Too many cooks spoil the broth? Not necessarily (Clinton Hill, Brooklyn)

The open kitchen at The Finch was a constant whirlwind with the team filling plate after plate of delicious (and lovely looking) food. I was amazed how superb their timing was; entrees and sauces and side dishes emerged non-stop, everything appearing as if by magic just when it was needed, and then it was almost instantly whisked away by a cadre of servers. I suppose a restaurateur doesn't dare create an open-air kitchen unless his/her team knows what it's doing, but the show was impressive nonetheless. As was the food.

Break Time, Dallas, TX

Starbucks obeys the law.

Lunch in Tokyo (Except We Were Really in Herald Square)

FoodParc, a sleek modern food mall, opened off Herald Square, and my friend Robyn and I celebrated her birthday there. Customers place their order (with help from green t-shirted staff, as in the photo) with three different food stands via a touch screen and check their orders' progress via large flat-screen TVs. We ordered from all three places, as you can see in the photo below (our order is third from the bottom). I felt like we were in Tokyo.

Numerology, Times Square

Interesting confluence of numbers at Schnipper's.

Garment District, Manhattan

Gray's Papaya at 37th & 8th.

Making salad at Dean & Deluca in the New York Times Building.

Cool old roof at 38th & 8th.

Times Square

Laboring on Labor Day: Schnipper's Quality Kitchen in the New York Times Building.

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn

The Brooklyn sky, as seen from the garden of The Farm on Adderley, a restaurant on Cortelyou Road.

The houses in Ditmas Park are sooo cool, especially their roofs, including ones with fake Canadian geese grazing on the shingles.

The crumbling cornices reminded me that a home can be a pain to maintain.

What do dahlias and beer have in common? Sycamore Bar & Flowershop, also on Cortelyou Road.

Sad Restaurants, Philadelphia

Different restaurants, same story. The lobster (above) reflects a happier past at the Old Original Bookbinders Restaurant while the upside down Auction Sale sign inside reflects current hardships. At another restaurant a few blocks away, the hopeful "Now Open for Lunch" written on the window (left) has given way to the posted notice in the window (bottom).