kewlly's Profile
Great restaurants around SoMA that are stroller-friendly
We're going to be visiting SF from NYC with a 8-month old, and am staying on 3rd and Market in SoMA. We're looking for quality eats within a 20 minute walk around the area (or somewhere easy to get to with public transportation), and am happy to do anything ranging from casual/inexpensive to upscale/expensive as long as the place is stroller friendly. So far from scouring the boards, here are some places we're considering:
Canteen
AQ
Swan Oyster Depot
Yank Sing
Citizen's Band
Slanted Door
Roli Roti Porchetta
We'll be there for 5 nights, so I'm eager to find additional places that Chowhounders love. Thanks!
Higher end places in Manhattan that offer pick-up (but not delivery)
The wife just had a baby not too long ago, so it'll be a little while before we can go out for long meals in the city on a consistent basis. On the flipside, we got a car so picking up food from restaurants anywhere in the city just got a lot easier.
A lot of the higher-end restaurants in Manhattan don't offer delivery, but I think a lot of them are open to offering their food if you're willing to pick it up from the restaurant (and if their kitchen isn't too busy at that hour). From what I've tried so far, Sushi Yasuda, Sushi of Gari and Sfoglia fit this bill. I tried Marea but they denied offering take out (though I swear I've seen someone walk in and pick up food during lunch).
What are some of the better Manhattan restaurants you know of that offer this option?
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Sushi Yasuda
204 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017
Sfoglia
1402 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10128
Gari
370 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10024
Marea
240 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019
Two nights in San Fran for a NYC foodie - suggestions
I'll be in SF for two nights in May, and I'd be interested to hear what people's top recommendations are for dining around the San Fran downtown area (I'll be staying near Union Square).
I'm dining out with some friends, so I'd like the setting not to be too formal, and the cost to be around $50-70/person without drinks.
I've looked at the boards for a little so far, and Perbacco stands out as being a good choice for Italian food. Are there other options that would be more unique to SF (that would be good for someone from NYC)? I love seafood, and am totally open to ethnic cuisines and less fancy settings.
Thanks in advance.
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Perbacco
230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111
One night, single person dinner in Chicago on very short notice - suggestions
Heading to Chicago in 2 days by myself and would like to have a solid meal (given how late it is and that I'd be dining solo, would be fine sitting at the bar or a more casual setting).
I was last in Chicago in August 2010 and had dinner at L2O and Alinea - thinking of trying Avenues as they have a spot open. Would be interested in Bayless restaurants or Blackbird or Girl & the Goat, but those seem pretty difficult given I probably won't get into the city till 8pm or so.
Any suggestions for other places?
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Alinea
1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614
L2O
2300 Lincoln Park West, Chicago, IL 60614
Sunday brunch suggestion near Zoo
NY foodies staying at the Omni Shoreham this weekend, near the zoo. This is rather last minute, but we'd like to get any recommendations for a good lunch or brunch place near the hotel, or something easily accessibly via the Metro for Sunday. Thanks!
Quick bite to eat near the Trocadero?
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm thinking of the following plan for now:
For lunch, try to buy foie gras, baguette, cheese and some good bread/pastries and picnic at the Trocadero. Any suggestions on a good street or store nearby that would be good for picking up these items?
For dinner, I'd like to eat at a quick and early dinner (say 6pm to 8pm), before heading back to the airport. Ideally I'd continue to stay around 16e. I know, this is a very ambitious plan, and I may not be able to accomplish all of this with a tight schedule, but I'd still like to know what the best options are as I dearly love Paris and its food and don't want the 12 hours to go to waste.
Quick bite to eat near the Trocadero?
I'll be on a 12 hour layover in Paris this coming Sunday, from noon to midnight.
I'm planning on watching the England-Germany soccer game at the FIFA Fan Fest on the Trocadero, which starts at 4pm, but am hoping to catch a quality quick bite around the area before the game. Any suggestions on where I could get a bite around the area? I would probably get to that general area around 2:30pm, which is a little late for a regular lunch.
where to watch world cup for a 10:00 week day game on the upper east side
I second the Kinsale Tavern suggestion. Great breakfast and great ambience.
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Kinsale Tavern
1672 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10128
12 hours in Paris on a Sunday in the summer, advice for one memorable meal
Drouant does look interesting. On their website, the latest reservation time for lunch is 1:30pm, and the earliest reservation time for dinner is 7pm, so that might be difficult. I guess I could do a 7pm dinner and try to leave for the airport by 9pm. That may give me a lot more options.
12 hours in Paris on a Sunday in the summer, advice for one memorable meal
Thanks for all the suggestions. We are on a layover to South Africa (for the World Cup!) so I'm guessing we won't have to wait for baggage claim, but I agree that there's always a chance we don't get to the city till 2:30PM. How long does it take to get from CDG to the city? I vaguely remember a taxi ride taking 30-40 minutes. Does it take a lot longer using public transit?
I currently have made a reservation at Le Cinq for 14H as a backup, but we are hoping to try something new and something a little less formal, so I'd still welcome any other suggestions. Are places like L'Ami Jean/Frenchie/Yam'tcha (some of the highly acclaimed bistros) all uniformly closed for lunch or early dinners on Sunday?
12 hours in Paris on a Sunday in the summer, advice for one memorable meal
I will be arriving in CDG at 12:30pm on a Sunday afternoon this June, with a connecting flight at 11:20pm that same evening.
My wife and I love food and food in Paris in particular, and I'm looking for some help with a restaurant recommendation even though we are only in the city for less than 12 hours.
We've visited Paris twice in the past two years and tried Guy Savoy, L'Astrance and Le Cinq for lunch, and L'Atelier and La Table de Joel Robuchon for dinner. We've loved all those experiences. Given our time constraints, we really only have time for one large meal, either a late lunch at 2pm, or an early dinner at 5pm.
Probably prefer the early lunch so we have plenty of time to get back to the airport. We are open to trying one of the famous Parisian classic bistros, or one of the haute cuisine places. The main problem is knowing which ones are open on Sunday and serve lunch. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Is Sushi Yasuda just as good on Monday as it is on other days of the week?
Chef Yasuda himself is away on Mondays, and I've read that fish isn't as fresh at sushi restaurants on Mondays, but I doubt it would be the case for a restaurant of Yasuda's caliber. Does anyone have any specific experiences to share about?
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Sushi Yasuda
204 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017
Robuchon vs Robuchon
niawu, what were your thoughts on galera?
I'm heading to Hong Kong in 2 weeks, and am facing the exact dilemma - whether to eat at Robuchon Hong Kong or Robuchon Macau. I've been to L'Atelier in Paris, New York multiple times, so I'm leaning toward the Macau version as it sounds more different, but I'd love to get any additional info from Chowhounders.
Lounge at Per Se, Monday around 6 pm?
We went a few weeks ago as well (before Benno left!). Had the foie gras terrine with brioche, lobster "BLT", lamb and the liberty farms duck breast, as well as coffee and donuts (specially requested for it) and the malt and milk dessert.
The space was not crowded at all at a 6pm, and even though it was a little weird eating at a coffee table that was slightly lower for comfort, it was a great experience. Given you get all the freebies (cornets, gougeres, amuse bouche, mignairdes) at the Salon, and you can have a 3 course meal for about $100/each, IMHO it's a much much better value than doing the full tasting menu (which has mainly the same dishes anyway) which is $315.
Momo Ko vs. Eleven Madison Park for B-day Dinner
You're right, I meant the fried short ribs. I've seen photos and descriptions (the 48 hour cooking process) on different food blogs, and it looks absolutely amazing.
I'll def post a review after the meal. Hopefully I'll like it and be lucky enough to get a seat there more times in the future!
Paging Upper Eastsiders: Fave places for takeout/delivery?
Second Pio Pio. Also like El Paso Taqueira for Mexican and Tenzan Sushi for Sushi. I've tried Joy Burger Bar and Ottomanelli's for burgers, but I think they taste much better fresh rather than delivered.
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Pio Pio
210 E 34th St, New York, NY 10016
El Paso
134 W Houston St, New York, NY 10012
Joy Burger Bar
1567 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10029
Ottomanelli's Cafe
1626 York Ave, New York, NY 10028
Tenzan
988 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10022
Momo Ko vs. Eleven Madison Park for B-day Dinner
Wow, that sounds great - I guess it's too bad they don't have the muffins or the fried spare ribs (from what I've read, those are amazing too), but I'm glad you found a lot of the newer dishes very yummy as well. I can't wait!
Momo Ko vs. Eleven Madison Park for B-day Dinner
going there for the first time tonight - anyone know what the most recent menu is like?
Help Me Love 97th & Lex
Kinsale is great. It's a much more mellow atmosphere compared to Nevada's Smith, but it's nice to be able to actually get a seat and eat breakfast while watching an EPL game in the mornings.
Ottomanelli's is on 82nd and York. It's a little far from the 90s, so I have yet to venture out there.
Does anyone know a good place to pick up fresh meat (steaks and lamb chops) that's reasonably priced? I haven't tried anything beyond Gourmet Garage.
Help Me Love 97th & Lex
My wife and I have lived on 96th between 2nd and 3rd for the past year or so. She used to live near Union Square, so food-wise we still miss the East Village lots, but we have found some things we like in the UES over the past year. Most of these places have already been mentioned by others, but here are my thoughts:
Pio Pio - big fan of this place, the restaurant is actually really small, so I usually get this delivered. One of the best values for a hearty meal anywhere in the city.
Ottomanellis - another good value place. Dig the Popcorn Shrimp Burger and Waffle Fries. Their lamb chops are decent and are amongst the cheapest in the city as well. I've tried the steak there before too, but it was pretty chewy and not flavorful (don't think it's aged) so I'd steer clear of that. I think they have a butcher's shop close by as well.
Kinsale Tavern - I'm a big soccer fan, so I frequent Kinsale often. Good irish breakfast.
Sfoglia - excellent pasta. nearly impossible to get a reservation there, but it's usually not too hard to walk-in get a table at the bar
Flex Mussels - great mussels, decent fish and chips, so-so lobster roll. Used to go there a lot when it first opened, but haven't visited in a few months. A little expensive, but probably one of the best seafood options in the neighborhood
Tenzan Sushi - another decent value for money place. A little hit or miss in terms of the quality, but reasonably priced and they deliver
Pascalou (across the street from Sarabeth's) has decent brunch and a much shorter line
We pretty much shop at Associated for most of our basic groceries, and do the occasional trip to Gourmet Garage for fresh steak and seafood.
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
Trip report time! Sorry it's taken a while for me to post back. This is what we ended up doing over our short 3 day trip there. Overall, a great trip, with lots of good food, but this is going to be a long review…
Dinner at Ad Hoc
- Our favorite meal of the trip. We liked the casual vibe of the place, and felt like it was a well-executed meal overall, in addition to being good value for money. We started off with a baby lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes, roasted pistachios, onions and a green goddess (avocado-based) dressing. I'm not a big salad person, but I was won over by the freshness of the ingredients, the the sweetness and crunchiness of the pistachios and the creaminess of the green goddess dressing. The dressing was so good we pretty much licked our plates clean of it. Next was the buttermilk fried chicken (we were lucky to have scheduled our trip during one of their fried chicken nights, as we didn’t even know the schedule in advance). We had high expectations after reading a lot about the chicken and we’re glad to report that it lived up to the hype. Extremely crispy skin, moist and tender meat and just the right mix of salty and tangy. They gave us a generous portion (I think it was 7 pieces), and we finished 6 pieces there and the remaining piece in our hotel room the next day. The chicken came with sides of buttery and delicious corn on the cob with some lime salt sprinkled on top, as well as some black-eyed peas with tasso ham, which we didn’t care too much for. We finished off the meal with a light yogurt granite dessert and some pine nut cookies from Bouchon Bakery.
Schramsberg
- Went there on recommendations from Chowhounders. Fun tour of the caves,
good sparkling wines, glad we went there
Lunch at Taylor's Refresher
- Stopped by the joint near Headelsburg since it was close to the wineries and we wanted a quick lunch. We had a cheeseburger, fish tacos and an order of sweet potato fries. The fish tacos were disappointing - the ingredients didn't blend well together, and the grilled mahi mahi didn't really have a great texture. The cheeseburger wasn't bad - the egg bun it was served on was definitely unique, but overall it wasn't as good as Shake Shack and some of our other favorite burgers in New York. Sweet potato fries were pretty addictive.
Happy Hour at Hog Island Oysters at Oxbow Market
- Since I love seafood and meat and knew we weren't going to get any at Ubuntu, we took advantage of the happy hour special at Oxbow to try their oysters. The $1 oysters were good (I think we had a dozen each), but we liked their regular menu selections (some mix of kumamotos and mystic oysters) better. Still, hard to go wrong at these prices.
Dinner at Ubuntu
- This was probably the most unique food we had on our trip. We started off with the Carta Musica, which was essentially their "garden on a plate" dish. It definitely was a strange experience biting into the large pile of colorful flowers and greens. The cheese and crispy shell helped add some normality of texture and taste to the dish, and while it wasn't a bad experience, I don't think I'll be craving the dish anytime soon. We followed that with some English peas in pea consomme, with sprinkles of chocolate and mint on top. Again, a unique dish which tasted okay, but not particularly memorable for me. Next came the cauliflower served in a cast-iron stone pot and a "southern breakfast" dish, which consisted of a perfectly cooked soft-poached egg, grits and smoked mushroom slices that tasted remarkably similar to bacon. Both dishes were excellent, and I can totally see why the restaurant has its fair share of fans. We finished off with the cheesecake in a jar dessert, which was creamy, smooth and had the right mix of tangy and sweet flavors.
Visit to Frog's Leap Winery and Pride Mountain vineyards
- We had a fun time on the Frog's Leap tour, which was interesting since the winery prided itself on its organic approach to producing wine. Staff extremely cheery and helpful, fun to walk through their gardens and see their organically grown fruit and some poultry. Pride Mountain offered a nice sweeping view, excellent cab and a pretty comprehensive mini-tour thrown in with the $5 tasting fee.
Dinner at the French Laundry
After pretty much starving ourselves most of the day to get ready for our dinner at the French Laundry, expectations were sky-high when we opened the blue door and walked into the dining room. My first impression was that the space actually felt a little cramped (we were sitting by the wall, and there was a large table set up in the middle of the room pretty close to us). We’ve never been to Per Se, but given what we’ve read in reviews, it sounds like the setting might actually be more spacious there. That being said, we definitely enjoyed being able to walk around the French Laundry vegetable garden across the street before the meal, as well as being able to take a little bit of a break before our dessert courses arrived sitting in the garden right outside the dining room. Anyway, food-wise, highlights of the meal were the oysters and pearls (decadent and creamy), the Snake River Farms “Calotte De Boeuf Grillee” (marbled fat goodness with the perfect amount of char, sear and saltiness) and the Coffee and Doughnuts dessert, which wasn’t on our tasting menu (but we had called to request in advance). The Foie Gras and Brioche was excellent as well. Some misses – a fennel salad, which was our second course, was pretty uninspiring, while the next dish, a grilled tuna dish tasted a little overcooked. The desserts, a dark chocolate cake and a lemon meringue, were also pretty disappointing, especially given our expectations of excellence for the meal. Service was overall efficient, but as some have pointed out on this board, felt pretty clinical and distant for the most part, and we ended on a rather sour note when our mignardises (the little chocolates and sweets at the end of the meal) weren’t served to us, but rather packed in a box and given to us as a parting gift. We had an early 5:30pm seating, and it was pretty obvious to us that they were trying to get us out at 9pm for the next seating, but the way they rushed the check to us without us asking for it, or us showing any sign of wanting to leave and the fact that we ended feeling rushed out instead of being encouraged to linger really left us disappointed with the service and the meal as a whole. We’ll probably still try Per Se sometime down the road, but unfortunately the experience as a whole did not live up to our expectations, and in comparison to some of the top dining experiences we’ve had in Paris, where language was a barrier (neither of us speak any French), the service we received at TFL was really lacking warmth and generosity.
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
Going to do Schramsberg one morning, and Heitz Cellars and Stoney Hill the next day. Are there any good eats around Schramsberg/Calistoga? Thinking of staying around that area instead of heading back to Yountville for lunch at Redd.
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
Thank you!
Yes, whites are the preferred, and we are pretty open minded about trying the best Napa has, including some reds too. Are there wineries that have good varieties of both?
Our TFL reservation is at 5:30pm, I think we might just try to have breakfast and skip lunch altogether to get ourselves ready. Are wines reasonably priced at FL?
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
If that's the case, maybe I'll just stick with Auberge du Soleil for lunch on my last day in Napa instead of the Oxbow Market. Somewhere in our trip we are also planning on going to a spa in Calistoga.
We definitely want to visit 3-4 wineries during our time there, and I imagine most of them will be upvalley. Any thoughts on whether it's a better idea to do wine-tastings in the morning or afternoon, given the weather? Also, if we are driving, how many wine-tastings a morning/afternoon is safe to do?
ML, would you have a suggested traveling itinerary to cover some of the upvalley spots given the three day schedule I have? I imagine visiting most of these upvalley places during days 2 or 3, but we don't want to make the entire trip too packed/rushed either. Thanks for the feedback!
Day 1: Arrive in Napa around 4-5pm
Dinner at Ad Hoc (Yountville)
Day 2: Lunch at Redd (Yountville)
Dinner at Ubuntu (Napa)
Day 3: Auberge du Soleil (Rutherford)
French Laundry dinner (Yountville)
Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Night schedule
I have a reservation for Ad Hoc next Monday. Based on the posts I've read here, it seems like they are alternating between fried chicken and BBQ on Monday nights. I just checked the menu for this past Monday, and it was BBQ, so I'm assuming next Monday night is going to be Fried Chicken night (I'm really hoping it is). Is there any way to confirm that? Does Ad Hoc stick to that Monday schedule, or are there exceptions?
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
I do agree with the ambitious comment - I think one fancy/heavy meal a day is really all we can handle well. The Ubuntu arguments are also pretty convincing. With that in mind, I'm thinking of the following amended itinerary now:
Day 1: Dinner at Ad Hoc
Day 2: Lunch at Redd
Dinner at Ubuntu
Day 3: Oxbow Market picnic lunch
French Laundry dinner
Basically am cutting out Auberge du Soleil (might still drive there for a drink if we have time), Celadon and Bistro Jeanty.
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
Yes, I've heard Ubuntu being mentioned countless times on this board, but I am a little put off by the vegetarian-bent (being a seafood/meat-lover). that being said, I'm willing to consider it if it really is that good.
I think most of my itinerary covers french/new american cuisine - I wouldn't mind more variety, but I've just been going with the highest rated places I can find. It's easy to find good Italian in NYC so I've been staying away from the Italian places.
Three Days in Napa Valley - please help!
My wife and I will be spending 3 days in Napa Valley next week. We are a young couple in our 20s from NY who love all types of good food.
We do have a reservation for dinner at the French Laundry on our final night there, but we wanted to make the most out of our three days there, so we're looking for tips and suggestions from Chowhounders. Also, we don't know very much about wine, but would love to visit at least 3-4 good wineries during our time there, so recommendations on those would be most welcome as well. We'll be staying in Downtown Napa (the River Terrace Inn) during our trip.
This is what we have so far on our itinerary:
Day 1: Arriving in the afternoon - planning on walking around downtown Napa and checking out the Oxbow Market before dinner
Dinner reservations at Ad Hoc. Also considering Redd for dinner, but at this point Ad Hoc sounds more interesting.
Day 2: Lunch reservations at Redd/Bistro Jeanty. I know Bistro Jeanty is more classical French Bistro food, which we enjoy. Just wondering if Redd is a must-go restaurant on our trip, or if it's just another good restaurant on par with Bistro Jeanty/Ad Hoc.
Thinking of trying out Hog Island Oysters (we love oysters) before dinner.
Dinner reservations at Celadon. We probably want to try to stay in downtown Napa for dinner at least one of the nights (instead of driving to Yountville every night), so any suggestions besides Celadon (I've heard Cole's Chop House, but am not really interested in getting steak in Napa) would be most welcome.
Day 3: Early lunch reservations at Auberge du Soleil (since we have a 5:30 seating at TFL). Mainly going there for the view. Any thoughts on whether it makes more sense just to go to the Bistro instead of the Restaurant for lunch?
Dinner reservations at The French Laundry.
Any critique on the itinerary above as well as any advice on what to order at these places would be most appreciated.
We'll probably try to visit wineries before or after lunch on Days 2 and 3. We haven't really tried a lot of wines, but we know we like Rieslings, Muscats and generally sweeter, more fruit-like wine. Any suggestions on wineries that are good for beginners but offer more intimate and interesting experiences would be great. Thanks!
Le Cinq vs. Guy Savoy - Engagement Dinner!
Good advice. Just got back from lunch at Le Cinq last Friday, it was a spectacular meal, and very friendly service. My only regret was not having enough room to finish the food - I was pretty much winded after the entree and half of the main course (after 2/3 amuses and a basket of fresh friend calamari and shrimp they offered us as a pre-meal snack). They even took a photo for us and gave us a printout after our meal as we told them we were celebrating our anniversary, and the staff were warm and cracked a few jokes with us throughout the meal.
We did also try the Guy Savoy 100 Euro lunch menu on our honeymoon a year ago, and it was fabulous as well. Overall I liked the food better on average at Le Cinq, but the artichoke-truffle soup at Guy Savoy was a much more memorable dish for me than anything I had at Le Cinq.
I'd say the sense of surprise and joy was still greater at Guy Savoy than Le Cinq, but that Le Cinq would be a better place to celebrate post-wedding if you're looking for a grander celebration.
flex mussels
Went back there 2 weeks ago - alas, they increased their lobster roll price from $18 to $26, so it's no longer a good deal (compared to Ed's, Pearl's, etc). They couldn't really give a reason for the price increase, I guess now that they are doing pretty well they can charge what their competitors are charging as well.
