Ruth St. Just, shabby-genteel and recently divorced, stubbornly ekes out a living by running a mediocre restaurant in the Cotswolds.

For me, the Super Tacos truck at 96th Street and Broadway is the best eating place in a neighborhood of mediocre restaurants and overpriced delis.

It was a Sicilian, Francesco Procopio, who in 1670 opened the first ice cream parlor in Paris (long since, alas, converted into a mediocre restaurant).

And in a city burdened with far too many mediocre Italian restaurants, competence is enough to stand out.

It had a mediocre restaurant, which was redeemed by a short, underpriced wine list (a good bottle of burgundy cost less than the price in the liquor store).

Instead of the thin, insipid custard that turns up in mediocre Hispanic restaurants, this one had the body and caramelized depth of a good creme brulee.

So far, he said, "No one has expressed anything but glee about having something other than another mediocre restaurant or Godiva chocolate."

Where to Eat Dining out in Berlin can be dispiriting, with scores of mediocre Italian restaurants and little flair.

Even with its shortcomings, it is one of the more appealing places in a neighborhood filled with mediocre restaurants.

You'll find plenty of that in the tacky Gastown area downtown, along with T-shirt shops and mediocre restaurants, if you're misguided enough to go there.