The United States Of Eating - US (and Toronto) Aug/Sep 2016

[cove]

In New York we stayed at Marriott Marquis which is right in Times Square. It cost 400 AUD a night in total as I used a Citi Prestige CC to get a free night by booking a 4 night stay. The Hamilton play is next door and we went up to Madison Square Garden for Billy Joel. The School of Rock was a nearby show as are many others.

 

[suze2000]

Are you planning to stay in Niagara? If so, didn't waste your time with cheap hotels and book a room with a view such as Marriott On The Falls. And it sound cheesy but we ate in the revolving restaurant and not only was it surprisingly good, it was not as expensive as we expected. Also visit the Niagara On The Lake wine region while you are on the way there. In downtown Toronto, there's a restaurant called Weslodge which does by far and away the best Mac n cheese I have ever eaten, and they do very good coughtails and whiskey as well (run by a Melbourne guy, should have known). Hubby's working in Toronto atm so I have visited recently.

ETA: I keep trying to upload a picture from Niagara but I've never successfully managed one pic on this forum. Anyone have any advice? I have a TR from my last trip I wish to post as well.

 

[irv]

Try Johns Grill in SFO, (near Union Square) like stepping back into the 1920's. Food was pretty good especially the seafood chowder, and the photos on the wall give you a good look at the history of the establishment.

 

[BAM1748]

Taken just week for those people worried about fading away......
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15264656@N02/28377048843/in/photostream/

 

[BAM1748]

Try Johns Grill in SFO, (near Union Square) like stepping back into the 1920's. Food was pretty good especially the seafood chowder, and the photos on the wall give you a good look at the history of the establishment.

And here it is.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15264656@N02/28374765304/in/dateposted/

 

[GarrettM]

Bolly Joel tonight in New York at Madison Square Garden....had to get the tickets for tonight from a re-seller aka scalper.

This explains some of the karaoke choices I was forced to make at uni all those years ago.

 

[drron]

For a reasonably priced NYC Michelin starred restaurant you cant beat Le Bernadin.
3 course lunch is less than $US100.
Consistently beats 11 Madison Ave-
https://www.zagat.com/b/new-york-city/nyc-restaurants-2016-the-big-winners

The Big Winners
Le Bernardin wins the coveted No. 1 slot for Top Food once again this year (seventh year in a row!), scoring a 29 in the category, and is also the winner for Top Service, Most Popular, Best Seafood and Best French.

Also in this months AA magazine as best in NYC.

 

[tehuringa]

I'd check out the Eater city guides to see what restaurants are doing good things at the moment.

The 38 Essential New York Restaurants, Summer 2016 - Eater NY

The 38 Essential Las Vegas Restaurants, Summer 2016 - Eater Vegas

The 38 Essential Los Angeles Restaurants, Summer 2016 - Eater LA

I'm in L.A. in a week or so and am visiting SQIRL, Guerrilla Tacos, Petit Tois, Gjelina & Spago (I met a couple of sommeliers from there in Vienna earlier in June) and am staying at The Standard in Hollywood so I can report back on those.

 

[diningdecadence]

if lady luck does shine on you - give a crack to chef's table at brooklyn fare- i rated the food higher than EMP.

 

[NoName]

And we are off!

Have just settled in to my Melbourne airport hotel and let me tell you it ain't no Crown Towers. I'm already wishing I had have forked it the extra $100 or so for be Park Royal but for 10hrs I will survive.

Ok ok here we go....

BNE-MEL
QF635
Seat 1A

Pre departure I was offered a choice of water or something described by the FA as a "cranberry drink" whatever that means. I assume there was some cranberry juice in it. While I do enjoy the cranberry flavour, this tasted like juice from one of those big cheap cardboard containers that sell for about $1/L. Overly sweet so perhaps may have benefited from being watered down a little further.


After takeoff I was offered a range of the usual suspects to drink. I thought I'd have a cheeky warm up for the next morning so chose the sparking. It was Grant Burge brut. Never heard of the it but do recognise the bottle from previous domestic J flights. I'm no wine expert by any means but for what this was (domestic J) it was good enough. Not a patch on what will be consumed tomorrow but drinkable nonetheless. In fact I recall having 3 or 4 on an early morning flight on this same route last November. Don't judge, I was going to Derby Day!

Heres the bottle for anyone interested in reliving the glory days of university boozefests & the <$5 bottles that went with it:



With the noise in the cabin I didn't quite catch the full description of the meals on offer for dinner but we were looking at a Chinese spiced beef with rice and beans or a chicken salad of sorts. I chose the beef (and another sparkling for good measure). Although the flavour itself was nice enough I did immediately wish I'd chosen the chicken. As often happens the beef was more cooked than I like and a touch tough. Still, as with the sparkling it was good enough. The eclair with coffee flavoured filling and small orange Lindt chocolate after were tasty as you'd expect.




After the dinner service I decided to peruse the inflight entertainment. I usually enjoy a good documentary but the selection seemed quite limited and there wasn't anything that piqued my interest. I settled on a movie that I had already seen (Eddie The Eagle) and another sparkling. For those who haven't seen it its a light comedy based on the story of Eddie Edwards's efforts to compete in the Ski Jump in the 1988 Winter Olympics. See Rotten Tomatoes for a more detailed review but I recommend.

Landed on time which is always handy. Quick cab ride to the Ciloms Airport Lodge and its Olympics time. Bed shortly and then an early start for QF93 F.

 

[cove]

So QF93 in first class should be nice.Enjoy LOTFAP and remember about tipping. Also short rights and long lefts when you are driving on the right hand side of the road.

 

[njba]

Pre departure I was offered a choice of water or something described by the FA as a "cranberry drink" whatever that means. I assume there was some cranberry juice in it. While I do enjoy the cranberry flavour, this tasted like juice from one of those big cheap cardboard containers that sell for about $1/L. Overly sweet so perhaps may have benefited from being watered down a little further.

I think it comes from most bottled cranberry juices which are technically cranberry drink: 'juice' has to be just fruit juice, but drink can (and does) have a lot of water/sugar added. Cranberry juice would be completely tart, I'd imagine. Ocean Spray's website very carefully refrains from using the word juice: Products - Fruit Drinks | Ocean Spray

 

[cove]

We did Flemings Steakhouse at El Segundo which is adjacent to Los Angeles Airport. Always great food but we had no room for their lava cake dessert.

 

[clazman]

One of the best Keg restaurants for views is the one at Niagara Falls

 

[clazman]

Bolly Joel tonight in New York at Madison Square Garden....

Is that the Indian cover?

 

[cove]

Isn't auto correct a cough when it is run from India!

 

[NoName]

Ok, last night in vegas currently and just relaxing in the room after a long couple of days. I had intended to have this report going a bit quicker so apologies for that. So with that said.....


Alarm beeped at 5am the next morning to tell me it was time to get going. Usually a 5am wake up would not have impressed me but with a trip to the QF F lounge imminent I was prepared to overlook the need for additional sleep. Went down to the lobby of the still unnamed hotel (Ciloms Airport Lodge if you're really looking for a sub-par hotel - does have a "Presidential Suite" though) and pretty much straight away was aboard the shuttle to the airport. Kudos to the hotel on providing a nice efficient service with that one.

Walked up to the QF F check in. Wasn't quite open yet but the lady waiting outside was happy to get the process underway anyway. Nice quick check in and I was off to immigration and 5 min later at the front desk of the F lounge. The man at the counter scanned the boarding pass and wished me happy birthday. A nice touch. Straight to the restaurant for breakfast. "Can I get you something to drink Sir?" Silly question, Mumm Rose` thanks! Ordered the Corn Fritters after reading positive reviews on them and wasn't at all disappointed.



Grabbed another champagne - Perrlier Grand Brut this time. Preferred the Rose` but that's just my personal preference.

Off for the booked massage appointment. A great service but over all too soon. 20min isnt nearly enough but I suppose when they're trying to squeeze in as many passengers as possible its about as long as is practical.

Feeling nice and relaxed I decided to follow the advice the first host had given me when she called the previous day and have a second breakfast. Its all about eating so hey, why not? Went for the fried eggs with hash brown, mushrooms and pork sausages this time. Tasted fine but nothing special really. The corn fritters were the clear winner of the two.



Thought I better sample the Taittinger so as to be able to give a proper assessment of my F lounge champagne preferences so grabbed one at the same time. As I said in my previous post, I'm no wine expert so I won't try to give a detailed critique here. A simple ranking will do and for my tastes it was:

1. Mumm Rose`
2. Taittinger
3. Perrier

By this time it was approaching boarding so I decided to take a few of the same photos that have been taken and posted on this forum a thousand times before. It seems a trip report isnt complete without the standard old school departure board and maybe a shot of inside the lounge so here they are:




Boarding call comes and away we go.......

 

[NoName]

MEL-LAX
Seat 1A:

Down the escalator, along the F boarding "passage", in the front left door and I am confronted with this:




What a beautiful sight! Not a middle seat to be seen! Well not one worth complaining about anyway! Sorted the bag and a few items out quickly and settled comfortably into seat 1A. The flight attendant looking after the A seats (her name escapes me) came around and introduced herself, offering to help me with anything at all at the same time. No offering of birthday wishes this time. No problem, the words coming out of her mouth were far sweeter. Thanks, a glass of champagne would be perfect:



Went down perfectly as you'd expect.

The captain came around and introduced himself and we had a chat for a few minutes. Glass was empty by this stage so asked for a refill which promptly got the same treatment as the last. A quick look at the menu, a third glass to help get me through the safety presentation and it was time for takeoff.....

 

[NoName]

Currently in the J lounge in LAX awaiting a very delayed departure on QF16. Scheduled for 11:20pm but currently down for 3:40am. Thought that might give me the chance to bash out a couple of well overdue updates to this thread......


QF93 cont....


Uneventful takeoff and soon enough the seatbelt sign was off and the champagne was being brought around for another refill. The FA came around to take my order from the menu below:




Drinks:




I went for the tasting menu with matching wines as two breakfasts and several glasses of champagne both in the lounge and on board clearly wasn't enough yet. I did ask for the cauliflower soup to be changed to the ocean trout confit which the FA was happy to do for me. Note that while the ocean trout was great, Mrs NoName had the Soup on QF11 a few days later and loved it as well so not sure if I missed out with that one.

 

[NoName]

Caviar tartlet - a great way to start the service (with another champagne). The duck toast was also fantastic, so much so that it was gone well before the camera came out.


Ocean trout confit served with the Gembrook Hill Sauvignon Blanc. The confit was beautiful. Nice and tender with a loverly flavour. I would definitely have this again. I'm not really a fan of white but the wine was nice enough and I managed to get to the bottom of the glass without too many problems.


Rare beef served with the Seville Estate Pinot Noir. Again, the beef was beautiful. I really enjoy rare beef/tartar so naturally liked this dish. Beef was nicely prepared with a hint of spice from the chives etc. The pinot went down well too so no complaints there either.


Nolan scotch fillet served with the St Hallet Old Block Shiraz. A minor mishap when I wasn't given any cutlery when the steak was brought out and had to wait 5min or so for some to appear. The steak was also a bit overcooked for my liking however I understand that we're on a plane so not a major issue. The horseradish dressing added a great bite to it.


Kafir Lime & Vanilla Savarin. I really had no idea what this was but having now had it I want the recipe. As a crude description is was basically a cake in a bowl with syrup at the bottom. Probably something that most people with any decent baking experience could make but excellent all the same. I'd have loved to have had another serving but after devouring food and drink non-stop for the past several hours I thought I better not.