Opinionated About Dining

Three in Philadelphia - Le Bec Fin, Striped Bass, Vetri

If W.C. Fields was a food critic, the epitaph on his tombstone might read; "I'd rather be here than eating in Philadelphia." Unfortunately, except for a meal at the Striped Bass, the evidence of my three day trip to the city of brotherly love would have proven him right. And that even goes for the cheese steaks we ate for lunch on Friday at Dallesandro's, purportedly the city's best spot for this uniquely local specialty.

My journey began at Vetri on a Thursday evening. I know you're saying to yourself, he's going to eat Italian food? What is he out of his mind, he is going to hate it. But I had heard so many good things about the restaurant that I was determined to give it a try. But a handful of positive comments could not offset the lack of sophistication shown by the restaurant's kitchen where only one dish in an 8 course tasting menu rose to the level of truly delicious.

                                                                                           

Two in the Hamptons / North Fork Table & Inn and Muse Restaurant

                                                                                                                                 

After twenty-years of eating in Hamptons eateries, I am happy to report that I have finally found a restaurant that offers the same quality of food that you can get in the city. Okay so Southold, where the North Fork Table & Inn is located, is on Long Island's North Fork which technically isn't the Hamptons. And though the restaurant is only around 15 miles away from where I live as the crow flies, going there entails two short ferry rides and the trip takes somewhere between 45 and 75 minutes depending on how long you have to wait in line for the ferries. Driving around the bay is an option, but it's a 40 mile drive that is likely to include some heavy traffic at one point or another. But if you are a discriminating diner and you happen to be in the Hamptons, I recommend visiting the restaurant as the food is good enough to make the schlep to the North Fork worth it.

It's a simple enough concept. You take the Executive Chef of Aureole, and the Executive Pastry Chef of Gramercy Tavern, who fortunately happens to be his wife, and team up with Mike and Mary Mraz, formerly the General Manager of Hearth and the Service Manager of Gramercy Tavern respectively, and then you take a house that Hayden and Fleming already own in Southold and turn it into a restaurant. You then make deals with various local farmers to provide you with biodynamically raised vegetables, locally produced goat cheese, and buy sacks of Peconic Bay scallops, local steamers and whatever else might be swimming in Gardiner's Bay or the Long Island Sound, from local fisherman who wander into the restaurant with their catch. Then you top it off with the best bottlings of the local wineries which are located just down the road from the restaurant. One would think from this description I am talking about Napa but I'm not. This small slice of paradise is located around 90 miles from New York City and one can easily get there by railroad from Penn Station in 3 hours. 

                                                                                            

 

Northeastern Formal Dining

                                            Boston

Uni - Ken Oringer runs this sushi bar in a space that it shares with his more formal restaurant, Clio. It's just a counter with six seats and four small tables along the back wall. One night last October I sat down at their opening time of 6:00 PM, and told Johnny, who mans the sushi counter, that I had to make a 7:15 shuttle back to New York. Well, he took control of the situation, and in that 75 minutes he managed to serve me preparations of Kumamoto oysters, a quail egg with uni and caviar, toro tartar, barbecued eel and foie gras, Kobe beef with Vidalia onions, and otoro with beet tops. It was a terrific meal with the freshest of ingredients, and Uni gets my vote as the best place to dine in Boston. B+

Uni’s Quail Egg Spoon with Uni and Caviar