Six Rules For Dining Out

[vt]

Other suggestions from our eclectic group appreciated


http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar...ampaign=buffer

[Fox]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

Awesome, I love it. It also particularly appeals to my contrairian attitudes.

One of the best restaurants I went to in Ottawa was an Indian place that was criticized for being "too hot". They did change the menu to offer more watered down dishes, and provided warnings before ordering. However they still kept their traditional, "peel the paint off the wall" hot dishes.

Hot enough even I broke out a sweat. Nice to see there are still places out there, that are brave enough to hold on to their traditions.

It was also in a small strip mall in one of the "lesser" neighbourhoods of Ottawa, and you would be forgiven to think it was a dive. And not everything is great because they have watered some of it down. However if you ask for a "traditionally prepared" meal (ie don't waste your time with the buffet), they'll love to cook it up for you. I'm sure it must grate on their nerves to serve the bland stuff

Golden India for those that have a taste for REAL ethnic food.

P.S.: If you're someone who thinks Tabasco sauce is hot, this is not the place for you.

[shiny!]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

From the title I thought this was going to be about restaurant etiquette and I was going to say "turn off your cellphones."

Agree with the rec for little hole-in-the-wall restaurants in strip malls.

If anyone else here enjoys good food and restaurant blogs, Jewel Staite's is hilarious. She's an actress but boy does she know her food:

Happy Opu

[lektrode]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

From the title I thought this was going to be about restaurant etiquette and I was going to say "turn off your cellphones."

Agree with the rec for little hole-in-the-wall restaurants in strip malls.

If anyone else here enjoys good food and restaurant blogs, Jewel Staite's is hilarious. She's an actress but boy does she know her food:

Happy Opu

+1 and +1

and very yes on the blog site - she does a very nice job on this, with Opu = 'happy belly'
just eyeballing the pix is making me pôloli

and good find on the 6 rules, VT - he shares great insight here, with best ones in the shortest of sentences

[santafe2]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

Nice find vt. We just left Chicago after visiting friends for three days. I resist going to Italian restaurants in the US because it's most often a big, bad lump of pasta and tasteless sauce but our friends suggested Coco Pazzo, downtown by our hotel. The owner is Jewish and the staff is Mexican...fantastic place. Like a visit to Italy. In an area of Chicago where too much is spent on things other than food, this place is not only friendly and inviting but everyone's plate made all at the table jealous, so of course we all shared. Then the next evening we drove out to Oak Brook to their local Korean BBQ. While not a strip mall, it had strip mall appeal from the outside and is family run. We shared about 15 small appetizers and a main dish. Again, we had a great meal and learned a lot about Korean food from the owners. That's the only quibble I've got with this article. In my experience, Vietnamese food is great but well discovered. Try a hole in the wall Korean restaurant.

[don]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

The French-Vietnamese culinary connection (an upside of emperialism) is worth running to ground.

[santafe2]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

The French-Vietnamese culinary connection (an upside of emperialism) is worth running to ground.

Le Colonial in San Francisco. That's a particularly good one.

[gwynedd1]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

There is only one way to know what to order. Look outside. I sort of placed an order for some black berries but most of them were not ripe and I only had a snack. But then what do I find but a mother load of Sumac fruit in perfect condition. Already made many items based on it.

In my younger days, it was all about process. I was happy to make a demi-glace, or a stew, or soup from ingredients not really caring when or from where. It was often good stuff but a cylinder wasn't firing. I make pesto all the time, not just from basil , but to heck with pine nuts which are usually the worst and are expensive and stale since they are shelled. I use fresh herbs and fresh nuts , caring much less about the actual "type" of food. Funny thing really. Peasant food is sometimes the best. Much different than ghetto food.

[don]

Re: Six Rules For Dining Out

Le Colonial in San Francisco. That's a particularly good one.

+1