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maine is quite the touristy state and we have our share of ,,high-end restaurants,,,
personally,,,if there's a steak on the menu for over 25.00,,, im getting screwed..i dont care if its prime, angus, kobe,,wagyu,,beef,,,unless its almost two pounds,,i feel im paying too much,,and yes, i know about the atmosphere and prestige,,,blah blah blah...
its not a question of affordability,,i relate it to taking my son to disneyworld,,,a couple years ago,,i had a pocket full of cash,,,but refused to pay 4.00 for a small bottle of water or 13.50 for a cheeseburger at planet hollywood (no matter how cute the waitresses were)
i just feel im getting ripped off,,,
on special occassions,,,id much rather,,,cook at my house,,whether its prime rib or lobster,,,or most any entree (i like to cook) than go pay 100 plus a plate,,,and even then ,,a chance you may not like it,,
ive been to many 5-star restaurants ..thru the years,,now try to avoid them,,
for 100 plus a plate,,,the waitresses should be dancing naked on the tables!!
Oh yeah, women LOVE dancing naked men. That would be the resturant dieting women went to, because they would loose their appeitite.
Actually, my sister and her gal pals at school in Burlington would drive up to Montreal for a weekend just because they had nude dancing men. To each his own I suppose.
Former and present 5 star and Michelin star restaurants I've been to:
Le Gavroche
Guy Savoy
Le Bernardin
Lucas Carton
Aquavit
Bouley
The Quilted Giraffe
Nobu
Louis XV
Le Cirque
Daniel
Club 21
Locke-Ober
Maxim's
Lasserre
La Tour d'Argent
Jules Verne
Joel Robuchon
Russian Tea Room
Yuk Lun's Rice Shop
Windows on the World
Vong (and Indochine)
plus more I can't recall at this moment
Yes, I am a committed foodie, spending my retirement on great food where ever I happen to be. Sadly, I've only been to Lyon once and I'm not all that big on Italian or steak so I'm biased.
Sometimes, more often than not, I find that the food is worth it but, only if you love to explore food. Plenty of sickeningly rich people and expense account suits eat at these places and don't give a damn about what shows up on their plate. The name and place are the thing and so long as the service is good, they wouldn't know beluga from ossetra. This is all very annoying for we little people who actually show-up for what's on the plate. Some places, like Locke-Ober and Club 21 crank out reliably good (if not great) food, but are way past their due dates. You go to these places more for their history than anything else. Some, like Maxim's, are better than they used to be and you wonder if they were as good in their heyday. One, in particular, Louis XV, was exceptional but even then it was over-the-top. Do women really need an ottoman for their purses?
To really appreciate what is going on you have to approach food as an art, learning about the history of great chefs, eating way too much rich food, and then understanding what the ground-breaking chefs of the world are doing to advance cuisine as we know it. It does make a difference. All the things that go on up in the heady world of food filter down to the rest of us down here on the ground in good time adding to our own cooking at home. Twenty years ago would you have found jicama, ginger root, or an olive bar at your grocery store? Would they have carried reggiano? Even frozen pad thai?
Sometimes restaurants are uneven, some have their head up their sphincter, more than a few are overrated, but some are worth every penny and then some. Nearly all have exceptional service because that, more than anything else, matters. Best waiter I ever had was some guy in his 60s at a NYC steakhouse where I was entertaining a friend. While my friend's steak was tough, my lamb was excellent but the waiter was positively telepathic. He knew what I wanted and when, could read that I wanted him before I knew myself. I left him an enormous tip. People will tolerate a mediocre dish or two, but they won't tolerate bad service. It reflects on the host who's shelling out the dough for the night out.
Of all the places I've been, my favorite of the bunch is Marcus Samuelson at Aquavit. The food is cutting edge, yes, but when I show-up (and ever have since the beginning) I'm treated without pretension. My first visit I got caught in a downpour and was nearly soaked but I wasn't giving-up my reservation and besides, I live 50 miles from NYC. They couldn't have been nicer, even offering me a few towels so I could step into the lavatory to dry off as best I could. I was then treated to a wonderful lunch with a wait staff that was top-notch but not snobby. I've been back when I can and each time they're remarkable. If I don't like something they'll replace it with another dish without question and I don't even have to ask; they'll see food left on the plate and ask why it wasn't to my taste and would I like something else without any extra charge. Maybe it's the Scandinavian egalitarian thing, I don't know. The real treat is the traditional Swedish smorrebord served for Sunday brunch. It's a bargain and everyone I drag to it falls in love.
The strangest thing I've ordered is Joel Robuchon's ragout of calf's head in gribbiche sauce with a good Riesling and it was magnficent. Definitely in the running for best dish I've ever had despite it took every ounce of strength to order it.
Good food is what pleases you. Not everyone is adventurous or likes to try new things. Some of my best meals were those spent with friends in completely forgettable places save that the food was good and the company even better. The most perfectly cooked and delicious piece of meat I've ever had was spit roasted boar at a restaurant next to the house I grew-up in. Even now, over a decade later, I remember it very clearly. When you remember something so pleasurable for so long after it happened, then you know it was worth the effort and expense.
for 100 plus a plate,,,the waitresses should be dancing naked on the tables!!
Thanks for that post! It reinforces what I'm saying. The top places matter only if you care. Think of what a mint, and I mean still-packed-in-plastic '65 Corvette convertible would mean to the world of car collectors, or a true Chippendale chair made by Thomas Chippendale himself would mean to an antique collector. The value is in the eye of the beholder.
I know a gentleman who deals in exclusively in French 17th-19th century paintings. Time after time he's shown me works he's absolutely ecstastic about, paintings that will go to billionaire collectors. In college I majored in Art History so I do appreciate the technique, skill, and subject matter. I know they're great paintings because of the exceptional resources and abilities necessary to produce them. He showed me a beautiful Poussin once and I could tell it would be a major sale for that year, maybe the sale of his life, but in my heart I really couldn't care less. I'm not enraptured with French painting as he is. I do like Delacroix, David, and Gericault but that's about it. The frilly idyllic paintings he's enamored with are great paintings, but they're not to my taste. I understand the skill and brilliance they require, yet in the end, I wouldn't care to hang it in my house even if I lived in a palace. My taste and soul is not moved by the work.
That's the same deal with the restaurants. As I've said earlier, I'm not big on steak. I've been to Peter Luger's and I had what was an excellent steak. The service was great and all, but I felt the effort was wasted on me as I just simply don't like steak all that much. I know a good piece of beef when I eat it, but frankly I'd have been happier with barbecue or a hamburger. Not that I told my host that. It was a very kind gesture as it was a personal, non-expensed meal, and I treated it as such, raving about how wonderful it was, but my enthusiasm was with the thought behind the invitation, not the food. Sure the steak sauce was nice, but frankly I'd have preferred Worcestershire from the local A&P.
Hate to burst anyone's bubble or gross anyone out, but just because it's a 5 star restaurant does NOT necessarily mean it's any CLEANER...
Worked in f&b for YEARS!!!!!!!!!! If you ever saw the back of the house, you wouldn't eat out very much...
I've been to quite a few 4 and 5 star restaurants, some are worth the $$$ and some arent. The French Room in Dallas was one of the best 5 star restaurant I've ever been to. The atmosphere was great, the service was excellent, and the food was to die for. Yes, it was expensive ($600 for the 4 of us) but it was worth every penny I spent. I've also been to a couple that didn't live up to their hype. Yes they were still good but it wasn't as much as I had expected (and when I'm paying $50 something for a steak, I expect A LOT).
A note on the celebrity chefs, they don't actually cook the food. I was at Spago (owned by Wolfgang Puck) with a couple of friends a while back and they actually thought that Wolfgang Puck himself would be preparing their meal. They were a bit disappointed when I told them that he is the "Head Chef" and if he was even there, that he would only instruct the chef's under him. He wouldn't cook the meal himself.
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That would be the resturant dieting women went to, because they would loose their appeitite.
