tlubow's Profile
One Dinner Only
It looks perfect. Thanks - it appears I'm all set for the trip. Thanks again to all Boston hounds.
One Dinner Only
Thanks everyone. I got a reservation. Are there any good bars near the restaurant or on our way? We're staying at the Seaport and would love to have a cocktail (or two) before dinner.
One Dinner Only
Thanks, OC. I had already read those posts. I'm practically a Uhockey groupie. We're going to try O Ya. How difficult of a reservation is it? Tomorrow is 2 months until we go. Should I get online tomorrow?
One Dinner Only
I thought the sushi bar would be more interesting. I'll try to reserve this weekend. Thanks again.
One Dinner Only
Thanks so much! I think we've got a plan. Unfortunately, hunger really doesn't have that much to do with it. I hope we can keep ourselves in check.
One Dinner Only
The problem with the a la carte method is that when I look at the menu online, there are about 20-25 items I want. For those of you who have dined there and dined a la carte, about how many items will we need for a meal? Do we order any of the cooked food or stick with the sushi and sashimi?
One Dinner Only
Thank you for considering my other posts before responding! You are right that we generally like food without pretense. Over the past couple of years, we've also moved more toward less formal dining. We find that more casual experiences are more fun for us. Last time we were in Boston we had a fantastic dinner at No. 9 Park. We wouldn't consider returning because we are just not looking for such a formal experience. Is O Ya a formal dining experience? Because even though we don't eat uni, eggs, etc., we do love raw fish, and we do love interesting food. If only ICOB was open for lunch, this would be a no-brainer.
One Dinner Only
We're coming to Boston the last weekend in July for a wedding. Staying at the Seaport. With all the wedding festivities, we'll have only one free dinner to ouselves (Thurs. night), but we'll have 3 lunches. I know we've got two months, but I've been scouring the boards anyway (commercial real estate is pretty slow right now...). For lunches, we're thinking about Neptune, Pizzaria Regina and possibly one of the dumpling places. The two places that intrigue me for dinner couldn't be more different: ICOB and O Ya. ICOB looks great - food, drink, atmosphere, price. O Ya looks amazing, but my concern is whether we should go if we're not the most adventurous sushi eaters. We love the raw fish, but don't really care for uni or eel or large fish eggs, etc. Is it worth spending the money if we're not that adventurous, and if so, would you still during the chef's omakase?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Fresh Sardines
Did you call Finster Murphys? If you can't find them, you can always order them at G&B Oyster, where they grill up some plump ones.
Rome, Montalcino, Florence restaurants
We tried to go right after a wine tasting at Vinoroma on Monday night in Feb. and they were closed.
Your Thoughts on My Ft. Lauderdale Picks
You're absolutely right! I meant fish and shellfish (and they have mostly fish, not shellfish).
Your Thoughts on My Ft. Lauderdale Picks
+1 for SEA. I've eaten there twice and it's really good. All the soups are outstanding - it's fish and seafood only.
2.5 day Venice Itinerary - suggestions welcome
We were in Venice in January. We really liked La Bitta but I don't think it's open for lunch. Maybe you can switch it to dinner. Regarding your father, what PBSF says is true. We expected to walk a lot, even with the vaporetto, and we did, but what we didn't expect were so many steps. There are bridges everywhere and always step up to the bridges and then down from the bridge.
Going to Venice, but can't eat fish or meat. Restaurant recommendations?
We were in Venice in late January and we are not vegetarians, but we ate at La Zucca, which is a good choice for the OP, but I also wanted to mention that we had fantastic experiences at L'Anice Stellato and Ai Promessi Sposi - and the staff at both places were so nice and so accommodating, I wonder if they would work with you if you requested in advance??? My guess is that they would. We had lovely veggies at both places and I'm sure they could do a pasta for you if you asked. It's worth trying.
Near Bank Atlantic Center?
What about Mustard Seed Bistro on University and Broward? We had a decent meal there not too long ago.
Is there anything decent in Amelia Island??
Thank you both for the wonderful information. I should have pointed out in my earlier post that my two friends don't eat meat, poultry or shellfish (I eat everything), so any restaurant we go to should have a least a couple of fresh fish options (that aren't covered crabmeat or andouille sausage!). I've looked at the menus for The Horizon and PLAE (I agree on the ridiculous name) and they seem to have fish options. Merge is intriguing, but without a website, I'm in the dark about the offerings. Can someone help?
Is there anything decent in Amelia Island??
Thanks for the update. I found this post a few days ago. I am planning to be at the Ritz Carlton the weekend of 5/18 - meeting my two best girlfriends from high school (30 years ago!). We will eat one night in the hotel - but I'm not sure that we will splurge on Salt. On Sat. night, we'll likely go out - since I'll be driving up from Ft. Laud and will have a car.
I will check out LeClos and PLaE (which looks like it's not too far from the hotel), but I was wondering if you could tell me what Merge is like since they don't have a website.
Many thanks in advance.
Special Dinner in Ft. Lauderdale?
I'd be interested to know if anyone's tried East End Brasserie at The Atlantic Hotel (the spot that was formerly Trina). The menu looks really good, great view, but I haven't heard a thing about it.
Venice Report - Very Long and too wordy
I forgot to mention the caponata at Anice Stellato - which I absolutely loved. It wasn't like any caponata that I've had here in the states. Fresh peppers in all colors, slightly sweet with really nice acid also. I definitely recommend it, along with the fresh fish.
Itinerary finalization/help Rome
Cleo,
Just a couple notes since we just got back - though I am no expert. I think I remember reading that the Vatican museum is only open in the mornings, so if you're planning to visit the museum please check to make sure it's open in the afternoon. Also, I'm not sure Pizzarium is an evening type of place. I'm sure one of the regular hounds can tell you. I don't think L'Asino d'oro has its famous prix fixe lunch on Saturdays, if that's what you were expecting. I'd go anyway if it were me - we were very disappointed not to have made it there. Lastly, based on our lunch at Perilli, and we only ordered two pastas and one main course to split, you will be very, very full afterwards. I can't imagine eating another big meal that night. What about a pizzeria? I think a few of the ones often recommended on this board are open on Sunday night. Good luck. You will have such a great time.
Rome Report - very long
Oops. One thing I forgot to mention in the original post was that we had puntarelle at Da Danilo and either Perilli or Colline Emiliane. We never had it before, and didn't really know what it was until we googled it after. We loved it! Especially the way it's served with the anchovies. I love trying a new vegetable. See...we didn't only eat pizza and pasta.
Rome Report - very long
@mikey - yes, despite my weak stomach, we really did eat a lot! Regarding Da Remo, the waiter was in no way offensive - don't misunderstand me. He did ask if we wanted an english menu and seemed very pleased when we said it wasn't necessary. I think we had read somewhere (Parla Food?) that it was better to order the pizza there with fewer toppings. We actually like it better with fewer toppings anyway - especially the thin crust pizza.
@barbarinibee- We had a 3 hour delay at the Milan airport on our last day. Feeling better, I had gelato (I know not the best, obviously) TWICE, while we waited to finally board.
@nancys - our plan basically was to eat a big meal at lunch and then go to a pizzeria for dinner, or have Pizzarium for lunch on the day we were to have gnocchi for dinner. Our hotel included a lavish spread for breakfast, which also became as issue, since in theory you want to say I'm just having coffee, but in practice, it's difficult to resist. We walked by the above-recommended
Beppe e I Suoi Formaggi and it looked very, very nice, so I think Barbarinibee has a good idea.
@Katieparla - re Pizzarium, it wasn't just the oil on top. The oil permeated through the pizza, so when you bit down, it was, how should I put this...juicy? You could feel the oil come out into your mouth. I would have blamed it a bit on my stomach, but my husband felt the same way, and he's never thrown away pizza - at least since I've known him. It may have been that we got there around 1:00 - it wasn't busy, and the weather was bitter cold, so it could have been sitting for awhile? I'm not sure if it was just an off day. I hope so.
Thanks everyone again for the advice. We did have a great time and I am already thinking of it nostalgically.
Rome Report - very long
They were all on my list!! I even had printed google maps of each location. Damn weather! Damn stomach!
Rome Report - very long
We just got back from Rome.
Pro: It snowed for the first time in 26 years while we were there! How cool and how beautiful everything looked.
Con: It snowed for the first time in 26 years while we were there...The ground was wet and slushy, the taxis stopped running, most of the sites tourists visit shut down and we had to cancel our splurge night at All'Oro. Waa, waa
We had a fantastic time anyway!!
We arrived on Monday afternoon from Venice, checked into the fabulous Hotel Majestic and set out walking immediately, with the understanding that this would be our only sunny day in Rome. We wandered and wandered and then walked to VinoRoma for our 5:00 p.m. wine tasting, which we thoroughly enjoyed and actually learned some pretty good stuff. From there, our plan was to go to L'Asino D'Oro. To our great disappointment, when we got there, they were closed. Apparently, they are NOT open for dinner on Monday. That's okay, we had a plan B. Jump into a taxi toward Da Danilo. We had hoped for a wine bar/other type of bar near Da Danilo for a pre dinner drink and wandered in the hood for awhile searching (and used both Katie's and Elizabeth's apps trying to find one), but found nothing. At Da Danilo we ordered some arancini to start (very tasty, no oil residue), then my husband had cacio & pepe and I order the carbonara. Wow - the carbonara was incredible - we were fighting over it. We ordered the oxtail but they came back and told us they didn't have it and suggested a steak. I think it was good, but honestly all I really remember is the carbonara.
Day 2 - morning rain but headed over to the Jewish Ghetto, did a tour and walked around. It stopped raining so we hustled to the Colosseum and did a tour. We had planned to go that day to Perilli for lunch, but now I was worried that we'd get there after 2 and that they wouldn't serve us (based on reviews of surly service to tourists). To make matters worse, we tried to take a taxi but the driver told us no and that it was only a 5 minute walk. It wasn't a 5 minute walk. We arrived finally at 2:00 on the dot, but they graciously seated us and were very helpful and friendly, contrary to what I had feared. We ordered carbonara, amatriciana and split a roasted pork and an artichoke. The carbonara was very good, but didn't rate as high as Da Danilo. We really liked the amtriciana and the roasted pork, especially the crispy skin. Our stomachs stuffed with wine and food, we finally found a cab and raced back to Palatine hill to get in before it closed at 3:30. When we finally got back to the hotel, something I had joked about before leaving on the trip actually happened. My stomach waived the white flag and I surrendered. I had been dieting for 6 months prior to the trip and I joked that I needed to carbo train before I left so my body wouldn't reject the food. My body rejected the food that evening and we couldn't go out as planned to Pizzeria Tonda. Take out pizza for my husband, tums, pepcid, a coke light and other stomach potions for me.
Day 3 - I was still feeling rough, it was raining pretty bad but we headed out to the Pantheon and then kept our lunch reservation at Colline Emiliane. Luckily, I have a husband who can eat his fair share AND half of mine. We order two soups to start: vegetable and tortellini in brodo. They were both really, really good and sat well in my stomach. Next up, bolognese for husband, tortellini with spinach and cheese in a tomato sauce for me. They were both excellent. I was still feeling queasy - but the desserts looked so good and I'm so happy we ordered one slice of a walnut cake that had some chocolate at the crust. It was excellent - served a little warm. A top rate meal and by the way, the service was great and friendly. That night we took a cab to Da Remo for roman style pizza. Wow, it was delicious. I had a marguerite, my husband had mushroom. I ate half of mine and my husband ate the rest. Even though I didn't feel well, I still wanted to try everything and I certainly didn't want to deprive him of all the great food I had planned. The service was brusque and surly, but to everyone, not just tourists - although I really didn't see many tourists, and it was just part of the fun of the experience. I definitely recommend it and only wish we had made it to Tonda to try both styles of pizza.
Day 4 - very early context tour of the Vatican. Walked over to Pizzarium afterwards. I'm sorry to say that we were a little disappointed. We tried four varieties: potato, our favorite, artichoke, 2nd favorite, one with something like capicola on it, and the 4th I have just simply forgotten. Overall, they were just too oily and so, so heavy. I wish the marinara had been out when we ordered, although when they brought out before we were leaving, even it had a pool of oil on top. We were disappointed and it certainly didn't help my overall malaise...We were supposed to go to L'arcangelo that night, but I just didn't feel up to it. Instead, we went back to Colline Emiliane which was a block away from our hotel so I could have soup and my husband could have pasta again. We also had a caprese salad that was good.
Day 5 - snow day. Walked to Galleria Borghese in the snow for our 11:00 am reservation. While we were touring, we continually looked out the windows in disbelief at how hard it was coming down. The walk back to the hotel was gorgeous while we were inside the gardens, and then slushy, wet and slippery once we left. We were supposed to go to Palatium for lunch. Cars were sliding down Via Veneto, my socks were wet inside my boots, and we weren't going anywhere except the hotel's buffet lunch, which was very good but cost a small fortune. It slowly became clear as the afternoon dragged on that our touring was done and that dinner at All'Oro would not happen. Take out pizza and salad - at the suggestion of hotel staff who sometimes stop at this place on their way home. It may be Rome's equivalent of Domino's but it was a hell of a lot better than Dominos! It was kind of romantic eating pizza in the room with the snow coming down outside...
Should I have eaten more carbs and filling foods prior to the trip? YES! Did I have a great time anyway? YES! My only regret: I didn't eat any gelato in Rome. It was just too, too cold. All in all, your recommendations were excellent. We had great food and great service, everywhere we went. Thanks again for all of your help!
Rome in late March- check my list and maybe some suggestions?
We just got back from Rome on Monday and I've not reported back yet, but I wanted to mention that we had tremendous roman style pizza at Da Remo in Testaccio. I wouldn't call it charming exactly, but the quirky (surly?) attitude of the staff made it an interesting local type of experience.
Venice Report - Very Long and too wordy
We are back from our wintry visit to Italy. We were in Venice first and we loved, loved, loved our entire stay there. Londra Palace hotel was fantastic, the food we ate was better than we could have imagined, and in general, Venice is so charming and lovable.
After flying into Milan and taking the train to Venice, we actually had more energy than we thought and had the hotel make us a reservation for La Bitta for the first night. We walked over and stumbled around for about 15 minutes and finally found it. We had a great experience. The owners couldn't have been friendlier and our food was very solid. 2 apps: sliced ham and horseradish sauce was very good but the tagliatelle with red pepper sauce and sausage may be the contender for the best pasta we had in Italy - though carbonara at Da Danilo in Rome (more on Rome later) could also take the title. Mains were Venetial calves liver and veal with artichokes - both solid. Dessert was another big winner - a panna cotta with a dark, slightly bitter, caramel sauce. It was so simple and really delicious.
Day 2 we managed to hit La Zucca for lunch. It was good, but not memorable. So much so that I can only remember two of the things we ate: the pumpkin flan, which I really liked and some type of cheesy lasagna, which my husband enjoyed. A funny (or sad) thing happened while we were there. After we were seated, we noticed a man dining alone at a nearby table. He asked the waiter "Do you have an english menu?" When the waiter replied "No," he got up and left! All the diners around us, Italian or not, looked at each other and shrugged. What a shame for that man. I imagine his culinary experience in Venice was very different from ours.
That night we had reservations at Alle Testiere. I was so looking forward to this meal, but I have to say, it was our least memorable meal in Venice. The food was good but not great, and it was not the warmest experience from a service standpoint - probably not intentional, but the atmosphere was extremely rushed and hectic, even though it was the late seating. Mixed seafood appetizer was good and we ate things we had never even seen before, let alone tasted. We also got a crab appetizer that was good but basically just crab. We shared pasta with clams which was very tasty and loaded with tiny, tiny clams. Our mains were grilled monkfish (very good and simple) and the john dory, which was overcooked and that was disappointing for that type of restaurant. I love chestnuts so when I overhead there was some type of chestnut dessert, I knew I had to have it. It was strange though, and had something in it that was very smoky tasting, almost like bacon, but I don't think it was bacon.
Day 3 - cicchetti for lunch after Rialto market. Alle Vedova - excellent choices, all fresh and delicious, especially meatballs, eggplant and fried ball of something (meat?). Lots of locals in there. Ai Promessi Sposi. We loved this place. The people, the atmosphere, and the food - all good. We shared a plate of veggies from their cicchetti offerings, a pasta with ground duck that was very, very good, a salad and a steak with porcini mushrooms (which they cooked to my specification of "rosso" - thank goodness for level 1 italian). I can't remember what we had for dessert so it must not have stood out for me. We liked it so much there that we had them make us a reservation for the next night, Sunday, when we were supposed to go to Fiaschetteria Toscana. We had walked by FT on our way to dinner that night and it looked really quiet and formal. While I'm sure it would have been really good, we loved the staff so much at Promessi Sposi that we wanted to come back, so cancelled FT.
Day 4 (Sunday) - We toured the Jewish Ghetto in the morning and then had reservations at L'Anice Stellato for lunch. This was our best meal during our stay in Venice. The staff was great and the food was better. Shared a broiled scallop with herbs appetizer. Simple and fresh and delicious. My husband finally got his bigoli with salsa and he loved it. He still talks about it. I had a pasta shaped like torn, long thin penne with a sauce of tomatoes and chunks of smoked fish. It was very, very good. We then split a simple baked whole turbot, covered in herbs and olive oil. The fish was outstanding - easily the best secondo of the trip. Though pretty full after the pasta, we devoured the entire fish, including the head. We split my favorite dessert of the trip. It was a chocolate, orange mousse - two of my favorite tastes together. Chocolate mousse on the bottom, covered by orange mousse with tiny shreds of candied orange peel on top. Go to this restaurant!
For dinner we headed back to Ai Promessi Sposi and decided on a fish dinner that night. We were welcomed back heartily by the staff which of course made us feel great. We shared a plate of mixed cicchetti - mussels, sarde en saor, assorted veggies, fried stuff - all very good. We had a mixed salad that only Americans order - it was good though. I had pasta with clams that was very good (though not as good as Alle Testiere) and my husband had a potato leek soup to start - which he loved. We then split a whole Orato, which I think is a sea bream, grilled simply. They asked us if we wanted them to "clean up" (I guess filet it) the fish for us before serving it, but we told them it was not necessary. It was fresh, simple and very good - better than my John dory at Alle Testiere, but not as good as the turbot at L'Anice Stellato. For dessert I got the simple cookies with the dessert wine and I was pleased with the choice because we were so full. They offered us grappa and limoncello again, as they did the previous night, but this night we had several rounds on the house, while we chatted with the staff. They asked where else we had eaten and I told them. They were very familiar with La Bitta and L'Anice Stellato and considered the 3 restaurants as similar - all trying to do the same, homestyle, fresh concept. They asked how we found these restaurants and they were really intrigued by chowhound - asked all about it and had me write down the website for them. We said our goodbyes and stumbled out happy.
We were sorry to leave Venice the next morning after a wonderful time there. The service is every restaurant we went to was warm and friendly - always allowing me to spit out a few of my Italian beginner phrases I had studied before they switched to English to help me out. We were so pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the food as well, considering our expectations after reading some reviews by other posters.
A couple other quick non-food related notes: Venice in winter is great, but if you're expecting no tourists, you're wrong. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer. Also, go to the casino. We had so much fun and it's a very cool setting in a palazzo. It's nothing like going to Vegas. I can't imagine getting Americans to walk up about 100 steps to get to the gaming tables!!! Also, there's really no drinking at the tables, which is clearly very different from Vegas. We really liked the experience, though, and it was pretty lively on a Saturday night around midnight.
Thanks again to everyone who helped us plan this wonderful stay. For those of you who live in Venice, you really have a special city.
Frustration with eating out in Milan. Need help.
We were in Milan on Saturday night. We went to a local restaurant called Da Abele. The assorted meat platter antipasto was really good, served with cornichons and lingonberry jam. They have 3 types of ristotto each night on the menu. We had one with sausage, artichokes and pecorino that was really, really good. The other two were cabbage, apple and gorgonzola, and seafood with squid ink. We also had a mixed salad, which I think only Americans order, but it was very good and included belgian endive. The secondi were both terrible. Both beef and boar covered in dark brown thick gravy. Yuck. Don't order them. Stick to the apps and the risotto. Very reasonable as well.
Osteria Ca’ D’Oro (Alla Vedova): Away from chaotic San Marco to soak up the Venetian ambiance with delicious cicchetti
We were there on sat and we also loved the cichetti and the staff was very friendly. Meatballs and a ham croquette were very tasty, and also some garlicky eggplant. After, we stopped into osteria la bomba and while the woman was very nice, the food was horrible. We tasted about 6 items and 3 pepcids later, i wish we hadnt been polite and had just left it all on the plate. I wish we had eaten more at alle vedova.
Rome: Palatium or Trattoria Cardona for lunch before All'Oro for dinner
Well, Palatium was always our first choice, both for food and location - just worried about how long we will have to wait for a table...
Rome: Palatium or Trattoria Cardona for lunch before All'Oro for dinner
That could be a possibility, but we were going to do Pizzarium on Thurs. right after our Context tour of the Vatican ends at 12:00 - and we're going to L'arcangelo that night for gnocchi (another big meal). But since our tour ends so early and Palatium is closer to our hotel, we could switch it. And since we've got no real plans scheduled for after Galleria Borghese on Friday, we could hoof it back to Pizzarium. You may be onto something!
