I like, but didn’t love, State Bird Provisions.
I actually did the four course family with three other guys. Tacked on one extra appetizer (they have a separate menu with a bunch of add ons). Not including the appetizer it actually came down to about seven courses and I was pretty full. I hear the five course gives you nine dishes.
The coddled egg was epic good and there was a family sized pear tart for dessert that blew away any other tart I’ve had at a restaurant. What’s really weird is everything about it is a fine dining restaurant except for the room itself. When’s the last LA hotspot to open where the waiters wore ties, white dress shirts and black slacks? Waters are refilled promptly. Dishes and silverware replaced with each course. Service as good as at Providence and the like. But you’re right, the furniture is ultra casual. But I think it’s worth trying.
The corkage policyis awful and so is the wine list. There are no cocktails and only three beers and four sakes. If you don’t want to over pay for a pretty odd wine list, you’re stuck with those options. I did hear the somm extolling the virtues of some oxidative Italian white to an older group next to us. I snickered to myself.
That sounded promising so I just checked their wine list. Really nice selection of slightly off the beaten track wines and good prices. I’ll have to check it out if I ever make it to LA again.
Jay you’re such a hipster 
LOL! You’re just too young to remember when Burgundy was geeky…
Don’t go with me. I have a way of telling these hipster somms that oxidative whites blow and then getting looked down upon the entire night.
I actually don’t think their list is horrible. At least they have a reasonble number of wines on it, and if one knows one can find a handful of decent buys. I do think it has an odd mix of stuff and have a feeling that it did not come from wines readily available through distribution. But there’s a reason some of the current programs don’t move a lot of wine, which I assume would be their main priority. Especially if they don’t have a ton of beers and have no cocktails. Then they see a higher than expected number of people bringing their own and have to make a more restrictive corkage policy. Ceteno has not been corkage unfriendly in past establishments. I seem to remember bringing plenty of wine to Opus.
Charlie, rant against the chairs/tables aside, I definitely want to go. The food looks similar to Degustation in New York, which I really like.
How did the “family style” menu work? Did it seem as though the items were not skewed toward lesser dishes? Do they just prepare an amount for the table according to how many people you are? Did you feel like you got enough of each dish for everyone and then a second try for those that loved the dish? I’m a sharer anyway, so the concept is appealing. Btw, the last meal we had at Factory Kitchen with the Gelbs was actually one of my top ten of the year.
For the family style I guess it just depends how much each person scoops initially. I just kinda portioned it out for four prior to us digging in and it worked out well. I would assume the portion size is based on the party size.
Landhaus Bacher (with Webber) was far and above my best. Looking back, it had stiff competition: Marea, Next - The Hunt, Steirereck, Elizabeth in Chicago, several Boulud restaurants, several Momofuku restaurants, both uchi’s, underbelly in Houston, and some amazing meals at tei tei and tei an in Dallas. I hope 2014 is half as generous.
La Grenouille in NYC for best overall food/service/ambiance/wine service. Very close second was Per Se in their Salon, though I was dining alone and a la carte, so perhaps not a fair comparison. But those are 2 standouts.
To the guy who just had a new baby: I remember those days, and my oldest is going to graduate university in June and the youngest will graduate high school. I credit those times to leading us to drink more wine and more anything, as you need something to relax and be an adult after a day of caring for an infant. They used to tell us that those times go by quickly, and I didn’t believe it, but now I do.
We had a wonderful meal at Kaito sushi in Encinitas, CA. I don’t know what the world would be like without sushi. I just advised some people who said they hadn’t seen their kids who live locally recently. All you need to do is invite them all out for sushi. Sushi soothes the savage beast. Yes, I drop $50 to take the kid out, but it is cheaper than a therapist, and at least I get to enjoy it too.
In rough order:
Meadowood (Napa)
Roscioli (Rome)
Lung King Heen (Hong Kong)
La Pergola (Rome)
Grace (Chicago)
Good to hear about Grace. We couldn’t get in this summer but really enjoyed Duffy at Avenues. He is doing a guest-chef dinner here in L.A. at Strand House next month. Love Roscioli too, and can thank this board for that recco.
Best Meals of 2013:
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The Catbird Seat, Nashville - I was here twice, and the second was definitively my best meal of the year, in which I was served one of the finest dishes of my life (and obvious dish of the year), the White Truffle over Rye Bread and Tonka Bean Porridge. In 2012, it was one of my three favorite meals. This year it is an unquestionable #1.
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Restaurant Au Pied De Cochon, Montreal - I love this place, but have consistently thought Joe Beef was the better restaurant. This year, PDC completely shined - the Apple & Foie Gras Tarte is divine, tomato tartlet is mandatory eating, the lamb gnocchi was wonderful (and made at the table), and the pork kidneys with ratatouille were sublime. It is way more than just over-the-top goodness!
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Per Se, NYC - I probably liked this better than my long ago meal at the French Laundry. The closest to a stand-out dish was the Grilled Beef Calotte. But there was a consistency of great execution that was quite admirable, in each dish.
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Bouley Restaurant, NYC. To me, more proficient than inspired, but still exceptional. Reminiscent of Corton. I’d originally had this lower on my list, but after revisiting my notes bumped it up a couple of spaces.
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Canlis, Seattle - Great meal (also full of consistent dishes) at this timeless classic. One of the most beautiful restaurant settings you could ever hope for. Nice dinner - must be about as formal as it gets in Seattle.
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City House, Nashville - I eat here so often that it is hard to note one meal, but I had dishes here (especially the Tri Tip steak) that seemed as good as anything I had all year. The pork heart is amazing, when on the menu.
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Scarpetta, NYC and Del Posto, NYC (tie) - two very different representations of modern Italian in the city. Both stellar. The San Remo at Scarpetta was my favorite restaurant cocktail of the year.
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Joe Beef, Montreal. The best restaurant in Montreal - if not all of Canada. This meal I went all in, ordering the Foie Gras Double Down, for instance - so it wasn’t subtle. Still, top notch.
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Betony, NYC. If not for a bad service lapse at the end of the meal, this could be higher up my list. But the food was Bouley caliber. The short rib is a great dish, but I liked the gnocchi even better. I’ll go back, with the highest expectations.
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Husk Restaurant, Nashville. Fabulous dinner - I look forward to a return. I hate to judge based on one, all to brief meal, but it was awfully good and very precise preparations, that reminded me of Per Se. Another place that I will have the highest expectations on my return.
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Prune, NYC. So simple and so good.
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Juni, NYC. Along with Betony, one of the terrific openings in the city in 2013. Unlike Betony, there were no service lapses. But the dessert was dreadful (smoked mascarpone did it for me) - so how do I compare with a place where I skipped dessert because of service issues? Well, if my immediate favor went to Juni, I have forgiven Betony for their lapse.
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elements, Princeton. It’s that good. Always worth the trip.
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T.J. Buckley’s, Brattleboro. In a freaking dining car? Amazing food in the most unlikely of settings. There is a little bit of sameness, but we only eat there once every year or two, so I don’t mind that.
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Crush, Seattle. Wonderful dinner. Nice alternative to Canlis, too.
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Momofuku Ssam Bar, NYC. Go to lunch in the city.
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The Whelk, Westport. I’ve lived here 18 years, and there has never been a better restaurant in Fairfield County.
Favorite Bars in 2014:
- Patterson House, Nashville.
- Flatiron Lounge, NYC.
- Tavern Law, Seattle.
- Bohemian, NYC.
- Monkey Bar, NYC
- Lobby Bar at the Bowery Hotel, NYC.
- 116 Crown, New Haven.
Phil - what in particular did you like about Meadowood? It is a gorgeous location and dining room, for sure, but I would be interested to know the other notes this hit on.
Meadowood was the best vegetable-focused cuisine I’ve had outside of Arpege. Great ingredients and preparations that let them showcase themselves while maintaining interest. Potatoes cooked in beeswax may well have been the single best dish I had last year. Service was great… just hit on lots of levels.
Takazawa-Tokyo
fermentAsian-Tanunda
Goust-Paris
Septime-Paris
Monday Table-Organised by Paul Hanna with Scott Pickett behind the stoves.
Off the top of my head;
August-New Orleans
Wildebeest-Vancouver B.C
Factory Kitchen-Los Angeles
Early winner in 2014;
Rotisserie duck lunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar- New York
Cheers! 
Marshall
The Whelk? Really.? I guess I have to give it another go. I went there right after they opened and was underwhelmed to say the least. Maybe my expectations were to high. I thought Le Farm, albeit different kind of food, was the much better overall restaurant.(Same owner right?)
Back on topic, for me the Duck at Momofuko NYC was my meal of the year.
I had basically the same impression (though in fairness we moved back to NYC 18 months ago so haven’t been to either in a while. While I love Bill Taibe’s cooking, I’ve always found it a bit “cheap” in that it relies on a massive overload of salt and fat, and I always need to undo my shoelaces and drink a gallon of water by the end of the meal. The menu at the Whelk seemed to me to be “fish with bacon on top” x20. Perhaps that’s changed?
In no particular order:
Craft, Los Angeles
Ma Cuisine, Beaune
Castel Tres Girard, Morey Saint Denis
La Grillade Gourmande, Epernay
Delmonico’s, Vegas
Il Pastaio, Beverly Hills
Le Parc Les Crayeres, Reims