madeline's

ok, so this is susur's new spot. after moving his tings to new york, he decided to put a less expensive and less frou frou spot in his flagship called 'madeline's'(he named it after his mum). i'm guessing because susur's has most of his time invested at the place in new york, he has handed down the title of head chef to former sous chef domenic armanal. that said, the food shifts from asian-centric to more of a euro or mediterranean vibe with lots of olives, beets, and lots of other seasonal veges. if you don't like meat, this place is like the upscale 'fresh', and the food actually tastes good. there's a lot of fish as well, but i found some of the lobster dishes a little disappointing (the lobster in the lettuce wrap wasn't as fun as it sounds, and you can sorta see them in the second pic behind those balls). but the vegetables are great, and i recommend the beet salad. i love a good beet salad, and was impressed with the flavours they chose to accompany them.

there was also a plate of garlic potato chips (front of the first pic) that blew my mind. they were fresh out of the fryer and were semi-soggy (in a good way) with artery clogging amazingness and were well seasoned. i think i ate the most of them out of all of us because they were right in front of me. i would prolly eat 3 plates by myself if the opportunity were presented to me. i loved them.

i also really enjoyed the desert. unfortunately, i can't really remember what it was because by this point i was on drink number 5. my company at the time knew how to get er done (eh hem, mum&dad).

ohya, and did i mention it's cheap? ya, no more of that $600 for two people bullshit. more like $400 for 4. well, i guess cheap-er