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shacke, I enjoyed your report. One question: What is cara cara?

Wow, this place sounds really worth checking out! But are you sure there was raita for dessert? Not kulfi, perhaps? I've never heard of a sweet raita for dessert.

The most delicious thing I ate today (technically yesterday in this time zone) was tripa alla napolitana at Di Fara's Pizzeria in Brooklyn, New York.

Ah Leung, I love the beef tendon dish at my local Grand Sichuan, which is similar to the dish you had. I definitely do not find Sichuan pepper's numbing capacity to be comparable to Novocaine. Yes, there's some numbing. I think the sensation is fine, but I wouldn't eat something just for that sensation. I eat it for the taste.

Heads up to let you all know that if Dom has the tripe, get it! I had that for an early dinner (after eating nothing the rest of the day) today. It was very spicy and just fantastic, one of the tastiest things I've had in some time. By the way, I noticed JJ's (jogoode's) article about places from Queens and Brooklyn opening Manhattan outposts, with its references to Di Fara's and De Marco's, was up.

Since you haven't eaten there, what makes you think that people are being overly hard on Urena?

I love that picture! I have to say, I've never gotten into burgers. Nice felafel sandwich and zucchini side, though! I like hot sauce with my felafel, in addition to hummus, tahini, salad, onions, and spicy pickles. Do you ever make or use a hot sauce in your felafel sandwiches?

Click this link.

Brooks, you've really topped yourself! The article is beautiful and moving, and your recap of Fat Tuesday is so vivid that I really can imagine having been there and done that myself -- and that from someone who hasn't been in Louisiana for Mardi Gras since I was two years old.

It's truly amazing that Lupa has never had a starred review in the Times. That seems like a tremendous oversight to me. Anyone disagree?

No reason to assume it's that simple, SB. Chickens eat all kinds of disgusting things and don't taste like those things.

They don't have any of those in Absurdistan? Kathy, which shop or restaurant do you think you'll miss most when you leave?

This is the comment that you're reacting to, isn't it? Does this constitute arguing with Chinese people about your heritage? You'll notice I never asserted that humoral qualities are inherent in the Chinese humoral system; I wouldn't have known. So I was merely making the remark that it is interesting to me that Chinese and Malay people apparently have a different take on the inherentness of humoral qualities of foodstuffs (which has nothing to do with who invented the humoral system or when it got to other parts of the world). Since then, others -- Chinese all, if I remember correctly -- have asserted that this inherentness is in fact a commonality. They and not I are the ones politely disagreeing with you about Chinese concepts. I never even heard of yin and yang as qualities of foods before reading this thread! You all are teaching me lots of interesting things I never knew, and I value that. As far as where my knowledge of the humoral system comes from, you might want to Google "Carol Laderman" and find out why I would know things about the Malay (or, to be more precise, East Coast rural Malay) take on the humoral system and, to a lesser extent, some other takes on the humoral system. It is not just knowledge gained from idle chatter with one neighbor, but neither have I ever claimed in-depth knowledge of the Chinese concepts being discussed in this thread. And now, let's please get back to the subject at hand.

Uncle Ben, I think we should concentrate on Chinese concepts of yin and yang and so forth here, but I feel somewhat impelled to mention a country to the south and east of China that is the source of one of the ancient religions of China, and mention that their association with the Malay Peninsula is quite lengthy and thorough, with the Malays having once and possibly twice adopted religions from that direction (it is not clear whether Islam came to Malaysia from China or from India and Persia, but it is rather clear where Hinduism came from). I don't think you want to get into arguments with Indians about which medical system is older, Ayurveda or Chinese medicine. The Malays have clearly been influenced by both. No-one ever claimed that Malays invented the humoral system, merely that they have their own take on it. But the idea that the Chinese are the sole source of a system that the ancient Greeks were famous for is rather dubious. The Chinese have traded with states on the Malay Peninsula for a very long time, but Indian influence, especially on the West Coast, was deeper in ancient times. You can start by reading this excellent page on early Malay kingdoms by Malaysian historian Sabri Zain if you are interested in learning about things that happened in that neck of the woods long before Zheng He showed up.

I'd name the restaurant here. If that's their attitude, wouldn't you want to warn other members? But of course it's up to you.

Yeah, I know, just assume the Chinese invented everything. The Malays are the people whose humoral system I know somewhat intimately, as there's no mainstream American humoral system nowadays, so I naturally use their principles and empirical understanding of the system as a basis for comparison. Go ahead, make an issue out of it. It may be that unripe foods have a different humor than ripe foods, as far as my Malay neighbors were concerned. I don't recall. But cooking, no matter how long, didn't change the humor one iota, as far as they were concerned. Ice-cold vodka would still be hot, and piping hot squash would still be cold.

It's a positive review. The partners who own the establishment should be happy.

It's interesting to me that you feel like the yin or yang quality of a foodstuff can be altered by treatment such as longer cooking. Malays and, I believe, most other people who believe in the humoral system feel that humoral qualities of hot and cold are inherent in foodstuffs, regardless of the temperature or raw or cooked state of the item.

A lot of money was spent on fireworks and security on July 4, 2002 in New York, and nobody thought it was a waste. The human spirit needs sustenance, so Party on! (Or, I should say, Laissez les bon temps rouler!) I'll look forward to reading more about that great food that was to be had down there.

FYI, recipes based on other recipes are fine to post, both here and in RecipeGullet, as long as the directions are not worded the same way as the original copyrighted recipe. It's your adaptation, after all.

As long as you don't expect a response, you're good to go.[...] ← Nah. It's more like, if you talk to yourself, you're guaranteed an intelligent conversation. Um, or something like that. (Also talks to himself.) So Megan, you are really making breakfast for dinner?

And if you get wind of any that are not on the calendar, please PM any New York forum host with the information, so we can put up a calendar entry.

Is there always a ridiculous line outside of Cafe Sabarsky/the Neue Gallerie, or are there times when you can just walk in? mascarpone and I thought of going there at around 4:30 on President's Day after a trip to the Met, and the line was around the block, so we walked over to Two Little Red Hens instead. Great sweets, but not the type of coffee he wanted.

I'm not familiar with Bette, but what criteria are you using to pick out those two restaurants?

Lori, as far as I'm concerned, you can write arduous posts like that anytime! That was a great demonstration! I'm very sorry for your loss.