* or any other day, for that matter.
"We can go to a movie. We can have lunch. We can go to a museum. Any other ideas?" -- Wondering in Beverly Hills
Dear Wondering,
Wonder no further and wander a bit west.
Showing posts with label GuestReviewOfTheWeek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GuestReviewOfTheWeek. Show all posts
Sunday
Friday
And you call yourself a foodie! Alice Waters ought to yank your credentials!
Semolina is coarsely ground hard, summer wheat. It is used to make the best Italian pastas - as in durum semolina.
This is part of what Wikipedia has to say:
Semolina made from durum wheat or other hard wheats (that are easier to grow than durum) is yellow in color. It is usually prepared with the main dish, either boiled with water into a pasty substance, e.g. as gnocchi (in Italy), or as the basis for dried products such as couscous (North Africa), and bulgur. Couscous is made by mixing roughly 2 parts semolina with 1 part durum flour. --KY, Santa Monica, CA
Thanks KY for the clarification...The Duo won't even comment on your initals!
Shwa
1466 N Ashland AveChicago, IL 60622(773) 252-1466 ...This from one of our readers who lives in Chicago: "BIG F'ING RIP-OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Horrible service. Attitude coming out the you-know-what. Horrible head banger music pumped into the dining room because that's what the chefs like to listen to and they make their customers suffer rather than place the speakers in the kitchen. It is all about this stuck up, arrogant bunch of young assholes.
Too cheap to hire servers and bus-staff. Think it's kitsch to serve customers themselves. They are HORRIBLE servers. You end up having to wait for everything - water, bread, more wine (which they keep in the kitchen and will not leave on the table even though it is a BYOB place)
BTW, the chef we dealt with who served us was such a DICKHEAD I actually stiffed him on the tip!"
--Pete Zahutt, Chicago
CUT on Valentine’s Day
By Tony Valenzuela
My husband, Rob, and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut, the celebrity chef’s signature LA steakhouse, located in the storied Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Already showered with accolades since its opening in June 2006, including “restaurant of the year” in Esquire magazine, I’d made our reservation a month early to secure our table for 2 at 8 pm – or so I thought. When I called the week before to confirm, there was no record of it.
My conversation with Patty, the maitre d’, went something like this: In attempting to explain, I am quickly interrupted by Patty who takes a curt tone. “We didn’t start taking Valentine’s reservations until the 16th. You would not have a reservation unless you returned the pre-pay form.” I reply, calmly, “But I made our reservation with the hostess on the 14th and was never offered a form …” Patty, confrontationally, “I am not getting into a confrontation with you.” I come back with, “But I …” Dismissively, Patty says, “I’m going to get off the phone now. Will have to see what I can do and call you back.”
Astonished, I hung up. I felt like Pretty Woman ignored by the Rodeo Drive shopkeeper (DD's note: good reference Tony, same hotel as in the movie too). Does Cut consider itself recession proof? Was it that I’m not a celebrity that the maitre d’ wouldn’t even entertain the possibility that this may have been their error? Not to be mistaken as conciliatory, Patty called later that evening to give us 9 pm.
Let me jump ahead of this unpleasantness to discuss the food, much of which was excellent, and ultimately a good reason you may choose to pay the steep prices at Cut. The five-course Valentine’s Day menu was priced at $120 per person and started with a nice amuse bouche of mini potato-parmesan knishes. As an appetizer, Rob ordered the maple glazed pork belly that was savory sweet and tender as butter. My Maine diver scallop gratin with black truffles was sublime. I could have eaten two dozen and happily forfeited the rest of the meal. The sides included creamed spinach topped with a fried egg, tempura onion rings, a delicious soft polenta with parmesan and a sauté of vegetables. The courses were spaced appropriately and delivered with attentive and professional skill by our server, Jennifer.
The main event at Cut is the steak, of course. The restaurant chars their meat, which is not my preference, but it does keep the juices inside. Rob’s 20-ounce rib eye and my 10-ounce sirloin were very good, but not great. As we were enjoying our meal which was by most accounts exceptional, I could not shake the feeling that some customers at Cut are not as valued as some others, and here’s why.
When we were finally seated at a quarter past nine, we weren’t placed in the dining room exactly but in a landing leading to it. Four provisional tables had been set up to accommodate the overflow. Our table was the first of these nearest the entrance jutted up against the corner wall. Rob’s view was of the open kitchen and mine was 6 inches behind Rob’s head: a fire extinguisher, an “A” grade, a hazardous materials notice and an unused elevator. The award-winning design of the dining room by the Getty Center’s celebrity architect, Richard Meier, was lost on us completely.
Rob called the manager. To his credit, Andrey Godzhik listened with grace and modesty and in the end comped our $98 bottle of Phelps Cabernet, a considerable gesture of good will. But the insult to injury of our table sadly marred the restaurant’s evident strengths and though Rob’s dark chocolate soufflé and my warm brioche doughnuts were heavenly, our Valentine’s Day dinner at Cut will probably be remembered by an ungracious maitre d’, a lousy table and the rest of the staff that did its best to make up for it.
CUT
The Regent Beverly Wilshire
9500 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills
(310) 276-8500
wolfgangpuck.com
Matyson, 37S. 19th Street, Philadelphia.
http://www.matyson.com//
There is a quaint Philly BYOB restaurant named Matyson. Named after the Chef Matt Spector and his pastryChef wife Sonya Bidegain.
Right in the heart of Center City, the location is super, but parking at 5:30 was a bit frustrating. The warm muted gold walls and ochre ceiling highlighted some original works of art, charming. The old Philadelphia wood floors anchored the color scheme. A small space, maybe 16' w by 40' long, the chatter of wine bottles and dinner crowd arriving, was typical Philadelphia, but nothing our of the ordinary.
We began with the Foie Gras & Wild mushroom wontons, and the Jumbo lump crab cocktail, served with small hame-made potato chips - -cute. The Dinners rated a "10" for presentation, garnished festively. The puree squash soup was what I started with, then the herbed Chicken. Sound boring? - - certainly not. It was a perfect meal. The dessert menu was a very nice selection of "made on the premises" pies, treats and house-made sorbets and ice creams. Simply elegant and 5 our of 5 of us would go back, but I'll look for another parking spot.
Guest review by Lori Riddington
(Dining Duo to Lori: GREAT review! Keep eating out and let us know where--and where n0t-- to spend our money and our time. Send a review of 100 words or less and we'll share it with the rest of you)
No other way to say it, you’ve lost a friend- after almost 50 years this is it…the end, always thought I was man enough to break off a relationship in person, but this is the internet age and email will have to do. Thanks for the memories, our friendship has ended.
Lori and I have been going to Vegas together for more than 30 years, I have always found the hidden gems, State Street, an Italian Mob Style restaurant, Hugo’s downtown before it was chic, Ferraro’s for the best Oso Buco this side of Italy, and Michael’s before it was “Michael’s”, the top rated restaurant in Vegas in the dungy Barbary Coast - just to name a few. Wouldn’t want to brag, may seem like I was trying to compete with “The Dining Duo.”
This past weekend Lori and I went to Society at the Encore for breakfast, after devouring the sticky bun and with that special look in her eyes, she said “You are amazing, how do you find these places?” I said I’d love to take credit but Scottie and Michael deserve all the credit.
THAT WAS IT!! Her comment, “We will only eat where Scottie and Michael recommend, they are the best!!!” I used to be “HER MAN” – no longer, you have stolen her stomach. My ego has been crushed, you have stolen her heart, and I hope you’re happy.
Your washed-up - ex-friend-
J.K.
PS The sticky buns were even better the second day -OF COURSE WE WENT BACK, THE PLACE WAS GREAT, AND SCOTTIE RECOMMENDED IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Porto's Bakery.
It's awful (good)!! If you are looking to commit suicide by chocolate mousse, try their Triple (Dining Duo note: who wouldn’t love anything “Triple”) Chocolate Mousse cake. That's what my son wanted for his birthday. He's been working down the street from Porto's in Glendale, and goes in their regularly for lunch. They also have a place in Bubank. They are a Cuban bakery. The cake that I got for my other son’s birthday was the Meringue Fruit Tort. It is not only festive looking and great for outdoor/tropical type parties, but it is light yet rich! -- FH, Simi Valley
Well FH, The Dining Duo is going to Dash out there for some of those sweets. Thanks for the delicious tip!
Glendale Location: 315 North Brand Blvd.Glendale, CA 91203 tel. (818) 956-5996fax (818) 956-0696Map it
Burbank Location: 3614 W Magnolia Blvd.Burbank, CA 91505(818) 846-9100 Map it
Kakawa Chocolate House 847 Ninita StreetSanta Fe, NM 87505 (505)982-0388 The shop is in an old Spanish adobe building with Saltillo tiled floors and modern glass display cases. It has murals of Aztec designs and a European ambiance with vases of fresh flowers and meticulously hand prepared chocolates; some in forms of flowers and butterflies, some like truffles. All the chocolates are made from ancient European and Mesoamerican recipes. If you like dark chocolate with a lot less sugar than conventional chocolates, and exotic flavors like almond rose, cinnamon chili and many other unique and unusual combinations--along with a taste of history, this place is it! I really enjoyed their chocolate elixirs that look like truffles and melt into a cup of hot chocolate when you pour hot water over them. Great for chocolate addicts, but will leave the sugar addicts wanting more. www.kakawachocolates.com
--DONNA KAROL, SANTE FE, NEW MEXICO
Do you live somewhere else on the planet other than L.A. (is there such a place?) and want to share your favorite special hideaway? Send it to FabDiningDuo@aol.com
By Lilian Lou, Hamburg Germany
The Abaco is not a secret tip anymore, because since over 20 years it has been praised as one of the most beautiful bars in Europe. Founded in 1980 by Salvador Palao and his friend Pedro Jaime Lloret, it is a 17th century mansion nestled in the cobble stoned Calle Juan 1 Street in the capital of Spain’s Balearic island of Majorca. Downstairs, behind 15 feet high solid wood doors where the stables use to be, you find the most distinguished and impressive interior decoration you have seen in a bar. Actually you feel like walking onto the set of an old film of Federico Fellini.
Hundreds of oranges, apples and other tropical fruits are decorated on the floor and staircases and compete with countless opulent flower arrangements. On the ground floor you find a lovely patio with many birdcages, upstairs are a few quieter sitting rooms while some other rooms are kept as a museum, maintained in the Majorcan lifestyle of some 250 years ago. To walk the wide staircase from the rest rooms on the first floor down to the main (approximately 5000 square foot) bar, surrounded by classical music and (at least this is the impression of most) watched by everybody is quite a feeling.
The two tables in front of the huge open fireplace are the most demanded. More frequent visitors know to cover their drinks with a napkin or so when the music “Also Sprach Zarathustra” commences at midnight sharp as waiters come with censers of incense causing the rooms to smell like in a church. From the ceiling, it starts “raining” rose petals; first white, then rosé, and then dark red. Waiters and others throughout the rooms throw thousands of rose petals. (I left before they decided who was to clean up the place, though not before I grabbed a handful as a souvenir).
I don’t drink alcohol but have been assured by seasoned drinkers that the classic range of cocktails can compete with the best US and UK bars and even Basil´s on Mystique. And every week the Abaco creates a new “Abaco Special”, based on fresh fruit juices/smoothies and their own composition of the hard stuff.
The Abaco is special because of the place itself and the history it breathes. And if you want to have it even more opulent but also more intimate you may want to try the Abacanto, founded by Salvador Palao as a country retreat around 1990, almost like the Abaco but about 5 times in size housed in a castle-like mansion in the outskirts of Palma with beautiful gardens (Camino de Son Nicolau, Sa Indioteria/Palma de Mallorca. Tel. ++34629-57 44 58. www.abacanto.es)
Bobcat Bite is a local hang out for the best burgers in the country! John and Bonnie Eckre are the current owners since the last 8 years; but Bonnie is no novice to the store, having worked there for 18 years. Seating only 26 folks, the Bobcat is a home-style diner with a counter and a few tables. As you might imagine, located out of Santa Fe on the old Las Vegas Hwy, this find has a friendly relaxed atmosphere catering mostly to local regulars. Their beef is natural, hormone free and is a combination of chuck and sirloin, which they grind fresh everyday. The secret to the incredible flavor of the burgers is that it's cooked on a 50-year-old cast iron grill that has as many stories hidden in it as flavors. Served with grilled potatoes and vinegar-based depression era coleslaw, both are wonderful and different than the usual accompaniments to burgers. Yummy. Us Santa Fe locals definitely know "Where’s the beef.” Bobcat Bite420 Old Las Vegas HighwaySanta Fe, NM 87505 (505) 983-5319
Your Santa Fe Mobile Reporter, Donna Karol
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