alacarte

I love that Tim Horton's made an appearance in your very first blog entry!

I stopped at the takeaway yesterday on my way home -- I recommend the juice drinks (there's even one named after Sarma ) I tried the "Fruit Spice" -- pineapple, pear, and ginger. It was really refreshing, if a disarming shade of green (I'm assuming that's the pear). Also couldn't help but notice the photos on the wall of adorable goslings. I think I remember pictures of full-grown ducks or geese in the main restaurant. Get it?

I have to say that the Ixta review is a fun read. As I said in the Ixta thread too -- I think I'm becoming a fan of Bruni's writing. Still reserving judgement as to whether I agree with his assessments of the restaurants.

I think I'm becoming a fan of Bruni's writing...

It's on the list, but that section is formatted wrong, so it's easy to miss. But...WHERE'S KETCHUP? That's my favorite condiment by far, and it's woefully missing from the list. Am I expected to eat my french fries au naturel?

The chocolate and pistachio ice creams rock. Pints will have to do!

this may not be their swan song yet. I do love their stock ticker: BUNZ

They sell it at Whole Foods too. It's yummy, esp. the version with sea salt.

Usually it's referring to the butterfat content in particular. In the U.S., butter has to contain at least 82% butterfat. (Below that, it can be called "butter oil" or "dairy spread," but not butter.) In Europe, it's not uncommon for butterfat to range between 83% to 86% or even all the way up to 90% in some cases. In my opinion, Americans are better off consuming locally produced "European-style" butters than imported European butters. The product will be infinitely fresher. I don't know why so few butter makers label butterfat percentages as part of nutritional labeling or labeling in general.

Is "freshly killed" a euphemism for "not frozen"? At Grand Sichuan, we did NOT see any live chickens running around the Manhattan restaurant. But I did not look in the kitchen.

Tony Bourdain's ancestor, perhaps? The first caveman to say, "what the f*ck?"

I think of Flying Saucers as being an ice cream sandwich-type treat. There's a store in the West Village that specializes in penny candies -- it's on either W. 6th or 7th Street, I believe. It might even be called The General Store or something like that. They possibly might have it, or would know where to find it. Maybe some helpful person out there can help hone in on the store and exact location?

Boy, I wish I had seen this thread yesterday afternoon. I went to Snackbar last night and I have to say it was one of the most disappointing meals I've had in a while. This place really has been open only a year? Maybe it was the dreaded "Monday Night" syndrome, but it's been a long time since I've seen a place so empty (I know, that should have been a tip-off). There was one other table occupied, and the bartender had been sent home. We sampled a few "snack size" entrees, which really should have showcased the best the place has to offer, but was truly abysmal. We ordered the "waffle bites" with creme fraiche and ikura and the white polenta with peppers and capers. I almost could not tell them apart -- they were both square, dry, tasteless, and pink. We also ordered a bowl of the mushiest olives I've ever seen. Entrees were an improvement: overcooked but tasty char was served with our choice of 10 different sauces. We sampled both the olive gremoulade with walnuts and a rosemary cream sauce, neither particularly noteworthy. However, the sides were good: mashed potates with chives and grilled asparagus were as good as I've had anywhere else, but they weren't enough to salvage the meal. Mr. alacarte asked our very nice waiter if he recommended dessert...he did not. We took the hint and got the heck out of there.

as a tenant, I prefer not to live in a building that also houses a grocery store or even a specialty food store, because of the high "critter factor." Yes, fancy food stores can be infested too.

When we were in St. Thomas a couple of years ago, we had a very good meal at Herve's, on top of one of the mountains. Is is still there? Is it still good?

This one's easy. Watching the gulls drop them onto rocks or the sea otters pounds them against their chests with rocks. That's a good point -- why didn't we come up with this earlier in the thread? I bet most of the earliest food items were "discovered" by watching animals consume them first. Humans must have watched animals who knew by instinct (or experience) which mushrooms were edible and which were poisonous. Animals of prey were already there preying on smaller animals and consuming meat. We likely just followed, and (thank goodness) improved on these concepts, generation by generation, and invention by invention, starting with fire and tools. But I still have no explanation as to how someone struck on the concept of cheese. Sorry tryska.

how does that song go? "I gave my love a cherry that had no stone..." chocolate-covered (pitted) cherries?

I think the Pure Food & Wine takeaway "kiosk" is about to open or recently opened in the space that used to be "Verbena to Go" (on 17th St. between 3rd & Irving). I hope they sell the non-dairy ice cream by the quart, I will buy one in every flavor. In retrospect, I've decided that the key to raw food is moderation. An entire meal left my stomach feeling a bit, um, unsettled thoughout the rest of the evening. But I'd gladly go to PF&W's takeaway for a quick bite, or to the restaurant for dessert or drinks & appetizers. Just not perhaps an entire dinner again. The food was lovely but too much roughage for my system to take all at once.

Although option "a" certainly seems logical, I'm betting that out of obvious necessity, man developed food sources first and communication/language much later.

I'd like to see someone do a side-by-side comparison of roughly equivalent wichcraft, Starwich, and Pret a Manger. I wish even ONE would open within walking distance of my office downtown. We had a PaM but it shut down, alas.

Thanks for the informative report! However, I'll take issue with the "never mentioned on the food boards" comment. Actually, it's mentioned here virtually every time someone asks for dining recommendations in the theater district. edit to include links: post-theater dining pre-theater dining Sunday lunch in the theater district Comedy central dining, no joke

I expect nothing less from the 'burbs. It's pretty laughable that the restaurant has created an artificial "rural" farm environs outdoors, side-by-side with a faux "urban" fancy-dress restaurant indoors, all essentially on the same premises. My personal definition of the suburbs is that it's an artificial construct that is supposed to embody the best of both worlds -- but ends up embodying the worst traits of both.

Thanks -- I wonder how I missed that hot dog link? No matter. Great matrix!

Thanks a lot, GG. I knew I hadn't seen them in the "usual suspects" (the kosher marts) -- apparently these are gourmet dogs!

I have to give props to Josh Friedland & The Food Section for pointing me toward a great round-up of "best kosher franks" in The Forward. Here's a link to the article and a the best-of list. Not to spoil the surprise, but Forward food writer Matthew Goodman ranked Abeles & Heymann as the number-one frank, topping even Hebrew National. Anyone know where to find these franks?