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Little weekend trip to Tampa!

Jupiter FL – where to go when you’re other half is on one of their 750 golf courses.

Jupiter, FL – isn’t that where Tiger Woods got caught cheating on his wife (more than once) awhile back? Where the f is Jupiter again? Is that in Palm Beach? Is there anything to do there other than golf? Aside from golfers and my grandparents, does anyone else live there? I know what you’re thinking and I will get to those important questions shortly. Jupiter is beautiful, quiet, friendly,…

Montclair’s Most Beautiful Outdoor Dining Establishement

One positive outcome of the whole COVID pandemic is that many restaurants have created new, beautiful, unique outdoor dining spaces. This allows patrons to relish the fresh air, people watch (we all love to do it, don’t lie) and often enjoy a space that has been created to make you feel like you’re in a faraway place – like an island somewhere in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. Faubourg in…

Who’s ready for a trip to Miami? It’s hard to say no to that one, huh? Whether it’s Cuban food you’re craving or super sugary beachy cocktails; partying until the cows come home, beautiful beaches, hot weather and sunshine or stunning people either dressed in $10,000 Versace suit or pretty much nothing at all, Miami is an irresistible city that offers it all! Whether it’s the outstanding food,…

Jose Andres ‘The Bizarre’ Showcases Bizarre, but in all the Right Ways

What an experience! The Bizarre by Jose Andres will knock your socks off, leave you completely transfixed (almost beyond speaking words) and saying to yourself, I need to go back to Miami whether by air, sea, or land for THAT meal. From the enormous octopus chandelier hanging from the ceiling to the tableside liquid nitrogen ‘cloud covered’ Caipirinha frozen shots to the giant plastic shoe that…

The bar itself is perfect for a romantic evening, happy hour with coworkers or just a single drink at the bar solo. The perfectly ‘L’ shaped bar is complete with a mahogany bar, comfortable plush bar seats, and an enclosed wine rack to the left of the bar that would impress even the Koch brothers (except that all of their wines are from the USA, but hey, California wines did beat French wines in the 1976 Judgement of Paris, but I digress). Behind the bar is a peaceful man made pond that comes complete with the serene sound of running water in the background, leaving dining patrons feeling relaxed and comfortable.

Aside from the exquisite dining and bar areas, the restaurant also has a separate ‘meeting’ room for conferences and events and an outside rooftop area with spectacular views overlooking the Capitol Building. It’s perfect for booking a work luncheon or client sponsored happy hour.

Although the restaurant is considered a steakhouse, the menu offers an excellent mix of seafood, poultry, and vegetarian offerings as well. The Executive Chef, Michael Ellis, is extremely talented and very consistent, and therefore, all dishes here come highly recommended. Looking for suggestions? Try the jumbo shrimp scampi, the grilled Spanish octopus, and the beef carpaccio + tartare. Also, do try the gazpacho if it is available.

The jumbo shrimp scampi comes with one giant shrimp atop a piece of toast, lots of cherry tomatoes and a boat load of garlic. The sauce is absolutely to die for. The dish really needs to come with a whole loaf of bread because it’s nearly impossible not to scoop every bit of sauce up as if it were soup. Outstanding dish.

The Spanish octopus’ dish is another exceptional dish with fresh octopus charred around the edges ever so perfectly. The octopus is not too chewy and pairs wonderfully with the fingerling potatoes and the avocado puree.

Some excellent dinner suggestions include: linguine and clams, elephant trunk scallops, Ora King Salmon and truffle-roasted Joyce Farms Poulet Rouge. Do give the new potato + grafton cheddar gratin a try too as this side dish is a true winner! The linguine and clams entree is filled with so much flavor as a result of the uni, pecorino cheese, truffles, chili flakes and garlic. It’s such a flavor explosion of salty, sweet, and creamy from the cheese and a sharp garlic flavor to finish it off. Put your carb diet on hold for this dish! I mean, just look at this!

The scallop dish is also phenomenal. The dish is very hearty and the six giant mouthwatering scallop’s pair perfectly well with the squash risotto. The scallops are cooked perfectly with a slight browning on both sides and the risotto is mouthwateringly good, filled with cheese, a pinch of black garlic, and lots of fresh corn.

You can never go wrong with Ora King salmon anywhere you go. This exquisite farm raised salmon from New Zealand is always top notch. The salmon is cooked with a small piece of skin on top and slightly brown on the outside, but nice and pink and moist on the inside. The dish comes with tasty root vegetables in a light apple cider vinegar red wine reduction.

The truffle-roasted Joyce Farms Poulet Rouge entrée came highly recommended from Chef Michael. One glance on their website and you can see why! Joyce Farms prides itself on being ‘the best tasting chicken in the world, according to many elite chefs. The chicken in this dish is braised for many hours making the meat juicy and tender. It’s paired nicely with polenta, which as you may or may not know, was what Italian families used to cook when money was tight. Now it’s used as a main ingredient in top notch restaurants across the country. The dish is finished off with a marsala wine sauce and fresh trumpet royal mushroom. Heavenly.

Then there’s dessert…

Another great addition to CP’s steakhouse is its pre-fix lunch menu. Three beautifully selected courses for $25, how can you go wrong? Add some wine into the mix, and well, you might as well just call out for the remainder of the day. As you might expect, the menu changes seasonally based on what local ingredients are available that time of year.

Overall, the service is exceptional, as is the food. The ambiance is also second to none. This restaurant is worth a splurge if you’re looking to take someone special out, and highly recommended for a work function as well. You won’t be disappointed!

More food pics!

Where to stay in Loudon County, VA

One recommendation for a cozy and charming place to stay is: Loudoun Valley Manor. This adorable, massive plantation like B&B property is located on a large plot of land. It’s more than enough land to host a wedding or corporate event (or Trump’s inauguration I’m sure, but I digress). Outside of the house there’s a beautiful patio, and enough patio furniture to seat over thirty people, as well as a nice size grill. It’s a beautiful, calming, outdoor space that’ll have you forgetting about the craziness of work (and life) in no time. Continuing along the path, when you walk up the stairs and into the front doors of the house, you’ll immediately notice the large European style sitting room to your right. Walk through this room and you’ll encounter a lovely screened in porch with seating for ten, including cozy couches, and high top seating. Once you get there, do yourself a favor, and close your eyes as you listen to the cicada bugs and relish in the warm breeze. It sure it blissful! Coming from NYC, it sure is a whole different experience. Now, open your eyes. It’s time to move onto the rest of the house. Backtrack out of the indoor porch and past the sitting room and you’ll see a large, industrial size kitchen, that leads into a nice, comfortable living room. Up the stairs in the living room is the second floor which hosts a bedrooms and full bathrooms for guests. On the third floor of the property, there’s a loft room with a ½ bathroom attached to it. Breakfast is served between nine and ten am the following day, and the owner lives there full time and is happy to assist in any way possible.

Vineyards to Check Out:

As if you weren’t head over heels in love already, on the property itself is a winery called, The Wine Reserve at Waterford. The vineyard is open on Thursday to Sunday and is so charming it looks like it belongs in a catalog of sorts. It’s the kind of place you’d show your girlfriend/fiancé/wife, partner etc. and you know she/he will say, stop immediately, we are going there! The winery is perfect for all seasons and is very inviting. Anyway, when you step into the tasting room, you’ll immediately notice the two large, comfortable, colorful ‘Allison in Wonderland’ like sofa chairs encircling the cozy fireplace by the door. Move past this and you’ll immediately see a tasting bar complete with indoor and outdoor deck seating. The outside back deck has two picnic tables, three to four tables and bar stools aligning the deck bar. They allow you to bring your own food or they offer a cheese and meat plate for sale. The staff here is very hospitable, and the wines are very reasonable. The views from the deck are relaxing and perfect for a warm summer/fall day.

From here, drive/walk (the .7 miles seems short in theory, but maybe not so much in practice, especially after a few wines) or Uber five minutes down the road and you’ll come across 8 Chains North Winery. This small, boutique winery comes complete with a tasting room, a corporate/wedding room and a beautiful outdoor covered patio overlooking the vineyard, as well as an outdoor dog park. The inside has a beautiful fireplace and high top wooden tables and chairs surrounding the fireplace. There’s a nice, rustic, farmhouse feeling to it. If you’ve craving cozy couch seating, they certainly have that too. Two couches are displayed towards the back of the winery next to the windows that overlook the vineyard. Hopefully you’ll arrive on a nice day and can sit outside on the patio and sip on some lovely sparkling rose while you overlook the vineyard. The back patio is the perfect place to relax solo or with a large group, as it can easily fit over twenty five patrons. There are couches, wicker tables and chairs, and two top chairs surrounding empty wine barrels too. It’s very charming and relaxing. On the weekends, they have live music outside too. It’s worth noting that although they do not have food, they do have beautiful, homemade chocolates for sale here. Wine and chocolate…you had me at hello!

A 20-35 minute Uber ride from this vineyard is Stone Tower Winery. This is a must visit as it is easily one of the most spectacularly gorgeous wineries you will ever visit. It’s more beautiful than many of the vineyards in California! (Assuming of course, the weather is good!) The first thing you’ll notice about this vineyard is how big the property itself is. The massive rustic looking barn features many rooms including an open tasting room as soon as you walk inside and a gentleman’s parlor room in the back of the house complete with leather chairs, a massive fireplace, and a flat screen tv (often playing golf or football). On the front porch of this winery is a ton of outdoor wooden furniture and benches surrounding an overconfident ironbound hog in the middle of the outdoor space. Around the back of the house, there’s a spectacular multi-level patio that overlooks miles upon miles of lush green landscape, rolling hills, and a pond. Come early and get your seats before someone else does! This winery is very much children and pet friendly and the vineyard offers food including a stone oven which pumps out pizzas faster than you can say ‘wait, there’s pizza too?!’. Amen to that!

A 25 minute ride north from here and you’ll come across Walsh Family Wines. The outside of this winery looks like a cottage from the British countryside. It’s beige and brown, with a brick doorway and golden color siding on the roof. The inside of the winery looks like a causal café with a high ceiling, lots of casual seating, and massive stone fireplace as the centerpiece of the room. If the option is available (meaning, Mother Nature cooperates), take your wine outside and sit on their half covered and half uncovered outdoor patio overlooking the vineyard. Relax and sip some wine near the outdoor stone fireplace on their cozy couch. Good luck not trying to sneak in a nap! This vineyard serves chocolate and the option of a cheese platter is also available.

Of course this is all from personal experience…I would love to hear where you’ve gone and what you suggest for my next trip!

Girl & the Goat

Roister

Cabra

Aviary

Girl & the Goat: If you’ve never heard of Stephanie Izard’s, Girl and the Goat (Little Goat & Duck Duck Goat), you must be living in a cave somewhere (or maybe you’ve never eaten out in Chicago…but still…we’re judging). All joking aside, outside of Grant Achatz, Stephanie Izard is quite possibly the “it” chef of Chicago and Girl & the Goat has been on the list of top restaurants in Chicago since it opened in 2010. It’s been written about in the World’s 50 Best restaurants and won countless awards, including the James Beard Award. No matter what day or time of day you arrive, the place is always packed with a fun and lively crowd and the food is always consistently delicious. Aside from the massive amount of goat meat options, make sure you pile on the veggies here, as they are fantastic. You can’t go wrong with the wood grilled broccoli or the pan fried shishito peppers, but the chickpea fritters, and roasted cauliflower are all outstanding. Basically, order the left side of the menu and let them cart you out in a wheel barrel, we don’t judge! Every dish has such a unique flavor profile, an excellent combination of soft and crunchy, meets slightly crispy from pan searing the veggies just enough to give them a little brownness and a slight crunch. Other favorites here include, the crisp braised pork shank, the confit goat belly and the goat empanadas.

Roister: As Infatuation.com says “if Alinea is haute couture, then Roister is the streetwear collection from the same designer”. Well put my friends. The highlight of this restaurant is the open kitchen is the main attraction and the busying chefs are an integral part of the whole dining experience. Furthermore, in typical Alinea Group fashion, each dish has a combination of flavors that will blow your mind. However, atypical to most of the Alinea Group’s restaurants (Alinea and Aviary mentioned below), (but typical West Loop fashion), Roister is super buzzy and full of energy. If you’re lucky enough to sit at the down at the open kitchen, you’ll be mesmerized in watching the chefs work meticulously to make each dish. Some crowd pleasers include: the oysters with jalapeno (don’t you dare ask for mignonette sauce, they just assume cut your head off); the fois gras (heavenly dish that taste a bit like dessert with the strawberry jam on the side), and the whole chicken & chamomile (fried chicken dish for two). When you see how much work goes into each dish, you can see why it was awarded a Michelin star in 2016-2018.

Cabra: As if Girl & the Goat didn’t get her enough notoriety, Stephanie Izard went and opened another restaurant that is just as popular and sexy as Girl and the Goat (is that even possible)?! Cabra, the swanky Peruvian style restaurant is downtown Miami meets Chicago. You’ll honestly be confused as to where you are. First off, it’s in the swanky Hoxton hotel and the line just to get into the restaurant wraps around the place multiple times over. Secondly, once inside you can’t help noticing the ornate floor to ceiling windows, the vibrant use of colors, the decorative plants aligning the bar, the open layout, and the buzzing energy all around. Third, they even have a rooftop pool connected to the restaurant. (For the 30 days of the year Chicago isn’t bone chillingly cold!) The highlight of Cabra is the unique ceviche dishes and the overall funky Japanese-Peruvian marriage of flavors. You must try at least at least one ceviche dish, the avocado dip, multiple tuna dishes, and the smoked goat empanadas (the woman loves her goat meat!)

Aviary: The Aviary is the type of place that everyone needs to visit at least once in their lifetime (assuming of course, you are a cocktail person). Yes, the cocktails are a little pricey and yes, they have a ton of booze in them, but trust me, you haven’t had a specialty cocktail until you’ve had one of Aviary’s molecular mixology cocktails. It should be noted, there is giant ‘state of the art’, gated from floor to ceiling, Jetsons like cocktail lab when you walk in. (Remember when science wasn’t cool? Ha!). Between the infused ice cubs, the fake smoke, and the drinks that completely change flavors halfway through, the theatrics are bound to render you speechless. Some of their mot popular drinks include, 20,000 Blueberries Under The Sea, Cereal Killer, and Ain’t Nobody Got Lime for That (do note, these drinks change often or at least, change names often). If you find yourself feeling super buzzy and craving a good old case of the drunk munchies, they do offer a few small bites to coat your stomach. Do yourself a favor an order the truffle explosion. It’s one bite of stuffed pasta, but it’s the best ‘mouth explosion you will ever have’. Trust me. While you’re here it’s almost guaranteed you will see a giant white tower of some crispy, rice cake looking monster on multiple tables…that’s the crispy pork skin and whew, it is delightful. You can also do a food and drink pairing, which is highly suggested. One last note, while there is an Aviary in NYC, the one in Chicago is a bit less pretentious, and a bit swankier, with a younger ‘more hip’ crowd in the Chicago location and of course, a bit less expensive (the three-course cocktail tasting menu with supplements runs about $65). The mood inside is a bit like an upscale Prohibition bar with dim lighting, lots of teacup candles, low, circular, plush couches, and small bar tables to accompany the seating.

I will shamefully admit, two of these places are owned by the Alinea group and two are run by Stephanie Izzard, so not much branching out here, but hey, they know their stuff! There are however, many other amazing eateries in this part of town!

Where have you been in Chicago? I am always looking for new spots!

The first floor of this New York City high-end dining establishment has a vintage and classy bar that will remind you of the Mad Men era. In a nutshell, The Polo Bar is a romantic type of restaurant where women of the 1950s expected to be taken for a fancy dinner date. Assuming you arrive a few minutes early for your reservation or are waiting for the rest of your party to arrive, do sit at the bar or the leather couch bar seats across from the bar and order a Manhattan or tequila-based cocktail to start. You may need to refinance your house to be able to afford more than one cocktail, but this isn’t the kind of place you’re going to eat at every night (one would assume). Anyway, they’ll immediately hand you a drink menu and some delicious bar snacks to start, including deep fried olives, freshly made kettle potato chips and delicious roasted nuts. (Side note: they really need to package up these roasted nuts and start selling them in grocery stores, or at least give them out on planes. I think we all might enjoy flying again if I could have these delightful, well-seasoned nuts, but I digress). When your party is fully in attendance and the time has commenced for your dining reservation, the host will tell you to follow her downstairs and off you go! The downstairs opens to what looks like an exclusive private gentleman’s polo club in Charleston, South Carolina. Between the fancy leather couches, wooden paneling, swanky mini lamps on each table, forest green walls, and numerous framed pictures of competition polo horses, you’ll feel like you’re leaving ‘2019 NYC’ and entering a whole different world. Another lavish detail at this restaurant is their use of monogrammed items. Every single item at the Polo Bar is monogrammed. From the plates and bowls to the menus, everything says ‘The Polo Bar’ Ralph Lauren as if you forgot where you were. (Not likely).

The menu is an excellent collaboration of traditional high-end American favorites like shrimp cocktail, pigs in a blanket, tuna tartare, prime filet mignon and their infamous Polo Bar burger. From the oysters to the bone-in rib eye, every dish is executed very well here. The staff is also very friendly, hospitable, and well-versed on the menu. You will be treated like royalty (you are paying enough for it!) Don’t be surprised if you see “A level” celebrity sightings in the bathroom or the table next to you. In addition to the restaurant being super exclusive, the downstairs has this ‘secretive’ vibe as nothing is visible from the outside. It’s quite the experience overall.

The Polo Bar in Chicago has a bit of a different ambiance.

In Chicago, you can walk in and have a seat at the bar, even if you don’t have a dinner reservation that evening. The restaurant itself looks more like a gentleman’s club from the 1940’s, rather than a polo club from the 1950’s and 60’s. There’s a bit of an old school ‘Chicago mobster’ kind of vibe going on. The bar area is surrounded by vintage, wooden bookshelves filled with novel books like Moby Dick. What’s interesting about the bar itself is the unique, antique glass vases on the stop shelf of the bar. They are interesting decorations. Move past the bar area and you’ll enter an open style dining room with low, wooden paneled ceilings, navy blue walls, tons of framed paintings on the walls, luxurious leather seating, and white tablecloth tables along with numerous little ‘library’ lamps and a few decorative white roses on every table. There’s a certain prohibition like feeling to this restaurant as there’s no windows in the dining room and lighting is kept dim.

Another main difference between the NYC location and the Chicago location is the fact that the Chicago location is open for lunch and weekend brunch and NYC location is only open for dinner (only adding to its elusive vibe). Both locations focus on their steak and meat choices, but the Chicago location also offers a delightful seafood tower, while NYC does not. The meat fish and meat sections are similar, as are the side offerings. The NYC location, as you might expect, is a bit pricier.

Note that the plates in Chicago say RL and the plates in NYC say ‘The Polo Bar’.

Try to eat on the earlier side, as you’re bound to be treated better and the staff will likely be more present. We arrived on a weekday at 5:30pm for our dining reservation for the location in NYC, and the service was second to none. On the other hand, we arrived around 9:30pm on a Saturday evening to Polo Bar in Chicago, and the place was just about empty when we were done eating.

Looking forward to visiting their London and Paris locations in the future!

Brunch: Jardin Nelson

Who doesn’t love live jazz, freshly squeezed mimosas, and outdoor seating underneath a cozy, warmly heated patio? That’s the brunch trifecta right there! The ambiance at this fantastic weekend spot is casual, trendy, charming, friendly, and fun. The lengthy, all day menu resembles a Charles Dickens novel, which can be slightly intimidating, but luckily, they’ve shortened brunch down to two pages, so you’re not sitting there deliberating until dinner rolls around. If you’re looking for brunch suggestions, the Shakshouka with poached duck egg is very tasty and filling. The dish comes with pan fried vegetables roasted in a delicious cheesy tomato sauce with a duck egg on top, and roasted potatoes on the side. The open-faced grilled cheese sandwich is also another suggested dish, especially if you like things on the sweeter side. The dish comes with two pieces of bread topped with aged cheddar, blue cheese, dates, walnuts and maple syrup with a delicious salad on the side finished off with a poppy seed dressing. Be forewarned, the dish is resembles more of a dessert than a hearty breakfast dish!

Moving on, as we all know, you can’t do brunch properly without delicious mimosas, so be sure to grab some while you’re here. The orange juice is freshly squeezed and as you might imagine, it comes with a nice, fresh cut strawberry slice on the rim. In addition to the delightful mimosas, the peach sangria is all the rage here. Jacked with peach schnapps, this sangria will have you singing like the high pitched jazz singer on stage when you’re done!

Bagels!

If you’re in a rush, and just looking for a quick to go bite, be sure to check out the freshly baked bagel scene in Montreal. (Here is Time Out New York’s list of the best bagels). What makes the Montreal bagel so unique compared to the NYC bagel you might be asking? Excellent question. First off, all Montreal bagels are made by hand. They are also poached in honey before being baked in a wood-fire burning oven. This unique cooking process gives the Canadian bagel its distinctive chewy characteristic, as well as its golden color and crust. Apparently, the proper way to eat this bagel is fresh out of the oven in a paper bag, and ripping scolding hot pieces off, and dipping them in cream cheese. It’s worth a trip to Canada just to give this delightful bagel a try.

Lunch: Check out the Mile End.

The Mile End which is often referred to as the Brooklyn of Montreal comes complete with the usual Brooklyn staples: brownstone buildings, hipsters, bagels, abandoned factories turned into expensive condos, and of course, fantastic food! The Mile End area is best known for tons of vegan options, signature homemade gnocchi in a to-go Chinese takeaway container at La Dhrogeria Fine, and some of the best gelato you will ever eat at the famous, Kem Coba, which is so popular, it often garners a line longer than Six Flags on a hot summer day.

If you’re unsure where to go, check out a food tour. Trust me, there are many! We did the Local Montreal Food Tours.

Happy Hour:

The rooftop deck at the Hotel William Gray is the perfect place to grab a pre-dinner cocktail. The seats at the bar are heated with overhead heat lamps, there’s gorgeous views of the river and the giant Ferris wheel, the bar staff is super friendly, and the vibe is very chill and trendy. People are dressed in everything from suits to ripped jeans and a white tee, trust me you’ll feel like you belong, whether you’re dressed in your Sunday best or a Big Bird costume.

Dinner:

Montreal has so many amazing restaurants, it’s insane! It’s truly the New York City of Canada. In any case, you must have at least one great meal before you leave (especially if the exchange rate it in your favor, then it’s well worth it)! One restaurant that came highly recommended is Garde Manger. One awesome thing about this restaurant is the fact that they change up their menu daily and they do tasting menus so you can try a variety of things! Be prepared to wait when you arrive as this place is in the heart of Old Montreal (touristy area of Montreal) and it’s quite the popular spot! The tasting menu starts at $100 dollars Canadian and includes a shared seafood tower, appetizers, entrees, and dessert. Expect a lot of food. If there are three people in your party, you will likely get: three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts for the table. Whew. All you need to do is tell the wait staff what you won’t eat, and the chefs will create a menu around that.  Please see below: chicory, beef tartare, and tuna carpaccio for starters. For entrees: halibut, lamb, and roasted broccoli. If you dine on a Thursday-Sunday and order the tasting menu, be prepared to stay a few hours as everything is made to order in a small kitchen and this place gets packed!

If you’re in town for work or pleasure and find yourself near the Golden Square mile where the Four Seasons, Loews Hotel, or Ritz Carlton are, do check out La Société at the Loews Hotel. Don’t forget to order a fantastic bottle of French white wine and their duck rillette & foie gras parfait and their Icelandic cod fillet. Although the restaurant has a clear French theme, it’s much better than most of the restaurants in Paris. Guaranteed!

Another highly recommended restaurant was Maison Boulud at the Ritz Carlton. It’s a Daniel Boulud restaurant so you can’t go wrong and again, if you are a United States citizen visiting Montreal, you feel like you get an automatic discount because of the exchange rate!

Late night cocktails:

The Coldroom is a must (assuming you like speakeasy type bars). It’s a bit of a project trying to locate this underground bar, but as a rule of thumb, if it’s a speakeasy, look for a line of people waiting outside a black door, and you’re probably at the right place. They’ll take down your information and tell you they’ll text you when they are ready for you. (Luckily for us, it didn’t take more than 30 minutes). When you arrive, you’ll walk downstairs into a dimly lit room with a small bar and dark, lounge style seating.

Bar Le Mal Necessaire is another fun, late night stop for cocktails. The cocktail bar has a tiki style theme and serves exotic drinks while playing underground house music on Friday and Saturday evening. The place isn’t too big or too crowded, so you can dance on the dance floor or sip on your drink at the bar while listening to DJ music play in the background.

If you have the time, do check out Bota Bota before you leave. It’s a spa on a boat and it’s quite delightful. You truly feel like you’re on a cruise on the water. There’s indoor and outdoor spas, pools, saunas, and steam rooms. There’s also an excellent restaurant on the first floor that allows you to dine on the water in a glass enclosed room. The food is excellent, and you can dine in your robe. What more can you ask for?

Tell me now, who doesn’t love dumplings and bread filled with cheese or just freshly baked, warm, crunchy on the outside and fluffy, piping hot, doughy goodness on the inside, bread in general? Georgia certainly does! Between Kninkali, (Georgian dumplings), Khachapuri, (Georgian bread), and Puri, (Georgian flatbread), you’ll end up in dough Heaven in no time. Sometimes I think this food was created as a reason to drink more wine. Who doesn’t love a huge helping of carbs with a nice glass of wine?! In Tbilisi, you simply cannot pass one place without smelling freshly baked bread and the site of plump, piping hot dumplings.  Many places have delicious variations on the two signature dishes. Kninkali is normally stuffed with a meat mixture of pork and beef, but you can also order them with potato, potato and cheese, or mushroom filling. You must however orders in quantities of five and eat each dumpling by hand, without any utensils (at least, if you don’t want to look like a tourist). Check out this Tbilisi food tour, it’s well worth it. Here are some suggestions of places to go:

a.       Stamba Hotel: this publishing house turned hotel is one of the coolest hotels you will ever walk into. The rustic lobby opens open into a massive, head to toe library that just begs for Instagram photos. Go past the lobby area and you’ll see the adorable restaurant with an open layout bar straight out of the 1960s, a large restaurant, and a beautiful patio for outdoor seating. The food is fantastic, but I don’t need to tell you, the pictures alone do it justice…

b.       Febrika Tbilisi: straight out of Industry City, Brooklyn, this warehouse area of Tbilisi will have you feeling like you never left Brooklyn. Old warehouse buildings are converted into bars and shopping areas with a courtyard area for mingling. There’s also a funky/hipster hostel/hotel complete with fading rugs, old chairs you swear came out of your grandmother’s basement and (of course) a coffee bar, because hipsters and coffee go together like shampoo and conditioner. Can’t have one without the other!

c.       Café Linvil: take a step back in time in this authentic, vintage, cozy early 1900s Georgian home complete with flowered wallpaper, old, cranky wooden floors, large, ornate curtains and beautiful ancient European tablecloths. You’ll want to drink tea, eat a scone and talk about how hard times have been since the war. It’s quite an experience.  

d.       Salobie Bia: easily one of the best restaurants in Tbilisi, this adorable little ‘café’ is almost part art museum with walls covered in drawings and paintings. The wine is excellent as is their beet salad.

e.       Iveria Terrace at the Radisson Blu: should you find yourself in Tbilisi during the months of May to October, check out the beautiful views from the Iveria Terrace. The food is fantastic too. Highly recommend the pastas.

  2.       Get there before all the tourists do

Seriously. You’ll get grade A treatment, private tours, and the traffic is still bearable, it’s blissful. The citizens of Georgia are excited for tourism, knowing it brings jobs and money into the economy and they make it known they’re excited for you to be there. I did a free walking tour one my first evening from 6pm to 9pm. The tour guide was super extensive and kept the tour going until way past 9am, she was so excited to teach us about Georgian history. Then on the city bus tour the next day, the tour guide sat down next to me and gave me a personalized tour the entire ride around the city! On the two tours we booked: the wine tour and the food tour, we were the only people on the tour, so we got a personalized tour made to our liking and they kept us out way later than the website described!

3.       It’s so cheap!

On our trip, the exchange rate was: 1 USD equals 2.74 Georgian Lari. If a glass of wine was on the menu for 12 Lari, that means it was around $4 a glass. The food was very reasonable too. You could easily order lunch for less than $10 (USD).

4.       The people are so friendly. Most people speak at least some English and they will happily converse with you and ask you where you are from.

5.       It’s perfectly acceptable to drink wine at all hours and they thoroughly encourage it. Seriously, 2am wine stores have their doors open, anxiously waiting for you to come in and try some wine.

6.       Chacha. Georgians love this stuff. Rumor has many of them start their day with a shot of it. Lord help them. This moonshine like liquor is powerful stuff and it comes in all sorts of flavors. Be sure to check out Chacha time for drinks and Chacha corner if you’re looking to bring some bottles back as souvenirs.

7.       It’s speechlessly beautiful and the air is so clean! Only pictures will do it (some justice), so here you go. While you’re here, check out the botanical gardens. Coming from New York City, it was nice breathing in fresh, clean air mixed with the smell of fresh flowers and blooming trees.  

8.       The culture is a wonderful mix of Georgian, Russian, Jewish, Muslim, Christianity and basically everything in between and the food is a wonderful reflection of the diversity.

With the rise of social dining apps, such as Eatwith.com, it no longer seems unusual to enter a stranger’s home and pay them to eat a homecooked meal at their kitchen table with other random people. (If you can share cars with people, why can’t you share a love of cooking with someone in their kitchen?) Bouncing off the idea of social dining apps, and getting together in a stranger’s home, is…

The restaurant itself has many rooms. There’s the quaint, upscale bar area, which is a bit reminiscent of the 1970s bar in the movie, The Shining, as there are only four bar chairs and there’s a dim yellowish/greenish lighting. Then there’s the luxurious, and extensive main dining room and the private rooms that can be rented out for special occasions, like the Bellecour room, off the restaurant’s lounge, which is named after the historic town square located in the hometown of Daniel Bloulud’s hometown, Lyon to the super exclusive Skybox which offers a bird’s eye view of the Daniel kitchen, and is easily one of the most unique dining experiences in all of New York City.

On the random Monday evening we dined here, our party was lucky enough to have a table front and center in the dining room which allowed a wonderful 360-degree view of everyone around us. On the walls surrounding the dining room area, which is squared off by the Romanesque pillars, are large artwork masterpieces of miscellaneous things, along with lots of beautiful plants and flowers, giving the room a nice, soft touch. Looking up, the ceiling is also reminiscent of the Ancient Roman Empire, but oddly enough the magnificent curricular chandeliers that hang from the ceiling have a playful 1970’s disco ball feel to them, it’s quite the dichotomy.

The restaurant, which is only open for dinner, offers three options for dining, the prelude, before 6pm three-course prix-fix, the four-course tasting, or the seven-course tasting menu prepared by the chef. (There is also the option of pairing wine with your meal). We opted for the four courses which was ever so perfect for us. (For four courses we were there for three hours, I can’t imagine how long seven courses would take, we might need to sleep there!) Luckily the menu is arranged in terms of first course, second course and third course so that you aren’t completely confused where to start. All options sound so uniquely spectacular, it really was hard to choose just three! (Ask your waiter for recommendations, I allowed him to choose my entire menu. The man has been there for most of his life, he definitely knows what’s up!)

Once we ordered our three main courses, they came by with mini mushroom tarts to start accompanied by a poached lobster dish with seasonal green vegetables. After that we were given a taste of their chilled pea soup with smoked cheese. It was beautifully pureed and tasted like the peas had just been picked from the local garden. Delightful, pallet cleansing starter.

For the first course, the very respectful cordial, knowledgeable, and direct waiter suggested the New Orleans Crayfish with Pike Mousseline, Wild Daylilly, Crystalline Tempura, and Fava Beans. The dish was such an incredible burst of flavor. It had a creamy taste up front, mixed with a slight fishy taste from the crawfish, and a crispy flavor from the tempura. The seasonal veggies also added a nice, earthy finish. It was a bit like eating a creamy Mexican dish exploding with cream and tons of spices.

For course two, our lovely waiter recommended the white asparagus, which is in season this spring. Europeans go crazy for white asparagus when the season begins. In fact, it is so revered that full blown festivals mark the season. Chefs go crazy for this mild, colorless, almost sweet tasting vegetable. What is white asparagus you might ask? Its asparagus that never sees the light of day as it’s grown underground. Growers cover the spears in mounded dirt or black plastic tunnels so that they’re not exposed to light and don’t produce chlorophyll (which would turn them green). As delightful as this vegetarian dish sounded, it’s also not everyday you see squab breast on the menu, so I went with that. (For those of you unaware, squab is a young pigeon, it cuts like duck meat, hearty, dark meat poultry). Apparently, it’s a very difficult meat to cook, so you will very rarely see it on the menu. (Interesting how Michelin restaurants serve ‘flying rats’ on their menu, huh? I digress). The broiled squab was served medium rare and had a delicious skin on it, made of a French curry spice blend. The dish also came with a delightful green puree and fresh green asparagus.

Course three offered so many unique and creative dishes. The quail was stuffed with foie gras in a pastry like casing. It was served with cabbage and mushroom on the side with a splash of white wine and sherry sauce both on top and to the side of the meat. It came with a side of ‘crispy rice’ that was almost like eating Rice Krispies with a delicious cheesy finish. Another diner at our table ordered their notable Elysian Fields Farm Roasted Lamb Chop with barley, young radishes, and nettle emulsion, which well a picture does equal a thousand words…

Throughout the course of the evening, the bread server came out numerous times to offer us a variety of bread options, which we gobbled down like there was a bread shortage somewhere in New York City. The brioche was warm, with a delightful crispy, slightly buttery outside with warm, delicious dough on the inside and the Parmesan bread had the most delightful flavor of Parmesan and fluffy ‘cloud like’ dough.

Finally, came the best part of the evening, the wonderful finale, dessert. The dessert menu was unlike anything I had ever seen before (and apparently it changes often!). We decided to order four different desserts and do a ‘musical dessert’ so that we could all try one another’s. The pistache was a definite favorite. It was pistachio ice cream in a hard chocolate casing with salted caramel and praline with a sweet and savory dash of ice cream on the side. Another dessert was a unique taste on lemon meringue. The dish came with two little hardened shells of meringue, with a lovely dash of lemon on the inside. As with most Michelin restaurants, little compliments from the chef were aplenty. We were bestowed with warm madeleines (lightly browned pieces of dough, shaped similarly to muffins, dusted with powered sugar), along with a plate of homemade chocolates and little ‘Daniel’ boxes to take home that were filled with little cakes dusted in brown syrup.

After the meal, Chef Daniel Boulud came out and said hello and offered to briefly show us the kitchen. The kitchen staff were busy at work, winding down for the evening, and thoroughly cleaning and re-cleaning every nook and cranny of the kitchen, but most were happy to say hello. As you would expect, the kitchen was impeccable, with ‘Michelin two stars’ signs hanging front and center. Chef Daniel was more than hospitable and was happy to briefly chat with us and take pictures. He also pointed up to the Skybox and joked that we needed to eat there next time as we could watch the chefs prepare our food for us. (Funny he mentioned that, as there was a table of four eating front and center in the kitchen when we arrived. Best table in the house for sure! Overall, it was a spectacular meal. The service was outstanding, the food was incredible, the ambiance was second to none. Just about everything was as close to perfection as humanely possible. A highly recommended dinner for your next celebration (or a random Monday evening, who’s judging?!)

March 2019 Seafood Trends!

For many retailers, Lent, (the six-week period between Ash Wednesday and Easter) provides the seafood industry with a much-needed sales booth. In fact, U.S. retailers generated $1 billion in seafood sales during Lent last year. However outside of this brief period, seafood sales lag well behind those other fresh categories, and well behind other protein categories. Although it is still not nearly…

The French call them the “Diamonds of the kitchen” and 60 Minutes named them ‘the most expensive food in the world’. Truffles can offen garner more money than some high-end champagnes. In 2014, an anonymous bidder from Hong Kong shelled out $120,000 for two pieces of white truffle weighing a total of about two pounds. Whether they’re called trufffe in French, tartufo in Italian, trufa in Spanish…

February 2019 Food Trends

As we all know, its officially March, so I failed at getting this out in the actual month described, but regardless, there are some interesting food trends going on right now.

Rise of vegan food

These days it seems more and more of us are embracing a more plant friendly lifestyle, with vegan restaurants opening all over the country almost every day. The Veganuary campaign – an annual campaign…