The Big Country

Attention, Shun Lee Haters

To everyone who is skeptical of Shun Lee's inclusion of Gael Greene's list of the most important New York City restaurants of the last 40 years: according to the Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Shun Lee gave birth to General Tso's chicken as we know it. Regardless of whether or not high-end Chinese will ever catch on, Shun Lee also paved the way for Nobu, Buddakan, Spice Market and anywhere else you pay for fancy Asian food. I think those two things qualify Shun Lee as important.

And yes, it is predictable that I would be defending an Upper West Side Chinese food restaurant on Rosh Hashanah.

Grub Sub in this Club

I've been doing some substitute posts on Grub Street. Check them out here.

The Tipping Debate

Look: In another life, I worked as a bartender (and service bartender) at a restaurant that had a lot of Europeans eat there. The rule was: if any table had a foreign accent, the waiter was allowed to ask the manager to automatically add a gratuity to the bill. The waiters would stand by the service bar and it would twist them in knots trying to decide, which was fun to watch. Sometimes they gambled and it turned out fine, other times, they got stiffed. I won't get into which nationalities did what, but the more experienced waitstaff all thought that the foreigners knew they should tip, but didn't do it on purpose. I guess it balances out all the Americans abroad who tip too much.

NOLA

Read my take on New Orleans after Hurricane Gustav at the New York Post Travel blog.

One Sentence Review: Porchetta

Porchetta: Almost the entirety of this storefront is given over to slow-roasted pork shoulders the size of medicine balls--what's not to like?

One Sentence Review: Double Crown

Double Crown: If the food doesn't work out, they can always use the pulley system from the vintage fans for a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

Plzen Panelak

Prague, September 2007

Fog rolls in from the Vltava