Charles Smith

I like Setaro, from Abruzzo, available in the Italian market in Chelsea market.

I don't know from authentic in Indian cooking, but a great example of the food at Bread Bar is the oxtail frankie, which is delicious- it takes an Indian street food snack, and replicates it with a decidedly non-traditional stuffing- it's the best thing at either restaurant- a big reason I enjoyed Bread Bar more than Diwan-

Two other candidates worth mentioning are Banyuls- Look for Domaine du Mas Blanc (especially the Dr. Parce bottling) and Maury- Domaine du mas Amiel- both are terrific with chocolate- usually a tough match. both are good QPR as well.

At least 50% of all newspapers in a typical market (NYC is not a typical market) on any given day are sold for the ads. The major reason for the remaining 50% is germaneness to one's life in one way or another- "localness" or editorial slant, or best sports, or whatever, so when it's all broken down, no one single writer is ever responsible for a significant number of papers being sold. Comics, on the other hand, are very valuable in maintaining readership.

I completely missed this article and accompanying thread and have just waded through both- The problem I have with the piece is that it takes so long for it to establish a reason for existing in the first place. The first seven paragraphs (minus quotes from other sources) are criticisms of her work, with no context. Then, we get to what I think is the reason that the piece was written- she's launched a web site. OK, well, then this "column" is a review of her web site. That's fine. It's a review of her site and describes that she's a bad blogger, and then criticizes her work that is apparently also linked to on the site. Again, fine, a reviewer/columnist has every right to critique anything they want, but this is not a clear review, instead, this column reads to me as a long time gripe that was looking for a reason for existing. Cheers, Charles

There's very good Korean in Manhattan- centered on Koreatown in the low 30's west of fifth ave.- Kang Suh and Mandoo Bar are my favorites. As for outer borough culture- MoMA is now in Queens, PS1 is a great museum in Queens, the Brooklyn Museum is a very good museum. During the day, it's great to take the subways out- a lot are aboveground, with great city views- you really get a feel for all of NYC that way. Cheers, Charles

In the high-end retail clothing world the numbers are staggering- something like 1000 customers do 70% of Bergdorf Goodman's business, for example. It wouldn't surprise me if the restaurant world is similar. edited to fix quotes

It was indeed a memorable meal- The wines, at least what I can remember- Whites 2000 Quintarelli Secco Ca da Merlo Blanco 1996 JM Boillot Puligny Montrachet Reds A 1999 Portugese Red- missed the name a Cab France from the Loire- another missed name 2000 Mad Fish Shiraz- western Australia 1998 Domaine L'Arlot Nuits St. Geoges, Clos des Florets All these dishes are excellent foils for wine. The scotch was memorable- the nose was all about bandaids and iodine and peat- great stuff.

The long bar there is a great bar, in terms of design and view. I also think that HKG is the best airport in the world.

California Cabernet

On our honeymoon my wife and I were treated to a meal at EP by some friends. It was a 4 hour plus meal, with a tasting of French wines. The following night we dined at La Chiusa in Montefollonico- The contrast in styles at such high levels of food was very interesting- both meals were well executed and delicious, but La Chiusa was much better because of the "feel" of the restaurant. not a bad two nights, either way- and this was our first taste (La Chiusa) of truffles in Italy- Tuscan, but still wonderful- probably my favorite single dish if I had to pick one. Cheers, Charles

Wilfrid- Thanks for the great report- Who is the producer for the wine? Thanks, Charles

Just saw a blurb in Crain's that Yoshida-san is now the sushi chef at Brasserie 360- 3rd Ave. at 60th street (opening today). The chef (Luc Dendievel) is formerly of Bayards. I have no other knowledge of the restaurant, but thought this might be of interest. Cheers, Charles

Now we're getting somewhere- Terroir is such an abstract concept, "derived with a sense of place" is my preferred definition. So using Steve's example, as well as some thoughts from elsewhere, the terroir dictates the blend of the wine- Beaucastel's typically mouvedre driven since that's the varietal within their terroir that performs the best. Merlot grows better in Pomerol, etc. As for Adam's ?, I didn't begin to think about clones, and I'm able to discern terroir better in Burgundy than anywhere else, so that makes sense.

actually, I think that's pretty clear. The question is how terroir is expressed through blended wines, which in many cases come from distinct terroir.