Where do you eat in London for fish-and-chips made only from nonthreatened species from small-scale farmers, or for a meal where 85% of the ingredients are sourced from within the limits of the London Tube system? Check out Portfolio.com's report on London's environmentally-conscious restaurants.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 14, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Along with the shrinking value of the dollar come shrinking plates of food, as restaurateurs learn how to sneak smaller portions under your nose. A consultant at one food wholesaler has his customers doing the following:
- Using smaller plates (so reduced portions look the same size as before)
- Using lighter-weight utensils (so food feels heavier on a fork)
- Cooking shrimp skewered (so it doesn't curl and therefore appears larger)
While nobody wants to see his buck bang less, portions at many restaurants are already so large that this may be a blessing in disguise for people trying to lose weight. Besides, isn't one age-old dieting tip to use smaller plates so that, psychologically, you feel you're getting more? [via Lara R.]
Word Of Mouth asks, "What's your best worst restaurant name ever?" Thaitanic? Butt Savories? Chickpizz? The possibilities are endless. And mildly disturbing.
Posted by Erin Zimmer, December 21, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Washingtonian’s annual “100 Best Restaurants” issue just hit newsstands, with Santa-resembling Michel Richard (how festive) on the front cover. Juggling a lemon, no less. His modern French culinary gem Citronelle inside Georgetown's Latham Hotel took first, a repeat from last year, when the magazine first started issuing formal rankings. Before that, Citronelle consistently won four shiny stars on the four-star scale.
It’s been a big year for the big man, who opened Citronelle’s baby brother, the jeans-approved brasserie Central off Pennsylvania Avenue. Central didn’t make the magazine’s competitive cut, but their fries ($7 an order) sure wow-ed the magazine earlier, and their burgers won a "best in the city" nod from the Post. That might change given recent competition, which we'll have a full bite-by-bite analysis on soon.
Washingtonian chose the “Mosaic" as Citronelle's stand-out dish, a stained glass-looking plate of “razor-thin" slices of raw beef and fish that might as well be in a Christian basilica’s window. If Richard hasn't seen himself on the cover, we’ll assume he already knows how on-fiyah he is. And what he looks like. Central’s dining room’s décor includes a huge modern artsy close-up of his cheek-pinchable face.
Posted by Harold Check, May 25, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Do you find yourself continually stumped on what restaurant to try? Add a special occasion and the pressure only goes up. There's nothing like a little personalized concierge service from someone who knows the local restaurant scene backwards and forwards. If you're in San Francisco, Marcia "Rhymes with Garcia" Gagliardi is offering diners a pretty sweet deal through her well-read Tablehopper newsletter. Previously a "friends-only" service, Tip Please offers Gagliardi's expertise for the measly cost of an email. If you ask me, that's a bargain for even a whiff of the kind of inside dope that Gagliardi collects as one of San Francisco's most energetic restaurant reviewers. You fill out a short web form, which asks all the salient facts (time frame, occasion, vibe, budget), wait a day or two, and get some sage wisdom. The only catch is that you report back on your dinner after the fact. Sounds like a win-win to me. You either get to confirm Marcia's magic touch or save the next hungry soul from a restaurant that doesn't live up to its reputation.
Posted by Ed Levine, March 22, 2007 at 2:21 PM
Recently Jason Kottke had a terrific post on Kottke.org about Ssam Bar. He loved the place, as has just about every person I know who's gone there, but what was interesting was his take on why he liked it so much: "And ok, a word or two about the food. Is it even Asian? It's more like food that tastes fantastic and you can eat with chopsticks. I would describe it as truly international food, drawing upon many influences without being obvious about it. And who cares anyway...Chang could put Swedish food on the menu and make it work. I have no real evidence or experience to back this up, but the approach to food at Ssäm seems like a new one to me, a new type of cuisine, an approach that values the tastiness and the end result over regional influence and style. We'll see how that prediction works out."
Okay, Chang, Kottke's throwing down the Swedish food gauntlet. He wants to see lutefisk on the menu the next time he eats at Ssam Bar. In fact, I'm eating there tonight. I'll report back tomorrow.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 5, 2007 at 4:40 PM
New York Magazine's just released their Best Of listings for 2007 and as always the eating & drinking section is interesting reading. Some shoo-ins, some surprises, making it this a good but not earth-shatteringly great list of places to revist or try for the first time. Our Adam Kuban's already written about their 2001 burger picks over an A Hamburger Today, but I'm more interested in personally verifying their best places for Sunday Brunch.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 5, 2007 at 9:57 AM
Do men get better service than women at restaurants? asks Cynthia Kilian of the New York Post. Tim Zagat of the eponymous guidebooks says yes: "Women arriving together very often get shown to less-desirable seats. Men always seem to be offered the bill, regardless of who's paying, even the female boss. And when it comes to tasting wine, "very often they'll give it to almost every man at the table before they get around to [the woman] ordering the wine," Zagat says." Is the poor service because women tend to tip less than men do? Or do women tip less because they don't get treated as well? All I know is, shoddy service means I'll never go back—and I'll tell all my friends to stay away.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 28, 2007 at 8:27 AM
Laura Shapiro on gender and molecular gastronomy in the New York Times, Kitchen Chemistry Is Chic, but Is It a Woman’s Place?:
Maybe all the machines and chemicals are contributing to a revolution other than the one about frozen air and warm gelatin. “Restaurant kitchens were organized like military brigades, because that was the only way to turn out such a volume of work and make all the fast decisions that were necessary,” said Mr. Goldfarb of Room 4 Dessert. “Now it’s more like the modern military, using technology as opposed to brute strength.”
But many women dreaming of a restaurant career still may not see the appeal of a laboratory kitchen. Ms. Yung and Ms. Sanchez have been struck by how few women are in high-end restaurant kitchens of any sort. “We’re always wondering where the girls are,” Ms. Yung said.
If you've read recent articles about women in technology, this article pretty much runs through the same old tropes as those do, just set in kitchens instead of boardrooms.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 27, 2007 at 12:34 PM
Novel Noshing: When Dining Rooms Upstage Menus by Fodor's Katie Hamlin discusses six different restaurant concepts from around the world. Most of them are old hat (kitchen tables and conveyor belt sushi, especially) but I'd love to eat at the Fukuoka branch of the Zauo, The Fishing Boat Café chain, a restaurant that has "500 seats on two giant boats "anchored" side by side in the restaurant's massive indoor pond. After casting your pole (there is one stationed by each seat) and making your catch, your fish or lobster is wisked away to the kitchen for proper cooking." (There's also a Belgian restaurant that lifts your dining table 50 meters in the air, but I'm not really one for heights.)
