Late Bite and Drinks in Midtown

thanks for the suggestions so far. The menu at Marseille does look very interesting, it reminds me of one of my favourite bistros up here in Toronto. At that hour, I think we might be in the mood for a lighter bite to eat and a drink or too, but will definitely keep Marseille in mind if we're hungrier than expected.

Foodie Canuck in Manhattan

Late Bite and Drinks in Midtown

My wife and I will be arriving in NY this evening. By the time we get into the city and checked into our midtown hotel (the Muse), I figure it will be about 10:30. That's probably too late for a full dinner, but would like to find a spot where we could have a light bite to eat and a drink.

I've heard good things about the cocktail program at Lantern's Keep, which is a short walk from our hotel. According to their website, they also serve some small plates. I've never seen mention of their food, so has anyone here sampled their food selections? We're not looking for anything fancy, probably something like a charcuterie plate and a few other small dishes to share.

Aside from Lantern's Keep, anything else of note? Would like to keep within walking, or short cab ride from our hotel.

Thanks everyone.

Foodie Canuck in Manhattan

EMP - Tasting with Duck?

Hi,
My wife and I will be going to EMP this Friday evening. We've decided to do the tasting menu as opposed to the 4-course, but we both also love duck and have heard and read amazing things about its preparation here. Is it possible (or even advisable given the amount of food) to have the duck alongside the tasting menu?

Thanks very much everyone, this board has been amazingly helpful in planning our trip thus far. We've got reservations at Gramercy Tavern, EMP, Bar Room at the Modern, Ma Peche and Minetta Tavern, so can't wait!

Foodie Canuck in Manhattan

Healdsburg/RRV Itinerary - Need Lunch Help

My wife and I will be visiting Napa (discussed on a prior post) and Healdsburg in 2 weeks. We have one full day in the Healdsburg area (staying at the Hotel Healdsburg) and two half days on the way in and out.

On our way into town, we have an appointment at Merry Edwards in the afternoon.

For the full day, was planning on visiting:
- MacPhail
- Joseph Swan
- Gary Farrell
(Yes, we're big pinot fans).

Any thoughts/suggestions on the winery front?

Also, we'll need to grab lunch at some point. I wouldn't mind a long leisurely lunch since we'll be driving ourselves that day and could use the break. We don't plan on visiting more than 3 vineyards so time shouldn't be an issue. Are there any picnic spots in the area, or any recommended sit-down restaurants?

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Hotel Healdsburg
25 Matheson St, Healdsburg, CA

Foodie Canuck in San Francisco Bay Area

Napa - Tentative Itinerary (Restaurants + Wineries)

Will definitely check out Sinskey, though it appears to be near Shafer in the area around Yountville.

Foodie Canuck in San Francisco Bay Area

Napa - Tentative Itinerary (Restaurants + Wineries)

Ok, my wife and I will be visiting Napa and Healdsburg (the subject of a future post) in April. After doing lots of reading on this and other boards, we've finalized our dinner plans for the week, and are in the process of figuring out wineries to visit and other meals.

We'll be staying at the Bardessono in Yountville, arriving Sunday evening and departing Wednesday afternoon. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

In terms of wines, we're fans of great Cabernets, Zins and Chardonnays (don't quite have this covered yet - suggestions welcome). We're also big Pinot Noir drinkers, but figure we can cover that off in the RRV area around Healdsburg. While we're primarily interested in great wine, we'd like to mix in some cool, unique settings as well.

Sunday afternoon/evening:
- maybe a quick visit to Jessup if we arrive on time, since it's so near the hotel
- arrive in Yountville, dinner booked at ad hoc.

Monday:
- dinner reserved at The French Laundry at 8:30 (very excited!)
- suggestions for lunch?
- would like to visit a few wineries in the Yountville/Napa area. Considering: Hess (in part for the art collection), Del Dotto (the caves), Shafer (one of our favourite winemakers) and/or Elyse

Tuesday:
- dinner reserved at Bottega
- would lunch at Mustard's Grill make sense (the pork chop sounds amazing!)
- would like to visit a few wineries in Rutherford/St Helena. Considering some subset of: Far Niente, Peju, Frog's Leap, Phelps (a must for us), Flora Springs, Anderson's Conn Valley, Viader and Duckhorn.

Wednesday:
- plan would be to have breakfast near the hotel, probably at Bouchon Bakery, and then stop at a few wineries on the way up to Healdsburg, where we have dinner booked at Barndiva
- could use some input here, though Vincent Arroyo sounds interesting

Thursday:
- dinner booked at Cyrus
- haven't really researched this area as much yet, but would like to taste some great Pinot Noirs and have heard great things about Merry Edwards, Paul Hobbs, and Joseph Swan.

Please feel free to comment, fill in any gaps and suggest anything I may have missed. This is our first trip to Napa, and this board has been an invaluable resource!

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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599

Bouchon Bakery
6528 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599

Barndiva
231 Center St, Healdsburg, CA 95448

Far Niente
1350 Acacia Drive, Oakville, CA

Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599

Bardessono
6526 Yount Street, Yountville, CA 94599

Mustard's Grill
7399 Saint Helena Hwy, Napa, CA 94558

Foodie Canuck in San Francisco Bay Area

Avenues or Charlie Trotter?

Just as an update, I ended up booking Avenues for the Friday night we're in town, and requested that we be seated at the chef's bar.
Curtis Duffy (back when he was at Alinea) was a guest chef for an evening at one of our favourite restaurants in Toronto a few years back, so we're eager to easy how his cooking and style have evolved since striking out on his own.

Will definitely report back on our experience, also happy to hear any recent reviews on Avenues in the meantime.

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Alinea
1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614

Foodie Canuck in Chicago Area

Avenues or Charlie Trotter?

I recently moved back to the great white north after spending two great years in Chicago. My wife and I are planning a long weekend trip back to the city at the end of September, and are trying to decide on one "special" dinner (we can fill in the other lunches and dinners).

We've been to Alinea, TRU and Everest, as well as some of the next tier (Blackbird, North Pond, Cafe des Architectes).

I think we've narrowed in down to Avenues and Charlie Trotter's, but would love to hear some opinions on the relative merits of each, or any recent experiences. Having done a quick search, there aren't a lot of recent reviews on here for either of the two. One thing that intrigues us about Avenues is the possibility of eating at the chef's bar, so if anyone has done that recently, would be very grateful if you would share your experience. Is there a similar option at Charlie Trotter's? I seem to remember something about them having a kitchen table, but my memory is hazy on the details.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

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Alinea
1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614

Charlie Trotter's
816 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60614

North Pond
2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

Cafe des Architectes
20 East Chestnut Street, Chicago, IL 60611

Foodie Canuck in Chicago Area

4 Days in Belfast

Thanks for the help everyone - we had a great trip. Short reviews of the places we ended up visiting:

- Molly's Yard: had lunch downstairs, where you can order off both menus. Place was very quiet, which they said was typical of summer since the University is out. Starters of tomato basil soup and seafood chowder were both very good, you can definitely taste the freshness of all the ingredients. My wife and I both had the duck leg confit, duck was good with a nice crispy skin, but the accompanying vegetables and broth were the highlight, fresh and perfectly seasoned - would have made an outstanding soup on its own. I had their chocolate stout, which I found to be just ok; tasty, but a little thin in its consistency for my taste.

Mourne Seafood Bar: Probably the culinary highlight of the trip. Wife had piri piri prawn starter which she enjoyed. I had the mussels, which were the freshest I've had, prepared very simply with butter, white wine and shallots. Main of whole sole with butter, white wine and lemon might have been the best, simple piece of fresh fish I've ever had - just flaked off the bone. With a good bottle of gewurtz and apple crumble for dessert, the meal felt like a bargain at £55.

- Crown Bar: Stopped in for a pre-dinner drink on Friday evening. Very lively atmosphere, and the decor really is something. We especially liked the privacy offered by the different booths (each with their own door, and high backs). Looked like a mostly after-work crowd; we could only be so lucky as to call this our local neighbourhood pub.

- Ginger Bistro: another enjoyable meal, very cool, funky atmosphere, server was extremely helpful and friendly. My wife said the seared tuna starter was the best she's ever had; my pork belly was good (not great) but perfectly accompanied with fennel, apple, grapes and white wine so the dish was definitely a success overall. Can't recall my wife's main at the moment, but she said she enjoyed it. My crisp skinned fillet of sea bass was excellent, though the accompanying scallops were a touch undercooked. We skipped dessert, but with a glass of wine and a glass of port each, total came to £60, which we though quite reasonable.

- James St South: This was our "fancy" dinner on Saturday night. Had a fantastic bottle of wine (an '04 burgundy) that I will definitely be tracking down for the home collection. Wife's starter was foie gras and brioche; one of her favourite dishes, so no surprise that it was a hit - brioche was very well executed and completed the foie gras quite well. Mine was a very good (and relatively thickly sliced) venison carpaccio, with picked tomato (ok) and truffled honey (very good). Starters were both local Antrim (loin of lamb and sirloin of beef) dishes very simply, but well prepared, and cooked perfectly to medium rare. Desserts of baked alaska and lemon tarte (a special) were also good. Total for dinner was £100 (including the £36 bottle of wine), which we found acceptable given the quality. Ambience is definitely more subdued and serious and James St. South, but service was stellar (friendly, well paced, and water/wine glasses never went unfilled).

- Merchant Hotel: went for a drink after dinner on Saturday night - simply a stunning space. Comfortable club chairs and bench seating. Great unobtrusive service. An extensive drink menu (25 pages), but I settled on a simple Manhattan, made with care and high quality indgredients. Have to agree with Simon above, the Merchant ranks as one of my favourite cocktail bars anywhere. A perfect way to top off our weekend getaway.

Thanks to everyone here for your suggestions - it's a shame we couldn't get to all of them, but we were very happy with our foodie weekend in Belfast.

Foodie Canuck in U.K./Ireland

4 Days in Belfast

Any thoughts on James Street South?
http://www.jamesstreetsouth.co.uk/
The menu looks very good - just wondering if anyone has any firsthand experiences with how it's executed, the service, etc.

Thanks everyone.

Foodie Canuck in U.K./Ireland

4 Days in Belfast

I've booked Mourne Seafood for the Thursday night we arrive. Figure we will have most other meals casually, at places like Molly's Yard, Crown, Made in Belfast, etc.
Wanted to have one more nice meal on the Saturday night. Tried booking at Tedford's, but unfortunately they're on holiday until July 28th (the week after we're there).

From the reviews I've seen elsewhere, opinions on Deane's are mixed. Anyone here with firsthand experience?

EDIT: I also found Cayenne and James Street South? Any opinions on either of those two as well?

Foodie Canuck in U.K./Ireland

4 Days in Belfast

Hi Everyone,
My wife and I will be taking our first trip to Belfast later this month. We're spending a day out at the Giant's Causeway and Bushmill Inn, but will be in central Belfast the other 3 days (we're staying at the Tara Lodge).

Any recommendations for lunch/brunch or dinner? Irish/British/European cuisine preferred, and very flexbile in terms of type (great pubs all the way to fine dining) and price (it's a short trip, so we're quite willing to splurge on great meals if needed). Basically, we're looking for the best Belfast has to offer!

Many thanks for your help.

Foodie Canuck in U.K./Ireland