Andy Lynes

And I thought our search was meant to be all singing all dancing! : try this for a kick off http://209.197.225.1/~egulle....;t=1746

Cabrales - can't remember the exact positions being advertise for, I think it was staff, front and back of house at all levels but I'm not sure. Other than the linked Caterer article, thats all the info I have. As far as Mazoz goes, I think the two are chums and he's got a few quid tucked away.

Gordon Ramsay Menu

I like the idea of restaurant menus name-checking other chefs. The majority of diners probably wouldn't care, but even if 1 or 2 percent asked "who is this Michel Bras bloke then" it could be opening up a whole new world to them.

I had a very disappointing meal at Lindsay House which I reported on here, but I didn't like the room, the service and some of the food. I certainly didn't like the bill! I haven't eaten at Axis since it opened when I had some lovely food but the place was so freezing we couldn't stay for dessert.

Henry - welcome to the boards. Hope to hear a lot more from you. Perhaps we could do a Blue Peter and get eGullet members to name the restaurant for you. On the other hand, you might end up the proud owner of a restaurant called Goldie.

I cooked Tom Valenti's Lamb Shank recipe for Easter lunch for 8 and it worked particularly well I must say. They were in the oven for around three hours then I took them out whilst I roasted some potaoes. I then reheated then in a roasting tray on the stove top in their strained braising liquor which reduced as I basted the shanks. I served them with flageolet beans in rosemary and garlic cream, from a recipe by Henry Harris.

To paraphrase David Letterman, whats the big deal with the drought, it's not as if your growing wheat there is it?

Whatever they decide to call the place, I think this is great news. I had lunch at The Fifth Floor, Henry's first restaurant as head chef, on 30/01/93, soon after it opened. I still have the bill which came to £69.19. A 3 course lunch was £18.00, house white was 9.50. At the table next to us was Jose Carreras, which was ironic as I had been trying to get tickets to see him at The Royal Opera House but had failed. I felt like asking him to give us a tune, but restrained myself. In any case, I returned to the Fifth Floor on a number of occasions, both to work in the kitchens, eat in the restaurant and just to drink at the bar. Henry Harris has always been a wonderfully inventive cook and there is a joy and generosity of spirit to his food that is very infectious. Certainly his kitchen was one of the best humoured I have experienced. Things got really amusing when Dave Miney, Henry's sous chef, controlled the pass (which if you don't know involves calling the orders as they come in and making sure that they go out at the right time). Dave had generated a number of "call and response" routines with the brigade, so that, for example, when an order for Henry's signatue dish of Lobster Noodles was called, the entire kitchen would chant "Nooodles, Nooodles" in the manner of the crowd at a Frank Bruno fight, who would shout Brooono, Brooono. The most suprising routine was whenever someone smashed a glass or dropped some crockery, everyone would shout in perfect unison "Who the fuck was that?" without being prompted. Although Hush has been another success for Henry, it sounds as though this new venture will suit his style far better and be much more about the food and the restaurant experience, which can only be good news. It opens in May by the way.

Robert - I now understand why you were so disappointed with your experience at GT.

Looks like Tom Colicchio agrees with you on this point, he adds half a bunch of tarragon to his braising liquid for lamb shanks at the beginning of cooking time, then the other half 3 hours later after straining the liquid. This really is a new one on me. I wonder if we could get Tom himself to comment on this for us? I'll e mail him this thread and see. Thanks for pointing this out Jinmyo.

Provisional name I belive. I think it can be confusing to have restaurants called clubs, like Club Gascon, might put people off if they think they have to join. Or am I being to literal?

I should have said the last job at night at 5th Floor was always to chase down the bearnasie and trap it before it got lose in the dining room. I think they used to send it to a zoo in Hampshire, and eventually set it free in Africa somewhere. David Attenborough made a programme about it once I think.

I just give them my best Travis Bickle "Are you talking to me", then produce the 45 I have strapped to my arm under my jacket in a complicated moving bracket type thing and shoot them. Seems to work.

A signature dish at Fifth Floor restaurant in London used to be cote de beuf with bernaise, and the sauce was held all evening beneath heat lamps. It was made with pasturised, packaged egg yolk though so that could have had something to do with it.

I think potatos are particularly likely to react with the air and go black. Carrots are fine in the fridge as are things like green beans, podded peas and broad beans. Not sure about other roots like parsnip and swede (rutabaga). I would proabaly err on the side of caution.

Here's the full story : http://www.caterer.com/archive....D=41855 Spend for food per head in the restaurant is put at £125.00. Oh my god!

To get back to Tom's comment, this is standard practice in all professional kitchens I have been in. Get in early, get the stocks going, make your terrines, recieve the fish and meat and prep it all, get you mise en place for the day done and dusted as far as you are able. All you have to do then is get lunch service out of the way and you may actually get to take your break in the middle of the day and be back an hour or so before dinner service to set up your station and get ready for the first order. If you are not working all day, then you have a more leisurely post lunch couple of hours before you finish, doing additional mise en place for whoevers working the late shift. Or you might clean out the walk in fridge or help out on another station who are short handed or who were hit particularly bady at lunch and need to catch up a bit. So you will find lots of pre prepared stuff in kitchens, but it should all be that days. Meat may be held over for a day or two. Fish certainly shouldn't.

I would avoid chopping onions in advance as they will go "off" as it were, but you are ok peeling shallots for instance. I'm not sure I see the point in adding soft and delicate herbs like basil in advance to a sauce. I would use rosemary and thyme or bay at an early stage in order to infuse their flavour, but I dont think you are going to get that effect with the more fragile flvour and scent of tarragon for example, which always goes into a bearnasie a the last minute.

We have been lucky to get either the table opposite the door on the back wall near to the waiters station which is the last one before the tables by the windows (do you know the one I mean?) or a table actually by the windows. Both positions are really nice with a fair bit a space around and away from the really busy traffic in the room. The last time I went for an FT lunch by myself I had the table right next to the door into the kitchen which has a big partition type thing by it. This is at the end of a row of tables for two which are very close to each other. As I was by myself and the couple next to me were not smoking or shouting at eachother, I was quite happy. If I had been there for dinner with Gill (my wife) I might not have been quite so thrilled. Generally speaking, Chez Bruce is a nice even rectangle of a room with not many actively "bad" tables, but I think they could lose a few without it really hurting them and it improving comfort for their customers.

Restaurant magazine has reported today that Henry Harris has left Hush to set up an 85 cover French restaurant called Club Des Cents opposite Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge, London. No opening date was mentioned in the article but I have heard that it will be within a month or two. I am hoping to have some more inside info soon so watch this space. I think I must be psychic because about a year ago, I ended my review of Hush with these words : "Henry Harris remains one of London's best chefs, but Hush simply doesn't do his food, or the price charged for it, justice. I don't suppose that ticket from Knightsbridge to Mayfair was a return?" Apparently the answer was yes!

My wife and I enjoyed a wonderful meal at The Orrery very recently. The food is really excellent, service is very caring and professional, they have a lovely bar and the dining room is very pretty (more detailed review soon). BUT. The tables are really, really close together. In fact, we were given one half of what I am sure is used as a table for 4. There was no space between the tables at all and just a cylindrical cushion between my wife and the smoking businessman next to her. We asked to move tables during the meal to get away from the smell of the smoke which was wafting over whilst we were eating, and were obliged with a little, but not too much fuss. On booking the table a number of weeks in advance I requested a round one by the windows which provide some privacy and space. I was told that one could not be guaranteed, which I quite understood. The restaurant must keep its best tables for its regular or VIP guests. That's the reality of the situation and good business practice. However, should not all the tables in the restaurant be at the very least acceptable? And we are not talking about a low cost, high volume operation here. The Orrey has a Michelin star and charges around £50.00 a head for food. Without question, I now officially have a thing about the spacing of tables in restaurants. I think in general they are too close to afford a relaxing and enjoyable night out. There are obviously exceptions to this rule, but they tend to be at the very highest level. Do others share this view, and where can you get some space without selling your first born for the privilege?

I love that! Have you considered a career in the diplomatic corps?

You trained with Savoy in Paris, how does that experience compare to running your own place in NY?

Tom, I read a few articles about how New Yorkers were looking for comfort food in the wake of 9/11. Is that still a noticable trend and did you modify your offering at Ouest as a result?