Archive for September, 2008

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Café de Paris – Monaco

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Pictured above Hôtel de Paris

Place du Casino
Tel. (+377) 92 16 20 00
Fax. (+377) 92 16 38 62
Web site: www.casino-monte-carlo.com
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate – Expensive

The café outside the renowned Café de Paris is a famous meeting-place and its art-deco façade enlivens the beautiful Place du Casino. The interior décor is that of an authentic 18th century style-brasserie where you may order traditional French brasserie favorites.
The Café de Paris has always been the central pivotal point of the casino complex. Across the street from the entrance of the Hotel de Paris with Alain Ducasse’s Le Louis XV Restaurant and in close proximity to the Casino, Maxim’s, Bar et Boeuf, another Alain Ducasse Michelin starred restaurant, (meaning Sea Bass & Beef), as well as the most popular, Zebra Square in the Grimaldi Forum on Avenue Princesse Grace.

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Jaan, Raffles Beijing Hotel – Beijing

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Raffles Beijing Hotel Main Building
33 East Chang An Avenue Beijing 100004 People’s Republic of China
Tel. +8610 6526 3388
Fax. +8610 8500 4380
Email:beijing@raffles.com
Website:www.beijing.raffles.com
Opening Hours: Lunch 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm daily Dinner 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm daily
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Very Expensive

Chef de Cuisine Guillaume Galliot presents a modern interpretation of classic French cuisine that is light and innovative in Jaan’s elegant dining room. A wide selection of French and New World wines are visible in the elongated glass wine cellar. The tall striking French windows and sparkling crystal chandeliers are magnificent as is the original dance floor circa 1924 where the splendid grand piano now stands.

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Elmer Dills L.A. Restaurant Critic, Dies at 82 – Los Angeles

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Longtime restaurant and travel critic for KABC TV and Radio dies at 82 in Pasadena, California where he resided for many years. Elmer and his wife Lynne loved to drink Champagne and in times past, he sometimes paid unofficial visits to my restaurant, Au Petit Cafe in Hollywood because he liked it, and he also reviewed it many times: http://www.au-petit-cafe-hollywood.com

It was not commonly known that Elmer Dills worked for the CIA for 20 years and when he could find time he was also an avid water-skier. His son Peter Dills has a website and a TV program on KJLA on Sunday evening at 8:00pm called “The Chef Knows” http://www.peterdills.com

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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.

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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 Frerard – Le 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.


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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.

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Cut Restaurant – Los Angeles

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Beverly Wilshire,
A Four Seasons Hotel
9500 Wilshire Blvd.,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Tel. 310-276-8500
Fax. 310-276-8502
www.wolfgangpuck.com/
www.fourseasons.com/beverlywilshire/dining.html
Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Friday and Saturday: 5:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Closed Sunday
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Expensive-Very Expensive

The best steak that I had ever tasted in America was while traveling cross-country many years ago from California to New York, to sail aboard the S.S. France where we would spend five days of wining and dining in the First Class dining room of the “France” where the ratio was 85 kitchen staff to about the same number of diners and was considered one of the world’s top restaurants at the time. It just happened that we stopped for dinner in a restaurant in a town called Grand Island, Nebraska and after tasting just one bite of the incredibly good steak that I ordered, I told the waitress to bring an order of every cut of beef on the menu.

When I perused the menu at Cut and found that they included beef from Nebraska along with the more exotic foreign imports, of course, that is what I ordered. I had the opportunity to sample many other steaks as well from other guests at the table and the Nebraska version held up very well.
I have to thank Wolfgang Puck for booking the table for me at Cut with just a day or two notice for a party of eight, when the normal wait at the time was a month or so and when I showed concern that there might be problems for other diners. He told me, ” I have told reception that we have to be a little bit flexible with the reservations as sometimes I have friends coming from overseas and we have to find some space.”

Wolfgang Puck and prominent architect Richard Meier, who designed The Getty Center, were chosen to make the space one-of-kind at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel.  It was to be a steakhouse concept although with the option to choose from many accompanying sauces. Raw cuts of meats are brought to the table, although not a new concept, it is helpful to shop with your eyes. There are also other non-meat choices as well. Cut is rated 1 star by the Michelin Guide for Los Angeles.

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Tahiti Beach – St. Tropez, France

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Plage de Tahiti
Pampelonne
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate-Expensive

Serving classic specialties: salad Niçoise, steak tartare, cous cous and the lot. Noted for offering the best food on the beach. This has always been one of my favorite beaches, going back to the era when Felix was front man in the evening at L’Escale at the port and during the daytime at Tahiti plage in some capacity I have forgotten exactly what. As an aside, it is also known for topless sunbathing on golden colored sand on the extreme northern side of Pampelonne. Plage de Tahiti is a fashionable less chaotic hangout and to emphasize once again, the cooking at Tahiti Beach on Pampelonne is still excellent as is the rosé wine.

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Spazzo’s 17th Anniversary Party, Hyatt Erawan Hotel – Bangkok

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
494 Rajdamri Road,
Bangkok, Thailand 10330
Tel: +66 2 254 1234 Fax: +66 2 254 6308
Email: bangkok.grand@hyatt.com
Opening Hours: Lunch: Noon – 2:30pm
Dinner 6:30pm – 11pm
Live Music 10pm – 2am
Dress Code: Smart Casual (No Singlets/Slippers/Shorts)
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate-Expensive

On the Lower Level the Hyatt Erawan’s Italian Restaurant Spazzo serves authentic Italian cuisine and a wide selection of dishes and regional specialties are prepared by chef Frederico. Spazzo is open for lunch and dinner but an added surprise is that after 10pm the restaurant morphs into a night club with many singles prowling around the two circular bars, with ultra-high energy live music by an international band. Don’t expect to have a quiet conversation after the music starts but, what the hell—that’s normal. Brunch is served on Sundays.

The 17th Anniversary party was a lot of fun, and the rooms were packed with a fun crowd. The Italian food was very good: roasted lamb, pumpkin risotto, mozzarella and tomatoes and many more offerings with plenty of sparkling, white and red wines and whatever else you might want to drink. Everyone was having a good time and they stayed until very late.

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Nikki Beach – St. Tropez, France

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Route de L’epi
83350 St. Tropez, Ramatuelle, France •
Tel. + 33.645.63.8487

Nikki Beach’s scene is the most exuberantly youthful and certainly à la mode at the moment. Naomi Campbell celebrated her birthday here last year and opened it up for the public who soon followed in droves. It is part of a chain, the original Nikki Beach is in Miami and they have opened others and are planning to open in Egypt and will launch one in Koh Samui, Thailand at Lipa Noi Beach in December. The thought that Voile Rouge failed in importing their brand of St. Tropez to Miami and yet Nikki Beach succeeded in bringing Miami to St. Tropez is a revolting reality.
The St Tropez branch is a series of split-level decking areas, which surround an enormous swimming pool. The show in the daytime at Nikki Beach reminds one of a disco with booming, loud music but the young
crowd here is visibly enjoying it. At night, it is a candlelit wonderland.
To obtain a place on one of the large white cotton mattresses that are lined up around the pool, you are obliged to consistently order bottles of Champagne. This is ridiculous, gauche, and most assuredly a sign of neurotic, nouveau riche insecurity, and the following incident gives definite proof. One tasteless, wasteful mat-squatter within a two hour period ordered about 100 bottles of Roederer Cristal Champagne just so that he could spew them into the pool with, I suppose, the odd tipple now and again.

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