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So what numbers are we talking about? 3? 4? Perhaps 5 (are you coming, Fat Guy?)? I am credit card-less at the moment, so if a credit card is needed to reserve on open table, someone else will need to do it.

I agree with L'Impero. I went there last night for the first time, and it is very romantic. Dinner also was excellent. I had the prix-fixe ($52 for four courses, very reasonable) and dined well: A marinated yellowtail appetizer, followed by a mushroom fettucine pasta, followed by a branzino served atop carrots and a couscous-type grain; followed by dessert (chocolate soup)! Whoa! Chocolate soup!!!! I second coughy's recommendation of the River Cafe. I've only been there once so far (best Restaurant Week lunch I've ever had, but I'll warn you that it was a couple or three years ago). The view is positively breathtaking. I remember liking the dessert I had there, and I had a scallop dish that was probably the best scallops I've ever had, but the place is at least as much for the view as the meal. The fact that I can say honestly that the meal was comparable to the view is really an extraordinary word of praise for the establishment. Valentine's Day is a troublesome night to eat out, and I think that it would be as important to look for recommendations of impeccable service as anything else. I don't like to eat out on that night because it's a night when the service can be overwhelmed and really suck. And there's nothing that can put a damper on a special night out like being forgotten about for a half hour at a time.

What type of cuisine do you want? Should we try to do the Restaurant Week thing or go in a different direction?

I would agree.

Jenny, I hate it that they make non-fat or low-fat muffins and so forth with 50% sugar or something. Awful.

Well-put, Bux. Curiosity about what the buzz is all about and whether there's substance behind it or not is a reasonable reaction.

I'll be curious to read your meal report. I consider OPJK's report a warning.

Go, Bratt! I'm glad the chef is being kind to you.

I'm not a big fan of unmarinated, unsauced steak, so Lugar's wouldn't be for me (I've been once and that was fun but enough). Talk over with your husband what other types of places he'd be interested in. I know and like restaurants that serve a variety of different types of cuisine, and I'm also open to suggestions. I normally wouldn't spend more than $20 or so on lunch, but I might be willing to go up to $40 or more for someplace really special.

Yes, I'm familiar with Harisa, by that name. Thanks, boaziko.

Is pyretherin an indiscriminate pesticide that kills bees?

That confuses me, too. Gasoline is derived from crude oil, which is a naturally-occurring organic substance. But I guess it's the manufacturing that's the problem? Nah, kerosene is also manufactured from crude oil, right?

I just checked at Dowel, my local Bangladeshi store in the East Village, and didn't see any. I'll check the next time I'm at Kalustyan's. But my folks do have anardana and a spice grinder, so I guess they'd have no trouble grinding the seeds. I never realized people did that.

I agree completely. And I would readily say that overboiled, mushy pasta with Prego and Kraft grated "parmesan" cheese (mostly rind) with preservatives to prevent caking sucks. To me - and I daresay, to most people on a site devoted to discussing food, which therefore is skewed toward people who are on some level gastronomes and connoiseurs - it does suck. That doesn't mean that people who eat this combination and like it are fools or morally depraved. It does mean that I don't share their taste in pasta. Now, it's possible that someone who likes pasta that way is a highly intelligent, decent person who's a distinguished nuclear physicist. It's even possible that this person is an expert baker of pies and cakes, or mixes a mean martini, for example. But to me, his/her taste in pasta sucks. Does that make me a snob? Honestly, I don't think so. It means that I'm a person of somewhat discriminating taste. I don't like all music, either. I think a lot of music sucks. But there are loads of musicians I respect greatly and love to perform with who like a lot of music that I think sucks. So while I have to regard their recommendations in music to check out with a grain of salt, my respect for their musicianship is undiminished. The world is complex and almost every individual living thing is unique. That makes life interesting, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Just don't serve me mushy pasta with Prego sauce and Kraft grated "parmesan" cheese in a jar.

If I'm not drinking wine, I usually have tap water with the meal and later get herbal tea or regular tea with lemon. I haven't noticed any pattern of the service being the same or worse. If it's worse, I slam it on eGullet and lower my tip. Brooks, just remember that the wine will still be there if and when you can start drinking again. And there are many people who can't or don't drink wine, but that doesn't prevent them from enjoying great food and a nice night out.

Thanks for the recommendation, Marlena. What's zchug?

Monica, is the pomegranate powder you refer to aka anardana?

Thanks for the interesting responses. I'm still interested in knowing how much of a problem petroleum oil could be, though, and how organic farmers are using it.

Speaking of gum, who had the bright idea of putting it in cream cheese, and why did they start it and continue doing it? Yuck!

Jenny, that last post could be the start of an excellent General Food Topics thread all its own. Enjoy your afternoon!

There's a pretty good chance I'd be free on a Friday for lunch. If you like, post or PM me on what place or price range or/and location you have in mind for the meal.

In this thread, Fat Guy mentioned pesticides used by some organic farmers and provided a link to this page on organic farming, which includes the following text: Various other more innocuous-sounding insecticides and fungicides are mentioned. Is petroleum oil really so benign to human beings? I mean, you wouldn't want to eat crude oil, right? Anyone know whether parts of a plant that are meant to be eaten by human beings ever get petroleum sprayed on them by organic farmers? And if so, how could the stuff be washed off without using soap and dealing with soap residue? Incidentally, yes, petroleum is of course made up of organic compounds, but "made of of compounds containing carbon" is not the usual standard for "organic" farming, is it? Because by that standard, all vegetable and animal matter is organic, and lots and lots of inedible and poisonous compounds are organic (which, in a chemistry-definition sense, is true).

In all seriousness, was there any way in which the introduction of chilis to Asia created ecological problems? I'd never heard of any.

I wasn't aware of that, in fact. It would be interesting to know what chemicals organic farmers use on their crops.