Some of the nice restaurants often suggested here for pre-theatre dinner, are a bit too fu-fu for my taste. I have looked at the menus and its just not exciting me.

I would like a wonderful dinner at a highly recommended restaurant, but not such fancy foods, if you know what I mean.

I am not interested in chains, in delis or just inexpensive places, but delicious food, presented beautifully but hold the sheeps milk and sweetbreads.

In which town are you visiting the theatre? We don't all have esp...

Haven't a clue what "fu-fu" means.

But, if you're talking about NYC, have a look at MenuPages.

Sorry, I am talking in NYC. By fu-fu I mean when many menu items have fancy names to describe the dish, overly unique with sometimes too many unusual food components.

In walking distance to theatre I would like recommendations of fantastic
restaurants that people rave about like Cafe des Artistes and Marseille's but a more simplified menu. I love atmosphere and unique in the design, but not too interested in very esoteric foods. I like ingenuity in food preparation, but more ordinary ingredients.

frous frous, or
Frou Frou. The phrase originated in France in the early 1900s, borne of the risqué mademoiselles of the Folies Bergeres; it’s the onomatopoeic expression of the rustle of skirts...

After reading the criteria of what you want in a restaurant, I'll be damned if I know what you want!

I thought it was spelled foo foo. :-B

How about Blue Fin.

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/re...e_fin/menu.php

I think a place like Le Madeleine is also very straightforward

At first I thought it means you want hamburger and fries? Or maybe steak, baked potato, and salad?

But when you say you want ingenuity in preparation but more ordinary ingredients, what does that mean? Cafe de Artistes and Marseilles mainly have preparations of food featuring fish, chicken, and beef. Is there something more "basic" or "ordinary" than those? Nearly any place that is creative will have a few dishes with more "creative foods" as well, but no one says you have to order those. What am I missing here?

I'm with Howard; I really don't have a clue what you're looking for.

Care to mention a few places that are the type of place you DO like? Or at least mention the kinds of dishes you'd like to find on the menu?

Well, I understand a dressier atmosphere and more complicated menu, but even the ones you mentioned are not all about sheeps milk and sweetbreads -

one of my old standby's on the menu at Cafe des Artistes is the weiner schnitzel and to me, it doesn't get any plainer than that - but I don't like going there pre-theater b/c I like to be within walking distance of the theater, assuming you are going near the 'theater district'

At Marseilles, one of my favorites pre theater - the veal is simple, thin and delicious. If I can't have it at Roberto Passon, this is my next choice. And I've had other salads and main plates that I would not call complicated -

At Le Madeleine - another favorite pre theater spot of ours - one of my favorites is the pasta with fresh roasted vegetables and a bit of goat cheese -

and their salmon is fairly simple -
so I am having some trouble deciding how plain you want your food -

Try and look at some of these menus perhaps:

Roberto Passon ( or one of the others in this group
www.nycrg.com -

Maison (www.tourdefrancenyc.com)

Thalia's

Remi

Rue 57

Vice Versa

I am sorry my question is unclear or confusing; I didn't think it would be so. Not too long ago there was a talk radio show in Boston discussing this very topic. People knew just what the host was referring to.

A meal I enjoy that is creative and at the same time not fu-fu would be for example, macademia crusted haddock as an entree with a green vegetable of any kind, perhaps a sweet potato, risotto, mango rice, etc. The item names would all be in English and not French, the food would not be plated piled in a small circle or triangle. Does this help in understanding what I mean?

I guess I'm still lost. That sounds like a typical entree at about half of the theatre area restaurants I can think of off hand. Unless I'm totally still in the dark, here are just a few entrees I copied off menus. How about these:

Tuna Steak yellow gazpacho vinaigrette w/ raw vegetables & basil (Marseille) (you can also do an order of semolina gnocci as a side)

Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops leek and tomato confit, spinach, portobello mushrooms, lobster-tomato butter sauce (Le Madeleine)

Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop creamy chorizo-polenta, broccoli rabe, new york state apple glaze (Le Madeleine)

Pan seared sea bass with string beans and Chardonnay sauce (ViceVersa)

Sesame coated seared salmon with horseradish sour cream and spinach (ViceVersa)

Pumpkin Crusted Scallops, wild rice risotto, kale, hazelnuts, crispy shallots, butternut squash sauce (Thalia)

Grilled american red snapper with braised fennel, oven dried tomato and sardinian couscous (Esca)

Have you looked at the website www.menupages.com? It will show full menus for any restaurant you choose, and you can choose from a list in the west 40s for theatre district.

Does fu-fu mean hoitey toitey?

We had excellent frou- or foo- less pretheater at Cascina (9th Av betweeen 45th and 46th). Pasta and wood oven baked pizza are the specialities we had. Nothing was arranged Stonehenge fasion, by the way.

Juldie: it might help if you named some restaurants you like that are non "fu-fu" - even in Boston - many here dine in many cities and that might help.

Why don't you try Bar Americain? Nice ambience and perhaps a more "straightforward" look to the menu which you may be referring to.

I suggest Bond 45. You can look up the menu on menupages.com Very straightforward, decent food at reasonable prices.

Well, I think Juldie's example of macadamia nut crusted haddock with maybe broccoli rabe, and mango rice is not exactly that "straight forward" or nearly as "basic" as I guessed from the original post. As I said I see little reason to eliminate many medium to upper scale places. The idea that you don't want the items in French simply means you order them in English -- is that a problem?

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is not at all fu-fu (or frou-frou).

We had a wonderful dinner at Pomaire on our last trip. Its just a tiny little place on 46th Street (Restaurant Row) serving Chilean food and wine. The food was excellent, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming and the owner was on hand to talk us through any questions. We loved it.

Joe Allen's is pretty all American. We love their meatloaf and mashed potatoes, burgers or omeletes. Not "fu-fu" but certainly a step above delis, chains and the like. Its a standard in the theater district.

www.pomairenyc.com

www.joeallenrestaurant.com