What do you look for in a restaurant?

[Carlsbad]

Reading another thread made me realize that I've been considering what I like in a restaurant, and how it differs from others I know. Obviously, we all have different priorities. I've noticed I can't eat like I once could, and I think my tastes have changed over the years. I like one thing if it's just for one night, but a variety if it's for an extended vacation. I wonder what you look for in a restaurant in Paris or anywhere in France, for one night at home or on vacation.

[John Whiting]

I wonder what you look for in a restaurant in Paris or anywhere in France, for one night at home or on vacation.

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For a start--if I lived in Paris, the question would be not, what would I look for in a restautant, but what would I look for in a collection of restaurants? Put in an extreme form, I would be happy with twenty bistros, each one of which served only one menu, but always to a high standard.

I do not demand novelty for its own sake in my food any more than in the rest of my sensual pleasures. For me, the primary interest lies in the subtle variations from one realization to another, as in, say, differing performances of a Beethoven sonata.

Of course, living in the country, with perhaps only one or two good restaurants available, one's demands would be different. In fact, one might even be reduced to cooking for one's self!

[John Talbott]

Reading another thread made me realize that I've been considering what I like in a restaurant, and how it differs from others I know. Obviously, we all have different priorities. I've noticed I can't eat like I once could, and I think my tastes have changed over the years.  I like one thing if it's just for one night, but a variety if it's for an extended vacation.  I wonder what you look for in a restaurant in Paris or anywhere in France, for one night at home or on vacation.

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I find my habits are very different if I'm living here for a year or more than if visiting for a week or two and different if Colette is here or I'm alone. When alone for 10-20 days, I am much more willing to try new, well-reviewed French places than with wife and/or friends, where French golden oldies are the mode. On extended stays (one year plus), I try out places I once ate at that I liked but have dropped off the A-list not because there was a problem but others have passed them on the short-list, ethnic places, funky restaurants in the quartier and places that require a car (eg La Table de Blot in Dampierre). I suspect if I were here for only one day, I'd go to a blow-out starred place I knew and trusted (eg Frechon).

As for the comment

I can't eat like I once could

, it somewhat shocks me to recall that day after day thirty years ago, on vacations, we could eat lunch and dinner at starred places, some with 4-5 courses. Now, while my buddy and I can successfullly put away 3 or 2 (no dessert) courses in bistros, Colette and her good friend often have just the plat.

what I like in a restaurant

- that's another aspect: I guess in days past - noise, smoke and sardine-jammed tables were less important, now we like to be able to converse and be understood, taste the food and relax.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I guess in days past - noise, smoke and sardine-jammed tables were less important, now we like to be able to converse and be understood, taste the food and relax.

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Since my husband and I have been married for some 700 years, one might think that it would be a blessing to go to a restaurant where conversation was not necessary. But just the opposite is true. We do find that restaurants in France are almost universally much quieter than the same genre in the United States. My husband often muses about this, wondering what in our national phsyche demands noise levels to be so high in many facets of our society: movies, personal as well as public sound systems, restaurants. So after food and service, a civilized ambiance is what will draw us back time and again. That said, impossible noise will keep from returning even when food and service have been superlative.

(A little jazz or classical in the background is a nice touch. )

[John Whiting]

That said, impossible noise will keep from returning even when food and service have been superlative. 

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Im interested in the fact that not a single review of Maze, Gordon Ramsey's latest , has mentioned the oppressive pop music sound levels--except my own..

[robert brown]

But John, my informal survey finds Miles Davis as the king of restaurant background music. Muzak must be out of business.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

That said, impossible noise will keep from returning even when food and service have been superlative.  

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Im interested in the fact that not a single review of Maze, Gordon Ramsey's latest , has mentioned the oppressive pop music sound levels--except my own..

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I was refering to the noise level where you are not even aware that there is music being played!

[bleudauvergne]

I look for value for the money and honesty.

[John Whiting]

But John, my informal survey finds Miles Davis as the king of restaurant background music. Muzak must be out of business.

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Any music that's too loud to ignore is objectionable. If it's music I like (and want at the moment) then I would like it at a level that others would find objectionable.

Bad decor (an occupational disease in French restaurants at all levels) can be ignored if you choose--look at your partner or, if alone, read a book between courses. But loud bad music? There's no getting away from it; for me it spoils a meal as completely as if the chef had doused everything with catsup.

[John Talbott]

I look for value for the money and honesty.

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Viola! and consistency.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Call me a romantic, but regardless of the venue, I look for joy!

I want the front of house manager and service people to act as if they really enjoyed their jobs. I want my waitperson to be excited with my choices and pleased with the empty plates I leave. I would like the perfectly prepared food to reflect the place and the chef. In the best of all worlds, I wouldn't be able to understand the conversation at the next table. I would like the room to exude a sense of enjoyment and pleasure. I would like to leave content and happy. It would be nice if the meal were not too expensive, but I am willing to pay for the kind of experience I have described.

Edited September 1, 2005 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[bleudauvergne]

There are a couple of places in the neighborhood I go to when I'm just too tired to go anywhere else, and of all of the other places in the neighborhood, that's where I find just the kind of joy that Margaret is talking about.

I wouldn't say the food is better than what the neighborhood choice places serve, but there are places where the owner seems glad to see me and I always have a nice time there.

There is this one place where the owner is a real jokester, and he remembers everything. I can go there after not being there for 3 months and he knows who I am and what I do. He speaks to the entire room when he greets the guests coming in, he seems to know half of them, and makes jokes and teases people, sometimes relentlessly, depending on the night. It's like a comedy show where the comedian gives his act while waiting the tables. The more you go, the more his jokes are funny. We once got into a very frank and long discussion later in the evening once about what he cooks at home (being a restauranteur) and what he is teaching his children. I could never have the same discussion with the owner of my very favorite place, because our relationship is based solely on the food and we seem to speak on a completely different level, that which is exchanged is much more serious. But at this place, I feel like I'm going to a new friend's house to eat. His menu has had it's glory and I've also been subject to some failed experiements there. But that's ok.

There's another Italian place I love in the hood but can't eat there too often because they're a little pricey, an Italian couple that not only comforts me with the uncompromisingly good things they bring to the table, but also it's her service, she makes me feel really loved in some way. I can't really explain it. I often go there when dining alone or when I need to think.

[Carlsbad]

I think I find restaurant comfort more essential than I used to. I like to be able to talk comfortably, and I like enough space that I don't feel like the proverbial sardine. (I recall having lunch a few years back at Lescure, and I have never seen such close seating. Luckily, it wasn't crowded that day or it would have been terrible. The food was marginal.) Real luxury is nice once in a while, but I don't need it often.

I'm not much for the 23 "course" menus, but I do often like a five or six course fixed menu, especially if it has some of the dishes I wanted to try. I love the new bistros, where you get three or four courses of market driven food for a good price, especially if the place has a decent comfort level. I'm partial to more intimate places, where I have a feeling that the chef is really cooking for me, rather than for a mass of people of which I am one. The food needs to be made of the best products, carefully and respectfully prepared, and neatly presented. Innovation is good to a point, but so is tradition.

Service should be friendly, helpful, and professional, without pretense. I don't need a huge wine list, but I really enjoy some interesting wines I don't usually have or even see at home. Someone with real knowledge to talk to me about the wines is a definite plus.