Food & Beverage:
Of all the Four Seasons hotels I have stayed at in North America the Ritz Carlton thus far has the best F&B -- it even edges out the FS LA which is excellent. It ranks up there with the FS Paris and Bangkok internationally for me. I find that luxury hotels do "fancy" foods quite well but they often blow the simple foods -- a good hot dog, a good french onion soup (can you tell I like these?), a good breakfast, fish and chips, etc. The RC does both well.

As I have been suffering from a stomach bug this trip I have had the Japanese breakfast each morning. For any non-Japanese hotel, it is very difficult to create an authentic Japanese breakfast, understandably. However, the RC has been able to cook one that rivals those in Japan ( and may be better than some!!). The rice is a weak point but rice is a weak point for many restaurants who attempt to make Japanese rice. Still, the rice is not bad. The miso soup is decent. The grilled salmon is grilled and seasoned to perfection. The accompanying dishes are prepared, executed and flavoured very well. I am impressed with the variety of Japanese pickles they offer. The only minor glitches are that the onsen egg (which is a poached egg in a dashi broth) did not come in a dashi broth but the quality of the egg makes up for it and the nori (dried seaweed) has stuck all together. My sister has had the Midwest breakfast with scrambled eggs, sausages, hash browns, the sprouted wheat toast, and juice the first morning and blueberry pancakes the next. The quality of ingredients is outstanding and the hotel makes an effort to source organic and local products. It shows in the resulting taste of the food.

At lunch today I had chicken noodle soup, a rack of lamb, and a bosc pear tarte tatin. My sister had the french onion soup and the hamburger. Each course was executed precisely and seasoned perfectly. Nothing was under- or over-seasoned and everything was sublime. The pear tarte tatin was divine -- a lovely caramelized bosc pear on a flaky and crusty pastry with a vanilla sorbet and oatmeal crumble. It was the perfect portion size as well.

Last night we had a room service dinner and I simply had a french onion soup, a hot dog and the chocolate velvet cake while my sister had a special request fish and chips and an ice cream sundae. What impressed me about the hot dog was not necessarily the wiener but the accompaniments (finely minced red onions, home made sauerkraut, diced tomatos, a choice of mustards, home made ketchup) that came with the hot dog. The chocolate velvet cake was one amazing piece of cake and the accompanying scoop of walnut icecream were spoonfulls of heaven. The fish and chips were very crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside with the flesh flaking off, moist and succulent. The homemade tartar sauce was a perfect accompaniment and the coleslaw had the right balance of acidity in the dressing to cut through the fat of the fried fish and the rich creaminess of the tartar sauce.

As you can see, I am impressed. The only gripe one could have is that the accompanying cost of all of this is pretty high. $4.50 for a soda and $6.00 for a tea is a little pricey -- however, all things considered, I am still impressed.

One piece of information I have gleaned is that the entire Lobby area, restaurant area, and the Greenhouse area will be shuttered in late December and will be undergoing renovations to update the look. Most of the work is expected to be completed for February with the entire project expected to be completed in May 2010. This will bring the lobby area more in-line with the new room interiors.