The Bon Vivant Blog

The debate over the best hot dog in Chicago rages. Here are just a few of the links:
Citysearch Best Hot dogs 2008
www.hotdogchicagostyle.com
Chowhound Top 3 Hot Dogs

At Portillo’s Hot Dogs, the dogs come with lots of pickles and no ketchup. One of the better hot dogs I have had but I am not really a fan of hot dogs. In fact, I preferred the Italian beef sandwiches - juicy slices of beef stacked on a baguette which is quickly soaked with the delicious meat jus. In fact, the beef sandwich is so juicy it comes in a plastic bag. Portillo’s is a large serve and seat yourself restaurant decorated with Capone- era memorabilia. The service is fast and friendly - like most American fast-food joints.

View Larger Map

Portillo’s Hot Dogs
100 W Ontario St , Chicago , IL , 60610-3710

Graham Elliot, is a recently opened restaurant this past summer by the eponymous chef. Nice modern but warm space. The food is supposed to be high-end but fun with quirky ingredients. Any place that starts off with a hot bowl of complimentary garlicky popcorn wins my vote. The foie-gras lollipops coated in pop rocks was an interesting combination - weird to feel the rocks “popping” while I was eating the cold foie gras.  The concept of the menu is for each diner to build their own food experience by selecting from any combination of the 5 different categories - cold, hot, sea, land and sweet.  The kitchen will also accomodate diet restrictions.  Overall, our favorites included the ge caesar sald with brioche twinkies and the crisp pork belly with root beer and artisan grits. Service was great and they did not bother us as we talked late into the night. Overall, some interesting food with a few great dishes mingled with just average dishes.

View Larger Map

www.grahamelliot.com
217 W Huron St
Chicago, IL 60654, United States
(312) 624-9975
Moderately expensive

Great place to go for drinks and food with friends at a reasonable price. The place has a great vibe and the italian food is quite good - our favorites included the antipasto plate (you choose the options), the pizza and the fresh hot doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce. It’s packed so try to make a reservation. Even with a reservation, we had to wait. Still - we would definitely go back.

View Larger Map

Quartino
www.quartinochicago.com
626 N State St
Chicago, IL 60610, United States
(312) 698-5000

If you want to try the classic deep dish chicago pizza, Uno’s is not a bad bet although it is likely not the best deep dish pizza in town. In fact, there are many posts on the web discussing this very subject, such as, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/117625 Personally, we liked Gino’s East better. Each pizza takes about 45 min to cook from the time you order it which is a nice, although time-consuming change, from the re-heated pizzas available elsewhere. The lunch deal is faster (25min) and cheaper $7.95 (including salad or soup) but I wonder if the bigger pizzas would taste better - with a better filling to crust ratio. No reservations so be prepared to wait or arrive early.

Uno’s
www.unos.com

Took a day trip to Macau to see what the hype was all about. Like Vegas but the focus seems to be much more about gambling rather than the shows, restaurants, etc. Why else would you have 24-hour high-speed ferry service to Macau from Hong Kong?

That being said, there are interesting foods to try in Macau. Many shops selling the portuguese egg tarts, beef jerky and various other snacks. My rule of thumb is to go to the busiest shop - that is usually the best one. This may be an informative post on local food on chowhound.

A Lorcha, named after a type of Portuguese boat, is a small restaurant with low arched ceilings located near the A-ma Temple. It is a good place to try Portuguese food in what was once a portuguese colony. Some local dishes include feijoada, chargrilled king prawns, and clams in garlic and olive oil. Portuguese wines available by the glass or bottle.

View Larger Map

A Lorcha
289 Rua Do Almirante Sergio, Macau
tel 853 2831 3193.
Open daily except Tuesdays, from 1230 to 1500 and 1830 to 2300.
Try to make reservations or you may have to wait…
Approx $58 for lunch for two including wine

Handspan Travel was recommended to us by friends and we would use them again. If you have a relatively short amount of time in a country, hiring a local travel agency is a great way to maximize your time in that country with a minimum of hassle. In addition, it is likely not that much more expensive than doing it on your own given that the travel agents do get discounts on hotels, etc. Add to that the time you save figuring out how to buy the various plane and train tickets and it is a no-brainer.

All the tour guides provided spoke fairly good English. Only once did one of our drivers not show up to pick us up. If you wanted, you could probably save money by not having english-speaking guides with every car pick-up/drop-off (particularly if you are just going from airport to hotel) although some people may find this useful if they want to ask particular questions about the local area. We were able to plan the trip in advance over e-mail with little hassle. As long as you have a reputable travel agency, it should be smooth sailing as soon as you touchdown in the country….

Handspan Travel
HCMC Office
F7, Titan Building
18A Nam Quoc Cang
District 1, HCMC.
Tel: +84 8 3925 7605
Fax: +84 8 3925 7604
www.handspan.com

I can’t think of a better way to end a long hot day on any trip. Like everything else in Vietnam, spas in Vietnam are very reasonably priced compared to North America. Three hours of spa luxury including manicure, pedicure, steam bath and massage with a fresh fruit juice for 2 people totalled just under $140 and worth every penny.  The Duxton hotel Spa was clean and professional and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Duxton Hotel
63 Nguyen Hue Street - Dist.1 - Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam

It is said that there are more Rolls-Royce’s per capita in Hong Kong than almost anywhere else in the world.  And you can believe it as you walk up the sweeping driveway of the hotel to be greeted by the hotel’s personal fleet of green Rolls Royce automobiles. If you have the time and inclination, the famous high tea in the beautiful Peninsula Hotel Lobby with live classical music playing in the background, is a great way to idle away a hot afternoon.   You can experience the old grandeur of the colonial past while daintily sipping tea from a Tiffany’s cup or quaffing a glass of champagne, while enjoying an elegant tier of little sandwiches and petit fours.

View Larger Map

The Peninsula Hotel
www.peninsula.com
tel: 2926 2888

Gold medal Plates is a chance to eat some food while donating to a worthy cause - the Canadian Olympic athletes.  Top chefs from Vancouver are paired with olympic athletes and compete for the Gold Medal Plate. There are about 12 chef stations - each serving the chef’s competition dish and you are often served by the paired olympic athlete. The dishes are also each paired with a local wine/beer. Our favorite dishes of the night included the Kingyo dish which was a sashimi dish beautifully plated and served with a small tea light cleverly wrapped with a slice of white radish, Toshi’s sablefish, and Boneta’s beef ravioli.

Arrive early. We had thought it was a sit-down dinner but really it is a free-for-all with people lining up at each of the 12 stations. The stations close at about 7:30pm so that people can then sit down at their tables for the live auction part of the night.  Simon Whitfield and Adam Van Koeverden were the olympic hosts for the night. Jim Cuddy  and Barnie Bentall were the evening’s entertainment.  The auction evening finishes off with the awarding of the gold medal plate to the top chef and auctioning off a private dinner for 10 cooked by the bronze, silver and gold chef, respectively.

Cost: $300/pp tax-deductible

So for future reference, here is some information I gleaned on the net about different places to eat in Budapest.

Blog about Budapest Eats

Gerloczy cafe - gerloczy.hu - best cafe
Castro Bistro - best hangout and bar, gulas soup best in town
Jeg Bufe - culture shock, good pasty, walk into Parizsi udvar and look around

Egullet recommendations
-Retaurant citadella
-restaurant monarchia
-matyaspince
-fatal, castro bistro (best gulyas, serb specialties), kadar etzkezde (only lunch, closed mondays/wekends)
-favorite fish soup is arany hal etterem

Gardens/bar
-West Balkan - behind Corvin Movie theater, blue metro ferenc krt
-also has alternative art - Tuzraktar (ix tuzolto st 54-56) - metro M3 Klinikak www.tuzraktar.hu