Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

No thanks for the eyeball, but I'd love to try the head. It's all pork skin and fat what's not to love?! Lamb neck looks amazing too.

Go to bed.

@lemonfair - what a great idea! What would you put on this list?

Did anyone else hear the author of this article on NPR today? He said that he's never been a "professional waiter" but he waited tables in college, which to me sounded like he was trying to grant himself some kind of exemption from his own rules.

Funny, I make cheesecake pops when I have a chunk of cheesecake that's too big to toss but too small to serve on its own. First I shove a plastic spoon into a big chunk of cheesecake, then dunk it in melted chocolate, then put it in the freezer. I served a tray of these things and all I heard were moans of pleasure. (My cheesecake is made from scratch. I've seen Shamdra Lee do this where she murders a frozen cheesecake with a scoop, winding up with a cheesecake carcass.)

Re: Soup Sips - do you mean in small cups? That does seem rather silly. I like to serve "dessert bites" on Chinese porcelain spoons. Even if you have 2 it's not like wolfing down an entire dessert - but you get to have a tasty sweet in small measure.

The Papaya King in Philly closed down a few years ago.

@wburg913: Didn't forget it! (In fact, we stopped by Grey Dog during our visit.) But we kept incredibly strict parameters on Sandwich Alley. Precisely one block, all with storefronts ON Bleecker (in the case of Bleecker Street Pizza, it's on the corner on the in-bounds side of the street). Once you wander outside the boundaries, there's just too much to include.

My desire to order apps and drinks has less to do with a restaurant's bottom line as it has to do with the comfort of those of us who are waiting. I'm not "assuming" anything. If a DINNER reservation was made it stands to reason that at least one entree per diner will be ordered. This does not include salads, a la carte sides and additional cocktails. I state again with certainty that if I were ever refused seating because one member of my party was delayed, I'd go somewhere else. I'm extremely punctual to the point of OCD. If I'm on time with most of my party, I damn well better be seated or I'm happy to spend my money somewhere else. It's wise to make the customer happy under ideal circumstances but in this down economy it makes even more sense.

Sometimes the word "assume" is the most suitable to use in a particular sentence. The cutesy Felix Unger reference has become passe.

Whoever did this list, you do realize Philly has a Papaya King too, right?

Who knows if they really use bacon fat to make theirs, but there is a bacon flavored mayonnaise on the market called Baconnaise. It's been the butt of a running joke on the Daily Show.

@EZ: It's mesmerizing, isn't it? That photo was my laptop background until it became just too distracting.

@Nikki: Yes, but is it a sandwich? :)

You missed my fave at Faico's--the prosciutto roll! One of the cheapest items there and one of the tastiest. Have them pop it in the toaster for a quick minute and it's rather delicious!

I just saw these at my local co-op the other week and believed them to be either alien food or actual aliens lying in wait for an unsuspecting hippie to take them home. I suppose I'm somewhat of a newbie when it comes to "unusual" ingredients, although I do have a 23-year-old co-worker who had never heard of or seen a fig until a few weeks ago when I brought in your delicious fig and almond cookies. At any rate, I'm going to go hunting for these tonight -- alien or not, if it gets an endorsement from Gina, I'll definitely try it!