At Home Plate for lunch. Just told Seth Grossman he has been nominated as "personality of the year". He says it's "pretty overwhelming" and "it's not me, it's the whole place--Adam and everyone else--that is the personality." What a nice guy! Now... where the &%*$ is my pulled pork sandwich!? (Kidding. This place is absolutely packed.)

Cheers, Boyce

She sounds like a nice girl, such a shame that she's obsessed with the shittest group ever to waste the planet's precious oxygen.
No, I don't have their phone number.

you, my good sir, are a loser.

Exactly how I feel too George! You couldn't have said it better. We should create a Pseudo Beijingers Club for people like us?

George, actually agrees with most of what you said except the one pertaining to the old, feeble, pregnant and handicapp. If the child is at least 5 years and older, I dont offer it. If an elderly person is with child, and the child is a student, and I offered my seat, and the elder person gave it to his grandchild, I will restate that it is for him/her, not her grandchild. If s/he insist on giving it to the child, I am not ashamed to ask for it back.

Since the majority of people in BJ are from outside of and poorer surrounding regions, their lack of train etiquette is understandable - the reason is that city government should have taken steps to educate everyone via TVs onboard. If one has never travel outside the country, one never knows what manners one is lacking in, wouldn't it? So I dont blame most of them. However, it does bring my blood to boil when my foot is stepped on without so much as a word of an apology. If it was stepped on twice, I would step back - coz I know I am in the mood for verbal fencing.

I discovered that one must learn to be thick-skin here in BJ because if you are in the right and the other is in the wrong and a verbal war is about to occur, it seems if you are not ready to speak up, LOUDLY, you will probably lose the war. So, when I am in the mood for it, I would, in a nice yet sarcastic way.

My ancestry are Chinese, and I hated it when your opponent says "We Chinese are like that!" Dont fall into this word trap and agrees with him or her coz the other pax would surely look hostilely at you and not the aggressor. The key is to say 'Oh, no, not all Chinese. Just you! Dont put your rude behaviour on all Chinese!" That will win you sympathetic pax comrades who will stand with you to fend off the other.

Also, since I have chosen to live in this lovely yet maddening city, I suppose we have to "do as the Romans do." But I wouldn't go the whole enchilada as we who are born overseas, who are foreigners, should contribute our part in helping to educate our host's people. At least, that is how I feel. Yet, it's like durian or sushi, either you love it or hate it, but it doesnt have to be too extreme.

DiningCity tell us that there are several reasons why a restaurant may be listed as "Fully Booked" on the Restaurant Week reservations page:

1. The spaces set aside for Restaurant Week guests are sold out. Some restaurants simply have a very limited number of seats set aside for Restaurant Week reservations.

2. At the time of reservations opening, the restaurant may not have confirmed how many places they are offering for Restaurant Week reservations. In this instance "Fully Booked" represents the fact that no tables have yet been confirmed or made available.

3. Some restaurants are not participating on all seven days. On the day(s) when those restaurants have no places set aside for Restaurant Week guests, the restaurant will be listed as "Fully Booked."

So will more space be made available at restaurants listed as "Fully Booked"? There's no concrete information on which restaurants will add additional spaces, but DiningCity say it's a possibility, based on the following factors:

1. Some restaurants have released only limited space for the pre-booking period; more places may be made available when reservations open to the general public at 10am on February 23.

2. Some of the more popular participating restaurants have limited the space they're saving for Restaurant Week guests at the moment as they wait to gauge the initial response - they may decide to make more spaces available later.

3. In the week leading up to Restaurant Week, DiningCity will consult with all participating restaurants and at this stage more places may be made available.

Hope this clears up all questions, and keep an eye on TheBeijinger.com for more Restuarant Week information and giveaways.

In any case, remember that participating restaurants will still be going about their usual business during Restaurant Week - they're not looking to fill up on Restaurant Week reservations alone. Moral of the story: If you want to get in on the Restaurant Week action, make your reservations now!

Traminer,

We'll get in touch with DiningCity and ask for clarification, but I'm guessing fully booked will mean exactly that. It's likely that those restaurants only set a very small number of tables aside for Restaurant Week customers and want to reserve much of their space for regular business.

very amusing. for additional satisfaction, when I do have a seat I seek out people that are being patient, kind, respectful and failing that, hotties. when Im about ready to get up I get their attention and pass the throne over to them directly. double whammy if the dude you beat to the seat sees it happen!