Windy W.'s Profile

A European style restaurant on Marco Island, the decoration and dim light make a romantic dinner atmosphere. Fresh baked bread roll, served warm with their home-made creamy and sweet better, everything just melt in my mouth. Unfortunately we did not have great appetite on that day, so we shared the lobster bisque and seafood platter. The lobster bisque is super creamy and rich, the 2nd best lobster bisque I have tried. The oyster and crab cake are very delicious, but the lobster tasted a little bit overcooked. I am expecting another visit some time.

I really want to give it 3.5 stars. After reading a great many recommendations for their breakfast, I gave it a try before we left Key West. When I got there around 11 on a Tuesday morning, there was a line for breakfast. Oh boy! Unbelievable! The tables are in their courtyard, very original and natural, with roosters and chickens running around. This reminded me of the villages in China, where you stayed in the farmers' house and had some fresh-cut vegetables from their land. Anyway, we finally got seated and ordered their famous lobster benedict. For $16, you got two half English muffins, a layer of lobster meat in some creamy white sauce, topped with two poached eggs. And one of the eggs is overcooked. It is special and creative; I never had such benedict anywhere else. However, I felt it a little bit overpriced, for such little and simple food. I still admit, it is a smart way to operate such a restaurant.

Texas de Brazil
Texas de Brazil is a very nice all-you-can-eat Brazil steak house. Although $45 per person is not a budget, it definitely worth the money. The bread ball they have taste the same as the famous steak house in Buenos Alias. Their lobster bisque is creamy, a little spicy, but don't fill your stomach with it. The salad bar have a variety of appetizers, including artichoke hearts, asparagus, Spanish sausages, Munster cheese, mushroom, shrimp salad, smoke salmon....When you are ready for the meat, just turn the sign on your table to be green, then endless steaks will just come one by one. Fillet Mignon wrapped in bacon, lamb chop, beef chop, pork chop, lamb leg, sirloin, NY strip, and their signature house special....... Sometimes I have to turn the sign red after several bites, since it will be so overwhelming. The lamb chop are tender and seasoned perfectly, every mouthful is so indulgent. Their house special steak is no-doubt grade A quality, just as the way Brazilian cook it, flavor, fatty, juicy. I just felt so enjoyable to taste every bite, with the flavor leaving in my mouth.....The pork chop was marinated with some BBQ sauce, which tastes a little sweet, and the meat was cooked just all right, crispy outside but tender inside. At this time, I forgot keeping shape or losing weight, just wish I had two stomachs! They also have a dessert menu, but I never left some space for them. The service is always prompt and friendly. I would like to go back again and again.

A special restaurant with only 12 seats, Momofuku Ko serves tasting menu both for dinner at $100 for lunch at $160. The web only reservation system needs your credit card to secure a spot, as well as penalty for no show-up. However, people still get up early trying to get the chance to eat here. What do they offer?  
      To disclose this secret gem, we finally managed to have dinner on a Saturday evening. It was a small place in the east village, only having seats at the bar. And the chef are just cooking in front of you. But I doubt they still have another kitchen underground. The first dish offered is the garlic bread, which is warm, oily, and heavily flavored with garlic flakes and brown sugar, yummy!
       
       Then it comes the tiny chopped potatoes with some green onion sauce as toppings in a spoon, the taste is good, but I wish it was some caviar in that spoon. Nice presentation although. The following is  fluke sashimi with some  rainbow color sauce. At this moment, I have to say, since it is a up-scale tasting menu, please give us some better fish. Café boulud has yellow tail sashimi in the similar way, which taste s much better. But the next one is a highlight, uni  in a soup. It is so elegantly presented, looks like a Chinese or Japanese painting. The uni is sitting on a green boat (which is the pea skin), floating on the soup, with some flowers and leaves. It also reminds me the Japanese Sado, which has improved the eating or drinking to the spiritual level. Following the uni is smoked egg with black caviar. The egg is smoked to be medium-rare, with the honey heart flowing outside. Next is the scallop,   seared on one side to be crispy, tender and chewy in the middle. Love it! At this season, they also have soft shell crab, topped with some creamy and spicy sauce. It is good, but the sauce does not match perfectly with the crab. It is hard to describe, but I would say it did not make much difference if I had the crab alone without the sauce. And I start wondering when will the signature Foie Gras come. Finally, it is here. Quite different from my expectation, it is is shaved to be the topping, covering canned leeches and brown sugar. It is very creative, but I prefer the classical way better. And the piece of brown sugar is so big, I kind of feel I am eating candies. Another highlight is the deep fried short ribs, rich in flavor, crispy outside and tender inside..
      The two desserts are the failures of the day. The sorbet is too sour, and the last dessert, ice cream with fried funnel cake. It is not a snack bar, and the presentation just looks weird. Anyway, we finally tried Momofuku. I really appreciate the way they present the dishes. Although I am not sure if I am coming back, it is definitely a place worth trying.

We got there around 10pm, and was asked to wait even for the bar  since the wooden dinning tables are crowded of all kinds of eaters. My eye opened big when I saw a full page of foie gras, foie gras burger, foie gras on a pizza ,foie gras terrain......  We chose Plogue à Champlain (Pancake, potatoes, foie gras, maple syrup, thick cut maple cured bacon)  and the very classic Seared foie gras with apple. We also tried Guinea Hen Liver Mousse and a pork dish which are OK. Maybe the foie gras dishes were so overwhelming.

3 stars for food and NO stars for the service!!
We went there during lunch time and were asked to wait at the bar for seating. The bartender was very rude to us. She even yelled to us. After seated, we told the manager about her but he just said  "sorry" but nothing else. Hard to believe it is the service of a upper scale restaurant! Won't go again!

As a Chinese, I like this restaurant because they serve some real Chinese food but not Americanized. It can not compare with the restaurant in China,  (but to be honest, almost none of the Chinese restaurants in here or NYC can meet the standard for any good restaurants in China) at least it gives some home-style Sichuan flavor. I like the duck, fish with silken toufu, and the spicy chicken as the cold appetizer. It is a good place if you liek spicy food!

This upper scale Italian restaurant offers some classic and yummy dishes such as seafood risotto, mustard lamb chop, veal and so on.  Most of them are fresh and tasty. The seafood risotto is well seasoned and comes with a good portion of shrimp, mussels, and scallops. The lamb chop is tender with a crispy skin. The salad dressing here is very impressing. It is a little bit sour and sweet, which goes very well with the fresh vegetables. Also you have to try their signature dessert: Gelato on the frame. It is just cooked in front you. They heat the butter and brown sugar, then add fresh berries and rum. Using a lighter, the mixture is on fire and then dripped on the delicious gelato. You will enjoy both the taste and the cooking show.

It is used to be my favorite western restaurant. I have been here many times to celebrate birthday, V-day and other occasions. Dishes are consistently well prepared. The grill king salmon is tender, fresh and goes well with the sauce.

I heard about this restaurant several years ago when I just came to Princeton. Since people are still saying good things about it, I finally gave it a try. We had lunch there. It is a fine restaurant with artistic decor, and famous for their "Inventive American Cuisine". From the menu, it looks like a kind of fusion food with the flavor of Italian, French and Asian. We ordered the lamb chop and roast chicken. The lamb chop is grilled perfectly. The meat was so tender. And the sauce was also tasty. For the chicken dish, it is flavorful and yummy. Definitely I would like to come back!