robyn

It's usually hotter than h*** in Tallahassee in the summer. I'm surprised the waitstaff wasn't wearing swimsuits . Things are somewhat more formal "in season" - especially at the fancier places in town when the Legislature's in session. Robyn

There's an article in the August 2004 Food & Wine about a resort named The Sanderling in Duck and a few restaurants in the resort and elsewhere (e.g., The Left Bank, Duck Deli). I'm not familiar with the places - but you might want to check them out. Robyn

I asked my husband where he'd like to go for his 60th birthday next year - and he said Chile. I have no idea why (neither of us knows anything about the country - but we speak Spanish - and he's heard that it's a relatively safe stable country in South America which is doing ok). Apart from Santiago - can you recommend any other areas of the country which might be interesting from a food or other point of view? Robyn

They still get a lot more from a solo diner than they would if the table had stayed empty. That is the theory behind selling really cheap seats on airlines. Needless to say - the airline industry - over its entire lifetime - hasn't turned a profit. Robyn

I get the impression (possibly erroneous) that it was Keller's idea to restrict distribution. If he gave Bloomingdale's or Neiman Marcus or some similar store an exclusive (or even a piece of the action) - it would probably be "front and center" in the fine china sections. Robyn

you never answered the question whether or not you have dined there while chefg has been the chef. I passed up Trio last time I was in Chicago. From what I read - it sounded like a self-conscious gimmicky kind of place. Perhaps that's unfair to the chef - and simply reflects a bias on the part of the people who write about the restaurant. Anyway - it was a short trip - and I had things I wanted to do that were higher on my list. Robyn

I'm not familiar with this restaurant - but I don't think many restaurants have the manufacturing capabilities to package and seal sterile plastic containers which hold material for any type of human consumption. I sure wouldn't hold it against a restaurant if it had this kind of job done by an outside professional food packaging outfit. Robyn

That's what the astronauts do - and I consider it clever when I see it - that someone has come up with a way to feed people who are living with weightlessness. Ditto with MREs - particularly if they're edible. But in the context of a fine restaurant - it simply strikes me as a gimmick. Just like it's a gimmick to serve meals in beds instead of on tables (like some restaurants do). A self-conscious gimmick that says "how terribly clever we all are". As for people caring about eating physical food at these places - they must care an awful lot since they eat massive quantities of it if you're talking about 20-30 courses. If the chef is a great chef - I think he can and should let his food speak for itself. He doesn't need a gimmick. Unfortunately - in these trendy times - I think all too many chefs think they need a gimmick in order to stand out. Also unfortunately - their perceptions may be correct (I've seen all too many people here and elsewhere talk about the gimmicks - or the sheer number of courses - much more than they talk about the actual food). Robyn

Perhaps the picture doesn't do it justice - but it looks like a cheap plastic atomizer to me. Robyn

I guess it depends whether the chocolate is made in one location - or more than one. I always assumed that companies with a few stores scattered around the US (or the world) made their wares locally - but I'm not sure. The place where I shopped in Chicago was a small boutique inside the hotel. I can't recall whether it had any tables or chairs. Robyn

Everyone has a line of something. Jamie Oliver has dishes and pots. Nigella Lawson and Nobu have dishes. Emeril has pots. Daniel Boulud has knives and pots. Etc. There's no celebrity apparel in the Chefware catalogue ("The Look That Cooks") - but there are a lot of celebrity endorsements. The strange thing about the Keller line is it's so hard to find it. Robyn

Actually I'm usually happy - and even happier when dining at wonderful restaurants. I love excellent food and drink as much as anyone - but not when it interferes with my sleep during the night or my ability to function the next day. Note that I'm not a picky or puny eater - and I can hold a reasonable amount of liquor fairly well - so I'm not talking about subsisting on salads with no dressing and water with lemon slices. I do realize that I have to adjust for size differences (my husband is bigger than I am and he can eat more than I can - and I'm sure there are younger 6'3" guys here who can eat both of us under the table). Still - there are almost always limits (although when I've watched professional football players eat - I've never been able to figure out what their limit is ). Robyn

That's on point - but I was thinking more along the lines of this Op-Ed piece from the NYT about eating habits in Italy. Like the writer says - "To suggest that more and bigger is not better seems almost un-American". Robyn

Well - Ulysses was only semi-incomprehensible. Finnegan's Wake was totally incomprehensible. I suppose if Finnegan's Wake were a restaurant - one might have to try it 4 times to "get it" (if you got it - and I never got it). That said - despite the general "sturm und drang" - no one answered my question. If one course that consists of non-toxic perfume sprayed into the mouth is ok (or just terribly amusing - which is the sense I get from reading these messages) - would many courses of the same constitute a meal? Or not? Robyn

I don't have a doubt that everything you had was exquisite - but isn't there something more than a little over the top about eating until you're totally stuffed and it's "difficult" to eat (being a small woman - I'm sure if I'd eaten as much as you ate - I would have gotten sick)? Reminds me of the movie - Supersize Me - or descriptions of ancient Roman banquets - or food eating contests (like the fellow who ate about 50 hotdogs in the recent 4th of July contest). I can appreciate fully eating wonderful food in wonderful surroundings. I can't understand eating until you're not comfortable (or worse). Do you think this would have been a better meal if you had fewer courses and had left before eating became "difficult"? Or is gluttony part of the experience? I have a hard time reconciling gluttony with a fine dining experience. I don't see a difference between stuffing your face at the Golden Corral or the FL. Leaves me with visions of double and triple wide people - or bulemics. Perhaps someone can explain it to me - because I don't get it. For what it's worth - I got the same impression watching the FL meal on the Food Network. Looked like fun at the beginning. At about the tenth course - I got kind of nauseated just thinking about all that food. And I've seen similar meals described at other US restaurants (a few in Europe too but not as much as in the US). So this is a general question - not specific to you - or the restaurant. Although it does seem to be more of a US than an international question. Robyn

In fairness - I think guys suffer too. My husband and I have an old friend in LA - single. When we visit and eat with him - he basically is known at every high class sushi bar in the city. My theory is that sushi bars were the only place he - as a single person - ever felt comfortable dining at. His loss was our gain - because my husband and I learned more about sushi from him and the chefs he knows than we ever could have possibly learned on our own. Still - it is a little hard to get him to go out to eat someplace other than a sushi bar..... Robyn

Chicago is the original. And I know it's good (my husband bought some for me this week). Can't vouch for the satellite locations. Robyn

Doesn't remind me of Willy Wonka a bit. It's the process of "deconstructing" food - pure and simple. Similar to deconstructivist art - or architecture. What would you have thought if the entire dinner was sprayed into your mouth? Would you have considered it a "meal"? Robyn

And why did you love it? Why did it take you two visits? Robyn

Thanks for the update. Only surprise to me was Brewzzi. My husband loves beer - and we tried the Boca location. Wasn't so good the night we went. We'll have to give the Palm Beach location a try. I'll be back down in Palm Beach end of this month. Am planning the eating now. Wonder if anyone has tried the Chef's table at Cafe Boulud (although on a Florida summer night - I think the patio would be more romantic ). Question to staff - is it possible to attach these two messages to the prior thread on Palm Beach dining? Thanks. Robyn

You're welcome. My husband got me Photoshop Elements as a gift. I've been working with it for almost a year now - and I'm sure I haven't used 5% of what it can do. Unless you're a professional - I suspect it's more program than most people need. Robyn

The Peninsula Hotel has a Vosges chocolate boutique. Try it. Don't know if the chocolate buffet is in the bar. Last time I was in the bar - it was the only place in the public inside spaces of the hotel where one could smoke (everything - including cigars). I seem to recall you don't like smoking - so I thought I'd mention it. Robyn

You can say all of that again! I remember walking into the dining room of the Peachtree Plaza one night on a business trip. There were only 2 people in the whole restaurant - including me - and they gave me the table by the swinging kitchen door (they did move me when I asked to be moved - but there shouldn't have been a need for that). I'll tell you the absolute worst eating alone story though. My husband and I used to be regulars at a now-defunct Miami restaurant owned by the people who own Le Bernardin in New York. We had a regular table (a small but well situated 2 top) - and a regular waiter. My husband got very sick and was hospitalized for a fair amount of time. One night I was so tired from work and going to the hospital - and felt so miserable and alone - I went to "our restaurant". Our regular table was empty - but when the maitre d' went to seat me there - the owner objected - and I was directed to a miserable little table sandwiched between the bar and a wall in the "waiting area" of the restaurant - not the dining room - right next to the kitchen door. I walked out of the restaurant in tears - and never returned. And I never went - nor will I ever go - to Le Bernardin or any other restaurant these people have any interest in. Robyn

Any perfume department at a high end store (like Neiman Marcus). Robyn Here is a picture of one of the atomizers we were served... That's not a Neiman Marcus thing. That's a dime store thing. Probably made in China and ordered by the 1000 (or 10,000). I don't know if the restaurant fills the things itself - or whether it contracts the work out. Robyn

In all seriousness - I think there's a lot of crossover these days. Just read some message about Trio - where the writer's mouth was sprayed with scented stuff that was meant to kind of bring about the experience of food - without being food. Now that surely is evocative of a lot of things going on in the art world these days. And in all seriousness too - I don't think anyone who doesn't know about and have some comprehension of things like conceptual art or deconstructivist architecture has a clue about what's going on in these restaurants. Not that I necessarily approve of - or like - what's going on. It's just that the context is important. You're not seriously suggesting that these things are unrelated? Of course not. That's why today's NYT has an article about the auction of everything Damien Hirst did for the restaurant Pharmacy in London. Moreover - I suspect you could supply us with the contemporary analogues in the world of music (I could probably hum a few bars - but I'd be encroaching on your area of expertise). Robyn