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Lorna, it's amazing that you were able to take good photos while drunk!!!!

Lorna, I know this will sound odd, but thanks for posting while drunk. Everything you wrote was totally understandable and made sense, but your posting was slurred. So that way, we got to share the experience of all that wine vicariously. May you have a sound sleep and wake up with no hangover!

I don't have a huge amount of experience with Japanese curries, but my impression is that there is way more depth of flavor in Indian curries. To those who prefer Japanese curries, what is it that you prefer about them?

How do you all feel about visiting new inexpensive restaurants? I went to Madras Cafe about a week after it opened and have been a much-appreciated regular ever since. I've never regretted it. I also was an early customer at Grand Sichuan St. Marks, but that hardly counts because I had had long and delicious experience at their Midtown and Chelsea branches.

Lekvar (prune jam) is famous in eastern and central Europe.

I'm not sure how qualified I am to judge this competition, but you've thrown it open to all of us, so what the hell? I apologize in advance if anything I say in this post constitutes talking out my ass! Chef #1: The Peach gastrique, avocado cream, Stilton biscuit is beautiful! The pork ribs look really tasty, but the presentation could be neater somehow, like if the chutney were put in the middle or something. I like the dessert, but for presentation purposes, the ice cream could have been smoothed out. Chef #2: The soup and dessert both have a sort of Zen simplicity to their appearance. The sandwich is not as neat a presentation, though I would imagine it would be very hard to make an overstuffed sandwich look really neat. I think I'm going to give 8 points to Chef #1 and 9 points to Chef #2. I won't guess who is which, but I wonder whether Chef #2 is Henry, because the Zen sensibility seems to me to go along with his architectural aesthetics.

John, I really think you should go to East Asia for your next family vacation, time and money allowing. You would love the great food there!

How about this: Use both peaches and garlic! That would be a REAL challenge!

The photos of that Diabetes Foundation event were a first for eGullet! What an extraordinary event! Thanks for sharing some of an event such as we ordinary food-lovers will never see.

Agreed on texture. Sorry for giving you a hard time.

Mocha? Is that a newfangled California-style black and white cookie? As a New Yorker, I strongly disagree with you. The chocolate should be chocolate, period. I also think that the texture should be a little firmer than pound cake. I think of black and whites as big, relatively soft cookies, not little cakes.

I vote for garlic for the Iron Chef competition. What is wattleseed? Is it a kind of bush tucker? Where do you get it?

u.e., Muslim "kosher" is called halal, just FYI, and is similar to but not the same as kashrut (e.g., shellfish can be halal but is treyf [not kosher]). I was surprised to see that a halal restaurant would serve beer! Alcoholic drinks are almost always considered haram (non-halal)! Was that served in the restaurant or brought in by your companions? That ramen egg-drop soup really looks great! As someone who dislikes bell pepper, I'm unpleasantly surprised at the amount of it they used in Xian. I'm wondering, since you ate some raw, unpeeled vegetables and herbs, whether you experienced any digestive tract symptoms. The other problem I had on my last trip to China was respiratory symptoms, but those were definitely not food-related. I tried to avoid unpickled, unpreserved raw unpeeled vegetables, fruits, and herbs to the extent possible.

Have a blast, you two! I'm particularly looking forward to the Iron Chef competition. That should be really fun!

You're welcome. I agree that the character of Franny's is so different that I couldn't imagine there being a question of whether to go to Franny's or Grimaldi's (or, for that matter, DiFara's) at a given time.

I've never been to Zabb in Queens. How big is it? One thing a poster on Chowhound complained about was the use of green peppers at the Manhattan location. I can relate. I hate green peppers, and they're bad for my stomach, to boot. Plus, they're just cheap filler.

There's been discussion on a thread on Chowhound (especially starting with this post) about this not being the same restaurant or having the same menu as Zabb Thai in Queens. I'm not sure we should get our hopes up too high.

Fat Guy, the singular of panini is panino. Blog on.

I finally made it to Franny's. It was a very pleasant experience. My dining partner and I shared an appetizer of pancetta, dandelion greens, peaches, and slices of lightly pickled red onion. My dining partner felt that it was really overdressed with an overly vinegary dressing, but all the ingredients were good, especially the pancetta. We then shared two pizze: Buffalo mozzarella, anchovies, olives, and ricotta Buffalo mozzarella and homemade sausage The brown olives were especially good. Our feeling about the pizza is that it almost doesn't bear comparison with any other pizza we've had, because it is almost entirely different. The excellent dough was well-charred but the texture was very light and fluffy. As artisanal pizza, I think it is on a par with DiFara's, but again, entirely different in character. We had a bottle of Ambra Rosato with the meal, a very good fruity rose' that cost only $30 and was recommended by our waitress, Colleen. For dessert, I ordered the fior di latte gelato and my dining partner ordered the vanilla panna cotta with peaches. Both desserts were excellent. With a peppermint tea for me, the total on the bill before tip was $100, a fair value, especially because we were sitting in a lovely garden that almost made us feel that we were at a rustic trattoria where English happened to be spoken. Franny's is a very good neighborhood restaurant that's worth a trip from outside the neighborhood. I'm sorry it took so long for me to go there for the first time, but this surely won't be the last time I go there. I'm editing this because I see that some of you have had trouble with the service. We asked our waitress whether it would be sufficient for us to split one appetizer and have one pizza apiece, and she said it would be. Our service was friendly and unaffected, and when my dining partner made a criticism of the appetizer, we were told that it would be passed on. If anything, the only problem with the service was that I was erroneously brought a bill about $30 too low to sign for my credit card. Of course I never would have let that go by. I think that the problem may be with certain servers and not others.

No-one has durian trees in Singapore?

I had wonderful pork in that style at the Li Family Restaurant in Beijing.

Ya-Roo, thanks a lot for the heads-up. Even if it's merely good, it would be a great addition to this neighborhood!

Now, that's hardly fair! You've taught me a lot about Korean food!

At the Flushing location, they make a certain amount of each type of bing, and when they run out, that's it.

Banana bing, that's something new! Are there any other bing being served at that location that aren't on the menu (shown upthread) of the Flushing location?