There are two basic "kinds" of waribashi used in Japanese restaurants.
The cheaper kind does look like pine (or other wood) and is cut so that
there are 4 sides.
This is the type where sometimes one screws up and they break unevenly
requiring
a stealthy stretch over the the empty table next to you to grab another set.
(see top- white birch waribashi)
The other kind is bamboo. Although square at the top where the two
hashi are joined, the rest of the chopsticks are each circular and are
tapered at the end.
This type is also fairly common especially in the better Japanese
resaurants.
(See second from top)
Some Bamboo chopsticks are not rounded and cut square.
(See last two examples at bottom)

http://www.beeluck.co.jp/HZ.event/KH...n/waribasi.htm



Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation.


ww

Are you in the Westminster area? I'm in North-west Santa Ana so eat
there frequently. I've always seen plastic chinese chopsticks at the
table with the condiments; I've never once seen disposable chopsticks.
That would be about a 0 in 400 occasion for my Vietnamese dining in
Orange County.





No, but I like to stop by when I'm in the area.

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly with
local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79 and it's
on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.



ww

Are you in the Westminster area? I'm in North-west Santa Ana so eat
there frequently. I've always seen plastic chinese chopsticks at the
table with the condiments; I've never once seen disposable chopsticks.
That would be about a 0 in 400 occasion for my Vietnamese dining in
Orange County.





No, but I like to stop by when I'm in the area.

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly with
local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79 and it's
on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.



ww

Are you in the Westminster area? I'm in North-west Santa Ana so eat
there frequently. I've always seen plastic chinese chopsticks at the
table with the condiments; I've never once seen disposable chopsticks.
That would be about a 0 in 400 occasion for my Vietnamese dining in
Orange County.





No, but I like to stop by when I'm in the area.

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly with
local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79 and it's
on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.



ww

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly with
local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79 and it's
on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.



ww



Correction - duh - make that the northwest corner!

I was just there again and my latest unscientific survey showed about
50-50 people using the disposable or big plastic chopsticks.

Great place. I highly recommend it. There can be a wait to get in at
crowded times, though.


ww

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly with
local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79 and it's
on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.



ww



Correction - duh - make that the northwest corner!

I was just there again and my latest unscientific survey showed about
50-50 people using the disposable or big plastic chopsticks.

Great place. I highly recommend it. There can be a wait to get in at
crowded times, though.


ww

Read this and you may never want to use disposable chopsticks again:

http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=8487



ww

"werewolf" wrote in message =
om...
Read this and you may never want to use disposable chopsticks again:
=20
http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=3D8487
=20
=20
=20
ww


Perhaps we should all make it a pracitice to carry our own chopsticks.
BYOC

In article , werewolf
wrote:

No, but I like to stop by [the Westminster area of Orange County, CA]
when I'm in the area.

The place I referred to is very big and extremely crowded, mostly
with local Vietnamese people. It is very good. It's called Pho 79
and it's on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Hazard.

Check the intersectio of Brookhurst and Westminster.

Next time you're in town hit Brodard if you haven't yet. It's at
Brookhurst and Westminster three or four blocks north of Pho 79. It's
in the Southwest corner in the back of the Mall of Fortune. It's
actually easier to drive around back and park there. It is HIGHLY
recommended. Myriad treats.

At the front of the MOF there is a deli of sorts with two or three
plastic tables outside. They have a jillion stainless-steel bins of
food, hot and cold, the like of which I've never seen. Amazing
curiousities, pickled, steamed, fried, sauteed. Fascinating. There's
another such a deli in the strip mall in the NE quadrant, but it's more
difficult to navigate, as it's also a bakery and all-purpose grocery
store.

Many don't know that Vietnamese cuisine includes a stripe of sandwich
making, on fresh baguettes with curious non-French ingredients. The
endlessly crowded Lee's Sandwiches, is in the NW quadrant of this
intersection at Brookhurst and Westminster. For Lee's, I have nothing
but praise and dreams of chain-distribution throughout the midwest.

Across from Lee's, just off the corner in a stand-alone building in
front of the MOF, is a Cambodian place I've been hearing about for 8
years and never made it throught the front door. It's clientele
apparently come in staggered shifts...

And now back to your scheduled on-topic discussion...

--
"A Dictionary of Japanese Food, Ingredients & Culture" by Richard Hosking
(Tuttle, '97). All the hints one might need for exploring Japanese food.

"The Sake Handbook" by John Gaunter (Tuttle, '02). An excellent intro and
reference to sake.

In article , Gerry
wrote:

Damn, my wife reminds me that I'm perpetuating a myth.

Across from Lee's, just off the corner in a stand-alone building in
front of the [Mall of Fortune, Brookhurst and Westminster,
Westminster CA], is a Cambodian place I've been hearing about for 8
years and never made it throught the front door. It's clientele
apparently come in staggered shifts...

The restaurant is named Treu Chao (sp?). Though it is indeed always
packed it is not the *true* Cambodian Treu Chao that everybody is crazy
about, but instead a successful attempt to piggy-back the good name.

The real deal is located at 1st street and Mountain View in a
stand-alone unit in front of the Golden Lion restaurant.

I've never even gotten out of my car there, much less gotten in. It
looks like they are lined up a day in advance to get a good seat at the
Rose Bowl.

A Vietnamese friend told us that Treu Chao is the name of a region of
China. So I'm unsure why either would be named that since one is
Cambodian and the other (near MOF) *might* be Vietnamese.

--
"A Dictionary of Japanese Food, Ingredients & Culture" by Richard Hosking
(Tuttle, '97). All the hints one might need for exploring Japanese food.

"The Sake Handbook" by John Gaunter (Tuttle, '02). An excellent intro and
reference to sake.

Read this and you may never want to use disposable chopsticks again:

http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=8487

There was a thread on this newsgroup a few years ago about the pretentiousness
of bringing one's own chopsticks to a restaurant. But, the above article makes
me think twice about doing it, regardless of what anyone thinks.

Thanks for that article. I am both enlightened and nauseated.

Art wrote:

Read this and you may never want to use disposable chopsticks again:

http://www.faluninfo.net/displayAnArticle.asp?ID=8487


There was a thread on this newsgroup a few years ago about the pretentiousness
of bringing one's own chopsticks to a restaurant. But, the above article makes
me think twice about doing it, regardless of what anyone thinks.

I used to do that.. then stopped.. now I may start again. Although, the hashi
they have at most of the places are the bamboo type. I wasn't sure if this
article was referring to those or the plastic ones you get at chinese restaurants
that are wrapped in paper.

--
Dan

In article , Dan Logcher
wrote:

I used to do that.. then stopped.. now I may start again. Although,
the hashi they have at most of the places are the bamboo type. I
wasn't sure if this article was referring to those or the plastic
ones you get at chinese restaurants that are wrapped in paper.

I just skimmed it but found no reference to plastic. I know of no
plastic "disposable" chopsticks.

Any plastic chopsticks one gets in American restaurants, with or
without sleeves, are washed in the dishwasher here in the USA, rather
than being sent to Chinese labor camps for non-santization... :-)

--
"A Dictionary of Japanese Food, Ingredients & Culture" by Richard Hosking
(Tuttle, '97). All the hints one might need for exploring Japanese food.

"The Sake Handbook" by John Gaunter (Tuttle, '02). An excellent intro and
reference to sake.

Gerry wrote:

In article , Dan Logcher
wrote:


I used to do that.. then stopped.. now I may start again. Although,
the hashi they have at most of the places are the bamboo type. I
wasn't sure if this article was referring to those or the plastic
ones you get at chinese restaurants that are wrapped in paper.


I just skimmed it but found no reference to plastic. I know of no
plastic "disposable" chopsticks.


Not disposable chopsticks, but when we go for dinnerin Chinatown they
have plastic chopsticks sealed in a paper wrapper. The waiter goes around
and opens them for everyone, unless you've done it already.


Any plastic chopsticks one gets in American restaurants, with or
without sleeves, are washed in the dishwasher here in the USA, rather
than being sent to Chinese labor camps for non-santization... :-)

I don't know which is less sanitary.

--
Dan

I've brought my own before. Nobody said anything. Is bringing your
own chopsticks considered extremely strange in Asian restaurants?
Yeah, in light of the above, I think that everybody should do it - not
to mention that little experiment that the Japanese girl conducted,
putting disposable chopsticks into the fish tank - and then the fish
died!



ww