vbabe's Profile
Seeking Seafood in Vancouver
Ghindara means Black Cod, Saikyo Yaki is the style of cooking with miso paste.
WD-50 is disgusting. Right? Anyone?
I think that was precisely my problem, I felt that the flavors failed to work together as a whole (hence the incoherence). But then again, maybe we just went on an off night ;-)
WD-50 is disgusting. Right? Anyone?
Oh yes, must agree that the eggs benedict dish was pretty delicious, which makes me think that when the concepts work it must be pretty brilliant... but if you think about it, the eggs benedict was about already established flavors, the course was more about the technique. The rest of the courses which were more original and experimental in flavors were just plain incoherent. Unfortunately, guess it's a bit of a hit and miss when they choose to be so adventurous.
Also agree, the desserts were pretty decent, especially the toasted coconut cake.
Two Nights in NYC - 8 Restaurants to Try!
Per Se is more like a variation and fancier version of TFL, if you liked TFL, I'd def go try. Le Bernardin is fabulous, but keep in mind it's all seafood. I know these are not on your list, but really worth the visit: Gramercy Tavern, Cafe Boulud and Blue Hill. Enjoy your trip.
WD-50 is disgusting. Right? Anyone?
I just went to WD-50 last night, and I also just went to Alinea to do the 27 course dinner the week before (which was overwhelming but nonetheless impressive) so I appreciate the whole molecular gastronomy thing, but I have to agree with this post... WD-50 was pretty dreadful... technique aside, shouldn't taste and flavor come first to any meal?
We had the tasting menu (imagining that you can only put your best foot forward in a tasting menu, right? WRONG), I actually couldn't finish each and every dish... the flavors, taste and ingredients were all wrong and didn't work together at all. Both the fish (hamachi) course and the king crab course was actually fishy. On top of all that for $140, it's one of the more expensive tasting menus in town, and it wasn't worth it at all. None of the ingredients were especially fresh or special, guess the price was all for the labor...
I desperately wanted to like the place as my bf loves it but it just didn't work. Sorry. Will prob give it another shot as the a la carte menu did sound more promising, but definitely pass on the tasting menu if you're ever there.
ITALIAN BEEF - THE TRUE CHICAGO FOOD
Just wanted to make a note that Mr. Beef is NOT open on Sundays. We went today based on this thread to find out that they are only open Mon - Sat. We ended up going to Portillos instead and had an enjoyable meal of Italian Beef though :-) thanks.
Seeking Seafood in Vancouver
Fyi, black cod broiled with Miso paste is actually a traditional Japanese style of cooking black cod known as Saikyo Yaki" :-)
ribs in nyc??
Just went to Dinosaur last night, ribs, beef brisket and chicken were all delicious!!
ribs in nyc??
I went to Blue Smoke two months ago, and although it has spotty reviews, I thought it was pretty decent.
Capri, Positano and Ravello Recommendations
We stayed at the Capri Palace which is in Anacapri as well... we actually didn't eat anywhere around there since all the good places seem to be in Capri. Anacapri side is definitely more quiet... the only pain is that if you eat in Capri, you end up taking a cab back to Anacapri which costs like $25 Euros for a very short ride (and you thought NY was bad, haha), not sure what time the buses run till... maybe your hotel will have a free shuttle service, our only had one going to Capri and it ended at 7 pm. The buses always seem very crowded...
The restaurant at Capri Palace is supposed to be very famous, think it had a michelin star or sth... and the artist bar is quite interesting with lots of modern art pieces there.
Best steak in Tokyo?
In our experience, there are two wait staff there that seem to communicate in English reasonably well, but don't worry, just tell them "omakase" and you'll be well take care of :-)
Best steak in Tokyo?
Jumbo is AMAZING :-) I know, I know, we were equally suspicious when we first heard the name but we went upon the rec of a local Japanese friend, and since then, we go there at least once (sometimes even twice, haha) every time we are in Tokyo. We've even brought other local Japanese friends there and they have all raved about it. The beef there is just plain amazing, but you have to order the omakase, or else you will not get the good cuts which are not on the menu (that is unless you can read the japanese writing on the chalkboard by the entrance which lists the special cuts of the day)
Jumbo, however, is not steak, but yakiniku, literally grilled meat, but is actually a variety of Japanese style Korean grilled meat. The same meat supplier to Jumbo also owns a steakhouse though, but we have not yet tried it, think it's called Mizawa... oh, and don't miss the Hokkaido soft cream for dessert :-)
Capri, Positano and Ravello Recommendations
Hi MMRuth,
Aurora had delicious food and the service was impeccable. We told our waitress that we'd be sharing the two appetizers and they actually split our dishes for us and served them one after the other. Our waitress was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable about the food and wine. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere and buzz as well, i.e. in Capri, means a lot of gorgeous people, haha. But most of all, the food was excellent. We had a seafood salad, a pasta with zucchini flowers and parmesan, grilled langoustines and a margherita pizza, all of which were delicious. The food was just simple but perfectly prepared.
Add'o Riccio has a gorgeous location over looking the Blue Grotto, try to go at lunch and ask for a table by the sea. The seafood is amazingly fresh and perfectly prepared. We had a Caprese salad, some fresh local shrimp that was sauteed in olive oil and garlic and linguine with spiny lobster (the lobster cost an arm and a leg, but was amazing), all of which was prepared perfectly. Plus, you really can't find a more gorgeous place to sit in the sun overlooking the turquoise sea :-)
On the other hand, I found La Campanina had a really tacky decor, the walls are all covered with photos of celebrities! The wait staff wear white shirts with the name of the restaurant printed all over in red letters, haha!! Also, we found the service quite inattentive as we would be left for prolonged periods where we were completely ignored. We patiently waited for nearly 20 mins for someone to notice that we were ready to order our food, and another 20 mins when we were done with our meals and to offer us dessert or at least the cheque. As for the food, I had an appetizer that was on the special daily menu, a whitebait and shrimp salad, and it was COMPLETELY tasteless, I mean it was not just bland but it had no taste whatsoever. Usually local shrimp is very sweet but they seemed to have managed to blanch all taste out of it... maybe it was frozen. If you look carefully on the menu, you'll realize that several of the dishes specify that they use frozen seafoods! Which, IMHO, seems not like what a respectable restaurant would choose to serve. Having said that, my boyfriend ordered two pastas, the Caprese ravioli and the house specialty linguine with scorpion fish, both of which were pretty good, but nothing spectacular. I had the baked fish with potatoes for main which was also ok.
Make sure you make reservations for all your meals in advance as it gets very busy, and yes, prices are high in Capri (esp. the wines, we found the same wine in Capri was way more expensive when compared to the same in Rome and Naples) esp with the exchange rate!
Oh, and one more thing (just in case you didn't already know) they dress up for dinner at Capri, so it's not nearly as laid back as you'd expect, or at least we didn't, haha (exactly how the Italian ladies manage to walk around the cobbled stones on slopes in five inch stilettos still amazes me, haha).
Hope you have fun in Capri, we really enjoyed it :-) One really cool thing to do is to rent a boat and sail around the island. Our hotel concierge arranged it for us, but you can also just rent one directly at the marina.
Capri, Positano and Ravello Recommendations
Hi! We were just in Capri a week ago. We loved Aurora and Add'o Riccio. The service and food at La Campanina was both pretty terrible.
Naples Restaurant Recommendations Needed
Hi Erica,
I also replied to your Amalfi thread, but pizza at da Michele was excellent, not to be missed (and it was an amazing value, 2 pizzas, three beers and a large bottle of water ended up being 17 euros!). We also highly recommend Dora. Have fun in the city! We are off to Capri today...
Naples Restaurant Recommendations Needed
We had two pasta dishes and a fish each at Dora, plus a bottle of wine which cost 90 Euros, the total came out to about 170 Euros. There were a lot of other tourists there (each with guidebook in hand, haha), but the place didn't feel touristy at all. We loved it.
Bound for Amalfi..please advise!
Hi, we are in Naples right now. We tried the pizza at da Michele yesterday and were blown away. We went at 3:30 pm and there was still a long line of ppl waiting for tables! Thankfully the wait wasn't long and the pizza was worth every second of the wait! They only serve two kinds of pizza: marinara and margherita. We both had the margherita pizza. Everything about the pizza was amazing, the dough was flavourful and just slightly charred to gave it a wonderful smoky flavour, the tomato sauce was fresh and tasty, and the mozzarella was lovely. Trianon, on the other hand, seemed oddly deserted, so we haven't tried it yet.
We also had an absolutely wonderful dinner at Da Dora last night. The spaghetti vongole and seafood pasta are really as good as all the reviews rave about, and the grilled fish (we had Orata / Gilthead) was amazingly fresh, perfectly grilled over charcoal, and served with a simple olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, parsley and lemon juice mix. The wait staff were also extremely helpful and pleasant. We had such a wonderful dinner there. Reservations are essential though, as the restaurant is very small (about 5-6 tables of 4).
Live Blue Crabs?
I saw live blue crabs for sale today at Quality Seafood at Redondo Pier.
Mochi Cream?
Eating mochi cream right now in Tokyo :-) There are stores all over Japan. The mochi cream has a filling which is a mixture of paste and cream, or syrup depending on the flavour. There are currently 12 different flavours, ranging from banana chocolate, caramel macchiato, rasberry mille feuille, honey lemon, rum raisin, peach yoghurt, to more traditional flavours, like green tea and sakura etc. The following link has a scanned image of the menu.
http://mochi-cream.sblo.jp/article/7215735.html
They do need to be refrigerated and are suggested to be eaten the day of. I read that the only overseas store is in Hawaii. They are very yummy!!
Babbo, GT, Freemans, Dovetail, What to order?
If you love mushrooms, must try the Garganelli with “Funghi Trifolati”, it's simple yet delicious and extremely flavourful. The barbecued squab is also very good.
Is Gramercy tavern, the bar a good experience
The service and ambience are both wonderful, and great value too. The stuffed meatball was excellent. Go early to avoid the wait though, as no reservations accepted.
Where to buy fresh bucatini in Manhattan?
Thanks everyone, I ended up buying the dry one at Dean & Deluca, but it turned out delicious.
Chanterelle?
I went years ago (about 10, haha!) and loved the food and the place. We are actually revisiting tonight (the menu looks amazing), and will report back :-)
West Coast friends visiting: where to take them?
While none of the below are new discoveries, I think the following might be good options for consideration:
Bar Pitti for Italian.
268 Sixth Ave.
(bet. Bleecker & Houston Sts.)
Manhattan, NY
Lombardi's for Pizza
32 Spring St.
(bet. Mott & Mulberry Sts.)
Manhattan, NY
Pearl Oyster Bar is a great place for seafood, New England Style.
18 Cornelia St.
(bet. Bleecker & W. 4th Sts.)
Manhattan, NY
Have fun!
LUNCH ON THE PCH
Back on the Beach is a great lunch place, salad, burgers etc (the breakfast pasta is delicious), literally right on the beach, I mean the tables are set in the sand :)
Whom has a better Prime Rib than Lawrys
I've had the prime rib at Houston's at both SM and Centrury City, I think century City's was slightly better, but both were very good, and I'd definitely recommend it. The spinach artichoke dip is also worth trying if you go there :)
The Counter revisited
Yup, that's it. Half fries and half onion rings.
IMHO the Counter consistently serves good burgers, I go there a lot and have yet to have one burger which gave me second thoughts :)
