Anniversary party for 60 people

We did go out for dinner but did not have the large party that we had hoped to have. "Life" interferred with our plans but we did go out with our children and grandchildren. We ended up in the private dining room off the kitchen at the Montage in Beverly Hills. Service was impeccable but the food was mostly just o.k. In the past, we have given dinner parties in the

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Anniversary party for 60 people

I apologize for not reporting back. Unfortunately, life got in the way of our plans and we did not have a party for our anniversary.

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Name of upstairs restaurant in either Beverly Hillcrest or Beverly Prescott Hotel?

OTOH, a friend with whom we used to dine there believes that the Portofino Room was downstairs.

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Name of upstairs restaurant in either Beverly Hillcrest or Beverly Prescott Hotel?

Oh, thank you so much. My guess is that it was, in fact, the Portofino Room. My husband and I are way too old to fit in with the Mr. C. crowd (and so are our children!) but we did have a lovely time in the lobby/lounge for coffee and dessert. Concierge Solomon was especially gracious and charming.

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Name of upstairs restaurant in either Beverly Hillcrest or Beverly Prescott Hotel?

When what is now Mr. C on Beverwil and Pico first opened in around 1965, it was either the Beverly Hillcrest or the Beverly Prescott Hotel. Back in the 60's (and possibly the 70's) the dining room was on the top floor. Does anyone recall the name of it?

Thank you

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Sushi in Seattle vs Los Angeles

That's good to know. I suppose I was falling into "the grass is always greener" syndrome (appropriate for Seattle, right?). For the moment, I can't recall where I had my best uni but I can tell you that the most amazing sushi I've ever had was around 7:00am at Tsukiji Market. Meanwhile, I've learned more about oysters from you in the past few days than I ever had before. My son-in-law really dislikes oysters because he finds them to be slimy. After reading your posts, I think I know why.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Sushi in Seattle vs Los Angeles

I took a look at Neil's menu. It sounds wonderful but perhaps a little more difficult to get to from downtwon than some of the others.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Sushi in Seattle vs Los Angeles

We are headed your way this Friday so I'll look for wild muchrooms and fresh berries. I need a month to go the all the restaurants on my list!

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

>>Sort of like putting a splash of vinegar or Tabasco in a glass of Chablis Grand Cru<< LOL

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

I agree and, btw, I don't like to obscure the taste of the oyster with sauces. I prefer them bare with a wine such as you suggest. I give the sauces to my husband for bread-dipping purposes.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

Wow! Thanks for the "oyster lesson". I'm an oyster newbie but I do know a little something about wine.Thanks to you, I can see the comparison in approach to tasting and can better understand the differences in taste based on weather, terroir, variety, etc.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

Thanks so much. "Oyster Happy Hour" sounds great and I appreciate the heads up on Shuckers since we will be staying at the Fairmont. In fact, our package includes a dining allowance at the hotel restaurants. Now I know how to use it!

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

Thank you, Tom. I've made a rez at The Brooklyn. We plan to go to Walrus and Carpenter and will probably get to Blueacre as well. We liked the Metropolitan Grill in 2009 so might return there for at least happy hour.

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Metropolitan Grill
820 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Sushi in Seattle vs Los Angeles

Thank you, Tom. We are Seattle-bound next week and are in search of good oyster options. Walrus & Carpenter is already on my "must list" and Elliott's sounds good too. I wish we were going later when there are likely to be more varietes but appreciate your explanation as to why there are likely to be fewer options last week of September. We live in L.A. so would not seek out sushi in Seattle (other than what is probably better uni which is always my "dessert" at a sushi bar).

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

Thanks, firecracker. The Brooklyn is now on my list. The carpetbagger steak sounds amazing; I'll bring Lipitor!! I am particularly interested in the four oysters/wine matchings. I will look at their website as I'm curious about which wines are on their list. I have liked Oegon wines (pinot noir, in particular) for years but it was only when we last visited Seattle that I became aware of Washington state's wonderful wines. We brought some back to California but longed for the days when we could stuff a carry-on the the gills with bottles. Beteen baggage handling and temperature changes in he cargo hold, I don't feel all that comfortable bringing wines back now. Mostly, we opt for shipping these days.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

Thank you. Sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, we will be there in September!

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

We will be staying downtown. Thanks for asking; I should have stated that in the first place.

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Best restaurant for oysters?

We will be spending five days in Seattle and would like to have some oysters while we are there. I certainly don't know all of the possibilities, but the following come to mind:

Shuckers
McCormick's Fish House & Bar
Metropolitan Grill
Blueacre

Thoughts re the above? Recommendations for others?

Thanks so much.

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McCormick's Fish House & Bar
722 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104

Metropolitan Grill
820 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

bnevens in Greater Seattle

Anniversary party for 60 people

Wienermobile, foodiemanhoodie, and Emme: Thank you for the great suggestions. I will look into each of them.

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

Anniversary party for 60 people

I've read a number of posts re restaurants with private rooms but haven't seen quite what I need. My husband and I will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary in February and would like to have a dinner for about 60 guests. I would like to keep the cost to no more than $100/person and geographically prefer West L.A., Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, or the valley. We were married at the Hotel Be-Air but, unfortunately, they will not yet be open in time for our celebration. The only place I've called so far is the Montage in BH but, at an average cost of $160/person, they are beyond our budget.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

bnevens in Los Angeles Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

nsxtasy, We decided to start off in the Oyster Bar before checking in for our rez in the dining room because they had more oyster selections than the dining room had. We had six varieties, my favorite being Peter's Point, Onset, MA. Our server at the counter was very helpful with his recommendations for oysters and accompanying wines.

Things went downhill in the dining room. No problem with the service; I suspect that things were slow in the kitchen. It took a very long time to receive our food and, when it arrived, my sauteed soft shell crabs were limp and tasteless. My guess is that they had been sitting beneath heat lamps for a long time. They were also very salty. I ate one of them but left the second. The accompanying "Shaw's Seafood Rice" tasted as if it had been made from a food service mix. We also ordered the green beans in tomato herb butter which had about as much life to them as the soft shell crabs.

I would return to Shaw's on a future trip to Chicago but would probably opt for the oyster bar and skip the dining room. To be fair, the dining room was full which might explain the slowness in the kitchen. We don't usually travel in the summer but are doing so now only because two of our grandchildren are part of the trip and summer is when they are out of school. In general, I don't like to judge a restaurant during tourist season.

Off to O'Hare where we will buy enough Garrett popcorn for the six of us who will be flying to Rome together.

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Shaw's Crab House
21 East Hubbard St., Chicago, IL 60611

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

I looked at Shaw's and have made a rez there for this evening. I've been lamenting the fact that we haven't had time this year to go to Seattle for, among other reasons, some great seafood and OYSTERS. Shaw's menu really appeals to us. Tonight's dinner will be the bargain of the year in that we won't have to fly to Seattle!

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

Thank you for the suggetsions for tonight. I had the same thought about Italian food the night before our flight to Rome. OTOH, most of Italy closes down for August so many of the restaurants are not open. We already know that one of our favorites is closed for the month. Still, I'm sure that we will find something decent to eat there!

Have you been to The Gage? I would not have considered it had a friend whose taste in food I trust not dined there recenty and raved about it. (He doesn't live in Chicago.)

I'll take a look at your recs. We especially like good, authentic, regional Mexican food. We have traveled in Mexico many times and there are some mighty fine restaurants there. Even touristy Puerto Vallarta has a restaurant serving very authentic regional fare.

I'm happy to know that Kiki's is still recommended. We had dinner there eleven years ago with locals who were, at the time, part of our Prodigy Wine Board community. Seafood sounds especially good; I'm off to look at Shaw's.

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

We took the excellent advice that several of you gave us and changed our hotel location from the airport to downtown. We barely made our 10:30pm reservation at Girl & The Goat since it took over an hour for our luggage to appear. From the minute we walked into the restaurant to our departure from it two hours later, we experienced some of the most welcoming and up beat restaurant people that we have ever encountered. The two lovely hostesses did their best to honor our request for a quiet table (in my Open Table profile) and, believe it or not, they succeeded. The noise level at the restaurant, even at that late hour, seemed to be deafening but it wasn't once we were seated. Gary, or server, was cheerful, helpful, and extremely knowledgeable about both the food and the wine. Were we to return, we would definitely ask to be seated at one of his tables.

Following Gary's recommendations, we had the following:

Chickpeas Three Ways
Perhaps our favorite of the evening. The sweetness of the chickpeas played beautifully against the acid in the very flavorful petite tomatoes with the delicate mozzarella there to absorb the flavors.

Soft Shell Crabs on a bed of Sweet Corn. Lime. and Chili Aioli
Two perfectly cooked soft shell crabs, crisp on the outside and succulent on the inside were paired very nicely with the sweet corn. Had we not been so tired after a day of travel, we might have asked for a shot of tequila to complement the lime and chili flavors but thought better of it since being able to walk out of the restaurant seemed to be the wiser decision. The viognier that I had ordered (by the glass) worked well though.

Wood-fired Oysters with Horseradish Aioli
Nice but I would opt for the traditional uncooked offering next time. I'm a newbie where oysters are concerned having come to appreciate the nuances among them only a year ago in Seattle and, at least for me, the taste of the oysters was lost in the cooking. That's only a person preference though.

Grilled Lamb Ribs with Sweet Onion bbq, Grilled Avocado, and Pistachios
While very flavorful, our ribs were VERY fat. I managed to separate the delicious meat from their gobs of fat and so enjoyed them. My guess is that they would have benefited from the final grilling at a higher heat although it's possible that our order just contained unusually fat ribs.

Goat Cheese Bavarois with Berries and Crisp Oats
I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of this dessert. I loved the combination of textures and, while it was flavorful, it was respectful of the dinner offering rather than the "grand finale" so often encountered on restaurant menus.

So, again, thank you to all for your suggestions. Chicago has much to offer in many respects, among them, the culinary.

Now, where to dine tonight? Spaggia Cafe? The Gage? Our "dress up" clothes are resting at the bottom of our suitcases awaiting tomorrow's flight to Rome so we are looking for good food at a restaurant where casual attire is in order.

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

ferret: You are right. At first, we were only going to spend one night before connecting on to Rome so staying at the airport made sense. With two nights, staying in town is the better option and I have changed our hotel rez. Tuesday morning but be as easy but I'm sure that it will have been worth it.

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

Thanks for the Puck suggestion. I'll buy multiple bags (boxes?) of Garrett's popcorn since we will be meeting our daughter, SIL, and their two children at ORD and continuing on to Rome with them.

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

Yes, I've come to consider staying in town to be the better option. We will probably forgo lunch on Tuesday though. I suspect we will find something decent to eat in Rome/Venice .

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

Thanks for the warning. I just made a 10:30pm rez at the Girl and the Goat (on OT). I'm hoping that our flight will arrive on time and that we get out of the airport in a reasonable amount of time.

bnevens in Chicago Area

In need of airport-accessible restaurants

Again, thank you all for your help. I meant to write that we don't have to be back to ORD until TUESDAY, not Monday at 2:00pm. Restaurant-wise, our timing leaves much to be desired, especially given the Sunday/Monday Bayless restaurant closures. I will read the threads to which you have so generously given me links.

The Sunday/Monday Chicago stay was a recent add-on. Originally, we had a four-hour connection at ORD before flying to Rome. but decided to break the journey. My thinking was to stay at the airport so as not be be rushed on Tuesday and not to have to deal with luggage other than our carry-ons. The trade off is having to get into town/back to the airport for dinner on Sunday/Monday if we want a good Chicago dinner.

I'm looking at The Girl and the Goat for Sunday night since they are open late and the reviews are quite favorable. We won't mind having a late dinner since it will be two hours earlier to us.

bnevens in Chicago Area