Pan

The letter "t" of course.

Good luck, and please keep us posted.

I love Gozzoli, but the Palazzo Medici Ricciardi was chiuso per ferie (closed for holidays) or per ristauro (for restoration) all three times I've been to Florence so far. People who share our love of this master should also go to the church of Sant'Agostino in the northeast corner of San Gimignano and see his wonderful fresco series on the life of St. Augustine. Also, one of the things that's really great to do in Florence is simply walk around and look at all those great buildings and the other people on the streets.

Who do you write for?

Thanks for sharing those beautiful dinner pictures with us, Pim, and have a safe flight back to SF. I really enjoyed your blog.

Chazerei literally means "piggishness" (Chazer=pig, and there are all sorts of transliterations from the Hebrew alphabet of Yiddish.) There's nothing inherently treyf about buffalo, as it has a cloven (separated) hoof and chews cud. So nothing prevents kosher slaughter of buffaloes.

It's not that simple in terms of birds. Chickens are omnivores. But carrion-feeders are definitely out.

To bring this back on topic, what about virtuoso food writers?

JJ, couldn't you just ask for the cold vegetable dish from the Prodigal Daughter menu? It's got some long name that includes "threaded silk," as I recall. That squid is nothing like sweet and sour! It's oily and very spicy and comes with crunchy pieces of some kind of melon or something.

Very amusing writing, great headshot! Beautiful woman, too.

I understand. Just like J.S. Bach said that anyone who worked as hard as he did would have been just as good. I'm sure there are virtuoso chefs like that, too. Hmmm....Maybe that would be a good thread!

I enjoyed my visit to Lucca, too. The atmosphere was peaceful and relaxed, but it was some time ago (1991!), and perhaps now the place is much more overrun than it was then. Many smaller towns will doubtless be reachable by bus, too, but the schedules may be problematic. When you get to Florence, have a look at schedules at the bus station right next to the Santa Maria Novella Train Station.

What indeed - at any rate, that's exactly how he felt about it. Was always a bit puzzled by all the fuss, always more interested in working at things like carpentry or ping-pong which actually held a challenge for him. That sounds like a story he told a reporter as a way of getting him off his back. Heifetz was well-known for doing a great deal of practicing and being a perfectionist to the nth degree.

If we haven't yet established what is and isn't bad, how are we going to agree on why there's "so much" bad food writing out there? Please, humor us with at least a few examples.

Chalk me up as another fan of seitan. I don't have it frequently but used to enjoy eating a salad featuring seitan at a local vegetarian restaurant. It's got a nice texture and taste.

That's a really good point, Robyn. Thanks for mentioning that.

JJ, try the 2nd dish from the Prodigal Daughter menu. This is from my post in this thread on January 20, 2004: The celery was the top ribs only. Just fabulous! Of course, you may not agree, but I recommend it. I've enjoyed other things from the Prodigal Daughter menu, but I don't order those enough to remember them offhand. The online menu for Grand Sichuan Midtown doesn't include that special menu. However, it does include the "Chef's Specialties," and from that portion of the menu, I recommend: Braised Whole Fish W. Hot Bean Sauce (spicy and tasty) Actually, any whole fish dish I've had there has been good. Prawn with Garlic Sauce (if you like shrimp, of course). This is nothing like the mediocre stuff most takeout places offer. Prawn with Citrus Sauce is a little sweet and not spicy, but I do like it and order it from time to time. Crispy Quail. I remember liking this very much, but not recently enough to give a description. I actually would feel pretty confident in ordering anything from the Specialties menu except the Sea Cucumber. I'm not sure about the Midtown location, but it's made with dried, reconstituted stuff in Chelsea, and it was weird. On the "Seafood" menu, I've enjoyed both shrimp dishes and Squid W. Kung Bao Sauce. If you like eggplant, this dish from the "Vegetable" menu is superb: Eggplant W. Garlic Sauce W. Pork It's another spicy, really tasty dish. As I previously mentioned at some point in this thread, my favorite dish from "Mao's Home Cooking" is Spicy and Sour Squid, and it's great! I hope that was somewhat helpful.

One warning about the bus from Florence to Siena: Do not take the "Diretto"; it's the slowest route! Take the bus that says "Via Cassia." From what I remember, the trip lasts just about 1 hour.

Thanks, Steve. You said it better than I could have. Amy, give us some details, please.

Perhaps this is a related question: One late afternoon, I was walking past your restaurant with a friend and noticed a meeting taking place, which looked more like a lecture to all the staff, from my viewpoint looking in through the plateglass window for a brief period of time (I didn't want to make anyone self-conscious by staying there long). Are there meetings of the whole staff every day before dinner service? What kinds of things get discussed in such meetings, and how long do they usually last? Do you and the other members of the staff consider these meetings important? Did you frequently take part in similar meetings in the other restaurants where you used to work? And how are your meetings at Hearth different from those you've experienced elsewhere? OK, that's umpteen questions, but answer whatever you like.

Did all purveyors try to stick you with bad stuff? That would really piss me off. Any purveyor who did it more than once and prompted you to drop them? (You don't have to name names.)

Great punch line, proving that truth is often funnier than fiction! Does she remember that night? You were a good cousin.

My standby in the area is Grand Sichuan, 9th Av. between 50th and 51st, but it helps to like hot pepper and be able to tolerate some salt and oil in exchange for great taste. Turkish Cuisine on 9th between 44th and 45th (I believe) is also a possibility. One plus there is that the decor is interesting - prints of old views of Istanbul, etc.

You forgot to mention that all violinists should play like Heifetz, Russ. After all, what's so difficult about bowing back and forth on four strings and putting down one finger after another?

Welcome, hmaurer! And now that you've asked us a question, let me ask you some questions: What do you want to pay? What kind of food do you (or don't you) want? Is there anything you don't eat? Once you've answered those questions, we are a lot more likely to be able to give you recommendations you can use. Also, you might want to do searches on "Midtown" and "Hell's Kitchen" for some previously recommended places.