akwiatek

We really enjoyed Oya in Penn Quarter - Stunning decor with very good food. Great Sushi and small and large plates that are modern american with asian influence. Check out their website www.oyadc.com.

We were in Las Vegas last weekend and due to our flight and show schedule we ended up at the Verandah Restaurant at the Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay. The had a set menu for the Andrea Bocelli Concert and everything was fabulous. We thought it would be a glorified coffee shop but the atmosphere was lovely, the wine selection was great and the service was perfect. From the black napkins for anyone wearing dark pants or skirts, to the ice tea ice cubes and sugar water for the ice tea and the best French press coffee our whole trip. The food was delicious and creative. We enjoyed it so much we returned twice for lunch and for breakfast. The highlight of lunch was the parmesan - White Truffle french fries. We probably would have eaten dinner there againm if we had not had reservations at Bradley Ogden and Charlie Palmer steak. Our meal at Bradley Ogden was delightful, but I was not as impressed with Charlie Palmer. But I must say that the desserts were great at every restaurant we tried in Vegas. Split entrees if necessary, but leave room for dessert.

I would suggest the Verandah in the Four Seasons. The food is fabulous and I have always found the Four Seasons restaurants to be very child friendy and take our children to a Four Seasons whenever it is a choice on a trip. Good Luck. I would also suggest calling ahead. They are very good at seating you in an area where you are away from other guests who might be annoyed buy you child.

I posted a few downtown suggestions on This Thread which might give you some good ideas. Good luck.

Larry, I have a few suggestions for you. I was just at a meeting at the convention center last week and went to my favorite lunch place downtown. It is Dooley's LTD at 308 north Eight Street . They have great hamburgers and steak sandwiches in a, kind of shabby, english pub environment in a narrow space. You stand in line to order and watch the meat being grilled through a window. They cook thick burgers to your desired internal temperature and top them with your choice of toppings, I recommend the soft cheddar. The thin fries are great too. Another suggestion is Kitchen-K at 10th and Washington. This is a good, fairly reasonably priced place for dinner (or lunch) that is located on the ground floor of the recently rehabbed merchandise mart building. The have an ecclectic menu with a latin/oriental mix. The chef/owner, Pablo Weiss, has headed up other great restaurants we always enjoy this place. For Italian downtown, we usually go to J.F. Sanfillipo's at 705 North Broadway which is a good, family run, Saint Louis style italian place. If you want to travel little farther, You can take the Metro to Union Station and go across 20th Street to Lombardo's Trattoria which is a superb Italian restaurant at suprisingly reasonable prices. For a real retro treat, if you want steak, go to Al's at 1200 North 1st Street. This is a place that time forgot. It kind of reminds me of Monocle's in DC. It has been around for as long as I can remember. They bring out the platter of steaks and seafood and discuss how each of them can be prepared. We don't get there very ofter, but each time we return, we wonder why we waited so long to come back. Hope these suggestions help. Enjoy your visit to St. Louis.

They had a story on the local news about brain sandwiches since the Mad Cow incident and some of the restaurants that had them on the menu have taken them off due to health concerns. Jay Leno was talking about brain sandwiches the other night and said "With Mad Cow, anyone who eats a brain sandwich has less intellegence than the brain they are eating." This could be the end of a great St. Louis tradition.

I was wondering if anyone else read the article in today's Weekend Journal section in the WallStreet Journal about Overrated Restaurants. They had a sidebar with 10 Underrated spots. I would agree with their inclusion of Citronelle in this category - they say that Michel Richard should be much better known outside the world of Capitol foodies for his tasty inspirations. I'll bet that the Citronelle folks are happy to be in the Underrated category instead of the Overrated category with Chez Panisse, Emeril's, Peter Luger's and LeCirque in Vegas.

My wife and I were in DC last weekend, and since we did not have the opportunity to properly celebrate our Anniversary a few weeks ago, I made dinner reservations at Citronelle. We had a perfect evening, the service was attentive and friendly without being overbearing, the food was delicious and creative and the wine pairings (to Mark's credit) perfect. We selected the Michel Menu Our first course was the Egg Caviar - I was wary of this course, not being a caviar fan, but found it very good. The champagne served with this course was a great compliment. The next course was the Irish coffee, Mushroom consomme and Potato chantilly seved in a tall stemmed glass with a straw - whimsical and delicious and enhanced by the Madiera paired with it. One of our favorites courses was the Vitello Tonnato - Layers of thinly sliced Veal and Tuna with Caper Emulsion - a wonderful combination of texture and flavors and served with our favorite wine of the evening - the Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux. Next was the Foie Gras - perfectly sauteed with crispy edges and served with a small pot of black bean chile with duck confit. Both complimented by Mark's excellent choice of Riesling. Our highlight of the evening had to be the Halibut - It appeared to be encrusted with flash fried herbs and served over Japanese Eggplant with a red curry sauce underneath. Chef Michel was passing by as we were pondering the method used to get the herbs to stick onto the halibut and he quipped " We don't know how either, we get it out of a can." I believe the wine paired with this was the Clos duMarquis, a delightful bordeaux. The Wagyu Beef was perfectly cooked and complimented by the Chantrelle mushrooms and what have to be the best french fries ever - prepared in clairified buter. Mark chose a great Carbernet for this course (my ability to recall exact wine details has become slightly fuzzy at this point about 2 hours into the meal). The cheese course of Romaine and goat cheese Roulade was a beautiful presentation of crispy greens with a perfect amount of the creamy cheese to give both flavors in each bite. A wise person would have stopped at this point, perfectly satisfied, but someone has to keep the pastry chef employed, so we made the ultimate sacrifice to proceed with dessert. Having carefully studied past postings on this board, I already knew that my choice had to be the Chocolate Bar with Sauce Noisette - better known as the adult Kit Kat Bar - it was even better than described with the combination of creamy rich chocolate and thet delightful crunch in the center. At Mark's urging - my wife had the Breakfast at Citronelle - the Whimsical delight of the evening. It is brought out on a breakfast tray and nothing is as it appears. There is bacon, which is actually strips of puff pastry with chocolate stripes. Sunny side up egg, which the yolk is Apricot gelee. Soft boiled egg, which is meringue and passion fruit emulsion served in an egg shell. Diced apples with rasberry sauce which appear to be hash brown potatoes. Lemon cake, toasted and served with a small scoop of ice cream to simulate french toast and butter. All accompanied with what looks like a latte - but is actually mocha mousse with whipped cream. Just in case we were still sugar deficient, a plate of petis fours was presented with various fruit gels, a chocolate covered peeled grape and pistachio tuilles. Dessert was accompanied with a glass of 20 year old Tawny Port. For a perfect ending. We were seated on the floor with a view of the kitchen, It gave us a great opportunity to see other dishes coming out of the kitchen and I would love to try some of them on our next visit. We also had an opportunity to spend some time talking to Mark about e-gullet issues and some other DC conversation. Thanks again for everything Mark! I hope you enjoy this posting. I am happy to answer any other questions anyone has.

On our visit for Lunch at the French Laundry in August, we were seated upstairs in a lovely room with the windows open and a comfortable breeze. We had a group of 6, one of our dining companions is kind of a picky eater and we couldn't all agree on the tasting menu, so we chose to order from the regular menu, which worked out very well because we were able to share an try a greater number of dishes this way. The amuse of salmon tartare was brought out, and the picky eater among us does not like raw salmon and left it on her plate. It was promptly repalced with another similar looking cone, this one topped with chopped red pepper instead. For me the highlight of the meal (besides the coffee and doughnuts) was a foie gras ravoli that one of my dining companions ordered, and I was sorry that I only had a small taste, and the lobster. We had such a good time talking and laughing with our friends, that we did not order much to drink and only had one bottle of wine with our meal. I believe the bill was about $900 for the six of us. I would love to return for another meal there, possibly the tasting menu, but I don't think that the menu varies enough to enjoy this experience more than a few times.