Originally Posted by
jologolf
I'm curious what the OP thinks are great restaurants in SF or where ever they are living now? Can you give a run down of 5-10 restaurants you think are tops in your city and your favorite things to order there? I think it's important to calibrate the taste of the OP vs. everyone else that seems to appreciate true Kobe/Wagyu.
Sure, I'll bite. You can get a sense of some of my Michelin star dining experiences here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dinin...xperience.html
I am the OP of that thread, so if you read post #1, you will see what kind of restaurants I like to eat at.
The places I usually go to are fairly high-end. For instance, my last trip to Chicago, I dined at Alinea, L2O, and Tru. You can see my experience of those restaurants here starting at 3:27:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyFDjeEdRAI
For those who don't know, Alinea is considered the best restaurant in America right now, and it is one of the top 10 in the world:
http://www.theworlds50best.com/awards/1-50-winners
In the San Francisco area, my home town, the places that I have eatn at and consider good are French Laundry, Fleur de Lys, Masa's, Gary Danko (about 9 times), La Folie, Acqurello, Boulevard, Michael Mina, Bourbon Steak Michael Mina, Prospect, Epic Roasthouse, RN74, and Quince.
So, if you judge me by a world food standard, most people who know me say that I eat quite well and call me a "definite foodie", and I take food quite seriously. I have paid a lot of money for food (Alinea is $185/person without wine, tax or tip), but I don't say Alinea is a rip-off. It's worth it because it's such a unique experience with wonderful food.
And as someone who has eaten world-class food in multiple countries and cities, I believe (and you can disagree with me; that's why this is an open forum) that Wagyu and Kobe are not worth the money. I think they're comparable to Costco New York steak (not filet, mind you). Sure, they may be better to some people, but to me, they are not. They're not worth the money, they don't taste that much better, and many times, I can't taste the difference between Wagyu and piece of fatty beef. And I would say that I have eaten extremely well relative to the average American.