Call ahead, make sure they’re there – Dining out tip

by Gadling Staff on

If you find a restaurant through a listing in the phone book, a local tourist magazine, or from an online service like Yelp, don’t rush out the door. Call first.

Things change. Call the restaurant and ask about their hours, parking situation, whether they require reservations — anything. What you’re really doing is confirming that they’re still in business. It’s no fun to choose a restaurant in an unfamiliar city, make the effort to get there, and then find out it no longer exists. This can be especially frustrating if you had to take a cab to get there!

Calling ahead will give you crucial information. Your questions — both asked and unasked — will be answered, and if necessary, you’ll have a chance to choose another restaurant before leaving your room.

Enjoy “island time” – Dining out tip

by Gadling Staff on

When vacationing in the Caribbean, remember that everything — including service in restaurants — runs on “island time.”

Life on The Islands runs at a more relaxed, laid-back pace than most Americans are accustomed to. Plan accordingly — dining at a restaurant in the Caribbean can take 20 to 40 more minutes (or more!) than you’re used to back in the United States. To deal with this, either budget more cushion into your meal times … or don’t plan anything, and just go with the flow.

Remember — your server isn’t being lazy or ignoring you — a slower pace is simply the way of life in the Caribbean. Enjoy it, Mon. You’re on vacation!

What’s in a dive bar? More than your guidebook is telling you

by Grant Martin on

Dive bars have a special place in this traveler’s heart. They’re places where sullen, engaging, vociferous and colorful locals get together, down a few pints and tell the real story of a destination. They’re the corner bar in the middle-class neighborhood south of Stockholm, the late night dive hidden down an alley in a pocket of the Barri Gotic in Barcelona and the smoky joint with board games and the 78 year old bartender off of the Addison corridor in Chicago.

They haven’t always got the the newest digs, hottest style or top spot in Time Out’s regional guide, but the story that they tell is cleaner and more visceral than all of those vapid places combined. It’s the story of being a local in a place not unlike home, of lives reeling in motion, working, commuting, loving and drinking in an orbit just removed from our own.

Today at Gadling we’ll be featuring our favorite dive bars and dive bar stories from around the world, from Aaron Hotfelder’s profile of the BEST DIVE BAR IN THE MIDWEST (coming next!) to Melanie Nayer’s own interview with Guy Fieri from the hit show on the Food Network Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Stick around, get comfortable and lets work off our weekend hangovers together.

Make your reservations now for Chicago Restaurant Week

by Katie Hammel on

Ah, Chicago Restaurant Week. One of the few things that will get city residents out of their apartments when the temperature dips into the negative double-digits. From February 19 to 26, over 100 restaurants in the city and suburbs will be offering special prix fixe menus at $22 for lunch and $32 for dinner.

Known as one of the best times to try a new or normally too expensive restaurant at an affordable price, Restaurant Week is also often a time when the chefs try a few more daring dishes to spice up the usual menu. And some of the city’s most celebrated chefs and restaurants are participating. Among them are Topolobampo (owned by celeb-chef Rick Bayless), NoMi, Carnivale, and Blue 13, where the lobster pizza is to-die-for. At several of these places, it would be darn near impossible to get a three-course meal for under $60 per person, let alone a mere $32.

Most of the restaurants participating already have their menus up and are taking reservations. Many are also offering drink specials along with dinner, so you can use the money you save to enjoy a few more glasses of wine.

Last year, the city extended Restaurant Week into March, but don’t count on it happening again. You can view the full list of participating restaurants here.

New York’s Tavern on the Green shuts its doors, temporarily

by Katie Hammel on

The iconic Central Park restaurant, Tavern on the Green, closed its doors on January 1. The restaurant, which opened in 1936 and was known more for its ambiance and history than for its cuisine, went out with a bang with a 1,500-person party on New Year’s Eve. But the restaurant won’t be gone forever; new owners will be taking over, renovating the building, and eventually reopening.

Tavern on the Green’s most recent owners began having financial problems after losing a bidding war for the lease to Dean Poll, who owns the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park. The owners have since filed for bankruptcy and will be auctioning off the fixtures and supplies of the restaurant before transferring ownership to Poll, who is expected to invest $25 million in renovations and updates to the restaurant, including installing green technology to make the building more eco-friendly.

While this isn’t the first time the restaurant has changed hands, it’s the first time the new space might not be called Tavern on the Green. It seems the name was trademarked in 1981 and has been valued at $19 million. Poll has registered the name Tavern in Park with the city as a backup, should the original name not be available for use.

[via CNN]