Carlsbad
-
Posts
668 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Carlsbad
-
-
The other Bully's is in Del Mar, and it was there last time I looked. They are fun and you can get good drinks and a decent meal at both, but they don't serve the kind of steaks you get at the higher priced places.
Edited to add that I just remembered there is another Bully's in the Bird Rock area of La Jolla, so forget what I said.
-
I have to agree totally with menton1 on this one. During a very brief visit to Torino several years ago, my wife and I were totally taken by the place. The cafes were great, from the very elegant Caffe Torino on the grand Piazza San Carlo to the intimate Al Bicerin, on the beautiful Piazza della Consolata. At Caffe Torino, we had Americanos under the arcade on the square, and even though it wasn't really the right time for an aperitivo, they brought us six or eight very nice canapes with the drinks. There were hundreds of people out walking, and we had a front-row seat. An outside seat may not be that great during the winter, but the inside is equally appealing. And the bicerin would be even better in cold weather.
To call the aperitivo a happy hour really doesn't do it justice, if our experience with it is any indication. We enjoyed a glass of wine and some very good, interesting appetizers (with no popcorn or chicken wings in sight) at a relatively inexpensive wine bar.
We had dinner at Tre Galline, which is a comfortable and stylish restaurant, despite looking unimpressive on the outside. We had a reservation at 8:30 pm, and when we arrived, we had to ring the bell to get in. It was almost empty, but totally filled by 9:00 pm, and we enjoyed an excellent tasting menu of Piemontese dishes which I thought was bargain for the quality of the food. The wine list was also excellent.
-
Not sure how in the world I did that, but thanks for the correction.
-
I would second Legrand Filles et Fils- both the wine bar and the wine shop. I thought both were first rate.
-
Where else can we we get this kind of information.
-
I need more suggestions?????
anything, not just creperies.... What about wine bars?
Wine Bars I like or want to try:
Le Café du Passage 12 rue du Charonne 11th
Sancerre, 22 Ave. Rapp, 7th
Bar du Caveau, 17 place Dauphine, 1st
Taverne Henri IV, 3 Place du Pont-Neuf, 1st
Fish, la Boissonnerie, 69 rue de Seine, 6th
Les Pipos 2, Rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique, 5th
Les Enfants Rouges 90 rue des Archives (or 9, rue de Beauce), 3rd
Le Verre Volé 67 rue de Lancy, 10th
Clown Bar 42, rue Leon-Frot, 11th
Jacques Melac 114, rue Amelot, 11th
-
I go to the Disneyland Hotel every year for a two-day, work-related seminar thing. It's not the place to go for food, but I've had some good meals. Napa Rose is very good, and expensive, and you need reservations ahead, at least in the warmer months. Without reservations, you can eat in the bar, where they have live music, a nice setting and a good list of fairly expensive small plates. Everything I have had there has been very good. Catal is probably my favorite place in Downtown Disney. We've had maybe 4 or 5 dinners there, and all have been good to excellent. The more informal Uva bar outside it is a very nice place for more good, casual food if it's warm. I have tried Brennan's Jazz Kitchen twice, several years apart, and it was really awful both times.
Edited for typos.
-
When we were there in July, we had reservations for a Sunday night well in advance. We liked it so much, we decided to return the next Sunday and made reservations several days ahead, although only 9:00 pm was available. If you tell them you are a vegetarian when you reserve, as fresh_a suggests, I'm sure they will accomodate you very nicely.
There was talk that Antoine Westermann was taking over the more up-scale Drouant and that chef Antony Clemot was moving there. Does anyone know if that happened?
-
Talk about SABA, I still remember going to Valentino in the '70's, and when we were seated, they had Ben Gazzara (he was coming off a hit TV series then and was well-known) parked at a table where he was literally on display for everyone who entered. The food was great though, and actually has been whenever I have returned.
-
No Hollywood glitter here, but not the greatest restaurant scene either.
-
welcome to LA.
-
We recently had a late lunch/early dinner at Smith & Wollensky before heading to the airport, and loved it. The front room is open during the afternoon, and both lunch and dinner menus were available. At 3:00 p.m., the room was full of hard-core, meat-eating men for the most part, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. A young man with an Australian accent was getting up to leave as we arrived, and he told us that his bone-in rib-eye was the best he had ever had.
The place has the real New York steakhouse look and feel, including charming and somewhat gruff servers. All three of us started with the S&W salad, which was about $10. The salads had large pieces of bacon and big potato croutons, and one of them would have been enough for all of us. I thought it was okay, but not great, and if I had it to do over again, I would probably order something else. My wife and our friend liked it a lot more than I did. Our friend and I split the very large porterhouse for two, which was outstanding. I had had this before here, and it was as good as I remembered. I think it was 44 oz. and was about $70, although the pricing details are a little hazy. It had a very rich taste, was perfectly charred on the outside and rare in the middle. It is carved tableside. My wife had an excellent veal chop, which was about $38. If I remember correctly, the dinner steaks started at about $32. We had side dishes of hashed brown potatoes, onion rings, and asparagas with hollandaise. The potatoes and onion rings were as they should be. The asparagas was perfect- about as good as could be. I think the large sides are about $12. I had an assortment of six little glasses of sorbets and ice creams, which were all thankfully light and quite good.
The wine list is now all American, although if you ask, they have a list of imported wines, mostly French, that are left over from the old list. The regular list is large and has some very interesting wines, which make it easy to get a little carried away. We had a Burgess cab 1983, which was on the edge but enjoyable (about $110 I think) and a French Burgundy the details of which I can't remember, which was outstanding and priced at about $75 if I remember right. They have some good, less expensive wines and a short list of serviceable wines by the glass.
For a real steakhouse experience, I recommend this place highly.
-
For better or worse, the food philosophy that prevails is to take high quality ingredients and cook them very simply.
I think it's for better.
I'm planning a trip for this summer, and look forward to seeing the posts here.
-
I checked out Fix, and was glad we didn't go there. I think it may be a generational thing though.
-
We were in Las Vegas last weekend for three nights. We stayed at the Wynn, and enjoyed it. Great view from the room, looking over the strip and mountains beyond. I would definitely recommend spending the extra for the view. Room service was excellent for breakfast. The room service prices were about the same as the coffee shop, but the view was much better.
All of our dinners were excellent. Daniel Boloud Brasserie was perfect for the first night right off the plane. The room was comfortable and a little more formal than I expected from other reports. An excellent lobster bisque and the orginal NY DB burger for me and lobster salad and braised short ribs for my wife. The desserts are a little hazy. It's easy to get carried away with the wines, but at least I didn't add the extra truffles to the burger. Almost certainly the most expensive brasserie meal I've ever had, but it's Vegas, baby.
Dinner at Picasso the second night. We had the degustation menu, which I believe was $110 for 5 courses. I thought it was a bargain with the wine pairings. One of the best meals I've ever had in Las Vegas. My only criticism was that the lamb could have been trimmed a little better, but that's nitpicking. The room is beautiful and the service was excellent.
Back to the Wynn the third night for dinner at Bartolotta. Antipasti of very fresh tasting sardine special and a warm seafood salad. Primi were a special of penne with mixed seafood and perfect gnocchi, light as a feather, with a tomato cream sauce with parmignano. Next we had a special of delicate sole on a bed of wild mushrooms and brussel sprouts and sauteed turbot with clams, leaks and white wine. Excellent Italian wine list. Very good desserts. The service was fine, if not on a level with Picasso.
Before we left on Monday, we had a late lunch/early dinner at Smith & Wollensky. Their grill room is open all day. The wine list is now all American, but they have some French and Italian wines left over if you ask, and there are some sleepers on the list. We had the house salad and the huge porterhouse for two. I thought the salad was so-so, but the steak was perfect. We also had excellent asparagas and some good hash browns.
We found a quiet oasis for an after dinner drink at the bar in Alex Restaurant at the Wynn. The young woman tending the bar was very charming. I would recommend all four of these restaurants. Definitely not budget places, but I wasn't disappointed in anything they served.
-
We loved Les Ormes, a Michelin one-star at 22 rue Surcouf in the 7th. The food was great and the room is intimate and beautiful. I also thought it was very good value for the quality.
-
I always seem to end up spending more at a wine bar than I do at a good bistro. In addition to the great choices already suggested, you might consider Mon Vieil Ami, Le Pamphlet and Le Clos Des Gourmets, all comfortable places with gentle prices for the quality. Cosi, 54 rue de Seine in the 6th (not to be confused with Le Cosi, a Corsican place at 9 rue Cujas in the 5th), has great sandwiches on their own bread- great to eat there or take away.
-
La Charlotte de l´isle (24, rue St. Louis en l´Ile on the Ile St-Louis) for decadent hot chocolate in an unusual setting.
-
There are some good food shops in the area of your apartment. Max Poilane, 42 place du Marché Saint-Honoré, for bread. Aux Beaux Fruits de France, 304 rue Saint-Honoré, for produce. Jean-Paul Hévin, 231 rue Saint-Honoré, and La Fontaine au Chocolat (Michel Cluizel), 201 rue Saint-Honoré, for chocolates. Gargantua, 284 rue Saint-Honoré, has good pates, prepared salads, cooked chickens, bread (including Max Poilane) and baked goods, etc. Torréfacteur Verlet, 256 rue St-Honoré, has great coffee by the cup or to make at home.
Next to the Palais Royal, which is a reasonable walking distance or one metro stop, A Casaluna on rue Beujolais, is a very nice Corsican restaurant with moderate prices, which has been favorably mentioned here several times. Just around the corner, we also enjoyed Aux Trois Oliviers, 37 bis, rue Montpensier, a small, casual, provencal place where the owner, Edouard, was most hospitable, the crowd was interesting and fun, and the food was very good. The mojitos are outstanding, so that may have been why we liked the place so much.
-
One map that is very helpful for bus and metro planning is http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/carteparis.php If you click on a metro stop and then on the local map, it shows a detail of the area around the stop.
Michelin has pretty good maps, and if you sign up for My ViaMichelin (free) you can get all the restaurant and hotel reviews.
Les Pages Jaunes are also very helpful.
I think have some others I'll dig out.
-
We also liked Le Pamphlet very much.
-
You could probably meet Chef Vincent Grumel at Vincent's Sirinos in downtown Escondido. Even if you don't, the food is excellent.
-
In San Francisco, you might consider Greens, a very good, non-Indian vegetarian restaurant with a great view.
Sight-seeing is subjective, but I lived in the Bay area for five years 30 years ago and have been back at least once every year since I moved, and I have never been to Alcatraz. Maybe a Harbor Cruise or a ferry boat ride by it (it's going to be cold), but why waste time looking at an old prison? You get a fantastic perspective of the city from the water, so I would say bundle up and take a boat ride, just not to the prison.
I don't mean to stir things up, but unless there is some reason to be in Santa Clara, I think I would reconsider not staying in San Francisco, especially if we are talking several nights.
-
You can take BART to Berkeley, and then either walk or take a cab to Chez Panisse, so it's quite convenient, especially for lunch. I've done it several times, and have really enjoyed long lunches at the Cafe. If you decide to go, you might try the really great herbal infusions, made with fresh herbs.
We had a lunch at Jeanty at Jack's a year or two ago. It seems like it was on a Sunday, and it wasn't busy at all. Weekday lunches would probably be livelier. It's a neat old building, and the food was very good bisto food.
Boulevard might be a good choice. The more extravagant places in the city I can think of don't serve lunch. What about the Terrace at the Ritz-Carlton?
La Super-Rica (Santa Barbara)
in California: Dining
Posted
I'm curious about the guacamole. What was in it other than avocados?