gfweb
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Posts posted by gfweb
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What a horrible trend! If you want to raise the price then raise the price. Don't take my tip (I do 20% unless offended grossly) and make it a required surcharge.
And is the "tip" on the wine too? If I buy a zillion dollar bottle did anyone do more work than if I bought a $50 one? No I don't think so. Was I served any better? No to that too.
I've eaten at Trotters and it was just OK. Not worth the offense of a tax on my dinner.
Horrible horrible horrible offensive insulting idea from joints that will do whatever they can get away with.
Shame on them and their greedy clan.
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And yet the fact that there are places that serve bad food yet remain in business for years (what's the name of that tourist-trap Italian restaurant near Times Square in New York?) does indicate that there are many who do not. (Of course, tourist-trap restaurants are a special category, as they depend for their livelihood on customers who will in all likelihood never make a return visit. Some of these places can be incredibly pricey, too, as the prior incarnation of Old Original Bookbinder's here in Philly was.)
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There is a great place in Allen TX for chicken fried steak. It is called Del Rancho and specializes in rib-sticking TX food.
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New restaurant opened Friday in southernmost CC, on Rt 896 in the Landenberg/Kemblesville metroplex. Amici's is the name. The menu is contemporary and in the 'fine dining' vein. I had prosciutto wrapped pork tenderloin...very nice. Lob bisque was up to par. Chicken carabonara was dry. Wine list is small but OK. Chef was previously at Iron Hill in Wilmington or Newark, I forget which they told me.
One amazing menu entry is Kobe beef + Lobster stuffed with crab for $100 (3-4x more than the rest of the mains). In Landenberg! We'll let that one wait for another visit.
Waitstaff is a bit green, but for day three, not bad.
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Of course you should leave. It won't get better.
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She's nuts. Don't give her a cent.
I wouldn't even reply to her. Situations like this can get very stupid very quickly. Nothing that you say will please her and she'll ruin your day even more.
BTW giving the refund can be taken as an admission that you did wrong and that you actually served her. If she's crooked she'll use that to sue you for something.
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Last night after work we went to a local bar/restaurant to see and listen to the band that was playing in the outdoor courtyard for the local "First Friday" celebration. The band and the company were great. The food was terrible. I tried a pizza and many better have come from the freezer section at my local grocery. Someone else got some sort of fried snack platter. A plate of tasteless chicken, onion rings, fries and cheese sticks all cooked in oil that had long since passed the point of no return. Another lucky diner ordered a plate of what the menu laughingly called sushi.
I went inside to use the restroom and walked past the open kitchen. I wanted to yell at them, "Don't you guys have any pride at all, you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
I understand this place is not Le Bec Fin or Per Se or anything. But there just is no reason to foist that junk on people. A bar can have a menu and the food can be good if they want it to be. This place and so many others just do not give a hoot in hell.
you hit on the answer, i think...they just do not care. btw i'd never order sushi in a place like that....it could be aged.
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A delonghi and a Tfal. Both are pretty big capacity and neither can reliably get to 375. Both often quit at 360.
Thanks for the tip on the Waring!
The waring pro replaced a dismal T-fal fryer. Few of the home fryers I've seen can make it to 375 which is one of the reasons the Waring was attractive to me.
Sounds like the Waring is the thing. Thanks! Have you confirmed the temp with a candy thermometer?
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I made a flat iron steak over the weekend. Rubbed it all over with home-made chilli powder and let is sit overnight. Then cooked it in plenty of oil and butter while basting. Had it with some roasted asparagus (truffle salt, pepper, EVOO, parmesan) and first of the season tomatoes. Topped it all off with a balsamic-honey glaze.
One thing with flat iron steak I've just discovered is that you seem to have to let it rest longer than most other steaks. I cut into it a bit prematurely and there was a LOT of juice running out. My theory is that because it's cut with the grain, the muscle fibres are longer so they take longer to relax.
"First of the season tomatoes"??? Where?
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A delonghi and a Tfal. Both are pretty big capacity and neither can reliably get to 375. Both often quit at 360.
Thanks for the tip on the Waring!
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The article clearly states that the total meal at Per Se amounts to app 2,400 calories. Most people do eat the rolls!
This is equivalent to eating four and a half big Macs! or Ten hot dogs at Gray's Papaya. Most people eat nowhere near this amount of at either Mickey D's or Gray's!
Let's stop nit picking this.
Shouldn't people know that by not eating the dinner roll etc they could reduce the caloric impact of the Per Se meal. They would if Per Se had to list the calories next to each dish!!!
That is the point of the article and the reason this law is absurd.
If this law is to help consumers make healthy eating choices when they dine out then why apply it to a select segment of the restaurant industry?
The reason for the exemption is equally absurd. If Per Se doesn't exercise portion control and careful standardization of ingredients then who does?!
This prompts recall of an episode of Top Chef where the contestants were required to design dishes to caloric and health standards.
Exempting Per Se and others is political cowardice. Nothing more or less.
The law is dumb and discriminatory.
The pleasure/food/health police forced the fast food places to provide nutritional information and they did (a good idea IMOP-- by the way).
When no one responded to this or the healthier foods the fast food industry offered voluntarily, the police decided to mandate the calories be on the menus.
the next logical/illogical step is forcing all of us diners to sign a waiver we read and understood the info when we ordered our food.
When that doesn't work the police will determine we do not know what is best for ourselves and healthy foods will be forced on us by removing all the unhealthy choices!
Even if it might be reasonable to ask that all restaurants supply nutritional information it is completely impractical for a small place (even Per Se) with a constantly changing menu to give accurate nutritional numbers.
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I've bought 2 consumer style fryers and neither has the oil volume or power to fry a decent batch of french fries (say a full-sized russet potato's worth) and maintain temperature.
I tried the Dutch oven on the range method and my quite decent Vulcan range can't get a gallon of oil to 375 in decent time either.
So what commercial grade counter top unit should I get?
Help!!!
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We ate at Salt recently, at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island....I was very disappointed. It isn't up to the old Grille's standards and the food fell far short of the price tag. Details?
All land animal entrees are served with no side dishs, as in a steakhouse. Sides are $8, but the portion is miniscule unlike that in a steakhouse.
$56 for filet and lobster entree.
Bison Rib Eye was plentiful, but tough and not cooked to our order, side dish of potatoes/cauliflower/cheese was presented elegantly on a long shallow rectangular dish that got the food to room temperature very quickly. Not good.
Duck was a tiny and fatty bit of meat. I've had far better.
Prawns and scallops w/ potato done three ways...was actually two scallops, one small 50 count shrimp, and a crab's claw meat...all sitting in what tasted like warm salty potato soup, with two other bits of potato in it.
So much was wrong or ill-thought-out that I doubt that the place just had a bad night.
Unfortunately, places like this live off of the expense accounts of visiting folks who are a constant stream. They need no repeat business.
Better places on Amelia are Le Clos, Beech Street Grille, & Embers.
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I've had decent meals at the Yardley Inn just downstream from New Hope.
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Fair Hill Inn (in Fair Hill MD) just over the PA border in Northern MD has changed hands. It used to be a nice place in the country with solid and predictable continental stuff. Now its been bought by three young folks with culinary ambitions, and from what I ate there last night, they also have the skills to match.
They plan on changing the menu monthly and have a fine and adventurous list of wines and bourbons. I had the mushroom tart, house made charcuterie, and the rib eye a la bourguignon. All were great; each was properly cooked and seasoned. My companions had the bisque, the shrimp and onion carabonara, and the duck...and had similar good things to say. www.fairhillinn.com/menu.php has the whole menu.
Particularly notable was the extensive cheese selection...about 16 I think, that were a fabulous end to the meal. It is too hard to find a decent cheese course anymore. That alone is worth the visit.
The Inn itself is about 250 years old but is in great shape. Dining rooms are big, quiet and decorated with understated whimsey. The service is better than you can expect for a year-old place near Elkton. It was prompt, knowledgable, but perhaps a bit over-friendly for my snotty urban self. In spite of that we'll be back soon.
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You thought Laban had problems, its just a silly lawsuit, these people should be saving the legal fees and buying better meat.
Look at what Frank Bruni is going through....
Bruni deserves it, I think. Did you see his recent review of some steakhouse/stripclub combo in NYC. Juvenile is the kindest adjective I can use. Hope I don't get sued! :-)
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I've eaten at the Fogo in Houston.If the Philly place is the same, you will love it. The "salad bar" is an artful arrangement of fresh and pickled vegetables, cheese, smoked fish and a few soups (one of which looks like sludge...I couldn't bring myself to taste it). Wine list has the big names (eg Silver Oak Napa 01) at big name prices. Wandering waiters bring the meats when you give them the OK.
Given the amount and tastyness of everything, I'd suggest going hungry and planning to take the time to spend a leisurely evening or afternoon there with friends.
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Deux Cheminees, Farmhouse (in Avondale), Dilworthtown
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Not a fair analogy. A restaurant is far more complex to open and get going than a doctor's office. In a restaurant, Murphy's Law has many more opportunities to prove its existance.
Besides which, a doctor's opening gaffs just kill people. A restaurant's opening mishaps will likely spoil one's entire evening.
Actually a very fair analogy, I think. The new doc example I gave revealed a person who was not suited to being a doc and probably shouldn't be in the field. Likewise, a restaurant that appears to show no regard for supposedly honored guests and lets food out of the kitchen that is as bad as was described is revealing things about itself that cannot be fixed by being in business for a few months more.
Very clever line about spoiling one's evening...good one!....but a good line doesn't change the issue being discussed.
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And publicly blasting a new restaurant in its first month is simply not fair.
Seems to me that there is a flaw in this reasoning. If you went to a doctor who just opened his office and found him/her to be rude, confused and with dirty fingernails...what would you say? Give him/her another year to work it out? No, you'd say this doc is no good and maybe dangerous.
How come it is different with a restaurant? If a place opens and takes money for food then I assume that they are ready to be judged. OF COURSE, they won't be at full-speed for a while, there will be many kinks in a new place...but if the basics like a right attitude about the customer and decent cooking aren't there early, they probably never will be.
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And about the slighting of J.-M. Lacroix... It sounds like there was plenty to like about the changes at this particular restaurant. But I've come to believe LaBan lets his personal biases show pretty regularly. I'd be interested in knowing just how the two got along.
I thought that Laban went to great lengths to stay unrecognized which would rule out a chance forthe two to not get along. Am I mistaken?
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Very good meal last night at Caffe Nonna, a strip shop restaurant near Christiana Mall and Delaware Park. Looks like nothing from the outside but inside it is a serious Italian place. Great wine list with lots of good Italian selections as well as a good -by- the glass menu. Veal is fabulous, beef is great. Worth the drive.
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Fairly disappointing dinner last night at Conley-Ward in Wilmington, DE. Lobster bisque was good. Crabcake ap was small, without discernable spices, and served sloppily as it had fallen apart somewhere between pan and table. Brazilian lobster tails tasted OK, but apparently "brazilian" is a synonym for 'small'. Sirloin was OK. Stewed mushroom side order was all fragments, not what I'd expect at a steakhouse with pretensions. Menu was odd in that sizes of steaks are not given. They are either "conley" or "ward" size. Server has to tell you how many oz. for each, and you have to remember all of them.
Wine list is good with lots of great reds eg Silver Oak napa 2001, but plenty of good stuff at lower prices. They have a fairly limited list of whites.
Did we just have a bad night here?
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No must haves as far as I can remember, I haven't had a bad meal there. So far it is all good. I'd love to know what you think.
Another place worth a look is The Farmhouse in Avondale. Solid regional cooking with some bistro-ish dishes as well.
Top US restaurants with service included
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Oh, that's different.
Nevermind.