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How-To: Steal Ideas From Stunning Restaurant Interiors

CasaSugar — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:00:28 -0800

British design group Studio Ilse, headed up by Ilse Crawford, founding editor of Elle Decoration UK, who also designed this crave-worthy turned-wood print, just sent over photos from Studio Ilse's newly completed project, Kettner's, one of the oldest restaurants in London's theater district. The new design is fun, fresh, and French, with a nostalgic and theatrical spirit. While exquisite architectural details do help in the elegance department, the space is otherwise flawlessly furnished, head to toe. Of course, costly furnishings are somewhat responsible, but there are plenty of design tricks you can pick up for your own home here as well. Check out this slideshow to see what I mean.
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Cool Idea: The Dressler's Decadent Details

CasaSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:00:44 -0700

I don't make it a habit to feature restaurants on CasaSugar, but when the interior design of one blows me away, I feel compelled to share. Take the Dressler, a neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. While the Dressler serves a restrained, palette-tempting menu, diners are often equally taken with the eatery's décor. Capable of seating 60 diners, the Dressler's main room is an absolute visual treat. A pretty barstool reveals itself, upon closer examination, to be adorned with fairytale characters; a Baroque chandelier is alive with roosting birds.

Owner Colin Devlin showed great foresight when overseeing the interior design of his restaurant, which was completed by Joseph Foglia Designs. And the real charm is in the details: furniture, lighting fixtures, and accents were all made by Brooklyn Navy Yard artisan sculptors.

To take the full tour, read more.

To check out the restaurant yourself, make reservations through its site.

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The Counter: Healthier Burgers You Custom Build

FitSugar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:45:00 -0700

I am not in the habit of eating at fast-food joints regularly, but when traveling sometimes I just can't avoid them. Next time I'm on the road, I will be looking to feed my family at The Counter. New on the fast food scene, The Counter is going to revolutionize the way we eat burgers. With over 312,120 possible burger combinations, this restaurant allows you to customize your meal anyway you like.

Using a clipboard menu, you build the burger exactly how you want starting with the protein: certified humane beef, turkey burger, veggie burger, or grilled chicken. There are 10 cheese options, and you also get to choose five toppings from a long list including carrot strings, dried cranberries, hardboiled eggs, avocado, and sun-dried tomatoes. Further customize your burger by selecting a sauce and bread. I love that there are healthy choices in each category so you're not just stuck with beef high in saturated fat, iceberg lettuce, and a white flour bun.

To see a sample of their menu read more.

Pretty inventive, huh? With all these choices it's possible to create a uniquely delicious burger that's also healthy. Locations are cropping up all over the US so I'd definitely choose The Counter over Mickey Dee's any day. Have you eaten at The Counter? If yes, tell me what you thought in the comments section below.

Does Your Tot Behave in Restaurants?

babysugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:00:39 -0700

Going to a restaurant with the tots in tow can leave parents feeling fretful. Nobody wants to be that mom with the screaming child running around the eatery. Crayons, snacks, books, and toys can be distraction tools, but they aren't a sure bet.

Thankfully pizzerias and family-friendly restaurants are places where shrieks and flying food are not only acceptable, but expected. How does your child do dining out?

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Pace Yourself...

GiggleSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:00:00 -0700

The opposite of comfort food.

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Enter Through the Back Door

GiggleSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Authentic? Nah. They stole their recipes from an old pro.

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Walt Disney Banning Children?

babysugar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:00:24 -0800

Children dream of going to the wonderful world of Disney to meet their heroes, wear mouse ears, ride the Dumbo ride, and eat cotton candy. And, most parents love taking their kids to Disney to fulfill those childhood fantasies while relaxing a little bit themselves. Apparently, some adults, in the midst of all things Disney, will be able to relax kid free according to a Tampa Bay news report.

Victoria and Albert's, an upscale restaurant at Walt Disney World, has closed its doors to children eleven and under. At first, I flinched thinking, isn't Disney World a place where two large rodents by the names Minnie and Mickey Mouse roam free? And Bambi and Donald the Duck are revered and not hunted? But after reading up on the swank eatery, I realized that maybe this was the right call. To see why I think the restaurant made a good decision, read more.

As I learned from Frommer's, Victoria and Albert's is a "jackets required" romantic hot spot with limited seating – only room for 65 people to dine at a time. While a harpist serenades patrons, they can browse the menu, set at $95 prix fixe minimum. The fare, which is offered across seven courses, includes duck, pheasant, abalone, veal, or tuna. At the end of the meal, the diners are presented with a personalized menu and a rose.

Call me crazy but this doesn't sound like the kind of place that has chicken tenders or French fries for emergency tantrum solutions. But just in general, it seems like an oasis for adults and older children, those who can appreciate silverware and the lack of sippy cups, to enjoy a nice night without a pair of oversized round ears poking out from every table.

Shocking Secrets From Inside a Restaurant Kitchen

FitSugar — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:45:00 -0800

Me, I like to think I know how to navigate my way through a restaurant menu when it comes to making the healthiest choices. However, recently eDiets got the inside scoop on common restaurant practices that can sabotage your diet that you might not have considered.

Here are a few practices that shocked me the most:

Even steamed veggies are high in fat. “Fat is what sells food in restaurants,” says Deborah Fabricant, a Los Angeles-based restaurant consultant, former chef and author of Stacks: The Art of Vertical Food. “That’s why it ubiquitous, even in vegetable dishes.”
Egg-white omelets aren’t necessarily better for you. If you’ve been to a fancy buffet brunch with an omelet bar, you’ve seen the chef generously ladle a clear liquid into the pan before making your mushroom-and-spinach favorite. The liquid is fat, and the ladle holds at least 2 tablespoons. That’s 22 grams of fat (16 grams saturated) and 200 calories added to an otherwise healthful dish.

There are more shocking revelations so read more

Those “plain” toasted buns are covered in butter (or worse). It’s pretty obvious when you take a bite of garlic bread at a steakhouse that it’s dripping with butter. But butter or other fat is added to bread a lot more often than you know. It’s common practice to slap sandwich buns with some form of grease to keep them from sticking to the flattop grill. You may think you’re having a plain grilled chicken sandwich, but there’s a good chance those wheat buns were smeared with margarine before being toasted. This adds 5.5 fat grams (4 grams saturated) and 50 calories.
Meat, chicken and fish get a fat rubdown before cooking. At culinary school it was drilled into chefs that before any piece of meat is cooked – no matter how it’s to be cooked – it absolutely must be rubbed on both sides with olive oil. Rubbing a 4- to 6-ounce chicken breast, steak or piece of fish adds up to 10 grams of fat (2 grams saturated) and 90 calories. And if it stops there, you’re getting off easy.

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Slogan of the Year

GiggleSugar — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:00:00 -0700

I guess the best way to get customers through the door is to keep them on their toes...

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Organic Kitchen Gardens at Blue Hill at Stone Barns

CasaSugar — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:33:34 -0700

Since my cousin is a chef at the amazing Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in Pocantico Hills, New York, I had to tell Casa readers about their great farm and restaurant.

The restaurant relies on the adjoining working farm for most of its ingredients, and is supplemented by other local farms in the area. Also integral to the operation is the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, which is a non-profit farm and educational center. On the website, Stone Barns writes that its mission is to “demonstrate, teach and promote sustainable, community-based food production.”

To read more and see a gallery of some gorgeous farm photos, just read more

This mission means that the farm, which is open year-round, produces local and organic produce, serves that produce in their restaurant, and educates visitors on the value of local and organic food. Blue Hill at Stone Barns even produces food during the winter months in their greenhouses. The restaurant's menus are designed around the farm's seasonal ingredients, and the farm is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.

I haven't been to Blue Hill at Stone Barns yet, but I'd love to hear about any Casa readers' experiences there!

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