foodieherb

I totally agree with Carlsbad about the selection of moderately priced restos. There are many good, if not great, ones. (And I will say right now that I am a Slanted Door fan.) To me, moderately priced means that you don't wake up the next day and say, "We spent how much? How are we paying rent this month?"

I also have to voice my opinion of Coi. When I want to go no holds barred extravagant, I want good ingredients. Ones I can't either prepare myself, or ones that are generally too expensive. Of course, the skill of the chef in preparing these ingredients is a must. However, Daniel Patterson has been quoted as saying that carrots are the new caviar. I disagree. For me, a great example of this type of balance between a chef's skill and the extravagance of ingredients is Alinea. I know that when I eat there, not only will I be wowed with the skill of the preparations, but I'm gonna have some hella (yes I know that word sounds silly but I live here now) extravagant ingredients, too. Not so much at Coi. If somebody were paying for me to go, I'm there. If I were an aspiring pro chef, ditto. But for a foodie all out meal, I'd go elsewhere. With this value system in mind, you can't go wrong with the Ritz or La Folie. I haven't been to Gary Danko yet. Fleur De Lys was a slight letdown. I sure hope you have a great time in this fair city!

I realize I'm the devil's advocate here. I've had fantastic, memorable meals at the Ritz dining room. Love the cuisine and the pairings. I don't think you're going to find much in the way of sushi that you can't get in Toronto. Toronto has great sushi/seafood. (For the record, I love Fune. I know, it's not high-end, but the fish is fresh and generously cut. Also, Rodney's has absolutely ruined oysters for me. Everywhere else is 2nd best.) I second the Aziza rec. Top flight food, and not anything of equal nature that I can think of in Toronto, or anywhere else, really. (Full disclosure: I live directly above this restaurant and smell the food cooking all day.) You wouldn't need a car, but you'd have to take about a $15-$20 cab ride each way or a 25-30 minute bus ride, depending on where you're staying. Had a great, great meal a couple of weeks ago at Chez Papa, which is downtown. They have a foie gras terrine special that they've been running that kicked my ass. Also, though I generally don't order steak out, their NY with frites and Sauce Bordelaise kicked me off of my chair. I hope this helps. I tend to obsess over my meals out. Sometimes too many options can be a negative. Have a good time wherever you go!

Wow! Thanks!

Well, I am personally happy to see the ban reversed. Bring on the foie! Any ideas where I can find some foie-tastic menus are well appreciated. (I won't probably have enough fellow foie-gulleters with me for the Sweets and Savories idea, but thanks Alex!)

Even though I was lucky enough to get some "free" foie on my last trip to Chicago, I'm wondering what restaurants are really going all-out with the ingredient since the ban has been lifted. I want to get my foie on. Bigtime. Any suggestions?

Has anybody been to Avenues since Chef Duffy took over? I haven't been able to find any info on the direction/philosophy of this restaurant under the new Chef. There is a menu online, but it doesn't offer more than a rough ingredient list for each dish.

Yeah, I went to MSU for undergrad. The dorm food is pretty outrageous, but I don't have anything to compare it to. Does anybody rave about dorm food?

Sadly, the great Eric Villegas has closed his doors. There is certainly a void on the high-end cuisine in the Lansing area. It is partially filled by the Likes of Troppo, which is downtown Lansing, and quite good. Ethnic food is good in many varieties. For Indian, I recommend Sindhu in the Hanah Plaza for their awesome lunch buffet. There's a new place on Grand River called Gumbo and Jazz (1138 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing) that's great. Sushi is good at Sansu, also in the Hannah Plaza. There is also a new bakery there, which is good but I can't remember the name. I also recommend Udon Sushi Bakery, which is not really a bakery, but has wonderful authentic Udon and bubble tea. Only open after 5PM, however. I second the Zingerman's recommendation. Also, for fine dining in AA, check out Eve Restaurant. Fantastic food and ambiance. My most spectacular meal ever (yes EVER) in Michigan has been at Saltwater in the MGM Grand in Detroit. This was only last week, in fact, and I've been meaning to hype this place. Unbelievably fresh, high-quality, fresh, delicious, fresh fish. The quality of the tuna tar tar was 10 out of 10. The soft shell crab was a revelation. The poached maine lobster tail melted in my mouth. Even the foie gras torchon was the best foie gras torchon I've had. The only flaw in the meal was that items were ocassionaly under-salted. Luckily, I mentioned that a dish early in the meal was undersalted and they brought out sea salt and soy sauce, which served my wife and me well through a couple other courses. Small crime in my book. When will you be in the area, and for how long?

Legal note: It's not hearsay if the complainant describes an event that he has personally witnessed, like a server bringing foie gras to another table. However, there will still doubtlessly be proof problems, and I agree that it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Chicago's historically not so good with prohibition, right? I have a personal fantasy that I'll be able to employ some type of code words with my server and still be served the goodness, though the last thing I'd want to see is a proprietor bearing the price of my indulgence.

I second Rodney's. I go every time I'm in town specifically because of the fun (and impeccable oysters). I also second Rain, although the last time I was there the food was slightly under par. Ambiance and cocktails, hard to beat. For a blow-out meal, Perigee. Hands down. Edited to add: Joso's. It doesn't get mentioned much around here, but if you want some ridiculously fresh and delicious seafood, it's a sure winner. You might even see a celeb.

I was lucky enough to score last-minute reservations at Alinea for this Saturday! They only had availability for the tasting, but beggars can't be choosers. The gentleman who took my reservation, Terry, asked if there were any dietary restrictions. I told him that there weren't, but then I looked at the tasting menu on the website -- My wife is revolted by cucumbers. Not a restriction so much as a complete phobia. She's game for absolutely anything else, but no cukes for some reason. Anyway, the reason I'm blabbing about all of this is that I called the restaurant back to explain my wife's aversion to cukes, and Terry (happily) explained that there was no problem, and they'd be glad to accomodate her. That strikes me as incredible, given the caliber of this restaurant. It's refreshing to see that arguably the top restaurant in town is willing to make a change like this. So many top-shelf places won't, or worse, just cop an attitude about it. Looking forward to Saturday like crazy!

I have been to Splendido and Perigee (in the same weekend). My wife and I were sorry we didn't spend both nights we had in Toronto at Perigee. We have since eaten at Tru (Chicago), Le Atelier De Joel Robuchon (Las Vegas) and "Alex" Restaurant (also in Las Vegas), and we both agree that the best meal that we had all last year was at Perigee. By a long, long shot. Get the wine parings. We will be back in the Spring, if we can wait that long.

Hello, South Westerners! My wife and I are planning a weekend in Vegas to celebrate her birthday. Has anyone been to the new Robuchon restaurants and Fleur de Lys? We're looking for some guidance to decide between these three. And while I'm at it, we're thinking of seeing one of the Cirque shows. Anybody seen more than one and has a favorite? Thanks in advance. Foodieherb

Hello, people! Thanks to the detailed and heartfelt reviews of you Egulleters, my wife and I will be celebrating our anniversary this weekend at Perigee, Splendido, and Rodney's Oyster Bar. The one factor we've overlooked is where to head for our breakfasts! Any suggestions will be most appreciated. -Herbie PS Detailed reports with pictures will follow our adventures!