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Best food/dining experiences

poorsod

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Most memorable dining experience Vin et Maree - the one on Ave de Suffren. The buttered sole melts in your mouth. It lives in my memory as my best dining experience probably because I was living in Pittsburgh at the time and Paris was heaven in comparison. And also because I was "po" at the time.

Best Paris dining Chez Catherine. Old location.

Best Paris cafe La Duree. Prefer the Asian decor of the one in St Germain des Pres. It's a tourist trap but I can't help it. The macaroons are so good (rose flavored).

Best NY lunch Bouley $34 can't be beat. I had at least 6-7 courses.

Best 5 hour lunch because I had nothing else better to do in Yountville The French Laundry. Is there anything else in Yountville?

Best NY brunch Toss up between Jane and Cafe d'Alsace. I like them for completely different reasons.

Best NY formal tea house Lady Mendl's.

Otherwise best NY tea house but the estrogen is overwhelming Alice's Teacup.
 

audiophilia

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*Best overall New York dinner experience: Lutece, NY

*Best lunch experience: La Grenouille, NY

*Best food experience: Daniel, NY

*Best overall dinner experience: Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London

*Most whimsical dining experience: Le Cirque, NY

*Most flavorful home cooking: Fifteen, London
 

cheessus

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Originally Posted by Piobaire
Most Unexpected Find:

Best Crab Feast: Little place in Alexandria, Stan's Place. A little dive run by a surly Korean guy. What a feast on Chesapeake Bay blues though.


This place is this ****!!!!!

I haven't had the opportunity like everyone else here go to go truly fine dining establishments, but the best meal I've ever had outside of my mom's kitchen was at Restaurant Botin in Madrid. The roasted lamb was simple and delicious. The atmosphere was intimate and cozy. Also it was great eating at a place where one of my favorite authors used to work and loved so much.

The best lunch experience I ever had was at the Ritz Carlton in Madrid also right next the Prado. The food wasn't all that memorable, but the cocktail was excellent and the atmosphere was terrific; perfect weather, beautiful people, and an awesome hawk/falcon watching out for pigeons.
 

voxsartoria

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Originally Posted by poorsod

Best 5 hour lunch because I had nothing else better to do in Yountville The French Laundry. Is there anything else in Yountville?


Bistro Jeanty has pretty damn good coq au vin.

Lunch was a wise choice at the French Laundry...even though the menus and service is the same, the whole atmosphere is less ponderous during the day somehow.

- B
 

globetrotter

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Originally Posted by Bouji
Given your experience of restaurants in India, what's your view of Bukhara in New Delhi? (If you have been)

wow, didn't see this question - I like Bukhara, I like Kybber better, but I like Bukhara a lot
 

poorsod

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Originally Posted by voxsartoria
Bistro Jeanty has pretty damn good coq au vin.

Lunch was a wise choice at the French Laundry...even though the menus and service is the same, the whole atmosphere is less ponderous during the day somehow.

- B


Well lunch was the only choice b/c my friend and I called 3 days in a row, speed dialing starting 10 AM PST, and I was only able to get a lunch reservation on the 3rd day. But the experience during the day was fantastic b/c of the great weather and character of the surrounding area. Hit rush hour traffic on the way back though.
cloud.gif
 

ghulkhan

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Best dinner experience: Met up with a few friends on a random Wednesday sometime a few months ago. No one had any clue where to go. We were walking around some how ended up at Cru. Really great service and good food. I think unexpectedly going to a really nice restaurant probably added to the experience.


Best brunch/ breakfast: Clinton St. Baking Company. I have been to a lot of other places for brunch but this one just seems to have better food at the end of the day. The service is only good if you get this one particular waitress there.
 

vinouspleasure

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best is of course tough, here are some meals that come to mind: * Best overall dinner experience: Ten years ago (or so), on the way out of the Union Square Cafe we saw a sign-up sheet for wine dinners. We signed up, got a call that they were full for the first one but they called us back the day before the dinner to say there were some cancellations. Seating was family style, the chef and owner talked us through the food and wine. Perhaps because it was the first such event, they aimed to wow and exceeded everyone's expectations. The wine from their cellar was fabulous and the food was the best Italian I've had outside of rome. A memorable night. * Best lunch experience: CarrÃ
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des Feuillants, Paris....I'll go with this pick too. * Best New York overall dinner experience: We had an equally memorable meal at Le Grenouille. Fresh flowers everywhere, the tables are fairly close together and we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us. We had both ordered champagne so we decided to compare, the couple on the other side of us wanted in and before you knew it we had 4 tables sharing champagne and then appetizers. The waiters absorbed some of the bonhommie flowing about the room, lost a little attitude, started smiling and brought us all some things to try. We shared desserts...a fun night. * Best New York food: In my spare time I setup a retail wine website for a large NY retailer. my wife runs the site and the owner of the shop took us to his friend's restaurant for a holiday dinner. The restaurant, now defunct, specialized in regional french cuisine and the owner/chef cooked a seven course truffle dinner for us and sat with us when he wasn't cooking. The wine shop owner brought some great, great wine...a wonderful meal. Its not haute cuisine, but Little Pepper in Flushing for szechuan is tremendous... * Best BBQ: I'm a KCBS certified BBQ judge and spend 4-5 weekends a year judging bbq. The best BBQ meal I've had was at Luling City market in Luling Texas.
 

gdl203

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Originally Posted by vinouspleasure
Best BBQ: I'm a KCBS certified BBQ judge and spend 4-5 weekends a year judging bbq. The best BBQ meal I've had was at Luling City market in Luling Texas.
Always great to get expert opinions... what are your favorite bbq places in Manhattan? I have a soft spot for RUB.
 

Piobaire

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Interesting to see this thread pop up again, over a year later; I'd forgotten all about it. This year has given me two new personal entries:

Best Overall Dining Experience of my Life: The Guy Savoy, Las Vegas. I hope to eat at the original in the next couple of years.

Most Elegant Breakfast: Bouchon, Las Vegas.

I know there is much Vegas hate/disparagement here, but I had some nice experiences there.
 

sweisman

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Most Memorable---Cafe Atlantico in d.c.--Perfect execution of Duck Confit!

Best in NYC---Blue Hill--Dan Barber takes fresh ingredients to a new level.

Most interesting Vegetarian--Dirt Candy in the East Village--Have to try it to believe it.
 

kwilkinson

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Originally Posted by Piobaire
Best Overall Dining Experience of my Life: The Guy Savoy, Las Vegas. I hope to eat at the original in the next couple of years.

If you go to Paris, how long would it be for?

Would you have time to eat at Robuchon's? Pierre Gagnaire? Ducasse?
Regardless, I'm jealous. The only time I was able to spend in Paris was at their beautiful airport on a two hour layover. I hope to make it back someday soon.
 

Piobaire

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Originally Posted by kwilkinson
If you go to Paris, how long would it be for?

Would you have time to eat at Robuchon's? Pierre Gagnaire? Ducasse?
Regardless, I'm jealous. The only time I was able to spend in Paris was at their beautiful airport on a two hour layover. I hope to make it back someday soon.


I plan to spend a month in France and the UK, in the next few years.
 

vinouspleasure

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Originally Posted by gdl203
Always great to get expert opinions... what are your favorite bbq places in Manhattan? I have a soft spot for RUB.
Conventional wisdom is that there is no good bbq north of NC and health regulations make it tough to create real bbq in nyc. A combination of low expectations and a busy schedule have kept me from trying blue smoke, rub and hill country but it turns out I'm meeting a fellow bbq judge this week to give Rub a try. I like the sweet tea with mint (spent a lot of teenage summers in the south) at daisy may's and the beef ribs were delicious but I was unimpressed with the other stuff at DM's including the big pig gig. IMO the best bbq in ny comes in the form of the annual Big Apple BBQ. For me the must have bbq there is from Mike Mills, Ed Mitchell (whole-hog BBQ), and Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson's. I travel a bit for work, here in no particular order are my favorites: - Sweatmans, outside of charleston, sc - Wilburs, goldboro nc - lexington # 1, lexington, nc (45 mins from charlotte) - Smittys, Lockhart, tx (20 miles from austin) - Kruetz, Lockhart, tx (20 miles from austin) - Blacks, Lockhart, tx (20 miles from austin) - buzz and neds, richmond va (easy on/off from i95) - luling city market, luling tx
 

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