Official Foodie Thread

[danniexi]

Originally Posted by RR-NYC

Having been to all the Michelin star restaurants in NYC, I would say that Daniel is proof of the politics. He is a wildly successful and well regarded chef and restauranteur. All his restaurants provide excellent dining experiences so its probably fitting that his flagship be ranked higher than his others but as a three star, the quality of the food was so far below the other three star restaurants in NYC that it ended up being a huge disappointment.

I'd have to agree with the whole "politics" issue. I don't know if I'd consider Daniel as a "disappointment," but I agree the food/service/experience wasn't as exceptional as the other three-star restaurants on the list.
I haven't been to all of them, but by far my favorite would have to be Jean Georges and especially Eleven Madison.

You don't go to Eleven Madison for dinner. You go there for an experience. From the moment I walked into the door to the moment I stepped outside, I was absolutely blown away by the food, service, and atmosphere. Per Se is definitely on my bucket list.

[i dunno]

Originally Posted by RR-NYC

Taste is very subjective which is why I rarely discuss the "best" restaurants. I know a lot of people that just don't get certain restaurants. For the general population of people that dine out, the Zagat guide provides a much better rating system across three categories and even sub categories.

In my opinion, the Michelin guide is still the most reliable guide to follow especially for diners but I will add that the US versions are more inconsistent than in Europe. To have a Michelin star is a huge accomplishment and to have three is exceptional. The original restaurant guides were based solely on food and have evolved to include "the quality of products, the mastering of flavors, mastering of cooking, personality of the cuisine, value for the money and the consistency of what the restaurant offers to its customers both throughout the menu and the year". This very much includes service. So if you don't care about service, the three stars become indistinguishable from one or two.

To answer your question: I have not been to The French Laundry but have been to La Folie. I thought it was excellent but I wouldn't put it anywhere near Per Se in NYC (I use Per Se since it's another Thomas Keller restaurant). In fact, while at Per Se, I had an interesting conversation with our server about this very topic.

There is a wide variance of food and service at the one star level. I think there is a clear line that distinguishes a one star to two.The two stars are a lot more refined as far as food and service. There are several two stars that make me wonder why they haven't received their third star. My guess is the consistency with a little bit of politics involved. At the three star level, with one exception, I couldn't say which one was better because they are all exceptional in their own way.

Having been to all the Michelin star restaurants in NYC, I would say that Daniel is proof of the politics. He is a wildly successful and well regarded chef and restauranteur. All his restaurants provide excellent dining experiences so its probably fitting that his flagship be ranked higher than his others but as a three star, the quality of the food was so far below the other three star restaurants in NYC that it ended up being a huge disappointment.

i understand that acquiring a star is extremely rigorous, but I definitely agree that its a very political process. sometimes i think benu has 2 stars simply because the chef is corey lee. i was pretty disappointed with some of the sloppy execution. anyway, taste is very subjective, and that's why i think too much weight is put on the michelin ratings. theyre not bad guides, but i understand that my palate most likely differs from the raters so i might not have the same opinions as they do. I think most people follow the guide too rigorously and let it decide what tastes good for them instead of exploring their own individual palates and really discovering what they truly enjoy, but its equally great if your palate matches well with the ratings.

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by i dunno

I think most people follow the guide too rigorously and let it decide what tastes good for them instead of exploring their own individual palates and really discovering what they truly enjoy, but its equally great if your palate matches well with the ratings.

I actually disagree 100%.

The whole point of restaurant guides is to weed through the riff raff. It isn't designed to tell you what food you should like, rather to help you find the food that you do like. If you like French food and there is a three star French restaurant, you will get a great french meal. However, if you're going to a Michelin star restaurant because it's a Michelin star restaurant but you only like beans and rice, you will be disappointed. It's not Michelin's fault some people don't have taste.

The Michelin guide originally was to help people nagivate through unfamiliar towns while traveling. The internet has changed that model a lot but I would trust Michelin way before Yelp or TripAdvisor, thats for sure.

[NemesisX]

I envy you NY and CA guys. You have a wealth of michelin star restaurants available. Austin Texas has exactly 0 Michelin starred restaurants. Hell, Texas for that matter has 0 Michelin star restaurants.

We do have some restaurant chefs who have a michelin star pedigree. For example, the executive chef at a restaurant close by my house was a former executive sous chef at one of Jose Andre's 1 michelin star restaurants in CA. Beyond that, we have maybe 3 or 4 restaurants that I would deem "1 Michelin star quality."

That's why every time I take a trip to New York or Las Vegas or California I get my fill of Michelin star restaurants (not because they're Michelin starred but because there's a high degree of correlation between Michelin stars and quality food, as RR-NYC mentioned).

In fact, I'm probably the only person I know who goes to Vegas for the restaurants over the gambling. On any given trip I'll return home having spent roughly $5000-$10,000. Maybe 1% of that constitutes gambling losses Another 10% constitutes hotel costs. Another 3-5% for taxi costs. The bulk of that is for restaurants

I do realize that there's sort of an unwritten "rule" among the Michelin committee that one has to be a fine dining restaurant that liberally employs classical French technique to be considered for the Michelin guide, but I think that's slowly changing (think Sukiyabashi Jiro, a sushi restaurant in Tokyo which received 3 michelin stars in 2009).

[i dunno]

Originally Posted by RR-NYC

I actually disagree 100%.

The whole point of restaurant guides is to weed through the riff raff. It isn't designed to tell you what food you should like, rather to help you find the food that you do like. If you like French food and there is a three star French restaurant, you will get a great french meal. However, if you're going to a Michelin star restaurant because it's a Michelin star restaurant but you only like beans and rice, you will be disappointed. It's not Michelin's fault some people don't have taste.

The Michelin guide originally was to help people nagivate through unfamiliar towns while traveling. The internet has changed that model a lot but I would trust Michelin way before Yelp or TripAdvisor, thats for sure.

so just because someone doesn't like french cuisine means they dont have taste? michelin tends to have a pretty narrow view of what it likes, and i believe that someone who only likes rice and beans can have a good palate. if they can articulate why they love it and the nuances of great rice and beans, then i would say that person has good tastes but different from mine. the michelin guide is generally good, but there are times when my opinions clash with it especially when it comes to asian food.

[kingofthedemo]

Black Bean Burgers:

This is the best recipe, I made this the other day and these are really healthy, and delicious! I wrapped these in green leaf lettuce, and topped with dill pickles, purple onion, tomato, and homemade guacamole. The only thing that I changed about this recipe, was that I added a diced jalapeno, and some ground chipolte pepper, extra garlic, and half the salt. This is so good!


2 tbsp (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp (1 mL) each: ground cumin, coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper

14-oz (398-mL) can black beans, drained, rinsed

1/2 cup (125 mL) cooked brown rice (hot or cold)

1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped cilantro leaves


Optional toppings:

Avocado slices

Tomato slices

Purple Onion

Green leaf lettuce (wraps)



Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium. Add onion, garlic and cumin. Cook, stirring, 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add beans and rice. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Mash with potato masher until just combined.

When cool enough to handle, divide into 4 portions. Pat into 4 patties, each about 4-inch (10-cm) wide. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to cook.

(I skipped this step->) To cook, dust patties on each side with flour.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet on medium-high. Add patties. Cook until browned and warmed through, about 90 seconds per side, reducing heat to medium if needed..

[upstatedoc]

This thread is becoming too snobby. More pics of in-and-out burger please, we don't have one around here.

One of my buddies raves about the "Garbage Plate" at Nick Tahou's in Rochester. I've never been:

[Litos]

got the crockpot going...food should be ready at 4:30ish...

St Louis Pork Spare Ribs

[justinnum1]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

This thread is becoming too snobby. More pics of in-and-out burger please, we don't have one around here.

One of my buddies raves about the "Garbage Plate" at Nick Tahou's in Rochester. I've never been:

I think i saw that on one of the food netwrok shows, either man vs food or diners, drive ins and dives.

looked good

[kingofthedemo]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

This thread is becoming too snobby. More pics of in-and-out burger please, we don't have one around here.

One of my buddies raves about the "Garbage Plate" at Nick Tahou's in Rochester. I've never been:

Damn that looks like it could send you to the bathroom for a long time.

[upstatedoc]

uh oh...

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

This thread is becoming too snobby. More pics of in-and-out burger please, we don't have one around here.

One of my buddies raves about the "Garbage Plate" at Nick Tahou's in Rochester. I've never been:

I like all food and this looks amazing. I'm upstate quite a bit and have to try this

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by i dunno

so just because someone doesn't like french cuisine means they dont have taste? michelin tends to have a pretty narrow view of what it likes, and i believe that someone who only likes rice and beans can have a good palate. if they can articulate why they love it and the nuances of great rice and beans, then i would say that person has good tastes but different from mine. the michelin guide is generally good, but there are times when my opinions clash with it especially when it comes to asian food.

First - Thats NOT what I said. I said, if you like French food and find a Michelin star French restaurant, you will get an amazing french meal. The same goes for any type of food. That means, if I am looking for amazing Japanese food and there is a Japanese restaurant in the guide, I will get an amazing Japanese meal. FYI - There are more non-French restaurants in the aggregate total of Michelin guides that there are French restaurants so I don't believe you are anywhere close in your assumption.

Second - Again, you took my post of of context. If someone ONLY eats beans and rice, no restaurant in the Michelin guide will please them so there is absolutely no point for them to look at the guide. You don't have to be a genius to know that and contrary to what you stated, they have no taste for food if that is their only staple since they clearly don't eat anything else.

Make sure you re-read this post before responding

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

I envy you NY and CA guys. You have a wealth of michelin star restaurants available. Austin Texas has exactly 0 Michelin starred restaurants. Hell, Texas for that matter has 0 Michelin star restaurants.

We do have some restaurant chefs who have a michelin star pedigree. For example, the executive chef at a restaurant close by my house was a former executive sous chef at one of Jose Andre's 1 michelin star restaurants in CA. Beyond that, we have maybe 3 or 4 restaurants that I would deem "1 Michelin star quality."

That's why every time I take a trip to New York or Las Vegas or California I get my fill of Michelin star restaurants (not because they're Michelin starred but because there's a high degree of correlation between Michelin stars and quality food, as RR-NYC mentioned).

In fact, I'm probably the only person I know who goes to Vegas for the restaurants over the gambling. On any given trip I'll return home having spent roughly $5000-$10,000. Maybe 1% of that constitutes gambling losses Another 10% constitutes hotel costs. Another 3-5% for taxi costs. The bulk of that is for restaurants

I do realize that there's sort of an unwritten "rule" among the Michelin committee that one has to be a fine dining restaurant that liberally employs classical French technique to be considered for the Michelin guide, but I think that's slowly changing (think Sukiyabashi Jiro, a sushi restaurant in Tokyo which received 3 michelin stars in 2009).

I think anyone that worked with or for Jose Andres, would put create some amazing food.

Interesting that you mention Jiro because Michelin has had to defend giving him those three stars on several occasions because it is purely based on food. That, by the way, made Joel Robuchon's list of top restaurants in the world.

My wife and I are going to Japan in April and a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro is a definite

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by danniexi

I'd have to agree with the whole "politics" issue. I don't know if I'd consider Daniel as a "disappointment," but I agree the food/service/experience wasn't as exceptional as the other three-star restaurants on the list.
I haven't been to all of them, but by far my favorite would have to be Jean Georges and especially Eleven Madison.

You don't go to Eleven Madison for dinner. You go there for an experience. From the moment I walked into the door to the moment I stepped outside, I was absolutely blown away by the food, service, and atmosphere. Per Se is definitely on my bucket list.

I really liked Eleven Madison Park but I loved Per Se and Jean Georges. I held off from going to Masa because I couldn't see myself spending that much money on mostly sushi but it was the last Michelin 3 star in Manhattan I hadn't been... Needless to say, I kicked myself for holding off because the overall experience was better than any other I've had in the US. By the time my wife and I were done with diner, we spent more for dinner than a round trip ticket to Tokyo and I didn't mind one bit.

[NemesisX]

Originally Posted by RR-NYC

I think anyone that worked with or for Jose Andres, would put create some amazing food.

Interesting that you mention Jiro because Michelin has had to defend giving him those three stars on several occasions because it is purely based on food. That, by the way, made Joel Robuchon's list of top restaurants in the world.

My wife and I are going to Japan in April and a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro is a definite

Be sure to report back with pictures! Apparently getting a reservation at Jiro is extremely difficult -

http://eater.com/archives/2012/01/25...-the-world.php

What makes it nearly impossible to pull off, though, is that no one on staff speaks English, and that they tend to not welcome foreigners without a Japanese host. "If they detect an accent, it's likely that they'll tell you nothing is available," says A Life Worth Eating's Adam Goldberg, who had trouble getting in for quite some time but has since managed to dine there on multiple occasions.

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

Be sure to report back with pictures! Apparently getting a reservation at Jiro is extremely difficult -

http://eater.com/archives/2012/01/25...-the-world.php

I wasn't aware of that. I will make sure my my brother and sister-in-law, who both live in japan help us out

If they allow pics, I will certainly snap as many as possible

[BKap08]

Originally Posted by kingofthedemo

Black Bean Burgers:

This is the best recipe, I made this the other day and these are really healthy, and delicious! I wrapped these in green leaf lettuce, and topped with dill pickles, purple onion, tomato, and homemade guacamole. The only thing that I changed about this recipe, was that I added a diced jalapeno, and some ground chipolte pepper, extra garlic, and half the salt. This is so good!


2 tbsp (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp (1 mL) each: ground cumin, coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper

14-oz (398-mL) can black beans, drained, rinsed

1/2 cup (125 mL) cooked brown rice (hot or cold)

1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped cilantro leaves


Optional toppings:

Avocado slices

Tomato slices

Purple Onion

Green leaf lettuce (wraps)



Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium. Add onion, garlic and cumin. Cook, stirring, 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add beans and rice. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Mash with potato masher until just combined.

When cool enough to handle, divide into 4 portions. Pat into 4 patties, each about 4-inch (10-cm) wide. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to cook.

(I skipped this step->) To cook, dust patties on each side with flour.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet on medium-high. Add patties. Cook until browned and warmed through, about 90 seconds per side, reducing heat to medium if needed..

well it looks like ive found what im doing for dinner tomorrow! that sounds so good, ive been trying to find a good black bean burger recipe for a while and i really like the idea of wrapping it in lettuce!

[kingofthedemo]

Originally Posted by BKap08

well it looks like ive found what im doing for dinner tomorrow! that sounds so good, ive been trying to find a good black bean burger recipe for a while and i really like the idea of wrapping it in lettuce!

Cool, yeah you should definitely make this, everyone who tried this loved it! It's an example of a really good vegan recipe. The guacamole is a must, top them with it, and purple onion and tomato, and wrap in green leaf lettuce, I also put a little spicy mustard on mine. Let me know how you like them!

[P1]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

I envy you NY and CA guys. You have a wealth of michelin star restaurants available. Austin Texas has exactly 0 Michelin starred restaurants. Hell, Texas for that matter has 0 Michelin star restaurants.

We do have some restaurant chefs who have a michelin star pedigree. For example, the executive chef at a restaurant close by my house was a former executive sous chef at one of Jose Andre's 1 michelin star restaurants in CA. Beyond that, we have maybe 3 or 4 restaurants that I would deem "1 Michelin star quality."

That's why every time I take a trip to New York or Las Vegas or California I get my fill of Michelin star restaurants (not because they're Michelin starred but because there's a high degree of correlation between Michelin stars and quality food, as RR-NYC mentioned).

In fact, I'm probably the only person I know who goes to Vegas for the restaurants over the gambling. On any given trip I'll return home having spent roughly $5000-$10,000. Maybe 1% of that constitutes gambling losses Another 10% constitutes hotel costs. Another 3-5% for taxi costs. The bulk of that is for restaurants

I do realize that there's sort of an unwritten "rule" among the Michelin committee that one has to be a fine dining restaurant that liberally employs classical French technique to be considered for the Michelin guide, but I think that's slowly changing (think Sukiyabashi Jiro, a sushi restaurant in Tokyo which received 3 michelin stars in 2009).

I have yet to be impressed by any food in Las Vegas. Care to recommend a few? Will be there for a week soon.

[Litos]

ok, so I hate to post every meal I eat because most of it is boring HAHA !!!

well, yesterday, I stayed to the meal plan for breakfast and dinner, but I CRUSHED some top sirloin steak, beef ribs and chicken (even peeled the skin off and gave it to my pitbull).

then today, I also stuck with my meal plan for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner, I "kind of cheated" with some St. Louis Pork Spare Ribs that my wife had cooked in the crockpot for 4 hours

I chose corn instead of the creamy pasta that I wanted sooooo bad......

and the last picture is my belt "ALMOST" 2 inches off my waist...in 15-20 days, i'll have gone down one notch on my belt, which is about 2 full sizes

[kingofthedemo]

@Litos



Good progress on the belt, but are you weighing yourself? It's really important to monitor your weight, so that you can track your progress.