Tag: restaurant

review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

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review: candles and cranes… (yusho)

– When Matthias Merges, who left Charlie Trotter’s last year after a decade and a half as its executive chef, opened Yusho in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood (just north of Logan Square), I wasn’t surprised to see his peers flood social media outlets with congratulatory cheer. The enthusiasm for his new restaurant was unanimous, the compliments […]

Continue

review: baby back… (pappy’s bbq)

~ There aren’t many on my list of musts.  But, this past weekend, Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis earned a line on it. Gerard Craft, chef-owner of niche (and the attendant Taste and Brasserie), had commended Mike Emerson’s barbecue too many times to be ignored. So, to the smokehouse we went for lunch. We arrived […]

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review: baby back… (pappy’s bbq)

~ There aren’t many on my list of musts.  But, this past weekend, Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis earned a line on it. Gerard Craft, chef-owner of niche (and the attendant Taste and Brasserie), had commended Mike Emerson’s barbecue too many times to be ignored. So, to the smokehouse we went for lunch. We arrived […]

Continue

review: damn the torpedoes…

Abalone Aqua, San Francisco This review is moot.  You’ll see why in a second. To the best of my ability, a timeline: 1991: Aqua opened at 252 California Street in San Francisco with George Morrone as the executive chef. 1993: Michael Mina took the reins in the kitchen as executive chef.  He also assumed ownership […]

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review: damn the torpedoes…

Abalone Aqua, San Francisco This review is moot.  You’ll see why in a second. To the best of my ability, a timeline: 1991: Aqua opened at 252 California Street in San Francisco with George Morrone as the executive chef. 1993: Michael Mina took the reins in the kitchen as executive chef.  He also assumed ownership […]

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review: maugre expectations…

1st Course: Maine Peekytoe Crab Salad Daniel, New York I was young, both figuratively and literally, the first time I ate at Daniel. That was five years ago. My friend and I were treated like the dishwasher’s stepchildren. I exaggerate, of course. But Daniel was clearly a place for fancy pants that I’ll never get […]

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review: maugre expectations…

1st Course: Maine Peekytoe Crab Salad Daniel, New York I was young, both figuratively and literally, the first time I ate at Daniel. That was five years ago. My friend and I were treated like the dishwasher’s stepchildren. I exaggerate, of course. But Daniel was clearly a place for fancy pants that I’ll never get […]

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review: disney on the saône…

Soupe aux Truffes Noirs “V.G.E.” Paul Bocuse, Pont de Collonges, France Swap the mouse ears for a toque, trade the turreted castle for an auberge, and convert the Potemkin “Main Street U.S.A.” into yards of colorful murals of chefs and tablescapes and you have Disney on the Saône. Monsieur Paul Bocuse, the longest-reigning 3-star Michelin […]

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review: disney on the saône…

Soupe aux Truffes Noirs “V.G.E.” Paul Bocuse, Pont de Collonges, France Swap the mouse ears for a toque, trade the turreted castle for an auberge, and convert the Potemkin “Main Street U.S.A.” into yards of colorful murals of chefs and tablescapes and you have Disney on the Saône. Monsieur Paul Bocuse, the longest-reigning 3-star Michelin […]

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review: a different side of flavor…

Corton New York, New York Every year around this time, my postman has the honor of announcing Food + Wine’s Best New Chefs. Yes, little pleasures, tiny treasures. And so it was, yesterday, after a lengthy and long-overdue date with my running shoes, I returned to my corner of the world to find the latest […]

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review: a different side of flavor…

Corton New York, New York Every year around this time, my postman has the honor of announcing Food + Wine’s Best New Chefs. Yes, little pleasures, tiny treasures. And so it was, yesterday, after a lengthy and long-overdue date with my running shoes, I returned to my corner of the world to find the latest […]

Continue

review: a frosty blossom..

Cheese Gougeres Hibiscus (London, U.K.) Given the extraordinary amount of positive press and praise lavished on Claude Bosi and his restaurant, Hibiscus, I maintained surprisingly healthy expectations. I steered a wide berth around the chatter about whether Bosi would regain his second Michelin star, which was lost in the restaurant’s moved from Ludlow to an […]

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review: a frosty blossom..

Cheese Gougeres Hibiscus (London, U.K.) Given the extraordinary amount of positive press and praise lavished on Claude Bosi and his restaurant, Hibiscus, I maintained surprisingly healthy expectations. I steered a wide berth around the chatter about whether Bosi would regain his second Michelin star, which was lost in the restaurant’s moved from Ludlow to an […]

Continue

review: that sugar bomb…

Ring Ring Le Bec Fin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Four years ago, I couldn’t hear my food the music was so loud. Stiff, stilted, out-dated, and aloof, the food and service on my first visit to Georges Perrier’s vaunted Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia had me vowing never to return. But I’m a firm believer in second, […]

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review: that sugar bomb…

Ring Ring Le Bec Fin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Four years ago, I couldn’t hear my food the music was so loud. Stiff, stilted, out-dated, and aloof, the food and service on my first visit to Georges Perrier’s vaunted Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia had me vowing never to return. But I’m a firm believer in second, […]

Continue