Restaurant Omakase... what an experience!

I went to Restaurant Omakase with 9 people for my friend's birthday. It was a suggestion from my friend initially, and I had some reservations at first due to the $$$$. Before I say anything else about this place, let me get the cost piece out of the way. It's expensive. For a minimal satisfactory experience, don't think about spending less than about $70 / person, with wine pairing, about $110 / person. That being said, if you have reservations about the cost, but are really in it for a culinary experience, then I promise you that this will be a well spent $70!

Decor and atmosphere: The decoration was very modern, it gives you a warm feeling when you enter. it's very simplistic, yet makes a statement. It's pretty quiet, all candle lit, could be great for a party, or a tête à tête evening with your loved one.

Service: The service was excellent. at the door we were greeted by the Maitre D, and our party was seated at the table. During the meal, there were 2 waitresses for our party, and they were literally waiting on us the whole night. Granted, there was almost only us in the restaurant at the time (We went at around 6:00pm) , but with our party of 10, we literally almost filled 1/3 of the total capacity of the restaurant.

The Menu: the menu was not very long, it's categories into 5 sections, Salad, Appetizers, and Entrées, desserts and drinks. They also have a full wine list, though we didn't really look at that. Their specialty is the Chef tasting menu, which consists of a salad, 2 appetizers, 1 entrée and a dessert. I wouldn't recommend anything but this, even though the other individuals may sound appealing, if nothing else, price-wise. You would need at least 2 of the items to even fill you up. The Chef's tasting menu is portioned perfectly, and you will leave with a beautiful rich taste in your mouth.

The Food: That was the highlight of this experience. I have to be honest, when I went in to this place, I had no idea what to expect. But when I started, I started seeing the worth of this place. All their food is home grown, they have their own gardens to grow their greens/herbs, etc ... They have their chicken for the eggs and other things. the food is delightful. One thing I HAVE to recommend, it's going to sound silly, but you will know exactly what I mean, is the croutons in the salad. pay special attention to those, and I promise they will be the best croutons you have ever eaten in your life. we had 10 people in our party, and every single one of us commented on these croutons. This must tell you something about it.

Overall, the experience at restaurant Omakase has exceeded all expectations I've had. my girlfriend is a professional chef, and after going there, she was really wanting to see if she can get a job there. from a Chef, that is saying a lot. Forget about the price, it's a priceless experience, and the $70 you'll spend will be the best one you've spent for a fantastic culinary experience.

Twitter and TweeterGetter? bad idea?

In the past few days, I've been seeing quite a buzz on the TweeterGetter site. There's also been a lot of talk about its existence, and whether it is a good idea to subscribe to. I have thought about it for a while, and finally decided not to sign up for it, and here are my reasons:

1. Impersonal: Though I know that not all twitter followers are people I know, they are still people that have likely followed me for a reason and a common interest. I believe that with TweeterGetter, this factor will get lost, and I will end up with people that I may have nothing in common with.
2. Quality over quantity: Some people may find satisfaction in having 20,000 followers, and get a sense of accomplishment from it, and these are sometimes the one that would find satisfaction in a service like TweeterGetter. Although, sometimes, these same people are the ones I see posting Twitts to the effect of: "Cleaning up my Twit Spammers, not fun", etc ... I would like to try to not become one of those people, and have spam control that I manipulate.
3. Really? 10000?: I mean seriously, I don't run a known blog, I believe in networking, and I have a fairly nice LinkedIn profile, and Facebook profile, but these are network connections that are meaningful. From a Twitter perspective, 10000 followers, or even following 10000 people sounds absurd. I have always wondered how people can even keep track of 10000 sending updates. Right now, I only have a couple of hundred followers, and I myself following about that much as well, and I find it overwhelming to keep in touch with everything that's going on.
4. TweetDeck API Hog!: so, I have followers in the hundreds only, and sometimes I find my TweetDeck API hit its limit per hour. Yeah, yeah I know I can change the request intervals, and fetch use profiles in a browser to save on APIs, but imagine with some 10000 followers! I would think I'd need to check maybe once every 15 minutes to keep under my API call limit. Of course, that is a bit of a mundane problem, but as far as I'm concerned, it still is one.
5. Username and Password: TweeterGetter is one more place I'd need to plug in my Twitter username and password. That being said, I have to admit, that it irks me that people always complain that they have to input their username and password for a 3rd party service. I happen to see this on Lifehacker often times. People, if you don't want to try the new service which requires your username and password, then don't, there's no use in complaining that this 3rd party company is doing you a disservice by offering a service that would require your username and password. You want your cake and eat it too? I digress....this is a topic for another post.

If you are one who is serious about networking, I really do discourage you from using tools such as TweeterGetter, as it will only increase the likelihood of spam, and would be counter productive to what you are trying to accomplish. These are my 2 cents on this topic. What are your thoughs?