treznor

A large part of the problem in that area, I believe, is the lack of people in the evening. I used to stay in a hotel on K st fairly frequently (though further down, closer to McPherson Square). In the evenings, the area is fairly dead with not very much to draw people to the area. So for a restaurant to operate it has to stay afloat almost solely on lunch volume or be good enough to be a restaurant that people will go out of their way for (such as The Prime Rib). The true 'power restaurants' can sustain that as they'd be in the later category, but other places would have trouble I'd expect. I used to stop in at Restaurant Kolumbia fairly frequently in the evenings and ended up talking to Jamie quite a few times. The time or two that I asked him about evening volumes, his theory was pretty similar. The lack of people in the evenings made it tough to sustain (though that wasn't what ultimately causing the restaurant to close of course).

Sorry for the delayed response. I worked just down the road from Charlotte St (at Rathbone Place), so do have a couple decent suggestions. Japanese and Chinese places in London in general should probably be avoided (there are a couple Chinese places in Chinatown that are passable and one or two non-sushi Japanese places that are quite good; sushi is fairly well-represented in London though). 1) Salt Yard - by far the best restaurant in the area that I know of. A small plates/charcuterie place, they tend to have a small, but good selection of charcuterie, tapas, and wine. Getting a table can be a problem, especially if your group is more than 4 (though 2 is much easier than 4 I believe). I always ate at the bar as I was dining alone and only couldn't get a seat at all once. 2) Newman Arms - One of the better pie pubs in town. Most of the pubs around London have pies, but not like these. With buttery, flaky crust and flavorful filling (that occasionally needs a bit of salt, but that's not unusual to English food), these are probably the best pies I found in London. 3) Nandos - South African peri-peri chicken. Yes, its a chain. Yes, you can find them about everywhere in London. However, they're pretty decent and there is one on Goodge St near Charlotte St 4) Gaucho - Argentinian steak house. Expensive (steaks are $30-$45 or so), though not off the charts considering its London. Not the best steaks I've ever eaten, but probably the best steaks I've eaten in London. Don't know if its worth it for you to go if you're only there for a bit (though it is a funky restaurant, with interesting decor), but if you have a hankering for a steak this is the place to go near Charlotte St. 5) Bam-bou - Only went here once, with a large group from work, and the food was quite good for such a large group setting (about 30 of us). Also wasn't sober... take the recommendation for what it's worth I'd probably try and get a secondary recommendation on this one to verify 6) There are a couple decent pubs nearby. Marquis de Gramby is fine, though there are a number of them throughout London. Our favorite tended to be the Bricklayers Arms. More laid back than alot of spots in this part of town. No food at either of those I don't believe (other than packages of crisps, etc) There's also Oxford St a couple blocks away. I wouldn't even remotely try and get decent food there. It is, however, convenient. Pret and Eat are solid options for lunch as long as soup and sandwiches is what you're aiming for. As for Charlotte St itself, I never had alot of luck at the places. There's an Italian place that's fine (Bertorelli I believe it is), a Pizza Express (another chain, passable pizza), and a decent Thai place (Thai Metro). If you're willing to go a bit further afield, Soho is just across Oxford St from the Charlotte St/Rathbone Pl area. Its a bit of a minefield as far as food goes, but L'Atelier is good (so I've heard, didn't make it there) and Bincho (yakitori Japanese, I know you said no Japanese) was definitely a favorite.

After hearing the menu, the first thing I thought of was that it sounds exactly like Le Releis de Venice (and forgot that there was one in NYC called L'entrecote), down to the mustard vinaigrette on the salad and the pepper sauce for the steak. I know the ones in London always have lines because the food is pretty good, and not ridiculously expensive. Hopefully they can use the same model and be successful in DC as well.

Agreed, Terroirs is quite nice. I lived approximately 15 feet from L'atelier (another suggestion from the list) for about 4 months and only made it in a time or two unfortunately.

I'd tried to get to Brasserie Beck previously but it was always too busy; this was probably 2-3 years ago, when I was in the area quite often. Well I'm back in the area and made it back to Brasserie Beck the last two weeks. Last week was very good (with mussels with bacon and mushroom), good enough to get me to come back again tonight to get my mussels-and-beer fix. Tonight was a wild mushroom soup with seared sea scallops (which was quite good) and a couple of wonderful belgian beers (including a belgian beer made in the american IPA style that was quite interesting). What I'm here to write about though is the bratwurst. Its currently a special and wasn't on the menu last week (I don't think) so I don't know how long it will be around. I was close to not ordering it as I had come to order mussels. I'm glad I listened to Brian behind the bar as it was absolutely great. Very possibly the best bratwurst I've ever had. Served on a brioche roll (I think) with a bed of sauerkraut that was just enough to cut through a bit of the fattiness of the bratwurst and a thin layer of shredded gruyere (again, I think), the bratwurst itself was still the king of the show. It didn't have the thick skin that I dislike about many bratwursts, but rather had a firm texture with just a bit of garlic flavor, it was an awesome example of everything I like about bratwursts. It was so rich that I don't think I could eat another one for a week, but man its good! I don't know what its like the rest of the week, how much it is about the "scene", etc, but I've been in the last two Mondays and really enjoyed it. Very laid back, with the bartenders chatting and giving good advice about the food, beer, and wine menus and giving tastes to anyone that was unsure (in fact, one of the beers I ordered last week was a bit odd and so they wanted me to try it before I ordered it to make sure I'd like it).

Which is right up there with the thread that shows up on Donrockwell.com if you aren't logged in... which I'm pretty sure is why I can't access the site from some of the buildings I work in

What's the incentive for a restaurant to take such a deal? Is the thought that some money is better than no money? I would think at 30% you start getting close to the point where the amount paid is barely covering the incremental cost of that customer, but I don't know much about the economics of a restaurant. Or is the thought that this is basically a marketing expense? Or that typically people would spend more than the amount of the card, thus recovering some of the 'lost' revenue? I don't think is directly applicable to you Dean, but thought you might have some ideas as a restaurant owner.

Don't know if that started in South Africa or it started in the UK, or if the habits are the same between the two countries in regards to that. In the UK that isn't all that unusual as many places on the lower-end of sit-down food you find a table and then order food with your table number (pretty much every pub in the country). The slightly odd thing is them taking you to a table in the first place. May have been something that migrated over as part of their process or maybe they had some good reason or another for it.

If they did that, how would they complain in Tom's chat?

If you're near Cardiff Castle close to lunch, Madame Fromage is a great place for lunch. Could be good for dinner as well, but didn't seem like the kind of place. I had a really good lamb cawl (basically the Welsh version of a stew) with some white cheddar. Probably not worth going out of the way for, but possibly worth rearranging a schedule to be near the Castle at lunch time. For dinner I went to Moksh, kind of a upscale Indian place. Didn't wow me all that much but it wasn't bad and looked to be the best option at Cardiff Bay unless I missed something (though there's a dumpling place that did look interesting as well). Don't have too much more advice. I was only there for a couple days and part of that was in Caerphilly and at least one meal was completely nonmemorable. Definitely get lamb while there, the Welsh cuisine does focus quite heavily on lamb. Welsh cakes are something else that should probably be tried (and really can't be found elsewhere that I've seen).

I've ordered a number of items from Wine Woot and have always been happy. I haven't ordered any of their more expensive items (at least on their scale, i.e. $70 or so a bottle), but some of their lower/mid-end items are good value and quite decent.

Two additional places to try: - The Golden Hind - Fish and Chips - Batter is light and crispy, not overdone like so many places. Fish is perfectly cooked so its nice and flaky but not dry. The chips are decent, but the fish is what its about. Offer Cod, Haddock, Plaice, and Skate. Also had the best Feta Fritters I've had (the owners are Greek). The seating area won't win any awards as there is room for about 15 comfortably and they jam about 20-25 in there but they do offer takeaway. - Le Relais de Venice 'L'entrecote' - Steak - They have one menu item, steak frites. If you don't like steak frites... you're going to be hungry. Luckily they have a very good steak frites. The steak was perfectly cooked rare, with a lovely sirloin flavor, tender (much more tender than I'd have expected really), with a herb-butter sauce (a secret recipe, so I'm not certain of all that goes into it), and frites. I assume the frites were cooked quite well as the crunched and tasted like other frites I've had that people said were quite good. Personally I prefer my fried potatoes cut a bit thicker, more along the lines of English chips, but you can't really order steak and chips They have a dessert list with 10 or so options, of which I had the profiteroles, which were admirably done, though nothing out-of-this-world. One odd thing they do is to serve half the steak at first, holding back half at the buffet on a warming tray. After you've finished the first serving, they bring the rest by, with more sauce and more frites. Interesting idea. The steak frites (with salad) is £20, total bill including a glass of wine, a glass of dessert wine, the profiteroles, and service charge was around £35-40. The place is quite busy. I had noticed the place a couple of days earlier (when eating at the Golden Hind) and happened to be close by again today around the time they opened (6pm). 5 minutes after 6 every table was full. When I left at 7 (service is quick, lingering probably isn't the thing to do) there was a line of about 10 people waiting. When I was by during the week a couple days ago there was a line of probably 25-30 people or so around 8pm. Both restaurants are in Marylebone, a block off Marylebone High St, across the street from each other. I don't know that I'd go far out of my way for either (though evidently people do go quite a bit out of their way for both upon doing a bit of research), but if you're in the area I'd definitely check them out.

Zebb's (in Matydale, but close enough) cookies are ridiculous good. My wife went to Syracuse so we make it up there at least once a year, usually more. A trip to DIno is a must. I still prefer NC BBQ, but DIno is definitely good eats. From what I've heard the location they opened in NYC isn't anywhere near as good. The friends of my wife that had Dino cater their rehearsal dinner, well, those are the best friends in the world As for bars, Faegan's and Blue Tusk both have good beer selections (though Feagan's is very much a college bar at night).

Amazing that two people can visit the same places and have such different takes... just shows that everyone has a different view We rather liked Il Latini when we went, though it is indeed very well known with the tourists and certainly isn't relaxing. We thought the food was quite good and enjoyed getting to know our tablemates. As far as comparing food between Florence and Rome goes, we found that we could hardly go wrong in Florence as even the random places we stopped for lunch we quite good. However, even the places we had recommended to us in Rome just didn't live up to expectation. Maybe we just like the Tuscan food better than the Roman take on things

My flat is a couple floors above a Pizza Hut (just a few minutes walk up Charring Cross Rd from that one...); I still haven't eaten at it. Chicken Tikka pizza is also quite popular here (Chicken Tikka being the most popular in London after all). Don't know what I think about that one either.

Wahaca - Covent Garden / Trafalgar Square - Mexican street food (in basically a tapas-style format) as well as larger dishes, about 50/50 for each on the menu. As it was my first time there and I wanted to try a couple of different things, I went with the street food. Tried frijoles with cheese and crema, huitlacoche and feta taquitos, and chorizo and potato enchiladas. Washed it down with a tamarind margarita and a Del Maguey Minero. Plates are brought out separately as they are ready. Oddly enough my frijoles came out last, which you'd think would be the easiest thing in the world to prepare since they have to be cooked ahead of time any way. That was really the only miss of the evening. I'm not much with descriptions of food, but everything was very good. Flavors melded together well, but I could still pick out each layer and what it added. Really quite good. The tamarind margarita was probably the worst of the items I ordered as it was merely pretty good. I think I'm just not a huge fan of tamarind really. I can't remember the last time I saw Del Maguey mezcal at a restaurant. At £6 a 25ml pour it isn't cheap, but oh-so-good. The total bill came to £22 before service, so not a cheap meal but certainly not an expensive one, especially in London terms. The one downside is that the place is wildly popular. The fact that the chef is Tommi Miers (winner of the 2005 Masterchef competition) and has been reviewed very well certainly doesn't help things. Both Friday and Saturday night I stopped by the see about eating and the wait was a minimum of 90 minutes both times around 8pm. My flat is nearby so it isn't a huge deal to me since I can just walk over any other night (like on Sunday, which I did tonight) but its something to keep in mind as they also don't take reservations.

A few places of interest, in no particular order: Salt Yard - Fitzrovia - Stumbling across this place as it is very near my work and thought it looked interesting. Didn't get around to trying it until I was reading elsewhere someone pointing out that whenever they get to London they make sure to go to Salt Yard. Interesting. Went a couple of nights ago to try it out. Basically a combination charcuterie/tapas place. Don't have a huge selection of either, but what they have is good quality. Have a Spanish selection and an Italian selection of both charcuterie (as well as a number of individual hams) and cheese, as well as 10 or so tapas and 5 or so entrees to choose from. I was having dinner later with friends so just got some charcuterie (I went with the Spanish) and a glass of wine. The wine list had a good selection as well. The space is fairly small so I definitely won't be there on the weekend as a weekday evening was packed enough. Dehesa - Soho - Basically the same thing as Salt Yard. Owned by the same people. Fairly similar menu if I remember correctly. Terroirs - Fairly new (opened sometime last year I believe) wine bar near Trafalgar and Leicester Squares. I had the steak tartare, duck rilletes (served without bread... though you do get toasted bread for the table). Incredibly popular evidently (I stopped by at 9pm and there was nothing available, wandered around the city a bit and came back at 10pm and took the last table; there was a line when I left around 11) , and I'm pretty sure I can see why. What I had was quite tasty and also had a wide variety of wine to choose from (probably 150 or so bottles offered, around 15-20 by the glass). Cote - Mini-chain (maybe 10 locations in and around London). Won't knock your socks off, but it is decently executed French fare that is reasonably priced. As I'm on the edge of Theatreland (i.e. the part of Soho with all the theatres are) many of the restaurants have pre-theatre menus. If I get off work in time to take advantage (most end around 7) Cote is a good option. One of the few places that I've eaten that supplies free water without asking. L'Escargot - Soho - A Marco Pierre White restaurant. Ate hear as another pre-theatre deal as I'm not sure I would pay the prices normally. Pre-theatre is £18 for three courses or £15 for two courses. I had mushroom soup with creme fraiche, leg of lamb steak, and orange tart. All were executed well, though not superbly. The mushroom soup seemed a frothier than I'd like rather than creamy and earthy and the leg of lamb steak was a bit overcooked. For £18 it wasn't bad. For £25-£30 or so (what it probably would have run without the pre-theatre deal) I'm not so sure. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - Soho - Very literally next door to my flat. The side of the road is full of Mercedes, Audis, and the like with their drivers waiting in them most evenings, particularly the weekends. I haven't been, but really want to. A bit on the pricy side... The web site states the pre-theatre menu is £25 for 3 courses, but I've seen other websites that state it is £44... not sure which is correct as outside they only have the degustation menu posted which is £105 (a bit outside my price range at the moment). I'm sure I'll give in at some point at try it. Tayyab - East London - Supposedly the best Indian in London. Should be going next week so we shall see. I haven't mentioned any pubs, though I've eaten in numerous. Honestly for the most part they've all been pretty similar. You can't tell it from the outside (unless you know exactly what to look for) but a number of the pubs are actually owned by the same 2-3 groups, each group of which has the same menu. For the most part I've started avoiding these; not because they are bad, which they are not, but rather because they are all fairly similar and thus since I've tried them a couple times I don't need to again. Let's face it, English fare is mostly pub fare, which is fairly similar Fish and chips, bangers and mash, meat pies, gammon and eggs... I probably just covered 80% of the menu Some of the independent pubs branch out into other areas, but since I work (and stay) in a fairly touristy part of London there aren't a very large number of independent pubs in this part of town. For chains, I've enjoyed Pizza Express, Nandos, and Wagamama quite a bit. Pizza Express is (obviously) pizza, but much more Italian than US pizza. Still doesn't touch actual Italian pizza, but good for what it is. Nandos is Portuguese chicken (even though the company is actually South African). What can I say, its on my way home and its an easy choice to make. Wagamama is a great way to warm up when its a bit chilly outside. Mostly a noodles-in-broth place that is all over the place. I didn't realize it but both Wagamama and Nandos have DC locations...

Okay, how about suggestions more on the upscale side? My wife is coming into town for a bit under a week so we want to go out. I'm checking out Wild Honey and Arbutus suggested upthread and they look interesting, but looking for a few more options. I'm staying in the Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square area but most things Tube accessible are fair game. Most of the ideas on the thread are a couple years old so not sure how applicable they are. I'll do what I can to fill up the thread with updates over the next couple months

Tried that with no success. Also tried closing and re-opening the browser and clearing my cache.

Occassionally I'll get an error message when trying to visit the board: [#2000] You are not allowed to visit this forum. When this happens, whatever browser I use doesn't seem to change things (have tried Firefox, IETab within Firefox, and Chrome; can't use IE on this computer as it isn't configured). When I get this it is usually a couple hours before I can load the forum page as I keep getting that error.

I'll be in London for the near future, let's call it the next four months or so. Any ideas of places to eat? I've gotten some great suggestions for "nice" restaurants from this thread that I'll definitely follow up on. What I'm really looking for are every day kinds of places that nevertheless are notable, or at least decent. Work is near the Totenham Court Tube (one stop east of Oxford Circus). At nights I'm currently across from Green Park (just wish I had a view of Buckingham Palace!) but soon will be staying just north of the east end of Hyde Park though certainly willing to travel about the city as long as its reasonably convenient. Pret and Eat have been good for lunch so far but would like to branch out a bit. There appears to be a Wagamama near work, so I'll almost certainly hit that up in a couple days for lunch. Any other ideas or general places to hit up?

I'm a fan of making mayo with an immersion blender. I've tried making it by hand but never got it to come out right. Probably my impatience. The immersion blender we have comes with a measuring cup that fits the blending attachment fairly closely that makes mixing things like mayo and such extremely easy. We didn't even have to worry about slowly drizzling in the oil, etc. as the blender completely emulsified it without worrying with it. I think the key to using a blender, and why it may not have worked when you tried it, is having a bowl of appropriate size. Since the bowl of a typical counter blender is huge compared to the amount of mayo you make with one yolk, most of the sauce ends up spinning around the outside of the bowl and doesn't get proper blade-to-mixture time. Using a smaller bowl and an immersion blender takes care of this. That's my theory anyway.

I've eaten here a couple times as I stay around the corner (24th and M) pretty frequently. Though not nearly as knowledgeable as Don, I'll put in my 2 cents that I've never been impressed with the wine list. As the beer they have is halfway decent I've always ended up with beer instead of wine.

Constantly; every time I read the forums (which is more than I should probably ). Every time I go through the new threads I hit the "Mark All Forums Read" button so I know the threads I should look at next time. I'm not a huge fan of where it is now, but I've adapted already. A 'Ctrl-End'(to get to the bottom of the page)-click takes care of it.

Have one and use it all the time. We primarily use it for storing meat in the freezer, either from buying in bulk when there's a special or buying a larger cut and breaking it down. I find that it stores quite well (much better than I was every able to do with freezer paper) and since its clear I can tell what things are much quicker and easier. The other thing we use it for is for storing ground coffee for our espresso maker in one of the vacuum jars. I'm not sure how well that works, but at least it doesn't hurt anything and its fun to play with