Stone

Although the investors own the Balucci restaurants (I have no idea who owns what in Devi), I think Suvir would wince a bit at the statement that Devi is part of the Balucci family. I had the pleasure of eating at Devi last week. I'll have a review up soon.

My mom's recipe for chopped liver is on this thread. She uses calves liver, not chicken liver. Which could explain why I like hers, and pretty much no one else's.

Why, God, why?

Thus thought meself. ← Me three. Unless you're in a quantum field. Is this restaurant in a black hole?

My birthday is just around the corner.

Accidents happen. Move along.

The criticisms of CIA East seem to mirror those of CIA West. I had two meals in Napa, and thought both were excellent. The flaws, mostly in service, were silly and unimportant. Easily covered up by scent of scotch. That said, my niece wants to eat at CIA. I'll flip a coin betwixt French and Italian.

I thought this was a very well written piece and an excellent review of the restaurant. It captures the scattershot opinions I have heard from people -- everything from excellent, to great food but overpriced, to mediocre, to disappointing. He also hits the service issues right on the head. And I have to admit that his opening paragraph on the sad state of the Meat Packing District was a perfect description of the sad state of the Meat Packing District. Although I don't see how this place gets one star. It's shooting for a 2-3, and I could see calling it a two-star restaurant that doesn't quite make it.

But smoking is still cool.

Although repulsive in its own right, tongue is technically not an organ meat.

The lambs tongue I've had at Babbo are small, subtly musky slices of meat. Picture a lambs tongue, brown, about an inch long, that has been sliced horizontally. The cow's tongue i've had, always as deli meat, was paper-thin sliced and tasted somewhere between corned beef and salami. Very different.

Yeah, I want to avoid a large tongue on the table, which is why I like Mario's sliced little lambs tongues. And the basic boiling preparation doesn't excite me.

Interesting idea. Tell me more, tell me more.

I want to make a tongue dish. I like Mario's little lamb's tongues with vinagrette, and I think lambs tongue will be better received than a dish made with a large cow's tongue. But I'm open to suggestions. The dish with be paired with braised beef cheeks, if that helps. (Yes.)

Can someone describe the restraunts at CIA? French v. Italian? The prices seem surprisingly reasonable.

I went to 'Wich Craft the other day. It suffers from the same ultimate failing as Subway, but for $5 more. I had the roast turkey with avacado sandwich. An excellent ciabatta; ample, creamy avacado; tasty, crisp bacon, restrained use of aoili, all wrapped around the thinnest whisper of roast turkey. For $9. I guess someone could argue that, turkey aside, the sandwich would still be worth $9. They would be wrong. Subway's failing at $5 is that it offers soft, doughy bread, stingy fixin's, and the thinnest hints of meat. 'Wich Craft offers excellent bread, top-notch fixins, but still the thinnest hints of meat, for $9. I can't comment on whether the turkey was moist or well-cooked, because there wasn't enough meat to judge. A turkey sandwich is ultimately about the turkey. It's not an afterthought. It's the raison d'eating. My friend had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was quite good. The PB (crunchy style) had excellent flavor and the jelly (not sure what type), was not too sweet. They added an third slice of excellent white bread (great body, great crust) so that neither the PB nor the J overloads the senses. I think this was $5, and worth it. (By the bye, there are about a dozen Craft threads that should probably be merged for the sake of consistency.)

Zuni is one of my favorite places in SF, but as Painted said, many people think it doesn't live up to its reputation. And they're not necessarily wrong. But for oysters, it's the place to go. I don't think they have stools at the bar, but you can be served in the bar area. Is the Chinese "D&G" mentioned above actualy the "R&G Lounge" at Clay/Kearny? If so, perhaps the best Chinese in the city. Pass on the tendy Betelnut/Elizas. Not very good. Has anyone mentioned Danko? They serve the full menu at the bar and if you're willing to spend the time and money, it's the best bar meal in the city. Fifth Floor also serves at the bar, but I don't think its bar atmosphere is as nice.

I may or may not disagree. (Does Bruni have an editor, or is he the last word on his reviews?)

I was being somewhat facetious. But my point is that if a restaurant can trendi-fy a type of food, they can convince people to pay full price (or almost full price) for half-portions. It's all in the PR.

They're called Tapas restaurants and people flock to them.

A friend of mine once worked in Hong Kong doing marketing for a large American dairy/foods company. One afternoon she sat in a three-hour meeting of people analysing the dismal sales of their cheese products. After listening to all this sturm and drang, she raised her hand, "Isn't the problem that the Chinese don't like cheese?" She also mentioned that Chinese think Westerners smell badly because of all the dairy they consume.

I was in the area this afternoon, so I stopped in to Devi, still a work in progress. I spoke briefly with Hemant who told me that they hope to open for dinner on 9/27. The menu was still a work in progress, and I graciously volunteered my time and taste buds if necessary. The space, on 18th, just East of 5th, is cozy but not small. I didn't get a great look at it but one item I did notice was a beautiful white marble balcony on the upper loft level. Hemant said that the marble was imported from India. I hope they're able to place some lighting behind the marble because one of the outstanding qualities of Indian marble is its translucence. (Most other marble is opaque, or so I'm told.)

I'm not sure why you don't like Haru, other than perhaps the atmosphere. I've always found their sushi to be terrific. I did overhear one person say, "I used to love Haru, but then I found out it was owned by the white guys that own Ollie and Carmines."

50 large eggs 10 gallons salted water, room temperature. Add eggs to water, turn on heat. When water comes to boil, turn off heat and cover. Let sit 15 mintues. Plunge eggs into ice bath. Peel. Eat withing 1 hour. Don't vomit. Sometimes called the Cool Hand Luke Egg Salad

I think the problem is that the "lighter" fare (such as the grilled shrimp skewers at RM) are fairly unexciting (and the rice was mushy). The more intricate stuff comes with such heavy sauces, it's difficult to really appreciate contrasting textures in the dish. For example, the fish I had at RM was excellent, but could only be noticed if I pushed off the thick sauce.