I'm coming from North Carolina, but I've been to the Bay Area loads of times, grew up in SoCal, and regularly visited tons of friends between Berkeley and the city..

Thanks for the ideas!

Plus: I like everything!

Thanks- ironic, as I am headed to Perbacco for dinner! But I'll look into the Tadich Grill, and search for Union Sq, too.

I have Thurs and Fri, plenty of time, and could be alone, or with a friend or two.

I'm at a conference in the Hilton (Union Sq), only 2 free days for lunch. Any recommendations for something 1) exceptionally delicious 2) unique are accepted. Go! (thnx)

We're going to Perbacco. The menu looked great, and the price worked for us. Thanks!

Wow- great list. Superhelpful. But keep 'em coming, folks!

Can anyone recommend a place near Union Square where I can host a business dinner in a private room? There will be about 15 of us, the event is in mid-November, and we have a reasonable budget. Omnivorous all.

Any advice welcome.

Here's a story. In 2009, I bought a 6 quart Le Creuset, a discontinued model that I got for a deep discount. It lasted one year, whereupon I found that a small chip of enamel flaked off on the bottom (not underside) of the pot. I sent the pot back to Le Creuset, anticipating that they would replace it. Instead, they said that the chip was the result of "improper use" of the pot - too high temperatures. But they offered to sell me a new pot in the same model at half price (still more than I paid for the original). Since I liked the pot, and couldn't find an equivalent for (much) less, I bought it. Tonight, I fried up some vegetables in the pot, and ended up burning the pot. Nothing extraordinary, the enamel blackened - but that happens all the time, even with moderate heat. I was able to wipe the blackened portion off, relatively easily, with a sponge. But. Two small chips in the enamel came up!

So what should I do? The pot is all of 2 years old, and I've obviously had limited success with Le Creuset. Should I 1) just go ahead and use the pot with the small chips in it. I'm not really worried about doing that, but Le Creuset says never to do so (of course not- that way you have to buy a new pot; or should I 2) look for some other model of enameled cast iron Dutch oven that's more durable or; 3) go some other direction. I have a 20+ year old copper lined aluminum Dutch oven that I used forEVER before I got the Le Creuset. And it got scratched, but nothing major, is light weight, but cooks evenly, works great. I'm inclined to just stick with that, though I do like the enamel surface for soups, etc.

Please share your thoughts! Thanks.

Aha! Merci bien, tah1234, for the "plan du site" link!

Thanks for the ideas. I'm a bit limited in where I've been able to find reservations. I've managed to get a reservation for Grange Vin + Bouffe http://www.grangeresto.ca/fr/menu-et-.... But can't see the actual menus online. Some good recommendations on other sites- any further thoughts?

thanks again.

I'm spending several days in Montreal, and planning one meal with a group of friends (7 of us, total) for a week from tomorrow (11/19/2011) We'd like something comfortable, eclectic, interesting, and not outlandishly expensive, but not cheap. Old Montreal is a plus, but further afield is ok, too. Has to have some fish (but NOT a seafood place) and vegetarian options. Any thoughts?

I went for lunch on Tuesday. The tiny place was not quite empty around 1:30. The staff were cheery and efficient. I thought the simple menu looked really appetizing. I had a greek salad sandwich with tzatziki, that turned out to be a thick, toasted slice of rustic bread piled with peppers, onions, grape tomatos, olived and laced with garlic tzatziki. It was light, but totally refreshing and packed with flavor. Hit the spot on a sticky mess of a summer day. I was really impressed (it was a bargain, too, but not a cheap eat), and would love to go back, if I lived anywhere near NYC. And lunch is the new dinner - skip the high prices, long waits, and crushing din.

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Prune
54 E 1st St, New York, NY 10003

Hmmm. All I can say is I never remember a bad meal at Crooks and we go 4-5 times a year. The service, in my view, is usually a reflection of how busy the place is. We've had inattentive service only when it's slammed. The noise level is high, and it's MUCH nicer to sit outside when it's available. But the shrimp and grits are great- but also one of those things that people have strong, highly particular feelings about, so I don't doubt that there are those who think they don't do it "the right way." And the cheese pork, tabasco chicken, corned ham, and gumbos z'herbe (when they have it) are tasty and reasonable. It's full flavored food, I think. I used to like the hushpuppies a lot, but I've gotten over them - I like them a little airier. But I defy you to find a better banana pudding. Anywhere/

Comparing Magnolia Grill and Crooks is like comparing an opera to a rock concert. A bad opera to a Springsteen show. Magnolia is the height of pretension and elaborate, elegant, "fine dining", while Crooks rarely has an entree for twenty bucks. Watts and Crook are more comparable. And if you think Watts is better than Crooks, I'm happy for you, but strongly disagree.

We were there on Saturday, and it was just great. PACKED! An early rush and a late rush. A waitress told us they're swamped every night except Tuesday (so make it on a Tuesday...). My wife and I sat at the copper polished bar. The food was what you'd expect from Jeff Barney - simple, hearty, interesting, delicious. I had pork carnitas with onions and peppers braised in Fullsteam Lager; my wife had a chicken leg quarter with garlic green beans - each came with mashers. Full flavored, rich and good. My carnitas had a slightly asian tinge to them - some soy, or fish sauce, not cumin and chile as I'd expect. No matter, it was a fine dish. The only let down was the salad, which we got just to have something fresh- but the local greens in Saxapahaw in January included tatsoi - which I think needs to be braised, or it's too grassy - and hothouse tomatoes (meh). The arugula was good- just arugula with a lemon dressing and a shave of local cheese would have suited. Tres Leches cake for dessert, excellent.

One beer, one wine, salad, 2 entrees, coffee, dessert - fifty bucks. A phenomenal deal- and there are loads of entrees in the $10-15 range. Can't wait to go back.

We live a mile away, and we keep going back. I have no idea why. There aren't a huge array of diners in Carrboro - I find Breadmen's too packed and generic, Mama Dips is mediocre - so we hit up Elmo's because, well we can. I LOVE the lunches at Neal's, Sandwhich, Vimala's, Med Deli, Buns - there are loads of options in the vicinity, but no decent diners, so Elmo's it is. Meh.

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Breadmen's
337 W Rosemary St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Thnx - no I've not tried other cochinita's, but I'm always interested in it!

Ah! One more thing to add: the prices have been jacked up since the opening! The cochinita had been $26, now $29; the tacos, $15.50 now $18, desserts all $8, now all $12. That's disturbing . . .

Went last night. A Sunday evening so it wasn't terribly busy. In fact, my wife and I arrived for a 7:15 reservation about 30 minutes early, and they seated us right away.

The room is interesting, but I think could use some work. The patio up front lets in a lot of light, so the entire place- which is not all that big - can be a bit dark in the interior at twilight; the contrast with the patio is a bit disconcerting. The decor is interesting, but not seamless. A bit like a beach club- faux rattan, lots of banquets, an odd looming plant here and there. Nothing distracting, but not perfectly comfortable.

Ok, enough of that, on to the food - well, drinks. My wife had red sangria, I had the scorpion margarita, which has serrano peppers and other hot stuff. Quite good- and really strong. I'm no great aficionado of tequilas, so I can't say how great it was or wasn't. The wine list is not at all extensive, but it had some good stuff on it. No effort to pair wines with food, but we were content with the drinks we had.

NOW the food. Here's what we had: Pork Belly Sopes, Goat Cheese tamales, followed by the house salad. Main dishes were catfish tacos and Cochinita Pibil. Each of these was quite good, well-balanced, flavor-forward dishes.

The sopes were tasty and simple, four sopes on a long ceramic plate that had been smeared with the mole sauce the pork was cooked in. The sauce was complex and interesting. It had a lot of smoke, some strong heat - chipotle, or pasilla, my guess - as well as a dose of brown sugary sweetness. It reminded me of Chicago barbecue sauce on rib tips, and I say that as a high compliment! I AM an aficionado of pork belly (I actually work with heritage breed pork producers) and the flavor on the pork belly was rich, but I think the preparation was a bit over done. Pork belly needs some unctuousness- in short, it should be fatty - but this was more like well smoked pulled pork. Without the sauce it would have been dried out. Still, a quite nice dish, and four sopes as part of a few "bite size" offerings was not a small portion.

The tamales were a truly fine dish. Extremely light masa, a real signature of all Bayless's restaurants (been to Frontera and Topolobampo - not in years, though). The goat cheese had both some sweetness and a touch of sour -a crema like consistency. It was served with a small lemony dressed "salad" of baby arugula that was simple but delicious. Not a huge portion, but, again, as part of a range of "bites" not a small plate, either.

Next, a simple salad, that was refreshing. Baby romaine, very brisk pickled red onions, and the thinnest strips of tortilla strips crisped as a crouton/garnish. It was a salad - a good one, a bracing palate cleanser between courses. Nice.

Next, the main dishes. The catfish is marinated in achiote and rilled with a spring onion and some poblano peppers- rajas, really. This is served with a soupy bowl of pinto frijoles (not refritos) and a napkin laden with steamed tortillas- a hefty pile of them, in fact. The tortillas were spectacular. Really thin, but a nice bite, and a hugely bright masa flavor. The fish was not exceptional, but it was flavorful, moist, and balanced very well with the onions and chiles. The beans were very well seasoned, not hot, but rich and brothy. A bowl of beans and a stack of tortillas would make a great lunch.

The cochinita. This is one of the great dishes of the world and Red O's is a fine example. Made with suckling pig (you may object - it's almost impossible to raise suckling pigs sustainably in the U.S. but there you go). The preparation is quite rustic, served in a shallow bowl lined with a banana leaf, swimming in a puddle of brothy black beans and braising juices, topped with more pickled onions, the pork itself is truly good. Meaty texture, but easily shreds. It could have used a bit of a starchy garnish to complement the broth - platanos, or even white rice would have been nice. I made little tacos with the tortillas- brilliant.

We saved room for dessert - the offerings were varied, and exemplary. Well, we were really hoping for the platano crepes with cajeta that are the best thing on the menu at Topolobampo - but nope. There were a dish of 3 flans, a tres leches cake, a chocolate and lemon mousse tart, and bunuelos with ice cream. We got the bunuelos - wow. REALLY good. Small hand rolled flour tortillas, flash fried to pillow puffs, coated with cinnamon and sugar - then a chocolate sauce poured over. Oh, and the best caramel sea salt ice cream in creation. Unbelievably good- a big bowl of that would be the most satisfying dessert imaginable.

So, we didn't get the duck taquitos, or any ceviche, or a cazuela - but what we did get made for a really enjoyable meal. Very flavorful, nicely balanced, satisfying dishes. Innovative without at all being fussy.

The service was a bit spotty. When we first got there it was not all that crowded, and we got loads of attention, none of it obsequious. As it got busier, we had to wait to place a dessert order, and the salad came out in the middle of our sopes/tamales - that could have waited. Not a big deal- not the least bit rude, or pretentious (they don't need a door man at the front to confirm that you have a reservation, only to have that reconfirmed at the desk inside, but I wasn't offended).

A brief word of comparison. I grew up in LA, and have travelled some in Mexico. I've eaten widely and voraciously (I'm an anthropologist, and am not reluctant to indulge in oddities). I love the simple pleasures of a great baja taco as much as the skill of a refined manchamantel sauce. I've also eaten at some of the better haute Mexican places - Frontera and Topolobampo, as I said, as well as a recent lunch at Oyamel in DC, and last year we ate at Rivera, probably the place that will be most readily compared to Red O. My feeling is they're really not comparable. Red O is probably most like Topolobampo (no surprise), though Topo is a tad more elegant in presentation, and richness of the dishes. Oyamel is quite flavorful, but it's all little bites, and a bit of molecular gastronomy (a very little bit). The flavors are quite bright at Oyamel - it's just a different kind of place than Red O. For me, Rivera is a more interesting place. Neither Red O nor Rivera is "traditional" anything, but Red O sticks a bit closer to the formal elements of Mexican cuisine, and Rivera is rather more innovative - pulling out singular flavors in dishes and really focusing on these. The cochinita at each place is quite good, but Red O's was all about the integrated elements of the dish - the broth, the beans, the banana leaf, the meat - while at Rivera, the clarity of the pork just bursts through. There's a place for each of them (in my mouth, anyway).

It's worth a trip (if you've got $150+ to burn); I'd go back to try the stuff I couldn't sample - it'd be a great place to take a larger party to sample small plates.

thanks for reading...

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Red O
8155 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

My wife and I went last week and THOROUGHLY enjoyed it. We split a salad with a very nice gorgonzola dressing- very fresh greens, though the lettuce pieces were a bit large. That is my only, very modest complaint of the evening.

My wife had the butternut squash, swimming in a rich, but not at all greasy butter sauce - these were fantastic. I had the pork chop with rici and bisi. Ok, I have a special relationship with this chop, as I've been working at Cane Creek Farm that supplies Panciuto's pork. But. This as the single finest pork chop I have ever eaten (and I've had plenty!!) It was a huge chop - I thought $24 was sort of a lot, but in keeping with the other prices on the menu. In fact, this was a REALLY good deal. The chop is cut from the Export Cut- a large roast cut incorporating all of the roast (loin and tenderloin). So the chop includes loads of loin, and only a bit of rib. Beyond the gargantuan portion, the pork itself was divine. It's been brined in juniper and I'm sure other excellent fresh herbs, and then it MUST be cold smoked, because it had a heady smoky flavor. It was like eating a tender huge rasher of fat free pancetta. Mmmmmm...
For dessert we split a very fine chocolate cake - a pair of genoise with a mouse interior and a charming ganache icing. All this, two glasses of wine, for a total of less than 100 bucks. And for us, the service was great. Chatty, but not intrusive, friendly and we were basically left alone (which is better than hovering) We'll be back soon, I hope!

Here's what I did first day I got this: Put my Bialetti 14 3/4" stone on the lowest rack of my cold oven, then set the oven to 550, and let it fully heat up for 30 minutes. I used the peal that comes with the set, which is not really large enough to hold a good size pizza. So I get the first pizza into the oven, let it bake for 5 minutes, pizza is looking good! I open the oven to check the crust - CRACK! Well, the crack doesn't seem to effect the stone's ability to bake pizza. I baked a second pizza just after the first, they both came out fine. On top of which, the stone got really burnt, and I doubt I'll ever get it clean, leaving me to worry it will impart a burnt taste to whateve gets baked in there now.

The small peal is a bit of a pain - but cracking on the very first use - even if it is still quite usable - is ridiculous.

The product I bought was cheap - and I got what I paid for...