last night we went to dinner at Sweet Basil, as recommended to us by several people. it was busy, but we were seated rightaway (thankfully we'd made a reservation). it's a large restaurant and can probably seat 200 people easily. it was packed - people were at the bar as well as seated at tables. the ambience was nice - more city feel than any of the other restaurants we've tried. we were in our snow gear though others were in heels and jewels (the women).

we had west coast oysters and brioche crusted marrow bones for starters. we had the same main course - lobster and lobster coral taglietelle. we finished with an orange creamsicle for pudding.

g liked his half dozen oysters, i really enjoyed the marrow bones. the taglietelle was nice - nothing special. the creamsicle was delicious - blood orange ice-cream, buttercream, grapefruit sorbet.

i highly recommend this restaurant for at least one meal if you're Vail. the service (our excellent waitress was Hungarian) was very good and attentive, but not too much.

***

yesterday's lunch was at Pepi's Bar - a semi-informal restaurant. part of the menu is Austrian. we both had the bratwurst with sauerkraut, red cabbage and mashed potatoes. pudding was apple struedel. both very good and satisfied our appetites. it's just around the corner from our condo, so we might just find ourselves back there for today's lunch...a neighbouring table's wiener schnitzel looked good....