The gourmet food thread (1 Viewer)

Apologies if there is another thread like this. I am in Italy and the Western Med for two weeks and I am just coming away from a fine dinner, one of two at famous restaurants with Michelin chefs I’ve had this week in Rome. 

The first was at Pierluigi, famous for seafood. After a salad, which was very good but not spectacular, I had sole broiled  in olive oil and spices- it was succulent, the best fish I have ever had in my life (with all apologies to Mamma’s Fish House in Maui, which previously held this title.) However my wife and daughter shared a filet of beef that might have been the best steak I’ve ever tasted- but there was too much of it! Over a pound and a half, enough to serve 3 people. Our side order was a plate of spinach marinated in light oil and garlic- delicious! 

Tonight was at Mirabelle, on top of the Hotel Splendide Royale with one of the best views of the city- we watched the sun set over the dome of the Vatican while we ate. The food was fine but overpriced- my bowl of soup alone was 38 euros. But when in Rome, right? I had the Sea Bass with porcini mushrooms and potatoes. Excellent but not as good as the earlier meals. 

Desserts in a later post. Think I’ve gained 10 pounds already. 

One other annoying thing about Rome I wanted to add: you’re not allowed to tip by credit card. So if you have an expensive meal like I did tonight, you can pay the bill with a card but you need to bring cash for the tip, which is a lot of Euros to carry around. (It’s about $1.20 for a Euro.) 

timschochet said:

One other annoying thing about Rome I wanted to add: you’re not allowed to tip by credit card. So if you have an expensive meal like I did tonight, you can pay the bill with a card but you need to bring cash for the tip, which is a lot of Euros to carry around. (It’s about $1.20 for a Euro.) 

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Don’t you just tip a couple of bucks a meal though?  Or is rome different from the rest of Europe 

also $40 for a bowl of soup...GTFO

I hope that $40 bowl of soup at least had some bull semen in it.

Well look at me.

Is this where we post pictures of the food and drinks we've ordered?  That's always appreciated behavior on Facebook. 

Had dinner at Alinea in Chicago about 6-7 years ago and loved it.  My wife and I will be in Barcelona in November and we just booked a meal at Disfrutar, which ranked #9 on the World's Best Restaurants list for 2019.  Definitely looking forward to that one.  We certainly don't make a habit of eating at places like this, but every few years it's fun to dine like Chet.

I'm working on a bag of Mexican style Elote Corn Chip Dippers from Trader Joe's right now which is definitely better than a $40 bowl of soup.

timschochet said:

Apologies if there is another thread like this. I am in Italy and the Western Med for two weeks and I am just coming away from a fine dinner, one of two at famous restaurants with Michelin chefs I’ve had this week in Rome. 

The first was at Pierluigi, famous for seafood. After a salad, which was very good but not spectacular, I had sole broiled  in olive oil and spices- it was succulent, the best fish I have ever had in my life (with all apologies to Mamma’s Fish House in Maui, which previously held this title.) However my wife and daughter shared a filet of beef that might have been the best steak I’ve ever tasted- but there was too much of it! Over a pound and a half, enough to serve 3 people. Our side order was a plate of spinach marinated in light oil and garlic- delicious! 

Tonight was at Mirabelle, on top of the Hotel Splendide Royale with one of the best views of the city- we watched the sun set over the dome of the Vatican while we ate. The food was fine but overpriced- my bowl of soup alone was 38 euros. But when in Rome, right? I had the Sea Bass with porcini mushrooms and potatoes. Excellent but not as good as the earlier meals. 

Desserts in a later post. Think I’ve gained 10 pounds already. 

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timschochet said:

One other annoying thing about Rome I wanted to add: you’re not allowed to tip by credit card. So if you have an expensive meal like I did tonight, you can pay the bill with a card but you need to bring cash for the tip, which is a lot of Euros to carry around. (It’s about $1.20 for a Euro.) 

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1.  We have like 29 teams in your stupid FFA fantasy league by now.  You are screwing us dude.  It's inlusiveness/tolerance like you wouldn't believe!!!

2. Um...you're never going back to that restaurant.  Throw 20 yen on the table and call it good.  Frenchies already hate us anyway.

Mmmmm Olive Garden?  

Got some Mozarella Marinara Ruffles at the store today. They’re decent, but I don’t think I’d buy them again unless they were on sale.

I licked a Bowery sidewalk on a bet once

caustic said:

Got some Mozarella Marinara Ruffles at the store today. They’re decent, but I don’t think I’d buy them again unless they were on sale.

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Look at Mr. Fancypants, good old original Ruffles weren't good enough huh.

PlayaHata said:

Had dinner at Alinea in Chicago about 6-7 years ago and loved it.  My wife and I will be in Barcelona in November and we just booked a meal at Disfrutar, which ranked #9 on the World's Best Restaurants list for 2019.  Definitely looking forward to that one.  We certainly don't make a habit of eating at places like this, but every few years it's fun to dine like Chet.

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Going to Chicago for a long weekend  with the wife and another couple late Fall - all centered around Alinea reservations. 

Dream food trip though I get pangs of guilt about dropping that kind of dough on a meal.  

if you're still in rome, save your euros and go to Felice a Testaccio and order the carbonara and cacio e pepe.

get whatever else you want for the table, but get those 2 plates of pasta for everyone to share

then talk to me.

Smoked a pork shoulder and wife just made homemade ice cream sandwiches with chewy chips ahoy.  I'm quite good at the moment.

Le biftec es buenos!

Had some Corndogs from Costco (Foster Farms), they were pretty good. Was about $12, which is kind of pricey, but at least you get 28 of them. 

Ate at El Celler de Can Roca this past May in while on a trip to Spain, and I can say it was the best meal I've ever had.  This place has been voted the #1 restaurant in the world and was #2 at the time we dined there.  Had to make reservations a year in advance.  20+ tasting courses with wine pairing.  These were the highlights.  

- One of the appetizers was served on this globe thing with the food on little satellite things orbiting it.  Here's a photo of it.  Each of the appetizers was influenced by foods from the country on the globe it is connected to.  For the last one, You had to guess which country it came from and move the lever it was on to that country.  If you get it right, the globe opens up revealing a fifth appetizer that looked like the earth's core.  It was like a DaVinci code device.  Super cool.  

- One of the desserts was made with dirt as an ingredient.  The dirt is apparently distilled until it forms this clear jelly but retains the earthiness. It's served with a combination of chocolate, and other sweet flavors and made to look like a patch of earth.  The closest way I can describe it is to say it tasted like camping or being in the woods.  Very delicious.  

- Another dessert that was super awesome was the cuban cigar infused ice cream.  Here's a photo of it.  The story behind it is that the pastry chef of the restaurant went to an ice cream class at one point and one of the things they said was that it is critical to make sure no outside fragrances or flavors get into the ice cream while it is churning.  He did the opposite and this is actually made with the smoke of a lit cuban cigar being infused into the ice cream.  In the photo, the cigar wrapper is chocolate with the ice cream inside.  Even the wrapper was edible.  It was served with a mint sorbet.  It was awesome.  

I haven't seen the word "gourmet" used in a really long time. Foodies don't even use it to describe James Beard award winners or Michelin star restaurants.

Today I splurged $4.99 for a pint of fresh lobster bisque from Publix. No tip.

Walking Boot said:

Olive Garden LIFETIME PASTA PASS goes on sale this week! For $500 you can get unlimited pasta, breadsticks, soup and salad forever. Online waiting room opens at 1:55PM ET on Thursday 8/15 and sales begin at 2PM. Only 50 will be sold. Incredible gourmet value!!!!

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Serious question, I date a woman whose dad is homeless. Lives out of state. I buy him a bunch of clothing from Goodwill/Salvation Army every Christmas. Think I should buy him one of these? Or even the year-long pasta pass? Serious question. He's always sending her texts asking her for money that say, "My ribs are showing," and equally disturbing things that really get to her sometimes.

Do these really sell out that quickly? And are they difficult to obtain..?