2008 review
(click restaurant name or point of interest)
Here i am on October 22 having written not a word this year. I guess I have spoken too many. Perhaps it is best to delay these posts until everything has digested and compressed a bit.
For one thing, it is becoming a problem to try as many new restaurants as in the past since i want to return to those that i love.
What to do? travel more widely. For example, in San Francisco, Zuni Caffe, Boulette’s Larder and Chez Panisse and Tartine remain at the top of my list. But once I have been there I am full. But, of course, there is always room for a salted caramel ice cream cone at Bi-Rite on 18th Street. My friend Niloufer King (My Bombay Kitchen) took me to eat at Panda Country Kitchen for a Chinese food adventure, and I had a fine dinner at Farine (just down the street from Bi-rite).
The search is for tasty, fresh, imaginative and unconvoluted food. Not as easy to find as i would like. When i find it I will go back again. In Los Angeles i love Osteria Mozza and can hardly resist having all my suppers at the mozzarella bar (there is almost always room for one) and watch Nancy Silverton assembling her inventive combinations.
Of course another way to try new places is to travel more widely. In March (when the pound was at its highest), Marc and I went to London. Armed with an Oyster card (for public transport) and an appetite for museums and food, we had a fine time. The Millenium Hotel, Grosvenor Square, was relatively reasonable and offered a huge buffet breakfast included int he room charge. (The bar there was the site for Russian poisoning case but had been re-furbished). A seat at Moro was only available for lunch. The best bread I ever ate plus whatever I had room for after eating a whole basketful. We also went to St.John’s Bread and Wine and had pigtail and more. A fresh approach to everything. Rasa was affordable and delicious (I originally heard about it from C.Trillin) and the Wolseley was convenient and glamorous. Of course the paintings in the National Gallery and the Lucas Cranach exhibition at the Royal Academy were a nourishing treat as well.
In Chicago Kate and I are so stuck on Avec that every time we want to venture further we decide against it. We have lunch from Wow Bow and sometimes dinner at the Big Bowl. But Avec is the best!!
I just returned from Boston. Angela and I had lunch at Figs on Charles Street — a salad with roasted pears and a fig and prosciutto pizza were enough for 2 lunches and breakfast the next day. We had a fine lobster roll at B and G Oyster and a delicious tapas extravaganza at Toro. After a very good manicure at Mini-Luxe, we had lamb shank, marrow bones and fish soup at La Voile. Very French and delicious. The Suncrisp and Macoun apples at the Copley Square Farmers’ Market were delicious. The market is just outside our hotel and i only wish I could have filled my suitcase with cavolo nero as I did last year. But the suitcase was too small and i would have had nurse the cavolo for 2 days before transport.
The other travel adventure this year was a trip to Vienna in late July. The Hotel Altstadt was perfect — great location, a bit off the tourist track; delicious breakfast; lovely rooms; friendly staff; right price; even an excellent restaurant guide. Viennese food is less Italian than I would like. Though we had an extravagant and delicious lunch at Fabio’s.
Once I discovered that Eierschwammerl (chanterelles) were in season I tried them every which way. Lots of restaurants had outside gardens and looked totally abandonned when one first entered from the street. The best of these was Glacis Beisl which was comfortable, delicious and in the neighborhood. A glass of Gruner Veltliner, some chanterelles and we were happy. Of course, ice cream, cake and coffee are the expected treats. Demel was too full of tourists, but the pastries in the Museum were delicious, the ice coffee (always with ice cream, heavy cream and whipped cream on top of a swallow of coffee )was a meal in itself, and Marc had a hazelnut ice cream on Mariahilfer strasse almost every night. Tea and cake was available every afternoon at the hotel.
We went at least 5 times to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, saw armor, furniture, gardens, churches and everything else there was to see. One of the highlights was Otoo Wagner’s Kirche am Steinhof which is one of the most original and beautiful buildings I have ever seen.
So now it is autumn again and Washington and New York are ahead of us to round out the season. Hope to see some of you somewhere on our travels. Please do not hesitate to send us any recommendations.