We stayed at the Excellence in 2008 as well. We chose it because it had the best ratings of the all-inclusives. Unfortunately then we found the food to be decent at best. We didn't eat outside of the resort. We found the Asian restaurant on the property and the afternoon pizza to be our favorites. The breakfast buffet was massive and full of options but we felt that the quality of the food -- even the fruit -- was pretty sad. I hope it's improved since then. It's a stunning resort and the service was wonderful. Please report back!

Hi --

I'm part of a 10-person support group and we meet every other week on a weekday evening. We've been meeting at a Le Pain Quotidien location downtown but they close early (8:30), it can be noisy, and the menu gets boring after a few times. I'm looking for a new meeting place where we can get good food (small plates to entrees would be great) for a reasonable price $20-$30 pp total and if people want to get a beer or glass of wine, they can, and we can sit and chat for 2 hours or so. Midtown or further south would be best and near any/many subways. Is there anything like this or are we stuck with LPQ?

Thanks in advance.

We use Naturally Delicious for Thanksgiving and have been very very pleased with them. www.naturallydelicious.com

We moved to Cobble Hill from Brooklyn Heights over the summer. Clark's used to be my place for diner delivery. What's my best option now? Is the New St. Clair any good? Park Plaza diner will deliver to me but their food is disgusting.

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New St. Clair Restaurant
93 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Park Plaza Restaurant
220 Cadman Plz W, Brooklyn, NY 11201

I work near the Dean and Deluca in Soho and grab lunch there about once a week, mostly because it's so convenient. In the past year or so, I've noticed that the quality of their prepared foods has really decreased.

Last fall and winter they had a butternut squash/apple soup that was quite good. I've been stopping in frequently awaiting its return (they don't post their specials anyplace so you have to call customer service or just go there -- then they tend to run out of soups pretty quickly) and yesterday they finally had butternut squash soup but it wasn't what I was expecting. My soup was too creamy, had a weird flour taste/texture, and had small bits of something that didn't get cooked or pureed properly. They've stopped listing all the ingredients of their soups so I had no idea what it was. I also got a 1/2 tomato/mozzarella sandwich and it was one of the saddest tomatoes I've ever seen. Do they use the same ingredients for their prepared foods that they stock to sell? Doesn't seem like it to me.

75 cents an ear at the greenmarket I frequent in Brooklyn.

Has anyone been to the new coffee place on Pineapple between Henry and Hicks?

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Vineapple
71 Pineapple St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Thanks for the feedback. I've been reading some good things about Kenmare on this board and agree that it's a great area. I should mention that it's my 35th bday and the group will be couples, so while we definitely want to have a lively, good time, we're not looking for a loud/party place.

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Kenmare
98 Kenmare St, New York, NY 10012

A friend is organizing a birthday celebration dinner for me and she gave me the choice between Kenmare, Stuzzicheria, and SD26. We're a group of 10 so I'd prefer something on the more laid-back, informal side, and I also don't want it to be a fortune. I know large group dinners can get quite pricey -- I would like to keep cost to about $125 pp including drinks, tax and tip. Last year we went to Locanda Verde which was fine.

Any feedback on any of these choices?

Thanks very much!

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Locanda Verde
377 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013

SD26
19 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010

Kenmare
98 Kenmare St, New York, NY 10012

Pane Panelle
305 Church St, New York, NY 10013

We used Naturally Delicious for Thanksgiving last year and were totally pleased with everything -- so much so that they are catering our meal again this year. Their Thanksgiving menu is very traditional and they've been totally accommodating with ingredients (we have a peanut allergy and some other issues). They are definitely a step up from Lassen & Hennigs, IMHO.

Five Front is now called Brooklyn Bridge Gardens. The menu is pretty limited and the food--beet salad, crab cakes, 1/2 chicken over polenta, burgers, etc--is mediocre. The outdoor area is still nice.

I know this thread is from 2006 but it just popped back up. I cold-brew iced coffee using a French press also. Mix cold water with grounds and leave in fridge overnight. Press in the morning. Pour over ice. Easiest and tastiest iced coffee ever, as long as you use good quality beans.

Why would you "reheat" it???

We stayed at the Excellence in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic almost two years ago. Beautiful beach and lovely resort, but the food was subpar. The only place we enjoyed was the Asian restaurant and the pizzas delivered to the pool and beach most days, There were many different options for food, including a huge full breakfast buffet, but the quality of everything was really poor. I agree with the OP and wold have preferred simple local cuisine.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to report that I recently took Norman Weinstein's Knife Skills 1 class and thoroughly enjoyed it. He was an excellent instructor -- very perceptive, on task, yet it was a relaxed atmosphere. I would definitely recommend him and hope to take more classes at ICE myself.

Every six months or so, my mom and I meet in Rockland for brunch. We used to go to the Hudson House in Nyack for brunch, but they changed their menu and now only offer a smoked salmon sandwich. My mom lives in South Carolina so she craves the traditional toasted bagel, cream cheese and lox platter. Any suggestions of where we should go? Nyack or Piermont is ideal but we can go anyplace else in Rockland -- New City, Orangeburg, etc etc. Would rather not go to a diner but we'd do that as a last resort.

Thanks for your help!!!

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Piermont Restaurant
72 Piermont Rd, Tenafly, NJ 07670

My absolute favorite butternut squash soup recipe is from Cooking Light: Golden Winter Soup. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/rec...

It includes a potato, leeks and chicken broth and it's hearty, earthy and delicious.

How far is the MGM from where we're staying? I'm leaning toward the Detroit Fish Market over Angelina or Oslo because I like the menu options best.

She's totally my cool aunt -- we just went to all five Bruce Springsteen shows at Giants Stadium together :-)

Thanks again for all the help. I'll be sure to report back about our meal.

Thanks again for all the suggestions -- I love Chowhound!! Detroit Fish Market is looking like our best bet for dinner at the moment but I'm going to do some research and will definitely report back. We're only in town for one night, so our Detroit meals are limited to Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast and lunch.

We are at the Hilton. Thanks for the two suggestions. I looked at the menus and while both look great to me, my aunt tends to be a lighter/healthier eater -- more seafood, chicken, etc. No roasted beasts for us. Any other options nearby?

Hi,

A small group of us New Yorkers will be celebrating my aunt's 60th birthday in downtown Detroit on Halloween night. None of us are from Detroit, we won't have a car, and we are staying on Gratiot Avenue downtown. I'd love to find a great restaurant within walking distance, but a short cab ride would be fine too. Looking for someplace interesting and fun with excellent seasonal/local food, but nothing too fancy or stuffy. My cousin has a peanut allergy so no Chinese or Thai. American, French, Italian, or Japanese would be best. We are willing to splurge.

All suggestions are welcome!

Thanks so much!

I'm looking for a one-time cooking class for couples to give to my husband as a bday gift. We took one couples' class at ICE and enjoyed it but none of their current class offerings (sushi for couples, garlic for couples, superbowl party, etc) are particularly appealing to us. Any suggestions of where else I should look? Thanks!

Interesting. I haven't experienced any bitterness with using a French press at all. The quality of the beans and water are both very important though -- I find that the coffee has a weird taste if I just use tap water (which is quite tasty in NYC) instead of purified or bottled water.

As for ratio, I do mine by sight now, so can't tell you the exact ratio. This NYTimes recipe recommends 1/3 of a cup of grounds for each 1.5 cups of water which sounds about right -- possibly not strong enough. They also dilute this "concentrate" with water, but I found that made for REALLY weak coffee. I'd start with the 1/3 cup grounds to 1.5 cups water and adjust from there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/din...

I cold-brew using my French press. Easiest method EVER, no special equipment, cheesecloths, strainers, etc necessary. I grind beans coarsely, dump in French press, fill with cold water, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 10 hours. In the morning simply plunge the press and you have iced coffee.

Excellent beans and filtered water are both important.

The 2 and 3 trains stop at Clark St. The first stop in Brooklyn Heights on the 4 or 5 would be Court St/Borough Hall.

Noodle Pudding is an excellent choice for dinner but they do not serve lunch.

Neither Henry's End nor Noodle Pudding are open for lunch. Le Petit Marche may be open, and the new Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar serves food. Clark's is a far better diner than Park Plaza.

Yes, it was part of the Brooklyn Bridge Park/pier project thing. Picnic tables, sandboxes, etc. It was a Rice outpost. I haven't been down there yet this year so don't know if it's the same or not.

Thanks for the suggestions. We went to Cafe LULUc and it was fine. Not crowded but not completely empty, and they had no problem with us sitting and chatting for 2 hours over breakfast. My friend had a mushroom omelet which she enjoyed and I ordered the pancakes with fruit. The pancakes were delicious and fluffy, although the fruit was sort of sad and past its prime.

Next time we will try Marquet or maybe Ted and Honey (which I hadn't heard of before -- love these boards!).

I actually haven't been to Tazza on Henry in a long time, but I have been avoiding their Clark St. location because their coffee sucks (it was fine when it opened but has gone steadily downjill) and service is usually surly.

I also have issues with F. Martinella -- I stopped in there for cold cuts a couple of months ago and the service was excruciatingly slow and horrible, not to mention the deli meats were overpriced.

Anyway, Cafe LULUc was great yesterday. When my friend meets me closer to the Heights, we'll probably go to Clark's.

Looking for a good place to meet a friend for breakfast on a weekday around 9am. I'm in the north Heights and she's on Douglass St so anyplace in between would be great. We thought about Apt. 138 on Smith St but they don't open until 11. Now the only place I can think of (aside from coffee shops) is Tazza on Henry. Any other ideas? Thanks!

I second the Petit Marche recommendation.

Another option is to get bagels ("Hot Bagels" on Montague between Henry and Hicks is your best best) and coffee and eat them on the benches on the Promenade.

We went last night. Friends are regulars so they called to put their name on the list. At 9pm we were told to come over. We waited at the bar for about 20 minutes and were seated in the lovely back garden area (but in uncomfortable chairs). Loved the food and thought the portions and prices were fine, but service was pretty awful. Our waiter looked really annoyed to have to deal with us, and we were not high maintenance at all. We had to ask for bread and water multiple times and there was a serious lag in the time between appetizers and entrees. Our friend (the regular) talked to the manager to speed up our meal and our desserts were comped, which was appreciated.

Between 6 of us we had:
Bread with olive oil (very good)
2 orders of grilled octopus -- a special
2 cheese/salami plates
1 zucchini ribbons
1 tart with ramps, cheese and something else -- this was the best of the apps

Entrees:
1 chicken -- delicious
2 orders of chops
2 rabbit papardelle specials
1 trout

Desserts were guinness chocolate cake (AMAZING) and butterscotch pudding. We also had a lot of wine. It ended up being about $65 p/p with tip and tax and drinks.

All in all it was a very good meal and a very nice setting. I'd go back but would definitely steer clear of that waiter.