slkinsey

Made a few of these for myself and the Ms. a few days ago. They were fantastic.

Cheetos and beer always worked during my batchelor days. Seriously, though, Thai curry dishes are easy and quick to make if you have access to those cans of Thai curry.

law and banking, according to one poster. I have friends working for several investment banks that now wear suits. This may only be in the front office, sales and private client areas of the bank. Hmm... Yea, I'd say it's pretty standard to wear a suit when you're in a business where you have to meet clients who are going to be spending big bucks for your services. That's certainly true of the law firms and banking business with which I am familiar. If your everyday job involves face-to-face interactions with clients of this kind, then I'd guess that suite are a requirement (not that I think this has ever changed). But it's also the case that plenty of people in law and banking only dress up for client meetings and dress "business casual" (or lower) otherwise. Dude, I wouldn't touch that one for all the sausage in Wisconsin. It goes without saying that only a super-stud can get the same effect with a simple pair of fish pants.

A few thoughts on the metadiscussion: First, it's interesting that some have observed a trend back towards formal dressing for work. I've held day jobs in some of the traditionally most conservatively-dressed business areas around (banking, law, etc.) and still haven't noticed that people are returning to suits, ties and white shirts. Ten years ago, I always had to wear a tie to work, which is something I haven't done in at least 5 years. That said, I have noticed a trend away from Dockers and cotton bottondowns towards higher quality "dress slacks" and "soft constructed" sportcoats -- but I think this in general reflects a move towards a more upscale, urban definition of "business casual" as opposed to "LL Bean catalog casual." I'd be interested to know what fields have seen the comeback of the "suit/uniform." Second, I have also always enjoyed "dressing up" too (although, in the interest of full disclosure, I tend to dress more formally than many in general). I would embrace the opportunity to wear a suit out to dinner three nights in a row. I tend to find that men are more resistant to dressing up than women. I think this is due to the fact that most men think of suits and related items of clothing as a necessary evil. As a result they don't often take the time or money to find a suit or sportscoat that really fits well, that looks great on them, that is comfortable to wear and that they actually like wearing. Finally, I agree that it's almost impossible to overdress in NYC.

Well, yea... but what's your point?

I wonder if you might expand on this a bit. It seems like you're saying that Delouvrier's strength is in using lots of luxury ingredients and a broad, varied palette whereas Ducasse has a more narrow, strictly controlled focus in his cuisine?

This is just a guess -- I don't have any hard figures -- but basing my estimation of commercial rents on the residential rent prices people I know are paying down there compared to 8-10 years ago... I'd think the rents could easily have doubled during that time period. And for a lot of these places... I don't know... 3k covers a month sounds like an awfully ambitious number. Plus, any time you have a bunchg of restaurants packed in next to each other all serving more or less the same food, you have to figure that there was a lot of competition for customers based on price and other incentives.

Isn't the observed exodus of cheapo Indian restaurants from 6th Street between 1st and 2nd easily explainable by the fact that the neighborhood has come up significantly in the last decade, and rent rates with it?

To paraphrase the recipe for posterity: 4 parts : white Haitian rum 1 part : Cointreau 1 part : Meyer lemon juice 1 part : ginger-infused simple Orange peel Ginger-infused fine turbinado sugar Frost the rim of the glass with the sugar Combine liquid ingredients with ice in a shaker. Shake. Strain into prepared glass. Garnish with orange peel.

My personal experience is that I almost always experience a clogging problem with the Rocky when I use store-roasted oily beans and never when I use home-roasted beans. It is usally solvable by shaking the grinder back and forth, but some beans are extremely sticky. BTW, the clogging doesn't happen down at the burr level where sending through some rice might help keep things clean. It happens above the burrs, with the beans sticking together in a clump above the grinding chamber and preventing any beans from dropping into the grinding chamber.

That sounds great, Audrey. As with most Campari-based drinks, I'll be interested to try it also with Cynar.

Warm weather is on the way, and with it comes to the slkinsey abode a preference for lighter, fizzier, less alchoholic cocktails -- often of the rocks/highball glass variety rather up/cocktail glass. I often think of old standards like Mojitos (like I'm making tonight) and Caipirinhas, but there are plenty of great ones out there. Here is a recent article in NY Metro about new cocktails around the City for summer 2004. Recipes are included for the following: Lemon-Coconut Colada, Gin Rawlinson, Tamarind Rum Punch, Pineapple Cooler, Rosy Dawn, Soursop Sour and Guava Mai Tai -- all for Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel from expert mixologist and eGullet member Audrey Saunders, aka the Libation Goddess. What are some of your favorites?

It's one of my favorites, although I find that it is too bitter and herbal for most American palates. I took a couple of 1.5l bottles of it to the eG NJ pig roast last summer, and while there were many tryers there were few takers.

At the higher end, Oceana's prix fixe lunch.

It's interesting to look at the curve when interpreting those ratings. Assuming a standard deviation of 2 around a mean rating of 20, places like Hard Rock Cafe (12), White Horse Tavern (13), Starbucks (13), and Dallas BBQ (14) are 3 SDs or more from the mean. Since 99% of the data points on a normal distribution of data lie within 3 SDs or less, the ratings above mean that they are among the worst places in the City. In the case of Dallas BBQ, my personal experience says that it's an earned rating. Note, however, that for someone who hasn't seen the curve (and/or who doesn't understand standard deviations), those ratings don't look all that bad.

Landmarc

Seriously, though, this graph demonstrates two effects: 1. The "Zagat effect" -- whereby people are much more likely to send in ratings cards for places of which they are personally fond, which necessarily leads to higher overall ratings. 2. "Grade inflation" -- the same problem we are having in our elite universities, whereby a "C" grade is seen as a negative evaluation rather than as "par for the course." The fact that they rate on a 0-to-3 scale only exacerbates these two effect. It is well understood by psyshologists that most people are always reluctant to assign anyone a "0 rating" or whatever may be the lowest possible grade on a subjective scale. There should be some statistical weighting of the results to account for this fact. Furthermore, it is actually impossible to give a restaurant an "average" grade, which would be a 1.5 on a 0-to-3 scale. So, diners are forced to choose between "above average" (a "2 rating") or "below average" (a "1 rating"). The psychology whereby most things are rated as "above average" is also well understood (ever meet someone who described themself or their children as having "average intelligence?"), and so it is no surprise that a "2 rating" becomes the de facto "average score." This should also be accounted for with statistical weighting. From a psychological and statistical standpoint, there are also probably some interesting things to be said about the anomalous bump at the high end of the curve.

Decidedly un-Bell Curve-like, if you assume that the average ranking on a 1-to-30 scale should be a 15. Assuming that 20 represents an "average" (i.e., C) rating, it's a very small standard deviation of maybe 2, which means that it is, in effect, a 14-to-26 scale.

Welcome to eGullet, Artichoke. Interesting that you went straight for the same dishes as I, namely things like marrow, liver, sweetbreads, etc.

Whoa. Think about how bad the service has to be to sink a place on the UWS.

Bux, although we are moving towards topic-drift here, I wanted to respond in a general way to your comments re the star system, more specifically to the jist of your comments that a "three star hamburger is not an equivalent of a three star meal in a haute cuisine restaurant." I agree that there should be some way of differentiating between the two. I also agree in general with your conception of the star ratings. However I'd like to point out that the Times itself is largely responsible for this misunderstanding. To wit: There is is in black and white (well, actually black offset in a little tan box... but you get the idea). Given the Times own explanation of their star system, it would seem that Amanda Hesser's rating is saying Jacques-Imo's is not even "good" -- and this seems to be at odds with the generally positive comments she made in her review. That we have certain (Michelin-influenced) ideas about what the stars signify is something that exists in our minds, not on the Times' pages. Now, I happen to agree that the Times at least tries to assign star ratings according to what level of hauteur the restaurant is geared towards and the extent to which that level is achieved... But this practice is not reflected in their explanation of the Times' star ratings.

Truthfully, no. I was actually surprised that she reviewed the restaurant. Maybe it got reviewed because it is an offshoot of such a well-loved New Orleans restaurant. The atmosphere is very mardi-gras party and rightfully belongs on Amsterdam Avenue between 80th and 83rd, with Brother Jimmy's, Firehouse, etc. It just didn't strike me as a "serious" restaurant that was shooting for a Times review. Right. Other small UWS places (@SQC, for example) that would seem more qualified for a major Times review have, AFAIK, not been reviewed by the major NYT reviewer. Not that I want to turn this into another Hesser meta-discussion, but I wonder if they're throwing her softballs until Bruni is in place.

What do the owners seem to be shooting for? Do you get the idea that they're trying to have a "NY Times Starred Restaurant" place?

Neither have I. The interesting (and odd) thing is that there is another Peruvian restaurant in close proximity to Manu.

ellenesk, responding to my typo of "menu" in another thread brought the restaurant Manu to my attention. This is a Peruvian restaurant on 2607 Broadway at 98th Street. I've seen it many times, and wondered about it. Here is New York Magazine's little blurb. I've always been curious, and ellenesk's inquiry shows that I am not alone. Has anyone been?