topawers's Profile
Washington DC Recs.
Hey, I live in Richmond and I'm spending next weekend at DC with my wife and my grandparents. Yes.
So, I'm looking for good places to go to. I don't mind the price, only that I'm trying to stay away from prix-fix-only places, since it's sometimes complicated when you have older people who cannot eat some things, maybe restaurants wit prix-fix but also a-la-carte.
I was thinking that maybe French, Italian or Seafood. I need 2.
I'm flirting with Obelisk, Marcel's and Citrinelle, but I don't know what else to check out.
Thanks.
Mexico City: Spanish/Basque Restaurant in Centro
Easy. Guría in Colonia Roma. They also have a Santa Fe outpost, but stick to the original.
5 Days in Mexico City - No Touristy Recs
Here is a good list.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/544460
NYT DF Recommendations - Feedback?
I love El Califa and El Farolito is probably my favorite taqueria.
The other mentioned places are more Cantinas than restaurants, and La Bipolar is more like the hipster version of a real Cantina.
I have some recommendations that you might want to try here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/544460
Good luck and enjoy.
Where to eat in Mexico City
I guess it´s open for lunch as well, but the best, as you say, are the conchas. They make their own and you can have a great breakfast and finish it off with a concha.
I forgot to mention another of my favorite lunch spots, La flor de Lis in Condesa. Traditional hommade style food. Some of the best tamales.
Where to eat in Mexico City
You could do El Cardenal, the one in front of the Alameda. Or, I didn't include this one, you can go to Danubio for Spanish seafood.
Where to eat in Mexico City
Hey, I am from Mexico City but live in Chicago at the time. Here are some recommendations, hope they come in handy.
Give in to Mexican eating times, I know this is hard for some, but a restaurant experience is not quite as good when you're eating by yourself. Try to hit lunch after 2 (a bit later if you can on weekends) and dinner around 9 (an 8:30 reservation is still good, since you'll probably won't start eating until 9). Also, Mexican's drink their cocktails after lunch or dinner, and there's also the sobremesa tradition (long after-meal table conversations), so when you pass by a restaurant at 6PM on a Saturday and it's packed, those people aren't there for dinner, they're there from lunch. You have not experienced a true Mexican weekend meal until you have lunch and dinner at the same place. But that's only on a cultural note, since you'd probably want to be visiting the city instead of drinking in-between meals. Again, at night, some restaurants will remain packed until 1 AM for the same reason.
Some of the places I mention are somewhat touristy, most are local, and great.
Most of the good restaurants of Mexico City are concentrated in a few areas of town which are.
Polanco.
Las Lomas.
Condesa/Roma.
Santa Fe.
San Angel/Pedregal.
A few of them in Centro (the historic Center of the city).
Condesa/Roma & Polanco are relatively close to each other and close to the center. It’s where most stuff happens in Mexico City in terms of nightlife, tourism, hotels, museums, etc.
Lomas starts west of Polanco and goes all the way up to Bosques and then Santa Fe. Lomas and Bosques are the most upscale residential parts of town, and for the same reason, a lot of great restaurants and posh local nightlife.
Santa Fe is the most modern part of the city and it’s mainly offices, cool buildings and apartments. Death on weekends. Most of the restaurants located in there are outposts of other good restaurants in Mexico City to serve the business crowd.
San Angel and Pedregal are located in the southern side of the City.
Upscale & Upscale casual.
For traditional Mexican San Angel Inn is a classic. The place itself is worth the experience, it’s an old Hacienda. In the San Angel district.
Izote and Aguila y Sol are great for contemporary Mexican. Unfortunately, Aguila y Sol is temporarily closed due to trouble with the local government regarding their parking lot space (politics), but do call since it’s supposed to be re-opening anyday. Both are in Polanco.
La Taberna del León is my favorite restaurant in the city and is based around traditional Mexican, seafood and signature dishes by Mónica Patiño. It’s in Pedregal/San Angel.
Naos is Monica Patiño’s restaurant in Palmas, in the Lomas district. It’s basically a modern version of La Taberna del Leon, sharing most of the menu with slight differences. To me, even when Naos might be swankier, La Taberna, classier and more elegant, is still the best.
Pujol is Enrique Olvera's signature cuisine. An excellent choice.
I won't include French, Italians, etc, since you probably have lots of good ones (I don't know where you're from, but there's plenty of great French in the US). What I will include is a couple of Spanish places since Mexico is probably where you find the best Spanish food outside Spain.
Guria is arguably the best Spanish restaurant in the city. There are two locations, the original one in La Roma and the younger one in Santa Fe. Both are great, the Santa Fe location, is obviously newer, modern and happening.
Bakea is another great option and considered one of the best in the city. It's also a hidden gem, in a residential area, away from anything related to tourism and full of powerful-but-discreet locals. Although a bit more serious and elegant, it's still worth the french-basque fare. Located in Lomas.
Biko has been gaining a lot of attention lately, siganture meets Spanish. Polanco.
And finally, D.O. another great option for Spanish in Polanco.
El Cardenal (2 locations, one in the historic center near the Zocalo another one in Palmas in the Lomas district) is also good for Traditional Mexican, and it closes at 6:30 because it's only open for lunch.
A good piece of advice here, try the traditional Mexican restaurants like San Angel Inn, El Cardenal, etc, as lunch spots. Most people do so because traditional Mexican can be heavy for dinner. Guria is also a better lunch spot than a dinner one. The rest of them (Izote, Pujol, Aguila y Sol, Biko) are great dinner spots. La Taberna del Leon is perfect for dinner any day of the week or a Sunday lunch.
With al due respect for the other people posting in this thread, I would ignore the derogative comments towards El Bajio and recommendations of La Buena Tierra (which by the way closed its Condesa location).
Fonda El Refugio, also mentioned above is a classic. Both this one and El Bajio are fondas, totally casual places of traditional Mexican, botanas and antojitos. And most of the times, cheap. Consider fondas like trattorias or brasseries to Italian and French. I do have to say that I haven’t been to Fonda el Refugio in a long time, it’s been around forever, but I have no reason to believe that it has changed.
Seafood. This is pretty simple. La Mar, Contramar and Puntarena. All of them for lunch, actually Contramar is only open for lunch. In this case, violate the rule of eating after 2 PM in Mexico and try to be there around 1:30, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. There are no reservations and it’s hugely popular. It’s in the Condesa district, and has a brother called Entremar in Polanco which will most times be full but nothing compared to Contramar (and do check if they take reservations). The latter of course, is livelier and full of cool people. In both, the best way to do it is to share a lot of appetizers, and then (if you’re still hungry) you can order an entrée.
Puntarena has two locations as well, the 1st one in Palmas and the second one in San Angel. Don’t miss the langostinos and the Pescado a talla (with 3 chiles).
La Mar is in Santa Fe and specialized in cebiches. It’s Peruvian.
A few others.
If you do wander into French, et al.
Champs Elysses may be one of the most traditional elegant restaurants in town and famous amongst politicians. I guess it used to be more popular ten years ago, but it’s still great.
For Japanese look no further and go to Suntory (there are two, the Reforma location in Lomas is better) or it’s younger, hipper, swankier brother in Santa Fe, Shu.
L’Osteria del Becco in Polanco is a great Italian.
La Gloutonnerie, signature/French. En vogue.
Jaso. Haven’t been but it’s been talked about everywhere. Signature cuisine.
La Viña Gourmet is a very local off the beaten path neighborhood restaurant, and one of my favorites, probably because I used to go there a lot. It’s in my old neighborhood, Pedregal, a mainly upscale residential area in the southern side of the city. It started out as a wine and deli store, and then it became a great restaurant with a great and vast selection of wines.
Ivoire is a fine French in Polanco with a nice rooftop bar.
Alaia is a great Spanish in Pedregal.
MP Bistro is Monica Patiño’s take on Asian. Pretty well done. Polanco.
For good Chinese Hu-Nan, one in Lomas one in San Angel.
Bistro Mosaico has three locations, the original Condesa one, another in San Angel (south) and another in Santa Fe. The food is great in all of them, the San Angel setting is really nice.
Los Canarios is a great lunch spot, a mix of Mexican traditional and homemade dishes with Spanish. It has two locations, one in Polanco, in Masaryk, and another very nice one in Santa Fe.
There are many Argentinian restaurants in Mexico City, and most of them have great meat. El Rincon Argentino in Msaryk (Polanco) is a classic. I personally like Barrio Sur, again a neighborhood spot, but very casual and nice. And by the way, it’s Uruguayan (don’t tell an Argentine, but it’s pretty much the same). And La Alcantarilla, even more of a local neighborhood place, up in Desierto de los Leones, but it has one of the nicest and most relaxed settings in the city. It’s also über casual.
Café-O is a international cuisine neighborhood place in Lomas that I go to a lot. Nice ambience, very local and casual but nothing special, mostly if you’re from out-of-town and have only a few nights.
Breakfast. Three great spots, La Lorena in Lomas, Bondy in Polanco and Maque in Condesa.
… this is just a shortlist (though a long one). There’s obviously much more places to go to, and we could do an entire book on DF’s taquerias and cantinas. But when it comes to restaurants I believe this is as good as it gets. I look forward to hearing from your experiences and do enjoy this great city.
Barcelona - Help!
You can't go wrong at both Alkimia and Commerc 24. For tapas, I AM a big fan of Cal Pep. For lunch tapas, go to the Boquería Market, but eat at El Quim. For more traditional Catalan 7 Portes is a classic, better for lunch (great paela). And for traditional at dinner, El Botafumeiro is also a classic.
Romantic Paris...
I stayed at Montalembert and while it is nice and cool, the rooms are very small. You can always get a bigger room, at a bigger place. The terrace is nice, I guess that's nicer for pre-dinner drinks. If you want a great meal head next door to L'Atelier de Joel Roubuchon. But then again, there's one in New York and one in Vegas. Maybe you'll want to try something you can't get anywhere else. But that doesn't mean that L'Atelier de J.R. isn't great.
Romantic Paris...
If it's romantic that you're looking for, don't go to Boffinger or a Brasserie, I have been to Les Ombres and it was wonderful, it's definitely one of the best romantic spots in Paris, and this time it's not only the scene and the view that you're paying for, the food delivers. I had a great experience there.
If you don't want to go there and want great views and romance as well, Georges.
France tips - Paris and Provence (Nimes, Avignon)
There's a place one block away from Le Bon Marché that is great, it's a dinner place though, but it's a perfect nice, really good, local, unpretentious, good environment places. Those that are tough to find. And on the price it's OK, not cheap but not too expensive either. It's called L'Epi Dupin, you won't regret it.
Chow near Madrid hotel, on Menorca, and in Barcelona near Ninot market?
Hermosilla street is in the Salamanca disctrict and that puts you in the middle of some of the best restaurants in town. You can hit up any of these by 9 or 9:30 and you won't be too lonely. If you go before that you'll eat alone and if you go around 10 you'll go when madrileños go.
Now, that said, here are some great recommendations near your hotel.
El Amparo and El Paraguas are two very nice restaurants, in the more upscale side but without being too classy, meaning no jacket required stuff. Both are great restaurants, I slightly prefer El Paraguas since it may be my favorite restaurant in Madrid and definitely the best Asturian food you will get in town.
Pan de Lujo and Dassa Bassa are also close and on the trendy side.
For seafood try La Trainera and Combarro. The 1st one is more casual and a Madrid classic.
For tapas El Rincon de Goya (not the restaurant upstairs but the tapas bar downstairs, they have different entrances.)
That should cover you in Madrid. If I had one night, I'd go to El Paraguas.
Enjoy.
Honeymoon in France- Annecy and Provence
Hey, Congratulations. I also honeymooned in Provence. We stayed in different very nice hotels from which I recommend.
Villa Gallici in Aix en Provence. Dine in Le Clos de la Violette.
Oustau de Baumaniere in Les Baux de Provence. The hotel's restaurant is excellent and michelin starred.
There's a nice hotel in St. Saturnin Les Alpes called Domaine Des Andeols.
We stayed at L'Hotel Particulier in Arles, but didn't like the town that much. At least not for a 2 night stay, although we had a nice dinner at L'Atelier de Jean Luc Rabbanel. I would stay in Avignon instead (or in the countryside) and visit Arles for the day and stay for dinner.
I second La Chevre D'Or. But, if you'll be close to that region (Eze, Nice, etc) go to St. Paul de Vence and stay (and/or dine) at La Colombe D'Or.
Enjoy!
Madrid: I've narrowed it down...please help me pick!
Hey, I used to live in Madrid and go back every year, and I love trying new spots every time. I've gone to most of the places you mention on your list. I personally don't think Viridiana is really special, but definitely go to El Chaflán.
I would recommend that instead of going out to dinner on Sunday, either do tapas that night or go out to lunch, most madrileños, if they eat out on Sunday, do lunch rather than dinner. I'm talking about 2:30, 3:00 PM lunch. One of my favorite places in Madrid is an Asturiano restaurant called El Parguas in Salamanca district. It's a great place for dinner, great food, and it's also a great Sunday lunch place. I would do that one on Sunday.
If you are on your honeymoon and want to go to a romantic spot with amazing food try El Amparo.
If you want to go trendy and modern food try Dassa Bassa or Pan de Lujo.
For tapas El Rincon de Goya (Calle Lagasca @ Goya) is perfect. Be sure not to mistake the restaurant upstairs with the tapas bar downstairs.
Sant Celoni and Zalacaín are two other very high end options in Madrid. But if you are going to El Bulli and are looking to not go uber high in prices, El Amparo and El Paraguas are perfect, though expensive, they're cheaper than Sant Celoni, El Chaflán, Zalacaín, et al.
A more traditional place, if you want fish is La Trainera. So is Combarro.
I hope this helps, enjoy!
Best eats in Mexico?
Hey, I saw your post and I think I can give you some advice. I am originally from Mexico City (a chilango), but I currently live and work in Chicago. DO NOT GO TO HERMOSILLO IN AUGUST, my mother's family is from there, I go every year for Christmas and I used to go in the summers when I was young and it's one of the hottest places in Mexico. I don't think you would ever want to go to Hermosillo since it's nice and all, but nothing special, there are 50 better places in Mexico to go to before.
Go to Oaxaca if you can, Morelia, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Zacatecas and San Miguel de Allende. Puebla, too.
All these places are three hours away from Mexico City, at the most.
Now, in Mexico City, you might want to spend more than two days. There's a lot to see and live, it's a wonderful city with a lot going on. Disregard everything bad they can tell you about it and spend some time in it.
As for eating, if you go to Oaxaca, La Casa de La Abuela, Los Pacos, El Asador Vasco (Spanish-vasque) and Los Danzantes are great.
In Mexico City:
Haute Mexican Restaurants.
La Taberna del León (my favorite in the City)
Izote
Aguila y Sol
San Angel Inn
El Cardenal
(the last two are a bit more traditional in the food than the 1st ones)
Casual Mexicans and seafood.
Contramar
Danubio
Círculo del Sureste (yucatecan)
(the last two are located in the historical center of the city and are more lunch than dinner spots).
Spanish. The best Spanish restaurants outside Spain may well be in Mexico City, try one.
Guría
D.O.
Bakea (french/vasque)
Some great author cuisine restaurants.
Pujol
Biko
(the last two have some Spanish/Mexican touches in them. Pujol is magnificent)
Have lunch at a Cantina.
El Mirador de Chapultepec
Covadonga
There's more, but those are the ones I can think from the top of my head. Anyway, that will cover you for like 3 trips to Mexico. Enjoy!
Best Ceviche in DF?
Contramar is one of my favorite places for mariscos and fish in the City. I don't think I've ever had ceviche there, but the Jaiba and Pesacado a la Talla are unbeatable.
The next time you're looking for good ceviche go to La Mar, it's a bit off the path if you love around Roma/Condea, it's in Santa Fe, but worth it.
Two weeks in Condesa - Breakfast
Hey. The Bisquets de Obregon are in several locations, but there's a really big one in Alvaro Obrego, in the Roma district (next to La Condesa), and then there's a smaller one in Alvaro Obregon and Medellin, before you get to Insurgentes (on the Condesa side).
Two other great options for breakfast are La Flor de Lis in Amsterdam and Huichapan, where you'll get some of the greatest tamales. And, Maque, especially for the bread and Conchas. Maque is in Avenida México.
Let me think of more since I have to go now. BTW, I am from Mexico City but currently living in Chicago. Enjoy.
Chicago Recommendations.
Just out of curiosity how much did you pay at Takashi?
And speaking about lunch, do you know any nice (casual) lunch spots for a Saturday afternoon? Preferably around the downtown area (Gold Coast, Streeterville, River North...)
Chicago Recommendations.
West Town Tavern looks great, as does Sweets and Savories.
Any of you guys can give me word on Takashi, Avec and Boka?
Chicago Recommendations.
West Town Tavern looks great, as does Sweets and Savories.
Any of you guys can give me word on Takashi, Avec and Boka?
What's up with Meiji?
haha, yeah, I forgot what a big baseball town Chicago is. If only we'd known the game was going to hit 15 innings, I had time to eat, walk and still watch a good hour of the game.
Saturday lunch spots.
Actually anywhere in downtown Chicago, either Loop, River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, etc. Actually Smith & Wollensky's patio was one o my choices. Thanks!
What's up with Meiji?
I was just in Meiji tonight and was a bit surprised of the fact that it was almost empty, we got there at 8 and there were four tables at the most. Still, our sushi and service were both great, but it's always nice to feel that there's some buzz in the place. Yes, it was Tuesday night, but Avec and Blackbird were packed.
Anyway, I've always heard good stuff about Meiji and was wondering if anyone has had any bad experiences or is it going downhill or if it was simply a slow night.
Saturday lunch spots.
Hey, I'm looking for a good and nice relaxed spot for a Saturday lunch. While outside seating is not a requirement it would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
Chicago Must-Eats??
The Steppenwolf theater is in the Lincoln Park area, so if you want to stick to the neighborhood you can go to Alinea or Charlie Trotter for fine dining (read very expensive, 200 a head), BOKA for mod price new American food or Riccardo Trattoria for neighborhood Italian.
If you want to go a bit west try Takashi, Spring or Mirai, all in Bucktown/Wicker Park.
After Pitchfork you can hit Sushi Wabi, small but great hip sushi joint not too far from Union Park.
Good Luck.
Where to go for Italian on the Northside?
I went to Riccardo Trattoria last Saturday and had a great time. It´s on Clark in Lincoln Park and it has a neighborhood vibe and it's a good place. Great appetizers and great pastas. We all had pasta but I saw other people ordering entrees that looked amazing, especially the lamb.
It's an authentic, good unpretentious place with a good environment. A bit noisy (no music, just from other tables' conversations), as real Italians should be, but if you are not bothered by that you're all set. Right next to us there was a group of stylish Italian people, so if Italians come here you are not mistaking.
If you want to go call today since it's rather small and you have a large party. I don't know about valet since I walked thee, but you can ask when you call.
Good luck!
Chicago Recommendations.
Thanks! I forgot to mention that we are Mexicans, hahaha... so those are automatically discarded. Any others?
Thanks again!
Chicago Recommendations.
Hello! My wife and I just moved to Chicago about a month ago. We've already been to some restaurants, but I'm looking for a good place to take my parents to when they visit a couple of weeks from now.
I'm juggling a number of names already. We were in Naha once but didn't have dinner, we just caught up with some friends who dined there to have an after dinner drink, but it seemed like a nice place to eat at. Plus, our friends said only good things about their experience.
Anyway, my parents are really contemporary (I mean they're not traditional nor conservative at all), they're 55 and 50 (so you can get the picture), and we all mainly like unpretentious places, good food, nothing too fancy or classy (at least nothing that falls into snob), and a good environment and ambience (no low conversation, piano or sax music or anything boring).
Another place I'm considering is Takashi.
We've already been to (and liked) Sushi Wabi, Meiji, Le Colonial and Riccardo Trattoria. And my parents have been to Coco Pazzo, Le Colonial, Tru, Gibsons and others in their previous visits to Chicago.
Oh, I almost forgot, money... We're looking for something reasonably priced. Meaning no Charlie Trotter's, Alinea, Tru, Les Nomades, et al. Let's stick to the 50-70$ p/pax (w/out wine) ballpark.
So, it's pretty much the impossible mix, cool/good/price, but I'm sure that Chicago has it and you guys can help me.
Thanks!
jose.
