A Place That Is Good In All SEASONS!

My family eats at the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel a lot. We like it because it has all different kinds of food, and they're really nice to kids. They bring coloring stuff and are very accommodating and will even make things that aren't on the menu if you ask for them. It is quiet and has a pleasant atmosphere. The carpet makes it feel cozy and there is a fireplace which is nice in the winter time. The bathrooms are very big and very nice. My mom told me that when she was in college, she couldn't believe that the bathrooms were bigger and nicer than some apartments that she had looked at!

We started with raw bar. We had Malpeque and Beausoleil oysters from Prince Edward Island, which is off the coast of Canada. The mingonette had less shallot and pepper in it than other mingonette, which I like more. These oysters were medium sized and long and thin. I like oysters that are smaller and rounder, but these were still good.

We also had shrimp cocktail. It wasn't served with horseradish, but they brought some right away when my mom asked. The shrimp were cooked very well.

We usually don't order off the kids' menu, but the kids' menu at the Bristol has some fun appetizers. My brother got apples and peanut butter and pretzels, and my sister and I had crudite with hummus. Even though these appetizers were not that fancy and very simple, they tasted really good and my parents kept eating them! We forgot to take a picture though.

My dad also had charred peach gazpacho, with pickled blackberry, tupelo honey, jalapeño gelato, peach, and micro cilantro. My dad thought that is was very refreshing and he thought that the jalepeno gelato was really good. I know that jalepeno ice cream probably sounds gross, but it was actually great! I loved this dish and thought it was very creative, but we forgot to take a picture AGAIN. We really did not do a very good job with the pictures this time!

For my entree, I had striped bass with sweet corn succotash, romesco sauce, and BBQ hominy. There were also mushrooms that tasted pickled. Romesco sauce is a tomato based sauce, with roasted red pepper and almonds. It is from Catalonia, where I just was!! Hominy is puffy, chewy corn kernels that have been softened in a lye or lime solution. The process is called nixtamalization. That's a very big word! I really liked the romesco sauce and the succotash. The skin on the fish was super crispy.

You can see the big hominy kernels along the outside of the plate.

My dad had dill brined poached halibut with a salad of heirloom tomatoes & zucchini, green goddess, and crispy zucchini. The server said that this was one of their lighter dishes, and it was delicious. My dad loved the strong dill flavor. You could really taste the dill and the halibut was very tender, probably from the poaching, which is cooking food submerged in a liquid at low temperature.

The crispy zucchini on the side was also very good!

My brother had the free range chicken breast with corn, spaetzle & comté ragout, confit thigh, pearl onions, and maitake mushrooms. My brother prefers his chicken a bit more well done, but he liked the spaetzle, which is a German egg noodle, a lot.

My mom had a green salad with strawberries, ricotta salata, and basil and added lobster on top. She liked how the ricotta salata and strawberries were very thinly sliced. And she liked having basil on her salad, which isn't very common.

I think that the Bristol is a great place for families. The food is very good and there are lots of choices and all of the people who work there are so so nice and friendly. I do not recommend the Teddy Bear Tea at the holidays though, because even though it is definitely very nice to give teddy bears to kids who need them, the event is too crowded and crazy. But on a regular night, the Bristol is an excellent place to go!