bilrus

Another fun, tasty eGullet event, thanks to Monica and the nice people at Passage to India. I was dreaming last night about the intensely flavored items on the Chaat Counter. Looking forward to more pics.

That is the dish. The version I was served had two of the beef/tofu wraps and about 1/5th as much foie gras. It appears he was pulling out all the stops for Joe's dinner. It is definitely a matter of personal preference. I don't really like tofu in large quantites to begin with. A little here and there, sprinkled in my Pad Thai, for example works for me.

My favorite toasted ravioli is at a small place in a strip mall in Valley Park called Nicoletti's. The regular ones are very good, but they havea seafood version that is served with drawn butter that is even better. Its a pretty good version of the neighborhood Italian places taht are so ubiquitous in St. Louis.

I just read my initial post to my wife and she gave me a verbal smack upside the head. She said (and in retrospect I agree) that the post made it sound like our evening wasn't even enjoyable. It was. It really was a wonderful evening and overall the food was as good as any restauant meal I have had. And looking back on some of the meals I have had in the past year alone that is saying a lot. If I am that jaded by eating at restaurants as truly great as Maestro or Per Se, then maybe I need to take a step back and reevaluate things. Just wanted to set the record straight.

There were a few dishes at Maestro that were as good or even better than what I had at Per Se. I mentioned the Lobster Ravioli which was far superior to the Lobster dish I had at Per Se and the one I had at French Laundry last year and the Mushroom "Casserole" which would have been the standout dish on the Vegetable tasting menu at Per Se. That said, the thing that stands out about Per Se and French Laundry is that the low points were merely the lowest out of a string of high points. At Maestro, as I described, there was one dish that just didn't work for me and one that I thought was not well prepared. That didn't happen at Per Se. As for the overall experience, the service at both was very good, although there was 'more' service at Per Se. A little more fawning and pampering at Per Se, a little more personable and friendly at Maestro. Both spaces were beautiful but quite different. I prefer the more modern style of Per Se, but as I said earlier the luxury at Maestro was not offensive. I enjoyed both, but all other things being equal would choose Per Se.

I mentioned these things here because that is the purpose of this board. We come here to read the comments of other people about the restaurants we go to. And for the most part, we are honest and the site allows the sense of community that you know enough about each others' tastes and personalities to make judgements about what they are saying. Anyone who has been on here long enough to have read my comments about restaurants knows that I am not overly critical, but will point out things I don't like, whether it is food, ambiance, or service. If I only spoke of the food and how good it was (which it was), I would be doing eGullet a disservice in not bringing up other things that go into the experience. I didn't mention either issue to the staff because it felt like there was enough tension among the staff last night that I didn't need to exacerbate anything. The service itself was nearly faultless, including one instance where they initially brought the wrong dish to my wife, but quickly rectified it by bringing a new one not only for her, but another one of the same dish for me. Obviously, the slide show is not something that is a regular feature of the restaurant - but I thought it was an amusing anecdote and that my imaginary online friends here might get a laugh out of it.

Double no way!!! Eww, that's just awful. I do have to say, they weren't actual pictures, more like sketches that you would see in a textbook. I found it more funny than anything, given the surroundings and the fact that I don't really get worked up about too many things.

Yep - the beef was very nice, but was rolled around 1/2 inch square pieces of tofu, drizzled with the balsamic, a few dollops of parmeggiano sauce and a few pices of foie gras on the plate in between the two beef/tofu rolls. The foie was fine, but I am not a big fan, so it didn't add much for me (although I did manage to finish it).

I started my weekend of birthday celebrations last night with dinner at Maestro with my wife. It was an impressive meal in a beautiful room. Having seen a few pictures, I was prepared to not like the feel of the room. I'm not a big fan of fussy decor (see: Inn at Little Washington) but this was formal, almost opulent, without being fussy. There were just a few missfires that kept it from being perfect. The highlights of the evening (which decidedly outweighed the rest) were the lobster ravioli with lobster claw and ginger/lobster broth, a casserole of three types of mushrooms from the vegetarian menu, the lamb entree which included a small fried, lemon breaded lamb chop, sliced lamb loin poached in olive oil (?), pulled, braised pork belly served over a pasta and pan seared sweetbreads (which I am not fond of). A small birthday cake of white and dark chocolate mousses was a nice touch. The Crab Risotto, which I was looking very forward to was really underdone. I know there is supposed to be a little crunch to it, but there was none of the creamy coating that well prepared risotto should have. This is the second time in a row I have been at a very well thought of restaurant where the risotto was underdone to the point of not being enjoyable. And I found the beef carpaccio appetizer to be a little strange, with its thick slabs of tofu and lacking in flavor despite the 50 year old balsamic drizzle and parmeggiano sauce. The other disppointing things were not food related. The first was that it didn't seem to be a very good evening in the kitchen. Chef Trabocci was visibly displeased with the way things were going - There were even a few tossed utensils in the very open kitchen. The staff is obviously intimidated by him. This is the type of thing I would imagine going on in most kitchens around the world, but in a stage-like kitchen in a formal room like this, it seemed a little out of place, although it was actually entertaining (in a "The Restaurant" sort of way). The other thing that was a little funny, but did bother me was going on in another room. There is a meeting room adjacent to the kitchen. There is a window with blinds in the kitchen that was open into the other room where someone was giving a power point presentation on toenail fungus, at least as far as I could tell from the illustrations. Granted, I and one other diner were the only ones who had a direct view through the window, but it was a little distracting and not too appetizing. I can expect a few flaws in the food or dishes I don't necessarily like even from a top-flight restaurant, and overall the food here was excellently created and prepared. But the little, ancillary things do make a difference. And although I may have liked the food more here than even at Citronelle or the Inn, the overall experience fell just a little short.

It sometimes sounds like a broken record around here, but Zaytinya (greek/middle eastern mezzes) is one place that you won't find in most other cities.

Two weeks ago at Babbo, my wife and I were discussing Bruni's impending debut, the fact that there were only the five 4 star French places, where Babbo would fall if reevaluated in light of Bruni's Italian experience and how it compares to Per Se where we were the night before adn the difference between a four and three star place. (Yeah - we're food geeks and this is what we talk about at dinners, don't tell me you don't too.) Bruni's evaluation falls right in line with where we came down. Our feeling is that Batali is not trying to be a four star place and tries to throw enough quirks and casual-ness to keep it that way. But you know that he wants it to be the best at what it is trying to be. The epitome of a three-star experience. One of those quirks is the music, which we thought was loud (but not overly so) on our first visit downsairs, but not so much the second time upstairs. But I do think it is a bit of an overstatement to imply that it is the only reason that Babbo isn't deserving of four stars. Overall I thought it was a good choice and a good job for a first review. It is a place that many (including us tourists) are familiar with. And it is a good example of a restaurant that helps us establish what in his mind makes up a three or four star restaurant. something that i know many have felt has been missing.

Olive Garden and Cheescake Factory are even out of the regular range of most "average people", regardless of taste issues.

And voting used to be accepted purely as the priviege of white males. But eating well in restaurants is not what many would consider a basic human right. While having access to food and, most likely, having access to nutritious food is. I don't think you can compare basic human rights with luxuries.

Like McCormick and Schmicks?

Even if this is the case, what is wrong with the impulse to feel like an aristocrat for a few hours?

With the Vegetable tasting menu two weeks ago it was with a tomato paste/puree. My wife said she liked it better than the salmon one (we recieved three cones) but she is not a huge raw salmon fan. It looked almost identical to the salmon which does say a little about the overprocessing of the salmon. I remembered the fish in the ones we had at French Laundry as being less paste and more small pieces.

At this time of day it was proably Paula Deen. No surprise there.

Veal Sweetbreads

I gather that you think this type of authenticity is unique to New York, rather than something that can be found (albeit to a lesser extent) throughout the US?

Then a brand new one, with no sentimental value, is hardly a replacement, is it? Cheers, though, to Nectar for righting a wrong. But note to the $500 umbrella guy: You won't get any more rain protection for the extra $475 you spent. But you will be stylin'.

You might be able to pick that one up at a class at Lebanese Taverna. I am pretty sure that the Pitas and Hummus at Zaytinya are based on the Lebanese Taverna recipe (Steve, can you confirm that?). I took a class at Taverna last month and got their hummus recipe (In addition to Shawarma and Garlic Sauce) and it is even better at home than in the restaurant. I'm on the lookout for the pitas.

Here are two - 1 - Jose Andres at all of his places - the variety of the different dishes intrigues me and the creativity from Minibar might rub off on me. 2 - The chef at my favorite, departed neighborhood Chinese restaurant, Chinatown in Reston, because they are closed, and I want their recipes so I can recreate my favorite dishes from there. And if we are going outside of DC - Alice Waters. I'd like to learn more about getting good ingredients and using them simply to get the most out of them.

This weekend Wegman's had a station set up that was selling what appeared to be sauteed softshells in a sandwich as well as crabcakes. Looked pretty good and smelled very good, but I just can't/won't do softshells personally.

I know I've mentioned it before, but one option that does not come with any additional cost is getting the Vegetarian menu in addition to the Chef's tasting menu. It was nearly the equal of the Chef's menu and in several courses exceeded it. They are very clear that the entire table does not need to order the same menu of even the same number of courses.

Our wine pairing was $75 per person and included different pairings for both my wife and me, as we had the chef's and veg menus and have different tastes in wines.