BUON GUSTO 

69 Wyndham Street N. Guelph, Ontario (across from the Scotiabank) (519)) 265-8766
Sun - Thurs 11:30 am - 10:00 pm, Fri - Sat 11:30 - 11:00 pm

Located in the heart of old Guelph, Ontario is an Italian gem,  one of the best restaurants I have ever been to.  It is efficient, friendly and has some of the best pizzas I have ever tasted. A big plus is that it is very reasonably priced for high quality food.  As you enter there is a spacious bar that usually has patrons seated and eating.

The space is comfortable and has a variety of seating.

The menu is clear and has a nice variety of appetizers, salads, soups, pastas and great pizzas.  There are also some mains included in the menu and every evening there are specials that usually include a fish, meat and vegetarian option.

There is also a nice menu of drink specialties and a reasonably priced selection of wines.

Three of us came here two weeks in a row and tried a couple of their appetizers, pizzas and pasta.  We will come again to explore more of their menu for sure.  The carpaccio was cold, covered in grana padano and arugula and sliced very thin.  It just melted in your mouth.

As another appetizer we tried the calamari (which can be very chewy sometimes) they were soft and not chewy at all. 

We tried a variety of pizzas over our two visits and they were outstanding. The toppings were copious and very fresh.

Arugula and Prosciutto 

Fig and Prosciutto

Buon Gusto Pizza

A nice Ripasso from their wine list paired perfectly with our food.

One of us tried one of their pastas - the Tagliatelle Dragoncello con Funghi it was delicious! Looking forward to coming back and try some more of their pastas.

 A light tiramisu and cappuccino completed the meals.

 This restaurant is definitely worth a visit if you find yourself anywhere near Guelph.  We are already looking forward to visiting Buon Gusto again soon.

http://www.buongusto.ca/


 

La Masseria  

235 West 48th Street NYC, (212) 582-2111 Mon,5:00, to 11:00, Tues. and Sat. 4:30 to 12:00 pm, Wed. to Fri. 5:00pm to 12:00 am. Sunday 3:00 pm to 10:30 pm

While visiting Manhattan we booked a Broadway play and decided to make a dinner reservation near the theatre.  We had no idea we were in for a memorable meal at La Masseria.  It has 1 Michelin Star!

The inside is spacious and there is a large outside patio.

We purposely made an early reservation so that we could take our time.  Our waiter (who talked like Joe Pesci) was efficient and very personable.  We reviewed the menu.

A wonderful, fresh basket of breads arrived along with a delicious caper oil for dipping.

My wife and son Thomas and I split a beef carpaccio three ways - the arugula was very fresh, the parmigiano was copious and the beef was so tender.  The entire plate was huge and cold.

My wife and son chose for their main the gnocchi.  They were like marshmallow pillows - the best they ever had!!

For my main I chose the fettuccine bolognese.  The pasta was house made and extremely thin and very tender.  The bolognese was filled with flavour and very generous.

 For desert - I was excited to see tartuffo and it did not disappoint - it was well presented and yummy.

My wife had the tiramisu and it was very light and generous.

Thomas had the creme brulee it was large and delicious.

This was one of the finest meals we have had in any Italian restaurant anywhere.  The service was excellent and the food was divine!  We highly recommend it when in New York!!

http://www.lamasserianyc.com/

 

POLO BAR
1 East 55th Street New York NY, Open 5:00 to 10:30, 1 212-207-8562

Located in mid town at 55th street is the Ralph Lauren Polo Bar.  Five of us decided to try it while visiting NYC.

We entered this restaurant through the bar, which is glamorous.  

We were quickly whisked downstairs to the restaurant.

The restaurant downstairs took our breathe away, it was stunning!

We perused the menu.

It was a rather simple menu for such a lovely space.

The house sommelier came by and asked if we needed help in ordering the wine - he suggested a nice Californian, so we ordered two bottles (there were five of us). The wine was great!

A couple of us also had a cocktails.

As we were deciding a bread like item arrived that resembled Yorkshire pudding - it was light and very soft!

My wife and I shared a shrimp cocktail and it was very good!

A couple of us had the special app of the evening steak tartar - it was outstanding.

However, after this the meal went downhill!  Three of us ordered the chicken and mashed.  The chicken was almost raw - so we sent them back to the kitchen.  A manager came by and said they would make it up to us!

New chicken dinners arrived.  A couple of us found them too spicy - but we were very forgiving, until we were asked if we wanted desert and none of us wanted one.  They forced three deserts on us in lieu of the raw chicken (by the way a thermometer is a useful kitchen tool)! 
This was one of the deserts they gave us.

A cheesecake was another desert they gave us.

They also gave us a selection of sorbets!
We finished our dinners with cappuccinos!

Though the surroundings were magical and very glamorous the menu and kitchen need a serious re-engineereing.  The menu is boring and overpriced and the kitchen needs some training!!

 


http://www.ralphlauren.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=54938256

FLOUR AND BARLEY

3545 Las Vegas Las Vegas Blvd. S. (702) 430-4430, 11 am to 12 midnight 7 days a week.

Located on the Linq behind the Flamingo Hotel and Casino is a large, reasonably priced restaurant.

It has a large interior and a very large patio.

We sat on the patio and ordered a litre of their house red. 

The menu has a nice variety of choices.

We decided to split the arugula and kale salad - it was amazing, the ingredients were unique and included artichokes, mushrooms and pine nuts.  It was large and easily split.  The flavours were fabulous!

My wife had the grilled salmon with broccolini and roast potato in a lemon caper sauce.  It was a large meal but very tasty.

I chose the shrimp scampi in a garlic lemon sauce with spaghettini.  The shrimp were large and very tender.

This was a good meal and good value in a nice location on the newly developed linq.

 

http://www.flourandbarley.com/