Pan

After this afternoon, I'd have to say Grimaldi's belongs on this list. There's a thread about the New York Pizza Survey's pizza lunch at Grimaldi's today, and if you click here, you'll get to the page with the pictures: Grimaldi's, Sunday 2/21 Seems like your best bet is to show up as close to opening time as possible; otherwise, you'll have to wait on line outside. Get the sausage pizza: It's a knockout! Other things that are special are the thin crust and the crunch and smokiness from the coal-fired oven (when it's gotten hot). Very different pizza from DiFara's, and different atmosphere, too (less friendly but quicker service, less ramshackle and less intimate room). Also, a non-food comment: The location near the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge underpass gives you some splendid views.

Do you know what criteria they used to judge the entries?

I'm guessing that the staff probably don't care much what customers think of them. Given the amount of business they do, it's a wonder that they care enough to continue making excellent pizzas, except that I figure they know that's why they have so much business in the first place. But putting on the charm for customers? Fuggedaboutit. By contrast, DiFara's has business up the wazoo, too, but Dominick is a pussycat, and I believe he gets pleasure from the response he gets from his customers. Seems to me that Grimaldi's is primarily motivated by their bottom line, and they probably feel like they know their pizzas are good and if you don't like something, tough. The next group waiting outside for your table will like it. That said, the experience was pretty pleasurable for me, but I'd probably feel different if I had showed up on time and gotten the chilly reception the others had.

The pizza was excellent. One thing that came up is that the quality of the crust varies depending on how hot the oven is, so that I found the pizza margherita we got first to be inferior to the great sausage pizzas and the olive and onion pizza. The olive and onion pizza had the most Neapolitan-like consistency, as I recall, with more sauce than the others. I appreciated the thin crusts, which made the pizzas in general more like Neapolitan pizza (that is, pizza from Naples, Italy, not something else being called "Neapolitan") than any others I've had in the U.S. The sauce was also excellent. Grimaldi's lacks some of the deluxe ingredients DiFara's has, like those fabulous baby artichokes, the porcini that are often available, and the baby eggplants, but the sausages were sensational and full of fennel! Their onions were sweet and cooked just the right amount, and the black olives were pretty salty (I defintely wouldn't have wanted them saltier), but tasty. It's also a very different kind of operation than DiFara's. DiFara's has a two-person staff - Dominick and whichever of his children is doing prepping that day - and seating is very limited. Grimaldi's is a sit-down restaurant with something like 15 tables (I didn't count them). I noticed that there was a man who got roughly cylindrical (flat and round) pieces of dough from boxes a few feet from the entrance to the bathroom, put some fresh flour on them, and did a rough pounding. He then flipped them to another man, who flattened them out to a wider diameter and methodically added toppings, all of which had been laid out in advance in containers. Both men did some tending of the oven. After eating pizza, we went to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and had some nice ice cream. It was nice seeing everyone, and I'm sorry I didn't catch up with you later. I walked to just about the end of Front St., realized that I had missed the chocolate place, walked back a few blocks and found someone who told me the place I was looking for was on _Water St._, but that it was closed, so you must have left. No harm done.

I don't know much about its history, but it seems Middle-European to me. (No doubt, someone else will post more knowledgeably.) Pesadicher cakes can be made with potato flour (which is usually pretty awful) or matzo meal, but must not use leavening. The one with marzipan and jam can be very good when made by people who know and care about good baking.

I'd be most likely to go to Grand Sichuan (no decor but excellent Sichuan and Hunan food), but how many other theatergoers you'll find there, I don't know. Other places I like in the area include: Rinconcito Peruano, a little, very informal, easy-to-miss Peruvian place just north of 53 St. on the west side of 9 Av., but I doubt you'll find other theatergoers there (though who knows?). Ariana Afghan Kebab House (west side of 9 Av. between 52nd and 53rd Sts.). You actually are kind of likely to find cultured diners there, for whatever reason! Just tell them to leave the dressing off the salad and dress it yourself with the green hot sauce on your table. Otherwise, the food is good, tasty, and filling. And one I want to go back to soon but did like in two trips: Turkish Cuisine, between 44th and 45th, west side of 9th. Who else will be eating there, I couldn't say, but the atmosphere of the place itself is cultured, with 19th-century prints of views of Istanbul on the walls and so forth. The place feels like a livingroom of an Istanbul intellectual who likes old-fashioned, high-quality artsy-craftsy things. Pam's Real Thai has come in for praise and some criticism lately in another thread on this board, but I'm not sure whether I've ever visited and certainly haven't been there within the last year, which is when the restaurant's supporters say the cooking improved notably.

What are pasties? I mean, I know a meaning for the word, but not a food meaning.

I likewise didn't understand that part. I agree with what Mongo wrote about fusion in the U.S., and also with what you wrote about fusion in Malaysia. I guess I'm biased, but I think Malaysians generally have really good taste, so whatever fusion catches on there is likely to meet with my approval. But when fusion hits the U.S. and results in what tastes to me like watered-down versions of Asian food that I love when made to the tastes of those who more ordinarily cook and eat such dishes - and, in addition, when I'm getting charged 4 times more than the cost in a Thai restaurant, say - I say bah, humbug. By the way, here's my bio.

Mamlouk, I suppose? Moustache had cards for the place. 211 E. 4 St., (212) 529-3477, "Reservations suggested." I've looked in and it looks nice but the menu looked expensive. I don't remember seeing that prix fixe, though. As I recall, main dishes were around $20 apiece, if I'm not confusing it with some other place around here. I haven't been to the East Village location of Moustache, but some remarks in the West Village Restaurants under $30 thread were to the effect that the West Village location is nicer. I have to say I like Il Bagatto for the food and drinks but not the "buzz." I wish the place were a bit quieter and a lot less crowded. What do you really mean by "buzz"? Not that you want to yell across the table, right?

SWoody, I hope you have a fun trip! What do you want to spend, what kind of food do you want, and do you care what the decor and ambiance are like? Also, as you can imagine, this is a much-discussed topic, so you might want to also do some searches under "Midtown," "Hell's Kitchen," etc.

Pesadicher cake with marzipan and raspberry and apricot jams. Good homemade matzo ball soup. My cousin's homemade gefilte fish. Tzimmes (I like it with a lot of sweet potato). Chocolate (i.e. chocolate-covered) matzos. My vegetarian first cousin once removed (father's cousin) makes a great egg salad with raw onions, but I don't like his protose steak. My local kosher bakery (Moishe's) makes excellent macaroons, and I will bring them to both seders this time no matter what anyone says. Last year, my mother promised she'd bring good bakery-made macaroons and ended up bringing those lousy jarred things sold in supermarkets. One Passover, we had non-kosher-for-Passover panforte from Siena, which I had taken in my carry-on luggage the previous summer and kept. It was much appreciated.

I definitely go for chocolate or/and rich ice cream like Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche or, worse, Rum Raisin (which upsets my stomach by can be worth it because I get a little buzz out of it!!!) with some kind of Milano cookies (now, probably raspberry, but before those existed, orange or some chocolate variety). I'd probably also consider buying a 6-pack of hard cider and drinking a couple (I wouldn't get drunk, just a bit buzzed). If I felt up to it, I might treat myself to a delicious, pricey dinner for one. I guess it's been a while for me, as I can't remember much more. Hang in there, Ondine. It must be really hard to break up after 13 years.

I can understand where you're coming from. For example, Restaurant Malaysia in Flushing would be a revelation to many people, but in Malaysia, the place would be mediocre. But for me, not having been to the Lebanese place in Cleveland, I found Moustache fantastic.

Not exactly, John. You're not suggesting that all fusions are the same and created equal, are you?

I think few would disagree with Sri Owen. And of course, there's also the matter of intra-Asian fusion, though that isn't the topic of this thread. Nevertheless, Thais have cooked Masaman (Muslim, i.e. Malay-style) curries for a long time, and Malaysia, in turn, has been suffused with influence from Thai cuisine in the last decade or more, such that Tom Yam and Pad Prik are available not in Thai restaurants but in Malaysian restaurants owned and staffed by Malaysians all over the place. And then there's the case of Hainanese Chicken Rice, made for example by loads of Malay restaurants on the Terengganu coast...

Right. And the good brunch place I used to go to in Aspen when I had slept in on a Saturday morning and was very hungry put a salsa on their Spanish omelets. I've had the tortilla with potatoes only in Spain.

Thanks, Mongo. I'm not sure what's more quotable: or

I am confident based on my first trip to Moustache (Bedford St. location) tonight in asserting that it is an outstanding restaurant and a great value, and belongs on a top-20 non-fancy restaurant list. The noise level is a bit high, and it gets cold when the door is opened, but with food that good and that economical, I don't care much. Nice decor, too. See a longer review by me here.

Tonight, on the strength of recommendations from a longstanding non-eGulleteer friend, and also from Suvir, Simon Majumdar, and Tommy in the West Village Restaurants under $30 thread, I finally went to the 90 Bedford St. location of this restaurant, with a friend. The food was just splendid, and this restaurant has to be among the best values in New York. We each started with lentil soup ($3.50), which was a delicious and light puree and made with wonderful caramelized fried onions, really superior. We also shared a hummos platter ($4) with a slice of pita ($1). The hummos was outstanding, with a wonderful fresh taste and plenty of lemon juice (also a lot of olive oil, in the center of the plate), and their pita is very interesting because it comes puffed up and has a light texture. We then shared a lahambajin ($7.50) and a seafood pitza ($10). The lahambajin was incredible! Its description in the menu as "Mideastern pitza with lamb, onions, tomatoes, parsley and spices" doesn't come close to describing the miraculous alchemy of this dish. It's made from great ingredients, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Also, the crust is crunchy. By contrast, the seafood pitza is merely good. It is tasty and made from good ingredients, but because it has shrimps on it, it can't be cooked very long and the crust is, therefore, softer and can't attain a state of crunchiness. Having had such an outstanding meal until then, I couldn't resist ordering a dessert of Basboussa ("Semolina cake with yogurt and honey," with the yogurt and honey baked into the cake; $3). A sizeable piece of this delectable cake came. It had a nice consistency that reminded my dining partner of good cornbread, getting moister toward the center, and its taste was a subtle blend. I'm really not doing it justice, but it was very pleasurable. Matthew liked his taste of cake so much that he ordered his own piece of it, shooting his Atkins diet to Hell for the night. The only thing just a little lame about the meal was that the mint tea ($2) was a little weak and should have had more mint taste. The total bill was $42 and change before tip. This place easily belongs on a top-20 list of inexpensive or informal restaurants in New York, and I will reference this review in a post on that thread.

When I think of Colorado, one of the things I think of is Western Omelettes. Does anyone know where they originated? What about the Spanish Omelettes? They seem more Mexican (or Tex-Mex, etc.) to me.

Yeah, you're right, Suzanne. Carciofi alla Giudia aren't stuffed.

Thanks, Soba. That was certainly interesting!

Shaker lemon pie as in the Shakers, the post-Christian sect of Mother Ann Lee? Did they reach Kentucky? And what's hot brown?

In Pim's Eating Bangkok! blog, she mentions the popularity of fusion cuisine there: Crap or not (and many of you no doubt know that I generally cast a wary eye at Euro-Asian fusion), Euro-Asian fusion exists from the viewpoint and to the taste of Euro-Americans and Asians alike. Perhaps in this thread, we can discuss how fusion cuisine to Euro-American taste is similar to and different from fusion cuisine to Asian taste.

Is their food tasty?