Pan

The Garden really isn't in the Theater District. If you like Korean food, go to Cho Dang Gol or Han Bat on 35 St. between 6th and 5th, Kang Suh on 32 St. just east of Broadway, or try any other Korean restaurant in that area that appeals to your fancy.

What's guangja?

Perhaps the closest I've come to that is at Teresa's, my local Polish diner. I've been a regular there for so many years that I've eaten probably something around 70% of their menu. I guess that's somewhat true of Frutti di Mare, too. I used to eat at that place a lot in the days before there was a wider selection of Italian restaurants in the East Village that I like better. But for me, a lot of it is how many times I eat somewhere over a long period of time, and also that the menu isn't really long. I've eaten a bunch of things at Grand Sichuan, but the menu's extensive and I also have favorite dishes, so I haven't come close to eating everything on the menu.

Unbelievable stories, malachi (though I believe them). Laughing Goddess: What an evil witch that woman is. I'm glad she's out of your life, too, and welcome to eGullet!

With all due respect, I don't think that's the question. The question is why you pay for what he orders when you know he won't eat it, if you know that this will vex you. Your choice is to continue with the status quo or talk to him, not over a meal, explaining that this bothers you and, therefore, you'd rather get food for yourself and let him pick at it, as he pleases. But before you do that, my question for you is whether he hates the food at the places you're taking him to, that's why he's not eating there, and broke or not, he's eating something else elsewhere? Did you think of that possibility?

Your mother is right, mags. When I've played a concert, I always thank people for complimenting me. After having thanked them, I may ask some of my closest friends, out of earshot of the rest of the public, for their specific opinions on various aspects of the concert, but they have to be close friends of whom it's reasonable for me to ask for specific comments, and whose views pro, con, or neutral I respect. I really try hard never to let on if I think my performance sucked, except later, to my folks and such-like. And they usually disagree then, too.

Mash = mache? But what is "rocket"?

Honestly, why would you want to do that? He'll be having French food in France for 3 weeks! Make Chinese, Italian, Indian - anything but a French meal for him. That's what I'd do in your shoes.

Good luck, malachi.

Who wouldn't think they were rude? Presumptuous, inconsiderate, basically pricks.

My answer would be no. Take what you want. If the hosts specifically ask later whether you want something you haven't tried and straight-out make the point that you haven't had any of it, say that you're getting full and need to leave room for dessert. At that point, should they insist that you at least try it, take a little. But I also think that, in the context of a varied dinner like you've described, saying "I love everything else but don't like tomatoes much" is not impolite, if you're asked why you haven't had any tabouleh. I'm a New Yorker, and perhaps people in the South, Midwest, Mountain States, etc., might have different views on this, but I think your husband is being highly oversensitive.

Acidophilus is simply a bacterium. Lactose is a sugar. Acidophilus is not broken down and digested, but is a bacterium you need in your intenstines. Lactose needs to be broken down by an enzyme called lactase so that it can be turned into glucose and galactose and absorbed through the intestinal walls. This is a long way of saying that lactase deficiency aka lactose intolerance has nothing whatsoever to do with acidophilus.

Oh. Understood, fresh_a.

I agree with JAZ on what it means to be a gracious guest, too. I can speak for myself: I do offer to set things, help take the plates and so forth into the kitchen, throw stuff out, etc., but it all depends on the context. I do all those things and more at a seder, most of the time, but there could be more formal situations in which it was expected for guests not to do anything but relax. When I visit my cousins, I will do dishes if they let me, also. I think the main thing is to offer; then, it's up to the hosts to accept or reject the offer, but the offer has to be sincere.

My deduction that John Whiting found the food ordinary is based on a general impression of his review, but here are some bits of evidence: I'll be happy to see his response to this part of the thread, whenever he gets around to it.

Others have said it was not ordinary food. But John's reaction was that it was. If he's not a fan of haute cuisine, do you feel he would have given the restaurant an equally negative review if he had had a comfortable table, relaxed ambiance, and gracious service, as he likely would have had in a traditional haute cuisine restaurant? Perhaps John will address this, and I look forward to his response.

If it's cloud ear, it does indeed have a taste, which I like. Also called "tree ear," it's a standard ingredient in Hot and Sour Soup.

Ugh! No relevant anti-discrimination rules? And what are they looking for? But what happened with the stage??!!!

Bux, didn't you feel that a large part of John's criticism was that he was paying high prices for ordinary food in a cramped setting with perfunctory service? What's "reverse snobbish" about that?

Pike St. between East Broadway and Madison St. It's Mosco St., not Moscow, and I mentioned it but suggested trying the Thai-Indonesian store on Bayard between Mott and Mulberry first, as I've found it cheaper.

Since she's dead set on that, if you want to go to an Italian pastry place after dinner, I can recommend the one that's closest to Canal on the east side of Mulberry. I don't remember its name, but I've always found it good, though I'm wondering when the last time was that I went there (must be no more recently than last fall, if that). If you like lychees, arrive early and look for a storefront on the east side of Mott St. between Grand and Hester that, as of a week or so ago, was selling high-quality ones for $2/lb (they're not beautifully red but most of them have that great sweet taste with a tart overtaste, which is the pinnacle for lychees). Get them before you have dinner because he closes up shop around 8 or 9.

Obviously, it was important for you to call. Who knows whether you would have ever gotten a call otherwise, but you now know what to do and when. Please keep us apprised of your progress.

Thanks for the link, Kurl. That's one of the more interesting reviews I've read. I have to say that at >$20/main dish prices, I'm not sure I'd want to take too many risks with my money, but the fact is, I probably won't have dinner there on my own dime, anyway. Hey, I walked past 71 Clinton several times, found the menu interesting, but never ate there. Just the same, I have to walk on Clinton St. again soon.

Chicken soup would have been the obvious suggestion. Others have posted it already. But my father used to make a really interesting chicken soup because of all the other stuff he put in it. Parsnips, carrots, Italian parsley, tomatoes, onions, leeks if in season, wine, pasta or rice, dried (ergo concentrated) mushrooms, tarragon, and sometimes beans (leave these out for now), sometimes garlic. I'm glad HWOE is getting better, but if he still needs the chicken soup, boil a whole chicken (skinned, with all visible fat removed) in a really large saucepan like my father did and add all and sundry kinds of vegetables like that. If he's not ready for that much rougage, you can always take most of the vegetable content from his bowl and eat it, yourself. You could also puree some of the vegetables. And another thought is to add cumin as the spice for the chicken soup. Use whole cumin seeds. They're not irritating and they are delicious. But there are several different ways you can go with chicken soup, and it's easy not to get bored with an imaginatively-made version. I frankly miss my father's approach to chicken soup and would rather like to make my own, but I've been too lazy.

Yeah, I know! Our favorite thing to eat in KT used to be Cili Udang Galah. You probably remember that the udang galah (huge prawns) in those days were the size of small lobsters. I've heard that such big shrimps haven't existed in Malaysian waters for many years now. But if there's any place you know of that has something like that, please tell me. I can't remember the name of the place we used to go to. It was supposedly the 2nd-best Chinese restaurant in KT, but we liked it better than the "best" because the owner was friendlier and the place was unpretentious and consistently excellent. It was on what I guess was the south (away-from-the-river) side of the main street in the part of KT Chinatown closest to the port and Istana (several blocks from the hotel we used to stay at, which was on the divided boulevard), but I forget the name of the street. I hope that the woman and her husband are alive and healthy, and I figure they would now be in their late 50s or early 60s or so (it was a husband-and-wife team, with the wife as proprietress/hostess/waitress and the husband as chef). We liked the red pork there, too. Ipoh was always known for its good food, so I can understand going there and back for a good meal. I have to say, the only way I could write about this large a number of places in New York is if I wrote about places I've eaten at, places I've never eaten at but which are well-respected and expensive, and places trusted friends I contacted told me about. Even then, I don't think it would be this extensive. It's starting to look to me like the eGullet Restaurant Guide that Fat Guy talked about at a certain point. (That idea seems dormant, for the most part. Maybe it's worth bringing up again.)