khornstein's Profile
Dinner report: Fontaine de Mars: Never Again.
Hi hounders,
I wanted to perform a bit of a public service and describe a recent meal I had at La fontaine de Mars. I have the good fortune to live in Paris and get to dine out pretty frequently. Let me state categorically that I will not be returning to the Fontaine de Mars after the meal I had there last week. I ate there a few years ago and found it to be good, not great, but since we had friends visiting us on a Sunday, our options were few. We reserved a week ahead of time and were seated upstairs, in a small, hot room, filled with a large and loud American family with several small children. But the evening was about good friends and food, so I tried not to care about this. Bad food, though, I cannot forgive, especially when it's so easy to get it right with the kinds of French classic dishes served at La Fontaine de Mars. My friends both started with the veloute d'asperges au fois gras; my husband and I opted for the leeks vinaigrette. The soup tasted very vaguely of asparagus and more like heavy cream. The foie gras dollop was so full of sinewy veins that my friend had difficulty eating it. Our leeks were swimming in flavorless oil and were flaccid, sad versions of what they should have been. For the next course, my friend ordered the Sunday special of poulet fermier avec sa puree. Despite sounding boring, she ordered wisely. My husband and I ordered the confit de canard, thinking that it would be difficult to mess it up. We were wrong: the skin, which should have been crispy, was totally soft and shockingly, the duck did not have the depth of flavor that a confit should have. For dessert, we shared the mousse au chocolat, which was unpleasantly grainy and tasted like bad American milk chocolate. I was shocked at how bad this meal was. I will never return. Just because the Obamas ate their a few years does not make it worth visiting. When there are so many good places in Paris to go eat, do not be scammed by this place. Sorry for the rant, but this was a memorably terrible meal.
vietnamese food in paris
My personal favorite is Song Huong on Avenue de Choisy. Without fail, I order either #12 (Soupe de Tourane: rice noodles, spicy red pork broth: make sure to order it with "beaucoup de boullion) or #9, their bo-bun: i order this with pork instead of beef.
Charleston, SC, burger assessments
The burger at Husk is, in my opinion, one of the finest burgers in the entire universe.
Paris - Foodie Dinner and One Great Bistro in only Two Weeks?
ok. i take it all back. Le grand pan should be on nobody's list.
Kairo Kafé - New Brunswick, NJ
i'm serious, this place was really disgusting. i don't think my review was harsh...i guess i have pretty high expectations....i've eaten at some of the best middle eastern places in dearborn, michigan so i was kind of insulted by the lack of quality and FLAVOR at kairo. i totally stand by my review.
vietnamese food in paris
my vote is for song huong, on the avenue de choisy, right next to the more well-known pho 14. song huong is a family place; the bo bun is the best i've had in the city and soup #12 is amazing! a spicy, pork-based broth called "soupe de tourane."
Paris - Foodie Dinner and One Great Bistro in only Two Weeks?
my bet for friday night bistro would be le grand pan, in the 15th. the service is light and friendly; the food is outstanding (on offer in addition to the menu: cote de boeuf, cote de porc, cote de veau for two with green salad and AMAZING fries). the desserts are also excellent. it's not fancy but is very very good.
Munich: cheap and delicious?
hi fellow hounds,
i'm in search of cheap and delicious in munich. i'm down for eating anything, ranging from traditional german fare to ethnic eats. what are you favorite inexpensive gems in the city? in terms of price range, i'm hoping for 15 EUR or less, drinks not included.
thanks in advance!
katie
A very disappointing dinner at Jadis
I also had an uneven experience at Jadis and found the service to be troubling.
I wrote up my experience here:
http://beavercitywillrockyou.blogspot.com/2010/10/eating-in-paris-jadis.html
Looking for a great dinner around the Hyatt Regency for a group of 9
hi chicago hounds!
i'm looking for a moderately priced delicious restaurant for a group of 9 to dine at this friday. the major caveat is that the restaurant should be near the hyatt regency downtown. i tried the frontera grill but they are booked for friday. any other ideas? my main criteria is that it needs to be delicious and not extravagantly expensive: oh, and they have to be able to accommodate a group of 9. is this too tall of an order?
thanks in advance!
Kairo Kafé - New Brunswick, NJ
Seriously, did I eat at the same place as you guys?
The $7.95 lunch special certainly SEEMS like a good deal. You can choose between several middle eastern sandwiches (falaffel, hummus, ful, 'feta melt') and the meal includes soup, salad, "hand cut belgian fries," and dessert. It would be a fantastic deal if the food were edible: it is not.
The soup and salad were decent, not great but not bad. Then the main part of the meal arrived, the sandwich and "belgian fries." At first appearance, the hummus wrap sandwich I ordered looked ok. Then I tried it: no seasoning, bland, dry, stale bread also without flavor. It was like eating a long tan tube of nothing. I immediately thought that the gods were punishing me for betraying the other middle eastern place that I have been going to in New Brunswick, right around the corner, the infinitely superior G&P Lebanese restaurant. Seriously, the sandwich was disgusting. Now let's talk about the "hand-cut belgian fries." If you're going to tell your customers that your fries are "belgian," this should mean that they are pillowy on the inside and crisp on the outside: a true belgian fry is double fried which ensures this remarkable texture. The grease pillows on my plate, while obviously hand-cut, were flacid and tasteless. They didn't even bother to salt them. I barely ate any of my food and it was taken away from the table without comment from the waiter.
Next came dessert. One would think that at a middle eastern place this could mean baklava. But no. The waiter came out and announced "here's a little dessert." He threw down a tiny, microscopic piece of something that resembled cheesecake with an oreo crust but after one bite, it was impossible to tell. The bite was quite the taste experience, but in a bad way. It felt and tasted like a shockingly sweet hydrogenated-oil medley. I had to ask what it was that we were eating: "oreo cookie mousse cake." It tasted like a cheap-ass cake from the 99 cent store.
Seriously, if you want good middle eastern food in New Brunswick the only place you should look is G & P. They really care much more about quality and flavor. You could not pay me to go eat at Kairo Kafe again. It was a total waste of money.
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Kairo Kafe
49 Bayard St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
best bo bun in chinatown?
i'm looking for the dry bun with the noodles + herbs/lettuce + meat + spring roll. thanks!
best bo bun in chinatown?
hello hounds!
i was wondering if anybody knows where to get the best bo-bun in chinatown (or immediate surroundings...). i know there are a ton of vietnamese restaurants down there but i want to ensure that the one i go to is delish! it would be great if their soups were top notch as well...
thanks!
Review: Amada, Philadelphia
i was referring to the fact that the cost in no way measured up to the quality of food we were served. i obviously knew how much the food was going to cost. that was not the issue...the surprise is that they would have the gall to charge that much for the poor quality. does that not make sense?
Review: Amada, Philadelphia
i went about a month ago. i wrote a strongly worded letter to the management and they actually reimbursed us for the gratuity. so at least we got some kind of formal acknowledgment of what happened.
Paris for 10 days -- staying in the 3rd near Bastille -- need recommendaions
i would say that for it's basque goodness, chez l'ami jean definitely deserves to be on your list. it's just to good to miss. try ordering "la cochonaille" for an appetizer: a basket of sausages made by the chef's father in the basque country (27, Rue Malar,75007 Paris, France, +33 1 47 05 86 89). as far as getting sick of eating bistro fare, i would totally recommend vietnamese in the 13th arrondissement. i used to live down the street from a place that puts many others to shame: called Song Huong. it's traditional but really really good. i go for #12, a spicy pork-based soup called the Soup de Tourane, where the owner comes from. the b-bun is also killer. (http://mmmm.free.fr/resto/5360.html)
Review: Amada, Philadelphia
This restaurant confirmed a sneaking suspicion that I've always had about many tapas restaurants: it's a great scam to charge people a lot of money for small plates of food. Having traveled extensively in Spain, I have a reasonable idea of how delicious Spanish tapas can be. The food at Amada is good, not great. The first sign something was amiss was how enormous the restaurant is, basically the size of a cracker barrel restaurant. I ate nothing truly outstanding. This could have been due to the fact that I was there with a large group of people and we decided to go with the chef's tasting menu for $55 each. one of the people in our group was allergic to red meat, mustard and shellfish. i asked the waitress if this was something the chef could work around and we were assured that it would not be a problem. I believed the waitress because of all the delicious pork things on the menu: three different kinds of chorizo, the amazing spanish ham that i could not wait to try, ETC. Anyone who has been to Spain knows that this is a county that does pork very well. Imagine my surprise when out of the 10 small pates we were served, NONE of them featured pork and our friend was allergic to four of them. I asked the waitress why we were not getting things that everybody could eat and I was told in a less than friendly tone that "there will be enough food to satisfy everyone." The chef's tasting menu was a total rip off and was really quite boring. The most authentically Spanish things we were served was a potato and egg tortilla, a meager plate of Spanish cheeses, and some vaguely spiced chicken and potato dish with a "hen egg" (no kidding, that is what the waitress called it) on top. along with that, we were served the "heirloom tomato flatbread" which was basically an inert cracker with a slice of heirloom tomato on it. there were scallops that had been pounded a bit and then sliced in half to give the appearance of larger scallops, uninspired shrimp in a salty butter sauce, and tough, chewy octopus. my friend, the birthday girl, requested chorizo early on and it never materialized. we also ordered the wine pairing for an additional $20/person. we began the meal with two $35 (!!!) pitchers of sangria. when the bill came i almost had a heart attack: for a group of 8, it came to a whopping $893 or $125/person. i have eaten in some fabulous restaurants where i'm more than happy to pay $125. sadly, this place was NOT worth it at all. if you're looking for a trendy, loud restaurant that does not want to challenge you or wow your palate, look no further.
Brussels: best fries, best waffles, best moules, best beer bar/brewery
i put some pictures of mer du nord on my blog:
http://beavercitywillrockyou.blogspot.com/2009/06/brussels-stand-up-seafood-bar.html
enjoy.
What is the best prix fixe lunch deal in lower Manhattan for $25 and under?
anything below penn station.....
I am addicted to Delhi Garden in Highland Park, NJ
I don't think they do. No website either. It's a real mom and pop establishment.
What is the best prix fixe lunch deal in lower Manhattan for $25 and under?
A good friend and I are looking for a delicious lunch deal at a sit down restaurant for under $25. It doesn't need to be fancy but we do want good service. Thanks!
Amsterdam Restaurant Recs
I would second De Kas. I had an amazing meal there. It has to be one of the most beautiful restaurants in the world. The food wasn't too shabby either. It's outside of the city center, but you can easily walk there (it takes about 50 minutes). here are pics from my meal there:
http://beavercitywillrockyou.blogspot.com/2009/06/restaurant-de-kas-amsterdam.html
Near covent garden: fabulous restaurant for a group
so we ended up getting a great deal at chez gerard on chancery lane: 3 courses for 19.95 GBP or 2 courses for 16.95. wine was of course extra. in the end, 3 courses and the house wine came to 30 GBP/person. the food was more than satisfactory and the service was great, considering that we were a group of 22. thanks for all the great suggestions!
I am addicted to Delhi Garden in Highland Park, NJ
right on! it is without a doubt the best indian place in the edison/highland park area.
Anything worthwhile in and around edison?
i have a serious delhi garden addiction. it is unspeakably good. i wrote about it on my blog:
http://beavercitywillrockyou.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-jersey-and-you-perfect-together.html
Brussels: best fries, best waffles, best moules, best beer bar/brewery
i wanted to reply to everybody and thank you all for your great recommendations! my favorite food experience by far was sunday at Mer du Nord at Place St. Catherine. It was cheap and unbelievably delicious. The menu was small but everything on it was perfectly seasoned, fresh, and perfectly prepared. My favorite beer place was definitely A La Morte Subite: I will never forget the peach lambic and will dream of it until I am back there to get more! Pierre Marcolini was great for chocolate and pastries. I had a killer tarte au citron.
Brussels: best fries, best waffles, best moules, best beer bar/brewery
thanks for all the great tips!
Paris Culinary Plan - Thoughts/Advice
i would leave l'ami jean by 2.15 at the latest. you should have enough time.
Paris Culinary Plan - Thoughts/Advice
if you want a delicious typical bistro, i would not miss chez georges. the food has been consistently good for decades. my favorite filet mignon + bearnaise sauce in paris. it's not cheap, but it's not ridiculous either. the wine list is fair and the desserts are to die for.
chez georges: 1, Rue Mail, Paris - 01 42 60 07 11
Brussels: best fries, best waffles, best moules, best beer bar/brewery
hi everyone: i'll be in brussels next weekend and i would love to find the best of belgian street food (waffles/frites) in addition to the best place for mussels and, very importantly, the best place to spend a long afternoon outside (or inside a great place) drinking belgian beer. if you have reasonably priced (belgian or italian) dinner suggestions, i am also eager to know. thanks a lot!
