4/7     Speaking of restaurants, I referred a friend to the Slanted Door
        based on its stellar repuation. She called it 'The PF Chang's of
        Vietnamese food'. Has it really gotten that bad or does she have
        her head up her ass?
        \_ Head.  Ass.  Up.
        \_ Ya that's exactly it. But it's so much more expensive, I think you'd
           probably be better off just going to PFC Hang's.
        \_ You want Bong Su.  3rd and Harrison, opposite cha-at cafe.
           \- BONG SU has exited the market. Try BODEGA BISTRO for fancier
              stuff, or YUMMY YUMMY for CHEEP. YY is one of my fav restos.
              BTW, SDOOR is the HIGHEST GROSSING RESTAURANT in SF:
              http://www.rimag.com/info/ca6647983.html
        \_ Pagolac is the best Vietnamese restaurant in SF and I have tried
           them all, as my wife is Vietnamese. The Slanted Door is pretty
           good and authentic, but you are mostly paying for the location.
        \_ Thanks everyone for the recommendations, but my real question
           is not "What's the best Vietnamese restaurant?" My question is
           "Does Slanted Door serve bland Americanized Vietnamese that sucks?"
           Only the last poster touched on that.
           \_ I just talked to my wife about this and she pretty much agrees
              with your friend. She says that it is not spicey enough, is too
              healthy (not greasy enough) and doesn't have the home cooked
              quality that good Vietnamese restaurant should have. She is
              also annoyed that it costs so much, but I don't think that has
              anything to do with the food quality, though it does effect her
              perception of its authenticity. So I guess my taste buds aren't
              as Vietnamized as I thought. I thought it was good, but
              overpriced.
              overpriced. -the last poster
              \- i think there is a weird bias when it comes to one's native
                 food. i think paying $10 for a dosa is insane [i have had
                 good dosas for 20cents], but i think $15 for DEEM SUM is
                 totally reasonable for a filling brunch ... while friends
                 from HKG think that meal should have been $3-5.
                 \_ Probably. I am Mediterranean. I think most Mediterranean
                    restaurants blow big chunks. However, that's not the
                    same as thinking they are overpriced. I think the
                    price is about right. It's just that the food is bad.
                    Usually when a non-Med person recommends a restaurant
                    I can be pretty sure it's going to suck despite their
                    rave reviews and I don't factor price into it at all.
                    However, authentic doesn't always mean good. I like
                    non-authentic Mexican better than authentic, which was
                    made the way it was because of the available ingredients
                    at a given price. Given access to better ingredients I
                    feel it can be improved. This is what makes a lot of
                    fusion cooking so good even though it's passe to be
                    into fusion.
                    \- yes, i know higher standards arent the same as
                       price bias. i was talking about the "price anchoring".
                       yes, it is also a "standard problem" that chinese/VN/
                       indian/etc people think the avg chinese/vn/desi/etc
                       resto is so-so because of higher standards in the
                       homeland. somewhat ironically my mother in some ways
                       is more "forgiving" than i am when it comes to indian
                       restos because 1. my atttitude is often "you can cook
                       restos because  my atttitude is often "you can cook
                       better than this at home and the food is free" and her
                       attitudes is "wow, i dont have to cook or pay".
                       i think this may in part be ingredients [for example
                       a cheap indian place here isnt going to be using
                       chez panisse quality tasty vegetables] while in india
                       a lot of those ingredients taste much better for lower
                       prices [like tomatos which havent been tweaked for
                       shipping and appearance]. but part of it is also
                       possible due to cooking talent ... there are lots
                       of ethnic family restos or amateurs going professional
                       [like a guy who was a cab driver now runs a quite
                       peopular indian eatery in SF], while back in the
                       homeland, you have a large professional pool to draw on.
                       authenticity and taste are obviously orthogonal.
                       (seriously, when i stay at my aunt's place in india,
                       95% of the routine not special occasion, not trying
                       hard dishes are better than 100% of the india resto
                       food i have had in the bay area, if we restrict to
                       comparable dishes. on the other hand, what indians
                       consider good pizza is bad, and average pizza is
                       inedible. it's amazing to see people i consider
                       quite good cooks getting excited at frozen pizza/
                       dominos level pizza. probably 95% of the (mexican)
                       mangos you get in the US would be rejected in asia).
                       with mexican food, a lot of my favorite items are so
                       simple, authenticity isnt a big factor, e.g. al pastor
                       tacos. but on the other hand, i think everything is
                       better with avocado, so i dont care whether real
                       tacos have guac or not.
                       authenticity and taste are obviously largely orthogonal.
                       conscious fusion [which tends to be a high end "chef"
                       phenomena] is a different matter than "adaptation".
                       is a cheap indian place uses celery [which i have never
                       ie a cheap indian place uses celery [which i have never
                       seen in east india] that is adapatation, i.e. using a
                       functional local equivalent [cheap filler vegetable],
                       not a case of "let's try this with a delicate celery
                       flavor".
                        \_ maybe the undergrads can write some s/w to identify
                           psb posts and index them and store them in a tomb.
                           -- psb #1 fan.
        \_ http://7x7.com/blogs/bits-bites/slanted-door-15495332-rich
           \- BTW there was a longish article about "supersize (banh) mi"
              in NYC in the NYT earlier this week.