Margit's Top Fives for Summer 2007
By Margit Bisztray, Food Critic

The variety of my Top Fives for Summer 07 really captures the vast variety within the Tourist Network destinations. For New Orleans, I just finished shooting Top Five Classics. Now, when you’re dealing with a city where there is not one, or two, but several restaurants over a hundred years old, it’s challenging to pick which ones really are “the” classic New Orleans places. So we really focused on the five that still, if you walk in today, feel like “the” places to be. Places that are fun, that are busy, and that say as much today about New Orleans as they did when they opened. What struck me is how the history there has a way of putting you in your place. You are just borrowing a table for your brief period of time, where many others have sat before you and eaten the same food and felt the same satisfying “whew, that was good!” that you do, and how years from now, there will be someone else having the very same experience. It’s a comforting feeling, a sense of continuity. Only New Orleans gives has that. Myron Hines, who shot the show, knows the city so well, as he helped start the station. So it was really fun working with him, and of course, he’s treated like family at Commander’s Palace (yes, that’s one of our picks, of course!) And Ti Martin at Commander’s? She puts me to shame, she’s so darn witty and brilliant. I want to be her!

For Key TV we’re covering Romantic Dining. Now, this is tricky because “romantic” is a highly subjective term. Anywhere on the water is, in my opinion, ultra-romantic (hint hint: my number one pick is SURROUNDED by water!) Key West is by its very nature romantic! Crooked little table under tree strung with Christmas lights? What tops that? To me, a romantic restaurant has to put you close up to your loved one at an intimate, private table where you can talk without being disturbed. The food should awaken your senses and the service should take away your cares and distractions. Oh, and there has to be excellent wine. Tamie and I shot this one together, but we had to console ourselves with “girls night out” afterwards, as neither of us had significant others along. Oh well!

In Atlanta, I had so much fun writing and filming the new “Top Five Small Plate Dining,” that’s soon coming out, because this is my favorite way to dine! You could, if you had the time, dine your way around the city eating appetizers or small plates, and you’d try so many different things! One place where this style of dining originated is Spain, and another is Peru, and we visit both of these sources in the tour. Hope you enjoy!

On the Emerald Coast, I enjoyed shooting the Top Five best Steakhouses. There’s something very grand and manly about steakhouses. They’re at once old-fashioned and old-world with their traditions, but also timeless. What is more basic than meat on a grill? Steakhouses take something basic and surround it with presentation. That’s the difference you get from barbecuing at home. Not to mention those wine lists, yow!

And last but not least, in Myrtle Beach, Tamie and I went around to the top five best places to be on the water and (often) outdoors. I figure, why would anyone want to miss even an hour or two they could spend enjoying the pretty views you came to the coast to see. You don’t have to! It was POURING RAIN while we were shooting, but we scraped together shots from before and some shots later to show you how great it can be. Of course, it won’t be raining when YOU’RE there, I’m sure.

Have a great summer! Cheers, Margit


NOTE: Margit Bisztray has been reviewing restaurants and writing about food for ten years. She has published three editions of The Complete Key West Dining Guide, and her work has appeared in such publications as Vogue, Gourmet, Islands and Metropolitan Home. To read more restaurant reviews, log your own personal opinions, rate your favorite restaurants and watch streaming video archives of these shows and other reviews, visit Margit's Top 5.