robyn

The TPC at Sawgrass is known primarily as a golf venue. After the tournament ended last year - the old club house was torn down. A new club house was built. And what a clubhouse it is. Very large. Very grand. And - lo and behold - it even has very good food now. Both casual and fine dining. And catering too. We play golf there - and have eaten many meals there since it opened - lunch - dinner - brunch. The best so far was a special dinner the chef made for us for our anniverary last week. The club is semi-private. It is open to members. For golfers - there are several membership options which are quite reasonable considering the facilities (we are golf members). For non-golfers - there is now a new membership category - a social/dining membership. It costs $500 a year - and - for that $500 - you get a $300 food credit (I don't know if this is an introductory offer). For anyone who lives in the area - I think this is a terrific value. Not only do members have access to the general dining facilities - there are special food/wine events for members too. In addition to members - guests at the Marriott on golf packages can use the facility (don't know about Marriott guests who don't have golf packages). I am very happy about this addition to the Ponte Vedra Beach dining scene. Anyone who is interested can contact the TPC for additional information.

We went to the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island yesterday night for my birthday and had dinner at Salt. First time we've dined at Salt. Jordi Valles - who had only been there a short time - is gone - back to Miami. And there is a new chef in his place - Richard Gras. We thought the meal was excellent. It was basically a small course - but not too many courses - menu. Some courses were probably regular tasting menu items. But we also had some things I specially requested ahead of time (including squab and a pear dessert). I know the Executive Chef there - but I am sure the restaurant would be willing to work on a special menu for anyone given sufficient notice assuming it is not a night when the restaurant is slammed (this is low season here in NE Florida now - so things at the hotel were somewhat slow). In addition - my husband asked the restaurant to pair wines with the courses - and it did a fine job in that regard. Service was polished and friendly. I'm glad I am able to report that I can give our first dining experience at Salt a big thumb's up. Robyn

As a once or twice a year visitor to Atlanta - the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. Note that I wouldn't have a totally unmoderated board. There are a sufficient number of foam at the mouth jerks in the world who can ruin everything for everyone. OTOH - I'd use a light hand. Let people speak their minds. Robyn

I've found it pretty useful (in a little or non-English speaking environment) to know some of the language - but I also bring some written material to facilitate communication. Like you may stop someone on the street and ask "where is" - and then pull out a map so he or she can point at the destination. Same with bilingual food guides when you're asking things like "what is this". You have also pointed out the potential for a huge blunder in North America (as opposed to - for example - Japan) - which is assuming that everyone who looks Asian is of the restaurant's ethnicity. You're not going to get any brownie points here speaking Japanese in a Japanese restaurant - since almost all of the help is Chinese. And you won't get any brownie points mistaking a Korean person for a Japanese person either. So unless you are very sure you can distinguish between people from different countries - China - Japan - Thailand - Myanmar - Vietnam - Cambodia - etc. - some of whom don't like people from certain other Asian countries very much - it is probably safer to stick with English. Since I am frequently not very good at identifying peoples' national origins by sight - I always ask before I assume anything. E.g., we had a server in Arizona who looked somewhat Japanese (to me). I asked where he was from. Turned out he was Navajo. So I avoided breaking my first rule - don't put your foot in your mouth! Robyn

The Ritz Carlton (right at Potsdamer Platz) has a casual restaurant which serves a nice 2 course lunch - pick just about any starter and any main - for 19 euros (a relative bargain). I'm sure there are at least some healthy options on the menu. Robyn

If this is for the book - as opposed to a trip to Japan - I think it's kind of a silly exercise. We've eaten a lot of Japanese food in North America (mostly on the west coast) - and most of the staff in these restaurants speaks English - perhaps not perfectly - but much better than you'll know Japanese after studying for a year or two. My husband and I have a rule when it comes to languages. If we speak a little or even a lot of a foreign language - but the person we're speaking to speaks English better than we speak the foreign language - we use English. Have to add that one unfortunate consequence of speaking a few phrases fluently - with a perfect accent - is that you may fool people into thinking you do speak the language. And if you get a 2 sentence response in a foreign language you don't really know - then where will you be - totally clueless in general IMO. What would be better than learning a few phrases is learning about the cuisine. To this end - I recommend 2 books. A Dictionary of Japanese Food (by Richard Hosking) - and What's What in Japanese Restaurants (by Robb Satterwhite - he posts here on eGullet). Robyn

Can Total Wine sell spirits in NC? I seem to recall that NC is an ABC state. If it can't sell certain things - it has to make more profit on what it can sell. Here in Florida - it can sell everything. And we've never had anyone push us to buy anything in particular (also - we tend to know what we want to buy before we walk in the door). Robyn

We've had a Total Wine here in Jacksonville FL for maybe a year now. It's strategically located a short distance from Costco (many people won't drive to a "destination" liquor store - but they will drive to Costco - I've heard that Total Wine tries to locate near a Costco when it can). In our case - we hit Total Wine when we hit Costco - maybe once a week. It has already put some nearby wine stores out of business (due to huge selection and excellent prices). The Florida Times Union (local paper) recently ran a front page business section article about it. We buy wine, beer and spirits there (as well as at Costco - they have lots of price wars). We like the store a lot for its terrific selection of beers (my husband drinks a lot of beers - some pretty exotic - and has never found any stale beer) - wines - and items that are very difficult/impossible to find elsewhere in Jacksonville (everything from Plymouth gin to Pol Roget Churchill - the latter being tough to find even in Manhattan). My husband's last find there was Kolsch beer (he developed a fondness for Kolsch when we were in Cologne - it's the kind of thing you'd be hard pressed to find in this area anywhere but at Total Wine). We have some kind of wine distributor laws which protect wine distributors (who are pretty bad in Florida) - but Total Wine seems to be getting around them. Maybe they're contributing more to our legislators than our state distributors <no grin>. I don't know exactly how things work - or what they're doing - but they seem to be opening things up. An excellent addition to our shopping scene IMO. Robyn

Are you still in the area? We're flying in tomorrow - and will be there until Monday. Have reservations at Binkley's for Friday. Robyn

I think this is the appropriate place to discuss this topic. I read the terrible news about Chef Achatz' cancer today. Unfortunately - this was the second time in a short period of time that we learned that a young chef had such a terrible (similar) cancer. The other chef is a friend of ours - not as famous as Chef Achatz - but quite talented. You wouldn't be surprised if a 70 year person who smokes and drinks a lot had these cancers - but they are very surprising (at least to me) in people who are so young. Our friend told us us that one of his doctors told him that one of the possible causes of his cancer was working in restaurant kitchens for years and years. Does anyone know of any similar cases - or has anyone heard about connections between working over stoves/ovens for many years and these types of cancers (oral and nasal)? Robyn

What kind of places are you looking for - high end - low - or in the middle? For higher end - Vitrum in the Ritz Carlton at Potsdamer Platz is excellent (has 1 Michelin star but tastes like 2). So is Vau (1 Michelin star) - about a 25 minute walk/5 minute cab ride away. The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz has a lot of restaurants - a multiplex theater - etc. Nothing there is a big deal - but it's a nice casual place for dinner and perhaps a movie. There's also a "restaurant area" a couple of blocks away (near the Daimler building). Again - nothing fabulous. But you won't be looking for fabulous every night. Note that Potsdamer Platz really isn't "downtown Berlin". It is kind of in the middle between what used to be downtown West Berlin - and downtown East Berlin. But there's a lot there. Robyn

Then I would certainly go to Vancouver - keeping in mind that there are almost as many Chinese/Americans in the greater Los Angeles area as there are people in Vancouver (Vancouver is a nice city - but obviously much smaller in scope than Los Angeles). Another thing is that unlike days of yore - when most Chinese congregated in "Chinatowns" - these days you're more likely to find them in the suburbs - whether you're talking about Vancouver or Los Angeles - or places like San Jose - a suburbanized city which is now the 10th largest in the US. So if a tourist or local is looking for good restaurants - he or she may have a better chance of finding them in strip malls in places like the San Gabriel valley than in traditional "Chinatowns". Don't know how accurate this is (who knows with Wikipedia?) - but at a minimum it gives one a general idea of population concentrations. Robyn

I think you underestimate the number of stores - perhaps not Korean bakeries - but general grocery stores. I can think of 3 within 10 miles of my house (and that's only a part of the city). It's just a question of whether there's a sufficient number of shoppers to support the stores. I think "everything you wanted to know about shopping in oriental grocery stores but were afraid to ask" would be interesting to a lot of readers. Keep in mind that in a lot of stores like those in my area - there are many ingredients from many different cuisines (everything from Chinese to Thai to Filipino to Japanese). Robyn

I would skip Seattle and keep on going up the road to Vancouver if it were not for this one place which does authentic bad chinese food. Imagine if you were travelling through rural India and all of a sudden you stumble across an absolutely authentic shitty New Jersey diner, complete with bad coffee, surly waitresses and greasy, stale food, named something like Le Chalet du Monde (Mostly Fine French Dining). That's the surreal nature this place gives off to a Chinese person. You should definitely check it out if you're ever in the area. ← I'd go to Vancouver too - but this is supposed to be a book about the United States. Robyn

P.P.S. My husband studied Japanese for a year before we went to Japan last year. It enabled us to be polite and ask simple questions - that's about it. We relied on other things to eat (including dining with friends who spoke fluent Japanese). And Chinese is supposedly even harder to learn than Japanese (not to mention that there is more than one language spoken in China). I agree with Fat Guy about the bowing stuff. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Tokyo - and I saw many business groups in the bar doing bowing. Very precise - and very interesting. I think his suggestion of - at best - a simple nod of the head when dealing in Japan - or with Japanese people - is on target. ← I respectfully disagree. My family speaks primarily Fukien, and while this is not quite compatible with the Cantonese spoken by some Chinese in restaurants in Chinatown, there's always Mandarin. There are nuances that are not necessarily easily communicated by English alone. ← What do you disagree with? Is any form of Chinese easy to learn? Robyn

P.P.S. My husband studied Japanese for a year before we went to Japan last year. It enabled us to be polite and ask simple questions - that's about it. We relied on other things to eat (including dining with friends who spoke fluent Japanese). And Chinese is supposedly even harder to learn than Japanese (not to mention that there is more than one language spoken in China). I agree with Fat Guy about the bowing stuff. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Tokyo - and I saw many business groups in the bar doing bowing. Very precise - and very interesting. I think his suggestion of - at best - a simple nod of the head when dealing in Japan - or with Japanese people - is on target.

Communicate with the help? Surely you jest. Which brings up a couple of things mentioned earlier in this thread. I do not trust any census figures concerning Asian (particularly Chinese) populations in the US. Ten years ago - it was hard to find Chinese people in Jacksonville FL (near where I live). Today there are thousands. As well as dozens of "Chinese buffets" (more on those later). If you go into any "Chinese buffet" in Jacksonville - about 90% of the staff will not speak a word of English. They are all recent immigrants - and probably a very large percentage are illegal (INS busted my favorite Chinese buffet a while back - and found that *everyone* working at the place - except the owner - was illegal). Seems that a lot of immigrants - both legal and illegal - are simply skipping major points of entry/living - like New York - and going directly to the hinterlands (like Jacksonville). The current trend in oriental buffets here - some are called Chinese buffets - and some are called Japanese - is the "pan oriental buffet". Chinese dishes. Sushi. Kimchi. Filipino dishes (we have a relatively large Filipino population here - many are US Navy and don't show up in the census). Whatever. Along with pizza and apple pie. Very eclectic - and some of it is pretty good (some is pretty bad too). Think as with all buffets - the most important thing to do when you go to one for the first time is reconnoiter. Note that all of these buffets - even the Japanese ones - are owned by Chinese people and staffed by Chinese people. And a large number of customers are Mexican (especially lawn and construction guys - nothing like doing hard physical labor 24/7 to work up an appetite - hate people who can eat that much and stay thin ). So I think that a reasonable part of the book ought to discuss these places. They are the places most people in the US go to eat oriental food these days. Indian buffets/restaurants (we have a few good ones) are in a different category. Owned and operated by Indians with 100% Indian food. India may be in Asia - but perhaps it is a mistake to include it in this book. Russia - Israel and Afghanistan are in Asia too. But the cuisines aren't anything like Chinese food - or Japanese food. So I would probably omit Indian food (if for no other reason than you're not likely to find things like pork or beef in Indian restaurants - and there's a much larger emphasis on vegetarian cuisine). If you're going to include Indian restaurants - why not middle eastern restaurants? Think about it. I know I'll find a lot of interesting multi-cultural things at my local Chinese buffets - but I don't think I'll ever find goat curry. So instead of "Asian" food - why not restrict things to "oriental food"? Of course - you don't want to write a whole book about buffets. You want to discuss better restaurants. And on that front - I suggest spending at least a couple of weeks - if not more - on the west coast of the US - everywhere from Los Angeles to Seattle (and Hawaii if you can swing it). That is where the largest oriental populations in the US are. The largest concentrations of good restaurants - markets - etc. Perhaps the only area in the US where builders design houses with industrial strength exhaust vents for wok cooking and storage bins for 50 pound bags of rice. I realize New Yorkers tend to be ethnocentric - but I travel a fair amount to the "left coast" and I don't even bother to eat Chinese or Japanese or similar food in the northeast any more. The mother lode is out west - and - if you ignore it - you will be - IMO - be ignoring where the action is in terms of oriental food in the US these days. Also FWIW - you can totally skip Florida except if you want to try oriental buffets. In general - oriental food in Florida is awful (although I did find one good Japanese restaurant in Orlando which is a branch of a place in Ginza - it flies in all its fish every day from Japan). But there is so much out west - why bother with the southeast? Would be like trying to find a decent knish in Kansas (maybe it can be done - but you'll waste a lot of time in the process - and who on earth would go to Kansas to eat knishes?). Robyn P.S. On the subject of communication - I recall a funny story. I went to New York many years ago - and there was an "authentic" Chinese restaurant recommended in my guide book. So we went. I tried to tell our server I wanted a particular drink. And he nodded yes - yes. He was gone for about 15 minutes - and came back with a bottle of rum from his car. So much for communication. FWIW - this restaurant served a lot of authentic Chinese food - like sea cucumbers (very slimy and probably an acquired taste). You won't see many of those on Chinese buffets (although our local places usually have chicken feet - have never quite figured out the attraction in that dish).

i assure you that no one there thinks sushi is stupid... real sushi is an amazing thing when prepared by someone trained to do it properly, which is hard to come by. as for the waterfront project, its expected to be around the end of the year for the move. have you dined at seasaw before? ← Well - we'll be there in a couple of weeks - so - if we dine there - it will be at the old location. And no - we haven't dined at Sea Saw before (my brother used to live in Cave Creek before he moved to Scottsdale this year - so we tended at dine at places that were further north). If I had - I wouldn't be asking these questions . Robyn

So has no one here ever dined at Mosaic? Robyn P.S. We ate at RF about 3 years ago. It was ok - nothing to write home about.

Is the new See Saw open yet (I forget the name of the large development where it will be located)? I'm looking for ideas for our trip to Scottsdale/Phoenix early next month (to visit my brother and family). He usually knows what's going on better than I do - but it doesn't hurt to learn a bit about what's new before we visit. BTW - I read somewhere (on a foodie site) that at See Saw - they think sushi - i.e., - fish with rice - is stupid. This sounded absurd to me. Was that statement correct? I can understand a Japanese restaurant that chooses not to serve sushi - but sushi is an integral part of Japanese cuisine best I can tell. Robyn

It's kind of a really long trip for you - but people in the Atlanta area might try Lane Packing Co. in Peach County Georgia (about an hour south of Atlanta). It's a grower - but it also has a restaurant - a gift shop full of peaches and peach things - and a packing plant (which you can tour when it's open - interesting operation). It is not exactly quaint - or undiscovered - but it does have plenty of peaches (everything from the ice cream peaches you mentioned to the kind you pack very very carefully ). I'd call ahead and check to see how peach season is doing there now (I think it's kind of a bit late for peaches in Georgia). Our growing season is now over (too hot) - except for basil. Robyn

Sure its large and its hard to get around but it is not that large (would love to know where you get the 35M?). Even taking into consideration Yokohama only gets you to maybe 16M. Central is only around 9. That said to the OP, if you have concerns about getting lost, pick up a copy of the Tokyo City Atlas (its bilingual) and its pretty easy to navigate what many out there call unnavigatable. Sure finding the last block number can be a little tough but its a little overstated IMO. Its pretty hard to get lost in Kyoto. EDITED TO ADD *** I think I found out that if you look at the huge area that surrounds Tokyo you can get to 35M*** That said, I think that you should really look at central Tokyo as a measure*** ← The 35 million refers to the Tokyo metro area - not the city of Tokyo standing alone. This was my source. The Tokyo metro area is almost twice as large as the 2nd largest (Mexico City). I really wouldn't worry about getting lost as long as you stay within the area serviced by the subway. All you have to do is go down into the subway to find your way home. Robyn

That's a really good point. Visitors should really try something a little outside the travel-guide recommendations. Tokyo is a great city for exploring the food scene, and few travel guides cover it at all well. Also be extremely suspicious if any recommendation claims a particular restaurant is the best of its type in Tokyo, or has the best [insert dish/food ingredient here] in the city. I think Metropolis and Tokyo Food Pages do a pretty good job, because they're based in Japan and their reviewers seem to know their food. I suggest you also try at least one or two places on your own initiative. Ebisu/Daikanyama would be a good place to start, although there are so many other possibilities across the city. There is of course a lot of cloning, but there are many, many restaurants dedicated to turning out the best damn food they can, and they don't all charge a lot for the privilege, either. I can sympathize with anyone who wants to eat Japanese only, though it's not my policy when I travel to restrict myself to the local food. And it would only be fair to mention that the quality of Italian and French food available in Tokyo can be high. Really, really high. There are dozens of high-end Italian places across the city, and many more that are inexpensive but still extremely good. Laugh if you like, but try it first, and then let's talk about mayonnaise. Not many of the places I go to have fixed menus. And in addition to their a la carte choices, there are daily specials - no surprise there, really - which are well worth exploring, as Japan still highly values the fresh and the seasonal. So I personally wouldn't want to order ahead, but mainly because I hate the idea of my food being decided before I've even left for the restaurant. A last couple of things that occurred to me, not related to Robyn's comments: for anyone in the habit of bar hopping, it's standard practice for a bar to accommodate only as many customers as there are seats in the bar. Bars often turn away customers they can't seat - a combination probably of not wanting to be overcrowded, and wanting to give the customers already there the best service they can. You will soon get the hang of which places allow standing customers and which don't. And there are of course the tachinomi bars, for standing-only - also worth checking out. And I don't think anyone mentioned Obon yet, but if your August trip coincides with it, some places may close for up to a few days. There'll be a multitude of alternative choices though, so I'd say it's barely a consideration. ← After spending 3 weeks in Japan as a tourist - I am certainly not an expert. I'm sure potential visitors will want to hear as much as possible from as many people as possible. We went almost everywhere on the subway system in Tokyo - which is very easy to navigate - and almost always quite pleasant - but were told to avoid rush hour if possible. Which we did. We observed rush hours both in Tokyo and Kyoto (didn't get on any subways or trains) - and it is a very athletic way to commute . Wouldn't recommend it for people like my husband (who wears a knee brace) - people with luggage or small children - etc. I realize that there are probably thousands of excellent restaurants in Tokyo that specialize in non-Japanese food (including places like L'Osier - whose kitchen is run by the chef who used to be at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead). It was simply a personal decision to use our trip as a way to learn about Japanese food. When talking about the set menus - I am talking about a couple of higher end restaurants - kaiseki and the like - that had perhaps 3 or 4 fixed menus (ranging from perhaps $125/pp to $200/pp). There were probably some things we missed as a result of the way we approached these restaurants. But - particularly in a city like Osaka - where we found almost nothing written in English - or people who spoke English - it was a reasonable way to approach things. On the other hand - in most restaurants - we just kind of took our chances. Robyn

We went to one of the bars in the Granvia - and they do have a cover charge (not unusual in Japan). About $5 a person. Not a reason not to go - it's just something that a potential customer should keep in mind. Robyn

You could also try MOTO (No reflection on Alinea but - my meal there, under unique circumstances, was the best dining experience I have ever had - and the food was stunning). Oh dear, hope this will not affect my attempt at a reservation at Alinea next time I head over from the UK. ← I think that very often one's "best meal" depends on the particular foods one has. I know that if - for example - I have beef as a main course - it will never be my "best meal" since beef is far from being my favorite food. That's one reason I tend to order a la carte as opposed to pre-set or tasting menus (my favorite menu format is the kind where you can get 3-4-5-6 courses and have multiple choices in each - but straight a la carte is fine too). And thanks for the Moto recommendation. Robyn