Have You Ever Eaten Your Way through the Menu?

[Dave the Cook]

This is basically what I do for a living.

I can confirm this. A little while after FG did his award-winning article on Sandor's (read it here), we had the opportunity to eat at the restaurant and talk to Sandor afterwards.

Naturally, the conversation came around to how we had found the place. When I mentioned Fat Guy, Sandor's eyes got wide, and his face turned pink. "He ate everything!" he said. "Full portions! I thought he was going to kill himself!" (Sandor's menu is not long, but what's on there is not Cuisine Minceur.)

If you read Steven's article, you'll understand that Sandor probably has a pretty good idea of the many ways people can die, so this was no idle chit-chat. (Of course, if your last meal is at his place, you've picked a good way to go.)

[maggiethecat]

but I did eat the most amazing Pugliese home style cooking. It is a regional style that believes in using enough garlic.  They can also bake some dynamite cookies and other small sweets. bill

Welcome to eGullet, geewill. And please tell us more about Pugliese homestyle cooking.

[slkinsey]

Does being led through a restaurant's repertoire count? If so, yes! I spent a month in the fall and a month in the spring this year in Lecce,  in the South of Italy.

Ah, Lecce! Not only a cool town but also the birthplace of Tito Schipa, one of the greatest and most legendary operatic tenors of the 20th century.

[Nick]

I can confirm this. A little while after FG did his award-winning article on Sandor's (read it here), we had the opportunity to eat at the restaurant and talk to Sandor afterwards.

I just re-read that article and one thing stood out. A description by FG -

"The saffron is just a hint, enough to make the palate curious without identifying the flavor."

How can anyone top that whether describing food or wine?

[Fat Guy]

his award-winning article

Award-nominated. Ahem.

[stagis]

Did it with Scotch :). Travelling on business, I was staying at the Mountain View Inn in Latrobe, PA. The restaurant menu was terrible. Well, actually the menu was good looking - but the food was terrible. Lotsa steam-table and pre-chilled, etc...

Anyway - their appetizer menu was good, as was the food. I'd head for the bar. Ken the bartender and I both loved motorcycles and hated sports, so we'd talk bikes. I'd order 2 appetizers, and then, starting at the left of their topshelf Scotch line, have 2 a night.

Never did find one I liked, though Knockando was worth returning to.

Bourbon rules.

[Jinmyo]

Never did find one I liked, though Knockando was worth returning to.

Bourbon rules.

What of Laphroaig? Dalwhinnie? Lagavullin?

What is a good bourbon?

[mcdowell]

Did it with Scotch :). 

Me too. Staying in Scotland, a friend and I had the hotel car take us to a local distillery where we took the connoisseur's tour of scotch.

They started with some rancid rocket fuel called "barrel proof" and walked us all the way to the sixty year liquid nirvana. I have an obsene picture of myself drunk off my ass sitting at this table with fourteen snifters in front of me, all vacant of content (sort of like my brain at the time).

"You weren't supposed to empty each glass" the porter said to us. We didn't care.

To answer the original question, I eat lunch once or twice a week at a Thai place close to my office. I walk the menu from top to bottom, then start again. It's the only way to do it, after all, who can stomach Pad Thai over and over again?

[Really Nice!]

This isn't hard to do at The Harvest Vine in Seattle. It's a Spanish tapas-style place. Going through the menu is easy for a group of three or four, and it is expensive.

$11 for grilled asparagus. (There were about 11 spears)

$15 for foie gras. About the square inchage(?) of a credit card, maybe 3/8-inch thick.

$16 for a squab breast. (Yes, 'a', as in half of the whole)

$13 for a double-rib rack of lamb (2 riblets.)

Bill came to about $450 for seven with two 375ml bottles of wine and one 750ml. These wines were on the econimical side.

Considering it was my first time at this highly revered place, I'm not sure what to make of it. We were told the wait would be a 15-minute wait. 25 minutes later we were told it would be another 15 minutes. 15 minutes later we were told another 15 minutes... grr.

Finally sat down in the basement and waited 20 minutes for service to begin. They weren't that busy.

One basement wall stored their wine with a nice looking wine rack. I'm guessing there were about 300-400 bottles. Some were quite pricey. I noticed a thermometer on one of the shelves. As we got up to leave at 10:30pm on a somewhat cool day in Seattle, I snuck a peak at the termometer. 76°F

[Fat Guy]

What is a good bourbon?

At most bars, your best bet will be one of the bourbons from the Small Batch Collection, as they are the most commercially available of the good bourbons. They're all quite tasty. I keep a bottle of Knob Creek around and for most of my guests it's the best bourbon they've tasted.

If you want to get a little more serious than that, check out Gerald Boyd's tasting notes at straightbourbon.com.

[Jinmyo]

I've had Knob Creek. And Woodford Reserve. Both are okay. But rather than a good single malt? I find that bewildering.

[jrinct]

Nope. Most i have ever done is maybe 4 or 5 items on a menu and stick with them.

[Foam Pants]

Sadly, the only restaurant where I have tried just about everything is total crap. My borfriend loves it and I tried to find something I liked.

[marezion]

Oh, Rachel, have you eaten at Wild Ginger on Palisades Ave.?

[Rachel Perlow]

Yes. And, although the food is good, I find it overpriced and crowded. The crowdedness more annoying than the priciness.

[Bicycle Lee]

yes...there's a great Tuscan restaurant here in SLC called Michaelangelo that I have partaken in the entire menu. Their specials are always good too...