This place is awesome and well worth the $170 a head that it costs. It's on 14th right off of Western. My partner and I used to day drink at the Water Hole on the corner and I didn't even realize this place was a couple doors down.

There are only 24 seats and the dining room is virtually in the kitchen. There are no waiters, just one guy running the front, three chefs, and a dishwasher. The chefs and the front of house guy do all the serving with the chefs introducing the dishes. There is only one seating per night (maybe two on Saturdays) and everybody gets served each course at the same time. It's BYOB, no corkage fee.

I took my wife for her birthday. Here is the menu from the night we went:



There were some memorable dishes. The Toad in a Hole was just an unbelievable bite of food. It was covered with shaved white truffle. The French Fries and Ice Cream might be the most interesting thing I've ever eaten. They placed a bowl of cream with small pieces of french fries in front of each diner. In the meantime one of the guys was making the ice cream with liquid nitrogen. The chefs came around and dumped a scoop into each bowl. It was smoking like crazy. The first few bites tasted like a really good vanilla ice cream, but then the dish began changing with each bite. It became more savory with each bite and by the end it was like eating Vichyssoise. The waygu beef was the best single bite of steak I've ever had in my life. Sadly it was only one bite. But by that time I had eaten a whole lot of courses and the desserts were still to come.


After the steak course, the chefs brought out this:



The head man said something like, "Most restaurants have coffee service, but we give you the real fuckin' shit!" (This place is not for Boilermaker Rick.) I believe the powder was coconut. And of course, you sucked it through the straw rather than snorting it.

This is a great place. I recommend it for any special occasion.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

humph. I've always liked the idea but can't pull the trigger. I'm a little surprised you'd go for it. Good for you.

I never thought to use a cork to hold the blade. I just set it down on the table.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I usually use a debit card.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

If I was playing a road game, for sure, the credit/debit card, and rolled up bill were the tools.

Top of the toilet tank, rather than a mirror.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Toilet tank........so dirty. But the porcelain is non-stick so you don't have to scrape all that much...unless you're in some shit hole and you have condensation on the tank. But if that's where you're at you have much bigger problems to worry about.

It all sounds terrible.

Average at best.

Or you would use a CD case as the table. Put the powder/rocks on the case, cover with a bill, and smash with a lighter. Roll up said bill, and toot away.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I'd rather not do blow on a restaurant table. I mean, I would but not in public.

But CD cases usually work. If you had a friend that had the glass/mirror table you were in good hands.

My buddy and I had an apartment in Glendale Height in '97-'98. Our living room table was a round, glass table, roughly 5' in diameter, and an inch thick. We had some good times.

Again, home field advantage is huge.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I should have known that if I posted that pic Team Cocaine would hijack my fine dining thread.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

SomeGuy is a force for good.

Guess I'll just leave this right here, had a light up glass table in college...

Very cool restaurant concept though....sounds like a mouth explosion

_________________
GOB: "My God, what is this feeling?"
Michael: "Could it be love?"
GOB: "I know what an erection feels like, Michael. No, it's the opposite. It's... it's like my heart is getting hard."

Yes, you should have, even though I'm on Team Weed. The days, or nights, in reality, of pounding rails are long in the rear view mirror.

Did they cook the steak on a hot rock? I've been to a thing like this, where they did that.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Come on. You're a two sport athlete like Bo Jackson.



I'm not sure if they actually cook anything on rocks, but I believe the steak was served on a piece of stone, or maybe slate.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Did Alinea and this place always looked like the Poor mans version of Alinea. Which was some crazy great stuff.

Been to Schwa a few times, same kind of deal, 20 seats, some amazing food, BYOB! (Big Bonus)

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Is Schwa great? It seems like that Carlson guy is kind of a flake. I've heard stories of people showing up for reservations and the place being closed because he just decided he wanted the night off.

I considered 42 grams for my wife's birthday, but the website annoyed me. When I'm dropping $400 for dinner, I don't like the restauranteur to give me a lot of rules. Just accommodate me.

What I liked about EL was that it wasn't stuffy or pompous at all. I mean, the guy ran the Meatyballs truck for God's sake.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I retired from playing for Team Cocaine years ago. I could be useful in the front office, perhaps as a consultant.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Assistant to the Traveling Secretary.

_________________
Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

They do play the NEED A RESERVATION 2 MONTHS OUT....and they dont answer the phone and they dont have a voicemail...lol....I was invited by someone who is kind of a regular there, so been there and treated well. Really no rules. I could have shown up in shorts and T shirt, even though everyone was dressed well.

$100 a person and then BYOB.....I was hungry after....

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

i don't go to places where they're doing me a favor by letting me come spend $200...$400...

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Are you the guy who put us in that Ramada in Milwaukee?

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

That's how EL Ideas was too. The attire ran the gamut. I think only one other guy and I wore suits. And I was as casual as you can be in a suit, no tie and a sporty shirt. The other guy and his wife were celebrating their 25th anniversary and they were both sharply dressed. There was a younger guy with a smoking hot chick sitting next to them and he had an orange sweatshirt on. That was probably a little underdressed.

Speaking of which, I was surprised at how young the crowd was. The anniversary couple and my wife and I were all about the same age and the oldest people in the room except for one older rich looking dude who was with a woman in her late twenties/early thirties.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

having a 49 year old wife is only acceptable if you are in your 80s

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I wouldn't trade her for harem of 23 year old nitwits.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don