admits he prefers Haagen-Dazs to Ben & Jerry's. Even so, he salutes Carbone's efforts to be different. ''There is something good and enlivening and even ennobling about food that makes you laugh, that makes you curious, makes you wonder.

The ingredients today don't impress us, but back then they were much more expensive and difficult to find. The Caesar, when it was first introduced, was considered exotic.

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. On this we can all agree.

The chief problem with modern life is not work in itself,

[Among the cognoscenti, though, it is not just about elaborate new flavors.] I always consider the main test of ice cream to be the simple ice creams, especially vanilla, ... One should have fun when one eats, but it should also be seriously good.

she prefers them to be with me than with her.