rdnkchef

I dined at EMP when I was in the city for Star Chef's and I had the grand tasting menu. In all close to 13 courses and the meal, while excellent, did have misses. The foie torchon was lacking seasoning, the Foie brulee was over seasoned on the same course. The highlights were certainly the lobster with bacon pana cotta and the awesome "signature" pork dish. I enjoyed the fish course as well as the other starters and desserts but nothing really wowed me except the lobster and pork. My experience with service was that the meal was extremely long 4.5+ hrs and it was just 2 of us dining. The service was excellent and very friendly (although service at Picholine the next night was by far better and much more welcoming). When I left EMP I was exhausted after the experience and just wanted to walk. This did leave a sour note on the experience. I am also at a loss to why EMP seems to be shunned by Michelin. I read the early reviews on Eater and was blown away by it not receiving a single star. I have dined at most, if not all of the one star restaurants and most of the two and three star as well and I must say EMP deserves a star if not two. You really have to look at the whole picture of EMP and together this restaurant is certainly one of the top 25 in the city. Humm is a very talented chef and deserves more recognition for his efforts.

I would agree with the Blissful Glutton, as a chef I am all about authentic! Taco Veloz on Buford Highway is a great quick place- Drive trough only for Taco's. Across the street in the strip mall next to a Latino wedding dress store is a restaurant with excellent Taco's al Pastor( probably the bext in the city) and great fish soup and many other straight from the border varieties to get you satisfied. The catch is that on Buford Highway you need to Habla! The best Mexican places are those without the gringo's. However, Latino's are welcoming and generally willing to translate and help out.

I visited Mcrady's this weekend for the first time and had the ten course tasting menu. I must say that I had huge expectations for as much press it has received and I am sure that Sean is a very talented chef. However I must say that after spending over $250pp and spending a week seeing the fall menus in NYC it left a lot to be desired. The standouts were the porks head terrine and the new sweet breads dish. Other than that the first three "courses" were amuse' like- tiny and lacking a punch, the wreck fish was uniformly overcooked (in a c-vap!)- all seven of us commented the same, the short ribs were nice- again lacking umph! The local-seasonal peach- it was the end of September and there hasn't been a peach grown in South Carolina in the last six weeks. The final chocolate dish did have a great flavor. The Foie however was the biggest flop- Again all of us agreed that the foie was over salted and the peanut butter and jelly were just a little off- not working together. This is a dish that Sean is known for I hope we just got an off night version. I and my six compadres love food- We are all in the business of either food (2 chef's present) or wine. My comments are in the hope of posssibly reminding all of the Chef's of the world that tasting menus might really be like Marco Pierre White said " chef's wanking off". There is a sense that in an effort to show our talents we loose focus. There is certainly talent in the kitchen. I just wish I had seen it 10 times instead of twice and for more than 4 oz.'s total of food. Maybe real courses is the way to eat here, maybe tasting menus isn't the way really to get the chef's message. However, you shouldn't sell it if you can't deliver it. Maybe focus back on food is the key instead of technology, farming, animal husbandry, publicity etc. We are Chef's to focus on our food. In the end I probably won't make it a goal to return like I had to share with my good friends that night. I certainly know there is great food possible from that kitchen- We just didn't see much of it. The other aspects of the evening were all excellent; the restaurant- beautiful, the service- well executed, wine selections- of our eight there were only a couple of misses and we made them not the wine steward. Charleston has some wonderful restaurants- I went feeling as though this was the place to take my friends, I left wishing we had spent our $1600 elsewhere.

Le pigeon all the way. Had a tremendous meal there three weeks ago. Go very hungry and sit at the counter to watch the action in the kitchen.

Interesting Steven, I was there Monday night as well and had a completely different experience. I even went to the "Carn." Deli the next day to make sure I hadn't lost it and had better pastrami there. Maybe I didn't get enough fat!

I just left Seattle on Wednesday and had a great lunch at Matt's in Pike Place, a terrific lunch at Rover's($300 for two, Friday's only, but amazing) and a fair dinner at Tilth. Tilth, in my opinion, is highly overated and certainly would disagree with Mr. Bruni from the NY Times that it would be a top ten in America to try. Cafe Juanita, we weren't able to make our reservation but we wish we had been able to. Lot's of great food to be found. A great lunch and easy dinner can just be done by walking through Pike Place and getting fruit, cheese and bread with charcuterie. Seattle has an amazing selction of great restaurants. We want to move there!

Hi there, I just got back from Portland/ Willamette Yesterday and I would without a doubt try the wines at Belle Ponte( Brian the owner/winemaker is great, Torri Mor ( Margie and Don the owners are awesome), Domaine Serene is always a stand out as is Adlesheim. For dining missed Tina's due to its labor day closure but had a good meal at Dundee Bistro. The best dining though was dinner at Le Pigeon- Gabriele the chef is doing a Beard dinner next week so if it's open it is one of the best in Portland and 30 Mins. from the Valley. ENjoy