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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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36 Hours in Niseko – The New York Times

Niseko — where the powder is voluminous, après ski happens in onsens (hot springs), and culinary adventures abound — is a popular destination for international travelers. Japow, the nickname for the average 600 inches of powder that arrives from Siberia each winter, is what puts the resort so firmly on the map with skiers and snowboarders. On the north island of Hokkaido, Niseko includes four main separate, but linked, resorts (collectively called Niseko United). Beyond the slopes, the island is renowned for world-class seafood, produce and beef as well as beer, whiskey and even some sake. Its excellent restaurants, from simple noodle bars and laid-back izakayas (Japanese pubs) to fine dining at the Michelin-starred Kamimura, spotlight the island’s bounty. Though often called the Aspen of Asia — and, indeed, Niseko is undergoing a similar luxury building boom — this Japanese resort is forging its own identity, from design to food to culture and wellness scenes.

Friday

1) 1:30 p.m. Artful dining

Perched on the side of a cliff in the Hanazono area, Somoza, a serene gallery and artful restaurant, is housed in a renovated wood kominka (historic farmhouse). A typical thatched roof has been replaced with steel, but its traditional shape still evokes a samurai helmet. Head downstairs to its main gallery where an ongoing exhibition, “Hokkaido Through the Ages,” presents a history lesson while showcasing artifacts from the founder and designer Shouya Grigg’s personal collection. There’s pottery from the island’s ancient Jomon period (from about 10,000 B.C. to 300 B.C.); and a carved kabuto sword stand with deer antlers and other works by the Ainu, people only recently recognized by the government as Japan’s indigenous inhabitants. On the main level are handmade ceramics from Japanese artisans and Mr. Grigg’s minimalist black-and-white photographs of snow, trees, mountains and abstract patterns inspired by nature. (Somoza will open an additional adjacent art gallery this spring.)

Somoza serves some of the most creatively delicious food — inspired takes on Japanese cuisine with Italian influences — in Niseko. Its changing seasonal menus focus on local ingredients, such as duck breast with Kutchan potato, crab and sea urchin consommé, or salmon smoked on-site, all served on beautiful ceramics. Lunch is about 5,000 yen, or about $46. (Also, ask about the restaurant’s matcha tea ceremony.) Sit by its glass windows and gaze onto silver birch, oak and ezo red pine trees. The restaurant offers free transportation from Hanazono for lunch.

2) 5 p.m. Snow-surfing

West of downtown Hirafu village is Gentemstick, the groovy shop of the local legend Taro Tamai, the father of Japanese “snow-surfing.” This Zen-like approach brings snowboarding back to its roots, with the rider using body movements and techniques from surfing to follow the terrain of the mountain. Lining the walls like sculptures are colorful surf boards from Mr. Tamai’s personal collection, and handcrafted snowboards made with bamboo and other woods (88,000 to 162,000 yen). With good surf breaks a short drive away, some locals even ski in the morning, then surf in the afternoon. Purchase a beanie or T-shirt, then head upstairs to the shop’s cozy cafe, art gallery and yoga studio.

3) 6 p.m. Strolling through Hirafu

Hirafu village is Niseko’s cultural heartbeat, brimming with bars and restaurants, food trucks, coffee spots like the Mountain Kiosk Coffee stand, ski shops, condos, boutique hotels and luxury chalets. Drop into Powder Art Gallery for contemporary works by emerging artists from Tokyo, Europe and New York. Stop at Niseko Taproom for local craft beers like Obihiro Kurouto or fruity Onuma Snowdrop I.P.A. Enjoy Hirafu’s organic funkiness before a new massive town center development, called Aruku-zaka Street, comes in the next few years.

4) 7:30 p.m. Dinner on a stick

Yakitori — meat, seafood or vegetables on skewers — is popular throughout Japan, and Bang Bang is a Niseko institution. Reserve bar seats and watch chefs grill over a special charcoal called binchotan, made from oak and valued for its high, clean heat that enhances textures and flavors. From gizzards and heart to neck and feet, almost every part of the chicken’s here, with crispy skin a standout. So are Hokkaido Wagyu beef skewers, Hokkaido crabs and Akkeshi Kakiemon oysters (about 10,000 yen). If you can’t get a reservation, Bang 2 — next door, its more casual eatery — now offers the same menu.

5) 9:30 p.m. Whiskey nights

Down a dimly lit Hirafu side street, people stand in line to pass through an old-fashioned red refrigerator door (an Instagram favorite) plastered with stickers. Dubbed The Fridge, Bar Gyu+, with its cozy speakeasy ambience and candlelit wooden tables, is famous for its old and rare Japanese single-malts, a selection that changes every season. Ask what’s behind the bar for off-the-menu pourings of sought-after whiskeys like Karuizawa or Hanyu, and expect to pay almost 22,000 yen ($201) for some shots. Sip as a D.J. spins vinyl, mostly jazz tunes. Still want to dance? A short walk away is the fun new Powder Room, an upscale club with quality wines and cocktails that feels more Hong Kong than Niseko.

Saturday

6) 8 a.m. Fuel up

In central Hirafu, Green Farm Deli & Cafe roasts its own coffee beans. Fuel up for the slopes over hearty pork hash with poached eggs, or an egg wrap, all from local ingredients, alongside your latte or cappuccino. Breakfast, about 2,000 yen.

7) 9 a.m. Four mountains

One pass offers access to Annupuri, Niseko Village, Grand Hirafu and Hanazono; one day costs 8,000 yen if bought online. (Niseko also participates in the global Mountain Collective and Ikon Pass, season-long lift passes to top worldwide resorts, including Niseko United.) Venture out with an instructor to guide you around the mountains for an overview, or to get tips for powder. Niseko’s slopes offer lots of variety, from beginners to advanced, with the highest elevation only 3,937 feet. Intrepid skiers can go from one resort to the next, beginning at Hanazono and ending at Annupuri. (A free bus can also take you to each base.) At the top of the Niseko gondola, ski to the sleek wooden Lookout Cafe and tuck into a bowl of simple seafood ramen (about 2,000 yen). Trekking up and skiing down the crater of Mount Yotei — a volcano, resembling a smaller Mount Fuji, that looms over Niseko — belongs on your adrenaline bucket list (guide required; contact Rising Sun Guides).

8) 2:30 p.m. Après ski ritual

With Japan’s volcanic landscape, there are ample onsens (geothermal hot springs) in Niseko; taking to the waters at a public bathhouse is both an essential ritual of Japanese culture and part of the ski experience. Join the locals at Yugokorotei, in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Annupuri. Know the Japanese etiquette, such as bringing your own little “modesty towel” and soap to cleanse thoroughly before dipping, naked (no bathing suits allowed), into a communal outdoor pool. Like most onsen, this one is separated by gender. The outdoor pool, under a wood pergola and surrounded by snow and boulders, features mineral water pumped from the base of Mount Annupuri. It may be cold outside, but you’re relaxing your body and soul in about 130 degree Fahrenheit, mineral-rich bubbling water. Folding and placing the towel on your head is a custom. Cost: 1,000 yen.

9) 6 p.m. The art of noodles

Begin at Karabina, an izakaya occupying a small wooden hut at Annupuri’s base (note: this is the last season the restaurant will be open at this location). Shoes off, walk up a few steps to a cozy alcove, sit around a wood-burning stove and sip a local sake. Then walk a stone’s throw away down a pathway to another rustic wood dwelling, Rakuichi. Helmed by Tatsuru Rai, known for his artisan, local buckwheat noodles, this soba master was celebrated on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations,” and ever since it’s been a hard reservation to get. His wife, Midori, greets diners as they don slippers and sit at a no-frills, 12-seat wooden counter with views of the master at work on a ball of dough. Dinner comes kaiseki-style, a Japanese haute cuisine tasting menu that changes with the seasons. Nine simple dishes with bright flavors are presented on pretty Japanese ceramic plates and lacquer bowls. Order a Hokkaido sake to accompany, for instance, sashimi of sea urchin, toro tuna, smoked scallop and Mr. Rai’s hand-cut soba noodles. Select either cold with tempura vegetables, or hot with duck (an additional 800 yen). Finish with dessert. (Dinner is about 12,000 yen.)

10) 9:30 p.m. Niseko noir

Stop at Toshiro’s for a cocktail created by its bespectacled namesake proprietor and mixologist, celebrated for concoctions like Penicillin, a mix of whiskey, ginger and citrus, with a smoky spin (1,600 yen). Or try a ginger gimlet and a smoked old fashioned with local whiskey. More than 400 bottles sit behind the bar; select a tasting flight, from 3,600 to 45,000 yen.

Sunday

11) 10 a.m. Shrines and temples

Grab a coffee at the Mountain Kiosk Coffee stand or one of the trucks in Hirafu and head to the non-touristy town of Kutchan (about six miles from Hirafu and 20 minutes by cab) where you’ll find the Daibutsuji Buddhist temple, featuring a prayer room with a gold-painted ceiling depicting a dragon shielding a Buddhist elder from a tiger (no charge, book in advance). Be mindful that temples and shrines are places of worship for local residents, as well as places to protect sacred objects. Other area shrines: Kutchan-jinja, where red, green and yellow flags line the simple wood interior; and in Niseko Town stands the small Kaributo-jinja.

12) 1 p.m. Swirl and other milk treats

Hokkaido, Japan’s top dairy-producing region, is recognized for offering the best milk in the country. Milk Kobo, next to the Takahashi working dairy farm in Niseko Village, is noted for hand-milking its cows, and its popular cafe and shop makes desserts and cheeses from the milk. Knock back a banana yogurt drink, which is packaged in a cute little bottle with cows on its label. Don’t miss the cheese tarts and cream puffs.

Lodging

At the nine-room boutique Kimamaya in Hirafu, European alpine design meets Japanese aesthetics. Feel at home sitting around the living-room fireplace, sipping a glass of Burgundy from the owner’s private vineyard. An adjacent restaurant, The Barn, inspired by Hokkaido farm architecture, serves Western and Japanese breakfasts, and for dinner, French-Japanese food using local ingredients; it’s worth eating here even if staying elsewhere. There’s a small spa and two stone soaking tubs. Rates: 22,400 to 55,440 yen for doubles; lofts are 41,440 to 94,080 yen.

Nestled in a picturesque forest, the stunning 15-room Zaborin fuses a traditional ryokan experience with contemporary luxury. Guests relax in Japanese house pajamas, and dinner is an 11-course kaiseki meal of beautifully presented plates, with many foraged local ingredients. Rooms feature indoor and outdoor onsens. Rates start at 75,000 yen.

If you chose the Airbnb route, try to find a property in the vibrant Hirafu area. Here you can easily walk to restaurants and shops, and are near public transportation. Expect to pay around $155 and up for a one bedroom.

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anneedmonds · 5 years ago

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Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men

I’m going to start with the men’s gift guide, this year, so that it doesn’t come across as an afterthought. Don’t you think that a lot of the time men’s gift guides are just far less exciting and inspirational than the women’s ones? I find them so difficult to put together – but then I find buying things for Mr AMR quite complicated, so I suppose it’s not surprising. What I think he might like is always so far from the truth – in my mind, he wants a swanky new Tom Ford wallet, in reality he is in his element going around the garden with his battery-operated leaf-blower.

True story.

So here are some ideas for men’s Christmas presents. I’ve tried to cover all bases and price points but let it be known that it is hard not to be drawn into featuring the usual suspects. A shaving set. Novelty socks. Some funky-looking vodka. A soap that looks like a turd…

OK, the first thing I want to talk about is something called Masterclass. Have you seen this advertised? It’s so good. It’s basically a series of video masterclasses from leaders in their fields – so you can have, for example, a film-making masterclass with Jodie Foster, makeup lessons with Bobbi Brown, beat-making classes with Timbaland and high-powered, motivational business classes with some of the world’s highest achievers. It’s such an excellent gift idea and a full access pass, which gives you access to all of the lessons from violin-playing to haute cuisine-cooking, is £170. And it’s currently buy one get one free. One for them, one for you. What’s not to like?

I think that this is the perfect gift whether you’re happy in your career and just want to broaden your interests or dying for some inspiration to turn your life around. I’ve already joined and I think it’s absolutely genius – I’ll be reviewing soon, so watch this space!

Masterclass, £170 for 12 months here.

Mr AMR wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t talk about his battery-powered leaf-blower, so here it is: the Ego Power Plus blower. Mr AMR would also like it to be known that all of the Ego garden tools are very good, including the lawnmower. You have a rechargeable battery pack that fits into all of them and is interchangeable, so you can go from mowing to blowing at the blink of an eye. He bought all of his many, many, many tools from Ego Power Plus here.

Note that the backpack blower makes whoever’s wearing it look like a character from Ghostbusters. Which is a comedy bonus.

Something else from Mr AMR’s list of favourites; the Samsung Frame TV. In all fairness, this would be on my own favourites list because it has completely changed the look of my living room. I think we have the older model now, but they look pretty much the same; it’s a TV with a wooden bezel (frame) that sits absolutely flush with the wall so that it looks like a gallery-hung picture. The screen displays a picture whenever the TV is off and it looks completely realistic. I can’t recommend this TV enough, especially if you – like me – absolutely detest the look of televisions on walls.

Find the Frame at John Lewis here* – from £999.

One last thing from Mr AMR before we move on to gifting pastures new: the Bed of Nails, which has been featured many times in the past. It’s one of his most prized possessions, this mat-with-spikes and he slides it out from its hiding place beneath the bed whenever he has a headache or can’t sleep properly. I have no idea whether it actually cures headaches or helps you to sleep properly but he swears by it for just about every ailment and sense of discomfort. He says that he enjoys the pain of the spikes – “it’s a nice pain”. Worrying.

Find the Bed of Nails online at Cult Beauty here* – it’s an unusual – but hopefully very useful – present.

Oh, OK, one more idea from Mr AMR because he did spend ages lying in the bath writing his list to help me out… Brace yourselves for this one people… Third on his list? The Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses*. Sunglasses that play your audio through the sunglasses. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? It is totally and utterly weird. But Mr AMR has tried them and can vouch that they do indeed play music via the material of the sunglasses and that it somehow magically ends up inside your ears. Who knows how? Who cares? Surely this is the future! Buy these and he can wear them when he’s riding his hoverboard to work…

Bose Frames are £199 at Amazon here*.

Whilst we’re Back to the Future, let’s take a look at the Apple Air Pods Pro, £249 from Apple here*. Currently with free engraving, which perhaps makes it a bit more of a thoughtful, personalised gift – tech always feels quite sterile to me! Anyway, these noise-cancelling, fully-immersive in-ear pods are the absolute bees knees – even if they do make it look as though you’re talking to yourself when you take a call on them…

If Apple’s enthusiastic pricing is a little too – er – steep, then plump for these noise-cancelling headphones from Sony. They’re comfy, effective and are a comparative snip at £79. Find them at Amazon here*.

Now we’re really cooking on gas! Or charcoal… The Everdure BBQ by Heston Blumenthal is compact and perfect for stowing away on camping trips. For some reason I can’t imagine Heston Blumenthal cooking on a BBQ, I only see him lifting heavy pans in the kitchen, but still: the BBQ is really cleverly designed. Find it at Amazon here* – it’s £149.

Continuing along the catering line of thought, I’d like to introduce you to a really excellent coffee machine. I know it is because I bought it for Mr AMR last year and he makes coffee for anyone who passes within a three mile radius of the house, because he seems to have an easily triggered hospitality reflex, so it has been tested to its limits. It’s the De’Longhi Magnifica and it’s robust, reasonably compact and makes great coffee. I’ve been told. Don’t touch the stuff – I prefer wine. Find it at Amazon here* – it’s currently £249.99 in the Black Friday sale.

Random quirky-luxe item: the Burberry Cow Print Leather Wallet, £280 at Liberty here*. I rather like this for myself!

Random quirky-luxe item 2: the Crocodile Letter Opener, £45 at Liberty here*.

I am adamant that Taschen’s Helmut Newton book is one of the best coffee table books (if not the best) that money can buy. It’s sexy, it’s fascinating and it’s absolutely HUGE – they don’t call it the Sumo for nothing! This one is a total showstopper and costs £100 here* but I see that there’s a newer edition that’s a standard book size. You can find the slightly smaller one here* for £55. Helmut Newton is one of my favourite photographers, there’s just always something new to pick up on in the images. He’ll never grow tired of this book…

And for those who would rather do some downstairs loo learning than look at glossy nudes, there’s I Used To Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School, £5.24 at Amazon here*. He’ll be boring you with academic facts for the entire holiday season…

A rocket vodka decanter. Because who doesn’t need a Vodka Decanter? Jonathan Adler, always the King of Fun… Find it here* at Selfridges, £150. So cool. There’s also a gin and a whiskey one, if you fancy a Starfleet moment.

I’ve been dying to include this in my gift guides: I, Robot: How To Be A Footballer 2, by Peter Crouch. Perhaps an unusual choice for someone who has absolutely zero interest in football or footballers, but I read an extract in The Times a while back and it was really quite excellent. I bought it straight away and it’s on my book pile waiting to be started. Yes, I’m going to read a book about football. The world must be ending. Find Peter Crouch’s second bestseller on Amazon here*.

Could this be the world’s hottest chilli sauce? It’s called, simply, Regret. Made on the Wiltshire Chilli Farm, I can’t think of a more worthy grocery item for filling a stocking… Find it on Amazon here*, it’s £14.95.

The Tiger Who Came To Tea: this’ll keep his pens in order. I love these pen pots from Quail – they also do egg cups and vases, all of them slightly kitsch and offbeat. Find the tiger one at Liberty here* – it’s £25.

Beatles Monopoly – the classic Christmas game gets a rock ‘n’ roll update. £45 at Selfridges here*.

Can’t find the perfect trainers for him? Why not take my very risky and potentially quite dangerous route and customise him a pair? This is probably the worst suggestion I’m ever going to make and you’ll have to forgive me in advance – sometimes unlimited choice isn’t the best thing… Haha. Go crazy, go wild, he’ll hate them but he can’t take them back! If only you could have your face printed on them… £85 at Nike here*.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood; a classic, chic stocking filler with a gorgeous vintage feel. This’ll keep him occupied over the holidays, when he’s not leaf-blowing or puking over your customised trainer design. £6.47 at Amazon here*.

Finally, the Drop Wireless Charger from Native Union is a sleek, chic phone charger that looks space-age and takes up hardly any room. This is currently £26.99 on Amazon* but is almost fifty quid on one of my much-frequented luxury websites! A slick piece of tech that won’t break the bank…

The post Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men was first posted on November 26, 2019 at 4:39 pm. ©2018 "A Model Recommends". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at [email protected] Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

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uphamshousema-blog · 6 years ago

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Pizza is one of the world's most popular dishes so it's no surprise that many claim to have created the world's first real pizza. Here are ten interesting facts about the history of pizza:

https://www.tripsavvy.com/history-of-pizza-1329091

Foods similar to the pizza --- namely flatbreads and oven-baked bread with various toppings --- have been prepared since the Neolithic age and across almost every region of the world.

However, bakers in Naples prepared the first dish to be known as a "pizza" in the 1600s. This street food was sold to the poor Neapolitans who spent much of their time outside their one-room homes. These Neapolitans would purchase slices of pizza and eat it as they walked, which led contemporary Italian authors to call their eating habits "disgusting."

In 1889, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita first visited a newly unified Italy and came through Naples. Legend has it that they grew bored of a constant diet of French haute cuisine and the queen asked for varieties of pizza to try. A baker named Raffaele Esposito of Da Pietro Pizzeria (now known as Pizzeria Brandi) invented a pizza with red tomato sauce, white mozzarella, and green basil, to reflect the colors of Italy's flag. Queen Margherita approved of this pizza and it soon became known as pizza Margherita.

Though the Queen gave her royal blessing to the pizza, pizza did not become well known outside of Naples until the late 1800s, when Italians began migrating to the Americas and carrying their tastes and recipes with them.

In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in the United States, selling pizza at his street front shop in Manhattan, located in a booming Italian-American neighborhood. Lombardi's is still in operation today and, though it is no longer at its 1905 location, the restaurant has the same oven as it did in 1905.

By the 1930s, the pizza business boomed. Italian-Americans opened up pizzerias across Manhattan, New Jersey, and Boston. In 1943, Ike Sewell opened Uno's in Chicago, bringing forth Chicago-style pizza. However, despite its popularity, pizza was still primarily a poor working man's food.

After World War II, GIs returned home from Europe, wanting to taste the pizza they had so frequently eaten across seas. In 1945, Ira Nevin, a returning soldier, invented the Baker's Pride gas-fired pizza oven, which allowed retailers to inexpensively and easily bake pizza pies, without the fuss of charcoal or wood. Taverns and restaurants began selling more and more pizzas.

The real proliferation of pizzas occurred with the advent of the pizza chain. Pizza Hut opened in 1958, Little Caesar's opened in 1959, Domino's opened in 1960, and Papa John's opened in 1989, each with the idea that they would sell pizzas to the masses.

In 1957, Celentano's began marketing frozen pizzas and pizzas soon became the most popular of all frozen meals.

Today, the pizza business brings in an estimated $32 billion in revenue, with over 3 billion pizzas sold each year in the United States.

#Uphams House #dorchester #MA #pizza #history

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toddlazarski · 7 years ago

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Milwaukee’s Top 30 Restaurants

Shepherd Express

The problem with any trip to New York, aside from the cost, a frustrating inability to eat everything you want to eat, and again, the cost, is that no matter where you live, inevitably you’ll have to come home to your city's comparative small town-ness. Eventually you will get back, and eventually you will wake up hungry once again, somehow find new funds to go out to eat, and with brow furrowed, hoping for inspiration, will peruse a list of the top restaurants in town.

You might happen upon the Journal Sentinel's Top 30 Restaurants, Ranked. At which point you'd be met with the usual, yearly suspects: your James Beard nominees, your spendy suburban steakhouse, overpriced casino stuff, trendy hotel fare. In short, you'll get the old school, parochial food journalism belief that such a 'top' list in town requires Bartolotta representatives, Sanford and such, special occasion spots where the food might, hopefully, taste better because it's a special occasion.

But then you might flash back to that last day in Brooklyn, where you found yourself ambling up the avenue of Puerto Rico, toward East Williamsburg, past a Russian bar, an Indian restaurant, countless pizza places, toward a Lebanese joint named Wafa's. A spot with mom cooking, son prepping, some kind of tertiary uncle schlepping meat back to the kitchen from the rear of a double-parked Cherokee, with wafts of steaming kafta, plumes of roasting eggplant, spits spinning toward infinity with lamb and Middle Eastern promise, pungent, garlicky homemade hot sauce, and the most juice-spurting of chicken shawerma. It's the spot that would rightly make you wonder why you fretted for so long over reservations at Peter Luger Steakhouse - with button-down aesthetic, comically brusque waiters, instagramming tourists, loud mouth brokers seemingly still high on the last viewing of Wall Street. In short, Wafa's is the kind of spot to remind of the magic of going out to eat, of digging for another world.

Maybe it's just a penchant for the esoteric. For finding one's own hidden gems. But it gets at a deeper issue: even the NY Times' stodgy Pete Wells, in his Top New York Restaurants of 2016 piece, recognizes that "the growing distance between the very rich and everybody else is replicated, in miniature and with less alarming implications, in the city’s restaurant scene." Then he gives thanks for the fact he's able to include 3 places in his top 10 that "bowed to more moderate budgets."

Now, with the rise of egalitarian treatment of low and high food, with the revelatory genius of Jonathan Gold, with the likes of Eater’s Essential New York Restaurants placing hipster pizza and downhome barbecue alongside the likes of old guard’s like Luger, it seems that, away from haute cuisine and fine French, the valet-level expectations, real food is elsewhere. We're past the point where we should confuse how the mouth feels with a price tag, with professional courtesies and hot hostesses, with overpriced wine, with a need to iron your pants, with some kind of perceived taste quality corollary to the bill amount.

Sure I've never been to Sanford, but either have the vast majority of Milwaukeeans. For the rest, there might exist a counter list, for the everyman, for the family, for midweek, for those who prefer steak tacos to steak houses. For those who believe the spice of life is, well, spice itself. And who think the best cook is still grandma, or, in a pinch, mom.

1. C-Viche

Most good restaurants have a signature dish, here we have mouthfeel dreams of at least four: the anticuchos - beef hearts, though that sounds much less romantic - are as juicy and earthy as steak bites get, even for the offal-squemaish; the esquites, easily the best corn dish in town, are served off the cob with a velvety queso crumble, citrusy kick, and creamy, gently spiced chipotle finish; patatas bravas, fried potatoes with homemade chorizo and indefinably spiced rocoto sauce, have all of the salt, grease, and crispy carb happiness as is responsible for a before meal dish; and pork beans, whose addictive, lardy creaminess goes full Magritte: by comparison, every previously encountered refried legume seems like it was maybe not a representative of beans at all. And these are just the apps and sides. Kick everything up with aji verde sauce - a serrano pepper and mayo marriage of spice and texture to float away on. Wash it all down with citrus-bursting caipirinhas or yolky pisco sours. And only now, finally, can you get down to entrees. The lomo saltado, a beef tenderloin sauteed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro makes even the best steak frites offering seem suburban and soulless. Or there’s the tostadas, with deeply smoky, spiced chicken, topped by generous crema and avocado. There’s also the matter of their eponymous seafood stuff, fresh and lime-zinging. Actually it’s a bit of everything. The pan-Latin smorgasboard is equally good for taco Tuesday or Sunday brunch, for day drinking with a Peruvian spiced ham sandwich or for a churrasco date night. C-Viche combines all things into a soul all it's own, of the sort and quality not even approached anywhere else in town.

2. Points East

Every sports bar in America does wings. Every gastropub too. Not to mention most Asian places, many Mexican spots, and the five convenient Milwaukee-area Wingstops. Yet, few seem to realize or care that the majority are doing America’s favorite snack wrong. Crispy - they are supposed to be crispy. Points East not only does them right, they make them completely their own. Fried, then sauced, then grilled, they get crispy caramelized, with heat and drip from the sauce and a smoky grilled essence, a black-flecked char and tender juiciness combined in happy, hot union. It's an inspired riff, made all the better by a stubborn realization that one million flavor sauces does not a good wing make. They do them one way, their way. Every order at Points is a tasty testament to specialization, to ignoring the masses to stay true to yourself. It's also the best chicken wing this Buffalo native has ever tasted outside of the motherland.

3. El Tsunami

Forget steak tacos. The tacos al carbon from this sliver of a corner dive on Lincoln are so much deeper, richer in smoky charcoal taste, smacking of fire-love and something ephemeral, that the asada offerings from, say, the beloved Guanajuato, might as well be Chipotle. It calls back to an older country, an older time, and it’s a reminder that just when you think you know Mexican food, there’s another layer, another foodstuff. Of course it helps that they also have maybe the best version of that ubiquitous southside sauce - creamy, avocado-touched, emulsified serrano salsa. This alone might make an El Paso-seasoned offering taste great. But then you can round out a taco order with arguably the best chorizo in Milwaukee - crumbly and porky and guajillo-and-garlic-noted. Or try the stewed beef desebrada. Or opt for a fish entree coated in the spicy, buttery diablo sauce, or really anything from the massive seafood section. Actually the latter can be sampled just by sitting down - a ceviche dip is gratis, with warm chips and two popping table salsas, and is slung your way as soon as you get comfortable. It’s a portent of a spot most generous in all ways.

4. La Merenda

Milwaukee’s original proprietor of the small plate, farm-to-table aesthetic is still the best. The warm, colorful joint is hip, while holding claim as O.G. of the Walker’s Point foodie scene. It is under the buzz radar, yet always bustling. You can get Panang curry next to seafood escabeche. Merenda is everything and yet completely it’s own. Personal favorites: chipotle pork tostadas, goat quesadillas, Argentinian beef, patatas bravas con chorizo. That’s a lot, and it disregards half the menu, half the world. There’s also the likes of shrimp masala, veal potstickers, pork belly crepes. If that’s too much taste mileage for one meal, bring everything back home with the most essential menu offering: goat cheese curds. LaClare Farms cheese nuggets with a chorizo cream sauce and crostini. It’s exotic ‘Sconnie, it is fat guy foodie-dom, it is a gold label bar snack. And, like most of the menu, it is pure taste bliss.

5. Pho Hai Tuyet

This airport-adjacent dive would warrant a top-five spot solely on the bahn mi: crisped, juicy pork scrags, equal parts flattop char and chewy, spiced and greasy, bedded in a pillowy French baguette that is pleasantly slicked with garlicky mayo, topped with a bursting bounty of cilantro, chopped carrots, and fresh, seedy jalapeno. That is but a list though, and the product is far greater than the sum of the parts. Meaty, salty, saucy, bready and tangy, the sandwich is a considerably girthed taste torpedo, almost too big, and full of consistent, with-everything bites. It’s the type of offering to render the other 70 some menu items as afterthought, and easily takes the title as best sandwich in town. But, it is in the name, so a responsible eater should at least sample some pho. Of the offerings, we prefer the meatball varietal, with baseball-sized orbs of spongy beef, floating languorously in rich, salty broth. Top everything with chunky garlic chilli sauce, wash it all down with a Thai iced coffee, and don’t question the weird calculus of milk, sugar, and condensed milk, the surprising ability of a decidedly non-coffee shop to craft such a satisfying caffeine concoction. It gets at the kind of intangible, comforting charms found in the likes of far flung Queens, or in a wistful Jonathan Gold article. And it’s just kitty corner from our own General Mitchell.

6. San Giorgio

Whatever VPN (Vera Pizza Napoletana) means or doesn’t mean, whether it is adherence to the grandest Southern Italian tradition, or merely a marketing ploy, this is the best Neapolitan pizza in town. The neighbor of Calderone Club is a long overdue downtown dinner spot, equal parts relaxed and classy, inspired and traditional, perfect for an in-the-know date night or a before Bucks game snack. But the background barely matters. Even the sight of the slick from-Italy oven, the how-the-sausage-is-made pizza bar, or the toppings themselves - smoked provola cheese or bufalo mozz, soppresata or Genoa salami or prosciutto - should be afterthought. It’s about flour-meets-flame: the doughy, charry, leopard-skinned crust is a bed of appetite dreams. A perfect canvas. A paradigm of the simple, somehow transcendent joys of wood-fired ‘za.

7. Vanguard

It’s hard to imagine Bay View before Vanguard. The bar is the meat of the coolest neighborhood in the city. But it’s even harder to imagine Milwaukee before Vanguard. In a land known for sausages, the city had no true sausage spots. Now the likes of the ‘Salazar’ (Hungarian sausage with cream cheese, cheddar, and bbq sauce) and the ‘Kilig’ (an Asian-leaning pork sausage with hoisin, soy and chili sauce) are household names, while the Duck BLT and the velveeta-draped Dirty Burger - yes, a sausage burger - are pigout game-changers. Co-owner Jim McCann brings Michelin-star pedigree - he is also part owner of Chicago’s Longman & Eagle - and big city, Hot Doug’s-ish inspiration toward a cheffy, artistic approach to tubed meats. The menu changes frequently, a neat analogy for the ‘hood. But sociological analysis here seems beside the point, Vanguard is simply a killer neighborhood corner bar that is also the ultimate fat guy food emporium.

8. Odd Duck

It’s easy to want to exclude Odd Duck, what with the hip zip code and cliched ‘small plate’ aesthetic and rustic motif by now embraced by every restaurant ever. But the Duck somehow manages to sidestep hipster tropes and attitude and maintain the feel of a neighborhood joint - one that is endlessly friendly, surprisingly affordable, and so damn interesting, time and again. Shortrib carnitas, lamb kofta, and Hungarian peppers stuffed with spiced beef are some recent highlights, alongside the always extensive charcuterie and cheese plate offerings. These are also some of the stiffest, craftiest of craft cocktails around. That very statement deserves an eye roll, yes. But every trip here reminds that trend fatigue is no match for quality, care, and execution.

9. Guadalajara

Behold the power of the mighty arbol. The innocuous looking little dried chile that most novice Mexican chefs have a barely-cracked bag of in the back of a cabinet from that one time a too-hot Bayless salsa recipe called for them, is the MVP (Most Valuable Pepper) at this old school haunt. Primarily, in the bistec en chile de arbol. Tender skirt steak is drowned in the devilish red sauce. Creamy and creeping, it comes with a little voice in your ear that urges you to keep eating. It’s self preservation, because the burn sets in when you stop. This is probably the best spicy dish in town - but, like, beads of sweat from a workout spicy. There’s also a request-only arbol-based salsa, perfect for taking everything else on the menu to the same Dante-ish level. Speaking of everything else, from the table salsas on up, it is solid, and slung with a smile in a Walker’s Point corner joint that feels like your Grandma’s basement bar, that was finished sometime in the late 70’s.

10. The Tandem

Socially, it is the most important restaurant in Milwaukee. When Caitlin Cullen left Bavette to strike out on her own, she eschewed Walker’s Point, Bay View. Instead she set up shop in Lindsay Heights, the oft overlooked west side neighborhood with a near 50% poverty rate. She asked the community what type of dishes they would like to see on the menu of her new venture. She decided to focus on hiring exclusively from within said neighborhood. She sought to go further, banking on her Detroit-area teaching background, to offer extensive kitchen training to new employees, even those with no experience, hoping her spot is a kind of launching pad for restaurant help within the entire city. But that refreshing do gooder-ism isn’t even why it makes the list. It’s the fried chicken. The Memphis style is impossibly crispy, red-flecked, crumbly, succulent underneath, and refreshingly not just in the hip vain of Tennessee’s other chicken city. There’s also a golden Georgian variation, and the likes of smoked kielabasa, burrata, chicken liver mousse, or simple Coney Island dogs. At the bar there is also a sense of good will, good times, and a good reason to get fat and leave a huge tip.

11. Palomino

Nobody seems to care much about Palomino anymore, and that’s fine. That means less wait for the impossibly juicy griddled burger, for the spicy pimento cheese, the fried bologna, or the most satisfying, consistent soul food dish in town: the hot chicken sandwich. It’s a crispy thigh, slick with mayo, popped with homemade pickles and tangy homemade hot sauce, housed in a soft but sturdy brioche. Top it with more of the hot sauce, wash it down with whichever double IPA is fresh - there always seems to be a new one. Palomino has no more bingo, or down home aww shucks, curds-and-High Life-and-Packers game vibe. But now the curds are exquisite, big and gooey and smartly battered, indicative of a food level that is vastly improved. Every meal here, even when it’s half empty on a Friday night, seems to remind that in life, things change, that that’s not bad, and going out to eat should be about quality, taste - not nostalgia.

12. Zarletti

Every legit big city downtown should have one old school pasta place fit for the conjuring in that Billy Joel song. Zarletti is our pick, though from the house ragu of the day to the house ravioli of the day it’s clearly dedicated to far more than a bottle of red, a bottle of white. The Crostini Misti - crunchy bread topped with either roasted pulled lamb, mortadella pate, or a piquant peperonata - is appetizer genius. Decadent, especially considering, if you’re doing it right, it should be setting the place for either the ossobuco or the veal in lemon pan sauce. You’re worth it, sometimes. Sure, here, there are always suits, valet parking, and the aforementioned feel of special occasion. But the sliver of a bar always feels laid back enough, especially for a solo meal and chat with the bartender, and the al fresco dining is no big deal in the simple fashion of the way they do it in the old country. Wherever you happen to fit in, we stand by the idiom that you should judge all Italian chefs and restaurants by their carbonara. Simple, satisfying, with popping pancetta, a hint of onion, generous Pecorino, it’s the al dente chewiness of consistent comfort, of fat and cream, egg and cheese, of just the right amount of craft and downhome-ness. No matter Zarletti’s Milwaukee Street location or that Porsche parked in front, at it’s best it slings this perfected peasant food.

13. El Tucanazo

This splinter of space on 13th Street feels like a roadside spot somewhere in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. At least according to someone from there. To us it feels like a favorite hidden secret. Colorful and dingy, all meat smoke and spatula crack on the flattop and Tecate swill and futbol on the TV, it’s the epitome of the conclusion of Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain: “heaven is a Mexican restaurant.” We go back to the bistec en salsa verde, the steak treading, but going toward drowning, in it’s salty, sheeny bath of peppery, onion-and-cilantro-chocked verde sauce. But there’s so much: marinated pastor, deeply smoky cochinita pibil, greasy chorizo, a satisfying chipotle salsa. Or, in other terms, they have the basics, done right, with passion and flair, a huge menu, some attitude, and a consistent serving of a saucy, spicy, southside slice of paradise.

14. Anodyne

Whether it’s our town’s coffee king or not is a personal opinion. But Anodyne’s groundbreaking nitro cold brew is, objectively, the best caffeine offering in Milwaukee. Frothy, bold, creamy, it’s the game-changer every summer morning deserves, like starting your day with a well-poured Guinness. Speaking of which, they also have beer, which follows a need necessitated by pizza. Owner Matt McClutchy followed his backyard passion of making ‘za to a from-Naples, top-shelf Stefano Ferrara wood-burning oven that is the heart of the shop’s Bay View location. The few-years development of the crust, from spotty, to respectable, to occasionally-perfect, shows the art, the practice, the tasty rhythm within making a great pizza. Now, with pies like the white sauce and sausage Bianca, the sopressata and chili flaked ‘Spice’ or a traditional margherita, it seems fully astride, to the point it’s easy to wonder: is Anodyne a great coffee shop with pizza, or a great pizzeria with coffee? The answer is yes.

15. Kopp's

Kopp’s is the Tom Petty of Milwaukee restaurants. Universally beloved, everyone agrees on the All-American satisfaction level herein, even if they only think about it once a summer or so. The old school burger and ice cream joint is also a highly professional pleasure-bringer. Everything is done swift, smart, proficiently, like the solos you know, the way you want to hear them - the beefy, smoky wafts hitting you from the parking lot, tapping into some protein-craving primality. Whatever your patty base, customization is the key to the lock of one’s personality. We like goopy mayo, running with hot sauce, fried onions, and jalapenos. We also need regular therapy. We also prefer a double, and how it takes gluttony as far as is advisable, stopping just short of state fair freakout foodstuffs. Like the best of old school burgers, there is always an almost unappetizing amount of grease. That almost is key. Because then there’s taste space to wash it all down with a sundae. A combination better than Jesus and America, too.

16. Tomken's

Points East - West. The fry-sauce-grill method perfected on Jackson Street has a spiritual home in this ‘Stallis haunt - the wings are similarly charry, crispy, still-saucy, ever-tender, with Frank’s Red Hot-hued tang scorched right into the skin, smacking of salt and vinegar and ephemeral tongue burn. It’s an honorable understudy, an apt homage to Buffalo - the city that’s made a spiritual art out of second place, and another inspired take on everyone’s favorite bar snack, one that maybe constitutes enough of a presence to deem this ‘Milwaukee style.’ Maybe. The spot also says ‘Friendly Fried Chicken’ right on the marquee, and indeed it comes lovingly wrapped in napkins like a steaming newborn, maintaining juice and fryer essence. It’s really indicative of a spot that takes bar fare seriously, in a city where it’s far too easy to phone in your burger and fried curd offerings.

17. Juquilita

Another testament to the layers upon layers of Mexican cuisine are the layers upon layers of flavor within a well made tlayuda. It’s a thin, crunchy, lightly fried tortilla pocket lovingly stuffed with refried beans, queso fresco, avocado, salsa, and your choice of meat - which should be pork. It’s a Oaxacan specialty, hitting all flavor points, satisfaction spots, orgiastically combining everything your mouth may want to feel at the same times. There’s crunch, grease, a savory pie-like delivery system, creaminess, fatty bean smear, gooey, hot cheese, charry grilled meat, plenty of bright pepper pop. Top bites in rotation with salsas that are in turn fresh and bright, silky and hot, smoky. It’s one of the few tlayudas in town, perfect for nights when you can’t decide on Mexican or pizza. Don’t wait for tomorrow, have both now.

18. El Canaveral

Still another way to fit everything in there at once, to rebel against refinement, to embrace hedonism in bite form, is the Mexico City specialty known as the alambre. Essentially a Mexican stir fry, Canaveral’s specialty is a pork-on-pork-on-steak skillet, with crisped asada, salty chorizo, and chopped bacon, topped with cilantro, onion, tomatoes, jalapenos, and an irresponsibly generous layer of goopy melted queso. It’s a greasy, heady, make-your-own taco mash. It’s also what your hangover hunger stomach dreams about, and can be topped by salsas that show off the kitchen’s penchant for emulsification. Creamy, spicy, with habenero or jalapeno, it’s a table sauce trio that shows the oft overlooked fact that texture is one of the most important aspects of salsa. Also of note is the fact that Canaveral is the rare kind of Mexican dive: a warm-wooded, old school Milwaukee barrom you’d actually want to hang at. Really, for an alambre, we’d probably want to hang anywhere.

19. Thai Bar-B-Que

With the likes of Thai Lotus, Bamboo, Vientiane, and the salsa bar at Fiesta Garibaldi’s Chicken Palace, Silver City’s strip of National Avenue is rife with faraway spices and exotic appetite options. But Thai Bar-B-Que remains the regional monarch. The menu is a bounteous smorgasboard, bouncing between lovingly grilled meat, and spicy, aromatic stews. The city’s best soup, in highly meaty, salty, noodle-laced, comforting pho form, can be sided by impossibly succulent barbecue chicken on a stick. Larb can be had alongside beef in an oyster sauce. Try anything with a meatball, or, better yet, a pork ball. And certainly get something “marinated and grilled to perfection” - not an empty promise. Chase the heat with a soothing tea, or sugary iced coffee. It’s a daunting food list, begging of repeat visits, adventurous orders, and offers a sensory gamut for the nose as much as the mouth. By fortune cookie time, it feels like an experience on par with a friend’s tip for an in-the-know spot in Astoria. More nuts-and-bolts though, with all the heartening, brothy heat and zing, it’s at least the best winter restaurant in town.

20. Quiote

It’s not a southside hidden gem, it’s far from the seediness of taqueria row whose presence would make it feel a diamond in the rough. But from an unassuming corner of Bluemound, Quiote yields unparalleled fish tacos. Whitefish, liberally smacked with ancho chile, grilled into soft, saucy nuggets, is housed in a double tortilla home - one corn, one flour, durability and flavor, authenticity and a touch all their own. Chiptle aioli, pico de gallo, crumbled queso fresco, and lettuce round out the flavor packages, lending depth, sauciness, and a resounding gardeny pop. There are also deep, dark moles, reeking of smoke and so many spices and all the kitchen work nobody wants or can do at home. The place is really a tiny flavor slice of Oaxaca, a state known as the richest of Mexican cooking culture. One could even make a case for the fish entree dishes - whitefish or shrimp in a Veracruz tomato sauce or a garlic butter concoction. But it’s the fish tacos that continually drag us west. I’ve never been to San Diego, but I’ve been to Jacobus Park.

21. Don Lucho Carnitas

Of all the life lessons Mexican cuisine has in store, maybe the most important, the most ephemeral, resides in carnitas. The slow-cooked pork dish is traditionally served on weekends - as a reward for the week’s work. Could there be a better reward than pork bits, slicked in a fatty sheen, soaked in the residue of a long hot bath in lard, being hacked fresh from a pig heap by a little guy with a big knife?

For in-the-moment tacos we might actually prefer the Don’s pastor - big, saucy chunks of seasoned pork, with hefty onion and cilantro essence. Yet it’s really about what happens later. There are two thick, beautiful salsas - one red, deeply smoky and piquant, and a verde that bursts with jalapeno freshness. Get one of each to go, along with a half pound of carnitas. The key to happiness is something to look forward to. Especially if you can look forward to later on in the night, and the moment of standing at the refrigerator, dunking lard-fried pork into awesome sauce, forgetting Monday will ever come again.

22. Los Gemelos

Trompos are painfully hard to come by - expensive to keep heated, a pain by which to placate the health department, underappreciated by the masses, there are but a few in town. Of these Lebanese-inspired Mexican spits, Gemelos is the best. And even they only fire it up once a week. It’s worth it to find that day at this unassuming strip on 11th and Mitchell, for the fleshy, pink, lightly crisped, salty, and vaguely Middle Eastern-spiced meat. It’s an intriguing slab - a porky canvas for maybe the ultimate tag team of salsas in town - there’s a red hot habenero emulsification, full of bite and a little smoke, along a chilled out, creamy jalapeno number. It’d be hard to have a bad meal with such good sauces. But we’ve cycled the menu to make sure. Highlights include a comparatively light, still flavorful chorizo, and moist, tender arrachera. On non-trompo days, they do a different pastor - a marinated, slow-roasted pork. It’s a morsel mouthful of a reminder that seasoned pork is still seasoned pork. And that the cooking of Oaxaca - where the owner hails from - is the best in the world.

23. Glorioso's

The hardware store is a brunch destination, Mimma’s is sleeps with the fishes, and Glorioso’s maybe lost their heart by crossing Brady Street into bigger, brighter, cleaner Whole Foods-ified digs. But when the prosciutto hits the bread, nothing else on Brady Street matters. The ‘Human Torch’ - with calabrese, capocollo, provolone, hot pepper spread and hot muffalata mix, is a big, spicy burner, a next-day-regret-bringer in the best sense. It’s a personal favorite, but near anything else is equal as an exemplary butcher paper-wrapped, oil-dripping, sheeny, cured meat lunch slayer. From the chicken parm to the meatball to the sausage to the muffalatta, these are the kind of simple, soulful, spicy sandwiches fit for a guy in a hard hat sitting on a beam, for a road trip, to pick up and stick in the fridge as long as you’re stopping to pick up some guanciale from the meat department. Despite the aesthetic upgrade, Glorioso’s does harken a simpler time, like the days when the likes of Paulie Walnuts could sit out front with his tanning mirror and not wonder if the East Side was losing it’s soul.

24. Crazy Water

Before Walker’s Point was everything, and probably after it’s had it’s moment too, there was and will be Crazy Water. Equal parts class and friendliness, small plate and entree, oysters or grilled octopus, hanger steak or short ribs. It seems to nail farm-to-table buzziness and comforting classics, in a vintage tavern with a laughably petit corner kitchen, and a vibe that makes you feel like you should drink wine, make friends with your neighboring table. While it is essentially a seafood restaurant, a land-focused eater could make a feast of just the starters: Berkshire pork belly, sichuan pork dumplings, peach glazed baby back ribs, a burrata grilled cheese. Just make sure to at some point sample the Crazy Shrimp - shrimp, chorizo sausage, tomatoes, cilantro, asian bbq sauce, and jalapeno cornbread muffins. It’s a new genre type of dish, that somehow feels it’s always been there. Much like the restaurant itself.

25. Chef Paz

Peru - with its cultural heart a melange of Inca, Africa, Spain, China, Japan, Italy, its topographical makeup a hybrid of coast, highlands, and jungle - is home of the most diverse cuisine on the planet. So a spot with a French sounding name in the heart of West Allis seems apt to hint at the spectrum. On the simple side are traditional empanadas, kicked up by a creamy, garlicky green hot sauce, or a trio of limey ceviches. Things start to get interesting around the yuccas though - you can have them boiled, topped with an Andean cream cheese sauce, or fried and stuffed with cheese and sirloin. Entrees bound between the “jungle” - the smoked pork cecina; to the Latin likes of paella; to the “Chef Paz” - a bean pancake with strips of juicy tenderloin, sautéed on “high flames” with onion, tomatoes, and wine, topped with a fried egg; to a Peru-Chinese fusion form of fried rice with shellfish and a creole sauce. The latter is described as “aphrodisiacal,” which instantly makes this the most swaggering menu in town. Wash anything down with a pisco sour or a chicah morada - a purple corn, cinnamon, clove glass of alchemy - and sit back, giving wonder to how such sexy fare can feel so homey.

26. Merriment Social

They have beer cheese soup dumplings, al pastor and pork belly on top of garlic fries, cheese curds with herbed breadcrumbs and fontina, a chicken and waffle dish sided with sriracha-beer gastrique - just to name a few of the elevated-leaning bar fare dishes that read like a menu designed by Guy Fieri fresh off a semester studying in France. With that the spot that’s never been able to sustain a business seems like it’s finally found a groove, as a cool garage-door-open summer patio, fit for Third Ward happy hour-ing or a quick pregame beer outside before Summerfest. Still, the most merriment really stems from the burger. Thin double patties are constructed with cheek, chuck, short rib, and brisket, topped with house-churned American cheese, applewood bacon, house sauce that swirls mayo, mustard and bbq sauce. If Kopp’s is rock, this is Bach. Note the half-melted cheese, reaching just the perfect goo point as you smush down on the buns - it’s indicative of a mindful flavor meld, like everything was carefully calculated, ratios balanced with a bubble level, the package as close to the meat-cheese-sauce-bun apotheosis as possible. There’s no better ‘craft’ burger in Milwaukee.

27. Amilinda

Chef Gregory Leon combines the many roots of his existence - Oklahoma, Venezuela, San Francisco, a deep love of the food of Spain and Portugal - into a singular, precise, limited-menu vision in his first full restaurant. There’s really only a few things to eat on any given night, so it is with a certain amount of trust that a diner must embark upon the hip Wisconsin Ave eatery. Yet just one meal can teach to believe in his artistic yet comforting flair. There are the simple fall time pleasure of a smoked trout salad; a skirt steak, plopped in romesco sauce, pepped by shishitos; a pork chop, the tender hunk bathing in adobo sauce, sided with broccoli raab, and, because Leon clearly wants us to be happy, linguica. It’s a buzzy, sceney spot to spend a night downtown, and Amilinda reminds that that can sometimes still be a soulful thing.

28. Anmol

An underrated cuisine, on an overlooked strip, a prodigious menu, and very few caucasians - Anmol checks all the boxes for ethnic food greatness potential. Pakistani fare doesn’t have the same sticker appeal as neighboring Indian, but this unassuming spot on Mitchell can open eyes and appetite horizons. There are standard makhanis, curries, samosas. But consider there’s an entire section devoted to mutton. And there are deep cut offerings like qeema naan stuffed with ground beef, buttery, tomatoey chicken sixty-five, goat brain curry. We often find our way back to the rolls - the seekh kabob roll, specifically, with minced beef, onions, chutney - and to the fact you can judge any restaurant by how they fry chicken. Here the chicken pakora are delectable, marinated nuggets of fryer heaven - crisped, juicy, salty, they are dangerously addictive, even without the zesty chutney.

29. Benji’s

If Kopp’s is Petty, Benji’s might be Springsteen. It’s a beloved joint of a very specific time and place, of a very certain type of everyday, everyman heroism. And people that love it really love it. In fact all Shorewood-ers seem to be regulars, either favoring the benedict-type breakfasts, or the definitive Milwaukee corned beef, best sampled in reuben form. If it’s not an every week type of stop, it’s best to combine both pre-night meals: try a corned beef hash and cheddar omelet, or the Hoppel Poppel - scrambled eggs blended with crisped potatoes and fried salami. It’s a cool old school diner from before old school diners were cool, and it’s the saltiest, cure-iest corner of comfort - the kind that piques neighborhood jealousy.

30. Jake’s

Instead, you may, understandably, prefer Milwaukee’s best pastrami: salty, consummating tender pink and charry black, dominated by salt, stacked in a thin-sliced tower, topped by swiss, housed in rye - the way it’s been done on North and 17th since 1955. Side it with a matzo ball soup, fatty and grandmotherish, and appreciate that you’re going beyond the common big deal food tropes, the so-called destination fare, sharing in history, while also supporting a largely forgotten neighborhood. Not that food should be about anything other than taste - but a little feel can go a long way.

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jaouad2d · 7 years ago

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Dine out

(CNN) — French haute cuisine in Macau, Mediterranean mezze in New York, European classics in Nairobi and refined beach shack seafood in Bali are just some of the options enticing global diners to new restaurants in 2018.

Here are 14 additions to the culinary must-try list for those keen to get in first at the hottest tables around the world.

1. La Rambla, Hong Kong

New Spanish restaurant La Rambla offers authentic Catalan-inspired menus from top chef Ferran Tadeo.

La Rambla

Few Hong Kong locations come more sought-after than the International Finance Center, right on the city's famous Victoria Harbour.

New Spanish restaurant La Rambla has a prime IFC spot to showcase its Catalan-inspired menus and drinks program, which diners can enjoy from a 100-seat terrace with enviable views.

Chef Ferran Tadeo formerly worked at the legendary elBulli and under José Andrés, so his plates and ingredients are as authentically Spanish as they come, but also touched by innovation.

That could mean 120-day hung Galician beef direct from Barcelona's top steakhouse Carles Tejedor, huge red carabinero shrimp, or generous paellas. Save room for delicious desserts including decadent dulce de leche.

La Rambla, 3071 IFC Mall, Central, Hong Kong; +852 2661 1161

2. The Lord Erroll, Nairobi

The Lord Erroll in Nairobi has undergone a complete overhaul, including a new chef and owner.

Lord Erroll

The Lord Erroll restaurant has been a Nairobi institution for years, but a new chef in the form of Isaac Arunga, a new staff team, a new owner (Zahra Bahlewa) and a new interior have attracted a whole new clientele.

The setting is one big draw for people who travel to Kenya. This beautiful colonial-era house set in expansive gardens with lakes is in the most exclusive neighborhood of Nairobi.

But the plates are another. Renditions of European classics are delivered with style and aplomb.

An impeccable rack of lamb, Italian-influenced eggplant and shamelessly old-school desserts like bread and butter pudding or crêpe suzette ensure diners keep coming back for more.

3. Benjarong, Manila

Chef Ja and her team craft Thai classics at Benjarong in the heart of Manila.

Dusit Thani Manila

Benjarong may be a type of Thai porcelain that translates as "five colors" but it's also the name of a Manila restaurant where chef Watcharapon Yongbanthom -- also known as "Chef Ja" -- crafts genuine flavors from her homeland.

She and her team can be seen at work in the open kitchen producing dishes such as see krong moo krob wan -- crispy ribs with Sriracha cabbage -- or more familiar classics such as the stir-fried noodle, peanut and bean sprout dish, pad Thai.

A 28-seat bar provides a vantage point for people watching, cocktails and signature Thai drinks, while the combination of Thai cuisine with renowned Filipino hospitality looks set to keep Manileños coming back for more.

Benjarong, Ground Floor, Dusit Thani Manila, Ayala Centre, 1223 Makati City Metro Manila, Philippines; +63 (02) 238 8888

4. Voyages by Alain Ducasse, Macau

Voyages at Macau's Morpheus Hotel is the latest global adventure from celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse.

City of Dreams

French culinary titan Alain Ducasse continues to grow the footprint of his global fine-dining empire, with the latest destination set to open in Macau in the spring.

As a chef who is on the road for the majority of the year, his latest opening comes inspired by his travels, notably across Asia, for more than three decades.

Voyages at Morpheus Hotel, City of Dreams combines his unique renditions of Asian dishes alongside his own creations.

Much as you'd expect in the gaming and entertainment destination of Macau, the interiors spare no expense, with Monsieur Ducasse having direct input in every aspect of the design and execution.

Voyages sits within the Morpheus Hotel, itself a feast for the eyes thanks to its extraordinary design by the late British architect Zaha Hadid.

5. Cleo, New York

The latest outpost of Cleo restaurants has opened in the Mondrian Park Avenue Hotel in New York.

Cleo at The Mondrian Park Avenue

Diverse cultures and cuisines have helped shape the work of chef Danny Elmaleh, who has a Moroccan father and a Japanese mother. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, he worked in Japan and Italy before setting up his own restaurant.

Today, the Cleo brand of restaurants continues to expand its US footprint with the latest opening inside the Mondrian Park Avenue hotel in New York.

His largely Mediterranean-influenced plates are all about sharing and Cleo is all about social dining. That may mean tuna tartare with the vibrant lift of the Moroccan chili paste harissa, confit duck in a broth with matzo balls or Japanese wagyu steaks grilled simply but effectively over charcoal.

Cleo, Mondrian Park Avenue, 444 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10016; +1 (212) 804 8880

6. Publico, Singapore

Italian eatery Publico Ristorante is the latest addition to Singapore's stylish foodie scene.

InterContinental Singapore

The latest addition to Singapore's ever-changing skyline comes in the form of The Quayside, a new dining destination boasting a number of stylish eateries sure to bring in a local and international crowd for elegant riverside dining.

Publico Ristorante opened its doors at the Intercontinental Robertson Quay in December 2017, serving a raft of Italian classics such as a signature risotto "alla milanese" with saffron, pecorino and red wine or wood-fired pizzas.

Italian executive chef Marco Turatti's plates are complemented by a curated wine and drinks list taking in full-bodied Tuscan Chiantis to potent Negronis, thanks to Asia's largest collection of Amaris or bitters. Classic Italian sweet treats, such as Tiramisu, are always hard to pass up for dessert.

Publico, InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay, 1 Nanson Rd, Singapore; +65 6826 5040

7. China Tang, Las Vegas

China Tang Las Vegas at the MGM Grand will introduce classic Cantonese cuisine amid glamorous surroundings.

MGM Grand

Las Vegas isn't exactly short of dining options, but a newcomer set to fire up the woks early this year adds serious experience in Chinese cuisine to the city's culinary portfolio.

China Tang Las Vegas at the MGM Grand is set to serve Cantonese cuisine, with influences from across China's rich culinary map including Sichuan, Shanghai and Beijing.

Hong Kong-based Lai Sun, who own multiple Michelin-starred restaurants in Hong Kong and beyond, are responsible for the launch.

They're bringing in executive chef Albert Au Kwok Keung, the youngest Chinese chef ever to win three Michelin stars at The Eight in Macau, to lead the kitchen. He and his team will craft classic dishes in glamorous surroundings.

China Tang, MGM Grand, 3799 S Las Vegas Blvd, NV 89109; +1 877-880-0880

8. Taihei, Phuket, Thailand

Taihei will offer sushi, sashimi and other Japanese classics from the hands of master craftsman Shiraishi.

Banyan Tree

Named after the Japanese word for "peace," Taihei enjoys a suitably tranquil setting amidst the pools and greenery of the Banyan Tree resort on the Thai vacation island of Phuket.

It's where Kyushu-born chef Shiraishi, who has more than 40 years of experience under his belt, will craft sashimi and sushi amongst other traditional Japanese dishes.

Yakimono dishes, namely those pan-fried or grilled such as gyoza, are another menu highlight, while for guests wanting to take their knowledge further, Shirashi will share his skills in sushi-making classes.

With a maximum of just 35 diners, Taihei's focus is set to be on personal attention and culinary discovery.

Taihei, 33/27 Moo 4, Srisoonthorn Road, Cherngtalay, Amphur Talang, Phuket 83110, Thailand; +66 (0)76 372 400

9. Sensus, Dubrovnik, Croatia

With one of the finest views of the beautiful walled old town of Dubrovnik and the Adriatic Sea, Sensus at the Excelsior Hotel already had much in its favor even before the plates from chef Petar Obad were added into the mix.

His interpretations of Mediterranean classics and local Croatian delicacies brings in diners as much as the Instagram-worthy backdrop.

A signature dish of ravioli with sweetbreads, truffle, prosciutto and a sauce made from Malvasija wine demonstrates the chef's melding of flavors, ingredients and textures.

Herbs from the kitchen's garden and local sun-ripened produce are crafted into lamb with rosemary, artichokes and onion marmalade, while "grandma's flan" is Obad's dessert homage to a beloved family recipe.

Sensus, Hotel Excelsior Dubrovnik, Frana Supila 12, 20 000 Dubrovnik, Croatia; +385 20 353 447

10. Jean-Georges at The Connaught, London

Jean-Georges at The Connaught is a new offering in London's sophisticated Mayfair area.

The Connaught

The Connaught Hotel is one of London's most distinguished venues thanks to its elegant Mayfair location, classic English style and service.

Its new draw is the informal dining space Jean-Georges from internationally renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

In common with his 30 global restaurants in destinations including New York, Paris and Tokyo, the menus at Jean-Georges at The Connaught are eclectic, making the most of his classical French training alongside multiple Asian influences.

His black truffle and fontina pizza is a decadent attraction, while more local flavors include the fish and chips or traditional afternoon tea.

The interiors ooze class with bespoke art and stained-glass windows, which bathe the space in light.

11. The Lighthouse at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles

The Lighthouse offers a sumptuous combination of refined dining and a spectacular location.

Four Seasons

The new Four Seasons resort in the Seychelles at Desroches Island includes the relaxed but refined The Lighthouse restaurant, where grilled fish and meat and a raw seafood bar are all on offer.

As the name suggests, The Lighthouse is one of the island's most iconic buildings and a terrace bar provides enviable Indian Ocean views for sundowner cocktails.

Despite the secluded island setting, a combination of local flavors and high-end international produce will keep well-heeled travelers coming back for more.

Lighthouse, Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island, Seychelles

12. Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire, Capella Hotel, Shanghai

Comptoir Pierre Gagnaire in Shanghai is the exalted French chef's first venture in China.

Capella Hotels

Another legendary French chef with multiple Michelin stars to his name, Pierre Gagnaire recently opened his first restaurant in Mainland China at Shanghai's elegant Capella Hotel.

While his global restaurants are known for cutting-edge innovation and creativity, at Capella the emphasis is more on beautiful renditions of simple but authentic French classics.

Chef Romain Chapel has worked with Gagnaire for years and his plates deliver impeccable flavors and textures, including beef fillet in black pepper butter or pan-seared turbot with sweet onion syrup.

The setting feels Parisian even without the impeccable breads and pastry from the on-site La Boulangerie, while Gagnaire's reputation for breathtaking desserts is upheld.

13. COMO Uma Canggu, Bali

The Beach Club in the Bali enclave of Canggu will be a refined take on the traditional surf shack.

COMO Hotels

The rich dining culture of the Indonesian island of Bali is set to be taken up a notch with the spring opening of this beach club restaurant at the luxury boutique resort COMO Uma Canggu.

Diners can expect locally sourced ingredients from across the famed vacation island with a focus on "new world cuisine."

Billing itself as a modern take on the traditional surf shack, the all-day venue promises a mix of refinement with a laid-back feel through live acoustic musicians and DJs.

On the menu, expect local fish, quality steaks and more on the wood-fired grill with their smoky flavors, healthy and energizing vibrant salads and shared plates that are perfect after a day on the beach as the sun sets.

COMO Uma Canggu, Jalan Pantai Batu Mejan, Echo Beach, Canggu, Badung 80361, Bali, Indonesia; +62 361 302 2228

14.Galvin Dubai, Dubai

Galvin Dubai offers a mix of European flavors from Michelin-starred brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin.

Galvin Dubai

Not only are Chris and Jeff Galvin Michelin-starred chefs, they just so happen to be brothers as well. The siblings' latest venture is in Dubai, at The Square in City Walk, the UAE's latest dining destination.

On the menu are European flavors and dishes including "best of British," southern French and Italian.

That may mean ceviche or tartare from the seafood bar, artisan salumi or roast meats from the wood-fired oven and grill.

More delicate renditions feature Devon crab from the UK crafted into a lasagne, or a lobster bisque.

Selected wines are sourced from vineyards that the Galvin brothers know well.

Galvin Dubai, The Square, City Walk, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; +971 4 590 5444

Travel Dine out http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hottest-new-global-restaurant-openings-2018/index.html via CNN.com - RSS Channel - Travel http://www.cnn.com/travel/index.html

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miamibeerscene · 7 years ago

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Guide: How to Pair Beers and Burgers for Summer

CraftBeer.com

June 30, 2017

Burger season is back and a burger wouldn’t be complete without a great beer. Whether you’re enjoying a highbrow, haute cuisine-inspired super burger, or a no-frills, delightfully simple one, there’s a craft beer out there to match it. Here’s a handy beer and burger pairing guide, plus a little history and science that’ll make your next cook-out the best one yet.

(COOK WITH BEER: Our Favorite Bacon and Beer Recipes)

Science of Sizzle

The simple greatness of the burger is deceptive. What seems such an easy arrangement of meat, bread and cheese at its most basic is actually a product of some sophisticated science. The scientific name for what makes a burger so delicious is the “Maillard Reaction.” This is a process by which the sugars and proteins found naturally in meat caramelize under heat, creating a burger’s trademark crispiness and flavor. The Maillard Reaction is what turns “meh” to marvelous.

A Burger Is Born

There are all sorts of stories and myths about how the burger made its way to America. There’s little disagreement, however, on the reason for the burger’s popularity: Americans wanted a quick, filling meal that they could eat at a lunch counter or take on the go. The burger proved to be an inexpensive hit.

And so, it was born—the beloved burger—food of working class.

(READ: 2017 Summer Beers are Full of Fruit)

Burger Grilling Tips

Whether you’re a charcoal devotee or propane all the way, the key to the best burger is to maintain as much juiciness in the patty as you can. The carnal sin of bad burger grillers is pressing the patties down, which lets the juices escape onto the fire below. As the juices go, so too goes the flavor.

For best results, choose ground beef that contains at least 15 percent white fat. White fat has a higher melting point, meaning the juices will stay put. You can ensure a crispy, juicy burger by cooking your patties in a searing hot cast-iron skillet right atop your grill. Place the cast-iron directly on the grill grate and let it get hot before the patties go in to ensure they’ll crisp up.

If you’re not a cast-iron fan, you can achieve the same quality by making sure your grill is nice and hot before putting the patties on. Making sure the patties are evenly formed helps keep them consistent, as well. Uneven patties can turn into dreaded burger baseballs on the bun, making it impossible to add condiments and cook uniformly.

Remember, a burger continues to cook after it’s been taken off the heat, so pull it a bit before your desired doneness and let it sit for a few minutes.

(TRAVEL: 7 Offbeat Places for People Who Like Craft Beer)

Beer and Burger Pairing Guide

Crisp, Cool and Collected

To keep things breezy, try these summer suds. Top your burger with pineapple, jalapeno and jack cheese for a spicy, tropical vibe that can’t be beat. Take it a step further and slip your burger right onto a Hawaiian sweet bread roll for the ultimate delight. Pair with:

Tampa-Style Lager | Cigar City Brewing | Tampa | 4.5% ABV

According to the brewery, this perfect porch beer is “made for drinkin’.” Its grassy hop notes pair perfectly with backyard grilling. Crisp, cool and canned for a day in the sun. No fuss, no gimmicks; just a well-made easy-drinker.

Slice of Hefen | La Cumbre Brewing Company | Albuquerque, NM | 5.4% ABV

This twist on an old classic has that familiar banana flavor like many wheat beers, without being cloying. Its unfiltered body stands up well to a burger. It is creamy, available year-round, comes in 16-ounce cans, and was born for a cook-out.

Peacemaker | Austin Beerworks | Austin, TX | 5% ABV

This clean-tasting ale is a dream session beer. It was also a 2011 Great American Beer Festival silver medalist. How do you make peace with the sweltering sun beating down as you stand over the grill? Sip on this refreshing, straightforward beer until the sun gives up and sets in defeat.

Raspberry Ale | Dark Horse Brewing Co. | Marshall, MI | 5% ABV

Though the brewery advertises this beer as lighter in body, it is a surprisingly sturdy fruit beer. That’s probably because the Dark Horse brewers pride themselves in “making badass beer,” as their slogan suggests. This “beer first, fruit second” brew is a solid choice. Its pretty pinkish pour pairs with a summer sunset, but don’t take this one for granted. It’s more complex than you’d expect.

(LEARN: Take Beer 101 Course Online)

Medium-Rare

Take things up a notch with these medium-bodied pairings, meant to offer a bit more than a sunshine sipper. Try these beers with CraftBeer.com’s Bacon Cheddar Ale Burger from contributor Jason Adams. This melty beer cheese-sauced burger is next level. Pair with:

Sixteen Counties | Allagash Brewing Company | Portland, ME | 7.3% ABV

Sixteen Counties, a unique Belgian-inspired ale from Allagash is a nod to the rich farming tradition in 16 of Maine’s counties. It features all Maine-grown grains and has an amazing floral aroma that makes you feel like you’re standing in the fields of a beautiful farm. You’ll find traditional Belgian yeast character but with a surprising and welcome crispness and complexity.

Wagon Party | Bauhaus Brew Labs | Minneapolis | 5.4% ABV

This lager is malty without being bready. It somehow manages to be simultaneously smooth, light and full. A nice but not overwhelming hop aroma rounds out the beer. This pairing is the middle of the road in a great way, and its unobtrusive yet delightful flavor is a pleasure. A balanced beer for a big burger.

Big Swell IPA |Maui Brewing Company | Maui, HI | 6.8% ABV

This flagship IPA is hoppy, to be sure, but more on the tropical side than its danker mainland cohorts. Citrus notes brighten the beer, making it subtle and lively. A copper hue and medium body mean it won’t back down from a perfectly caramelized patty.

(COOK WITH BEER: How to Make Beer Soaked Grilled Cheese)

Come Over to the Dark Side

Summer sun doesn’t mean that darker beers don’t have a place at the table. You can still enjoy brooding brews in the warmer months, especially paired with a burger decadently topped with cast-iron-melted blue cheese, black pepper and caramelized onions. This sultry, suave burger is fair game in any season. Pair with:

Becky’s Black Cat Porter | Seven Brides Brewing | Silverton, OR | 7% ABV

From one of Oregon’s famed hop-growing havens comes this silky, sexy porter. It is full-bodied and roasty without acidic bitterness. Though it’s from hop country, it’s a welcome break from the IBU blasters. It pours dark with a dark head, though this beer’s ominous look belies its balanced smoothness. It’s a dark beer that’ll brighten the day; a summer storm to keep things lively.

Baba Black Lager | Uinta Brewing | Salt Lake City | 4% ABV

This is where dark meets drinkable. This sessionable little lager is an inky joy. It is available year-round, likely because it defies labels. It pours opaque black, with subtle smokiness redolent of a campfire without the burn. Yet, at the same time, its teensy ABV and vivaciousness align it with beers of a much lighter appearance made for long haul drinking.

Burgers and beers were meant to be friends. Whether it’s big, bolder pairings or simple, lighter fare, the two together simply work. If you’re tired of the same old cookout options, ditch the boring deli potato salad and sad hotdogs, and opt instead for a match made in heaven.

Hanna Laney

Hanna Laney is a freelance writer living in Portland, Oregon. She began her career working in some of America’s best-loved craft breweries and now works for her family business, Laney Family Farms. She likes Cascade hops, medium-rare steak and low-brow television. Read more by this author

The post Guide: How to Pair Beers and Burgers for Summer appeared first on Miami Beer Scene.

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solutionsrenderedca · 8 years ago

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Las Vegas Restaurants

Las Vegas is famous for its casinos, hotels,resorts and las vegas trade show displays. But many people underestimate Las Vegas restaurants. There are several highly rewarded star cooks in Las Vegas.

You can find any kind of cuisine and restaurants, starting from the well-known fast food restaurants up to the highest art of haute cuisine and dining experience. There are about 40 millions tourists that are visiting Las Vegas every year. Therefore the city is full of restaurants and dining opportunities. Each of the huge hotels at the Strip has several thousands suites and dozens of restaurants. For example, about 70 different restaurants, cafes and bars are located only at the Venetian and the associated shopping mall, the Grand Canal Shoppes.

Today, in Las Vegas you can find the highest density of star cooks on the entire planet. The most famous restaurants are located in the superb hotels at the strip. The French cook Alain Ducasse, the only cook who held the highest reward of three Michelin stars for three different restaurants at the same time, has opened a restaurant in Las Vegas as well.

Best Places To Eat in Las Vegas

It is highly recommended to make a reservation for your most famous restaurant which is Las Vegas restaurants. Especially on public holidays, like Christmas, New Year or Independence Day when the restaurants are completely booked out. Without a seat reservation, you might have to search for some other alternatives. The reservations for the most famous restaurants can be done on the internet, on the website of the restaurant. There are several sites which compare the flair, the service and the food in different restaurants. Some sites will show you also the average check per person as a special service. But the average price depends on your menu, especially if you intend to order an expensive wine or champagne.

What follows are some of the best Las Vegas restaurants that you can enjoy while staying in a city which truly never sleeps.

Heritage Steak

Earning “Restaurant of the Year” in the year 2013, this restaurant is open-flame cooking over wood or the charcoal of that right touch. Steaks are not only cooked to perfection, but they also are complimented by a number of excellent side dishes as well. Try wood-roasted onion soup for an appetizer and finish with blueberries over sweet corn of the ice cream, the combination that will have to you when coming back for more.

Scarpetta

The very fine in the Mediterranean cuisine is the Scarpetta which is the Italian for “little shoe”, but the meals are simply wonderful from a preparation of traditional spaghetti and basil to a duck and the foie gras ravioli, you can enjoy a sumptuous meal that is one of the finest in Las Vegas. Plus, some tables offers the spectacular view of Bellagio fountains for the perfect dinner for two.

Sinatra

Las Vegas is simply not complete without a leader of the Rat Pack present and this restaurant is certainly a swanky spot as the retro-1960s décor indicates. However, meals are simply wonderful especially when being combined by the drinks that includes the invigorating Blackberry Smash. When weather is just right, you should enjoy the meal out on the patio to ensure it an unforgettable evening.

Poppy Den

Serving the best Chinese food in the Las Vegas, the Poppy Den also mixes in the little Korean cuisine and to make it highly unique. You will find an extensive line of meals from the Angela Sosa which was a Top Chef contestant that turned his talents into creating this wonderful restaurant. You can do the sampling from a wide menu, but the Peking ducks is certainly a highlight.

La Cave

With the restaurant design reminiscent of being in the wine cellar, this is probably one of the most artful settings for any eating involvement, although the patio makes for a wonderful place to enjoy the meals too. The menu is in a way that you can enjoy the little bit in everything that makes the fabulous place to eat.

Mon Ami Gabi

A French bistro in the middle of Las Vegas may sound the little nonsensical, but the true fact is that the best in casual dining can be found right here. The modern French cooking using the classical techniques along with the arguably best wine listed in the town that make the Mon Ami Gabi a sheer delight, especially the incredible seafood tower.

Le CirqueIf you are staying in the Bellagio, you then have an option of selecting from the two 5 Diamond restaurants where each has its own very delicious and unique offerings. Le Cirque is the whimsical French delight which is created by the Sirio Maccioni, charismatic Restaurateur. Decorated in the jubilant emulating the brilliant color where this has famed the lakeside destination which offers the fantastic views of Bellagio fountains. For the mixture of the French and the Spanish cuisine, the guests then can visit the executive chef’s Julian Serrano restaurants Picasso. This type of the restaurant has won for six consecutive years the 5 Diamond award and boasts the wine cellar being stocked by more than one thousand bottles from finest Europeans vineyards. In satisfying the hunger, Picasso can satisfy the hunger for the beauty and also the dining room which is being decorated with the original Pablo Picasso artwork.

Craftsteak

This is a restaurant run by the celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, who you may be familiar with from Top Chef. This is restaurant truly offers a fine dining and quality experience that is more than 200 bottles of whiskies and scotches to choose from to pair with your steak.

Alize

Alize is a French cuisine choice that can be found at the Palm’s Casino Resort. This is a restaurant run by Chef Andre Rochat, who began his French fine dining experience in Las Vegas over 20 years ago. This restaurant has an extensive wine list with more than 1800 choices as an authentic option in French cuisine.

Fleur de Lys

This is another restaurant run by a celebrity chef also seen on Top Chef, originally located in San Francisco. You can find this dining choice in Mandalay Bay with delicious dishes prepared by the famous French chef Hubert Keller.

Il Mulino New York

This is a restaurant that specializes in Northern Italian cuisine with delicious wine pairings. Not only does this restaurant offer exceptional service, but you can save room for dessert to try some traditional Italian dessert favorites that can’t be found anywhere else in Vegas.

Firefly

Firefly is a fun Vegas spot that has party written all over it where you can come to have an early dinner or a late night snack with various choices in a tapas menu. Dinner entrées range from large bowls of pasta to traditional Spanish dishes to many choices in tapas to suit a number of palates.

from Solutions Rendered https://www.solutionsrendered.com/las-vegas-restaurants/

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debbiedufourtupperware-blog1 · 8 years ago

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Cooking: Tips And Tricks From Amateur And Pro Chefs

Cooking is an essential skill to possess whether you are cooking for yourself or a large family! By knowing and understanding how to cook you are provided with tons of benefits, from social to nutritional to financial. The following information contains a variety of tips to help improve your cooking skills. bake tart or pie crusts longer that you think they should be baked. Go past the usual pale tan color and take them to a caramel gold. This golden color means that the sugar has caramelized, leaving a sweet flavor. A great tip for using cooking oil is to ensure you pour it onto the sides of the pan, rather than directly in the pan's center, so that it will be sufficiently heated upon reaching the food. Doing so will give your cooking the best possible flavor. Even if you have screwed up in this way, there is a fix that will still let you use it right away. Mix two tablespoons of water with one tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl. Mic the solution together and put it in the sauce to thicken it up. Be sure to gradually stir in the solution, and frequently stir the sauce so that it does not become too thick. When preparing a meal for an important event, such as a date or a dinner with your boss, cook a dish you are already familiar with. Preparing a meal for someone important, or that you hope to impress, is not the time to experiment with new recipes or exotic ingredients that you have never used before. This is a recipe for a stressful time in the kitchen. People want to use apples very often in fall and winter, but unless they are stored properly, they will spoil rapidly. Warm air is the enemy of apples; store them in a cool area or even the refrigerator. If one of the apples in a bag begins spoiling, the rest will soon follow. Baking mixes, flour and sugar should all be stored in airtight packaging. Foods stored in airtight containers remain fresh longer due to lack of exposure to air. In addition, the foods will be protected from insect infestations. You can easily find affordable containers and you will save money by eating leftovers. If you plan to use wooden skewers when cooking, soak them in water for about thirty minutes prior to use. If you do this, the skewers won't burn on the grill. You can keep food on the skewer when you use two parallel skewers instead of one. If you're cooking pumpkins, cut them in half by positioning them upright and slicing down the middles. Put each half on a baking sheet, with the cut side facing downward. Sprinkle a small amount of water on the baking sheets, and then bake the pumpkin at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around an hour. When seasoning your food, add the seasoning in increments rather than putting it all on at once. This way, you're giving the food most of the flavoring and are making the best from your ingredients. When serving a salad for guests that accompanies a meal, avoid pouring dressing on it. Leave the dressing on the side instead. Some people love dressing in great huge globs, while others like a lighter taste. Some folks don't like any dressing at all, (or are watching their weight) so leave the dressing of salads up to your guests. Your guests will also enjoy having a variety of dressings from which to choose. Make sure that you never use a wine in your food that you would not normally drink. Wine that you don't like or haven't tried can ruin the way you feel about the food. Try using wines that are sold specifically for cooking. To avoid mistakes like burning your food while you are cooking, it is of the utmost importance to stay organized. Having an organized cooking area will ensure that you are productive when cooking. You can lose track of your things and waste your food and money if you're unorganized. Allow your food to sit for a moment before serving it. This is very important for the juices to be absorbed back into your meat. There is plenty of temptation to just whisk the dish off of the grill and eat it immediately. Eating it so quickly after cooking doesn't give the juices or flavors enough time to sink down into the meats, or whatever you may be preparing. Always let the meal cool and sit for a little while. When cooking, be creative. Following a recipe word for word and teaspoon for teaspoon is not always what cooking is about. In some cases by making little modifications to the recipe here and there will result in a dish that is tastier than if you had used the original recipe. Now that is a real cook! Impress everyone in your home with an easy task like a sandwich by placing the mayonnaise evenly across the bread. Too many sandwich artists hurriedly put a glob of mayonnaise in the center of their bread. When it is spread out evenly, each bite of the sandwich will be delicious and full of flavor.

Prepare for your outdoor cooking by starting your barbeque grill so that it's at optimum temperature when you are ready to cook. This should be done about 30 minutes prior to putting any food on it. The charcoal should have a light coating of ash at medium heat when they are ready to use. This is the best temperature for grilling.

Discover new ways to eat oysters. Oysters are usually eaten raw with some lemon juice, but you can make them in a number of different ways. For example, put some shelled open oysters in a pan and coat them with a small amount of cream. Top your broiler pan with freshly ground pepper and a generous dose of grated Parmesan cheese. Broil this mixture until it bubbles. Another tasty method is to take the oysters and saute them. Fry your oysters in flour and hot butter for two minutes. You can also bake the oysters right in their shells. Put them in a deep baking dish, season them with breadcrumbs and a little butter over each, then put them in a 425 degree oven for about five minutes. Once you see the liquid start to bubble, put the oysters out of the oven and serve them immediately with toasted bread. Great benefits can be gained from the ability to prepare meals at home. As these tips prove, cooking can brighten your life if you like haute cuisine, down-home cooking or soul food. Nothing can beat a good home-made meal!

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anneedmonds · 5 years ago

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Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men

True story.

Masterclass, £170 for 12 months here.

Note that the backpack blower makes whoever’s wearing it look like a character from Ghostbusters. Which is a comedy bonus.

Find the Frame at John Lewis here* – from £999.

Find the Bed of Nails online at Cult Beauty here* – it’s an unusual – but hopefully very useful – present.

Bose Frames are £199 at Amazon here*.

Random quirky-luxe item: the Burberry Cow Print Leather Wallet, £280 at Liberty here*. I rather like this for myself!

Random quirky-luxe item 2: the Crocodile Letter Opener, £45 at Liberty here*.

Beatles Monopoly – the classic Christmas game gets a rock ‘n’ roll update. £45 at Selfridges here*.

The post Christmas Gift Guide 2019: Men appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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