rjwong

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur! Were you trying to imitate bleudauvergne's picture-taking? It looks so beautiful and ... so French ... Be careful, Arne. Some people from Lyon may take issue with that statement. BTW, did you meet up with any eGers in France on your trip??

hh, rj here. The discussion thread is hidden in the China & Chinese forum, for some reason. Here it is: LA Chinese Restaurants Personally, this thread should be merged and moved to the California forum, ...hint, hint ... Thanks hhlo for starting this up!! Recently, I 've been doing some dim sum research (and then some ). I'll post later, with photos.

Bonjour! I decided to create a discussion thread about French restaurants (and other French food places) in Las Vegas, mainly because I wanted to do a “French cuisine” theme on my next trip to Las Vegas. Oui, la cuisine française ... à Las Vegas, “monne.” And as a help for future reference, I have listed, as best as I could, all of the French restaurants, patisseries, and other French food places in Las Vegas, with their URL links. I also listed discussion threads of specific French restaurants from the past. This thread would be a good place to talk about Las Vegas French restaurants in general, unless there’s a specific thread already. Bon appétit!! This list is as of October 2006. Alex Alizé André's (downtown Las Vegas) André's (Monte Carlo) Bouchon Daniel Boulud Brasserie Eiffel Tower Restaurant Fleur de Lys Jean-Philippe Patisserie JJ's Boulangerie Joël Robuchon at the Mansion La Creperie L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Le Café Île St. Louis Le Cirque Le Provençal Le Village Buffet Les Artistes Steakhouse Lutèce Mix Mon Ami Gabi Picasso Pinot Brasserie Restaurant Guy Savoy Discussion threads about specific French restaurants: How is Picasso lately? MIX – Las Vegas Joel Robuchon - Las Vegas - Mansion & L'Atelier: Reviews and discussion Robuchon or Fleur De Lys, what the french? Bouchon-Las Vegas Guy Savoy Las Vegas: Anyone eaten there yet?

Robert Gadsby, Noé Restaurant at the Omni Hotel, downtown Los Angeles & Houston. One of the best dinners I had this year was his "Outlaw Dinner" where the courses consisted of various "banned", "forbidden" or "illegal" ingredients. Very creative & innovative ...

Were you allowed to sniff it ... deeply? How many servings of risotto would that white truffle cover, molto e? I had the pleasure, for the first time, of having a golf ball-sized white truffle shaved over a bowl of risotto at Providence two nights ago. The flavor is subtle. And the smell ... straight from the earth ...

Lori, how did you respond to that statement? For some reason, I'm imagining you taking a cast iron skillet and working on your two-handed backhand, and saying to your husband, "I'm sorry" ... How about a picture to post when you make a Double Apple Bundt Cake, properly unpanned ...? Chihiran, DON'T MAKE THEM SMALLER!! That photo is a nice size to lick the monitor!! Did you cut back on the sugar that's in the recipe?

If traffic is that bad, perhaps eating someplace close to LAX (i.e., Venice, Culver City) may be an idea, then drive to Norwalk afterwards. Or drive from LAX directly to Long Beach, have dinner, then Norwalk.

Jon, Click here for the answers to your Bartollota questions. Back to steak, what kind of steak and steakhouse are you looking for? Do you just want the steak and some nice conversation? Or do you want the steak and the dancing water show and the view and the whole schmear?

You would be near the intersection of two major freeways: "The 605" Freeway (north-south) "The 91" Freeway (aka Artesia Freeway, east-west) Cerritos CC is located in the northeast section of the intersection. From CCC, drive westbound on the 91, then turn southbound on "The 710" Freeway (aka Long Beach Freeway), until you dead-end into downtown Long Beach. At this point, I'm not too familiar with Long Beach. Mind you, there is someone who is familiar with that area ... Chris Cognac. You might want to PM him (But not right now ... he's filming in Chicago). I hope this helps. Mind you, if you need to be rescued, just scream towards downtown LA, in a northwesterly direction from Cerritos CC ...

Thanks for the info! If you're all staying at the Bellagio, I would make the reservation for Prime and rack up the points, if you're into that kind of thing. Who knows, they might give you a discount when Bellagio totals up everything (guest rooms, dinners at their restaurants, etc.) at check-out time. As for seafood, switch from Boulud over to Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, still inside the Wynn Resort. There's a separate discussion thread about the restaurant. You can read my "branzino" story. It's Italian, and their focus is seafood.

tammylc, Egads! Do you need to be rescued or something?? If you're not familiar where Norwalk is located: Norwalk is located within Los Angeles County, close to the Orange County (CA) border, along the Golden State Freeway (aka "The 5" Freeway). Norwalk is close to the cities of Cerritos (LA) and Fullerton (OC). That area is NOT what I consider a culinary destination area. Mind you, I'm not too familiar with the area. I haven't really heard much from that part of Southern California ... Depending on where you're driving to and what time of the day, you can have dinner in Long Beach, or downtown LA, or the San Gabriel Valley (Monterey Park, Alhambra). What do you consider "a not-too-onerous" drive?

cinghiale, If you're staying in WeHo, your options are many. Joe's in Venice is pretty good and relatively a long distance away from WeHo. The intersection of La Cienega Blvd. (Old Restaurant Row) & Beverly Blvd. (New Restaurant Row) is where the Beverly Center is located. La Cienega Blvd. has: Matsuhisa, Sona, Fogo de Chao (Brazilian all you can eat), Lawry's the Prime Rib, Simon LA. My favorites in the area: Providence on Melrose, east of Highland. Great seafood. Grace on Beverly Blvd., between Fairfax & La Brea. Neal Fraser won the Iron Chef pork episode. Hatfield's on Beverly Blvd., two blocks from Grace. IMO, best new restaurant in LA so far. Small place, with 40-50 seats. You can have a real quiet conversation there. BTW, two doors down from Hatfield's is Neal Fraser's new upscale "diner" called BLD (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner). They're open until midnight. Comfort food with quality ingredients. Charcuterie bar. Made-to-order dessert crepes. Currently, my favorite hangout. I'll probably be there at the charcuterie bar. If you want some Thai food, drive along Hollywood Blvd., east of Western Ave. Thai Town, east of the Hollywood & Highland area. A lot of Thai restaurants that are open until 2-3 a.m. (you read correctly). 9-10 p.m. is sort of early for that area. Angelini Osteria & La Terza are great Italian places, but you don't want that. Ortolan is a really good French restaurant on W. 3rd St., east of La Cienega. Of course, there is Beverly Hills, dahlink ... I hope this helps.

jonnymikes, if possible, would you please give us some more details about your trip, where you and your in-laws are from, first-time Vegasites, and any other culinary characteristics. Food likes/dislikes? Are they easy to impress? Are they foodies/eGers as well? I suspect not, based upon your request to find "a good steak dinner to impress the in-laws." There are other steakhouses which I haven't tried yet (Smith & Wollensky's, Craftsteak). And there is Lawry's the Prime Rib (which is different from steak, IMO), off the Strip. Lreda, I just checked the Mandalay Bay website and I couldn't find that "4710 Restaurant" you were mentioning. Different casino, perhaps?

I agree what AlexBernardo said. The fact that you posted this thread to get other people's opinions may be evidence that you are a real foodie and eGulleteer. ... agonizing over the cost/benefit of dining at Harris Ranch with a $24 coupon ... syrah girl, are you the type of person that will play "what if" games in your mind if you didn't go? I think you should go and give us a full vicarious dining experience report. At least you're not driving to Kettleman City ...

Milk (from a cow or goat) & Honey would be considered animal products, technically speaking. Should these two be excluded as well?

I've eaten at Prime. Definitely dress up. I posted my report here. I have not eaten at Delmonico ... yet. I keep hearing wonderful things about that place from Marlene, who knows meat. As for Prime, I recommend making a reservation later in the evening, after 8:00 p.m., outside in the patio area. Hopefully, by that time, the dancing water show called Fountains of Bellagio will begin. Spectacular display of waterworks with piped-in Andrea Bocelli music (and other selections) never ceases to amaze me. That should definitely impress the in-laws, along with the steak dinner ...

Ron, what a great find!! How did you find out about this place? And what were you all doin' in Clovis, California??!! What's next, Ron? A Thai restaurant in Modoc County, California? And there is one ...

While many, including myself, are vicariously & literally enjoying Dorie's baking recipes in the other discussion thread, I do have a general question related to the publication of the book for Dorie: Dorie, are there any plans to have book signings and/or baking demonstrations featuring your new book, "Baking: from my home to yours"? Personally, I wouldn't mind if someone, like a food magazine, would host a book signing/baking demo event in, say, the Los Angeles area, for example ... hint, hint ...

kristin_71, CPK is not a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. CPK was founded in 1985 by Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield. Here's the link to CPK. I had dinner at Spago's a few months ago and it was one of the best meals I had this year. After almost twenty-five years, Spago's is not just resting on its laurels, with new talents like Lee Hefter & Sherry Yard. Same goes for Chez Panisse, it's still on top of its game ("fresh, local, seasonal produce, simply prepared ... that's California cuisine). What struck me first from this list is that the top five restaurants (excluding Per Se) are not from ... New York, New York. Is this Gourmet's way of showing us non-NYNY diners that the New York-based food magazine is not so self-absorbed with its NYC restaurants??

Instead of hopping from store to store, you can make a few phone calls instead to Surfas in Culver City or the usual grocery stores (Bristol Farms, Whole Foods) or Trader Joe's. Perhaps, this might be a job for "Mr. Produce Man" ... Russ Parsons. You can send him a PM.

O-W K, Welcome to eGullet! That bit of info you posted seems to make sense. When someone hits it big, he'll want to celebrate at the casino's best restaurant. Interesting ... [humor]The Fork, Obese-Wan Kenobi ... Use the Fork ...[/humor] BTW, what did you think of Robuchon? Would you please give a full report?

Bryan, I don't see why you should make compromises. Accommodations, yes, for food allergies and other dietary restrictions. If one of your goals is to create dishes beyond one's culinary comfort zone, it doesn't help to "compromise" to every person's picky preferences that's mentioned at the last moment. That's the impression I'm getting from these posts. Are you clearly communicating to others your culinary intentions? From your perspective, are your guests understanding what you're trying to accomplish?

I'm glad you and your father were able to take that trip up along the 101. San Luis Obispo is one of my favorite areas! Your father hates LA traffic? Well, welcome to the club!! Public transportation in LA will get better, if I have anything to do with it ... I'll be waiting for your full report on Manresa.

Here's the Bastide thread. That LA Times article is pretty much the latest chapter in this "soap opera," as LA Times puts it. I'm hoping Ludo would stay in LA. He can take Los Angeles to the next culinary level, if LA wants to go there ...

hanhu, welcome to eGullet California forum!! And BTW, Go Bruins!! A few questions: What's your budget limit? $15 per person? $25? $35? $50? And how far do you want to travel? Westwood? Culver City? Brentwood? Santa Monica? Venice? Beverly Hills? Beverly Center? WeHo? Hollywood? What kind of atmosphere/ambience? Upbeat? Hip? Sedate? Want to have a conversation? Retro? Ethnic? Did you want something more than Falafel King & Diddy Reese? Pardon the inquisition, hanhu. Just let us know what you want. We'll do our best to help.