Results tagged “afutureperfect”

Angelo Guese, the restaurant manager that everyone seems to know (and that seems to know everyone in town), has just left Arch on Wukang Lu and his former boss won't be pleased to know where he's working now — A Future Perfect, owned by Frank Steffen, who was her business partner at Arch many moons ago. Back in Nov 2006, when Arch 2 on Changle Lu was just being launched, we reported to you that Steffen had sent a letter out to his mailing list informing everyone in town that Arch 2 wasn't being opened with his blessing. Of course, that was only his side of the story, and when the two partners parted ways and Steffen went on to launch A Future Perfect, Angelo had to make the tough choice of which of his bosses to follow. Today, Arch is fighting a long and protracted legal battle with their landlord at Arch 2 — who we understand to be affiliated to the Jing'an district government's education arm and who is trying to take the property back for redevelopment. Angelo started his Shanghai career at Simply Thai and also managed L'Extase for a while. He has been with Arch for — if we remember correctly — four years. Anybody could use a career change after that kind of time.

Shanghai's recent spate of shitty weather has gotten us hungry for soup. And when we say "soup," we generally mean the kind of soups we grew up eating during cold Pennsylvania winters. Chunky soups. Soups, to borrow a slogan, that eat like a meal. On a recent trip home, we dined a couple times at Panera Bread Company, which serves, among other things, hearty soups in sourdough bread bowls. We remember thinking Panera would be one of the American chain restaurants we'd like to see exported to China, instead of Applebee's or TGI Friday's.

Closing Dish: Although we haven't ventured out into the heat to check with our own eyes, we did hear from a very credible source that, at least for the 12 minutes he was standing in front of the place, Rendezvous Cafe appears closed for business. Apparently, all the lights were out and a sign written in Chinese had been placed on the locked doors.

We remember, a few months ago, walking to Embre on Changshu Lu only to discover it had closed down, after decent reviews and six months of existence. We were exploring the restaurant options near our new apartment, and our second choice, a tapas place on Huashan Lu, also was no longer in operation — really, the building had been leveled. Food and beverage places disappear quickly here in Shanghai ... but sometimes they reappear quickly, too.

Today we came across The New York Times' latest installment of its "Frugal Traveler" series , and this time Matt Gross writes about our fair city of Shanghai. We will preface this post by saying it is an interesting and generally well-informed guide to spending a weekend in China, with good recommendations, although not much "off the beaten path." But, Shanghaiist wonders, does The New York Times know the meaning of the word "frugal?"

This many come as a shock to some of you, but some of us here at Shanghaiist can be, well, a little cynical. No! Surely not, you say! Ah, but true, my friend, but true. For example, we never took much notice of the restaurant Nuova Vita, near the intersection of Fuxing Lu and Ruijin Er Lu. It had existed pretty much since we moved to the city, and considering its age and curious lack of hype, we had it pegged as traditional Shanghainese Italian fare—canned sauce, rubbery noodles, with prices fit only for a Roman Pontiff.

Here is how we ended up at Cafe Transat over the weekend. We were planning on taking a friend for dinner at A Future Perfect, but they were hosting a private function. So, we started leafing through our Enjoy book to find a replacement and, well, restaurants are listed alphabetically, Cafe Transat starts with a "C", the description sounded pretty good ... and we were hungry. (And, as usual, we ended up forgetting to use our Enjoy coupon anyway.)

Then we have just the event for you: The 2006 International Bachelor Auction, this Sunday, September 10, at Pier One's Monsoon Bar. You can bid on a date with one (or more) of 20 eligible bachelors. All proceeds go to a great cause -- Shanghai Second Chance Animal Aid -- at a time when China's animals could sure use some aid. Admission is RMB 300 if you buy your tickets before Thursday, and RMB 350 after. That price includes a "walking dinner" (we assume that means a buffet) and two drinks.

If you've recently moved to Shanghai and you like live music, you don't know how good you've got it. Sure, the scene isn't great yet -- some might argue that it isn't even good -- but at least there is a scene. Two years ago, maybe even a year ago, we couldn't say that. But now there are live music offerings almost every night of week here, and things are only going to get better. We watched Norwegian indie-rockers The Mayflies (not to be confused with The Mayflies USA) play at Live Bar last night, and they were great -- a legitimate band we would have paid to see at one of our old haunts back in Atlanta or Athens, Georgia, where we were never wanting for quality live music.

Three years ago, when this Shanghaiist first arrived in town, the downtown area was THE place to be for quality foreign food. It wasn’t exactly Manhattan (or even Omaha) but it was where you went when the craving struck — for Mexican at Taco Popo, Pizza at Melrose, burgers at Rendezvous Café, and that take-your-visiting-parents favorite, M on the Bund.

There are actually a number of decent options out there -- and that is something we never thought we would say when we first arrived here back in 2002. SH magazine dedicated a big chunk of their latest issue -- we're assuming they had this feature in the can and ran it when most of the staff was on vacation -- to the "Burger Battle," which starts with 16 of the city's top contenders and whittles them down to one champion. Rendezvous Cafe edged Luna in the final. Rendezvous is a decent -- and very safe -- choice, especially if you factor price into the equation. A burger at Rendezvous will cost you about half of many of the other contenders in the battle. And it is a no-frills burger, similar to what you could get at just about any roadside diner in the U.S., which usually does the trick just fine. But we bet in a blind taste test, when price is not an issue, Rendezvous may not make it out of the quarterfinals.