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Very interesting stuff, as usual. I think that practice takes place today in many parts of Italy. When I was in Sermoneta, Latina, Lazio in the summer of 1991, I suffered from allergies because of the large amount of smoke from the wheatfields (I believe that's what I was told they were) in the surrounding countryside below the hill where Sermoneta is situated. As I recall, this practice is also done in Tuscany. I think you're exaggerating a little about not participating in trade, though. In order for people to have a saying that those who come from the sea are here to steal, doesn't someone somewhere along the line have to have had dealings with people from overseas?

Right now, one of the best and most instructive active threads is 35 Chinese words describing different cooking, in which jo-mel has been taking illustrative quotes from Kenneth Lo's The Encyclopedia of Chinese Cooking and hzrt8w has been giving examples of dishes made using each technique, with links to photos.

Yes, La Tacita de Oro, and it was never that good, just OK and very cheap. La Nueva Victoria is on the corner of 95th and Broadway.

Jason, I didn't have any particular names in mind, but there are a bunch of Cuban-Chinese places. I used to go to a place up on 100th and Broadway, later closer to 99th, that was called something like Taza de Oro (I remember it translated as "Golden Cup," but I'm not sure about the exact name). Cheap and decent, but I think it may have eventually closed in part because the nearby Dominican restaurant, El Malecon, is a better value, even though it's slightly more expensive. No Chinese dishes available there, but to be honest, I almost always stuck to the Cuban offerings at the Cuban-Chinese place. What I wonder about is why La Caridad is so popular. Is it because it's that much better than the other places, is it just the location, or is it because it was mentioned on "Seinfeld"?

I've actually never been to this place. Is it better than or essentially the same as the other, cheaper, less well-known Cuban-Chinese "Chinas y Criollas" places further uptown (but still on the Upper West Side; I'm not asking about Dominican places in Washington Heights or anything)?

I had a conversation with my brother about that. In San Francisco, homeless people are happy to accept leftovers. In New York, I've found that they won't touch them. New Yorkers are more suspicious.

What is the difference? Sorry you had a poor dinner.

Very interesting article, Chris. It didn't end the way I might have expected, either. You truly savor your alcohol.

Black bean bao (buns).

I heartily understand your reaction, Steve. What prompted this thread was this one in the New York forum. As for me, amuses (when offered) are part of a meal, but I find it hard to imagine judging a restaurant largely on amuses or choosing one restaurant over another because of the quality of its amuses. By contrast, I can definitely imagine choosing one Korean restaurant over another because of the quality or variety of the banchan, because that's so often a large percentage of the meal.

I wouldn't think so. Pumpernickel seems appropriate to the general area of Europe that pastrami originates from, I think. Then again, I'm no expert on Romanian food, and I'm pretty sure that's where pastrami comes from.

Have you always wondered where to get the best cheese or Chinese dumplings in New York? You're not alone! Here are links to some threads about "THE BEST" of what New York has to offer in various categories. Have a look and enjoy! And please weigh in with your own opinions on what is best. THE BEST: Afghan THE BEST: Amuse Bouche THE BEST: Bialy THE BEST: BLT Sandwich THE BEST: Bone Marrow THE BEST: Bread in NYC THE BEST: New York breakfasts THE BEST: NYC Brisket THE BEST: Buffalo-Style Chicken Wings in NYC THE BEST: Burger THE BEST: NYC Butcher THE BEST: Char Siu (Chinese Barbecued Pork) THE BEST: Cheese Store THE BEST: NY Cheesecake THE BEST: Crème Brûlée THE BEST: Chinatown Dim Sum THE BEST: Chinatown Grocery Store THE BEST: Chinese Dumplings THE BEST: Chinese Noodles THE BEST: Chinese in Chinatown, any style THE BEST: Chocolate Dessert in NYC THE BEST: NYC Value Chocolatier THE BEST: Choucroute & Cassoulet THE BEST: Coffee in NYC THE BEST: Cooked Whole Fish in NYC THE BEST: Cookies THE BEST: Creamed Spinach THE BEST: Cubano Sandwich THE BEST: NYC Espresso THE BEST: Felafel THE BEST: Fishmonger for Sushi-Quality Fish THE BEST: Flushing Dim Sum THE BEST: Fries THE BEST: Gelato THE BEST: Greek food in Astoria THE BEST: Happy Hour in the 5 Boroughs THE BEST: NYC Hot Chocolate THE BEST: Hummus in NYC THE BEST: Ice Cream in NYC THE BEST: Indian THE BEST: Italian for Dinner THE BEST: Linguine with White Clam Sauce THE BEST: Low-priced Italian restaurant, Manhattan THE BEST: Knife Sharpening in Manhatan THE BEST: Manhattan Korean THE BEST: NYC Mexican Favorites THE BEST: NYC Fancy Mexican Restaurant THE BEST: Muffins and Cupcakes THE BEST: "Non-Fancy" NYC Restaurants THE BEST: Outdoor Dining THE BEST: Offal THE BEST: Pasta THE BEST: Pastries in New York THE BEST: Peking Duck in Manhattan THE BEST: NYC Pizza Favorites THE BEST: Pizza in New York State (not City) THE BEST: Pork Belly THE BEST: Prime Rib in Manhattan THE BEST: Ramen in NYC THE BEST: Red Velvet Cake THE BEST: Restaurant Dollar-for-Dollar THE BEST: NYC Restaurant Neighborhood THE BEST: Risotto THE BEST: Rodizios/Churrascarias in NYC THE BEST: NYC Romantic Dining THE BEST: Rotisserie Chicken THE BEST: Sandwiches in NYC, (Banh mi, Cuban, souvlaki, etc.) THE BEST: NYC Soups THE BEST: Steak in Manhattan THE BEST: Steak frites in Manhattan THE BEST: Sushi in Manhattan THE BEST: Tacos THE BEST: Tea Rooms THE BEST: Tiramisu THE BEST: Udon Noodles THE BEST: NYC Vegetarian Dining THE BEST: Vietnamese

This is a very interesting idea for a thread, but I feel impelled to ask whether any of you would go to a restaurant just because you like their amuses? Or another way of asking the question is, how important are the amuses in your evaluation of a restaurant? Hmmm...seems like a General thread, so I've started it here. Carry on with the quest for the best amuses in New York.

How many of you find that the quality of the amuses is a major factor in your evaluation of restaurants, or even in deciding which restaurant to go to? What do you look for in an amuse?

I think the bamboo dried thing that Lorna described is bamboo pith, actually a fungus, I believe. Stonyfield Farm has either pectin or corn starch in it, I think? I would have never guessed those things were rice cakes. They looked like candied melon to me.

It is a weird combination of fatty and gelatinous, I agree. And so I find it all the more bizarre that one of my children (my son, who is 15) loves it, loves it so much he'll ask for mine and his dad's, and is likely one of the very few diners under 21 to have ever asked for a marrow spoon when we dined at Rules in London a couple of years ago. It's possible that I may have gone a bit overboard in exposing my children to interesting foods. ← My father made osso buco from time to time when I was a kid, and we always considered it a treat.

Well, when gnocchi are good, they're really good. It's just that most of the time, they're as you describe.

I didn't know the second verse of "Zontik Bulbes" (with the "meat and potatoes"). Neither do I believe my grandmother did. So keep that in mind when I tell you that she said it was a happy and not a sad song, because the family in question at least had enough to eat! My Baba was born in a rural area of what's now Ukraine (then part of Austria-Hungary) on or around 1889.

Aw, too bad! Love the photos! I hope some other folks will have a chance to add their own photos to this thread. I think lychees are a bit different and better -- more perfumy taste. But I love rambutan and would love to be having one now. I had a great visit to Hangzhou in 1987 and ate really well there on a cheapskate student's budget, but didn't have anything like in your photos. Where are they growing tea, in relation to Xi Hu?

"Tofu" is long since an English word by now. People who don't know the Chinese names would just be confused by a spelling with a "d."

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem I have with your point of view. Native speaker accents of English words are not "mispronunciations," and I don't think you could find one linguist who would agree with such a judgmental and -- whether you intend it to be so or not -- condescending viewpoint. Nor is there any agreed-upon standard English pronunciation in the US, unlike the Queen's English, for example. When you start talking about "ain't" (particularly for contractions other than "am not"), you're moving over to standard grammar, which does exist in the US. Nothing the least bit "wrong" with "y'all," though; it's just a regional colloquialism. I think if some of you believe that native-speaker accents other than your own are "mispronunciations" or "substandard," you might want to spend some time on the alt.usage.english newsgroup (though not too long, because I found that many of the subscribers were -- well, no further comment; you'll see ). Meanwhile, we'd probably do best to reserve this thread for actual mistakes, not regional differences in pronunciation of English words. At that point: "You say 'potayto' and I say 'potahto'...Let's call the whole thing off."

How, with "j" as in "joy"? "N" as in "no"? When I was in North Carolina (or should I say "Noth Carolahnuh"?) at Eastern Music Festival, fellow students from the Carolinas and I suppose Georgia would ask me to "Say dahg." So I said "dawg," to their continual amusement. "He said doo-w'g!", they claimed. "No, I didn't say 'doo-w'g,' I said 'dawg.'" More laughter ensued. And this from folks who pronounced the name Ted "Tay-y'd." Not that I mind the two-syllable treatment of that name, mind you, it's just that you might think that would make them more tolerant of what they misheard as a two-syllable pronunciation of other words, but nope. They were nice kids and pretty friendly, but that routine got tiresome for me really fast. The upshot? If you're from Oregon, you can tell us that it's wrong to pronounce the state "Ahregahn," as I used to until I heard a native of that state pronounce its name, but you can't tell us it's wrong to call an orange an "ahrinj." That's just our accent. Laugh at a distance, if you must, but not when you're here as our guest. We speak English just as well as you do, it's just that you do it your way and we do it our way. Once again, proof that we English speakers are all divided by a common language...

A bad smell is a deal-breaker, but a good smell doesn't necessarily prove anything, because two of the best smells are onions frying and bread baking, and neither of those smells prove that good food is to be had. Fried onions are just an ingredient in other stuff that may be good, bad, or mediocre, and even bread that tastes like cardboard smells great when baking.

You Vancouverite members are really impressive. I enjoyed spending the week vicariously with you.

That's my opinion. If you asked all the world to post about some whiners and jerks from the pre-Internet age, you'd get more stories than could fit on even today's hard drives, measured as they are in Gigabytes.