World's 50 best restaruants listed. Which ones have you been to?

[NoSoup4U]

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EL D it is you who is out in left this time. French Laundry is on a 6 month+ wait year round, I'm from that area.

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FL has always officially only accepted reservations 2 months in advance.

You would have to call 2 months to the day to get a reservation. Robin Williams could get a table tonight. Perhaps El D is in the middle. You just need to know someone who works there. The concierge at a better hotel in Sonoma, like the Fairmont, can also make things happen for you.

For regular folk, there is a reasonably well-known trick with OpenTable that will find cancellations and bypass the phone queue. Google is your friend.

[microbet]

I'm shocked that I've been to one. Chez Panisse.

[El Diablo]

Degen,

"EL D it is you who is out in left this time. French Laundry is on a 6 month+ wait year round, I'm from that area."

Why did you feel compelled to write about something that you have absolutely no f'in clue about, Degen?

NoSoup is absolutely correct. Add certain restaurant and winery people to the list of people who can get some special treatment.

[*TT*]

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Falang,

Diablo: "have plans for two more in the next couple of months, French Laundry..."

Falang: "you aint getting into FL in that time if you don't have reservations you made a couple of months ago"

This shows that you have absolutely no clue wtf you are talking about. Thanks for playing, though.

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EL D it is you who is out in left this time. French Laundry is on a 6 month+ wait year round, I'm from that area.

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I got a same day rezo with a phone call from someone at a winery while I visited there. It can be done, don't believe the marketing hype. We hear the same thing about Per Se (Keller's place here)in NYC, but they actually accept walk ins in the space is available.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[bulldog999]

Where the [censored] is Chilis?

[Phaedrus]

Dumb question:

Why are these restaurants so inexpensive? (e.g. French Laundry is $125-150/person for a full multi-course meal)

Why does a world-class meal only cost ~3x an average meal? (e.g. appy, salad, entree and dessert at Olive Garden is about $40)

World-class cars cost ~20x an average car. World-class homes homes cost ~100x an average house.

Shouldn't the best restaurants in the world cost $1000+/person???

[dalston]

[ QUOTE ]
Dumb question:

Why are these restaurants so inexpensive? (e.g. French Laundry is $125-150/person for a full multi-course meal)

Why does a world-class meal only cost ~3x an average meal? (e.g. appy, salad, entree and dessert at Olive Garden is about $40)

World-class cars cost ~20x an average car. World-class homes homes cost ~100x an average house.

Shouldn't the best restaurants in the world cost $1000+/person???

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Your info is a bit out of date. FL now runs $175 per person for the tasting menu (plus mandatory 19% service charge, so no stiffing them on the tip).

I think there is a limit to the profit margin people will charge on food and wine. Except possibly for 'gimmick' meals involving lots of truffles, good caviar and other super-luxury ingredients you can't spend enough on ingredients, rent and service to justify a four-figure food tab.

The most painless way to get a table at French Laundry if you don't mind what time you eat is to log on the opentable.com at 12.01am exactly 2 months before you want to go. They have two tables each day that are less known about - and those that do often don't know what time they are realised. If you don't like the opentable.com times, then the best bet is to speed-dial on multiple phones from 10am 2 months to the day before you want to go. We got a table for six doing this last year (took 20 minutes to get through phoning on 4 phones).

El D et al may laugh at this way of getting a reservation, but it works if you have no contacts there.

[El Diablo]

dalston,

Not only would I not laugh at that, that's what I'll do this soon for this summer when I have occassion to go. Only if I need a specific day/time for some occassion will I try to make some calls and call in a favor or two (or if I get terribly unlucky w/ OT, but this method has worked out fine for many people I've talked to). The only things I laugh at are people making comments about 6+ month waiting lists and such crap when you can use the Internet or phone to get in two months away, and all sorts of methods to try and get a table sooner.