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I think the sweetening is subtle (I wouldn't have remarked on it), and I prefer it to the excessive salt that both 9th-Av. branches of Grand Sichuan sometimes use. I'd agree, though, that it's not hard to imagine that it represents an effort to cater to patrons' tastes.

Funny you should ask about rhubarb chutney! My cousin's wife made it for the first seder for Passover last week. It was very tasty and tasted like a compote with ground cumin. Rhubarb, raisins, and lots of sugar were other evident ingredients. I don't know where the recipe came from or whether it's at all authentic for an Indian-style chutney, but it was good.

I always thought the purple tubers were yams and taro was the white, starchy root the Malays call ubi kayu. But that's also called cassava and tapioca root. So I guess I've been confused? For the record, taro green milk tea is my favorite bubble tea, and I also sometimes get taro ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, but my favorite flavors there are mango, coconut, and pineapple.

We don't celebrate Easter, but Grand Sichuan's Midtown location was my parents' choice of a place to have a last lunch as a family (for now, of course) before my brother went back to SF. My brother was skeptical. He said he had previously eaten at that branch of Grand Sichuan, didn't remember what he ate, but wasn't thrilled with it. I persuaded him to give it another chance, telling him that I knew the menu very well and could order for him. Actually, the menu of that branch is slightly different from the menu of the Chelsea branch, which I go to much more often. A few dishes that are served on 24th St. aren't on the Midtown menu, and a bunch of dishes on the 50th-St. menu aren't at the Chelsea location. But the overlap has to be close to 90%. I ordered Cucumber with Garlic, a favorite cold dish of mine, and agreed with my brother's suggestion of the first dish among the dishes for a Prodigal Daughter, a cold dish of spinach with crushed bits of ginger. For hot dishes, I ordered Aui Zhou Chicken from the fresh-killed chicken menu, and Sichuan-style soft-shell crabs were ordered at the suggestion of my mother. Ultimately, it was determined that we could use another dish. My father wanted lotus root but wasn't sure if it was in season, so he asked whether it was available. It was. We were given the option of sliced or shredded, and shredded was chosen. Since the Aui Zhou Chicken and Sichuan-style soft-shell crabs were both quite peppery, a non-spicy lotus root dish was requested. Everyone liked all the dishes that were ordered. The cucumber and the chicken were particularly appreciated, but the lotus root was judged by my brother, at least, as the best dish of all. It came in small lengthwise slices, and was cooked in a chicken broth-based sauce. Ultimately, I thought the soft-shell crabs were the least interesting dish, yet they were good, too. My brother had one slight criticism: He found everything except the lotus root dish a little sweetened. But he liked the food anyway, as did we all. The restaurant was almost empty from 2 to 4 P.M. on Easter Sunday. Our server complained that there was much more business at the Chelsea location, and implied that the Clinton location might have to close, but I think that his main point was that he wanted a good tip. Anyway, to sum up: The lunch was excellent. Based on our lunch, the 50th-St. location of Grand Sichuan hasn't slipped. (As for the Chelsea location, I had a late lunch there by myself today and eat there often enough to know that it has not slipped, but perhaps the uptown location is a bit better.)

I've liked Moussaka for a long time and often get it when eating at a Greek restaurant, especially when I'm out of town. I like Avgolemano Soup only when there's a lot of lemon juice in it, and I've been known to ask for more lemon to squeeze into the soup. I also like Greek roast leg of lamb and broiled fish dishes. For dessert, Baklava. Yum! Or Samos or some of the other Greek dessert wines. Of course, Greeks also really know how to make nice salads, and there are various excellent spreads with pita.

Curiouser and curiouser. Now it sounds like there was a wide degree of inconsistency between lunches on the same day. What would account for that?

Thanks for your response, Louise. It sounds like the elderly proprietress of Hotel de la Paix died and the family sold the hotel. I actually think the date on that building might have been 1701, and while I think it's on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, perhaps it is the one you're thinking of on Avenue Rapp; I'm not absolutely positive. The glass shapes are large and take up much of the front of the building near the entryway to a height upwards of 2 meters (maybe about 8 feet). Enjoy your chocolate-dipping and lobster!

I've never tried. Are they too bitter?

We waited for a while (not an inordinate amount of time, I thought), but that was because they had to find a space that could seat 5 people, rather than 4. The other time I went there, they indeed did not honor the reservation in a timely fashion, however. I think our reservations were for 9:30, and it was something like 10:40 or 10:45 by the time we were seated.

Some random reactions: (1) Great article. The journalistic background is obvious. (2) Sorry about the breakup, glad you had consolers with you. (3) I'm curious about your sister. She's a designer. Is she working in Paris or, like you, doing some kind of apprenticeship? (4) I know where you're living quite well. If you walk down the Rue du Gros Caillou (really a little alleyway), you will see the Hotel de la Paix, where I stayed during visits in 1992 and 1993. There's one private dwelling on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, not far from you, which I love. It was built in something like 1721 (the date is on the front), and has fanciful glass on its from in deliberately distorted facial shapes and such-like. Yet another thing in Paris that one will never find in New York, and it's no museum, but a private dwelling that people live in today. On another note, I had an excellent meal on my last day in Paris in 1993 at an outdoor cafe by a little fountain on the Rue St. Dominique one block east of Avenue Bosquet. There were two eateries on either side of the fountain; this one was just to its west. I wonder whether it's still good, but I was unwilling to take a chance on my trip to Paris last summer.

Jim: Perhaps you'll think I'm nitpicking, but you aren't really having rhubarb all by itself. You're having it with sugar or syrup. Last summer, I loved the rhubarb tarts that proliferated in the Parisian boulangeries. The French really know how to use and appreciate rhubarb: They treat it like a fruit.

I will do the best I can to write some remarks about a meal I had on April 11 and ended up rather tipsy at, and which was also a date, and therefore not only about the food. There were 5 of us - Jeunefilleparis and her boyfriend, I, a friend, and my date (there were supposed to be four people - long, boring story, but they graciously seated us at a 4-top, and the amount of space was adequate). We started off at the bar, where I drank a caipirinha and traded sips with my date's mojito. I ordered the last-mentioned specials for both the primi and secondi piatti. The primo was Orecchieti con Ragu' d'Agnello, and it was delicious. By the time the secondo came, I was already a bit tipsy because we were also sharing a bottle of wine (and my petite girlfriend, tipsy already, wasn't having much of it). The wine was a red that was better than an average table wine and cost $40, but I forget what it was. Anyway, my secondo was some kind of fish filet (pike?), excellently cooked, with the bottom flavorful from contact with the liquid in the pan (a white wine-based sauce?), and there were some delicious vegetables under it (artichokes, onions, maybe something else green). I also tried Jeunefilleparis' appetizer, an octopus salad with perfectly-cooked, perfectly fresh octopus. I'm having trouble remembering what my friend and my date got, except that I think both were fish dishes (perhaps my friend got the "Grilled Salmon Filet with salad" that I see in my takeout menu). I know that I tried some of my friend's dish, but I must have preferred my own dish. Three of us got Torta della Nonna for dessert, and it was just as good as I remembered from my last time there. But it struck me and at least some of the rest of us that the food tasted much better this time, without all the smoke. And this was, after all, our Non-Smoking Celebration Dinner. It was a very pleasant occasion, indeed. The tab ended up as some $43 apiece, including tax and tip. FYI, Il Bagatto is at 192 E. 2 St., open 11 A.M.-11 P.M., closed on Monday. Call (212) 228-0977 for reservations. The restaurant is small, and I don't recommend for you to show up without reservations unless you don't mind waiting at the bar for an indeterminate period of time - though worse fates are easy to imagine! Cash only. OK, Lauren, your turn to post.

Juuceman: I love the Woo Chon branch on Kissena Blvd. in Flushing. Have you been there? If so, can you compare the two branches?

It was a great pleasure!

I try not to stand on them; it's too hard to scrape them out of the treads of my boots.

Yes on the Torta Della Nonna at Il Bagatto. I'll post about our dinner there, though I was a bit tipsy by the end of that evening.

I've taken many friends to Madras Cafe (2 Av. between 4th and 5th), and no-one has been dissatisfied. I've been a regular almost ever since it opened, and I'm not a vegetarian.

Keep two things in mind, Robert: (1) My brother's previous prix fixe lunch at Bouley, as I mentioned, was one of the greatest dining experiences of his life. (2) The waiter agreed that his shrimp was no good, and part of the chicken was obviously raw, a fact that no-one disputed. Now, if you can turn an experience like that into a rave review, I'm not sure what weight should be put on your opinions. Fat Guy: Your remark made me laugh. I do think that two stars are merited because there were some great things about the meal. My brother and I speculate that the executive chef and some of the line chefs were probably on vacation on Good Friday (in fact, we compared our experience of one great meal and one very disappointing meal - caused by the absence of all the line chefs - at Michel Vignaud in Chablis last summer, which I posted about on the France board [too lazy to look for it at the moment ). But if so, the restaurant should have closed for vacation! Aaron: The trip to Bouley was planned as my brother's treat, though I volunteered to pay the $20 difference between the $35 and $45 prix fixe menus. That proved not to be necessary when one of the meals was comped. So I have no monetary reasons to be upset; it's just disappointing that we went there on what must have been a very off day. Guru: I thought the decor was OK and it certainly didn't bother me, but I made no comment about it in my review because it was neither greatly noteworthy as spectacular nor in any way upsetting. I thought it was sedate, but my brother did note one odd thing about the room we were in (the darker room to the left on entering): The acoustics were such that we could hear every word spoken by the party in the far corner, if we concentrated on listening (which we didn't).

(Note: Bouley's menu pages were helpful in refreshing my memory, though the menu online is somewhat different from yesterday's.) My brother and I went to Bouley yesterday afternoon. It was my brother's second trip, and my first. My brother's previous experience of Bouley's prix fixe lunch was one of the outstanding meals of his life, so his expectations were high. The first demerit was something I noticed about the raisin bread: The golden raisins had sulfur dioxide on them and presumably were Sunkist. They should have used organic raisins. But that seemed a minor point at the time. I thought the amuse bouche was terrific and my brother also liked it, though less than I. It was salmon in some kind of sour white sauce (perhaps milk-based - sour cream? I thought there might have been a touch of mayonnaise in it, but my brother doubts this) on finely julienned cucumber and various greens. We decided to order the $45 tasting menu. Our first course was Phyllo Crusted Florida Shrimp, Baby Cape Cod Squid, Scuba Dived Sea Scallop and Sweet Maryland Crabmeat in an Ocean Herbal Broth, though only the one shrimp and scallop were readily apparent (perhaps the others were in really small pieces). That's no complaint, however, and the dish was nicely cooked. But there was a problem. My brother, who is more of a super-taster than I, found the shrimp unacceptably old-tasting (I was satisfied with it). He put that to the waiter, who returned to us with a report. He stated that he had worked for years at Bouley, and that it was the first time he had agreed with such an objection. He went into the kitchen, smelled that batch of shrimps and found them unacceptable. Some shrimps, he said, are just bad and that one was. The chef, he said, also agreed and was very upset. A replacement was offered, but declined, whereupon an extra dessert was offered and accepted. We ordered different second courses. I got Atlantic Halibut Prepared in a Borscht Manner with Local Ruby Beets, and a Celery and Horseradish Dressing, a great dish. The halibut was perfectly fresh, the cubed beet pieces were wonderfully crunchy, and the combination of beets and horseradish was an excellent homage to chrein (spelling?). My brother got Maine Salmon with Snow Peas,Glazed Fennel and a Clementine Sauce. I found the fish somewhat fishier than the shrimp he had found unacceptable, but it was acceptable to him, anyway, and he was very pleased with the sauce (which I also liked). Both of us followed up with Pennsylvania All Natural Chicken Roasted with 24 Hours Cooked Tomatoes, Mediterranean Olives and Basil Mashed Potatoes. Here, something totally unacceptable happened: Part of my brother's chicken was UNCOOKED! The waiter was shocked by this development. Again, he offered a replacement, but my brother declined, saying he had already tasted the dish. Actually, the dish itself wasn't very interesting to him, since it was made with white meat that hadn't been marinated. I thought the olives and tomatos (kind of a puree) were tasty, but I found the basil mashed potatoes too buttery. Overall, the dish was OK, but only with fully cooked chicken meat! There followed a pre-dessert of Grapefruit Soup with Coconut Sorbet, a thin Coconut Cookie (I forget the technical name for this), and Passion Fruit. I thought this was great, though my brother wasn't as taken with it (he did like it). Our main dessert was Hot Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé with Prune-Armagnac, Chocolate, Pistachio, and some other kinds of Ice Cream. The souffle' was a typical chocolate souffle'. What really made this dessert was some of the ice creams, especially the prune-armagnac. The chocolate ice cream was super-chocolatey, and I also thought the pistachio ice cream was the best I've had at least since gelato in Italy. There were a couple of types of ice cream that didn't have enough taste for us to determine what they were. Another dessert, which we shared, had subtle custard over an apple pie-like layer of apples. That part was fine. But it came with a basil foam that we liked neither the consistency nor the taste of (too strong!). There were some apple chips, also. Finally, some post-dessert extras came out: A chocolate-orange truffle that I loved but my brother thought not that special; a macaroon that we both agreed was too chewy; a good butter cookie; an indifferent shortbread cookie; if there was something else, I don't remember it. My brother drank iced tea with the meal, and I had two cups of mint tea with desserts (good strong mint tea). We were comped one meal for our troubles, and since our service had been entirely professional, we agreed that the tip should be based on what both meals would have cost. Although Bouley is rated as one of the only four-star restaurants in town, we both agreed that this meal, at least, barely merited two stars.

You disliked Le Tableau, apparently? I've never been there but like Lavagna, despite my objection that I'd rather their food were less salty.

My understanding is that their presence in India is much older than that and dates from the time when the Persian Empire was conquered by the Arabs.

I don't think of Lavagna as serving old-style New York Italian food at all. It seems to me to be Tuscan-based creative cuisine.

I don't see what that has to do with taste. What do you think it has to do with taste?

Goes floppy.

I guess I don't know what your standards are for sogginess. I didn't find either those pancakes or the ones I had at Kang Suh to be notably soggy.