17 West Maintains Authenticity at Chicago Institution

17 West at the Berghoff
17 West Adams Street
Chicago, IL USA 60603

http://www.theberghoff.com/
http://www.berghoff.com/


Where is it?

From the entrance you’ll turn directly right into a waiting area. To go to the dining room and host you’ll head left. Don’t. Instead head right down the stairs to the basement. At the base of the stairs you turn back on yourself. Keep on going ahead and then right. The toilets are at the end.

What’s it like?

Opened in 1898 Berghoffs is a Chicago institution. Go look at the second website and you can get a full history. Famed for its German fare it closed early in 2006 when the third generation of Berghoffs decided to retire. Nevertheless, nothing seems to have changed to the place since 2001 when I last visited. The main dining hall still has the cavernous feel of any beer hall in Munchen, and has plenty of space for the big groups of people that pack in.

Even better the place still offers good beer, sauerkraut and the other German food you’d expect. My choice was a medley of sausages. Authentic and just what I needed to balance out the steak people kept on wanting me to eat. (What is it with Americans and steak? Do they think we don’t have any in Europe. No, the the 2007 european steak draught has not happened.)

So, unlike Marshall fields that turned in to a Macys, this place hasn’t lost its charm or authenticity. The service is pretty damned good too.

So let’s get on to the toilets. Well lets just say that the first thing you notice is that it is a trek from the main dining room down to get there. If you had a gammy leg the next course could arrive and be cold before you got back. OK so maybe we don’t care too much about people with gammy legs.

What you get when you arrive in these toilets is spick and span, clean by all means but they lack that special touch you might get elsewhere. What you get fits well with the place whilst still being modern, plenty of capacity, but they could be a combination of many other toilets. The floor happens to be the same as the floor in the shower of my current hotel room (which has is a special set up by any measure), the red tile divide with the cream tile is suspiciously like that you see in Aspen airport (see last entry). There’s nothing wrong here but nothing to set it apart!

So, what can I say. Come to the Berghoff to experience an almost original Chicago institution and some fairly hearty food. Don’t make a trip just for the toilet.


Marks out of 10:

7. nothing objectionable but needs that extra touch.


Comments to the management:

You have a famous destination. Make it even better by making the toilets part of the attraction.

Two Gates Gives you Two Toilets at Aspen Airport

Aspen-Pitkin County Airport

E. Airport Rd.

Aspen, CO USA 81611

http://www.aspenairport.com


Where is it?

From the main entrance, head right towards the restaurant and gates. The toilets are right there on your left before you head through the ‘corridor’ to the restaurant. Males go to the right and females to the left.


What’s it like?

This has to be the smallest and cosiest airport I’ve ever flown into. As one of the locals said to me, when there’s only two gates you know you’re coming in to a small town. Whilst it might not have the shiny wide spaces of other terminals, it has an air of exclusivity that you’d expect with a resort of this calibre.

The fact that the planes give a fairly bumpy ride over the mountains from Denver means that you wouldn’t want to use the toilet on the plane even if the stern warning form the pilot not to get up wasn’t being enforced by the cabin crew. This means that although this is the off-season for Aspen there was a mad dash for the toilet when the flight landed. Given this they were in pretty good order.

Lets just say they’re not the biggest set of airport toilets I’ve ever seen but they were functional, clean, and had the requisite electric paper towel dispenser. Actually, the scale of the toilets meant that you didn’t mind waiting a moment, as they were homey and warm. I guess if there is any criticism to be had it’s the corking on the sink counter top. Not really noticeable unless you really look closely, but a nice marble number would go down well.

So what is the other lesson you need to learn before you come to Aspen. Well I guess you know about the one about yellow snow?


Marks out of 10:

8 for the homey feel.


Comments to the management:

Slightly more capacity wouldn’t go amiss , especially when you hit the peak season it must be a real squeeze.

Shiny and Bright at Buffalo Airport

The Buffalo Niagara International Airport,

4200 Genesee Street,

Cheektowaga, NY USA 14225

http://www.buffaloairport.com/


Where is it?

Go through the security after check in. Head for gate 12 (United). The restrooms are just past on the left.


What’s it like?

OK Buffalo is not a the sort of place that’s springs to mind as a place to go. If you use this airport its probably because you’re on your way somewhere else. Niagara with its picturesque falls and tacky casino scene are probably the main reason for a foreigner to pass by. It’s also a good stopping off point for those making their way to Canada without using Toronto.

So I guess it’s a bit of a surprise that the airport is a clean and efficient place to be. The staff are friendly and, on the whole, efficient. Even more surprising is the brightness that meets you when you go into the toilet. When I say bright I mean BRIGHT! They yell clean and shiny at you. Once your eyes adjust you soon realise that these toilets aren’t the most cosy in the world, but are so, sooo clean.

The toilet has seat covers and two toilet rolls. Eight sinks for the two people a flight who must use this place! Great electric towel dispensers are on hand. Honestly these are the best toilets I’ve seen in an airport.


Marks out of 10:

8 for the bright clean feel!


Comments to the management:

If you can keep this up Buffalo will have a claim to fame!

Water-themed Sensi Offers Zen-like Bathroom-Going Experience

Sensi
Bellagio Las Vegas
3600 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV USA 89109

http://www.bellagio.com/restaurants/sensi.aspx

Where is it?

The restaurant is located in the Bellagio Hotel. To get there from the front desk, head towards the Spa Tower, rounding the left side of the Bellagio Conservatory and going past the spa and down the hallway to the convention center area.

To find the restaurant's bathroom itself, enter through main entrance and turn left at the greeting station -- there is an opening in the stone-covered walls there (looking much like a cave entrance). Inside are the loos.

What's it like?

This is a stylish, water-themed restaurant filled with unique modern decorative touches. The walls here are made of giant stone blocks. The tables look like they are made mostly of dark-stained bamboo. The chairs are metallic and wood mixes. And indoor waterfalls and infinity pools dot the dining room and bar area, lulling people with the sounds of gently rushing water. Combined, the decor exudes a sort of Southeast Asian feel that's both exotic and hip.

The kitchen is in the middle of the place, enclosed by four glass walls, and the idea is that the guests can watch the chefs make their food firsthand from any spot in the dining room while waiting for their meals. The menu is brief, with only about 15 items available at one time, and the cuisine fuses various Asian styles (Indian, Thai, Japanese, etc.) into dishes that are approachable to American palettes -- all while containing some traditional frills. While decent, I found that the food tended to pile on its ethnic touches a little too thickly: The kabobs were well grilled but were also so heavy with spice that you wondered if the chefs were trying to cover up the taste of inferior meat; the Kobe beef mini-burgers were good but would have been better without all the accouterments (bean sprouts, wasabi mayonnaise, etc.) so that I could actually taste the meat used (isn't that the point with Kobe beef?). Ironically, the best thing I tasted while here was the homemade ginger beer, which was a refreshingly spicy mix of ginger, soda, cane sugar and lemongrass.

While the dining room is ornate and complex, the bathrooms take a decidedly minimalistic route when it comes to decor. This is a simple station, made only for one. The walls and floor are covered with jet-black marble tile, giving the place a stark yet sophisticated look. A white toilet sits at the far end of the place, jetting out of the wall like a piece of modern art. The sink, a bowl-shaped overlay made of blue glass, sits placed atop a clear glass vanity counter, with a metallic faucet that looks like an old farmhouse spigot. It's clean, cool, functional -- and combined, the place it extends the idea that you're in a cave (remember that you essentially walk into a cave to get here), which makes it perfect for longer visits that require privacy.

And if you think about it, all the flowing water around you in the dining room does initiate the need for a longer visit.....

Marks out of 10:

10. It's a work of thematic art. Bravo.

Comments to the Management:

Wishful thinking here, since it's hard to improve upon near-perfection, but how about placing a smaller waterfall inside the lavatory?

Michael Mina Offers Modernist Cuisine, Classically Elegant Stink-Free Facilities

MICHAEL MINA Bellagio
Bellagio
3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV USA 89109

http://www.michaelmina.net/

Where is it?

The restaurant itself is located behind the Bellagio Conservatory, in between the Dale Chihuly store and the hotel's 24-hour kitchen, the Bellagio Cafe.

Once in the restaurant, head all the way to the rear of the place, rounding the open kitchen and slipping into the rear of the dining room. Keep steering left until you see the back entrance to the kitchen (which at this point is closed). Head that way, but turn right before reaching the kitchen door. Go down that hallway there and you'll find the bathrooms at the end.

What's it like?

This is a classy, high-minded and somewhat stuffy restaurant overlooking the Bellagio pool, with an emphasis on seafood and modernist plate presentation. That means you'll get very fresh seafood concoctions but they are served in a manner that makes the food look more like works of art on the plate than actual food. Some people like that sort of thing (Bobby Flay is a firm believer in putting presentation first, for example), and while I admired the minimalist presentations, I found the dishes themselves to be a bit pedestrian in inspiration and composition and didn't feel the end result was worth the hefty price tag.

I had a tasting menu here, however I think that had I gone for the $80 lobster pot pie, which is what most of the diners were having, I would have been a little happier with the results. Such as it was, I ended up with a five-course meal that was decent (a great caviar starter, for example, and a fine dessert sampler) but not overwhelming (not like the meal I had at Bellagio neighbor Circo), and in a way I felt a bit cheated. Such is the modern spin on nouvelle cuisine, I guess.

The place itself is decorated with a sort of hip elegance. The front dining room is filled with woods, while the back (overlooking the pool) emphasizes white linens, muted lighting and off-white colored walls and floors. The service is a little stuffy as well but it's still prompt and efficient. The prices are exorbitant no matter what you order.

The bathroom, on the other hand, is warm, inviting, modest, classy, clean and unique -- everything you wish the rest of the restaurant would be. It's a long white room that accommodates only one person at a time. The toilet sits at the far end of the place (below an ornately framed mirror), the sink -- a beautiful white unit set in a glass vanity topped with flowers -- sits about halfway down on the left (when facing the back wall). Simple white marble tile lines the floor and walls. Cloth towels. Soft, flowery smelling soap that both moisturizes the skin and gets any fishy odor out. And impeccably clean!

Even better: It don't hold odors. When I went for my visit, I had to stand in line to get in (it only holds one person, remember). The guy ahead of me in line claimed he'd been waiting a long time to get in -- which means the person inside was..... well, you know.

Anyway, that guy came out and the next guy went in, and he proceeded to stay in the bathroom a good 10 minutes. By that point, I was thinking that I would be entering a gas chamber when it came around to my turn. BUT NO! When the next guy left, I eased into the room and was met with no trace of stink, just a flowery perfumed air (and not one that had been singed by air freshener) that reminded me of springtime. That made the experience all the more enjoyable!

Marks out of 10:

10. A glorious place relieve yourself or inhale some stink-free air!

Comments to the Management:

The bathroom's damn near perfect -- it's the rest of the place I'm worried about.