High-end Dining: Expectations and Reviews

[ElSapo]

I think this is probably a really important topic, because it speaks to so much of what is a restaurant dining experience. Whenever I read a restaurant review, I do a little (and obvious) comparison -- the tone of the review versus the final rating. I read the Washington Post because that's where I live, and often you'll see reviews that are pretty damn positive - and yet the restaurant gets maybe 1-star or 1.5-stars, or something.

At first, that seems off. The food was great, the service was great, and they get 1 star? And then you start to think about what the restaurant is, beyond the food. The kind of experience they aspire to give, what they actually give, and so on. Aspirations and intentions become really important.

If that was off topic, I didn't mean it to be. I think considering what a restaurant is trying to do, and what you want, is vital.

Personally, I love doing pre-fixe/tasting menus. This is the distinction for me when I go to a new place - me ordering a la carte is nice, but the chef saying "this is what I can do" is what can often make the meal a memorable ocassion. I hate paying $75/head for a boring but decent meal; I don't mind paying $200 if I'm going to be amazed.

Most of all, I want restaurants to push both what I know and what they can do.

[Banks2334]

One of my favorite chef/authors is Anthony Bourdain. In his book A Cook's Tour, he does a good job describing what an experience at Thomas Keller's French Laundry is like. Keller gives some insight into what he is trying to accomplish and that is to create a memory. A memory that when the person goes somewhere else, they will say "This remeinds me of the French Laundry". Bourdain goes on to write-

Memory-that's a powerful tool in any chef's kit. Used skillfully, it can be devastatingly effective. I don't know of any other chef who can pull it off so successfully. When you're eating a four-star meal in one of the worlds best restaurants, and tiny, almost subliminal suggestions keep drawing you back to the grilled cheese mom used to make you on rainy days, your first trip to Baskin Robbins, or the first brasserie meal you had in France, you can't help- even the most cynical of us- but be charmed and lulled into a state of blissful submission. It's good enough when a dish somehow reminds you of a cherished moment, a fondly remembered taste from years past. When those expectations and preconceptions are then routinely exceeded, you find yourself happily surprised.

[guids]

your first trip to Baskin Robbins





thats a great line.

[ElSapo]

I thought I'd compare two recent experiences from Washingtno, D.C., which sometimes gets overlooked as a city with great restaurants.

My girlfriend and I ate at Citronelle, the Michel Richard restaurant in Georgetown. There are four restaurants in the D.C. area generally thought to be a true four-star experience, and this is one of them.

The food seems to step above "food" and walks easily into the realm of art. We did a three-course tasting menu that was about $90 per person (before wine) and the restaurant also offers a $160 per person menu for secen courses.

The dishes ranged from something done in a more "traditional" style, but fantastically -- duck two ways, for instance, cooked perfectly but with a relatively simple plating. Or a dish they call the "surf 'n turf moasaic" which used thin slices of carpaccio (eel, beef, pepper, tuna, beet and so on... ) to turn the plate into a stained glass window. The most stunning plate I've ever been served, and I was amazed to find out later the dish originated as a way to use scrap.

Service was flawless except for a misstep at the end — we ordered a coffee that went to the wrong table.

The wine list ranges from about $60 to $5,000, but it's weighted around the $100-range and seems to have a lot of good value on the lower end. They have a "coffee list" which struck me as a really nice touch — the downside, was that at the time it listed only one coffee.

All total the bill ran somewhere over $400 after drinks and tip and more drinks and tax and so on. Frankly, I felt a little out of my element here and wasn't 100 percent comfortable but I think that's mostly because the place has so much hype surrounding it. It was an amazing experience - Richard seems to be a very playful chef who is known for making one thing that looks like something else: using, say, mozarella and yellow tomato to make what looks like a hard boiled egg. Touches like this elevate the meal.

On the flip side...

Shortly after we ate at Citronelle, my girlfriend and I ate at Obelisk -- a really small place near Dupont Circle. Chef Peter Pastan offers a five-course meal for $65; his food is considered "Italian New American," whatever that means.

Obelisk is a great contrast to Citronelle's formality - tiny room, smaller cost, less flare. Pastan seems to do as little as possible with his ingredients, but what he does is amazing.

The meal starts with an Italian anti pasti that goes six dishes: light cow's milk cheese, lightly topped with olive oil. A kind of meat, "like bologna, but better," the waitress told me, and it was delicious and light. A bean salad with crab meat, some sort of croquette, and so on...

Second course is a pasta course with three choices; the pasta is all made in-house.

Third is a "main" course that usually involves meat: I opted for the grilled pork that had been brined with salt, sugar and star anise - this was amazing. The taste had a sort of shape and texture to it, and by the next weekend I was trying to brine my own chops in anise.

Fourth is a cheese and fig course - three cheeses, sweet fig jam. Desert was a couple of choices including strawberries over vanilla ice cream with balsamic vinegar. I'd never had this before, but it was amazing.

Total bill ran $235, and it just seemed like such a great experience and value - especially when compared with Citronelle.

Pastan is not Richard, and doesn't claim to be. So much of what he does, he does by doing so little. But the food was really fantastic, the restaurant understated and the service was excellent (the servers in both places knew the menu perfectly).

On the one hand, I don't think you can compare the two places. They have completely different aspirations and deliver very different experiences. Citronelle met expectations, for sure; but Obelisk crushed my expectations, and now I can't wait to go back.

Some restaurants, I think you go to be wowed — the chef is offering a performance as much as a meal. I think that's the direction high-end dining has gone in the last few years. The New York Times had a great column by Frank Bruni on this recently... bruni's column

...I agree with some of it, but don't have the same perspective. It's a very NYC-based column, for sure.

Just some thoughts...

[govman6767]

Review,

Before I left for Iraq me and the girl decided to make reservations for the newly renovated restaraunt on top of the Space Needle..... (Picture top of the world type rest.)

Final dinner tab was 300 with tip.

App. I had the Kobe Beef Strips (Outstanding beyond all belief) 20 bucks (Small portions)

My girl had the Crab cakes 25 bucks.... Bigger portion. I did not taste but my girl said it was the best she had ever had.

Dinner.

My girl had Lobster fettuchini type meal and it was great 50 bucks or so.

I had the 8 oz Filet Migenon with a potato WRAPPED in a bacon strip. I can say with no ego it was the best steak I ever had.

They say the new chef they hired for the grand reopening is one of the top 75 in the world.

The waiters were the best I've ever had water never got to 3/4ths of a glass.

The View is awsome (not as good as vegas view) but still great.

The only problem I had was the menu was WAYYYYYYY TOO SMALL if they did not have the steak I would have not had anything to eat. (I'm not a big seafood fan) Though my girl was in heaven.

Also the light at our table was a bit too bright and tables not made for FAT PPL [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Other than that I would say this was one of my best dining experiences ever.

The wait staff said since they just reopened they will have growing pains.... (Tables and lights etc) but they even gave you a survey to fill out on the cook and staff.

Reservations were required but you get a free ride to top of space needle.

Top notch.... Top Notch

[hyde]

I spent 20 years in the restaurant industry. I am one picky bastard. I am personally drawn to country atmosphere. I have not enjoyed my New York 'fine' dining experiences.

The White Barn Inn in Kennebunk Maine. The finest atmosphere ever. The barn must be 150 years old. Beautiful and unusual antiques adorn the lofts. Lots of wood everywhere. The tables are well placed for privacy, the lighting perfect. Too many places either require a lantern to read the menu or sunglasses. The owner pays attention to detail like no other restaurant I have been to.
The owner instructs his staff that the customer experience is theater. Perfect awareness of customer status, while absolutely non-intrusive. The pacing is perfect, always. The simultaneous service is a nice touch. As with all first class dining, you leave feeling satisfied, not full.

The Jackson House in Woodstock Vermont. The finest meal ever. I chose the 13 course chefs' something or other. ($105).
The dining room manager explained each course as it came to the table. He had to. There were some strange things I was sure I was not going to like.....unusual combinations that just didn't sound right( I wish I could recall details, but it was a couple years ago). Every dish was incredible, the blending of ingredients not usually associated were just plain great. Again, the portions were such that we left satisfied, not full.

The Longhorn Steak House, everywhere. They have a fried cheesecake with ice cream, whipped cream, strawberries...JHC what a tasty artery clogger.

[MrMon]

Without reviewing a specific restaurant, I'll get to that later, I look at high-end restaurants in a similar way to Zagat, but for the really-high end, there's a slight twist.

In order to receive a high score, a restaurant must succeed in three areas, Food, Service, and Atmosphere. Of these, by far the most important is Food. Without Food, you can't succeed, and nothing you do in the other two will ever make up for substandard Food. But good Food with substandard Service or Atmosphere can still work, just not a top score.

What I expect from Food is something that works, but also something I can't do myself. As good as they can be, a steakhouse is never going to make it to the top of my list, simply because they can't exceed what I can do on my own to a high enough degree that I can justify paying top dollar prices. I want originality, or fantastic technique of classics, something that says the chef knows what he's doing, that he understands not only food, but his audience as well. Wine should match the food, and not just by spending top dollar, but by really digging through the wine cellar for something that matches what the chef is trying to accomplish. There's also the value factor, I should not just be eating money, I've got to feel like I'm getting my money's worth, not ripped off.

Service and Atmosphere are tricky, and are generally only negatives, but if the food is right, they will add to a meal substantially. Great food, but annoying Service will definitely dip my rating of a place, and something annoying about the Atmosphere, like too much noise, loud music, tables too close together, etc. will as well. Of the two, I think Service is much more important for a couple of reasons. Good service can save a meal, either by preventing you from making a mistake, like with wine, or enhancing it, by getting you what you want or providing a wine you never would have thought of on your own. Most aspects of service you shouldn't have to ask for, it simply happens, but they should be prepared if you ask to provide most reasonable requests. And for the absolute best service, they should be practically invisible. Things should happen like magic, you don't even know they happened, they just did.

Now, many restaurants can pull off one of these things, they can make one part of the meal spectacularly well. A local watering hole can have a spectacular hamburger or drink or dessert that you love, but it's never going be high end. That's okay, not everything has to be high end, and finding a place that can do something well is a great experience. A truly spectacular restaurant must do ALL three things well, and they must do them like a symphony orchestra. Everything must work together, not in opposition, that's the twist. The courses must flow together, not jar from one taste to another, the wines must match, the serving must be well timed, courses must be paced, reasonable requests must not throw them for a loop. It's not an easy thing to pull off, and it takes so many people, many invisible, that it's not surprising that it can be so expensive. If you figure what a top restaurant is making on you per hour you're there gross, not profit, and divide by the staff that it takes to make that happen, it's actually a bargain compared to other forms of entertainment.

There's one final factor that the restaurant can't control, a sort of X factor, and you sort of have to discount it. The best meals often have something happen at them that just make them memorable, make them special, that all depend on you. And it doesn't have to happen in the best places, and usually won't. Perhaps a restaurant is a new discovery, you just happened to stumble onto it with no or low expectations. Or someone says something memorable or you try a dish you'd never tried before, or you're celebrating something special. It's the unexpected factor that just burns a place into your brain in a positive way that can never be repeated that will make the most memorable meals. No restaurant can control that, but some do their best to make it happen.

[El Diablo]

Dr: You can get reservations for the Dining Room with relatively little notice if you are willing to eat early (5:30 or 6) or late (9pm or later).

cit: Wow, that sounds amazing.

All: Hopefully someone has been here: http://www.elbulli.com/ to give us a personal perspective. Tons of reviews and articles about it online, though. Here's one: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/arch...t_el_bulli.php

[Pudge714]

firstyearclay,
n9ne is very good. However if you think it's food is a 10 you have not been to a 10 restaurant. I went this summer and it was good, however the steak was clearly a second tier steak. By saying second tier it isn't in my pantheon of steaks it sounds like an insult, but I am a steak snob.

Also from my very limited dining experience in Vegas.
Picasso > n9ne > Prime

Speaking of steak, tonight I'm going to Harbour 60 in Toronto which is in my opinion the best steak I have ever had. It is an incredible restuarant, great food, great value and great service.

Here is the menu note there is sound so turn it off before you open it http://www.harboursixty.com/ I have been about half a dozen times and have probably seen almost everything on their dinner menu, except some of the fish and non-steaks. I also don't eat shellfish because I'm kosher, but I hear good things. The problem with the lamb, veal, etc. is that the steak is so good I can never talk myself out of ordering it.

Also El Diablo mentioned Nobu earlier. During the PCA I went twice during the week is was very good, although again since I don't eat shellfish my dining experience was definitely not optimal.

Speaking of service at the PCA I went out to dinner a couple times with a group of like 20 2p2ers. We went to one restuarant which was good, but not particularly high scale, while there the manager refused to let us all sit together because it was restaurant policy that groups of X would need to be split up. The restaurant was fairly empty and we were in a side room all by ourselves and they refused to let us sit together despite us talking to the manager being very accommodating etc. etc.

Later in the week we went to a more upscale place in the resort. All the servers were very friendly and accommodating and nice even though half of us had been drinking since that afternoon. By the time the meal was over the restaurant was empty and the waiters didn't act snobby or dickish because he were playing credit card roulette and acting like idiots they remained just as courteous.

It seems that a good litmus test for service is how they treat younger people. I have heard lots of stories of servers acting like complete dicks to kids my age at high class restaurants, at good restaurants they won't care unless we are disrupting other individuals.

Note: This post is kind of rambly and disoriented so if some of the stuff might not make sense.

[citanul]

alinea, Chicago, 2006
Tasting Menu: $135, Tour Menu: $195
Paired wine with the tour ~$175, chance to upgrade a couple glasses, extra ~$25

First off I'd like to just say that there's no chance my review is going to compare to any of the gillion other reviews that are out there and googlable. It will share my experience though as best I can.

The first surprise we got from alinea was that it was inconspicuous enough from the outside that our cabby had to loop around the block because he missed it the first time. Located basically in a yuppy shopping neighborhood, the reworked townhouse sort of feel doesn't really shock from the street.
street view image

That changes the second you walk in the door though. All doubts that maybe you're in the wrong place are quickly gone. The space is definitely more contrived than Trotter's, but also much sexier, and though it lacks the museum showpieces of Tru, it doesn't suffer from it.

entryway image

After ditching our coats we were led to our heavy (I think) mahogany table with large comfortable chairs. No tablecloths.

We each had a great glass of champagne (we were celebrating, after-all), and when we were comfortably started on that glass, the waiter came back to talk to us about the menu. Since the seating times for the two menus are different by a lot they prefer if you tell them which you'll prefer ahead of time, but it's not like they'll kick you out for changing your mind. We went ahead with the 24 course Tour Menu, got the paired wine, and splurged a tiny little bit extra to upgrade the wines. This meant getting 3 or 4 of the glasses changed out for truly rare things that otherwise we might never taste, so it was an obvious choice. (Not that the other wine selections were common or anything.) In total wine service was 13 pours beyond our original champagne.

I don't know if I can do a plate by plate review, so I'll hit some highlights and then maybe a lowlight or something:

Hot Potato
hot potato image
Was the opener and one of the big stars of the meal. Served with cold potato, trufle, parmesan, and a rose champagne, it set the perfect tone. Many of the dishes are served on plates or utensils created specifically for the restaurant or that dish. The meal mixed well between flavor combinations that are obvious, well liked, and classic, done well - like this dish, and plates that featured either or both new and interesting flavor combinations and ingredients you rarely see used.

Another star for me was the Pear
pear image
Served with celery leaf & branch, and curry. This dish is actually a sphere of pear juice, wrapped in an incredibly thin layer of cocoa butter, rolled in a coating of curry. Eaten as a shot, when it hits your tongue, the whole thing shatters and give you a great "wow." Asking the waiter how this was done/if I could do it at home was a lot of fun.

Several other plates really were impressive both in taste and in presentation:

Bass, with vanilla and artichoke, served on a plate rested on top of a pillow filled with orange scented air, so it deflates and pushes orange scent was inventive and really tasty.

Granola with saffron, served in a rosewater envelope (I didn't know that rosewater could be made solid, let alone in to an envelope) was I felt a bit out of place because well, though tasty and cool (served hanging from a wire) I was almost looking forward to the bacon hanging on a wire i'd heard about, and well, it's granola in the middle of dinner?

Other sort of misses but sort of nots for me included:

Skate with caper lemon and brown butter powders. I just though it was too much powders. Very tasty, again, pretty interesting that you can make these things powders, but it was also pretty easy to not get the amount of powder you wanted with your bite of skate.

Asparagus with egg yolk drops. Made by dropping individual drops of egg yolk into I think just water, and cooking incredibly briefly, the drops were interesting but a little weird and rubbery at the same time. Not a favorite. I think that it's reasonable to have 2 or so out of 24 courses that you're personally not a fan of though, and since the skate still tasted good, and the egg drops were less bad than "that's just weird" I wasn't too sad.

To those thinking maybe the meal was a bit froofy, other courses unpictured and undiagnosed included:

Bison, Lobster, Kobe Beef, Foie Gras. All of which were truly excellent, and inventive (like the Foie Gras served with hibiscus, licorice, and blueberry soda). Sadly the Foie Gras is gone at the moment due to idiotic city-wide bans.

For more pictures and more review, (since I've been using this guy's pics already anyway) this guy, over at a foodie messageboard went at a time when they were serving many of the same dishes I enjoyed, and took a bunch of pictures. alinea's website also has a gallery of some of their work and the interior of the restaurant.

The service was amazing, our waiter was only working with one table in the room we were sitting in, and was assisted by 2 guys who carried plates in to the room, a guy who made sure you always have the right utensils, the sommelier- who was absolutely amazing and came to introduce each new glass of wine we were given and ask about our impressions of previous glasses, and appeared to be able to do this with every table in the restaurant, as well as a couple of other miscellanious helpers. They were never intrusive, always there when we wanted them, and obviously did the little things like having your coat ready when you wanted it, having a cab ready when you step out the door, etc.

The restaurant's decor was brilliant, and the only regret I had the whole evening is that even though there was plenty of space between tables, we could hear the couple at the next table: "Oh no, I don't eat eggplant, asparagus, beef, fish, granola, yogurt, green vegetables, meats, etc, so just make me an entirely different menu." Yeah, that guy got his money's worth with his trophy wife...

Total tab for 2 was somewhere between $1100 and $1200. Dinner can be done far, far less expensively though.