I watched The Phantom Gourmet on Boston's NECN station for years. It was hosted by Billy Costa, who is also a DJ on the long-running KISS-108 morning show with Matt Siegel. After the show ran for eight years, producer Dan Andelman and his family moved the show to WSBK 38, another Boston station. Costa stayed at NECN and launched a new show, TV Diner. The Phantom Gourmet is a mysterious person (they won't say whether the diner is male or female) who goes around in secret and reviews Boston and New England eating establishments. The show gives the restaurants a grade. The show also features other reviews and features as well.

TV Diner is a little different. They feature a lot of chefs and go behind the scenes of restaurants. The do reviews too, giving a "plate" grade, but it's not as much of a focus as it is on the other show.

To say things are tense between the two shows is an understatement. Besides the typical tension you would expect from two similar shows in the same TV market, Costa is a little ticked that The Phantom Gourmet asks their guests (chefs, foodies, customers, etc) not to appear on the other show for a few months.

• Summer is salad time, including salads with green beans.
• When you order fish in a restaurant, does it come with bones or without?
• An interview with Darra Goldstein, author of Baking Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at the Culinary Institute of America.
• What's the best cottage cheese you can buy at the supermarket?
• You've heard of the Slow Food trend? How about the Slow Sip?
• This week's recipes: Eggplant Gazpacho, Chicken Salad, Poor Man's Caviar, Ham and Cheddar Scones, Pecan Butter Ball Cookies, Angel Food Summer Pudding, and Lemonade.

• Wimbledon starts tomorrow, so how about some summer drinks from England?
• Is there such thing as humanely raised veal?
• There are several organic beer breweries in New England.
• There's lots of kielbasa too.
• Who makes the best cottage cheese? Hood? Cabot? Friendly? Breakstone? Horizon?
• What the heck is a pie mistress?
• Globe readers give their choices for good wines under $10.
• This week's recipes: Tofu Sandwich, Lattice-Topped Cherry Pie, and Strawberry-Cardamom Cheese Cake.

• Summer is the time for bluefish.
• Quick tips on cooking rhubarb.
• When you get married, you get better cookware.
• New moms need a hand in the kitchen.
• Another way to cook asparagus.
• More restaurants should have a simple wine list like T.W. Food in Cambridge.
• Have you ever eaten an MRE?
• Some great ideas for your garden.
• This week's recipes: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, Tangy Slaw, Fish Tacos, and Grilled Shrimp.

• You can have an egg sandwich any time of day.
• Jasper White shows you how to grill up some fish.
• Have you ever had a beerita?
• ChocolateandZucchini.com blogger Clotilde Dusoulier has just released a book.
• A quick guide to supermarket sushi.
• Some tips on making pastry.
• This week's recipes: Lamb Kebabs, Grilled Oysters with Lemon Butter, Smoky Barbecued Chicken Legs and Thighs, and Porcini-Crusted Halibut with Cabernet Butter Sauce.

• This summer, how about a Cuban barbecue (and I don't mean Mark)?
• Boston gets into Pocky and Onigiri, thanks to Dice-K.
• Speaking of Fenway, a chef is trying to bring more restaurant-quality foods to the ballpark.
• An interview with chef and author Marco Pierre White (right).
• A taste test: are these cabernet-based red wines from California or Bourdeaux?
• This week's recipes: Sweet Potato Fries, Salmon Mousse with Sour Cream Dill Sauce, Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado, Lemon, Thyme, and Pistachio Oil, and Fennel, Treviso, and Prosciutto Salad with Anchovy-Date Vinagrette.

Well, this just about ruined my appetite.

We went through seeing those videos of the rats running around some of New York City's eateries, and now we have tonight's Inside Edition showing video that exposes the little monsters having fun at night in some of Boston's restaurants. It's part of a regular feature they do now called "Rat Patrol."

Some of the restaurants include Ruth's Chris Steak House, near downtown crossing if you know the area, McCormick & Schmick's, and The China Pearl. Ruth's Chris is working with the health inspector on a regular basis, and the other restaurants have regular checkups as well.

The owner of The China Pearl says that the Big Dig construction over the past few years has displaced many of the rodents.

• The allure of tapas.
• Cooking lessons from Rome: Ricotta pudding.
• Green tea: it's the new "bran."
• It's spring, and that means it's time for asparagus.
• This book says to drink olive oil as an appetite suppressent.
• Everyone's eating lunch again (did it ever really go away?).
• This week's recipes: Beef with Cumin, Lemony Chicken Caesar, Homestyle Bean Curd, Cod Salad, and Chunky Dark and White Chocolate Cookies.

Interesting piece over at The Boston Phoenix. The writer asks several chefs what dish they order in a restaurant to see if the kitchen knows what it's doing. That one meal that you would judge the entire restaurant by.

Rialto chef Jody Adams orders a simple pasta dish, because she says that if a restaurant can screw that up, then they'll probably screw up a more complex meal. Michael Schlow (who is chef at two Boston restaurants, Radius and Via Matta), has a different dish for each type of restaurant. At Japanese restaurants, it's the rice. At steak houses, he goes by the side dishes and the wedge salad (what the heck is a wedge salad?). Michael Leviton over at Lumiere goes by the simple dishes at Asian restaurants: Shrimp and broccoli, drunken pasta, and for Italian restaurants it's the risotto.

I'll have to agree with the author of the article and say I often go by the chicken dishes, since they're a pretty basic dish, and I also go by the salads. But then again, I've had some awful meals at some restaurants where everything else I've had is first-rate, so I go back. Readers, how do you judge restaurants overall?