restaurant charlie
ate dinner with five friends at restaurant charlie in the palazzo on sunday night. the chef is some guy named charlie trotter from chicago--i have no idea who he is but apparently he's a pretty big deal. we had a 20% off coupon (haha just noticed the theme of using coupons at fancy restaurants this trip--classy!)
anyway the restaurant is mostly exotic seafood with a heavy modern-japanese influence and VERY different from the meal the night before. this place is definitely fancy-pants. tables are spaced far apart and it is QUIET in there. servers sound like they're whispering and are formal and cold. we had to sprinkle in a bit of toilet humor to lighten the mood--not enough to disturb the table next to us, but just enough to take the edge off. got a weird look from one server, not sure if she was shaking her head in disgust or holding back from laughing. either way it was good times.
food was good, but in contrast to the warm, satisfying, comforting meal i had at fleur de lys the night before, this place just wasn't my style.
i ate geoduck for the first time, which is a big step for me. i have an irrational fear of molluscs to begin with, and i've never seen anything more phallic than a geoduck so that just doubles the intimidation factor for me. of course they slice it thin so you don't have to look at it, and it was pretty tasty. ama ebi (sweet shrimp or spot prawns) were the highlight. felt funny to be munching on a shrimp head at a fancy restaurant.
had tasmanian ocean trout for my entree, again a first for me. really though, it's an awful lot like salmon. i really couldn't tell the difference if you put the two in front of me, and honestly i've already forgotten what it tasted like. the salmon at fleur de lys was better. wife had tuna tartare, but the one at fleur de lys was better. in fact she had braised short ribs again, with hamachi this time. from the reviews this is one of the most popular dishes at this restaurant, but again the short ribs at fleur de lys were better. hmmm noticing a theme here?
we ordered some side dishes--fancy mashed potatoes and butternut squash risotto with pumpkin seeds. tasty, but made absolutely no sense with the seafood/asian-inspired menu. don't remember what we had for dessert at all. that's weird.
the highlight was probably the wine. something white from spain was good and cheap (relatively). wines by the glass were crazy expensive. in fact the whole meal was. in fact if i didn't have such a good time with good friends i'd feel semi-ripped off. i wouldn't go here for the food--there's a difference between "interesting" and "good," and this place is on the "interesting" side. it's definitely not bad, but you could go to a really great sushi bar and spend less $$$.
ate dinner with five friends at restaurant charlie in the palazzo on sunday night. the chef is some guy named charlie trotter from chicago--i have no idea who he is but apparently he's a pretty big deal. we had a 20% off coupon (haha just noticed the theme of using coupons at fancy restaurants this trip--classy!)
anyway the restaurant is mostly exotic seafood with a heavy modern-japanese influence and VERY different from the meal the night before. this place is definitely fancy-pants. tables are spaced far apart and it is QUIET in there. servers sound like they're whispering and are formal and cold. we had to sprinkle in a bit of toilet humor to lighten the mood--not enough to disturb the table next to us, but just enough to take the edge off. got a weird look from one server, not sure if she was shaking her head in disgust or holding back from laughing. either way it was good times.
food was good, but in contrast to the warm, satisfying, comforting meal i had at fleur de lys the night before, this place just wasn't my style.
i ate geoduck for the first time, which is a big step for me. i have an irrational fear of molluscs to begin with, and i've never seen anything more phallic than a geoduck so that just doubles the intimidation factor for me. of course they slice it thin so you don't have to look at it, and it was pretty tasty. ama ebi (sweet shrimp or spot prawns) were the highlight. felt funny to be munching on a shrimp head at a fancy restaurant.
had tasmanian ocean trout for my entree, again a first for me. really though, it's an awful lot like salmon. i really couldn't tell the difference if you put the two in front of me, and honestly i've already forgotten what it tasted like. the salmon at fleur de lys was better. wife had tuna tartare, but the one at fleur de lys was better. in fact she had braised short ribs again, with hamachi this time. from the reviews this is one of the most popular dishes at this restaurant, but again the short ribs at fleur de lys were better. hmmm noticing a theme here?
we ordered some side dishes--fancy mashed potatoes and butternut squash risotto with pumpkin seeds. tasty, but made absolutely no sense with the seafood/asian-inspired menu. don't remember what we had for dessert at all. that's weird.
the highlight was probably the wine. something white from spain was good and cheap (relatively). wines by the glass were crazy expensive. in fact the whole meal was. in fact if i didn't have such a good time with good friends i'd feel semi-ripped off. i wouldn't go here for the food--there's a difference between "interesting" and "good," and this place is on the "interesting" side. it's definitely not bad, but you could go to a really great sushi bar and spend less $$$.
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