Pan

Sam, I'm sure you're referring to the 9 Av. location north of 50 St., not the one on the corner of 24 St. and 9 Av. Which location are you referring to, sabg?

Rich, I tend to think they really hoped they would be able to reopen in two weeks and don't deserve any blame for the fact that it's taken longer. Had they known they would have been closed longer, I'm positive they wouldn't have mentioned the two-week figure.

Good Indian restaurants? I like Madras Cafe and the Jackson Diner on 74 St. in Jackson Heights, Queens, but the best is Amma. The answer to your second question has to do with the clientele for the 6th St. restaurants. And by the way, you're not strange at all not to like most Indian food in the U.S., because the overwhelming majority of it sucks!

Why too obvious? And what type of food do they serve, at what kind of prices?

That's more than consolation. It sounds a damn sight better than what used to be there. I'll be sure to try it, and thanks for the report!

Katie, you sort of are to Suvir, as is anyone he knows through eGullet.

This blog is good reading, Kara. Just one comment from me, so far: Nothing gross about pigeons. They're just another type of fowl, really. Just don't think of the ones flying around New York when you eat them, and get them only at reliable places where you can be confident their source wasn't someone with a trap in Central Park (something a guy was arrested for a few years ago).

Kevin: I'd like to continue the line of discussion you've brought up in General Food Topics, because I consider it relevant to a wider audience. Please click here: State of Thai food in North America

I haven't tried it yet.

Thanks for a most enjoyable week of blog-reading, K.

It's been replaced by Chickpea, a felafel and shawarma restaurant (remember the "name our restaurant" competition?). For the record, I thought St. Mark's Pizza was passable at best, and usually upset my stomach. But my ex-girlfriend, God bless her, loved it. Here's their website, though it looks kind of messed up right now: http://www.name-our-restaurant.com/

Looks to me like I haven't posted on this thread yet. When I was in college, my favorite Haagen Dazs ice cream was Elberta Peach, with real peaches in it (one time, I got a bit of pit from one container). I'm sorry they discontinued it. Just recently, though, I've noticed a new "Peaches and Cream" flavor. If it sticks around long enough, I'll try it.

Thanks, Doc. That was terrific!

Sam is definitely a master of the frittata!

Soba, are you thinking of the Pongsri Thai on 19th and 2nd, or is there some other place?

Thanks for the pics, Sam. They're very cute. I remember that years ago, when the city passed a law against people keeping ferrets as pets, they claimed that ferrets have trouble distinguishing between food and people's fingers, if you hand feed them. Was that just some made-up hokum, or have there been such incidents? (The fact that I can never remember a single such incident making the news would seem to suggest that it's not true or vanishingly rare.)

Yeah, bitter maple syrup really wouldn't be fun!

Wagyuboy, who said Panna was good? And good compared to what? Is it really much different from almost all of the other variously-named places on that block which, the old myth goes, share a central kitchen and a long conveyor belt? I'm a long-time regular at Madras Cafe, but that's not on 6th St., and I would never steer a friend to 6th St. for "Indian" food. The only Indian restaurant I know to produce good food on that block is Banjara, on the corner of 1 Av., and I haven't been there in a year or so because the last time I was there, the service was offensive. It's been longer since I've been to Haveli, which is just south of 6 St. on 2 Av., but like Banjara, it's more upscale than the cheap crap served in most of the 6th St. places. True, it's been some time since I've been to any of them because every time I've gone, I've had a bad stomachache later, but I frankly can't believe that any of them suddenly got good. They have no incentive to.

I would really love to try some Grade C one of these days. The stronger the maple taste, the better.

I just noticed this chain (one at 175 St. and Broadway and the other between 97 and 98 Sts. and Amsterdam) doesn't have its own thread. I've enjoyed both locations, especially the Amsterdam location because it's 2 blocks from the apartment building where I grew up. Their Pollo a la Brasa is great. But today, I ran into a problem. I ordered Sopa Marinera at the 175 St. location, and the fish in it tasted so old I was afraid I'd get sick. This surprised me. Has anyone else noticed problems with freshness of fish or seafood at either location? I generally like their "Especiales del Dia," such as Mondongo, Sopa de Pollo, Oxtail Stew, Chivo, etc.

I can't remember whether I've been there. I'll walk past sometime soon.

I agree. It was a very nice article and made me smile at the end.

I've never seen Grade C. Where do you get it?

This place is on Prince St. about 2 blocks north of Roosevelt Av., for those of you keeping score at home. I thought a Thai place fairly popular with Flushing Chinese people as well as people of other ethnicities that got a good Newsday review last year (I think) might be good. It wasn't. It seems like the waitresses are Chinese and don't speak Thai - when I ordered Tom Kha Gai I was asked whether I wanted shrimp or chicken - maybe just a tad off-putting, but so what? All I care really care about is the food and halfway decent service. And they did understand my English-language requests OK after some discussion. I ordered that soup plus Shrimp with Basil and Chili Sauce (I forget the Thai for that but just ordered it as #57), saying that spicy was good for me but bell peppers weren't. A substitution of baby corn was suggested, but I said that would probably be canned (that was confirmed), and we agreed on broccoli. When the Tom Kha Gai came, it included strips of bell pepper that I didn't eat but the liquid was tasty. The chicken pieces were about double bite-size, though, and it was odd that there was a combination of fresh regular mushrooms and small (button, I think) mushrooms that had a distinctive and unpleasant canned taste. But it was the shrimp dish that really fell down. The broccoli substitution was carried out faithfully, but the sauce was unpleasantly oversalted and there were no basil leaves. The waitress claimed that there was basil in the sauce, but I couldn't taste any. So why is this place popular?

Thanks, wagyuboy! I'm nonplussed by the fact that I don't know where Cicciolino is, but I don't. Where is it? Sounds like it needs more patrons, so I'd like to check it out.