Thanks for all the feedback. We wound up at Splendido and had an excellent time. The atmosphere was decidedly more low-key than I had planned for, but worked out perfectly. Excellent leisurely meal, good service (the sommelier didn't know the answer to one of our wine questions, so rang the vineyard to see what the answer was), wonderful flavors. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the feedback. Volos appears similar to a Greek place I've been with the same client on another adventure.

Some suggestions from local colleagues include:
Daisho
Toca – in the Ritz Carlton
Crush Wine Bar
Nota Bene
Carens Wine

Daisho looked very interesting (do the large portion chicken or pork tenderloin), but I got to thinking that it was way too much food for a party of 4, and we wouldn't have any way to handle leftovers.

We had a dinner at Canoe this week (different group), and while I liked the food quite a bit, it wasn't as adventurous as I'd like (although the desserts were unusual), and the environment was too low-key.

Any thoughts on the others, or other suggestions?

Some colleagues and I, and our client, will be in town next week for a few days. We're staying at the Sheraton, so would prefer to be close to that, but a short cab ride is ok.

- There will be 4-6 of us on Tuesday night, likely around 6:30 or 7pm.
- Reservations are a must; don't want to hang out for an hour waiting for a table
- Good food is more important than good atmosphere, but I'd really like both. Boisterous is ok, can't hear the person sitting next to you is not.
- I'd prefer interesting food done well over standards done exceptionally well.
- Price is pretty open

thanks!

I got some clarification: Chad Townsend, our Chef de Cuisine, Maggie Meskey, our bar manager, and Tim, your server.

No, our chef (forget his name) has only been there a little over a year, but did a fantastic job. I also mentally questioned the amuse as a course, but I was pretty full at the end, and really didn't need anything else!

As promised, reporting back. We had a WONDERFUL meal at Salt. They offer a tasting menu Mon-Wed, with seating at the kitchen bar. We were a party of four, and it was tough having a conversation across all of us due to the straight nature of our seating, but we all agreed that we truly enjoyed ourselves.

We went with the 8 course tasting, with drink pairings. I can't say wine pairing as it wasn't solely wine, but everything was a wonderful match. We arrived for dinner a few minutes after 6pm, and left 3 hours later, just after 9pm. Pricing for the tasting was $100, plus $55 for the pairings. Alternately we could have gone for a 5 course tasting for $75, with a $35 pairing. In talking with the chef, only one course, the dessert, was directly off the menu. We noticed that several of the wines, particularly the pinot noir that paired marvelously with the lamb, was not on the menu; our hostess mentioned that she had picked it up especially for us.

Amuse: scallop, radish, chie, olive oil, lemon
Soup: canteloupe broth, melon, mint, oregano, jalapeno
nectarine, lardo, cress, correl, cucumber
foie gras, fig, fried garlic, pink peppercorn, balsamic vinegar
Fish: black bass, uni, potato, carrot, basil
meat: lamb, beet, musroom, beets, black garlic
cheese: blue cheese, plum, honey, cocoa, celery
dessert: peach, chocolate, hazelnut, pound cake

My favorites:
1) the lamb, by far. simply amazing, especially with the wine pairing
2) sea bass. I like fish, but this was sublime.
3) foie gras. I can't believe that foie only made it to number 3, but numbers 1 and 2 were that good

Overall summary: I'd go back in a heartbeat. The tasting menu was pricey, but I thought delivered value as well. I wouldn't recommend this for a serious business discussion due to the 4-across seating (picture sitting next to each other at a bar), but with some flexibility in how you position your chairs you can manage.

I couldn't figure out how to post directly at the appropriately place in the post, so I decided to just use flickr for photos of the meal. Photos were with my phone, so not my finest work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25025207...

We're headed to Salt of the Earth. I'll report back soon! (although I do want to check out Cure, and glad to hear that it's more casual)

Any suggestions on a lunch place on Monday's? Several of the bbq places that caught my eye (Franklin, Stiles) are closed on Monday per their web sites. Open for most anything non-chainy, was also thinking about hitting a food truck but some of them also seem to shut down on Mondays.

I'm headed into town today, will hopefully be leaving the airport around 11am. I've got a car, will be staying downtown near the Convention Center. Only restriction is that I need to be able to jump on a conference call at 1pm so need to be done with my lunch by then.

Looking for recommendations on a good, interesting meal in Pittsburgh. Good wine line key, cost not a primary objective. My main client was recently married, and want to take her and her wine-loving husband out to dinner. I'm probably more of a foodie than they are, but they'll go along with me, I'm convinced.

I haven't done much fine dining in PIT, so not quite sure what I'm looking for. I read the review of Eleven's chef's table, but it didn't terribly excite me. I've eaten there 4-5 times and found it good, but not wow. I've eaten at quite a few places downtown, with the probable exception of Nine on Nine (although I walk by

For a point of reference, the new husband loves Lidia's, and is a regular there. Her favorite is Capital Grill. I want to mix them up more than a little bit.

I'm thinking maybe Salt of the Earth, but beyond that really have no clue. Thanks!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Wound up at The Ranch. Thought it was a little kitschy, but the food was good, and allowed some true "local" flavor.

I'll be staying at the Marriott in Las Colinas for a couple of nights this week, and would appreciate any suggestions. I'll be sans transportation, so walkable is preferred. On the first night at least I'll likely be in shorts (my travel attire), so would appreciate any heads-up about dress codes, too.

thanks!

edit: no cuisine preferences, no food restrictions.

We're fairly open on the cuisine for each meal. In general I prefer "local" food (native cooking and/or locally sourced ingredients). For lunch, more of a proper meal than a snack, although I'm hoping that we'll have had a good sized breakfast at our hotel. In general I'm not a fan of eating non-breakfast meals in hotel restaurants, but I understand that is more common outside of the US (but still would rather get out and explore).

Thanks for all the recommendations, please keep them coming if you think of something that hasn't been mentioned!

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.

My wife, 4yo son, and I will be in Edinburgh for two nights at the end of August, after the Tattoo is over. We'll arrive on Thursday via train from London, and leave on Saturday via rental car. We'll be staying downtown at the Sheraton for those two nights. My wife and I very much enjoy food, but my 4yo son is not very adventurous.

I would appreciate recommendations for the two dinners and one lunch that we'll be eating. Would like everything to be walkable from our hotel, if possible.

- I'd like one dinner to be upscale; are there any nice places that can handle kids ok, either with a dedicated kids menu or an ability to do something off-menu when the main menu is just too "out there" for a kid that survives on PB&J and oatmeal, with an occasional hotdog or chicken nuggets thrown in.
- We'll be wandering around the Royal Mile on Friday, so need a lunch option somewhere around there.
- The other dinner can be casual, but good food is the key.

Thanks!

The menu at Palena looks great, however it looks like the baseline is $75/person. I'm guessing we'll hit that anyway at Proof, but don't want to set that as a the floor out of the gate.

Thanks for all the guidance so far. A few more data points: we're staying at the Omni Shoreham; this is a work dinner, so we'll want to talk but have some drinks as well; and at least one of the people is not an adventurous eater.

I've currently got a reservation at Proof as a backup; thoughts?

I'm headed to town next week for a conference, and didn't realize that Restaurant Week is going on, so reservations aren't as easy to come by as I'd expected.

Group of 4, like interesting food. Last year we went to Black Salt and Founding Farmers. Loved Black Salt (did the tasting menu) and thought Founding Farmers was good even though we had to wait way past our reservation.

Any suggestions based on the above? We'll be there on Wednesday night, ideally around 7:30.

Thanks for all the guidance. We wound up at El Barzon and really enjoyed it. Can't say that it fell into the "fun" category, but they weren't busy and have very good food. My wife really enjoyed the ability to pair guacamole and a pasta entree!

I'm headed for a night at the Westin Book Cadillac, and my wife has given me instructions to find a "fun" place for dinner for us (including my 3yo son). Any recommendations on kid-friendly places that will interest adults, but not break the bank?

We'll be driving over from Grand Rapids, so we'll have a car, and able to stop inbound to the hotel as well.

I'm thinking about Black Salt. Realize that it will involve a cab. Any thoughts on how this would work for a "fun" business dinner (group of 8)?

Thanks for all the suggestions. By fun, I don't mean rowdy bar with everyone getting hammered, but do mean interesting food with a lively atmosphere. At a previous conference we went to a greek place where everyone got up and danced; that wasn't too far out of bounds, but I don't want to exactly replicate that experience.

I'll be travelling with some clients to DC in July for a conference, and need to arrange a "fun" place for us to have dinner the night before (a Wednesday night). Any recommendations? We'll be a group of 6-8; bonus points for being near the Omni Shoreham, but that isn't a must.

Thanks! I've got a reservation for Animal in a few weeks. Decided last week that even if my wife isn't as adventurous as I, there was as you suggest still enough on the menu to make for a delicious meal.

I get that. I guess the question I'm asking if that if I want the Animal-type experience, is Son of a Gun close enough, albeit from a seafood perspective?

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Son of a Gun
8370 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

My wife and I are headed to LA in mid-June for a long weekend. On Thursday night, we're leaning towards going to Animal, but I'm intrigued by Son of a Gun. Haven't been to either, Son of a Gun is closer to my hotel, and my wife is not a huge fan of non-standard meats. That said, I was prepared to take her to Animal.

For first-timers at either place, what would you recommend? Our other dinners that weekend will be in Anaheim (going there for a concert), and at Bazaar.

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Son of a Gun
8370 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

We wound up at six.one.six and wish we'd gone elsewhere. Food was good, service beyond bad. I'd put the restaurant well below Bistro Bella Vita, Green Well, and Bloom (those are the only other downtown places I've been to).

Had some pre-dinner drinks at Hopcat (love the crack fries) and brunch this morning at Electric Cheetah (yummy hash, quiche, and juevos rancheros).

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Hopcat
25 Ionia Ave SW Ste 100, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Bistro Bella Vita
44 Grandville Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Six One Six - JW Marriott Hotel Grand Rapids
235 Louis NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

thanks! six one six is a leading contender. We're actually going to stay at the JW overnight, so the walk after dinner would be short.

We enjoyed a meal at Bloom back in late December, and were surprised by how empty the place was. Hope it's able to stick around. No view of the kitchen from what I remember, it's hidden behind a wall.

Hi,

It's my anniversary this weekend, and our plans fell apart at the last minute so I'm scrambling to come up with something.

Do you have any recommendations for a restaurant that offers a chef's table for 2 in the GR area? From a few google searches, it looks like GR uses "chef's table" as synonymous for a private dining room, but I'm actually looking for a true chef's table where you get to hang out in/near the ktichen.

I'd prefer something downtown, as it's likely that we'll get a hotel down there and want to/from dinner.

Thanks for the suggestions. The dinner actually isn't til November, so I have plenty of time to wait for others to reply. I like the looks of the Old Carolina menu. If I can't convince the group to go there for dinner, I may have to hit there for a separate meal!

The group will be all adults, not in the steaks-and-chops price range. Not overly formal, everyone will be related via a few degrees of separation. Ethnic would work, as long as there were a few "normal" options for those who fear change.