Schneier

And how do we go about getting a reservation?

Add to Brad's list Five and Levain, both in South Minneapolis. And La Belle Vie. I think that Vincent, Five, and Levain are the three best meals in the Twin Cities. Bruce

Pinakoteka (ul. Hoza 63/37; 22 47 41 400). Yes, I'm really going to tell you to go to the Red Light district. Even worse, I'm going to tell you to look for a large red sign with the restaurant's name on it. Then I'm going to tell you to walk downstairs and through the basement door, into a room that looks for all the world like a bordello. Really; trust me on this one. Pinakoteka really does look like a bordello. It's all dark and red. There chairs are covered in red fabric. There are a couple of settees sprinkled about. There's a small stage, and I think there's entertainment some nights. But the food is good, and you can't beat the price. I went during lunch, when the hookers aren't out on the street. The menu has salads, meat, fish, and pasta dishes. But there's a daily lunch special: a plate of meat-filled perogi and a glass of beer for 12 zlotny. Very tasty. Not "very tasty" in the "seek out this restaurant" sense, but "very tasty as in "it's only a few blocks from the Marriott and way better than anything in the hotel or the train station." They take credit cards, but really prefer cash. And you should pay them cash; it's not that much money.

Dining choices in Riga have multiplied dramatically since I was last in 1993. I only had two meals, and I tried two restaurants that advertised "Latvian" food. Alus Seta (Tirgonu 6; 722 24 31) is in the middle of the old town. It's a cafeteria line, so you can see everything before you decide. I had pork meat, sauteed potatoes, and sauerkraut -- typical rich Latvian meal. Everything was okay. They don't take credit cards, but the prices are so cheap you won't notice. Alus Ordenis (Raina 15; 781 41 90) is a little bit higher end, but only a little. It's in the basement and on the right, and it's not terribly well signed. The restaurant guide I had claimed that it had some "hard-to-find local dishes," but I didn't see them. Maybe they're on the Latvian menu. The English menu had its share of humorous translation errors. My favorite was the "Chicken Spit Pickled in Greens," which I assume to mean "split chicken," or 1/2 chicken. I ordered the sauerkraut soup, a hearty bowl of sauerkraut, meat, carrots, onion, and bacon, served with a dish of sour cream, potato pieces, and chopped onion. Very tasty. (Other soup options were "Harcot Soup," "Soup of Beat," and the intriguing but not sufficiently enticing "Magic Fish Soup.") Next came the "Trout Fried in Butter," served with potatoes and a salad. Huge portions here; not only my dish, but everything I saw come out of the kitchen. There's no non-smoking section, but there's probably none in the entire city of Riga. One other item: there's an Uzbek restaurant in Riga. I didn't have time to go there, but I think someone should and report back.

Restauracja Przy Zamku (plac Zamkowy 15/19; 22 831 02 59). It's hard to find good food in Old Town, because everything is so tourist heavy. Everyone seems to tell everyone else to to U Fukiera, but I heard from locals that it wasn't very good. A friend pointed me to this restaurant, on the square across from the Royal Palace. "Much better," I was told. The menu was basic traditional Polish. Four pirozhki appetizers, a bunch of soups, four vegetarian entrees, and a nice array of meat, fish, and game dishes. I ordered the pirozhki with cabbage and mushrooms, which were delicious, and the "roasted quails with traditional Polish stuffing, served with saute potatoes and vegetables." The quails were boned and stuffed with a fruit stuffing. The potatoes were no greasy. And the vegetables -- green beans, carrots, and Brussels sprouts -- were not overcooked. A surprisingly nice meal, actually. Recommended.

Restauracja Polska Tradycja (Belwederska Ave 18A, 22 840 09 01). Really nice meal in a very pretty restaurant. I had my first borscht of the trip, served with those Eastern European raviolis my grandmother always called "kreplach." Then a dish of rolled wild boar roulades with a mushroom stuffing, what was called "forest sauce" on the menu, and an array of interesting vegetables around the plate: mushroom, red bell pepper, pickles, pearl onions, currants, plums. I would definitely go back to this restaurant, preferably with a date.

Delicja Polska (ul. Koszykowa 54, Warsaw; +48 22 630 88 50). I don't know if I would go out of my way for a meal, but if you're staying at the Marriott or the Sheraton you need to know about this place. It's a really nice traditional Polish meal. I started with the pickled herring, not because it was the most interesting thing on the menu but because I wanted some pickled herring. Then the "Polish style roast duck with apple pancakes and forest cranberry sauce." There's a version of this dish on pretty much every Polish menu in the country, and this was a perfectly adequate rendition of it. Friendly and efficient service, pretty dining room, reasonable prices, and a ten minute walk from my hotel. What's not to like? And, as an added bonus, you can't see the Palace of Culture and Science from the windows. (Unfortunately, you can from my hotel room.)

Palac Kinskych (Tynska Ulicka 606/3, Prague 1; 224 810 750) was a really good find. The menu was in Czech, English, German, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. (I generally presume that the order of the languages roughly corresponds to the frequency of the language speaker.) I stuck with the Czech traditional dishes, which gave me a choice of two. Either "half of roasted duck with cabbage and traditional Czech dumplings," or "beef goulash serve the other way (sirloin of beef with gallette prepare on the minute)." I would normally have chosen the duck, but was seduced by the bizarre description of the beef. (Elsewhere on the menu, the "red rabbit in crisp basket with salad and color oil" also beckoned.) It was a hearty beef goulash, with some really tasty dumplings. I had soup to start, but can't remember a single detail about it. U Modre Ruze (Rytirska 16, Prague 1; 224 25 873) advertises as serving game. And they do: four duck dishes, two deer dishes, pheasant, goose, ostrich, crocodile, and rattlesnake imported from Texas. The restaurant even serves fawn in the autumn, the closest to eating "Bambi" I've ever seen. I was going to order Peter Vok's Duck: "Roasted duck on meadow herbs, served with variation of home made dumplings flavoured by fried onion and stewed sauerkraut." But at the last minute I changed my mind and ordered: "Grilled wild duck breast larded with bacon and plums in brandy served with red currant sauce." Really gamey, really tasty -- perfectly cooked, and great sauce. I started with the goose pate with pistachios, and was too full to even try dessert. Like all but one restaurant I've been to in Prague, this one was in the basement. Are all good Prague restaurants in basements, I wondered. The restaurant's brochure gave a partial answer. The oldest known mention of a restaurant in the building is from 1364, which talks about a beer pub. At that time, the rooms of the restaurant were on the ground floor. Some time later -- I can't find a year -- the city decided to deal with the flooding problems from the Vltava River by raising the streets of the city one story. And yes, there were bricked up windows in the dining room. In other news, I didn't go to the Kafka Museum. I wasn't sure I wanted an experience that was literally -- and not just figuratively -- Kafkaesque. Bruce

This is a useful guide to Prague restaurants.

<a href=http://www.kolkovna.cz/index.php?place=11>Restaurant Kolkovna</a> (V. Kolkivne 8; 224 819 701) was a recommendation from the concierge: a Czech restaurant an easy walk from my hotel. Big noisy bar upstairs, quieter restaurant downstairs. Had a corporate feel, though. Good beer selection, and nice array of traditional Czech dishes. I had the roasted pheasant drumsticks with bacon, red sauerkraut, and pancakes made with mushrooms and "wild spices." Tasty enough. Service wasn't all that great; I ordered a soup which never arrived, but was included in my bill. And the credit-card machine wasn't working. <a href=http://ww.lkampa-restaurant.cz>Kampa 14</a> (Na Kampe 14; 257 530 451) was okay. (I tried for <a href=http://www.pragueexperience.com/places.asp?PlaceID=762>Kampa Park</a> and missed; don't ask.) Started with a perfectly competent onion soup with croutons, called "Bohemian onion soup." I then had the venison medallions with cranberry sauce, which was perfectly okay. No little birds on the menu; I was sad. More later.

As a noun, it means a thick spread of cream cheese. As a verb, it means to spread something thickly.

Two restaurants to report on. Kosebasi (Bronz Sokak No. 5, Macka, Istanbul; 0212 230 38 68) advertises that it was named on of the 50 best restaurants by Conde Nast Traveller in 1999, and displays pictures of the various celebrities and dignitaries that have eaten there. My take: good, but nothing special. It's possible that I just didn't do it right. I was there for lunch instead of dinner, and was there alone so I couldn't really take advantage of the mezes. Attentive staff and English-language menu, though. Haci Abdullah (next to Aga Mosque, Sakuzagaci Caddesi No. 17, Beyoglu, Istanbul; 0212 293 85 61) was much better. Near Taksim Square, it was everything I wanted in a Turkish meal. We (there were eight of us) started out with a nice assortment of cold mezes: various beans, a marinated artichoke, stuffed eggplant and pepper and cabbage, pickle salad, and a vegetable lemon soup. Then we had an interesting dish of stewed beef over mashed eggplant (begendili kebap), lamb shank wrapped in eggplant slices (kuzu incik patlicanli), and shredded chiken over some sort of mashed wheat. Desserts were delicious: samsa, a quince dessert with cream and fruit ((ayva kaymakli: many language problems here: "it's like an apple but it's not an apple"), and some sort of milk pudding. Much crushed pistashio over everything. Good food, good service, good fun. The restaurant advertises that is is ISO 9002 certified, which amuses me. Bruce

What's up with Vincent's these days? First Mpls St Paul Magazine doesn't mention them in their "best restaurants" issue. And now Dara Moskowitz doesn't mention them in her opening essay to the City Pages Restaurant Guide. I've had two very good meals there in the past few months; I don't get why they're being ignored.

I'm heading to Prague in a week, so I thought I'd bump this thread to the top. I'll take any new suggestions, and I'll post my reviews when I return.

I'm heading to Istanbul in a week, so I thought I'd bump this thread to the top. I'll take any new suggestions, and I'll post my reviews when I return. And yes, I found this thread, too.

I'm heading to Warsaw in a week, so I thought I'd bump this thread to the top. I'll take any new suggestions, and I'll post my reviews when I return.

Interesting thread. I dine alone all the time; I travel frequently for work, and never let that stop me from eating at better restaurants. I rarely talk to people at nearby tables, usually happy either chatting with friends on my Treo or reading a book, but sometimes people at the next table are friendly. Once, at Benoit in France, I ended up sharing food with the Americans at the next table. Surprised the waitstaff. Bruce

You're kidding, right? That's not a hobbyist price.

Who needs an Anti-Griddle? "The Grant Achatz inspired 'Anti-Griddle' is a traditional cooktop with an amazing twist: The device quickly freezes sauces and purees instead of heating them! This unique innovation allows you to effortlessly freeze sauces and purees solid or develop semi-frozen creations with stable, crunchy surfaces and cool, creamy centers. The tantalizing dual-textures help satisfy increasing consumer demands for new dining experiences. Let your culinary imagination run wild!"

Hear hear.

Nice.

I'm sure this kind of thing happens -- especially at markets frequented by tourists -- but my personal experience with rural French markets is that they are authentic. I lived for three months in Azay-le-Rideau, and would go to the market both in that town and the larger one in nearby Langeais. We met cheesemakers who had local farms. Yes, there were cheese sellers who sold a cross-section of French cheeses too. We visited the small farm owned by the vegetable seller we came to like, and saw their rows of produce and the chickens who laid the eggs we bought. We also saw them buy and sell to other local people. Once, a woman with a fruit tree of some sort came and sold our vegetable sellers the fruit she picked from that tree. And several people who would drive around the really rural areas with a car full of produce came and bought stuff. In general, most of the stuff we saw that the markets we frequented was local. I don't think this is the exception.

Dinner at Five Friday night, our belated Valentine's Day dinner. (I don't like going out to eat on Valentine's Day. It's amateur night at fine restaurants.) Five now has three dining rooms: the downstairs bar, the upstairs bistro, and the fine dining room. We had eaten in the bistro, but had not yet had a meal in the fine dining room. It's a pretty room, obviously designed primarily for couples. One of the walls is scallop-shaped, with little alcoves for people to sit in. Another wall has a row of deuces, and there are some four-tops in the center. And the room is quiet even when full. The fine-dining room advertises tasting-menu only. Actually, that's only sort-of true. There's a menu of ten items. You can order any three, five, seven, or all ten -- plus dessert if you want it. (The three option was not there originally, but they were forced to add it.) Different people at the table can order different courses, and a different number of courses. The only rule is that you have to follow the order on the menu. We ordered all ten courses, five each. They also offered a wine pairing: small pours of wines specifically chosen for each course. I didn't take very good notes, but I'll include some thoughts after most of the dishes. "Salad: 'Caesar' pain presse, quail eggs, anchovy, Grana Padana." '00 Argyle Willamette Valley, Sparkling Wine "Soup: Honshimeji mushroom broth with fried sage and smoked pineapple." '04 Alphonse Mellot 'La Moussiere' Sancerre I liked this a lot, although K wanted more stuff in the soup. Think of it as an interesting sweet and sour soup, and you get the idea. The wine was a complete dud, though. I don't know if it was the wine or the bottle.... "Risotto: Sauvignon blanc, escargot, garlic, confit, and parsley." '04 Caymus 'Conundrum' Napa Valley Delicious risotto. And although I really don't like that wine, it did go well with the dish. "Longing for Spring: Foie 'en torchon' with pickled hibiscus and its peppered syrup, served with brioche points." '87 R. Lopez de Heredia 'Vina Tondonia' Rioja Reserva Blanco Great foie gras tureen, great wine. The two did not go well together. "Scallops: Sauteed scallops with capers, and caramelized cauliflower drizzled with Pedro Ximenez reduction." '04 Domaine Tempie Bandol Rose This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The scallops and cauliflower went really well together, and the capers and vinegar were both delicious. Nice wine, too. "Study in Tuna: Blackened with soy coulis, tartar with piquillo pepper, sliced with soy caramel, carpaccio with harcot vert." '02 Elk Cove Willamette Valley, Pinot Noir The prettiest dish. Four small bites arranged on a large square plate. The blackened tuna and the sliced tuna with edamame sauce were my favorites. "Striped Bass: Steamed in a truffled mussel jus with celery root and salsify." '04 Livon Colllio Pinot Grigio Delicious. "Pork: Pulled pork 'sandwich,' bar-b-q sauce on pecan waffle with grilled scallions and napa cabbage." '02 Maurice Ecard 'Les Serpentieres' 1er Savigny les Beaune Another great dish. The pork was very well prepared, and the barbecue sauce was delicious. The rest of the dish, including the wine, worked. "Lamb: Grilled Colorado rack with eggplant bulghur wheat stew and a carrot curry sauce." '96 Lopes de Heredia 'Vina Bosconia' Rioja Reserva Okay. dish. Great wine. "Beef: Smoked all natural beef strip loin with red wine porcini sauce, petite salad greens and allumette potatoes." '98 Giacosa Fratelli ;Rio Sordo' Barbaresco Very tasty, although the super-fine fried potatoes were more grease than anything else. Dessert was additional, and we ordered two from the menu: "Ode to the Crisp: Layered coffee cream, delicate chocolate wafer, crunchy chocolate praline and Brooklyn Blackout Cake with candied cocoa nibs." We had this before in the bistro. Tasty. "Pineapple: Roasted with bananas, vanilla, ginger, and spice with sour cream and macadamia nuts." Very good. Service was an absolute mess. It started when we showed up and they told us that the heat had been out in the room, and had just returned half an hour ago. That must have put everyone off their game. We received our menus and ordered, and then another waiter brought us menus. Meanwhile, the people at the table next to us were ignored, until someone finally came to them and explained that each of the two waiters thought the other one had their table. And the pacing was off. Dishes weren't coming out of the kitchen evenly. Once I saw a waiter walk into the dining room with two plates, walk around, and then walk back into the kitchen. Another time I saw a waiter walk into the dining room with a pen and a piece of paper, look around, take some notes, and walk back. The chef's wife started serving plates by the middle of the evening. I finally asked one of the waiters what was going on, and she said that someone hadn't showed that night. That, and the heat problem, combined to make a mess of the front of the house. I believe her. It just can't be that this restaurant is that incompetent all the time. I'm sure you'll have a better time of it if you go. It's not cheap, though. Total cost -- food + wine + tax + nice tip -- came to $300; $150 per person.

Wow, Myanmar for a month. Do you have any hope of Internet connectivity while you're there?

I generally recommend Craftsteak, in the MGM Grand, as one of the Vegas restaurants to eat at. Better with a group, though, as the dishes are made for sharing.