The only one on the list I’ve been to is Hamburger America, and I didn’t even have a hamburger. 
Oh, wait, I’m talking about the NYT best new list, nm!
Cervo, Che-li, Little Myanmar, Lungi. I like them all!
Carnitas Ramirez, spotted by @DaveCook is on the NYT list.
Yeah, there are good places on the Bib list (Bayon is on there too), I’m just questioning the Bib price point.
(Also not sure how NYT puts stuff on a Best list that hasn’t been reviewed.)
I will not question your questioning. There’s a big argument over on FTC about whether “casual” implies “not expensive.” Seems to be a related issue.
Maybe a visit or two is good enough? Because I think a lot of places get visited but not reviewed, and we may as well learn about a stand-out dish if there is one.
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I found the dish list objectionable because many were part of set menus. If you tell me that I can get a good Dungeness Crab Empanada, I want to get a good Dungeness Crab Empanada at a fair price for that one item, not shell out $275 for a tasting menu just to get it. Ditto a Rich Chocolate Cake. Do I want to pay $75 to get to dessert?
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ditto this take - dont like tasting menus anyway, and certainly thing that “'s a best dish” needs to be just that and not an ephemeral taste . Other than that, they got me on the first page with the picture of the fahsa. And frankly frog legs will not be something that convinces me that Veau d’Or is worth a visit, tho we are getting to a point where I think traditional french cuisine is worth a revival.
I agree with that, it’s idiotic.
Though I like the idea of a dish list, because I don’t have favorite restaurants, I have favorite dishes.
ETA: There’s that Corima flour tortilla again. I’d like to see all the excellent naans, parathas, and rumalis show up separately now.
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This made me rage-y as well.
I hear from my peeps on other sites (to name names, @SteveR) that you can’t get in anyway, so you won’t have to encounter those appendages de grenouille any time soon.
It’s odd that that dish ended up on the best-dish list, given that the overall review in the NYT was negativish: “I tracked down several former patrons, dined with them at the new Veau d’Or … The new Le Veau d’Or is certainly not the same as the old Le Veau d’Or.”
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I thought you didn’t like Lungi?
Still on my keeps-getting-postponed list.
My friend’s parents were in town and they went to pretty much every new Indian restaurant (as opposed to my parents, who balk at eating Indian food when there’s so much else on offer) but they missed Lungi because it’s tagged Sri Lankan despite the heavy South Indian lean.
Just noticed the Bib list has 3 Indian spots on it, kind of surprising. Only 3 non-Asian.
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Rage on young @small_h. At your age, at least it’s not against the dying of the light.
No, I really liked it! I wrote it up elsewhere, thusly:
“Some unusual and good dishes at this Sri Lankan / South Indian place, notably the vada, the calamari, the crispy turkey berries (no picture 'cause it was all the way at the other end of the table), the hoppers (ditto) the chili cheese dosa, and the nandu chaaru, which - although the menu gave no inkling of this - turned out to be a very intense crab soup. Crab roast and Sri Lankan Prawn Kari were less successful, because South Asian restaurants tend to overcook / over-sauce seafood (except calamari?), there, I said it, come at me if you must.”
Also? They make a great martini.
Which is probably a higher number than you think. I’m just immature.
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Hahaha martini
FYI – vegetarian Indians also tended not to drink (originally), so I wouldn’t have ordered alcohol at Vatan at all 
This was what I took away re Lungi (also cultural as we have discussed)
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Yeah, I get it. But I almost always have cocktails when I go out to eat. Or stay in to eat. Yesterday evening ended with us going next door so I could have a real dry martini and…I was served a dirty martini. By a knowledgeable but very frazzled bartender, so I just let it go. Not. My. Night.
I’ve come to terms with - and learned to expect - the overcooked seafood.
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I tend not to order shrimp or calamari when I know they’ll be cooked beyond what I prefer these days. Fish is usually more forgiving.
Had unexpectedly awful shrimp in an order of fritto misto yesterday – dry little pucks fried beyond rubber.
When fritto misto goes wrong, it really goes wrong.
BLUE WILLOW
I haven’t been there in a while even though I went several times after it opened, so I was very hapy to see it buzzy and hopping.
Good cocktails ( ), good to great food.
We did second orders of a few things because everyone wanted more – wings, calamari, spicy wontons, veg dumplings. “Salads” were lovely – woodear, cucumber.
Most of the mains were excellent – Changsha (aka chongqing) chicken, Ma la mixed vegetable dry pot, and more, and one of the surprise hits of the evening, the lotus root dish (the other big hit was the wings).
We also had the poached ginger scallion fish fillet to accommodate someone who wanted a milder entree (but ate more of everything spicy lol) and it was very well-flavored, as well as the green chilli shredded beef, which wasn’t spicy despite the chilli in its name – or at least not relative to the rest (No pork and no shrimp to accommodate some dietary constraints removed some of our usual favorites from the list. )
They booted us out as promised in exactly 2 hours because they had back to back group reservations and wanted our room back. Tis the season! But great service, very friendly and very nice even as we were being evacuated, lol.
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