Archive for September 16th, 2008

La Piaggia Beach Club, South Beach – Miami

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

La Piaggia Beach Club
1000 South Pointe Drive
South Beach  Florida 33139
Tel. 1 (305) 674 0647
Website: www.lapiaggiabeach.com
Opening Hours: Lunch Mon-Fri 11:30am – 5pm, Sat 11:30am – 6pm, Sun 11:30am – 7pm Bar open until 6 p.m. weekdays, 8 p.m.
Reservations: Required
Parking: Valet
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Expensive

La Piaggia may have an Italian name but it is French down to the core due to the influence of Robert Pascal, French restaurateur who brought St. Tropez’s La Voile Rouge to Miami. Although, VR didn’t cut it, this new operation is definitely the trendy spot to be seen these days.
It is situated at the end of Miami Beach, facing Fisher Island; the popular beach club is below the towering Murano Grande condos complex. A St. Tropez style bar and outdoor restaurant with brightly colored yellow-and-orange canopies, yellow beach furniture interspersed with white to calm it down and flashy orange umbrellas to heat it up. There are plenty of knockout model-types strutting around the sandy floor and lots of male celebrities ogling them, including an appearance by Bill Clinton, who was certainly not there to hunt for truffles.
Speaking of food, the menu here is very interesting aside from the obligatory pasta choices you can find some very authentic and well prepared French dishes. Especially interesting; Les Moules Marinières   $ 21.50; Fresh Mussels, White Wine and Cream, served with French Fries; La Nicoise   $ 17.50 Boston Lettuce, Tuna, Potato, Egg, Olive, Cucumber, Green Pepper, Green Beans With Fresh Tuna   $ 24.50; La Salade de Lentilles   $ 9.00 Lentils with Onion, Parsley, Pancetta and Vinaigrette; La Chin Chin Salade   $ 16.50; Famous Chinese Chicken Salad;  La Paillarde de Poulet Romana   $16.50; Grilled Escalope of Chicken and French Fries; Le Tartare du Gorille   $19.50; Traditional Tartar Steak with French Fries; L’Onglet aux Echalottes   $23.50; Hanger Steak with Shallots and French Fries; La Tropezienne   $ 10.00 The Famous Tart from St. Tropez
I have included prices, which usually I do not because of upward fluctuation, only to show that there are some items that are moderately priced, but please note that they will change as time goes on.

Le Beaulieu, Hill-Lodge – Chiang Mai, Thailand

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

140 M.5 T.Banpong Hangdong Chiangmai
Tel: (053) 365-011 to 12
Fax: (053) 365-060
Mobile: (084) 042-6594, (081) 948-3748
Website: www.hill-lodge.com
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate-Expensive

Chalaluck Bunnag’s boutique Hill-Lodge is nestled in a beautiful location in the mountains above Chiang Mai at 600 meters elevation and has 4 spacious villas and 2 luxury suites. It is about a 30 – 40 minute drive (27 kilometers) from Chiang Mai to arrive at Hill Lodge.
Le Beaulieu’s dining room is covered with a roof but is open-air with a bar and service area tucked inside; it was delightful to have dinner in the mountains and the temperature was absolutely perfect. The cuisine is in the same league as the Herve FrerardLe Beaulieu standard, as a sous-chef from the Bangkok branch is in the kitchen. The restaurant is in the process of re-vamping the wine list although Le Rime Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay is a good wine to order presently.


Spago – Beverly Hills

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

176 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tel. (310) 385-0880
Website: www.wolfgangpuck.com
Opening Hours:
Lunch: 11:30am – 2:15pm, Monday – Friday
Noon – 2:30pm, Saturday
Dinner: 5:30pm – 10pm, Sunday – Thursday
5:30pm – 11pm, Friday & Saturday
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Expensive

I began to dine at Spago from its very beginning when it was located on the “Sunset Strip” and I go even farther back with Wolfgang Puck, to the days when he was the chef at Patrick Terrail’s very successful Ma Maison Restaurant on Melrose Blvd. Patrick was having a hard time when he first opened to find a good chef. I happened to be there one evening when he had a big problem because he had no chef and to make it worse a full house, and among the guests, two of Los Angeles’ top restaurant critics and Patrick had no other choice then to cook himself. His problems in that department ended when he found Wolfgang Puck.
While Wolfgang was working at Ma Maison he met former A&M Records receptionist, Barbara Lazaroff whom he married. The two were a good team, Wolf as an excellent chef with proper French training and Barbara a born promoter with a keen sense of business acumen.
They eventually put together a formula that was startling at the time, an incongruous mix that fell somewhere between Alice Waters Chez Panisse and Prego in San Francisco. It became an instant success with the film business power brokers. Irving “Swifty” Lazar was famous for throwing his post Academy Awards parties that began at Romanoffs and moved on to the Bistro Gardens and finally Spago until his death in 1993.
A few years ago they moved Spago from the premises on Sunset to the former Bistro Gardens location on Canon Drive; it necessitated closing down the entire street to deliver a huge olive tree for the patio, which replaced the row of poplar trees that previously lined the terrace.
Wolf told me it takes him anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes to complete the rounds of all the tables in the dining room at Spago, Beverly Hills, chatting with this table and joking and laughing with another.
The cooking still remains good and Wolfgang is dedicated to Spago, so much so, that when he returned from his wedding and honeymoon in Capri to Gelila Assefa, he still turned up at Spago to greet the Saturday night crowd, even though he must have been exhausted.