jesteinf

I'm not sure snobbery has anything to do with it. It's all about how you want to spend your money and what makes you happy. Some people collect rare coins, some sports memorabelia, some rare albums. I understand your point, I just think you're coming dangerously close to the dreaded "judgemental" line. On another point, I've generally found that the best high-end meals I've eaten leave me feeling satisfied and pleasently full as opposed to "stifling the urge to projectile vomit".

The white truffle ice cream is essentially legal crack, and I told Paul as much when we were there. This restaurant could become world famous just on the basis on that one dish. I don't mean for this to sound like hyperbole, it's just that good. babern - I've never been with a full-on vegetarian, but my girlfried usually prefers not to eat red meat or poultry and they were able to give us an all-seafood tasting.

The final blow that came with the check was a white truffle truffle. Not a bad way to finish things off. All in all, just a great dinner. BTW, prior to the revelation that was the white truffle ice cream, my favorite dish of the night was the sturgeon. Not a fish I'm usually a fan of, but they did a great job with it. The shaved white truffles on top didn't hurt either.

A question since I've never been to a Michelin three-star in Europe...are all 3 stars created equal? In other words, would a 3 star in France be comparable to a 3 star in all other European countries in which Michelin publishes a red book? I guess the real question is, do they "grade on a curve" in all countries outside of France? Just curious.

I really liked Scylla, but then the next week we went to Schwa and I had my mind blown. I need to get back to Scylla and rediscover what I liked about it.

You may also want to consider Spring, which is another of Shawn McClain's restaurants. My girlfriend (who tends to not eat meat) took me for my birthday in February and it was one of my favorite meals of the year. Spring 2039 W. North Ave (773) 395-7100

The insanity continues... Eatery vandalized after owner criticizes foie gras ban

Just got back from 5 days in Vegas (my first trip) and thought I would share the dining highlights. Dinner the first night was at Picasso. Gorgeous room, spectacular food. I had the four course (plus dessert) tasting menu. The first course was a lobster salad with a champagne vinagrettem which was a light and tasty way to start things off. Next came the most perfectly cooked scallop I've ever had served with asparagus and a bit of hollandaise. Foie gras with pistachios and figs was the third course. Foie is normally a lay up in my opinion if cooked properly, but the pound cake that this foie was served on top of really distinguised it. The last course was a lamb roti served with black truffle mashed potatoes and a bit of truffle oil drizzled on top. Yeah, this was pretty good. Desset was a peach marmalade filled buttermilk cake, which was just delicious. The next night we went to see O, so we had an early dinner at Olives. Say what you will about Todd English, but Olives was actually a very good meal. Normally I don't order tuna tartare since it's everywhere and usually nothing special, but I decided to order it that night. I'm glad I did because this was one of the better tuna tartares I've had. Served with roe on top and wrapped in cucumber, there was also some shrimp mixed with the tuna and the whole dish had just the right amount of heat. Everything else was good, probably not great, but perfect for pre-show. Night 3 was Aureole, which while enjoyable was probably the most dissapointing meal of the trip. Appetizers were very good, but the main courses were the issue. I had the duck breast which was served with a duck confit spring roll. First of all, there was simply too much duck on the plate. The breast was sliced and the small pieces almost entirely circled the plate. The duck itself was a bit overcooked and underseasoned. The spring roll was so salty it had me dehydrated the rest of the night. The final night was Michael Mina. For an appetizer I shared the hamachi parfait. The hamachi tasted extremely fresh and was layered with wasabi tobiko and a rice cake. The whole dish was a great exercise in contrasts (both flavors and textures). Main course was the lobster pot pie, which is a hearty dish that I'd like to eat on a cold Chicago night. For dessert I had the root beer float. The float was great, but the stars of the dish were the 2 hot chocolate chip pecan cookies that were served with the float. All in all a great trip with great food. Can't wait to go back and try even more.

Hmmm, foie gras speakeasies anyone? Knock three times, the password is...gavage.

White Truffle Explosion?!?! =R= ← Good Lord...I will now wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

Similar to the thread in the NY forum, just wanted to see if there are any restaurants in Chicago featuring white truffles now that the season has arrived. I didn't hear about the Sweets and Savories dinner until it was too late (thanks for sharing people ). Anyone know of any similar dinners? I need my fix.

Just thought I'd bump this back up since I'm heading to Vegas tomorrow and am looking for a place to have sushi for lunch. Any thoughts on what's good now?

We went last July so my memory might be a bit hazy, but I think we paid about $400 for two people. We got the tasting menus with wine pairings. I think that $400 also includes the "service charge", but I'm not sure. Between the setting and the quality of the food, I would say it was worth the money. In fact, we liked it better than Trotter's in Chicago.

For fine dining I would go with either Las Ventanas or C's.

We went to Schwa last night and had a fantastic dinner. The restaurant is very small and intimate with an open kitchen in the rear. As Nick mentioned, they're putting out outstanding food with probably the minimum staff you would want working: chef, sous-chef, dishwasher, 2 waitresses (one of whom also owns the place). The menu is divided into three sections: two sections of starters, and one main courses. We each ordered one dish from each section and found it to be the right amount of food. Although, as usual, my tiny girlfriend was a lot more full than I was at the end of the meal (which isn't to say I was hungry, I just wasn't ready to explode like she was). We started with the proscuitto consomme and the white anchovy salad. The consomme was a delicious clear broth that was, for lack of a better term, very proscuitto-ee. It was served with melon, dry proscuitto and fresh proscuitto. Very simple and clean tasting. The white anchovy salad was another great way of starting the meal. The anchovies had been marinated in olive oil and had a very delicate, not a all fishy or salty taste. The salad was made up of celery root, apples, and machengo cheese. From the next section we had the seared foie gras and the soft boiled egg. The foie gras was served with a roasted (?) peach as well as some sauternes jello. Was it gelee? Who knows, but it was great whatever you want to call it. The foie was cooked perfectly and served on toasted brioche. The soft boiled egg was probably the star of the night. Firm on the outside and runny on the inside, the egg was served with a spoon full of caviar, some creme fresch, and whipped potatoes. This was a great take on some classic combinations. For our mains, I had the lamb and my girlfriend has the quail egg raviolis. I've only had egg filled raviolis at one other restaurant and that was in Florida. Ever since I first tried them I haven't been able to figure out why more restaurants don't serve them. They are just a great mixture of flavors and textures. The raviolis and Schwa were no exception. The lamb was tender and not at all gamey. Served with soybeans, miso and chinese brocolli it was delicious, but just ever so slightly too fatty. Last night there were only two dessert options. We elected the roasted banana and charred pineapple with ginger custard. Keeping with the theme of the rest of the food, just a very clean tasting dish and an understated finish to the meal. When we walked in for our 8:00 reservation the place was virtually empty. When I asked the owner what was going on, she said that they were having trouble with no-shows and were considering no longer taking reservations. I hope that doesn't happen because once word about the food at Schwa gets out, people will be lined up down a semi-shady stretch of Ashland to get in. Good work, and good luck!

Nick, Thanks for the report. We tried to go last weekend but couldn't get in either Friday or Saturday. Everything I've heard about it has been great and I can't wait to give it a try.

The NY Times has a pretty good update on the status of many New Orleans restaurants.

Not impressed with episode 1, but I'll give it another shot. Some questions that really bothered me: 1. Would a major restaurant critic who had booked a reservation under a fake name really forget that she had done that when showing up for her table? 2. Would she then use her real name? 3. Wouldn't any experienced waitress either recognize the critic, recognize the critics real name, or recognize the critic's fake name? The Jack-critic relationship seems like it could be funny, but there has to be at least SOME realism.

This whole thing keeps making me angrier and angrier. Some enterprising Alderman should launch an investigation into how the cows that are used to produce the beef in Italian beef sandwiches are treated. I'm sure all of those animals receive nothing but the finest treatment until they are "processed". They probably listen to classical music all day, roam freely through sprawling meadows, and when the end comes they are killed while standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. What, that's not how the animals are treated? Well, ban Italian beef! That's right, no more Al's, no more giant sandwiches dunked in gravy. It's cruel. Why should these cows have to suffer for us? :Sigh: Where will this end? I don't know. Unfortunately the whole thing smacks of knee-jerk politics filled with uninformed debates. I wish someone with some muscle would weight in on the pro-fg side of things. I'm not sure how the eG rules apply, but would some sort of petition started here be out of line. I understand if that's a major violation.

I should've taken Monsoon! I went there a couple of months ago only to find that they had "re-concepted" and were now serving more authentic Indian food (alas, the sushi roll made with jasmine rice had disappeared). I figured it was the beginning of the end.

Getting most of my breakfast sandwiches out of a literal hole in the side of a building in Elizabeth, NJ there is no shortage of Taylor Ham in my life. Isnt it called pork roll outside of The Jerz.. ← I have searched far and wide and have come up with nothing. While I was still in school in St. Louis my parents would ship it to me packed in dry ice. Now I'm up in Chicago and it is still nowhere to be found. It's hard to even describe to someone who has never had it.

Taylor Ham. I never knew it was a local/regional thing until I moved from NJ to St. Louis. I tried ordering it in a diner in St. Louis shortly after I arrived and the waitress looked at my like I had a third head.

I've been to Kaze and it is NOTHING like the pics they have going on LTH right now. This place looks truly amazing. I can't wait to see more.

The Chicago hot dog has been named the Seventh Wonder of Chicago, here.

I think we also need to face the facts the A Cook's Tour was a bit more scripted than we would like to believe. Like the bird's nest soup. In the book, Tony makes it very clear that he had no interest in trying this local treat, that it was actually his producer's idea. I'm of the belief that 99% of everything we see on television that is supposed to be unscripted or "reality" is actually quite scripted. In any event, we should take No Reservations for what it is. Is it a pure food show? No it's on the Travel Channel. Is it Tony just going nuts and doing whatever he wants and stumbling into random situations? No. Is it damn entertaining and should we appreciate Tony being back on TV? Absolutely!