I caught a cab straight away from the airport. I had been planning to come straight here. So I had the driver take me well beyond the strip to a strip mall that’s home to many ethnic restaurants a few miles away from the major action of the city, where Lotus of Siam can be found. I had a wonderful dinner here a couple of years, and for many years it’s been highly touted as the best Thai restaurant in North America. The chef has won all sorts of awards. And they’re sure to let you know that, with the walls of the entrance filled with their accolades. I was eager to return, especially after a less than stellar meal at their new New York location. I wanted them to redeem themselves. I walked in…
Food Report
Tag Archives for Food Report.
Simply Outstanding: Elephant Jumps Thai Restaurant in Falls Church, Virgina
I’m planning to have lunch tomorrow at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas (not their disappointing New York location). I’ve eaten there before and enjoyed it, but wanted my current favorite Thai restaurant fresh in my mind for the comparison. So I had lunch today at Elephant Jumps Thai in Falls Church. My boss reviewed the restaurant back on August 2nd. I was initially skeptical, as I wrote recently I do find his recommendations for strip mall ethnic food to be 100% spot on though as often as not disagree on fine dining. So while their ‘East Meets West’ menu options of croissant green curry sandwich and drunken spaghetti chicken frightened me, I went anyway back on the 7th of August. And I was blown away. I returned the following weekend, too. I’ve been back…
Some Food I Can Never Go Wrong With – Katz’s Pastrami
I grew up on Long Island, and one of my favorite things in the world is a good Jewish-style Delicatessan. Sadly, while there are a few outside of New York worth eating at in a pinch (and some of the better ones in Los Angeles certainly have their partisans), the best deli food can be especially hard to find in my travels. There’s certainly not any worth mentioning in my home town of DC. So when I head to New York I almost invariably have to seek out my favorite Pastrami, which comes from Katz’s on the Lower East Side. More often than not I’m busy, and have any number of restaurant meals booked and obligated, and so I’ll find the only chance to head over there being on the way out of town. No…
Michel at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner… Disappointing
This week I went to dinner at Michel, Michel Richard’s new restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. The space was previously home to the amazing Maestro, which closed when the chef moved to New York to open there … right at the start of the financial crisis, his restaurant there didn’t work and he’s on his way back to DC. Tyler Cowen gave the place “an enthusiastic thumbs-up”. I take his recommendations seriously and find that for strip mall restaurants he’s invariably spot on but that we disagree more often than not with fine dining. He loves Komi, I find it especially hit or miss. I reviewed The Fat Duck outside London, and he thought the meal seemed like ‘B.S.’ and while I had mixed emotions about the place I think I took it much…
Lotus of Siam’s Upscale New York Location
I tried the new Lotus of Siam in NYC this past weekend, it’s the outpost of the Vegas well-known and quite excellent staple. Opened just a month or so back and I’ve been very curious. In their original Vegas form, housed off the strip in a strip mall, they are an outstanding Thai restaurant. The New York version strives to be a more fine dining experience, and also it seems to adjust the food to the New York palette. While there are certainly Thai places in New York, they’re not known to be particularly outstanding by world standards. And having grown up in New York, I can say that New Yorkers don’t really do spice. At least not Thai spicey. So how would it translate? Not exceptionally well. The bottom line is that if the…
Phoenix and Scottsdale Dining
A couple years back, Randy Petersen treated Flyertalk’s member-elected Board to dinner at Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale. I much enjoyed the meal and decided to return for lunch. Here’s the menu: As an appetizer I ordered the Crispy Mac ‘n Cheese with white cheddar, bacon, tomato/chile salsa. It could have used a bit of salt, but was otherwise good. The salsa strangely reminded me of Pace Picante Sauce, though with a slight kick. I ordered a sandwich to follow the entrée, but the waitress misheard and thought I ordered the risotto. She was most apologetic, but left the Short Rib Risotto with asparagus, pecorino romano, and truffle oil rather than bringing it back to the kitchen so that I could try it. Again, a bit undersalted but otherwise interesting, creative, and delicious. I ate many…
Lunch At The Fat Duck Restaurant
(…The Fat Duck Review: a continuation of my trip report “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”) When planning my American Airlines Oneworld award, I decided to pop through London on the way back to the US. It meant that I’d be able to try British Airways First Class (I’ve flown ClubWorld only in the past) and I’d be able to eat at the Fat Duck Restaurant. Ever since my meal at El Bulli in 2008, I’ve wanted to try the Fat Duck. At the time of the meal, only Heston Blumenthal and his three Michelin stars had bested El Bulli in the San Pellegrino/Restaurant Magazine ratings over the previous 5 years. Now, in fairness I’ll be the first to quibble with those rankings. In…
Fernando’s, Beijing Kitchen, and the City of Dreams in Macau: a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”
Fernando’s, Beijing Kitchen, and the City of Dreams in Macau: a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant” During our three night stay in Macau, and in addition to our breakfasts at the Westin (unlimited complimentary order-off-the-menu), there are two meals I thought I’d highlight: Fernando’s and Beijing Kitchen at the Grand Hyatt. Whenever I travel someplace new, I reserve food. And there were two things that really stood out as the ‘must-dos’ while I was in Macau: Fernando’s and Lord Stowe’s bakery for Portugese egg tarts. And as luck would have it, both were in Coloane where I’d be staying. In fact, Fernando’s is a short walk up the beach from the Westin, and we decided on dinner there our first full…
Inox Restaurant, Tysons Corner
Finally got out to Inox in Tysons Corner, the new Jonathan Krinn place. Very good for DC, but not quite living up to its potential, at least on our visit. Sweetbreads were oversalted. Vennison Rossini was really outstanding. (They clearly aren’t trying to do ‘seasonal’). Desserts were well-designed on the plate but mediocre, made up for by excellent petite fours. Service tried to be nice – very friendly, attention to detail in descriptions of the dishes, but the kitchen had a hard time getting both of our entrees out at the same time and the sauce on my wife’s plate had dried under a heat lamp. Bread was a good, though less interesting, than it was at 2941 [choices were garlic, olive, or pumpernickel and they did continually bring around plenty of it). Complimentary valet,…
A Quick New York Trip: Le Parker Meridien, Burger Joint, and Katz’s Pastrami
Took the US Airways Shuttle up to LaGuardia, and I had to lug a whole bunch of stuff along – actually wound up checking a bag. Now here’s the rub. With the new baggage fees, US Airways actually makes it difficult to credit miles to their program. My Dividend Miles number was in the reservation, and they couldn’t waive the baggage fees simply by my showing my Star Alliance Gold card. The agent insisted the elite number has to be in the reservation. “Ok, but I just thought I’d save US Airways the money buying miles from another program… I gave them another frequent flyer program, they waived the baggage fee, and then I changed the frequent flyer number back at the customer service counter by the gate (there was no time to visit the…
