The Very Best: Restaurants

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Johnny Apple’s Last Will and Testament
R.W. Apple finished “An Epicurean Pilgrimage: Meals Worth the Price of a Plane Ticket,” before he passed away on October 4, and it made it into print on October 22.  Here he listed the restaurants worth going a mile, or rather, several miles for: 

1. FLEURIE, FRANCE Auberge du Cep, Place de l’Église; (33-4) 7404-1077; perso.orange.fr/mercurebeaujolais/cep.htm.  

2. SANT’AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI, ITALY Don Alfonso 1890, corso Sant’Agata 11; (39-081) 878-0026; www.donalfonso.com.

3. SAN SEBASTIÁN, SPAIN Arzak, Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui, 273; (34-943) 27-8465; www.arzak.es.

4. BRUSSELS Comme Chez Soi, Place Rouppe 23; (32-2) 512-2921; www.commechezsoi.be.

5. LONDON Wilton’s, 55 Jermyn Street, SW1; (44-207) 629-9955; www.wiltons.co.uk.  GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN Sjomagasinet, Klippans Kulturreservat 5; (46-31) 775-5920; www.sjomagasinet.se.                               

6. BUENOS AIRES Avenida Cabaña las Lilas, Alicia Moreau de Justo 516; (54-11) 4313-1336; www.laslilas.com.

7. SHANGHAI Jean-Georges, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 1; (86-21) 6321-7733; www.jean-georges.com.

8. MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg, Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.

9. SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Billy Kwong, 3/355 Crown Street, Surry Hills; (61-2) 9322-3300.  

Sunset Grill
We were impressed with the good manners, the fun and liveliness, and some of the fare of the Sunset Grill.  It’s at the edge of Vanderbilt University and probably reflects the strengths and weaknesses of that institution.  If you pick carefully, you will win.  We had a rabbit and morel pot pie, as we remember, and a beef tamale: they were delicious.  Our companion had a pasta dish and something else, both of which were very much less successful.  The desserts were overworked.  Service was slow, but very mannerly: everybody at this restaurant was very nice, and that was a winsome characteristic.  We would eat here again, but you have to know what you are up to and to press for things to get to the table.  This restaurant has spawned a couple of children, Cabanas and Midtown Café, both of which need some attention, but are still good choices in a town that does not have a lot of options.  Sunset Grill. 2001 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37212.  Telephone: 866-496-Food. Website: www.sunsetgrill.com.  The wine and beer menu, though extensive, needs to further thought.  But there is a little bit of imagination in the place; it’s fun to sit out in the sidewalk glass room, though avoid a table in the middle aisle. The entrepreneur owner has smartly tied himself into the hotels in town, so this will be frequently recommended by desk personnel.  On another outing, we would be tempted to try the Portuguese shellfish cassoulet, the sorghum roasted pork tenderloin, and maybe the breakfast burrito. (8/2/06)

Albuquerque’s Hidden Few
It’s not easy to get situated in Albuquerque since an authoritative guide is lacking on where to stay, what to see, where to eat, etc.  This is not, in any way, to deny its considerable charms, but they are hidden.  Though tourism is the lifeblood of the New Mexican economy, the state government does not do a good job of ministering to this vital part of its economy.  If New Mexican tourism depended on its civil servants or its politicians, it would simply fizzle.  Indeed, the state needs to single out its real bests and celebrate them.  Probably it needs a system of state posadas, as in Portugal: charming small inns that greet the avid explorer who goes into every nook and cranny of the country and wants a decent place to stay in out-of-the-way places.  In Albuquerque, one should take aim at the bed and breakfasts, since the hotels generally do not make the cut. 

Here, meanwhile, is a fairly decent list of better restaurants, along with links where you can find out about them: Ambrozia  (www.ambroziacafe.com/index.html); Artichoke Café (www.artichokecafe.com); Corn Maiden; Graze (www.grazejj.com); Gruet Steakhouse (www.gruetwinery.com/steakhouse.htm); Le Café Miche (www.cafemiche.com/about/
index.html); Prairie Star (www.santaana.org/prairie.htm); Seasons Rotisserie (www.seasonsonthenet.com/index.html); Zinc Café (www.zincabq.com).  

For those who want to stretch a little further, Frommer’s provides a list of 20 that’s not bad (www.frommers.com/destinations/albuquerque/153_inddin.html).  (7/6/05)

Boston Middle Eastern
Well, actually Cambridge.  Oleana is the sort of place that attracts graduate students, so it belongs on Harvard’s  side of the Charles.  We would return but we would also be a little cautious.  This restaurant has been hailed on all sorts of lists, inside and outside of Boston.  But we find many of the dishes both a bit overdone and a little on the sparse side.  Pick the simplest things, say, minced cucumber or something with the fewest adornments.  Also, go quite early, since this is a hot affair that attracts a very big crowd to a small place.  If you are there sixish, you may avoid the crowd and have more of a conversation.  Oleana.  134 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.  Telephone:  (617) 661-0505.

Clio
We’ve heard forever that Clio is one of Boston’s bests, not to be missed.  Well, forever we have intended to stay at the Eliot, where the restaurant is housed, and have never gotten around to it.   As a substitute we went to the restaurant, especially since it was reputed to have a decorous, quiet atmosphere where one could hold a conversation, and we were to be a party of six.  As we remember, we had some Bay scallops and then some shards of Kobe beef, both of which were quite satisfactory even if they did not inspire rapture.  A California friend picked the wines: he found them average but priced as if nectar from the gods.  The service was eager, happily so, though not practiced.  On a jaunt to the side, we saw Uni—the sashimi effort adjoining the main dining room—which we probably would not visit,  and we there heard some low-key chill music which probably does not go well in a restaurant with highbrow pretensions, though it has become pervasive in all Boston spots trying to attract young affluents.  Like many of Boston’s finests, Clio is pricey and not as good as Bostonians think, but maybe worth a visit once a year.  As in parts of Scandinavia, Boston’s best restaurants tend to be middlebrow, less affected, and less complex, more ample.  Clio and Uni.  370 Commonwealth Ave Boston, MA 02215.  Telephone: (617) 536-7200.  Website: www.cliorestaurant.com.  (5/16/07)

Neptune Oyster
For the last few years, laziness and maybe the Big Dig have kept us away from the North End.  But then we remember a good cup of coffee or the olive oil we sometimes haul home from one delicatessen.  A man of taste (PJ) has just put us on to Neptune Oyster, and we’re thankful.  There are many neighborhood sorts eating there, so one is spared the cashmere sweater and tassled-loafer set.  There’s an oyster selection—quite fresh—that alone could be the meal: wellfleets and katama bay and ninigret pond and pemaquids and kumomotos and so on.  It has a plush web menu in the works, and soon you can read about the equally good entrees.  Neptune Oyster, 63 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113.  Telephone: 617-742-3474.  (1/31/07)

Butcher Shop
We just had an excellent meal at the Butcher Shop, one of Barbara Lynch’s 3 Boston restaurants.  We’ll be back and we mean to try them all.  This is in the South End, right across the street from her B & G Oysters.  The Butcher Shop is her meat emporium, and one of the locals we know buys meat here. We had her storied hot dog—really more of a sausage—and several other meats of the evening.  Though the restaurant has bar-type set up, we nonetheless found the atmosphere to be decorous enough to hold a conversation.  Lynch attracts a nice crowd, and the quarters are attractive if not spacious.  Plus the servers are both polite and helpful: we took a chance on the wine recommendation, and it was right.  The Butcher Shop, 552 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02118.  Telephone: 617-423-4800.  Website: www.thebutchershopboston.com.  The website, though tasteful, is not very helpful: it should include map and directions, much more on the menus and the preparation.

East Coast Grill
We forget about this wonderful restaurant in Cambridge, just a hop and a skip away from Boston, a restaurant we frequented quite a bit after its opening in 1985 (or was it 1987, as the Boston Globe suggests?).  Now it has become quite an old chestnut, and every bit as fun.  We arrived a bit early recently and bumped into owner Chris Schlesinger, who explained why he could not give us a drink (it would attract a horde of customers before his crew could handle them) but who, nicely, gave us a comfortable seat at the bar where we chatted with his very nice fellow there.  He and the staff universally have a warmness about them and, to boot, they actually know the food pretty well. It’s probably more relaxed than the other good eateries around Cambridge, peopled as they are by undercover PhDs.  Schlesinger lives in Westport: we understand that he fishes a lot and drinks Pabst’s Blue Ribbon, a paradoxical beer with a following that springs from its lack of advertising.  (See our “Bloom—In Praise of Divorce.”)  He seems to be lead a more civilized life that most restaurateurs.  Our guest had a big chop, while we put down the shrimp and scallops—both were outstanding.  He has six or so cookbooks: we picked up Let the Flames Begin that night, after we pressed him for a recommendation.  But The Thrill of the Grill, or License to Grill, or any of the others will do just as well.  As is obvious from these titles, he thinks he is quite a flamethrower, a stealth pyromaniac.  We cooked salmon his way recently and washed it with his sauce—what a treat!  East Coast Grill.1271 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Tel: 617-491-6568. Website: www.eastcoastgrill.net.  (11/30/05)

Bistro 5
When you are cast out into Medford, beyond the pull of Boston and Cambridge, you expect dining to be non-existent.  But you are to be fooled, at least at Bistro 5.  It gets a decorous shirtsleeves crowd, but is free of loutish behavior or too much buzz.  The duck prosciutto and its accompaniment most stick in our mind, but everything was tiptop.  The crème brulee, shared with our companion, was entirely right, and not tarted up with adulterations such as might happen at the Gotham in New York.  You can trust the barkeep to choose your wine. Bistro 5, 5 A Playstead Road, West Medford, MA 02155.  Tel: 781-395-7464.  (2/7/07)

Boston Ice Cream with Flavor
When you have had your great meal at the East Coast Grill, then go next door to Christina’s where the ice cream sings.  It’s the first time we have had flavorful ice cream in Boston—Ben and Jerry, Lick’s, etc. notwithstanding.  The rum raisin had the raisins and the rum, the coffee was right, etc.  It is next door to a spice store of the same name, owned by the same people, and we are sure that is why the ice cream tastes like something. Christina’s Ice Cream. 1255 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.  Telephone: 617-492-7021.  The help is rather brusque, and the place seems a bit run down, but, in the end, it’s all worth it. Also check out Christina’s Spice and Specialty Foods.  (12/7/05)

Hamersley's
Years ago Hamersley’s Bistro was a different restaurant.  It was up the Street four or five blocks, in a little warren of rooms, with a lot of buzz, filled with vibrant people.  As we remember, Mrs. (Fiona) Hamersley would often seat us, and at the end of the evening we might have a chat with Gordon about the food.  At that time there were only 4 or 5 decent restaurants in Boston anyway, and this was right at the top.  Once, in another city, when we were escorting Julia Child to a celebratory function, she asked us where we ate in Boston.  We said we could not remember the name, but mumbled about a  smallish bistro where you ate 12 small, elegant dishes of an evening, diners were waiting at the door, and the spirit was entirely warm.  Immediately, she said, “Hamersley’s.” 

Then the restaurant moved towards town a few blocks into a barnlike structure.  Big time.  We ate there once, off a rather limited menu, and never returned.  We were shocked at the transformation.  From a beehive to a vacuum.  It’s got the new, see-the-kitchen format, not an entirely interesting addition in this particular case.  This layout works when you have a magnetic chef personality up front or, as in a yakitori restaurant in the Rippongi section of Tokyo, meet a bunch of wise guy cooks who shout friendly, flirty comments at pretty daikon Japanese girls.   

But a Boston regular recently asked us to join him for his second outing there.  With lots of caveats, we were charmed.  We showed up about 5:30.  The hostesses were tied up in their paperwork and could hardly get to the customers.  I announced that we would move our 7 p.m. seating to 6 p.m., and a very snippy gal said, “We can accommodate you.”  I asked to be seated: “We don’t open til 6.  You can sit in the bar.”  No drink was forthcoming, though the staff was around.  Nonetheless, the other young lady who eventually showed us to our seat was entirely gracious, and managed to put us near the windows, the snippet having previously assigned us to darkness for no good reason. 

The restaurant is still not comfortable or very well decorated.  But if you go early and get yourself to a banquette by the window, you can achieve tranquility.  There looks to be a handsome church—now perhaps a condominium or something—across the street.  On its steps sundry denizens share a bottle of wine, with a dog to keep them company.  The trees and the early evening light make for prettiness.  Finally making his way to our table,  a relatively charming waiter named Eddy radiates a little friendliness.  At least in the early hours, the clientele was polished, polite, well-appointed—no garish clothing, no loud sounds. 

We had a trio of pates up front and then a mixed fish dish (halibut and salmon) and found it all, particularly the fish, quite good.  Our companion, just off a plane from New York, found his food passably good, but not good enough for a third visit.  He complains that the bread with his appetizer was soggy or doughy.  The wine list will not move you, but there was one okay beer on the menu and a couple of interesting single malts for an after dinner.  Gordon Hammersley was out doing a demo somewhere.  His wife, we understand, does the business stuff, and does not appear at the restaurant too much.  Hamersley’s.  553  Tremont Street.  Boston, MA 02116.  Telephone: 617.423.2700.  Website: www.hamersleysbistro.
com.  (7/13/05)  For original entry in Best of Class, click here.

Summer Shack
We went once to Jasper’s in Boston, had a respectable meal, enjoyed our brief conversation with the hefty chef-owner, and never went back.  Opened in 1983, it was another good Boston B restaurant that the locals waxed too purple over, since they really did not have an excess of fine places or fine palates to raise the bar.  With a few exceptions, Boston restaurants are like Boston hotels: much raved over, but not quite up to the mark.  Ritz Carltons in other cities are much more comfortable than Boston’s, although its downstairs café has character and it is the hotel where we like to have a business breakfast, free of the fat cats than frequent the Four Seasons. 

Jasper White’s Summer Shack is another matter.  It has picnic informality and diverse fairly simple fare, actually well cooked, that is actually in tune with the palate of the citizens.  We say this even though ratings from the locals range from extraordinary to poor.  Last time out we went for Jasper’s pan roasted lobster, which is very ample, and which is nestled in a light sauce that serves to keep the meat juicy, but in no way overshadows the flavor of the lobster.  There are 4 locations, 3 around Boston, and one in Connecticut; heavy with fish, they sort of update, liven, and improve on Boston’s middling, dependable chain called Legal Seafoods.  We thought the desserts were neither here nor there, but you don’t really need them, after you have had raw appetizers and your main dish. 

Radius
This one’s been around since 1998.  Wonder why we have never gotten around to it. Well, the high point we think is that the staff is polite, and we suspect the owners are nice.  Our waiter was French and had a certain grace about him.  At our request the maitre took care to get us to a fairly quiet table on the side, important since the place is a little frantic with buzz.  A bus boy who mistakenly filled our Hendrick’s Gin Gibson with tap water did report his mistake to the waiter, and a new drink arrived fairly quickly at the table.  One of our guests nicely commented that the owners contributed services and vittles to a charity fundraising dinner, qualifying Radius as one of President Bush’s (George the Elder) thousand points of light. 

The proprietors make a great deal out of their team approach to restauranting.  We think this has secured them a certain joie de vivre amongst the staff, but a few hits and misses on the bottom line.  Rowes Wharf, by far Boston’s most pleasant restaurant before it died, also had a groupie approach, with a similar result.  “Their Specialty?  Teamwork” rhapsodizes about this consultative style.  “The Radius kitchen is made up of stations: the meat station, the fish station, the garde-manger station, the pastry station.  Two people work at each station, and they have full responsibility for their part of the meal.  In other words, the team at the meat station not only cooks the meat but also butchers it and seasons it—a sharp departure from the standard procedure at most restaurants.”  “Radius has also developed a series of meetings in which both the spirit and the practice of teamwork get reinforced.”  Boston is full of very theoretical management education firms, and it’s not surprising that theory has crept so fully into the kitchen.

We had cod, which was tasty if not ample.  We found ourselves wanting to give it a little more panache.  Radius seems like a place to see and be seen for the aspiring, but we don’t find any of the warmth and intimacy that is hinted at on the restaurant website.  We distinctly remember that it was a very long day’s journey into night to reach the restroom, and along the way we had to plough through some sort of cocktail private affair in the basement.  By the way, many of the bathrooms in Boston’s fancier dives are elusive.  We will return at some point and see if there is some sort of quiet hideaway here not immediately evident in which to enjoy a small bite.

This is a restaurant with so many cooks and so many actors that it makes lots of little harmless mistakes that are amusing more than anything.  A Fast Company article is referenced on the website, but the link leads you to a foodie magazine instead.  A Boston Globe reviewer has a giggle over receiving the wrong bill:

The dinner at Radius was exquisite and the service exemplary.  We were content.  As the weeknight crowd thinned in the dining room and we sipped the last of our coffee, a companion looked over the bill, his eyebrows raised.  "Can this be right?" he asked, passing the check over to me.  It read $1,300 and some change.  With some entrees climbing above $40 and a wine list that offers only a couple of bottles under $50, Radius would never be mistaken for casual, budget-priced dining.  Still, the amount seemed stratospheric.  Had we spent that much?

The first item in a long list of beverage orders caught my eye.  Diet Coke.  We would never have ordered that.  After discussion with our waitress, the matter was remedied; and a more reasonable bill was exchanged for the one meant for another table.

Harvest Restaurant
We had not eaten at the Harvest Restaurant for years and figured that it had probably fallen down a notch or two , to quote Emeril.  But a two months back we ate there twice and would claim that it’s still as good as it gets around Harvard Square.  You just have to be demanding: the service can be patchy, many of the tables are very noisy, and certain of the food does not deserve the high-end price tags applied to it.  It’s a high B or even low A restaurant as long as you are picky. 

First of all, eat in the bar area where the lighting is better (for reading a journal) and the clatter is much less.   We would suggest eating a couple of appetizers and skipping the entres—perhaps the bay scallops and then either the rabbit or the chicken livers.  Then go on to have a dessert which will not be fabulous but much more than passable.  If you are in this area of town, you will notice that there’s a lot of flotsam and jetsam all about you, even in the hotels.  While all the staff, up front and in the back, could certainly use more training, the Harvest does help you escape the seediness and fast foodery littering these streets.  Harvest.  44 Brattle Street. Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02138.  Telephone: 617-868-2255.  Website: www.the-harvest.com/food.html.  Understand that the Harvest is part of a  restaurant group, including Grill 23 http://grill23.com—which we don’t really like—and the Excelsior (www.excelsiorrestaurant.com/home.html).  When wannabe fine restaurants are part of a chain, details fall through the cracks, excellence proves terribly elusive, and the quality is not quite commensurate with the price.  Part of your excessive check is for general managers, pr people, and glistening websites.  (1/26/05)

Hidden Italian
We have yet to have a bad meal at Trattoria Pulcinella.  It’s small.  That means nicely intimate, and it’s on a side street fairly well away from any hubbub.  The trick is to eat early, preferably while there’s still a touch of daylight, with a view to leaving when it fills up and you feel you are at the knee-to-knee stage with other customers.  The wait staff is very pleasant, and the servers aren’t implicitly bragging that they are up to better things in their “real daytime lives.”  Some claim the cuisine is Tuscan; we find that the cook experiments a bit, and so new surprises make their way onto the menu.  One night we found a wine we liked so much that we peeled the label off the bottle so that we could put in an order to our wine merchant.  Trattoria Pulcinella.  147 Huron Avenue  Cambridge, MA 02138-1367.  Telephone: 617-491-6336.  Website: www.trattoriapulcinella.net.  (1/26/05)

Boston’s New Winners
Most internet dining guides throw in every restaurant within 10 miles, all in hopes of drumming up some advertising.  So it’s darn hard, in Boston and elsewhere, to separate the wheat from the chaff, even if you consult a supposed quality guide like Zagat.  But Sally’s Guide does turn up a list of the good ones for Boston—and for a few other places.

New Shanghai Restaurant
To insure social, political, and economic stability, the problem for retailing and for the community and for the nation is to put the locale back in any one locality.  Everybody has to be from somewhere, or we become a nation and world of rootless people.  That’s the very subject we addressed in “Being There.”  And occasionally you find a haberdasher here or a restaurateur there who’s neither chic nor cheap that offers value and a sense of place at the same time.  We thought of that most recently when we were eating  at the New Shanghai Restaurant in Boston (21 Hudson Street, 617-338-6688) where the fish offered more variety and terroir than the high-powered dives frequented by Boston affluents.  It is a success because it is of the place.  In the same manner, the stunning window displays in the great stores of Paris add a dimension and value to retailing that Wal-Low will never capture.  Global, cookie cutter retailers never have and never will capture the sense of time and place that an inspired local merchant can bring to the retail experience.

Sel De La Terre
Not a bad name for this restaurant.  Salt of the Earth.  Down to Earth.  It’s  way down  State Street, conveniently below the Financial District, away from the madding crowd.  It’s quiet, even a bit empty, with good food and very warm service.  First and foremost, you will be stop here because of the ambience. You will not be harassed by buzz or by waiters telling you how wonderful the food is and reciting from memory useless things they remember about  the menu.  The light is subdued: We eat in the bar area but you may prefer to be closer to the windows.  It’s Provencal or regional French, if you like, with enough variety to satisfy most tastes.  It is a decently priced cousin of L’Espalier, where you will leave a lot of Euros on the table.  Incidentally, peruse the Espalier website for some recipes (www.lespalier.com/recipes.htm), which will give you some great ideas for your own cooking and drive you to Sel De La Terre for simpler fare.  We found a Northwestern Pinot Noir very worth drinking, even if the tab per glass is a few bucks more than it should be.  We favor seafood, both for starters and main course.  Sel De La Terre.  255 State Street, Boston, MA.  Telephone: 617-720-1300.  Website:  www.
seldelaterre.com.

An Escape from Boston's Financial District
Just off Washington Street, Mantra is truly a good way to get away from the world’s  testy financial markets and the controlled frenzy in Boston’s Financial District.  It renders this service much more ably than the many hotels in the area, which are a bit tattered these days.  You even have to be looking for the door, because you may skip right past it, as you turn up Temple Place.  Should you be with a friend, pick something mildly vegetarian and mix it, say, with a sirloin dish which will be delicately cooked.  Many praise a décor which is not really that great:  the room is really more of a cavern that has been lightly redecorated.  We understand the place was once Old Colony Trust Bank, and we can imagine that it was once useful for hiding assets.  Often, at lunch, the tables are quite empty, and you surely won’t see a lot of suits with steel rim glasses around.  Our luncheon companion had visited Mantra on her anniversary, and its atmosphere drew her back again.  The service is quick, quiet, and able, and the dishes are just enough to quiet your hunger and not add to your waistline.  Claiming to be Indian-French cuisine, it is not over-spiced but offers a fair number of flavors that have not been overwhelmed by a curry or any other concoction.  Chef Thomas John has gotten his share of write-ups inside and outside Boston.  Mantra.  52 Temple Place. Boston, Mass. 02108.  Telephone: (617) 542-8111.  Don’t bother with the website (www.mantrarestaurant.com); it is another complicated, overdone clunker.

Comfortable Margo
We liked the modesty of this enterprise.  It is not pretending to be more than it is. Restraint and simplicity are the better way to go when you are in the Massachusetts Bay Colony:  this has been true forever.  Sure there is an attempt to cook with a little style, so you won’t be bored.  This pleasant restaurant is located in the back of the Harborside Inn where you can have a quiet meal without a lot of hoopla.  There are a host of overpriced productions in Boston now where you pay too big a tariff, the lighting is wrong, and the food simply does not live up to the florid praise accorded by local scribblers.  Our waiter here was helpful, direct, cheerful—lo and behold, he turned out to be the bartender as well in this newish eatery that is trying to watch its expenses.  So this is a nice antidote for your spirits if you are mildly depressed after visiting a host of other Beantown restaurants that are overhyped yet tasteless.  It serves both a simple lunch and a  acceptably more complex supper.  We guess you could call it sensible new cuisinish.  Margo.  185 State Street. Boston, Massachusetts 02109.  Telephone:  (617) 670-2033.  Website:  www.margobistro.com.

Best Barbecue in Dallas
It's not as easy as you think.  All the well known places and all the chains are quite greasy.  The one that's great is Sammy's at 2126 Leonard Street, Tel: 214-880-9064, in the shadow of the Federal Reserve and the Crescent Hotel.  Otherwise, you have to drive about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Au Pied de Cochon
“Martin Picard may be one of Canada’s most famous and respected chefs, but his name does not appear on the cover of his new cookbook Au Pied de Cochon-The Album. Chef at the Montreal restaurant of the same name, he published the book himself.  Tom Tassel, a waiter, did the illustrations.  One illustration, a pig that hobbles around with a missing foot, sips a glass of wine, “falls in love with a roasted Guinea hen, sucks sap out of a maple tree,” and “loses consciousness under a nun’s habit.”  The book comes with DVD. Anthony Bourdain does the introduction for the English version.  The restaurant website itself is lots of fun, and it tells you how to come by the book.  The Australian has done an interesting quickie guide to some of Canada’s interesting restaurants, to include Picard’s.  (1/24/07)

Killer Mockingbird
We did not ask the owners why they named it Mockingbird Bistro, although we think of Mockingbird as a Dallas-type name (www.mockingbirdbistro.com/chef.htm).  But this is one of several just out-of-the-way eateries we have found around Houston in pleasant surroundings.  We had  tuna and our colleague had salmon, as we remember.  Before, we shared a starter of mussels.  Both were quite delicious.  The help was massively attentive, and we found ourselves in a nice crowd.  Bottom line: pleasant atmosphere with an-edge- of-River-Oaks feel.  Good entrees.  One might slide by some of the other items.  Our Gibsons were simply not right: the glass was too small, the ice piteous, the over-sized cocktail onions sour tasting.  The desserts, across the board, are not worth the effort.  They simply put on weight but don’t measure up.  We tried, on the side, some of the cinnamon ice cream, since we happen to be studying it lately; it lacked flavor and suggests the house needs to learn more about the handling of spices.  All that said, we will be returning.  Mockingbird Bistro.  1985 Welch at McDuffie, Houston, TX 77019.  Telephone: 713-533-0200.  (9/14/05)

Flight-Ready Barbeque
We strongly suspect our partner would eat barbecue at every mail if given half a chance.  At any rate, he asked our driver, on the way to the airport, where one does the barb in Houston.  As it turns out, there is a very genuine affair right near Hobby, so we were able to load up with giant cokes and all the rest on the way to our plane.  He had pork, but we went for beef, since that’s what Houston is all about.  The Central is listed on the following website, and it has a host of other joints around the state for you to peruse when you are at loose ends: www.pilotwait.com/texas.htm.  After all these years of feasting on the cue, we still cannot decide whether we are pork or beef people, and which style of which we like best.   When having pork, we can suggest that you have to look out for very lean cooking: most of the renowned barbecue places are far too fatty.  Central Texas Bar-B-Q.  8101 Airport Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77061 behind Jack in the Box).  Telephone: 713-641-3360.  Open 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  (9/28/05)

Best Lunch in the Fez Medina—Morocco
We loved Restaurant Asmae.  As we collapsed into soft brocade cushions in a tented alcove and gazed up at the beautifully painted ceiling hung with antique lanterns, our waiter arranged before us sixteen plates of delicious Moroccan salads, a virtual lexicon of these room temperature appetizers, including zucchini with honey and a superb harissa (hot sauce).  These were followed by a savory vegetable cous-cous, and our favorite Moroccan dessert, oranges macerated in sugar with cinnamon and mint.  By now we were reeling, but were still able to enjoy a post prandial conversation with the sleepy-eyed owner: "America.  Everybody works, everybody is busy.   Busy...busy...busy...."  Contact: Restaurant Asmae, 4 Derb Jeniara, Fez Medina.  Telephone: 55-741-210.  Fax: 55-633-624.

Best Pizza Restaurant in Fez—Morocco
One evening we hopped into a petit taxi and went to the popular Chez Vittorio where we discovered a less traditional side of Fez.  Here the small tables were packed with well-to-do Fassi families who live in the villas and apartments of the Ville Nouvelle.  Unlike the medina where many, if not most, men and women wear traditional djellabas on the street, the men were attired in business suits, the women in chic slacks and jackets, with lots of gold jewelry and usually with two or three adorable children in tow.  The tasty, thin-crusted pizzas Margarita, slightly charred around the edges, are the big sellers here, as is the chocolate mousse.  Contact: Chez Vittorio, 21 Rue Brahim-Redani, Fez.  Telephone: 55-62-47-30.

Best Friday Afternoon Lunch in New Orleans
Friday lunch at Galatoire's: Lots of locals--business folks, lawyers and uptown ladies--make a leisurely afternoon of it.  The place really bubbles.  The last two times we were there, we ran into Francis Ford Coppola, and he doesn't even live in New Orleans.  It's common to end up chatting with folks at nearby tables, who often offer suggestions as to what to order while trying to figure out who you are.  The noise builds as the cocktails flow and business talk seems the exception rather than the rule.

Many of the waiters, attired in tuxes, have been at Galatoire's for years and many speak French.  (Several very competent female waiters have been added in recent times.)  Regular customers are asked at the door if they desire a particular waiter.  The food is pretty much the same as they served up fifty years ago, with a strong emphasis on local seafood, particularly crab, which comes in many varieties.  Ask the waiter to explain the differences, and then be sure that someone orders the one with the eggplant.  Or try one of the most popular dishes, the trout meuniere.  The wine list is good and well-varied in price.  Have a white Burgundy to help wash down the wonderful loaves of hot crispy-crusted French bread that are brought to your table when you arrive and again throughout your dinner.

A recent renovation left the main downstairs dining room almost exactly as it was previously, although an elevator which takes you to an attractive bar and more upstairs dining rooms has been added.  You no longer have to wait on the street, an old Galatoire's tradition that, rumor has it, even a President once succumbed to.  And they now take reservations, though not for the main dining room, where the regulars eat (unlike Antoine's, another classic New Orleans' restaurant, where the main dining room is left for unknowing tourists.)  Galatoire's is on Bourbon Street, a block-and-a-half from the Canal.  It's a pretty seedy section of the French Quarter (though reasonably safe), but when you enter the doors, you enter a New Orleans that hasn't changed in fifty years.  Contact: Galatoire's, 209 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA.  Telephone: (504) 525-2021.

NOTE: This entry comes from Blake Ives, multi-faceted Professor of Information Systems at both Tulane University and Louisiana State University.  See his website: www.blakeives.com.

Most Elegantly Dilapidated Watering Hole
Connoisseurs of romantic ruins must experience frissons of delight just wandering the narrow streets of the French Quarter.  Lacy wood trim sags on faded Creole cottages, ferns grow out of mossy crevices in crumbling brick walls, and rusty gates conceal malodorous passages to mysterious destinations. There is no more elegantly dilapidated bar, to our way of thinking, than Napoleon House on the corner of Chartres and St. Louis Streets.  Built in 1814 for Mayor Nicolas Girod, the house was reputedly offered to the exiled Napoleon, but the little emperor never made it to these shores.  Nearly two centuries later, the ruined plaster walls, ranging in color from deep gold to the rich brown of a good roux, are mottled and spotted with damp.  Ceiling fans turn lazily overhead and world-weary waiters take orders with “seen-it-all” aplomb, as classical music wafts through the cool, dim interior.  A marble bust of Napoleon gazes sternly down from his perch on the cash register. Pimm’s cup is said to be the drink of choice here, but we observed a local gentleman in a summer straw chapeau, grey beard neatly trimmed, enjoying a  champagne cocktail.  Graham Greene would approve.  Napoleon House, 500 Chartres Street, New Orleans.  Telephone:  504-524-9752.  

Most Romantic Restaurant in a Creole Cottage
The heart quickens slightly just stepping through the iron gates.  A short stroll and you arrive at the hidden side entrance of Susan Spicer’s restaurant, Bayona, located in one of the prettiest Creole cottages in the French Quarter.  Whether you sit in the rosy glow of the deep pink terracotta dining room, where everyone looks glamorous, or outside in the tropical patio, where a Romanesque fountain trickles amongst dramatically uplit palms and banana trees, Bayona is still as lovely as it was when we first discovered it over a decade ago.  We tucked into whisper-light crawfish beignets drizzled with remoulade sauce, then segued to wonderfully plump, sautéed shrimp served on a bed of fragrant basmati rice with ginger and tomato, and a seared chicken breast with crisp, salty skin over farfalle with earthy wild mushrooms. Desserts were luscious, with a slightly provocative edge.  A warm chocolate crème brulee had smokey undertones of Earl Grey tea, while a lemon meringue tart offered a surprising double play: a cloudlike meringue hovering over the rich citrus filling and a thin, crunchy wedge of cardomom-scented meringue.  Bliss.  Contact:  Bayona, 430 Dauphine Street, New Orleans.  Telephone: 504-525-4455.  Website: www.bayona.com.

Best Pralines in New Orleans
Choosing the most delicious pralines could be a treacherous endeavor.  But we took the plunge.  We sampled New Orleans’ best-known confection at a number of shops, but when we entered Southern Candymakers, we were nearly knocked off our feet by the heady aroma of caramelizing sugar, butter and cream. At one end of the shop, sugary pecans were being turned out on a cool marble slab; at the long counter, ladies were tempting customers with samples of  just-made candy, still slightly warm.  Pralines in flavors such as coconut and chocolate were tantalizingly displayed in the cases, along with almond toffee and cashew tortues, but being purists, we stocked up on the “original creamy” pecan praline.  Like certain wines, pralines don’t travel well, so naturally we were forced to eat them all right away. Contact: Southern Candymakers, 334 Decatur Street, New Orleans.  Telephone: 504-523-5544 or 800-344-9773.  Website:  www.southerncandymakers.com.

Best Spot in New Orleans to Watch the World Go By
Since the 1860’s, the Cafe du Monde, situated near the Mississippi across from Jackson Square, has been the place to see and be seen.  Yes, it’s full of tourists, but we sat next to a local gallery owner reading the Times Picayune  over a cafe au lait one afternoon when all the world, it seemed, was streaming through its airy portals.  Our favorite time to go there is late at night or early in the morning, when a little fog is still hanging over the river and the tables are half empty.  The beignets are not as light they once were, but the chickory-laced coffee is strong and the people-watching endlessly intriguing.  In the space of a few minutes, a refugee from an Anne Rice novel, wearing leather corset, purple lipstick and black platform boots, strode by; a lone jazz trumpeter serenaded a tiny Chinese girl with the Barney theme song; and a flock of nuns devoured one order of beignets after another, powdered sugar sprinkling their black habits like a dusting of snow.  Cafe du Monde, 800 Decatur Street, New Orleans.  Telephone: 504-525-4544.  Website: www.cafedumonde.com.

New York's Best Japanese Restaurant
In the shadows of the Waldorf Astoria and Citibank, RESTAURANT NIPPON embraces tradition and the future, becoming the first restaurant--legally--to feature fugu in the United States.  One guest, who loved crab, said he had never had softshell crab anywhere that matched the preparation here.  One Japanese heart attack victim had his food catered from here and sent over to Bellvue while he was in recovery at New York's most famous hospital.  155 E. 52nd St., New York, NY 10022.  Telephone: 212-758-0226.

Nicola Paone
Nicola Paone.  There’s a restaurant on 34th Street—Nicola Paone—that’s not on the lips of America, but it has a certain following.  It was the creation of an Italian troubadour of the same name (i.e., the eponym) and of uncertain talents who once wrote a song about Caesar  salad—some 17 verses long.  William Buckley, the father of the New Right and of rampant polarization in America, deems it his favorite, saying:

I can name my favorite restaurant as glibly as I can name my favorite wife, country, religion, and journal of opinion.  It is (I should like to say, “of course,” but Paone’s is not widely known) Nicola Paone; its address is 207 East 34th Street New York, and I suppose I have eaten there a hundred times in the last 10 years, which would certainly account for my being Paone’s favorite customer; but, believe me, in this courtship, I was the suitor.

The food, incidentally, is far from distinguished, but good, sensitive taste has never motivated any ideologue.  We’ve not been there for years, but when we did visit, it had a wonderful atmosphere, generating perfect comity and unforced good cheer among all those in our luncheon party.

The trick there we always thought was the endgame.  The dessert cart was very ample, and it was a sin to exit the restaurant without taking on some creamy delectable that added immeasurably to one’s midriff.  Then too, at the finish, the maitre Franco Alfonso or maybe the waiter presented the check with delicacy and a warm smile.  You felt like paying the bill and, by then, did not even remember what you had eaten.  It was simply a fine experience.

We hope it’s the same.  A well-mannered, well-dressed clientele that did not feel it had to shout to be understood.  Decorousness.  Nicola Paone, 207 E. 34th St. New York , NY 10016.  Telephone: (212) 889-3239.  (11/1/06)

Grenouille
We recently turned to San Pellegrino’s list of 50 best restaurants, only to discover that La Grenouille in New York city is not included.  We should not be surprised: the list is defective in many regards and certainly does not include many of the best but does list many that should be eliminated.  Nor, for that matter, is San Pellegrino the world’s best fizzy water.

La Grenouille provides instant relief from New York City.  It is attractive, there are always gorgeous flowers in attendance, you are not chockablock up against other patrons, the food is pleasing but not chefstar instrusive, and the service is instant and comfortable sporting waiters who don’t bring their problems to your table.

Most recently Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair has given it a lovely write-up, capturing some of its appeal.  Carter is now a pretend restauranteur, having taken over the Waverly Inn downtown, which has become a spot where all the petite celebrities want to be seen.  “An Immovable Feast” nicely states the obvious: La Grenouille goes on while all the other grande dame French restaurants in New York City have melted away. With all of that, one should know that it only dates back to 1962.  Before that a bevy of restaurants had occupied the space.  “In 1942, the downstairs space was occupied by a restaurant named La Vie Parisienne; Edith Piaf sang there once.  Eleven more restaurants and nightclubs would try the space, ending with the Copenhagen, whose kitchen fire concluded their tenure, leaving the building free for its rightful occupants to find it.”

Danube
Danube is a remove or two from both the Hudson and East Rivers.  David Bouley, owner and chef, has long provided some of New York’s better food at his downtown locations.  (See www.bouleyrestaurants.com.)  If anything, we liked this better than his original Bouley, maybe because we found a few more surprises on the menu (vaguely Austrian but not without sashimi should you want it), possibly because we were taken with the grand décor which marvelously fills the gap opened by the disappearance of beautiful hotel dining in New York, and certainly because the space is so ample that you are not bumping elbows with other diners.  It invites one to linger.  Here, even the ladies had desserts, escaping, if only for a couple of hours, the health strictures of the obesity directorate.  Bouley, who plans to open a cooking school and other things in Tribeca, is avoiding the temptation of spreading himself too thin, like other superchefs such as Emeril Legasse and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.    (See www.curbed.com/archives/2004/12/14/david_bouleys_plan_to_rule_tribeca.php.)  Danube. 30 Hudson St,   New York 10013 (between Duane and Reade Sts).  www.thedanube.net/hires/menus.html. 212-791-3771.

Most Deceptively Simple Restaurant Menu—Craft, NY
The deceptively simple menu at Craft, Tom Colicchio’s newish 19^th-Street eatery, is the perfect antidote to 25 years of bilious restaurant prose.  There are no overblown descriptions of ingredients or cooking methods.  Just words like “roasted” or “braised” and a list of the items prepared in that fashion:  Skate.  Red Snapper. Hanger Steak.  Red Cabbage.  Escarole.  And so forth.   Colicchio’s conceit is to take the finest, freshest seasonal ingredients and to cook them simply, but with superb finesse, in ways that bring their natural flavor to unexpected heights. Essentially, the diner designs his own meal, selecting courses and side dishes from nearly 5 dozen enticing possibilities.

The approach succeeds brilliantly.  At lunch on a wet afternoon, Roasted Dourade was fish at its most basic and its most sublime, the skin crisp and golden, the flesh delicate and moist, faintly redolent of lemon and thyme.  Tiny Quail were roasted to perfection, full of dark, intense flavor.  And there were wonderful vegetables: a tangle of pale green fennel bathed in lemon and olive oil; buttery roasted hen of the woods mushrooms; pale batons of sauteed salsify, the season’s most sought after vegetable. The dessert menu continues the conceit, but with more elaborate, even playful, results: we nearly inhaled our order of Doughnuts, six ethereal puffs of fried dough, each about the size of a silver dollar, three bittersweet chocolate, three dusted with cinnamon sugar, tethered to earth only by a drizzle of warm vanilla-scented chocolate sauce.  Pastry chef Karen DeMasco’s sophisticated riff on “PB & J”—grape jelly-flavored pate des fruits and chocolate-peanut butter truffles—was equally irresistible.

Architect Peter Bentel has designed a handsome space that echoes the deconstructivist menu, yet manages to be supremely warm and inviting.  Singular elements, such as an arcing wall of caramel leather, columns of burnished terracotta tiles, and banks of zingy Edison light bulbs, mysteriously work together to create a glowing space that cossets the diner.  Yes, we could almost live at Craft, especially with Chef Tom in the kitchen.  Next best might be his cookbook, Think Like a Chef, which reveals some, but not all, of Colicchio’s culinary secrets.  Contact: Craft, 43 East 19th Street, New York, NY 10003.  Telephone:  212-780-0880. Fax:  212-780-0580.  Website:  www.craftrestaurant.com.

Addendum:  On a recent afternoon, returning to Craft, we and a Canadian visitor had a very long lunch including squid, braised lamb, and a raft of vegetables including Jerusalem artichokes. We found a couple of beers on the menu that we had not seen before, one from Japan and one from Australia.  We were only there 2 and ½ hours.  And that’s the point of this new comment:  you’ll want to stay a while.  We don’t know how the crowds are at night, but the count was low for our Wednesday lunch, and the atmosphere was memorable for its tranquility and courtesy.  The two of us had a large commodious table fairly near the bar, with ample space around us.  Enough light penetrated in from the street, but we were not overwhelmed by dazzling display or complicated lighting fixtures.  The conversation had breadth because it was not oppressed by fireworks in the restaurant.  Craft is more than a wonderful eatery:  it is a great place.  And, oh by the way, we much agree with several of our friends who claim that you could make a meal out of the vegetables alone and skip the entrée.

D’Artagnan Survives the Deathblow
D’Artagnan, the Fourth Musketeer, had to brave several dangers for king and France.  But D’Artagnan of New York and New Jersey also faced down a challenge that almost amounted to a deathblow.  Founded by two Columbia University classmates—Ariane Daguin of Gascony and George Faison of Houston—it is a purveyor of pates, specialty meats, and the like, today consisting of 85 employees and revenues in excess of $30 million.  Its midtown restaurant of the same name has attracted quite a following in its own right and features many of the products offered by the parent company.  But in December 1999 its owners received a call from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta which had traced an outbreak of listeria to D’Artagnan’s products.  Immediately they pulled $1 million of product from retailers’ shelves.  Temporarily they were out of the prepared-foods business, placing them at bankruptcy’s door.  But chefs and shops stuck with them, continuing to buy their rabbit, lamb, quail, etc.  Surely it can be said they survived because they acted quickly and responsibly on the product recall, enhancing their reputation, and because they had previously established such a good relationship with their clientele that their sales did not dry up completely. See Columbia, Fall 2002, pp. 49-51.  D’Artagnan, 152 East 46^th Street, New York, NY 10017. Telephone:  (212) 687-0300.   Webiste:  www.dartagnan.com.  280 Wilson Avenue, Newark, NJ 07205.  Telephone:  (800) 327-8246.

Mangia
Apparently Mangia has been around forever, starting out as a sandwich shop in 1981 on 56th Street.  That said, we did not know about it.  But the other morning we had to visit several people at the Toy Building (soon, if you can believe it, to give up its location, perhaps to move to Dallas), and were at loose ends for breakfast.  It’s hard to find good breakfast locations in many parts of town.  Our recommender put us at Mangia on 23rd, where the service was polite and fast, and the coffee, fruit, and other delights were fresh, well-prepared, and properly priced.  The quarters are not fancy, but well designed, modern, well lighted, and comfortable.  Our delightful servers seemed to be young ladies from a variety of Eastern European nations.  The Mangia restaurants (there are several locations) go well into the evening, and they offer a good to-go menu with delivery to areas in reasonable proximity.  We have just had the breakfast, so we are looking forward to veal stew, a grilled tuna sandwich, perhaps some tuscan hummus.  Vaguely, we guess, the food is suppose to be Italian, but we think the owners hail from other parts of Europe. Mangia.  50 West 57th Street. New York 10019. 212-582-5882.  16 West 48th Street.  New York 10017.  212-754-7600.  22 West 23rd Street.  New York 10010.  212-647-0200.  40 Wall Street. New York 1005.  212-425-4040.  www.mangiatogo.com.  (3/9/05)

Lan
When a restaurant gets too glitzy with its website or its menu, it usually is a recipe for disaster. Not so with Lan. It’s website has far too many bells and whistles, but Lan turns out to be quite fine. This is a very companionable place with a delightful menu, though we will throw in one or two caveats. It’s down in Bowery territory, just above Cooper Union, etc. We waited quite a long time for service, and then finally some American waiters arrived at the table who did not know Japanese food—or what was going on. Then we got a Japanese waitress who knew what she was doing, and we had an exemplary experience. You will find the chawan-mushi that was missing from the menu of a distinguished Japanese uptown that used to have everything. The Black Cod was absolutely first rate: this has become an extraordinarily popular dish in urban places, but, if done right, you should have it every time. This was moist and mellow-so smooth it did not even quite seem like fish. For drinks, you can work your way through the shochu, the sweet potato and barley equally delightful. It pays additionally to be a little choosy about where you sit, as you can be pressed up against company that you would not care to know. One blog notes that the owner is affiliated with a meat supplier, all pointing to the fact that one should eventually get into the steaks and Japanese high-end beefs. Lan Japanese Restaurant, 56 3d Avenue (btw 10th and 11th), New York, New York 10003.  Telephone: 212-254-1959. Website: http://www.lan-nyc.com/. Understand that there are a lot of naysayers about this restaurant, but we find it to be excellent if you manage the details and select in a discriminatory way. (1/16/08)

Best Healthful Chinese Restaurant in New York
In Western culture, "food as medicine" is a novel concept that's suddenly getting more attention.  The Chinese, however, have long had a tradition of treating ailments with quasi-medicinal culinary preparations, often involving esoteric ingredients.  The Sweet-n-Tart Cafe in New York's Chinatown is one of the few restaurants in this country where one can sample tong shui--literally "sweet shops"--that are said to nourish and restore balance to the body.  The tiny, downstairs cafe is always crowded with people ordering dishes such as Doubled Boiled Pear with Almond (believed to be good for a cough or irritated throat) and Fresh Walnut Tong Shui, a rich, pleasantly sweet soup that is said to aid the kidneys and lungs.

For Westerners who are interested in trying tong shui, Sweet-n-Tart cafe has one major drawback: the staff speaks little English and is hard-pressed to describe--or prescribe--a particular dish or its benefits.  But the rest of the menu is prepared with a light hand--Shanghai-style dumplings are particularly delicious--and would satisfy almost any health-conscious diner.  The truly adventurous could always just point to the black viscous soup the grandmothers in the corner are slurping (Black Sesame Paste with "Sau Woo").  You may emerge reinvigorated--or not--but you will have had a memorable meal.  Sweet-n-Tart Cafe, 76 Mott Street, New York, New York 10013.  212-334-8088.

A Good Tudor City Joint
You don’t think of restaurants and Tudor City, or even of that many good restaurants right at mid-town.  But here’s one definitely worth your while if you can bear a sometimes loud crowd and a decorator restaurant that is mostly hype and not aesthetic.  The owners have used a name designer but somehow he did not get to show his best.  The bar seems like a den of iniquity, and the tables in the main room are slam up against each other.  So we heard more than we wanted of two inane conversations, one to either side of us.  But co-owner Scott Conant has cooked around, and the food is absolutely smashing.  We tried everything-fish, pasta, fowl:  everything was great, full of taste, often original, and ample.  It’s Italian, but as the late Craig Claiborne used to say, you really can get great Italian on these shores.  We did not do the cheeses, incidentally, since that seemed as if it were gilding the lily twice over, but the restaurant does make a great deal out of them.  The wait staff and maitres are quite pleasant and polite, if not skilled.  Putting the trappings aside, L’Impero is a solid food experience, especially if you have just come in from another city where the top-ranked restaurants are missing body and taste.  L’Impero.  45 Tudor City Place.  New York, New York.  Telephone:  (212) 599-5045.

Ithaka
We had thought there was only one great Greek restaurant in New York, but now we can say there are at least two.  The fish will come out on a platter to you, so you can select your fresh variety (Psari tis imeras).  Have the fish by all means.  Ithaka is a comfortable environment on 86th Street, run by Tim Vlahopoulos, a charming quiet man, and Chef Harry Hatziparaskevas, who apparently started the enterprise on Barrow Street and then moved uptown.  We started with Psarosoupa, the fish soup, which is probably dinner enough, but the conversation endured and so did our appetite.  We will be back for rabbit stew, several varieties of lamb, quail, sweetbreads, and baby squid.  Our host, a former chief executive with a sense of dash, brought a piece of Greek statuary as a centerpiece, a nifty reminder of  his very happy family trip to Greece itself.  Ithaka.  308 East 86th Street. (Between 1st and 2nd).  New York, New York 10028.  212-628-9100.  www.ithakarestaurant.com.  (3/23/05)

Top Sushi
Right now Sushi Yasuda is king of the mountain in New York sushi circles.  We have never seen our host, a retired Japanese investment banker and close friend, consume so much food, Western or Japanese, in our thirty year acquaintance.  We both mainly ate sashimi, topped off with a little sushi.  We did not find the art and cutting to be of the highest order, but the fish was top rate, and sometimes a bit unusual.  For instance, the trout hailed from Idaho.  The place is filled with a well-heeled, young yuppie crowd, unusual perhaps because easily half the diners are Asian, decked out in terribly smart and horribly expensive clothes.  As at another one of our recent dining sojourns in New York, our companion with some amazement toted the cost of the clothing on one near lass and it came to $3,000 or more, which let us know that the worldwide financial bubble has not completely deflated yet.  The restaurant has a most pleasing atmosphere:  it does not hold too big a crowd, and the natural wood finish of the place, a distinguishing mark in some of our other favorite Japanese restaurants these days, is soothing to the eye, even in the bright illumination.  If you can, sit up at the sushi bar, which, for a change, is comfortable; we must have put in 3 hours there.  Sushi Yasuda.  204 East 43d Street.  New York, New York 10017.  Telephone:  (212) 972-1717. Website:  www.sushiyasuda.com.

Best Sunday Night Dining Room on Central Park West
Just steps from Columbus Circle, on the ground floor of the predictably glitzy Trump International Hotel, is a rare find: a beautifully chic restaurant that draws a well-dressed crowd on the Upper West Side, even on a Sunday night.  Nougatine is the casual stepchild of Jean-Georges, the highly acclaimed French restaurant opened in 1997 by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.  With its pale taupe, Adam Tihany-designed interior and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park West, the dining room has a luminous, airy feeling amplified by the luxury of actual space between the tables.  The scaled-down but still luxurious menu reflects the innovative culinary philosophy that has been winning Vongerichten four-star reviews for the last fifteen years: he takes exquisitely fresh, seasonal ingredients and cooks them in a way that boosts their natural flavors, often with pure vegetable and fruit essences and the occasional Asian twist.

As the sky turned steel blue and street lights glimmered one autumn evening, we began with an amuse-bouche of stunningly fresh, almost buttery salmon tartare with a tiny puff pastry shell.  It was followed by salad of white asparagus, enoki mushrooms and baby lettuces in an earthy vinaigrette flavored with soy sauce and truffle juice, and then by a succulent poached lobster, its generous chunks bathed in a voluptuous lemon broth and served atop chive-flecked spaetzle and tiny fava beans.  Though Vongerichten is known for top-notch desserts (especially his famed soft, warm chocolate cake), a fresh fig tart did not measure up to the rest of the meal.  Contact: Nougatine, 1 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023.  Telephone: 212-299-3900.  See http://starchefs.com/JeanGeorges/home.htm.  

Best Vietnamese Restaurant in North Carolina
Leafing through Saveur magazine one wintry December night, we were astonished to discover that a Vietnamese restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina had vaulted onto the magazine's top 100 list for 2000.  Sharing accolades with chefs like Jacques Pepin and the entire state of Vermont ("Coolest Food State in the Union"), Saigon Restaurant was billed as the "Least Likely Place for Great Vietnamese."

Least likely, indeed.  This narrow storefront cafe is situated next to an all-but-defunct hot dog joint right off busy High Point Road.  A raffish clientele--Sikhs in turbans, pony-tailed guys, and dolls in skin-tight capri pants--spills out into the parking lot, waiting with good humor for one of a dozen tiny tables.  Whole flounder, delicately fried and served with a subtle chili basil sauce, was well worth the wait, as were the fresh spring rolls with shrimp, papaya and fragrant mint.  Saigon showcases the culinary skills of the Nguyen family, who fled Vietnam 23 years ago.  Brother Donnie cooks, brother Nick is business manager, and the third brother, Duc--better known as Duckie--keeps customers entertained with a running stream of hilarious patter. When we ordered the flounder, he yelled, "Free Willy!"  Contact: Saigon Cuisine Restaurant, 4205 B High Point Road, Greensboro, NC 27407.  Telephone: 336-294-9286.

NOFO Market and Café
NOFO, on the first floor, sports an assortment of household unnecessaries and domestic clutter that might bail you out if you need a quick, whimsical gift for a forgiving hostess.  Upstairs there is a spotty delicatessen.  But what the place is all about is downstairs.  There’s the café which amounts to a very pleasant sandwich shop with bar.  So you might have a shrimp B.L.T., a salad sampler, or the grilled chicken Thai wrap.  There’s a decent assortment of brunch eggs and salads.  This is a pleasant surprise to come upon at Five Points, with a bright, spritely atmosphere and very willing help.  The designers of the space redid a former Piggly Wiggly store; hence, this is called NOFO at the Pig.  For more on the design, see www.steinerschelfe.com/commercial1.html.  NOFO.  2014 Fairview Road, Raleigh, NC 27608.  Telephone:  919-821-1240.  Website:  www.nofo.com.  There’s another NOFO in Wilmington, which we have not visited.

Grayson's Cafe
Grayson’s is distinguished by serving fairly simple fare at reasonable prices and by the fact that Mrs. Grayson is a one-time Miss North Carolina who apparently sings a bit on Friday and Saturday nights to add some extra spice to the food.  Probably you will eat a salad or wrap for lunch.  Lo and behold, breakfast is also available.  It’s the simplicity of the place that’s most appealing, including its quiet ambience.  It needs better signage, so you may just drive right by if you are not watching.  You can fax in a take out menu with your choices—for any meal.  Grayson’s Café.  2300 Chapel Hill Road.  Durham, near Lakewood, just a few blocks off Business 15-501.  Telephone:  919-403-9220.  Website: www.graysonscafe.com.

Babette's
In the Triangle, most of the eating spots worth visiting are clustered fairly close to town, be it Durham, Chapel Hill, or Raleigh.  But now some of the blank spots are getting filled in, and you have a new halfway point between Raleigh , the Research Park and Chapel Hill as you make your way on Interstate 40.  At Exit 276, perhaps a mile past the Rte 54 stoplight on Fayetteville Road, you will find Babette’s, somewhat lonely in a new set of structures that are having a hard time finding tenants.  That’s all to the good because it means you will find both quiet and good parking there.  Babette’s is named after the movie Babette’s Feast, but be assured the connection is in name only.  This is a sandwich place with reasonable prices, but it also has light and very well prepared luncheon fare that is fairly priced and full of value.  The restaurant is the handiwork of Devon Mills, a local cook who’s been at the Weathervane, 411, Magnolia, etc., and, because of that experience, clearly understands the price point this region will tolerate.  We had a small piece of grilled salmon set in quite a salad bed, and this was surely all the lunch one ever needed.  Somewhat unique in this area, the restaurant has ample tables (including some outside seating) and an open room amply lit by clear large windows.  For a change one does not feel cramped.  As other places, such as NOFO,