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I'm with Scott on this one. When I was in Paris in September, the dinner I had there was stellar. Of all the places I went, it was one of only a couple I would make a point of going back to if I were in town.

This would be Ethan Stowell, I presume, owner of the place? I think I was surprised by how much the menu differed from the first one I saw - it could have been very disappointing to someone looking for offal, for instance. Also, I though the food and room were well executed, but the service wasn't quite so much - it created a disconnect for me. It was also very dull in there - not lively. I don't care for a lot of noise, but some sense of enjoyment around is appreciated. I'm curious about your take on the decor - I liked it, but didn't find it strikingly better than Brasa, 727 Pine, Waterfront, Zoe, Flying Fish, or even Fish Club. Different, and handsome, but in what ways was so it that much better? We've got carpet, dark wood, upholstered benches, nice lights, mirror, voltives, artwork...I did like the weight and height of the chairs - no dangling feet, no tipping over. Yes, that's the Ethan, just couldn't recall his last name (LNU = last name unknown; an unecessary addition on my part). Not sure if I can totally articulate why the decor/ambiance appealed to me so much, but it did. Compared to the places you mention..... Waterfront & Zoe - haven't been so can't say. Brasa - pretty comparable I guess, but I just don't like it as much. 727 - I like it, but with such high ceilings and the giant mirrors, there is something of an inhuman scale that doesn't lend itself to comfort for me. FF - so deafening that my eyes are usually clamped shut , also seems more industrial. Just my taste, but I enjoy quiter, more sedate restaurant atmosphere. The chef sort of apologized to us for how quiet things were the night we were there, but it was fine with me. I'm interested to go back when they're busy and see what the volume is like. ...and before Marcha, it was Mediterranea and before that another Greek place......

Whether there is enough sauce or not is one of the great metaphysical questions of life, not so easily answered.... I thought the sauce amount on my entree was adequate, if not generous. On scrat's beef dish, it was fairly minimal, but somehow that was OK with everything else it had to offer. The problem with their dessert options is that I'm such a chocolate whore, that when I didn't see any chocolate options, I kind of lost interest. Our server said the apple crisp was getting raves and some of the other things that went by looked very nice. The most intriguing option to me was the roasted figs with cardamom ice cream. The cheeses were fantastic, so I have no regrets. Halfs and magnums, yes! About 6 of each as I recall and the magnums weren't necessarily of really expensive stuff. It would be a great option if you went there with a group. If you were wavering on your overall verdict, there must have been some things that didn't do it for you. Other than the service issues you noted, were there other things that you didn't like?

Most of the restaurants have their menus posted on their respective pages at nwsource.com it appears.

On a whim, scrat and I went to Union for dinner on Halloween night. I will admit to a morbid curiosity about a place trying to make it in what has seemed to be a doomed location and I’m a sucker for a good logo. In short, the experience was excellent, offering a style and quality of dining that I think is unique and needed in Seattle. The first positive for me was the space, the designers managed to strike a balance between contemporary, even chic, décor that still creates a warm and comfortable ambience. Perhaps Cascadia and E&O also aim for the same type of contemporary cool (as opposed to retro cool of El Gaucho and Oceanaire), but Union succeeds to an extent I’ve not experienced elsewhere in town. Their wine list is both compact and intriguing, offering a variety of not well-known (to me at least) selections from both the new and old world. For those wanting to spend a lot on wine, those options are available, but I would say over half the list is in the $30-$50 range. I so much prefer this to being presented a tome, a la Canlis, which leaves me feeling lost, poor and frustrated. We went with wines by the glass, the list also short, but well composed. The menu is fairly brief, offering half-a-dozen or so options each, under the headings ‘First Course’, ‘Second Course’ and ‘Entrée’. Union doesn’t have specials, but instead changes out several menu selections every day. As tsquare mentioned, they also have a $45 tasting menu that looked like it would be a good value. Decision-making was difficult, with probably 10 items jumping out as “ohhh, that sounds really good” dishes. To keep the dessert option in play, we settled on one starter and one entrée each, forgoing a roasted pork belly interlude in between. Before the starters, we were presented with an amuse of minced tuna tartar mixed with green apple, shallots and chervil, topped with a dab of crème fraiche, all atop a crisp fried crostini. The balance of richness from the tuna against the apple and shallot was sublime. My starter was duck confit salad; a layer of chilled, tender, salty and rich shredded duck meat topped with a layer of julienned celery root (very clean flavor) and an additional layer of frisee. Around the edge of the plate were dots of pomegranate vinaigrette. Scrat had Jerusalem artichoke soup, drizzled with pungent truffle oil. She said it rivaled the Jerusalem artichoke/sunchoke soups she had at Aquavit in New York and Cioppino’s in Vancouver. For my entrée, I had a very tender pork chop in a Madeira jus with roasted cippolini onions (of the onion, not the bulb variety) and red chard. Scrat’s beef loin was the winner of the evening however; perfectly cooked with four ‘rounds’ of red-wine poached marrow on top and accompanied by roasted fresh porcinis and carrots. Exquisite. For dessert we had the cheese plate that included five different cheeses, including a French goat’s milk blue and a startlingly good domestic cheddar. Some quirks in the service were compensated for by a genuinely customer-focused attitude. The chef (Ethan LNU) came out after dinner and we chatted with him for a while. He’s cooked at Painted Table, Lampreia and Nell’s but got most of his training/experience in Atlanta. I have to say that the style of food reminded me quite of bit of Tim Kelly at his best. If you’re considering a nice dinner out, go to Union, this place deserves to make it and it will be near the top of places I recommend to others.

It's a bit remote. With one change, the you can get most places from the local metro stop however. The place appears to be exceptional for the price. When we stayed there the location was no problem because of three Metro/RER lines within easy walking distance that could get you anywhere with only one or often no transfers. Just my personal taste, but I really enjoyed being in a residential area. I feel obligated to clearly state that the room we had looked absolutely nothing like what is shown in the pictures on the web site. It was quite dissapointing in fact. If I were to stay there again, I would be quite specific about wanting one of the 'superior' rooms, and maybe one of the rooms shown, in particular. My impression is that the hotel is slowly being renovated, but they certainly hadn't reached the room we had on the top floor (no elevators). The prices are quite good, but for what we got, didn't feel like a bargain; for one of the rooms shown it would be a good deal. The people who run the place are very nice and helpful.

On my recent trip to Paris, I stayed at the Hotel Exelmans, just across the river from the 15th in the 16th. Loved the neighborhood, but admit the hotel was very basic. If you're willing to pay for one of their 'superior' rooms (shown in the pictures), it would be a decent enough place to stay.

I know its kind of a cliche, but when I used to go to SA for work, I always liked going to the Mexican places on Market Square. Good food and fun environment. Other than that, the best place I ate was at Boudro's on the River Walk. Contemporary bistro kind of food with Texas influences.

Jean-Marie Josselin of A Pacific Cafe has a book called A Taste of Hawaii. I don't have it, but it looks good and I love his place.

The porchetta sandwich. End of story.

I enjoyed the lunch today very much too. I had the tarte de jour, in this case ox tail and musroom. Pretty much like a thin quiche, not as boldly flavored as I might have hoped. Scrat had a croque monsieur, her bellweather of the quality of a French bistro at lunch. Unfortunately mamster had to eat and run, but scrat and I "happened" to run into the manager and got a tour of the restuarant. She pointed out numerous original Smith Tower architectural artifacts that had been salvaged and incorporated in to the decor. If you go, look for the metal grill work displayed in different parts of the bar, a large mahagony mirror at the back of the restaurant and the metal stall doors in the ladies room painted to look like wood. They also have a nice sized private dining room.

I thought the show was pretty good. Always funny to see how things/places one is familiar with are portrayed on TV (Gelatiamo only a few blocks from La Spiga? ). I'm going to have to go by Spiga and ask Pietro why he didn't even get a mention. Where's the love?...

I am officially announcing a letter-writing campaign to get Tim Kelly to open his next place here in Seattle, not New York! Please Tim.....please!

Scrat and I are in....

The episode of Mario's Ciao America show that features Salumi and La Spiga will be on Food Network tonight at 10:30...

Ray's has it posted on their website and I think some other participating restaurants are also publisizing it, but I haven't seen any official announcement yet. NWsource.com was the main promoter the last couple of times, but no word yet on their site.

A restaurant I saw in Paris: 'Il etait une Oie dans la Sud-Ouest' For non-Francophones, it's a play on what would be translated as, "Once upon a time in the South-West", except that the word for 'time', 'fois', is substituted with 'oie' or 'goose'. Geese are, of course, one of the sources of the foie gras so typical of southwestern France. Allright....its a little TOO cute....

A favorite of mine.... One of the traditional Japanese recipes for black cod is to marinate it for about 24 hours in sake lees (sake kasu) and then grill or pan-fry the fish. The flavor is very rich and unique. Here's a link to an article about black cod including a recipe for kasu black cod. I think kasu is readily available in most Asian markets.

Just to throw my methodological $0.02 in.... If you were going to really control for perception problems, some of your subjects should taste wines that both have a 'false' clip on them and some should taste wines that were both 'clipped' and you should let all of you subjects know ahead of time that all of these treatments are possible. Otherwise subjects will seek a difference between the two wines that you may incorrectly attribute to the clip, when it may be due to some other factor, or completely nonexistant.

I have to say reading this, I couldn't help but hear it being read in the voice/style of the French knight in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. "I empteee my nuse at yuuu, yuu stuupeed Engleesh k-nig-its. I fahht in your gen-e-ral di-recsheeeon!" One's ability to learn from others typically has a lot more to do with you than it does with the others. In the kitchen and in life, virtually everyone has something valuable to teach us. I'm not going to try to convince you of this, you're young enough to still think you have it all figured out. Check back in 10 years, if you feel the same way then you're just arrogant. You also may want to think about making a consistent argument. On one hand you acknowledge that there are things that French chefs could learn from the US culinary scene, but then you imply that the only thing American influence has accomplished is the creation of "shitty fusion food in Paris." Which is it? I love France and French food, in all its permutations. The one thing we might agree on is that the direction of its evolution, or whether it evolves, shouldn't be solely dictated by forces outside of France.

By Istanbul standards, perhaps, but by the standards of most big cities in Europe, not at all. I felt it to be an excellent value compared to most places I've stayed in other cities.

When I was in Istanbul a few years ago, I stayed at the Ayasofya Pansiyonlari, consisting of a row of restored wooden houses along the outside wall of Topkapi Palace. The rooms were nice, though not luxurious. Loved the location and the historical significance of the place. Another restored house that is now a hotel is the nearby Yesil Ev. Had dinner there one night and it looked like it was maybe a bit nicer than the AP.

In a newsletter I just received from gayot.com, it says that our beloved 25 for $25 promotion will be running again in November. It's also mentioned on Ray's web site, but I haven't seen any general announcement.

Interesting, never occured to me that it was to keep people from looking out, rather than keeping others from looking in.

I walked over to the building today at lunch...paper on the windows, Kokeb awning tossed out back and some minor repairs already started on the exterior. I tried to peer through a small gap in the paper, but was met with a glare from someone inside, didn't see much of anything. Studpid question...why do new restaurants and retailers so regularly paper over the windows of spaces that are being worked on? It's such common practice that I'm sure there's a good reason for it. Is it the desire to have a "ta-da!" moment or are there practical considerations?