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astrid

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Everything posted by astrid

  1. astrid
    I mentally associate Venice with cholera tainted strawberries and Florence with the plague. Victim of reading at an impressionable age.
  2. astrid
    The crowd was quite small on our visit, maybe 50 people in front of the painting at any given time. I would definitely want to go back to the Louvre, so perhaps I would peek in to check the Mona Lisa crowd next time. We wanted to avoid museum burnout, so we only visited the Louvre and Versailles, but otherwise, the 4 or 6 day museum pass would be a great deal. You can buy the pass at one of the less popular musuems first, then bypass the long ticketing lines at the Louvre. We just finished our wonderful dinner at Sola, which I would rate the equal of David Toutain. Fresh seasonal ingredients, perfectly prepared to bring out their flavors. Sola, David Toutain, and Clamato would be certain visits for future trips. Septime and Frenchie would be maybe books, very good and great value for money, but not as creative or focused. L'Astrance's 70 euro lunch deal would be more tempting. I loved the Le Cinq experience, but would be curious about trying Epicure next time.
  3. astrid
    I had pretty low expectations and they were met. I was impressed by the enormous wall used to hold this smallish painting. Never understood the particular appeal of this particular painting as many contemporaneous paintings featured more alluring faces. Something that really did surprise me were the enormous galleries of gigantic paintings. Giant classical paintings are rare in US collections, I guess they are something that you must travel to Europe to see en situ.
  4. astrid
    Other notes Poliane's miche is good, but High street on market in philly is better in my opinion. So I decided against lugging the famous 2 kg loaf home. Louvre is a great representation of how grand Paris is. I couldn't fathom how mind bindingly huge it was until I started to walk inside it. Every room was huge, richly decorated, and full of treasures. In other cities that I have been to, the exhibition or garden or building could be lovely but is definitely finite. In Paris they just go on and on and on. So much beauty that I don't even know where to turn. The Indian Summer has ended. The rain and cold weather are here. This confirming my decision to not stay too long in Paris in November. I got very lucky with the weather this time. If I came a week later as I originally planned, it would be a much colder and wetter trip.
  5. astrid
    Ate at Au Passage and Clamato yesterday. Definitely preferred Clamato, which is essentially Septime for seafood fiends. Au passage is very nice but more down to earth and closer to the sort of food you can get at good US restaurants. The oysters at both places are very good and plump, as good as the best west coast oysters. Le Cinq for lunch today. The dining room and service are superb. There were many nibbles to go along with our *budget 4 course* lunch. The nibbles are probably the best bites. The actual courses are perfectly prepared with fantastic saucing, but lag behind the bites. For me, experiencing this once is money well spent. The food is lovely, but everything else about the experience puts it over the top. Measured by food, Martin Berasategui, Etxebarri, and David Toutain are definitely better for us. * 145 euros gets you 3 nibbles, 1 amuse bouche, very good breads to go with their superb butter, 2 appetizers, 1 entree, a sorbet course with 3 great nibbles, 1 dessert, your pick of candy from their candy cart, and a small box of caramels to go. You won't leave hungry.
  6. astrid
    I misremembered or Parisbymouth did some ranking shifting last night. David Toutain is #2. Today we had lunch at their current #1, Septime. It was very very very good. The dishes weren't quite as creative as Toutain's, so I still prefer last night's meal. But well worth the price, the trek to the 11th (where things are more tense, many more teams of soldiers and police with automatics and even walked passed a nearby laundry where police and firemen were doing...something), and the week of OCD checking of thefork.com for available reservations. Then off to the 6th for Jardin Luxembourg, or not because it closes at 4:30 pm, which means the entrances were blocked by 4. I made up for this by hitting the local chocolatiers and Pierre Herme. Then dinner at Verjus, which was very good too, but it's all starting to blur a bit. As part of their mandatory tasting menu, we had more scallops, more salsify, more caramelized apples. I am not complaining, since each chef put an interesting spin on their version and each was delicious. Then because we felt we had room for a little more food, we headed towards Frenchie wine bar. It was really packed and honestly the menu didn't sound that great, but I was bloody minded enoughbto stick around to wait 35 minutes amongst the smokers outside (the inside was terribly hot, loud, and crowded) for a table to open up. Just as we decided to call it a night, we checked one more time and a table opened up at Frenchie. So, because we are crazy, we got in and got a full second meal. And it was all very very good. I would still rank David Toutain #1 and Septime #2 in Paris, but this is a meal that I would be happy to have again and again. Earlier on, we got bao to go at Yam'tcha tea house. They are pretty good, nice snack to tide us over while waiting for a late lunch reservation. We also, managed to get inside Notre Dame after ten.minutes in line. I am sure the wet day, November, and the terrorist attacks all played a role in the short line.
  7. astrid
    I have only had an evening so far, but I don't think Paris has changed too much. Our Airbnb host mentioned that he had a few cancellations, unfortunately. But otherwise, still good crowds at Les Halles shopping center. The Christmas market along Champs-Elysees is a dazzling sight. Major change noticed was that several major buildings are lit in the color of the French flag and there were a few cops sighted with machine guns. Our multi hour walk in the heart of Paris felt very safe, well into the night, and no sense of siege mentality here. And you all are right, Paris is magic. We will definitely want to come back for a more extensive visit.
  8. astrid
    It's a Paris 1 star and Parisbymouth's #1 recommendation. I'm not sure he is gunning for additional stars, however. The decor and the service are both quite informal, in the nicest sense. It provides a wonderful contrast to the dreadful Akelarre meal. In fact they both had a citrus and chocolate dessert as part of the dessert course. The Akelarre dessert was dreadful, too sweet and impossible to eat and flavored only by the bitterness of the orange rind. the DT version was full of flavors that played happily off each other and light like a dream.
  9. astrid
    I am glad to hear that this thread is helpful for others, just as it's been really helpful for me. Tonight's dinner was at restaurant David Toutain and it was incredible. I think what was achieved here is even more impressive than Etxebarri and Martin Berasategui. For those, one is focused on doing one thing very very well and the other utilizes some kitchen wizardry to impress, and both chefs had several decades to perfect their craft. David Toutain, on the other hand, does not have decades of greatest hits to fall back on (though I am sure training under Alain Passard helped a lot) or much apparent kitchen wizardry. It's all about elevating fresh seasonal ingredients to another level. There are plenty of young chefs in the States who are doing this, but I haven't yet encountered a kitchen that put out more delicious food than what I just ate tonight. Everything was wonderful but what I really can't get over how good the butter is, like salty creamy melty candy, I could just eat pats of the stuff by itself. But then I think of the wonderful, sweet scallop, probably the best scallop I have ever eaten. Or the truffled potato "risotto". Or that perfectly cooked and sauced cod... The service is great too, charming and handsome and good at their jobs and have a sense of humor.
  10. astrid
    Just because Hayler has eaten at all the Michelin 3 stars doesn't mean his assessment will be accurate to his readers' experience. I have now eaten at several restaurants that he reviewed and my experience doesn't match any of his reviews much at all. A couple dishes that he highlighted as being the best at a particular restaurant, I found to be far from the highlight of the meal. His review of Paris 3 stars are also miles away from Meg Zimbeck's roundup last year. When he has eaten at so many fine dining places, he may be looking for very different things from someone who can only afford to indulge at this level on a very infrequent basis. In any case, I have enough disagreements with any specific critic to know better than follow blindly. I have enough fine dining experience to be confident of calling it as I see it, and I saw a massive fail last night. It was all edible, a few dishes such as the foie, squid risotto, and steak tartare could be considered competently prepared but unexceptional, the rest was bad. And as the joke goes, not enough on the plate to justify anywhere near the price. And accompanied by demonstrably sloppy service.
  11. astrid
    Learning just how far off the mark Michelin (and not just Michelin, Hayler and Tripadvisor's aggregate score both sounded no alarm) could be was the major inducement for finishing the meal. I stayed 2 extra days in San Sebastian for this and skipped a revisit to Etxebarri on the same day so we could fully appreciate the Akelarre meal. We paid a heavy price for this lesson.
  12. astrid
    After having enjoyed two of the finest meals of our lives at Etxebarri and Martin Berasategui, comes the thudding 3 star major fail. We had the worst fine dining experience of this year at Akelarre. The nibbles and foie gras courses were okay but utterly unremarkable. The rest of the savories tasted powerfully and one dimensionally of salt. The sweets tasted one dimensionally of other flavors, meh or worse. The food seems correctly executed to the right doneness and there were even a few texture highlights such as the crisp suckling pig skins. Rather, I lay the blame on how the dishes were conceived. We knew by the second course that it was probably going to be a bad meal, but hoped for things to improve. Then it was a matter of sheer bloody-minded determination and sunk cost fallacy, along with the fact there were far fewer courses than any of the other 3 stars or Etxebarri, that led us to finish the meal. Yup, in addition to being bad, it was also a complete ripoff, as I simply can't fathom where our money went, when that was very abundantly clear elsewhere - at Azurmendi, I couldn't fathom how the chef could afford to give us so much for our money. The service, while nice and not inattentive, was also the sloppiest that I have seen in a long while. Silverware was practically tossed on the table with no thought as to placement. The half bottle of water that we paid for was cleared from the table at the start of the dessert course, and was not replaced. We ate the desserts and sweets with nearly empty glasses. Well, it was a memorable meal alright!
  13. astrid
    Thanks for your kind recommendations but changing our itineraries is not an option, we have many nonrefundable tickets and Airbnb booking tied to the Paris leg. Not to mention a number of Paris restaurant reservations that I anxiously nursed through weeks and months ago. Yes, there will be longer security lines and more anxiety, but Paris will still be Paris, and I want to see her as is. I also think it's important not to let unfounded fear dominate my actions. If the Americans had known that after 9/11, perhaps there would not be ISIS to terrorize Syrians and Lebanese and Parisiens today, considering that ISIS grew out of the utter disaster of US failure in Iraq, where there was no WMD and no support of Al Qaeda. I hope the French will do the same, and recognize their route to safety is not through fear and oppression of the "other", but in better treatment and cooperation with its citizens of North African extraction. Also, what happened in Paris can easily happen anywhere. I am honestly be more concerned about my daily METRO commute (I am very much so, I am rather shocked that there hasn't been a DC based incident in the last 15 years, which makes me wonder why), than my safety in Paris.
  14. astrid
    Martin Berasategui, which I just found out is Tripadvisor's #1 restaurant globally, delivered very well indeed. The dining room is nicely appointed, but in a bland-ish way that lacks the sleek modernism of Azurmendi or the traditional coziness of Etxebarri. It's comfortable in the way of a nice resort or country club dining room. There is no music and the ample spacing mutes the conversations so that we cannot make out any of the neighboring table's conversations. The floor to ceiling windows look out out to a nice verdant background of a green hill with several attractive houses in the distance. But there is nothing here to distract me from the food that I came here for. The dining room staff may be the best trained and possibly the nicest one that I've ever encountered - un-intrusive, quick on their feet, quick to anticipate and fulfill your needs even before you got around to ask. They all speak with kindness and good humor, explaining components of each dish and answering our questions clearly and promptly. It's one of the rare occasions where I feel like the service truly adds something special to the overall experience. The other nice thing for us is that service was pretty fast - unlike the epic 4 hour meals at Azurmendi and Etxebarri, the staff moved us efficiently between courses and we had the full tasting menu in about two hours. Two very delicious hours. The dishes here are probably less experimental than Azurmendi, though there are gels, foams, hot and cold foods together, and foods appearing in surprising forms. They were also fun, perfect, tasty, and went great together. All dishes except perhaps the truffle egg dish meets my "I want to eat a big bowl of this" test for deliciousness - though the chef makes a point of saying that he conceives of all his dishes as 3 or 4 bites each. In summary - I would highly recommend Martin Berasategui to anyone visiting Donostia. (Though you should also figure out how to visit Etxebarri, even if the logistics of going there are a bit more challenging).
  15. astrid
    Other trip notes. We lucked into some recordbreakingly great weather thus far in our trip, sunny and in the high teens celcius on most days. The Mediterranean Sea in Cote d'Azur is warm enough to swim in. Sometimes fools (traveling in November, generally considered the worst weather month for the region) just get very very lucky. Almost no snow in Haut Pyrennes except for the permanent snow caps on the very tallest peaks. The ski area around Pic du Midi are impressive for the scale of ski lift coverage and the outstanding views from both sides. Cirque de Gavarnie was pretty enough, but not nearly as spectacular as the views from the high mountain passes. Provence feels like an incredible bargain coming from DC. The Aix market prices are maybe 75% off of prices at comparable DC farmer's markets. These guys and gals know how to make an alluring pile of vegetables or tray of cyclamens. The Airbnb apartments that we have stayed at are fabulous. Beautifully renovated places near the center. Nice accommodating hosts. Generous bathrooms and kitchen spaces. It's really a great option for longer stays (for shorter stays, the hassle of research and communicating with hosts, plus per stay cleaning fees, may tip the balance towards hotels). If you want to sleep with top sheets, pack them in your luggage. France feels like a different world, but Basque lands feels strangely familiar to me, like a more beautiful version of California combined with Chinese provincial cities. Aix's town center is indeed very beautiful, but let me also put in a good word for Arles as a base. The town itself is almost as quaint and lovely as Aix, only much quieter and easier to get around. There's enough Roman ruins, castles, churches, and nature within easy driving distance to easily occupy a week. Aix is better for access to Grasse and Cote d'Azur, however. Guggenheim Bilbao's restaurant Nerua and bistro both gets fully booked up even in November,luckily the bar is quite good and not too busy. If you don't have the time, skip the Marie Antoinette portion of the Versailles tour, it's a really really long walk and what you see may not be worth the amount of effort exerted. Laduree macarons (purchased in Versailles as an alternative to lunch) are well made, but too sweet for my taste. Looking forward to eating all the pastries and chocolates, once we're in Paris again. The drive from Cannes to Frejus is like Arizona with a beach front and infested by architects looking for challenges. When the concierge at Hotel Artetxe (fantastic little hotel with a great view of the city) tell you that you can walk to the Guggenheim, he meant the fully paved path with properly maintained concrete stairs. Not the Google recommended route that starts in a gravel road and end in a 45 degree gravel footpath with slippery wet grass and fallen leaves. We have lost the ability to drive by map (I had lugged the full Michelin France map book in our luggage, that was foolish). Luckily, free WiFi at many locations and Google map app's offline capabilities have saved many drives from utter disaster. Le Clos Y in Paris failed to live up to my expectations - food was impeccably prepared and used good ingredients, but somewhat lacking in deliciousness for me. Ugh! The awful situation in Paris is certainly causing some possible concerns for the final leg of our trip. Though our host in Donostia informs me that they made a cross border round trip yesterday with only minor delays. I imagine that Paris will be very different.
  16. astrid
    We ended up relying on TripAdvisor and the fork to guide us through Provence (I am using the term broadly). My dine list from favorite to least favorite, though really all the meals were pretty good. Brasserie Bodegon in Lourdes - huge portions, generous use of good ingredients, everything we got (which was a waiter and chef impressing amount) was delicious. They have a big menu and we wish we could have tried more of it. The plush luxe decor was nice(if not what vacationing Americans are likely seeking in a provincial French restaurant) and service were also very good. La Roulotte in Carcassonne - the chef likes to play with some north African flavors and he does very well by them. Probably our favorite foie gras (we have been eating foie gras everyday since landing in Paris) of the trip. The atmosphere is perfect, it's a tiny little place with momentos of the town and the chef's collection of cookbooks and gourmet magazines, a couple local families chatting up the chef and his wife, who ran the front of the house. Cafe Llorca near Cannes - its right off of the town square and Google directions were a bit hazy. Once we are there, everything was great. The food here is deeply flavorful, seemed like time tested recipes even though it bills itself as a modern restaurant. The service was pleasant and efficient. They honored our thefork.com discount without a mention, making the meal quite inexpensive Le QG in Arles - nice enough food and good service, though definitely not at the level of the restaurants above. All the food was a little too sweet and tasted competently prepared rather than memorably good. The atmosphere is kitschy but fun. Service was good. Tea Room at Villa Epirussi de Rothschild - decent (might be considered memorably good at a US tourist attraction) food at a not exorbitant price, good service and pretty room. The views, like all the views at this garden, are breathtaking. The gardens here are so heartbreakingly beautiful and romantic. El primo/ La Chimere in Aix - they have the same owner and we are at both as part of our progressive dinner. The portions are generous and service good enough, the food is a bit hit and miss, though even the misses were tasty enough (chewy duck, charcouterie plate dominated by giant slices ham, greasy clams). It was Monday night and there weren't a lot of other choices. You can probably do much better on a different night or with more planning.
  17. astrid
    I'm afraid that Hayler's reviews do not match up well with my taste. He thought very highly of Azurmendi, whereas I found it interesting, maybe even fun, definitely perfectly executed, but only had two or three dishes that made me really wish I had more of. Still, the overall experience is well worth the price of admission and I would recommend eating there if you are staying in Bilbao or in Donostia with a car. Etxebarri, with a lower rating from Hayler's, lived up to my high personal expectations for it. The ingredients are all top notch and the grilling brings out their delicious essence. All the savories in our 4 hour dinner passed my "do I want to eat a big bowl of this" test. I was almost tempted to ask if they had lunch availability for the day we reserved for Akelarre dinner, but that would be too crazy. This is a meal that is going to get me misty eyed for years to come, so thanks so much for turning us onto it.
  18. astrid
    Yes, but I bought both boxes from Costco, so hard to compare to what you would get from the shop. It was definitely a step up from Godiva and even my beloved Lindt sampler box.
  19. astrid
    The *never* part bugs me. While I encounter problematic service regularly and usually tip in the 15-18% range in those instances, I think aggressively bad service (which happens maybe once a year) deserves a close to 0% tip. Chances are, if the service is that bad, going to management is just going to make things worse because the management is at fault and the waitperson should be forced out of the business by lack of financial renumeration.
  20. astrid
    We won't make it to Italy for this trip. But that's certainly good to know for a future trip. We'll be getting Le Cinq's lunch at 145 Euros. Still a tidy sum, but less breathtakingly so. I know a few people who have been in the past and didn't think highly of it. However, Parisbymouth claimed that under its current chef, it's better than any of the Paris 3-stars. TheFork and Tripadvisor reviews seem to back this up. So while we're prepared to be let down, hopefully we've tipped the balance in our favor. l'Astrance is the Paris 3-star bargain, at 70 Euros for lunch. But other places sounded more interesting, so we're going to pass on it this time.
  21. astrid
    Joe, thanks for your thoughts. Although Germany isn't on our radar, northern Italy certainly is so it's so nice to get feedback from experienced travelers. We're actually staying in a 1st Arrond. Airbnb apartment. We've debated the value of staying 1st or 2nd v. Marais v. Left Bank v. further out. The convenience of the 1st really won us over, since we would be able to walk to many of the attractions and restaurants. We use Airbnb a lot when we travel and almost always have very positive experiences "“ the access to kitchen/laundry is nice and all our hosts have been gracious and helpful. The comparatively weak Euro is definitely a big motivation for going now. Or rather, the strong Euro had been a big deterrent for not making this trip earlier, since we had heard horror stories of $50 breakfasts and $500/night hotel stays. We are really delighted by how affordable the trip is turning out to be (though it will still involve spending a giant gob of money on fine dining).
  22. astrid
    I'm pretty sure that the Kirkland brand Luxury Belgium Chocolates in the white cube boxes are actually Neuhaus chocolates. I bought a box last year and later got some of the same pieces in a Neuhaus sampler.
  23. astrid
    Point taken. It is amazing how little desire I have for ever visiting 90% of the restaurants on that list.
  24. astrid
    Thanks for the heads-up! Having partaken a couple Morini Mondays earlier this year, I am really excited by this. It's definitely one of the best food deals in town for what are probably the best pastas in town.
  25. astrid
    Thanks for directing me to Andy Hayler. He highly rated a couple places that I had not considered in Basque country. I wouldn't say we're hell bent on star-hunting. More that we've never eaten at Michelin rated restaurants or fancy European restaurants, so we want to check out that world of possibilities. We don't have a bottomless budget of time or money, so if $1,500+ and anxiously hoping that the chef's in is what it takes to really experience Michel Bras at its best, I'm going to cancel. Gerry Dawes needs someone to re-organize his website. Also, way too much inside baseball stuff and not actually helpful for someone in search of guidance on what to eat and drink. Sorry but I'm going back to Tripadvisor and cross-referencing Hayler and Michelin. We're actually avoiding 3-stars in Paris altogether. Parisbymouth said that Le Cinq is better than all of them, so that's going to be our splurge in Paris.
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