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Dave, it must have been fascinating to grow up in Vancouver during the growth the city in general and the Chinese community in particular has experienced.

Well, Elyse, I probably haven't eaten a burger in over 20 years. I didn't find mine overcooked (I ordered it rare). It tasted good, and the texture was just slightly cartilagenous. The bun was OK. The onions were good, but some of the lettuce was rotten and unusable, and it was arguably a mistake to order tomatoes this time of year, but they were tolerable in context and I wouldn't hesitate to order tomatoes again if I get another burger somewhere. But for $13, that burger was a dreadful ripoff. I'd much prefer a good $6-7.50 roast beef sandwich. The fries were good and had a nice potato taste, though. As for the onion rings, I did order them. They were very oily but consisted of a nice ring of the same good onions I had raw slices of on my plate, surrounded by good-tasting batter. It was very enjoyable meeting you and all the others.

Elyse, I'll add that if that was a bad burger, it was decent, so I might be up for some other burger club outing. But seriously, that survey form is just too much.

Elyse, I feel bad. I saw on the menu that my cheeseburger should have cost $8.50, so for that plus a share of onion rings (and no beverage), I initially paid $13 and then put $2 more in for a total of $15. Given that they charged $13 for just the burger (those damned gougers!), I obviously owe you (or whoever else covered the difference) a drink some time. Why are they charging more than the price on the menu?

Wow, Hiroko, what a pleasant surprise to see you here! And thanks for the correction. I guess I did get that a bit garbled. Sure, we can go to Honmura An. Let's talk schedules off-thread.

I recall reading when I was a child that some Native American tribes made an acorn bread that I seem to remember being called Wewish in some language or other. So I did a quick Yahoo! search on "acorn bread" and came up with these results. Among the results is this page on Acorns and Acorn Bread.

I don't think you have a thing to apologize for, and I do understand the problem you're alluding to. I agree that it's beyond the scope of this thread, but I think that issues in customer/grocery store-employee relations are topical for this site. By default, I suppose such a discussion, which we should handle carefully if we have it, would belong in General Food Topics.

jschyun, I think that the customer's relationship with management is different in a restaurant than in a grocery store. Grocery store owners are very worried about theft, and I doubt restaurant employees are nearly as concerned about that, in spite of the stories one reads about the theft of fine silverware and so forth. There have been times when I've been conscious that Koreans can behave in a way I and most other Americans would tend to consider rude (and which I understand is just a cultural difference), but those times haven't been at restaurants. And Korean colleagues of mine aren't rude at all, but very nice. But I do think, too, that the get-right-to-the-point attitude of New Yorkers in general probably makes it easier for Koreans to fit in here than, say, the South, where they'd have to learn how to say "Hi, how are ya!" to every stranger who stands on line to buy something. Perhaps in laid-back Southern California, it's also harder for Koreans to fit in than here. In New York, "Five dollar" is a fine thing for the checkout guy to say, and not rude if not said in a very impatient tone of voice.

I was back at Yeah tonight. I go there pretty often, so my presence there was nothing unusual, but I had a different cold dish this time. Its name has slipped my mind, but it's something Latin that sounds like the name of a flower. It turns out to be some kind of parsley-like green vegetable chopped up and combined with diced tofu skin (the waiter said "dried tofu," but it didn't seem dried to me), with sesame oil on it. It's a good dish and worth ordering. I followed that up with spicy minced meat noodles, whose sauce was hotter and tastier than New Green Bo's. I'm starting to form a preliminary conclusion that Yeah is a flat-out better restaurant than New Green Bo.

I respect your remarks, jschyun, because you are Korean-American. But that said, I haven't been treated rudely at any Korean restaurant in New York. I've found the level of politeness pretty much the same as you can normally expect from New Yorkers.

Are you sure you'd want to eat cheese or be thinking about cheese at that point?

I'm not familiar with it. I'm guessing it's Italian. What region and what creature's milk?

:laugh: Leave it it Jinmyo to cut to the heart of things.

Thanks. Gotta check it out.

I hadn't realized Tappo had closed. Have you tried this new place yet, Ya-Roo?

So New York is going to have more sidewalk cafes (and sidewalk bar tables) where you could smoke and you're picking this time to boycott? Also, if you have any hard numbers to back your claims about restaurants in Florida failing because of a ban on smoking, rather than a generally weak economy, I'd like to see them, but please start a new thread in the appropriate board and post a link here if you like.

I think I'd sooner go to Amma for a $50 tasting menu, for several reasons. I'll go to Soba-Ya again sooner, too, partly because it's in my neighborhood.

I guess you have to be a real connoiseur.

Here are some previous threads on cheese: On discussing cheese..., Favorites, where to get and wine Stinky Cheese Anyone? Hello Cheese! (more recommendations) Cheese recommendations I got these threads by doing a search of all forums, any date, on keyword "cheese," with the "Search titles only" button pressed. Ain't the search feature wonderful? [Edited to add] My favorite cheeses are the fantastic Comte' cheese I had at Grand Vefour in June of 2002, a really high-quality Parmegiano, and ditto for extra-sharp Cheddar. Some other excellent cheeses are Asiago (believe it or not, I had some really fine asiago at an art opening) and really good Provolone. As you see, I like sharp hard cheeses, but that's not to say that I can't enjoy a really good Brie/Camembert-type cheese, and Ricotta is also a delightful cheese.

I really hadn't thought about this. If I don't get to Amma before 2004, I will go then. Craftbar intrigues me after lxt's review, but I don't know how expensive it is. If I get back to Santa Barbara this winter, I'll look forward to returning to La Super-Rica. Otherwise, I figure to eat in some new places in the East Village, Chinatown, Little Korea, probably Flushing and Jackson Heights, and perhaps Downtown Brooklyn. The only travel I have vaguely planned is a winter trip to LA, SB, and SF, and possibly a brief visit to Boston at some point. My brother and other relatives and friends will take me places in California, and the trip to Boston is (1) to visit a couple of friends; and (2) to visit the city (walk around, see museums). I haven't given any thought to where I'd eat while in Boston, because the trip is just a possibility at this point.

We paid exactly $60 including tax and tip at Soba-Ya, but that did include alcohol. Honmura-An doesn't sound too expensive for me to go to.

What kind of prices are we talking about for Honmura? I really don't have the luxury of paying big bucks for decor.

jeffj, I want to join others in thanking you for that great report and those great pictures. This is one of the best reviews I've read on eGullet.

Il Bagatto's bar makes good mojitos and caipirinhas. I also like to get mojitos at Casimir's bar (7 St. and Av. B), a cozy den which is much nicer since smoking in bars was prohibited, but I wish it stayed open past 1 A.M. At peak hours, Il Bagatto's bar can be kind of insane.

I do have a slightly more specific suggestion than looking through those three pages of search results. There are good recipes for Chicken and Chestnuts in various styles. As I recall, there's a decent Chinese recipe in Lilah Kan's book and a delicious stewy one from Bulgaria. I thought the latter was in the Round the World Cookbook, but I don't see it in my copy. The only thing I can tell you about it from my memory of years ago when my mother made it is that it's tomato-sauce based. Re: foodie52's remark: My father has had so much disappointment with opening chestnuts only to find out that 1/3 of them are moldy that he's resorted to the jarred ones.