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Has anyone flown China Airlines (China, not Taiwan) from SFO to Beijing? How was the food? Any decent Chinese options? I plan on taking pastrami and cole slaw from Katz's on my flight from JFK to SFO, but after that, I may be out of luck. Maybe I should ask my brother to bring a Mission burrito on board for me from the Mission District...

I would agree about vegans tending to be unpleasant. I don't think you're agreeing with Katherine. Not greater than is not the same as less than. There's nothing to the idea that vegetarians are particularly violent. EarthFirst and PETA are extremist organizations, and extremist organizations are extremist organizations.

Thanks to SobaAddict for posting a link to Bruni's latest review in the March thread (q.v.). I want to focus on one paragraph: Check out that appearance of "bloviation," Andrea. But seriously, good points by Bruni. Sort of reminds me of the ads for [name of airline here] that are shown on flights. If you're already on the plane and it's already taken off, the best way the airline can advertise itself is by giving you a good flight. Similarly with restaurants and meals.

What do you all think? Is that a very good two-star review or a slightly temporizing three-star review? I'm guessing that he'll feel like a couple of things may need to change for him to award three stars in a full review, but this was definitely a good review, overall. I'll discuss it more in the Bruni, Babbo and Beyond thread.

"They're made out of meat."

Outside seating?

Just guessing here: It sounds like Tulsi may be the same as the "Holy Basil" you get in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. If so, if you've ever had Pho, you've tasted it. Monica, could you grow Tulsi in Washington?

Split tongues? Yuck! I don't want to see those anywhere, except on a snake!

What is strozzapreti?

I don't care one way or the other, though I suppose it's possible that a really weird tattoo or piercing might put me off some time. I'm 39 and live in the middle of a major piercing district. I have no piercings and no tattoos and never intend to get any, but what others do is up to them.

Check with the Thai store on Mosco St. in Chinatown to see whether they have any. I'd also check Udon's Thai-Indonesian store, though I don't remember them carrying fresh fruit. Another possibility is the Vietnamese store on Mulberry St. (west side) between Bayard and Canal, which carries many ingredients used in Malaysian as well as Vietnamese food.

Welcome, Huien! A couple of questions: Nasi Ulam is a Baba-Nyonya dish, not Kelantanese? And what patois? I didn't realize there was a traditional Baba-Nyonya patois.

I'll bet it'll be impossible to get a table there now...

I guess I'm operating on a misconception. Their menu says "take out dine in hang out chill in." Whoops - I missed the "free delivery (cash only)" in the corner. It's not so small, either, for a tiny-sized menu...

Interesting: 137 views and no comments so far. Well, I've been a few times since I posted on Sep 9 2003, but hadn't been recently. It's a really teeny tiny place and is usually mobbed in the evening. Yesterday, I had lunch there. There were plenty of empty tables and it was a much more relaxed atmosphere. I got an Arepa Puro Monte (sauteed, saucy spicy vegetables with grated guayanes, a salty, relatively strong white cheese) and an Empanada de Cazon (cazon is described on the menu a small-sized shark from the Caribbean). I'd had the Puro Monte before. It's very tasty, especially good with some of the good hot sauce, containers of which are on every table. I also liked the empanada. Its shredded cazon provided a good fish taste, and it was greatly improved by the relatively liberal addition of hot sauce. I had Mangua with the meal, a delicious combination of mango and guava juices with the tangy guava flavor most evident. I had enjoyed the meal so much I decided to have dessert, but I wasn't too hungry, so I opted for a sampling of three desserts. One was undoubtedly two small slices of what's described on the menu as Bienmesabe - wet cake with coconut milk, shredded coconut, rum and meringue on top - minus the meringue, but with the addition of some bracingly salty and slightly musty-tasting (? I don't know how to describe this - earthy?) guayanes. Next to it on the small oval-shaped wooden dish were two really good Besidos de Coco ("Coconut kisses"), better known to me in their Jamaican versions as "coconut drops." These are combinations of sugar and shredded coconut - but it tasted like molasses was used in this case. There was also a lemony cookie with some kind of jam (guava jam, I think). I was too full to finish the cookie, but it was nice. The whole meal cost $14 and change, not including tip. I recommend going there for lunch. It was very civilized. I do have to add, though, that this is not low-fat food, especially the empanada, which is deep-fried. So if oil is tough on your stomach, be warned. Eat in/take out. No delivery. [Edit: Yes, delivery too.] Here's their website.

That duck dish sounds French. Did it taste like a dish you might have in a French place?

What do they do with the boiled white part of the watermelon?

Jack, I actually did get almost all of that, but what is a "possynet"?

I guess the next question is whether some of the older "satellite" (?) restaurants in his empire have in fact deteriorated. At a certain point several years ago, I thought Jo Jo had. Some meal reports on this site seem to suggest that Mercer Kitchen may have deteriorated. I don't frequent his restaurants enough to draw any firm conclusions about this question, but it's a pertinent question.

Atomic, I usually get pierogies at Teresa's, and I sometimes get varenniki from the Ukranian church ladies, who have booths at the festivals St. George's Ukranian Catholic Church puts on and otherwise sell things on weekends from the basement of a building just a little west of 2nd Av. on the north side of 7th St. (you'll see a sign mentioning varenniki, kielbasa, and I think stuffed cabbage). There are various stores in the neighborhood that sell pierogies, but I haven't bought any from such stores for a long time.

I got more suppositories. I have a feeling I may have an anal fissure again (I had one several months ago). If my defecation isn't normal by tomorrow or Thursday, I'll make an appointment with a proctologist.

NIH lists Metamucil as an oral laxative. Here's part of their description: Odd, psyllium to treat diarrhea?

What do you mean, the one with the laxative in it? Psyllium fiber is itself a laxative. I'm not familiar with colace and may try to find out more.

People in European countries like France and Italy walk a great deal more than Americans. No-one should overlook that factor.

Thanks for the report, Roz! I have to admit I didn't know what lontong was. A Google search showed that it is a Malay dish - rice steamed in banana leaves.