Pan

The bialys at Moishe's are OK, but I prefer them with a lot more onions.

Thanks. Just curious, how have you found the food at Lupa, by comparison?

Eating large quantities of lychees has never been a problem for me. I'd like to know if there's anyone who would not have been in a position to have heard about their quantity of yang that's found eating large quantities of lychees to be a problem. I ate half a kilo of lychees for lunch for several days in Hong Kong and am capable of eating at least the better part of a pound in any given day when they're in season (as imports) in New York. No problem whatsoever.

Where did you read such a thing? Unless you mistook my mention of Frédéric Robert, a French pâtissier now working in Vegas, for an opinion on American pastries. However, now that you mention it, and all things considered, I tend to have a high opinion of home-style American baking and pastry-making. It is, truly, a wonderfully rich and tasty tradition, and if I don't consider it superior to French home-style pastry-making, I certainly now rate it higher than most store-bought French pâtisserie in France. ← I feel like comparing home baking in one country with bakery baking in another is a little bit of an apple-and-orange thing, almost unfair. But I'm replying mainly to explain what I meant by "your basis for comparison." We Americans use "your" to mean "one's" -- or, in this case, my, not actually yours. Sorry for the semantical confusion.

No. Then, you simply do what I do: Eat before or after. I almost never get anything at the concession stand (the one exception I can think of is the Angelika independent theater on Houston St., Manhattan, which has an actual cafe in the lobby, and in that case, the snack would be consumed before entering the theater), though if someone I'm with decides to do so, I may have share it with them. And I like my popcorn without fat on it. So there.

Ptipois, from my standpoint, the decline you've noticed is from a very high starting point. Yes, I had better patisserie outside of Paris. But I enjoyed tartes rhubarbes and so forth plenty when I got them in informal Parisian patisseries. I have no reason to disbelieve you when you tell us about the decline of patisseries, but when your basis for comparison is American pastries...

I thought that was just a linguistic difference between Castellano and Italian. But of course the most important thing is the taste.

Perhaps we should discuss this practice in a separate thread on cattle husbandry, but why is it considered advisable to separate the calves from the mothers so early? For veal? ← Veal is a byproduct of dairy cattle farming. The separation is because we drink milk and eat cheese. ← So maybe people serious about cruelty to farm animals should be boycotting dairy products. I can see why there hasn't been such a hue and cry over that. Imagine, denying milk to America's children.

I figure that the silence just means others haven't gone yet. I think it's pretty unlikely that members have gone and decided that the didn't want to post anything, but if any of you are out there, please post.

When I was a kid, the only lychees (we called them "lychee nuts" in those days, for some reason that escapes me) that were available in New York were the canned ones, packed in syrup. I used to like those, but after I tasted fresh ones, I could never go back. The canning destroys the perfume the fresh ones have, which is the thing that in my opinion makes them the best fruit on Earth, and the syrup is not kind to them, either. I also can't eat the bananas that are available in non-growing areas like most of the US, because they never ripen properly on the tree. When I went to Malaysia in 2003, one of the first things I did was get some bananas!

Hmmm, Ptipois, you're putting forth a pretty strong indictment of French patisseries. As a 3-time American visitor to your country, I can't agree, from my standpoint. I love French patisseries. I do have a sweet tooth, but the pastries were by no means just sugar; au contraire, the French really know what to do with rhubarb, for example. I also am wondering whether you've been to Orleans. The best patisserie we ran found during our last trip to Paris and through Burgundy and the Loire Valley was in Orleans. I'm pretty sure that I'm remembering correctly that it was on the east side of rue de la Republique just south of Place Albert 1iere. Everything we tried there was great, but the chocolates were especially good! This might possibly go along with your point that there are better pastries to be found in the provinces. I also mentioned in another thread yesterday or the day before that the best pates de fruits I've had, by far, were purchased in a little boulangerie/patisserie on a quiet crossroads in a small town in Burgundy -- Vermenton, probably. The ones they gave us at Grand Vefour were nowhere near as fruity, though I don't think they were sweeter, just insipid by comparison.

So, how was your dinner?

Perhaps we should discuss this practice in a separate thread on cattle husbandry, but why is it considered advisable to separate the calves from the mothers so early? For veal?

The restaurant in the Hilton Hotel does look fancier, but I would have liked the food in the other restaurant better.

Good point. That reminds me of an old Eastern European Jewish story about two merchants and a fierce kind on an island...

A friend of mine in Malaysia has what I guess we could call a pet bull. She lives in a village where the bull can roam around and graze, and she feeds him starfruit (not expensive locally). He was friendly and let me pet and pat him, and he did not show any inclination to butt me or step on my feet. So I have to suggest that the way animals behave has a lot to do with how they are treated by their owners.

As a native of the Upper West Side, I would have to disagree with you, despite the technicalities. We always consider the Upper West Side to extend to 125 St. west of Amsterdam. Does anyone like Sal & Carmine's anymore? ← Me too, The rest of the city hadn't actually found Washington Heights until this decade. Instead of having to explain where it was to people when I was growing up I just said the UWS. ← Ah well, my post did risk getting this thread off onto this geographical tangent, but let me note for the record that 125 St. is way, way south of Washington Heights. And now, folks, let's get back to discussions of dinner, please.

I"m wondering just how one can have both 'no fragrances' and 'no stinky sweat' at the same time?[...] ← Try rubbing alcohol on your underarms after you shower. Seriously.

How about some fruits that are common in some parts of the world and rare in others? Lychee This is my favorite fruit, and though good ones are no longer rare in New York, they are strictly seasonal, and I do pay a premium for them (~$9-10/3 lbs.). I would pay more, if necessary. The combination of juiciness, sweetness, and fragrance is about as near to perfection as any single foodstuff I know of. Eating top quality lychees can be an ecstatic experience for me. Bananas Yes, bananas are common now. But how easy is it to find a truly great tree-ripened one outside the tropics? The bananas that have a tangy tartness are truly one of the great pleasures in life. Rambutan Another great fruit. Decent ones are essentially unattainable in places like the US. Durian Like it or hate it, but this is a valuable fruit. Even in durian-growing areas, people pay somewhat of a premium for this -- unless they have their own durian trees! Mangosteen Again, an equatorial fruit with a perfume, and one that's difficult or impossible to find in many places. Rosewater Another fragrance. Some people don't like it, but for those who do, it's lovely. Salt Can you imagine what it would be like if salt were scarce? Well, yes, actually we know what life was like. It was expensive, and salt mines were big business. There are still people in the Ethiopian desert who make their livelihood by cutting chunks of salt, but that kind of work used to be a lot more lucrative. Salt is the most important flavoring of them all. And the number one ingested substance that would be expensive if it were scarce? That's obvious: Water And we are starting to see what happens when increasing populations have to share scarcer water supplies. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems to me and many others that the number one source of conflict in the remainder of the 21st century is much more likely to be water than oil.

Spiro, I wonder if there are any ingredients or preparations that you are not currently using but either considered and discarded or are considering introducing in the future. Or, if you prefer, you could address the question of what goes into your choices of ingredients to carry in the first place (other than quality, which should go without saying). Do you survey your customers about these kinds of things?

On Bond Girl's recommendation, I tried this Malaysian restaurant tonight. I had been reluctant to try it, because it's in the same location that housed Proton Saga, which I hated. Skyway is under completely different management. The Roti Canai I got was the best or at least most to my taste of any I've had in New York. It was a fair-sized disk and reminded me of the old-style roti canai I used to get for breakfast from an Indian man on the streets of Kuala Lumpur near the Pasar Chow Kit back in 1975 (though the sauce wasn't as rich as his were). I also got Curry Mee with Young Tau Foo. It was particularly rich: Aside from the coconut milk and layer of rendered red fat in the broth itself, the dried bean curd sheets tasted very strongly of the lard they were fried in. The broth could have been spicier, but it was within a range of spiciness I found acceptable, and the various bits of isi (solids) were delicious. The meal was very cheap, only some $6 and change plus tip. Thanks, Ya-Roo. Skyway Malaysian Restaurant 11 Allen St. (just south of Canal) New York, NY 10002 Tel.: (212) 265-1163 or -2352 MasterCard, Visa, and Discover accepted

As a native of the Upper West Side, I would have to disagree with you, despite the technicalities. We always consider the Upper West Side to extend to 125 St. west of Amsterdam. Does anyone like Sal & Carmine's anymore?

I don't have any further suggestions but just want to welcome you to the eGullet Society and reassure you that questions about where to get any type of foodstuff or piece of cooking equipment in New York are appropriate in this forum.

Rochelle, did you tell all your students about this blog?

Hey, this is supposed to be an anthropology book. Not a Peter Mayle book. If humor is the main reason for purchasing an anthropology book, then there must be something wrong with the anthropology. ← But as I'm sure you'll agree, good writing is important, and that writing might include some humor. I hate deadly academic writing.