Pan

Why? Because if you think others might go and have mediocre meals themselves, your posting may spare that fate to them. If you don't think that will happen, I agree that your report wouldn't be of much importance. You get to make that call, but I think the same logic would apply to conversations with friends. If you would consider your mediocre meal important enough to tell a friend about it, I would think that it would be important enough to at least consider posting about. Yes, opinions are subjective, but if I don't know what you don't like, as well as what you like, I am limited in forming a judgment about the extent to which your taste coincides with mine. And that's what I want to know when I look for information about restaurants in any source.

I never have Cel-Ray except with a pastrami sandwich and have only rarely bought a large bottle -- always to accompany a take-out pastrami sandwich. But I do like to drink a can with my pastrami sandwich and would really regret the demise of this unique soda. Would I be reduced to drinking tap water with the sandwich? Oy!

Hungarians like their tejszinhabb (whipped cream). Austrians too; as ludja's old sig said, "Immer mit Schlag." (Always with whipped cream.)

Clam sauce? How about fra diavolo, even though it's got tomato sauce in it? Wouldn't the spicy seafood base be appealing? No? If all else fails, you could make a lobster or shrimp sauce with an olio ed aglio base. Add some greens if you like. Or you could make a mushroom sauce with basil or some other kind of locally-available aromatic green. I'm sure you'll think of something.

I like Bianca, but isn't it a good deal more than $30/person? I went to Max once (East Village location) and was distinctly underwhelmed. Everything was too salty.

An example of disagreement about food is that, at least based on my lunch there a few years ago, I would indeed consider River Cafe stellar. But I guess we'd be better off not going on that tangent in the Urena thread...

The following are just a bit more expensive than Frutta di Mare, I think, and they're a lot better: Col Legno Poetessa Dinner would usually run you around $25-30 at either of those places

Went back for dinner again yesterday, with a friend. The meal wasn't perfect: One of the pieces of chicken in the Nasi Lemak was undercooked. But overall, the meal was satisfying. And the main reason I'm posting is to tell you all to get the satay. We had mixed beef and chicken satay (3 skewers apiece), and I'm here to tell you it's the best satay I've had since I was in Malaysia. The peanut sauce was great and included a touch of lemongrass; the meat itself was tasty and well-cooked.

That feeling would be understandable, but I'd have a hard time being persuaded to agree with it. One thing that occurs to me is that the great early New Orleans jazz artists initially refused to make recordings, because they figured other people would steal their ideas and techniques. So, instead, a bunch of white guys called themselves the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, became the first to record a jazz record, and claimed they invented jazz! I think that experience should serve as an incentive to chefs who create dishes to record them in the currently hot new way, by putting photos on the internet. That way, when someone else claims they invented it...well... But the flip side is that when the ideas are out there, they are easier to copy. So be it. Imagine how many jazz artists copied Charlie Parker solos off his LPs, and then progressed beyond that to develop their own style. And then, imagine how many of them didn't make it to that step and remained derivative. That's the way it goes.

Has she seen the photo yet? Was s/he mentioned somewhere in this blog? Enjoy your rest!

Is home brewing legal in California?

What is that?

This is one blog I will really miss when it's over. Henry, it's been such a pleasure to meet you and be introduced to your life. If living well is the best revenge, you seem to have all your vendettas covered.

Do you not think there's a chance that by learning to play someone else's interpretation it could help you become a better flute player. ← Possibly. But I would never present such an interpretation in a performance. The fact is, I went through a process something like that. When I was a student, I did try out my teachers' suggestions. However, I don't believe I ever actually attempted or succeeded in performing something exactly the way someone else did. The way a good musician learns is by taking influences from many places and combining them with one's own thinking, feeling, and inspiration to form one's own interpretation/rendition. Who's talking about writing music here? I have written a few pieces, but that's largely a separate discipline from interpretation. An arrogant chef, and a dead musician. But keep in mind, many of us think there's nothing wrong with copying a dish (or, perhaps better, doing one's own rendition of it), as long as credit is given. The big question here is when and to what extent credit should be given.

Would this be the technique used in the "thick soups" served at the Taiwanese restaurant I like in Flushing? Wouldn't surprise me. I don't know when I'll have the chance to check the characters on their menu, though. ← Pan -- The author also says that transparent bean-thread noodles are often used. Those noodles absorb almost all the soup, ----"the results would be what might be termed as 'solid gravy'". Did the soup you have have noodles?[...] ← Yes, but I don't remember transparent bean threads. What I do remember is a relatively small amount of crispy deep-fried noodles -- the thin egg noodles, if I remember correctly.

Starfruit/carambola (called belimbing in Malay) are fine when fresh and cheap, but I consider a good belimbing distinctly inferior to a good orange or tangerine, etc. That said, again, if it's cheap in Mexico, sure, go ahead and try a couple.

Starting this topic reminded me about Rice to Riches. It's still open, and I saw a line waiting at the counter when I passed by recently. Does anyone know anything about the current status of the legal proceedings?

Would this be the technique used in the "thick soups" served at the Taiwanese restaurant I like in Flushing? Wouldn't surprise me. I don't know when I'll have the chance to check the characters on their menu, though.

I haven't been to Grand Harmony in quite some time, but I think that those three are on about the same level. I'd hate for your expectations of any of them to be too high, though. I haven't had any really excellent dim sum meals in Manhattan.

Right, because that's only one aspect of his interpretation. Instead, you called it slavish imitation. What's the difference? Back in the late 70s or so, I remember hearing a violist who will remain nameless (but whose last name I do remember) play a Bach cello suite. At the end of the performance, my father asked me whether I liked the interpretation. I said I liked it very much. He replied that it was a great interpretation, but the problem was, it wasn't the performer's, but rather, it was Pablo Casals' in every respect, taken from his record, down to the most minor detail of how much time was taken between phrases, where he sped up and slowed down, and precisely what dynamics he used in which measures. For a student to do that might be an interesting exercise. For a professional to do that does constitute a kind of fraud to me. I do my best to play bel canto flute music (mostly French bel canto) in bel canto style, but as I'm certain you know, part of that style is to do expressive things on the spur of the moment. If I merely copied someone else's interpretation slavishly, there's no way I could actually transmit the spirit of the music and truly make it come alive. sizzleteeth, I was in India (and then-equally-poor Indonesia) in the 70s, so I absolutely know about the kind of grinding poverty and hunger that exists in parts of the world. You are right that conditions in the world that cause unnecessary suffering and death are a more important topic than any other. But that doesn't mean that no other topics are of any interest, relevance, or importance for eGullet Forums or The Daily Gullet. No-one will solve world hunger by recommending a great Chinese restaurant in LA or suggesting what dishes to order at a Michelin 3-star, but we surely won't solve world hunger by sending those meals in envelopes to India or Africa instead of eating them at delicious restaurants and thereby increasing our enjoyment of life. We all know the solution to the problem of extreme inequality and maldistribution of resources is much more complex than can be solved by merely sending food from luxe restaurants to crisis locations overseas. If you feel that the existence of misery in parts of the world should cause us to change the way we live, that is a very valid response, though, and I would encourage you to start a thread with any thoughts you might have on that.

I'm a bit surprised you feel that way, because there is some terrific mock-meat in traditional cooking for Chinese Buddhists. You don't enjoy any of those mock-meats from time to time? [Edited to eliminate a portion I thought better of.]

I thought a reuben was just pastrami and swiss cheese. They put Thousand Island dressing on it? Can anyone tell me if that's standard, and if so, since when? (Frankly, I don't eat reubens, anyway. I don't keep kosher, but pastrami and cheese just seems wrong, and frankly, I can't imagine it would make my sandwich at Katz's better -- sorry to rub it in, Henry. )

Chef Cantu, don't you think this thread is somewhat of a warning that in this age of the internet, the World is watching? On the other hand, I guess the other question is whether even this type of bad publicity may be lucrative. Only time will tell. In terms of standards that are believed not being calibratable (is that a word?), isn't that basic to questions of ethics and morals? We could be debating when it is a good thing to lie, for example. People who say that lying is always immoral are idiots. When lying to crazed or evil genocidal murderers will save hundreds of people (or even one person), it is a heroic act. The fact that much, much less is at stake in questions of plagiarism doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile to try to reach a consensus on what standards should be adhered to. If we reach such a consensus and some people violate it, they can only be subjected to ostracism and invective, because no laws will have been broken. But surely, the most important social mores really depend on that kind of suasion, not the coercive power of the law; don't you agree?

I always like to have extra charoses. Tasty mortar.

Interesting report as usual, and I enjoyed the photos! What do you mean by a "weening desire to return"? Waning? [Edited to add that I don't mean to nitpick, only to understand.]