They had good enough beer and the burgers and everything else I had there – pretty great. It’s well south of the strip though. I think it was like a 30 min drive from the hotel. I recommend Bachi all the time, but beware the trek.
Any Houston recommendations? Going to be in midtown in June.
Restauarateur John Besh has 6 restaurants in New Orleans: Restaurant August, Domenica, Luke, Borgne, Besh Steakhouse and American Sector. Outside wine with no corkage is allowed at all of them. Incredibly generous on Chef Besh’s part!
Houston has been going through a bit of a restaurant renaissance of late. Here are my top places:
Oxheart - Has been getting national attention for vegetable-driven tasting menus. In my opinion, the best restaurant in Houston and among the more interesting newish restaurants in the USA. Book early. Small but very well-curated wine list.
Underbelly - Another relatively new place that has gotten national attention. A menu of small plates that is influenced by Houston’s many ethnic communities (e.g., Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, etc.). Fun, raucous atmosphere with an excellent and well-priced wine list.
Uchi - Superlative sushi.
Kata Robata - Great sushi but not as great as Uchi. Broader Japanese menu.
Pass & Provisions - Excellent and interesting pizza, pasta, and mains in the casual side of the restaurant (Provisions), and a multi-course tasting menu that vies with the city’s best in the dressy side (The Pass).
Tony’s - An old-guard restaurant populated by an older crowd, but the food is excellent and has been re-energized by a young chef.
Hugo’s - Authentic Mexican (think mole, not fajitas) in an upscale setting
Reef - Since you’re in midtown, Reef could make sense (as it’s the only one of these in midtown). Very fresh gulf seafood in a great atmosphere, although I’ve found the service to be at times mediocre or bizarre.
Ryan,
Thanks for the list. Love mole and that type of Mexican so will be sure to try Hugo’s and also get to some of the others.
Cheers
Any suggestions for seafood in Philadelphia? I will be staying at the Union League on Sansom, between Broad and 15th streets. TIA!
Had a great meal this past week at Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine in Lodi, NY, about 20 minutes from Watkins Glen on the east side of Seneca Lake. My wife and I had the five course tasting menu paired with NY wines and the food was terrific. Ranged from soup to salad to day boat scallop to hanger steak, to cheesecake. All were delicious. The wines that matched each course were okay with the best being the opening sparkling wine, a Swedish Hill Blanc de Blanc. All in all it was a great meal on a rainy Thursday in the Finger Lakes.
Cheers,
Curt
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Just a few of my suggestions:
San Fransisco: Gotta be Scomas for sea food, with a very nice wine list.
Las Vegas: Really enjoyeed Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris. Pricey, but an awesone meat and starches affair.
St. Louis: Mezza Luna. Mostly Tapas, but done high end. Alot of fun
Omaha: 801 Chop house, prime steak.; Grey Plume for pretentious eaters (although yummy none-the-less)
Baltimore area: Gotta be G&M for crab cakes the size of your head.
I kinda like this thread…
Best meal(s) of the year including several Michelin 2&3 stars was at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island. We flew out from NYC with very high expections and our expectation were surpassed. It was so good we went back for a 2nd night.
Truly unique experience.
Winelist is not great but they have a reasonable corkage policy.
Quiessence located at Southern & 32nd Street 6106 S. 32nd Street Phoenix, AZ is one of the best places I know of in Phoenix. The smoked pork shoulder cappelletti in particular was fantastic and is something I’d recommend to anyone!!
Republique in LA is the new hot spot. Walter Manske is a very talented chef. Excellent french focused wine list.
Flying into LAX on Wednesday AM. 805am arrival from an international flight…Staying in Westwood area (as of now) but need a good breakfast destination…I’m thinking of doing Mozza for lunch…but no official decision made yet. Any help would be grateful…TIA.
Michael,
For breakfast in West LA, I’d consider Clementine (century city area), Farmshop at the Brentwood Country Mart, any Urth Cafe, or Nate n Al in Beverly Hills for greasier food. The Brentwood Country Mart also has the added bonus of a decent coffee spot called Cafe Luxxe, I believe.
Not geographically close but an amazing breakfast spot in Silver Lake is Sqirl:
Best LA breakfast on the west side is Huckleberry Café in Santa Monica. Great place. I have not been to Squirl but its my friend Craig’s place and he’s a really good chef.
I just went to Asheville, NC for the weekend, had 2 fabulous tapas meals:
We were here with a group of 4 and ate around 20 dishes - every single dish was at least very good, and a few were fantastic. There was a pork belly dish that we had to do seconds on, it was awesome.
As much as I loved Zambra…Curate blew it…and us…out of the water. At least a dozen people told us to go here, and it was one of the better food experiences of my life. Owners/chefs were trained at elBulli in Spain, and the flavors were out of this world. I already want to go back.
Grreater Los Angeles area: Leila’s Restaurant in Oak Park CA. My favorite restaurant of all time made the top ten list from Fox Sports, see link.
Santa Barbara: Would have to echo the comments of an earlier post in that you cannot get much better that the Stone House at the San Ysidro Ranch. Excellent menu and great staff in a setting that is more like a visit to a private ranch than a resort. JFK and Jackie honeymooned here. Tip, have an after dinner drink in the library off the main lobby and enjoy home made cookies by the fire place.
Omaha: 801 Chop house. I actually had trouble finding a good steak in Omaha until I landed here. A very nice old school steak house.
Las Vegas:
Milos - Cosmopolitan Hotel
Raos - Caesars
Guy Savoy - Caesars
Joel Robuchon - MGM Grand. L’Atelier, his restaurant in London is also outstanding.
NYC:
Honestly there’s too many too list, however I will say the bone in Veal Chop at Babbo’s was the best I’ve ever had. Service was impeccable. They also served up the best Manhattan cocktail I’ve ever put in my mouth. They used a local bourbon from Brooklyn and marinated the Black Cherry’s in brandy. Unreal. Everything was stellar. Daniel’s is also at the top of my list. Like I said, too many to list… NYC is a foodies paradise!
Orange County has a few good ones:
The Playground, which everyone seems to love. The place is made for culinary adventuring. No corkage fee, so bring all your bottles. Personally, I think their food is too salty, but you can tell tone it down.
Marche Moderne, ran by Chef Florent Marneau. They have a nice $25 prix fixe available for weekday lunches. $15 corkage fee. They have great pork and salads.
ARC Restaurant has fantastic food that comes with unique preparation (they cook food on a cast iron skillet in a wood burning oven), but it comes at a steep price tag. Go with a few people and share dishes. If you go here for a date, prepare to drop unreasonable amounts of cash. I heard it’s free corkage per couple, but I’m not sure what the normal rate is.
As for steakhouses, go to Fleming’s and The Ranch. Or if you prefer, Mastro’s.
Ways and Means in Orange. Fairly new and pretty good.
Update: lost chef, last two data points sucked, and I won’t return.