Jump to content

Poots

participating member
  • Posts

    145
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Poots

  1. Was looking for some suggestions for a restaurant in the Grapevine, Texas area with a private room for a business dinner. Guests will be staying at the Gaylord Texan and i'm looking for a somewhat formal place for 25-50 guests. some suggestions i got from the hotel were: Old Hickory Steakhouse Bob's Steak & Chop House Silver Fox JR's Trulucks Tuscany art in dining. I'd appreciate any help you may have. thanks and regards, Brian
  2. I've ordered from South Silk Road and had good experiences. http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/teas.php#oolong I'm no expert in tea but i've ordered and enjoyed: Cold Summit Tung Ting http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=335 and Early Spring Mei Jia Wu Long Jing http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=346 and Silver needle King http://www.southsilkroad.com/catalog/produ...products_id=271 They also included a few small samples of four teas for free which i appreciated. regards, Brian
  3. I'm driving so the walking distance doesn't matter that much. When i last did Med Manor it was on a week night and was just ok but i understand that all of these places are better when it's crowded(higher meat turnover). i know Casa Vasca well and have been going there for probably a decade or so and really love the food but i'm really hankering for some salty grilled meats and plenty of them. I've never been to Iberia or Iberian peninsula before so maybe i'll try them just to expand my newark rodizio experience. thanks and regards, Brian
  4. I'm headed down to the prudential center on saturday night. I thought i'd get some rodizio before hand with my gf and was wondering if anything has changed from the above reccomendations? I've been to the brazilia(2nd floor) which apparently is no longer open and enjoyed it. I've also been to Jason's favorite mediterranean manor on Jefferson. I'm leaning towards going to Brazilia Grill on Monroe. Any thoughts? thanks, Brian
  5. I'm currently living in Australia and will be moving back to the New York area in the near future(few months). I have around 50 bottles of wine i'd like to bring back with me. My company provides me with my own 40 foot shipping container for all my household goods but i don't think this would be such a good environment for my wine(especially being in a large steel container during June/July). I'll have 3 suitcases that i can throw 3 to 4 bottles in for my flight(although i'll probably be over the customs limit). does anyone have any suggestions for solving my plight? thanks in advance, Brian
  6. I've bought some wonderful cultured butter(salted and unsalted) at the Good Living Grower's Market in Pyrmont(just blocks from Darling Harbor). It's only on the first saturday of every month with March 1st being the next date. They also have tons of great stuff like free range/organic goat/duck/venison/lamb, fresh bread, produce, olive oil, etc etc. it's only open for a few hours 7 to 11 but well worth a trip. regards, Brian Here's the link: http://events.smh.com.au/view_event.asp?intid=11
  7. Poots

    Daniel

    Has anyone dined here recently? I may have the opportunity to join a friend for dinner here on a tuesday in December and was wondering if i should expect a wonderful meal. thanks and regards, Brian
  8. I'm planning a trip with my girlfriend to Marlborough in New Zealand and also maybe Hunter Valley in Australia(i live in Sydney). Can anyone give me some recommendations of wineries that are nice to visit as well as have great wines? Beautiful/romantic would be a plus as well. Probably going to spend 2 days in Marlborough and 1 in Hunter Valley. Any hotel/b&b recs and dinner recs are welcome too. thanks in advance, Brian
  9. I'm quite possibly moving to Sydney Australia in the near future and wondering if any of you have any books on Australian Wine and Wine Regions to reccomend? I currently own the Wine Bible mentioned above and i've ordered the Oxford Wine Companion for general resources but was wondering if there are any specific Australia books i should look for. -Brian
  10. The most famous bakery that i know of is La Glace which is located in the middle of Stroget the walking street. It's website is: La Glace One of it's more interesting specialities is Sports Cake...don't ask me why it's called that because i have no idea(although i just found out on their website). They even have pictures of their cakes, hmmm:Cakes I'm not a big consumer of traditional danish food(other than my daily lunch at work) so i can't help you there. Two useful sites are the Press guide at Wonderful Copenhagen Press Releases and AOK which has restaurant listings and other tourism info. Looking at the opera's website Opera you'll get out of the opera sometime after 10. I don't know for sure if they serve food that late but their hours show them open til 2 on the weekends is Cafe Quote. It's in Kongens Nytorv and a pretty good place. Cafe Quote Website -Brian
  11. My cousin visited me a few weeks ago here in Copenhagen. We had quite a busy few days wherein we dined at Cofoco, Noma, Koriander, and Madeleine's Mad Teater. The most amazing dinner was absolutely Noma where after 9 courses(7 courses and some amuse bouches) and 7 glasses of wine there was only One 'less than stellar' incident and that was one of the wines was a new style barolo that we all felt wasn't a great match with the course. Asides from that the night was as close to perfect as any meal i've ever experienced. And man, people are going to look strangely at me when i now request pork fat instead of butter with my bread! we had 2 servings of the stuff which was absolutely amazing! Noma Pictures of every course, courtesy of my cousin, can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594286549372/ Koriander is a french\indian fusion restaurant which was also a very enjoyable meal. However it was also the Longest meal i've ever had. We sat at 715pm and left around quarter after midnight. by the end we were just trying to get out of there. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594289424626/ Cofoco was a very reasonable 3 course meal(for around 50 US w/out wine). Great meal for the money in a easy going atmosphere. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594286536156/ Madeleine's Mad Teater was truly an experience. It's a true performance as dinner. It's in a warehouse type building. Large and completely open on the inside. The theme of the night was Childhood or Childish or evoking the sense of childhood(or something like that). This was the last night with that theme. This was the first theme since opening day. After entering the building we were given a hibiscus kir(with pink plastic elephant ice cubes) and a coin. The coin was for our first course which was dispensed from an automat. We then sat on some astroturf like a kid's playground and enjoyed it there. The servers were great, especially considering they hadn't had many native english speakers before us. They kindly explained the courses as they arrived(the menu was only in danish) and so i could see how poorly i had messed up the translations to my dining partners. The diners were seated upon a small stage with a clear view of the completely open kitchen. On two sides of the stage were white lit walls which had images and lights shown on them. Themed music was played depending on course and pictures being shown. All in all a very fun and new experience. Pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/repetti/sets/72157594294608747/ Brian
  12. Here's a little press release about Madeleines in english. http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/composite-2475.htm
  13. The fort/monastery at the top of Hvar Island The view of Hvar from above Hvar Harbor and Hotel Palace The sun setting on Hvar The market in Split near Diocletian's Palace A butcher's window in the market A hike to see the waterfalls in Plitvika National Park
  14. Grub, there IS a fort/monastery of some sort on a hill atop the island of Hvar. When i get back to my home computer i'll see if i can upload a pic or two of it. Hvar was a gorgeous island although not the cheapest by far.
  15. Andrew, i think the restaurant in Split was Nostromo.
  16. This is the view from the balcony of Restaurant Nautika in Dubrovnik The little tiki bar on the rocks and water in Dubrovnik The view of the Dubrovnik from the city walls. Some huge fish in the display case of a restaurant in Mali Ston. Mali Ston is a wonderful seafood town right on a little cove on the way from dubrovnik to split. Dubrovnik by night
  17. I took a trip to Croatia over Easter starting at Dubrovnik, heading up the coast to Split, hopping to the island of Hvar, and hiking to the beautiful waterfalls of the national park Plitvika. In dubrovnik the best meal i had was at Nautika right outside the old city walls. A little more expensive but a great meal. I shared a whole John Dory with my friend in a truly memorable dinner. It overlooks a small cove and is on the water. Seafood and Squid Ink Risottos are a pretty popular dish as well. Definitely go for a walk along the city walls which is a few kilometers long. There's a small tiki bar outside the city walls alongside the ocean surrounded by nothing but rocks and water. Inside the city are only two hotels i think and both pretty expensive. If you don't want to spend that kind of money there are some private rooms available that can be quite nice and inexpensive. They have some decent wine specifically i remember a white called Grasevina or something like that. Also they have istrian truffles which are quite enjoyable. In Split there was a great seafood restaurant right next to the small fish market off the main walking street. Plenty of cafes and restaurants along the water. Diocletians palace(roman ruin).
  18. Alan, i went to Tokay in May of last year. It was a wonderful trip and i highly reccomend it. I rented a car in Budapest and drove to Tokay. We stopped for one night in Eger, home of the Famous Egri Bikaver(Bull's Blood). The story goes that in the 1500s the fortress of Eger was under attack and the soldiers drank large quantities of the local red to brace themselves for battle. As they ran into battle with wine stained lips the enemy fled from the men who drank 'Bulls blood'. Also right outside of town is a series of Caves where locals age their wine and hold wine tastings, either for free or for very cheap. From there to Tokay we asked no directions and blindly followed the squigly lines on the map until we came to the end of the road....literally. The road ended at a large river. Luckily there was an older man at the end as well who spoke some english. He quickly explained that a small ferry(more like a large raft) would come across soon and carry our 2 cars across(his and ours). When he found that we hadn't set up lodging yet he insisted on us following him into town and he would show us a nice place to stay. I'll go and look for the name but i can't promise anything. What i can tell you is it was a big surprise as it was inexpensive and very nice. In the center of the small town on the right hand side is all the landmarks i can give you. It had an indoor pool and sauna, and while the owners/workers didn't speak much(if any) english they were extremely nice. Wine tasting was lots of fun. We went to Oremus, Diznoko, Degenfeld(i think), and maybe one or two others. I'd highly reccomend Oremus and Diznoko. I don't know if English is your only language, but Diznoko(at the time) could only give us a tour in Hungarian or French. Luckily i manage to know just enough french to butcher it and so could enjoy the tour. My friend was reduced to listening to my half-assed translations. We enjoyed a nice lunch of Fois Gras and Duck Confit at the restaurant at Diznoko. If you didn't know it Hungary is the land of inexpensive Fois.....i hope you like it. I would reccomend stopping by the tourism office in the town of Tokay to pick up some brochures and make sure you're aware of tasting times and availability. I would call ahead as well, which i know we did at at least 2 of the wineries. The caves of the wineries are truly magnificent. With crazy mold growing in profusion and fully mold covered bottles on display in the cellars. I hope you have a sweet tooth as you can easily go into insulin shock from all the stickies. Even though the Tokay Aszu is the star of the show you can also taste dry whites and some interesting unusual reds as well. regards, Brian
  19. The store on Peder Hvidtfelfts Stræde is the only American store that i know of although i've never been there either. Although i've never had Korean in Copenhagen there are lots of other restaurants. In the asian realm there is Lai Hoos a casual cantonese place on Stor Kongensgade in the center of city(right off Kongens Have). Spicylicious that the Jakob mentioned is a good thai place in Vesterbro. Another good thai restaurant is Thai Esan 1 which is on Lille Istegade i think, also in Vesterbro. Depending on what dining experience you're looking for there are plenty of alternatives. Noma which was mentioned above www.noma.dk has a head chef who worked for Thomas Keller and Ferran Adria. Other than korean(which i'm at a loss for) if you give some further defining we can reccomend some more. regards, Brian
  20. How bout some Balut? My friend sent me this to tease. they had it in the office the day after i left. see now i would have had it in the office but off the street is another story. and comparing one to another...'hey, you got more feathers!' not too food related, but i found out what beach i had traveled to. It was White Beach Resort, Subic, Zambales. Here are a few pics from the beach. it rained every 40 mins and then would be blazing sun. quite the experience. enjoying some shortlived sun Don't be put off by the shotgun, he was quite friendly. no idea what he was guarding us from though... It's funny that you guys speak of the importance of rice. I got some strange looks the first day at lunch when i said i didn't need any rice... but i learned quickly. I'll have to take some pics of the foods i had at lunch time next time. They just served family style and i didn't know what i was eating half the time.
  21. Poots

    Fish and Seafood

    all seafood was located in Manila, Phillipines Slipper Lobsters Female on the right, Male on the Left Crabs a Huge crab happily alive after a wonderful addition of butter and garlic some type of scallop and it's roe. would this have been dangerous to eat? green grouper which if i recall correctly is called lapu-lapu green grouper steamed with soy and scallions
  22. The video screen was a part of the Video Karaoke. It had a list of available songs as well as a playlist with the next upcoming songs. Then a music video(not the original mtv version but sometimes what looked like a homemade version) would play on a 2nd screen. They had both american music as well as local music. The couple closest to the video sang a beautiful duet of Malay? music. My local friends kept trying to get me to drink a beer called the Red Horse which apparently packs a kick like a horse. needless to say it took a few of those before i actually picked up the mic. I also took a side trip to a beach while i was there. Don't know what the name is off the top of my head, but i'll find out. I took a few pics there too, but have not put them in imagegullet but will if there's some interest. It took 3hours by car over the mountains to get wherever it was. I didn't mention the intense heat and humidity. It really was like wearing a mask at times the humidity was so smothering. And when they tell you it's rainy season they really mean it. It poured rain almost every day, ususally at 1pm but sometimes only for as little as 20mins(but a downpour). I'm glad you liked it. I really did dig in after i loosened up a little. When we eat blueclaws on the jersey shore we let it all hang out and i figured crab eating was the same across the world. I didn't upload the aftermath of the meal, but maybe i will. eating outside in the extremely high heat and humidity and doing so with a meal that you have to work for to eat....well, let's just say there was plenty of sweating and not all was from the spice! I drank a few San Miguels to cool me down but man it was an experience! By far my favorite dishes were the butter and garlic grab and the steamed grouper. There were no crackers originally given to us and as the 'big guy'(i'm a big guy normally but in Manila i was a giant) my friends asked me to break up the big crabs. Luckily none of the points on the shell drew blood, but it wasn't an easy task. The grouper was just cooked through and absolutely delicious. I haven't eaten much steamed fish but it was a truly enjoyable preparation and you can't get much fresher than picking it out of a tank yourself. Also, the Crispy Crablets were amazing. I think they could be the ultimate bar snack. Give me a cold beer and a basket of fried baby crabs(with that great dip) and i'd be quite the happy guy. They had a great little crunch with that central core of crabby sweetness.
  23. I hope it's alright i add this here, moderators pls move if deemed appropriate to a new or different thread. I took a weeklong trip to Manila in July this year. I had to go on business. I had some wonderful meals as well as some not so good. Unfortunately i didnt get pictures of every meal i had, but did get pics of my two favorite meals. The first was at a place called the Red Crab i think. To start we had Crispy Crablets which were deep friend baby crabs with a dipping sauce of vinegar, chili, garlic. then we had Crispy Pata which unfortunately i didnt get a picture of but which is a deep fried pig's leg(more like bone) with not much meat, just the little crispy bits. This was quite good but a little chewy and as i was in the company of some business associates i was unsure of proper manners. it turned out there were no worries as we soon got elbow deep into crab, but that was a little later. For a main course we shared a few crabs. Now, i'm from Jersey and used to the normal blue crabs we get down there, but these things are some big ole crabs. Not sure of the correct type or species but let's just call them Big Ole Crabs. We had Szechuan style... and butter garlic. I took a trip to a seafood market called, of all things. the Home Depot(no relation to the home improvement store in the US). This was a really fun experience. You go into the seafood market, pick out and buy what you want(everything is pretty inexpensive) and then walk outside and sit down at a picnic table and small kitchens cook it for you. You choos how you want things cooked and they charge you by weight. Here's a picture of the crowded busy entrance. These looked interesting. I think they're called Slipper or Rock Lobsters. I was somewhat nervous because i'm used to eating my lobsters soon after they were living. This is my friend Jill a coworker from the UK posing next to a nice woman who was showing us the difference between male and female crabs. The female has the dark colored bottom shell.(at least i'm pretty sure it does) This is me looking at the slipper lobsters and the security guard looking at me as if i was going to stuff one down my shorts... I swear, i'd never seen crabs this big...and yes, i bought and ate this one. This was flopping around during this picture. The guy cracked it on the head right after i shot it. They said it was Green Grouper. Here are some scallops with roe. I was wondering about these because i could swear i read right here on Egullet that the roe is Very perishable and not even allowed to be harvested in the US because of it's short shelf life. Here's part of the spread. That little bowl had chilis and Kalamasi(once again, not positive about that) Butter and Garlic Crab Sweet and Sour Prawns. Wish i had gone butter and garlic or some other preparation with these as they were pretty gloppy. Couldn't tell you what preparation this was, but it was spicy. This is the green grouper steamed with scallions and ...soysauce? This was 2 small spiny? lobsters. i originally bought one of the slippers but when the chefs got the lobster they said they didn't like the way it smelled and went into the market and exchanged it for the 2 smaller ones. That's what i call good service. Completely irrelevant to food, but my phillipino coworkers took me out to video karaoke which was a great time.(of course i didn't sing though) Notice the mini keg sitting on the table. san miguel was a very enjoyable beer. Well ok, maybe i sang a little. Just a little Sinatra... There was a little food. think this was a pizza they gave us when we rented the private room. and that was a big bottle of hot sauce on the table. all in all i had a great time there. the people were Extremely nice, the food was great, and i'll probably go back sometime in November. I didn't try Balut, but only because the only time it was offered to me was after midnight after many beers by a vendor walking down the street. Now i may at some point try fetal duck egg, but i don't think it'll be after 10 very strong beers and from some guy walking down the street with a basket on his back... best regards, Brian
  24. I was in the Hungarian countryside in May of 2004. I went to Lake Heviz and ate at a restaurant on the main drag in the small town. If you were coming from the lake(walking) and hung a left onto the main street it was a very short distance on the left. We had goulash, halazle(fish soup) and i had this magnificent pike(i think) Lake Heviz was a trip. My 2 friends and i were the youngest by...50yrs maybe. The Lake was advertised as curing everything from arthritis to cancer. Strong smell of sulfur and also was told the lake had small levels of radiation and http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11199701..._129_356510.jpg Also went to Eger and Tokaji. Would Highly reccomend Tokaji. It was a wonderful experience and if you like dessert wine it's truly amazing(although you may go into insulin shock after a day of multiple tastings!). Here's 2 pics of the caves of Diznoko Winery. and and some Very aged wine...they believe the mold is beneficial to the aging process. i'll see if i can dig up some names of other places i dined at there.
  25. Poots

    Cru

    Has anyone eaten here lately? i'm coming in from Denmark for a week and may only have one meal in New York(i'm going to be in Jersey). My friend made reservations here due to my nagging. Is Cru still putting out great food? Any don't miss courses? Tasting or a la carte? thanks in advance. regards, Brian
×
×
  • Create New...