The 10.20.13 Issue - NYTimes.com The potato peelers are factory workers, not food- service employees. Balthazar is not a restaurant; it's a machine that needs revamping. Management needs to take a long, hard look at how the frites get to the table. There is honor in the work the potato peelers are doing, but there is something wrong in that they have not advanced in over 10 years. This should surprise no one, however. New York City's restaurants would crumble without the labor of immigrants, who become forgotten spokes in a wheel that has long been flat. MICHAEL CALLERI, Buffalo, posted on nytimes.com Seattle used to be the home of many proud octopus wrestlers. This area held the World Octopus Wrestling Championship in the "60s. This was a real thing. Seattle has become a city of transplants, and the connection to its fishing, hunting, farming and logging roots was lost long ago. These hardscrabble roots are now being packaged and sold back at $20 a plate. DAN MORELLI, Seattle, posted on nytimes.com The paradox of sustaining local natural resources is that in many cases, you have to eat it to save it. For everyone to agree on the value of protecting places like Puget Sound - where Dylan Mayer caught an octopus and later killed it - those locations should be available for recreational and commercial hunting and fishing. Some of the strongest supporters of water quality are the commercial oyster growers. Recreational divers and boaters need to team with commercial seafood producers and harvesters and form a lobby to protect high-quality waters. DOUG MCCLAREN, Seattle, posted on nytimes.com A lot of people in East L.A. like goat because it's traditional for them, and they know how to cook it. On the Westside, it's a different story. There, some people won't dine at a place that isn't touted by a critic as fantastic and pronounced worthy of their ilk. Some people eat to live and they know what they like, others live to eat and let others tell them what to like. That's why I find these articles so fun to read: to just see how high a mouthful of food must be exalted before it's deemed worthy. IVERMARKT, Pasadena, Calif., posted on nytimes.com When I worked at the Met, every so often we would go to Tavern on the Green for lunch, which was especially nice when we could sit in the garden room. I liked the kitsch; I thought the crystal, the mirrors and the wallpaper were hilarious and the right note of fun. The food was O.K., the experience a delight. CAROL S. CANTRELL, Staten Island, posted on nytimes.com A real bar has no carpet, a plain floor, every bar chair creaks, the mirror needs a little cleaning, the wooden bar curves, and the bartender wears a white apron folded in half - always a white shirt, no tie. All the featured singers on the jukebox are dead or retired. Salty snacks are scattered in plastic wicker baskets with napkins, the bathrooms are downstairs and there are no pinball machines - only one television, overhead, and the bartender determines what channel it is set to. WILLIAM EARLEY, Merion Station, Pa. posted on nytimes.com The quality-price relationship in wine is logarithmic, with the maximum achievable quality at about 60 euros. Thus, you could tell the difference between a $10 and $100 bottle, but between $100 and $1,000 the difference is too small to detect. MARIA, Palo Alto, Calif., posted on nytimes.com E-mail letters to magazine@nytimes.com or post comments at nytimes.com/magazine. Letters should include the writer's name, address and daytime telephone number. We are unable to acknowledge or return unpublished submissions. Letters and comments are edited for length and clarity. The address of The New York Times Magazine is 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018.