robyn

I have had similar experiences. I was comp'd a lunch (one of the best meals I've ever had) at Le Cirque 2000 in New York after complaining about a dreadful dinner at Le Cirque in Las Vegas (don't think I was the only person who's left that restaurant feeling that way). But - when you're a traveler - and you don't get to a particular place all that often - it is frequently hard to accept such "apologies". By the way - I am going to London in the spring - and one thing this thread made me do was look up the restaurant reviews in the Telegraph. If you think there was a lot of flak over the review of Shepherd's - I can't wait to see the flak over the current review of The Fat Duck (new 3 star Michelin in the UK - only 1 out of 3 in the country). The headline reads: "Jan Moir concludes that while a dying millionaire with no teeth might appreciate Heston Blumenthal's cuisine, she'd rather have a cheese sandwich." I was thinking of trying the Fat Duck - but I may pass in favor of Tom Aikens. I will note that one thing that goes unwritten in these reviews is that deconstructivism seems to be "in" in many trendy restaurants these days. You either like deconstructivism - or you don't (I can't stand it in other areas - like architecture - and I'm sure I wouldn't be more fond of it in restaurants). Robyn

I have different expectations of different restaurants. My expectations when I go to my favorite local BBQ joint and spend 6 bucks for lunch are certainly different than those I have when I go to a 3 star Michelin place in Paris - or a supposedly fine restaurant in a large city in the the United States and spend $250+ for dinner. I'm sure that doesn't make me unique. But I will join Pan (or perhaps he has joined me) in saying that whether we're talking about our favorite local dive - or one of the world's shrines of haute cuisine - it is important for the place to be *consistent*. If I got 2 lousy meals in a row at my local BBQ joint - I wouldn't go back. Why shouldn't a place that has a much larger reputation - and is charging a heck of a lot more - be expected to do better? At a very high end restaurant - I might forgive a dish being "off" on a particular night. A whole meal - no. I think that - at best - the critic simply gives ideas to the person who's dining in the restaurant (unless of course - the critic has conveyed the ultimate idea - which is "don't go"). For example - a lot of restaurants have seasonal menus. It's of little use to me that a critic liked this, that and the other thing on the winter menu if I'm dining in the summer. Or if the critic dined there last summer - and this summer's menu is different. Or perhaps the critic thought a particular dish was great - but the night I arrive - there is a new menu the critic has never written about which looks fantastic. All a critic can do is paint broad strokes - and then it is up to the customer to fill in the rest on his/her visit. I will note parenthetically that the "old" French way of things - i.e., that a particular restaurant got its stars on the basis of perhaps 3 or 4 dishes that it had perfected beyond perfection - has pretty much disappeared today. I will also ask - if a dish in a good restaurant is bad - why the heck doesn't the restaurant take it off the menu? By the way - I don't see a lot of reviews of really bad restaurants in the major media in the US (there is an occasional bad review of a famous restaurant in the New York Times or Gourmet - like the recent review of Mix in Gourmet). I read a lot. Magazines that have restaurant reviews include Town & Country, Elle, Bazaar, Vogue, etc., etc.. Most of their "reviews" are as "puffy" as the reviews in Jacksonville Magazine. About all I will learn in those reviews is where to go to see and be seen. Robyn

My reaction is that that's despicable on both counts. Critics depending on getting their meal comped face conflict-of-interest problems in rewieving objectively, restaurants comping them to try to bribe the reviewers are engaging in corruption that ill serves the dining public, and publications not reimbursing heavy expenses that their employees are required to pay also really bothers me. Actually - the way I think it works in most of the US that isn't "really big city" is that the critics spend their own money - but the publications (newspapers and magazines) get advertising dollars from the restaurants and don't want to offend them. At least that's the way it works where I live. There is a magazine called "Jacksonville Magazine". A reader wrote in a while back that it had published a glowing review of a truly terrible restaurant. The magazine responded that what it had published wasn't really supposed to be a "review" . Robyn

Our official "all clear" date is about March 15. So I don't put in summer annuals and herbs like basil until then. I cheat and plant lettuce seeds earlier because the growing season for lettuce is so short. By the way - one great way to use up all that extra basil is to make pesto. Easy to make - and easy to cook with. Robyn

Put the new restaurants to the side for now. And the critics - whether adequately capitalized or not. I do not understand the concept of "range of potential" when it comes to "established" high end restaurants. Unless you're talking about the range between excellent and fabulous. The word "sucks" should never enter into the discussion. When I read what you've written - I sense a bit of the conceit of people who live in New York. I live in a part of the US that's a lot "hickier" than New York - but I learned to eat in Europe - especially France. And I can assure you that no place in France gets 2 or 3 Michelin stars when it has "off nights" - except the once in a blue moon - like when the chef's wife gives birth or the chef dies! I do not think there should be any difference between the way a critic and a knowledgeable consumer eats. If I spend big dollars at a supposedly big deal restaurant - I should get a wonderful meal. And if I don't get that - there is something wrong with the restaurant - not me. Just my two cents. Robyn

I use the round pot for things like chili. And the oval for things like corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. If I had to choose one - I'd pick the round. But it's nice to have both. Robyn

Well - what do you reckon the number of meals/percentage ought to be? I don't know about this particular restaurant - but if I'm spending $100-200 for 2 on dinner (without liquor) - don't you think I ought to have a very high percentage chance of getting a really good meal? Like close to 100%? Everyone says "anyplace can have an off night". But if I'm the person who's out 200 bucks - that doesn't give me much consolation. I expect consistency in restaurants (particularly in those that charge a lot of money for the privilege of dining with them). Perhaps journalists dining with OPM can afford to eat a half dozen times in an expensive restaurant to determine if they will get one decent meal. As far as I'm concerned - if I spend 200 bucks and it sucks - that restaurant is out of the game. I would like a show of hands here. Who has spent more than $100 of his/her own money on a meal for 2 that sucked - and then returned to the same place 1 or more times to make sure that his/her initial impression of the place was correct. Robyn

I don't really need two. Bought the round one myself - and then someone gave me the oval one as a present a few years later. The oval is a fair amount larger than the round - so I decided to keep it. Robyn

My dutch ovens - an oval one and a round one - are Magnalite. I love them (they are over 20 years old and still going strong). They haven't been made for a while. While it is possible to buy them on Ebay - I'd feel more comfortable buying only if I could examine the pot before I bought. Robyn

If someone from California can join - I can too . I'm in north Florida - right near the I-10 corridor. Zone 8A. Same growing problems as a lot of Texas. I don't grow too too much in the way of veggies (too many bugs in the summer). But I do like to grow some spring mix. Will be planting seeds in a couple of weeks. I like Martha Stewart's mesclun mix from KMart. It will only last a few months before the heat gets to it - but it's fun while it lasts. I am also trying some peas this year. Will be planting them this week. Maybe I'll wind up with something before it gets too hot for peas. I do grow herbs and lots of butterfly type plants. But - apart fom the stuff that's perennial and in the ground already - it's too early (we usually plant annuals here around the first or second week of March). By the way - we haven't had really cold weather this winter yet. No hard freezes. Looked yesterday - and my milkweed is loaded with monarch caterpillars. Robyn

Thank you for the suggestion. I took a look at the web site. Looks nice - but it is *really* small. I tend to prefer a larger more business oriented hotel where I can throw my towels all over the bathroom floor with abandon and yell at someone if the high speed internet access doesn't work. Robyn

That presumes that it can make the trip without wrecking yet another car. (Sorry... Inside Houston joke. It did smash another car today.) That "inside joke" became a national joke when the New York Times ran an article about the rail system a few weeks ago . Robyn

I travel to Houston 4-5 times a year on business and stay at either the Four Seasons or La Columbe d'Or. Although it's been awhile since I have had dinner in either hotel, on past occasions both have been very good. Regarding non-hotel restaurants, I recently ate at Aries and would definately recommend it. Mark's and Cafe Annie are 2 other favorites. If you know - is the current Four Seasons the same Four Seasons that was there in the mid-80's? Robyn

Why not? Robyn

I travel to Houston 4-5 times a year on business and stay at either the Four Seasons or La Columbe d'Or. Although it's been awhile since I have had dinner in either hotel, on past occasions both have been very good. Regarding non-hotel restaurants, I recently ate at Aries and would definately recommend it. Mark's and Cafe Annie are 2 other favorites. Which hotel do you like better? Last time I was at the Four Seasons was maybe 20 years ago. I assume it's been renovated at least once since then. Robyn

This message is the opposite of a "put-down". It's a "pep talk". I don't know why there are messages here that are kind of negative about higher end dining in Texas. I do live on the "right coast" - just a stone's throw from the Atlantic. But I'm talking the Jacksonville FL area - not New York - or Washington - or Boston - or even Miami. To me - Houston is a *big* city with enough people to support some really terrific restaurants (it's the 4th largest city in the country!) - and I'd like to try them. I can get my fill of BBQ - and chicken fried steak - and burgers - and fried fish/shrimp - and the like here. But when it comes to "fine dining" - we are lacking. Now perhaps people in Texas may have an inferiority complex when it comes to "fine dining" vis-a-vis the big cities on the coasts - and I suspect that might be reinforced during this coming Super Bowl week. But you will have the last laugh when the Super Bowl comes to Jacksonville next year - and everyone says - "boy I wish Jacksonville had the kind of restaurants Houston has!" In other words - you have to have dining I can't find at home. Can't believe that the 3 million extra people in Houston are all eating chicken fried steak . There are cities that aren't on the coasts that have really good food. Cities in that category that I've been to recently include Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta and New Orleans. A city that has lots of people has enough critical mass to support fine dining. Doesn't matter whether the city is on a coast - or in the middle. By the way - my husband and I do enjoy certain ethnic foods. We were just talking the other day - and we agreed that neither of us is sure what "real" Mexican food is - but we're sure we've never eaten anything other than Tex-Mex. Is there such a thing as "real" Mexican food - and does it exist in Houston/Dallas in a neighborhood we'd feel ok in (we speak Spanish but like safe neighborhoods)? If so - where? Note that we haven't been to Texas for quite a few years. But we once took a week driving from one end of Texas to the other on the farm road system. On that trip - if I found good BBQ and chicken fried steak - and a "private club" restaurant where I could buy a drink in a dry country - I was happy. I suspect the larger cities in Texas have come a long way since then. I am taking notes on the messages you're writing. Thanks for the help. Robyn

Hope you do ok with the weather. Take care, Robyn

What I dislike about my floor is that it shows every speck of dirt-plus the grout WAS off-white-and unsealed-when we moved in. My favorite quote from one of my books is, "Have a kitchen counter that shows the dirt and a floor that hides it." I can live w/ the counters hiding dirt, as they do match the fireplaces in two adjoining rooms. I'm sick of the floors always looking dirty. This is my first tile floor; it is harder on my back to stand on than I could have ever imagined. I was thinking of one of those bone or vanilla Corians, but besides showing the dirt, I wanted them because they I thought they were no maintenence. Who needs the grief if they're not? My concrete has developed a nice "patina" of age, so I never worry about hot pots or spills of any kind. To upload images, go to ImageGullet (top left hand corner of the screen), upload your pictures onto this site & cut and paste the IMG link into your post. If you have trouble, go to site talk-there's a whole discussion or two on it. Thanks for the information about the picture uploads. I agree with your thoughts about counters and floors. I have Marmoleum now - and it does hide dirt. But that's because it's basically black (with some other colors). Last floor was black vinyl with raised circles (a knockoff of similar rubber floors) - and it also hid dirt. So perhaps it's more of an issue of color than material. Robyn

I didn't read the thread that way. It said "except perhaps for Dim Sum...". One thing the thread was "right on" about is that things have changed a lot in the last 20-30 years. Thirty years ago - you went to "Chinatowns" because they were exotic and had food that couldn't be found elsewhere. Now - there are many cities - particularly on the west coast - with sizeable middle class Asian populations. These people are 1 or 2 generations removed from "Chinatowns". They live in suburbs. And - since restaurants follow people with money - you'll find a lot of the best restaurants in the suburbs. By the way - I don't consider San Francisco the height of anything (except perhaps liberal politics) in the US. You can go to many West Coast cities (e.g., Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, etc. - not to mention cities in Hawaii) and find excellent Asian food. Robyn

I also have a very small "mandoline" made by Acea that's for garlic. It has a teeny tiny tube and pusher that protects your fingers. Works fine - for garlic. Robyn

I have a benriner and a kyocera. I hold things wearing an old padded oven mitt. I am glad my hand doesn't look like that mitt. Robyn

I am not fond of Atkins. It doesn't tend to work well with women - particularly those who only have a little weight to lose. And there's nothing to indicate to me that it's been tested scientifically in terms of a women's nutritional needs. You gained 10 pounds in 3 years - and I think it would be a snap to take those pounds off in a year. One pound = 3500 calories. Ten pounds = 35,000 calories. Assume 350 days in a year (you get some days off for good behavior ) - and you're talking about cutting out 100 calories a day for a year. What do you usually eat - and what would you give up? One small slice of toast a day? A coke? One container of yogurt? Whatever - look at what you eat - decide the thing to eliminate - and stick with it. As for for your waist size - it think it's normal to thicken a bit around the middle after having kids. Best way to trim up a little is by exercise. If you have a local Y - take a look. For what it's worth - I am not sure that any of this makes sense unless you're really unhappy about the way you look and feel. Robyn P.S. I just read that you are currently nursing. Postpone the diet until you're finished (don't pig out - don't start a diet - eat normally).

I am keeping notes. What about Cafe Annie? Also - has Bank in the Icon Hotel opened? Has anyone been there? Robyn

I find that the word "threatening" carries too much baggage - at least it seems to here. Sounds like little kids - I dare you - I double dare you. I suspect the relevant question is are there other animal parts worth eating - and - if so - are they worth whatever risk they might entail (e.g., my husband and I used to eat a lot of offal - including brains - we don't now). Robyn

I've never seen fish eyes - except sometimes when I've ordered a whole fish. Never thought to eat them. Have you run across a dish in the US somewhere that features fish eyes out of the fish? If the Chinese buffet in Jacksonville serves chicken feet - they can't be threatening (you can find chicken feet in other local places too). Never ran across cicadas or chicken embryos in a US restaurant. Have you? Robyn