mikeczyz

i'm moving into the neighborhood. anyone been to either two of these? mike

i have eaten at trio 5 times over the past 18 months. everything about my experiences have been nothing but exceptional. i think something that isn't brought up enough is the integrity of the flavors at trio. it's easy to get caught up with the spray bottle and all the other different serving pieces, but what people don't realize is that the FLAVOR of the food is exceptional. i've been lucky to enjoy the tour de force at trio and within a week, dining at the french laundry. i have to say that not only was the 'wow' factor MUCH higher at trio, but the food just plain tasted better too. the highest compliment i can pay to my experiences is that after every visit, my expectations were raised, and i was never, ever disappointed by the ensuing visit. i encourage all of you naysayers who have never eaten there to visit, and THEN make up your mind. mike

i was under the impression this was a george morrone dish, at least i saw morrone do it on the great chefs tv series. mike

anyone here own a copy of patricia unterman's san francisco food lover's guide? i've literally spent the whole walking around checking out food related places. I had a fantastic Frog hollow nectarine. visited a cheese shop. scoped out a few italian focaccia places in the north beach area. enjoyed a coffee and a croissant just outside of chinatown. went to the fog city news for chocolate. jewish deli on polk. this book is really great.

ate at fifth floor last night. very, very good. did the chef's tasting menu, and tossed in the foie appetizer as well. not quite as progressive as i would've hoped but it all tasted good. running theme of the night would definitely be southeast asia. i can't tell you how many times i encountered cardamom, ginger or coconut in the meal. i usually find such repetition of flavors to be offputting, but for whatever reason, it didn't bother me much last night. some other small nitpicky things i didn't like, such as a shooter of verbena and ginger served with dessert that wasn't sweet enough and was wiped out when one took a bite, and then had a sip. gelees that hadn't quite 'set.' there were some other exceedingly, minor irritants throughout the meal. beautiful room, service was quite competent and friendly. chef gras was not in the kitchen last night. TERRIFIC coffee service. single serving french press. marvelous. it cost me five bucks but i didn't feel stilted at all. all in all, an excellent experience. one other thing to rant about, the chef's sashimi plate included in the chef's tasting. i just don't understand this. for a guy who appears to be on the creative side, why serve a simple, unadorned plate of raw fish? it's beyond my comprehension.

What troubles me the most about your post is that I've read reports from a year ago in which featured the same foie with bee pollen dish and the same pork belly and truffle dish that you describe. isn't chef gras trying to come up with anything new? i have reservations there tho, i'll taste these seemingly signature items of his and see if I like them for myself. mike

So I'm moving to San Francisco in a few days. I've got THursday night and all of friday to eat. I've got lunch and dinner reservations at Zuni Cafe for my friday meals, but need advice on where to eat for my Thursday meal. I'd like to do something BIG. The Fifth FLoor intrigues me. Anybody been lately? How's the wines by the glass list. I'm specifically looking for information about the degustation menu if any of you have had it. Also, how's Charles Nob Hill? I couldn't help but notice that the chef was awarded a Food and Wine Best new chef award. I've already been to La Folie and Gary Danko so I might want to try someplace new. Thanks Mike

is this a normal menu? seasonal tasting menu? mike

anyone ever been to toraya on fillmore in san francisco? mike

any rumors on who the replacement chef at masa's might be? mike

i didn't understand the point of the article. i would've much rather seen the column take the route of a critical eye to the dining experience, instead of a faux review with faux stars. mike

Doug Sohn Adaniya has been quoted as always wanting to open a hot dog joint although i very much doubt trio will be the forum in which he does it. mike

mary cool. we just started serving a wine from your area. a rosenblum zinfandel. tasty stuff. mike

i had the loup de mer. i remember it being salty. mike

yah, i've been too. it was good. i remember a cool foie terrine with vanilla syrup, and a tomato golden raisin chutney. duck prosciutto on the side. mike

michael bauer refers to la folie as a four star restaurant in his latest restaurant write up. the san francisco chronicle website has la folie listed under the four star link yet the review it takes you to eventually gives teh restaurant three stars. does anyone know if it's been re-reviewed since the 1997 write up, and if so, how to access the column? mike

root beer or orange cream soda

Here's a link to the page on his website which in turn has links to sample menus. http://www.susur.com/philosophy.html The prices are there somewhere, but if I recall correctly the 7 course tasting menu is $110 Cdn. I believe the vegetarian version is $75. Although I'm decidely non-vegetarian, I'm considering trying this the next time I go. Cheers, Geoff Ruby thank you mike

what's menu pricing like? i'm curious. i'd like to plan a visit before i move from the midwest. mike

i love it. i just found the restaurants website so i came back to egullet to see if anybody had already eaten here. fantastic to see reviews already up. i must go if i'm ever in atlanta. mike

chef sergi arola is giving a special dinner in chicago this march first. i'm considering ponying up the 350 bucks to go. what's his food like? mike

I went to moto last night. It's really, really cool. It's hard to put into words how exciting and fun it was. food tastes pretty good too! check it out while it's still byob if you need to save some cash. i brought a cheap alsatian pinot gris that i thought worked with the majority of the food. mike

i've had great success with calling ahead and asking that menus with no prices be presented to my table, even at lesser establishments. mike

the final battle against alain passard had me glued to my seat... mike

nice writing. i was born and raised in alaska. there's nothing better than deep fried halibut or salmon that's just been pulled out of the water. or walking around the tidal pools pulling out all sorts of weird shellfish and popping them straight into your mouth. mike