jeunefilleparis

I will be curious to see what Chef Samualson does at the new place. I have always loved his food at Aquavit. Hey Katie,let me know when this opens and I ll swing down and we can also visit Jason,,,,,,,and I need to sneak a peak at the SB!

the pastry chef wasnt in so they couldnt answer my cookie question, I shall try back later. L

A lot of the food is dehydrated which makes it possible to shape into different molds like lasagna noodles or cookies. Some foods like rice are soaked for a long time and then sprouted- same with beans. Lauren- thanks for the review. The food sounds beautiful and delicious. I'm planning to check it out myself sometime this summer. the rolls used are cucumber thats been cut paper thin, there is no pasta in the ravioli, its zucchini cut paper thin,,,,,,,, the cookie, well, i couldnt tell you that one, sorry! i m going to call now and ask!

I had the most incredible dinner at Pure Food and Wines last night. Firstly, I was blown away by the transformation of the place. The walls are a dark wood mixed up with a burnt orange color which go beautifully with the deep red chairs, dark wood tables and oatmeal colored burlap(?) banquettes. They sorta itched by butt through my dress, maybe my dress was to thin? but somethig to remember,,,,,, There were small votives on each table and 3 photos of a duck on the northern wall. I happened to like the duck photos, he/she was placed in front of a blue painted door, which added a nice touch of color to the already red tones in the room. One showed it quacking, one just standing and another leaning. Ah and I used to really like to eat duck,,, oh well. The garden in the back is bigger than the actual restaurant, or at least it looked that way. Upon sitting, I was given a little bowl of olive oil with sea salt and some veggies. I had never seen purple cauliflower before, and it was quite lovely and tasted great. Apparently the veggies, including sea bean, cucumber and white and purple cucumber had been in a dehydrater or bring out the flavors and colors. I was a little confused though bc they were still crisp and fresh not dried, as I would think that dehydrated food would be. Nonetheless the menu was very exciting too. Every dish was a mix of fresh flavors, great spices and colorful pairing. I was going between the ginger and carrot soup with micro cilantro and avocado-lime oil and the Summer rolls. I opted for the summer rolls but I told the waiter that I write on a food board and would it be possible if I could try a shot or a small cup of the soup and the kitchen obliged. All of the food presented to me looked like art work. The colors were vibrant and fresh, they looked like they had just been plucked from wherever they grew. The rolls were delicious, they came out sprinkled with black sesame seeds,inside there was julienned papaya, radishes, sunflower sprouts,avocado and carrot. the dip was a coconut-chili sauce. I am a total baby when it comes to spices, but this one had the perfect kick without me having to drink a glass of water. The carrot-gigner soup was really nice as well. It was very refreshing served cold, but not too cold. There was more of a carrot flavor but still the ginger flavor was dectectable but not too overpowering. My entree was the zuchhini-green sebra lasagna. This was one of the most beautiful entrees i ve been served in a while. Fresh bright red tomatos graced the top of the square "lasagna". The ingrediants included a rich tomato sauce, basil pistachio pesto, marinated wild mushrooms and pine nut ricotta. It was just so incredible, I ve never tasted more ripe tomatoes in my life. The pesto and sundried tomato layers were full of spices and flavors that could make someone never want to eat meat again, ( though that s not their intention) The pine nut ricotta was delicious too and did taste cheesey, remarkably enough,,,,,,,,,, For dessert i had a dark chocolate chip cookie with pisatchio and chocolate icceram made from coconut milk. The icecream was great but the cookie could ve been better, it was a little too chewy for my taste,,,,,,, they had a strawberry and honey ginger parfait which I ll try next time Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Anyone who likes great , high quality food will love this place. You leave full but refreshed in a way, knowing htat you only ate really healthy food, but its so full of flavor that you wonder why all other vegan places are so bad! Request the garden, it fills up quickly! andthey also played some of my favorite bands, which is always a good sign. Lauren

I had this amazing avocado milkshake at a vietnamese restaurant in Lousiville. I had my doubts but it was one of the most delicious things I ve ever had.

I would agree with Brad. I had a nice meal there last spring, but it wasnt 4 star fodd and though cute and cozy, its no Danube or J-G in atmosphere! Brad are you back again:)

Well, I dont know if I should feel better that other people have had bad meals there, but at last I dont feel insane that I dont know good food:)

My meal at Le Bernadin 2 years ago was so awful and someone would have to be paying for my meal to make me go back. I think that I posted about this way back when, but I ended up sending 2 courses back. We waited 15 min when we first arrived to be told specials or be welcomed by our waiter. My lobster was so dry that even the butter did not help When my guest and I complained to the manager, we were given free dessert, but that was it. I dont know if it was because we were 23yr olds in a place full of mainly white haired people, or what, but it was disgraceful. Both my friend and I were appropriately dressed and love and know great food, which is why we went there. Everyone else seems to have such great experiences there, so i dont know if it was just one bad dinner or what,,,,,,,,,,,

Danube without a doubt,,,,, I did like my meal at Jean Georges a lot, but it wasnt amazing. I think that Blue Hill is up there too,,,,,,, never been to ADNY or Daniel,,,

well, i dont eat meat anymore, but in the old days ie 2 weeks ago, my favorite cheesesteak place was Mama's Pizza out in Bala, the street is escaping me. They have their mama's cheesesteak whcih is a blend of 3 cheeses and is so amazing. I still cant pinpoint what cheeses they use, but they are damn good! I think that it is on belmont ave, yeah that it! ok have fun with your adventures!

If Starr copied places and had great food then i wouldn't be so annoyed. The truth is that Blue angel ( now Angelina) had horrible food and copied everything from Balthazar. Alma de cuba, while the space may be very attactive has, IMHO, mediocre food, over priced drinks and it seems kinda generic considering its an exact copy of Petria's menu, including the drinks, I think that Pasion(sp?) has great food in a much nicer environment and the prices are much more reasonable. Pod has never gotten any rave reviews. Tangerine, I ll say that I love the candle wall and I don t believe that he actually copied it from anywhere that I have seen. The food when i ate there in 2000 was pretty good. I wouldnt say it was amazing though. Again, copying of restaurants is no new thing, however, Starr's restaurants seem to just be trendy, of the moment places, with no remarkable food.

as an ex reservationist at mercer kitchen and striped bass, the open table system pretty accurately track cancellations, lateness and no shows. at SB under Stein, I would defianately take note of the amount of cancellations for a Saturday night if that person was dddddddddddying to get in,,,,,

I ve jotted down notes at places for mere posting on this board and its so funny how people react,,,,,,,,,,,

Perhaps other people are too polite to mention this. I'm not. I think it's a serious breach of restaurant etiquette to make 4 restaurant reservations for a particular night - knowing that you will cancel 3. What if everyone did that? And I called up one of those restaurants trying to make a reservation - only to be told that the restaurant was fully booked - when - in reality - none of those reservations was made with good intentions. I don't live in New York - so when I make reservations at high end restaurants in New York - I do so well in advance. And if I can't make the reservation (we're booked) - that's the end of me. How would you feel if a high end restaurant booked 4 groups for each table at 8 for Friday a month from now - knowing that it would call 3 of those groups a week in advance to cancel? Robyn Robyn,, though it may not be nice, people do it all the time, that is why high end places like Ducasse require credit card numbers. If you cancel the week of the event, i see nothing wrong with it as there are always people dying to go. I had 3 reservation for my birthday that i made a month in advance, i cancelled the other 2, three weeks before my birthday which was plenty of time to get those seats rebooked. I worked at the Striped Bass - in Philly- where graduation @ Penn was the "big culinary event" of the spring. People would make reservation at Striped Bass, Le Bec Fin and several other places so, finally, we started taking down cards and charging them unless they gave us enough notice. Its worse when people dont call to cancel at all and you are left hanging, but making a few reservations and cancelling with enough time for them to rebook isnt a big deal to me,..........

Unless you want a really loud environment, I would not suggest dinner at Spicemarket, lunch is much more enjoyable. Night time there is the equivalent of a night club. I would say have dinner somewhere and swing by for a drink because it is beautiful inside I had dinner at Bouley 2 years ago and it wasnt my favorite meal, however I recently had 2 meals at Danube that totally blew my mind. Food, Atmosphere and Service were all impeccable. I ve never been to the Biltmore room,,,,,,,, Good Luck with your choice!

Unless you want a really loud environment, I would not suggest dinner at Spicemarket, lunch is much more enjoyable. Night time there is the equivalent of a night club. I would say have dinner somewhere and swing by for a drink because it is beautiful inside I had dinner at Bouley 2 years ago and it wasnt my favorite meal, however I recently had 2 meals at Danube that totally blew my mind. Food, Atmosphere and Service were all impeccable. I ve never been to the Biltmore room,,,,,,,, Good Luck with your choice!

I would have to disagree with your statement that it will never work. As more and more people are reading about the dangers of eating tainted meat and the treatment of "farm"- factory animals, more people are switching their diets to , if not organic meats, to vegetarian. I myself recently gave up all meat and dairy and i m really excited about this place. I m going Sunday!

HMM, i think that I was still in diapers for a good amount of those years...... though I do know Figs!

Gotham Bar and Grill, I have eaten there several times alone, great servers at the bar,,,, Jefferson Restaurant,, i used to work there, but still, they are super nice and theres a fun crowd I did eat alone at Danube once and it was great too. I ate at the now Defuct Tonic ( now Amuse) but that was in the dining room. Have fun

grilled cheese w. tomato on brioche, gray dog cafe caramlized banana ricotta tart @ balthazar grilled corn ears with the mexican cheese and chili powder @ cafe habana ok, i meant grilled ears of corn..........

*bruschetta w. asparagus truffle oil and parmesan @ Ino * banana pudding at Magnolia * cherries from the union sq market * baguette/brie * rat dogs on the street w. extra sauerkraut well i m not eating any of those for a while now, but when i did those were good.

I ve only ever gone to the water ice place on main street in Manayunk, it may not be the best but the pistachio.choc mix is hard to beat!

I m not sure if this has been mentioned here yet, but I read recently that Stephen Starr from Philly, of such "wonderful" restaurants as Pod, Tangerine, Continental, etc is opening Budhakan in NY where the old Budha Bar was supposed to be. I ll try and get some more details as that is all I remember right now,,,,, Katie L. do you know anything? L

I guess you're right, i just feel its a slap in the face to the french. If some other country came over here and decided to sell hamburgers we wouldnt be very pleased, and personally i just see starbucks as a un fair greedy corporation, i d hate to see them anywhere, but in Paris its especially an eyesore. thankfully i never hang out in that area anyway so i would never see it maybe it will fizzle out, maybe the novelty will wear off,,,,,, i guess we ll see

This is way after the fact--but for posterities sake, the spelling for the dessert is "palatschinken". Sounds like a nice variation. Some others involve ground walnuts, rum and chocolate, apricot marmalade with or without ground nuts, plum jam or a farmer's cheese-sour cream-lemon filling. that sounds really really good,,,,,,,,,,