Margaret D. wrote: > I'd appreciate help in researching a newsletter article. The subject > is restaurants that feature a "chef's table" -- i.e., a special dining > area for patrons in the restaurant kitchen. > These tend to be fairly upscale establishments. Does anyone know of > any? Thanks all. Emeril's in New Orleans. The table is technically not in the kitchen but is more of a counter bordering the kitchen. The chef & cooks do interact with the patrons and drop off items to try which they discuss.
New Orleans, LA
chef's table
KEVIN X. wrote: >Path: >. > >From: [email removed] (KEVIN S. HASKINS - X5352) >Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants >Subject: Re: chef's table >Message-ID: >Date: 27 Sep 94 17:39:52 -0500 >References: >Lines: 17 >In article , Margaret Danbrot >writes: >> I'd appreciate help in researching a newsletter article. The subject >> is restaurants that feature a "chef's table" -- i.e., a special dining >> area for patrons in the restaurant kitchen. >> These tend to be fairly upscale establishments. Does anyone know of >> any? Thanks all. > Emeril's in New Orleans. The table is technically not in the kitchen > but is more of a counter bordering the kitchen. The chef & cooks do > interact with the patrons and drop off items to try which they discuss. > >-- >Karl S. Huf [email removed] | Opinions are my own, etc. >Northern Trust Co. Chicago, IL | DoD #97779 88 FLHTC > the Sutton Place Hotel (Meridien Group) in Toronto has a famous chef's table in the middle of the kitchen. It has to be booked well in advance and the menue will be a phantasy meal designed and cooked by one of the best chefs in town. Not cheap but a gourmet experience. Hope this info helps klaus
klaus S. wrote: > >KEVIN X. wrote: >>Path: >>. >> >>From: [email removed] (KEVIN S. HASKINS - X5352) >>Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants >>Subject: Re: chef's table >>Message-ID: >>Date: 27 Sep 94 17:39:52 -0500 >>References: >>Lines: 17 > > >>In article , Margaret Danbrot >>writes: >>> I'd appreciate help in researching a newsletter article. The subject >>> is restaurants that feature a "chef's table" -- i.e., a special dining >>> area for patrons in the restaurant kitchen. >>> These tend to be fairly upscale establishments. Does anyone know of >>> any? Thanks all. > >> Emeril's in New Orleans. The table is technically not in the kitchen >> but is more of a counter bordering the kitchen. The chef & cooks do >> interact with the patrons and drop off items to try which they discuss. > >> >>-- >>Karl S. Huf [email removed] | Opinions are my own, etc. >>Northern Trust Co. Chicago, IL | DoD #97779 88 FLHTC >> > >the Sutton Place Hotel (Meridien Group) in Toronto has a famous chef's table >in the middle of the kitchen. It has to be booked well in advance and the >menue will be a phantasy meal designed and cooked by one of the best chefs in >town. Not cheap but a gourmet experience. > >Hope this info helps >klaus Add another New Orleans spot to the list. On a visit last summer, a group from my company was invited to the Chef's Table at The Grill in The Windsor Court. I believe one of the ratings places this as one of the top 10 restaurants in the U.S., and IMHO that rating is entirely correct. Anyway, the chef and cooks simply provide a little of everything -- elements of virtually every menu choice from every course -- over a many-hour period. Plus you get in on all the banter of a truly great kitchen. It was quite expensive (more than $100/head, but I bet we went through 1.5 bottles of wine per during the course of the evening). But it was _truly_ unforgettable. And when one of our party raved about the lacquered duck, he was given a "ducky bag" to take home on his flight the next morning. (And when we were passing through the X-ray, the following exchange took place between the security guards: "What is that? Why, that's a chicken. He's got a chicken in there." "Nah, that ain't no chicken. That's a duck!" joe bonwich [email removed]
About two years ago, my wife and I and four friends booked the table in the kitchen at Galileo in Washington (DC). We could have ordered anything and just watched a serious kitchen at work, but we took their suggestion of "we'll make some interesting things and keep bringing them to you until you decide you've had enough" was even more fun. Not cheap (even by the standards of a meal at Galileo), but not out of reach either. Definitely not the place to go for a romantic tete-a-tete, but lots of fun for a mildly rowdy group of slightly obsessive foodies. The table is available, as I understand it, on nights when Roberto Donna isn't cooking: when he's there it's his table. So unless you're a friend of his, you won't get to see him from this vantage point. But he's got enough other irons in the fire these days that he isn't likely to be there when you go anyway.... And his sous-chefs are not only very good, they appreciate your attention (and your suggestions about things to make). Highly recommended, under the right circumstances. And if you're in DC, lots nicer than watching Congress: you may not want to see laws being made, but watching them make sausage at Galileo is nowhere near as off-putting as it's cracked up to be :-) --Steve Anderson