Carlson1105

Finally made it over to Catahoula on Saturday night. Had an excellent dinner with great friendly service. We had 3 appetizers, the shrimp remoulade, fried oysters and a cup of gumbo. They were all great, leaving a little bit of heat lingering in your mouth. For entrees we had the jambalaya, with a perfectly cooked duck confit leg on top and a special of grilled mahi mahi with a crawfish okra sort of ragout underneath. Both were perfectly cooked and seasoned. For dessert we shared the Makers Mark gelato. A couple glasses of wine and some Abita Purple Hazes topped it all off. Have to say it was a very enjoyable evening and can't wait to go back to try more.

Plan so far is La Verdad Friday night, I'm friends with the chef from when he was here in Philly. Eastern Standard on Saturday night and Brunch at The Oak Room in our hotel Sunday. That leaves Friday and Saturday lunches. Heard Sportello is a good choice. Any other lunch spots, maybe Flour Bakery?

Some ideas I had were No. 9 Park, T.W. Food, Toro or La Verdad, Sportello, and Hungry Mother. So those type of places would be what we are looking for.

Coming for an anniversary weekend in Boston in Mid May. Need some ideas for 2 dinners and bruch while in town. Staying at Fairmont Copely Plaza, so near there would be ideal.

http://www.tastesofchicago.com/category/Hot_Dogs Ordered this before, comes with the real poppyseed rolls, frozen.

Wooden spoons, one for sweet and one for savory.

I think North 3rd is the best around. SPTR a close second, and Standard Tap 3rd.

I think Pumpkin fits what you are looking for perfectly. Plus the food is great.

Going to the Christmas Show @ Radio City and need dinner advise. Taking our 6 year old daughter, who is well behaved and fairly adventurous when it comes to food. Where could we go at 6:00 on a Friday evening near the theater? No chains or fast food, just somewhere casual and good.

In the few minutes I was permitted to eat I noticed something was wrong with my entree. The menu, which was still on the table said that the Sausage & Peppers was served with some sort of tosted bread and topped with provelone cheese. There was no cheese at all, so I asked the waitress. She went to the owner, and the 2 of them had to pull out a menu to see if I was right (way to be familiar with your own menu). After seeing the error, the owner came over, said it was a misprint and brought me a small plate with a couple slices of cold provelone cheese. Of course there was no time for them to take it in the kitchen and melt it since they were so anxious to get us out. I had no idea what he thought I was going to do with this cold cheese. This being said, the sausage and peppers were very good.

It was so bizarre, I thought I was being Punk'd. The busboy asked if we were done our appetizer almost before we started eating it.

Hate to say it Greg, but it wouldn't do much good to contact Joseph Tucker, he was the one that made us leave so his family could have the table.

We would have gladly moved to another table to finish our meal, but weren't offered that option. I don't think the owner was too thrilled that we had a 6 year old with us (a very well behaved one)

The funny part is that I have worked in and managed restaurants for so long, that I could see everything that he was doing to rush us out. I heard him caling our order out and telling the cooks he needed our food "table 21" asap. The runner who brought our food could obviously see we had just started eating our appetizer, and half heartedly offered to keep our food warm under the lamps if we wanted. The waitress poured our wine glasses so full to empty the bottle that the wine was spilling over the top. She even apologized for the owners actions, but said her hands were tied because it was his wife and mother's party who needed our table. We weren't offered dessert, didn't offer to wrap our leftovers, and at one point, when they were taking my plate out from under me, I asked her if I had to give up my fork too. From the time we sat down, until we paid and left was under 35 minutes.

Just returned from Mom's Kitchen in Collingswood, What a disaster. Had a reservation, and were told we had 50 minutes to eat and get out. First word from the waitress was " Are youse ready". No specials, no water, no welcome, no wine open. Ordered and heard the owner say " we need table 21 out of here" fired apps and entrees at the same time. Busboy tried to take our appetizer before I was half done. Entrees came way to soon and waitress tried to clear them before I even tasted mine, She told us the real story was that the owners ( Rocco DiSpirito wanna be) wife and mother were waiting for our table and she was told to get us out of there asap. We paid because it was so unenjoyable that we wanted to go home. The owner came up to me, patted me on the back and said "thanks Buddy", at which point I told him that it was the worst dining experience of my life, I never felt so unwelcome and rushed and would never be back. For the first time all night, he dissapeared from the floor. The food was very good, however being treated like a 2nd class citizen, eating dinner in 30 minutes amd having my daughter say they should call it "ripoff kitchen" are the realities. By the way. it was much worse than I made it sound.