Sat 23 Nov

What a beautiful room and a lovely experience here at the Rittenhouse. I love being here during the slow times when you are one of only a very few guests so service seems so personal. This suite is magnificent with a 2-sided gas fireplace so you can enjoy it from the whirlpool alcove or the memory foam mattress bed. There is a lovely little window seat overlooking Lake Superior, also with a memory foam cushion and many pillows. They provided a CD of Night Music for the sound system. We are relaxing for awhile after breakfast to enjoy the ambiance and to wait for the downtown shops to open. Their continental included breakfast was a yummy yogurt parfait topped with warm cherry compote, OJ, coffee, blueberry cream cheese muffins and croissants, and an ample bowl of steel cut oats with raisins and brown sugar. They even brought me a dish of their candied pecans to add to the bowl. Perfection! The roasted sweet potato soup last night was amazing! We had the steak Bercy, a Rittenhouse entree from their early days that is wonderful and perfectly prepared. The waiter taught us that to get a properly rare steak in a French restaurant, we should order it "black and blue". Then the chef will know you truly want it rare. Since only Americans use the expression "rare", they are over- cautious and tend to over cook it.