bean

my husband just ate at ollie's near times square - something he does a lot because he works on bway - and bit down on a lovely large chunk of glass hidden in his black bean sauce. yummmmm.... (the manager was very apologetic).

last time i posted re victoria i got a big 0 responses!!! however, i'm giving it one more try. if anyone has any recommendations for a decent sushi joint i'd love the name. thanks!

we've stayed at 'sooke harbour house' a few times over the years. tho i am not happy that they have expanded (loosing some of the intimate charm), the meals there have always been revelatory. worth the hour drive out of victoria.

yes, it is - but for me, it's not one of my favorites because the time i had it it seemed excessively hot...(spicey) and it didn't balance with anything else we were having. too much.

like many of these places, they open reservations up one month before the date.

but we had quite a meal a few nights back...i think that i still have a headache (can you say: too much red wine?) but i will try to do a fast summary of our dinner: i must say that it was an incredible dinner. i've been to babbo once before but this time really concentrated on the food - we were a foursome rather than last time's more chatty sixsome. we started out with cocktails: i had a blood orange cosmopolitan! soo good! up at the table, we were given a sort of amuse bouche of toasted bread with sauteed chick peas. then we ordered and went forward into the night! apps were 'necchi' - a chestnut flour pancake with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms topped with shredded sauteed raddichio. a pasta of absolutely exquisite small orange tomatoes (every one of them almost the same size - like a large pea and the same color) that were whole but maybe roasted on a very thin liguini and garlic. a perfect example of simple pasta done extremely well. and a 'salad' of warm tongue vinegarette - my mom used to make us this awful boiled tongue when we were kids ... vile stuff -- this was NOTHING like that. this was small pieces of sauteed beef tongue with shallots and teeny husk tomatoes (the husks were still attached), a sunnyside up egg (i think a quail egg) on top with 3 large strips of an italian cheese that when all was mixed, melted into the dish. it was incredible. then 2 pastas shared by the table: gnocci with oxtail sauce and beefcheek ravioli with squabliver and truffles. i think, in retrospect, that we should have picked one dif. pasta. both were perfection but too close to each other with the meat and we ended up eating meat for main course so it was a tad too heavy. i think we should have had a dif. pasta or a fish dish for the main course. oh well. main courses were two orders of beef shortrib on polenta and then jess and i shared 'deconstructed osso bucco for two' which was roasted off the bone and served with bone and marrow on the plate with a saffron orzo risotto and sauteed spinach. for overkill we ordered (but turned out didn't need) braised endive. it was amazing. dessert was a duo: a saffron panna cotta (a custard no eggs) with pears and cardoman - a very white very quiet intense dessert and a stunning cranberry crostada (made with dried cranberries) served with a ricotta gelato. we all practically fought over who finished the plate! 2 bottles of red wine...one good -- one of sheer perfection rounded out the evening. they were both montefalco rossi wines from umbria. the wine steward was a bit abrubt at first but came by and suggested the second wine - a much more expensive version of the first and we went with it. turns out it was a wine i'd had before - i think it was a neal rosenthal wine that is wonderful. my husband said he knew it was an amazing meal because he was still thinking about it the next day. i went to bed and dreamed of the possibilities of deconstruction! bean

we went to oest a few months back and thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the service. ...lately, i have been not thrilled with many restaurants and their service. went to babbo last week and while the meal was fabulous, the server couldn't bring herself to actually crack a smile. and we tried! it was obvious we weren't corporate types but were out for an occaision. at oest a few months ago, we were also celebrating and the server's style was warm and welcoming but professional. bean

hmmm....the wine distributor in our party knew someone there and the reservation for 8 was guaranteed with a credit card and we were told that for more than 6 it had to be the prix fixe. i think you should call and ask. the only thing i didn't like about more than six there was that it was a long table and my husband who sat on the end couldn't hear a thing 1/2way down the table because it's LOUD in there. is this the right place to post about the morrocan joint in bay ridge? cause i have a lot to say! ; bean

well, well, well. interesting night. some wonderful some so-so. we were a table of 8 and the person who got the reservation made sure that we were in the back room (not the back back private room for 10 but the back room past the bathrooms). thank goodness because it was nuts in the front room and still hard to hear in the back room. the bar was packed and so was the restaurant. we started out with cocktails -- a campari with fresh orange juice which was great and bellini's (i had one -- decided it was worth having something i don't usually go for since i'm a vodka gimlet girl myself) -- perhaps old hat but very good. food/service: the food was good, some excellent some just very good. the service was very good - the waiter was clear and well spoken and focused but i felt that we rushed through dinner -- we are all wine drinkers and my friend is a wine-seller/buyer and we were through 2 courses before we were through our first bottle. it was a prix fixe tasting menu (unbelievably reasonable at $45 per person). we started with assorted prosciutto and salami - both excellent, anchovies marinated in oil and dill, chick peas (these were fabulous) with onions and a hint of chili, charred raddichio marinated in basalmic vinegar (also fab) and some marinated peppers (i didn't get to them). second course was family style pastas: a mini-penne with a broccolli rabbe pesto and gnocci with a tomato and sausage sauce. both very good though not awe-inspiring. i like al dente pasta but the penne was a bit too al dente for me. then a meat/fish course where we had 3 choices between a duck confit leg, deep fried lamb chops on top of carmelized onions and a sea bass filet on some differently carmelized onions. i had the sea bass and it was very very good. i was impressed because it was properly seasoned and perfectly cooked. it's just me but i would have liked something green besides the penne that evening. rushed because having gotten through the 3rd course, we were instantly asked if we wanted coffee and the waiter was taken aback when we told her we would like another bottle of wine which was brought but so were our desserts. if i were them i would have asked if we would have liked a cheese course or such but they seemed determined to shove us ahead. desserts were: a tartuffe/bombe -- good but not my thing at all, biscotti (very good), and a panne cotte that was dusted with (i'm pretty sure) cardommon and sitting on some small slices of honeydew - the honeydew being a nod to the season but i thought the honeydew was irrelevant and could have been a dif. choice that would have wowed us...the panne cotte however was fabulous (i love custards). then coffee. all in all a good restaurant but not babbo - yes, i know, it isn't meant to be. but i must say that my husband and i went to bay ridge brooklyn on july 4 to try out a little new morrocan place and had a lovely luch of couscous and tagine and zallouf (sp?) and spent $40 with tip and he called me on his way to work this morning and said: great night but i through the morrocan place was allover a better meal....and i have to say, i agree. don't get me wrong, lupa was good and i'd recommend it with tip it came to about $85 pp. sorry for the long post. bean

I'm going to Lupa on this weekend with a party of 8 - they are making a prix fixe menu for us. anything that i should really look out for that's really spectacular if i have a choice in ordering? (i'm sure there will be a few choices per course). bean (she who deflowers herself with her 1st egullet post -- yo nina!)