Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Delphine: An Exercise in Bad Service
Date: 4-25-10
Dining Companion: Angie R.
First, they were out of their Sunday night special, Cassoulet. That's the whole reason I picked the place. I should have known then.
My second choice was the roasted lobster. Out of that. And the grilled fish of the day. That was gone too.
So, I went with my third choice, the braised short ribs. Angie ordered a salad nicoise and we ordered a goat cheese patatou as a starter to share. Patatou is olives and potatoes cooked and then baked with the goat cheese on top.
About twenty minutes later we were visited by our waitress who said, "the gas is out." Apparently all hot food was on hold for twenty minutes. I decided to cancel the patatou since it was cooked and we ordered scallop ceviche instead to tide us over until the hot food came. Apparently ceviche is individually served. By that I mean that we didn't get a dish of ceviche, but we were supposed to each get an individual scallop in the shell. Why did I say "supposed to"? Because suddenly a manager appeared with a plate of shrimp and seafood salad. They were out of scallops. The shrimp/seafood salad was pretty good but one of the shrimp had not been properly deveined.
By this time, I was getting pretty hungry. Too bad no one brought us bread until we asked. Once we got it, the bread was okay. The butter was not great.
Angie had ordered a diet coke so I ordered a coke with grenadine. Nope. No coke. Pepsi. Diet coke, and Pepsi. Oooohhkay. It finally came, after I had to remind the waitress. Without grenadine. So instead of taking it back and getting it right she brought me a shot glass of grenadine.
Well more than twenty minutes elapsed. No hot food. We received an apology and a hint that we should start ordering some more cold food. We ventured into a broccolini/eggplant/pepper/ratatouille type dish and the mixed olives. The olives ($6) were a mix of three types of olives with pearl onions, capers, cornichons, and spices and were pretty good. The dish was cracked in multiple places which I find odd considering the restaurant has only been open three months. The vegetable plate was a mixed bag. Angie liked them all except the peppers. I thought the peppers were okay once you added a bit of salt. The eggplant was tasty and the ratatouille was pretty good. I didn't like the broccolini (it was a bit too spicy) but Angie really liked it.
Then we waited....no hot food. Of course no one came to tell us, we had to stop the waitress again to ask. So, we acquiesced and got a steak tartare (for me only, Angie is a vegetarian) and a cheese plate. The steak tartare was eh. It was more of a ground beef than chopped beef and it was too spicy. The only way I could eat it was when I combined it with some cheese from the cheese plate. The salad on the side was underdressed. The cheese plate was sloppily thrown together but the three cheese were good. I thought the accompaniments were a bit odd- dates, walnuts, raisin bread, and a dried pineapple ring.
Thankfully the manager did the right thing and comped the whole meal.
The restaurant is supposed to be French brasserie with Mediterranean, Spanish, and Italian influences. The decor is half brasserie and half upscale Martha's Vineyard boathouse chic. Very odd. It was too fancy for the brasserie tea towel style napkins but yet not fancy enough to seat us at a booth without a stained banquette. The periwinkle blue banquette cloth seat had a huge brown stain on it. Also, some people were seated in wicker. I find wicker an odd choice because it tends to be very uncomfortable and can crack and break easily.
The most bothersome thing was that the menu notes that a 15% gratuity will be added to each receipt. For any size party. Frankly, that's insulting, and it explains why the service was so slow. What incentive do they have to excel?
Valet for $7 but there is also a metro stop right there.
Delphine is very convenient if you have theater tickets for The Pantages across the street but frankly, I wouldn't even bother. There are plenty of other fish restaurants in the sea.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Meal Deal- Lawry's
Through the end of October Lawry's is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of their Chicago restaurant.
Mention the $35 Anniversary Dinner to your server.
MENU
Lawry's Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad
Special 8oz cut of Lawry’s Prime Ribs of Beef
Served with mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, or
Fresh Atlantic Salmon
Served with seasonal vegetables
Petit English Trifle or
C.C. Brown's Small Sundae
Served with freshly brewed coffee or tea
Lawry's takes reservations on Open Table.
Providence
Date:
Dining Companion: Courtney P.
I've wanted to go to Providence for a while but one bad review from a friend kept me away these long years. Finally, watching head chef Michael Cimarusti on Top Chef: Masters renewed my interest and we set out for dinner.
What a lovely meal. First off, the decor is lovely. Considering that it is a seafood heavy menu you might expect some cheesy nautical theme, but there was none. The decor was beautiful, tasteful, and had some semblance of being related to the ocean in a subtle way.
The service was excellent. Some restaurants sneer at people sharing dishes which I find ridiculous. How else can you try that many things on the menu??? Not only did they not sneer, they split the dishes for us and made them look artistic and beautiful on their own. That was amazing.
We started off the meal with a selection of amuse bouches. Is there a plural for amuse bouche? :) It contained a variety of interesting little nibbles from the chef. I liked all of them.
We shared the King Crab appetizer and the "chowda" for appetizers. The King Crab with fresh peas and crispy soba was phenomenal. Light, fresh, and very tasty. The "chowda" was a bit heavier. It was a rich creamy broth with clams and potato floating around in it.
The halibut entree included one of my "must-order" items- a zucchini flower!! Fried to perfection. Not overly breaded just light and crispy! Halibut can be a bit dry if not cooked right. This was so moist! It was a beautiful perfect clean white and was moist and delicious to eat. The layers flaked off exactly as they should and the sauce and vegetables were a welcome accompaniment.
One dish I wish we would have tried- salt roasted spot prawns. The woman next to us got them and they looked delicious. They are prepared tableside and taken out of the shell so that they are easily eaten. Yum. I asked the woman about the dish and she said she gets it all the time.
For dessert we split an interesting dish that had ice cream made out of a Parisian pastry blended up- a canele. It was amazing.
The menu is seasonal and they focus on using what is fresh so the menu will vary from time to time but everything we had was amazing so I would expect that to carry over from season to season.
Michael Cimarusti didn't win Top Chef. Who cares? He got a Michelin rating!!!
www.providencela.com
5955 Melrose Avenue
Cooking Event- Williams Sonoma
Here's the October schedule
http://edm.williams-sonoma.com/ws/2009/noimage/octcalendar09-2-US.html?bnrid=3101527&cm_ven=E3&cm_cat=EDM&cm_pla=090527_Demo&cm_ite=cta_cal&cm_em=ashleyattorney@aol.com
Magnolia Bakery (NY)
What is a trip to NY without a visit to Magnolia Bakery?
Even though the LA Magnolia outpost should be open soon, I couldn't resist the chance to sneak one of their treats this week. So I went on my first day in NY. And I may go again.
I was surprised to find that there were two other locations in addition to the Bleecker Street location I was familiar with. Apparently, there is one 4 blocks from where I am staying. Danger! Danger!
Last night, we stopped off at the Columbus Street location. I had a chocolate cupcake with their sugary seafoam green icing. Crys had the miniature chocolate pudding pie- soooo cute! I finished my cupcake and glass of milk in record time in their cute shabby-chic style dining area.
The store also sells the Magnolia Bakery cookbook which I have never made anything out of but my friend Esther made me the cupcakes once for my birthday and dare I say that they were just as good as the actual bakery. I highly recommend the bakery...and the cookbook!!!
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