Pretentious Restaurants

[james t kirk]

Sorry, but I gotta call BS on that one.

http://usatravel.about.com/od/Food-And-Cuisine/ss/USA-Michelin-Restaurants_2.htm

Ok, call BS, but here's what's listed on Wikipedia

United States of America[edit]
Location Restaurant Chef Year of award
Chicago Alinea Grant Achatz 2010 [13]
New York City Le Bernardin Eric Ripert Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare César Ramírez Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Daniel Daniel Boulud Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Eleven Madison Park Daniel Humm Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Masa Masa Takayama Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Per Se Thomas Keller Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
New York City Jean Georges Mark LaPico Had 3 stars in 2012.[14]
Yountville, California[15] The French Laundry Thomas Keller
St. Helena, California[15] The Restaurant at Meadowood Christopher Kostow


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin_starred_restaurants#United_States_of_America

 

[Moe]

Those are all three starred restaurants. It ignores the one and two starred ones.

 

[yeahyeahyeah]

Edulis is not that swanky inside. Trust me. Looongggg way from it. Very plain jane.

Just fucking full of themselves though.

I've heard good things about the Queen and Beaver though yes, but I'm not that much of a pub guy to be honest.

Toby from Edulis is a friend of mine. This woman is not at all pretentious. She's quite the opposite. That woman knows food in a very elemental way. She has trained in Tuscany and Spain and was Jamie Kennedy's head chef for a long time. No bullshit, quite down-to-earth. Edulis is doing something very unique. It's not to everyone's taste. But it's careful, artisinal food. The one thing it is not is pretentious.

I do agree the website is shit.

You couldn't get a Coke there? Jesus. Who gives a fuck.

I'm afraid the problem is that Toronto is not pretentious enough. It's a dull city that is perfectly happy with mediocrity. Passionate foodies don't do well here. They go elsewhere where they're appreciated. High rents, dull fucking scene.

 

[yeahyeahyeah]

No soft drinks of any sort. I'm not a drinker. Never have been. And fine wine? It's all gasoline to me.

Nuff said. Eye roll.

 

[i heart lucy]

Edulis is a fine restaurant. The chef and wife (also a chef though she does front of house) have a good thing going. They work every day. They are the least pretentious people I have ever encountered in the industry. The positive reviews mean their tiny place is packed which make it harder to please people like james t kirk. It is tough to get a reservation. I usually book on line to avoid what you perceive is attitude. The service at the Edulis is typically wonderful as Toby owner is quite lovely. The best food at Edulis is the dishes you order a few days in advance so they cook it to order. You cannot be in a rush here. Their country style cooking isn't for everyone. But a glance at the website, menu or frustration at getting a seat should give you enough fair warning that you aren't going to like it. So why bother? I'm sure the restaurant would rather serve people who want to enjoy their food rather than negative folks. I think the city needs more places like Edulis. Opening a restaurant is tough at the best of times. Hurrah to them for their success.

 

[GameBoy27]

Is there even a single restaurant in Toronto with at least one star on the Michelin guide? I'm guessing no, but, I could be wrong. I wonder if any restaurant in Canada has made the cut?

Duh... If you knew anything about the Michelin Guide, you would know they've never reviewed any Canadian restaurants. This however doesn't mean several Toronto restaurants wouldn't receive a start or two if reviewed.

Toronto has many excellent restaurants, period!

 

[james t kirk]

Nuff said. Eye roll.

Exactly

Not everyone is a wine snob

 

[james t kirk]

Edulis is a fine restaurant. The chef and wife (also a chef though she does front of house) have a good thing going. They work every day. They are the least pretentious people I have ever encountered in the industry. The positive reviews mean their tiny place is packed which make it harder to please people like james t kirk. It is tough to get a reservation. I usually book on line to avoid what you perceive is attitude. The service at the Edulis is typically wonderful as Toby owner is quite lovely. The best food at Edulis is the dishes you order a few days in advance so they cook it to order. You cannot be in a rush here. Their country style cooking isn't for everyone. But a glance at the website, menu or frustration at getting a seat should give you enough fair warning that you aren't going to like it. So why bother? I'm sure the restaurant would rather serve people who want to enjoy their food rather than negative folks. I think the city needs more places like Edulis. Opening a restaurant is tough at the best of times. Hurrah to them for their success.

Maybe they just had an off night. Dunno

The food was ok at best. Not bad or anything. Just a long way from good and great? Not even close. There was only 2 choices on the menu, the small tasting menu for 50 bucks a head and the large tasting menu (can't remember how much that was). No other choice of any sort. So I'm not sure what you are talking about with respect to choice on the menu, because there was none. My date only wanted the small tasting menu, I asked for the large, but they refused to offer us that combination. It had to be either 2 large,or 2 small. No exceptions. So we opted for two small. Not one of the courses was memorable, nor that fresh even. Dessert was semi stale and dry.

Both myself and my female friend were of the same opinion -meh, would not make a point of going back.

I don't know about them working that hard as they were closed for the entire month of April for vacation, and that was after being closed for a month of vacation in December and January.

If you want to see a hard working restaurant husband and wife duo, check out Franks Kitchen on College street. Frank and his wife are there 6 days a week and Frank starts his day in the morning handling the sourcing of the food from local farmers and growers and ends at midnight. He's always in the kitchen and the food is amazing. And they have soft drinks for the non drinkers such as myself and they don't bat an eye when you order one. It's always a joy to eat at Franks.

 

[red]

Edulis is a fine restaurant. . I usually book on line to avoid what you perceive is attitude. .

if you have to book on line to avoid the attitude then isnt that the problem jtk was describing?

 

[i heart lucy]

if you have to book on line to avoid the attitude then isnt that the problem jtk was describing?

It is a tiny restaurant that is heavily booked weeks in advance. I simply book on line so I can see availability and not have to require someone explain they are booked on the dates I am seeking. But that's me. My panties don't get twisted because I cannot book a table when the restaurant is booked. It has great reviews in Enroute, Macleans, Joanne Kates, and chowhound so I expect to have wait to get a table. I don't think it is pretentious. Life goes on.

 

[i heart lucy]

Maybe they just had an off night. Dunno

The food was ok at best. Not bad or anything. Just a long way from good and great? Not even close. There was only 2 choices on the menu, the small tasting menu for 50 bucks a head and the large tasting menu (can't remember how much that was). No other choice of any sort. So I'm not sure what you are talking about with respect to choice on the menu, because there was none. My date only wanted the small tasting menu, I asked for the large, but they refused to offer us that combination. It had to be either 2 large,or 2 small. No exceptions. So we opted for two small. Not one of the courses was memorable, nor that fresh even. Dessert was semi stale and dry.

Both myself and my female friend were of the same opinion -meh, would not make a point of going back.

I don't know about them working that hard as they were closed for the entire month of April for vacation, and that was after being closed for a month of vacation in December and January.

If you want to see a hard working restaurant husband and wife duo, check out Franks Kitchen on College street. Frank and his wife are there 6 days a week and Frank starts his day in the morning handling the sourcing of the food from local farmers and growers and ends at midnight. He's always in the kitchen and the food is amazing. And they have soft drinks for the non drinkers such as myself and they don't bat an eye when you order one. It's always a joy to eat at Franks.

They used to have an option on the menu where if you ordered 2 days ahead you could have a chicken or a pig cooked in a country style dish. We saw a couple of these dishes come out to other patrons and they looked delicious. I had major dish envy. I wish the owners well in this endeavour. Opening a successful restaurant is not a fluke. It takes guts, risk, elbow grease and talent. I found it to be the opposite of pretentious. I thought it was homey and warm. Reasonably priced for what you were served and a much cheaper option than many top rated restaurants of their calibre (One of my dinner guests was not fond of the place though as he claimed it was too small for his liking. To each their own)

 

[red]

Edulis is a fine restaurant. I usually book on line to avoid what you perceive is attitude. .

if you have to book on line to avoid the attitude then isnt that the problem jtk was describing?

It is a tiny restaurant that is heavily booked weeks in advance. I simply book on line so I can see availability and not have to require someone explain they are booked on the dates I am seeking. But that's me. My panties don't get twisted because I cannot book a table when the restaurant is booked. It has great reviews in Enroute, Macleans, Joanne Kates, and chowhound so I expect to have wait to get a table. I don't think it is pretentious. Life goes on.

oh. i thought you said you booked on line to avoid the attitude of staff.

oh wait - you did say that.

 

[i heart lucy]

oh. i thought you said you booked on line to avoid the attitude of staff.

oh wait - you did say that.

This is a stupid argument. I said I book on line so I immediately see when a table is available (welcome to 2014). I don't need to have a receptionist tell me the restaurant is booked on such and such dates. It was being told of the lack of available tables on short notice that OP perceived was attitude. Avoid the (perceived) attitude by booking on line. Oh wait - let me check if you were able to keep up, Red.

 

[Klute]

I wonder if original poster critiqued the restaurant in this review on line. It seems odd to complain not getting a table at a place that seats 32 people. You can't please everyone. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...-a-bona-fide-four-star-joint/article19157941/

Klute

 

[Occasionally]

I travel to the US a few times year. And comparing the service you get in US at fast food joints, nice restaurants and even the mall browsing JC Penney or Macy's for clothes, I'd say just about every Canadian place is pretentious. It's amazing how just south of the border the friendly service you get everywhere is some reason much better.

 

[Toronto Passions]

I never eat downtown Oakville because of the pretentiousness. I have found Paradiso to be bearable but never tried other restaurants.

I enjoy Colossus downtown Oakville. I go there often. I prefer this place over anywhere on Danforth for sure.
Down to earth staff. If they know you, you get "special" treatment for sure.

 

[shrek71]

I travel to the US a few times year. And comparing the service you get in US at fast food joints, nice restaurants and even the mall browsing JC Penney or Macy's for clothes, I'd say just about every Canadian place is pretentious. It's amazing how just south of the border the friendly service you get everywhere is some reason much better.

I would suspect that is likely due to the fact that the hospitality industry in the USA is paid about $2 per hour and they are really working for tips.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

Cheers

 

[Serpent]

I would suspect that is likely due to the fact that the hospitality industry in the USA is paid about $2 per hour and they are really working for tips.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

Cheers

Nope. It's because in a competitive, capitalistic system, the value of the dollar which comes from the customer is very well understood.

Be it Holt Renfrew or an expensive restaurant in Toronto, it could be that the staff will not provide consistent levels of high customer service. For some of these staff, the attitude is that they're doing a favor by accepting you into the establishment and you, the diner should feel privileged.

Btw just got back from NYC - how many times do you see someone in shorts dining at a high end joint? I saw that in both Nobu and Sushi Yasuda. Both places the staff was super friendly (and at SY, there's no tips allowed, the staff is on salary).