I noticed something cool and possibly new (or maybe just new to me) in the fresh herb section at QFC. You know those expensive herbs in plastic boxes? They’re now selling blends. Like the poultry blend, the pasta blend, etc. It’s not the idea of using all the herbs at once that excites me; it’s that you can get up to four different herbs in the same box for $2, instead of a fairly large amount of rosemary that you won’t actually use up.

Today in the New York Times, Frank Bruni reviews [Momofuku Ko](http://www.momofuku.com/ko/default.asp):

> There’s no hard liquor, no tea, no regular coffee and above all no choice. You eat dishes of Ko’s choosing in the order it chooses, and most everybody around you is having roughly the same meal.

Last week, the Times visited Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc:

> If you are someone who must have the sauce on the side or who spurns butter in that sauce, Ad Hoc may not be for you. If you have food allergies or aversions, staff members will try to please you. (They once improvised a gluten-free fried chicken on the spot, and they’ll gladly give your child plain pasta if that’s all he’ll eat.) But this dining experience is an exercise in giving up control. You don’t choose, they do. That’s the game.

> “For most people, the definition of luxury is multiple choices,” Mr. Keller said. “But if I don’t have to make a choice, if I’m taken care of and everything’s great, to me, that’s luxury.”

Neither Momofuku Ko nor Ad Hoc is blazing new ground here, of course. Chez Panisse has been serving a set menu since day one. Here’s tonight’s menu, for example:

* Venetian-style fried sand dab with sweet-and-sour spring onions
* Green pappardelle noodles with spinach, ricotta, and wild mushrooms
* Spit-roasted Laughing Stock Farm pork loin with fennel gratin and mashed fava beans
* Frozen almond cassata with Meyer lemon confit

Coincidentally, that’s exactly what I’m making for dinner at home tonight. Just kidding.

Anyway, I’m with Keller. When I go out to eat, I prefer no choice. Deciding what to have for dinner is something I have to do at home almost every day. I don’t enjoy it. (I like the cooking and eating part just fine.) How about you?

Last night Iris brought me a dried soba noodle. “If you break this noodle, you can make a single wish,” she said. “It’s called the Wishing Noodle.”

Today on Gourmet.com, I’m eating at the new Pike Street Fish Fry. Short review: it’s great.

[First Taste: Pike Street Fish Fry](http://www.gourmet.com/restaurants/2008/05/firsttaste_pikestreet)

> Would you take a date to Fish Fry? Well, how pierced is your date?

Is there, say, a German word that means “wanting something you know will be disappointing”?

I’ve been drinking the same instant cocoa for years, Swiss Miss Chocolate Sensation. Recently they changed the name to “Swiss Miss Indulgent Collection: Dark Chocolate Sensation,” and put a photo of a hot girl drinking cocoa on the back.

Also on the back, I eventually noticed, is a teaser for the other Indulgent Collection flavors. One is French Vanilla, which doesn’t interest me. The other is Mocha Cappuccino. Doesn’t that sound great? I know exactly what it will taste like: instant coffee with anemic chocolate flavor. I’m totally buying it the first time I see it.