Pan

As I said, what's the downside to rinsing?

Everything else wasn't exactly fine. I posted about my "Good Friday Dinner" at Bouley at the time.

I don't think so. Do you think they would have given Lutece 4 stars if they had gotten sand at the bottom of their Soupe de Pistou? Do you think they would have given Bouley 4 stars if their dining partner's chicken came partially raw?

What do you all think of the issue that I have never gotten anything remotely approaching 4-star food at any restaurant already rated 4 stars in the New York Times? Doesn't that say something about how the reviewer got served, as opposed to how I did?

What's the downside to washing a melon? I can't see one, which is why I've always washed (well, rinsed) them.

Your cousin didn't want to use the certificate? Why not?

Sounds wonderful! But I don't have a recipe. It sounds like something you could improvise effectively, though.

One of the things I care about is that I've had mediocre-to-poor meals every time I've gone to places that have received four stars from the New York Times (in different "eras"), so I have to wonder whether the fact that X or Y bigshot got good treatment at A or B fensy-schmency restaurant has any bearing on the treatment Michael Nobody (that's who they think I am) will get if I ever spend two or four hours' worth of salary at these places. I'm afraid that this makes me tend to discount every four-star review somewhat.

How about a question back to you: What do you feel you should disclose? Nothing, ever? My bias is generally toward disclosure, but the specifics are up to the writer.

Pan, I respect your position, even though I don't agree with it. Let me make a few quick points here, though. First of all, I've been to Mix with Michael Psaltis exactly one time out of a total of, I believe, eight visits. Second, while one might think Michael's presence would "positively affect [my] reception," the reality is that I had very little good to say about the service at Mix in what I wrote. Third, I don't believe we were served a single item that wasn't on the menu; at that point I was still just trying to sample items from the menu. I hadn't asked Doug to do any tastings yet. But most importantly, I think it's hard to sustain the claim that a food writer needs to disclose every dining companion who might have a relationship with a restaurant. For example, what if I've dined at Gramercy Tavern with Tom Colicchio's brother? Do I now have to disclose that every time I write about Gramercy Tavern? I think it's pretty clear I have a damn friendly relationship with the place; at some point it becomes gratuitous to keep saying that in different ways. Your point is taken, in that it would be like Bux disclosing the precise nature of his relationship with a former sous chef at Daniel every time he mentions the restaurant. However, I do think that the fact that you are eating at a restaurant with a sibling/child/parent/spouse, etc. of the owner/chef/sous chef, etc. of a restaurant is worth mentioning when discussing that particular meal, at any rate. My point isn't that it should be mentioned every time you mention the restaurant, but that it should probably be mentioned at least once.

Brooks, a speedy recovery to your wife.

My parents and I have always rinsed melons before cutting them. I see no downside, and the upside is that it gets rid of some dirt and (if any) pesticides.

When you say "province," I take it you mean the province of Firenze and not the region of Toscana?

Chris, if my cousin is the chef/owner of the taqueria, how do you know he'd make a good burrito for you?

Fat Guy: In context, this is a tangent, I guess, but I think it's more important that you worked in Ducasse's kitchen. Working in Ducasse's kitchen undoubtedly enabled you to understand his cuisine better than most anything else you could have done. Would you agree? Oh, and while disclosing that Doug Psaltis' brother is your agent may not be important, you should have disclosed that you were having dinner with him in a restaurant in which that fact would be likely to positively affect your reception - because his brother is the sous chef or whatever. I fail to accept your seeming reductio ad absurdum of this issue, as meaning that because you can't "satisfy all of the people all of the time," it's always absurd to disclose any fact. [edit to eliminate stray comma]

The place sounds interesting. If I were well, I'd probably want to go. Unfortunately, I'm not.

Bill, I take it you're aware of just how big a distance you're discussing?

Menton, Chow Mein actually is based on a traditional Chinese dish. I can't say I've had Veal Parmegiana in Italy, and I don't know whether it's traditional or not.

I'm glad you're feeling better, Mabelline. By the way, Tryska, when I have normal congestion (i.e. not an incapacitating flu), a favorite thing for me to do is go to a local south Indian restaurant, and order rasam and a chili utthapam with extra chilis of the small green variety. The chef/owner has known me since I started coming about 2 weeks after he opened, and is always happy to honor my request for extra chilis.

Wow, steroids! I'm on antibiotics (for complications) and hydrocodone syrup. And I'm supposed to be grading papers and final exams. I'll probably try to do a little later today, but my brain's been too addled for the last week. Short stuff like posts to eGullet, OK, but not student papers.

I'm generally in favor of disclosure, for the reasons others have already stated, but it's up to the reviewer to decide whether to disclose that he's had sex with the coat-check.

I've had the worst flu of my life during the last 8 days. Usually, I like to eat hot-peppery food with respiratory congestion, but I've also had some bad digestive symptoms with this, so my palliatory substance of choice other than actual medicine has been peppermint tea - a general tonic and stomach relaxant.

The thing is, lobak is quite different from turnips. It's really more like a daikon (maybe it is a daikon). Lobak isn't bitter. By the way, in both Chinese and Malay, carrots are called Red Lobak.

Turnips are usually pretty bitter, so I can understand your sentiment. I think they're good when boiled so much they're kind of killed, like in couscous.

There's an additional item that you're leaving out or at least not making explicit, ExtraMSG: The right to organize unions. In Indonesia under Suharto, anyone who tried to organize a union (let alone strike) was automatically arrested and tortured! Arresting, torturing, and illegally killing or legally executing union organizers is something that has happened again and again in countries with entrenched big businesses in control of governments - including in the U.S., where unionists were repeatedly roughed up and worse by both cops and company goons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I agree that knowing the dollar amount of wages tells us nothing, if we don't know what one can purchase for a dollar in that country (or even locality). It may be quite alright for there to be 12-hour days at 50c/hour someplace, but the right for workers to be able to choose to bargain collectively without a likelihood of facing intimidation and violence as a result is fundamental.