jesteinf

In town for work for a few days I was able to get over to Yasuda tonight for the first time. I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said here before, but I will say that it was without a doubt the best sushi I've ever had. And I mean not even close. I was able to sit front of Yasuda and put myself in his hands. He educated me, made me laugh quite a bit, and provided an exceptional meal. The funniest part of the meal came when Yasuda served me a piece scallop liver. I was seated next to to ladies who, had they been in Chicago, were perfect examples of what we call Trixies (young, first jobs in marketing/pr, obsessed with finding a husband, not terribly bright, in Chicago they all drive Jettas). Upon placing the rather odd looking bite in front of me the two Trixies looked over and cautiously asked Yasuda what it was. Without missing a beat he replied in a deadpan, "scallop testicles". Needless to say, they were horrified. I decided to play along and told them "makes you strong", which horrified them even more and made Yasuda just about lose it. He then told them he was kidding and then scallops don't actually have testicles. Again, just a fantastic dinner.

Signal flare? Message in a bottle? Carrier pigeon?

As I mentioned in the opening post, santo_grace reported on the schwa topic that the restaurant is now open on Mondays: ← My bad, I thought things had changed again. With Schwa, you never really know.

Alinea, Moto, Avenues and Schwa are probably the most ambitious but are all closed on Monday (as I'm sure you already figured out). Beyond those, I'm not sure what else would fit your definition. What about Blackbird or Avec? Two very good restaurants that are open on Monday are Naha (which is always good but continues to fly under the radar) and Custom House (which is steakhouse-like, but not really a steakhouse). Again, they're not as ambitious as others, but still awfully good.

I'm thinking about buying a wine refrigerator to install in a custom cabinet I'm having built for our dining room. Before going out and purchasing one, I'd like some thoughts from others on any particular brands/models I should be focusing on. Some considerations: - Ideally I'd like to buy a model with a width of 15 inches - The dining room is right off to the living room, so the quieter the better - Price isn't a huge factor - The front should be able to accommodate a custom overlay

Well, I don't know if Michigan Avenue is a "tourist trap", but if you go you'll probably be surrounded by lots of tourists (people lined up for Garrett's popcorn, people staring open-mouthed at window displays, that sort of thing). It's probably not the ideal location for hanging out for a bunch of 24-27 year old guys. If you're looking to go out, you'll need to get out of that area. The Gold Coast, right off Michigan Ave., can be fun but does have a lot of "Night at the Roxbury" type places. Do a search for "Viagra Triangle" and you'll figure out why. If you're into sports bars and/or "Irish pubs", you should probably head up to Lincoln Park/Lakeview. Bucktown also has quite a few fun bars, but I don't spend much time there so I'll leave recommendations to others. ETA - If this will be your first Cubs game, you definitely want to be in the bleachers. Assuming you're all single guys, you'll have a great time regardless of how the Cubs play that day.

Phil Vettel gives 3 stars to Aigre Doux. Although, it seems like good old Philly boy has given 3 stars to the last 28 restaurants he's reviewed. The Stew.

I would think so. When I was there the place was so loud and bustling that I don't think anyone would even notice an infant in the room.

Well, we went to Kyoto in Delray Beach for lunch today. It was pretty good, but certainly not the best sushi I've ever had (not that I was looking for the best sushi ever, just saying). We started with an order of the Black & Blue Toro. Seared pieces of toro with a little bit of foie gras and caviar on top. While all components of this dish are great individually, they just didn't work when put together. The sashimi was all of very good quality. I was able to try the toro, salmon, kampachi, marlin, and scallops. I had no complaints with anything but the scallops, which may have been a bit past there prime. We also had two rolls. One with tuna and salmon wrapped in cucumber (also had some masago and asparagus inside) and another with shrimp tempura one the inside and avocado on the outside. Both were pretty tasty and nicely presented. If in the area and craving some sushi, I would go back.

That is interesting. We were just there on Saturday night and had a fabulous meal, probably one of the best I've had in Boca. For my appetizer I had the Maine lobster spaghetti. The pasta and lobster were perfectly cooked and had a wonderful tomato sauce with just a hint of chili. For my main, I had the salmon served with a salad of endive, capers, and anchovy. The salmon was again cooked perfectly and was obviously extraordinarily fresh. For dessert I had a an excellent warm apple torte. Service was friendly and attentive. We would definitely return.

I've had a couple of business lunches at Atwood Cafe. It can get loud, but shouldn't be too bad since you're going early. Atwood Cafe www.atwoodcafe.com 1 W Washington St (312) 368-1900

Another dish that really struck me was the King Crab. What I thought was so interesting about it was the fact that the flavors were so different than anything else I've had at Alinea. The crab dish really focused on sour and spicy elements, which haven't been all that present in the other dishes that I've had here.

This was a really beautiful course, and one of my favorites of the night. The bowl in the center contained an eggless custard with halibut and various types of shellfish. Certainly the best chawan mushi I've ever had.

The roll shown in the first picture was intended as a pairing for the course. The bowl was presented with the clear tube still full of the chanterelle puree and other ingredients (shown in the second picture). The tube was then lifted allowing the ingredients to spread out (shown in the final two pictures).

I'll be staying at the Boca Raton Resort next week and I'd love to get away from the resort for lunch one day. I'd love to go out and have some great sushi. Anyone have any thoughts on what might be good and reasonably close?

I had the distinct honor of joining YT and ronnie_suburban for 34 at 34 on Friday night. What a fantastic meal. Food, service, everything. Can a restaurant ever achieve perfection? Well, this was pretty damn close (even though I still don't like the skate dish). I'm sure there will be more to come on this. And for those of you wondering, this meal took about 6 hours and 45 minutes by my watch. Thank goodness for comfy chairs.

Amen to that!

Gross. But I'm sure some Wall St.-types who don't know any better will buy this thing.

By whom? Any Italian food I had in St Louis (even going to the Hill) was pretty mediocre.

Please remember that when in St. Louis, the name of this street is pronounced: Grav (like in gravel) - oys (like the plural of a yiddish exclamation) The French pronunciation will get you run out of town.

Fantastic stuff as always. Unfortunately I won't be making my annual business trip to Scottsdale this year so I'm going to have to wait a bit longer to get my next Sea Saw fix. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. My meal there last year was one of my most memorable.

Just trying to protect the quality of the info on the board. I don't think it's helpful (or possible) to offer opionions on restaurants you've never been to. Others would probably differ (I think this might actually be interesting as a seperate topic). But anyway, back to Alinea...

Um, isn't it a bit presumptive to "rank" a restaurant you've never actually been to?

That seems pretty high to me too. The Market Place just down the street from me charges $5 for delivery regardless of the total purchase price.

I haven't found it any harder to get foie gras since the ban. There are plently of places that still have it on the menu, no code words necessary.