Gypsyfish's Profile
Time Out Sydney's Top 10 - Do you agree?
I'm going to be in Sydney the beginning of December. I see on Tetsuaya's webpage that they only take reservations 4 weeks in advance. Do I have any chance of getting a reservation if I do it online? Or is it like the French Laundry where there's a 15 minute window for phone calls? I don't think I'm going to try to call Australia!
Solo dining in Vegas?
I ate solo at Bouchon twice and was treated very well. I also enjoyed the seafood bar at Harrah's where I sat at the bar and had an interesting conversation with the man behind the bar about the oysters.
Frozen Costco Appetizers?
We've done many a party with appetizers from Costco and gotten raves. If the things are properly heated, no one will know that's where they came from!
LA without a car!
I'm thinking of going to Gordon Ramsey's restaurant- has anyone eaten there? The reviews on TripAdvisor look good.
LA without a car!
Thank you for the recommendations- they're very helpful. I had seen the metro map, but I know that it's not always a good idea to walk from the metro stop in LA.
LA without a car!
Yeah, I know. I have been in :LA and I've driven there-just last year as a matter of fact. This is a trip- I have to admit- that I have to do to retain my elite status with the airline so I don't have to pay for luggage and can choose my seats for the rest of the year. So I'm happy hanging out by the pool in February. But it would be nice to work in a restaurant experience. Maybe it will help to know that in Las Vegas recently I ate in a Wolfgang Puck and twice at Thomas Keller's Bouchon.
LA without a car!
I'm going to be in a hotel near the airport next weekend WITHOUT A CAR! (Shock, horror!) I know there's transit line and I can change to other transit lines. What restaurants can I get to on the transit line with a reasonable amount of walking (if I don't get arrested for walking)?
Vegas Help: An Exercise in Gastronomic Delights ...
Update on my Las Vegas trip- I ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Chinois in the Shops at the Forum (having headed there to get some good shoes)- lovely baby beet salad. The next day I had both breakfast and dinner at Bouchon. It did turn out that I could get a reservation for dinner easily once I got there. I don't know what was wrong with the online system. Had an oeuf au gratin for breakfast- lovely! For dinner, I had the endive salad and the braised lamb shank (a special) for dinner. 3 bites in, I knew I was in trouble. I rarely have red meat anymore, and just couldn't do it justice. It was a shame because it was really good. And the service was perfect. I don't want fawning service- I want someone to tell me the specials, take my order, and get out of my face. If I'm looking around in distress, they can ask me if everything is ok- if I'm actively eating my dish, they can assume everything is ok But I have to say that the best meal I had in L.V. was at the seafood bar in Harrah's. I had lovely oysters- Blue Point, which I grew up with, and another variety that was fresh that day. Then I had something they described as tuna tartare but which was, thank goodness, not minced. It was cubes of fabulous raw tuna in a light vinaigrette. I don't know how they cook there since I didn't have anything cooked, but someone sure knows how to pick and present seafood. I could eat like that every day.
Vegas Help: An Exercise in Gastronomic Delights ...
I've been trying on Open Table, even having it check 30 days from my requested date- nothing available. So much for the bad economy! Thanks for the advice on breakfast- maybe I'll try that.
Vegas Help: An Exercise in Gastronomic Delights ...
I'm looking at going to Las Vegas sometime in November or December- very flexible about dates. But it doesn't seem possible to get a reservation at Bouchon, even for breakfast. Any hope of a walk-in? Is it possible to go to the oyster bar in the afternoons?
Are There No Good, Inexpensive Places In Paris?
I had one of the best lunches of my life at the Cafe Didot on the outskirts near a flea market (can't remember the name now). I ordered a salad, and it came with a duck leg and pieces of duck, plus a huge slab of foie gras. The rest of the salad was delicious too. It was a considerably more substantial meal than I expected when i ordered a salad- so you might try doing that instead of the formule. As I remember, it was 10 euros. That was last January. The dollar has gone down and then up a bit since then.
Also, don't forget about couscous.
Royal Red Shrimp, Can I Find It?
I thought the OP wanted to buy the shrimp in bulk to take home. We hit a seafood market on the way out of NO last time- so that would be on the north side- where we bought crawfish and shrimp. They packaged them for the trip home. I don't remember the name of the place, but Googling should turn it up. Can't promise Ruby Reds, but the white shrimp are good, too.
Guanajuato recos?
In San Miguel de Allende, I always go to Bugambilia and have the chiles en nogada. They do a fabulous version of the chiles stuffed with a ground pork mixture, topped with pomegranate seeds and walnut sauce. Guanajuato is trickier. There are tons of places with typical comidas, but I don't know the names of any of them offhand. Last time I was there, I ate El Abue, and it was wonderful. Truco Siete is a different experience- while the customer service was better last time I was there, it was during the Cervantino, and they may have had extra staff. Typically, dishes come out in random order, and you need to allow some time to eat there. But it's very authentic, not a tourist place. I can't really recommend El Gallo Pittogorico for the food, which is semi-Italian, but it's at the top of a building and the views are great. There's also a place up the hill by the silver mines- Conde de Valenciana- that's in a lovely courtyard. Ciao Bella, in town, is a good Italian place, if it's still there. It's a little hard to find- it's down the street from the main stairs to the university.
Restaurants near Hilton, Conn Ave
Wow! Now I wish I were going to be there longer! I'll check these out. Thanks to everyone.
Restaurants near Hilton, Conn Ave
I'm going to be spending a few days the end of October in the Hilton on Connecticut Ave. Are there some good places nearby for dinner? Not too concerned about price, but want innovative, interesting food, possibly Asian.
women and bad service
My brother, who worked in some high end hotels, claimed that the worst tippers were doctors at a medical convention! I think the stereotypes about who tips well and who doesn't are being shattered every day.
My new problem is that as a middle-aged woman, I seem to have become invisible. On planes, in restaurants, in stores- any one experience that?
Dungeness Crab vs Lobster
I've caught crabs, both off Long Island where I grew up, and in Florida, and cooked them within minutes. Love them, crave them, want some now. But I'd still take lobsters first.
women and bad service
Many people have responded about the service they get when they are WITH men- but that's a different issue. I go out with women friends frequently- and the situation has changed a good deal over the past 20 years. it use to be axiomatic with servers (and many members of my family have been servers ) that women would tip less. Not so much anymore. 20 years ago I walked out of restaurants several times- once a woman friend of mine and I sat there with no one even offering a menu while the table of men next to us got 2 rounds of beer and their orders taken. On another occasion, I sat in a restaurant with my daughter for half an hour with no one coming near us.- Notice that these are not occasions on which we acted like divas- we didn't have a chance to!
But it's somewhat better now. I often take job applicants out for dinner and rarely have the check presented to them instead of me or the wine given to them to taste first.
BTW, my brother, who was in the hospitality industry for years, said that doctors at conferences were the worst tippers. But at a conference I go to, mostly women, we were once told by servers in Miami that they would be happy when we left because women only ordered salad at restaurants which cut into their tips!
Edible flowers? Where and what...??
We went to a place in France that preserves all kinds of fruits and flowers (Florian's outside Grasse) but the stars are rose petals and violets. You can put either in champagne or white wine- they create a stream of bubbles. Or you can put them on cakes, etc.
Picnic food
We used to take ceviche. It marinates while you travel, and it's cool and refreshing. Ditto for gazpacho.
Dungeness Crab vs Lobster
Lobsters start deteriorating in flavor the minute they're pulled out of the water. The lobsters you've eaten on the west coast (where as far as I know they're not indigenous) have been shipped there and are not the equivalent of having a lobster in New England. If you haven't had a really fresh lobster, you can't really make this choice. I don't think there' s any comparison- as much as I love crabs, lobsters are the clear winner!
Will I be able to find (unpopped) popcorn in Paris?
There was a recent thread on the Slow Travel board about what people take with them when they're staying in apartments/villas, and a surprising number of people take ice cube trays. The ones you find in apartments there (if at all) tend to be smaller ice cubes, and it's hard to make enough ice if you're entertaining. But maybe you can buy the larger sized trays there.
I second the lagatta on not worrying about weight in Paris. I always lose, even though I eat croissants for breakfast and lots of cheese. You'll be walking a lot more, for one thing, and climbing stairs- and not getting the heavy doses of high fructose corn syrup that are almost impossible to avoid in the States.
Paris street food
Some bakeries and restaurants have little windows that open onto the street for people to walk up and buy sandwiches, etc. but that's as close to street food as I've seen. People in France don't walk around the streets eating lunch the way Americans do- they sit down like civilized human beings. But the sandwiches are great if you're taking a picnic to a park.
Cote/Provence
The market in Nice is in the old town, near the shore, along Cours Saleya. It's there every morning, but the big one is on Saturday. One end is a beautiful flower market - the other is the usual dizzying array of produce, cheeses, meat. At night, the restaurants along Cours Saleya feature fabulous seafood platters. We also ate at a little place in the old town- Nissa Socca- nice platter of local specialities.
Many of the medieval towns in the area, like St. Paul de Vence, have been turned into hilly shopping malls. But I loved Eze, which is an easy drive from Nice. At the top is a garden/historical monument that you pay a little to enter, but it's worth it.
Just around a litle corner from Nice (by boat) is Villefranche-sur-Mer, with a row of restaurants along the water. La Mere Germaine is recommended. We ate at Le Cosmo- a less expensive slightly inland place with really good food. You should visit the church that Cocteau renovated while there, and see the Rue Obscura, where locals hid out during WWII.
I'm sure the restaurants recommended in Grasse are wonderful. We stumbled accidentally into a place called Le Gazan last year for lunch (I think they only serve lunch- they ran out of food both times we were there). It's run by a couple, who cook and wait on the tables. They have a menu with a couple of choices- everything was wonderful, and the homemade desserts sounded so good, we ordered all 5, then each took a bite of one and rotated it to the right! It was such a great experience- chatting with the owners, sitting outside on a lovely terrace on a side street- that we went back this year. But we went to St. Paul first, and by the time we got to Grasse, they were out of food (they buy what's fresh and just enough for the day)- so get there before 2:00.
If you go to Grasse, look for the signs for Florian's a little outside. You can take a tour to see how they candy fruit (they put mandarin oranges through many days of boiling in sugar syrup) and buy candied rose petals to put in your wine.
NYT - "You Do the Math" about anxiety over birthday parties in restaurants
Miss Manners would say that the person doing the inviting should pay. However, with birthdays, the trick is not to organize your own, but draft a friend into it. So the friend calls people up and says, "Let's all take the birthday girl (or boy) out to lunch!" Then it's clear from the beginning and the birthday person isn't seen as a greedy mooch!
What makes you decide to go back? [moved from General Chowhounding Topics]
Ah, snotty and indifferent service- yes, that's a turnoff. But having lived in Mexico where service is not really a concept and food tended to come out of the kitchen fairly randomly, I don't really care that much about service. If the food is good, I'll go back. Sometimes they may just be having a bad day and be really short-handed. My daughter waitressed for a while, and there were days when half the waitstaff didn't show up for work. Doesn't mean the restaurant isn't serving good food- you may just have to wait for it a while.
Shrimp cocktail on my buffet
Presumably in Texas they'll have the Gulf shrimp- maybe Royal Reds?
Decent Italian in Memphis?
It may not be affiliated, but the press releases talked about how he was returning his family's food to South Main, where the grandparents opened their original restaurant.
Memphis and Miss. Delta-- Not to miss??
Plenty of people who live in Memphis would disagree that the Rendevous has the best barbecue. But as I said before, barbecue is a very personal issue, and everyone has a favorite. The Rendevous is certainly an interesting experience. There's a place out east at Quince and Kirby called Mayuri that has better Indian food, although the lunch buffet at India Palace is good. There's a Sekisui downtown across from the Peabody- not as atmospheric as midtown, but more convenient for visitors. There's also the Bluefin on S. Main that has more upscale sushi- menu available online at www.bluefinmemphis.com
