BryanZ

If only I knew how to play. Seriously, this short trip could end me, simultaneously crushing my soul and meager bank account. I've found a pretty good deal on a nice room at Caesar's Palace and may try the infamous "$20 trick" discussed at length on FatWallet.com. I think this lodging setup will work well for me because I'll be eating at Savoy, conveniently located at Caesar's. I'll also have the option to check out the Wynn and the eats there because I'll be spending one night there with my mother who will be in town for business meetings. So, I think the high-end dining plan looks like L'Atelier for dinner one night, then Savoy the next. I'm also trying to fit in a tasting menu at Wing Lei perhaps on my final evening. As is being discussed in a concurrent thread, however, there seems to a certain lack of appealing lunch options on the strip that really distinguish themselves. If I rent a beater rental car I may try to make the pilgrimage out to LoS. We shall see.

Thanks for the advice. I'm telling myself that a couple hands of blackjack will help make up the difference between the TGV and the full tasting menu at Savoy. Of course, the opposite will probably be true, but this is where I'll fool myself into youthful naivete. I've been to a few of Las Vegas' older crop of good restaurants like Picasso because I was there a couple times few years ago right before the Wynn upped the ante and Savoy/Robuchon came to town. Any idea on how far ahead these places book up?

$190 for four courses and $290 for ten the last time I checked. ← I just checked prices today with the respective restaurants and those still hold. L'Atelier is $135. Alex is at $195. More than 2 years ago, I had my best buffet experience at Bally's sterling brunch - not sure whether they still have it. The menu includes free flow of champagne, evian water, lobster, crab legs and some middle-quality caviars. The cost last time was about USD 60 I think before tips and tax. The desserts are also quite good - loved the big and sweet chocolate-dipped strawberry. ← Bally's is now $65. The whole experience is so absurd, I love it. In other news I'll be in Vegas for a couple days in mid-August (unfortunately not on a Sunday), just a couple weeks after my 21st. The trip could undoubtedly be financially disastrous given me soon-to-be bestowed right to gamble and drink freely. I'm thinking about meals and would like to pose the following hypothetical: If the tasting menu at Guy Savoy is ten courses and $290, then we reach an average cost per plate of $29. At Robuchon one receives sixteen courses for $350 at an average of $22 per plate. In this way, Robuchon is the better value on a per plate basis. It's also over 20% more expensive than Savoy. There's clearly no clear winner. Then there's the option of downgrading to something like Alex. But I figure for $195 for the tasting menu there, I could do a Tour at Alinea or eat pretty much anywhere in NYC. I'm not so sure that Alex will be as good as Alinea or be significantly different or better than the big players in NYC. So, if I'm in Vegas already and the plane ticket is a sunk cost, I might as well go to Savoy or Robuchon--this is the bizzare way in which my mind works--but the question is which. I've read all the reports but can't determine a clear winner. Again, if I'm there I might as well go big with sixteen courses at Robuchon. Then again, Savoy seems to be marginally better regarded. Advice? P.S. To further confound the issue I can probably do the tasting menu at L'Atelier on someone else's dime, making a full meal at Robuchon proper seemingly redundant. I probably can't get said funding to pay for the TGV at Savoy (and if I could I might just go to Alex for $5 more) to then go for the full meal at Robuchon the next day. Decisions. Decisions. Oh, and how long in advance do I have to book these Savoy or Robuchon? ETA: Doing the tasting a L'Atelier represents a significant value proposition for me because I'm from the NYC area and the same meal runs $175ish at the NYC L'Atelier outpost. This could be seen as further motivation to do the Savoy big meal and the L'Atelier discovery menu

A surprisingly strong first episode. Hung seems like a solid, confident dude, and I like that. The same could be said for Tre except he's got more of Harold streak going on with the strong, silent archetype. I really like both of them. I also appreciate how Hung didn't make a big deal of the sous vide thing like Marcel did. And thankfully Collichio didn't do his usual poo-pooing of anything that wouldn't be served at Craft. I also like the JG exec sous chef; it will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Having eaten at JG many times it's fun to see how her dishes already channel some JG aesthetics. Then again, the same could be said for Marcel and Illan. There are a couple screw-ups in this batch of cheftestants, but overall the talent level seems much higher. If you compare the comments in this episode to the episode where Bourdain made his previous appearance, this season is already several levels higher than the last. Hopefully the violent egos will stay in check and some good cooking will result.

Just thought I'd throw in a quick update, as this is the most current Chicago steakhouse thread. Went to Avenue M tonight with a group of about twelve. There's not a lot to redeem this restaurant. Appetizers (the lamb "lollipops" were probably the dumbest named dish of all time; they're just lamb rib chops) were generally not good, sushi absolutely abysmal. No wine steward on hand to work through the list and a very limited scotch and after-dinner drinks selection. Lots of girly drinks though. The steaks, surprisingly, just weren't very good. I grilled my server as to whether they actually serve Prime beef and she assured me they did. I had to 22 oz bone-in ribeye and it bordered on tough. Not bad tasting, but not all that tender. And they trim off most of the deckle, so my favorite part was mainly absent. Desserts looked amateurish, though I didn't try one for myself. All in all, nothing special at all. There was a Ferrari 360 and an Aston Martin DB9 parked out front so I guess it's attracting that type of clientele.

Good read, Fat Guy. I cannot possibly believe the 7:15-9:00 limitation.

I stopped by the River North outpost of Lou Malnati's this evening to try out its wares. I ordered a small pie with sausage and mushrooms. It was quite good, but short of Giordano's in my opinion. I like the drier, crustier nature of the Giordano's double crust pizza. The Malnati's version has less cheese and is more subtle in nature. Less gooey, with a lighter but somewhat less flavorful tomato sauce. The sausage was nice and meaty but lacking in seasoning and the mushrooms too sparse to add any significant umami. Certainly not bad--it wasn't greasy and was quite tasty overall--but it didn't quite reach the heights I was hoping for.

Sounds like a lot of fun. How much was this family-style feast?

Marcel's saffron foam was hilarious (as were his pointy chops). He was so right, too, considering all Illan can do is use saffron and paprika. Illan is pretty much a bitch. Dave had it wrong all along. Stephen is so totally sweet; I miss that guy. Those ties seem to have become even more ridiculous. Elia looked awful, so did Tiffani. Short-hair Sam = significant improvment. I always love watching these reunion shows to see how people have changed. The food seemed alright. I personally think Dave is still a total joke. Other than him, everyone seems to be at least a decent cook. Collichio seemed to be trying really hard not to be Cold-dick-io, probably since he didn't like what he read on the blogs.

Oh Mellow Mushroom is sooo terrible. Really, I can't stand it. If you're going to be pretentious about your product it better be good. Technically, their crust is way doughy, the pizzas way oversauced and over-cheesed. Toppings underdone. Just not good. There is no "good" pizza in the Triangle in my experience. If you're looking for a serviceable pizzeria pie I can do Randy's, even Cinelli's "brick oven" style.

If you ate that much as a solo diner I have much respect. Next time you need a partner just let me know.

I liked the dryness. I can't stand soggy or greasy crust so this was actually pleasantly surprising.

There aren't any cookbook specifically for modern cooking. With that said, there are lots of food technology books that are useful. These can be very expensive too, however.

An interesting link I found. It's a mini-projoect by some MIT folks who are trying to model AI in the restaurant world. In order to do this they're having people play out the roles of server and diner. It's kind of fun, definitely a waste of time. Check it out, for both Macs and PCs.

Four Story Hill is my favorite poultry. As a general rule I much, much prefer milk-fed chicken, but this could be a result of the skill in which it is prepared.

Does anyone know if the the Malnati's in River North is good. It'd be most convenient to me. I certainly make no claims of being an expert and won't be even after trying out a few of these better known locations. I'm just trying to get a feel for the different styles.

Bumping this thread because this summer I've decided to take on a bit of a pet project and try some deep dish pizza. Hailing from the NE, I've found I pretty much can't stand "pizza" across the rest of the country. Like bagels, pizza is really a NYC and Northern Jersey thing. With this ideology, I've been quite skeptical of Chicago pizza. Thick crusts, lots of sauce and cheese, pretty much everything I hate in pizza. Still, I have an open palate, if not an entirely open mind, and will be hitting up some of the more talked about pizza stops this summer. Tonight I stopped by a Giordano's location for their stuffed crust pizza. After waiting the requisite 30+ minutes for my pie, my server somewhat ceremoniously served the first piece. Melted cheese spilled forth. It was nearly theatric. I must say I did enjoy it. It is not, however, pizza at all. Rather, it's a savory pie of cheese and, in my case, mushrooms with a tomato sauce topping. The crust, thankfully, was not soggy or greasy like in deep dish pizzas I've had in the past but firm and pastry-like, like a strong pie crust. While the experience was perhaps not an exceptional one, I can see the appeal. I was only able to eat half of a small, so that speaks to the overwhelming heaviness of this style of pizza. After tax and tip, the pizza alone came to like $17. While this isn't really expensive in the big picture, it seems to be more expensive than its peers. It would be nice if they offered a smaller size, one that a solo diner could reasonably finish. I tried to stop by Uno and Due the night before but couldn't wait for a table as I had plans for later. I will try one or both of those out before my time here up. The Malnati's place sounds good; I just have to find a location convenient to me.

Was the exchange a relatively simple one? Like a "Will the kitchen simply cook for me?" kind of thing?

This last post kind of speaks to a question I have. Is this the kind of place where, if sitting at the chef's bar/pass deal, the kitchen will just cook for you? The setup seems to be perfectly suited for this kind of thing, but I thought I'd ask here. Has anyone gone beyond the tasting menu and just let the kitchen go totally wild?

Stopped by Frontera this evening tonight for a late dinner. Last time I was at Frontera was a couple months ago for brunch. This time I came in just before 10:30. It was a Saturday so the restaurant was still crowded, but I was the last to be seated in the main dining room. I sat at the counter, right next to the pass. A rather busy place to be, but I didn't mind. My new Blackberry makes a great date, wsj.com and all. I had a blood orange margarita, duck carnitas enchilladas, and grilled chicken with amarillo mole. Having visited twice in the past couple months I won't say I'm totally in love with the place. The food is quite delicious, but I'm just not blown away. Perhaps predictably, inflated expectations probably have a lot to do with it. I should also probably start ordering some of the lighter dishes to see how the kitchen handles that kind of thing. Most of the time I'm so drawn to the heavier, meat-based offerings but find myself somewhat bored with them by the time I'm finishing up the dish. The margarita was quite delicious. The duck enchilladas tasted exaclty like one would imagine them to taste. The mole amarillo was nicely paired with a fennel and watercress salad that helped to draw out the herbaceous qualities of the mole. The roasted potatoes were kind of blah and seemed like filler.

Squab livers in the beef cheek sauce, makes it marginally more offal-y. The beef cheek was my favorite dish. I was very tempted to go with the goose liver ravioli, but the beef cheek is such a classic.

I am. But may be traveling four days a week, leaving me actually in Chicago on like only Thurs, Fri, Sat nights, making it difficult for resos. Then again, BB worked out for me so I'm planning on some good meals at some perhaps less-than-good times.

It could be a combination of the two factors. The dishes I had at Babbo two years ago, one year ago, and this past week were very similar. To a certain extent perhaps boredom of the palate can be interpreted as boredom from the kitchen. I feel like Babbo is executing its dishes quite well, it's just I've had them before and am looking for something new. New, in this context, could be that generations-old bolognese recipe in some village in Italy. With that said, I agree that passion from the kitchen can make a simple or familiar dish extremely compelling. Although I've had only one meal there, and it was admittedly not a spectacular one, Insieme showed this to me. Chef Canora is not only creating new Italian-inspired dishes but is also recasting true classics like lasagna or linguine with clams. These latter dishes are not at all modern or new in the "molecules" sense but in that they represent a new vision of a talented chef.

Tonight was my first night of the summer in Chicago. My first significant meal was at Blackbird. I managed to secure a seat at the bar (but not at a table) calling only a couple hours before. Blackbird does not have a tasting menu, so I kind of created one of my own. I ordered four appetizers and a dessert and was quite satisfied. As another poster noted, everything at Blackbird was very solid, quite tasty, and subtly creative. Like good contemporary American cuisine, just one level higher. I don't usually dine alone at the bar, I prefer tables, but I must say I enjoyed my experience given the energy of this restaurant. It is undeniably busy and quite loud. A true hive of activity in a rather small, minimalistic space. I had: -Amuse of trout belly and a really interesting barbeque consomme. I loved this. -Crispy confit of swan creek farm suckling pig with cavollo nero, shaved chiogga beets, horseradish and banylus vinegar 13. -Crispy veal sweetbreads with nichols farm baby leeks, fresh green almonds, puffed wild rice and remoulade 13. -Braised octopus with fresh hummus, charred ramps, sesame brittle and chickpeas 14. -Soft shell crab (not on the online menu) for $15. -Milk chocolate cremeux with coconut-curry ice cream, cashews and lime 10. My favorite dish was definitely the sweetbreads, totally delicious with the puffed wild rice adding great texture. I thought the octopus was a bit weak because the terrine portion (literally a slice of compressed octopus meat that looked cool in a vaguely gruesome sense--I mean this as a compliment) lacked seasoning. It was interesting texturally but needed some salt or acid to perk up the flavor. The confit tentacles were much better. The pork dish was very nice, if perhaps slightly thrown out of balance by the banylus vinegar. I liked it, but it was probably too assertive objectively speaking. I also really enjoyed talking to one of my bartender/waiters, whose name I believe was Brandon. Cool dude and full of information for a newcomer to the Chicago food scene like me. If only I could remember all the places he told me about; I'll try to get to them all eventually. Also sat next to a nice couple restaurateurs from Ohio in town for the NRA show. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Blackbird isn't the type of restaurant I usually go to, it's a bit loud and hectic for my tastes. Given that, I was quite pleased with this first meal. I spent a bit more than I would've liked ($103 after tax, tip, and a meh glass of Sanceree), but I'd go back to try more of the menu. I'm also interested in Avec, as its crowds were literally spilling out onto the sidewalk with everyone drinking and eating. ETA: I just realized why Chef Sheerin looks so familiar. Wasn't he the sous-chef at wd~50? I think so.

Unfortunate pictures!!??? Are you kidding? Those are some of the most fortunate food pictures on the internet. The staff actually knows how to wear a suit that fits properly, which is more than I can say about some three-star Michelin places in NYC. The restaurant is so far from being cold, stiff, or anything like that. Just wait till you eat off the antennae or take the cocoa butter ball in one mouthful (remember to open wide). It's impossible to be cold or stiff under those circumstances. In other news, I just found out about the NRA show today (the last day). I'm bummed I just missed it. Why isn't there a thread?