Best Restaurants You've Ever Been To

In no particular order
My three best experiences
Le Chanticleer NYC
The Cross King Gussie
The Cliff. St James

 

I had dinner at Girl and the Goat in Chicago a few weeks ago. Best meal I've had in a LONG time. Highly recommended!

 

Number one has to be Aain Duchasse at The Dorchester and also throughly enjoyed Bo Innovations.

 

Did you try Grace on Randolph?

 

Napa in Vegas was great back in the day.

 

Well, probably Lutece was my all-time favorite, long gone. In Paris, had a great meal at a place called Le Petit Bedon - very memorable.

Of recent times, more local (and chow-like) fare. In Florida Keys - the Fish House, matecumbe-style yellowtail snapper was outstanding. A place called Pierre's in the keys was quite nice too.

In NJ - Drew's Bayshore Bistro - Voodoo Shrimp is "last meal" worthy.

A DeLorenzo's tomato pie or John's Roast Pork would foot the bill over a fancy schmancy place these days.

I'd be interested in David Bouley's place though. I think the bakery closed, but he still has a place in NYC if memory serves

 

My dinner a Villa D Esta in Italy was my best. Spelling may be off.

 

I actually haven't been to Grace yet.

My list has also updated.. Top 10 for me would be (after #2 in no particular order)

1. Schwa
2. EL Ideas
3. Quique Dacosta
4. Alinea
5. French Laundry
6. Narisawa
7. Jiro
8. Fat Duck
9. Yam'Tcha
10. Osteria Francesca

EL Ideas get a nod for being in the Top 10 not only because the atmosphere, chefs, excellent food; however, they happily accommodated my request to throw a kegger. As far as we could tell it's the first time anyone's ever done a keg stand at a Michelin star restaurant.

I've also been to noma, which while a very memorable meal, I couldn't really recommend to anyone that isn't a foodie or prepared to be adventurous with their meal.

Next Friday I have lunch at Masa followed by dinner at Per Se. That could be a struggle..

 

Ouch!
Never works for me, a great lunch always destroys any fun I could have at dinner time...
Some folks have that capability though....

 

I've done it before but certainly don't make a habit of it! I had lunch at Pavillon LeDoyen and then dinner at Alain Ducasse in a single day and had lunch at Narisawa and dinner at Jiro in a single day. Running several miles between meals helps

 

in paris, we had 3pm lunch($300), then dinner($325) at 10:30 pm, same day. never again.... those meals are filling.

 

Hey Jim, I was there in May as well...girlfriend took me there and it was fantastic.

too many great places to list here but here are a couple of my most memorable:

Hof Van Cleve
L'Atelier Saint-Germain de Joel Robuchon
Pre Catelan

 

Robuchon was great. Who wouldn't want a slider topped with fois gras?
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don't remember having sliders but two things from the tasting menu really stood out - thinly sliced raw scallops with truffle oil drizzled on top and this wonderful lump crab meat dish with caviar on top. both seemed relatively simple but my goodness were they tasty.

I've had a filet with fois gras on top but that was at a different place. way better than the butter most steakhouses brush over your steak...

 

I was recently invited by friends to dine at Costata Steak house on Manhattan. Very nice and excellent food.

If you ever go to Stockholm, I can recommend Restaurang Volt. A small restaurant with only a fixed menue, four or six courses and a wine menue with organic wines specially selected to go with the food. The menue varies with the seasons and is very innovative.

 

Benu in San Francisco...comparable to French Laundry in my experience.

 

I wholly recommend the book The man who ate the world by Jay Rayner. He ate at 7 different 3 star Paris restaurants in 7 days. It wasnt a particularly pleasant experience if his account was anything to go by...... Its a brilliant read.

 

Providence on Melrose















Sent from my 16M

 

Do you remember what sort of fish they matched with the Calamata olives in the sashimi course?

 

In the 6th and 7th photo...
The sashimi, I believe was Maguro, tuna...not sure if it was fatty tuna. But it tasted more like regular tuna, very very fresh.
The one after was Uni speckled with the gold flakes, again very fresh.


Sent from my 16M

 

Robuchon....excellent choice....his places en France and LV are to die for...

 

meadowwood, napa valley

 

Too many to list but some memorable ones always seem to be better with a special occasion.

Alan Wong's in Hawaii was pretty good
Chez Panisse in Berkeley was great
Used to love Bob Chin's in Chicago burbs

This year:
Brenner's on the Bayou for my wedding
Yebra in Sevilla Spain wasn't pretentious but had the most phenomenal meal of the year there. Spectacular.

Hell, the taco cart near my old house in Houston was great too, next to the West Alabama Ice House. Fancy places can't approach the taste of the Barbacoa.


This week eating at Mossimann's in London, supposed to be something special. We'll see....

 

Le Pavillon (New York City)
Bern's Steak House (Tampa)
Lasserre (Paris)

You limited to three; if I could, I'd add the Tour d'Argent (Paris), Keen's Steakhouse (New York City), Le Perroquet (Chicago), The Oyster Bar (New York City).

 

+1 abroad, at home, ditto !