I follow a vegan diet, but almost never do I patronize vegetarian restaurants. Instead I eat at places where a vegan can make out well, and there's no question of having to settle for that plate of misery—steamed or grilled vegetables. In San Francisco I like Jai Yun, Marnee Thai, Michael Mina, Amber India. In Los Angeles it was Magic Carpet, Angeli, Campanile, Sunnin. So for my birthday in Manhattan I'd like a friendly place where my friends—none of them vegetarian—can eat like princes, I'll have a good number of choices, and we can get a few good bottles of Alsatian and Rhône wine. Imagine a per person spending limit of seventy dollars.