Elk Street Grille in Port Jeff

[goodhealthgourmet]

anyone been?

[kevinh]

My wife and I love Oscars. Great atmosphere, excellent food.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i know, we should have gone there instead :) next time.

thanks!

[Fred19]

I was there last year. The food was OK. Unfortunately, the design of the restaurant has alot of hard surfaces, tight packing of customers and no sound absorbing material, so the ambience is a loud roar. It is hard to hear your dinner companions when they scream to you over the noise of the restaurant. It was not a pleasant dining experience.
~Fred19

[goodhealthgourmet]

thanks for the report. we still may risk it tonight - i can't imagine it will be that crowded & noisy on a monday, and there are so few places in the area with decent food and a vibe that isn't completely stodgy or depressing.

if you had to choose from the following, which would be your #1 for a couple fof thirty-somethings who like very good [but not really fussy or pretentious] food?

elk street grille
pentimento
bella vita
vintage prime
costa de espana
oscars

we're obviously flexible re: cuisine ;)

[Fred19]

I personally like bella vita. It is usually quite busy during the week. We ate at costa de espana two weeks ago and the paella was extremely dry.
~Fred19

[goodhealthgourmet]

oops, forgot to add blond to the list of considerations.

any thoughts?

[goodhealthgourmet]

fred: we ended up at bella vita - it was hardly crowded. during the 2.5 hours we were there [we tend to linger] there were only 4 other tables - 3 couples & one group of 3. i was surprised that it wasn't busier considering that so many other local restaurants are closed on mondays.

the food was hit or miss. i posted a quick review in another thread...

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/506938

[Fred19]

Sounds like a resounding fair at bela vita. Good luck at blond.
~Fred19

[Lono37]

My wife and I are thirty-somethings and we've had several very good meals at Pentimento. The setting is also outstanding. I've heard good things about Oscar's as well, but haven't yet been. One of our favorites in that area not on your list is Kitchen a Bistro in St. James. My Elk Street experience was not great.

[goodhealthgourmet]

thanks so much. i've heard great things about kitchen a bistro, but we're wine drinkers and i didn't feel like bringing 2 bottles - he usually goes for white, but i'm in a red mood :)

ever been to blond?

[davmar77]

last time we went to kitchen a bistro,another party brought 4 bottles.we like the place a lot.

[goodhealthgourmet]

my issue is that i don't want to open 2 bottles just for the 2 of us...neither of us will drink more than a glass, or at most, two.

then again, i guess we could share it with other tables and make some friends :)

[Lono37]

We went to Blond twice; we were one of two couples in there both times (on Thursday nights). Food was hit-or-miss, not good enough to get me back a third time.

[goodhealthgourmet]

hmmm...good to know. thanks.