One way to create a design element is to use a pullquote, such as this one from a friend on why she dislikes hot and spicy dishes:
"I hate food that hurts."
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Picasso, at the Bellagio
Under Chef Julian Serrano, Picasso has earned a solid reputation both locally and nationally. The food is nearly as wildly inventive as its artist namesake -- the restaurant's interior features scores of his original works. The small patio offers a ringside view of the Bellagio's "dancing waters" fountains: exhilarating displays, beginning with a foggy mist and sometimes shooting 150 feet in the air, choreographed to music from Las Vegas legends like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
Viva Las Vegas!
Charlie Palmer's Aureole, at Mandalay BayPalmer is another nationally famous chef with a restaurant in Las Vegas. Aureole is perhaps best known for its extensive wine tower, accessed by "wine angels" -- women from the Cirque du Soleil troupe outfitted with harnesses and ropes that take them high above diners to fetch rare vintages.
At left, the frisee salad with poached egg, bacon, and smoked salmon.
Some Las Vegas Restaurants
Bouchon, at the VenetianLas Vegas's hotel restaurants feature some of the most famous chefs in the world. Here is a shot of breakfast (croque madame, fries, mimosas, smoked salmon and cream cheese on a baguette) at Bouchon, from executive chef Thomas Keller. Keller's restaurants, including the French Laundry in Napa Valley, Calif., and Per Se in New York, often top critics' lists for the top restaurants in the nation.
Atlanta Restaurants: Wisteria
Wisteria:
The New South in Full Flower
By Krista Reese
(Georgia Trend, February 2007)
Oh, these people and their food issues. You know one, or you are one – that person who claims to eat anything, and then adds, “Except seafood, of course.” Or “Unless it’s spicy,” or “liver” or “not in the Serbo-Croatian diet I’m on right now.”
They can bust up a dinner party or carjack a menu, and when it comes to choosing a restaurant, they can stump the panel with their particular subset of demands: “Let’s see, it needs to be intown, take reservations, serve wine and interesting food for us, but also vegetarian [or meat-and-potatoes, or unspicy, or not-weird] specialties for them…”
One of my favorite restaurants, Wisteria, is a kind of Venn diagram solution – a safe purple roundtable joining the red circle of food conservatives and the blue ring of food progressives. Perhaps because it’s an unashamed crowd-pleaser, focused on building consensus rather than making a statement, Wisteria has long been an underrated, low-profile establishment. Make no mistake, however: Wisteria’s fare is as seriously good as its atmosphere is invitingly intimate. It’s perfect for a quiet, romantic Valentine dinner, whether yours is a “mixed marriage” of adventurous and timid tastes, or perfectly attuned.
Traditionalists’ eyes will leap to such Southern menu offerings as molasses-rubbed pork tenderloin with sweet potato soufflé, fried catfish, iron-skillet chicken with bacon-braised collards and corn pudding, iceberg-wedge salad with Point Reyes blue cheese dressing and applewood-smoked bacon crumbles. Daring diners’ pupils will fix, and then dilate on the crab bisque laced with Calvados and goat cheese crème fraiche, kobe beef carpaccio, skate wing in lemon brown butter, pan-seared ahi tuna over wasabi potato dumplings. Though there are only a few options for vegetarians, they will rejoice at these “mainstreamed” entrees and sides, from the simple to subtly nuanced, including the seasonal vegetable platter (grilled stewed, sautéed and roasted), caramelized onion tart, black-eyed pea hummus with sweet potato chips, pumpkin ravioli with arugula and balsamic-candied walnuts. (Most entrees range from the mid-teens to around $20.)
Chef/proprietor Jason Hill delivers on these delicious-sounding dishes, with presentations visually equaling the gustatory delights. There are no precious stacks or towers here, no strange stems sticking out like proclamations – just perfectly cooked herb-crusted rack of lamb, with crisp roasted asparagus. Just creamy grits with that buttery, pale-centered skatefish. Simply paper-thin raw delectable beef with horseradish dribbles, and finely shaved, aromatic Parmesan. And that chicken? You could serve it to Caspar Milquetoast or Joan Jett – and they’ll both ask for a take-home box.
Although the food is the main reason to go to Wisteria, it’s not the only one – open nightly, accepting reservations and serving dinner relatively late, it makes a handy after-theater destination if you can get there quickly. When I’m not in a rush, I like to go in time to have a cocktail, because the bar attracts a loose gathering of interesting and chatty folks, and serves up one of the best Manhattans in town. I also love the wine list, with a big selection of interesting stuff by the glass, half-bottle and bottle (including one of my favorites, Sokol Blosser Evolution No. 9, at a reasonable $33). Finally, the service is great – jill-and-johnny-on-the-spot without being intrusive; friendly but not obsequious.
It’s the fine dining solution to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Fact box:
Wisteria
471 North Highland Ave. (at Freedom Parkway)
404-525-3363
www.wisteria-atlanta.com
Hours: Dinner nightly.
Credit cards: All major.
Parking: Complimentary valet.
Dress code: Stylish casual.
The New South in Full Flower
By Krista Reese
(Georgia Trend, February 2007)
Oh, these people and their food issues. You know one, or you are one – that person who claims to eat anything, and then adds, “Except seafood, of course.” Or “Unless it’s spicy,” or “liver” or “not in the Serbo-Croatian diet I’m on right now.”
They can bust up a dinner party or carjack a menu, and when it comes to choosing a restaurant, they can stump the panel with their particular subset of demands: “Let’s see, it needs to be intown, take reservations, serve wine and interesting food for us, but also vegetarian [or meat-and-potatoes, or unspicy, or not-weird] specialties for them…”
One of my favorite restaurants, Wisteria, is a kind of Venn diagram solution – a safe purple roundtable joining the red circle of food conservatives and the blue ring of food progressives. Perhaps because it’s an unashamed crowd-pleaser, focused on building consensus rather than making a statement, Wisteria has long been an underrated, low-profile establishment. Make no mistake, however: Wisteria’s fare is as seriously good as its atmosphere is invitingly intimate. It’s perfect for a quiet, romantic Valentine dinner, whether yours is a “mixed marriage” of adventurous and timid tastes, or perfectly attuned.
Traditionalists’ eyes will leap to such Southern menu offerings as molasses-rubbed pork tenderloin with sweet potato soufflé, fried catfish, iron-skillet chicken with bacon-braised collards and corn pudding, iceberg-wedge salad with Point Reyes blue cheese dressing and applewood-smoked bacon crumbles. Daring diners’ pupils will fix, and then dilate on the crab bisque laced with Calvados and goat cheese crème fraiche, kobe beef carpaccio, skate wing in lemon brown butter, pan-seared ahi tuna over wasabi potato dumplings. Though there are only a few options for vegetarians, they will rejoice at these “mainstreamed” entrees and sides, from the simple to subtly nuanced, including the seasonal vegetable platter (grilled stewed, sautéed and roasted), caramelized onion tart, black-eyed pea hummus with sweet potato chips, pumpkin ravioli with arugula and balsamic-candied walnuts. (Most entrees range from the mid-teens to around $20.)
Chef/proprietor Jason Hill delivers on these delicious-sounding dishes, with presentations visually equaling the gustatory delights. There are no precious stacks or towers here, no strange stems sticking out like proclamations – just perfectly cooked herb-crusted rack of lamb, with crisp roasted asparagus. Just creamy grits with that buttery, pale-centered skatefish. Simply paper-thin raw delectable beef with horseradish dribbles, and finely shaved, aromatic Parmesan. And that chicken? You could serve it to Caspar Milquetoast or Joan Jett – and they’ll both ask for a take-home box.
Although the food is the main reason to go to Wisteria, it’s not the only one – open nightly, accepting reservations and serving dinner relatively late, it makes a handy after-theater destination if you can get there quickly. When I’m not in a rush, I like to go in time to have a cocktail, because the bar attracts a loose gathering of interesting and chatty folks, and serves up one of the best Manhattans in town. I also love the wine list, with a big selection of interesting stuff by the glass, half-bottle and bottle (including one of my favorites, Sokol Blosser Evolution No. 9, at a reasonable $33). Finally, the service is great – jill-and-johnny-on-the-spot without being intrusive; friendly but not obsequious.
It’s the fine dining solution to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Fact box:
Wisteria
471 North Highland Ave. (at Freedom Parkway)
404-525-3363
www.wisteria-atlanta.com
Hours: Dinner nightly.
Credit cards: All major.
Parking: Complimentary valet.
Dress code: Stylish casual.
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