hshiau

I've got reservations next Wednesday at 9:15pm. It seems a bit late to be doing the Tour but I'm not in Chicago often enough to not do it. Really looking forward to it. There is a chance I might need a couple of more people to fill a four top if anyone is interested.

How did you manage to eat all that food? Some of those portions don't seem very small.

Chef, this is terrible news indeed. Best wishes on beating this. I'm still hoping to visit Alinea on my next trip our to Chicago.

Actually, I don't think you actually eat the twitching part. Can't deep fry something and expect it to twitch. It's the non-fried part that still moves. I'm actually surprised that the animal rights groups in the United Stated haven't had an issue with this if they're up in arms over in Taiwan.

Interesting article about a chef in Taiwan getting in trouble over his preparation of a fish. I've seen it in Japanese restaurants as well so it's definitely not something new. It's interesting that Taiwanese officials are trying to get him to change his preparation. Talk about separation of kitchen and state! Anyone ever try this before? I was going to order it once but my dining companion was having trouble dealing with a whole fish, let alone one that's twitching.

Hard to believe no one has eaten at or written about this place since April. My wife and I stopped for dinner since we were doing some shopping down in Soho. Although I couldn't get an 8pm reservation, there were only 2 tables occupied when we walked in. I loved the space but it does seem a bit like a lounge/night club. Between July 4th and the regular flight of folk out of the City during the summer, they had closed the downstairs dining room. Only problem I found was that it was freezing cold in there. They must have had the air conditioning down to around 55%! My wife had the foie gras to start and I had the seared lamb. The soy/balsamic sauce worked extremely well with the foie gras. Unfortunately, I only had a small taste before my wife polished it off. My lamb was rather flavorless...and cold. I would never have attributed flavorless to a lamb dish but there it was. Even the sauces couldn't do anything to add to the dish. On to the mains: I had the grouper and my wife had the seared beef sirloin. I very much enjoyed my grouper and it's accompanied sides. Nothing wow but still well prepared. As for the sirloin, my wife likes her beef medium well and it came as requested. However, it was a bit dry. That could be a result of the requested medium well but we've definitely had beef that was juicy even though it was cooked longer. My wife felt the sauce was a bit too strong but I thought it necessary. For dessert, we shared the pistachio souffle and the coffee sponge cake. The sponge cake was wonderful. Great flavors in an almost "wet" package. I wasn't as impressed with the souffle. It might have been slightly overdone. Hard for me to tell since I've never had that experience before. This really was the first souffle I've had where I thought...'eh'. Overall, it was a bit hit or miss but the price point isn't exhorbitant so we'd do the walk-in thing again if we're in Soho. I'm sure they get a lot of overflow from Balthazar since the place was full when we left.

Sorry. I have to disagree with the JG recommendation. Food is great but I'm just not impressed with the desserts. And the flavor combinations in the desserts may not thrill an 11 yr old. DB&D may not be top tier with the savories but they're still good and I don't know a kid that wouldn't be impressed with the cheesecake lollipops.

that's peculiar because my last meal there was at 7pm.

They told me that they deliver from 55th to 66th streets. No indication that it hasn't already begun.

Also, the kids menu is $6!! I don't know that I'd want my kid to pick the Captain Crunch cereal but fo the rest, it's a great deal. Last night, the 3 of us ate for $70 including tax and tip. We weren't that hungry so my wife and i shared an appetizer, each had an entree, no dessert or alcohol and $6 for the kid. Simple, solid, reasonably priced and a block away. Who could ask for anything more?

Hurray! Since Per Se and Jean Georges can't be my neighborhood place, Landmarc fits perfectly! We went for dinner last night. It's a very large space and they weren't very busy. Perhaps it was a Sunday night but it definitely doesn't seem that there was a huge amount of publicity. Anyway, the menu's exactly the same as I remember it from downtown. Food was tasty and while the wait staff was professional and accomodating, they didn't seem to know anything about either the food or the wine list. We'll give it a chance to burn in and will definitely be regulars. Plus they deliver!! How can you beat that!

The places my pre-teen daughter likes to shop are Uni-qlo down in Soho, Limited Too, and H&M. She likes some of the Madison Avenue shops just fine but we don't want to be affording that.

Since my daughter had a spaghetti, I can't say that she was particularly adventurous but at least she didn't get ants in her pants during the 2 hrs we were there. I did have her "taste" just about everything. That was indeed parmigian.

Agreed. They were great with substitutions and I've heard they'll even let you share a tasting. I wish more restaurants would be flexible. I would definitely order more tasting menus if the whole table didn't have to. This was also our 10 yr old's first experience with what I consider fine dining so I was glad it was a bit more casual and fun. She had a great rapport with both our server and the general manager.

Yes, we were as far into the restaurant as you could go...maybe because we had a child with us. My wife replaced the tuna with the egg. She actually didn't like it that much. It's steamed inside the glass and had a mushy consistency that she wasn't crazy about. Luckily, I was there to finish it for her! I also had the quail but my wife chose the veal. It wasn't quite as tender as I would have thought and was slightly oversalted (I thought). I enjoyed the quail much more. Since my daughter wanted the chocolate sensation, I traded the one I had from the tasting menu with her for the souffle. I can't quite remember but I think it was almond and some kind of liquor. Very light and fluffy. I thought it was great but then again, I'm a huge souffle fan. To me, there's no such thing as a bad souffle.

Wow! We were there at 7:30pm the same night sitting all the way on the inside of the bar. My wife and I had the tasting menu and my 10 yr old daughter ordered a spaghetti with tomato/basil (supposedly the best she's ever had). Besides the spaghetti, the only things we had that you haven't already covered are L'oeof (the egg cocotte topped with a light spinach cream), le veau (veal picaatta served with arugula salad), and the souffle I had for dessert. I did take some pictures but yours put me to shame! I need to learn how to take better food pictures.

Might make for a tough choice. ← Sounds like an easy decision...BOTH!

Just read on UrbanDaddy about the foie gras doughnut at Telepan. It's supposed to be an off-the-menu item that's served a couple of times a week. Does anyone know about this? I'd love to go try it out but which days?!?!?

I read your previous post regarding Perry Street in the Nougatine/Telepan thread and misconnected (is that a word) the two.

I noticed you posted regarding reservations on Thursday for both Buddakan and Perry Street. Buddakan is more scene and Perry Street more food, although the food at Buddakan is nothing to sneeze at. Neither is anywhere close to Lincoln Center so I suppose that won't make a difference. But I'd decide sooner rather than later and cancel the other reservation. Cheers.

I don't know that you can exactly equate weight loss with being healthy...not that I'm saying it's unhealthy but I could do nothing but drink water and while I'd be losing weight, it's not exactly healthy.

I think even moreso in SF, as it's a much more casual vibe fitting in with the culture - we love eating at the bar at places like Boulevard, Zuni, even the Slanted Door. And, fwiw, I think Stars was one of the first great bar dining scenes in the country. ← cool...that's what I was wondering. I've eaten pretty extensively in Chicago, Atlanta, South Florida, etc...and there's no bar dining to speak of...I was wondering if CA was different...it makes sense that it would be. ← I've actually eaten at the bar at a couple of places in Boston I don't know if it's just the couple of places I hit (No 9 Park and Radius) or if it's a general culture. One place I've eaten in the "lounge" area at in Chicago is Tru. Can't call it bar dining but it does have a separate menu that I would call "haute".

good straightforward italian with pretty people watching is harder to find.

I usually eat in Flushing for Chinese but this will be a "work lunch". Quick jaunt down to Chinatown from midtown, grab a bite and rush back to work so Flushing is out.

Interesting. Since my grandmother was a devout Buddhist, we used to go to temple with her all the time and had great vegetarian meals there. I believe there was one temple we used to go to on East Broadway and another on Mott. I just assumed that there would be at least one restaurant in Chinatown that would have catered to this demographic.