Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Personal Favorites:

Brooklyn: Montague Street Bagels
Manhattan: Ess-a-Bagel

Favorite used to be Bagel Zone (Ave A between 3rd St & 4th St), until they changed their name and stopped baking their own. Was the perfect bagel -- crisp on the outside, soft and bready on the inside...I'd pay a ridiculous premium just to taste one again.

I am so NOT a fan of Batali - especially hate his attempts at 'regular guy' behavior & this only confirms the depths of an ego which is more bloated than his physique...
True, I've never ate at Babbo - just Del Posto, Otto & Casa Mono, and I found that every one of them fell far-short of the cheaper, non-celeb chef, alternatives that abound in NYC.
Still, the nail-in-the-coffin for me was his unctuous, insufferably smug performance on that god-awful 'On the Road: Spain' program - perhaps the single worst thing I've ever seen on TV. And no, you can't blame it all on Gwynneth! Whoo - did Batali stink-up the screen...
OK - rant over.

sounds to me like Mario is more interested in the acclaim than his customers...The guy is an Iron chef how much more back patting does he need? So the regular slobs who'd like to try some of his food are SOL...you should be ashamed Batali....

yum...i am booking flight to NYC soon!

Roast Chicken with Garlic/Preserved Vegetable is one of my faves! Great review! You got a lot of the dishes my family and I would've ordered. I gotta try that fried chicken stuffed with sticky rice.

so excited for my next trip to nyc. kicking myself for not finding it when i lived there! amazing.

We go here whenever my parents are in town. The chicken stuffed with shrimp (one of my mom's favorites) though never had a pre-order requirement. The golden prawns over twin rice and the straight-up roast chicken with garlic are definitely two of my favorites. I end up putting those soyed-up garlic bits on everything that touches my plate.

mmmm.. yummy.

i also love that shrimp with mayo. it seems all higher classed chinese places will have it.

Just an FYI... I know this article is old, but with it being refreshed on National Sandwich Day 2009, I should point out that Zagi's has closed and is no more. Seattle mourns their loss.

I just got back from Corton. The website asks guests to refrain from using flash photography and cell phones. I accept that gladly. You quote Drew here as saying,

"No, we're not going to stop people from taking photos," Nieporent said. "We'd just like people to be considerate of the other people in the restaurant.""

So why, when I entered, was I told that no photography was permitted. I asked nicely and was told, "no". The host asked the chef and reiterated that it was not permissible. I explained that I would not use a flash. I explained that I would not use the photos online nor for any commercial purposes. Still, my request was refused. I feel lied to based on the website only saying that "flash photography" was not permitted and also the quote here from Drew. So Drew, why is this?

The food at Corton was good but, just like Momofuku Ko, I won't be back. I see no reason to reward restaurants who don't consider my desire for a permanent memory, valid. They can make any policies they like but I still get to chose where I dine. I also chose to deal with people who advertise honestly. Drew said that, "we're not going to stop people" but that is just what they did. That to me is deceptive.

In the interest of full disclosure, the host did comp a round of drinks for us because of this. Still, it, (please, please, pardon the pun, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

As perfect as we'd all like our food to look, in the end, it is for EATING, not for SEEING, unless your eyes are inside your BELLY.

I would have estimated how much it was she took off (2%?) then reduced my payment by exactly that much.

"Well, looks like you took away about 2% there, so I'll only be paying 98% of the agreed upon amount. Have a great day, and I'd advise you that what you did there was not only illegal, but rude."

On another matter, PLEASE describe that crepe cake! Is it, as I imagine, stacked sugared crepes?? Sounds like that could be amazing.

I go to school right by there, and once I stopped in out of curiosity. I ordered a slice of something or other, and after it was cut, on it's way to being transferred to a place, it fell on its side rather than staying upright. The woman behind the counter actually threw the slice away and tried again to be sure I would be presented with a slice standing up!! Seriously. So I don't know that we can blame the people behind the counter. I think it must be policy, and it's not their fault if they have to follow it.