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After reading Bob's write up last month, I headed straight there. The sausage department is the most extensive I've ever seen (and I've spent a good deal of time in Germany). I got 6 different varieties of cured sausages -- mostly with nice fat content. There are maybe 50 varities in all. Also, a ring of their fresh sausage (which all hang behind the counter), plus a sampling of their cooked chicken and pork sausages. All of them were fantastic. Two kinds of Polish butter (good but not great). Cold-smoked trout (tasty, though texture was odd). Packaged matjes (musta been 20 or so different kinds). Prepared foods: dumplings, latkes, stuffed pork croquettes, stuffed cabage -- all cheap and very tasty. Pickled stuff: cauliflower, half sours. Really tasty pita -- other ME bread varieties, too, like lovash. Like gruzia, I was amazed at the pomegranite selection. Also, the mineral water, though the two I chose were excessively salty for my taste (though I was looking for high mineral content). Honey -- amazing selection. Language can be tricky. I wanted bacon and ended up with backfat. I can think of far worse mistakes, of course. Katie: Sunday hours are 8-6.

Stopped in last night, and things haven't improved but rather seem even weaker. Very few specials on the board. Ordered from the menu instead. Tried the meatloaf sandwich, which literally had the taste, texture, and consistency of spam. The standby hummus trio was numbingly cold, aside from the piping hot, brought-in dolmades. Also sampled a very odd chopped romaine salad, which featured potatoes and brussels sprouts (again cold) and was topped with little rectangles of shaved yellow cheese. Weird. That'll be my last visit for food. The joint was packed to the gills (8 PM Wed. night) with drinking hipsters, though. e.f. grammar

Link here (RealPlayer needed).

Anyone make it to the Pollan talk? I showed up at the stroke of 7, but the Library's doors were already closed and locked. About 100 or so unhappy folks were milling about on the front steps. From what I could spy, it was similar to the Bourdain event, with the first-floor seating accomodating overflow. However, there didn't seem to be as many people standing as at Bourdain, which was really full. Maybe it's a fire code thing. Still, it was great to see such a big turnout for Pollan in our fair city.

The Schmitter is found at McNally's.

Michael Pollan makes a stop at the Free Library this Thursday evening to promote In Defense of Food.

For Spoleto, I highly recommend Trattoria del Pescatore, about 20 minutes outside of Spoleto. Moreno cooks Umbrian fare with superb talent -- traditional yet creative. I assume you won't be there during warm weather, but the patio is located next to a small stream, and dining al fresco there is quite lovely. The dining room is very charming as well. I'm arranging a lunch for 40 or so there next year. Moreno will gladly compose a menu for you with fixed price if you'd like. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. NB: The restaurant is difficult to find. It's located along a small drive parallel to the main road. Be sure your driver researches the location carefully.

The quantity of cheese is what turns me off about DiFara's pizza. There's so much cheese and oil on the pie that, while it's all top-quality stuff, it turns into a soup (well, fondue). It's okay if you're only eating one slice, but by the time you get to a second, the crust has turned into a soggy mess. ← I could not agree more. This is a pizza whose whole is markedly less than the sum of its parts.Shot down from Fort Greene yesterday (Sunday) at 1:30, finding the place not seriously busy. Put in my pie order and watched with frustration as Dominic slowly and inefficiently made the four or so pies ahead of mine (in between kibbitzing and ringing out customers). He's clearly not up to the task of running what should essentially be a quick turnaround operation. After 40 minutes, his assistant reminded him for the second time to prepare my pie (take out orders are each written on a pizza box and then stacked on the counter), so I cancelled it and got two slices instead -- a regular and a square. What are New Yorkers smoking? This pie is not worth going out of one's way for. The ingredients used are certainly well made and tasty. But the end result of the regular slice is so soupy that it's placed on tin foil before reheating in the oven in order to catch the run-off. The thin crust is simply too thin and has no snap or char. And the product becomes significantly less tasty within moments of leaving the oven. I regularly detour for Pepe's or Modern in New Haven. THOSE incomparable pies are always worth the effort to obtain, and they travel well. Also, the New Haven prices are comparable to DiFara's -- but you also get so much more pie for the money. Here in Philly as well, there are several slices that outperform DiFara.

My gf and I regularly eat at Nam Phuong (11th and Washington) for about $30-35, which gets us a couple of apps, two mains, and maybe a beer.

Stopped by this afternoon. Two tables were eating, including people from the Chinatown bank where I bank. Had the fried pork dumplings. Pretty darn tasty. I wanted to try 4 boiled and 4 fried, but that was a non-starter. Also, there were no pancakes or buns available -- something involving the wok and the guy who works it not being there -- so I'll try those on a return visit, I guess. They also sell frozen dumplings at amazingly cheap prices: various pork incarnations go for 50 for $10 and 100 for $18. Vegetable, chicken and shrimp sell for 25 for $6-7 and 50 for $11-13. Menu:

Adams, too, finds the space problematic: I didn't find the cramped quarters particularly distracting once seated. But there isn't any room for patrons to wait once they enter the restaurant. I can certainly appreciate that this may detract from the charm.

Drove by Bonk's this morning, and there's plywood sealing all the openings, including a gigantic covering of the main entrance. Maybe it's a remodel. Maybe it has changed hands. I sure hope it isn't shuttered.

Favorite quotes from this aft.'s Bourdain love-fest, which packed the audi as well as the first-floor video-feed seating, w/many standing: 1. During 20 min remarks-cum-bio, riffing on the dying dream associated with going Hollywood (envisoning the short story writer w/aspirations): "Yeah, and five years later, your face-down in the shag carpet getting rear-mounted by Ron Jeremy." 2. In response to a very cool query from a vegetarian, who's gonna prep for an overseas voyage ("like my of my friends do") by eating meat, so as to be able to meet a celebratory meal w/out reservation: "Start with bacon: that's the gateway protein." 3. In response to a query whom he'd favor in a Rachel Ray-Sandra Lee death match: [declining to pick favorites] "It's like choosing between syphillis and chlamydia."

Didn't know quite where to put this item, spotted in Sunday's Inky:

Had a thoroughly enjoyable meal at Graffiti last night. We had the watermelon/feta salad and green mango paneer from the $7 set. I second FG's comments on the former, but I was even more impressed with the paneer, which is served with fenugreek-spiked naan. From the $12 section, we also had the foie gras crostini, which were simply delicious and quite substantial. The pork dumplings were also the best I've had in a long time, though the chili unfortunately overwhelmed the grapefruit. We were drinking prosecco, and the flavors from the dumplings exploded with a sip of wine. From the $15 section, we had the pork buns, and these were outstanding, the best dish of the evening. They surpass even those at Momofuku. Really unbelievably good. We shared the halva, and this was, as described, a dud. As Nathan notes, all wines are $25/bottle, $8/glass. Our server told us that they got a mention in a Post round-up of wine bars. She also said the Times had just been in for a photo shoot, so go before the tables get even tighter.

Total Wine in Cherry Hill has five here. The Naamans Road store has three from Trimbach here.

Sonny gets his rabbits live. I've seen them in crates outside his store. The quality is excellent.

Is this anything like poutine? If so, they have that at Pommes Frites as well.

I've done drive-bys of probably 2/3 of the cheesemakers on the VT Cheese Trail. If you want a tour of the facility and to buy cheese, I'd suggest Dancing Cow, Orb Weaver, and Blue Ledge. Willow Hill's put in a new tourist facility, but I got snapped at by Willow when I showed up unannounced and the Times was doing a photo shoot on her cave, so probably best to call in advance. It's a tad corporate on the VT cheese scale, but Cabot gave me a really nice tour, and their shop's nice. Grafton's shop is good, also. Produce can be spotty this time of year. However, if you happen to be in the Warren vicinity next week, I'll be coming up from Philly and staying there. I can show you the Warren General Store, Schoolhouse Farm Market, and in Waitsfield, a good vegetable grower (I'm thinking garlic, squash and maybe... maybe chard will be good) and a really good butcher. There's American Flatbread in Waitsfield, also. And, if you want a Mad River Rocket to take on the slopes this year, I can introduce you to the manufacturer.

I'd like to add my thanks to Judith and Jeff for an excellent, luxuriously all-afternoon meal in such beautiful environs. The transformation of this wonderful space is superb, the view and quiet a tonic. I always look forward to a meal at La Pianella when in the "area" (which we had), along with whatever magic emanates from the cucina of kellytree (this time it was a gnocchi cook-off). I now happily add Erba Luna to the fun list. I'll be back very soon. A few more pix from the restaurant and the top of Montone: Signage at the base of the hill below the restaurant: Outside the entrance: Weinoo mentions the malfatti with 5-nut pesto. The sauce was changed, seasonally, to pheasant breast, and I had to have it. It was delicious: Post-prandial perambulation -- ascending the stairs, directly above the restaurant, into the town: Poorly lit but still evocative -- the very top of Montone:

A spirited debate on a related topic -- Does Italy Lack Culinary Relevance? -- took place five years ago. Highly entertaining, it ran to 13 pages and featured opinions from members long decamped to other sites. I'm bumping it up here, since it seems relevant to the discussion at hand.

I've used ViaMichelin as a primary research tool for compiling restaurant information on trips to Europe. The site has apparently been revised in such a way as to gut effective search parameters. "Restaurants" used to be a discrete page; now it's buried under "Tourism". One can no longer search by stars, Bib Gourmand, or other useful criteria. One can select only between Michelin restaurants and "other restaurants", but the latter returns very few, if any, results and seems very conscribed, geographically, to the location entered. What gives? I can't seem to find a "premium" or similar subscription offer (not that I would purchase it). This seems to be a pretty senseless change by Michelin. Anyone know if or where the previously available information may still be compiled on the web?

Will Goldfarb's going very green, including containers, at the soon-to-open Picnick in New York's Battery Park. Maybe they can point you in the right direction.

Had dinner at the Store last night. Ordered a few things from the August specials: The aloo mattar (pea) kababs were well flavored, if a bit gooey. The dahi bhalla, a cold dish, was "comfort food" to my vegetarian friend, though I think it would benefit from a draining of the yogurt to prevent it from being so watery. The mallar mallai methi (peas, fenugreek, cilantro) was really, really good. I could eat this often. From the main menu, dal makhani (black lentils) was, as described above, very creamy, subtly spiced. Agreed that the began bharta was totally respectable, if a bit on the sweet side for my taste. Mango lassis were tasty, if a bit under-chilled. At the service end, staff were very pleasant. However, mid-meal, clean up and deliveries began. Quite strange. We sat down about 9:45 and didn't drag. Also, another table of eight was cheerily dining. So while I don't think we were getting the bum's rush, just as we were served our mains, they began scrubbing down the kitchen, including spraying and vacing the floor. Then, a load of rice came in through the main door on a handtruck, followed by flour, followed by even more rice. No one bothered to close the door during all of this. Then, out came the night's garbage past our table. Bad, bad. Ran into friends afterwards at Johnny Brenda's, who reported the same experience, and they eat there regularly. The Store is expanding to upstairs, with a September 4 opening planned. ETA: the naan and the parantha were fine, though not at the Minar level imo

I stopped in mid-May, shortly after opening. I was pretty appalled that their reds were stored on shelving above the bar, making for a rather unpalatable, high-temp. beverage on a warm night. I'm not sure they know from wine, as the service was really amateurish. Perhaps they've improved. The food I found acceptable but not representative of the descriptors in execution or price. I haven't returned, but could be swayed otherwise by reviews on this thread.