We have been to Candela 3 times in the past 6 months and always found it interesting and tasty. Lots of fun, just a little different, things to try and pass around to a group. Decor isn't stunning but it's pleasantly dark and romantic and certainly not off-putting. Chef takes true pride in what he does and it shows. Wait staff seem to know the product and seem genuinely interested in seeing that you have a good experience. Prices very reasonable and some good wines on the list. This is a true winner.

We dined there in June of 2011 during a trip that took us through the Dordogne and Auvergne and ended in Lyon.

We found Le Puy en Velay quite interesting and enjoyed it but were not as happy with our dinner with Francois Gagnaire as we had expected to be.

I'm always a bit turned off by pictures on restaurant walls showing the chef with his famous diners--it may work at some places where that is the main claim to fame but doesn't show me much at a serious restaurant where I think the emphasis should be on the food and all the diners, not just some nor on the rising celebrity of the chef. So we were off to a bad start. The rest of the room with an art divider and colorful pictures under glass was nice but nothing special.

We arrived a tad early and were finally shown to seats in the downstairs hotel lobby which also got us started off wrong. Within 15 minutes of being shown upstairs, past the celbrity pictures, to the restaurant the whole place filled up including a table of 18--so not the best night to judge the place. Service was frantic as I expected a collision as staff breezed by each other and us, hurriedly placing items before us with no real attention to us or any of the diners.

The best dish we had in a meal that came to 280 euros inc. wine (we both ordered their 85 euro mer extravaganza) was my first course--vert puy lentils looking like caviar in a little tin with green lentil emulsion and coco/coffee sprinkles--quite an inspired marriage of the local specialty with the themed menu. Thereafter everything was acceptable to good but my husband and I agreed that the food and the experience rated only a B- overall.

By the time we left, things had calmed down and Francois and his wife walked us to the door--frankly the only genuine hospitality we were shown during the course of our experience there.

Hopefully our experience was an abberation brought on by the large party being served that night, but I'll be interested to see what other responses this thread gets. Enjoy Le Puy en Velay.

Cafe Sharaku was one of the true finds of the Ft. Lauderdale dining scene. Wonderful, tiny, chef run, 18 seat place with truly inventive fusion cuisine--Asian chef, French trained. Bittersweet to learn that Zagat 2013 posts its highest food score (28) for Sharaku and one other restaurant now that the chef, as the eldest son, has closed the place to return to San Francisco to care for his aging parents. This place will truly be missed by its loyal clientele of which I was definitely one. Sorry, too, for those who read the Zagat review and call hoping to enjoy this wonderful place, only to learn that it is no more. Moral of the story, if you know of a tiny, struggling place with wonderful food, go as often as you can. You never know how long it will last.

Unfortunately Cafe Sharaku has closed. The owner, being the eldest son in his family, had to return to San Francisco to care for aging parents. Bittersweet that Sharaku was just awarded the highest food score for Ft. Lauderdale (28) for 2013. So sad to lose this wonderful chef and his lovely restaurant.

Fun thread. When my husband and I and our long-time travel companions get in our cups while traveling, inevitably we return to our favorite ancient wine commercial;
Temple wine is fine
Serve it when you dine
For eating or treating
Make it Temple Wine

In planning meals for our upcoming 3 days in Budapest, I booked one dinner at Baraka, a modern, newish looking Asian (Chinese) place that Zagat 09/10 showed as best (overall, not just best Asian) in Budapest. I have searched on this forum in vein for any mention of the place which seems odd. Has anyone dined there? How was it? Am I buying a pig in a poke?

The information on this thread has been incredibly helpful to me. Thank you all. One thing that puzzles me is that I see no mention of Baraka, which I had understood to be one of--if not the best--restaurants in Budapest. Has it closed, lost its cache, never had it?

Ok, Daniel and Denise is now firmly on the list for reservations. Thanks mangeur and masha.

Thanks EatDrinkLyon. I'll do more checking on Thomas. You make it sound very interesting. And I'm thinking drinks in a couple of places would satisfy my desire to see them, without need to schedule a meal.

Yes, I have been to La Meuniere and I'm trying to decide whether to go again (we liked it a lot) or try other bouchons we haven't yet dined at. Decisions. decisions. Thanks for weighing in with your recs.

At a certain point, chefs who move beyond cooking, need to be rated not on their cuisine, but on their business acumen. Ducasse has moved well beyond that point, as have almost any chefs whose names are attached to several restaurants or endeavors. We can continue to rate the restaurants in their empires, but we should no longer think of those restaurants as theirs but rather be identifying the chef they have employed/anointed to run that aspect of their empire for them as the individual whose skills and results we are assessing.

Thanks ChefJune. I've read a lot of your posts, so I appreciate your info on this one. So La Tour Rose is off the list. Since Nicolas Le Bec was listed in some guides but not in others, I was thinking he may have closed or moved on to something different. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just go with what Lyon does best--bouchons and bistros and splurge at some trendy foodie temple elsewhere. The only thing that worries me about that plan is the possiblilty of burn out on bouchons. OTOH for me that might not be possible.

Actually it's from searching that and other threads that I've become a bit confused and was hoping for some clarification and more direction. Is there somewhere you'd point me?

Thanks arythmic, this has been on my radar. Now moving up a notch with your recommendation.

Yes, the frequent changing of restaurants in Lyon seems hard to keep up with. I am looking at both a Michelin 2006 and a Pudlo 2009 and trying to figure out what's happened to some places.

I apologize for not being clear in my initial post. We like bouchons very much and so are intending to sort through the many recommendations I already have for them (from this site and guidebooks, and even our own previous experience with Lyon) to make picks for most of our meals. However, I am looking for recs for one non-bouchon dinner on a par with Leon de Lyon or perhaps Jofe where we dined last time we were there, for that dinner. We are quite willing to pay significantly for such an experience and would even consider Bocuse except for our preference to remain in Lyon proper rather than take to the suburbs.

We had lunch in La Tassee on a previous trip and liked it well enough but I would consider it more in the bouchon genre than the "fine dining" genre I'd like to pursue for this one dinner. Besides L'Alexandrin, Le Gourmet de Seze supported by arythmic, and your suggestions for the Thomas restaurants and Potager des Halles, I'm wondering about La Tour Rose which certainly looks to be beautiful and Les Trois Domes. Any further guidance given my clarification? Thanks.

We'll be in Lyon 4 lunches and dinners in mid June. We love the bouchons and intend to eat most of our meals at them. I'm busily sorting out which ones from the posts I've been reading here and my own experience on two previous trips. Always torn between wanting to return to those we liked previously and the others we still want to try. I'd like one dinner to be at a "nicer" place and that's where I'm having trouble deciding. We don't want to leave the city so Bocuse is out even if we could get a reservation this late. Last time we went to Leon de Lyon so I don't want to repeat that. We're staying on Place Bellecour and since there seem to be multiple options I'd like to stay within reasonable distance from there all other things being almost equal. From my reading I'm leaning toward L'Alexandrin. I'd like to hear from Lyon diners on whether that's a good choice or recommendations for better. Thanks.

Thanks so much for all this wonderful information. We will be traveling to Czech Republic in August and this will be so helpful.

Please tell us what you so liked about Les Papilles. It's been on my list forever, but I keep not getting there.

Hope you can pick up this response from the internet somewhere in your travels. In Trouville check out Les Vapeurs, a lively brasserie right on the main street across from the fish market. Honfleur has lots of nice places. We enjoyed Le Breard around the corner from the Vieux Bassin but even the places lining the Bassin are fun and some have pretty decent food. Just read the menus and see what appeals--or has the most shade. We did lunch on a Sunday at La Chaumiere, outside of town just a bit beyond the famous Ferme St. Simeon in the Relais and Chateau association. Honfleur's current gastonomic claim to fame is Sa Qua Na with, I think, two stars. We did not care from Entre Terre et Mer finding their service very slow and unconcerned. Hope this is helpful to you and that you get to read it in time for your trip.

Thanks for this confirmation. On a previous trip, I tried to get into Jaizkibel for lunch on a Sunday without a reservation. Silly me. Booked solid. Didn't make it on our last trip either, but now it's on the definite list for next time. I just knew it would be good. Thanks.

Glad we're only spending one night there on our way to Lyon. So there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

We will be in Puy en Velay in mid June. I had thought that the Gagnaire restaurant there was good. It has one Michelin star. Not so?

Piggyinthemiddle, we will be staying 3 nights in Rodez in early June. Would greatly appreciate recs for dining in the area. Intend to go to Aubrac Chez Germaine for aligot and to dine one night at Gouts et Couleurs. Will also lunch at Vieux Pont in Belcastel one day. What am I missing?

Just an update for Sharaku fans who have been worried that this lovely small restaurant might not survive. They joined Open Table some time ago and it seems to have helped their business. I was gratified to receive an e-mail from Open Table a day or so ago that featured Cafe Sharaku as #1 in a list of Top Ten Foodie favorites for the Ft. Lauderdale, Miami area--holding its own with the likes of db Bistro moderne Miami, and Michael's Genuine. Heartwarming.

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Cafe Sharaku
2736 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306

I was at Cristal during its heyday, so didn't experience the emptiness that andaba mentions, but it is an incredibly beautiful place and very romantic in a luxurious, opulent sort of a way. Emptiness might be a virtue if you want to feel like you're having a private dinner in a beautiful place. I would guess the emptiness might be due to the fact that while the food is/was good, it was not extraordinary--especially at the prices they charge--so that once you've experienced the decor, you'd probably not return for the food.

Our experience at Le Petrelle was disappointing. Service was miserable. Almost non-existant and we had to wait long periods for everything including the bill even after we'd asked 2 or 3 times. That might not bother you if you want to spend a loooong, quiet, romantic evening. Here, too, we did not find the food exceptional. The place is romantic in a very quirky, Bohemian sort of way.

I hope this helps you decide. Have a wonderful dinner wherever you go.

Great thread. So much information. We return to Lyon in June and I can't wait to try so many of the places listed here. I'll have to try to squeeze in an extra meal each day otherwise I only get 8. Decisions. Decisions!. Thanks for making the job tougher.

Thanks for a great report. We love Lyon and will be there again in June. I have your selections now noted among the places we will seek out.

Again, thanks for this post. We dined at La Cascade on our trip to Brittany this summer. Enjoyed it all very much. We stopped for lunch as it was right on our route to Val Andre. At lunch the house was about 2/3 full so I'd say they're doing quite well. I found the decor interesting but quirky in what seemed to me a retro whorehouse vein with 70's style black and gray accented with red and purple. Actually less garish than it sounds but jarring when I was sort of expecting a Normandy farmhouse look.

We opted for the days market menu at 23 euros--a remarkable deal. Entree plat with amuse-like serving of green pea and ham soup, radiccio with sea greens and enoki mushrooms, and duck terrine. Rolls were excellent and the accompanying salt and seaweed butter may have been the best taste of the entire lunch. The main was a nice filet of daurade with crispy skin and a little cone-like horn filled with (of all things) ribbons of tripe--the first time I could ever honestly say I enjoyed tripe. Dessert was a buckwheet waffle accompanied by quinoa and apple, a nice modern presentation of some traditional Brittany tastes. With two glasses of champagne to start and a bottle of white Bordeaux from Blaye at a mere 16.50 euro, the total meal came to 87 euros, amazing. And very, very good. I second the OPs recommendation of this interesting place.

Our party of 3 adults will be staying in South Lake Tahoe three nights over Christmas. I have already booked us into Kalani's for Christmas Eve. I'm interested in Swiss Chalet (looks cute and we like raclette and fondue) and saw that Mirabelle is open for Christmas Eve and day. Thinking to book Mirabelle for Christmas Day dinner and Swiss Chalet for dinner on the 26th. Does that sound like a good line up for our dinners or should I look at other places? I note that Cafe Fiore gets good press. Should we go there rather than Swiss Chalet or Mirabelle one night if it's open?

For lunch options I'm looking at Cafe Fiore, Gi Fu Loh (DH is an Asian food fanatic), Fresh Ketch, and Samurai Sushi. Figure I won't need lunch reservations and can check them out a bit before booking or just walking in. Am I on the right track with these places and my no lunch reservations policy? Your advice very much appreciated.

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Swiss Chalet Restaurant
Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

Kalani's
1001 Heavenly Village Way Ste 26, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

Fresh Ketch Restaurant
2433 Venice Dr E, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

We were in Pont Aven last year and dined at the Michelin recommended Moulin de Rosmadec there. it's beautiful and the food is good but we found indifferent service and no real feeling of gracious hospitality. There was a more modern-looking, casual bistro not far from it on a corner that I would try instead on another visit. Pont Aven is delightful overall.

Thanks so much for this recommendation. We leave in about 3 weeks for time in Brittany and Normandy and will be staying at Val Andre, practically within walking distance of this place. I'm going to reserve immediately. Sounds terrific.