South Silk Road, Beijing 10 ($$)

What can I say about restaurants in China? The first thing everyone should know is that the restaurants you go to while on a tour are not very good. In fact they may be terrible. And the restaurants that are available if you go out on your own can be excellent. This should be obvious, but isn’t always because many times the restaurants that they take you to on tour are in fact famous, and can be pretty good. But you’re not Chinese and you don’t speak the language so they make you the dishes that Americans usually expect from their limited experience from home and they give you the poorest quality because you won’t notice the difference. There are no greater critics than the Chinese when it comes to food. Restaurants want to please the locals first, who have a much greater chance of becoming loyal customers.

The first restaurant of not is South Silk Road located in Houhai. All the food cooked here is from the Yunnan region or is influenced by the spices of this region. The Yunnan region is in the south of china located along the ocean and largely tropical. Food from this region tends to be very spicy and uses many more herbs not found in other Chinese dishes.

This being our third anniversary Kris and I went all out on dinner and ordered Rice cooked inside a bamboo pole, a roast quail, fried rice cake with roasted sesame seed butter and honey, and a banana wrapped tilapia.

_

To say the least, all the food was amazing! This lighting in the restaurant was very poor but even in my badly taken photos of the evening you can see the color and the spice incorporated into everything. The Tilapia was a little spicy and we ended up pushing most of the herbs and pepper to the side, but its juices were so good. It was so moist and had such a cool burn to the spice. The rice cake was such a treat, the interpretation in the menu was very bad so we took and chance when we ordered it. The rice cake was warm and crunchy on the outside and so soft and sweet inside, then you get to the sesame seed butter filling and it just pops with warmth in your mouth. It doesn’t really need the honey that it comes with but even the honey has a floral taste to it. The quail was very gamy and tough, the toughness did not allow the flavor to penetrate very far into the meat so I was rather disappointed in the quail. But it was likely caught wild and I do support free range. The last little fun treat was the bamboo rice. Kris did not like this dish very much due to the very nutty flavor. It almost had a cashew and snap peas flavor to it. It was mixed with some kind of nut or bean and some green onion. This mixture is dry when it is poured into the bamboo pole and then capped with water. To cook it the whole thing is put directly into the fire. When the green bamboo slips the rice is cooked and ready.

_

Over all I give South Silk Road a 10

Price $$ for two people

For taste 10

For atmosphere 10

For service a 9. Service in china is very different than in America, bordering on servitude rather than service. In China you do not leave a tip, good service is simply part of the job if you want to keep your job. In a city of 13 million the competition for jobs is huge; and every establishment can hire huge amounts of employees because they can pay their works so little; this mean there is often one employee for every customer sometimes two or three and they all wait upon you hand and foot. This often feels uncomfortable it you are not used to someone hovering over you wail you decide what to order, but you never have to wait for the check or hail someone for a refill. There is always someone there waiting to help you before you ask. In comparison to many places that I have eaten Silk Road surpasses any American restaurants but did not do as well compared to restaurants here.

Foreign Cinema 10 ($$$)

Foreign Cinema

Foreign Cinema is located in the heart of the Castro district of San Francisco. You would not know if from the street but this restaurant is the trendiest and ritziest restaurant in San Francisco. The restaraunt consist of four district features. In the front there is a small oyster bar that seats only about six but they will serve to any table. The main dinning hall has an open view of the kitchen, a bar in the back and a wall of high windows which look out into the covered patio. The patio tent is clean so that on a good night sitting outside you might see the stars shining. On one wall of the open courtyard the restaurant will project a old foreign film, thus the name. On this particular night we watched the Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This restaurant also houses balcony seating, is attached to a bar, club and an art gallery.

All their menus are updated and printed daily to reflect the very best of the market and what is in season. So on any given day you may have a different menu then any other day. On this occasion I had fried chicken on rice and stewed vegetables, my husband had lavender beef, and our friends each had duck in cherry port reduction. But of course we started out with oysters and a 2003 California chardonnay. We finished with Opera cake and North Beach coffee. Everything was wonderful! It was a perfect night!

My fried chicken was very good. Nearly half a bird the chicken looked really imposing on my plate and turned out to be more breast meant than I had expected. It was spiced and breaded but it didn’t feel heavy or oily to eat. It was really very good and I ended up sharing it will everyone because there was so much.

10 taste

10 service

10 atmosphere, romantic location

Price $$$$ for two people eating moderately, wine or champagne will add more to the price.

10 overall. I could eat here over and over I love Foreign Cinema

Goldy's Breakfast Bistro 10 ($)

Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro

Goldy’s is the best breakfast in America, according the Idaho attractions website. I haven’t eaten everywhere in America yet, but I can say that it was the best I have ever had in America.

Located in an unassuming brick building in Boise’s downtown district it would be very easy to miss. In fact my husband and I did walk right past it when we explored downtown the day before. Goldy’s has about 14 tables all together, six tables on the indoor balcony level and about eight more on the fist floor. There is usually at least a ten minute wait because the tables are always full for breakfast. At Goldy’s breakfast is served until 2pm.

I had heard that the salmon hash was excellent so I started with that and then one biscuit and gravy. Kris ordered the A dark forest ham breakfast sandwich.

Everything was exceptional! The salmon hash was made with diced potatoes, red bell peppers, onions and capers and of course salmon smoked to tender perfection and salted before being added to the hash. It was covered in hollandaise sauce and came with an egg. After the salted salmon and the capers the hash was really very salty even for me, a salt lover but eaten with the egg and possibly a piece of toast it was really very good. I give Goldy’s a 10 out of 10 for taste.

Goldy’s also gets a 10 for service. For price Goldy’s rates $ for two people and coffee.

Overall I give Goldy’s a 10 out of 10 for breakfast. Even though I ate a lot of food, I was completely satisfied without being overly full and felt satisfied all day until about seven at night. It was very hearty without being too fried or buttered tasting.

108 S Capitol Blvd
Boise, ID 83702
208-345-4100

Hula Grill 10 ($$$)

Hula Grill
Kaanapali, Maui (808)667-6636

Hula Grill more than exceeded my expectations. I have very little faith in resort food these days. It seems to me the resort restaurant business is more interested in PR than in good food. Hula Grill, may be a ciche, open air plantation style restaurant over looking the beach, with a veiw of the sun setting over Lania Island. But it is also the best bargeque and fresh local sea food restaurant I have ever been too.
And it came as a complete surprise!

The portions of food are just right. Large enough to satisfy the greedy American but portioned well so as to leave room for dessert.
I tried the Tandori Ono. It was perfect! Just the right balance of spice and that little barbecue crunch set against the cool sweet taste of yogurt and cucumber relish. Ono is a fish local to Maui, it has a soft white color and a even softer buttery texture. This was not my fist time eating Ono but it was the best. Ono also known as the moon fish, is easily over cooked, and often over flavored thus ruining the delicate taste of orchids and butter.

My husband had this dish, and for the live of me I cant remember what it is now.For desert we had the Home Made Ice Cream Sandwich and the Hawaii Bake, a pineapple upside-down cake, covered in meringue and toasted, I also had a candied brandy sauce with fresh pineapple on the side. Both of these were so good I forgot to take a picture until it was already gone.

For price I give Hula Grill a $$$ but for the four of us on vacation it was probably more like $$$$$$ after two appetizers, drinks and two desserts.

Hula Grill receives a 10 out of 10 for taste. Everything was fresh caught that morning by local fishermen. The sea food portion of the menu describes four different cooking styles and then your waiter will tell you what fish is cooked in what way for the evening. And specials of course depend exclusively upon the mornings catch.
For atmosphere I give Hula Grill a 10 out of 10. Who can argue with ocean views, open air, and sunsets, from a romantic plantation lani. I also recomment this site for a romantic night out, but it is a little noicey from the restort from walkways and the other Whaler's village restaurants.

Over all I still have to give Hual Grill a 10. It was fresh, delisious, fun, relaxed, romantic. Everything you could want in a resort restaurant in Maui.

Kru 10 ($$$)

Kru is hands down the best sushi in town. We often go here, and we often introduce it to all our friends as "the best".
The head chief at Kru won second place at the regional Sacramento Sushi Masters Competition (it was a lot like the Iron Chief show, accept without the celebrity critics and it took place in a gym). Kru ranges from very traditional rolls, to innovative California fusions.

During dinner, I came up with a simple but telltale test for knowing if a sushi restaurant will be any good. The test proceeds as follows: Does the menu include chirashi? if the aswere is yes, then its good, if the answer is no, then its its likely they smother all their rolls with cream cheese or cream sauces to mask the older, tougher fish taste.

For taste Kru always gets a 10. Fresh, clean, natural, the best cut of fish they can get. I like to sit at the bar and watch them assemble and cut with those razor sharp knifes. The knife is very important, a dull knife will danage the cells of the fish when it is being sliced. A traditional Japanese sushi knife kept very sharp will not contaminate the taste of the fish.

For atmosphere I give Kru a 7 out of 10. Its along the midtown J street. Close to the art galleries, night clubs, bars and midtown itself; it sits on some prime realty. The decor however is less than impressive but does well for just a little neighborhood restaurant. I am curious though, to know what the old Victorian looked like before the first floor was converted into a restaurant.

Price recieves a rating of $$. It can be cheaper than that, because the chirashi alone costs $25, and the typical roll costs $15 but I usually spend a little more and get the really good sushi.
Chirashi, Fried rolls. Green Tea Cheese cake.

Over all, Kru gets a 10. When I think of sushi I think of Kru.
2516 J St
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 551-1559

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the MGM at Vegas (10) 2X$$$$$$

Archived review 12/22/07

We chose this restaurant because it was rated #1 of all restaurants in Vegas for this year and boasts the “chef of the century”. I am always interested in tasting the best, and in Vegas there sure is a lot of it. This restaurant in particular stands out from all the others, The Mix, Fleur de Lys and all the others by its more casual atmospheres. Reminisant of sitting in mother’s kitchen, small parties of fewer than four sit at the counter while the cooks pass you dish after dish over the black marble top. The kitchen it open and all its mysteries laid bare. Its amazing how clean, organized and mesmerizing sitting at that counter can be.

On this occasion we elected the discovery menu, ten courses featuring the chiefs personal favorites. We started out with a pallet opener, L'AMUSE-BOUCHE. It was amazing you could actually taste the parmesan in the froth top!
Next we hadLA TOMATE: en gaspacho aux croûtons dorés Chilled gazpacho with croutons. It all sounded like it would be very exotic but really it tasted like breakfast. It tasted like a soft boiled egg with a little soy sauce; you basically have what has been the breakfast staple of china for hundreds of years. It did have a new twist on it though with little chopped mushrooms and croutons. It was some how it was green too.

Some thing new! I have never had LA LANGOUSTINE before. The French name didn’t really mean anything to me, so I asked what it was. The chief described it as a shell fish between a crawdad and a shrimp. And it in fact tastes very like raw chilled crab meat, very fresh, very sweet, cool and a little on the slimy side but delicious. I especially liked the sea salt and poppy seed dressing.

One dish we didn’t really like was the Halibut. It was a covered in a caper and vegetable salsa with a lemon thyme sauce, I normally love capers but this combination did not really agree with me. What’s more, I’m not really a fan of this particular fish, because of its gamey texture, indifferent flavor and white color. I didn’t eat more than three bites. My husband had even less. So we tried to skip this course. The chief found this particularly offensive and prepared us another fish dish. This one was much better, and more to my liking because it was a grouper and had a different kind of relish on top.

The Atmosphere gets a 10. I give it a super A++ for romantic atmosphere. Couples who are even a little low on conversation will find the night quietly relaxing and the counter seating becomes very conversationally stimulating.

For taste alone I will give L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon a 10. I can’t really be upset about the Halibut. And I think the chef thought me either very critical or ignorant. I’m not really sure which of the two I would prefer but I appreciate that he took the time to re-impress me.

According to their website, on average people spend about $$$$$$ per person, I believe the two of us managed 3x$$$$$ after the ten courses, and a glass of the champagne at the beginning.

Over all I really loved this place, its simplicity, beauty, sophisticated but not extravagant style. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon reflects taste and class in everything from the décor, the champagne menu, the espresso and dessert at the end. It rates a 10 out of 10. But in the future I will just request something other than Halibut.

Some advice! Always make a reservation, no matter what it says about it being casual seating and not needing to make one, call anyway.

MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
Las Vega, NV 89109
702-891-7925