I think everyone should be required to travel to at least one foreign country. It's important for everyone in the world, to experience first hand how the rest of the world lives! You can never gain a full appreciation of how the rest of the world thinks, how they look at life, and the cultural differences that exist in the world, unless you experience it first hand.
My wife and I have been to Tahiti, Fiji twice, Bonaire, England, France and most recently Italy. I've also been to Okinawa, Japan (where I lived for a year and a half while in the Army), as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Phillipines (when it was safe for Americans to go there) and Saba.
While there were some problems, for the most parts, the good points always outweighed the bad. And even the bad experiences represented a learning experience.
Most importantly though, visiting other countries, gives you a greater appreciation of just how good we have it in the US, as well as pointing out some of the inequities we must deal with also.
By inequites, you probably think that I am going to talk about health care. Well, you guessed wrong. While health care is a big issue of mine, what I want to talk about in this post is the food.
Of all the countries we've visited, we enjoyed the food in France the best. We didn't expect much from the food in England, but were very much surprised by an Indian, and an Italian restaurant we visited there. The food in Italy was a big disappointment though. The only good meal we had was at the Costello Banfi winery restaurant, and that was a French dinner. As for some of the tropical islands we visited, the food was good, but we enjoyed those places for much different reasons.
Still the food in France, and the overall dining experience, was several steps above the food we have experienced anywhere else in the world, including the US, which as a result has turned into a double edged sword.
The food and the wine were just too good. It has spoiled us. It seems, no matter where we go now in the US, the food, and the overall dining experience just doesn't measure up, with maybe the exception of San Francisco, which does come close.
And Saturday night was no exception. We were celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary, and we decided to go to dinner, at what I was expecting to be a nice French restaurant (The write up sounded good, and they had a nice website) in the city of Fullerton, CA, called The Cellar.
Our first impression was good. it was a nice quaint restaurant down stairs from a mall of sorts, with about 4 other restaurants. Everyone was very attentive, as we were seated, and the wine list appeared to be extensive. And while it was a step above a previous dining experience, back in June, I doubt we'll go back.
I say the wine list appeared extensive, because the first wine I selected, a 2002 Laetitia Pinot Noir, Les Galet Vineyard, was not available. The waiter offered a 2004 Rochioli Pinot Noir in its place, and I said OK. I make note of this because the couple at the table next to us, were told the wine they selected was out also. Even their second selection was not available. Finally their third selection was available.
Then they tried to serve the Pinot in a Cabernet glass. And the glass was not even a good quality glass, which will at least have a cut rim. When I asked the wine steward for a Burgundy glass, he tried to give me a Chianti glass. As it turned out the restaurant did not have any Burgundy glasses (a French restaurant without Burgundy glasses????), so we decided to stick with the Cabernet glass.
Any respectable restaurant, with a wine selection, apparently as extensive as this one, would know better. That would have never happened in France, even with lesser quality wines. At least the wine was good, in spite of the incorrect glass.
Anywaze, to go on! We started off ordering the lobster bisque, which, according to the restaurant, is one of the top 5 lobster bisques in the country, followed by the Chateaubriand for two, and a chocolate souffle for dessert.
The lobster bisque was good, but one of the top 5? I don't think so, plus it was served barely above room temperature. The Chateaubriand was slightly undercooked, but still good, and the chocolate souffle? Well that's another story.
Not only was it served burnt, but it was mediocre at best. I should have sent it back, but at that point we just wanted to leave.
At least the service was excellent, and I left a good tip.
Still, that doesn't change the fact, that ever since we went to France in 2003, it seems that nothing in this country, or elsewhere, can measure up to the quality of service and food we encountered during our visit to France. The French are light years ahead of the US, and the rest of the world, when it comes to the dining experience.
Beware though, France is not cheap, but it's definitely worth it.
My wife and I have been to Tahiti, Fiji twice, Bonaire, England, France and most recently Italy. I've also been to Okinawa, Japan (where I lived for a year and a half while in the Army), as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Phillipines (when it was safe for Americans to go there) and Saba.
While there were some problems, for the most parts, the good points always outweighed the bad. And even the bad experiences represented a learning experience.
Most importantly though, visiting other countries, gives you a greater appreciation of just how good we have it in the US, as well as pointing out some of the inequities we must deal with also.
By inequites, you probably think that I am going to talk about health care. Well, you guessed wrong. While health care is a big issue of mine, what I want to talk about in this post is the food.
Of all the countries we've visited, we enjoyed the food in France the best. We didn't expect much from the food in England, but were very much surprised by an Indian, and an Italian restaurant we visited there. The food in Italy was a big disappointment though. The only good meal we had was at the Costello Banfi winery restaurant, and that was a French dinner. As for some of the tropical islands we visited, the food was good, but we enjoyed those places for much different reasons.
Still the food in France, and the overall dining experience, was several steps above the food we have experienced anywhere else in the world, including the US, which as a result has turned into a double edged sword.
The food and the wine were just too good. It has spoiled us. It seems, no matter where we go now in the US, the food, and the overall dining experience just doesn't measure up, with maybe the exception of San Francisco, which does come close.
And Saturday night was no exception. We were celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary, and we decided to go to dinner, at what I was expecting to be a nice French restaurant (The write up sounded good, and they had a nice website) in the city of Fullerton, CA, called The Cellar.
Our first impression was good. it was a nice quaint restaurant down stairs from a mall of sorts, with about 4 other restaurants. Everyone was very attentive, as we were seated, and the wine list appeared to be extensive. And while it was a step above a previous dining experience, back in June, I doubt we'll go back.
I say the wine list appeared extensive, because the first wine I selected, a 2002 Laetitia Pinot Noir, Les Galet Vineyard, was not available. The waiter offered a 2004 Rochioli Pinot Noir in its place, and I said OK. I make note of this because the couple at the table next to us, were told the wine they selected was out also. Even their second selection was not available. Finally their third selection was available.
Then they tried to serve the Pinot in a Cabernet glass. And the glass was not even a good quality glass, which will at least have a cut rim. When I asked the wine steward for a Burgundy glass, he tried to give me a Chianti glass. As it turned out the restaurant did not have any Burgundy glasses (a French restaurant without Burgundy glasses????), so we decided to stick with the Cabernet glass.
Any respectable restaurant, with a wine selection, apparently as extensive as this one, would know better. That would have never happened in France, even with lesser quality wines. At least the wine was good, in spite of the incorrect glass.
Anywaze, to go on! We started off ordering the lobster bisque, which, according to the restaurant, is one of the top 5 lobster bisques in the country, followed by the Chateaubriand for two, and a chocolate souffle for dessert.
The lobster bisque was good, but one of the top 5? I don't think so, plus it was served barely above room temperature. The Chateaubriand was slightly undercooked, but still good, and the chocolate souffle? Well that's another story.
Not only was it served burnt, but it was mediocre at best. I should have sent it back, but at that point we just wanted to leave.
At least the service was excellent, and I left a good tip.
Still, that doesn't change the fact, that ever since we went to France in 2003, it seems that nothing in this country, or elsewhere, can measure up to the quality of service and food we encountered during our visit to France. The French are light years ahead of the US, and the rest of the world, when it comes to the dining experience.
Beware though, France is not cheap, but it's definitely worth it.
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