Pan

Store brand of what? But I have a feeling the answer is "No."

Mongo, you're right about the presentations: They were not family style and had an attractive appearance that seems influenced by Euro-American haute cuisine. Is serving tandoori food with chutney very unusual? I didn't know that.

Quick correction: Soup dumplings aren't dim sum, or at least they shouldn't be. Soup dumplings as I've seen them are Shanghaiese food, and dim sum is Cantonese. Although I suppose it's possible that a dim sum place has decided to serve soup dumplings. So I guess that would also mean that the jiaozi I used to get in Beijing aren't dim sum, for similar reasons: A plate of them (or, if you're really hungry, two plates) is a meal.

Yeah, but thanks for letting us know you got home safe.

You're mean! I hope Lucy wakes up well-rested and ready to indulge us with more great photographs and information.

Katie, has your crew gone to DiFara's and Grimaldi's?

Indian-"Western" fusion was evident to me at Amma only in several of the desserts and the wine pairings. Was there something "fusion" about any of the savory dishes?

mascarpone and I had some salt-baked softshells at New York Noodletown last night. They were good, like I expected from previous years.

I went there a number of times in the late 70s, and I seem to remember people saying that to get the really good stuff, you had to have been there a few years earlier... You're asking me to remember pizza from a really long time ago, but basically, it was at least fairly good and they had decent toppings from the viewpoint of a 13-year-old (were their mushrooms canned, though? I think so), but my local pizzeria, Sal and Carmine's on the Upper West Side (first just south of 95 St. and later at its current location, between 101st and 102nd Sts. I think?) was probably always better, in my memory. I think that already by 1978, going to the original Famous Original Ray's Pizza was more for the experience than for truly great pizza.

That price is really very little, just a little over $1/day. I'll bet you'd pay more for the ingredients in a lunch you made yourself.

Do you know a place to get Kirghiz food? Any Tongan restaurants in your neighborhood? Someplace to get Inuit whale blubber? OK, I'm definitely going too far there. But seriously, speak up for the unique outposts of particular cuisines in the five boroughs.

Why should I settle for a lousy doubling of pay (what's 2x0?) when the lure of a grander title is dangling out there in the future? How about "Grand Poobah of Coffee and Tea"? How does that sound? But seriously, it's great that you've done this.

Thanks.

Whoa, an index! How ambitious! Much respect to you! Sounds like your salary should be doubled for all the extra work you'll be doing...

Just curious - how much is an arm and a leg in your area relative to OJ pricing? The gorcery stores up here regularly run 2 for $5 sales on the half gallon Tropicana products. On occasion it drops to 2 for $4. 2 for $5 and 1 for $2.99 are pretty common around here. I normally don't buy it unless the price is under $3.

That's hilarious! "Pass Out" might work, too, for those who drink a lot of wine on the holiday...

Episure, what did and do you mean by "tweaked"? Also, I take it you're discussing the climate for Asian cuisines in the U.S.? I think that in order to avoid confusion, we always have to make sure to specify which region of the world we're discussing, as eGullet is a global site.

Yes.

More great pictures! Is that root vegetable with a rumpled skin on the upper right corner of the picture of whole vegetables a turnip (navet)?

Bussola is the closest gelateria to me. I have really enjoyed their gelato but don't remember it being as concentrated a flavor as the gelato I had at Ciao Bella yesterday. I guess it may be about time to get more gelato at Bussola. For the record, I had no idea where the gelato I had at Ciao Bella was made, and I was reacting only to its taste.

I loved your pictures of the breads and interview with Ms. Matsui! I wonder if you'd like to talk some about the different kinds of flours used in the different breads (farine du seigle, farine du froment, farine type 65, &c.). I never got into that level of detail about bread-making when I was in France, as I was a stagiare de la flute traversiere and, otherwise, a tourist, nor are those the kinds of things they teach you in French courses.

Have you spent time in Malaysia? If so, how does Malaysian food (exclusive of Cantonese-Malaysian, I guess I should stipulate) fit into that ranking?

I did feel OK and did come. I'm sure pictures will come later, but I'll post a report of our meal at Lombardi's. Overall, it was a disappointment, and all of us agreed it was clearly inferior to Grimaldi's and Patsy's (sure, DiFara's, too, but Dominic and his children really make a different kind of pizza, so I won't be referring to DiFara's again in this post). Their best pizza was the first one we got, a margherita "light" on the cheese and sauce, which still had plenty of sauce and was definitely thicker in the crust than Grimaldi's and Patsy's. We then got a sausage pizza that had too much sauce even for me (and I like more sauce than slkinsey and JosephB do), while the chopped-up sausages were almost a nullity compared to the fabulous fennel-filled sausage slices at Grimaldi's. Lombardi's is apparently famous for its clam pizza. Not to put too fine a point on it, it sucked! The clam pieces seemed to be mostly fiber and got stuck between my teeth, but though they weren't fishy, they really had little taste or, I suspect, nutritional value. Our service was friendly and they gave me good strong iced tea. I don't expect to be back soon, though.

Roz, I did try the one on 3rd Av. and liked it.

Pan, have you tried the famous Laboratorio del Gelato, on Orchard Street? Nope, not yet, but I'll be sure to try it.