Schneier

Benoit, 20 Rue Saint-Martin, Tel: 01 42 72 25 76 Benoit is my favorite bistro in Paris. It's in the 4th, near the Louvre. The first time I walked inside--at random, with my wife, a couple of years ago--I fell in love with the place. The restaurant has a Michelin star and has been around since 1912, but I didn't know that then. I liked the large planters that ringed the restaurant, shielding it from the bustle of the city. I liked the bistro feel: the cramped tables, the working elegance, the food spilling out of the kitchen. I saw a duck lying on a sideboard--a wild duck, dead, with head, feet, feathers, everything-- and thought: "I need to eat here." I did, and I have on every visit to Paris ever since. Parisian bistros tend to have a lot of game on their menu. And they like to display their food. Benoit always has samples of whatever the kitchen is making for people to look at. As I was reading the menu, various items were paraded by: terrines, a salad, a soup du poissons (so "jacked with Pernod," as Tony Bordain aptly puts it, that I could smell it across the room), a chicken completely encrusted with pork. I ordered a duck pate to start. It was a log--the waiter called it a ballotine--like a terrine but without the terrine. Duck meat on the outside and foie gras on the inside. Served cold. Delicious. And then I had the partridge. It came in sections--I think I got the whole bird--roasted, and served with a small head of a delicious French cabbage I had never seen before, some potato slices, and a light jus. Simply incredible. It's France, so I ordered the cheese course: Pont L'Eveque, Cammerbert, Forme d'Albert, Livarot, a nasty- looking cow's milk cheese and a random sheep cheese. (I completely blanked on the French for "sheep," which made conversation difficult.) A lot of these are available in the U.S., but the varieties are just better locally. The table next to me ordered cassoulet. I love cassoulet, and Benoit makes a great version. (The previous time I was there I ended up trading food with the people sitting at the table next to me--I told you the tables were cramped--much to the astonishment of the waiters.) And I had a pang of buyers remorse when I saw the tete de veau: a piece of veal cheek, ear, tongue, and brain served in a pot au fou style. I should have ordered that. Maybe next time. Bruce

Sounds fun, but it won't work with my schedule. My all-time favorite bistro in Paris is Benoit, 20 Rue Saint-Martin, in the 4th. Bruce

Here in Minneapolis, the city's major magazine had one of those annual restaurant polls. The top rated "neighborhood restaurant" was Applebee's. Yikes. Bruce

Excellent. He certainly got better press turning the President away than he would have serving him. Bruce

That comment can be taken many different ways. Bruce

I don't think it's food, I think it's complements in general. Many people are uncomfortable receiving complements on any topic. Me, I'm happy to hear 'em. Bruce

Oyster Bar. Great selection. Fantastic selection. They're not cheap, but that's the way it goes. Hint: Ignore the rest of the menu. I've found everything else, including the clam chowder, to be uneven. Bruce

Come on, people. Don't you have special hurricane recipes? Bruce

I would suggest Wildwood, because it's a quintessential Portland restaurant: local ingredients. The restaurant is pretty but not overbearing; the prices are the same. Bruce

Rover's. Definitely. Bruce

I've only been to Blue Smoke, which was very good (if overpriced and trendy). I prefer my barbecue in dives, and plan on trying the more divey suggestion from that article next time. Bruce

I agree with some of the other posters here. That restaurant is well past it's prime. Bruce

I'm on a press tour for my new book. Bruce

Ouch. I expect they'll improve. Bruce

Although honestly, I've always found the service to be professional and friendly. Bruce

Shiro Sushi has some of the best sushi I've ever eaten. If you make sure to sit with Shrio-san, and if you're an appreciative diner, you'll get some marvels. Bruce

Sorry; I forgot to add price information. $100 for the food. $60 for the wine pairing. Bruce

Laboratorio del Galileo is a restaurant within a restaurant. Galileo is one of Washington DC's foodie temples, and Roberto Donna is its high priest. Inside Galileo, Chef Donna built a separate kitchen just for him. It's a demonstration kitchen, and he gives classes there. On some nights he also cooks. Hence, the Laboratorio. There's one seating. There's one menu at one price. There's one optional wine pairing if you want. And there's the opportunity to watch your dinner being prepared. Donna works in an open kitchen with two assistants. Much of the cooking happens with everyone's back to us (kind of like Catholic mass before Vatican II), but above the counter where the food is plated is a large mirror that allows the diners to watch. There were eighteen of us at seven tables (the maximum number the room can seat is twenty-eight). We had table number seven. This is important. When you call and make a reservation, ask for table number seven. When you call to confirm, ask again. When you get to the restaurant, check to make sure you're being seated at table number seven. The whole point of this exercise is to watch Donna cook for you, and table seven is the best place to do that. It's one of the three front tables, but it's just off to the side. It's the table at the exact best spot for you to get up and look over the counter. It's the table at the exact best spot to ask Donna a question, comment on the food, or generally chat with him. It's the best spot if you want to walk into the kitchen to see what's going on. Table number seven: ask for it. The maitre d' remembered me from my reservation. A reservation at Laboratorio involves the faxing of a signed reservation form, one that asked if we had any dietary restrictions. "We refuse to eat boring food," I wrote. Everyone in the kitchen heard about that. Anyway, the food. There is a printed menu, but you don't see it until the end. If you don't eat foie gras--six of the eighteen diners did not--he makes an alternative. Presumably he'll also honor any other not-too-onerous food restriction. There were about ten courses total, and five wines in the pairing. Bread started off the meal: some delicious breadsticks (some made with olive and other wish cheddar) and some even more delicious deep-fried double-raised pizza dough. And a stock of warm and very well made baguettes. The first course was a pair of oysters, wrapped in fresh mint and basil leaves and fried, served with a saffron garlic aioli. Absolutely delicious, a perfect introduction to the marvels to come. Next came a foie gras creme brulee served with a small half roasted fig and an edible snapdragon. This was another delicious course: the light egg flavor of the savory creme brulee just popped with the bits of foie gras mixed in. My companion was one of those six non-foie-gras eaters, and was treated to a guinea-hen sausage with onion confit and a drizzle of veal-stock reduction. He was as delighted with his dish as I was with mine, using bread to sop up the last dregs. Course three was soup. We watched Donna and his assistants lay the various bits into the bowls while we ate the previous course: head cheese (we asked), blood sausage (that was obvious), pancetta, crispy onions, sun-dried tomato slices, chives. After distributing the plates, the servers came around with a tureen of celery root soup. The result was a tantalizing mixture of flavors and textures around a celerac base. Tiny ravioli came next, stuffed with green-apple-and-pork sausage and served with a pork jus and a sprinking of Parmesano Reggiano. Another perfect dish, but there was one flavor we couldn't identify. Our best guess was vanilla; Donna told us it was almond. That's when he remembered we didn't eat boring food here at table number seven. More pasta followed: tagliarini with sea urchin roe sauce. It looked like pesto, but it wasn't. It tasted as if it had some kind of cream base, but it didn't. Everything about this dish was beautiful, including the presentation. We watched as Donna and his assistants cooked the pasta, mixed in the sauce, and then formed little mounds by first putting the mixture into cups and then turning those cups over onto our plates. The sixth course (if you're counting) was risotto with prosecco and celery. I expected nothing less than perfect risotto when I saw it cooking, and I was not disappointed. My dining companion volunteers at the L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. At this point my notes indicate the he engaged in a spirited discussion with the maitre d' and Donna about kitchen knives, one that resulted in Donna realizing that he had no idea where his cleaver was. This was important, because the cleaver was required to break open the salt-encrusted sea bass that had just emerged from the oven. This was served with braised fennel ("fennel confit" is what the menu said) and an herbed pesto sauce. Done right, this process results in a fish that's flaky and tender and flavorful, but not salty. The fennel was strong and delicious--I've been liking fennel a lot these days--and the herb sauce accented both beautifully. And the cleave--they found another. Two courses earlier we had seen a duck come out of the oven and baby eggplants grilling towards the back. When finally assembled on the plate, the dish was: "Roasted Whole Muscovy Duck with Huckleberry Sauce, Grilled Baby Eggplant, Virginia Pole Beans, Whole Mushrooms and Semolina Dolce." This was a dish where the individual ingredients shone. The duck (each person got a portion) was delicious. The vegetables were delicious. The mushrooms--they were hen-of-the-woods mushrooms--were delicious. And the sauce was delicious. Sometime during this course Donna asked us and another table if we wanted to sample something he was cooking for tomorrow. It was a tripe stew. After I tasted it the server heard me mutter "Wow, that doesn't suck." He almost lost it right there. But no time for jokes, because the ninth course was beckoning. Laboratorio has its own cheese cart, and we got to try a selection of really interesting cheeses: goat cheese from Pennsylvania, Crottin de Chavignol, tomme, cheddar, a long-aged Maytag Blue, Bruss, and Tartuffo. That list is in the order we ate them, and we had only a small taste of each. Everything was good. The cheddar, tomme, and Maytag Blue were fantastic (it looked like someone left it on a shelf and forgot about it for a couple of years). The Tartuffo was a infused with truffles, and tasted sweet and delicious. And my notes about the Bruss say "rips the back of your throat off." This is a cheese Donna makes himself. He takes the dregs of the cheese cart, throws it in a container with some grappa, and lets it ferment for a month and a half. The result is just barely food, but it's definitely worth having a little bit on some bread. More...I'm not sure. By now we had menus. The next (tenth) course was a "Frappe of Bicerin," basically a coffee, chocolate, cream, and rum drink. I thought of it as a intermezzio, after the cheese and before the dessert. Then came the real dessert, a "Ricotta of Fuscella with Lemon and Orange Candied Fruit served with Plum Comput in Orange Cassis with Chamomile Sauce and Honey Ice Cream." This was actually several desserts. There was a small round ricotta piece with plum compote on top, and then honey ice cream in an edible spoon made from caramelized sugar. Very good stuff; I would have eaten more if I weren't stuffed. Not that there was too much food. There were many courses, but they were all small. At two of the other tables the dessert came with a candle, and we sat through the most god-awful rendition of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard. Finally, a few petit fours, and we were done. The wines were good but not spectacular: Gavi Marchesa 2001 with the first three courses, Roero Arneis "Il Mosaico" Scanavino 2002 with courses four and five, Chardonnay Marchesi di Gresy 2001 with courses six and seven, Barolo Cossetti 1997 with the duck and the cheese, and Moscate d'Asti "La Serra" Marchesi di Gresy 2002 with the desserts. Note that all the wines were from Piedmont. All told, this was just about as good a meal as I could have hoped for. I loved eating in the Laboratorio. I loved the food. The service was both professional and friendly; it was much more relaxed than outside in Galileo. I am definitely coming back. Bruce

I had dinner at Laboratorio in DC last Thursday. The entire room is a kitchen table, and it's grand fun; everything a kitchen table should be. I'll post a review in the DC forum just as soon as I have the time. Bruce

I also think Obelisk is a great suggestion. Bruce

And it would have mostly been an impression. I probably wouldn't have even drunk the extra wine. Bruce

Sometimes I worry that I'm too jaded. I worry that I can't possibly enjoy these sorts of meals anymore, that I find fault in everything, and that I might as well not even bother. I felt that way after my dinner at No. 9 Park on Monday night. Thankfully, my dinner at Radius the next night reaffirmed my faith in tasting menus. The kitchen started us off with a tiny portion of lobster, served with celery leaves and white grapes--more for sweetness than anything else--and a while gazpacho. Course 1: "Maine Crab Salad--cucumber, shaved radish, and cantaloupe soup." 2001 Domaine de la Quilla Muscadet. This dish was served cold, and was very good. I especially like the way the cantaloupe tasted with the crab salad. Course 2: "Spice-Crusted Skatewing--basquaise peppers, zucchini pearls, sweet 100 tomatoes and pistou." 2001 Fournier Sancerre. Another "wow" dish. The flavors worked perfectly--the ones listed above, as well as the spinach, the celery root puree, and the grapefruit sauce--the wine worked perfectly, everything worked perfectly. Course 3: "Pacific King Salmon--maitake mushrooms, sweet corn, escarole, and lemon thyme." 1998 Guy Bocard Meursaut "Les Narvaux." Corn froth... Trendy, but I'll let the kitchen have its fun. As I will with the egg sauce and the delightful touch of oregano on the dish. Wine of the night, too. Course 4: "Vermont Quail--hon shemeji mushrooms, artichokes, confit tomato, and tarragon." 1996 Guiseppe Traversa Barbaresco "Starderi." Another dish I have absolutely nothing to complain about. Course 5: "Slow-Roasted Prime Ribeye--robuchon potatoes, baby carrots, haricots vert, and red wine reduction." 2000 Chateau La Grange Clinet. The weakest dish of the night, but mostly because it was a hunk of meat with sauce. The vegetables, served with a tarragon sauce, were delicious. Nice wine. I don't think the cheese course was part of the standard menu, and that the only reason we got one was because I asked. It was a beet salad with freselle, honey, and nuts, served with a mild fresh French goat cheese. Really tasty. We each got a different dessert, so we could trade. Course 6a: Lichi-nut ice cream served on melon balls with ginger, lemongress, and lime juice. Really yummy. I especially appreciated the wide variety of tiny melon balls and the sauce that made the sweetness of the fruit pop. The ice cream was fabulous. Course 6b: Goat cheese cheesecake with huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry sauce. Fabulous. Better than fabulous. The cheesecake...the berries...the combination. Wow. Radius is a pretty restaurant, but more of a business-dinner restaurant than a date restaurant. Where are the romantic restaurants in Boston, anyway? Bruce

They were good wines. And yes, they were thoughtfully chosen. And--doing otherwise is one of my pet peeves about wine pairings--they were not simply wines off the per-glass menu, they were wines chosen to complement the food. But the pours were <i>not</i> 2-oz pours. They were smaller. B

It's sheer lunacy to write a new review of Peter Lugars. What's left to say? (It's the best steak you've ever eaten. Order the porterhouse for N and the traditional accompaniments: tomato and onion salad, creamed spinach, roast potatoes. Order it as rare as you can convince the rest of the table to. Ignore the rest of the menu. The wine list is forgettable. They only take cash. Yadda yadda yadda.) But the website is a hoot. Some of the gems: "The Brooklyn location is the original Peter Luger Steakhouse. Since 1887, we have been serving the discerning steak conniseur." A connoisseur should know how to spell "connoisseur"; don't you think? "The restaurant features a fully-stocked bar. Don't expect any microbrews or trendy drinks... this is a true classical gentleman's bar." Two fingers of three-cents plain is classic, right? "Timeless wood furnishings fill out the natural ambience and charm of the Brooklyn Peter Luger Steakhouse." That's beautiful prose for what are actually beat-up, ancient dining-hall tables and sawdust on the floors. The meat comes on sizzling trays by waiters even more ancient than the tables. Bruce

Here are the wines that came with the menu. Tuna: 2002 Huber Gruner-Veltliner "Alte Setzen" Corn Chowder: 2001 Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Foie Gras: 1998 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling "Clos Windsbuhl" Vendange Tardive John Dory: 2001 Tablas Creek "Esprit de Beaucastel" Blanc Fettuchine: 1998 Selvapiana Chianti Rufina Squab: 2001 Chateau de la Maltroye Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge Beef: 1998 Rietranera Brunello di Montalcino Roquefort: 1998 Chateau la Rame Sauterenes Reserve Coconut Cake: 2002 Saracco Moscato d'Asti Bruce