tighe

I always let hotel concierge handle reservation. They have secured tables for me at L'Astrance on several occassions. They have all the angles. A good suggestion, but since I'm allocating my $ to food instead of lodging, we're staying at a ** place which I doubt has a concierge. Also, some people on this board have shared stories of reservations made at L'Astrance by concierges being cancelled by the restaurant at the last minute, so I'd feel safer taking the direct route. And finally, the success or failure of my trip doesn't depend on getting reservations there, the list of places I'd like to go is about 3x the number of meals I could possibly eat, and growing....

Apparently Penelope Corcoran has been reading eGullet, because in today's PI she scooped our idea for a guide to taco trucks. I haven't read the whole thing, but it appears to primarily feature places discussed on this thread. Not surprisingly, nearly all the locations shown are south-end.... Edited to add: if the powers that be see fit, maybe we should break all the taco truck discussion here into its own thread...

This gives me some hope. The message on their answering machine does say they'll reopen on the 26th. Guess I will be staying up late and dialing for dollars....

This is probably coming too late, but.... Pike Brewing would be much closer to Matt's than The Elysian, which is probably a couple miles east of the Market. If you're driving, it won't be a big issue.

Unfortunately, Red Hook's in-town location closed about a year ago. Their remaining pub is in Woodinville, about 30 minutes northeast of Seattle. Some other options: Pyramid Ale House - Some people dislike these beers, but I think many of them are excellent (particularly the Draft Pale Ale) and the food is generally good. Pike Brewing - I dislike the space and have never eaten there, but the beer is very good. The Elysian - Located just east of downtown on Capital Hill, tasty and interesting beers, crappy service and hit and miss food.

You might also want to get your hands on a copy of 'Gourmet Paris' by Emmanuel Rubin. It's organized by dish and he gives his top recommendations of where to eat each one.

I called a few places last night and didn't have any trouble at all getting reservations for the days I wanted, so I would definitely say you are not out of luck. I noticed yesterday that Repaire de Cartouche is on Patricia Wells' 2003 list of favorite places in Paris. I would say this means 'the cat is out of the bag.' She talks about the boudin noir they serve, which makes me think I may need to work it into my itinerary.

If you're still looking for places that are open in August, you might want to try perusing cityvox.com's Paris site. I've found it to be the best restaurant reference for Paris that I've found. The search capabilities are much better than viamichelin.com and there are pictures and comments that give you a much better idea of what places are like. Ratings are user-based, with all the pitfalls inherent to that method. Most of the site is tranlated (roughly) into English, but knowing French makes it a lot more useful.

c&c, thanks for the response. Trying to choose among the many tempting options in Paris has been painful, but the research has been fun. I've tried to select a balance of different price levels, styles and specialties, but there are certainly going to be many great places we'll miss. Le Repairs sound great and I'll keep it in mind.

My wife and I are going to Paris the first ten days in September and, as always, eGullet has been a tremendous resource for informing our restaurant choices. My thanks to all of you active contributors to the ‘France’ board. I’m hoping you can help me with a couple final questions. I had hoped to at least attempt to make reservations at L’Astrance, but failed to think through how the August closure might affect the timing. Have they already taken reservations for September and I’m out of luck, or will they take them once they reopen? I’ve tried calling the restaurant and simply get the message that they’re closed for the month. I imagine that I will run into the same issue with some of the other places I was hoping to go to as well. Also, does anyone have thoughts on Le Pre-Catelan? It’s appealing to me because of the setting, proximity to my hotel and favorable comments in a number of guides, but I’ve read posts on eG and elsewhere implying that the quality can be very uneven? Would it be a mistake to go or do I just need to have realistic expectations? Thanks. Edited to add another question: I'm reasonably conversant in French, but don't actually know the correct phrasing in asking to make a reservation. Does one 'prendre une reservation' or 'faire une reservation'?

Not been there myself, but I've heard good accounts of Whitehous-Crawford in Walla Walla.

No apology necessary, I'm just relieved to hear that it wasn't Tugra you were referring to. I imagine that Ciragan Palace also needs a restaurant with broad appeal for all of their visitors, so I'm not surprised.

I've had this one rolling around in my head for awhile and think maybe we need a different framework for the discussion. So far, this has been an attempt to establish what criteria can be used to define whether something is or is not barbeque, in or out, black or white... As with many issues in life, maybe its more helpful to think about it as a continuum, with high heat, direct grilling at one end, cool temp, cook it for days barbecuing on the other end, and a universe of methods in between.

Their website says that they were recently voted the best hotel restaurant in Turkey. I didn't eat there when I was in Istanbul, but from what I saw of their menu it is clearly not a Turkish restaurant per se. There are some local items on the menu, but most of is would best be described as 'Continental.' They may in fact do a very nice job with it. My guess is that the people voting on this award were international travellers who weren't necessarily looking for an authentic Turkish dining experience. Interestingly, when my sister stayed there, the hotel actually did not recommend their own restaurant. I can only hope that this statement refers to one of the other restaurants in the Ciragan Palace and not Tugra. If it is Tugra, the place has gone severely downhill or....I don't have another explanation. The chef there has done a ton of research in an attempt to recreate the cuisine of the Ottoman court. I wouldn't say that I loved everything I had, but it certainly wasn't because it was boring or poorly prepared. There were just certain flavors I didn't particularly care for, but the experience of the meal was incomparable.

Because I take pitty on the picture posting impaired.....

Not sure if this is the same place I went, but taking the ferry up the Bosphorus to the village at the end of the line is a worthwhile experience. We had a great lunch of deep fried mussels and grilled mackrel at one of the waterside restaurants.

Uhhhh.....what's 'boba'?

Just reading your list and thinking about these places makes my mouth water... I would put in a strong plug for Tugra. Goregeous location and one of the most memorable meals of my life. You probably don't want/need to put even more places on the list, but two that I would highly recommend are the kebab house Develi and the restaurant at the hotel Yesil Ev. Develi is well known and Steve Raichlen chose it as one of the 20 best grill/barbecue restaurants in the world. For all this pub, when I was there, I was the only non-Turk I saw/heard. Yesil Ev is a small hotel in between Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The have a gorgeous garden out back where dinner is served. Enjoy and please, please, please post about your experiences. DEVELI RESTAURANT Balýkpazarý G.yüzük Sk No:7 Samatya YESIL EV Kabasakal Cad. 5 , Sultanahmet,

Nevan, Thanks for the run-down. None of it surprises me I suppose, although they certainly should offer good food given that everyone who goes there is paying through the nose for both golf and their room. Much of your description reminds me of Semi-ah-moo, trying, but just not there yet. The trophy wine list is probably consistent with how many of their customers end up there. If both courses weren't ranked in the Top 10 public courses in the country, most Senators probably wouldn't make the trip.

Driving down 15th on Cap Hill yesterday, I noticed that Jake's, which had replaced HopScotch has now morphed into Mangoe's Bar and Grill. HopScotch was good, Jake's sucked real bad and the idea of even going to a place called Mangoe's sends shivers down my spine....

Lord knows I love to slag on Cascadia, probably more than it deserves and the breadth of my experience warrants, but... over on the food site who's name shall not be spoken, there has been a recent series of very positive accounts of meals at Cascadia, primarily written by visitors from out of town. I'm not ready to go running back yet, but... wood's account at least indicates that there are servers there who really care about the customers. I wholeheartedly agree with the comment that restaurants just should't bother with a $25 menu if they're going to do in a) on cheap and b) half-assed. The places that did the $25 thing well have made their money off me and the people I've recommended their restaruants to subsequently...

Please do tell. I've been fantasizing for some time about going there, for the golf courses that is....

The Thai place in question is Bai Tong, very good by all accounts although its been a long time since I've been there. The dim sum place is Imperial Garden, best Chinese food I've had in the Seattle area.

There's a "see and be seen" joint IN RENTON??? Is the apocalypse upon us?

At the risk of betraying my geographical ignorance of the Oregon/Washington border area... Is the Skamania Lodge near Hood River/Dalles? Some time ago I heard the restaurant there was quite good, don't know if its still true or if it would be too much out of the way.