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Albuquerque
Albuquerque’s Hidden Few
It’s not easy to get situated in Albuquerque since an authoritative
guide is lacking on where to stay, what to see, where to eat, etc. This is
not, in any way, to deny its considerable charms, but they are hidden.
Though tourism is the lifeblood of the New Mexican economy, the state
government does not do a good job of ministering to this vital part of its
economy. If New Mexican tourism depended on its civil servants or its
politicians, it would simply fizzle. Indeed, the state needs to single out
its real bests and celebrate them. Probably it needs a system of state
posadas, as in Portugal: charming small inns that greet the avid explorer
who goes into every nook and cranny of the country and wants a decent place
to stay in out-of-the-way places. In Albuquerque, one should take aim at
the bed and breakfasts, since the hotels generally do not make the cut.
Here, meanwhile, is a fairly decent list of better
restaurants, along with links where you can find out about them: Ambrozia (www.ambroziacafe.com/index.html);
Artichoke Café (www.artichokecafe.com);
Corn Maiden; Graze (www.grazejj.com);
Gruet Steakhouse (www.gruetwinery.com/steakhouse.htm);
Le Café Miche (www.cafemiche.com/about/
index.html); Prairie Star (www.santaana.org/prairie.htm);
Seasons Rotisserie (www.seasonsonthenet.com/index.html);
Zinc Café (www.zincabq.com).
For those
who want to stretch a little further, Frommer’s provides a list of 20 that’s
not bad (www.frommers.com/destinations/albuquerque/153_inddin.html).
(7/6/05)
The Daily Catch in the North End
There’s a lot of ways to waste money in Boston. High-end shops offer middlebrow merchandise at exceedingly high prices. The trick is to find nooks that don’t look like much but in fact have everything. They’re good, and you can actually get in them without a lot of commotion. The Daily Catch, offering black pasta and other solid tasty dishes, makes the point. The food is good, and you can tell it is freshly made, because it is cooked right beside you. Jive conversation makes it a lot of fun. Three blocks away we might have waited for 30 minutes at a very good but touristy seafood restaurant; here we got flavor and a seat right away. Daily Catch. 323 Hanover Street. Boston, Mass 02113 617- 523-8567 http://www.dailycatch.com/northend.html (7/24/13)
Boston--Oishii
Oishii Boston is certainly the best Japanese restaurant in town—and it merits lots of visits. We ourselves have been there 4 times in the last couple of months. It is an anomaly in a town where the fish restaurants should be the best in America and in which one should find a raft of fine Japanese eateries. Boston Harbor does produce some of the most remarkable fish, such that it is desired throughout the country and –yea—the world. But neither the fish houses nor the sushi bars are great. Recently we even had tired old fish in a favored Italian restaurant—the bream a contrast to that we had just had in Lisbon and to the beautiful bream pictured by Luis Meléndez at a recent show at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Remarkably Oishii does not really do an outstanding a job on it sushi which lacks taste and suppleness. This is not where its art lies. A diner should skip the chef’s selections on the menu for this reason. What one wants is an assemblage of fish on a platter which can be nicely tiered. Varieties of the squid, neatly sliced into small bits, are delightful. As one carefully picks and chooses, other things come off quite special—broiled edamame, the ink (squid) noodles, a handroll of salmon skin or alligator. Their cocktails can be refreshing: one of our number discovered a shisojito which includes mint, limejuice, Grey Goose Le Citron, and sudachi. We have challenged the staff to make some other dishes not on the menu, and they have responded with great success. Oishii is a calm, restful restaurant with well-chosen greys and low volume, artful music. The restaurant is very out of the way, way over on Washington Street, not a district in which you should be walking around at night. After dinner, the staff is not at all skilled in summoning taxicabs, and one is advised to have the name of a service in hand, calling it well before you are to leave Oishii. Oishii. 1166 Washington Street. Boston, Mass. 02118-4113. 617- 482-8868 www.oishiiboston.com. (04-21-10)
Middle Eastern
Well, actually Cambridge. Oleana is the sort of place that attracts
graduate students, so it belongs on Harvard’s side of the Charles. We
would return but we would also be a little cautious. This restaurant has
been hailed on all sorts of lists, inside and outside of Boston. But we
find many of the dishes both a bit overdone and a little on the sparse
side. Pick the simplest things, say, minced cucumber or something with the
fewest adornments. Also, go quite early, since this is a hot affair that
attracts a very big crowd to a small place. If you are there sixish, you
may avoid the crowd and have more of a conversation. Oleana. 134 Hampshire
Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts
02139. Telephone: (617) 661-0505.
Clio
We’ve heard forever that Clio is one of Boston’s bests, not to be missed.
Well, forever we have intended to stay at the Eliot, where the restaurant is
housed, and have never gotten around to it. As a substitute we went to the
restaurant, especially since it was reputed to have a decorous, quiet
atmosphere where one could hold a conversation, and we were to be a party of
six. As we remember, we had some Bay scallops and then some shards of Kobe
beef, both of which were quite satisfactory even if they did not inspire
rapture. A California friend picked the wines: he found them average but
priced as if nectar from the gods. The service was eager, happily so,
though not practiced. On a jaunt to the side, we saw Uni—the sashimi effort
adjoining the main dining room—which we probably would not visit, and we
there heard some low-key chill music which probably does not go well in a
restaurant with highbrow pretensions, though it has become pervasive in all
Boston spots trying to attract young affluents. Like many of Boston’s
finests, Clio is pricey and not as good as Bostonians think, but maybe worth
a visit once a year. As in parts of Scandinavia, Boston’s best restaurants
tend to be middlebrow, less affected, and less complex, more ample. Clio
and Uni. 370 Commonwealth Ave Boston, MA 02215. Telephone: (617) 536-7200.
Website: www.cliorestaurant.com. (5/16/07)
Neptune Oyster
For the
last few years, laziness and maybe the Big Dig have kept us away from the
North End. But then we remember a good cup of coffee or the olive oil we
sometimes haul home from one delicatessen. A man of taste (PJ) has just put
us on to Neptune Oyster, and we’re thankful. There are many neighborhood
sorts eating there, so one is spared the cashmere sweater and tassled-loafer
set. There’s an oyster selection—quite fresh—that alone could be the meal:
wellfleets and katama bay and ninigret pond and pemaquids and kumomotos and
so on. It has a plush web menu in the works, and soon you can read about the equally
good entrees. Neptune Oyster, 63 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113.
Telephone: 617-742-3474. (1/31/07)
Butcher
Shop
We just had an excellent meal at the Butcher Shop, one of
Barbara Lynch’s 3 Boston restaurants. We’ll be back and we mean to try them
all. This is in the South End, right across the street from her B & G
Oysters. The Butcher Shop is her meat emporium, and one of the locals we
know buys meat here. We had her storied hot dog—really more of a sausage—and
several other meats of the evening. Though the restaurant has bar-type set
up, we nonetheless found the atmosphere to be decorous enough to hold a
conversation. Lynch attracts a nice crowd, and the quarters are attractive
if not spacious. Plus the servers are both polite and helpful: we took a
chance on the wine recommendation, and it was right. The Butcher Shop, 552
Tremont St., Boston, MA 02118. Telephone: 617-423-4800. Website: www.thebutchershopboston.com. The website, though tasteful, is not very
helpful: it should include map and directions, much more on the menus and
the preparation.
Interestingly,
Boston seems to have more than its fair share of excellent women chefs,
although the membership of the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs organization is spread across America—and the group is
headquartered in Tennessee, no less. Bostonians include Lydia Shire, Ana
Sortun, Jody Adams, and Judy Mattera, among others. (11/1/06)
East
Coast Grill
We
forget about this wonderful restaurant in Cambridge, just a hop and a skip
away from Boston, a restaurant we frequented quite a bit after its opening
in 1985 (or was it 1987, as the Boston Globe suggests?). Now it has
become quite an old chestnut, and every bit as fun. We arrived a bit early
recently and bumped into owner Chris Schlesinger, who explained why he could
not give us a drink (it would attract a horde of customers before his crew
could handle them) but who, nicely, gave us a comfortable seat at the bar
where we chatted with his very nice fellow there. He and the staff
universally have a warmness about them and, to boot, they actually know the
food pretty well. It’s probably more relaxed than the other good eateries
around Cambridge, peopled as they are by undercover PhDs. Schlesinger lives
in Westport: we understand that he fishes a lot and drinks Pabst’s Blue
Ribbon, a paradoxical beer with a following that springs from its lack of
advertising. (See our “Bloom—In Praise of Divorce.”)
He seems to be lead a more civilized life that most restaurateurs. Our
guest had a big chop, while we put down the shrimp and scallops—both were
outstanding. He has six or so cookbooks: we picked up Let the Flames Begin that
night, after we pressed him for a recommendation. But The Thrill of the Grill, or License to Grill, or any of
the others will do just as well. As is obvious from these titles, he thinks
he is quite a flamethrower, a stealth pyromaniac. We cooked salmon his way
recently and washed it with his sauce—what a treat! East Coast Grill.1271
Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Tel: 617-491-6568. Website: www.eastcoastgrill.net.
(11/30/05)
Bistro 5
When you are cast out into Medford, beyond the pull of Boston and Cambridge,
you expect dining to be non-existent. But you are to be fooled, at least at Bistro 5. It gets a decorous shirtsleeves crowd, but is free of loutish
behavior or too much buzz. The duck prosciutto and its accompaniment most
stick in our mind, but everything was tiptop. The crème brulee, shared with
our companion, was entirely right, and not tarted up with adulterations such
as might happen at the Gotham in New York. You can trust the barkeep to
choose your wine. Bistro 5, 5 A Playstead Road, West Medford, MA 02155.
Tel: 781-395-7464. (2/7/07)
Boston Ice Cream with Flavor
When
you have had your great meal at the East Coast Grill, then go next door to
Christina’s where the ice cream sings. It’s the first time we have had
flavorful ice cream in Boston—Ben and Jerry, Lick’s, etc. notwithstanding.
The rum raisin had the raisins and the rum, the coffee was right, etc. It
is next door to a spice store of the same name, owned by the same people,
and we are sure that is why the ice cream tastes like something. Christina’s
Ice Cream. 1255 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Telephone:
617-492-7021. The help is rather brusque, and the place seems a bit run
down, but, in the end, it’s all worth it. Also check out Christina’s Spice and Specialty Foods. (12/7/05)
Hamersley's
Years ago Hamersley’s Bistro was a different restaurant. It was up
the Street four or five blocks, in a little warren of rooms, with a lot of
buzz, filled with vibrant people. As we remember, Mrs. (Fiona) Hamersley
would often seat us, and at the end of the evening we might have a chat with
Gordon about the food. At that time there were only 4 or 5 decent
restaurants in Boston anyway, and this was right at the top. Once, in
another city, when we were escorting Julia Child to a celebratory function,
she asked us where we ate in Boston. We said we could not remember the
name, but mumbled about a smallish bistro where you ate 12 small, elegant
dishes of an evening, diners were waiting at the door, and the spirit was
entirely warm. Immediately, she said, “Hamersley’s.”
Then the restaurant moved towards town a few blocks
into a barnlike structure. Big time. We ate there once, off a rather
limited menu, and never returned. We were shocked at the transformation.
From a beehive to a vacuum. It’s got the new, see-the-kitchen format, not
an entirely interesting addition in this particular case. This layout works
when you have a magnetic chef personality up front or, as in a yakitori
restaurant in the Rippongi section of Tokyo, meet a bunch of wise guy cooks
who shout friendly, flirty comments at pretty daikon Japanese girls.
But a Boston regular recently asked us to join him for
his second outing there. With lots of caveats, we were charmed. We showed
up about 5:30. The hostesses were tied up in their paperwork and could
hardly get to the customers. I announced that we would move our 7 p.m.
seating to 6 p.m., and a very snippy gal said, “We can accommodate you.” I
asked to be seated: “We don’t open til 6. You can sit in the bar.” No
drink was forthcoming, though the staff was around. Nonetheless, the other
young lady who eventually showed us to our seat was entirely gracious, and
managed to put us near the windows, the snippet having previously assigned
us to darkness for no good reason.
The restaurant is still not comfortable or very well
decorated. But if you go early and get yourself to a banquette by the
window, you can achieve tranquility. There looks to be a handsome
church—now perhaps a condominium or something—across the street. On its
steps sundry denizens share a bottle of wine, with a dog to keep them
company. The trees and the early evening light make for prettiness.
Finally making his way to our table, a relatively charming waiter named
Eddy radiates a little friendliness. At least in the early hours, the
clientele was polished, polite, well-appointed—no garish clothing, no loud
sounds.
We had a trio of pates up front and then a mixed fish
dish (halibut and salmon) and found it all, particularly the fish, quite
good. Our companion, just off a plane from New York, found his food
passably good, but not good enough for a third visit. He complains that the
bread with his appetizer was soggy or doughy. The wine list will not move
you, but there was one okay beer on the menu and a couple of interesting
single malts for an after dinner. Gordon Hammersley was out doing a demo
somewhere. His wife, we understand, does the business stuff, and does not
appear at the restaurant too much. Hamersley’s. 553 Tremont Street.
Boston, MA 02116. Telephone: 617.423.2700. Website: www.hamersleysbistro.
com. (7/13/05) For original entry in Best of Class,
click here.
Summer Shack
We went once to Jasper’s in Boston, had a respectable meal, enjoyed
our brief conversation with the hefty chef-owner, and never went back.
Opened in 1983, it was another good Boston B restaurant that the locals
waxed too purple over, since they really did not have an excess of fine
places or fine palates to raise the bar. With a few exceptions, Boston
restaurants are like Boston hotels: much raved over, but not quite up to the
mark. Ritz Carltons in other cities are much more comfortable than
Boston’s, although its downstairs café has character and it is the hotel
where we like to have a business breakfast, free of the fat cats than
frequent the Four Seasons.
Jasper White’s Summer Shack is another matter. It has
picnic informality and diverse fairly simple fare, actually well cooked,
that is actually in tune with the palate of the citizens. We say this even
though ratings from the locals range from extraordinary to poor. Last time
out we went for Jasper’s pan roasted lobster, which is very ample, and which
is nestled in a light sauce that serves to keep the meat juicy, but in no
way overshadows the flavor of the lobster. There are 4 locations, 3 around
Boston, and one in Connecticut; heavy with fish, they sort of update, liven,
and improve on Boston’s middling, dependable chain called Legal Seafoods.
We thought the desserts were neither here nor there, but you don’t really
need them, after you have had raw appetizers and your main dish.
A number of
chefs around the nation are getting into informal restaurants of one sort or
another, which turn out to be more relaxed and better tasting than the
original high falutin dives where the chefs get started. To boot, of
course, they make more money in casual dining than they do in the haute
scene. What they are proving is that they have a feel for the casual dining
segment, too long dominated by the Red Lobsters, Outbacks, and other plastic
dives which sport a pretty good price tag but don’t give solid food value.
The casual dining chains generally offer much better service than local
eateries, but their food is always lacking. In truth the majority of these
new chefs has neither the background nor the cultural training to open and
sustain 4 star restaurants, but can do very well at middle brow. The Summer
Shacks have good, long hours on virtually every day of the week. See www.summershackrestaurant.com for detail on Boston, Cambridge, Mohegan
Sun, and Logan locations. (4/19/06)
Radius
This one’s been around since 1998. Wonder why we have never gotten around
to it. Well, the high point we think is that the staff is polite, and we
suspect the owners are nice. Our waiter was French and had a certain grace
about him. At our request the maitre took care to get us to a fairly
quiet table on the side, important since the place is a little frantic with
buzz. A bus boy who mistakenly filled our Hendrick’s Gin Gibson with tap
water did report his mistake to the waiter, and a new drink arrived fairly
quickly at the table. One of our guests nicely commented that the owners
contributed services and vittles to a charity fundraising dinner, qualifying
Radius as one of President Bush’s (George the Elder) thousand points of
light.
The proprietors make a great deal out of their team
approach to restauranting. We think this has secured them a certain joie
de vivre amongst the staff, but a few hits and misses on the bottom
line. Rowes Wharf, by far Boston’s most pleasant restaurant before it died,
also had a groupie approach, with a similar result. “Their
Specialty? Teamwork” rhapsodizes about this consultative style. “The
Radius kitchen is made up of stations: the meat station, the fish station,
the garde-manger station, the pastry station. Two people work at each
station, and they have full responsibility for their part of the meal. In
other words, the team at the meat station not only cooks the meat but also
butchers it and seasons it—a sharp departure from the standard procedure at
most restaurants.” “Radius has also developed a series of meetings in which
both the spirit and the practice of teamwork get reinforced.” Boston is
full of very theoretical management education firms, and it’s not surprising
that theory has crept so fully into the kitchen.
We had cod, which was tasty if not ample. We found
ourselves wanting to give it a little more panache. Radius seems like a
place to see and be seen for the aspiring, but we don’t find any of the
warmth and intimacy that is hinted at on the restaurant website. We
distinctly remember that it was a very long day’s journey into night to
reach the restroom, and along the way we had to plough through some sort of
cocktail private affair in the basement. By the way, many of the bathrooms
in Boston’s fancier dives are elusive. We will return at some point and see
if there is some sort of quiet hideaway here not immediately evident in
which to enjoy a small bite.
This is a restaurant with so many cooks and so many
actors that it makes lots of little harmless mistakes that are amusing more
than anything. A Fast Company article is referenced on the website, but the
link leads you to a foodie magazine instead. A Boston Globe reviewer
has a giggle over receiving the wrong bill:
The dinner at Radius was
exquisite and the service exemplary. We were content. As the weeknight
crowd thinned in the dining room and we sipped the last of our coffee, a
companion looked over the bill, his eyebrows raised. "Can this be right?"
he asked, passing the check over to me. It read $1,300 and some change.
With some entrees climbing above $40 and a wine list that offers only a
couple of bottles under $50, Radius would never be mistaken for casual,
budget-priced dining. Still, the amount seemed stratospheric. Had we spent
that much?
The first item in a long list
of beverage orders caught my eye. Diet Coke. We would never have ordered
that. After discussion with our waitress, the matter was remedied; and a
more reasonable bill was exchanged for the one meant for another table.
Yes, this is a
backhanded way of telling you that the restaurant is overpriced, but at
least you are contributing to the health and welfare of what appear to be
nice people. Yes, here, as everywhere else in town, there are so-called
tasting menus. Radius. 8 High Street. Boston, MA 02110. 617-426-1234.
Website: www.radiusrestaurant.com/main.shtml. (5/30/07)
Harvest
Restaurant
We had not eaten at the Harvest Restaurant for years and figured that
it had probably fallen down a notch or two , to quote Emeril. But a two
months back we ate there twice and would claim that it’s still as good as it
gets around Harvard Square. You just have to be demanding: the service can
be patchy, many of the tables are very noisy, and certain of the food does
not deserve the high-end price tags applied to it. It’s a high B or even
low A restaurant as long as you are picky.
First of
all, eat in the bar area where the lighting is better (for reading a
journal) and the clatter is much less. We would suggest eating a couple of
appetizers and skipping the entres—perhaps the bay scallops and then either
the rabbit or the chicken livers. Then go on to have a dessert which will
not be fabulous but much more than passable. If you are in this area of
town, you will notice that there’s a lot of flotsam and jetsam all about
you, even in the hotels. While all the staff, up front and in the back,
could certainly use more training, the Harvest does help you escape the
seediness and fast foodery littering these streets. Harvest. 44 Brattle
Street. Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02138. Telephone: 617-868-2255.
Website: www.the-harvest.com/food.html. Understand that the Harvest is part of
a restaurant group, including Grill 23 http://grill23.com—which we don’t really like—and the Excelsior (www.excelsiorrestaurant.com/home.html).
When wannabe fine restaurants are part of a chain, details fall through the
cracks, excellence proves terribly elusive, and the quality is not quite
commensurate with the price. Part of your excessive check is for general
managers, pr people, and glistening websites. (1/26/05)
Hidden Italian
We have
yet to have a bad meal at Trattoria Pulcinella. It’s small. That means
nicely intimate, and it’s on a side street fairly well away from any hubbub.
The trick is to eat early, preferably while there’s still a touch of
daylight, with a view to leaving when it fills up and you feel you are at
the knee-to-knee stage with other customers. The wait staff is very
pleasant, and the servers aren’t implicitly bragging that they are up to
better things in their “real daytime lives.” Some claim the cuisine is
Tuscan; we find that the cook experiments a bit, and so new surprises make
their way onto the menu. One night we found a wine we liked so much that we
peeled the label off the bottle so that we could put in an order to our wine
merchant. Trattoria Pulcinella. 147 Huron Avenue Cambridge, MA
02138-1367. Telephone: 617-491-6336. Website: www.trattoriapulcinella.net. (1/26/05)
Some Dishes
Update: We continue to visit Pulcinella. But we have failed to tempt you with its dishes. For pasta you might try wild board with Ricotta-honey crostini or baby octopus in tomato sauce with cannellini beans. Your small pasta dish could be soft corn meal with sausage ragu or flat noodles with scallops, garlic, anchovies, and broccoli. Why not linguine with shellfish, squid, and shrimp as a main dish? Or bone-in rabbit? Or pork chop milanese? We’ve had memorable wines here, too, such that one of our guests peeled the label off a bottle in order to get a full case from his retailer. (03-17-10)
Boston’s New Winners
Most internet dining guides throw in every restaurant within 10
miles, all in hopes of drumming up some advertising. So it’s darn hard, in
Boston and elsewhere, to separate the wheat from the chaff, even if you
consult a supposed quality guide like Zagat. But Sally’s Guide does turn up
a list of the good ones for Boston—and for a few other places.
In particular,
writer Elaine Sosa has enumerated a number of the right ones. There are, of
course, a few that should not be there, and a host that are missing, such as
The Butcher Shop. The article is a little dated. That said, if you’re
traveling to Boston, you should consult her article. Sally’s
Dining Directory has its ups and downs, but it’s worth a try when you
are heading to a city that’s new to you. (11/22/06)
New
Shanghai Restaurant
To insure social, political, and economic stability, the problem for
retailing and for the community and for the nation is to put the locale back
in any one locality. Everybody has to be from somewhere, or we become a
nation and world of rootless people. That’s the very subject we addressed
in “Being There.” And occasionally you find a haberdasher here or a
restaurateur there who’s neither chic nor cheap that offers value and a
sense of place at the same time. We thought of that most recently when we
were eating at the New Shanghai Restaurant in Boston (21 Hudson Street,
617-338-6688) where the fish offered more variety and terroir than the
high-powered dives frequented by Boston affluents. It is a success because
it is of the place. In the same manner, the stunning window displays in the
great stores of Paris add a dimension and value to retailing that Wal-Low
will never capture. Global, cookie cutter retailers never have and never
will capture the sense of time and place that an inspired local merchant can
bring to the retail experience.
Sel De La Terre
Not a bad name for this restaurant. Salt of the Earth. Down to Earth.
It’s way down State Street, conveniently below the Financial District,
away from the madding crowd. It’s quiet, even a bit empty, with good food
and very warm service. First and foremost, you will be stop here because of
the ambience. You will not be harassed by buzz or by waiters telling you how
wonderful the food is and reciting from memory useless things they remember
about the menu. The light is subdued: We eat in the bar area but you may
prefer to be closer to the windows. It’s Provencal or regional French, if
you like, with enough variety to satisfy most tastes. It is a decently
priced cousin of L’Espalier, where you will leave a lot of Euros on the
table. Incidentally, peruse the Espalier website for some recipes (www.lespalier.com/recipes.htm),
which will give you some great ideas for your own cooking and drive you to
Sel De La Terre for simpler fare. We found a Northwestern Pinot Noir very
worth drinking, even if the tab per glass is a few bucks more than it should
be. We favor seafood, both for starters and main course. Sel De La Terre.
255 State Street, Boston, MA. Telephone: 617-720-1300. Website: www.
seldelaterre.com.
An Escape from
Boston's Financial District
Just
off Washington Street, Mantra is truly a good way to get away from the
world’s testy financial markets and the controlled frenzy in Boston’s
Financial District. It renders this service much more ably than the many
hotels in the area, which are a bit tattered these days. You even have to
be looking for the door, because you may skip right past it, as you turn up
Temple Place. Should you be with a friend, pick something mildly vegetarian
and mix it, say, with a sirloin dish which will be delicately cooked. Many
praise a décor which is not really that great: the room is really more of a
cavern that has been lightly redecorated. We understand the place was once
Old Colony Trust Bank, and we can imagine that it was once useful for hiding
assets. Often, at lunch, the tables are quite empty, and you surely won’t
see a lot of suits with steel rim glasses around. Our luncheon companion
had visited Mantra on her anniversary, and its atmosphere drew her back
again. The service is quick, quiet, and able, and the dishes are just
enough to quiet your hunger and not add to your waistline. Claiming to be
Indian-French cuisine, it is not over-spiced but offers a fair number of
flavors that have not been overwhelmed by a curry or any other concoction.
Chef Thomas John has gotten his share of write-ups inside and outside
Boston. Mantra. 52 Temple Place. Boston, Mass. 02108. Telephone: (617)
542-8111. Don’t bother with the website (www.mantrarestaurant.com);
it is another complicated, overdone clunker.
Comfortable
Margo
We
liked the modesty of this enterprise. It is not pretending to be more than
it is. Restraint and simplicity are the better way to go when you are in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony: this has been true forever. Sure there is an
attempt to cook with a little style, so you won’t be bored. This pleasant
restaurant is located in the back of the Harborside Inn where you can have a
quiet meal without a lot of hoopla. There are a host of overpriced
productions in Boston now where you pay too big a tariff, the lighting is
wrong, and the food simply does not live up to the florid praise accorded by
local scribblers. Our waiter here was helpful, direct, cheerful—lo and
behold, he turned out to be the bartender as well in this newish eatery that
is trying to watch its expenses. So this is a nice antidote for your
spirits if you are mildly depressed after visiting a host of other Beantown
restaurants that are overhyped yet tasteless. It serves both a simple lunch
and a acceptably more complex supper. We guess you could call it sensible
new cuisinish. Margo. 185 State Street. Boston, Massachusetts 02109.
Telephone: (617) 670-2033. Website: www.margobistro.com.
Canada
Au Pied de Cochon
“Martin
Picard may be one of Canada’s most famous and respected chefs, but his name
does not appear on the cover of his new cookbook Au Pied de Cochon-The
Album. Chef at the Montreal restaurant of the same name, he published
the book himself. Tom Tassel, a waiter, did the illustrations. One
illustration, a pig that hobbles around with a missing foot, sips a glass of
wine, “falls in love with a roasted Guinea hen, sucks sap out of a maple
tree,” and “loses consciousness under a nun’s habit.” The book comes with
DVD. Anthony Bourdain does the introduction for the English version. The restaurant website itself is lots of fun, and it tells you how to come
by the book. The Australian has done an interesting quickie guide to some of Canada’s
interesting restaurants, to include Picard’s. (1/24/07)
Dallas
Best Barbecue in Dallas
It's not as easy as you think. All the well known places and all the chains
are quite greasy. The one that's great is Sammy's at 2126 Leonard Street, Tel:
214-880-9064, in the shadow of the Federal Reserve and the Crescent Hotel.
Otherwise, you have to drive about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Houston
Killer Mockingbird
We did
not ask the owners why they named it Mockingbird Bistro, although we think
of Mockingbird as a Dallas-type name (www.mockingbirdbistro.com/chef.htm).
But this is one of several just out-of-the-way eateries we have found
around Houston in pleasant surroundings. We had tuna and our colleague had
salmon, as we remember. Before, we shared a starter of mussels. Both were
quite delicious. The help was massively attentive, and we found ourselves
in a nice crowd. Bottom line: pleasant atmosphere with an-edge-
of-River-Oaks feel. Good entrees. One might slide by some of the other
items. Our Gibsons were simply not right: the glass was too small, the ice
piteous, the over-sized cocktail onions sour tasting. The desserts, across
the board, are not worth the effort. They simply put on weight but don’t
measure up. We tried, on the side, some of the cinnamon ice cream, since we
happen to be studying it lately; it lacked flavor and suggests the house
needs to learn more about the handling of spices. All that said, we will be
returning. Mockingbird Bistro. 1985 Welch at McDuffie, Houston, TX 77019. Telephone: 713-533-0200. (9/14/05)
Flight-Ready
Barbeque
We
strongly suspect our partner would eat barbecue at every mail if given half
a chance. At any rate, he asked our driver, on the way to the airport,
where one does the barb in Houston. As it turns out, there is a very
genuine affair right near Hobby, so we were able to load up with giant cokes
and all the rest on the way to our plane. He had pork, but we went for
beef, since that’s what Houston is all about. The Central is listed on the
following website, and it has a host of other joints around the state for
you to peruse when you are at loose ends: www.pilotwait.com/texas.htm. After all these years of feasting on the
cue, we still cannot decide whether we are pork or beef people, and which
style of which we like best. When having pork, we can suggest that you
have to look out for very lean cooking: most of the renowned barbecue places
are far too fatty. Central Texas Bar-B-Q. 8101 Airport Boulevard, Houston,
Texas 77061 behind Jack in the Box). Telephone: 713-641-3360. Open 10 a.m.
- 3 p.m. (9/28/05)
Jackson Hole
The Kitchen
Don't be put off by the crummy website. And no, Jackson Hole is not the new food city, and it is a stretch to find a good new place to eat. And no, the concierge at your hotel will generally not make a good recommendation. Kitchen is just one of four or five restaurants this group owns, and we have not tried the others. But we had a pork belly-lobster slider and a so-called herb crusted lava lake lamb t-bone, and both were simply great. Everybody found something they liked on the menu. Eat outside, since the interior is just your average average box. It stays open late enough, even if we were the last customers. We were particularly impressed with the maître de who is cheerful, exceptionally hard working, and careful not to forget truly appreciative customers. The Kitchen. 155 North Glenwood. Jackson, Wyoming 93001. 307-734-1633. (8-27-14)
Lisbon
Doca Peixe
This must be one of Lisbon’s greatest treats. Very fresh fish. Copiously attentive service. But a relaxed atmosphere right on the river, away from the sometimes choked streets in the heart of town. Frommer’s, the New York Times, and all the rest have sung its praises: for a change they have got it right. You can pick your fish when you come in the door. A table upstairs, near the window, gives you a wonderful view. You might have John Dory (Peixe Galo) or razor clams, or clams bulhão pato. The roe from your fish will be served as a side dish, affording yet another unusual flavor. Recently we liked Piexe so much that we ate their twice in the same week. Doca.Peixe. Doca de Sto. Amaro Amazém 14, Alcantara 1350—353. Lisboa Tel-213-973-565. www.docapeixe.com (04-07-10)
Lisbon Eats!
We think Lisbon is regarded as a poor cousin of Spain, Barcelona, etc. A big mistake. Its food is coming right along, and its chefs show more restraint, striving less for effect than their Iberian neighbors, and more for heartiness and substance. On our recent visits, we found that the idea was to exploit tradition, rather than to rebel against it. In this vein, we bring the reader’s attention to “Lisbon’s Culinary Golden Age,” New York Times, March 11, 2011. The author, who clearly has not spent that much time in Lisbon, thinks 2009 kicked off something new. “This really started rolling in 2009 — a year that the Go Lisbon blog remarked, “should go down in Lisbon history as the ‘Year of the Chef.’ ” Last year, the acclaimed restaurant Tavares was awarded a Michelin star, only the second in the city’s recent history.” He highlights: Alma. “Alma, Calçada do Marquês de Abrantes 92-94; (351-21) 396-3527; alma.co.pt; SeaMe. “SeaMe, Rua do Loreto 21; (351-21) 346-1564; peixariamoderna.com”; Largo. “Largo, Rua Serpa Pinto 10A; (351-21) 347-7225; largo.pt;” Manifesto. “Manifesto, Largo de Santos 9C; (351-21) 396-3419; restaurantemanifesto.com;” We would, in fact, take you to better restaurants elsewhere in Madrid, but it is fun to see that writers recognize that worthy experiments are underway. One should look, as well, beyond fish to soups and cabbage dishes. (5-11-11)
London
Ottolenghi
In fact, we had long been eating at Otto Lenghi before we tried it in London. For it has produced a first class cookbook--Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. It’s both fun to look at and a guide to some very good cooking. We must have had 12 dishes at the location in Islington which is where you should go to be assured of a seat. By the way, it also does breakfast. You will find its recipes to be strikingly original, even pushing the envelope, but all easy to handle. We remember best somehow a piece of tuna artfully done and amounting to super sushi. Here and there in London, there are a rush of new restaurants that are truly edgy, the kitchen usually staffed by bright stars from outside the United Kingdom. Ottolenghi Islington. 287 Upper Street. London N1 1TZ. Tel: 020 7288 1454 www.ottolenghi.co.uk. (04-07-10)
Maine
Maine’s Midcoast Eateries (Hugo’s, Primo, Francine’s)
These are good restaurants, but we recommend against all 3 of these highly acclaimed eateries. Each tries a degree of complication that is unnecessary, their furnishings and seating are a little tortured, and the prices are unmerited. The best of the three is Primo in Rockland which we understand has had its ups and downs, but it apparently it is on the way up again. All three take unconscionably long to get food on the table.
The phenomenon we are describing here is happening a lot in America’s regions. The upside is that young chefs, tutored elsewhere, but none of them masters, can become minor sensations at the edge of the map. Sometimes they attempt less pretentious restaurants somewhere in town, such as Duck Fat in Portland, just down the street really from Hugo, which fit local budgets and also fit the real skills of the chefs involved. Unfortunately, too, the cooking magazines have hyped such places, and it has gone to everybody’s head—customers and proprietors and local newspapers alike. In Maine, their prices and hype are inflated yet again by summer desperation: the Maine shore must make its money in a few short months, and so it has become an astute practitioner of the golden fleece.
Every day a new piece of puffery rears its head. The latest, “In Portland’s Restaurants, A Down East Banquet,” New York Times, September 16, 2009. Mentioned are 158 Pickett St. Café, Evangeline, Bresca, Miyake, Paciarino, Bar Lola, Cinque Terre, Vignola, etc.. So we still have a lot of eating to do. We have particularly heard good things about Miyake. For the truly compulsive, we can recommend Portland Food Coma and Portland Food Map as guides to make sure you are not missing some significant hole in the wall. Food and Wine recently has sung the praises of Caiolas in the West End.
Hugo’s pushes very small dishes at you that have high tariffs. Our aggressive waitress tried to get us to have 5 apiece. We did 2 or 3 instead. Everything turns out all right, and it is a bit fun to have chicken liver, or tripe, or sweetbreads, but not worth all the commotion of a return visit. Evans owns Duckfat down the street where we had better service, a nicer atmosphere, food worth what you paid for it, etc. Hugo’s. 88 Middle Street. Portland, Maine. 207-774-8538. In general, one will find other spots around Portland unnoted by the national press which offer better food, service, and atmosphere. For instance, try a Sunday brunch at 555 where the service is, in fact, excellent. Or try some of the places we’ve mentioned above.
Primo’s in Rockland handles a big crowd and has a surprisingly large kitchen. You will probably leave $200-300 on the table. Though its website does not represent its fare very well, several of our party had at least one successful dish. For instance, we had a handsome octopus starter. The kitchen did not stint on portions: no false economies here. Notice that chef/owner Kelly now has restaurants in both Florida and Arizona, so attention has wandered a bit. The old manse housing the restaurant is modestly charming, but there’s a sardine effect since too many tables abut each other. We notice that it’s worth trying to get into a room with less seats, where the ambience and decorum are a bit better. Goodness knows why the owners called it Primo’s, since that makes it sound like a 1950’s restaurant in Yonkers where every dish is replete with tomato sauce. We remember that most of the fish seemed to turn out, though some lobster or crustacean was less than it should be Primo’s. 2 South Main Street, Rockland, Maine. 1-207-596-0770
Francine’s. Francine Bistro’s best feature is its website: its lively and fun. Things are rather animated inside the restaurant, but it mainly adds up to noise, so one wants to get a table off to the right where a diner can have 6 degrees of separation from the slurry of drinkers in the main area. As we remember, we had lobster here, and it was quite pedestrian. What you find in Maine is that the best lobster you have is the one you cook for yourself, or eat at some modest low end places that usually tend to be right on the water. If you are in Camden, for instance, it’s worth a drive to South Thomaston to eat at water’s edge at Waterman’s. The brother catches the lobster, so you can see the traps sitting not far from you. And the sister runs the restaurant. Francine’s. 55 Chestnut Street. Camden, Maine. 207-230-0083. (09-30-09)
Morocco
Best Lunch in the Fez
MedinaMorocco
We loved Restaurant Asmae. As we collapsed into soft brocade cushions in a tented
alcove and gazed up at the beautifully painted ceiling hung with antique lanterns, our
waiter arranged before us sixteen plates of delicious Moroccan salads, a virtual lexicon
of these room temperature appetizers, including zucchini with honey and a superb harissa (hot sauce). These were followed by a savory vegetable cous-cous, and our favorite
Moroccan dessert, oranges macerated in sugar with cinnamon and mint. By now we were
reeling, but were still able to enjoy a post prandial conversation with the sleepy-eyed
owner: "America. Everybody works, everybody is busy.
Busy...busy...busy...." Contact: Restaurant Asmae, 4 Derb Jeniara, Fez
Medina. Telephone: 55-741-210. Fax: 55-633-624.
Best Pizza Restaurant
in FezMorocco
One evening we hopped into a petit taxi and went to the popular Chez Vittorio
where we discovered a less traditional side of Fez. Here the small tables were
packed with well-to-do Fassi families who live in the villas and apartments of the Ville
Nouvelle. Unlike the medina where many, if not most, men and women wear traditional
djellabas on the street, the men were attired in business suits, the women in chic slacks
and jackets, with lots of gold jewelry and usually with two or three adorable children in
tow. The tasty, thin-crusted pizzas Margarita, slightly charred around the edges,
are the big sellers here, as is the chocolate mousse. Contact: Chez Vittorio, 21 Rue
Brahim-Redani, Fez. Telephone: 55-62-47-30.
Nashville
Sunset
Grill
We were
impressed with the good manners, the fun and liveliness, and some of the
fare of the Sunset Grill. It’s at the edge of Vanderbilt University and
probably reflects the strengths and weaknesses of that institution. If you
pick carefully, you will win. We had a rabbit and morel pot pie, as we
remember, and a beef tamale: they were delicious. Our companion had a pasta
dish and something else, both of which were very much less successful. The
desserts were overworked. Service was slow, but very mannerly: everybody at
this restaurant was very nice, and that was a winsome characteristic. We
would eat here again, but you have to know what you are up to and to press
for things to get to the table. This restaurant has spawned a couple of
children, Cabanas and Midtown Café, both of which need some attention, but
are still good choices in a town that does not have a lot of options.
Sunset Grill. 2001 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37212. Telephone:
866-496-Food. Website: www.sunsetgrill.com. The wine and beer menu, though extensive, needs to
further thought. But there is a little bit of imagination in the place;
it’s fun to sit out in the sidewalk glass room, though avoid a table in the
middle aisle. The entrepreneur owner has smartly tied himself into the
hotels in town, so this will be frequently recommended by desk personnel.
On another outing, we would be tempted to try the Portuguese shellfish
cassoulet, the sorghum roasted pork tenderloin, and maybe the breakfast
burrito. (8/2/06)
New Orleans
Best Friday Afternoon Lunch in New Orleans
Friday lunch at Galatoire's: Lots of locals--business folks, lawyers and uptown
ladies--make a leisurely afternoon of it. The place really bubbles. The last
two times we were there, we ran into Francis Ford Coppola, and he doesn't even live in New
Orleans. It's common to end up chatting with folks at nearby tables, who often offer
suggestions as to what to order while trying to figure out who you are. The noise
builds as the cocktails flow and business talk seems the exception rather than the rule.
Many of the waiters, attired in tuxes, have been at Galatoire's
for years and many speak French. (Several very competent female waiters have been
added in recent times.) Regular customers are asked at the door if they desire a
particular waiter. The food is pretty much the same as they served up fifty years
ago, with a strong emphasis on local seafood, particularly crab, which comes in many
varieties. Ask the waiter to explain the differences, and then be sure that someone
orders the one with the eggplant. Or try one of the most popular dishes, the trout
meuniere. The wine list is good and well-varied in price. Have a white
Burgundy to help wash down the wonderful loaves of hot crispy-crusted French bread that
are brought to your table when you arrive and again throughout your dinner.
A recent renovation left the main downstairs dining room almost
exactly as it was previously, although an elevator which takes you to an attractive bar
and more upstairs dining rooms has been added. You no longer have to wait on the
street, an old Galatoire's tradition that, rumor has it, even a President once succumbed
to. And they now take reservations, though not for the main dining room, where the
regulars eat (unlike Antoine's, another classic New Orleans' restaurant, where the main
dining room is left for unknowing tourists.) Galatoire's is on Bourbon Street, a
block-and-a-half from the Canal. It's a pretty seedy section of the French Quarter
(though reasonably safe), but when you enter the doors, you enter a New Orleans that
hasn't changed in fifty years. Contact: Galatoire's, 209 Bourbon Street, New
Orleans, LA. Telephone: (504) 525-2021.
NOTE: This entry comes from Blake Ives,
multi-faceted Professor of Information Systems at both Tulane University and Louisiana
State University. See his website: www.blakeives.com.
Most
Elegantly Dilapidated Watering Hole
Connoisseurs of romantic ruins must experience frissons of delight just
wandering the narrow streets of the French Quarter. Lacy wood trim sags on
faded Creole cottages, ferns grow out of mossy crevices in crumbling brick
walls, and rusty gates conceal malodorous passages to mysterious
destinations. There is no more elegantly dilapidated bar, to our way of
thinking, than Napoleon House on the corner of Chartres and St. Louis
Streets. Built in 1814 for Mayor Nicolas Girod, the house was reputedly
offered to the exiled Napoleon, but the little emperor never made it to
these shores. Nearly two centuries later, the ruined plaster walls, ranging
in color from deep gold to the rich brown of a good roux, are mottled
and spotted with damp. Ceiling fans turn lazily overhead and world-weary
waiters take orders with “seen-it-all” aplomb, as classical music wafts
through the cool, dim interior. A marble bust of Napoleon gazes sternly
down from his perch on the cash register. Pimm’s cup is said to be the drink
of choice here, but we observed a local gentleman in a summer straw chapeau, grey beard neatly trimmed, enjoying a champagne cocktail.
Graham Greene would approve. Napoleon House, 500 Chartres Street, New
Orleans. Telephone: 504-524-9752.
Most Romantic Restaurant in a Creole Cottage
The heart quickens slightly just stepping through the iron gates. A short
stroll and you arrive at the hidden side entrance of Susan Spicer’s
restaurant, Bayona, located in one of the prettiest Creole cottages in the
French Quarter. Whether you sit in the rosy glow of the deep pink
terracotta dining room, where everyone looks glamorous, or outside in the
tropical patio, where a Romanesque fountain trickles amongst dramatically
uplit palms and banana trees, Bayona is still as lovely as it was when we
first discovered it over a decade ago. We tucked into whisper-light
crawfish beignets drizzled with remoulade sauce, then segued to wonderfully
plump, sautéed shrimp served on a bed of fragrant basmati rice with ginger
and tomato, and a seared chicken breast with crisp, salty skin over farfalle
with earthy wild mushrooms. Desserts were luscious, with a slightly
provocative edge. A warm chocolate crème brulee had smokey undertones of
Earl Grey tea, while a lemon meringue tart offered a surprising double play:
a cloudlike meringue hovering over the rich citrus filling and a thin,
crunchy wedge of cardomom-scented meringue. Bliss. Contact: Bayona, 430
Dauphine Street, New Orleans. Telephone: 504-525-4455. Website: www.bayona.com.
Best Pralines in
New Orleans
Choosing the most delicious pralines could be a treacherous endeavor. But
we took the plunge. We sampled New Orleans’ best-known confection at a
number of shops, but when we entered Southern Candymakers, we were nearly
knocked off our feet by the heady aroma of caramelizing sugar, butter and
cream. At one end of the shop, sugary pecans were being turned out on a cool
marble slab; at the long counter, ladies were tempting customers with
samples of just-made candy, still slightly warm. Pralines in flavors such
as coconut and chocolate were tantalizingly displayed in the cases, along
with almond toffee and cashew tortues, but being purists, we stocked up on
the “original creamy” pecan praline. Like certain wines, pralines
don’t travel well, so naturally we were forced to eat them all right away.
Contact: Southern Candymakers, 334 Decatur Street, New Orleans. Telephone:
504-523-5544 or 800-344-9773. Website: www.southerncandymakers.com.
Best Spot in New Orleans to Watch the World Go By
Since the
1860’s, the Cafe du Monde, situated near the Mississippi across from Jackson
Square, has been the place to see and be seen. Yes, it’s full of tourists,
but we sat next to a local gallery owner reading the Times Picayune over
a cafe au lait one afternoon when all the world, it seemed,
was streaming through its airy portals. Our favorite time to go there is
late at night or early in the morning, when a little fog is still hanging
over the river and the tables are half empty. The beignets are not as light
they once were, but the chickory-laced coffee is strong and the
people-watching endlessly intriguing. In the space of a few minutes, a
refugee from an Anne Rice novel, wearing leather corset, purple lipstick and
black platform boots, strode by; a lone jazz trumpeter serenaded a tiny
Chinese girl with the Barney theme song; and a flock of nuns devoured
one order of beignets after another, powdered sugar sprinkling their black
habits like a dusting of snow. Cafe du Monde, 800 Decatur Street, New
Orleans. Telephone: 504-525-4544. Website: www.cafedumonde.com.
New York
En
There are so many Japanese restaurants in New York that one can get very particular as to where one gets what. For tofu go to En. We prefer lunch when it is quiet and soothing. The tofu is well wrought and very fresh. We match it with shochu which is available in several modes, such as sweet potato and barley. As best we know, en means fate or karma. En. http://enjb.com/ 435 Hudson Street. New York, New York 10014. 212-647-9196 (9-25-13)
Periyali
We are puzzled as to why we have never gotten around to including Periyali on the Global Province. It is our favorite Greek restaurant in the city, though there are a score of other fine Grecian entries, none of which tumble off of people's lips, but which do offer delightful food. We prefer Periyali for lunch (when the daylight penetrates many of the spaces in the back of the restaurant) or, second best, for any early dinner before it gets too crowded, when it is still pleasant to linger. Down on 20th, off of sixth, it is away from the uptown hubbub. For us musts include Psita Manitaria (oyster mushrooms) and Gigandes Skordalia (giant white beans and garlic sauce). We often have fish but might, for instance, do Kouneli Stifado (Rabbit stewed in tomatoes and wine) now and then. We have been going to the restaurant, almost from its opening, and are pleased, after all these years, to traffic with waiters who have kept us company from the start. The owners have a couple of other restaurants, but this we think, is the jewel in the crown. While Frank Bruni's review for the Times is not particularly astute, he does catch the atmospherics well, noting that it has the same delicious, steady menu that greeted a diner in its early days. He calls it durable: it is. It is a relief to find Manhattan restaurants like this, which are fine, and go on, year after year, under the radar. http://www.periyali.com/contact.htm Periyali. 35 W 20th Street, New York, New York 10011. Tel. (212) 463-7890.
New York's Best Japanese Restaurant
In the shadows of the Waldorf Astoria and Citibank, RESTAURANT NIPPON embraces
tradition and the future, becoming the first restaurant--legally--to feature fugu in the
United States. One guest, who loved crab, said he had never had softshell crab
anywhere that matched the preparation here. One Japanese heart attack victim had his
food catered from here and sent over to Bellvue while he was in recovery at New York's
most famous hospital. 155 E. 52nd St., New York, NY 10022. Telephone:
212-758-0226.
Nicola Paone
Nicola Paone. There’s a restaurant on 34th Street—Nicola Paone—that’s
not on the lips of America, but it has a certain following. It was the
creation of an Italian troubadour of the same name (i.e., the eponym) and of uncertain
talents who once wrote a song about Caesar salad—some 17 verses long.
William Buckley, the father of the New Right and of rampant polarization in
America, deems it his favorite, saying:
I can name my favorite
restaurant as glibly as I can name my favorite wife, country, religion, and
journal of opinion. It is (I should like to say, “of course,” but Paone’s
is not widely known) Nicola Paone; its address is 207 East 34th Street New
York, and I suppose I have eaten there a hundred times in the last 10 years,
which would certainly account for my being Paone’s favorite customer; but,
believe me, in this courtship, I was the suitor.
The food, incidentally, is far from distinguished, but
good, sensitive taste has never motivated any ideologue. We’ve not been
there for years, but when we did visit, it had a wonderful atmosphere,
generating perfect comity and unforced good cheer among all those in our
luncheon party.
The trick there we always thought was the endgame. The
dessert cart was very ample, and it was a sin to exit the restaurant without
taking on some creamy delectable that added immeasurably to one’s midriff.
Then too, at the finish, the maitre Franco Alfonso or maybe the waiter
presented the check with delicacy and a warm smile. You felt like paying
the bill and, by then, did not even remember what you had eaten. It was
simply a fine experience.
We hope it’s the same. A well-mannered, well-dressed
clientele that did not feel it had to shout to be understood. Decorousness. Nicola Paone,
207 E. 34th St. New York , NY 10016. Telephone: (212) 889-3239.
(11/1/06)
Grenouille
We recently turned to San Pellegrino’s list of 50 best restaurants, only to discover that La Grenouille in New York city is not included. We should not be surprised: the list is defective in many regards and certainly does not include many of the best but does list many that should be eliminated. Nor, for that matter, is San Pellegrino the world’s best fizzy water.
La Grenouille provides instant relief from New York City. It is attractive, there are always gorgeous flowers in attendance, you are not chockablock up against other patrons, the food is pleasing but not chefstar instrusive, and the service is instant and comfortable sporting waiters who don’t bring their problems to your table.
Most recently Graydon Carter’s Vanity Fair has given it a lovely write-up, capturing some of its appeal. Carter is now a pretend restauranteur, having taken over the Waverly Inn downtown, which has become a spot where all the petite celebrities want to be seen. “An Immovable Feast” nicely states the obvious: La Grenouille goes on while all the other grande dame French restaurants in New York City have melted away. With all of that, one should know that it only dates back to 1962. Before that a bevy of restaurants had occupied the space. “In 1942, the downstairs space was occupied by a restaurant named La Vie Parisienne; Edith Piaf sang there once. Eleven more restaurants and nightclubs would try the space, ending with the Copenhagen, whose kitchen fire concluded their tenure, leaving the building free for its rightful occupants to find it.”
“Every president since Kennedy has come, except for George W. Bush. Both Charles Masson the father and Charles Masson the son were ardent Democrats—in fact, when President Nixon came for dinner, the teenage Charles Masson refused to come to the restaurant and shake his hand. (Giselle, who was a Republican until George W. Bush, was furious with her son.)” “There are now eight tall vases throughout the room, along with the little vases for the tables. (The flower budget for 2007 was $200,000. That price is for the flowers alone. Charles goes every Monday to the Flower District, picks out what he needs, and arranges them himself. If a florist were to do this the cost would be quadrupled).” Christine Ebersole, an entertainer of increasing note, has regaled us with tales of her special visit to La Grenouille with Dina Merrill. As it turns out she had a spirited conversation with Bill Donaldson, former SEC chairman and one of the founders of the investment banking house DLJ. It seems that a few of the powerful do dine there, not to be seen, but to relax and converse. La Grenouille, 3 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10022. 212-752-1495. http://www.la-grenouille.com. (11/19/08)
Danube
Danube is a remove or two from both the Hudson and East Rivers. David
Bouley, owner and chef, has long provided some of New York’s better food at
his downtown locations. (See www.bouleyrestaurants.com.) If anything, we liked this better than his
original Bouley, maybe because we found a few more surprises on the menu
(vaguely Austrian but not without sashimi should you want it), possibly
because we were taken with the grand décor which marvelously fills the gap
opened by the disappearance of beautiful hotel dining in New York, and
certainly because the space is so ample that you are not bumping elbows with
other diners. It invites one to linger. Here, even the ladies had
desserts, escaping, if only for a couple of hours, the health strictures of
the obesity directorate. Bouley, who plans to open a cooking school and
other things in Tribeca, is avoiding the temptation of spreading himself too
thin, like other superchefs such as Emeril Legasse and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. (See www.curbed.com/archives/2004/12/14/david_bouleys_plan_to_rule_tribeca.php.) Danube.
30 Hudson St, New York 10013 (between Duane and Reade Sts). www.thedanube.net/hires/menus.html. 212-791-3771.
Da Silvano
For years everybody who can taste has made tracks to Da Silvano, on Sixth Avenue just below Bleecker. Mimi Sheraton, then of the Times, raved about its offerings in 2002: “The owner, Silvano Marchetto, makes sure that the simple Tuscan fare is perfectly rendered in standout dishes such as the chickpea appetizer fired with black pepper, the bread-and-tomato salad panzanella, and every pasta, in particular the meat-sauced penne strascicate. The Livornese fish stew cacciucco is convincing despite an overly dense tomato broth, but the real set piece on the menu is the massive grilled rib-eye steak for two (or maybe three). That—along with rosemary-brushed roasted potatoes and the best panna cotta in town—is my idea of simple perfection.” In fact, we don’t know why we have taken so long to sing Marchetto’s praises since we’ve been eating with him for 30 years. We favor more challenging fare—kidneys and tripe and such—but every taste will find a compatible dish at his table. More than once he has been eating at the next table, and he’s a fun guy. Go a little bit latish for lunch—even 2 or so, so that you only have convivial non-rushed diners about you. The Village still has decent espresso, and two or so houses are in easy reach. http://www.dasilvano.com/ Da Silvano. 260 6th Avenue. New York, New York 10014. 212-982-2343 (09-29-10)
Most
Deceptively Simple Restaurant Menu—Craft,
NY
The
deceptively simple menu at Craft, Tom Colicchio’s newish 19th-Street
eatery, is the perfect antidote to 25 years of bilious restaurant prose.
There are no overblown descriptions of ingredients or cooking methods.
Just words like “roasted” or “braised” and a list of the items prepared in
that fashion: Skate. Red Snapper. Hanger Steak. Red Cabbage. Escarole.
And so forth. Colicchio’s conceit is to take the finest, freshest
seasonal ingredients and to cook them simply, but with superb finesse, in
ways that bring their natural flavor to unexpected heights. Essentially,
the diner designs his own meal, selecting courses and side dishes from
nearly 5 dozen enticing possibilities.
The approach succeeds brilliantly. At lunch on a wet afternoon, Roasted
Dourade was fish at its most basic and its most sublime, the skin crisp and
golden, the flesh delicate and moist, faintly redolent of lemon and thyme.
Tiny Quail were roasted to perfection, full of dark, intense flavor. And
there were wonderful vegetables: a tangle of pale green fennel bathed in
lemon and olive oil; buttery roasted hen of the woods mushrooms; pale batons
of sauteed salsify, the season’s most sought after vegetable. The dessert
menu continues the conceit, but with more elaborate, even playful, results:
we nearly inhaled our order of Doughnuts, six ethereal puffs of fried dough,
each about the size of a silver dollar, three bittersweet chocolate, three
dusted with cinnamon sugar, tethered to earth only by a drizzle of warm
vanilla-scented chocolate sauce. Pastry chef Karen DeMasco’s sophisticated
riff on “PB & J”—grape jelly-flavored pate des fruits and chocolate-peanut
butter truffles—was equally irresistible.
Architect Peter Bentel has designed a handsome space that echoes the
deconstructivist menu, yet manages to be supremely warm and inviting.
Singular elements, such as an arcing wall of caramel leather, columns of
burnished terracotta tiles, and banks of zingy Edison light bulbs,
mysteriously work together to create a glowing space that cossets the diner.
Yes, we could almost live at Craft, especially with Chef Tom in the
kitchen. Next best might be his cookbook, Think Like a Chef, which reveals some, but not all, of Colicchio’s
culinary secrets. Contact: Craft, 43 East 19th Street, New York, NY 10003.
Telephone: 212-780-0880. Fax: 212-780-0580. Website: www.craftrestaurant.com.
Addendum: On a
recent afternoon, returning to Craft, we and a Canadian visitor had a very
long lunch including squid, braised lamb, and a raft of vegetables including
Jerusalem artichokes. We found a couple of beers on the menu that we had not
seen before, one from Japan and one from Australia. We were only there 2
and ½ hours. And that’s the point of this new comment: you’ll want to stay
a while. We don’t know how the crowds are at night, but the count was low
for our Wednesday lunch, and the atmosphere was memorable for its
tranquility and courtesy. The two of us had a large commodious table fairly
near the bar, with ample space around us. Enough light penetrated in from
the street, but we were not overwhelmed by dazzling display or complicated
lighting fixtures. The conversation had breadth because it was not
oppressed by fireworks in the restaurant. Craft is more than a wonderful
eatery: it is a great place. And, oh by the way, we much agree with
several of our friends who claim that you could make a meal out of the
vegetables alone and skip the entrée.
D’Artagnan Survives the Deathblow
D’Artagnan, the Fourth Musketeer, had to brave several dangers for king and
France. But D’Artagnan of New York and New Jersey also faced down a
challenge that almost amounted to a deathblow. Founded by two Columbia
University classmates—Ariane Daguin of Gascony and George Faison of
Houston—it is a purveyor of pates, specialty meats, and the like, today
consisting of 85 employees and revenues in excess of $30 million. Its
midtown restaurant of the same name has attracted quite a following in its
own right and features many of the products offered by the parent company.
But in December 1999 its owners received a call from the Center for Disease
Control in Atlanta which had traced an outbreak of listeria to D’Artagnan’s
products. Immediately they pulled $1 million of product from retailers’
shelves. Temporarily they were out of the prepared-foods business, placing
them at bankruptcy’s door. But chefs and shops stuck with them, continuing
to buy their rabbit, lamb, quail, etc. Surely it can be said they survived
because they acted quickly and responsibly on the product recall, enhancing
their reputation, and because they had previously established such a good
relationship with their clientele that their sales did not dry up
completely. See Columbia, Fall 2002, pp. 49-51. D’Artagnan, 152 East
46th Street, New York, NY 10017. Telephone: (212) 687-0300.
Webiste: www.dartagnan.com. 280 Wilson Avenue, Newark, NJ 07205. Telephone:
(800) 327-8246.
Mangia
Apparently Mangia has been around forever, starting out as a sandwich shop
in 1981 on 56th Street. That said, we did not know about it. But the other
morning we had to visit several people at the Toy Building (soon, if you can
believe it, to give up its location, perhaps to move to Dallas), and were at
loose ends for breakfast. It’s hard to find good breakfast locations in
many parts of town. Our recommender put us at Mangia on 23rd, where the
service was polite and fast, and the coffee, fruit, and other delights were
fresh, well-prepared, and properly priced. The quarters are not fancy, but
well designed, modern, well lighted, and comfortable. Our delightful
servers seemed to be young ladies from a variety of Eastern European
nations. The Mangia restaurants (there are several locations) go well into
the evening, and they offer a good to-go menu with delivery to areas in
reasonable proximity. We have just had the breakfast, so we are looking
forward to veal stew, a grilled tuna sandwich, perhaps some tuscan hummus.
Vaguely, we guess, the food is suppose to be Italian, but we think the
owners hail from other parts of Europe. Mangia. 50 West 57th Street. New
York 10019. 212-582-5882. 16 West 48th Street. New York 10017.
212-754-7600. 22 West 23rd
Street. New York 10010. 212-647-0200. 40 Wall Street. New York 1005.
212-425-4040. www.mangiatogo.com. (3/9/05)
Lan
When a restaurant gets too glitzy with its website or its menu, it usually is a recipe for disaster. Not so with Lan. It’s website has far too many bells and whistles, but Lan turns out to be quite fine. This is a very companionable place with a delightful menu, though we will throw in one or two caveats. It’s down in Bowery territory, just above Cooper Union, etc. We waited quite a long time for service, and then finally some American waiters arrived at the table who did not know Japanese food—or what was going on. Then we got a Japanese waitress who knew what she was doing, and we had an exemplary experience. You will find the chawan-mushi that was missing from the menu of a distinguished Japanese uptown that used to have everything. The Black Cod was absolutely first rate: this has become an extraordinarily popular dish in urban places, but, if done right, you should have it every time. This was moist and mellow-so smooth it did not even quite seem like fish. For drinks, you can work your way through the shochu, the sweet potato and barley equally delightful. It pays additionally to be a little choosy about where you sit, as you can be pressed up against company that you would not care to know. One blog notes that the owner is affiliated with a meat supplier, all pointing to the fact that one should eventually get into the steaks and Japanese high-end beefs. Lan Japanese Restaurant, 56 3d Avenue (btw 10th and 11th), New York, New York 10003. Telephone: 212-254-1959. Website: http://www.lan-nyc.com/. Understand that there are a lot of naysayers about this restaurant, but we find it to be excellent if you manage the details and select in a discriminatory way. (1/16/08)
Best
Healthful Chinese Restaurant in New York
In Western culture, "food as medicine" is a novel concept that's
suddenly getting more attention. The Chinese, however, have long had a tradition of
treating ailments with quasi-medicinal culinary preparations, often involving esoteric
ingredients. The Sweet-n-Tart Cafe in New York's Chinatown is one of the few
restaurants in this country where one can sample tong shui--literally "sweet
shops"--that are said to nourish and restore balance to the body. The tiny,
downstairs cafe is always crowded with people ordering dishes such as Doubled Boiled Pear
with Almond (believed to be good for a cough or irritated throat) and Fresh Walnut Tong
Shui, a rich, pleasantly sweet soup that is said to aid the kidneys and lungs.
For Westerners who are interested in trying tong shui,
Sweet-n-Tart cafe has one major drawback: the staff speaks little English and is
hard-pressed to describe--or prescribe--a particular dish or its benefits. But the
rest of the menu is prepared with a light hand--Shanghai-style dumplings are particularly
delicious--and would satisfy almost any health-conscious diner. The truly
adventurous could always just point to the black viscous soup the grandmothers in the
corner are slurping (Black Sesame Paste with "Sau Woo"). You may emerge
reinvigorated--or not--but you will have had a memorable meal. Sweet-n-Tart Cafe, 76
Mott Street, New York, New York 10013. 212-334-8088.
A
Good Tudor City Joint
You don’t
think of restaurants and Tudor City, or even of that many good restaurants
right at mid-town. But here’s one definitely worth your while if you can
bear a sometimes loud crowd and a decorator restaurant that is mostly hype
and not aesthetic. The owners have used a name designer but somehow he did
not get to show his best. The bar seems like a den of iniquity, and the
tables in the main room are slam up against each other. So we heard more
than we wanted of two inane conversations, one to either side of us. But
co-owner Scott Conant has cooked around, and the food is absolutely
smashing. We tried everything-fish, pasta, fowl: everything was great,
full of taste, often original, and ample. It’s Italian, but as the late
Craig Claiborne used to say, you really can get great Italian on these
shores. We did not do the cheeses, incidentally, since that seemed as if it
were gilding the lily twice over, but the restaurant does make a great deal
out of them. The wait staff and maitres are quite pleasant and polite, if
not skilled. Putting the trappings aside, L’Impero is a solid food
experience, especially if you have just come in from another city where the
top-ranked restaurants are missing body and taste. L’Impero. 45 Tudor City
Place. New York, New York. Telephone: (212) 599-5045.
Ithaka
We had thought there was only one great Greek restaurant in New York, but
now we can say there are at least two. The fish will come out on a platter
to you, so you can select your fresh variety (Psari tis imeras). Have the
fish by all means. Ithaka is a comfortable environment on 86th Street, run
by Tim
Vlahopoulos, a charming quiet man, and Chef Harry Hatziparaskevas, who
apparently started the enterprise on Barrow Street and then moved uptown.
We started with Psarosoupa, the fish soup, which is probably dinner enough,
but the conversation endured and so did our appetite. We will be back for
rabbit stew, several varieties of lamb, quail, sweetbreads, and baby squid.
Our host, a former chief executive with a sense of dash, brought a piece of
Greek statuary as a centerpiece, a nifty reminder of his very happy family
trip to Greece itself. Ithaka. 308 East 86th Street. (Between 1st and
2nd). New York, New York 10028. 212-628-9100. www.ithakarestaurant.com. (3/23/05)
Top Sushi
Right now
Sushi Yasuda is king of the mountain in New York sushi circles. We have
never seen our host, a retired Japanese investment banker and close friend,
consume so much food, Western or Japanese, in our thirty year acquaintance.
We both mainly ate sashimi, topped off with a little sushi. We did not find
the art and cutting to be of the highest order, but the fish was top rate,
and sometimes a bit unusual. For instance, the trout hailed from Idaho.
The place is filled with a well-heeled, young yuppie crowd, unusual perhaps
because easily half the diners are Asian, decked out in terribly smart and
horribly expensive clothes. As at another one of our recent dining sojourns
in New York, our companion with some amazement toted the cost of the
clothing on one near lass and it came to $3,000 or more, which let us know
that the worldwide financial bubble has not completely deflated yet. The
restaurant has a most pleasing atmosphere: it does not hold too big a
crowd, and the natural wood finish of the place, a distinguishing mark in
some of our other favorite Japanese restaurants these days, is soothing to
the eye, even in the bright illumination. If you can, sit up at the sushi
bar, which, for a change, is comfortable; we must have put in 3 hours
there. Sushi Yasuda. 204 East 43d Street. New York, New York 10017.
Telephone: (212) 972-1717. Website: www.sushiyasuda.com.
Best Sunday
Night Dining Room on Central Park West
Just steps from Columbus Circle, on the ground floor of the predictably
glitzy Trump International Hotel, is a rare find: a beautifully chic restaurant that draws
a well-dressed crowd on the Upper West Side, even on a Sunday night. Nougatine is the casual stepchild of Jean-Georges,
the highly acclaimed French restaurant opened in 1997 by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. With its pale taupe, Adam Tihany-designed interior
and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park West, the dining room has a
luminous, airy feeling amplified by the luxury of actual space between the tables. The scaled-down but still luxurious menu reflects
the innovative culinary philosophy that has been winning Vongerichten four-star reviews
for the last fifteen years: he takes exquisitely fresh, seasonal ingredients and cooks
them in a way that boosts their natural flavors, often with pure vegetable and fruit
essences and the occasional Asian twist.
As the sky turned steel blue and street lights glimmered
one autumn evening, we began with an amuse-bouche of stunningly fresh, almost
buttery salmon tartare with a tiny puff pastry shell. It was followed by salad of white asparagus, enoki mushrooms and baby lettuces in
an earthy vinaigrette flavored with soy sauce and truffle juice, and then by a succulent
poached lobster, its generous chunks bathed in a voluptuous lemon broth and served atop
chive-flecked spaetzle and tiny fava beans. Though
Vongerichten is known for top-notch desserts (especially his famed soft, warm chocolate
cake), a fresh fig tart did not measure up to the rest of the meal. Contact: Nougatine, 1 Central Park West, New York,
NY 10023. Telephone: 212-299-3900. See http://starchefs.com/JeanGeorges/home.htm.
Scarpetta
Frank Bruni is in love with Scott Conant of Scarpetta. Perhaps rightly so. The restaurant is much more pleasant than his previous haunts. It’s a surprise encounter, down in the meatpacking district, well worth the trip, as long as you have hired a black car, instead of using New York’s increasing knee-crunching cabs. The front door is anonymous, and the bar up front undistinguished and peopled by the usual sorts. But if you eat at six, before the noisemakers arrive, you can have an entirely pleasant meal, well lighted from overhead, with generally good service. There’s plenty of wait staff, and the chap who takes your order is genial and lucid. Those bearing the food, however, are not only rushed, but they barely speak English, so you cannot begin to grasp their explication of the food set before you. Bruni moons over the polenta: “He brings back an appetizer of creamy, cheesy, buttery polenta with morels and preserved truffles that’s one of the best, most decadent things ever to happen to cornmeal.” As well, he gushes about the cod: “And there’s an entree of black cod with slow-roasted tomatoes and caramelized fennel that I especially admire.” Bruni is a lightweight, but his enthusiasm here is well founded. We were equally thrilled with the lamb loin served with white beans and pecorino. The portions are slight, but what else is new? The wine was just acceptable, and that is not where this restaurant will make its reputation. Scarpetta is a restaurant that knows most of the moves, even if some of the dining experience eludes it. “Scarpetta, meaning “little shoe”, is often used among native Italians when eating homemade pasta sauces so delightful that every drop must be savored and wiped clean from dinner plates with fresh Italian bread,” but we suspect that sauce is conjured up elsewhere at some other eatery where food and dining progresses at a more stately pace. www.scarpettanyc.com. Scarpetta. 355 West 14th Street. New York, NY 10014-5001. (212) 691-0555. Mon – Thurs: 5:30 – 11pm // Fri & Sat: 5:30 – 12am // Sun: 5:30 – 10:30pm (06-02-10)
Curate
We ate not once but twice at Curate during our last visit to Asheville. Just like Rezaz, about which we have previously written, this is one of the top 4 or 5 restaurants in North Carolina, and maybe as good as it gets in tapas for all of America. A rash of tapas joints have opened up in eastern North Carolina and they simply don’t hold a candle to Curate. We liked a bunch of things to include the sausage, squid, pork, and sundry vegetables. The owners have been well coached by a chap who owns a whole string of Spanish restaurants. For a detailed look, with pictures, of this fun restaurant, look at Asheville’s Global Table. Curate. 11 Biltmore Avenue. Asheville, North Carolina 28801 1-828-239-2946 http://www.curatetapasbar.com/. (7/24/13)
Best Vietnamese
Restaurant in North Carolina
Leafing through Saveur magazine one wintry December night, we were astonished to
discover that a Vietnamese restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina had vaulted onto the
magazine's top 100 list for 2000. Sharing accolades with chefs like Jacques Pepin
and the entire state of Vermont ("Coolest Food State in the Union"), Saigon
Restaurant was billed as the "Least Likely Place for Great Vietnamese."
Least likely, indeed. This narrow storefront
cafe is situated next to an all-but-defunct hot dog joint right off busy High Point Road.
A raffish clientele--Sikhs in turbans, pony-tailed guys, and dolls in skin-tight
capri pants--spills out into the parking lot, waiting with good humor for one of a dozen
tiny tables. Whole flounder, delicately fried and served with a subtle chili basil
sauce, was well worth the wait, as were the fresh spring rolls with shrimp, papaya and
fragrant mint. Saigon showcases the culinary skills of the Nguyen family, who
fled Vietnam 23 years ago. Brother Donnie cooks, brother Nick is business manager,
and the third brother, Duc--better known as Duckie--keeps customers entertained with a
running stream of hilarious patter. When we ordered the flounder, he yelled, "Free
Willy!" Contact: Saigon Cuisine Restaurant, 4205 B High Point Road, Greensboro,
NC 27407. Telephone: 336-294-9286.
Herons at the Umstead
Herons Restaurant at the Umstead is a disappointment, but it has its
virtues. The same holds true for the new Umstead Hotel where it is housed.
It’s a good site, the owners had enough money to get it right, and there is
a wide open slot in the Raleigh-Durham marketplace for a truly upscale hotel
with luxury appointments, a very fine menu, and esthetic atmosphere. The
restaurant and the hotel have aspirations, but they don’t make it into the
winner’s circle. But we shall return to the hotel, for it is as good as it
gets round these parts, to quote the line from the Jack Nicholson movie.
Basically the architecture, interior design, and landscaping of both are
humdrum. The planting of major, long term hardwoods will help a lot on the
outside: a French designer will have to redo the interior. The marketing
staff takes a lot of pride in the raft of all-Carolina paintings. The
problem is that they turn out to be mediocre. The menu at the restaurant is
not inspired, and is a little meager besides. In the end, the fairly high
tariff is simply not warranted.
Now for some
of the high sides. Certainly the owners are to be congratulated for their
ambitious undertaking. This is a restful location where you do get away
from the world. Our guest, a somewhat harried fellow, felt very much at ease
in these surroundings. It helps that locals have not uncovered this spot
yet, and it is not doing a landoffice business, so things are calm. With
some more cosmetic work, the terraces could be quite nice, and with a proper
waterfall, the sound of traffic on route 40 and elsewhere could be blocked
out. While the rooms are pedestrian, they are capacious so one has room to
move about. Amidst the $60 bottles of wine on the menu, there are a
few decent buys that are mellow. We had an Italian that was perhaps $10 a
glass, although it is not listed on the restaurant website, which is
outdated. Management could not give us a tour of the spa, but it is
promising and we will be looking into it. When visiting the website, take
some care, as the graphics may create computer gridlock. Herons at the Umstead. 100 Woodland Pond (turn left into SAS Institute just after
reaching Harrison Avenue from route 40). Cary, North Carolina 27513.
Telephone: 866-877-4141 or 919-447-4200. (8/8/07)
NOFO Market and Café
NOFO, on the first floor, sports an assortment of household unnecessaries
and domestic clutter that might bail you out if you need a quick, whimsical
gift for a forgiving hostess. Upstairs there is a spotty delicatessen. But
what the place is all about is downstairs. There’s the café which amounts
to a very pleasant sandwich shop with bar. So you might have a shrimp B.L.T.,
a salad sampler, or the grilled chicken Thai wrap. There’s a decent
assortment of brunch eggs and salads. This is a pleasant surprise to come
upon at Five Points, with a bright, spritely atmosphere and very willing
help. The designers of the space redid a former Piggly Wiggly store; hence,
this is called NOFO at the Pig. For more on the design, see www.steinerschelfe.com/commercial1.html. NOFO. 2014 Fairview Road,
Raleigh, NC 27608. Telephone: 919-821-1240. Website: www.nofo.com. There’s another NOFO in Wilmington, which we have not
visited.
The Not really Barbeque Joint
This
restaurant has not been much noticed, and the local writers have made much
too much out of the barbecue which, frankly, is rather bland, but probably
suits the kids who pour in from the high school down the way. The mystery,
however, is this interesting restaurant with a varied menu in Chapel Hill
is still a secret, but so are a host of the other better eateries around
the Triangle. In any event, after you have passed on the barbecue, do the
ribs, or the duck, or the crab cakes, or the wahoo, or the Redneck
Pastrami. We can’t think of anything not to like. Two Carolinians who are
the founders went away to see the world and came back with a lot of cooking
knowledge that landed here. To go along with your spicy food, the boys in
the back will put on Reggae and everything else, their collection of CDs
being extensive and impressive. The restaurant décor is whimsical, but
comfortable enough, not crowded, and not overlighted. Barbecue Joint., 630
Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514. Telephone: (919)
932-7504.
Best Bison Burger By Golly
Well, Ted’s, the brainchild of Ted Turner, actually serves the only
bison or buffalo burger. He got into the restaurant business, apparently,
with the thought that if there were enough demand for buffalo meat, it would
guarantee the buffalo’s place in America. Sort of a strange
environmentalism, if you like: using consumption to preserve an animal.
Anyhow, it’s
not that easy to find a good burger in the Triangle, and here you will find
as good a buffalo or beef burger as is available in North Carolina. And,
given the state’s strange laws, you can actually get your burger rare here,
since the restaurant grinds its own meat and is allowed to serve a bleeding
burger, while other establishments have to cook all the taste out of their
meat. The chain buys pedestrian tomatoes and desperate iceberg lettuce, so
just take your burger straight. The music is a tad too loud, and the booths
are too small, but this is a friendly enough place to eat, and it gets you
away from the congestion and tattiness of South Point, across the street.
For more on the whole Ted’s shooting match, see www.tedsmontanagrill.com. Ted’s Montana Grill, 6911 Fayetteville Road,
Suite 102 (just off I-40), Durham, North Carolina 27713, 919-572-1210.
There’s also one in Raleigh, as Ted looks to put his marker across the
United States, having started up the chain in Atlanta. As we mentioned on Wit and Wisdom, Ted may be running out of things to say, so these
restaurants might just be his last hurrah. To learn all about the
ostensible nutritional virtues of bison from St. Ted, read www.tedturner.com/download/montanagrill/Teds
MontanaGrillBisonFacts.pdf.
Cafe Bistro
We took forever to go to Southpoint Mall of Durham, and longer
yet to go to Nordstrom’s. There was no rush. The store is spacious and
pleasantly lighted, but it has an eerie, empty feeling, and the merchandise,
at the bottom of high end, seems to have been selected by a computer off in
the state of Washington. This is a standard department store with upscale
prices in an age when department stores are in decline: It needs, along
with Southpoint, to figure out its 2003 identity. It should be further
along in its development, having opened in March 2002. Both the Mall and
the store are nice enough, but they’re lacking in meaningful content and
compelling identity.
But up on
the second floor, tucked into the back, is Cafe Bistro, which is a silly
redundant name for a restaurant. This eatery is just right, with quirks.
Oddly, one orders at the cash register and pays up front. Then you pick a
table and a pleasant enough server goes through your whole order again,
maybe to assure you that he or she got the order straight. That said, the
decor is both comfortable and colorful, the ambiance permits quiet
conversation away from one’s neighbors, and the food is both modestly priced
and artfully tasty. It’s not fantastic, but it is darn good for a mall, and
much above anything offered in the Food (read fastgrease) Court. And, in a
town that likes to shut up on Sunday, it’s open when you need it. We have
liked the nicoise salad with salmon and the Asian Salad Pizza. The place
seems unmanaged, but somehow it all happens. We notice that it has not been
reviewed much: consequently you always can get a seat and may even have the
place to yourself on occasion. The editor of Duke’s Magazine dismissed it
with very few words in an article on Southpoint. We dwell on the
restaurant, because we think Nordstrom’s management could leverage it and
contribute mightily to the store’s merchandising. In former days, we
remember how Stanley Marcus would bustle through the restaurant at his store
in North Park (Dallas), greeting us with more than cheer and asking whether
everything was going okay. Cafe Bistro at Nordstrom. The Streets at
Southpoint. Durham, North Carolina. Telephone (919) 806-3700.
Grayson's Cafe
Grayson’s is distinguished by serving
fairly simple fare at reasonable prices and by the fact that Mrs. Grayson is
a one-time Miss North Carolina who apparently sings a bit on Friday and
Saturday nights to add some extra spice to the food. Probably you will eat
a salad or wrap for lunch. Lo and behold, breakfast is also available.
It’s the simplicity of the place that’s most appealing, including its quiet
ambience. It needs better signage, so you may just drive right by if you
are not watching. You can fax in a take out menu with your choices—for any
meal. Grayson’s Café. 2300 Chapel Hill Road. Durham, near Lakewood, just
a few blocks off Business 15-501. Telephone: 919-403-9220. Website: www.graysonscafe.com.
Most
Original Sandwich Shop—Chapel Hill
Sandwhich is the latest arrival in West End Courtyard, the Franklin Street
enclave which aspires to be Chapel Hill’s next foodie destination. (See 3 Cups: Coffee, Tea and Chocolate for the 21st Century.) Like
its name, Sandwhich offers a cleverly tweaked menu of familiar ingredients
given just enough nouvelle spin to lift them out of the mundane into the
original. It’s a laid back shop with a slightly industrial flair—exposed
heating ducts, open kitchen and formica-topped tables—that’s already
attracting a crowd.
We’ve enjoyed the warm roasted eggplant sandwich, which
layers fire-roasted eggplant and red peppers with tangy oven-dried tomatoes,
goat cheese and garlic confit. Smoked salmon on ciabatta gets an
eye-opening dash of wasabi and shaved red onions along with expected cream
cheese, while homemade roast beef gets a simultaneous kick from chipotle hot
sauce and a cool down from creamy coleslaw. Prosciutto di Parma takes a
star turn twice daily: As Breakfast di Parma, it appears in a decidedly
upscale breakfast sandwich with creamy gorgonzola butter on a baguette.
Later in the day, it steps into a more classic role with fresh mozzarella,
enlivened with mint, arugula and lemon vinaigrette.
Summery specials make good use of Farmer’s Market
produce. There’s a warm green pea-mint soup with ginger crème fraiche,
local tomato salad with Celebrity Dairy goat cheese and basil pot de crème.
Moroccan mint tea, made with green tea and lots of fresh mint, is the
perfect cooler on steamy days.
Janet Elbetri, the cheerful co-owner (with her husband
Hich, also the chef), once worked for Valrhona, the premium French chocolate
company. Naturally, Sandwhich’s dessert menu includes Most Excellent
Brownies made with Valrhona and the cleverly named Anti-Depressant Chocolate
Chip Cookies (with happiness-inducing pumpkin and sunflower seeds). Elbetri
also consults with 3 Cups owner Lex Alexander on his high end selection
of chocolate bars and offers an occasional chocolate seminar.
Contact: Sandwhich,
West End Courtyard, 431 West Franklin Street, Suite 18, Chapel Hill, NC
27516. Telephone: 919-929-2114.
Liberty Oak
More than a
few business folks in downtown Greensboro go here for a casual lunch and
light fare. For us, it’s a Saturday lunch recommendation, when you are in
old clothes anyway, can’t find a lot of places open, and want easy enough
parking right downtown. We notice that there will be goodly portions. We
went for a Nicoise salad which was not artfully made but plenty good, with a
decent size rare chunk of tuna and splashes of capers atop a plate of
greens. We had as well a Czech lager, which is to say that the proprietors
try for a bit of beer variety. This fun restaurant is of a piece with
several Greensboro eateries—some local color with a bit of twist to the
decoration, reasonable prices, and ample, uncomplicated food served with
dispatch and within pretension where you may bump into a few of the folks
you know around town. There’s also plenty of space so you do not feel
cramped, all adding up to an easy experience not available in other
metropolitan areas of North Carolina. To get a preview of its flavor, visit www.libertyoakrestaurant.com. Liberty Oak Restaurant and Bar. 100-D W
Washington St., Greensboro, NC 27401-2703. Telephone: 336-273-7057.
(3/1/06)
Merlion Restaurant
Now there are a couple of reasons for visiting Southern Village, a somewhat overbuilt but moderately pleasant
development, just outside Chapel Hill on 15-501. Its village center is
distinctively more pleasant than the assemblage at Meadowmont, and a few things—the Lumina movie theater, the travel
bookshop, etc.—are worth a passing visit. Oddly it lacks a decent
supermarket.
Now we have just eaten Singapore at the relatively new Merlion. It is more than decent and fairly priced. Open for lunch and
dinner 7 days a week it qualifies as something of a find. Of the
several dishes we tried, the Hokkien Noodles were best: egg and rice noodles
with shrimp, calamari, bean sprouts, chive and egg. Chili sambal to
heighten the sensation. While some of the flavors found in Singapore
dishes are missing here, there is enough taste and enough freshness to merit
frequent visits. Incidentally, the table water is perfectly drinkable for
some odd reason, and it does not suffer from the rash of chemical tastes
that characterizes the normal run of water from OWASA. For bemusement, you
should try the very overpriced but quite good Morimoto Soba Ale which came
out in Spring 2003 and is named after one of the Iron Chefs, Masahara Morimoto.
Singapore cuisine deserves some study, because it is a fusion of many
ethnic groups and, as such, is probably the most interesting tapestry in a
rather regimented society. While Merlion barely touches on this diversity,
hints of Thai and Chinese and Indian can be found about its menu. We wish,
of course, that there was a merlion or two (a creature with the head of a lion and the body of a
fish, a common statuary in Singapore) outside the restaurant to enhance the
fantasy and make one dream of southeast Asia. Reasonable attempts to create
a touch of Singapore can be found at one end of the main dining room, but
this is diluted by the noisy din that arises from a ceiling lacking in
sound-absorber tiles. So it’s a pleasant atmosphere, but hardly
magical. The bar, to the back, is terribly ordinary and unfortunately you
can see its big color TV even when seated in the dining room. Merlion is at
410 Market Street, Suite 320, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. 919-933-1188.
(1/25/06)
Jibarra (Norte Raleigh)
We have yet to try the cebiches, the shredded duck with lettuce, foie gras
two ways, corn husk-smoked halibut, lamb shank with the bone in, duck
breast, venison meat loaf, cactus paddle salad. That’s to say, we have a
lot of eating yet to do. Jibarra, we learn, is about a year old, the
favorite child of the proprietor who owns two undistinguished Mexican
chains. But this is the real enchilada.
The quarters are nice but mixed, the owners having done
a decent job of remodeling this lumpen architecture space and creating a
little interest. We think especially that the curves in the bar manage to
make one forget that this is a squatty rectangular blockhouse. One could
call it interesting, if not pretty. But a diner is able to forget the very
undistinguished restaurants nearby. More could be done on the interior, of
course, but this is a good start. Depending on the occasion, there will be
chill music in the background, and perhaps standard, pleasant Mexican at
Sunday family luncheons. It’s marvelous, too, that the restaurant is open
for long hours every day but Monday, providing one of the few decent spots
to visit on a Sunday. The service is always exceptionally polite; the
maitre actually knows something about the cooking.
We are pleased that the restaurant has found both
cabrito and rabbit, especially since it has become tougher to get
interesting things slaughtered in North Carolina. The goat is cooked long,
and, interestingly, is not over-spiced. In fact, Chef Ricardo Quintero, of
Mexico City, who has trained at Akelarre in San Sebastian, shows admirable
restraint in a number of dishes, a delicacy that allows tastes that could
get buried to emerge. Management prides itself on presenting a sampling of
several Mexican regional cuisines, but we do not know enough about Mexican
cooking to say in which area—say Oaxaca or Yucutan—this kitchen excels.
We found interesting wines, did a flight of tequilas
with pleasure, and found our coffee to have enough punch. The desserts we
think are not memorable. After some urging, we had the habanero
cheesecake. The bunuelos bear no relation to the airy creations we
cherish. But who needs dessert anyway after such a repast. Some of our
party found both the flan and torta de elote (fresh corn cake) pleasing. Of
course, we will try the trio of chocolate ice creams another day.
This is an
easy reach from the airport—perhaps 10 miles down 540 and then a short jaunt
towards Raleigh on Six Forks. But keep your eyes open, since it and
Peachtree Market where it is housed are not memorable and you can pass them
by. Jibarra. 7420 Six Forks Road and Mourning Dove, Raleigh, North
Carolina 27615. Telephone: 919-844-6330. Website: www.jibarra.net. (3/28/07)
Southern
Lights
We’re a
little thin on Greensboro restaurants we thoroughly trust and have just
happily added this to our portfolio at the recommendation of a local foodie.
It’s simple dishes made well, served by a wait staff that tries very hard
and figures out what to do when the kitchen runs out of specials of the day.
The sandwiches are fine, and the dessert sticks in our mind. We had a
chocolate walnut pie, but our companions thought their sweets were even
better. The same folks own 1618 Seaford Grill across the street, which,
advises our informant, you can skip. Southern
Lights. 2415 Lawndale A Drive, Greensboro NC 27408 336-379-9414. Fax
336-273-3875. Email: phamilton@triad.rr.com. See www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=50&ArticleID=
395&TM=14580.7. (9/21/05)
Update. New address above. Friendlier than ever. A relaxing lunch. (4/22/15)
Thai Café
We owe this find to Daniel, one of the owners Tyler’s Taproom, the popular
pub stop in the American Tobacco District in Durham, right next to the Bulls
ballpark. It has also been recommended to us by the staffs of other local
restaurants. The Thai Café, down the street from Nana’s, is the best new
offering in the whole Triangle in many a moon. Its virtues are many. On a
Saturday afternoon the owners will be playing opera, listening in on the old
Texaco hour which Chevron now is too chintzy to fund. The prints on the
wall, with scenes of Thailand, are handsomely displayed, reminding one of a
Thai restaurant in another Southern city that flashes a continuous slide
show on the wall that takes you through the delights of that country. A
waiter is uncommonly polite, actually knows the food, and hastens to fill
one’s glass, bring extra seasonings, or get food and check to the table with
dispatch. A rather beleaguered strip mall space has been brought to life,
and a handsome bar looks to be on the way.
There’s a lot
to choose from and we have just begun to probe the menu. Up front one
should clearly have the basil rolls and the crispy squid, although we
suggest a touch of hot sauce or some sort of chiles to complement the squid
which is wonderfully cooked but a trifle bland. The satay is also on the
mark. We had a spicy beef salad for our main course, and it was altogether
satisfying. Both desserts—crème brulee and the coconut cake—were, as the
waiter said, “to die for,” which we found surprising, since Asian sweets are
normally something we can easily overlook. We’ve not chatted with the
owners, Oddy Tacha and his sister Kachana, but we understand they had a
success in Atlanta, sold out, and moved into Durham to exploit the growing
appetite for Asian cuisine. Thai Café. 2501 University Drive, Durham,
North Carolina 27707. Telephone: 919-493-9794. Website: www.thaicafenc.com.
Its hours are not published, but one should know that it virtually serves
all day on Saturday and Sunday.
Babette's
In the
Triangle, most of the eating spots worth visiting are clustered fairly close
to town, be it Durham, Chapel Hill, or Raleigh. But now some of the blank
spots are getting filled in, and you have a new halfway point between
Raleigh , the Research Park and Chapel Hill as you make your way on
Interstate 40. At Exit 276, perhaps a mile past the Rte 54 stoplight on
Fayetteville Road, you will find Babette’s, somewhat lonely in a new set of
structures that are having a hard time finding tenants. That’s all to the
good because it means you will find both quiet and good parking there.
Babette’s is named after the movie Babette’s Feast, but be assured the connection is in name only.
This is a sandwich place with reasonable prices, but it also has light and
very well prepared luncheon fare that is fairly priced and full of value.
The restaurant is the handiwork of Devon Mills, a local cook who’s been at
the Weathervane, 411, Magnolia, etc., and, because of that experience,
clearly understands the price point this region will tolerate. We had a
small piece of grilled salmon set in quite a salad bed, and this was surely
all the lunch one ever needed. Somewhat unique in this area, the restaurant
has ample tables (including some outside seating) and an open room amply lit
by clear large windows. For a change one does not feel cramped. As other
places, such as NOFO, that offer a price conscious lunch, the dinner menu
is more ambitious, but still not off the charts. Saturday nights often
include some jazz. Babette’s. 5826 Fayetteville Road. Durham, NC 27713.
Telephone: (919) 544-8880. Website: www.babettes.net.
Wasabi
We
wound up at this restaurant because of a technology manager of Korean
background we met on one of those slow commuter flights down from Boston.
He vouched for this restaurant, and he was right. The quarters are
attractive, unusually so for the Triangle, where Japanese eateries are often
cramped. So it has more flair than others in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, etc, and
the presentation of the food has youthful panache. The sushi was, indeed,
fresh, and the Thai food provides interesting counterpoint, though some of
the Thai ingredients are inappropriately sweet. It is just off 64, and we
can now say that the two best Japanese luncheon spots in the region are just
seconds off this artery. Wasabi in MacGregor Village. 107 Edinburgh South,
Suite 135. Cary, North Carolina 27511. Telephone: 919-460-7980. Fax:
919-460-7982.
Best Asian Fusion
Restaurant in the Triangle
It’s lucky that The Lantern, the sophisticated new Asian-inspired restaurant
on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, has an amusing bar. You’re likely to put
in some time there, since this foodie favorite doesn’t take reservations for
fewer than six. But the dark, retro Chinese chic watering hole, all done up
in red and black and gold, with paper lanterns and a cheongsam-clad dragon
lady behind the bar, is an entertaining prelude to the main event. On a
warm Saturday night in April, we found it just the place to get in the mood
with a glass of Dolcetto d’Alba 1999 and a plate of the chef’s savory black
mushroom and cabbage dumplings.
Eventually,
you'll get the call to dinner. Entering the main restaurant from the darkly
exotic bar is a little like coming out of a tunnel into the light. You step
into a soothing tea-green room, hung with a cluster of cool 50’s-style
Scandanavian light fixtures, glide into a chair at a black lacquer table,
where your chopsticks are resting on a polished stone. It is a moment that
would be calming were it not for the high noise level. Chef Andrea Reusing,
formerly at Fin’s in Raleigh, and her brother Brendan have distilled many
Asian culinary themes into a short but fabulous menu. The fiery Japanese
eggplant, marinated with chilies and garlic, is vibrant way to start the
meal. Or kick things off with the crackling calamari, tender very lightly
fried squid amped up with a racy lime vinaigrette. The one-must-order
entree is the tea-and-spice-smoked chicken: Half a bird, brined in rice
wine, braised with cinnamon, roasted and then smoked over litchi tea,
emerges from its complex culinary hegira moist and tender, sweetly
redolent of spice and smoke, accompanied by rice studded with edamame, ham
and scallions. The steamed halibut with scallions and ginger is lovely and
fresh; on a chilly night, we’d go for the tofu hot pot, bean curd gently
fried and served in a broth with succulent shitake mushrooms, slippery
noodles, lotus root and braised mustard greens. For dessert, one could
simply stop and be happy with the warm chocolate cake with ginger ice
cream. Or push the envelope with the pure and simple panna cotta, a wobbly
sweet cream jelly in puddle of caramelized sugar. It could replace the
ubiquitous creme brulee. Contact: The Lantern, 423 West Franklin Street,
Chapel Hill. Telephone: 919-969-8846
Best Pho in the
Triangle
On gelid
winter days we often find ourselves in the car heading inexorably, like the
needle of a compass pointing north, toward Kim Son, a small Vietnamese
restaurant tucked in amongst the fast food joints on Guess Road in Durham.
What we are craving is a steaming bowl of pho, a robust, vividly
flavored beef noodle soup often eaten for breakfast in Vietnam--but we’ll
eat Kim Son’s version any time of day. As soon as we slide into a booth, we
can hardly wait for owner Ha Guthrie to arrive with pho dac biet: a
deep, rich beef broth, made from a long slow simmer of spare ribs and beef
bones, flavored with star anise and cinnamon, laden with rice noodles and
thinly sliced rare and well done beef, and meatballs. Alongside is a plate
piled high with sprigs of mint, broad-leafed Vietnamese cilantro, bean
sprouts, sliced jalapeno peppers and lime wedges. The idea is to put lots
of the above in your pho, then add lashings of sriracha, a
fiery red hot sauce and the sweeter, plummy hoisin sauce. Now, the
only other thing you need is a bottle of Danang’s finest, Export 33 beer, or
a refreshing glass of pale coconut juice with a curl of young coconut in the
bottom.
Kim Son
(which means “Gold Mountain”) is owned by Ha Guthrie, who came to America
to marry a Vietnam veteran she had met during the war. A former computer
programmer trained in French and Chinese cooking, she opened the restaurant
a few years ago; many of the recipes she prepares are from her own family’s
repertoire. There are six varieties of pho on the menu; we can also
recommend the hu tieu nam vang (dai), a delicious clear rice noodle
soup with shrimp, crab, chicken and roast pork, and the spring rolls,
delicate rice paper-wrapped shrimp, pork, vermicelli and vegetables with a
peanut sauce for dipping. There are probably other good dishes on the menu,
but we can’t seem to get past our favorites. Kim Son, 2425 Guess Road,
Durham, 27705. Telephone: 919-416-9009.
Jujube
Jujube, though only open a short while, has quickly become the best
restaurant in Chapel Hill, taking over from the Lantern, which was tops for
a while but then fell off the mountain. Importantly, Charlie Deal, chef and
owner, knows food and knows something about harmony. Oddly, we had avoided
it because we had heard that it was part of a local chain of restaurants
that don’t cut it. Virtually all the food is good, so one does not have to
pick and choose. With perhaps one exception, the wait staff is pleasant and
has special interests such as poetry and music, or exploration in South
America, or photography. The design is as good as it gets in the area,
things are not noisy, and one is not jammed up against other customers. So
it is a restful stop. We have taken to eating the soba, which we find to be
better than that served at the Japanese restaurants in the Triangle. Deal
comes out of California cooking, and his food is modified Asian. Things get
a bit out of hand when the owner is not present: a waiter gets loud and even
sings off chord, the kitchen doors are left open, etc. When it’s not too
hot, it’s pleasant to sit outside, though some umbrellas should be installed
to protect patrons from the elements. We intend to try one of his special
dinners and a dim sum gathering as well. Jujube. 1201-M Raleigh Road at
Highway 54 (Glen Lennox Shopping Center), Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Telephone:
919-960-0555. Lunch Mon.-Fri., 11:30-2:30; dinner Mon.-Sat., 5:00-10:00.
Dim Sum, Lunch on Sat. and Sun. (8/2/06)
Star Lu
Located
on the ground floor in the back of the office building, this site has housed
some weaker emporiums before. There’s work to be done on Star Lu’s food
(there was much too much fried stuff on the menu at a recent lunch) and its
rather amateurish service. That said, the quarters are very well designed,
good looking and restful. A good place to hide out in Durham. The Raleigh
News and Observer waxes poetic over this eatery, but we would say make
haste slowly. There’s some retreading needed here. (See http://triangle.com/
dining/restaurantreview/story/2088488p-8467055c.html.) A sort of fun
local blogger also can’t say enough good things about it (http://archerpelican.typepad.com/tap/2005/02/r
staurant_star.html). What’s more interesting is that a local team—David
Ripperton, a Carrboro architect, and Sunderland Engineering (http://sunderlandeng.com)
put the thing together—and that merits some attention. Most of the
restaurants about are too crowded, poorly lighted, and exquisitely
uncomfortable. More on Ripperton at http://dnra.net/
portfolio.htm: he appears to have some talent for interiors. Restaurant
Starlu. 3211 Shannon Road. Suite 106 (back of the building). Durham, N.C.
27707. Telephone: 919-489-1500. Website: www.starlu.com.
1703
It’s not that
easy to find the better restaurants in Winston-Salem, and Winston-Salem’s
sister city Greensboro has a leg up in the cuisine department. But, one
step at a time, the town is coming into its own. We have not noticed that
1703 is on many lips, but it is as pleasant as it gets. And the food has
gotten better since we first started eating there: the menus are better than
the ones shown on the Internet. On our last visit we had flounder, and
there is a surprising array of fish (salmon, grouper, sea bass, etc) on the
dinner menu and not that much meat. So one is in line for some healthy,
tasteful eating. It has not been crowded, and the waitress is uncommonly
pleasant. A pleasant beer from Belgium, probably a Klinkaert, is
available. We first met Joe Curran, chef and owner, when he was catering a
business event. Once upon a time, we understand, he worked as a private
chef. 1703 Restaurant. 1703 Robinhood Road (just off Reynolda), Winston
Salem, North Carolina. 336-725-5767. (2/22/06)
Four Square Restaurant
This restaurant has been around for half a decade, having opened its doors
in 1999. Tucked away above Business 15-501, it is too easy to forget
about. Perhaps its biggest distinction is that it clearly has the best
website of any restaurant in the Triangle (see www.foursquarerestaurant.com), tastefully selling any and everything
that can make this eatery seem like a special experience. It goes into
the fact, for instance, that it is housed in the Bartlett Mangum House,
now on the Historic Register, which hearkens back to an early merchant in
Durham. On an occasion or two, we have met acquaintances there for a
short drink, finding this bar a good place to end the day. One friend,
who especially likes this restaurant, is able to wangle a sampling plate
out of the chef each time, finding out that it is best to try just a bit
of everything. At a chance meeting one day, we had wine and desserts with
the owners, and found it to be a good way to get through a moody
afternoon. In fact, they might add a leisurely dessert room to their
restaurant as has one old-time Tampa steakhouse with much success. 2701
Chapel Hill Road, Durham, NC 27707. Telephone: (919) 401-9877.
Jibarra (Norte Raleigh)
We have yet to try the cebiches, the shredded duck with lettuce, foie gras
two ways, corn husk-smoked halibut, lamb shank with the bone in, duck
breast, venison meat loaf, cactus paddle salad. That’s to say, we have a
lot of eating yet to do. Jibarra, we learn, is about a year old, the
favorite child of the proprietor who owns two undistinguished Mexican
chains. But this is the real enchilada.
The quarters are nice but mixed, the owners having done
a decent job of remodeling this lumpen architecture space and creating a
little interest. We think especially that the curves in the bar manage to
make one forget that this is a squatty rectangular blockhouse. One could
call it interesting, if not pretty. But a diner is able to forget the very
undistinguished restaurants nearby. More could be done on the interior, of
course, but this is a good start. Depending on the occasion, there will be
chill music in the background, and perhaps standard, pleasant Mexican at
Sunday family luncheons. It’s marvelous, too, that the restaurant is open
for long hours every day but Monday, providing one of the few decent spots
to visit on a Sunday. The service is always exceptionally polite; the
maitre actually knows something about the cooking.
We are pleased that the restaurant has found both
cabrito and rabbit, especially since it has become tougher to get
interesting things slaughtered in North Carolina. The goat is cooked long,
and, interestingly, is not over-spiced. In fact, Chef Ricardo Quintero, of
Mexico City, who has trained at Akelarre in San Sebastian, shows admirable
restraint in a number of dishes, a delicacy that allows tastes that could
get buried to emerge. Management prides itself on presenting a sampling of
several Mexican regional cuisines, but we do not know enough about Mexican
cooking to say in which area—say Oaxaca or Yucutan—this kitchen excels.
Chamas Churrascaria and Amelia
This is a new treat in Bright Leaf Square. You really get two meals
for the price of one. There is a very ample buffet salad and appetizer
course which alone will make you quite happy. This is followed by an
endless parade of meats—flank steak, beef, sausage, chicken, pork, filet
mignon, etc.—which is brought to you on skewers. The waiter slices a few
pieces off the warm meat and returns later with more, if you should so
desire. Chamas (“flames” in Portuguese) was opened by a couple of Brazilian
women in August 2004, further extending into the Triangle (there is another
Portuguese beef restaurant in Cary) a concept that is spreading across the
United States—the Brazilian grilled beef restaurant or churrascaria. The
service is very attentive. On a busy Saturday night the restaurant is quite
lively, with Brazilian music entertainments flashed in a big screen off the
bar area. The diners are largely sandwiched in a small space by the front
window, and one should make an effort to eat in other parts of the
restaurant. The help is indefatigably cheery and they move the meal along
with pleasant dispatch. See www.chamas.us. For more details on the fare see http://archerpelican.typepad.com/tap/2005/03/chamas_churrasc.html.
Chamas Churrascria. 905 West Main Street, Suite 115, Brightleaf Square,
Durham, North Carolina 27701. Telephone 919-682-1309.
As importantly, the owners have opened just next door a
coffee house/confection shop which is easily the most pleasant coffee
establishment in the whole region. If anything, we like this even better
than the excellent restaurant. We can recommend the brownie cookies. Try
the cheenies, which are also offered in the restaurant, a light puff cheese
bread nibbler which is excellent fare for a cocktail party. Amelia’s is
next door to the restaurant in Suite 23J. Do not call its phone, which is
not connected: call the restaurant instead. Amelia’s opens at 8 a.m.
The
re-developers of Bright Leaf Square have made a host of mistakes, carving up
the front building unmercifully and honky tonking the walkway between the
two buildings. But they may be getting somewhere with their restaurants.
For the longest time, there was only one decent restaurant to visit, Nikos.
With Chamas, there are two, forming a little cluster. And a Japanese
restaurant has just opened between the two called Mt. Fuji. The owner’s
brother operates Shiki Pottery down the way. The hodgepodge of cuisines
hint that this new Asian eatery may be unfocused and trying to be all things
to all people. We have yet to try it. (10/5/05)
Best Vanilla Ice Cream in the Triangle
Trendy eateries have been pushing the notion of "ice cream" to its
outer limits--any day now we'll be offered a scoop of wasabi-mint or pumpkin-cashew--but
it has become almost impossible to get really good vanilla ice cream. The simplest
is not only the best, but it is also the hardest to make, because no disguises are
permitted. The essential ingredients, just thick cream, sugar and vanilla--must be
in exactly the right proportions and churned and frozen to the perfect consistency.
A wide ranging, very personal survey of vanilla ice creams in the
Triangle has turned up a winner. Why are we not surprised that a fabulous vanilla
ice cream can be found at Nana's, one of our favorite Durham restaurants? Chef Scott
Howell skips the eggs, using only the essential trio of ingredients, to produce a
luxuriously rich, intensely flavored, seed-flecked vanilla ice cream that brings back
memories of the impossibly perfect hand-cranked ice creams of childhood. Whether you
enjoy it atop molten chocolate lava cake or blueberry peach crumble, or simply as a trio
of perfectly plain scoops, this is the one you've been searching for.
If you feel you must order something before desert, Howell is a
wizard when it comes to fish, which rightly dominates the menu. Recently, we had a
superb grilled yellow fin tuna, meaty and cooked just medium rare, atop a tangle of lovely
summer vegetables--tiny asparagus, silvered zucchini, cherry tomatoes--with mini-ravioli.
Other winners have included an appetizer of divers scallops (alas, only three,
although they were big) with lobster-sherry vinaigrette, and sockeye salmon over sauteed
sweet corn, fennel and spinach.
The newly redesigned dining rooms--one with saffron-hued walls,
the other with deep apricot, both punctuated with splashy, brightly covered--are airy and
comfortable, but our truly favorite spot is the ultra-cool bar, which attracts a sparky
crowd and has more elbow room. Contact: Nana's, 2514 University Drive, Durham.
Telephone: 919-493-8545.
Best New North
Carolina Eatery—Asheville, North Carolina
As we
drove through an afternoon downpour, our eye was snagged by a storefront
kitchen and a sign that read “Rezaz.” Upon investigation, we glimpsed big
jars of exotic spices, a black Garland range and an attached Mediterranean
bistro with a menu inspired by the sunny cuisines of Morocco, Spain and
Southern France. Owner Reza Setayesh—hence the restaurant’s name—is a
personable Persian chef who has plied his trade in Washington and other
upscale burgs. Now he has turned an old hardware store near the railroad
tracks into a culinary hot spot with paprika colored walls, bright paintings
and sassy food that draws lively crowds every night.
And no wonder:
The food is great. The Moroccan spiced lump crab cake was a crisp golden
cylinder of fresh, succulent crab, topped with a tomato-cinnamon jam that
amped up the sweetness of the seafood. Oxtail soup Jerez was fragrant and
rich, its steaming broth filled with tender chunks of meat. Pink, juicy
slices of peppery seared duck breast, served over garlic mashed potatoes,
were napped with a sweet -tart pomegranete molasses sauce that intensified
the flavor of the duck. Grilled lemons added a bright note to a dill-flecked
seafood risotto studded with tiny clams and mussels and slices of spicy
chorizo. For dessert, we sampled a sophisticated pistachio and rosewater
ice cream that could have come right out of The Arabian Nights.
Feather-light apple fritters, liberally dusted with powdered sugar and
served with caramel-laced ice cream, were simply addictive. Surely among
North Carolina’s top five restaurants.
Contact: Rezaz,
28 Hendersonville Road in Biltmore Village, Asheville, North Carolina.
Telephone: 828-2771510.
Better than Average Restaurants
A few of these have already made Best of the Triangle. Acme (#12)
is best at stew-type things, while Bon's (#25), not too far away, has
the leanest barbecue. Scott Howells' Nana's (#11) is probably the
best restaurant in the whole region, earning special stars on fish and vanilla ice
cream. But it's time to fill out the list with a few others, and we'll add more when
the spirit moves us. We estimate there about thirty that make the grade.
m. City Ways Cafe. After a hiatus because of all the catering
business, Anita Council now serves lunch again. Her sandwiches are just fine, the
ambience is restful, and usually she has pleasant light jazz in the background.
Homemade ice cream tops it all off. City Ways is also known as Cookie Bear Company
(because of the take-out pastry) and Miss Council, from a Chapel Hill family known for
restaurants, is also known as Spring. Someday she'll just call it Spring's.
City Ways Cafe. 405 West Rosemary St., Chapel Hill, NC. Telephone:
919-942-9929.
l. The Flying Burrito. Sometimes public opinion is dead
on. A favorite of town dwellers since it opened about fifteen years ago, this
eclectic Chapel Hill locale serves up burritos and other tex-mex standards filled with
non-standard ingredients like sweet potatoes. Popular to the point of inspiring
fanaticism on the part of some locals, its bar is rarely quiet, as our webmaster--who
contributed this entry--can testify to. Be forewarned, though: Around dinner time
the wait can be arduous. Once you get a spot, make sure you try the hot salsa and don't forget to inspect the local artwork. The Flying Burrito. 746
Airport Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Telephone: 919-967-7744.
k. Akai Hana. Now the best Japanese restaurant in Chapel
Hill-Durham area, though with a few cautions. On a Friday night, the waits can be
long, and there's no place to wait. Foolishly, it has given up preparing take-out
food. Pretty much stick to sushi and avoid cooked items that require fat or
butter. Order mainstream, high-turnover items like tuna. That said, some of
the staff is very willing, occasional music can be fun, and the sushi is generally fresher
than that of other establishments. Edaname (soybeans) are good and simple
here. A good side bet: if you're afraid of fish and high-cost sushi restaurants, try
the vegetarian sushi in the concessions at many Harris Teeters. It is surprisingly
good. Akai Hana. 200 West Main St. (opposite Chapel Hill Tire), Carrboro, NC
27510. Telephone: 919-942-6848.
j. Pop's. Two and two does not equal six. Put together by
the owners of Magnolia Grill and Nana's, it does not have their virtues. But it's
central, more modest price-wise, and somewhat more service-oriented. The simple
picks are better; the more complicated dishes deserve a different hand than Pop's.
Pop's. 810 West Peabody St. (next to Fowler's and a block away from Brightleaf
Square), Durham, NC 27701. Telephone: 919-956-7677.
i. Vespa. The Chapel Hill restaurant has a somewhat fun
atmosphere, with lively posters and Italian music. In addition to having the most
sparkling atmosphere around, its sorbettos are delicious, standing out in a region that
usually offers very average desserts. Vespa. 306-D West Franklin St., Chapel
Hill, NC 27516. Telephone: 919-969-6600. Vespa Cary could probably use a
little more work, but it's also one of the few alternatives there. 200 South Academy
St., Cary, NC 27511. Telephone: 919-319-5656.
h. The Grill at Glen Lennox. Many don't know about this
restaurant, but it's a good luncheon spot, and the owner, who formerly had a restaurant in
Maine, knows a lot about the business. We like the salad Nicoise, but all the lunch
items are decent as well. The Grill at Glen Lennox. 1201 Raleigh Rd. (Rt. 54),
Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Telephone: 919-942-1963. Website: http://grillatglenlennox.citysearch.com.
g. Carrburritos Taqueria. Many of the Mexican restaurants in the
area have chancy kitchens and struggling food. These folks prepare the food in the
open, and it's simple and pretty good. We like putting fish in a tortilla, a
pleasurable way to avoid cholesterol. You can get Cokes in a bottle, the Mexican
way. Carrburritos. 711 Rosemary St., Carrboro, NC 27510. Telephone:
919-933-8226.
f. Taverna Nikos. Clearly this is the best value restaurant in
the Chapel Hill-Durham area with fair pricing and well-prepared Greek fare. One
could complain--but we never do--that there's too much to eat. In other words, you
get a lot for your money. The proprietor always seems to be in attendance and tries
to make one quite happy. Taverna Nikos. Brightleaf Square, 905 West Main St.,
#49. Durham, NC 27707. Telephone: 919-682-0043. Website: http://tavernanikos.citysearch.com.
e. Fin's Restaurant. This is the fusion winner in the Piedmont.
In northern Raleigh, it's a little hard to get to, it's a wait before you even get
to sit down, and you feel a little fused to those sitting beside you. Fusion here
means one brand of Asian or another linked to another linked to some Western motifs.
Fin's Restaurant. 7713-19 Lead Mine Rd., Graystone Village, Raleigh, NC
22615. Telephone: 919-847-4110.
d. 411 West. One of a chain of middlebrow restaurants (three in
Chapel Hill, one on Raleigh), 411 is clearly the gem of the bunch. It's got the
nicest atmosphere by far and a few finds on its menu. Salads are probably its best,
followed by occasional fish specials. And Clark the pizza man is obviously dedicated
to his craft, more so perhaps than the rest of the kitchen. 411 West. 411 West
Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Telephone: 919-942-8757. Website: http://411west.citysearch.com.
c. 518 West. This is a Raleigh knock-off of 411. It's not
as warm and much more noisy. It has virtually the same menu. Arrive early for
lunch, because the parking is horrendous. 518 West. 518 West Jones St.,
Raleigh, NC 27605. Telephone: 919-829-2518. Website: http://www.518west.citysearch.com.
b. Fairview Restaurant. Part of Washington Duke Inn. This
is probably the most pleasant luncheon spot around, because you get to peer out at the
golf course, there's at least the pretense of space around you, and the floors are
carpeted. When the company is right, you will want to take a walk around outside
afterwards to work off the lunch and take the conversation to a higher level.
Fairview Restaurant. 3001 Cameron Blvd. Durham, NC 27706. Telephone:
919-490-0999.
Update: Fair No More. We just went to the Fairview Restaurant at
the Washington Duke and find it to be in decline. The hotel has
been vastly expanded and now looks like one of those ungainly
resorts in the western part of the state that are so gargantuan that
management cannot get its arm around them. The restaurant, too, has
been remodeled and moved, but bigger does not mean better. It used
to be easy to see out on the course, one of the charms of the old
Fairview. Now you have to be insistent about your seating to get a
decent view. The service ranges from spotty to rude, not because
the wait staff is not trying, but simply because it does not know
how. The portabellos were simply soggy in one main dish, and the
staff needs to learn about crabcakes. Only a steak, not too
challenging for the cooks, was satisfactory. Buffet style desserts
were simply pathetic. This restaurant used to be one of the
Triangle’s best kept secrets—now it should be kept secret.
(2/14/07)
a. Carolina Crossroads. Inside the Carolina Inn, this is the
best ambience for breakfast in the region. The colors in the dining room are nice to
wake up to, and the booths make for good conversation. Parking here is hassle-free,
and the Christmas display of ginger-bread houses is larger testimony to the pleasant aura
of the inn. Carolina Crossroads. 211 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC
27516. 919-918-2777. Website: http://crossroads.citysearch.com.
Penang in the Triangle
There seem to be a bunch of Penang restaurants around the country, perhaps 4
or so in New York City alone. Now it has come to Chapel Hill, just up
Franklin Street from 411. The service and cuisine is still mixed, but worth
the visit. It is definitely related to the restaurant of the same name in
New York’s SoHo district. What you must do is sit at the slightly more
elegant tables in the bar area, or perhaps down by the sushi bar, in order
to get away from the madding crowd. We would have the soup again, but will
have to search further on the amazingly extensive menu (Malaysian, Thai,
Japanese, etc) in order to find the 4 or 5 things we should have again and
again. But it’s nice to be in a large open space since there’s a tendency
to overcrowd and subdivide in all the eateries about the Triangle. Why did
it locate here? We learn from one sister working in the restaurant that
another sister had settled down north of Durham and had long dreamed of a
local Penang. Fortunately this is part of a larger trend: more Asian
restaurants have opened in the area over the last 3 years, and there are
still others to come. Penang. 431 West Franklin Street (in the old
Pyewacket location). Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516. Telephone: (919)
933-2288. Fax: (919) 933-3133.
Tsunami
This sushi cum noodle bar seems to have the freshest fish in the
triangle, and that adds up to a considerable endorsement, since the quality
of the fish is the most important aspect of good sushi. Mirugai and several
other items that are available here are commonly absent without explanation
at other restaurants. Additionally, it is open seven (7) days a week. We
are bemused that it appears to be run by 3 women, one being the owner and
one being the sushi chef, the first time, we think, we have ever encountered
a lady sushanista. We have encountered nothing bad on the sushi menu, even
though the cutting skills, here as elsewhere in the region, leave a little
to be desired. That slightly affects both the taste and the esthetic. As
elsewhere, the hot food is passable but certainly not exceptional. The
edaname (boiled soy beans) are fresher than most, but served hot and without
the usual garnish of salt grains. The address as given is a bit confusing:
it is in the shopping center housing the Mardi Gras bowling alley, almost at
the intersection of 54 and 40. Tsunami Sushi & Noodles. 6118B Farrington
Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27517. Telephone: 919-403-5800. Fax:
919-493-8842.
Best Asian Fusion
Restaurant in the Triangle
It’s lucky that The Lantern, the sophisticated new Asian-inspired restaurant
on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, has an amusing bar. You’re likely to put
in some time there, since this foodie favorite doesn’t take reservations for
fewer than six. But the dark, retro Chinese chic watering hole, all done up
in red and black and gold, with paper lanterns and a cheongsam-clad dragon
lady behind the bar, is an entertaining prelude to the main event. On a
warm Saturday night in April, we found it just the place to get in the mood
with a glass of Dolcetto d’Alba 1999 and a plate of the chef’s savory black
mushroom and cabbage dumplings.
Eventually,
you'll get the call to dinner. Entering the main restaurant from the darkly
exotic bar is a little like coming out of a tunnel into the light. You step
into a soothing tea-green room, hung with a cluster of cool 50’s-style
Scandanavian light fixtures, glide into a chair at a black lacquer table,
where your chopsticks are resting on a polished stone. It is a moment that
would be calming were it not for the high noise level. Chef Andrea Reusing,
formerly at Fin’s in Raleigh, and her brother Brendan have distilled many
Asian culinary themes into a short but fabulous menu. The fiery Japanese
eggplant, marinated with chilies and garlic, is vibrant way to start the
meal. Or kick things off with the crackling calamari, tender very lightly
fried squid amped up with a racy lime vinaigrette. The one-must-order
entree is the tea-and-spice-smoked chicken: Half a bird, brined in rice
wine, braised with cinnamon, roasted and then smoked over litchi tea,
emerges from its complex culinary hegira moist and tender, sweetly
redolent of spice and smoke, accompanied by rice studded with edamame, ham
and scallions. The steamed halibut with scallions and ginger is lovely and
fresh; on a chilly night, we’d go for the tofu hot pot, bean curd gently
fried and served in a broth with succulent shitake mushrooms, slippery
noodles, lotus root and braised mustard greens. For dessert, one could
simply stop and be happy with the warm chocolate cake with ginger ice
cream. Or push the envelope with the pure and simple panna cotta, a wobbly
sweet cream jelly in puddle of caramelized sugar. It could replace the
ubiquitous creme brulee. Contact: The Lantern, 423 West Franklin Street,
Chapel Hill. Telephone: 919-969-8846
Almost Best Restaurants
Bryan
Miller, one-time restaurant critic for the New York Times and now at Citysearch.com, is living proof of the Times Dilemma. Once upon
a time the Times had a great food and restaurant critic named Craig
Claiborne, but it has found nobody to take his place, virtually all his
successors lacking his taste and eye for food. Miller recently did a
flattering article about "North Carolina ... Cooking" (well, the title is
deceiving since it is really about the Triangle. Oops, not really. Read
further: it is about Chapel Hill and Durham. See the New York Times,
June 25, 2002, pp. 8 and 18.). At any rate, he misses the really best, but
does manage to capture a host of the very respectable establishments,
include Allen & Son Barbeque, Mama Dip’s Kitchen, Magnolia Grill,
Fishmonger’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar, Pop’s, Fearrington House Restaurant
and Country Inn, and Crook’s Corner.
More Maybe Restaurants
On a recent trip to Charlotte, we dined for a couple of hours at Bonterra.
This bears no relation to the California organic vineyard, and the waiter
was in fact disparaging of that winery. Our companion picked this spot for
its meat, and his choice was justified. Our Niman’s pork chop was truly
thick: clearly it was brought in from out of state since Niman’s has given
up operating in North Carolina because of slaughter problems. His filet
mignon was first class though he found the accompaniments dubious. We
shared a flight of four Shirazes which is a fun experience since you get to
compare and contrast the several houses one knows about—Penfolds, etc. We
found a Fox Creek—or was it Fox Gordon Reserve—to be the best horse in the
paddock. Probably it was Fox Creek “Short Glove.” Service was mixed and
even diffident. The food came to the table very, very slowly, and the
desserts obviously came from across town. A vanilla soufflé for dessert was
a worthwhile experiment which two should share since other desserts were not
remarkable. The price tag was decent, and the ambiance good, except that
some of the customers are permitted to be rather loud. This blowsy behavior
is strange, since most of the patrons are decorous, perhaps a bit dull, and
appropriately dressed. It is situated in a well-remodeled church that had
previously hosted 3 denominations since its creation circa 1900. Bonterra,
1829 Cleveland Ave. at East Worthington Ave., Charlotte North Carolina
28203. Telephone: 704-333-9463 and 704-333-2433. Website: www.bonterradining.com.
A few more eateries have come up that we’ve heard might
be decent, but we have not investigated them yet. They are:
LeVecchia’s Seafood Grille, 225 East 6th St.,
Charlotte NC 28202. Telephone: 704-370-6776. Website: www.lavecchias.com/home.htm.
Patou
Bistro and Bar, 1315 East Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28203. Telephone:
704-376-2233. Website: www.patoubistro.com/index_files/Page526.htm. (3/14/07)
Oaxaca
Best Way to Eat Oaxaca "Lite"
There
may come a moment, perhaps after a week in Oaxaca, when one needs a break
from the intensely rich food for which the city’s best cooks are famed.
That might be the moment to visit Iliana de la Vega’s pretty courtyard
restaurant, El Naranjo, just off the zocalo. Sra. de La Vega has created a
fracas in her hometown by refusing to make her moles with lard, a decision
that flies in the face of centuries of culinary tradition. During her first
year, outraged locals vented their fury by sending a steady stream of dishes
back to the kitchen, without tasting—or paying—for them. (See “In Oaxaca, a
Cook Creates a Stir,” Kent Black, The New York Times, August 14,
2002. Available at www.lavida-oaxaca.com.)
Our lunch began with squash blossom soup, a limpid pale green broth in which
were floating a small piece of corn, a squash blossom and tiny slivers of
squash, tender leaves and stems. This almost ascetic brew (really a
deconstructed version of a much heartier local soup) came to life when we
added a sizzling dollop of smoky chile guallillo sauce and a squeeze of
lime. Next came chiles rellenos stuffed with squash blossoms and
melting queso fresco, in a vibrant tomato and almond sauce.
Normally chiles rellenos are battered and fried, which can make them a bit
heavy. Here, in a “lite” bow to tradition, de la Vega topped them with a
square of puff pastry sprinkled with sesame seeds. We moved on to pork
loin in black mole sauce, and we must confess that we didn’t even notice the
missing lard. The mole was deep, dark, and mysterious with a mellow fire
and hints of chocolate, its slightly bitter edge a perfect contrast to the
savory pork. If anything was missing from the coconut flan, we couldn’t
tell. It was creamy and cool, rich with coconut and caramelized sugar.
The service at El Naranjo can be a mite leisurely, but de la Vega makes up
for it by stopping at every table in the dining room, greeting her guests
and even deconstructing recipes for the inquisitive. You probably won’t see
any Oaxacaquenos there—the tables were packed the day we went, but only with
American tourists—which is too bad because the food is good. De la Vega
offers cooking classes once or twice a week, which include a visit to the
Central de Abastos. Contact: El Naranjo, Valerio Trujano 203, Oaxaca,
Mexcio. Telephone: 951/514-1878. Website: www.elnaranjo.com.mx.
Christophe
It was an afterthought, on a Tuesday night, and we had been at a loss as to where we might go. We uncovered Christophe in the 5th and took a chance. It was a bit worrisome at first—since it was perched on a rugged turnabout and the doors were not open, though dinner was suppose to have begun. It was wonderful—a nice demeanor; a very gracious, warm owner chef; brains and lamb and other dishes made from the finest ingredients. As our colleague on Spicelines says, it's a comfortable place to visit on one's own.
We've since discovered that we are not the only traveler to have adventured here in pursuit of a solo intimate experience. A young American, studying to be a doctor in New York City, took himself here for a repast, which he recounts in Kevin's MD Stomach. Like ourselves, he is fond of offal. He remarks:
And that's exactly what happened during my lunch at Christophe, a small bistro located in Paris' 5th arrondissement. First off, I have to say that, if not for the multiple positive reviews I had read about the restaurant online, I probably wouldn't have eaten there. Why's that, you ask? Well, just take a look at the font used for the restaurant's banner. It's tough to take a business seriously when it uses the Curlz font so prominently on its storefront and on its website. It's kinda like being the owner of a professional sports team and writing a letter to the fans in Comic Sans after a certain star player "took his talents to South Beach"...oh wait, I guess that's been done, too. So maybe the use of Curlz isn't as egregious as that. After taking a deep breath and putting aside any misgivings I had about the restaurant's taste in computer fonts, I entered the bistro. An hour later, I walked out after enjoying what was perhaps my favorite meal of my entire stay in Paris.
Kevin, of course, backs up our central observation about Paris. It is the offbeat place in the mostly unlikely of spots that will offer the most remarkable experience, outclassing by far the renowned establishments.
For more on Christophe, we would refer you to Alexander Lobrano's Hungry for Paris, which ostensibly covers the 100 best eateries in town thought it certainly misses some of our favorites. Lobrano, we should add, falls in love with some losers, but he provides useful advice to someone who may not have been in Paris for a few years. About Christophe he raves, correctly we might add:
Hidden away in the Latin Quarter, young chef Christophe Philippe's simply decorated bistro with poppy-coloured walls and bare wooden tables is a find for two reasons – his modern French bistro cooking is delicious, and he's open for both lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday, when most Paris bistros are closed. Philippe, who's originally from Menton, on the Riviera.
This comment appeared in the Guardian where Lobrano names 10 favorite bistros.
Christophe, 8 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris. Phone: 33 (0)1 43 26 72 49.
Yam'tcha
Yam'tcha is included in a raft of interesting newer and sometimes smallish restaurants which offer quiet elegance in Paris and a restful dining experience. We stayed for several hours. Adeline Grattard., the French chef, offers the right plates in an easy progression, easily mixing Western and Eastern styles, reflecting both her French training and her time in the Orient. Her Chinese husband Chi Wah Chan, across the road, works on companion tea courses that complement her food nicely. His temperate mood and good cheer is part of what makes this such a companionable place to visit. Yam'tcha (to drink tea).
4 rue Sauval(rue Saint-Honoré) +33-01-40-26-08-07
Just in From France: Best
Traditional Brasserie Lunch
So many things at the Brasserie Balzer seem not to have changed in decades: the
vinyl banquettes, the mirrors, the dark wood paneling, even the neighborhood patrons, some
of whom appear to date from the days when Jean Paul Sartre and Camus were habitues.
(One would never know that Balzar's recent purchase by Group Flo caused an uproar.)
The waiters in long white aprons are efficient and gracious, serving simple, robust fare
with a flourish: poulet fermier, half a flavorful free-range hen with
crisp-roasted skin, a heaping plateful of tender haricot verts with hollandaise,
a rich tarte tatin with darkly caramelized apples and a dollop creme fraiche.
A good choice for lunch if you are visiting the Pantheon or the Sorbonne. Brasserie
Balzar, 49 Rue des Ecoles, 75005 Paris. Tel: 01.43.54.13.67.
Best Meal in Paris at 123
Meters - Haute cuisine at the Eiffel Tower.
Best Michelin Two-Star Lunch with Dog—Paris
We stopped for lunch at Helene Darroze one sunny January day and nearly
stumbled over a magnificent creature reclining in the foyer. Its breed was,
alas, unknown to us, but this splendid chien had long silky hair, of
such luscious hues of gold, brown and red that it would put any salon
colorist on his mettle. The dog’s lustrous tresses so perfectly matched the
rich autumnual hues of the restaurant’s decor that we wondered—was the dog
the inspiration, or the afterthought?
Helene Darroze is a 37-year-old chef whose much-bruited Paris restaurant was
recently awarded a coveted second Michelin star. She began her culinary
career with Alain Ducasse in Monaco, then moved to the helm of her family’s
restaurant in Villeneuve-de-Marsan. In her eponymous restaurant, which
debuted in 1999, Darroze creates inventive riffs on the cuisine of
Southwestern France, using local products as inspiration for dishes that
intrigue, but don¹t always succeed. Her cooking has ardent fans, but nearly
everyone—from Zagat to our hotel concierge—complains about the restaurant’s
lack of ventilation in summer.
No matter. We were there in the chill of winter and positively luxuriated
in the warmly elegant upstairs dining room. The room is a modernist study
in jewel tones, from deep burgundy velvet-covered walls and swish taffeta
curtains to rose and amethyst velvet chairs. Bright tangerine menus and
glassware in hues of lime green and pink topaz stood out like glowing
beacons in a sea of intense color.
Our lunch, which we ordered form the menu dejeuner, was at once the
best and worst of our five days in Paris. It began with an extravagant amuse bouche, a tiny bowl of creme brule de foie gras,
inexplicably served with a very large soup spoon. The caramelized crust
strewn with nuggets of green apple and pistachio gave way to an unctuous
mousse that was both airy and impossibly rich. We moved on to silken foie gras de canard des Landes, served with a sweetly
spiced chutney of apples, pears and other fruits du moment. Cannelloni de piperade gratines au brebis basque were delicate, the
pasta stuffed with a savory mixture of red pepper, onions, and pork,
accompanied by thin slices of very salty Basque ham. At this point, the
future looked bright, especially when viewed from the rim of a glass of
Domaine de L’Hortus Pic St. Loup 2001, a vibrant red wine from the
Languedoc.
Then our paths diverged. Saumon d¹Ecosse label rouge was perhaps the
best salmon we’ve ever eaten: exquisitely fresh and cooked to the perfect
moment, it was served in a frothy jus emulsionee au cavaiar presse atop grilled potatoes and braised leeks. But our companion’s lard de
porc basque et morceau de saucisse grilles au feu de bois left us
perplexed and hungry. A sort of deconstructivist cassoulet, it featured an
impossible-to-eat piece of fatty pork and overly salty sausage that were not
redeemed by a ragout of white beans from Bearn. It was the heavy sort of
dish one might eat in the dead of winter before going out to dig post holes
on the back forty, but such activities were not on our menu. Desserts
included a warm chocolate fondant of fruity Guanaja chocolate, paired with
an icy scoop of bittersweet chocolate sorbet. Meringue a la noix de
coco—coconut- flavored meringue wafers with rice pudding and passion
fruit puree—struck a tropical note.
As we made our way downstairs, the dog in the foyer stretched, wagged its
tail in the friendliest manner, and positioned itself between us and our
camel hair coat. It gazed longingly at us and then at the door to the
street, as if to say “Let’s go!” And so we did. But the dog stayed behind.
Contact: Helene Darroze, 4 rue d'Assas, 75006, Paris. Telephone: 01 42 22
00 11. Fax: 01 42 22 25 40. Email: helene.darroze@wanadoo.fr.
Favorite Restaurant: Les Bouquinistes—Paris
This is
why we love Les Bouquinistes: We no sooner had landed in Paris than we
decided to celebrate our arrival with lunch at this upscale bistro (one of
Guy Savoy’s “babies”) on the Quai des Grands Augustins near the Pont Neuf.
The booksellers along the Seine, after whom it is named, were shuttered
against the winter chill, but the restaurant was thronged with stylish Left
Bank art and publishing types. The personable thirty-something maitre d’ asked if we’d reserved. When we demurred, he laughed, “Ce n’est pas
grave!” and led us to a marvelous table.
With splashy paintings, walls the color of sunlight and asymmetrical white
porcelain table settings, Les Bouquinistes lifts the spirits joyously.
Williams Caussimon has taken over the helm since chef William Ledeuil moved
around the corner to open Ze Kitchen Galerie. The winter menu is
luxuriously seasonal, as always offering classic dishes with an inventive
spin. We began with Ravioles de crabe, delicate pasta bursting with
fresh, sweet crabmeat flecked with chives in a buttery broth, then got down
to business with Cuisse et filet de canette rotie au foie gras.
An intensely flavorful roasted breast of duck with lusciously crisp skin
was paired with boned duck thigh stuffed with unspeakably rich foie gras,
sliced into three generous “medallions.” Across the table was a satisfying
version of the same dish, volaille jaune rotie, roasted chiclken
breast deeply infused with its own juices and—in a clever nod to the
duck—three slices of boned chicken leg stuffed with rosemary- and
thyme-scented wild mushrooms. A bowl of puree de pommes de terre was
served alongside: the ultimate mashed potatoes, heavy with butter and cream.
For dessert, there was fondant au chocolat, a thick slice of
Venezuelan chocolate “pate” with a hidden center of white chocolate and
coconut. A small scoop of icy sorbet de cidre added a tart
refreshing note.
We knew we were in Paris when a serious, bespectacled gentleman ended his
two-hour lunch by lighting up a giant torpedo-shaped cigar. Although some
Zagat readers have complained that Les Bouquinistes has turned into an
American hangout, only French was spoken at lunch that day. Contact: Les
Bouquinistes, 53 Quai des Grands Augustins, 75006 Paris. Telephone: 01 43
25 45 94. Fax: 01 43 25 23 07. Website: www.guysavoy.com.
New Directions: Ze Kitchen Galerie—Paris
Curious about William Ledeuil’s new venture, we made our way to Ze
Kitchen Galerie a few nights later. At 10 p.m. on Saturday night, this hip,
contemporary bistro was noisy and crowded with champagne-drinking couples,
impossibly chic shopgirls, and ex-pats mulling over the Iowa caucuses.
White walls hung with bright paintings, a glassed-in kitchen, and table
settings by Phillippe Starck underscore the concept of cuisine as art. (We
rather like Margaret Kemps description in Bonjour Paris, April 3,
2003: “Think Saatchi-sur-Seine.” See www.bonjourparis.com/ttest/issue17article3.htm.)
The menu is divided into four sections: soup, pasta, raw and grills. The
idea, perhaps new for Paris, is to mix and match rather than put together a
formal three or four course meal. At Les Bouquinistes, Ledeuil delivered
classic bistro cuisine with creative flourishes. Here, he has moved into a
more experimental mode, with food that is light, seasonal and quickly
cooked, French but with distinct Asian flavors, intriguing but with
occasional rough edges. Winners that night included soupe de moules de
Bouchot et crevettes au basilic Thai, tiny chunks of tender
mussels and baby shrimp enveloped in a frothy pale yellow broth redolent of
lemongrass and spicy basil. Crabes mou en tempura, tempura-fried
soft shell crabs, were gossamer light. Less successful was the Bar huile
de vanilla, bouillon agrumes et poivres. Seabass, perfectly
fresh and grilled just right, arrived atop a seabed of tiny broccoli and
cauliflower florets in a peppery, citrus-scented broth. The discordant note
was struck by the Tahitian vanilla, sweet and flowery, at odds with the
other flavors. But we were thrilled with dessert, a tropical triple play
consisting of bananes farcies et caramelisees, roasted fingerling
bananas filled with creme brulee, sorbet banane-gingembre,
spicy banana ginger sorbet, and, as a chaser, milkshake passion, a shot
glass filled with a thick, creamy passion fruit puree.
The service at Ze Kitchen Galerie is professionally
pleasant and quite brisk. One could linger, but tables tend to turn over
quickly. For enthusiasts, Ledeuil has recently begun offering Thursday
afternoon cooking classes. Contact: Ze Kitchen Galerie, 4 Rue des
Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris. Telephone: 01 44 32 00 32. Fax: 01 44 32 00
33.
Best Ice Cream and Sorbet in Paris
On a sweltering July afternoon, a yellow Citroen screeches to a halt on the
peaceful Ile St. Louis. A family of five tumbles out and joins a long line of
languid Parisians and sweaty tourists wilting in the summer heat. The lure?
Berthillon, from whose takeaway windows issue the most exquisite ice creams and sorbets in
Paris. It is virtually impossible to get really good coffee ice cream in America,
but at Berthillon, the glace au cafe is deep, dark, and rich, unmistakably
redolent of the pure bean. In season, do not miss the fresh exotic fruit sorbets:
mango, cassis, kumquat, raspberry, and, best of all, fraises de bois (wild
strawberries), well worth the 4-franc surcharge. Berthillon closes for the August vacances and and again at Christmas, but addicts can purchase it from several other venues on the
Ile. Berthillon. 31 Rue St. Lous-en-L'Ile. Tel: 01.43.54.31.61.
Howard Johnson's French Chefs
We
forget how good Howard Johnson was, a chain strung across the highways of
America which turned out pretty good food at modest cost in a pleasant,
restrained atmosphere. In the early 60s, both Jacques Pepin and Pierre
Franey, two French transplants who have since made a great impression on
American cooking, went to work for Mr. Howard Johnson, who was a frequenter
of Le Pavillon and who had ideas about improving his restaurants. For 10
years, apparently, he gave his special chefs carte blanche to
experiment with such things as beef burgundy and scallops in mushroom
sauce. Albert Kumin, a famous Swiss pastry chef, joined them in the Howard
Johnson’s experiment. Pepin reminisced about this recently (New York
Times, April 28, 2005, p. A27), mourning about the closing of the Times
Square Howard Johnson’s. Of course, this wonderful chain lost its heart and
its goodness many years ago. (5/4/05)
San Antonio
Best Atmosphere in a Mexican
RestaurantSan Antonio, Texas
Over the years weve eaten more chalupas
compuestas at La Fonda on Main than wed care to admit. Somewhere along the way, this beloved Tex-Mex
eatery, founded in 1932 and still located in its original red tile-roofed casita, began a sad downward drift. Local restaurant maven Cappy Lawton came to
rescue, and when it re-opened a couple of years ago, La Fonda quickly resumed its place in
the hearts of the faithful. The new décor distills the best of the old: pale stucco walls
hung with bullfight posters and photos of the first La Fonda, banquettes upholstered with
day-glo serapes and huge broken tile urns flanking the arched doorways. The service is the nicest in townsome of the
waitresses have been there for decadesand you can still get the essential pecan
pralines at the cash register. On hot summer
nights, todo San Antonio gathers on the airy
terrace to drink margaritas and cool down under a gentle mist that periodically falls from
the trees. In winter, get cozy inside with a
traditional steak a la tampiquena or the
aforementioned chalupas compuestas: crispy tortillas piled high with refried
beans, guacamole, lettuce and tomato, chicken and grated cheese. This is not
the place to come for inventive cuisine, just good, old-fashioned comfort food, San
Antonio-style. Contact: La Fonda on Main,
2145 North Main Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78212. Telephone:
210-733-0621.
The Original Blanco Café
By and large, San Antonio food is heavy, padded with too many
ingredients, and less than dexterously cooked. It has made Antonians people
of bounteous waistlines. That said, you can pretty much avoid all the
restaurants in town that people make a stir about, because the food is less
than stirring. Skip the fancy stuff and you will be happier for it. What
you want to find are the modest places nobody talks about, quite often
Hispanic. Such was the Original Blanco we visited early one Saturday
morning, a short hop from our downtown hotel. It’s been in the San Miquel
family since 1974 under the watchful eye of the father of the present
owners. You will find on your visit Albert and Graciela San Miquel (husband
and wife), and another brother is involved with the other 4 locations which
have sprung from the original. It was Gracie’s birthday that Saturday and
all the help plus the patrons sang to her for the occasion.
You might just have a machacado plate at $5.49 (eggs
mixed with meat strips and sundry vegetable items) or enjoy breakfast tacos
which were pleasing to our companion. You will have had enough to eat but
not come away with the leaden feeling we got at a new trendy TexMex eatery
and at an old-time Alamo Heights favorite on Broadway. Everybody is
conspicuously polite and helpful: the patrons, 99% Hispanic, provide you
with a vital getaway from the convention crowd, such as the dentists that
flocked around our hotel. Blanco Café. 419 N. St. Mary’s, San Antonio,
Texas 78205. Telephone: 210-271-3300. Web: www.blancocafesa.com (website still under construction).
As in many
cities of the New West and New South, most of the interest in San Antonio
lies downtown in the center city, the rest of the copious sprawl not worth
the time of day. Of course, there are a few museums further out, and a
distinguished botanical garden. A revival of the downtown is underway and,
ere long, people of the burbs will begin to flock here day and night.
(2/9/05)
Best Mexican Restaurant
with a Party Atmosphere in San Antonio
It's
fiesta time all the time at Pico de Gallo. You can get better food at half a dozen
other spots, but for fun, nothing beats the atmosphere at this popular West Side
restaurant. Strolling mariachis (musicians) with guitars and horns wail
"Guantanmera," the walls vibrate with color (pink, yellow, lavender) and even
the gaily painted ceiling fans flash with sparkly "jewels." Don't miss the
carved wood bar as you enter: adorned with roosters and tequila maidens emerging from
agave plants, it's quintessential Tex Mex kitsch. The crowd is lively, the
margaritas are cold, and the service is friendly and efficient. But think twice
about coming on Saturday night, when the parking lot can get rowdy. Contact: Pico de
Gallo, 111 S. Leone, San Antonio, Texas. Telephone: 210-225-6060.
Waterboy
Every California warned us away from Davis and Sacramento, both of which we had not visited for perhaps 30 years. That immediately made us want to go, since we have found on many occasions that universally unpopular locations are often simply spots that trendies don’t visit, yet full of idiosyncratic treasures that bear investigation. Waterboy in Sacramento bore this out. Mike Dunne, the reasonably good food critic at the Sacramento Bee is high on the place, as is Darrell Corti, the owner of Sacramento’s very fine gourmet food market Corti Brothers.
We cannot say enough nice things about the place, though the dessert may have been indifferent. The fish and shellfish stew was first rate, and the sturgeon was a very nice surprise to find on the menu. The wines by the glass were just fine. Owner chef Rick Mahan will reach a bit, so you may find rabbit or roasted-pickled beets on any one night. The service was intelligent and attentive. You will probably find yourself a bit close to the diners beside you—the only drawback to the place.
There are perhaps 12 to 15 restaurants worth some attention in Sacramento, often peopled by chefs from foreign parts. Maybe 3 are top grade. We intend to give a look on our next visit to Restaurant 55 Degrees, Kozen, Biba, maybe Mulvaney’s Building, and Loan, Masque Ristorante. To get a feel about the growth in cuisine here, read “Renowned Chefs Invade the Region.” (1/23/08)
Best Old-Economy
Seafood in the Financial District of San Francisco
Neither the food nor the atmosphere at Sam's Grill is Nuevo California, but Sam's does
boast the old hearty fare you used to find around town. Probably, if you haven't
been before, you should have the sand dabs and a martini. According to the menu, the
establishment dates back to 1867, which is pretty old for California. The patrons
are still proud of their guts and their boisterous laughs. Better for lunch than
dinner. Sam's Grill. 374 Bush St. GA-1-0594. www.samsgrill.com. Email: smsgrll@pacbell.net.
Delica rf-1
San Francisco’s Ferry Building symbolizes everything that is right and everything that is wrong about San Francisco. It and the waterfront have lost their real function—the commerce of a busy port. The building is now decorative, full of food boutiques. It is all pretty and charming, but a little hollow. Any visitor, however, should look around. There are a few shops that are worthwhile—perhaps the creamery and the bread shop, maybe one or two more. The eateries are a little tough: no matter the trappings, they handle too many people and are more production lines than gourmet taste treats.
DELICA rf-1 breaks the mold. It is restful and polite and attracts a nice clientele. We can recommend handily the salads and several other deli items. Oddly enough, the sushi was nothing to write home about. We were very pleasantly surprised for dessert by the baked summer peach with custard. There are just a few tables to sit down: we shared one just outside and found our luncheon companions genial and even interesting. Delica rf-1. San Francisco Ferry Building. (415) 834-0344. www.delicarf1.com. (1/30/08)
Quince
For years San Francisco cooking has been much overrated. Generally it produced solid but not spectacular food, and the restaurants that earned all the kudos in the newspapers and cooking magazine were not even its best offerings. In particular the rash of new young cooks around the area plunked too many elements in their dishes, the fruit and other nonesuch somewhat concealing the fact that a cut of beef was not cooked right. Perhaps it was our 3d best food city, but it did not really touch New York or New Orleans. Michelin has come out with its 2007 guide on the Bay Area, and the San Francisco food tribe is aghast that only the French Laundry has gotten 3 stars, that there are just a handful of two stars, and all the revered get one star. Broadly this confirms the thesis that SF does not stack up against New York. We agree, however, with local foodlovers who say Michelin, in fact, messed about a bit, putting the wrong people in 3 and 2 star categories, and not sufficiently appreciating some of the one stars. For more on this tempest in a teapot, read “Bay Area Stars Fail to Make Michelin Cut,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 3, 2006.
But San Francisco has come of age, no matter what the tired French have to say. Quince at Octavia and Bush is one indication. First of all, it is charming, the right size, warmly but not ostentatiously decorated, with the right light, and comfortable service, though some of the blogs have complained that a waiter or two has attitude. Our party recently spent perhaps 3 hours there, and found it to have just the right tone. There is imagination in the food—to include the menu selection. We had, amongst other things, oxtails, sardines, rabbit, and lamb. Owner Chef Michael Tusk has cooked at 3 highly regarded Bay restaurants, and he probably has done them one better. Though the restaurant is proud of its wine list, it could still use some work, as we found it pricey but not distinguished. People make a great deal out of his pasta course, which is fine enough, though we found the other courses more interesting. There are several restaurants named Quince around the nation. We don’t know the attraction of the name, although we are much taken with our own Cydonia oblong. Quince, 1710 Octavia Street at Bush, San Francisco, California 94109. Telephone: 415-775-8500. Website: www.quincerestaurant.com. Read more about Quince at SpiceLines. (12/12/07)
Best Breakfast Hotel in
San Francisco
Campton Place is very central (just off Union Square), very obliging at breakfast time,
and is equipped with a dining room that is very right-sized and quite calming when you are
starting the day. Probably it is just down the hotel ladder a few rungs from the Mandarin, which makes it very good,
indeed, and the dining room has a better ambiance than Silks. Occasionally, the
hotel's rooms are a bit too snug, but we understand that they all have been reworked to be
more capacious. Of all the hotels, there is more attention to design details (some
quite successful) than in all the other hostelries around town. We hear the bar and
restaurant are to be redone--for the better we hope--even though management may be messing
with a good formula. Campton Place Hotel. 340 Stockton Street, San Francisco,
California 94108. Telephone: 415-781-5555. Fax: 415-955-5536.
Website: www.camptonplace.com.
Update: We recently paid another
very extensive visit to Campton Place and found it to be as good as ever.
First, hurray for the restaurant, which has finally reached the first rank.
It and the bar outside have undergone a light redesign, but it’s nothing
dramatic and the tone has remained reasonably understated. The banquette at
the back has turned slightly more uncomfortable, since the padding pressed
up against one’s spine is not quite right. At night you will want to sit in
the booths on the left. By day, get a position near the windows since the
lighting is mildly depressing otherwise. The service at night is as good as
ever, though we did not see the old hands who had a bit more knowledge about
the food. The food in the old days was a little fruity precious (new
California chefs trying too hard); things are now more complex and very
decorative but very mellow. It’s all a bit filling, so go empty and don’t
plan on visiting too often. Despite the fact that it’s a better restaurant,
it does not seem as crowded—for any meal—which, of course, is a very big
plus for the discerning.
Breakfast is still quite pleasant but with some
caveats. You have to pick your way through the menu and be a little
demanding. For instance, we eat the egg white omelet which will come out a
little watery (just pour the waste onto a saucer), and the vegetables, which
strangely are not wrapped into the omelet, tend to blandness. It helps if
you ardently spell out what you want in the omelet and caution the staff on
the cooking. Likewise the breads are mixed: a croissant was respectable,
but the attempt at an English muffin could even be said to be gluey. Do try
the jams and jellies. But it’s a quiet place to kick off the day and to
carry on civil business conversation.
The hotel
staff is ever willing and the rooms have grown more comfortable over the
years. There are a few trifles that need to be repaired. The front desk can
be dilatory about getting a bellboy to the room or effecting a simple
transaction that requires a bit of creativity—in other words, balls do get
dropped there. Nobody polices the front lobby, so an unruly guest can prowl
back and forth yapping for a long time on a cell phone, disturbing more
temperate guests. Generally, however, it attracts a genteel clientele. The
flaws probably arise because management is rather invisible. Room service
really ends at 10:30: this is not quite luxury. But the papers really do
make it to your door in the morning, even if they are not on the table in
the restaurant which sports too many copies of USA Today and the
emasculated San Francisco
Chronicle.
The maid will do a fast clean up in a pinch. It’s quiet in the rooms, and
the double seal glass protects one against rather noisy streets. Unusually
we found ice in our room every night—without asking. The towels have a
reasonable nap and there are enough at hand.
Best in Town: Aqua Santa
Brian Knox's Aqua Santa, well reviewed by The New York Times back in 2005, is Santa Fe's best restaurant. Knox has kicked around town for years in other iterations, and has learned to put out a better plate than most. His adobe one-room hacienda restaurant is attractive and restful, a little bit out of the way, well down West Alameda. He's blessed with easy parking, something to appreciate when one is struggling through the very unwieldy downtown. What's most pleasant is to eat lunch here—outside on the open patio deck—where some days you may only encounter 3 or 4 diners. The bread he makes overnight is simply as good as it gets in town, and we have even wrestled away a loaf from him on a couple of occasions. We had braised lamb (local) on our last visit, smartly done so as to deal with the gamey taste of this meat, which, we think, comes from Tierra Amarilla.
Knox is a character, which we like. Others occasionally find him a bit much. We discussed with him the current reluctance of banks to lend to small business, his new, yet to open, hamburger palace which is opening in a tired but up and coming edge of town, and some other aspects of the local food scene. He sat down with two ladies at an adjoining table to show them that he can cut quite a figure. A local sheet has caught his personality pretty well. One can get some feel for the range of the menu in the wandering discourse of a writer for The New Mexican. She calls it "gestalt gastronomy" which is apt, because here one is buying into a state of mind, not just an alimentary experience.
Aqua Santa, 451 West Alameda Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Telephone: (505) 982-6297
Most Inviting Restaurant in Santa Fe
Santa Fe
has lots of high concept restaurants, but few that truly cosset their
diners. That’s why we love Santacafe, located in the historic Padre Gallegos
House several blocks off the Plaza. Many customers adore the shady patio,
but we prefer the dining room where the light is luminous, creamy walls are
sensuously curved, and the spareness of the decor has an appealing purity.
The atmosphere is Southwestern-goes-Zen and the only jolt to the eye comes
from bright bouquets of gerbera, lilies and stock.
A fine hand is at work in the kitchen, turning out inventive dishes with a
New Mexican twist. A perfectly grilled seabass, moist and faintly smoky,
with a bright chipotle glaze, arrives nestled atop a creamy risotto studded
with calbacitas (baby squash). Garlicky pesto broth, thick with chunks of
tomato, bok choy and corn, added extra zing to a bowl of tortellini stuffed
with four cheeses. Succulent tiger prawn tempura comes with peppery
watercress and slivers of buttery avocado in a chile-flecked in a chile-flecked
sweet and sour dressing. Even our 14-year-old’s hot dog was flanked by
crunchy, homemade rosemary potato chips and an irresistible bowl of lightly
pickled slaw with chile and cilantro. The desserts included two
well-executed classics: Tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee and warm
chocoloate upside down cake. But we really loved the deep, dark coffee bean
ice cream served with meltingly rich cajeta sauce and a crisp of toasted
pinon nuts.
You can’t really be cossetted without service that is both attentive and
unobtrusive. We had both in our waiter, Mauro. And if we happened to dine
next to a table of art buyers who chortled ever more loudly with each round
of margaritas—well, that made us glad that we could repair for a
restorative nap to our house in the hills.
Contact: Santacafe, 231 Washington Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501.
Telephone: 505/984-1788. Website: www.santacafe.com.
Best Hamburger in Santa Fe: The Bobcat Bite
Connoisseurs of the burger think nothing of driving from Albuquerque to
stand in line, sometimes for an hour or more, at the Bobcat Bite. And no
wonder. This ex-trading post and gun shop has, since 1953, been the very
best place in northern New Mexico to get hamburgers made as they should be:
thick, juicy, freshly ground chuck, cooked to your liking (medium rare,
please) on a plain bun. You can get it gussied up with bacon and cheese,
but why gild the lily? A side of green chile or coleslaw with sweet
vinaigrette is all the extra you need.
Part of the charm of the Bobcat Bite is the very pleasant wait staff, mostly
family members, and the fact that it is so tiny: with counter seating and
tables inside and out, only 25 diners or so can be served at a time. There
are plaid curtains and bird feeders at the windows, bobcat pictures on the
paneled walls and an old fashioned cash register. No desserts, no alcohol
and only open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7:50 p.m. We
planned entire weeks around our meals there.
Bobcat Bite, 420 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Telephone:
505-983-5319.
Best Al Fresco Lunch: Wild Earth Llama Adventures
Azul
has one blue eye (and one brown), and will nibble your chocolate chip cookie
when you’re not looking. Lorenzo is aristocratic, with a long and graceful
neck; he likes to jog. Little Gus has a Napoleon complex, but you can pat
him on the head. Domino has a spotted nose and hides his face when he spies
a camera.
This quirky quartet accompanied us on a “Take a Llama to Lunch” hike into
Columbine Canyon in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, near Taos. We learned a
lot about these endearing pack animals that summer day. For instance,
llamas hum, soft and low, when they are content; the hum gets a little more
insistent when they’re impatient to get going. They like being stroked on
their long, fluffy necks but not petted on their heads (except for Gus).
There is a definite pecking order: in our group, Gus was at the bottom of
the ladder and had to walk last in line. Llamas step daintily over rocks
and jump gracefully over fallen logs. And for the record, they did not
spit, not even once.
Our day hike was led by Stuart, the engaging owner of Wild Earth Llama
Adventures. A self-taught naturalist, one-time chef, and natural raconteur,
he instantly divined the varied interests of our seven-person group. For
plant lovers he plucked wild raspberries and offered fragrant bark from the
“vanilla pine” to sniff. For history buffs, there was a detour into a
19th-century mineshaft, and for budding geologists, much talk about 20- and
80- million year old rocks. For all of us, there was a tasty lunch and a
superbly told tale of his all-too-close encounter with a ferocious black
bear.
The 6-hour trek was easy. For much of the day we hiked along a stream that
rushed briskly over granite boulders and around ruined beaver dams. In
mid-summer, our path was lined with tiny blue harebells and lacy cow
parsley, opening into fields of bright yellow penstemmon. But it was the
llamas who really enchanted us. We learned that most were unwanted trophy
pets rescued from owners all over the Southwest. Happily, the 20 or so
llamas who now reside with Wild Earth have found a good home.
Wild Earth Llama Adventures offers four- and seven-day hiking trips as well
as the “Take a Llama to Lunch” day hike. Telephone: 800-758-5262. Website: www.llamaadventures.com.
New York, Chicago and L.A. Italian in Santa Fe—Trattoria Nostrani
Strolling along Johnson Street, just down from the Georgia O’Keefe
Museum, we were riveted by the riotous cottage garden in front of the
Italian restaurant, Trattoria Nostrani. Cascading roses mingled with spiky
lavender and other brilliantly hued blooms in such profusion that we were
compelled to stop and stare in slack-jawed admiration.
A week later we arrived for supper—perfume-free
as instructed. We couldn’t help but notice the overpowering scent of while
lilies as we rounded the bar into one of the four small dining rooms. Early
in the evening, the old Territorial style house is cool and serene, with
dark floors and parchment-hued walls hung with appealing black and white
photos by the French photographer Willy Ronis. Later on, it thrums with a
big city buzz that reaches a feverish pitch as the cramped rooms fill up.
Chef-partners Eric Stapelman and Nellie Maltezos know a
thing or two about creating an urban vibe. Before coming to Santa Fe,
they worked together at Zucca in New York. Maltezos also cooked with
Charlie Trotter in Chicago and Stapelman studied wine with sommelier Thomas
Johnson in L.A. Their previous Santa Fe endeavor, Rociada, was a darling of
visiting food and wine writers. At Trattoria Nostrani all the ingredients
are in place for another hit.
Among the antipasti, the star of the evening was the
burrata, oozingly soft, impossibly rich mozzarella scooped like fresh cream
from the very top layer of the cheese as it curdles. Served with ripe
heirloom tomatoes (the restaurant grows 10 varieties), olive oil, and a
sprig of basil, it was proof of the power of simplicity. We also enjoyed
the almost airy calamari, fritta, brightened with just a squeeze of lemon,
and the even more insubstantial fitto misto—fried
squash blossoms, zucchini, cauliflower florets and cipollini onions brought
down to earth by a lemon parmesan aioli.
Once we got past the appetizers, there were a few
missteps. Gnocchi de Patate, tiny curls of pasta stuffed with potato and
aged asiago cheese, were light as a feather, but Ravioli di Baccala, potato
and salt cod ravioli, were leaden, bathed in a non-descript saffron crème,
topped with just a few morsels of jumbo lump Blue crab meat. Among the
secondi piatti, there was unqualified enthusiasm for Bistecca al Ferri, a
superbly tender Harris prime ribeye steak with lemon and olive oil and
lightly cooked spinach. We liked the Carpina Rossa alla Grigli whole
chargrilled red snapper napped with a bagna cauda, but could have used more
help deboning the fish.
The dessert menu looked to the garden for inspiration:
White chocolate semi freddo was infused with fresh mint, and the vanilla
pannacotta came with a lavender spiked caramel sauce. Both were pleasant,
if a bit pallid.
Trattoria Nostrani has an ample wine cellar—over 400
selections from different regions of Italy—with
enough Barolos and Chianti Riservas to keep bibulous oenophiles busy for
many an evening. We took the low road to Sicily and turned up a winner with
a very smooth, almost inky 2001 Nero d’Avola.
By 8 o’clock all traces of the restaurant’s earlier
calm had vanished. There was a loud, distinctly New York buzz throughout,
the kind where you are forced to listen to nearby conversations whether you
want to or not. We had to shoulder our way through the bar, now thronged
with a noisy, ravenous crowd, hugging and air-kissing while jockeying for
places to sit. Outside, the few tables under the portal by the garden,
which drew us there in the first place, were quiet and, in contrast,
positively blissful.
Contact
Trattoria Nostrani, 304 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Telephone:
505-983-3800. Fax: 505-983-8306. Web: www.trattorianostrani.com.
(For original entry see Best of Class #374.)
(7/27/05)
Behold: Gelato Comes to Santa Fe—Café Ecco
Just in time for the dog days comes Ecco, a shiny new café that has
Santa Feans lining up for a taste of homemade, organic gelato. There are
16 or so flavors, some familiar, some with a distinctly local twist. We
loved the luscious strawberry-habanero (watch out for the afterburn) and the
delicate lavender-honey. But how to choose, when you can also have
perennial favorites like hazelnut and bittersweet chocolate?
You can’t go wrong, because owner Matt Durkovic, who
worked for the local newspaper before opening Ecco, lets you taste as many
flavors as you like. An enthusiastic, young man, he seems to be in five
places at once—handing out samples, chatting with every customer, wiping
tables, working the cash register and expresso machine. “We’re the only
gelateria in Santa Fe” he exclaims, nodding to a gentleman who’s on his
second visit of the day. Like a proud father, he even reveals the formula
for his addictive strawberry gelato: “Four small habaneros to two pounds of
strawberries.” It’s a winner.
Café Ecco. 105 East
Marcy Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501. Telephone: 505-986-9778. Fax:
505-986-9740. (For original entry see Best of Class #375.) (7/27/05)
Sushi
with Godzilla—Kasasoba—Santa Fe
No illuminated Kirin signs, no yakitori, no smiling waitstaff.
Kasasoba—“house of noodles”—is full of surprises. Start with the setting:
an historic adobe cottage, green tea- colored walls hung with lurid Japanese
sci-fi posters of crazed dinosaurs, evil robots, rampaging godzillas. A
peek into the kitchen reveals an entirely non-Japanese staff. Then there’s
the rather arch service.
More surprises may be found on the menu. A summery
meal began with Hiya-Yakko Tofu, a scoop of fresh chilled bean curd imported
from Japan. Smooth and creamy, topped with spicy red chile and scallion
relish, it was as far from the ordinary stuff as you can get. Next came
Five Jewels Omakase, an appealing assortment of amuse-gueles, including
silvery baby sardines, briny cod roe marinated in red chile oil and a tiny
grilled lobster tail. Other pleasures included a buttery Avocado and
Dungeness Crab Roll dusted with cod roe, and Gyuniku Tatakii, tender grilled
beef tenderloin topped with a tangle of daikon, served with vinegary ponzu
sauce for dipping. And yes, there were delicious Zaru Soba, cold buckwheat
noodles with nori and wasabi, and a cloud of tempura fried vegetables.
Smooth river stones serve as chopstick rests and the
serving ware is elegantly asymmetrical, more evidence of an uncommon mind at
the helm. The outdoor patio, which faces the Sanbusco center, is a favorite
spot for lunch or dinner.
Contact: Kasasoba.
544 Agua Fria Street, New Mexico 87501. Telephone: 505-984-1969. (For
original entry see Best of Class #376.) (7/27/05)
The Compound—Santa Fe
For better than 15 years, we have been meaning to visit The Compound
Restaurant, but we always got caught up in other things. Off Canyon Road,
even sleepy at luncheon amidst cottony trees, it’s mainly a pretty place and
that is why you should go there. The ownership changed a few years back,
and though it bills itself as revived, probably it has declined a little.
The service at all times was decidedly slow and the over-billed food was
ample enough and vaguely new cuisine, but rather average in the end. Go for
lunch and then the whole point is where you sit. Just past the very, very
compact bar is a pretty, airy center room with a good view to the outside,
often relatively free of noisome people. A lady with a chic red hat may be
dining, rapt in conversation with a younger lover. If you don’t need air
conditioning and want to sit outside, then get well out into the back
courtyard, ensuring that you get a table near or at the rear, well away from
the hubbub where you can feel the vegetation. Have an appertif or two for
lunch and dwell on it. We had lobster and crab salad, which was warm and
indifferent, and probably sat out for a while before it was served. Our
guests had much the same result, though the tuna came out better as we
remember. The current chef and owner Mark Kiffin put in a lot of time with
Coyote Café’s Mark Miller, and both have a better feel for pizzazz than
cuisine. The Compound Restaurant. Website: http://compoundrestaurant.com/indexmain.html. 653 Canyon
Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Telephone: (505) 982-4353. (For
original entry see Best of Class #377.)
(8/3/05)
Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill—Santa Fe
A simple enough place—you can call it fast
food if you like—we are much taken with the Bumble Bee, where you can get
burritos, tacos, and other Spanish fare that soar above the pack. The
ingredients are simply very, very fresh, and all the staff, from the owner
on down, radiate such cheer that they make it extra fun to visit. For a
change there is ample parking, and it’s very easy to get to once you
discover Guadalupe. Just across the street, by the way, is Tulips, where
you can get fancy fare (90% New American mixed with a touch of New Mexican)
when you feel like putting on the dog. But you will go to the Bumble Bee in
shorts, get your food in a hurry, and complete it with zesty salsas and
garnishes from the back table. There is an efficient take out window, too,
if that’s what you want to do. The surprises for us were the chile-marinated
roast chicken (you can see several on the spit as you wait to give your
order) which easily surpasses the birds offered by the normal chicken
take-out places. And, second, a burrito filled with tender, juicy lamb was
a treat, offering flavors not found in the usual run of burritos. But did
we mention the grilled wild Pacific mahi-mahi tacos, the succulent, slightly
charred fish topped with shredded cabbage and a mysterious sauce? To
achieve perfection, liberally add the superb roasted tomato and chile salsa
from the back bar to all of the above. On a Saturday night, some tables are
pushed aside, and musicians are installed to add to the merriment. Bumble
Bee’s Baja Grill. 301 Jefferson (just off Guadalupe). Santa Fe, New Mexico
87501. 505-820-2862. www.bumblebeesbajagrill.com.
Tulips Restaurant—Santa Fe
The North Guadalupe district now provides
very good pickings for those who care about food. Il Vicino, a pizza chain
with woodburning ovens, has a tidy locale just around the corner at 32l San
Francisco. It certainly makes the best pizza in town, though we would avoid
the homemade microbeers pumped by the employees. From Seattle comes The
Spanish Table, a cookware and Spanish food store at 109 Guadalupe, which has
a huge array of paella pans. Then there is quiet little Tulips Restaurant,
which probably seats 30 people, has a soft, flickering candle in a wall
niche, and allows a strain of music so low that it never breaks the
conversation.
We
suppose you could call the food American new cuisine with really just a hint
of the Southwest and touches of everything else. On a recent evening we
enjoyed an ample but certainly not huge Canadian natural veal chop quite
juicily bathed in a red wine reduction, black angus beef tenderloin which we
were allowed to pair with a devastatingly rich three-cheese risotto, and
finally a tortilla crusted duck mole chile relleno that was pleasing if not
challenging. The service was elegant and attentive, well beyond most of the
local eateries. We would say it provides the tastes of the finer hotel
restaurants, but surrounds you with the romantic intimacy of an adobe
cottage. Tulips. 222 North Gaudalupe Street. Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, 505-989-7340. Email: contact@tulips-santafe.com. Website: www.tulips-santafe.com./index.php.
Best Roadhouse in Santa Fe
We knew it
had to be a local fave when the parking lot was jammed every hour of the day
and late into the night. It is Harry’s Roadhouse and it is the place to go
when you want to eat big--and we’re talking giant--portions of
Southwestern/New Mexican-style food. Naturally breakfast is served all
day—try the migas, eggs scrambled with onion, tomato, green chile,
tortilla strips and cheese, with sides of black refried bens and fiery
pickled jalapenos—but at night go upmarket with specials like lobster or
pork chops in balsamic vinegar sauce.
You can eat outside in the back patio shaded by rosy hollyhocks and lavender
butterfly bushes, or on a screened porch at tables covered with gaily
patterned Mexican oilcloth. Inside the walls are hung with paintings by
local talent, some of it surprisingly good. Wherever you dine, you’ll have
to wait in line—so cool your heels in the lively bar with a frosty
Margarita.
Contact: Harry’s Roadhouse, 9613 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe, New
Mexico 87505. Telephone: 505/989-4629.
Savannah
Local 11 Ten
Savannah presents its challenges to the wayfarer. It’s a wonderful town haunted by history, elevated by its wonderful green squares that set it apart from all other American Cities, distinguished by its halting but occasionally inspired ventures into the arts. The songsmith of the 20th century—Johnny Mercer—hailed from here and some knowledgeable visitors go out to his grave to pay homage. But truly distinguished hotels or inns are elusive, even though room prices are generally cheap, the town lacking for trade. If you head to the river for food, you may harvest a case of indigestion. But out just far enough in the opposite direction is Local 11 Ten, where 20 of us had an excellent meal and good service one night, with nary a complaint from any of our number. The website menu does not do the restaurant justice, since our food was much better and more innovative than it suggests. We would only have a couple of the appetizers, such as the squid ink pasta or the charcuterie.. But we remember good entres as well. So call ahead to see if there’s something to your liking on the menu for the night. The restaurant has parking, so it’s an easy adventure wherever you are staying. Local 11 Ten. http://www.local11ten.com/ 1110 Bull Street. Savannah, Georgia 31401. 912-790-9000 (02-10-10)
South Carolina
Charleston Eating
The food in Charleston has always been a mixed bag. The most intensely touristy areas have a raft of bad, overpriced restaurants, and one is advised to move to the margins where some good places hide out. For instance, the fish stew at Fig is well worth your while. The restaurant gets a little too jammed: you are up against your neighbor and a waitress may forget your wine in the rush of events. So it’s wise to try to eat here during a lull. Last time in town, our best meal was at Anson’s where all the food was fine, but where we particularly remember the grits. They were the best we’ve had in our life, and we don’t even like grits. The raw material comes from Anson Mills, but the big secret is that the grits are freshly ground and made each day. The chef has since moved on, but we are hopeful that the owners will maintain this gem. Fig Restaurant. www.eatatfig.com 232 Meeting Street. Charleston, N.C. 29401-3134. 843-805-5900. Anson Restaurant http://www.ansonrestaurant.com/menu.html 12 Anson Street. Charleston, N.C. 29401. 843-577-0551. (01-20-10)
Sydney
Tetsuya—Sydney
Our peripatetic friend and correspondent Howard Gross
sends us yet another jewel, this time from Australia. Tetsuya is a fine
restaurant that has already been much remarked upon, but Howard's comments
will help you pick your way through the menu:
"Tetsuya Wakada has become something of a Sydney
legend, with chefs and foodies trekking in from all corners of the globe to
the sensitively restored manse and its rear Japanese rock garden. There is
no menu selection per se. Like the early days at Berkeley icon Chez
Panisse (to which I see many parallels), you experience a progression of
delights according to the chef’s whims and market availability. As you are
seated, a recitation of the evening’s highlights is made; many of the early
presentations will arrive in groups of threes. The wine list is presented,
populated by the requisite trophy selections and others; only the specter of
extremely high markups clouds the otherwise well-thought-out options.
First comes an amuse guèle: tartare of
yellowfin tuna with fine shards of shiso. It does exactly as advertised:
tickles the palate with a glimpse of wonders to come. A delicate consommé
appears next, made from the broth of porcini mushrooms, with sliced fresh
porcini, black truffle flecks and a hint of sherry. I had tasted Tetsuya’s
wonderful carpaccio of venison wrapped around lightly sautéed fresh duck
foie gras on two previous visits, and must confess, I had dreamt of
encountering it again. Fortunately, it makes another appearance. The
juxtaposition of the lean meat paired with the buttery richness of foie gras,
mated with a touch of lemon zest for astringency and flagged with a rosemary
sprig for aromatics demonstrates a chef in mastery of flavor. (Sidebar
note: One of the world’s top deer ranches is located on Cave Road just
outside Margaret River, center of the wonderful western Australia wine
region bearing the same name, and it is from here that most of the top
Aussie restaurants’ venison emanates; both the region and the ranch are well
worth the trek.)
We move next to a tiny filet of ocean trout, poached in
evoo, coated in salted crumbled kombu and topped with its own roe,
into which a touch of orange oil has been infused. Somehow the oil does not
permeate the flesh of the fish, leaving just a hint of the cooking medium,
though the kombu’s saltiness is a touch dominant. Then comes an ultra-thin
single triangle of pasta—a pocket of delicate lobster mousseline, drizzled
with a warm parsley oil vinaigrette. Here you savor the individual tastes.
Next is thin sashimi of sea scallop, translucent over a soft wafer of pate
de foie gras, atop a bed of land cress sprouts tossed with a light mirin
sesame vinaigrette. The nuttiness of the scallop partners the sesame oil’s
toastiness extremely well.
One of the challenges of Tetsuya’s cuisine is the
pairing of wine with food. Traditional notions of moving from lighter
whites to heavier reds seem incompatible with the to-and-fro nature of the
progression of flavors in his courses. My suggestion based upon four visits
would be to order a lighter white, such as the outstanding Cape Mentelle
Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc Walcliffe Reserve, a medium-to-full bodied white
Burgundy from Chassagne or Puligny Montrachet, and a medium strength red
made from the perfumed pinot noir grape, a good match with the oft-delicate
and aromatic nature of the food. For the latter, there are good choices
from the better vineyards in New Zealand, Australia’s Yarra Valley and
Tasmania, as well as from the mater familias Burgundy. Have all
uncorked at once, and pour the most appropriate with each dish. Somehow,
moving back and forth does not feel odd.
Moving on to meat courses, we find slices cut from the
boneless eye of a sautéed lamb rack, bedded on slivers of barely-there baby
Japanese eggplant and wilted leaves of young spinach shoots, all napped with
a blond miso sauce. A roll of thin, charred Wegyu beef (Australia-raised
cousin to ultra-tender Kobe beef) appears centered with a mix of Asian
mushrooms (enoki, shimeji, etc.) on a bed of slightly bitter rocket (arugula)
in a beef and mushroom stock reduction, with a droplet or two of lemon oil.
Once again, a show of yin and yang, and Tetsuya pulls it off well. If the
meat dishes are just a slight notch below the culinary heights reached with
the previous dishes, it is only because Tetsuya reaches such outstanding
balance with his fish and crustacean designs, triumphs of sight, scent and
palate.
In lieu of a cheese course, we get a ceramic “spoon”
filled with puy lentils soaked with vanilla and covered with well-aged
shredded gruyère. Only here does it seem the kitchen is stretching the
boundaries a bit too far, despite the flavorful combination. For dessert,
an île flottante, one side filled with a center of bright raspberry purée,
the other with dark, rich molten chocolate. How Tetsuya injects this airy
whipped egg-white mount with these hot liquid bursts of intensity I may
never understand, but I relish them. They are surrounded by two different
crèmes anglaises, one of hazelnut praline and the other the pure essence of
vanilla bean.
If the
price for this tour of outstanding tastes is high (A$170/US$105 per person
fixed price), it is due to the unsurpassed quality of the ingredients. This
is the basis for Tetsuya’s cuisine, and it is worth every hard-earned
dollar. Tetsuya. 529 Kent, Sydney, NSW Australia. Telephone: (+61)
2-9267-2900."
Shiki It in Sydney
Howard Gross reports on another restaurant find in Australia, once again in
Sydney:
“In the reborn area of The Rocks in Sydney, whose
food credentials have been forever escalated by Neil Perry of Rockpool
fame, you can find a restaurant which allows you to banish all stress.
Step over water-covered smooth river stones at the entrance to Shiki, and
place yourself in the hands of the itamae-san behind the kaiseke menu, head chef Hikaru Tomita. Selecting the kaiseke (in effect, pre-set
order) is something I don’t do lightly, preferring to make my own food
choices based upon my then-current whims. But do relieve yourself of that
obligation. A Japanese kaiseke typically consists of numerous small
courses selected by the chef: soy and vinegar-marinated (kobachi),
grilled hassun), simmered (nimono), and so on. Shiki takes
these traditions as a guide, but updates the selections according to the
notion of cuisine du marché, based upon the best of what’s
available from Sydney’s phenomenal fish market.
The nature of kaiseke based on the chef’s creative
use of seasonal specialties dictates that it will rarely be the same for
long (Shiki’s changes at least monthly), but I visited twice a few months
ago days apart and gladly repeated the menu. Another visit 2 weeks ago
confirmed to me Shiki excels at all that kaiseke means. They may not use
the same scope of world-wide luxury ingredients found at cross-town
celebrated Tetsuya (whose stunning array of dishes frequently includes
foie gras, truffles, etc.), but Shiki delivers constant taste thrills and
contrasts. Squash soup comes with an infusion of fresh ginger, a small
dollop of sour cream topped with chervil floats in its midst. When scallop
sushi dotted with a thumbnail of fresh raspberry purée arrives, my mind
flashed to the horrific food excesses of the late ‘70s, when shrimp would
appear with kiwi and strawberry, but no such absurdity here—the tang of
the berry draws out the rich nuttiness of the creamy scallop perfectly.
Sashimi of Tasmanian salmon cut from the belly may be
the most velvety fish I have ever savored. More sashimi pairs a generous
cut of buttery hamachi (yellowtail) with fine strands of shiso (Japanese basil), and a slice of hirame (flounder) is sublime solo.
A skewer of boneless short rib of beef is simmered for tenderness, then
grilled, with the unusual (but delicious) addition of grated whole nutmeg.
For visual effect, deep red beef carpaccio is wrapped maki-style
around the tiniest of iridescent green spring asparagus shoots, crunchy
and garden fresh. Shiki’s version of dobin mushi finds delicate shimeji and enoki mushrooms in a small earthenware teapot
filled with a wonderful clear broth, with a julienne of shiso for
aromatics. A highly soothing way to complete this meal so charitable to
palate and mind. The A$60 (US$47) price tag is likewise kind to the
wallet, outstanding value for the quality delivered.” For more details,
see http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE/
0023/44/35/. Shiki Restaurant, Argyle Street, Sydney NSW, Australia. Telephone: (+61) 2-9252-2431.
Tampa
Best
Dessert Locale in Tampa
Bern's Steak House is not a restaurant. It's an institution. We were
put on to it by a detective friend. Only days later Frank Prial wrote about its
wines for the New York Times (April 4, 2001,
B2 and B11).
We all agreed that the climax of our evening came in
the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, completed in 1985. Located upstairs, there are
forty-eight private rooms where you can finally get a touch of quiet, an after-dinner
drink, pleasant lighting, perhaps an Italian vineyard mural, and paneled comfort to keep
your brandy, cigar, and dessert company. And you can dial up some pleasant music--we
chose light jazz.
Founded in 1956 by Gert and Bern Laxer, the
restaurant is now headed by son David, and may crank out upwards of a 1,000 meals a night.
So have a steak your way plus some of the vegetables from Berns' own farm.
The restaurant reminds you of several eateries in
America that combine mass with a touch of class. There are good spirits, and very
loyal, motivated help all take pride in the institution. We're reminded of Snuffy's
in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and of several other spots where you can have the pleasure of
eating too much.
After the dessert room, the second remarkable thing
about Bern's is the wine. It's list is now only a couple of hundred pages, though we
have heard it once covered two thousand. At any rate, we know of no restaurant with
a larger inventory. We enjoyed a very serviceable pick of Ken Collura, head
sommelier. This was followed by a tour of the wine cellar with Eric, our
waiter. In fact, we wish the wine tour were longer, but things downstairs were much
too busy. To start your introduction, look at www.bernssteakhouse.com or call
813-251-2421. Bern's is located at 1208 S. Howard Ave. Tampa, FL 33606.
Incidentally, there are a host of other restaurants on South Howard, a few of which the
locals will vouch for. And we are told that SideBern's, a nearby sister restaurant,
is worth a visit.
Virginia
Niwanohana (Garden Flower or Hana Sushi)
In Richmond,
Virginia’s “River District”—known to all as Shockoe Bottom before it was
ludicrously renamed—you will find Niwanohana, which your hotel clerk will
simply refer to as Hana Sushi, which is unfortunate since there are a
skillion Hana Sushis around America. It’s ever so slightly dingy now: it
was more sparkling when we visited a few years back. But the execution was
still fine. The waitresses tried hard to please and the food was on point.
We could find yakko tofu on the menu, a soothing dish that oft as not fails
to appear in most sushi parlors. At its best, this is cold tofu served with
chopped scallions or their equivalent in icy water with very small pieces of
clear ice. Such a dish serves as an antidote to Southern cuisine, which is
often overdone with sauces and the like or to the rather silly sushi rolls
that have been tarted up to conceal the poor ingredients. A Japanese
tourist found the basics to be good here and the prices reasonable.
Niwanohana. 1309 E. Cary St., Richmond, VA 23219. Telephone:
804-225-8801. (8/30/06)
Bistro on Main—Lexington, VA
As much as anything, we are recommending Lexington, Virginia. Bistro on
Main is a pleasant stop in a very amiable town. We were surprised, since
the towns, as you work your way up the Blue Ridge of Virginia, are
moth-eaten, the state not having figured out how to realize the potential
inherent in such pretty landscape. But the town is so pretty that you don’t
mind staying in a modestly pretentious hotel, in this instance a Hampton
Inn. Nor do you have to go out to the fancy dive in town, where things are
gussied up by too much and the prices are not merited. That’s Café Michel, where simplicity is not understood: you cannot charge high
prices unless you layer it on and sauce it to death, leading to dishes like
pecan chicken with raspberry sauce or quail topped with port wine. This is
an endemic problem in much of the South. But Bistro proprietor Jackie Lupo
seems to have caught the spirit of the town, both in her décor and her food,
each pretty enough but still relaxed. Even the patrons dress well enough,
but certainly are not starchy. Bistro on Main, 8 North Main St., Lexington,
Virginia 24450. Telephone: 540-464-4888. We remember, in particular,
drinking a couple of pleasant offbeat beers, and all in our party remarked
on the freshness of the food.
In town you
can visit Stonewall Jackson’s house. Both he and Robert E. Lee are buried
here. Sam Houston, who managed to become governor of two states, Tennessee
and Texas, and who laid all the cornerstones of Texas history, was born in
the neighborhood. Washington & Lee, and VMI, both colleges of long
tradition, sit in the center of town. You will want to note the stable—also
open for a horse long deceased—adjacent to the President’s House at W & L.
A substantial arboretum, Boxerwood Gardens, has a stellar collection of Japanese maples.
(9/20/06)
Washington
The Jockey Club in Washington, DC
The Jockey Club is back and handsomely so. The Fairfax Hotel and its storied Jockey restaurant have had their trials. The hotel dates back a ways, and the Gore family (yes, the one that has migrated to the global warming business) took it over in the early 1930’s. Al Jr. was really brought up here, the Gores as much from Washington, D.C. family, as they were from Tennessee. The restaurant, started in the ‘60s by Louis and Jimmy Gore, was the place where everyone went—from Jackie Kennedy to members of the Ratpack. It is well to read the history of the hotel, which includes a great deal of detail on the Jockey Club, which captures some of the romance of the place, although we await a much better history that is less of a puffpiece. For a while the Fairfax was renamed the Ritz Carlton when John Coleman out of Chicago took over the place, and the restaurant was eventually abolished in 2001. It has taken a considerable effort to put Humpty Dumpty back together, particularly the restaurant. The bar alone had to be located and retrieved. Habitues of both the hotel and particularly the restaurant, we did not know it had been reincarnated. On a whim, we called the Fairfax to find out what had taken its place: lo and behold, a pretty good version of the old creature is back on the davenport.
It has not regained its cachet. Washingtonians don’t feel obliged to show up, and several more trendy places with average to bad food have taken up the slack. We warn you to watch out for them: Washington is not a real restaurant town, and it features an awesome list of expensive, much over-rated dives. The Jockey Club is a real treat, with a restful atmosphere and truly good, one would say classic food. Do understand that this is a changed restaurant, with only two of the staff from the old days, but it reminds one of the old days. The hotel’s management has not understood how to properly promote it, so it has not yet found a deep audience. Now part of a chain in all senses, it lacks a merchant director who can summon up magic. One old Washington grande dame with whom we frequently dined and who went to the original at least once a week just remarked to us that it has fallen beneath the radar.
One can enjoy the atmosphere of the place as much as the food: some have said it is Washington’s 21 club, but frankly its food and atmosphere are nicer. Of all things it now has a Scottish cook, but he delivers. Since the local newspapers have done a lousy job of reviewing this gem. In fact, one of the reasons Washington falls short foodwise is that it lacks good food journals and critics.
We probably arrived at 8:30 PM and found it maybe 1/3 filled. Between us we had the steak tartare, veal shortbreads, steak diane, and a chocolate soufflé, all done very well. We asked for innovation on one dessert, and that was a failure.. Some local critic knocked the tartare, but it was actually fine. Not only was every dish prepared well, but each was very ample. None of the new cuisine here: the food filled one’s plate and while sightly it did not try to look like a concoction from a design magazine. This is as good as it gets in Washington.
The waiters were generally practiced and polite. Two grievous mistakes occurred. Though there was plenty of space towards the back, we were jammed up front, clearly a convenience for the staff, but not most conducive to quiet conversation. Worse, as the evening progressed and the dining room cleared, the waiters changed the linens and started setting up for breakfast, with a bit of clatter, creating a general loss of decorum. We complimented them on “showing their laundry.” There’s a bit of a need for an iron hand in the restaurant and the hotel. (05-06-09)
Home of the Jockey
Update: We forgot to give you the address. First off, The Luxury Experience provides a very good feel for what the Fairfax and the Jockey Club hold in store for you. Secondly, it’s just a stone’s throw from DuPont Circle. The Jockey Club. 2100 Massachusetts Avenue. Washington, D.C. 20008. 202-835-2100. http://www.thejockeyclub-dc.com/ (06-24-09)
Smith Point in
Only open
a few nights a week, and hidden behind an anonymous door, this is the
relaxing, get away from the crowd, good food restaurant in Georgetown that
lets you feel you have escaped the clutches of government. It’s named
after part of Nantucket, for which the chef and staff apparently have great
affection. Simple and not so simple stuff is available. One of our party
put down a steak that satisfied. And the scallops and the crab cakes are
great. Though reviewers have complained about the wine list, we found a new
white—an Argentine perhaps—that left us smiling. Perhaps the atmosphere,
down the stairs, is a bit funky, but this casualness and the jazz add quite
a bit of charm, especially in a town that is turning all too Orwellian.
Smith Point. 1338 Wisconsin Avenue NW. Washington, DC 20007. Telephone:
(202) 333-8368.
Citronelle
(Georgetown)
We’ve not tried the restaurant, only the bar food. Citronelle is one of
Washington’s hottest restaurants, right along M Street, in Georgetown’s
Latham Hotel. Some tell us that it is Washington’s finest. It has an
ornate menu, ornate prices, and a sumptuous impression of itself. The
interiors are comfortable if not distinguished, and we found ourselves
liking the private rooms. It’s worth it, as all our friends will testify,
even if the service is a little hit and miss, a characteristic of Washington
and perhaps many government dominated cities. All that said, it was a
restful retreat from all that buzz in Georgetown, and the lobster sandwich
at the bar was perfecto. One could have a quiet, unhurried conversation,
and the wine offerings by the glass were very much better than average. We
look forward to working our way at leisure through the main menu. And we
anticipate a stay at the Latham, which is quite a pleasant hotel, even if
the rooms are a little bit sandwiched as well. It’s sort of fun to read
about chef/owner Michel Ritchard, who comes to Washington from France by way
of New York and mainly California. It’s important to understand that he is
thick with pastry experience. See http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/greatchefs/profiles/richard.html.
Citronelle. 3000 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007. 202-625-2150.
F-202-339-6326. Website: www.citronelledc.com.
Johnny Apple’s Last Will and Testament
R.W. Apple finished “An Epicurean Pilgrimage: Meals Worth the Price
of a Plane Ticket,” before he passed away on October 4, and it made it into
print on October 22. Here he listed the restaurants worth going a mile, or
rather, several miles for:
-
FLEURIE, FRANCE Auberge du Cep, Place de l’Église;
(33-4) 7404-1077;
perso.orange.fr/mercurebeaujolais/cep.htm.
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SANT’AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI, ITALY Don Alfonso 1890,
corso Sant’Agata 11; (39-081) 878-0026;
www.donalfonso.com.
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SAN SEBASTIÁN, SPAIN Arzak, Avenida Alcalde Jose
Elosegui, 273; (34-943) 27-8465;
www.arzak.es.
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BRUSSELS Comme Chez Soi, Place Rouppe 23; (32-2)
512-2921;
www.commechezsoi.be.
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LONDON Wilton’s, 55 Jermyn Street, SW1; (44-207)
629-9955;
www.wiltons.co.uk. GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN Sjomagasinet, Klippans
Kulturreservat 5; (46-31) 775-5920;
www.sjomagasinet.se.
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BUENOS AIRES Avenida Cabaña las Lilas, Alicia
Moreau de Justo 516; (54-11) 4313-1336;
www.laslilas.com.
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SHANGHAI Jean-Georges, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 1;
(86-21) 6321-7733;
www.jean-georges.com.
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MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg,
Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.
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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Billy Kwong, 3/355 Crown Street,
Surry Hills; (61-2) 9322-3300.
Apple often
missed on his picks. He got it dead wrong in some regions we know well. But
the point is that he enjoyed food so much, so often, in so many places.
Artful food writing embraces all sorts of personalities, who are writing for
all sorts of reasons: mastering the mysteries of cooking only appeals to a
very limited part of the foodie cult. See Mollie O’Neil’s
“Food Porn” to get a feeling about some of the motivations of the food
tribe. So Apple’s list does not pretend to include all the world’s bests or
all his personal favorites. They just seem like places he feels that the
traveler should visit. (12/20/06)
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