cool thanks, lots of options

just looking for the best of the best. i've dipped heavily into the board already, seen a consensus that seems to be developing around viridiana, arce, sasha and others. i will be there for a week and don't mind subway or taxi trip to get anywhere in the city.

thoughts?

moved this from the boston board

we will be in northampton this summer. just wondering if people know of anything either in noho or in the (even further) boonies, a hidden gem somewhere (i'm thinking of a wonderful restaurant we used to eat at in plainfield run by two gay ex-monks long since closed as a template) in the berkshires. nothing east of noho preferably.

thoughts?

as with every restaurant on larchmont, this place is just plain mediocre. no thought or care, just a captive audience of suckers forced to eat crap. it's kind of depressing to be honest. i've just moved to the larchmont area and you've got to get off of it to get anything decent.

i work in the galleria and everything there is depressingly corporately terrible. zankou is an excellent call, but even better is simon's cafe on sepulveda just south of ventura across from whole foods. simon is an amazing cook making morrocan food with a light hand and fantastic ingredients. he's truly awful at self-promotion so it's not too crowded, which is too bad, because the guy deserves a wider audience.