funny, because if there's anything that bugs me about the place (and I really like it), it's that they tend to be heavy on the salt to my taste.

Temper, temper!

I agree with Bux that the white wine was not dry. I found it fruity and delicious. The red wine was drier and had a considerable degree of smoky oakiness (or something like that). Just to clarify one point, Bux: Saltiness doesn't count for "assertive" in my book. Or, rather, for the most part, if something is so salty as to seem assertive in that respect, that's usually a demerit to me. I thought that the savory dishes that were most assertively seasoned, other than being purely salty like the anchovies (well, the dumpling[?] they were contained in had some sugar in it), were probably the calamares, the mussels, and I suppose the mixed-vegetable accompaniment to the oxtails. The cock's combs really worked for me because they must have been marinated in a red-wine-based sauce and were suffused with the flavor of a good red wine. The morcilla was not an extremely strong-flavored sausage but was delicious, and essentially, likewise for the boar. The artichoke was also a good dish. I guess going over the dishes in retrospect shows them all in a good light, but though I was certainly pleased, I wasn't wowed, overall. L'Impero wowed me; Union Pacific wowed me; Casa Mono didn't wow me. Clearly, that's a matter of taste, though, as I'm comparing my reactions to three pretty dissimilar restaurants.

The New York Post discusses the results of New York restaurant inspections and gives some advice on how to protect yourself here. Here's an excerpt:

I found the meal very pleasant, and I thank the ones who were most responsible for organizing it (one of whom was SobaAddict). Good food and drink, good company. Some of the food was indeed pretty salty, especially the anchovies (which were a bit over the top salty for me). And I did find the volume on the music a little too loud, as it tended to prompt me to yell. I agree with you about the busboys; they also tried to clear the calamares when two pieces were still left on the plate (which I rescued and ate). The waiter was good, though. In general, I found the food solidly good, some better than that. The cock's combs were cooked in a delicious red wine sauce that really came through. The morcilla was delicious. The calamares, though indeed salty, were also quite tasty and had a bit of bite - from cayenne pepper, maybe. And I liked the sweetbreads, which were a bit moist inside and had a nice consistency. The oxtail was a little tough and stringy, though. But what really did it for me was my dessert: A cheesecake that was full of lemon zest and accompanied by a very powerful lemon zest sauce, in addition to the caramel ice cream. It may be that this is a type of dessert that's traditional somewhere; I don't know, but I felt like it took guts and it was certainly to my taste. I also liked the white wine better than the red, which was just OK. My main problem is the relationship between how I feel about the food and how much a dinner costs at Casa Mono. It's a solidly good place to eat and drink, and I wouldn't mind going back some time, but I don't expect it to be soon. ~$60 for dinner is a splurge for me, and I'd like to be more wowed by a meal at that cost. After the meal, I had a conversation about subtle food vs. aggressively seasoned food. I can enjoy subtlety, but it's easier to wow me with more assertive food. And in that context, my dessert was probably the most assertive thing I had tonight, while some of the dishes were merely tasty and well-executed. Don't get me wrong; in the context of restaurant prices in New York today, Casa Mono is definitely no ripoff, and the food is certainly meritorious. But whether you feel justified in paying that much for that food repeatedly depends on both your feeling about shelling out that amount of money and your taste. Because I prefer their more assertive Indian cuisine, I'll probably go to Devi, Suvir and Hemant's new place, before I go back to Casa Mono.

That looks good, Elie! As if you didn't have enough work, I'd love it if you posted that recipe - all in good time.

Malaysian Airlines Newark-Dubai wasn't too hot, though the Indian breakfast on the Dubai-KL leg was OK. On my way back to New York, I made sure to take some satay from a good satay place in Petaling Jaya (thanks for the recommendation, Shiewie!).

Thanks, Suman. Also, I wasn't addressing you specifically; I looked through the whole thread and had found no explanations of those terms.

So there's Air China, China Southern, China Eastern...We're flying economy, by the way.

I need some translations or explanations here. Triphala? (type of spice, I gather, but what type?) Sukke?

In what class?

Oh that. Anyone who hasn't been to this place just has no idea how tiny it is.

You're absolutely right. It's like Sovietology, back in the bad old days when it was so unclear what the line of succession there was that people had to fall back on analysing the physical position of each Politburo member at parades.

Thanks for the warning, Susan. I just emailed me brother...