TONY'S Restaurant Review

"The old fashioned bottles of Coke at a cafe on the Champs Elysee were $ 1.50 US. 40 years ago."

True and 50 years ago the Algerians were setting off bombs in the streets of Paris! The point is that it wasn't about the cost of the experience, it was about the experience and education. If you want to throw out the expense, how about $22USD for a 5th of Dewars Scotch in the "hell hole" of Bombay, India in 1959? Back in the late 50's and early 60's, there was a very popular travel book titled Europe on Five Dollars a Day published by Frommer's. Frommer kept revising the amount until he reached Europe on $95 a Day. Today a similar book might have to be titled: Europe on $400 a Day!

Yes, indeed, Paris was always quite expensive compared to most other urban zones in Continental Europe. Dawg lived there and in other European cities for a year in 1966 surviving in Paris selling the New York Times International Edition just outside the opera and on the Champs Elysées alternatively. Incidentally, the NYT was trying to break into the Paris market in those days which market was then primarily served by the old International Herald Tribune so I made good money for those days at the equivalent of $0.60US per copy sold. In those days, I paid the equivalent of $2.00US per day for a tiny room in a run-down hotel (since demolished) next to the Cluny Ruins on the Left Bank. During that same period of time, I paid the equivalent of $0.35US a day for a room in a pension in Barcelona which included a free continental breakfast. Spain was incredibly cheap in those days as long as one avoided even mentioning General Franco thereby becoming a ward of the state if not a "desaparecido". Spain was very straight laced in those days under Franco so the only available women for a single guy were Scandinavians or Brits. Dawg had to get out of there.

Dawg never meant to infer that Paris is anything but one of the most beautiful cities in the world then as now although mch of the development along the peripheriques and in an number of unpleasant suburbs is depressing. However, since the advent of the Euro, Paris has become one of the most incredibly expensive places in Europe with runaway inflation. Housing, food and taxes are obscenely costly and far more so than in 2000 when we contemplated retiring in France and chose Mexico instead mainly for the climate. Remember that on our recent trip there we were in the city before the beginning of the high tourist season and the town was overrun by tourists with huge contingents of Russians, Eastern Europeans and Asians but not so many North Americans as far as we could tell. With the high cost of living and huge crowds overrunning all the great attractions - this ain´t no place to retire for sure.

I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

The Paris "center" or really Paris proper with its 20 arrondissements has changed a lot since Robespierre...The Concorde has now an Obelisque instead of a guillotine, the Louvre has a IM PEi pyramid the old slums have been replaced by the boulevards created by Baron Haussman, the old Halles have Beaubourg or Centre Pompidou, the Palais Royal have some black and whites things in the courtyard, we hav now Trocadero, a Tour Eiffel, Champs Elysees and so on and Paris is more beautiful than ever, visiting there however is another story.
The old stand by sites to visit are so crowded that it is a pain to go to them and the crowds make them impossible to enjoy however there are still a lot of old sites less known that are still wonderful places to visit.
Forget Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Le Louvre, Quaie D orsay, Branly, L órangerie and many of the old stand bys.
Buy tickets via Internet for the sites you want to see, it cuts hours to the lines and go there if you have a lot of patience.
The sites we enjoyed the most were little museums, walking the streets and going to special events like the water and music show in Versailles, forget the visit of the palace, go to the Trianon and visit the park and the old farms.
Went to a candlelit visit of Vaux le Vicomte which was magical. Went to a small nice restaurant around 8pm in the provincial town of Melun and then to a stroll in the gardens at Vaux and a fireworks show at 11pm and a visit of the palace after the fireworks. It was a blast got home around 1am.
Had a great time visiting the old basilique of Saint Denis where many of the French kings are buried.
Had fun going to the old fort in the charming village village of Pierrefont.
Did a lot of walking and window shopping in the older parts of Paris, revisited some of my old stomping ground and stayed away from all the crowds except for the Louvre (never again) and La Tour Eiffel(we had too for the teenager who was with us and had to go to the summit)
The population in Paris has changed a lot and in the subway French is a minority language , I have never heard so many languages I was not accustomed to hear.
At my sisters building more than 50% of the names are foreign names ranging from Lebanese to Bulgarian to African. Another big change is that all of these foreigners are middle-class people and the French population is way more tolerant of foreigners.
This makes for a fun town to live in but also for a very crowded place.

There is a huge influx of all types of new tourists in town , the Eastern Europeans are replacing the Americans, Germans, Brits etc,, The Japanese are not as noticeable than other tourists from China, Korea and other Asian countries and Turks are there in huge numbers as immigrants and tourists.
The Americans have lost their rights to the Ugly American tourists, as far as ugly tourits they are amateurs...
Paris can still be enjoyed as a tourist if you do your homework and stay away from the traditional sites but what cannot be escaped are the high prices, everything is 3 to 4 times more expensive than here except for gasoline that is only twice as expensive...80 euros to fill a very small car is no bargain.
A wonderful place to have relatives in, not sure otherwise.

What happened to poor old Tony's restaurant? The Paris Report surely deserves its own thread, does it not?

Rosa Venus wrote:I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

Mediocre restaurant. Have you eaten there? Maybe you can tell us why the're always busy. So what restaurants do you like or have you not been here long enough?

Rosa Venus wrote:I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

You crack me up, Rosa Venus. Wading through this seemingly endless discourse started as a sort of paean to a local rib joint and then diverting into a discussion of the City of Light was a bit tedious but your post made the effort worthwhile. An amusing observation.

By the way, the previous post ridiculing the notion that old Paris, one of the cities on the planet most dramatically subject to urban renewal over the past few centuries and, thus, vastly changed for the better, was written by my wife, a Parisienne, who posted under my name, and not Dawg, a Montgomerian as in tha Alabama variety. I would like to take credit for her discourse on Paris but would, instead of the Louvre, recommend this crepes joint I know on BLVD. St. Michele so use her as a reference.

I guess we all got bored with endless discussion about the mediocre restaurant and preferred to turn our attention to all things Parisian such as French cuisine, the cost of enjoying said cuisine and other pertinent facts about the city since few of us can now afford to lash out on such a vacation. That said, Toronto is also looking very expensive these days. OUCH.

johninajijic wrote:

Rosa Venus wrote:I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

Mediocre restaurant. Have you eaten there? Maybe you can tell us why the're always busy. So what restaurants do you like or have you not been here long enough?

You know, John, that Dawg (AKA Bubba) has lived here for eleven years, about the same time you have lived here in West Ajijic and I have never eaten at Tony´s although that is no reflection on Tony but just the fact that we hardly ever eat out since home cooking among some of us is more fun and the you can go to sleep immetdately without driving down the road in a state of dis-repair endangering others approaching your path.

Since we rarely go out at Lakeside and are, thus not kowledgeble about the restaurays hereabouts, here is Dawg´s take as valuable as you might presume:

TABARKA: At first an exciting and innovative Spanish Mediterranean place which has lately become tired and is substituting innovatiine cusine for cheap drinks and uninspired tapas to draw in clients.
HACIENDA AJIJIC: A place to which I really wish the best of success with its great ambiance but formuleac, uninspired food although some of the beefsteak products are of high quality.
TANGO: The most overrated restaurant on the planet. A steakhouse with pretty good steaks but no baked potato. Uninspired sides. Steaks of marginal quality. The McDonalds of steak houses. Reverend Mood re-incarnated. Young waiters who have never eaten a great steak in thei lives running around recommending enthustiacally weed they´ve never smoked and succelent beef they´ve never sampled. Disneyland South. The place Dawg would expect to succeed here over all others because there is no there there eitheR in the kitchen are among the clientele.

More Later.

Dawg... ya know U would be a welcome addition to Itch & Hock's Restaurant Review...
We have the Prairie Beefsteaks and The Maritime Flounder covered.... A little expertise in Cajun & Corn Pone
could be Beneficial

johninajijic wrote:

Rosa Venus wrote:I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

Mediocre restaurant. Have you eaten there? Maybe you can tell us why the're always busy. So what restaurants do you like or have you not been here long enough?

If Tony's isn't the very definition of a mediocre restaurant then I don't know what is. Why is it always buys? Because most people are perfectly content with mediocre food.

I've lived here for four years, although I could have formed an opinion on Tony's in one week. Time spent here has nothing to do with it. And I didn't say it was bad, just mediocre. There is a difference. I will say one thing in their favor. They're pretty consistent, and at least you know pretty much what you're going to get when you place your order. In this town that's practically an achievment.

So yes, I've eaten at Tony's. And I've eaten in Paris, too.

hockables wrote:Dawg... ya know U would be a welcome addition to Itch & Hock's Restaurant Review...
We have the Prairie Beefsteaks and The Maritime Flounder covered.... A little expertise in Cajun & Corn Pone
could be Beneficial

BUBBA´S CHEESE GRITS WITH EARLY TIMES BOURBON
Take one package of Uncle Ben´s instant cheese grits
Add water
Cook on the stovetop for one minute
Open one liter of Early Times Kentucky Bourbon
Feed those repulsive cheese grits to the dogs
Get loaded on the Early Times

Or better yet:

DAWG´S ALL INCLUSIVE SOUTHERN COOKBOOK
Take anything that moves and fry it ´tll it´s dry and anything that grows and boil it ´till it´s soggy and tasteless. Feed all that to the dogs and fry up some hushpuppies to accompany that catfish you just caught in Brushy Creek and Early Times Bourbon and "CokeCola". Take all that to the drive-in to watch re-runs of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof iwith Paul Newman with the borboun bottle constantly in hand and Elizabeth Taylor overactuing in the extreme with those phony Mississippi accents and telling Big Daddy (Burl Ives) that they only burned down the barn ´cause they wuz drunk so to please not disinherit them from the cotton gin where all the African Americans toiled all day and night dancing and singing "Doo Dah, Doo Dah" while Big Daddy, in straw hat sippin´bourbon and branch, oversaw the operation that covered the upkeep at Tara with Elizabeth Taylor purring, "Tomorrow is anotha day".

Some of you may be forgetting the most important thing a restaurant can do is be consistent, because tastes vary and if you like something a lot you’ll probably return to enjoy that same meal. If it’s not similar they just lost their credibility with you. You’ll note most of the restaurants that are “going concerns” are consistent. Of course good service, favorable environment and price are all in mix, but mean nothing if you don’t like the food, whether anyone else thinks it’s good or not.

P.S. I’ve never been to Paris but I’ve had Colby beef, shark fin & bird nest soup, fruit bat and other supposedly wonderful food. It’s all about personal taste.

Colby beef??

Colby is a cheeze, Kobe is a beef.

viajero wrote:Colby beef??

What Is Colby Beef?
X
By Marie Cartwright, eHow Contributor
Sometimes misheard as "Colby," Kobe beef is one of the most famous dishes a gourmand can enjoy. A single steak cut from this rare meat can sell for hundreds of dollars. This beef has a unique history and development that makes it special to fans of exquisite meats. Does this Spark an idea?

Read more: What Is Colby Beef? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_6968048_colby-beef_.html#ixzz1yMnDvo00

So I had a "brain fart" why does this always become an issue with some of you?

With over ten years of eating at Tony's, I fail to understand the "badmouthing" of this establishment. In our estimation, Tony's has never attempted to be something that it isn't and it has been a poster child for longevity and consistency (two of the most common complaints of restaurants in the area). Granted one with average or above kitchen skills can probably prepare equal to or superior to versions of most anything on their menu at home but there are those times when dining out seems like a good idea.

Parker wrote:

viajero wrote:Colby beef??

What Is Colby Beef?
X
By Marie Cartwright, eHow Contributor
Sometimes misheard as "Colby," Kobe beef is one of the most famous dishes a gourmand can enjoy. A single steak cut from this rare meat can sell for hundreds of dollars. This beef has a unique history and development that makes it special to fans of exquisite meats. Does this Spark an idea?

Read more: What Is Colby Beef? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_6968048_colby-beef_.html#ixzz1yMnDvo00

You eat what you like and so will others, but I don’t think that what you’re seeking.

Okay, now I get it,you were referring wagyu beef.Colby beef....too funny.

Amen to that, CG. Tony's has several claims to fame, IMO: The menu is straightforward and you have plenty of choices, all the way from uber-artery cloggers to reasonably healthy food. Very consistent in preparation. If you're hungry, you'll probably be served more than you really need. The servers know their business, and do their best to do their job properly.
Tony's is just Tony's. Call it mediocre if you see it that way. It's clean, reasonably priced and uses quality ingredients. Decent drinks. Back in the states, we'd consider it the neighborhood eatery.

We don't have any Michelin star deserving restaurants in this town. We may have a few pretentious and overpriced ones. For those who like that, it's there for you. I'm grateful that we have enough choices to keep us fed when we don't feel like cooking. We primarily eat lunch out while doing errands.......and dinner at home. Works for me.

We rarely eat out because the big guy loves to cook and I have a picky stomach, however we often do buy Tonys' ribs and heat them up at home for an easy dinner. They are consistent. We also usually buy our meat at Tony's. Best in town, although even that demonic Walmart has some pretty good Sonoran beef now.

Usually for lunch we'd pick Rikki's (A One) for tempura, Panino, or Roberto's. All consistent, all good, all the time, well maybe Bobby did have a couple of off days when the chef quit, but that's understandable.

We never go to the pretentious or overpriced places, at least not willingly, when forced by friends who are celebrating something. It's not worth the aggravation.
Our favorite for dinner is Vita Bella, great ambience gorgeous views and an innovative menu. Plus it's really close. Second favorite, Bobby makes the list again, third is the Hacienda steak house. Pretty good most of the time, and we like the owner.

gringal wrote:Amen to that, CG. Tony's has several claims to fame, IMO: The menu is straightforward and you have plenty of choices, all the way from uber-artery cloggers to reasonably healthy food. Very consistent in preparation. If you're hungry, you'll probably be served more than you really need. The servers know their business, and do their best to do their job properly.
Tony's is just Tony's. Call it mediocre if you see it that way. It's clean, reasonably priced and uses quality ingredients. Decent drinks. Back in the states, we'd consider it the neighborhood eatery.

We don't have any Michelin star deserving restaurants in this town. We may have a few pretentious and overpriced ones. For those who like that, it's there for you. I'm grateful that we have enough choices to keep us fed when we don't feel like cooking. We primarily eat lunch out while doing errands.......and dinner at home. Works for me.

Agreed 1,000%

E-raq - Gotta agree with you too, except that we find Roberto's to be less consistent than some others!

Absolute Consistency: Ricki's, Manix, El Jardin de Ninette, Tony's, Bruno's, Panino, Simply Thai, Hacienda Ajijic not in any order.

[quote="Parker"]Some of you may be forgetting the most important thing a restaurant can do is be consistent,(emphasis mine) because tastes vary and if you like something a lot you’ll probably return to enjoy that same meal....

Perhaps but McDonalds has yet to open a branch at Lakeside . Dawg kept hoping for years for a Burger King at Lakeside but that now seems unlikely. As I have stated in the past. the best Burger King is on the Andador in San Cristóbal de Las Casas which is across the Andador from the Revolution Bar which is dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara and features great Cuban music. There at Revolution Bar you can sit in the street and consume your Cheese Whopper, listening to great Cuban music while sipping a fine mojito instead of a giant Coke - the essence of civility.

By the way, since Paris is a partial subject here; McDonalds is very popular in Paris and is known by locals as "McDough". Back in the 1970s, McDonalds was in heavy competition with Burger King and ended up running Burger King out of town. Burger King had many franchises in Paris in the 1970s and, because hey used French hamburger buns, they served the best cheese whopper on the planet but McDonalds whupped they ass and they closed down all of their French franchises and left the country with their tales between their legs.

The most consistently perfect food in Paris now are the bagettes turned out by a patisserie a block from the place we stay there and those bagettes plus some sweet butter and dry salami or Paris ham plus a bottle of French red wine is as delicious as anything you can get and the quality never varies. You screw up in Paris and you are gone.

Our tastes vary, but McDonalds is crap compared to Wendy's and Burger King. Just my opinion. But OK to open a McD's here and love to see y'all at it so my stock will go up.

How about an Outback Steak House. Wouldn't that give some of the locals a run for the money.

[quote="hound dog"]

Parker wrote:Some of you may be forgetting the most important thing a restaurant can do is be consistent,(emphasis mine) because tastes vary and if you like something a lot you’ll probably return to enjoy that same meal....

Perhaps but McDonalds has yet to open a branch at Lakeside . Dawg kept hoping for years for a Burger King at Lakeside but that now seems unlikely. As I have stated in the past. the best Burger King is on the Andador in San Cristóbal de Las Casas which is across the Andador from the Revolution Bar which is dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara and features great Cuban music. There at Revolution Bar you can sit in the street and consume your Cheese Whopper, listening to great Cuban music while sipping a fine mojito instead of a giant Coke - the essence of civility.

By the way, since Paris is a partial subject here; McDonalds is very popular in Paris and is known by locals as "McDough". Back in the 1970s, McDonalds was in heavy competition with Burger King and ended up running Burger King out of town. Burger King had many franchises in Paris in the 1970s and, because hey used French hamburger buns, they served the best cheese whopper on the planet but McDonalds whupped they ass and they closed down all of their French franchises and left the country with their tales between their legs.

The most consistently perfect food in Paris now are the bagettes turned out by a patisserie a block from the place we stay there and those bagettes plus some sweet butter and dry salami or Paris ham plus a bottle of French red wine is as delicious as anything can get and the quality never varies. You screw up in Paris and you are gone.

Dawg, a small interjection here. McDonalds ran Burger King out of town due to the unfortunate nickname of booger king, which was, I might add here, acquired legitimately. Granted that was in english, but word does spread about things like that. Might want to stick to the new and enhanced Starbucks at the airport from now on.

John, sadly Jardin de ninette has been lacking in the consistency department of late when the chef isn't there. Best to phone first before taking a chance.

Rosa Venus wrote:I was wondering how the hell a thread about a mediocre restaurant could go on for two pages.

Welcoe back from Paris.

Too funny. I agree. chico