'Hate bottled kimchi - 'Love fresh by H-Mart! It never lasts long enough to spoil. 'Also a big fan of their ice cream novelties.

Alice does know best! She's a great waitress in the mold of Durgin-Park; she tells us what to order and she's always right! As much as we love Mary, Alice is the bomb. She patiently writes down all of the "on the side" orders that my picky daughter requires. Even though we've enjoyed the food since they opened in 1980, we have more fun eating there now with Alice on duty.

OK Kids, here we go.

Shelf life - Important when you're buying bagels as a destination shop. Breugger's has a shelf life of about one hour. Eat them immediately or slice and freeze them. They (and Dunkin's) won't stand up to a Bagel Biter. That's an easy criterion. Finagle's (and those other two) are the Wonder Bread of the bagel world. But there's no accounting for taste, as my very Jewish mother-in-law actually serves Stop& Shop's (Ugh!).

Kupel's gets my vote for best bagel. Our relatives are still talking about the minis with lox hand-cut-to-order we served at our wedding 30 years ago. The sourdough cissels are similar to rolls I ate in Salzburg as an exchange student. The destination shop factor is strong. Combine your trip to Kupel's with stops to C-Mart for Chinese groceries and a trip to their food court. Of course there all the other shops on Harvard St. as well as the Coolidge Corner Theater. Movie & a Bagel? You bet.

Var så god! Mom

Thank Chew!
You have found the Indian food-ie version of the holy grail. Not only do I want one, but wouldn't it make a fab wedding gift for a cooking couple? What are your thoughts on the uses of the different sizes? Thanks, Mom

P.S. Indian food Chowhounds, I just used a couple of tablespoons of Panch Puran in my St. Pat's corned beef dinner (as well as telicherry bl. pepp.). It gave the stew a nice, rich and mellow flavor.

Here's some positive info from Shop India. They appear to be on the trail of what we're all looking for. I'd really like to get the specific urlis featured on the show and give those artisans some business. Here's the Info:

"This product is the contemporary traditional vessel used for cooking in Kerala. Bell metal is an alloy of Bronze and Copper as described in the wikipedia. This metal has been used in cooking utensils for ages in India. The only restriction I have heard of thus far is that food cooked in these vessels should be removed and stored away - rather than being left in the utensil.

We have been trying to watch the episode you are referring to so that we are able to see the exact vessel that was shown. Do you by chance have a link where I can watch the exact episode you are referring to, in its entirety? The exact episode number/name would help as well (the episode number given by another customer turned out to be wrong). That will help a lot in determining how close the item we have listed is to what you are looking for. We watched this snippet. But it doesn't have very many details. "

Oops, you're right. I'm no ugly American, but like most, ignorant of much Indian Culture, particularly since my Indian-American friends and contacts are so assimilated. Thanks for the correction & recipe link.

Thanks!

'Saw the urli on shop India and asked them some additional questions about the pans. Can you Chow folks recommend definitive cookbooks or recipe sitesfor Kerala-style cuisine? I can get only so far asking the southern Indian guys who run my local Indian market. If i'm going to blow a couple hundred bucks on an urli, I ought to have some stellar recipes up the sleeve of my salwar!

I've located a restaurant supplier, shalimarorlando.com who design/consult/sells Indian ovens for home use and have asked tham to watch the show and find the brass urlis. From their website they appear to be innovative and enterprising, so we'll see what they come up with. Let them know of your interest to get them going. Those terrific urli artisans who make the "Le Creuset" of India, as Tony said surely need the work. Let's cook some South India Food!

Does anyone know the name of the restaurants in London that Tony's colleague owns or the village that he and the urlis come from?