1. Bastille Day at Chateau France.
The restaurant was almost empty on Bastille Day! Sacre bleu! Zut alors! That meant that we had Chef/Owner Antoine Louro almost all to ourselves, chatting him up as he prepared pillowy steak tartare at the table, served us subtle but hearty cassoulet de mer and brought us a bottle of decadent Chateau Yquem Sauternes with our dessert. There is something to be said for paying a kingly sum for a kingly meal every so often, and Chateau France is the place to do it. Best dining experience of the year.
2. Malio's Steak House says farewell.
Malio devotee and Planet copy editor Joe Bardi wrote this tribute: Despite an abundance of quality Italian restaurants around the Bay area, few could match the food, ambiance and dependability of Malio's Steakhouse, which closed its doors in 2005 after a 36-year run in Tampa. A favorite of local sports figures (George Steinbrenner could often be spotted in a dark corner of the restaurant), Malio's was like two restaurants in one, featuring a main room reserved for formal dining and a "café side" for more casual meals. The café side's row of private booths made for many a romantic evening over fine steaks, fish and, of course, pasta with Malio's famed "princess" sauce. A new building will soon rise at Malio's old Azeele and Dale Mabry location, but Tampa's culinary landscape will remain scarred for years to come.
3. The worst dessert year ever.
If I have to see crème brulee — flavored or otherwise — on every single menu in the coming year, I may gouge my eyes out with a sharp breadstick. Likewise for key lime pie, bread pudding and anything combining the words chocolate, ganache or flourless. Yet again, most talented chefs around the Bay Area spent the entirety of 2005 ignoring the dessert course altogether, resulting in a slew of carbon-copy after-dinner menus. Don't forget: Dessert is a part of the meal, it deserves as much attention as your poached lobster or chile-rubbed halibut. Please, people, help me out here.
4. Restaurant BT: Downsizing works.
BT Nguyen-Batley took three restaurants and transformed them into, well, one. Sure, we lost the Noodle House and the Yellow Door, but we gained a place that combined some of the best elements of each. Décor that is at once serene and dynamic, Pan-Asian cuisine that can be subtle or powerful in turn, and BT taking a turn around the room every so often all make for a very special place that is better than the sum of its parts.
5. Pane Rustica: All day, every day.
It used to be one of my favorite lunch stops — sandwich and salad and a couple of loafs to go — but now that Pane Rustica has opened for dinner service, I'm conflicted. Is it bad to eat two, or even three meals at the same place in one day? The cavernous faux classical space buzzes at night with an urban vibe distinctly lacking around town, the food is simple and well-done and loaded with straightforward and aromatic ingredients. It's the kind of food you can eat almost every day. Even if I try not to.
6. Katrina & New Orleans.
As more and more restaurants start to re-open, it's still hard to gauge the impact that Hurricane Katrina will have on the future of the storied dining scene of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. New Orleans was one of the top five restaurant cities in the country and by far the most interesting, but the cracked levees and the lack of insurance is keeping residents and restaurateurs (not to mention tourists) away. Sure, I'm just concentrating on the culinary aspect of this tragedy, but, well, did you ever get a chance to eat in New Orleans? Never has there been such a disparate and beautiful conglomeration of soul and posh, casual and fancy, urban and country, often all glommed together in the same restaurant. No matter what happens in the coming years, NOLA will never be the same.
7. Kaleisia: Tea up.
Kim Phan and Lan Ha have opened a hip oasis for the calmer crowd of morning drinkers. With over 50 different teas available for olfactory sampling, monthly tea tastings and seminars, and the hands-on education Kim and Lan offer every person who walks through the door of their thoroughly modern Kaleisia Tea Lounge, they could start a revolution in Tampa. Turns out, tea is actually more interesting than coffee, folks. Put down your burnt beans and pick up a cuppa.
8. It's Michelin, man.
Hey! Zagat! The king is dead, baby! Long live the new king!
Alright, perhaps that popularity contest disguised as a restaurant guide — the crimson-colored Zagat — isn't going extinct, but at least it has some serious competition. Zagat is powered solely by voluntary surveys from diners, which results in mob-rule ratings that sometimes reflect popular trends or concerted effort from a few individuals instead of unbiased quality. At the other end of the spectrum is Michelin, which has been the unrivalled arbiter of culinary success in Europe for over 75 years, relying on anonymous inspectors who meticulously rate each establishment using criteria that seems old-fashioned to some on these shores.
Just a few weeks ago, Michelin published the first U.S. guide — New York City — with ratings that snubbed some of the Big Apple's favorite dining powerhouses, creating a rash of teeth-gnashing and kvetching in the papers. In the coming years, Michelin will be expanding to cover other U.S. urban centers. We might not be at the top of the list, but they'll get to us eventually, bringing their quiet Gallic judgment to bear on our culinary culture. I can't wait.
9. The worst restaurant trend ever.
The Zagat survey did tell us the biggest complaint people have about restaurants — the service. Seventy-two percent of all complaints received on their surveys focused on service problems. Now, I don't want an angry mob of waitstaff waving torches outside the Planet offices, but restaurants here in the Bay area seem to have lowered the bar. This year, I've had less bad service, but also less good service. Is adequate all we're really striving for?
10. Hot Shop & Mema's: Off the Ybor path.
There is still a slightly shady patina on places that are just a few blocks away from Centro Ybor, but that's the charm. Where else will you find someone like Cephas Gilbert, serving Jamaican curries in his un-air conditioned Hot Shop while leaping up 10-foot walls to prove the efficacy of his bitter aloe shakes? Or Sean Godin's Mema's Alaskan Tacos, the tortillas loaded with fried chicken or alligator, salsa and cheese, some of the freshest fast food in town? There's more, but you should do a little urban exploration and find them for yourself.
Brian Ries is a former restaurant general manager with an advanced diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers. He can be reached at brian.ries@weeklyplanet.com. Planet food critics dine anonymously, and the paper pays for the meals. Restaurants chosen for review are not related to advertising.
This article appears in Dec 28, 2005 – Jan 3, 2006.