Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This is irritatingly stupid. Oatmeal eaters in motels everywhere? The same oatmeal eaters that can't simply use the coffee pot to heat water, and then make the oatmeal in one of the paper cups provided by the hotel? Give me a break.

I for one am pretty psyched about this.

When a TJ's opened in my neighborhood i was exited to check it out, only to come home all disappointed by the seafood selection. COULD NOT BUY A SINGLE THING from their frozen seafood section. Everything is on the red list or at least the orange list. Even shrimp is from Thailand, which is known for poor harvesting/farming practices -- imported shrimp is on the red list, btw, so the TJ's employee who commented above saying that you don't even carry any of that stuff is way off. Its not like there's no shrimp available more locally than, say... half way around the world.

In any case, i came home and sent them a long email, to which they responded "we'll let our seafood buyer know of your concerns". I'm glad that they're changing their practices.

agree with meem --not sure what the fuss is about. sometimes things aren't worth saving JUST because they're old...

i never liked the whole foam thing. I know its the "right way" to do it, but i want to enjoy my beer right then and there, not sit around for 5 minutes waiting for it to become drinkable. And although there are people out there that are beer foodies and really into the craft beer scene, i'm not one of them. My pilsner or wheat beer does not need to be swirled, slurped, and swished like a fine wine.

i LOVE this thread! I have read food-related books almost exclusively for the past year and a half and have run out of books on my "to read" list, so this is great. Here are some that i've enjoyed:

Heat - Bill Buford

My Life in France - Julia Child

The $64 Tomato - William Alexander (very funny account of a man's fight against groundhogs & deer that keep eating the prized fruit of his garden)

Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn - Catherine Friend (another funny writer, telling how she and her partner picked themselves up out of their urban surroundings and moved to the country to become sheep farmers, and how out of their element two city-slicking lesbians were among their fellow sheep farmers)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

United States of Arugula - Kamp (essentially a history of the big food names in the country)

Enjoy!!!

totally agree sciencemike! i was there last weekend, and though they had posted a blurb to watch them on Martha, no word of opening dates. WTF?

this is probably childish of me, but i can't help thinking that that photo looks like a bowl of worms. :)

I have to say the customer is always right, even if he's an idiot.

Not EVERYONE goes to a restaurant to experience the chef's genius. (personally, i do. i think i have things to learn about food pairings, execution, etc). Plenty of people go just for the atmosphere and to have someone else cook for them/dote on them. In that case, they may not care about the chef's vision, they just want a well-done steak with some salad-hold-the-lettuce on the side. So be it. As long as those people don't become a burden on the restaurant (ordering off menu, for example), making simple substitutions/exclusions shouldnt' be a big deal. The restaurant is, after all, making these dishes to order, so leaving something out is that hard.

Although i do like to go out to eat to see what creations various chefs have come up with, i get a little miffed when chefs get all holier than thou and refuse all special requests. Customers are still paying good money for you to make them food -- its not up to the chef to choose his customers.

And in conclusion, if i went to the restaurant in this column, i would ask for the crab sans-kimchi, because a) i don't like spicy things b) kimchi smells awful, and c) as far as i'm concerned, this is an awful pairing, where the kimchi would completely overwhelm the crab. I'm not saying that the kimchi isn't amazing, but what a complete waste of delicate shellfish...

Please go to Paprika if you're deciding between the two. Lived in the EV for 6 years and went there over and over, went to Il Bagatto on a friend's rave review, and everyone in my party found it mediocre and overpriced. Paprika is really good "foodie" food, and the atmosphere feels like the place costs more than it actually does.

Also to consider: Perbacco in the east village. Same thing as Paprika in terms of good food, good price, great atmosphere. And finally, In Vino is a great date spot with terrific italian food (sorry, east village is italian heavy) and is equal parts restaurant and wine bar if you're into wine.

If i had to rank the above recommendations, i would say: In Vino, Paprika, Perbacco (only because they tend to get full) and Il Bagatto a distant 4th.

Good luck!

Oh geez. I personally like these posts. As for "reporting is supposed to be impartial and in the middle", big news buddy, this is a blog, not CNN. Its going to have opinions, and is entitled to express them.

As for my own reaction to this post, i went to the farmers market last weekend and was sad to see a sign outside a farmer's stall that read "The USDA recently changed the definition of 'grass' to include immature grains, including corn. We only feed our cows real green grass and will continue to do so". It makes me so sad to see how in bed with agribusiness our government is. Changing the definition of grass so that you can market your crap as "grass-fed"? Really?

abraco

pickle bread -- good baguette dunked in the juice of really good german/imported pickles.