<p>( it was a joke)
Haven’t been to NYC- but D enjoyed it very much- I think she either walked or took a limo.( or the train)</p>
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<p>Restaurant “chains” and “variety” are contradictory concepts.</p>
<p>I’ve never imagined that Las Vegas could be tops in anything except tackiness.</p>
<p>I agree that the best used to be New Orelans. Right now I’d say Miami is pretty decent - a lot of good variety.</p>
<p>When I think about great restaurants, I have to start with definitions.</p>
<p>Let me give an example: I eat several times a week at the same family-run Chinese restaurant. (Disclosure: I have eaten Chinese food several times a week since the early '80s and consider a decent Chinese restaurant within ten minutes a prerequisite when looking for a place to live.) Is it a “great restaurant”? No, but it makes good Chinese food using good quality ingredients.</p>
<p>So what <em>is</em> a “great restaurant”? My definition includes (but is not limited to):
*highest quality ingredients prepared in ways that bring out their flavor, without overwhelming them
*customer-oriented service that doesn’t condescend (doesn’t flinch when I ask for steak well-done)
*not too large or too noisy (I like to be able to talk without yelling)
*no TV
*clean–I like to be able to see the kitchen and how they’re handling my food, but it’s not an absolute requirement
*good wine list that includes good wines across the cost spectrum
*worth driving past my local restaurants to get to
*at the end of the meal you can stand up and say “that was worth the drive and the money” and no one disagrees with you</p>
<p>Okay, are there cities where all that happens more often than not? IMHO, yes. Both Seattle and Portland (and Vancouver BC) win a lot on the good ingredients and the wine questions. NYC and Venice (Italy) both made me feel taken advantage of too often to qualify as a general case; Padua (Italy) definitely won all the way around. Las Vegas–well, most of the restaurants were too big for my taste, but I had the same thing (lobster sandwich) three days in a row at one place in the Venetian and loved it every time.</p>
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<p>What did you order? I’ve been there both for a work event (wine tasting) and lunches/dinners. Never had anything bad at all. In fact when my son’s baseball team went to a tournament all the kids wanted to go to Ivar’s (yawn) for lunch. We went to the MG and I think we only paid about 3-4 dollars a plate more (than the Ivar’s crowd) for food that was incredible. </p>
<p>dmd, don’t plan on getting any decent Chinese food if you ever visit Idaho :eek:
One unique thing we do have here is a very large Basque population with one particular restaurant which is supposed to be great. We have never been there and really need to go at least once before we move!</p>
<p>New Orleans used to be fabulous for dining.</p>
<p>dmd77-What’s your favorite Chinese spot in Seattle? I like Black Pearl myself.</p>
<p>Ive never been to the Met Grill- not a big cow eater- I hear El Gaucho is supposed to be really good for that though-
Just went to Pontis in Fremont- it was pretty cloudy but good food and service was perfect.</p>
<p>I absolutely cannot stand obequious servers- no matter how great the food is- if they can’t get off my lap- I won’t go back ( and I am not going to give them a bigger tip if they roll their eyes at my buying a glass of wine instead of a bottle- my H doesn’t drink & if I even had two glasses- I wouldn’t be able to drive home!)</p>
<p>Fresh makes such a difference- we have a small French restaurant closeby that has their own kitchen garden-thats fresh!</p>
<p>NYC has some absolutely great restaurants but some of the locals are extremely parochial in that they don’t think anything comparable could exist anywhere else.</p>
<p>I can vouch for Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and the will-it-ever-be-the-same-again? New Orleans. But great restaurants can be found in the most unsuspected backwaters, as in Templeton, Calif.</p>
<p>Yeah no one has mentioned Chicago (maybe too many Coasters here) or “the Napa Valley”. Chicago - Frontera Grill, best margaritas on the planet - but also at my house, thanks Rick Bayless.</p>
<p>DrDrewsMom: I ordered the filet both times, med-rare. It was good, just not GREAT and for $45 I would expect GREAT. I would also expect something to set it apart from a corporate style steak house like R. Chris or Morton’s of Chi., and did not get it.</p>
<p>For me, the best thing about the Met Grill is that it is on the way to the stadiums, and thus conveniet for dinning before or after the game or the dog shows that are held nearby.</p>
<p>I actually prefer the Ringside in Portland to the Met Grill.</p>
<p>Cangel…noticed your mention of too many coasterss here…I have tried Chicago many times and it just didn’t cut it for me. Some nice places, Blackbird and all but the whole atmosphere is just too different. Nice to visit but even then it is just not my thing.</p>
<p>concerneddad: gotha. I really suggest going for lunch. The prices are much better and I think my steak (whichever I ordered on our last trip) was around $16.</p>
<p>Hazmat - Chicago as a city or a restaurant town?</p>
<p>To me Chicago is a great city for the out of towner, non-city person to visit, more buses and fewer of those pesky subways that dump you out above ground totally disoriented!
As a restaurant place, it is not NOLA or NYC or San Fran - but, great pizza, dogs, Frontera, Charlie Trotter’s, steak, the soup at the Drake - it has its moments!</p>
<p>Bay Area, hands down. You can pay a lot more in NYC, especially at the places people go to see and be seen, but the overall quality of food in SF-Berkeley and environs is better and cheaper. (Even the New Yorker, a couple of years back, wrote that Berkeley restaurants had overtaken New York’s.)</p>
<p>I’ve also had good meals in Chicago and Seattle and LA.</p>
<p>Chez Panisse…gotta hand it to Berkeley that you have Alice~~</p>
<p>Yes, there is the multiplier effect – all the people who worked at Chez Panisse over the years and then spun off their own restaurants. Add the wonderful produce and other local ingredients that Alice Waters made the standard. Add the ethnic mix, especially the wide variety of Asian cuisines. Then, the competition, which makes it difficult for places that serve mediocre food to survive.</p>
<p>And, I have to add, that the reason we here in places like Portland, Maine have a great restaurant scene is due to “what Alice hath wrought.” She really was the seminal person, imho, along with a few comrades, in the creative use of local ingredients and seasonal foods, raised to their highest and best use through the right preparation.</p>
<p>full disclaimer to the few who don’t know: former Berkely resident here</p>
<p>Portland Maine is a delicious city that is certain.</p>
<p>Barrons–while I adore Chinese food, I don’t travel for it–I like the small places closer to home (and I live on the eastside). Never been to Black Pearl. Friends like Wild Ginger–went once, too crowded, too noisy, too rude. Why bother?</p>
<p>Wild Ginger is more pan-asian than anything and certainly not a neighborhood place. BP is neighborhood but it’s up in the north part of Seattle. I live east too–far east–so what’s the name of your place?</p>