brsaideman

WE'll be driving from Philly to Lake George (and back) in a couple of weeks. Would like to break the trip somewhere between the Thruway exit for Route 17 and the capital area. Would like someplace that serves a really good Sunday lunch, if possible. Thanks in advance for good tips.

Fresh-made blueberry syrup! My husband buys a dozen pints of blueberries every June and freezes them. Then I make fresh blueberry syrup every time we have pancakes -- alternate Saturday mornings -- from about 2 cups of frozen blueberries. If there's some left over, it gets frozen for the next time. And we have a tiny freezer but he's good at cramming them in. Second choice is real maple syrup.

I wasn't impressed with Kevin during most of the contest - but when I heard he had resigned from his current position, I wondered if he had won Top Chef. He's planning to open a small restaurant in Philadelphia -- and that's where I live! I'm looking forward to trying it when it opens. Even though he was billed as the villain, I was mostly rooting for Angelo.

We ate at LBF the first time when it was on Spruce Street (where Vetri is now). Since then, we've eaten there a couple of times a year -- sometimes for special occasions, sometimes for lunch. Overall, GP has maintained a high level of quality and we're going to miss it. We enjoyed his $40 anniversary dinner special a few weeks ago and it was excellent. It may be a dinsaur, but it's too bad Philly can't sustain one dinsaur like LBF!

Il Mondo Vecchio in Madison might be the answer -- we dined there last Saturday night and enjoyed it. I'd also like to recommend the Pluckemin Inn -- not Italian but very good.

We ate last Saturday night in a restaurant in Madison called Il Mondo Vecchio that was quite good -- it's a byob. We're 78 and 82 so we're right in her ballpark agewise. We also like very much the Pluckemin Inn -- which is not Italian but very good. We live in Philly but our son & family live in Mendham, so we dine out in your area quite frequenty.

We're Philadelphians who visit Providence a few times a year. For breakfast/brunch we like Brickway on Wickenden, Rue de l'Espoir, Julian's and Nick's on Broadway. We usually hit each one whenever we come (which we're doing tomorrow).

We ate there last night. The place is small -- about the same size as Bibou, so I don't know how a party of 10 would fit -- but we ate at Pumpkin last week and there was a party of 8 or 9 and another of 6 -- there was space but the room became very noisy. As for Fond's food -- my husband had the risotto, but without the pancetta because he doesn't like any form of bacon (brought up kosher)and I had the grilled asparagus with fried egg and caramelized shallots. He said the risotto was good but not great and not done the way he likes. The asparagus was accompanied by crisp buttered crumbs which were sensational, as well as yummy caramelized shallots. For entrees, he had the halibut with pea ravioli, and I had the special, skate wings with lentils, which was excellent. He did not find the halibut exceptional. (He's a much tougher grader than I). Dessert was pavlova with grilled peach (md) and irish whiskey cake with caramelized whisky and coookies (him). We split the desserts. Both were excellent but not the kind of desserts we really love (like buttery fruit crumbles, etc., or the cakes on Le Bec Fin's dessert cart). Bread was served early on, before we ordered. There were 3 kinds of bread, whole grain, baguette and an olive basil bread made by the pastry chef. I didn't try that because I'm really on a low sodium diet and olives are too salty for me. The service was excellent -- after we claimed our reservation we were greeted by name and called by name throught the meal. One male chef and Jessie, the pastry chef, came out and spoke to us and other customers. Fond is BYO but they take some credit cards and are on Open Table. Over all, the restaurant is very good but, for us, doesn't readh the level of Bibou.

She's been a top restaurant critic in NYC for many decades -- believe she was the original restaurant critic for New York magazine.

I had a similar dessert at Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys restaurant in SF many years ago and was absolutely enchanted by the swan, etc. When I saw the girl scouts I was hoping he would do something like that.

We went to Bibou Sunday for the prix fixe after dining there just 10 days previously -- unusual for us as my husband likes to try different restaurants every time. But that's how impressed we were with Bibou. The meal started with a Soupe de Mais, chilled sweet corn soup with smoked salmon which was simply delicious. There was a choice of three appetizers and we chose the Escargots and the Foie Gras. Both were delicioius almost beynd belief, especially the Foie Gras with raspberries and sliced almonds (my choice). We were chicken to try the Pate de tete (pig head terrine). We both choise the Saint Jacques for the entree, seared scallops with creamy orzo and alemon sorrel vinaigrette. Three large scallops were perfectly cooked and the orzo slid right down with the delicious sauce. Other entrees were hanger steak and boudin blanc. For dessert my husband had the tarte aux Myrtilles and I chose Oeufs a la Neige, an old favotite. Both were fabulous! Pierre is right up there with Vetri, in our opinion. We think he's right at the top of the chefs currently working in Philadelphia and vicinity (and we've eaten at almost every top restaurant except we haven't been to the Fountain recently). Toward the end of our dinner Georges Perrier came in with a party of 5 and 4 bottles of wine.

You should have started a new thread -- I got all excited and printed out the list of restaurants and started to try to make reservations at our first choice and was very disappointed when they told me I was making a mistake!

Maybe it's because I gres up in New York but NOBODY who did could compare Maggio's to NY pizza. I've lived in Huntingdon Valley since before Maggio's opened and have not yet grown to like their pizza. We love Taconelli's and have enjoyed Pizza Rustica (2nd St) -- but Maggio's? No way.