I cannot disagree with any of the places you mention, except that I would get all cured meat at Calabria, then hit Biancardi for osso bucco, veal or lamb chops, etc. I also bought a whole, home made prociuto ham from Biancardi right before Thanksgiving. They do not sell sliced deli meat, but at $5.99 a lb for the whole ham, it was amazing and better than any domestic, on par with any imported at 3X the price.

Let me tell you what polite guests and hosts do, through a personal story. We had guests here from the Bordeaux region of France. They brought two extraordinary Bordeaux red wines and one Champagne as gifts and insisted we let the reds rest for 2 weeks in our basement, as sediment was shook up flying over. It was assumed the champagne would be saved for a special occasion.

I brought them on a tour of Arthur Ave, after the Bronx Zoo, where I also shopped for dinner. They asked what I was making and if red would go then insisted to buy a very nice Riserva Chianti at a shop that was double price I would pay for same bottle at a discount warehouse.
Of course, that bottle was opened and served with dinner, but after we served an inexpensive South American Cabernet/Merlot blend we had and even later on a pretty cheap Italian Pinot Grigio.
I'd like to think that we opened their minds to less expensive wines that can be good, while at the same time all being good hosts and guests.

Most of my recipes have a root in something I can show another person in a cookbook, then describe how mine differs, very rarely have I written down my own version. The worst part about sharing a recipe is when someone does a bizzare step, messes it up and then blames it on you. :P

45 minutes until an order is taken is not OK anywhere, even at the busiest place on a holiday. Your friend, if a server, is only trying to defend the worst of the breed.

The duck leg's foot will be served.

The outrageously overpriced, secretive amount special, my pet peeve. I expect a fish special to be priced similarly to other fish dishes on the menu, veal comparable to other veal, risotto with a protein similar, etc. Nothing like a doubled the price surprise at the end of the meal. One of my favorite places does this, only thier exceptional food keeps us going back.

For $36 it had better mean cooked to my desired degree.

Sauteed protein with sauce of wine, etc, would make more sense.

That is a very good question about how to eat pizza.

Table manners, like all manners, actually evolved to make people feel welcome and comfortable. Taking a serving of butter or guacamole, etc onto your own plate, then dealing with it saves the rest from double dipping and also constantly passing around and hunting for the same serving platter.

Of lesser importance is breaking things down to bite size portions, but this is to save your companions from watching you tear off sections with teeth and chomp. Some foods are meant to be picked up and bitten, and if served such, it is pretentious to cut up fried chicken on the bone, pizza, etc. I would not expect to find such on the menu in an expensive restaurant, but if it is, you should still pick it up, then ask yourself why you are paying 5 star prices for pizza, etc.

The rudeness here is the restaurant serving half frozen butter, which I have seen many times. Your reply made me nearly choke on my coffee, very funny.

If not sure how to pronounce a foreign word when ordering I'd say it in a questioning manner and hope to be corrected. As a former waitress, I might say the word correctly, in repeating the order, just to make sure we mean the same item if very mangled. If I know for sure what it was, would not do so, unless it came up naturally, as in "Would you like another bottle of Pinot Grigio, Sir?"

My children I corrected for pronunciation and grammar, and would still do so today, even in their 20's. How else will they learn? My brother and I still occasionally question or correct one another on meaning, context or pronunciation of obscure words rarely said aloud, but that is something I would not do with another person.

One of the most amusing times I had was when a group of people I knew from an online text-based game all gathered together here for a meet. Who knew that I had for years been mispronouncing in my head Druid as "drood" and rogue as "roog". These were words I had never spoken aloud and was corrected by my British friends. We laughed and had another drink.

I could make a lot of grammatical corrections here, but as you say "not worth the effort." :P

The hostess was completely in the wrong and ought have moved your table. What bothers me here is that you threw a $10 on the table and walked. Did you call for the check and pay for those appetizers? If you did not, I can tell you from experience that the waitress paid for your apps and drinks as a walkout, and i doubt the 10 covered it. Congrats on having her pay for it; next time talk to management.

Just because you were too shy to speak to the owners, doesn't mean the waitstaff should pay for your partial meal.

Most of the Chinese is pretty terrible that will deliver to my area. We have had the best luck with Mr. Q’s. They have all of the usual American/Chinese stuff, along with a few unique dishes. They dabble in sushi, too, but I would stick to cooked type rolls. 2115 Williamsbridge Road Bronx, NY 10461 (718) 823-2424. Avoid Hawaiian Sea, it is all hype and was terrible even 25 years ago.

Others have already mentioned Captain’s and Patricia’s for pizza, but I would add a few comments. If you want to eat out family/casual, go to the sit down area of Captain’s, which is like a hidden back room. Great seafood and veal dishes, good service, very reasonable prices.

I prefer Patricia’s II down in Throggs Neck. They complain to deliver to Westchester Square, but do it. You may call and ask, remind them that if they take Lafayette, go under Brucker and take Cross Bronx service Rd, could be at Parkchester PDQ. They have comparable pizza, better fried calamari than the original and almost always use vongole in their clam sauce dishes, unlike the original on Morris Park. 3883 East Tremont Avenue Bronx, NY 10465 (718) 918-1800

Tosca’s is also willing to come to the Square, so you should give it a shot, again giving better directions for fast delivery if they complain. All these places hire kids to deliver, who know nothing but drive down Tremont, turn at the el. While most of their fare is overrated Sysco truck items, they do have very good brick oven pizza w/ fresh mozz and one of the better Sicilian pies in the area. As an added bonus, their pizza prices have remained lower than all the others I would eat at, $14.50 for the Margherita and 15.50 for the Sicilian. They also have the best fried calamari of all the ones I call for delivery. 4038 East Tremont Avenue Bronx, NY 10465 (718) 239-3300

Seems that we all had the same type of Betty Crocker/Better Home & Gardens type recipes foisted on us during those "buy it and make it quick and easy from cans and frozen" years. I still cringe at the creamed tuna over noodles, slumgullion (some hamburger stew with instant mashed potatoes) and the leftover turkey made into "Chop Suey". I have to say that I cannot complain when a normal roast or something made, just that Monday - Thursday seemed to be hellish "easy" meals from dubious sources.

There seems to be a lot of criticism from ones who have gone to few restaurants. :(

I always preferred Tony's over Johnny's as the place to grab some fried shrimp or a broiled lobster, and I agree with John that when they have fresh clams, they are done well. Last summer, I tried the Snug for the first time and I agree that thier fried fish is great. With that deal they had with the 2 for one, it shocked me how empty it was, compared to the former Rhodes a few doors down. We ate there after the reunion and it was some of the worst pub food we ever ate.

I found a gem the next day, Tapas City Island, Which while not serving tapas style in small portion, was fantastic food. We had a grilled Calamari, ensalad de Mariscos and a skirt steak and all were well prepared. They also had some of the better service I have come across in a long time.