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#SXSW Dining: Use OpenTable for Restaurant Reservations in Austin

Monday, March 12th, 2012

You can eat like a Top Chef judge when you're at SXSW. There's still availability at Paul Qui's Uchiko!

Are you one of the thousands of folks lucky enough to be attending South by Southwest in Austin this week? Plan ahead with OpenTable to book your Austin restaurant reservations — and avoid waiting on line!

There are more than 100 restaurants around town where you can reserve a table. From Braise and Clay Pit to Top Chef winner Paul Qui‘s Uchiko and wink and many, many more, Austin restaurant reservations await. You can use our Diners’ Choice lists to find user recommendations for the Best Overall restaurants, those with a Vibrant Bar Scene, or eateries that are Great for Lunch.

If you’re at #SXSW, you’re probably managing your life on your smartphone or table. Check out the full suite of free OpenTable mobile apps to make sure you’ve got access to the best Austin restaurants on the go.

And remember, it’s never too late to plan ahead. Check out Austin restaurants with availability tonight!

Tags: Austin, Paul Qui, South by Southwest, SXSW, Uchiko
Posted in Destinations, Top Chef | No Comments »

Dish Trip ATL: 48 Hours + 13 Restaurants with Mary Bigham + Amy Strauss, Part II

Monday, March 5th, 2012

Despite the fact that blogger Amy Strauss is now a zombie, Dish Trip Atlanta has been a success.

We’re back with the second half of Mary Bigham and Amy Strauss from Dish Trip’s whirlwind foodcation to Atlanta. You can read Part I here.

SUNDAY:

5PM: Bottle Rocket. We admit, we would have walked right by en route to another Atlanta dining destination but our trusted local food expert, Malika, knew this hidden gem was dishing up killer cuisine AND was also hosting a Walking Dead Mid-Series Premiere Party.

5:10PM: Meeting the owner, Josh Calvin; he reminds us of our favorite all-American, laid-back, brother-in-law. Oh, and he uses house recipes to concoct Asian food with a twist.

5:15PM: Cocktail time! We are taking full advantage of the of rum-infused, zombie-themed cocktails, which gives Amy the amazing decision-making skills to become a member of the “walking dead.”

5:30PM: Amy’s getting in the make-up chair and is slowly transforming into a zombie – fully equipped with several head wounds. (more…)

Tags: 2 Urban Licks, Atlanta, Dish Trip, Southwest Airlines, zombies
Posted in Destinations | 1 Comment »

Dish Trip ATL: 48 Hours + 13 Restaurants with Mary Bigham + Amy Strauss, Part I

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Dish Trippers Mary Bigham and Amy Strauss are about to eat and drink their way through the ATL!

Our friends Mary Bigham and Amy Strauss from Dish Trip took another whirlwind foodcation, this time to Atlanta, and shared all the delicious deets with us. Mary says, “With so little time to spend in a city, The Dish Trip team is on a mission to ensure that every bite is a quality bite. With the help of local food writers and OpenTable, we are able to visit 13 restaurants in 48 hours. Here is our a bite-by-bite of our journey. Try not to be jealous.”

SATURDAY

3PM: Arrived on the very first Southwest flight EVER to land in Atlanta. Yay! Welcomed with so much fanfare at the airport that we feel a bit like celebrities.

3:20PM: Grabbing a taxi to the Glenn Hotel, a charming boutique hotel in Atlanta’s downtown district. For the record, HOTlanta is definitely not HOT this weekend – colder in Atlanta than Philly (temperature is 29 degrees!). We must have brought the cold from the North with us!

4PM: Loving how stylized our downtown hotel is – their intimate bar is designed as a living room speakeasy and endless amounts of quirky characteristics accent the hallways (they’re lined with little containers of grass)!

4:05PM: Added bonus: a rum punch upon check in! The welcome we are receiving at the Glenn is out-of-this-world.

6PM: Luckie Marietta District! Southwest Airlines hand-picked this four-restaurant-deep complex surrounding Centennial Olympic Park to host their “Atlanta At Last” Block Party. Game plan: Weaving our way through all four concepts to dive deep into their signature “Southwest Airlines-inspired” eats in just a few hours. Wish us luck!

6:15PM: Max’s Coal Oven Pizzeria. This tangy Southwest chicken pizza constructed on authentic New York-style crust is a staple at Max’s Coal Oven Pizzeria – and for good reason. Paired with local SweetWater Brewing Company’s SweetWater Blue, a light-bodied ale accented with a hint of blueberries, and 420 Extra Pale Ale, a West Coast-style ale with a crisp, hopped finish. Great start! (more…)

Tags: Abattoir, Atlanta, bloggers, DishTrip, The SHED at Glenwood
Posted in Destinations | 4 Comments »

Notes from NOLA: A Jazzy Brunch at the Legendary Commander’s Palace

Friday, June 17th, 2011

It’s no secret that brunch at Commander’s Palace is a New Orleans tradition. Actually, any meal at Commander’s Palace is a New Orleans tradition. And the Louisiana Seafood Blog Masters attendees were happy to honor that tradition with a jazzed up meal on a warm Sunday morning. Chef Tory McPhail, who put on a cooking demo at the Louisiana Seafood Festival, and the superb staff, didn’t hit a single sour note! The jazz music was hot, the dishes were decadent (and ENORMOUS!), and the heirloom tomato Bloody Mary was, well, bloody good.

Tags: Brunch, chef Tory McPhailCommander's Palace, Louisiana seafood, New Orleans
Posted in Destinations | No Comments »

Notes from NOLA: An Evening with Chef Tenney Flynn at GW Fins

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

We’re back with more of our coverage of the Louisiana Seafood Blog Masters! Chef Tenney Flynn and the amazing staff at GW Fins, one of NOLA’s most notable restaurants, put on a six (and then some!) course menu that highlighted some of Louisiana’s finest seafood specialties. Dishes included a softshell crab BLT and Louisiana barbecue shrimp to Creole tomato salad and grilled Cobia, among others.

When asked what seafood he prefers to serve to his discerning diners, Chef Flynn told OpenTable, “It depends on the day. But, the amount of fin fish that are in the Gulf…even people who live in New Orleans aren’t necessarily aware of the wealth that there is in the Gulf. If you take all the fin fish on the East and West Coasts, we still have more varieties in the Gulf. The tonnage in Alaska is greater, but we have more varieties.”

The diversity of seafood is as impressive as the volume of seafood. Chef Flynn notes, “Everybody associates New Orleans with shrimp, crab, crawfish and oysters and maybe Speckled Trout and flounder or Pompano, but we’re also the number two tuna harvester after Hawaii. And, people don’t necessarily think of New Orleans when they think of tuna, but we’ve got some yellowfin, some bigeye, some albacore, and some blue fin, which is an incidental catch. But, five kinds of tuna, five kinds of snapper…I could go on and on and on. All these fish — and more — are locally available.”

GW Fins, known for its top-notch seafood, prides itself on sourcing not only an amazing variety of Lousiana’s best catches — but also its freshest catches. “We get fish occasionally that’s still in rigor, and theres no way to fake that. It really is amazing,” adds Flynn.

View the slideshow below to see the spread Chef Flynn put out for food bloggers, including Gaby Dalkin, Amy Sherman, Emma Christensen, and Jenny Flake.

Tags: Chef Tenney Flynn, Food Blog Masters, GW Fins, Louisiana, seafood
Posted in Chefs, Destinations | 3 Comments »

Notes from NOLA: Several Servings of the Louisiana Seafood Festival

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

In Louisiana, they’re proud of their seafood. In fact, they’re so proud that they put on entire festival dedicated to it! As part of our coverage of the Louisiana Seafood Blog Masters, we spent the day at the 2011 Louisiana Seafood Festival watching amazing cooking demos (in a, thankfully, air-conditioned tent!) by some of NOLA’s most important chefs, including Commander’s Palace chef Tory McPhail and chef Chris Lusk, aka The King of Louisiana Seafood. We hit up street vendors (fried green tomatoes, étouffée, and po’ boys, oh my!), snapped photos alongside top bloggers, including Nate Lippy, Emma Christensen, and many more, and enjoyed the sights and musical sounds going on around the old U.S. Mint.

Check out the slideshow below to see what we saw (and ate!).

Coming up next — dinner at GW Fins and brunch at Commander’s Palace!

Tags: Emma Christensen, GW Fins, Louisiana Seafood Festival, Nate Lippy, Tory McPhail
Posted in Destinations | No Comments »

Dining Dispatch: Live from the Louisiana Seafood Food Blog Masters in New Orleans

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Food blogger Amanda Bottoms picks up a camera before she picks up a fork.

Greetings and salutations from the Big Easy, diners! For the next several days, I’ll be reporting from Louisiana as part of the Louisiana Seafood Food Blog Masters. Attendees include Daniel Delaney, Amanda Bottoms, Nathan Lippy, Marla Meredith, Adam Roberts and Craig Johnson, Maggy Keet, Matt Armendariz and Adam Pearson, Brooke Burton, Gaby Dalkin, Amy Sherman, Emma Christensen, Chichi Wang, and Jenny Flake.

We’ll be dining out and diving in, literally and figuratively, to the seafood scene in the Bayou State, visiting top restaurants and talking to the people who are the backbone of New Orleans cuisine, from crabbers and oyster farmers to chefs and restaurateurs.

Tonight, we kicked things off with dinner at Bistro Maison de Ville, where we feasted on everything from catfish and crawfish to frog legs (!) and oysters, courtesy of chef Greg Picolo, a New Orleans native! Okay, I only picked at the frogs legs, but everyone else feasted on them.

You can check out more pictures over at Flickr. And, check back for coverage of the Louisiana Seafood Festival, and much more, from NOLA.

Tags: bloggers, frog legs, Greg Picolo, seafood
Posted in Destinations | No Comments »

Pop-Up Restaurants in London; Outdoor Dining in Chicago; Forest Dining in NYC

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Destination dining tips from pros in the know…

* Popping over to London? Check out the restaurants that are literally popping up all over the city. [Wall Street Journal]

* Looking for the best of, well, everything in the Bay Area? Use San Francisco’s Best Of Awards as your gastronomical guide. [SF Weekly]

* If you’re in the City by the Bay, don’t miss the city across the bay. Oakland’s Jack London Square is, at long last, the dining destination it was meant to be. [The New York Times]

* Phil Vettel names some of his favorite outdoor dining spots in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune]

* There’s more to New Jersey than Snookie and the shore, including restaurants worth savoring. [The New York Times]

* It’s a tough job, but The Times attempts to narrow the field of choices foodies visiting Napa. [The New York Times]

* Find out where to satisfy your appetite for a delicious meal for a steal in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. [Saveur]

* Restaurant reviewer Tucker Shaw reveals a few of his Denver faves. [Denver Post]

* Critic Steve Cuozzo has a round-up of New York City restaurants that’ll make you feel like you’re dining in a forest (assuming you would like to dine in a forest when you’re in New York City). [NY Post]

Tags: Columbus Circle, Denver, forest, London, San Francisco's Best Of Awards
Posted in Destinations | No Comments »

Your 2010 RAMMY Winners Are…

Monday, June 7th, 2010

RAMMY 2010 Your 2010 RAMMY Winners Are... Last night, the 20th annual Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) awards were held. This year’s RAMMY winners, recognized for excellence in the category, include:

* New Restaurant: Birch and Barley

* Fine Dining Restaurant: 2941

* Upscale Casual Restaurant: Vermilion

* Chef of the Year: Scott Drewno, The Source

* Pastry Chef of the Year: Anthony Chavez, 2941

* Wine Program: Proof

(more…)

Tags: Birch and Barley, Rammy, RAMW, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
Posted in Awards, Destinations | No Comments »

Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week 2010: Hot Deals in the Desert

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

There are many reasons to visit Palm Springs — but this has got to be the tastiest one! Beginning today and running through June 13, Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week is bringing you 10 days of delicious dining — $24 or $36 menus. Organized by the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Association, this restaurant week is a culinary celebration featuring restaurants from the entire Valley from Palm Springs to Indio.

Participating restaurants include Bellatrix, Cuistot, Purple Palm Restaurant, and Tuscany, as well as many others. Whether you’re a local, a vacationer, or a day-tripping Angeleno looking for fine food at even finer prices, Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week has something for you.

View the full list of participating restaurants, and book your tables today!

Tags: California, discounts, Indio, Palm Springs Desert Resort Restaurant Week
Posted in Destinations, Restaurant Week | No Comments »

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