Joe H

Culver's is a regional chain which started in Milwaukee. Their hamburgers are very good but I've found some variance having stopped in ten or more different Culver's over the years. At their best it is at least as good as Elevation but still short of both In 'n Out and the best of all the Milwaukee style hamburgers, Kopp's which I believe to be In 'n Out's equal. (Juicy!) Kopp's also has fantastic frozen custard, richer than Culver's even though frozen custard is not suppose to be rich. Two of Kopp's four stores are franchises in the Milwaukee area. I've often wondered how they would do here. I've also wondered how the franchised Culver's would do here. My guess is that Culver's would do quite well but I think Kopp's, from the day they open, would have Washington's best hamburger and best frozen custard.

Emmett Watson across the street from the Pike Place Market has fish and chips to rival Blackpool's best.

In' n Out does the same thing when they cook their fresh ground chuck, i.e. flattening the patties on the grill. If you order extra sauce/spread it will help compensate for the somewhat drier meat. I also think the Phat burger-with two patties-is much better and lends itself to a juicier burger. GRILLED ONIONS AND CHEESE are also absolutely essential to this combination. The location of Elevation Burger is terrible. No foot traffic, not that many office buildings nearby-not much of anything except Falls Church Yellow Cab and a roadhouse selling Hazel's chili almost across the street. This will catch on because of the "feeling" inside as well as the food. But I'd really like to see what this would do on, say, Connecticut Avenue around L street or in Reston Town Center. Last: the Phat Burger is NOT In 'n Out but it is "reminiscent" of a double double. I am convinced the french fries (olive oil or not) are carbon copies of off the menu "well done" fries at In 'n Out. Ask Hans to do his fries "animal style." That's taking the fries and adding melted cheese, grilled onions and sauce on top of them. In 'n Out is not fast either despite the name.

Elevation Burger will spread. Their fries taste virtually identical to "well done" fries at In 'n Out and their version of the In 'n Out "double double" is vaguely similar. Their shakes are also excellent. Overall the burgers lack some of the "juice" of In 'n Out-possibly because of Kobe beef-and the grilled onions don't melt into the cheese quite the same way (perhaps the absence of fat ground chuck is again the reason) and the buns are a bit different but despite the obvious comparisons to Five Guys (which I view as really inconsistent) Elevation Burger is a decent imitation of the California legend. Order a "Phat Burger" with everything, extra sauce and grilled onions and you'll have 90% of a double double. The "Vertical" burger is a 3 x 3, 4 x 4, etc. Their owner is as obsessed with hamburgers as anyone on this or any board. He grew up in San Bernadino and lived in Texas for three years. He knows In 'n Out, the Texas burger joints (hamburgers are a BIG deal there) and Five Guys. I'd choose Elevation Burger over Five Guys down the street from me. In 'n Out still sets the standard but this is a big step closer to it.

I have baked fruitcakes from scratch and aged them for as long as five years. I once dated a girl years ago whose mother and grandmother were obsessed with fruitcake and spent years-through several generations of their family-looking for the best. This is my adaptation of the recipe for it. The original is from the 1964 American Heritage Cookbook, entitled, simply "Black Fruitcake." It is the best that I have ever tasted. I've tried numerous combinations of rum, bourbon, sherry, etc. as well as different rums including Myers', dark Bacardi, etc. and about six or seven different kinds of bourbon. Gentleman Jack is the one I like best. BLACK FRUITCAKE 1/2 lb. candied citron 1/4 lb. candied lemon peel 1/4 lb. candid orange peel 3/4 lb. candied cherries 1 lb. candied pineapple 1 lb. golden raisins 1/2 lb. seeded raisins 1/4 lb. currants 3/4 C. dark rum, cognac, sherry or Madeira 1/4 lb. blanched shelled pecans 1/4 lb. shelled walnuts or pecans 2 C. sifted all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. mace 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. cloves 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 C. butter 1 C. sugar 1 C. brown sugar, firmly packed 5 eggs 1 T. milk 1 tsp. almond extract Gentleman Jack whiskey for aging Prepare fruits and nuts a day ahead. Sliver the citron, lemon and orange peel into very thin strips; cut cherries in half and pineapple in thin wedges. Set aside. Pick over raisins and currants to eliminate stray stems or seeds; add Gentleman Jack and soak overnight. Chop almonds and walnuts or pecans coarsely. Set them aside, also. The following day, grease a 10-inch tube pan, four 1-pound coffee cans, or 2 bread pans measuring 9 x 5 x 3 inches. Line with brown paper. To make the cake, mix 1/2 cup of the sifted flour with all the fruits and nuts in a large bowl. Sift remaining flour with spices and baking soda. Cream butter until soft, then work in granulated sugar and brown sugar, a little at a time, until mixture is smooth. Stir in the eggs, milk, almond extract and flour mixture. Mix thoroughly. Pour over the fruit and nuts and work together with your hands until batter is very well mixed. Lift the batter into the pan or pans and press it down firmly to make a compact cake when cooked. Bake at 275ºF. A tube pan that uses all the batter will take 3 1/4 hours. The bread pans, which will each hold half the batter, will take 2 1/4 hours. The coffee cans, which each hold one-fourth of the batter, will take 2 hours. Remove cakes from oven, let stand 30 minutes, then turn out onto cake racks. Peel off the brown paper very carefully. The four small, round cakes make attractive Christmas gifts. To age fruitcakes, allow at least two months. Wrap each cake in several layers of cheesecloth well soaked in Gentleman Jack. Place in an airtight container, such as a large crock, kettle or fruitcake tin, and cover tightly. Wrap this in heavy duty aluminum foil and place n refrigerator or cool place. After about two weeks moisten the cheesecloth with a little more of the Gentleman Jack. After four weeks drizzle a little more on the cheesecloth in the tin. The cakes should be firm, not soft, at the end of the aging period. This will make them easy to slice in neat, compact slices. If you wish to frost fruitcakes after they have been properly aged, cover the top first with Almond Paste, then with Milk Frosting. To decorate, make a garland of candied cherries, slivered angelica, and blanched whole almonds around the edge of the cake. Almond Paste 1 lb. blanched almonds 1 lb. confectioners' sugar, sifted 3 egg whites 1 tsp. almond extract or 2 tsp. rose water Work almonds through a food grinder or blend in an electric blender. Thoroughly mix in confectioners' sugar. Beat egg whites slightly, then stir into the almond mixture. Add almond extract or rose water, using your hands to blend the heavy mixture. Milk Frosting 1 1/2 C. sugar 1/2 C. milk 1 tsp. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract Combine sugar, milk and butter in a saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil. Then boil, without stirring, until a few drops tested in cold water form a soft ball. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract, and beat until frosting is of spreading consistency. Spread over top of cake letting it dribble down the sides. If frosting becomes too stiff to spread, melt in top of double boiler over boiling water, then beat again. ________________________________________ Having said all this, years ago the Washington Post sent away for about 20 different mail order fruitcakes, sampled them all, and then listed each along with their notes from the tasting. I sent away for the top five and tried them as is, then took the two I liked the most and aged them both for an additional three months. One (coincidentally the one that the Post liked best) was remarkably good, made by the Monks of Gethsemani in Trappist, KY. This is the link to their website. It is their five pound fruitcake that you should consider. http://www.gethsemanifarms.org/index.asp AFTER YOU RECEIVE IT BUY AT LEAST ONE PINT OF GENTLEMAN JACK. Use the procedure noted above for aging. The cake without the additional aging is very good. With the additional bourbon and aging it is genuinely outstanding. The Monks fudge is also outstanding.

Quite civilized.

I'm kind of surprised that so many have been to Seattle! Has anyone been to Dick's, the locally legendary hamburger drive in that is a real throw back to the '50's when it started? And hasn't changed since. To take this a step further has anyone been to Dick's in Spokane (separately owned) which has (believe it or not!) McDonald's original french fries from pre 1967 which were fried in 70% animal fat? Serious. USA Today a couple of years ago called this America's second highest grossing fast food restaurant after Atlanta's Varsity. But IT SERVES THE EXACT ORIGINAL FOOD THAT MCDONALD'S SERVED FORTY YEARS AGO!!! I am not making this up. It is the only place on earth that does this. Dick's in Seattle is excellent-but Dick's in Spokane (a different Dick, if you will....) is even better. And, the McDonald's down the street-with today's frozen potatoes, frozen hamburger, chemically composed shakes-does a small fraction of the business of what amounts to the original! True story. This is an outstanding essay about Washington state hamburger drive ins which just happens to fondly mention the Spokane Dick's: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=4834

Wild Ginger also makes the best Kung Pao chicken I've ever had (don't laugh!). Dahlia Lounge and Etta's are both very good but I prefer Flying Fish whose chef was also nominated (may have won but I'm not certain) for a regional Beard award. The Herb Farm is a separate thread all to itself-my wife and I went before their fire ten years ago when you reserved one year to the day-first hour and then they were booked. After they rebuilt it nows reminds me of the Inn at Little Washington and has lost much of its "gingerbread house" charm. While I have not been-yet-a friend "whose opinion I trust" absolutely raves about Lampreia. This person has a great deal of credibility; enough that on my next visit I will definitely go there. Ray's Boathouse is also a Seattle tradition as is Emmett Watson's in the Pike Place Market. Great oysters and good fish and chips at the latter, exemplery salmon at the former.

http://www.winezap.com/ along with wine-searcher are both excellent.

Unfortunately Long Beach is not exactly a culinary nirvana. Nor is it a place such as, say, Venice Beach which might have a whole host of interesting chef owned joints/places/restaurants. Parker's Lighthouse and the Yard House are representative of a host of outposts on the water which are atmospheric but really lack for a more than decent meal. I think one of the more interesting places in Long Beach is Bono's [Closed 2010] which is the restaurant owned by Sonny Bono's daughter (she has a second, more upscale place [Closed Aug, 2014] which is good, too). I've spent over twenty years going there annually on business and, more often than not, drive down to Newport or elsewhere for dinner. Still, it's really atmospheric (Annapolitan or Inner Harborish if you will) to have dinner at one of the chains on the harborfront one night. Go to Bono's the other. And, don't forget In 'n Out Burger for a Double Double Animal Style.

It really is. I'd put it up there with, say, Sparks. It doesn't feel like suburban OKC, more like suburban Connecticut. Superb wine list-they probably get most of the better bottles allocated to the state. A lot of stuff is off the list, too. Probably 100% markup. I've been six or seven times over the years-if it was here I'd use it for business. Consistently excellent and the owner goes out of his way to make everyone feel special.

Masque is intriguing. I read the review in the Sacremento paper online as well as looked at their website. Specifying violane nano in their risotto was particularly interesting. I spend five or six days a year in Northern CA on business and will try it sometime in the next year. I do like Danko though-a lot. Here, Roberto does a truffle menu at Laboratorio which is an incredible experience. You should try the Lab or Maestro some time. I honestly believe both will compare to Italy's best.

I've sat in Gary Danko and overheard the person next to me say that the last time they were at Danko it was excellent. But not quite as good as what they had in Washington at Michel Richard's place. I would also argue that areas of the Blue Ridge mountains are the equal of the Carmel Valley for beauty. That heirloom tomatoes from a farmstand at the Shell station on route 7 about six miles west of Leesburg or one of about twelve varieties of sweet white corn near Poolesville, Maryland or blueberries from Linden Vineyards off of I 66 ten miles past Gainesville or ...... I would rather have all of these right here where I grew up. No offense to San Francisco but I prefer downtown Washington, D. C. I'll also put Maestro one on one with the French Laundry and take Laboratorio over any SF Italian or even Valentino in Santa Monica in the Southland. Perhaps we should talk about cream, pasteurized cream, like Lewes Dairy or... Well, I think you get the point. There is nothing in northern CA that is superior to the Washington, D. C. area other than wine. If he really said this to you then I suspect that he really hasn't looked too hard. Knowing that he brought his own seeds with him when he moved here I would be surprised if he hasn't yet found soil to grow them in. By the way, there's a farm in northern OH ( http://www.culinaryvegetableinstitute.com/ ) called "Veggie U." that grows some of the vegetables and herbs for the French Laundry. It's about five miles south of Sandusky. In Ohio.

"The end of the star system" might simply mean differentiation such as a. A half star which many papers and guides use, i.e. **1/2, ***1/2 with **** representing the top. b. Numerical scores such as Gayot and Gault Millau use within their system of 1 to 4 toques. It was inevitable.

Joe's Stone Crab is expensive. Because almost everything in South Florida is casual there are three top end restaurants which you should consider: Chef Allen's, Norman's and Mark's South Beach which is Mark Militello's restaurant-he is considered by some to be Florida's greatest chef. The first two, Allen Susser and Norman Van Aken have either been nominated for a Beard award or won a Beard award (Van Aken) while Militello-if he is in the kitchen-has the capability of delivering the dinner of a lifetime. Neither Chef Allen's or Norman's are near South Beach (Mark's is) but are "worth a journey" to Aventura or Coral Gables. If you can get in and he is there, go to Mark's. You'll have a memory. I should also add that all three of these are enormously popular and difficult to get into. All three are on the level of, say, Citronelle. But, again, you could go dressy casual.

Vidalia is one of a number of excellent restaurants (Equinox comes immediately to mind) that are rarely mentioned on any board. It's really a by product of continually reinforcing the same restaurants which are "popular" on a particular board. When was the last time Kinkead's was mentioned on here? A dinner there two months ago showed this to be on the level of excellence when he was up for a Beard award. Which Jeff Buben won at Vidalia! Obelisk? Has this really fallen from the heights of two years ago when it was the first answer on CH for a great Italian? Or just that no one on this board has been in a while? I suspect the latter. There is a great deal of excellence and effort in the D. C. area that just hasn't been touched on.

This is an especially interesting link which speaks volumes about the Post, City Paper, Washingtonian and other forms of print media: http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/5661998.html This also represents a topic that this board should explore some time: the impact of blogs/message boards/websites on traditional forms of criticism, i.e. print media. Online "chats" such as which Kliman and Sietsema are in the forefront of are efforts to counter the impact and influence of boards like this, CH, Roadfood, OA and eG along with individual blogs such as "The List" and "Metrocurean" among others. All of the internet represents a kind of threat to the enduring popularity of print media. As outrageous as this may sound the link above lends credence to the statement. Even though "traditional" food critics may be our "icons" we may be very real threats to their continued existence and popularity. Certainly declining readership translates into declining revenue from circulation and advertising. One day, with Mr. Rockwell's approval, we should have a lengthy discussion about the impact of what I am suggesting. If what I am suggesting is true then this board-among others-is ground zero for the kind of change I am suggesting.

This is an especially interesting website whoze monthly Buzz is a great source for happenings here. http://www.thelistareyouonit.com/component...buzz/Itemid,34/ Among other interesting notes: Ris Lacoste is leaving 1789 to start her own restaurant. Bob Kinkead is proving to be a real source for outstanding DC area chefs with Lacoste, Jeff Black and Taci O'Grady now all having their own restaurants. All started with him and stayed here. San Francisco's enormously popular Cowgirl (sorry for earlier mistake) Creamery s opening an outpost here. The chef from the Occidental is leaving to open his own restaurant in....Vienna-"Bazin's on Church." Is Vienna in the infancy of becoming the Bethesda of the western suburbs? With Tysons and Reston not having realistic opportunities (i.e. space at a fair price) this may be the place that will develop. Fahrenheit in the Ritz Carlton Georgetown has a new chef....from the Striped Bass, the landmark restaurant in Philadelphia. Metrocurean http://amandamc.blogspot.com/ is one of the websites which The List references. There are a number of in depth features on the current one which are mentioned above.

Good luck! You should be all right if you get there 15 minutes before opening. --- Fleur de Lys (Pool Boy)

The menus posted on their website, www.modernmexican.com, do show significant differences between Isla and Zengo. However, I must admit to a personal bias: I find it rare when a second or third outpost in a different city for a chef is even close to being as good as where he built his reputation. I realize that there are exceptions to this but I believe these are few. I also believe that restauranteurs and chefs from other cities moving here have differing expectations than myself. Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Capital Grille, Legal, Olives, Rosa Mexicano, Roy's and numerous others do good to very good versions of their "home" restaurants. I do not believe that any of them are as good as their original was BEFORE expansion started. Often, in fact, after expansion the original also suffers. (The original Morton's in Chicago is a shadow of what it was in the '70's.) Citronelle is superior to what it was before Michel Richard moved here. Olives here is not as good-not nearly as good-as it was in Boston when Todd English was in the kitchen. In the mid '90's I had three dinners in one week with Emeril Lagasse in the kitchen on Tschoupoulitas street that, at the time, I thought challenged for best in America. Emeril's has cloned itself (and Delmonico) around the U. S. and none even approaches the original. Norman Van Aken in the kitchen at Norman's in Orlando was a memorable dinner; two nights later with him back in Coral Gables it was a different experience. In the 1980's Mama Ninfa was in the kitchen making her own tortillas on Navigation boulevard in Houston. In the early '90's her cloned outposts closed one by one. None even approached the excellence at her original which Newsweek once called Texas and America's best Southwestern/Mexican/Tex Mex restaurant. There is not a single restaurant in Las Vegas that is as good as the restaurant that its celebrity chef gained his/her reputation at. You note Alan Yu: it is encouraging that he is opening the D. C. restaurant. But what about Denver? His name is still on their website. What happens when he leaves here? Will the restaurant there be as good with him gone? At the trade show I attended in Vegas last week a friend who lives in Columbus, Ohio told me that he had one of the best dinners of his life at Alex on Tuesday night. On Thursday night my experience was not the same. (I have a post about it on the out of town board.) While Alex has exemplery service in a luxurious setting the food is below at least four restaurants in the D. C. area for what is put on the plate. Columbus has nothing on the level of here. Or Las Vegas for that matter despite all of the celebrity names. And this is my point: Washington (mentioned in the United flight magazine this month as one of the six best restaurant cities in America) along with New York, San Francisco, Chicago and possibly one or two others is worth being the HOME CITY for a chef; not an outpost for one who visits occasionally. This city's best restaurants are usually opened by home grown talent (Traci O'Grady, Jeff Black, Cathal Armstrong, Cesare at Tosca, etc.) or talent trained in a kitchen under a chef who moved here and grew their talent and reputation with us (Citronelle, Roberto, Fabio, Kinkead-coincidentally three of the first group apprenticed in kitchens of three of the second). When they stay here and venture on their own we profit. Their taste, their perspective, their value judgments, their effort and the opportunity to realize a dream. But when they move here for a celebrity chef's outpost they are entrusted to reproduce his values and tastes-his dream-as best they can. This is different. I do not remember Phyllis Richman being especially kind to a couple of outposts which opened here in the early '90's. I also remember a discussion five or six years ago when the Striped Bass was considering moving here and how good it might be in relation to the Philly landmark original. Still, there are successes which sometimes match the excellence of the original. The Prime Rib from the day it opened in 1976 was every bit as good as the Baltimore original. (Of course 40 miles apart is different from several hundred or an ocean apart.) I sincerely hope that Zengo realizes its potential-and remains at that level. If it does we all profit I would just rather a chef multiply in the city he lives in rather than try to maintain a level of excellence that he has to fly to. I believe that we are worthy of this today. I also applaud Eve, CityZen, 2941 and others who stay or return "home." (Alan Yu? Hopefully.) We are better, our standards are higher because of them. This is also why, for years, I have promoted taking advantage of chefs such as Fabio, Michel and Roberto in his Laboratorio. They provide extraordinary experiences on par with anything in this country. One day one or all of them will be gone. Perhaps to Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York..... For their own Zengo or Olives or there. Until then they are gifts to us; I believe that when they are gone their restaurants will not be the same. In the meantime we should go to their restaurants, at least once if we have never been. Just as Jean Louis and Jimmy Sneed the day will come when they are not available to us and are sorely missed. Zengo, Morimoto and more to come: there is hope for D. C. and its future attracting the best of elsewhere. My hope is also that they will know that our expectations are the same as where they built their reputations. We deserve that. I look forward to trying Zengo. And Richard Sandoval's restaurant in San Francisco.

La Sirenita is entirely different from Taqueria Poblano. For one thing it has the loudest juke box of any restaurant I have ever been into as well as awesome chili rellanos. It is also "authentic," cutting no corners for the occasional gringo who wanders in. Very good mole, too and really interesting soups and stews. My wife loves Taqueria Poblano favoring the one off of Lee Highway to Alexandria. She has not been to the Riverdale places but I have a feeling that she would not like them as much. Poblano fills a vey different "need" as they do in their own way.

A wonderful post and a real pleasure to read. Thanks for sharing.

Last Thursday my wife and I had dinner at Richard Sandoval's restaurant in Treasure Island in Las Vegas, Isla. This is similar to Zengo his restaurant which is scheduled to open this month in D. C. http://modernmexican.com/rs.htm Isla won the "best of Vegas" award for 2004 from Las Vegas magazine. His Denver outpost won a similar award from Denver magazine and his San Francisco restaurant is highly regarded. Maya, according to that harbinger of excellence and taste Zagat, in New York, is given 24 points for food ranking ahead of Rosa Mexicano and only two points behind the city's highest. Isla made me long for Rosa Mexicano. I am not a fan of Rosa Mexicano. Isla is known for tableside guacamole and 90+ tequilas. Costco has a remarkably good guacamole which is sold in translucent packets, four to the package. Each of these is superior to the green glop that we were served in Vegas. The chips that accompanied these were unusual in that they were considerably thicker, more irregular fried corn curiosities that neither of us cared for. Salsa that accompanied them was imaginatively presented on a two tiered bowl with the top tier housing three different salsas, the best of which was a watery chipotle. I am obsessed with tortilla soup. I have eaten this all over the United States from El Paso's Camino Real cafe (the best) to (insert name of city). From supermarkets to dumps which have never had another gringo stumble up to their counter to upscale white tablecloth Southwestern temples of hoity toity excellence I have pursued Great tortilla soup. The search did not stop in Las Vegas. Certainly not at Isla at Treasure Island. Shrimp ceviche was decent, several steps below the excellent ceviche at Coastal Flats or Guajillo. Queso fundido was good-but not as good as what we had at the nondescript Mexican at the Venetian the next night. A red snapper special disappointed while a boneless pork chop sauced with driblets of cream corn interspersed with mole was actually delicious-almost a Great dish! Side dishes of rice and pedestrian beans made me long for Rio Grande/Uncle Julio's though. A signature dessert which incorporated very good commercial Cinnamon ice cream and excellent bottled caramel was an appropriate finish to this $150 dinner for two. Three watered down "uptown" margeritas with Grand Marnier and top shelf tequila factored into this. What can I say? Las Vegas should have great Southwestern food-it's not that far from Phoenix or L. A. Albuequerque's Garduno's has an outpost there (benchmark guacamole and chili colorado that clears any nostril) as does Bobby Flay who some have called New York's best although I'm not certain what this means. Anyway, Isla/Zengo is coming here. My experience in Vegas was not one to make me stand in line on 7th street until it opens. Hopefully, because our standards are above those of Las Vegas (!) we will be gifted with a restaurant that lives up to the excellence Denver and Las Vegas magazines and Zagat honored their outposts for. Of course I am assuming that Denver, Las Vegas and New York know what exemplery Southwestern and Tex Mex should taste like. Perhaps remarkably, over the years, I have found that great Tex Mex is extremely difficult to find in these cities. San Francisco does have this. But I doubt that any of the taco trucks there which are truly excellent are listed in Zagat or any restaurant guide. And the several mom and pop restaurants in their version of our Riverdale are rarely written about in any review just as the best of Amarillo, Lubbock and El Paso are rarely reported in English in any publication. I have lowered my expectations for Zengo. I hope I am wrong to have done this.

When Steve Wynn opened his $3 billion dollar hotel resort and chose a chef who was relatively unknown for his signature restaurant, for me, this made a huge statement about Vegas restaurants. Essentially many of the world's great chefs have cashed in by lending their names to Vegas eateries who flog their names but, in truth, not their food. Or cuisine. Robuchon, Ducasse, Keller, Commander's Palace, Lutece, Aqua, Valentino, Il Mulino: they are all there. In name. This past week my wife joined me on an eating binge in Vegas that coincided with a trade show that I exhibited at. The highlight of the week, area 51 and Cat houses aside, was dinner on Wednesday evening at Alex considered by many to be Vegas' best restaurant. It does not have a chef whose name anyone would recognize. It does have for this hotel which aspires to be one of the world's best (and prices itself appropriately) service to match the best I have experienced anywhere. This includes a stool for a woman's purse. Alex is a luxuriously masculine restaurant with a dramatic staircase entrance to its ninety seats, flanking either side of a banquette which bisects the subtly opulent room. Teams of servants (NOT service, NOT waitstaff but "servants") do everything in their power to assure that diners who pony up to the $145 prix fixe six course dinner will leave with a smile. The wine list is worthy of most of D. C.'s best with inconsistent markups allowing a few genuine bargains (i.e. Marquis Phillips 9 for $70) as well as genuine investment ('98 Dal Forno Amarone $898). The food does not live up to the room or the ambience or the service. I could not help but feel that it begged comparisons to both Citronelle and Maestro here and a dozen or more restaurants which I've been to over the years in Europe. Simply, Citronelle, Maestro, Laboratorio and The Inn at Little Washington are better for what is presented on the plate. Maestro, the Lab and Citronelle, the Inn at its best, are MUCH better for the taste and texture of that. In fact at both the Lab and Maestro we thought we had eaten at least twice as much as we did at Alex, almost all of which we preferred. I did not take notes on this dinner. Unlike three hour + experiences at Maestro, Lab and Citronelle this was not one of them. The dining room was about two thirds filled and we were in 'n out in less than two hours. Six courses + an amuse + chocolates for our room. Five hundred dollars later, in the room, I wondered if this had been worth it. I decided, yes, that after ten or more years of searching for a decent meal in Vegas-relative to price-I had now experienced what was considered by most to be the city's best. And it was a distant second to here. Opulent indulgence (stay at the Venetian-parts of Wynn are genuinely tacky although La Reve ((their show)) is phenominal), hovering servants who provide everything to diners and do everything in their power to make those at their table feel powerful still do not compensate for what is a very good meal. But not a great meal. I would also note that the In 'n Out 'n Burger across the Interstate is not as good as others, even those in nearby Henderson which provided the best meal of our trip. A double double with extra spread and pickles and grilled onion along with "well done" fries and a Neopolitan shake was confirmed on two visits as the best caloric investment of our trip. We agreed that on our next visit to Vegas we would have one less meal on the Strip and one more dinner at In 'n Out-away from the Strip. http://www.chowhound.com/boards/general18/...ages/64210.html for a description of an In 'n Out experience.