EAT, DRINK AND MEET LARRY.

Byline: Larry Lipson

Some 15,000 meals and 40 years later, you'd think I'd be tired of restaurant reviewing.

But it's been one long, continuing adventure. And believe me, it's still that way.

In these pages you'll find an award-winning review (Harry's Bar), some personal pieces (on being a wine judge and dining on the Queen Mary) and a story predicting Wolfgang Puck's stardom before he opened the first Spago.

There are listings of those restaurants I constantly acknowledge as the best I've visited, and a look at a few celeb haunts for the stargazers.

What a lucky man I am to have this job. Yes, I know I'll never go hungry.

But beyond that, restaurants provide such a fascinating subject. They never stop being highly intriguing to me. They are like nothing else conceived by humans.

Yes, they're businesses. But they're also social phenomenons. They bring people together in an involvement that is an essential part of carrying on life. It's and experience that's so much more than the mere refueling of one's body.

Every meal in a restaurant is a challenge.

It's a challenge for the restaurant to please me.

It's a challenge for me to relate the experience to the Daily News readers.

I look for artistry and innovation in cooking and presentation.

I look for value, for interesting surroundings, for knowledgeable and attentive service.

I believe that wine can be an important part of a meal, especially dinner, and am convinced it offers so many variations in achieving beverage satisfaction when paired with food that it seems silly to me to drink sweet soft drinks instead.

As for water, I can take it or leave it.

As for restaurant reviewing, I'd like to hit the 20,000 meal mark.

Bon appetit, my friends.

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Photo: (Cover--Color) Celebrating 40 years with restaurant critic Larry Lipson