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I am currently on my own version of the Atkin's diet. I have friends (who talked me into trying it) who are on the true Atkin's diet. When I was in middle school I was 220 lbs. My freshman year of high school, I dropped 70 lbs. I gained about 20-30 lbs back in high school, but went crazy in college living in the mountain states eating nothing but complex carbs and fats. I ballooned to about 330 lbs at my peak. About two or three years ago I decided that I wanted to lose it. I was tired of buying clothes at the big and tall store and the strain on my body whenever I did anything active (and actually, I was quite active and my heart and lungs were in pretty good shape; I played basketball and golf regularly and had blood pressure that usually came in around 110 over 70; I was 27.) I didn't know about Atkin's. I had a friend who had been an amateur body builder who told me about a diet method body builders use to cut weight fast and maintain muscle. I figured this would allow me to maintain a good metabolism. I am a person who has never lost weight easy. I've always been active, played multiple sports every year of school, etc. If I ate the same as my friends, I would gain weight. They wouldn't. I made up my own diet that was surprisingly similar to an Atkin's diet, except that I avoided fat as well. Basically, I ate high protein, low-fat, low-carbs. In normal day I would eat two grilled chicken breasts, a can of tuna (straight from the can), a banana, a non-fat, low-sugar yogurt, and a salad without dressing or just with vinegar. This is only about 700 calories. I lost probably 100 lbs in 5 months. I lost another 30 lbs over the next six months. Since then I've gained back about 30 because I got really into food and eating out. Then I went on a modified Atkin's diet. Basically, I've cut out all the complex carbs. I pretty much never eat bread, pasta, rice, grains, or potatoes. Every once in a while when I go out and they have something special. Really, though, these items are fillers or vehicles for fat and salt. There's not much point in eating a starch if it doesn't have fat and salt. Instead, I focus on meats and vegetables. And when I eat vegetables, there's no problem eating them with butter. A typical day would be a "scramble" for lunch where I sautee some diced bacon, add in some onion and garlic, then a bratwurst, then some diced bell pepper. Then I either added a couple whisked eggs and scramble them and serve it all together, or one of my favorites is to cook a couple eggs sunnyside up or over easy and use the yolk as a sauce. A lot of food and flavor and very filling. Then for dinner I might have a pound of sauteed steak with the fond deglazed in wine, reduced, and then finished with butter. Add that to some spinach sauteed in butter and you're set with a tasty meal. No starches, but none needed. If I just eat that type of thing 7 days a week, I lose weight even without exercise. It's only a couple pounds a week, but it's noticeable. If I go out to eat a couple times a week and eat pretty much everything, I still have no problem maintaining weight, which is my goal right now even though at some point (I currently have a back injury and so can't exercise much) plan on trying to get back down to about 200). For me, the Atkin's diet (or my modified version of it) is a great way to maintain weight and eat pretty tasty, rich stuff. Most restaurants have no problem subsituting for starches, too. One thing to recognize about Atkin's actual plan is that it's not some static thing. It's geared to be dynamic and to be formed for each person. You don't just go off carbs for the rest of your life. You start the "induction" phase by going nearly completely off carbs so that your body converts to burning fats. Then you slowly bring back the carbs until you stop losing weight, then you slightly reduce your carbs so that you are losing weight again and stay like that until you are at your goal weight. Then you raise the carbs back to a maintenence level. The goal is to remain there forever. It's really not that bad. I think Atkin's was a bit of a kook, but no more than most food ideologues. Certainly less of a kook than raw foodists, vegans, and macrobioticists. But he definitely bought into a lot of fads without much basis in science. But at least his diet has a foundation in science even if there are some rough edges to be worked out over time. So far about the worst thing science can say about it conclusively is that people who go off it gain weight back about as fast as anyone else who goes off any other diet.

Finally got in to Andina. Seemed like every time I went by before they either weren't open. Friday night, had to be open. Very pleased with my experience. It's a nice room with arches and soft Latin-American colors. The booths and chairs are a little uncomfortable, but could be worse. They bring you out a cool selection of breads. There's a french baguette style bread cut into slices, then the cool ones, little quinoa rolls and little purple corn rolls (at least I think that's what he said they were). These latter two are light with a nice texture. I'm supposedly going slow on carbs but just downed about a dozen or more of the things. The thing is, they also provide you with two salsas to put on them, one a passionfruit/mango salsa and the other a peanut-based salsa of some sort. Both were excellent. The first was had some okay heat, too. Our waiter then brought us a complimentary apertif. I'm not sure if just ours (I told him we wouldn't be drinking) or everyones was non-alcoholic. They carry some sort of Peruvian brandy they use in many of their delicious sounding cocktails. I wouldn't be surprised if they normally put that in the drink. Anyway, it was very tasty. It's called a chicha morada (see here and is boiled corn with apples and spices. It tasted like hot apple cider with a little cranberry, though not as sweet as we might normally get it, maybe a tea version, that had then cooled. Very good stuff. The have an extensive menu with appetizers, entrees, and ceviches, plus, although I don't drink, a cocktail list that made me wish I had (plus, $2 happy-hour appetizers for those who order cocktails). They have an adjoining more casual bar area that was very busy. We ordered their naylamb ceviche ($7.50) and their chicharron novoandino de pollo ($5.50) for appetizers, their cordeito en marinado peruano ($20) and their pachamanca del inca ($25) for entrees. We split a passion fruit mousse for dessert (not sure on the price). The naylamb ceviche was excellent, as I hoped since it is the national dish of Peru. If this place couldn't make a ceviche, I don't think I'd trust anything else. It came with squid, octopus, and shrimp along with yam, onions, greens, hominy, chiles, and a couple other bits in a passionfruit, I think, and tumbo (apparently the original fruit used to make ceviche prior to the conquest and the introduction of citrus; a relative of passionfruit; this is the only decent ref I could find on google here. It was very good, like I said. And I'm not inclined to like ceviche. Maybe it's the overly tomatoey Mexican versions I don't like. The octopus was great. It had a tooth to it, but was not chewy. There was no off flavor whatsoever. The squid wasn't quite as good, but not bad. The shrimp were excellent as well. When you got down into it, it had quite a kick, but an excellent flavor overall. The chicharron de pollo was excellent as well. It was essentially chicken tenders in a quinoa crust rather than breadcrumbs or cornmeal or whatever. Very good. Big portion, too, especially for only $5.50. I don't think we would have gotten that much at Red Robin. It came with a tasty green sauce of some sort and some fried plantains. I forgot to ask what the sauce was made of. But if I had to guess, I would say avocado and other stuff. It was very good, though. There could have been more of the sauce for how much chicken there was. The quinoa on the outside was so light and crunchy, it was truly fabulous. It looked cool, too. The lamb came as rack of lamb, probably about five ribs. It was cooked medium and came with an tasty sauce, a pisco infused resuction (apparently pisco is a special Peruvian wine, essentially, see here. The dish had an interesting side dish, fried yellow potato and cheese rolls. They came standing up on their long end, looking like two crispy McDonald's apple pies almost, or an empenada, at least in shape. They had a nice crispy exterior with a fluffy, rich interior. My wife, a mashed potato-aholic loved them. The dish also included fava beans and hominy. I had the pachamanca del Inca, a stew with venison, quail, large white corn kernels, fava beans, potatoes, yucca and several herbs. It came served in a clay pot with their quinoa bread sealing the lid to the pot. They cut the bread open and remove the lid for you. Not many places in Portland have that kind of presentation, which comes across both organic and spectacular. The stew was good with a strong coriander element in both flavor and aroma. The venison was a rack piece and probably not the best choice. Afterall, it's a stew and so a less lean piece of meat cooked for hours so that it falls off the bone would be more appropriate. However, the quail quarter (leg/thigh) did fall of the bone and was tender and juicy. The broth was good and the aroma great. For dessert we had the passionfruit mousse which came with raspberries and rapberry sauce. It was fine. Their dessert selection is a little lame, I think. Almost no real pastries. I assume they don't have a real pastry chef or for some reason they're doing something like 3 mousses, a cookie with some extras, and another dessert I can't remember. Bake something, damn it! You make good breads. The service got a little spotty when they got busy (we got there about 5:30), but not bad. But overall the service was decent. They went out of their way to tell you about the dishes and their origins. It's a very good value. Our entrees were easily the most expensive. The vegetarian entree was only $12.50 and was the low end. The other dishes ranged between $15 and $18. That puts it in a similar price range with Cafe Azul and The Heathman and makes it cheaper than many of the other nicer restaurants in town. And the appetizers were very large portions, really. I'm very happy I tried this place. According to their website it sounds like they do a cool Sunday brunch with entertainment. Might have to try it. It's a nice, unique addition to Portland's food scene and I hope it stays around and only gets better.

Here's the link for Portland: '25' for $25 Anyone have a better link? There are actually 42 restaurants involved this time. Woohoo!

Though his chocolates and truffles were very good, largely because of their freshness, his pastry menu was the truly impressive thing. Things like his filo-chocolate dumplings in chocolate oil, the bing cherry fritters, and champagne granitas.

I love braises and BBQs and sauces that take hours. But I've looked at a lot of slow food cookbooks that seem to include almost anything made from scratch. Where does food from scratch end and slow food begin for you? Also, I read that you have overhauled a lot of your recipes to make them lower in fat and less meat heavy. I hope you'll consider including some of these ideas as optional so that some of us who are on low carb, high protein diets, or just don't worry that much about it and want to make sure we get all the flavor and understand the history of these recipes can have that as well. Thanks. I look forward to checking out your book and maybe buying it. Sounds great.

Luckily I have a friend, Scott on Chowhound, who does the legwork for me ahead of time. He's who I visit -- a college buddy. Next trip will probably be to Lockhart for some BBQ even though I'm not a big fan of even the best beef bbq. Portland and Dallas have different sorts of food scenes. Dallas certainly has more in quantity and also more haute cuisine. But I think the top places here and the top places there are comparable in quality. We definitely have less showmanship, though. Dallas is much more in the vein of SF, Chicago, and NY where it's not enough for the food to taste good, it has to be cool looking, in a cool looking venue, and have pretty people around. A nice thing about Portland is that I can go get great food in business casual or less. A bad thing about Portland is that haute cusine not only flounders but is looked down on. Everyone wants to be Chez Panisse but no one wants to be French Laundy. In Dallas terms, everyone wants to be York Street, but no one wants to be Abacus. I think it's just a northwest thing. Seattle's not much different. There's probably less attempt at innovation here, too. I just think it's the market. I don't know that a restaurant that tried to be clever like The French Laundry or cerebral like Trio (in Chicago) would be smiled on or well-regarded. I think they'd be looked at as pretentious. Personally, I like both styles. Day in and day out, I may prefer slow food, classic dishes, and the like. But once a month I would like to be able to have a dining experience that was as much about the experience as abuot the dining. You can get that in Dallas to some extent. You can definitely get that in NY, Chicago, and SF. I don't think you can get that at all in Portland.

Tinga can be beef, pork, chicken, anything, but good to know what it was I had there. I wish I would have seen the larger restaurant, though I'm not sure I ever would have left for my dinner at Chez Panisse.

Here's a report I'm moving over from Chowhound. Hope it helps: Spent 5 days in Dallas focusing on food during my trip visiting a local friend. Here's a basic rundown with in depth notes on each day to follow: Went to top-end places for dinner. In order of preference, here's where we went: The Tasting Room at Lola, The Mansion at Turtle Creek, Abacus, The French Room. Lola was impressive. Not a bad course out of 15, all with wonderfully simple but pleasing presentations, and only $65. Excellent service. Nice atmosphere. No jacket required. We would have never gone to this if it wasn't for Chowhound (and Doc, who, btw, they remembered). Mansion was very good, but it didn't blow my socks off. And damned expensive. One of our entrees, the bison with pozole was a true winner, though. Abacus was decent, but a little too noisy/chic for me. The dishes were all good, but not especially interesting and a little weaker in the finer points than Mansion (eg, poor seasoning and weak flavors on sides and some meats). Still good, though. The French Room, however, was rather disappointing to me. First of all, it was really the most expensive. Then they made us wait almost a half hour after we got there. Then they rushed us through ordering. Annoying. But the thing that was really lacking, imo, was the food. It was generally boring and uninspired. And the worst items were on the tasting menus (we got both the chef's and the vegetarian menus, plus ordered off the normal menu). It's the one place of the four I would have no desire to return to. It's the one place where I would feel confident randomly selecting menu items from any of the top 5-10 restaurants here in Portland, OR, and putting them head to head (and you'd pay half the price at most here). Much more ecelectic choices for lunch and snacks. Harder to put in order of preference, so I'll just go through them by days. Went to Taqueria Lupita and got tacos. Not that great. Salsa verde was weak and all but the carne asada was rather flavorless. The pollo was dry. Don't like the yellow corn tortillas either. Prefer the white corn style you get in Mexico or taquerias up here. Also kind of crappy chips. Then went to Cuquita's and got gorditas. Better. The sides are weak and so are the salsas, but the gorditas are pretty good, especially the puerco which has an excellent red sauce. Did Liberty Noodles. We split 3 power lunches (had them served family style). Everything was good. Especially liked the soups (the beef udon was my favorite, others preferred the curry soups). The green tea ice cream was also a stand-out. Very slow service, though. Later went into North Dallas/Richardson and toured a couple Indian places. Went to Taj Mahal Imports and ate some interesting ice creams. Chikoo (sp?) was a favorite. The quality of the ice cream sucked, but the flavors were good. Also tried some sweets. Interesting flavors again, though they could be made better. Looked around FunAsia. That place looks awesome. Went nuts the next day. Started by going to The Mozzarella Company and trying every cheese in the place, and then again, and then again. I especially liked the chevre, the fetas, the smoked mozzarella, and the queso oaxaca. Then the Farmer's Market where peaches were in season. Lots of big blackberries, ripe mangoes, and baskets of cheap peppers. A little repetitive and not a lot that you can't find at the supermarket, but still a place I would visit a lot if I lived in Dallas. Afterwards we started overeating. First chicken tenders at Bubba's. Tasty and juicy and crunchy. Very good. Then got some sausages, beef sticks, etc, and tried some bloodwurst and other cold cuts at Kuby's. That's a cool place. Then went over to Holy Smokes and split a 3 meat combo that they gave us 4 meats on -- sausage, ribs, pulled pork, and beef brisket. The pulled pork was excellent. Ribs and sausage were good. Some good sides, too. Then we hit Sonny Bryan's for some ribs and onion rings. The ribs were okay and the onion rings were good. I think I've been spoiled by places my friend has taken me in Texas before for bbq, like the Salt Lick, which kicks either of these places ass, imo. I think our top bbq places here in Portland are right there or even better on some things than either of these places (in my friend's defense, he's pretty cool on Sonny Bryan's and doesn't understand the national hype it gets). The next day, my last, we did Zaguan for breakfast. Split a cachapa, which was great. A must have, I'd say. And cheap. There were several other things that looked good. Then we hit Ciudad for brunch. I wish they had more stuff off their normal menu. Had the beef mole omelette and the duck flautas. Flautas were a little burnt and not that great anyway, imo. The sauces for the beef in mole were very good. Had some pretty good desserts, too. Then we went to Cuba Libre for lunch. Had a couple tacos. The pork asado was very good. A lot of food for the price, too. Their fries are quite tasty as well. Not very authentic Cuban food, but still very good and probably one of the best values on the trip. Well, that was it, and I'm stuffed. Thanks, Dallas and Chowhound. Good food, good trip, lighter wallet, heavier belly. ******************* IN DEPTH NOTES ******************* Here's a day by day in depth report. Wed --- MANSION AT TURTLE CREEK: Three of us for dinner. We all ordered separately, none getting the tasting menu, but all tasted each other's dishes. For the amuse we were brought a spinach-artichoke "dip" with a fried pasta "chip" drizzled with reduced balsamic. This was excellent. Far beyond the Applebee's version of the same. The pasta chip was salty and crumbly with an interesting texture. The balsamic lit up the creamy spinach-artichoke concoction. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that. They brought out a couple breads, one of which was a nice honey-glazed roll. For appetizers, we had the soup of the day, a cream of eggplant and roasted garlic with yellow and red tomatoes, sliced beef, and several other bits. It reminded me of a babaghanooj, but creamier with a more subtle eggplant flavor and other pockets of flavor from the "bits". Everyone agreed it was excellent and the best of the appetizers. We also got the tortilla soup, one of their signature dishes. Very good, but I wouldn't say it was significantly better than good tortilla soups I've had in Mexico and even in low-price U.S. Mexican restaurants. Lastly, we got the crispy orange quail in "pot sticker" wraps on ginger barbequed duck with sesame cucumber salad. Again, definitely tasty. Entrees were also very good. We got the roasted double lamb chops smothered with vintage sherry onion sauce on creamed mustard spinach (and dried tomatoes) and maytag blue cheese potato tart. The star of this was the potato tart. Yum. The spinach was also good. The sauce for the lamb was decent, but nothing special, as was the lamb. We also got the Alberta, Canada, duck breast with foie gras wild leek gravy on sage butternut squash custard and warm sald of cherry pheasant, caramelized apples and parsnip peelings. The duck breast was very good, though the sauce could have been more apparent. The squash custard was a bit flavorless, definitely less so than just whipped butternut squash with butter would have been (maybe that was there point, but if so, I don't get it). The salad was nice and the parsnip peelings were especially good; I'd like a bag of those fried parsnips. The best entree, easily (and we paid for it at $55), was the North Dakota buffalo filet with toasted pasilla cherry glaze on south of the border pozole pot roast with smoked crawfish enchilada and crispy squash blossom. Everything was excellent on the plate. The buffalo was easily the best I've had and I've had it at top places in Wyoming where they raise it, at Charlie Trotter's, and here at home. It was great with an excellent glaze. The pozole was a little rich for me, but it wasn't really a soup or even a side so much as something to extend the flavor of the buffalo and as that it was awesome. I wouldn't want to eat a bowl of it because of how rich it was, but in the amount they gave, it was probably perfect. Even the crawfish enchilada was very good, something I expected to disklike (not a big water bug fan). And the squash blossom was interesting and great tasting; I could eat a bag of those, too. We got a good mix of desserts. We got the creme brulee with raspberry sauce, which was probably one of the better brulees I've tasted. It was much creamier than most, not as custardy. Not something that wowed me, but quite good. We also got peach empenadadas with cinnamon ice cream in and on top of meringue; it also came with some sort of caramel corn and cherry sauce. Very good. The peaches in the empenadada were a little sour for me, but were still good. The cinnamon ice cream was very tasty and the caramel corn was a nice touch. Very good dessert. Our last dessert was the bananas foster with banana bread pudding and rum ice cream. The bananas foster was just so-so, I guess decent for what it was, but the banana bread pudding was really good, an excellent texture with good flavor, and the rum ice cream went perfectly and was wonderful. They finished our meal with petit fours: shortbread cookies, chocolate-covered candied orange zest, and dark chocolate truffles. All were good. I especially liked the chocolate-covered orange zest. The truffles were a little dark for me. The Mansion is a very good restaurant. I think Mobil is right to give it **** and judging from the one ***** restaurant I've been to, Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, I would say that it is not a ***** restaurant. (I will be going to two more in San Francisco next month, The French Laundry and Gary Danko's, and will be a better judge then.) The restaurant is beautiful, but a bit noisy. I don't know that the service is significantly above most high quality restaurants (unlike Trotter's, which had just phenomenal service right down to offering us a tour of the kitchen). Thu --- TAQUERIA LUPITA: This was my friend's favorite taqueria, though he hadn't been there in over a year. I would say it was mediocre at best. I got four tacos: carne asada, barbacoa, pollo, and carnitas. I would say that only the carne asada was decent and that the pollo was actually bad, quite dry. I also didn't like the chips or salsa. I also don't like the yellow corn tortillas for this sort of thing. Much prefer the white corn tortillas you get at the taco stands in Mexico (or here in Portland where I live). CUQUITA'S: Got two gorditas. Came with beans and rice. They also gave flour tortillas, chips, and salsa. The gorditas were pretty good. Like the crispy masa on the opening side. I got picadillo for one and guiso de puerco for the other. The picadillo wasn't very good. Just ground beef or pork with some peas or something. Not very flavorful. The puerco was quite tasty, though. The red sauce the pork was in was very good and the pork was juicy and tender. The beans and rice were mediocre. The salsas weren't very good, about supermarket quality. ABACUS: The first thing you notice is the chic design. When I found out later (reading an article on the opening of Jasper's that was submitted on Chowhound) that it was designed by a San Francisco design firm I could believe it. It's the type of interior people just don't spend the money for here in Portland. Quite noisy, too, which also reminded me of California restaurants. We did things a little differently this time between the three of us. One ordered two appetizers instead of an entree. So we essentially got 5 appetizers between us. We got cured king salmon nigiri off teh sushi menu. I didn't have any but it looked decent enough. But then, it's nigiri, there's not really much to it but the quality of the fish. We also got the spicy tomato soup with smoked chicken, shrimp, and sourdough croutons. Nice mixture of flavors. The shrimp really took this the extra step, too, adding a sweet meatiness to go with the spicy soup. It had all the elements I really enjoy in a soup: a solid flavorful base with a few contrasting flavors, in this case smoky and sweet meats, and then something to contrast the texture, in this case the crunchy croutons. Very nice. We also got the roast duck shiitake potstickers with lychee dipping suace. The potstickers were decent, but the lychee dipping sauce was the star and would have made most things good. Also got the soy grilled chicken spring rolls with thai basil and cashew dipping sauce. I thought they were decent, but nothing special, nothing more than I would expect at a decent Thai restaurant. And I've had better. Lastly, we got the ahi tuna tartare with ancho-orange puree and jalapeno-pepita potato chip. It sounds like more and better than what I tasted. But it wasn't my dish so maybe I missed something. It was decent tartare, but the texture was lacking. I would have expected it to be less mushy. And the flavors could have been more....flavorful. The entrees were pretty good, probably at least met my high expectations, though the sides were disappointing. We got the grilled pipestone pork tenderloin on truffle demi and chanterelle mushroom-potato hash. The pork was excellent -- well-seasoned, perfectly cooked. The hash was a good idea with a good mix of flavors, but the flavors just weren't strong enough. It needed more salt, for one thing, but also more seasoning (and remember, there's no salt on the table by default). The bacon and chanterelles were very good, but there needed to be more to kick up the flavors. We also got the wood grilled prime filet on red wine butter and portabella whippers. The meat, again, was cooked perfectly. It was tender and tasty. The portabella whippers, though, were weak. Needed more seasoning, again (everyone agreed on this, btw), and maybe more flavor (though it's hard to tell without adequate seasoning on a starch). The desserts might have been the best part of the meal and they certainly didn't skimp on presentation. We got the Valrhona chocolate and peanut butter tart which was quite tasty. We also got the chocolate taste with a chocolate pudding cake, rocky road ice cream sandwich, and a chocolate cherry malt. Very nice. My dessert, and I was so so very glad it was my dessert, was the "Jungle Fever". It came with coconut tempura bananas, crispy coconut ice cream, and pineapple caramel sauce. Yum. There's only one other place, a Thai restaurant in Eugene, Oregon, where I've had tempura bananas I truly loved, and this place exceeded those. The bananas were had a light, very crisp shell around them with the fried coconut shavings making the bananas look like some sort of spiny tropical fruit. They were ultra creamy inside and the texture contrast was fabulous. The coconut ice cream was really good, but what made it special was the crispiness that came from honey-coated puffed rice. The sauce was excellent as well and made everything better. After the meal we received some tasty truffles. I think Abacus is a very good restaurant. My friend said they were a little below par that night, but they were still quite good. The service was probably a little lacking, but it was adequate. It's probably a little too much of a "scene" for me, but it's a nice place with very good food. Fri --- LIBERTY NOODLES: We split three "Power Lunches" between us, had them served up family style. We started out with two appetizers, the chicken and curried potato fried dumplings and vegetable dumplings. Both were good, though everybody seemed to like the fried dumplings more. They were both good, but nothing special. Next we were given three soups. The first was a Japanese beef noodle soup (udon noodles). Excellent. The hearty noodles were perfect for the hearty broth and strong beef flavor. Lots of flavor. The meat wasn't just cooked and tossed in either. It had a lot of flavor. It was tender and tasty. It was my favorite of the soups, but just barely, all were so good. The next was a spicy duck soup in red curry. Again, the meat was cooked perfectly with more flavor than could be gotten just by cooking up some quality duck meat. The curry was very good and there were rice noodles in the soup. Very good. The last of the soups was a coconut chicken curry soup. More sweet than the duck soup but still with lots of flavor. I only liked the duck soup more because of the duck vs chicken. I could have had three courses of just the curry soups. By far the best part of the meal, imo. For the entrees, we were given three stir fries. We got a shrimp pad thai that was pretty weak and probably the weakest dish of the whole meal. Kind of an interesting flavor, but just too much of it. There were just two large shrimp and not much else but noodles in the dish. We didn't even get close to finishing it and no one wanted to take it home. The other two stir fries were much better, though I can't remember them as well (great, I remember the crappy food). One was a spicy chicken and noodle stir fry. The other was a chicken and sausage stir fry. The sausage were....different. In a good way, I think. Added a sweetness. Both were decent, though like the appetizers, nothing special. For dessert we made a request (the people I went with had been there many times): ice cream. Apparently they often serve a trio of ice creams, coconut, chocolate, and green tea, that they all love. They were out of coconut, unfortunately, and instead gave us strawberry, which no one really ate. The green tea ice cream was excellent though and made me wish, even more, they had had the coconut ice cream. Good place with decent prices and great portions, though the service is very, very slow. The two people I went with who'd been there a lot were pretty disappointed that we didn't get a salad for an appetizer or a curry for an entree. I think every dish was good, though, except maybe the pad thai (and the strawberry ice cream just didn't go with the rest). By far, the best things were the soups, though, every one of them was excellent. TAJ MAHAL IMPORTS: Indian market up north of Dallas, Richardson area. Quite large with dal and spices galore, interesting bagged snacks, a chaat window in the back, and a large counter of sweets. Got some ice creams, one called chikoo or something like that that was very interesting. Another had cashew and raisin and some other flavor. And one was another flavor, more sweet, I couldn't identify. They were in little cartons in a freezer in the back. Lots of unique flavors. The ice cream itself wasn't good, but the flavorings were. I'd like to have a recipe for the flavorings so I could make my own ice creams here at home. We also got some sweets, a variety of things that I have no idea what they were. But a lot of them were good. Lots of mixtures of savory and sweet flavors. The pastry part of the sweets was low-grade, but many of the flavorings, again, were good. FUNASIA: Went and checked this place out, though they weren't serving food at the time. Looks awesome. There weren't many people there at the time. I hope they stay alive for the next time I come down to Dallas. Huge banquet hall. I imagine they'll get some Indian weddings. I do wonder if the movies they show have subtitles. It'd be nice for us non-Indians. THE TASTING ROOM AT LOLA: 15 courses (actually 16, I'll get to that later) and the best way to handle it is probably just to take them one at a time. Cool cucumber soup with peeky toe crab and salad burnet: Probably my least favorite of the dishes, which is good that it was first. It was still decent and I think that anyone who likes crab (it's possibly my least favorite flavor in the world) would have liked it. The crab flavor really wasn't very strong and I drank all mine. (It was served in a little, tall cup.) The cucumber soup was nice and refreshing. A nice subtle way to open a dinner. The crab was really mainly present in its aroma and as a flavor after the cucumber nectar left your tongue. Amazing how deep green and thin the soup was. I wonder what they used to keep it so green. Usually I use cilantro. Winterpoint oyster with champagne mignonette and horseradish: Not a fan of oysters (or most shellfish), but this was nice. No off taste whatsoever. It was served in shell and the horseradish flavor was subtle but nice. Scottish salmon tartare and sevurga caviar with sorrel and meyer lemon dressing: Another nice seafood dish, something that I wouldn't be inclined to like, but did. Better than the tuna tartare at Abacus the night before. The caviar added a nice saltiness and was balanced perfectly. Salad of red and yellow beets with bacon and horseradish foam: This was the first course that really made me go wow. Not only the flavors, but the presentation. You had these alternating stacks of half-dollar-sized yellow and red beet slices with a walnut mousse on top (not listed on the menu). Off to the side there were dots of red beet reduction, a little pile of minced bacon, and some foamy horseradish flavored liquid. There were red micro beet "greens", I believe, also. It was a perfectly balanced dish with surprising flavors. You got that sweet beety flavor with the firm texture contrasting the nutty, creamy mousse. Then the bacon added a salty-sweet element and the horseradish foam gave it a high note. Excellent. Truly excellent. Butter poached turbot with potato and oyster gratin and asparagus veloute: Only now, reading back through the menu, do I realize why I was so impressed with the potato gratin. It tasted good, essentially a small dollup of mashed potatoes with a layer of crispy, salty flavors on top. I thought it was just bread crumbs or something with interesting seasoning. Now I realize it was some sort of oyster concoction and I understand why I couldn't figure out what those flavors were. All I knew then was that it was good. The fish was good as well. The sauce could have had a little more flavor, but it was tasty and had a nice light green appearance giving color to an otherwise colorless course. Crispy skin loup de mer with butter braised baby fennel and parsley puree: Here's a dish, like the cucumber soup, that didn't fit my palate well, but I admired a lot. The fish, especially with the skin, was just too fishy for me. My mother would have loved the flavor, but not me. I did love the texture, though. How they got that skin so light and crispy I do not know, but it was perfect. It made me wish I liked that fish flavor. The fennel, however, was excellent, and actually had the effect of balancing out the fish quite well, so much so that when I ate the two together I could finish the fish, if it didn't have the skin, and enjoy it. Sauteed skate wing with fondant, turnip, spinach and salcornia beurre noisette: Yum, this skate wing was good. The butter sauce was excellent and the spinach more interesting than normal spinach. A nice flavor. Again, well-balanced. Risotto with littleneck clams, butter, and chives: A little over salted, but the texture was dead on. Not too soupy and with a decent bite. The flavor was quite good, too. The clams didn't do too much for the dish, I don't think, but it was nice to find something meaty at the bottom of the little pile of green-specked, milk-white risotto. Roasted quail with a ragout of pancetta, pearl onions, and sugar snap peas: The quail was a tiny bit overdone. It wasn't dry, just a tiny bit tougher than it could have been. But the sauce -- oh the sauce -- what a wonderful sauce. Salty, smoky, sweet with the crispy pancetta and the small peas that popped in your mouth as you bit down releasing their sweet goodness. Great. Nice colors, too, with the red-brown sauce and the green peas. Veal cheek, braised in milk with polenta and a broccoli puree: Another great course. They felt like they just kept getting better. The sauce on the last one was excellent, but on this one everything was excellent. The veal cheek met my palate perfectly. It was like the most tender and juicy pot roast you can imagine glazed in a rich, meaty sauce. The polenta was like a creamy micro-muffin with a quenelle of green broccoli puree next to it. You could eat each separately and be happy, or could mix and match any of them in the same bite and bring the flavors to a new level. Truly fabulous. Perfectly balanced, perfectly executed. Loin of colorado lamb en persillade with braised artichokes: Another excellently balanced dish. I don't know how they seared the little piece of lamb so perfectly. It was medium-rare with no blood throughout from about a 1/4" inch from the side straight through. Then you have the persillade on top adding texture, saltiness, and flavor. The artichokes were good as well, with some sort of creamy dressing, possibly a mayonnaise-lemon mixture. I was surprised how well it went with the lamb. Seared Hudson Valley foie gras with poached cherries and pain au lait: Okay, along with the beets, this is probably the dish I will remember 30 years from now. I've had foie gras at nice restaurants. Never liked it. This course makes me want to order foie gras in the future even though in less adept hands it will probably suck. You had a little silver dollar-sized toast layer, thin and crunchy. Then the seared foie gras. Off to the side was the cherries, so red and delightful. When you put all three together it was bliss: crunchy toast, rich, meaty foie gras, sweet and sour cherries. The cherries dominated the flavor with the foie gras adding richness and a hint of that liver flavor. The pan au lait was all about texture. Perfect. This is one I'll imitate whenever I get whole duck and am thinking of what I can do to the liver. Goat brie with cider-glazed cippolini onions and micro cress: I only sort of remember this course, probably because it was packed between so many great courses. I do remember the onions for some reason. I really enjoyed that tangy sweetness with them. Buttermilk panna cotta with rhubarb and black pepper tuille: Panna cotta usually bores me. But this had a wonderful flavor. But again, it was about the balance of flavors. I could have eaten the panna cotta by itself and been pleased, maybe with some berries or something. But the rhubarb, still crispy, with its tang gave both a perfect flavor and texture contrast to the panna cotta (plus the red on the white). Then you had the crunchy, peppery tuile on top. All were great together. This gave life to panna cotta. Chocolate fondant with almonds, fleur de sel, and caramel: I have to admit. This one was about as perfect a match for my dessert palate as they could have picked. But it wasn't just that. It was excellent. It was the little things that made it transcend your typical turtle flavors at a fine restaurant. The salt, for instance, "kicked-up" the chocolate and caramel. There were cacao nibs with the almonds that added depth. And the balance and execution was perfect again. What a finish! Petit Fours: 9 little jelly candies in 3 flavors. Tasted like maybe grapefruit, cantaloupe, and watermelon or something like that. Good for what they were and a good after dinner finish. Now, what was it Doc said? "Why am I not there now?" Oh, how I agree. I am so glad that we were looking for another dinner and happened upon Doc's recommendation. This was easily my favorite meal of the trip. Not only was it a great value with 15 courses for $65, but each course was excellent, not a mediocre one in the bunch, imo. Honestly, this may be the best meal I've had on any of my food trips yet, including places like Charlie Trotter's. If French Laundry tops this in San Francisco next month, my belly is going to be quite happy. The place is nice, too. In contrast to the noisy Lola in the other room, this place let you talk in a near whisper if you wished. I never felt like the people at other tables were eaves-dropping either. It was an elegant room served very well by only one waiter. There are only 8 tables total and they only serve one dinner per table per night, so only 3 or 4 tables had people while we were there and my water staid pretty much full the entire time, and if my bread was gone, I was soon asked if I'd like another (and they had nice breads). The waiter was pleasant and willing to serve. He answered annoying foodie questions from me with aptitude. Even though neither me nor my co-foodie drink, our dishes were perfectly timed. I never wondered where the next one was and I never felt like I was holding them up. They came out regularly and quickly. Quite impressive, really. And then to top it off, when we were finished the waiter asked if there was anything else, yadda, yadda, yadda, and we told him we were just joking about wishing we had another of that last dessert. He promptly headed off into the kitchen. We figured, cool, we're going to get to split another dessert. When we went to Trotter's in Chicago, we joked with our captain (still the best service ever) that we wish we had 80 more of the little truffles they served at the end of the meal. He promptly returned with 30, saying sorry he couldn't give us 80 but that's all he had. And that's the level of service we got. A few minutes later, our waiter returned from the kitchen with not one, but two desserts, one for each of us, still impeccably presented, still the same portion. And they were excellent (and that guy got a $40 tip for a $130 meal). And like I said, that's the best meal I've had, maybe ever. One more thing: no jacket required, which is a real bonus in my book. Hell, I even had my polo shirt inside out until halfway through dinner when my friend pointed it out to me. (Maybe the food was so good it knocked me for a loop and the shirt ended up inside out.) My real worry is that the next time I come down either it will not have gotten enough business or it will have gotten so much business they jack up the prices, or worse, expand and lower quality in the pursuit of quantity. So, my suggestion is get a reservation while you can. They overhaul the menu every 3 weeks, btw. Sat --- THE MOZZARELLA COMPANY: We actually went in Friday afternoon also, but my friend's favorite person manning the counter wasn't there and it just wasn't the same. Definitely go in Saturdays when she's there (I wish I could remember her name). She really enjoys every cheese and wants you to enjoy them, too. It's cool to be able to see the people making the cheese as you're tasting it. Some of my favorites: smoked mozzarella, queso oaxaca, chile caciotta, mexican marigold mint caciotta, cow and goat's milk fetas, queso blanco, and the chevre (I think they just call it fresh goat cheese). They also make pizzas taht you can buy frozen and they looked quite good. Also sell their own butter and creme fraiche. Very cool. I'll be bugging a couple markets that buy specialty cheeses here in Portland to try them out. THE FARMER'S MARKET: A decent-sized market with a very different style from the ones I'm used to here in Portland. Here, they require the vendors to be from local farms if they're selling raw goods. And the other vendors, those who are selling cooked foods, flowers, crafts, etc, must be local as well. Thus, there's a lot more diversity in our farmer's markets. A lot of stuff you wouldn't find in the supermarkets, too, like heirloom vegetables, wild mushrooms of all kinds, etc. A lot of it is organic. That sort of thing. However, you'd often find better prices on many items in the supermarkets. There's not the competition between the vendors because not as many are selling the same items. Most everyone in the Dallas farmer's market is selling similar sets of items and few of them are things you wouldn't find at the supermarket. But the prices were great and I'd say the average quality was above the supermarket, especially on things that were especially in season, like peaches. And everyone's willing to give you a taste. There are tons of vendors, too, so you can price compare and haggle. I think it's something I'd definitely take advantage of it if I lived in Dallas, but I don't know that the term "farmer's market" applies as well as it does here. KUBY'S: A very cool meat market. The focus here seems to be on the deli meats and sausages, although they did have some nice beef, including USDA prime, in the back. I tried a bunch of things, including the bloodwurst, andouille, polish sausage, and several dry salamis and beef sticks. It was all good. A great place for anyone on the Atkin's diet. You'd never go hungry here. BUBBA'S: Mmmm. Chicken tenders. The sides were fine -- crisp, lemon-pepper-seasoned fries, hot rolls with honey, mashed potatoes and cream gravy. All good. But those chicken tenders are fantastic. Tender and juicy with a nice light crispness on the outside. If McDonald's or Burger King had food like that I might eat cheap a lot more. HOLY SMOKES: Had to get some bbq while I was down here. I went on a bbq binge in Portland before I came down trying all the best places so that I could adequately prepare. The friend I was visiting thinks Holy Smokes is the most consistent all around in Dallas, liking other places better for somethings, but overall enjoying this place best. I can see why. Only one item disappointed, the beef brisket. It had a nice flavor but was dry. The ribs were nice and tender and juicy with a good dry rub. The sausage was very good as well. The best thing there, though, was the pulled pork. I think I can almost stil taste it. They also had good sides including the baked beans with sausage and the southern potatoes with bacon and cheese. Apparently they have a mountain of ribs you can eat called something like the Aporkalypse. If you eat it all you get your picture on the wall. Next time I'm down, you'll be able to see my picture (if I can fit in the frame afterwards). SONNY BRYAN'S: My friend's not too keen on Sonny Bryan's but I wanted to try it since it always makes national bbq lists. I can see why he's not too keen on it. It was just okay. I got the ribs and sausage and onion rings. The onion rings were good (though they could use some seasoning). We have a place here in Portland, Ringside Steakhouse, that makes similar ones. But neither the ribs nor the sausage was in the same league with that at Holy Smokes. And it was a far cry from a couple of the bbq places my friend took me the last time I visited, including The Salt Lick, which, though it has its detractors, is still the best bbq I've ever eaten even on its bad days. The funky little schoolhouse shack (yes, I did go to the original) is kind of cool, but that's no substitute for good ribs. THE FRENCH ROOM: Thank goodness I ate a lot that day because this turned out to be the worst meal, easily, and the only one that wasn't good overall. There were three of us and one got the chef's menu, one the vegetarian tasting menu, and one ordered off the regular menu. I'll go through them by meal rather than course. First, though, I guess I should mention the "courses" we shared -- the amuse, the palate cleanser, and the petit fours. The amuse was a glass with cranberry and apple jello layers, then a layer of almonds, and then a layer of foie gras. Proof that foie gras is only good when handled with skill, because here it failed. On top of the whole thing was a thin layer of cream. It wasn't a good way to start. Halfway through we received a nice sorbet, an orange-grapefruit sorbet that was good and effective. With the check, we were given some nice little treats including a pistachio-amaretto truffle, a ginger cookie, a shortbread cookie, a white chocolate candy of some sort, a peanut butter chocolate, a dark chocolate truffle, and a marbled chocolate with banana cream inside. They were all pretty good. The Chef's Menu was the worst of the three, imo. It only had one good course, I thought, the first one. It was smoked rabbit loin with fresh herb mascarpone cheese ravioli and rosemary garlic sauce. It was tasty. Nothing spectacular, but tasty. Following that was a chilled spring vegetable terrine with a carrot-ginger gelee and a caviar lobster salad. Yuck. No one liked the terrine. Maybe we just don't have sophisitcated enough palates (but lets face it, vegetable aspic in large amounts is kind of gross). The vegetables inside were okay, but just cold vegetables. There wasn't any real cohesion or interesting flavors. The salad, what there was of it, was decent according to the person who ate it. Next was a duo of ahi tuna and salmon, sauteed spinach with horseradish whipped potatoes and an ugly ripe tomato coulis as a sauce for the salmon. This was decent, but kind of lacking. The potatoes and spinach were good enough and the salmon was fine, though the sauce didn't really add anything to the dish, imo. It was just sort of there. And the tuna was without a sauce or much seasoning, just sort of sitting there seared. Next was a lame cheese course with crackers from a package and slices of three good-enough cheeses just laying on a plate. Not exactly like the cheese course at Tru in Chicago where they wheel a cart in with about 30 different cheeses ordered in rows of goat, cow, and sheep, aligned from least pungent to most pungent, with the optional apple slices, housemade crackers, etc, to eat them with. Even one of the mediocre French places here in Portland would have added some fruit and maybe nuts. The chef's menu finished with a spumoni semifreddo with pistachio cream sauce. I thought it was mediocre without much flavor, and too much of the rather flavorless semifreddo in relation to other possible flavors. The vegetarian tasting menu was next in quality, imo. It began with its best course as well: sauteed cremini mushrooms, barley, japanese eggplant in a little won-ton shell with red pepper coulis and a parmesan crisp. The little salad was good, but the red pepper coulis made this dish. The parmesan chip was nice too and added a needed salty element. Next was a salad of baby arugula, hearts of palm, haricot vert, tomatoes, with champagne lemon caper vinaigrette. This was decent. No where near the first course, but decent. It had a nice presentation, too, with a disk of overlapping tomatoes as the base. Next was a kalamata-onion potato tart, carrot puree, baby bok choy, root vegetables, and warm tarragon red onion olive oil. Essentially this was crispy fried hash browns with some sauteed root vegetables and a couple sauces. The sauces needed more punch, especially when they're supposed to lend flavor to a starch. The most disappointing course was the dessert. It was also the course I was most looking forward to on the vegetarian menu. It was a frozen cheesecake mousse with cranberry-orange compote and citrus sugar cookie crust. The sauce was decent, but the frozen mousse was bad. It was like frozen cool whip, that kind of flavor, too. And there was so much of it in comparison to the compote. The compote probably should have been a topping flowing over the sides to balance out the flavorless but creamy frozen mousse. The best of the dinners went to the person that chose her own three courses. First was a sweet spring english pea soup with mint and rock shrimp dumpling. It was a tasty soup. Not spectacular, but tasty. Next was the provini tenderloin of veal, french goat cheese polenta, roasted cipollini onions, and a peppery morel cabernet sauce. The veal was nicely cooked and tender. The sauce was very good. The morels seemed to be infused with meat stock and the sauce added bright and deep flavors with a strong peppery element as well. The polenta was tasty and creamy. It all went together nicely. Definitely the best course of all the courses. A french Valrhona guanaja hot chocolate cake followed with vanilla bean ice cream and roaste pineapple sauce. Easily the best dessert of the three. A very good dessert. Not great, but very good. I made sure I had a taste of this one last because the other two desserts sucked. Two of the three dinners weren't very good and they had the bulk of the courses. So overall, the dinner wasn't very good. I would feel confident randomly choosing courses off any of the top restaurants in Portland and doing better. (I'd be willing to do the same at Abacus or Mansion and feel confident I'd come up with better food than at The French Room.) It's an immaculate room, but the food and service don't match. btw, the service was another very weak point. First of all, we had to wait 20-30 minutes before being seated. Then when seated we were rushed through ordering. Then our captain obviously wasn't as familiar with the dishes as she should have been, saying the wrong ingredients and even forgetting entirely what a dish was and giving courses to the wrong people. Also, when I went to the bathroom no one showed me where it was. This is something that often doesn't matter to me at a restaurant but is just a nicety (something they did do at Lola). But at the French Room, the bathroom is way out in the lobby. I had a hard time finding it from the directions the waiter gave. And it wasn't that nice of a bathroom, either. Overall, very disappointing. Lucky for them I wasn't in charge of the tip. Sun --- ZAGUAN: This is a cool place. Makes even me want breakfast. Had the cachapa, which I'm going to have to learn how to make. Sweet, moist corn crepe with rich shredded meat inside. Yum. Lots of other things looked good to me, including churros that reminded me of ones I've had in Mexico City's El Morro and fresh juices. CIUDAD: Had brunch here. I wish they had more of their dinner items since I'm not much of a breakfast person, but it was still a good way to introduce myself to their food. Had the duck flautas, which I didn't think were that good (though they did come with the nice omni-present fruit pico), and the beef in red mole omelette, which was pretty good. The flautas were burnt, but I didn't think the insides were very tasty either. The red mole was tasty and the beef nice and tender. It also came with a creamier sauce that reminded me of a enchilada sauce I sometimes make with pepitas. Pretty good. Had desserts, too. Had the corn cake with fruit pico, rum ice cream, and fruit sauce. Also had the warm cookie pudding cake with a cream and fruit sauce and cajeta. I preferred the former dessert, but my friend preferred the latter. Both were good, though, I just thought the corn cake had a lot more flavor and a lot more interesting flavor. The latter could have also used a lot more cajeta. CUBA LIBRE: Had lunch here. Not really what I think of as authentic Cuban, but it's still good food with good portions. We had a pressed pollo noche, a pressed, grilled sandwich with jerk-seasoned chicken, pork asado, and melted cheese. It came with seasoned fries. The sandwich was tasty and the fries were very good, crispy and well-seasoned with an interesting seasoning. We also had an order of two tacos, the pork asado taco and the portabella taco. It came with beans and rice. The portabella taco was decent enough, but nothing too interesting. The pork asado was very good though and that made the taco very good. The beans and rice were just mediocre.

The folly is in trying to define southern food as something wholly distinct. No cuisine is. Cuisines have a history and a life, an interaction with other cuisines. They move from place to place just like people and cultures. Is a Japanese person no longer Japanese when they move to the US? To some extent, but they don't just lose their identity either. It's an organic process. Cuisines, dishes, foods are not ones and zeros. But having said that, it's still useful to talk about southern food, what is southern food, how it is different from and similar to soul food. How it changes from region to region. How Northerners have interepreted it. Etc. Southern food as a meaningful definition exists (it can never be more than a human construct). We know this because we use the damn thing all the time. "That's some good southern fried chicken!" "That place with the collard greens and sweet potato pie was the best southern food I've ever had." Etc. Don't try to come up with some formula for what is southern food. It won't work. Just see what people in the south eat and what people refer to when they say "southern food". That's what it is -- for now.

This is a common dish at restaurants in Guadalajara and Jalisco. Can be really great. My wife had an awesome one at a fabulous restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. Nopales (cactus paddle) should be available at most big grocery stores down there, I would think. At least if they have any Mexican clientelle at all. They're really easy to cook and prepare, just cut off those spikes. Add a nice sour asparagus flavor or something like that to dishes. Excellent with beef, imo. You should go to Oakland near the fruitvale area for some great Mexican. Here's a report on two places there: LA GRAN CHIQUITA: A Chowhound find that paid off well enough. Had tacos de molleja (gizzards, I think) and cabeza (head or cheek). Both okay, but nothing special. Only the salsa roja was decent here. Also had a quesadilla de huitilacoche. Needed something to kick up the flavors of the huitilacoche, but the tortilla was fabulous. It was better than many of the best I’ve had in Mexico. I would have liked to try the squash blossom. Note: speaking a little Spanish will help here. LA TORTA LOCA: This place rocks. Another Chowhound find. Funky little place connected to a laundry-mat. Great food, though. Started with a huarache de tinga. Huaraches are one of my favorite street foods. I love the thick masa tortillas covered with cheese, salsa, and meat like an authentic Mexican pizza. And this one was excellent. The tinga, stewed pork, was spicy and tender with a nice deep, rounded flavor like all slow foods should have. The salsa verde was nice and the cheese was nice. Based on the strength of this we got a taco de carnitas, my litmus test for taquerias. It came with cilantro, crema, tomato, pickled carrots, and salsa roja. Very good. The meat was good alone and the taco was good as a whole. This is a great little place and even though I usually prefer trying new places, I’d have a hard time not trying everything on the menu here before moving on. I imagine this should be the gold-standard for taquerias in the Bay Area.

Adding an old Chowhound report to the egullet mix. Hope it helps: THE FRENCH LAUNDRY: Had to ask directions of possibly the most tired man in the world cycling over the mountain between Santa Rosa and Napa. I’m glad it was a rental car because I think I left tire pieces going around the turns on that road to make our reservation. I felt like I was entering a French country home with its pleasant garden area and wood exterior. It had more in common with Chez Panisse style-wise than any of the other places on our visit. I love the stone nook on the lower floor and I wish I could eat either there or upstairs if I ever return. We were seated promptly and the food-orgy began: Coronet of salmon tartare with crème fraiche and sesame cone: The signature dish that most everyone has heard of by now. It lives up to the hype. I think the salmon could have a little more flavor (maybe smoked salmon would be better), but I enjoyed it nonetheless. You go from the meaty salmon, to the creamy crème, to the crispy and nutty sesame. Clever and tasty; should be the definition of an amuse bouche. Cauliflower panna cotta, bagaduce oyster glaze, and Iranian osetra caviar: What a simple but interesting dish. The panna cotta was creamy but had that unique cauliflower essence that worked so well with the salty caviar and intense oyster glaze. Salad of Hawaiian Hearts of Palm and Garden Radishes with Black Truffle Syrup: This was probably the only failure on the menu. Not offensive or inedible just so plain and flavorless I think it deserves to be called a failure. The sauce added sweetness but imparted little if any truffle flavor. Both the radish and heart of palm were very bland. Sauteed filet of Hawaiian moi crushed marble potatoes, melted leeks, and spring onion soubise: A very nice dish reminiscent of potato-leek soup topped with crispy-skinned fish. Good texture balance. On top of the fish was a quenelle of sautéed leeks that were melt in your mouth wonderful. Sweet butter poached lobster with braised lobster mushrooms, fennel bulb, garden tarragon and verjus: Extremely tender lobster and just a fabulous sauce. So packed with rich flavors -- creamy, sweet, and earthy. One of those seemingly simple dishes where you have to ask for extra bread to sop up every last bit on the plate. Fruitwood smoked salmon tiede, russet potato gnocchi, marinated cucumber, and Iranian osetra caviar: Scott’s substitution for the lobster. It came so that you could pile everything on triangles of toast. Well-balanced, I wish I could have tasted it with the toast. I think that texture addition would be nice. Un paquet de rillettes de lapin, confit of santa rosa plums, and roasted Belgian endive: Both Scott and I took a taste of the meat and said, “Rabbit carnitas!” And it was. A medallion of rabbit carnitas, rich and salty, beside the tangy plums and the bitter endive. There was some fennel, too, I believe. The bitter elements were a little too much so, but it could be balanced with the plums. More plums would have been nice since it was so useful in cutting the bitterness and the richness of the dish. Excellent. Grilled Snake River Ranch calotte de boeuf served with white corn, summer pole beans, applewood smoked bacon lardoons, and bordelaise mignonette: A straight-forward dish that would have been at home served from the kitchen of Chez Panisse. It was about the ingredients and they were perfect. Cheese: An extremely cool presentation with a slice of cheese (a cow’s milk from the pyranees), dots of a thick balsamic in the shape of a checkmark, and a column of tiny little sticks of zucchini and san marzanos where the walls of the columns were slices of the summer squash. Very good balance between the flavors getting two characters of sweet and tart with the tomatoes and balsamic. Apricot sorbet with toasted almond financier: Almonds and apricot always go together. Intense apricot flavor. Crème brulee: Just a very small one with a slightly overburnt brulee. Corn pot de crème: Like eating cold corn butter, silky, rich, and sweet. Great little dessert. Valrhona chocolate velours with a Vermont maple syrup custard and maple anglaise: Probably my favorite chocolate dessert of the trip, though we didn’t have many. Creamy innards and mapley sauce. Yum. Cool presentation with a white dollup on top with a flake of gold in the center like a huge all-seeing eye. “Arms” of chocolate strands extended from the “body” of the dessert. Mignardises: We received several little desserts including a chocolate tartlet, a blueberry and whipped cream on a little pastry, a passion fruit gelee tartlet, and a cinnamon sugar cookie. Little blueberry thing was good partially because the blueberry was so perfectly ripe. The passion fruit thing was very intense. Along with these petit fours, we also got two “little macs”. Shaped like little hamburgers, the “macs” had “buns” of puffy caramel sandwiching macaroon and chocolate. I loved them. After the strength of the main dessert and the mignardises -- plus the fact that the desserts all sounded great -- we decided to order three more: Apricot tart a l’ancienne with thyme ice cream and apricot marmelade: I often order desserts like this based entirely on ice cream. The dessert was good in itself but the ice cream made it special. It did have an excellent presentation with a long, narrow flaky pastry (the “tart”) down one side The other elements were placed in rows parallel to the “tart”. Edible flowers garnished as did candied nuts. Sweet polenta cake, tellicherry pepper-scented blackberry compote, blackberry sorbet, and yogurt foam: Really powerful flavors, nice brightness tempered by the other pieces of the dessert. Scott will have to tell you more because this thing disappeared. Coffee and doughnuts: Coffee semifreddo in an espresso cup topped with whipped cream served with doughnut holes. Another clever concept executed perfectly. The semifreddo was very good and I enjoyed “dipping” the doughnuts in the “coffee”. Conclusion: Possibly the best meal I’ve ever had. I think I like Inn at Little Washington slightly better because of slightly better service and a more interesting interior (way cool bathrooms). But that’s it (and I think FL varies their menu a lot more). There’s a place in Dallas, the Tasting Room at Lola, a 16 course meal for $65 with a menu that changes every 3 weeks, that is competitive for food and a much better value, but it’s not near the restaurant as a whole that The French Laundry is. Easily the best service of the trip here. Course timing was excellent, the whole thing, with extra desserts, taking just over 2 hours. They also gave us a tour of the kitchen even though the waiter said he’s gotten in trouble for it before. He even took our picture in the kitchen. Also, our waiter *offered* the coffee and doughnuts to us even though it wasn’t on the menu. Lots of nice little touches. They also had the best bread of the trip. Two excellent breads very competitive with the quality at Acme, plus two very good butters. They paid attention to details here. Sure, it’s expensive, but at The French Laundry you get what you pay for. Clever dishes that didn’t feel pretentious, but just like the chef was enjoying what he does. Swap out the hearts of palm and it would have been a perfect meal. btw, best set of desserts and sweets I've ever had. Every one was a winner.

Another ported Chowhound report. Hope it helps (by US standards): MASA’S: Probably like many, especially outside of SF, I came to know Masa’s as much because of Siegel’s appearance on Iron Chef as because of their reputation. So I had mixed expectations about Masa’s. And after Fifth Floor, my expectations were in one sense pessimistic -- in that some had stated clearly on Chowhound that Masa’s was nothing special -- and in one sense optimistic because how could I have a much worse experience than Fifth Floor at this price point. Scott and I both got the chef’s nine course tasting menu. One very nice thing about two people getting the tasting menu at Masa’s is that each gets totally different dishes. With four people, only two get different dishes. No tasting advantage for four people. Since they don’t have anything written out for the chef’s menu, I’ll be going almost purely by my notes. Here was our meal: Amuse of chilled asparagus soup: It had a slight lemony flavor and was simple but tasty. Amuse of salmon carpaccio: It had micro greens and lemon oil inside. You tasted the cool salmon. One of the best amuses of the trip. Chilled corn soup with lobster tartare and crème fraiche: Very intense corn flavor. Lobster added a nice sweet meaty flavor and there probably could have been more of it. But the star was the corn. Tomato basil consumme: This had a nice fresh and light tomato flavor with golden heirloom tomato halves providing a nice bitter of tartness to wake up the flavors. Kampachi carpaccio: This had a nice little ginger-orange sauce, micro-greens, little shreds of radish, and wasabi. Just a touch of wasabi, which nicely kicked up the flavor of the tuna. The radish didn’t do anything to the dish, just garnish. Soft shell crab with mango and cucumber: The main thing I remember is the disgusting presentation that probably makes most of your mouths water. Half a crab, dipped and fried, legs dangling. Yuck. I think they may have stuffed it with something, because it was very creamy inside. Monkfish with clams: The monkfish was cooked just right, tender but firm. The thing that made this dish so good was the very simple sauce which was primarily clam jus, chives, and white beans of some sort. Sea bass with pesto: This came on a pile of ratatouille and yellow pepper puree. This was like eating a great Italian meat dish. This really was an excellent dish. It doesn’t jump out in my mind when I think back to the trip as a whole, but when I think about it, it’s one of the few dishes I can truly still remember the taste of and remember enjoying and feeling a little surprised at the flavors. Balance in dishes -- of all aspects, flavors, colors, textures -- is what often ends up being most important to me. It’s what I focus on when I cook. This dish had balance. A nice meaty fish with that herby pesto crust on top of the summer squash and tomato ratatouille providing both sweetness and depth, then the pepper puree below all adding brilliant color, creaminess, and that unique pepper flavor. Looking back over the menus and notes right now, this may have been my favorite seafood dish of the trip. Danko had a fish dish I liked a lot as well with an Indian or African flavored crust. But it’s close. Lobster with sliced truffles and lobster cream sauce: The lobster cream sauce and lobster here were great. The slices of truffle on top and the fava beans didn’t do anything, I don’t think. King salmon with spicy carrot sauce: I have to say, carrots were used quite well on this trip and this was an excellent example. The salmon was cooked just how I like it, medium rare. I’m not a big salmon fan, but good quality, medium rare salmon I like. It came with baby bok choy and red torpedo onions as well. But the star was the sauce. I need to experiment with carrots more. They add brilliant color and have wonderful flavor. I’m always glad when a meal teaches me how great ingredients can be. Cold cured foie gras: This came with honey-lavendar peach jam, pursilane and almonds, and gewürztraminer gelee. I’m not a fan of cold foie gras, but this was excellent. Great flavor balance and really interesting. I loved each part individually and even moreso together. Seared foie gras: Served with poached apricots, bing cherries, and croutons. This was a perfect foie gras dish for my palate, all these Northwest flavors. Duck breast with pickled cherries: A good dish that was a bit overpowered by the all-too-bitter daikon. Luckily you could control the amount of daikon yourself. There were also snap peas and a duck jus. A nice range of sweet flavors with a little tartness from the cherries and some depth from the jus. Squab with liver mousse: This came with a sautee of applewood-smoked bacon, morels, and corn finished with a squab reduction. A little too much liver mousse on the squab. A little went a long ways. More bacon would have been in order, but when isn’t *that* true? Ribeye with bordelaise sauce: This also came with fingerling potatoes and mushrooms and was topped by a pieced of crispy, fried marrow. The marrow was wow. Way wow. I just wish there was more of it. So light and crunchy on the outside with that deep meaty flavor but creamy texture inside. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. The ribeye was good, but maybe needed a little more cooking due to its cut having so much fat. The sauce on this was also very good and cut through the richness of the dish. Filet of beef with bordelaise sauce: Also served with butter beans, asparagus, and morels with garlic. Mmm, morels with garlic. I have three exclamation marks in my notes next to those words. Cheese: Masa’s has a great cheese cart. We tried tons of cheeses, too many to name. Needless to say my hands *wreaked* when I got done, especially after handling the double-cream (Scott has told me it’s gross to make a bellybutton lint reference, here so I won’t). The two standouts were a half sheep, half cow’s milk cheese from England and a chevre called kiku, I believe. I think Cowgirl Creamery sells it. Apple sorbet: It was like eating the chilled essence of a golden delicious. Being an Oregonian and growing up in the country where everyone has apple and pear trees in their yards, I know apples. Without hearing the type of apple, I knew instantly, but it was like eating the best of the best golden delicious in little scoops. It was paired with a spiced apple gelee which added some nice savory notes. Great! Passion fruit sorbet: Next to the apple sorbet I can barely remember it, though I’m sure it was good. It came with chilled melon soup. Bananas in spiced lime-rum sauce: Served with crème fraiche ice cream in a fried won-ton cup and macadamia nuts. The cup needed to be sugared and spiced, but the bananas and rum sauce were good. The nuts made an appreciable difference. I think the ice cream’s flavor couldn’t hold up to the rest of the dish, though. Ginger ice cream might have been better. Pina Colada: Pineapple sorbet, coconut milk foam, citrus meringue, and pearl tapioca in a tropical drink glass with a pineapple-shaped tuille. Also had some sort of lemon or lime gelee. Trifles aren’t my thing. It tasted fine, but neither of the desserts rocked my world. Sour dough chocolate cake: Because neither of the desserts rocked our worlds and because my friend is a chocoholic, we ordered another dessert. We had seen it on the six course menu. It came with a cherry and red chile ganache center and cherry sherbet. Scott complained a bit about the sherbet: Why sherbet and not ice cream with cake? I can see his point and it’s a quibble that would arise at Danko and French Laundry. Still a great dessert. Mignardises: Easily the best mignardises selection of the trip and it rivaled the one at Chicago’s Tru by Gayle Gand (though that one still beats Masa’s). Great little desserts most of which were quite flavorful. They even came around twice for us and we probably tried about everything on there and there must have been 30 items. An apple-cream cake was a standout, as were most of the chocolates. I also, surprisingly, really liked their jelly candies. Conclusion: I like the format a lot. I’m impressed that they don’t just take dishes off the normal menus and put together a chef’s tasting menu from that. And they gave us 18+ distinct courses, most of which were distinct from any other menu. Impressive. I like the room with its dark walls, bronze statue, large mirrors, and crimson lighting. This might have been my favorite room of the trip. The dishes were very good on average. Our service started out great. I’m not sure what happened, but about halfway through it slowed to a crawl. Our meal ended up taking about 4.5 hours -- and we don’t drink! It looked like someone might have gone home early with the way some of the wait staff were jumping around performing every conceivable service duty. So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that most nights the service would be like it was during the first half of the meal. A very good meal, though, and without the slow service I’d put it right there with Danko -- maybe ahead of Danko (though not as good a value) -- and right behind French Laundry. I’ll have to think about that.

Another report from my days on Chowhound. Hope it helps: FIFTH FLOOR: I was really looking forward to this meal after reading Cabrales’ Chowhound reports exclaiming its superiority in SF. Walking into the chic lounge area with vibrant artwork, dark, hanging curtains, comfortable and interesting neutral-colored chairs and sofas, and dark tables with interesting lines, I thought: Man, these guys pay attention to details. I waited with quiet anticipation for my other eating companions to show. But walking through the bar and into the dining room was the beginning of my disappointments. It was still nice, but nothing like that lounge area. In fact, it may have been my least favorite décor of the trip. Not bad, just not as interesting or comfortable as the other places and a real letdown after the cool lounge area. The food was a letdown, too. There were four of us and all but one got 5 courses, so I’ll try to keep it brief on some of the items: Amuses, shrimp with pea sauce and lobster in corn soup: Each was simple but nice with sweet purees of vegetable matching the sweet sea bugs in them. Sea scallop with sautéed cauliflower in reduced sauvignon blanc with passion fruit: An excellent dish. I wish I would have gotten more tastes. It would have been a good dish anyway, but the cauliflower made it special, I think. I didn’t know it was cauliflower at first and I was intrigued by the flavor it imparted. When I found out, I was impressed and never would have thought of the combination with the sauce and everything. Very intense flavors and probably the most depth of any dish that night. Crabmeat and avocado with jalapeno and basil: Very impressive presentation. A little dome of overlapping avocado slices on top of the crabmeat. A rather typical combination, however. I think I’ve seen crab with avocado over the last month on every high-end restaurant menu across the country. Ceviche of sea bass, geoduck, and kumamoto oyster with lime and olive oil: The person who ordered this, Scott, said it really impressed him, that it truly tasted like the sea smells. I’d agree, and that taste made me want to wretch. But I’m willing to accept that may just be me. It did look cool, though, with essentially geoduck carpaccio overlapping to create a large disc on the plate, everything else piled in the middle. Skate wing caramelized with bordelaise sauce and artichoke: I didn’t notice much of a caramelization, however, I think they some how infused the artichoke flavor into the skate wing. Maybe I was just confusing flavors since I only had a couple small bites. It was decent. I don’t know about $33 decent, however. Asparagus and hearts of palm salad finely sliced and braised with pistachio: A rather flavorless and boring $18 down the drain, I’d say. Probably the worst dish of the night. Foie gras “Chaud Froid” roasted with bea pollen and cured with buddha’s hand and Hawaiian salt: One of the better cooked foie gras dishes I’ve had. Interesting presentation once again with the seared piece to the left and then a trail of salt and whatever leading to another piece, cured, sitting under a yellow jelly in the shape of one of those plastic coin purses that you squeeze to open the slit in the middle. I’m not a fan of cold foie gras, but the seared piece was excellent. It had a nutty exterior and a lemony tart/sweet aspect. Veal tournedos with chorizo and carrot-coconut emulsion: I don’t really remember the carrot-coconut part. There was a froth around the veal that added a sweetness, if I remember right, but I don’t think any flavors could compete with the heat and salt of the rest of the dish. The chorizo was interesting because it was in shreds on top of the veal. It added quite a bit of spice. A decent dish better served about a quarter its size. Squab breast roasted with almonds and asparagus with chicken and foie gras terrine: Again I’m not remembering an item on the menu. I have extensive notes for this dish and still I don’t see anything about foie gras. If you’re going to use foie gras, shouldn’t it be noticeable? Otherwise it’s a waste of big money. I do remember a rectangular plate with squab breast at one end, followed by two different cuts of chicken, and then some white and green asparagus. All meats were sauced tableside with a cumin and squab jus reduction. The chicken pieces seemed totally extraneous. I liked the squab, though it was maybe a tiny bit tougher than it could have been, it was seasoned well and had a nice sweetness to the meat. I liked the cumin sauce, but it didn’t have much depth. My initial notes were that I really liked the sauce, but then I had to amend them because it became tedious. A champagne and squab (I think) consomme was served with this also. I have no idea why. Prime rib “plancha” with zinfandel and cherry reduction and celery sauce: The prime rib was decent and the cherry sauce was okay. $42 okay? No way. I think everyone who tasted this just sort of said it was ho-hum. Niman ranch pork belly poached slowly with black truffles and roasted crispy on the skin, served with truffle jus: This probably had the most potential. It certainly was different and had a lot of flavor. But it was just too much. It’s mostly fat, though really good fat, with that hard (almost impossible to cut), chewy skin, truffle sauce over the top. They served it with braised or roasted apples and potatoes which could have helped if they both weren’t totally devoid of flavor. I think if you served this dish with a two inch cube of pork belly, the truffle jus, and a flavorful piece of apple, maybe seasoned and kicked up with some caramelized brown sugar, then you’ve got yourself an awesome tasting menu dish. But as it was it was too rich and too much. Fifth Floor needs to learn a little restraint and how to balance their dishes. Cheese plate: A pretty cool cheese plate. It had three totally different kinds of cheese served with bread, almonds, herbs, dry cherries, and honey comb. Guanaja chocolate mousse: Three half-lemon sized and shaped dollops of chocolate mousse served with passion fruit sauce. Interesting looking and decent enough. Peaches and apricot: I don’t know if this is the actual name. They only gave me a copy of the dinner menu, not the desserts, so I’m grabbing this off the internet. Anyway, what I got was a peach trifle with a peach/ginger consommé on the side. The consommé was interesting looking with a fan of peach wedges under the “broth”. Definitely not as good as the similar dish at Chez Panisse the night before, but still decent. Mignardises: Several decent little sweets were served after the meal. All were good enough, but only one stood out to me, the chilled truffle. Something about it being chilled. Conclusion: Overall fifth floor was a mishmash, but ultimately disappointing meal, only partially for the food. It had the most elaborate presentations of any place on the trip. It also had some of the best *sounding* dishes on any menu. Execution was hit and miss, though. Mostly miss. Prices were high. It was the worst value of the trip and that includes going up against French Laundry’s $135/person and Masa’s $109/person. When mediocre salads are $20 you’re not going to win any “Best Value” honors. The wine drinkers also thought their wine prices were high. I think the worst thing, though, was the service. Horrendous course-timing. We waited a *long* time between courses. Much too long. Even with two of us drinking wine and plenty of gabbing going on, we found ourselves often checking watches and wondering when the next course would come out, just to wait and wonder some more. I think it took 3.5 hours total. Service was slow and spotty on the whole on this trip (except FL), but this was easily the worst. Probably the worst service/$ I’ve ever encountered. And just after going on a similar trip to Washington, DC, where I’ve never had better service overall, it was particularly glaring (see this link: http://www.chowhound.com/midatlantic/board...ges/21500.html). The food was adventurous and interesting sounding, but usually fell short. The flavors were intense and interesting but lacked depth. Almost nothing had depth, just a couple of strong flavors battling it out for supremacy. This was probably more noticeable, too, because the night before was Chez Panisse where there was little intensity but lots of subtle character to the dishes. I think if the courses had all been amuse size or slightly larger, it would have seemed great. Only a couple bites of the dishes would keep them interesting. But the more you eat of them, the more you notice how little flavor lies beyond the immediate zing. I think that the chefs at Chez Panisse and Fifth Floor need to do a Freaky Friday and cook each other’s menus. Kicked up Chez Panisse and restrained Fifth Floor could be great. Don’t get me wrong. I liked the food at Fifth Floor. But it was disappointing and with its prices I doubt I would return.

Nice pics. Trying to give back a little to egullet California since I'm asking for help now. Here's a report I put on Chowhound a while back. Hope it helps: CHEZ PANISSE: We arrived a little early and sat on the porch. A nice place on a sunny day to relax before the meal. I think many people, especially wine drinkers, might like getting here a little early to have this opportunity to sit among the vines. The restaurant inside was nicer than I expected. I knew what the outside was like from pictures and descriptions, and I expected the inside to be a little shabby. But it wasn’t. I found it elegantly rustic. Actually, the design of the light fixtures and much of the woodwork was very reminiscent to both me and Scott of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work. I had just been in Washington, DC, a couple weeks prior and saw a stained glass exhibit of his work and the design similarities is almost too obvious. I love the stained wood interior. I also like the open kitchen with Ms. Waters checking up on her chefs for all to see (she actually ate dinner with a group right next to us, but no I wasn’t able to listen to their conversation, darn it). We were a little cramped in our two-seater just a couple tables over from the kitchen, but not uncomfortably so. We started with a selection of tasty olives, warmed (a nice touch), and some Acme breads, which were very good, as I’ve mentioned before. The menu for the evening was as follows: Green bean, cherry tomato, and Monterey Bay squid salad with garlic mayonnaise: I don’t know if I’ve ever had such perfect tomatoes. I’m not even a particular fan of tomatoes and will almost never eat one by itself. But these were almost like little berries they were so sweet and tasty. The bright sweetness of the tomatoes, balanced well with the herby/vegetably sweetness of the green beans and the bitter frisee. A rich, flavorful oil dressed everything and it brought out the flavor of the tender, but firm squid, which provided a tangy aspect to the dish (maybe brined in vinegar a little?). The garlic mayonnaise was extraneous, imo, possibly there to mask the squid for those who don’t like that flavor. A very good salad, though quite simple. Chino ranch corn soup with savory fritters: A decent dish, but probably the least of the meal. The corn base was very creamy and didn’t have a very strong corn flavor. The flavor of the summer bulbing onions that was used in the base (yes, I had to ask) was almost as strong as the corn flavor. In fact, Scott, my eating partner, would use it as an example of what not to do every time we had another, more intense, corn soup on the trip. I can see his point. However, I think it was still a good dish and I can see why the base was so subtle. The fritters had a nice corn and onion taste and with a much stronger base would have been overpowered. They provided the true corn flavor for the dish. But if that’s the case, then there needed to be more of them so that every bite could have fritter in it. As it was, there were only three smallish fritters. I did very much like those fritters, though. They reminded me of the flavor of cachapas, a Venezuelan corn pancake. Yum. Grilled Niman ranch hanger steak with summer vegetable tian and crispy potatoes: A buttery and tender piece of meat served rather rare with a nice sear on the outside. I think I liked this piece of beef better than any on the trip, even if other preparations may have been more interesting. However, Scott, a beef snob from Texas with very particular tastes in beef, seemed quite unimpressed, even letting me finish his (which I happily did). The dish also came with broccoli rab, which was a nice spinach-like green with a more interesting character. The vegetable tian -- an overlapping layer of eggplant and summer squash, I think -- was maybe a little soft for me, though I think that tenderness added a textural balance to the ultra crispy and wonderful potatoes. They were little quenelles with super light and crispy outsides and soft and airy insides. Everything was held together by a nice sauce that provided flavor and seasoning without overpowering anything. I lived all the pieces of the dish together and separate. White nectarine sherbet coupe with peaches and boysenberries: This dessert grew and grew in my estimation. Sure, it’s not elaborate, just some sherbet in a glass with peaches and berries, a couple cookies on the side and an espresso truffle. But mmmmm, what peaches and berries. It was a battle between intense fruity flavors, tart and sweet. The cookie provided a respite from the war of flavors, instantly clearing the battlefield and enabling the palate for another wonderful fight. You had sweet and tart peach slices, sweet and tart boysenberries (and I question they were all boysenberries; I think some were blackberries), and then the sherbet which was a battle of sweet and tart itself as nectarines tend to be. This may be the best fruit dessert I’ve had. It’s certainly one of the best, especially for one that so fully focuses on the fruit not trying to temper it with pastry. Conclusion: One mild quibble about the food was the seasoning. Only the beef dish was adequately seasoned. I had to add salt to the other two. In their defense, though, they do provide good salt on the table (grind your own). Service was very good and attentive. They actually saw me eyeing the kitchen and suggested that I go take a look around and take pictures if I wished -- and to make sure that I got Ms. Waters in them (which I did). Was it worth $65? Probably. I’d like to return on Saturday or Sunday. It wasn’t as good a value as Danko, for certain. Also, I did feel like with their ingredients I could have easily made any one of their dishes and have made many more interesting and elaborate dishes that were as balanced. I just don’t have access to those ingredients. Usually, I at least can’t say that about the dessert at fine restaurants. It’s a very good restaurant, though. Best in the country as Gourmet suggested? No. But I can see how many people would find it comforting and a welcome change from more pretentious hotel restaurants. As the sage of savory on SF Chowhound, PaulH, would later refer to it during our dinner at Danko: “Good, honest food.”

I've been using egullet as opposed to Chowhound more and more lately, so I thought I'd post this and my other SF reports since I'm asking for help for Sacramento. Hope it helps: GARY DANKO’S: Renewed by Masa’s I was looking forward to this meal a lot. If nothing else, at $74 it would have be a relative haute cuisine value. Also, Scott and I would be doing something we’ve never done on one of our trips: meeting fellow Chowhounders for dinner. We were greeted by the sage of savory, Paul H, and the belle of bon appetit, anti-foodie. I think we got along pretty well, and were able to quickly agree that we’d be sharing our dishes. Thus, we would all order 5 courses and just rotate during each course. One problem from that is that my memory of several of the dishes is a bit weaker than the other places. But at least Paul H and anti-foodie can chime in and correct me. Bread: Danko’s had terrible bread. It tasted like stale supermarket stuff. Supposedly it came from La Brea, but I’d say it had to have come from La Brea three days earlier. Given their great pastries, I’d say they should be making their own stuff. Glazed oysters with leeks, zucchini pearls, and osetra caviar: An excellent dish. For me, it was all about the sauce it was sitting in. It was a burst of flavor. Seared foie gras, caramelized red onions, and oven roasted apricots: A very rich and tasty foie gras cut by the tartness of the apricots. Warm quail salad with potato cannoli and cherries: I barely remember this. I do remember combining the quail and the cherries, but I don’t think there was anything special about it. Tai snapper with saffron, orange, and fennel puree: I remember really liking this sauce a lot, a brilliant orange with wonderful complex flavors. Seared sea scallops with braised artichokes, shiitake mushrooms, and sauce marechal: A decent dish, disappointing to Paul H, I think, because it totally disrupted the flavor of his wine. Pancetta wrapped frog legs with sunchoke garlic puree, potato, lentils, and parsley sauce: Sure, everything’s better with bacon and pancetta is essentially the same. But somehow this dish still wasn’t that good. The flavors just weren’t there. Too bland and flat, I think. Maybe some chile oil or sausage bits in the sauce could have kicked this up. Chickpea crusted black grouper with shiimegi mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, and corn: One of the best dishes of the night and one of the best seafood dishes of the trip. Maybe I’m just partial to Indian/Eastern savory spices or maybe I just have become a little jaded by the typical seasonings at French/New American places. Either way, this dish took me by surprise and I loved it. It had balance and a delicious aroma. Roast Maine lobster with asparagus, morel mushrooms, tarragon, and potato puree: I can hardly remember this at all. Remind me! Lemon herb duck breast with plum compote: Quite a large serving of duck. The duck was perfectly medium rare with a nice sear and seasoning on the outside. A good balance of sweet and tart that matched the duck well. This came with a remarkable carrot-ginger puree that was light and scrumptious. There was also some sort of crispy duck confit and potato hash that was quite good. Moroccan spiced squab with chermoula, orange-cumin carrots: A large helping of squab stuffed with cous cous. The squab was cooked just right and had wonderfully aromatic seasoning. A winner. Another very large portion. Citrus crusted loin of wild boar with goat cheese polenta and bing cherries: The sauce and the polenta on this were both decent. The crust on the boar worked, too. But the boar itself was dry and a little tough. Probably one of my least favorite dishes of the night just because the boar was cooked so poorly and because it had so much potential. Herb crusted loin of lamb with potato gratin, roasted beets, and fennel: Cheese: They have a great cheese cart at Danko’s. I can’t really decide which is better, theirs or Masa’s. Probably theirs because you get more accompaniments (I love that they give fresh grapes since grapes perfectly clear the palate of cheese). The bread with this, btw, was much better than their dinner bread. The truffled chevre was probably my favorite cheese of the night. Apricot gratin with pistachio ice cream: The apricots sat upon an individual-sized tart crust (possibly made of sponge cake) with crushed pistachio between the crust and apricots. Nutty, sweet, and tart with the creaminess from the ice cream; this was an excellent dessert. Baked chocolate soufflé with two sauces: Very boring. Just like it sounds. Blueberry clafoutis, mango sorbet, and coconut panna cotta: I don’t remember this at all. Bittersweet chocolate tart with chocolate sorbet and hot chocolate: A good dessert, the only thing special about it, really, was the presentation. You had the tart, then an espresso-sized cup of rather bitter hot chocolate with a chocolate marshmallow. Next to that was a small glass of milk. This allowed you to add the milk to the hot chocolate by whatever amount you wished. The only problem was that the milk was cold and the chocolate so bitter it required all of it. Hence, it was cold chocolate milk by the time it was edible. Port poached figs with licorice ice cream and butter cake: I couldn’t decide which I liked better, this or the apricot gratin. Both were excellent and shared a similar approach. I might give this one the edge only because of the unusual and wonderful combination of the figs with the licorice ice cream. Conclusion: The dishes here were very good overall. Some were great. I think it’s an excellent value at $74 compared with other restaurants of its caliber. Note, too, that we ordered all but one of the dishes on the tasting menu. Every dish from the tasting menu was a favorite for that course. Afterwards, I wished we’d ordered that one as well (the beef medallion with wild nettle risotto). There were some minor service errors (a couple dishes handed to the wrong persons, a person’s drink having ice after asking several times for it not to). Also, street noise was a problem from time to time as motorcycles accelerated up Hyde, especially if the door happened to be open at the same time. Some of that was mitigated by a fabulous tour of the kitchen after our meal -- a very generous tour, putting us in every corner of the kitchen, explaining every station. I knew I was in the way, but they didn’t let on. A question arises, though, as to whether Danko’s should be ***** as Mobil rates it. Mobil has gotten very stingy with their stars. There are currently only 14 5-star restaurants in the US (note that these are rated not just for their food). I’ve been to four now -- The French Laundry, Gary Danko’s, Charlie Trotter’s, and The Inn at Little Washington (go here: http://www.exxonmobiltravel.com/index.jsp?...module=fivestar to see them). Danko’s is close. So is Masa’s. But I don’t think Danko’s belongs there. It just doesn’t have the same feel of perfection (although I did like my food there and Masa’s better than Trotter’s overall, but Trotter’s has *phenomenal* service).

I try to reserve judgment. I think that good food is good food and that while it may not be as authentic maybe if they have to compete for American dollars (like your complaints about Thai here, maybe), it can still be good. Look at Cafe Azul. Not a single Mexican probably ever goes in that place on an average day, yet it's great. Probably better than what you'll get in 99% of Mexican restaurants in Mexico (though about 5 times more expensive). btw, saw Diana Kennedy today at Powell's for Cooks. Sounded like she doesn't really eat out in Mexico. Eats home cooking. Yeah, well what are the rest of to do?

I am a bit picky. I just don't like touristy places unless they're exceptional, like a hotel restaurant with a Mexican born chef who went and studied in France, worked at a Michelin starred restaurant, and came back to take his native cuisine up a couple notches. That'd be cool. The Trotter's in Cabo sounds like it might be trying to do that. Plus, I have access to all the guidebooks. When I went to Puerto Vallarta, all the guidebooks and people would say places like Fajita Republic and Cafe Ollas. They were decent for what they were, but what they were was really Tex-Mex and Americanized Mexican. I can get that where it was born. If I'm going to Mexico, I want to eat regional, authentic Mexican food. I'm not picky about what kind. A good Oaxacan restaurant in Mazatlan? Cool. A good Mexican seafood restaurant. Bueno. A street vendor or fonda serving tasty antojitos. Excelente. I just want the real stuff. It took me a couple days of looking at menus and asking around in PV before I was able to find some.

I can't remember if I've been there or not. Even if it's more of a taqueria, I should try it for my taco quest. I actually prefer taqueria food and authentic antojitos, and even homestyle regional Mexican, to Mexican-American. But I'm interested to know where the good places in Portland are and see how good they are. A friend of mine from Texas and I have been arguing about Mexican food lately. Basically, I say that Diana Kennedy and the like are right, to some degree, to look down on Mexican-American food because the majority of restaurants that serve it have earned their reputation, that they've made big margaritas and big portions that are cheap more important than the food quality. That they've essentially made the cuisine about a family-friendly place to get a buzz. Much like the pitcher of beer does for many pizza parlors. He says it's not that way in Texas, and he may be right. I just say that it seems to be that way in most the US where I've travelled, Mexican being one of the main types of restaurants me and my family always went to growing up, especially when visiting family (the other being pizza, of course). Not much evidence to support my theory, but it's just based on my experience.

I don't know what the Salvadorean place on Tacoma is. Salvadorean would be interesting, though. Maybe some good papusas in Portland. Trilliam, are there enough Salvadoreans in Portland to notice if they were going anyway? Report back soon. From WW: EL PALMERO cuisine: South of the Border part of town: SW Downtown address: 320 SW Alder St., 227-3376. hours: 11 am-6 pm Monday, 11 am-8 pm Tuesday-Thursday, 11 am-10 pm Friday-Saturday. EP plays the hits of Yanqui-friendly Mexican meal time (tacos, burritos, fajitas, ¡olé!). But it's worth the effort to try something special, such as the specials board's lomo saltado ($8.25): A mountain of rice served with dime-thin flank steak, vibrant tomatoes, sweet onions and hearty pommes frites whose savory gravy is alive with herbs. Zach Dundas

Just make sure you report back, Rick. Post it not just here, but everywhere -- Chowhound, Lonely Planet, epinions, etc. It's been really tough trying to get solid recommendations for my upcoming trip to Mazatlan.

Other warnings: in downtown Vancouver, Casa Grande and El Presidente are probably the two worst places I've ever been. And Casa Grande advertises on the Food Network through Comcast, so it's something to be wary of. Any comments on these recommended spots... Willamette Week: El Palmero Zagat and most other guides: Chez Jose btw, oregonlive.com is the most useless piece of doodie. Unless you know exactly what restaurant you're looking for, it's almost impossible to find a review. You can search, but it just gives you a million listings without reviews. Ever look at something like guidelive.com for Dallas. Much, much better. And they score places. That's one thing I wish they'd do somewhere here. No one wants to rate something so you have some idea of how the reviewer thinks it compares to other places.

I wouldn't call Esparza's "real" or "authentic" Tex-Mex. I've never been to a Tex-Mex place like it. It's really a fusion of Tex-Mex and bbq. I do like it however. The pork nachos are great. If you haven't tried at least them, you should. They also have very good chips and salsa. I like that they have more Texas style beans, too. They even have decent desserts. Every item I've had with smoked meat, the meat has tasted smoky. The bigger problem is that the meat can often be dry, in my experience. But I think overall Esparza's is good and in some ways more interesting than what you find in Texas. The prices are also good and the portions fair. The interior has character, too. I doubt there's much good Tex-Mex in Portland. But that doesn't mean there isn't much good Mexican-American food. I think there's a distinction between the two that must be made. Although. more and more the fusion cuisines of California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas are fusing themselves. eg, enchilada sauce in Texas, in my experience, has a much stronger ancho flavor than what I grew up with in California and Oregon. Thus, enchilada sauces here might seem weak to someone who's used to that strong dried chile flavor. Whereas to someone from Oregon or California, Texas enchiladas might seem way too strong. Personally, I like both styles. My wife can't handle the Texas style. Something to think about. I've seen Two Brothers when driving by. They also advertise bbq, don't they? Much more of a Texas focus, probably. I'll make a point of trying them next time I'm that way (though that isn't too often).

I asked this question on Chowhound and only got one response. So, what's the best Mexican-American place in the Portland area? My two favorites are Esparza's, of course, and Lindo Mexico in Vancouver (2 locations). I've tried several other places in Portland, but nothing that I thought was any better than Chevy's or Who Song and Larry's. Anything better out there? Not looking for taquerias, burrito places, or authentic Mexican (ie, La Calaca Comelona, Taqueria Nueve, or Cafe Azul) in this case. Just the standard stuff we've grown up with. btw, I have a second question, if you're so inclined: What's your impression of Mexican-American food? Is it a place to get cheap food and beer with big portions and margaritas? Or is it a quality cuisine that doesn't get its due?

I'd suggest getting the book A Cook's Tour of Mexico. It has it's limitations, but it's a great starter. Plus, it has great recipes. One of the nice things is that the recipes are separated by where they're from, more or less, so you have an idea of what some of the specialties are that way, too. But it'll even give little fondas and markets, not just restaurants, which is nice. It's a relatively inexpensive book that's not too hard to find used, too: Amazon Link My main suggestion would be to look for the out of the ordinary. Since you're from the UK or Ireland, apparently (just guessing from your profile), I don't know that you have much of a chance to get familiar with taqueria food like we can in many parts of the United States. So it may all be new to you. If you go to Mexico City and Guadalajara (the latter isn't on your list, but it's a *fabulous* city, much nicer in many ways than Mexico City), you should definitely take time to go to the Mercado Merced and Mercado Libertad. They're huge and interesting in their own right, but the fondas there have a nice variety of foods. Hygiene can be an issue, of course, so definitely go to a busy place. Some of the best tacos in Mexico City that I found were outside one of the central metro stations -- I wish I could remember which one, maybe Bellas Artes, Hidalgo, or Juarez -- and outside the bull ring during matches. I think the antojito options in Mexico City are great. A lot of variety. I also got the huaraches and the mamelas. They're like Mexican pizzas. I like them better than tlacoyas, but you should try them, too. If you haven't ever tried squash blossom or huitlacoche, do so. Each have very distinct flavors and are great on huaraches or in quesadillas. Some basics you should try, especially if you get somewhere they're a specialty, are Michoacan carnitas and al pastor. They're probably two of the more universal styles of pork. Careful with the al pastor, though. The cooking method can lend itself to discomfort for you if it's not a busy place.

Locals also get discounts and can buy "books" of the flights. For your own information, you should look into public transport next time. The islands are small with only a couple major highways. I think both Kauai and Oahu had regular buses that went around.