robyn

Had to cancel our trip to Japan (husband has a bad back and a bad knee and although surgery isn't in the cards right now - a month on the road was too much at this point - hope to reschedule for next spring). In the meantime - I couldn't let the second week in September (anniversary and birthday week) pass without doing *something*. So I decided on a 5 day trip to San Francisco. I'm almost ashamed to say how long it's been since we've been there - probably 20+ years. So I am obviously totally ignorant of what's going on. An aniversary and a birthday call for at least a few big deal restaurants. And I'd like your help in choosing. My #1 choice is Michael Mina. I know the writeups here were luke warm to negative - but there weren't many of them - they're almost a year old - and they were written about the time the place opened. Has anyone eaten there lately? What did you think? It got a good review in the San Francisco chronicle - and we loved Aqua at the Bellagio (about 4 years ago). And I'd really like other suggestions. We'll be staying near Union Square - and I'd like to stay in that general area (i.e., downtown) as opposed to taking 30 minute or longer cab rides. Will be asking for lower end suggestions too a bit down the road. At this point - I'd like to nail down the big deal places (and reservations). Robyn

FWIW - the grove that has the website is in Davie - which is in Broward County (Fort Lauderdale neighborhood). Robyn

I have one of these - Wusthof offset deli knife - and I like it a lot for what you want to do. Robyn

In my opinion - as a tourist - "at or near" is a non-existent concept in the sprawl of the greater Phoenix area. If we put one mile on the rental car last trip (in December) - must have been 300 miles over a long weekend. I strongly recommend getting a GPS in your rental car - makes everything easier. As for restaurants - we dined at Malee's and Zinc last trip. Excellent Thai food at Malee's. Zinc was pretty good for lunch - but I'm not so sure I'd be thrilled with dinner (and the wait at dinner - it's very popular). Best restaurant we dined at was Binkley's up in Cave Creek (best new restaurant in the area last year). Worth a reasonable trip and getting the GPS that you'll need to find it . Robyn

Dallas *must* have invented chains. I ate at one there without even recognizing from the name (Grand Luxe Cafe at the Galleria) that it was a chain (nice Sunday late breakfast before shopping - although about twice as much food as any normal person could eat). I have to tell you. "Nobu the Chain" may well be a swell restaurant. Similar places may be too. But when they open here - there - and everywhere - and if they take the place of local establishments with local flavor (or even local establishments where chefs are trying to do national or international "high end") - well what's the point of travel? I read an article by Phillipe Starck (designer) a while ago. He has a city and a county place (both in France if I recall correctly). And - apart from business stuff - he says he doesn't travel these days. Because every place in the world is becoming the same. I guess that's true in the London/Paris/New York kind of circuit he tends to travel in. But I'd hate that to be true across the board. I can't imagine going to Kyoto just to wind up dining in Nobu or Nobu clones. Ditto for Dallas. Robyn

Perhaps there are some foods that - like some people - don't photograph as well as others. And maybe steak is one of them. I'm not a big steak fan - but this looked like a pretty good steak to me. Had there been juice all over the plate - I'm sure someone would have accused the chef of not letting it rest properly before plating it. Can anyone come up with a picture of a grilled steak that looks fabulous? For what it's worth - I have a subscription to Gourmet (one of the few magazines that I'm actually willing to spend money on) - and I think a lot of the articles these days are pretty interesting (like the one in the current issue about Walmart). I also like the fact that all of the restaurant write-ups aren't 100% positive (they're probably more positive than they should be - but at least it's a step in the right direction - i.e., editorial honesty). I also have to confess that I've been a big Ruth Reichl fan since she wrote her review of Le Cirque 2000 . Robyn

It may be "been-there done-that" - but I won't consider it really done until I see upper middle class people boycotting expensive restaurants that abuse kitchen help the way they used to boycott grapes because of farm worker abuse. In my book - abuse consists of things like hiring illegals to keep wages sub-standard - not complying with wage and hour laws - not complying with safety and environmental laws - etc. - etc. I keep hearing lots of people in the industry saying simply that this is the way things are done - but I don't buy it. Much like I wouldn't buy it if any other employer in the US made the same argument. If the employer has to raise prices to make everything "kosher" - so be it. And if people won't buy at those prices - so be it. We're not talking life and death here - simply discretionary consumer purchases - and high-end ones at that. As most people who know me know - I'm no liberal. I'm just someone who has employed people/firms in many capacities for many years - and I can't think of any rationale that would entitle me to have the people who are working for me treated like dogs. Can you think of any persuasive rationale for this industry mentality - other than the old "everyone does it"? Robyn

This thread just kind of died last year without a recipe for the definitive basil sorbet. And I'd like to revive it - since I have more basil than I know what to do with - and a sorbet maker. I've found recipes for basil sorbet that use 10-12 leaves - but I have a huge amount (even after making 2 months worth of pesto). Any sorbet ideas that call for large amounts of basil? Also - any other suggestions for using up the basil (before the caterpillars start on it) would be appreciated. Robyn

We were in Dallas last month (vacation). Of the restaurants we dined at - La Duni and Ciudad were mid-scale. We liked both of them - and they're pretty close to Turtle Creek. Robyn

Jade was the place that was written up in the Metroplex weekly alternative newspaper (forget the name). The review agreed with you - said it was one of the best - if not the best - in the area. Do they have carts that come around? About how many different kinds of dim sum did they serve? Robyn

I just returned from a short vacation in Texas (3 days in Austin - 4 in Dallas). In Dallas - we dined at York Street, Cuidad, La Duni and Aurora for dinner. H3 in Fort Worth Stockyards area, Lucky's and Cafe Lux (chain in Galleria) for lunch. Meals ranged from good to excellent. I think Dallas is a really terrific eating city (although I could do without the sprawl and freeway driving). I'm from Florida. Have eaten at Nobu in New York before. Great meal there (party of 12 cousins getting together night before my grandmother's 100th birthday party). But - at this point - I have to think it's basically a high end chain. If I lived in Dallas - I'd probably try it. But I certainly wouldn't give up my day job (i.e., the local restaurants). FWIW - I've read of people spendng about $250 for 2 at Nobu outposts like Miami (without much liquor). We didn't spend anywhere near that at really good local Dallas restaurants. Most we spent (by a lot) was about $250 at Aurora (and about 1/3 of that was for liquor). IOW - Nobu won't hurt Dallas IMO. But it's not as if Dallas was some backwater without decent eats before Nobu arrived. Just my 2 cents. Robyn

Perhaps this will widen the discussion too much - but I'm not a person who has been converted to the concept of "tasting menus". I like traditional meals - starter - sometimes salad/soup - main - dessert - perhaps some amuse courses in the middle - or the dessert nibbles at the end. And I'm not sure most restaurants/chefs I've been to are fans of tasting menus either judging from most write-ups I've read about tasting menus. There are chefs who specialize in these kinds of menus - but I suspect a lot of chefs do them simply because people expect them to be done. E.g., we also dined at Gordon Ramsay RHR the trip we ate at TA last year - and almost everyone around us was having the tasting menu. Judging from the amount of food the people left on their plates - it was either too much food - or the food was underwhelming. And TA trained in part with Robuchon. We only dined at Jamin once - maybe when TA was in grade school - but we didn't have a tasting menu there. Wish I could get to these places more than once in a blue moon - so I could compare things more intelligently (try the regular menu and the tasting menu) - but - unfortunately - we only get to London perhaps once every 5 years or so. And I'm sure that the next time we're in London - everything will be different. Still - I don't think you'd disagree that if TA was just around the corner (e.g., if you live in or are visiting the UK) - you'd have to try it - at least once. Robyn

I agree with you. And I do what you do. If I want to commit a meal to memory for some reason - like writing it up on a food board - I get a copy of the menu to remind me of the particulars of the dishes I ate. If I can't remember what I thought about the dish the next day - well that's a pretty sorry commentary. Perhaps I am living right - but I have never seen anyone taking pictures or notes in any restaurant where I've dined - even the high/very high end ones. When I'm at high end restaurants - I am usually a visitor in other peoples' cities - and I try to be a courteous guest. At our last high end meal - at Aurora in Dallas - we had a locally famous person - Mr. Nasher - of the Nasher museum - and a companion - sitting on one side - and an animated party of 4 sitting on the other. They all were obviously regular patrons. If I had whipped out my notepad and digital camera - they probably would have looked at me as if I had recently escaped from a trailer park to vacation at Six Flags. I would have interfered with their enjoyment of their meals - and invited the wrath of the owner/chef. It's been a few days - and without notes and pictures - I can tell you everything I ate there - and what I thought about it. I am close to 60. If people are younger than I am - and can't remember a meal they think they liked a few days after the fact - they need to do memory exercises. Robyn

I think that the small portion is perhaps a function of the tasting menu. We had the non-tasting menu at TA - and found that we had plenty of everything. As for the lemon dessert - I had that (although perhaps I had a somewhat different version - dishes can change over time) - and my husband had chocolate. He got to choose first (although he's not usually a "chocolate" person). I found some of the lemon a bit tart for my taste - but my husband liked it (he's the kind of person who enjoys sucking lemons and limes - he loves tart). I probably agree with you that TA isn't a 2 star Michelin. Then again - I've never been quite sure what a 2 star Michelin is - except a stopping point on the way up to 3 stars - or down from 3 stars. I don't think most people would disagree that it has easily earned the one star it has. Robyn

Oh no - he is probably the best chef in the southeast US. Do you know when he's leaving? Robyn

We wound up having a late breakfast at Lucky's (near shopping). Tasty - but I wouldn't want to make a habit of meals like that. The Van Cliburn competition was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone in the area who has a few hours to spare (people who hold series subscription tickets and aren't using a few put them up for resale at the box office - so you can get tickets for the earlier rounds at the last minute). Robyn

Ditto on the hurricane season comment. They were completely sold out last hurricane season - and I had to wait until after Thanksgiving to buy one. Now I'm prepared <sigh>. Robyn

I met her here in Dallas at Sur La Table this afternoon. This is her kick-off cooking demo at Sur La Table - part of her book tour. She said she'll be touring Sur La Tables throughout the country and giving similar cooking demos from now until almost Christmas. So if you have a Sur La Table in your town (we don't have any in Florida yet) - see if/when she'll be in your town. I told her to look at this thread (it's a great ego booster if nothing else ). She said she had tried - and had encountered some problems logging onto eGullet. I gave her my card - and I told her to email me if she continued to have problems. If I hear from her - I'll let you know. By the way - the stuff she was making looked wonderful. Those of you who are attending her demo tonight (which is sold out) are in for a treat. Robyn

Yes - we've heard that this is record heat for this time of year. Luckily - we brought the right clothes - and almost everything we have planned is inside. Museums (we've been to the Nasher - the Modern - the Kimball and the Amon Carter - don't know if we'll have time for the DMA) - shopping - and today we're going to the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. And - of course - eating. In addition to York Street - we've been to Ciudad and La Duni (which I hope to write up when I get a chance) - tonight is Aurora. Will skip the food market (it's simply too hot to enjoy it) - and probably the dim sum (we've had excellent eating - but we're stuffed - today we're looking for a *very* light lunch so we can do justice to Aurora). Only major disappointment was Northpark Center (Nieman Marcus mall). Looks like it should have been renovated about a decade ago. What gives with that? And my husband and I were wondering - who/what are the major employers/industries in Dallas? Robyn

It is impossible to dislike York Street – although it is very possible to get lost while driving there. My husband and I take off from the hotel – trusty GPS in the rental car set to York Street. But the GPS directions confuse my husband – and – despite my protests - he winds up taking the wrong freeway exit – an exit 100 feet before the correct exit – an exit that is a dead ringer for the freeway exit in Bonfire of the Vanities. Many U-turns later – we are headed in the right direction again – and about 10 freeways and 42 turns later – we arrive at York Street. We are exactly on time. This is a busy Friday night - York Street is a tiny restaurant – and there is one open table – for 4. The FOH person – Shaun – tells us our table isn’t ready. About 2 minutes later – a 4 top walks in and is given the table. Shaun tells us there will be a short wait. Steam starts to come out of my ears. But Shaun is disarming. He asks if we’d like a glass of wine or champagne while we wait. I say champagne. And a glass of champagne appears – not any old champagne – but Veuve Clicquot. Courtesy of Shaun. I go outside – and enjoy a cigarette with my champagne. The steam disappears from my ears. Less than 10 minutes later – our table – a 2 top – is ready. York Street reminds me of some restaurant experiences years ago – when I went to the first restaurants of now-famous Florida chefs like Norman Van Aken and Mark Militello – back when they were young and experimenting – and new things were constantly appearing on the menus of their fledgling restaurants. It’s a great deal of fun going to a restaurant like this. Always something new to try. There will be hits and misses – a lot of singles and doubles – and the occasional home run. But the chef’s desire to do great things is always in evidence. On this night – the home run is my husband’s starter of soft polenta with veal ragu. A totally world class dish which would be at home at a Michelin 3 star restaurant. I start with the lavender roast quail with ivory lentil vinaigrette – a double. My main is Niman Ranch pork cheeks slow stewed with east Texas creamer peas – another double. And my husband has perhaps the only single of the evening – Summerfield Farms Veal Sweetbreads with “very wild” mushrooms. The mushrooms are excellent – but the sweetbreads weren’t that flavorful (perhaps they never are – my husband is beginning to think that maybe he doesn’t enjoy sweetbreads as much as he used to - and he usually likes them a little crispy on the outside). We end with a dessert called Mango – which is really an Asian flavored rice pudding with mango. Light refreshing way to end the meal. Although I’m comparing York Street to much more established restaurants in larger cities in terms of food – the damage to our wallet is considerably less than we’d find in those restaurants. About $85 for food without tax and tips. I have a bottle of Veuve with the meal – which is priced just a bit more than a modest 200% mark-up from Costco prices. The service was excellent – and we enjoyed a brief chat with Chef Sharon before we left. And our GPS didn’t get us lost on the way home. I highly recommend this restaurant – but as with all popular restaurants (we’re not the first to discover York Street) – I’d suggest dining on a weeknight if possible. Robyn

The cabbage palm is the state tree of Florida - and is a protected species in many (all?) counties of Florida. If you want to cut down a mature tree where I live - you'll need county permission - and you'll have to mitigate. If you want to pay about $300 - you can come to my house and cut one down . There's an annual swamp cabbage festival in LaBelle Florida (southern middle part of the state) - where you can find the traditional dishes people are talking about. As for the non-US imports - there's a lot of controversy about their production in terms of environmental and worker-protection concerns. Robyn

We're in Dallas now. I plan to write up our eating here when I have some time. Which will probably be when I get home - we had a great meal/experience at York Street last night - I defy anyone to dislike this restaurant Anyway - apart from driving about 1000 miles on 20 different freeways in 24 hours (I guess it takes some getting used to - and we're not used to it yet - I don't know who's more frazzled - us or our rental car GPS) - I am planning the next couple of days. We're returning to Fort Worth (spent the day in museums there today) on Monday to go to the Van Cliburn piano competition in the afternoon. Was reading a local paper - Startime - today - and it wrote up a dim sum place in Arlington - Jade. Really good review - and the picture of the food looked very appetizing. Has anyone ever eaten there? Seems like it might be a good place for an early lunch on our way to Fort Worth on Monday. By the way - we ate lunch in Fort Worth today at the Stockyards (had to see the cattle drive - and my husband loved getting a chance to practice his Japanese with the Japanese tourists ). Had an extremely competent lunch at Hunter Brothers' H3 Ranch (I had the grilled trout and my husband had the hash and eggs which he said were good - he gave a big thumbs up to the biscuits). Another question while I have you here - is the Dallas farmer's market a little south of town worth a short visit tomorrow morning (don't know how long I'll last outside in 100 degree heat - I am definitely hitting the malls in the afternoon ). Sorry we brought this weather with us. I'm not a heat wimp - but it is really hot! Robyn

One thing I learned before we even went to Lockhart is that BBQ is variable. Depends on the particular meat - how long it's been sitting there - who's cooking it - etc. - etc. So what is best on a particular day may not be the best the next day. All the more reason to make multiple field trips to Lockhart if you're only a 30 minute drive away . Robyn

OK (those who don't want to know please avert your eyes ) - the clear winner by at least 5 lengths was Kreuz' fatty brisket. Incredible. I don't know much about BBQ - but I do know about brisket - because I cook it for the Jewish holidays. And this was a perfect point cut. Fatty - but not too fatty. Was as moist as if it had been reheated in gravy (which is how I cook it). Except mine doesn't come out tasting full of wonderful smoky flavors. We also had fatty brisket at Smitty's and Black's - and neither approached the brisket at Kreuz. As for the beef - it was kind of downhill from there. We had the prime rib at Kreuz. It was very overdone - very dry - and way too salty (we had both an end cut which was inedibly salty - and an interior cut which was just way too salty). The prime rib looked the same at Black's -super overdone - so we passed. I want the slab of prime rib that was shown on Dallasfood.org - the one that looked pink and juicy! We had beef sausage at both Kreuz and Black's - and I think we plain don't like beef sausage. I don't feel bad though. We had BBQ at a local place "on the road" on our trip to Dallas yesterday. Liked the sausage - and when we asked - our server told us it was a combination of beef and pork. The fellow sitting next to us said he'd lived in that area his whole life - and after lots of years - still didn't care for beef sausage. I'm not sure why we didn't have beef ribs - but we didn't. A careless omission - because we had beef ribs today - and they were good. We had a pork chop at Smitty's which I liked a lot - particularly the little pieces of burnt fat . It was smoky and juicy. And pork ribs at Black's. Competent - but they didn't compare with the better pork ribs we get at home. By the way - Smitty's gets my vote for best atmosphere. Perhaps that's because the smokers seemed smokier - and the place was doing a good business (the other 2 places were really dead - it's kind of sad eating in a nearly empty restaurant). Fifi - I got the idea for the "grand tour" from Dallasfood.org. They had an advantage there - a bunch of people - as opposed to 2. But I figured there's no reason 2 people can't do it. Robyn

We're in Texas on vacation. Leaving Austin for Dallas today. A few comments about Lockhart - the alleged BBQ capital of Texas (as a Floridian - I won't get involved in arguments concerning that designation ). We went to Lockhart for lunch one day. It's a short easy ride from Austin. Pretty much did a 3 restaurant (Kreuz - Smitty's - Black's) tasting menu. It's easy to do - even if you're alone - or have a small appetite - because you can order 1/4 pound of this or that - or one pork chop - etc. It's not like you have to order a whole meal and leave 2/3 of it to leave room for the next place. We only had meat - no bread or sides - and only drank water - to make sure we had room to sample lots of different kinds of meat. We wound up spending less than $25 for 2 at the 3 places. It was definitely a worthwhile way to spend a long lunch hour (from 11-1 - we ate - then we walked a bit - then we ate - walked a bit more - etc.). Of all the things we sampled - my husband and I both had a definite winner in terms of something specific that we ate (and it won by a lot). But if I start going through what we ate -and what we liked/didn't like - I'll ruin the "thrill of the chase" for anyone else who wants to do this. Not to mention that I've read that due to the vagaries of the cooking process - different items can vary quite a bit from day to day. Note that there is some preparation required for the trip. Bring some sturdy plastic utensils if you don't feel like using flimsy ones. And wear clothes that you don't mind winding up smelling like smoke (I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures of the pit at Smitty's - and smelled like a forest fire for the rest of the day). In fact - even if one winds up not liking any of the food (unlikely) - watching how they make the stuff is really fascinating. Robyn