A really good hack for restaurant reservations

How we got into the French Laundry

When we found out we would be in Yountville for a wedding a couple years ago, we knew what we had to do: 

The French Laundry.

It’s the impossible reservation — the dream, really — and we only had a small window of time in which to make it happen. 

After a few unsuccessful attempts to make the reservation at exactly the time and date that the reservations opened, I remembered that some credit card companies have concierge services that can book restaurant reservations on your behalf.

We called Mastercard and told them the times and dates we’d be in Yountville, and they promised to have multiple people attempting the reservation for us as soon as the booking window opened.

This blew my mind. You’re telling me that you have FIVE of me that will be awake at any time of day or night to make this once-in-a-lifetime restaurant reservation for me?

And they did it! God bless the hard-working people of the Mastercard concierge service: we are forever indebted to you for one of the most memorable meals of our lives. 

Touring the kitchen after our meal at the French Laundry

When we were planning our Italy trip this winter to a region known for its restaurants, I knew that some of the reservations would be tough. (Some even involved actually calling the restaurant during their open hours and potentially having to speak Italian, which I knew would not go well for me.) This time, I called AmEx with a list of our top restaurant choices in each city and the dates we would be in that city. 

They worked their magic and booked three reservations for our two week trip, some of them at Michelin-starred restaurants that are notoriously hard to get into. 

The final course of our meal at SanBrite, near Cortina d’Ampezzo

These meals were incredible, perfect, beautiful, amazing. BUT. Sometimes you don’t want 18 courses, or to spend a bajillion dollars on a meal. 

So here is what you do: 

Go to the Michelin guide, search for the city you’re visiting, and filter by distinction. If you’re feeling VERY fancy, look at the one-star restaurants (or above! Go crazy!). But if you’re like me, and you prefer to eat a very good meal at a reasonable price, filter for the “Bib Gourmand” distinction. It’s a step below a Michelin star, which means that it’s everything I want without being over the top, pretentious, etc. I’ve also used the “selected” restaurants category (anything listed on the website without a distinction) to find excellent restaurants while traveling. 

The bottom two categories show me excellent restaurants in my price range — without all the Michelin hype

Michelin doesn’t cover every city in the world, so I also find restaurants through word of mouth (asking my friends where they ate when they traveled to the city/country I’m visiting), travel blogs, and occasionally Tik Tok or Instagram, though sometimes those restaurants get overrun once they go viral.

Here are a few restaurants that stand out from our recent travels:

• Rado - Tallinn, Estonia

• Young Hearts - Helsinki, Finland

• Anna Stuben - Ortisei, Italy

• SanBrite - Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

I’d love to know: What’s a restaurant you’d plan a vacation around?