High-end Dining: Expectations and Reviews

[PITTM]

in response to sucker's post. there is a restaurant in santa cruz called shadowbrook that is generally considered to be the best fine dining place in the county. i have went a few times, and their food is pretty good, but not amazing. However, the service was just way too snotty. I mean its nice that you put my napkin in my lap and say "excuse my reach" everytime you pour water for the person next to me, but to just constantly be hovering around and doing the whole overbearing service thing was just weak. I havent been back since high school.

[J.A.Sucker]

octopi,

I love being adventurous at restaurants. After all, I don't like eating at restaurants what I could make at home. Ironically, I think it's very difficult to get truly out of the ordinary food at these types of places. Take spicy food, for example. Most high-end restaurants are fairly pedestrian in terms of how they spice the food. This kind of makes sense because they would hate to burn off some Kennedy's sinuses, but I like spicy food. Many dishes are supposed to be SPICY. They often aren't. That sucks.

I just find that most destination restaurants don't do it for me. I guess I'm hard to please. And yes, I've been to many "great" restaurants.

The fact that most people would ever tolerate ANY kind of snobby service at an expensive restaurant is pretty pathetic in itself and symptomatic of a larger dining societal problem. HOW COULD YOU TOLERATE THIS TO EXIST? If the dude at Jiffy Lube treated you half as bad as some of these waitstaffs, you'd have a stroke, yet we just write off these experiences at fancy restaurants as unfortunate. THEY ARE SELLING THE EXPERIENCE. That's weak-sauce.

I think I'm pretty much done with it.

[El Diablo]

FFK,

Wow, GREAT review, sounds outstanding. A couple of comments.

"Foie Gras Terrine ... Sadly I discovered I hate foie gras and consider to be comparable to spam"

Don't give up yet. Next time you're at a nice restaurant that has a simple seared foie gras, give it a try. At Gary Danko it's "Seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Red Onions and Fuji Apples." It'll often be served like that accompanied by something a little sweet. This is far more delicious and completely different than a terrine preparation. Give it a try, those geese and ducks work very hard to make the foie gras that tasty for you!

"I would give anything to be able to recreate the almond milk."

Noted. I'm getting to work on my almond milk technique.

"The dessert wine was very sweet and almost seem syrupy if that is possible."

Yeah, that is definitely possible. Dessert wines can range from something that tastes like a slightly sweeter regular wine all the way to very intensely sweet and syrupy.

[Pudge714]

Firstyearclay,
I've been to Berns is is an awesome dining experience and one of the few steaks I would consider top tier.

I think Berns is one of the best dining experiences I have ever had. Although I ordered steak tartar and learned the hard way that I just don't enjoy it. My steak was very good, but I still have had two better H60 as mentioned and LG's in Palm Springs.

Also FFK I would try Foie Gras again it is one of my favorite foods.

[MrMon]

[ QUOTE ]
octopi,

I love being adventurous at restaurants. After all, I don't like eating at restaurants what I could make at home. Ironically, I think it's very difficult to get truly out of the ordinary food at these types of places. Take spicy food, for example. Most high-end restaurants are fairly pedestrian in terms of how they spice the food. This kind of makes sense because they would hate to burn off some Kennedy's sinuses, but I like spicy food. Many dishes are supposed to be SPICY. They often aren't. That sucks.

I just find that most destination restaurants don't do it for me. I guess I'm hard to please. And yes, I've been to many "great" restaurants.

The fact that most people would ever tolerate ANY kind of snobby service at an expensive restaurant is pretty pathetic in itself and symptomatic of a larger dining societal problem. HOW COULD YOU TOLERATE THIS TO EXIST? If the dude at Jiffy Lube treated you half as bad as some of these waitstaffs, you'd have a stroke, yet we just write off these experiences at fancy restaurants as unfortunate. THEY ARE SELLING THE EXPERIENCE. That's weak-sauce.

I think I'm pretty much done with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you've been to many "great" restaurants and continue to find them "snobby", then I think the problem may be you, not them. Of all the top restaurants I've ever been to, I've only found one "snobby" - La Toque in Rutherford (Napa), California. Those people had an attitude and I didn't appreciate it. Every place else has made me feel very comfortable and that's what they're supposed to do. Of course, if you go in with a chip on your shoulder, they may respond in kind.

However, this sort of place might be more your speed, should you ever be in Boston, especially on the right night. You want spicy, they got spicy.

East Coast Grill

From their website:
[ QUOTE ]
On the eve of this unprecedented 3-night over-the-top fiery food challenge between
the East Coast Grill and our heat seeking public, I think it's important to remember the
exact nature of our original dispute.

...I've always liked spicy food and, in the early days of the East Coast Grill (circa 1986), we had gained a little reputation for serving some spicy dishes, which was a little unusual outside a Thai or Mexican restaurant. Unsuspectingly, I was baited into a culinary dare by a small, sick sect of the dining public whose taunts of "that really wasn't that hot" finally got the better of me and my formal training. I could not control the burning desire to silence at least a few. The resulting creation was the now infamous Pasta From Hell, fueled primarily by the original Inner Beauty Hot Sauce. Customers dropped like sweaty, panting, weak little flies. The kitchen howled at their tormentor's agony. But when the smoke cleared there were a few left standing, a crazed, goofy, half smile on their faces and a faraway look in their eyes, and, as I looked out from behind the grill, I would get an almost imperceptable, knowing nod. Their fix had been had and, lost in that chile stupor, they acknowledged the contest was a draw. But, like a gunfighter in the Old West, I knew this was only the beginning. They would return, they would bring their friends to face the true test.

Word spread until there was an actual demand for a night when only wicked hot food was served. The brave and the super freaks came in droves to feed their strange and weird addiction. The first Hell Night was born. More came and we created the Hell Doubleheader and today, for the fourth time in world history, you are participating in not 1, not 2, but 3 straight nights of pure atomic cuisine -- the only Hell Tripleheader known to humankind. Chefs Eric and Jason do battle today with recipes handed down by chefs before them. The legends of past fire eaters are whispered to new staff. So here we are in continuation of the eternal struggle. New dishes are designed, new chile mixes created, gas masks distributed. The kitchen is ready..are you?

We won't stop until you do.

Good luck,
Chris



[/ QUOTE ]

They are famous for Hell Night. Next time that occurs is Feb 26-28.

[Melchiades]

Some thing about good service is that the waiter quickly notice what kind of service you want.

When I'm out with friends of mine that rarely eat at high-end places, the waiter should notice this. And that means mastering the art of giving us great service and reccomend stuff without making the people that visit such a place for the first time feel like idiots. Don't make my mate feel like an idiot because he doesn't want red wine even if it is the obvious choice with that particular course. It's surprising hom many high-end places that fails at this.

This isn't a problem when you're dining with a bunch of likeminded food lovers obviously.

[MagicNinja]

Gary Danko-..
FYI danny and I lived a block from Gary Danko and walked past it pretty much every day to get to a small sushi shop in San Francisco... It looks like some kind of nightclub, all the windows are totally blacked out and there is a 'bouncer' outside the door. After a month or two we asked him what the place actually was (we had only just started our aristocratic eating habits), and he said it was a restaurant. We said we'd probably drop in soon then, but he said there's usually a 2-3 month list of reservations usually.

[DpR]

[ QUOTE ]
El D,

What have you heard/experienced wrt Manresa in Los Gatos, also Chez Panisse in Berkeley. I will be going to both of these places fairly soon and would like to hear from someone who has been. Both are consistently top 25 in the world from what i hear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pitt,

I have been to Manresa about 5 times, and absolutely love it. Well worth the trup. Very small and cosy with really great service.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't make my mate feel like an idiot because he doesn't want red wine even if it is the obvious choice with that particular course. It's surprising hom many high-end places that fails at this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most companies and most people fail at this in every business. 90% of all sales people forgets that if the customer would know everything about the available products and solutions there wouldn't be any need for sales people at all. Just by understanding what you write above you can make success in almost any kind of business. It is a bit of a derail maybe but it shows how important it is. I go to visit a customer, I can't identify him but was a large company by Norwegian standard, I inherited this customer from a sales person who had quited to start working for a competitor. So on our first meeting he says after 5 minutes: "How good you got rid of that guy. I ordered a system and when it was installed it did not work as I wanted. He told me I should have known that. I should know? Wtf should I know? What was he supposed to know then? I wouldn't have bought anything at all from you anymore if he would still work for you and I will never buy anything from them." It is the same with high end-restaurants, if you would know as much about food and wine and cooking as they do, you would probably eat at home instead, so they should be happy the bigger the gap between them and you in competence is and thus treat the guy who knows nothing about wine at all the best of their guests, since it is towards him they add most value.

[Claunchy]

Diablo,

Totally agree about the non-stuffiness. It was the most relaxed and comfortable I've ever felt in a fine-dining restaurant.

I actually do remember thinking the restrooms were a little sub-par now that you mention it, but I had had enough drinks by then that it didn't really faze me.

Also forgot to mention dessert. The creme brulee was really good. Had a butterscotch taste to it that was really unique, and it went well with a 10 year port.