ksherak's Profile
Top 5 places to eat in Rome, Florence and Venice
It was dinner and all Roman specialties: a carbonara with almost no guanciale in it, a cacio e pepe that was just ok, and grilled baby lamb chops made with the least tender meat imaginable-barely edible (and very expensive).
Top 5 places to eat in Rome, Florence and Venice
We just got back from Rome. We've been there many other times for longer periods, we're both fluent in Italian, and we know our way around Italian and Roman restaurants.
We were excited to try Armando, but we were thoroughly underwhelmed, if not angry. They're clearly catering to a foreign crowd-- the food is very uninspired and the portions are small. We would never go back - a complete disappointment.
On the other hand, I thoroughly agree that La Fiammetta is how it should be--real Roman food and unpretentious ambiance and service. We ate well and felt respected.
Puglia Markets
I lived in Lecce 20 years ago and am going back to Puglia next month.
Puglia is a treasure trove of amazing food products and great markets.
1. The town of Gioia del Colle is world-renown for its mozzarella. It's also on the map for wine. Check out this link: http://www.trullipuglia.com/Articles/Gioia.htm
2. Altamura is famous for its bread called Pane di Altamura
3. Martina Franca is a fantastic town with a great open market
4. Cerignola is the home of the olive of the same name.
5. Gallipoli has a beautiful outdoor fish market worth a visit.
There are so many more places with fantastic food and markets. You will be amazed.
Special dinner in Paris
Three of us are being given c. $200 each by family to enjoy a memorable French meal in Paris. We are well-versed in European cuisine, language, and culture. Any recommendations for a French restaurant that is relatively contemporary?
New: Great authentic Beijing cuisine in San Francisco
It was really great to meet you and the other Chowhounds at Beijing. I'm so glad you tried all those dishes and liked all of it. That was a great meal you had going. You guys know your stuff. I hope more readers will check them out and help build the business even more,. The owners really love people who love their food. They are really trying to introduce Beijing cuisine to San Francisco in a very authentic way. As on many nights, you can meet the young owners Jin and Sandy in the front of the restaurant and see Jin's mother and father popping out of the kitchen --they even had their 16 month old daughter there last night. It's a great adventure everyone should try.
Looking for Boston Restaurant for Grad Dinner
My son is graduating from MIT on Friday June 5. Coming from San Francisco, we are pretty food-savvy and looking for a nice dinner spot for 8 that's got great food and is not too noisy. French, Italian, seafood all possible. $60-$70 a head with wine is the rough price range.
Thanks for any and all input.
New: Great authentic Beijing cuisine in San Francisco
We went back for the third time to Beijing Restaurant at Alemany and Ocean. This time we had
#54 Jing Dong Meat Pancake-similar to their Beijing Beef pancake, but with pork-good
#72 Stir Fried Flour Ball with shrimp-these are tiny cubes of hand-rolled noodles--very good
#145 Egg Surface Tofu-fried rectangles of tofu in a very flavorful sauce--very light
#89 Beef Stew Noodle Soup-lovely anise broth with tender beef and hand-pulled noodles
#66 Fried Sweet Cake Beijing Style is out of this world--one of the best desserts you can have--red bean paste, dates, nuts, inside some kind of light dough lightly fried
New: Great authentic Beijing cuisine in San Francisco
From the original poster:
I didn't catch what you meant by "mystery web review ".
New: Great authentic Beijing cuisine in San Francisco
From the original poster: The name of the restaurant is BEIJING RESTAURANT. It's at 1801 Alemany Blvd. (at the corner of Ocean Avenue).
New: Great authentic Beijing cuisine in San Francisco
Brand-new Beijing restaurant on Alemany and Ocean is a rare find and an oasis in our neighborhood. We've been twice in the last week and both times the food was wonderful and really interesting. I should say my husband is Chinese and both of us are adventurous Asian food eaters, so we tend to know quality and authenticity when we find it.
The owners Sandy and Jin are two Beijing natives (by way of New Zealand) who are young, energetic, and very outgoing. They are very excited about their food and eager to tell you about the special "small food" dishes and hand-made noodles Jin's mother (who ran a restaurant in Beijing for 20 years) is making in the back alongside another trained chef.
The restaurant specializes in Beijing cuisine, only here, they mean it. The place is small (9 tables), occupying an unusual corner spot you may have never noticed before. There are dishes here you will rarely find in the bay area and everything we've had has been wonderful. The first time, we had:
* Cumin Lamb
* House Special Pie--really a kind of turnover with wonderful pork and ginger
* House Special Steamed Meatball--amazingly tender and delicious
The second time we had:
* Warm Pot with fish-a kind of soup in a clay pot with tender slices of rock cod and preserved vegetable in a tasty broth
* Beijing Beef Pie--fantastic
* Beijing Style Noodles with Special Sauce-made with hand-pulled noodles you mix everything together with cucumber, been sprouts, and celery--a tad salty, but that might be Beijing style
* We even tried dumplings with fennel! Apparently it's a Beijing favorite
The menu has lots of other interesting dishes on it, including flour ball dishes (meaning dishes with dumplings), and lots of Beijing specialties as well as many more traditional Chinese restaurant dishes. They do a very inexpensive lunch as well.
bunch of reports: Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, Zuni, Chapeau, A16, Coco500, Delfina, Jai Yun
Responding to recent review of Jai Yun:
We went there last night and had the $65.00 dinner each. Both of us are quite well-versed in Chinese cuisine (One of us is Chinese.) While the food was interesting and quite delicious, it is utterly impossible to justify these prices. I would have been mildly shocked if we had paid half this much. We had perhaps 15 dishes, each containing no more than 6 bites. Many come on a plate the size of a coffee saucer. The dishes make small plates and tapas seem huge in comparison. It isn't merely the size that mattered--for that amount of money, one might easily expect expensive ingredients--lobster, crab, other seafood, etc, but there was nothing even remotely expensive on the menu except for two bites of abalone, which was canned. Many dishes were made of simple vegetables, inexpensive and plentiful. (celery, eggplant, mushroom) It's very unusual to spend that amount of money in a Chinese restaurant, and if one does, one eats like a king, both in terms of quantity and quality. I'm afraid this owner has found a way to fleece unsuspecting customers, most likely non-experts who don't realize how they are being fooled and who must believe something is good because it is expensive. It's a shame.
