markk

I don't know what John will answer you, but you can very definitely order them from the US and have them arrive incredibly quickly, from alapage.com About six or seven years ago I was desperate for a Pudlo. I e-mailed FNAC from their site and faxed them, and all my messages about shipping to the states were ignored. Then, somebody on another online forum suggested alapage.com. I went there, and found that it's an online bookseller, similar to all the American ones, but in French. I found the Pudlo, signed up for an account, and ordered it. I chose expedited shipping (Chronopost) and the book arrived in five days!!! Since then, I've ordered several dozen books from them, and I've found that even when I don't splurge for the fast shipping, the books arrive to the states about ten days on average. I've had just the best results with them on a regular basis, and can't vouch for them strongly enough (!!!!) If you have a fair or passing knowledge of French, and/or are familiar with online booksellers and online ordering, you should have no problem setting up an account and ordering from them. As I say, it's a fast, and most rewarding experience. And if you love French restaurant guides, it's a gold mine. Hope this helps.

Well, I wasn't going to chime in, knowing my response would be long and possibly perceived as off-the-wall... until I read this comment, which is, of course, right on the money! So here goes nothing... In the early 1970's I was in Verona (Italy) with a friend who was a native of Milan. Neither of us had ever been to Verona, although he had the advantage of being fluent in Italian. When it came time for our first meal in the city, we were strolling around. He detoured because of a chubby postman he saw down the street, and went over and asked him for a restaurant recommendation. They had a short discussion, and my friend got directions to a nearby place where we had a simple but fantastic meal. "You see" said my Milanese friend, "the secret is to find an overweight public servant, and ask them to suggest a place. You want somebody overweight - that means that they like to eat. And you want somebody like a public servant, because that means that they aren't rich and will have found places with great food and great value!" Well, I thought my Milanese friend was a lunatic... until I started to put this into practice. Some years later I was in the city of Strasbourg, France, and looking for an authentic Tarte Flambee. We were staying at hotel where the night desk clerk was a rather large guy who looked like he liked to eat. I engaged him in conversation and asked what he knew about Tarte Flambee and where to get it. Well, what a fountain of knowledge he was! He knew all about it, enough to tell me that a proper one couldn't be had in the city itself, but required a venture into the nearby countryside. Then he recommended a place about a half-hour outside the city, and lucky for me I had a car - but also very lucky for me that I had asked him. This was a little place in the middle of nowhere, and everything that they cooked us was the quality of local food that you dream of when you travel in Europe. But the point of my story is that I learned the lesson, and have gone out of my way to rely on it over the years - look for somebody who looks like they like to eat (i.e. fat), and probably isn't rolling in money - indeed somebody at the Post Office or somebody working in a local shop, and ask them for a suggestion. I'm not bashful about doing this - more often than not you get a very knowing and enthusiastic response, and a great local meal. It's somewhat of a strange thing to bring yourself to do, but well worth it if you like to eat. In fact, once in a crowded Parisian brasserie, two tables opened up at once and although the host started to seat me at the one with the skinny waiter, I pointed to the portly guy I had seen waiting the other available table and said I wanted that guy instead. The waiter in question of course asked me why, and so I rubbed my own considerable stomach in response and said "I'll eat better." Well, I made the quickest friend ever, and I was steered towards the best meal I could have hoped for. People who like to eat are eager to share their suggestions, and they're worth seeking out when you travel.

INDEED !!!

Do bear in mind that heat is the enemy of fine wine - and all the qualities in the wine that make it "fine"; imagine having some bottles of fine red wine that you want to store, and the thought of keeping them in a place that gets too warm, like by the furnace. Heavens! But when you boil a wine for the length of time that a dish cooks, or a stew makes, you're destroying all of the nuances, the acidity, bouquet etc. - basically you're killing everything about the wine except its basic flavor. When the price of a wine includes some extras that the heat of of cooking will destroy, I think it's pointless. I try to cook with assertively flavored wines that are a little to "rough" to drink, because I find that they actually lend just the right "wine" flavor to a dish. An example of a cheap wine that I used to buy for cooking (I haven't used it in a while but it's a good example) was the Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc. I mean, it's awful if you try to drink it, but cooked into a dish, it adds the right assertive touch of Sauvignon Blanc, even after it's cooked. Similarly, there are some "rough" reds that have qualities not especially pleasant to sip, that cook wonderfully well. Trial and error helps. But to knowingly boil an expensive wine that you wouldn't even want to store in an overly warm place for fear of killing all its nuances - that just seems silly to me. The trick is to taste them and discern that there are no off flavors that will reduce - but if a wine is cheap because its body is "raw" or it doesn't have finesse, well, that's pretty much what you're going to kill off in the expensive wines when you cook them anyway. My two cents.

Fat - in this case, grease or oil, will "break" the final the final reduced sauce, so it's essential that you de-grease your stock before reducing. A hint: the thickness of the sauce is helped by the gelatin that's in veal bones, and roasting some "breast of veal" bones and adding them to your stock to simmer and release their flavor and gelatin is always a great idea. If you're intrigued by this sauce (and who wouldn't be?), you'll enjoy the book "The Saucier's Apprentice" by Raymond Sokolov which will tell you way more than you need to know about 'demi glace' and 'sauce Espagnol' and all the dozens related sauces along the reduction way, and which is probably available very cheap on half.dom

It hasn't gone nearly as well as I had hoped! To start, I compiled a list of the 27 restaurants in Lyon and the surrounding area which have Michelin stars or its "Bib Gourmand". (As a rule, I find that the Bib Gourmand restaurants, which pretty closely correlate to restaurants which receive around a 13 in the Gault Millau, are the places that I like to eat most - I do like to venture into starred dining as well, but on a two week trip that's sometimes hard to keep up; the Bib Gourmand places are pretty substantial dining experiences, though, and perfect for me on a regular basis.) In any event, culling the names, e-mail addresses, and fax numbers from the Michelin site was a start. I contacted the 27 restaurants - first I wrote to all those that had e-mail addresses, then I faxed those that didn't, plus those that didn't reply to my initial e-mails. In all, 19 places replied one way or the other. Of those, Auberge de l'Ile and Alain Chapel (both 2-stars) replied that they are "all no smoking". Nicolas Le Bec (1-star) replied that I could dine in a non-smoking room if I requested it when I made my reservation; Christian Tetedoie (1-star) said that it has a separate non-smoking room on Friday and Saturday only, and of the 4 Bib Gourmand restaurants that replied to me (out of 12), Chez Jean-Francois said that it offers "a non-smoking room with 6 places" [in my experience, something which could easily be a smoke-collecting alcove], and the other three replied that they are all smoking establishments. All in all, not the response I was hoping for. I've spent the last several years eating my way through Alsace in the winter, and while it similary took a tremendous amount of research, I found a good number of places there - many of them Bib Gourmand, that are all non smoking or which have separate rooms. Using the web, I found one or two low-end restaurants in Lyon that are non-smoking, and while I know that these can come in very handy in an emergency, they're not what I'd want to plan a trip to France around. Then, I e-mailed a number of restaurants that score around a 12 in the Gault Millau, via their websites, but virtually none of them answered me. One place actually sent me a "photo reply", a photo of their dining room, showing an alcove with a table for 4, and told me that this was their no-smoking section. (It reminded me of being in Germany in the early 90's, when "smoking obligatory" seemed to describe most of Europe. I went to one of the big American style hotels in town to ask if they perhaps had a no-smoking section - in those days, that would have been the very best I could have hoped for. The Maitre d' threw open the double doors that led to the restaurant, a vast, high-ceilinged, totally smoke-filled room, and proudly said to me "Sir, you are welcome not to smoke at any of our tables.") And so, for now, the trip to Lyon is off.

I read his autobiography, or memoir, "The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen" last year, and I highly recommend it (if you haven't already read it). If you love him, you'll love the book too.

Is your dinner "provincial" or "Provençal" ?

I made a pasta dish vaguely based on Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, for which I didn't want to use bacon for saturated fat reasons; (I'm all for bacon, though, but this was for somebody who really has to watch it.) So I took some all natural chicken sausage, stored it for the day with some slab bacon against it to impart some smoke flavoring, and then pierced it well and baked it to allow the chicken fat to drain (hopefully). Separately, I sauteed some vidalia onions and cremini mushrooms with some garlic cloves and fresh rosemary in some oilve oil. Then I sliced the chicken sausage into rounds, added them to the onions and mushrooms to flavor them additionally (read: impart what fat and flavor may have remained), and finally I added some white wine to bubble through, and then some chunked, well drained organic Tuscan plum tomatoes (my new favorite ingredient-find) to cook briefly. At serving time, I stirred in just a little bit of black truffle oil, and topped it with freshly grated Parmiggiano-reggiano cheese. Quite delicious; now I'm sorry we didn't photgraph it.

The starters, for one. They're usually exceptional, and eating them tastes an awful lot like dining in Rome. And the pastas are always exceptional, and then some. Part of it is how they cook the pasta - to an "al dente" perfection not usually achieved in this country, and part of it is how they dress it -to sheer perfection. It's always superlative, sometimes mind-boggling, at least in my opinion. The Amatriciana and the Carbonara are standard-setting dishes, even, or especially, by Italian standards. (This comment from a man who spent eight consecutive summers eating his way through Emilia-Romagna, I might add.) And the daily pasta is never less than spectacular in every regard. (I usually pig out on the first two courses and order so many of each that I don't make it to the main courses, so I can't really comment on those.) I'm sorry you don't get this place, but I wanted to defend it with a contrasting point of view. To me, the big deal is that the food is utterly sensational. And, in terms of the people, and the overall vibe, I don't think there's a friendlier or warmer restaurant on the planet. It's one of the places I'm always willing to drive into from New Jersey for, and I'm never disappointed.

Best burger in New Jersey

And I disagree, at least about the Rascal House food, anyway. I ate a number of meals there (the Miami Beach, i.e. Sunny Isles location) in July, and the food was as good - if not better - than ever. In fact, last year I had trouble with the flanken - it was really tough on a few occasions, and this time it was tender and delicious. Similarly, while the Pastrami was disappointing last year, it was superb two months ago. (I've never been to their other location, though). But, in July I also had one meal at Jerry's in South Beach, and everything about the food was horrible - the pastrami and the tongue, and everything else we were served, was just about inedible. The Rascal House meals, as I say, were great.

That we'd have another 8 years to eat foie gras in California (before it becomes illegal) is not the important thing here - it's the precedent that you can legislate what foods people can and cannot eat. The people who support the ban also have revealed that because they think the way our meat and poultry supplies are produced is cruel , they don't eat them either. We shouldn't give them a precedent on which to call for laws that will close down our supply of meat next. Remember too that there are also a lot of fanatics out there (referred to as the "fat police") who would be happy to endorse legislation banning foods that they believe have "hidden fats". Between the people watching out for the sources of our food, and the people watching out for "our best interests" - we could actually wind up with nothing to eat legally in America. As Ariane Daguin said, "Forbidding restaurateurs in California to serve foie gras is the start of a very dangerous food dictature."

WELL... If it's a "substantial" pastrami sandwich that you're after (I would be, too), try Harold's NY Deli in Edison, NJ. It's excellent, too. They'll ask you if you want "lean" (why bother), or "juicy" (BYOZ - Bring Your Own Zocor), and it's both substantial, and delicious. But... alas... no flanken. By the way, since I am the original poster of the flanken photo from Rascal House, let me just say that I was in Miami Beach for July 4, when I took many meals at Rascal House (and I was supposed to be there again for Labor Day, thank you very much Hurricane Frances for evacuating Miami Beach the morning of my arrival) - and the pastrami sandwich there was one-third the size of the one pictured here from Harold's. Worse, the tongue sandwich the next night was even smaller - to the point where I complained, and the waiter told me "the tounge sandwich is always smaller than the pastrami". I said something, I don't remember what, and he said "I'll get you more tongue", and quickly returned with a plate of sliced tongue half again as much as my meager sandwich. Not that I don't love Rascal House - I do so much that I make two trips there (from New Jersey) a year. But do make note - the pastrami sandwich at Harold's in Edison is huge, and if you order it "juicy", most delicious!

And there is one more thing. Since the diet will take place over time, you can find a restaurant (probably not a chain, or course) where the waitstaff can actually find out for you what's in the dish once you explain that you're dieting, and where the chef and kitchen would be willing to leave the butter and cream and excess oil out of what they make you. Not every restaurant can or will do that, but you can certainly find, and cultivate, ones that will. As long as you know what to ask for, that is. Don't ask for a low-cal version of the bacon ranch salad; ask for the broiled salmon with a wedge of lemon instead of the dill-butter sauce, and ask that they not oil or butter the fish before broiling. This can all be done. I used to do it before I just gave up.

"You have to bite around for a 'knuckle' to cut the tongue in half and then bite through and separate the meat from the bones with your tongue." ----- I'm flabbergasted - I had no idea. Well, beef tongue it is for me. Thanks.

Why is that, if I may ask? I've never had them, and obviously there's something I'm missing about eating them. I love every part of the duck I've ever eaten, and I just love beef tongue, so I always assumed I'd love duck tongues. Now I'm wondering what you mean...

My own favorites are the rib chop (either broiled or grilled, or breaded and sauteed [Milanese]), and the breast, which I braise. And I make veal stock from bones, and from the breast, all the time. However... if you have to buy the animal whole or half, I think the favorite cuts question might be irrelevant - I do believe you're going to get them all, even if you buy one lateral half of the animal, no? Anybody know what I'm trying to say?

Thank you !!! I couldn't find a number yet for Livingston Bagel, but I found listings for "Eppes Essen" (so what do you mean "what used to be"?) and Ritz Diner, and called them both, and both have Flanken! I'm in Hoboken, so Livingston's not all that close, although occasionally I do visit the Bottle King there. Mostly, I am astounded by all the places everybody posted. When I started the topic, I really expected to come up with nothing. Not to mention, most of these places have scambled eggs, onions, and lox as well (some even eggs, onions, and nova!) Oy !!! There's luch and dinner right there! This is great and I thank you all once again !!

By the way... Some time in the last few years, the Wednesday New York Times food section also had a story on its front page about hidden fats in restaurant foods where you'd least expect them. They told the story of one restaurant, whose name they gave but I have forgotten - that featured a menu item listed as "Poached Halibut". What the menu didn't say, though, was that the halibut was poached in goose fat. And I do believe that they showed a photo of the vat of goose fat (I was envious). Of course, if I were trying to diet and saw that item listed, I'd think it was safe, and probably be outraged to learn how they made it after I ate it. But my overwhelming thought was, gee, more foods should be made that way.

I think that "fear of fat" was one of the greatest things she ever said, and was a much needed comment after all the fat police who warn us that the General Tso's Chicken that you eat because you think Chinese food is low-cal, is actually not. Well, if you're eating deep fried chicken chunks in sugary sauce and thinking it's low-cal, I think you're not the brightest kid on the block! I also loved Pierre Franey. I remember that one episode of his show "Cusine Rapide" (at least I think it was that show) was devoted to diet food, and he explained that he was going to make a dish of chicken breasts that were pan seared (he may have used cooking spray or something dietetic at that point in the preparation) and finished with a balsamic vinegar reduction. At the end of the dish, a moment before plating, he tossed a good bit of butter into the pan to mount the sauce and "give it some flavor", and then looked up, right into the close-up camera that they switched to just in time, and looking totally, and sincerely innocent, realized what people had to be thinking, and sort of shrugged, and said, eyes right into the camera as I've never seen before, "you know, a little butter never hurt anyone".

During WW II, wasn't Katz's Deli's slogan "Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Armed Forces"?

THANK YOU !!!

THANK YOU, TOMMY. I must confess that it seemed to good to be true, so when I got to their site I thought "oh, it's just a deli - they're not going to have flanken" - and of course THEY DO! Flanken in the Pot. Bless your heart! Good work! and Thanks !!!

Does anybody know a Jewish restaurant in New Jersey that serves flanken, and other Jewish (eastern European) dishes? The only places I know are primarily delis with pastrami and such, although a few also have stuffed cabbage. For those who don't know the dish, here's a photo of it as served at Rascal House in Miami, one of the last surviving Jewish restaurants I know of. For the un-initiated, you're looking at boiled beef short ribs served in a pot of traditional chicken soup with all the trimmings - noodles, matzoh balls, and kreplach (devoured by the time this photo was taken).