Chefs International manages fine dining restaurants and banquet halls along the New Jersey Shore and Florida Coast. We pride ourselves on exceptional quality and a passion for making your
We had dinner here over the weekend and holy moly! Sorry no pics but really a very delicious dinner. Beware though, it’s loud. The ceiling is tin which is gorgeous but a bit hard to have a conversation. The food and drinks are spectacular so you really don’t need to talk anyway!
Sounds perfect for a married date night!!!
We go Thursday, I will report accordingly
Ok, so having been fans of Hotel Tides for drinks and bar food, when this the St Laurent opened we wanted to hate it and boycott it as it was seeming they were making it an exclusive place and they threw around buzzwords such as bespoke and curated quite often.
We had reservation for 5pm as that was all that was available, showed up a few minutes early and they said they were not open yet so we could not be seated. We asked if we could go grab a drink at the bar, but that wasn’t an option because it was only open to members at that time. So we waited a few minutes and were seated. We had a corner table closest to the pool area and with the garage doors being glass, I had a nice view of the pool area.
I have Celiac so the waiter asked if anyone had dietary restrictions, when I informed him about mine and he was extremely knowledgeable about what was safe for me to eat on the menu, even noting that the delicata squash was safe but it was fried in a shared fryer. So bonus points for the staff being knowledgeable, most places the waiter has to go into the kitchen to ask.
Drinks: I had the tropical old fashioned, excellent. My wife asked for a Tito’s and soda, they don’t have Tito’s, not a big deal, so she got some other vodka and soda. Our friend ordered a black Russian, they don’t have kalhua, so he got the tropical old fashioned as well. His wife had an espresso martini which she loved.
For starters, three of us had the scallops, and the fourth had the gnocchi. The gnocchi comes with a foie gras white chocolate truffle which I got to taste. Holy crap was that bite good. My wife doesn’t care for foie gras and she loved it. The scallops were fantastic.
Main course was duck for me, my wife had the strip steak, and the others had the pork and the halibut.
My duck was superb, the halibut was excellent as was the pork. My wife liked the steak but wouldn’t get it again, she enjoyed her taste of the halibut.
Desserts:
My wife had the flan and said it was the best flan she has ever had. I had the chocolate and bananas without the tahini blondies, fantastic stuff, a little carmelixed sugar on the banana slices and then the chocolate, so simple but so good.
One of us had the olive oil cake, she said it was bland.
I had an espresso martini with dessert and it was excellent.
I went into the bar area, total change from the old Hotel Tides, it is beautiful. The dining room kitchen is beautiful as well.
The place is not inexpensive but I think worth the price.
We won’t be hitting it up weekly like we did the Tides, as much as I would like to.
Will definitely go again for a special occasion or if we want to treat ourselves, and if it’s just the two of us will sit at the kitchen bar to watch it all happen.
SO happy you had a generally good experience (as I did)! I fully agree that there are (still) some annoying things (like the bar not being open to you upon arrival) but I’m truly hoping they figure out how to get the locals in to see what it actually is (vs. their curated artisanal view of everything) and maybe (MAYBE) realize that in the off season, they should lighten up on the whole membership thing. Or maybe I’m the one who’s nuts…
Nope. You’re dead on as usual.
They just posted for brunch tomorrow drinks are free, I am sure there is a limit. Also they are having the Ocean avenue stompers
Yes a fan saw that yesterday. Talk about last minute! But getting a band like the stompers in is exactly the type of thing I’m talking about… Hopefully we’ll see more of that!
Lovely review; my only objection is that he doesn’t mention the cost. If I didn’t know, I’d certainly wonder! Also find it interesting that all of the dishes have changed twice (I think) since I was there at the end of August (based on articles/posts), but that olive oil cake has remained the same - and with good reason, imo. The aji on the plate made it spectacular!
The mahi mahi is new since we went. All the others were on the menu and I can vouch for three of the items they had. Although my friend wasn’t wowed by the olive oil cake.
And yes, they should mention the price
Popped into the bar after dinner at Rbar. Couple of espresso martinis for a night cap. Four of us, 20% tip included, $158 a little expensive for a night cap but our friends picked up dinner. Managed to get seats at the bar which was nice considering we got there around 9. As much as I want to hate everything about this place it continues to impress me.
And the bartenders were great and lived my story about getting kicked out of Porta lol
This is exactly what I keep telling people! My friends (2 couples) went and I told them that ahead of time and the next day they were raving about it and saying the same thing. Hint: good music there in the lounge on 12/15…
Hooper. Should be there, my better probably won’t, work trip and doesn’t get in until late that night
See ya then! 
Do you know what time the music is?
I think they usually start music at 7pm; if I find out otherwise, I’ll let you know!
Music starts at 7, three acts. 7,8 and 9
Jonathan Tea 7
Pamela Flores 8
Hooper 9
