Daniel

I like the wood spoons.. But my absolute favorite are the little tasters spoons they serve samples on.. Whenever I get an ice cream I ask for the little spoons.. At a restaurant, I will eat dessert with the little espresso spoons if they have them..

Hopefully, if the Dr. ok's me.. I am going to be in Atlanta on business. If not, just to take pictures with them, I would go.

Percyn, Have you ever gotten the fries in any of there Hotels? I am curious if they are all like this.. Just an update: The GM called me and said "Mr. _____ this is the GM Harry _____.. The Four Season's doesnt argue with its guests, I dont argue with the guests, I am sorry this happened there will be no charge" The guy was the first professional I encountered in the management. The staff, besides the security guard was wonderful and my faith has been restored in a terrific Brand..

Jan 12 brings some big names to the Beard House.. link " This evening, the Beard House will host four of the school’s venerated deans, each with his own impressive résumé: Jacques Pépin, Alain Sailhac, Andre Soltner, and pastry chef Jacques Torres. " Hors Devours Mushroom Pithiviers Croque Monsieurs Salmon in Nori Leaves Profiteroles au Fromage Terrine Maison aux Truffes Dinner: Le Cirque Lobster Consommé with Medallion Veuve Clicquot Vintage 1999 Le Pavillon Oven-Roasted Striped Bass Domaine Chandon Chardonnay 2003 Classic Braised Beef à la Mode Lutèce Casa Lapostolle Cuvée Alexandre Merlot Sprinkling of Mâche with Abbaye de Citeaux Jacques Torres Fontaine of Chocolate and Raspberries Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge Mignardises

They have a recipe for there soup in Artisinal Cooking by Terrance Brennan.. I know they call for four different cheeses in there mixture.. Parm-Reg, Gruyere, Beaufort, Emmenthaler.. They use Leeks, Spanish, Shallot, and Red Onions.. Its a beef stock.. There is sherry, there is white wine.. I think they use a extremely rich beef stock.. I love the cheese combo, just would prefer a lighter soup.. Edit TO ADD: Here is the link to the cookbook amazon.com Artisinal Cooking

Actually, that is what I find great about America.. Most countries dont even take human rights into consideration.. Here we have compassion and whole organizations set to protect creatures big and small..

That is upsetting.. Laurie Raphael was such a wonderful New Years experience.. I was sad I missed it this year.. I am sorry that the service and wine was off.. I hope the food was at least impressive.

Maybe I am missing the point but it was 4 am. Isn't it kind of acceptable logistically to not have a fresh fry policy at that hour? I mean, at 4 am I suspect most people ordering are drunk and not picky palates at that hour. I will also go as far as to say that non-picky palates like the frozen variety better. For all I know they woke some guy up to make Daniel's fries! Maybe I am too forgiving........ Evan ← Also please understand that plate was 30 dollars when it was all said and done.. They certainly dont cheapen the prices at 4 am.. I wish they did

I know if there is someone who knows about a Jersey Restaurant its Rosie. Has there been any major changes lately there? When was the last time you were there? I can tell you that the Manager told me his line was down 2 or three people and that they werent his best... Also, whoever was working there Friday was not very professional at all.. The man allowed to have a double door open into the dining room. Was made aware of our complaints and did absolutely nothing.. He allowed people to track garbage bags passed us while we ate.. If they read this I would love a response. One thing I should say was he gave us free dessert and free coffee to the two people who ordered it.. A free meal would have at least made me feel less cheated.. In terms of the plating.. I am not too impressed by the photos.. You have a thirty dollarish scallop main.. Does that look like a main course at New Jerseys top Restaurant? And the pork chop is facing the wrong way, the greens were thrown on the plate, and the wheat is sloppily spooned out.. The gnocci is way too big, to dense, and that style of throwing fried things on top is certainly creative for a Cheese Cake Factory, but stopped being popular a little over 10 years ago.. I would say the carpaccio is the only pretty dish.. And that too had its problems..

Not the healthiest lunch in the world. I heard two people in the office talking about how they drank Johnny Walker Blue for NYE.. Walking by hearing this, I told them about the bottle I had in the trunk of my car.. One things leads to another and we are standing around a double shot in the break room.. Really busy today so that counts as lunch..

HAHA.. Thats funny, I think we are some of the few who really are interested in the Fries at the Four Season.. But honestly speaking, they were a huge let down and I took notice.. To keep you updated on the situation.. The hotel manager basically called my at work and told me I was lieing.. So now I get to speak with the next guy on the buerocratic ladder tomorrow..

I went to Morimotos.. I dont have the photos loaded onto egullet yet.. I will write the experience up this evening hopefully..

I always do.. I let my defenses down when I got the cheese steak.. The server let himself out and I must have been to involved in the sangwich.. A mistake I will not soon make again.. So clearly it was the cheese steaks fault..

The fries certainly were out of the freezer.. They were under cooked and disappointing.. The key to photographing drunk is to take many pictures.. One is bound to be decent .. They were a couple of other events that were really disappointing about the Four Seasons.. One being a security gaurd came into the room at 5 am unannounced to turn down the volume of the television.. The guy just barged into the room with out a knock or call or identifying himself...I was sleeping and my girl was half dressed.. It turns out after speaking to the head of security the following morning, a guest made a complaint.. The guest had his radio on in the room and thought it was someone next doors television.. Unbelievable.. I spoke with the manager and they were less then helpful.. I am waiting for the head managers call this afternoon..

I was most inspired by the Perlow's Trip down to New Orleans.. After seeing Willy Mae's Fried Chicken and the Stuffed Po Boy at Liuzza's.. I dont think I slept well until I went to both places.. Jasons Photos

Did you get "toasted" Johnny..

This is not something I am proud of.. But I am now curious if I hold the title for eating the most overpriced Cheese Steak in Philly.. Obvioulsy, I need to defend the circumstances in which the Cheese Steak was ordered.. I was pretty much dead drunk.. It was 4 am. room service has a cheese steak that they will deliver 24 hours a day, Me, with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a cheese steak in another, had little knowledge that I was creating the recipe for the world's worste hangover.. Throw in a multi-course Japanese tasting menu eaten 3 hours earlier and I am happy to be hear re-telling this tale.. Here is the menu.. 18.50 For a cheesesteak.. Granted this is just the beginning, when it was all said and done.. The final bill was 30 bucks with delivery and service charges.. Here is the Cheese Steak.. It was actually really good.. One big problem, I was unable to get Whiz.. I got Provolone and American just to double cheese the thing.. No mushrooms or peppers.. The steak itself was fantastic..Juicy, meaty, tasted of fried onions and a hint of fried peppers.. I would say it was easily better then the average steak.. But the bread wasnt to my liking.. Also this camera time is obviously wrong on this camera.. So besides reporting about it, I am also asking has the expensive fois gras or truffle cheese steak hit Philly.. I would be surprised if the expensive burger craze had no effect on the Cheese Steak..

Paula needs to stay in her genre.. She is a good Southern Cook with some good recipes.. She starts getting into trouble when cooking "exotic" cuisine such as Italian or Mexican.. Just because you pour a jar of salsa into a dish, does not make it Mexican.. Paula, its never alright to use Cottage Cheese to replace Ricotta..

Something tells me that there sales report shows that Lobsters arent a big seller.. That the tank is a hassle to clean and to operate.. And its a lot cheaper and easier to kill the bugs and freeze em until however many months down the road, some unlucky customer want to buy a lobster tail.. The day a corporation starts changing its policies based on the treatment of those poor lobsters.. Pah Leeze.. I have an idea.. Why dont they hire a team of lobster psychologists and have them do an exhaustive study finding out the way the lobsters are most comfortable.. They should perhaps construct a tank that mimicks there natural environment.. But not a small tank, but a huge one like they have at SeaWorld..Build aqua ducts to bring in fresh seawater that constantly is being added to the tank... This would be even more humane then freezing.. And instead of serving them to customers, let each customer adopt a lobster and let them feed it and send out huge color pictures albums tracking there lobsters progress..

I did not grow up using porcelain spoons, but I wish I did.. As I child I hated using metal silverware.. To the point were just the clanging of it puts a metal taste in my mouth and makes me highly annoyed... I eventually starting using plastic silverware.. Obviously I would use a sharp steak knife to cut.. But I would use plastic spoons and forks at the dinner table.. I also started using chopsticks to eat at a very young age.. To this day, I still dislike silverware for the most part.. I am known to break out the plastic spoons for desserts..

118 S. 16th St. Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-963-9311 We found this place after leaving the Samson Street Oyster House.. We were walking down the street when the sky just opened up.. Not seeing a taxi around we ducked into the nearest bar.. We had a few drinks and noticed they had a menu.. I assumed it would be just normal bar food.. But after checking out the menu, I was really impressed.. The menu is something of a collection of favorite dishes from the bars staff... Each thing looked extremely tempting.. From Braised Short Ribs, grilled Fresh Whole Sardines, to Gravlax and Branzino.. My biggest problem was saving room for dinner which was 6 hours away.. The first thing I ordered was eggs with creme fraiche and Paddle Fish Caviar.. I am a big fan of Paddle Fish Eggs and believe they are not used as often as they should be.. This dish was just perfect. The ingredients spoke for themselves and the combination was fantastic.. Nice portion of Paddle Fish Eggs.. A less thoughtful designer might not have portioned it so well.. This dish would not have been as good if by the end one were just left with a plate of eggs.. The eggs prepared wonderfully.. At the same time we were served House Cured Gravlax.. There were burnt pieces of garlic around it giving it the bagel feel.. There was also capers and this horseraddish, herbed cream cheese.. The Gravlax wasnt super cured, so it was almost like eating raw salmon.. But it was really of such great quality.. I was super impressed.. This dish is a winner.. Also served with that great bread pictured with the eggs.. We ended with a burger.. Ordered Medium Rare, it actually came out Medium Rare.. So often the temperature is something always asked but never really followed.. I like my burgers bloody and thats how I got it.. The bun I am not a fan of, but the burger itself was good.. This was the weakest of the three dishes, but not bad.. The fries were worth getting the burger for.. It was pouring and it was New Years Eve Day, so I didnt get a good feel of the crowd.. But we spoke with the manager/bar tender for the few hours we hung there.. He was a really charming and friendly guy from Montreal.. He runs a great place and his enthusiasm and creativity are on display here.. I was really impressed with this place and wish it was down the street from me, I would be a regular.. Edit: New Camera, I have no idea how the time got there..

Thanks Diva.. I am baffled myself.. I cant think of one good thing to say about the place.. This review is based on one meal, but I cant see it recovering with out a whole lot of changes..

As I have stated up thread I thought the Frog and the Peach was a great place.. After Friday night's horror, I dont see myself ever returning.. Not just because of the horrible service, waiter, and experience, but because there are just better options food wise, in the area.. We arrived for our 830 reservation 10 minutes late.. Which I called ahead to tell the restaurant..My party of four arrived together and we were quickly given the we are better then you attitude.. With an empty restaurant we were forced to stand in the door way while they completely ignored us.. Finally, there were ready to seat us.. They walk us through the restaurant, up the stairs and at a table in the back.. Our waiter, who might have been the most affected person I have ever met, was just so impressed with himself. I have had many of waiters, I must say, this guy was one of the worst.. A waiter, especially at this level, is not there to impress you, he is not there to make you feel stupid, he is not there to be the center of attention.. His job is to enhance the meal, not control it.. This guy was rude, obnoxious, and incompetent.. Before the meal, my mother and girlfriend had mentioned they were freezing.. And my mother is a women who keeps her house 62 degrees on the nose in winter and summer.. We brought it to the attention of our waiter who quickly dismissed it. Its not cold, someone just opened a door in the front and you felt a draft.. Huh? Your restaurant has a door that opens into another room and then another door that opens into the restaurant.. He walks away.. Ten minutes later, my father is forced to go downstairs and ask the manager this time.. The manager comes up and confirms the fact that its cold.. I asked this guy as the waiter is standing there too, "Do you guys have a door open in here" Its not just cold, its FREEZING!!!! No, No, there isnt a door anywhere up here.. Really, I said, because I feel a draft coming from behind that curtain, are you sure there isnt a door open.. No, there is no door... So we order.. I will have the duck please.. Sorry sir, but we are out of duck tonight.. About 15 minutes after we order, the bread comes out.. It was hot, sour dough, nothing special.. Served with herbed butter... About 20 minutes after the bread, actually we were served twice, the salads came out.. I got a venison carpaccio.. The carpaccio was average.. I have had better any other place I have tried it.. I am thinking it must have been pre-sliced and dried out.. The only saving grace of this dish was it gave me the idea to make mustard seeds looks like caviar.. Whatever vegetable was put on top, I think it was purple cabbage, it too was dried out. Almost like it was left in the fridge to long sliced and dried out.. It was difficult and unpleasant to eat.. My family wanted to try the truffle gnocchi so we decided to get an entree version for the table after the salads... This too was a mistake.. There was another 20 to 25 minute lull in between them removing the salads and us getting the gnocchi.. The gnocchi was way to dense.. Not light and fluffy but way too heavy.. You cant serve a mash potato stuffed pasta with such a heavy truffle sauce.. The dish was extremely amateurish.. And to add this fried nonsense on top.. I dont need the grease from a deep fryer competing with the truffles.. Maybe they made the gnocchi dish so heavy because they knew it was going to take another 25 minutes for the next course.. We wait and wait and wait.. And yes its still freezing.. And for some reason we sat there like morons.. And the waiter is now missing.. No drinks, no water, no nothing.. I wished this guy would leave and now he really isnt coming back.. Dinner arrives and we are now being served by someone not wearing a waiters uniform. Its a young kid who clearly is a bus boy.. Maybe they thought we wouldnt complain to him.. I dont know.. I ordered the pork chop.. It was a little over cooked.. Served with some wheat with bacon thrown in and deep fried collard greens scattered around the plate.. I would not serve this at my house.. On a scale of 1-10.. I would say this dish was a solid 4.. My father and girlfriend got a scallop dish.. This was equally unsatisfactory.. The scallops were completely over cooked.. Or as our waiter who reappeared said, they were just slightly "moist".. Moist? What does that mean? Something about that terms is just so unappetizing... There were served on little white rice blocks..Rice that was smushed together to form a block.. With a lemon salad and get this.. Those little pools you see, well thats a curry sauce.. Ugh, it was just so gross.. And the rice adding no flavor, just really added that nice mushy texture that an overcooked scallop is missing.. Basically, my father and girl at the scallops of the rice cub and picked at the salad.. For dessert we had a molten chocolate cake with ice cream.. (I have to interupt dessert the same way mine was interupted.. The boy who was sent as our waiter at one point of the evening WALKED THROUGH THE DINING ROOM WITH TWO BIG BAGS OF GARBAGE.. RIGHT PASSED OUR TABLE..) I was thinking they were going to start vacumming.. I make these almost once a week at home.. As well as my own ice cream.. I would expect at one of the Best Restaurants in New Jersey, it would be better then a home chefs.. It was not.. The manager came over to ask us how dinner was.. I told him that you sat us in a freezing room and did nothing about it.. The food was sub-par, the service was terrible, and the spacing in between courses was unacceptable.. It was now 3 hours later and we are still having dinner.. He smiled and said, "I know, we are so short handed in the back and actually the guys back there arent that good" Oh really, thanks for pointing out the obvious.. Here the manager just admitted that he is aware that the restaurant is slow and bad.. I told him he should have told us how bad the place was before we had dinner.. The story ends with us waiting another 15 minutes for the valet. I wont even get into the fact that I am spening 75 bucks a person for a lousy dinner and they cant even provide valet service.. At the restaurant Daniel a 100,000 dollars a year is spent on just flowers.. I cant even get my car parked here for free... The best part of the night, as we drive by the restaurant we notice there is a double garage door opened that is leading right up the stairs to where our table was.. They never even checked to see if that door was open.. It turns out, me and my three dining companions are not infact stupid and really can determine when something is cold.. I would never go back here.. The place is a joke and is only keeping its status because Zagats says so.. The place is shamefull..

I agree Sadie... I believe in the cheese fairy too .. Had a solid dinner there.. Started with a pizza w/ prosciutto..Had grilled scallops on an arugala, radiccio, frisee salad.. Lemon olive oil... Fantastic. Then had spaghetti and clam sauce.. I always ask for red pepper and they bring out a dish and spoon.. The clam sauce is a little too brothy, I like to pour the olive oil they give you for the bread on the pasta.. A lotta red peppers.. We ended with a cheese plate and some dessert wines.. The cheese was fabulous as always.. A stand out was like a more solid textured ricotta.. I want to make a cake out of this... He served an excellent lavender honey, quince paste, and a fig compote.. All were great. I have a new phone that has a voice recording option.. I asked Carmine to talk into the phone.. He refused.. Oh well, his speach is worth the price of admission..

I am going to Philly for New Years.. I am doing Morimotos for NYE and most likely Vetris for the day after.. I havent been but have heard great things about the place.. Maybe see if Vertis has openings..