milla

what about chez la mere blanc, georges blanc's mom or grandmother? did they not have *** way back? not in France but there is, of course, Carme Ruscadella in Sant Pau.

Moore has that kind of contacts. Plus he posted the URL for Le Figaro on the post on his blog.

Le Figaro and F. Simon have released the results for the 2007 guide. Hmmm, this is the earliest i have heard the results released so i wonder if it is speculation. In short, 3 stars to Astrance, Pre Catalan, Helene Darroze and Lameloise, le Meurice and Pic. Taillevent and Le Cinq are demoted to 2 stars. If true, it is the elevation of the female haute cuisine chef in France.

The market in Ventimeglia is really great especially with vegetables and one particular fish purveyor inside the main building. Definitely worth a visit as is the market in nearby San Remo. As for a meal, it is a bit out of your stated budget but the prix fixe lunch at Louis XV in Monaco is one of the super *** deals in Europe. Choice of first plate, choice of main, cheese and dessert, coffee AND a bottle of wine per two persons off a shortened list for 100E per person. A great bargain in my mind and i much prefer that room in the daytime anyway.

Bios could be published without names? Just tease them a little? I don't buy it. the presumption that they have something to hide because they don't publish bios is an uninformed skeptic. There is another word for that. Everything else is difficult to respond to due to the subjective nature of the comments and opinions. I certainly understand your point, btw....

to be anonymous? How many Michelin inspectors to you know? That would be the only proof of your judgement of their bios being mediocre. Yes, without question the France edition is the standard to be judged against for any and all new guides. it is a tough example to follow. Over 100 years head start! We shall see over time as it establishes itself. Well, that certainly makes a lot of sense.

Short of publishing resumes of the inspectors themselves one just has to judge them on 107 years of European experience/training and now trying to attain a foothold on a new market which will take some time. There is a reason(s) why the guide has such clout over what is an astonishing length of time. Over time they have proven their reliability and their expertise by how much the market has embraced them. Certainly the Euroean fining dining consumer market and their emphasis on michelin is proof enough. One would think that over time the quirky nature of the US guides wil be worked out over a couple of years. As for being out of touch, that is a subjective opinion by persons who simply don't agree with the results. One has to calibrate their own personal tastes to this or any other outlet (various food discussion forums, blogs, other guides, public surveys, etc.) for this information Frankly, I think it is a pretty good list, better than last year's, and will only improve with time. There are many folks who would agree. It is obvious that a major part of their MO was to be provacative, to cause discussion by offering differences of opinion or a different viewpoint. they certainly accomplished that. People in the industry certainly can't stop talking about Michelin nor can they apparently stop buying the guides. Who knows, maybe many restaurants and hotels will work hard to improve themselves because of the high profile it has received. It would not surprise me to see that, even from the ones who say they don't care.

I would go to L'ambroisie and ask them to choose 3 savory courses and one dessert for you. If you let them know that you will be confident in their selections because you want the best they have to offer that particular evening, i feel it the best way to maximize your experience here. I agree with Culinista that this is not a restaurant for a first time *** experience. One will benefit by knowing what to expect. There is alot of info out there.

Bin 8945 in West Hollywood. Fantastic wine list at incredible prices. Website here.

I believe Urasawa was on the list.

overnight cooking has worked real well with this recipe.

...and another version, in fact the same one in Marc Meneau's Musee Gourmand published in 1993 or 94. Only in French.

don't squeeze them out. its like milking a chicken. puree them with a little bit of water and then add to the sauce. a little sac never hurt anyone, put you can always strain them out if squeamish. ← Hmmm... so If I got four sacs and mixed them really well with water I could have a half a cup of black stuff that would turn a cup of clear veg/chix stock grey. That's a start. ← if you want to make it from only 4 small squid and its sacs you would be correct. but that is alot of work for only half a portion for one person. doc, if you make the tinta dish with 2 pounds of squid, a reasonable amount, perhaps 20 med. sized squid, you would take the sacs whole from them and mix them in 1/4 cup of water, at most. if one makes the correct amount of puree of the sauce, this mix will be more than enough to color, and flavor, the sauce. hey, it takes practice. i would not make it with a veg or chix stock either. not traditional.

don't squeeze them out. its like milking a chicken. puree them with a little bit of water and then add to the sauce. a little sac never hurt anyone, put you can always strain them out if squeamish.

I do believe that Andoni spent several days cooking at the Master's of Food and Wine in Carmel Highlands, California in February of 2005.

I don't follow you. I don't think anyone dissed anything. I wasn't the one who separated technique out in an arbitrary fashion, you did. That is what i respectfully disagreed with. As for "tastes great" and generalizations about French haute cuisine, I don't know exactly where your info comes from but to me it crosses the line of confusing subjective opinion and objective fact and that is when i step away, before the circular discourse starts. With regard to the subject of this thread my point was it is not the "forward thinkers" who will decide the success of this movement or whatever it is, but the dining public. We can all have opinions but ultimately the market will decide. Are these restaurants economically viable in the long run? Will the dining public embrace and support them?

Apples and Oranges. It doesn't work. One can't compare a cuisine based on tradition, history, culture, the arts, sustainablity, terroir, and the ingrained sensibilty of the peoples and what their cuisine means to them to a movement or trend whose only common denominator is an emphasis on technique and the need to create. Not to mention how the market decides fashion. A successful restaurant needs to be supported by the public. One can talk subjectively about how they favor a certain fashion or even wish how they hope it will succeed but, not one person, a chef, pundit, or impassioned amateur included, will decide. The market (the dining public) itself will decide on the longevity of a movement or trend and weed out the fads and gimmicks and will allow to remain what will become a part of the permanant lexicon of gastronomy.

Absolutely, another unhesitating recommendation for L'Astrance. Several visits over the 4 years they have been open, it simply gets better and better. As he matures and quietly becomes more confident (and older) his food really sings. And he continues an unflagging love affair for the quality of his ingredients. I would be suspicious of a restaurant that was always praised...

there are lots of fun places in Santa Cruz. Soif is great. there is also Avanti Ristorante on Mission Street, a local fixture, with honest food from local ingredients and a good wine list. Oswald is really good also, maybe the best of the bunch. Don't forget to explore Wastonville for Mexican food. You will be amazed.

a very engaging idea, and one i agree with. Terroir cannot be exported. the very best recipes (dishes) and for that matter, restaurants have one thing in common; they are a product of their environment and exhibit a sense of place of where they are. In other words, they could not exist as they are if they were moved out of their terroir. It is hard to define terroir in the US because our culinary story is still a young one but just as the new world wine growers are starting to finally understand how not only terroir works but to apply it to their land (remember when they said it wasn't important and overrated? they just did not get it...), it will so happen in the maturing of our culinary story. Rancho Gordo is right. we are recipe driven ( and gimmicky, and novelty, and easily impressed with trends) and not ingredient driven in a general sense but, that will come around. It is part of the maturity process and frankly it can't happen soon enough. Watch. One can buy a case of a wonderful wine that they had in Sancerre that is the best wine they have ever tasted becuase they had it on a overcast day eating oysters and crottin de chavignol in a small restaurant in the town a few hundred meters where the wine is grown and bring it home. Six months later they have a dinner party at home and proudly open the wine to drink and it is thin, acidic, and resembles nothing that they remember when it was bought. Good enough is unacceptable. If one can piece together a great terroir driven dish far from home with "good enough" ingredients, it is not the same nor should it be considered close enough. that is beside the point. the magic is in the intangibles and the true sense of place, not the "i followed the recipes, this ham is good enough, i worked/staged there for two weeks" mentality that is pervasive. as the finest ingredients become rarer, they will be the hardest part of the equation of truly exceptional fine cuisine.

One star, it is...

The dispassionate understanding of the differences of subjectivity and objectivity is the most difficult hurdle for anyone writing about food. One has to take a hard look at personal preferences but also have a complete understanding of the timeline and evolution of gastronomy. To find an audience who understands the differences and will take the definitions to heart in understanding them will be virtually impossible. One person's objectivity is another person's subjective opinion, likes or dislikes, in another reader's mind. With a subject as ephemeral as cuisine, and taste memory, it is a dream only. the best one can do is to calibrate one's taste to certain food writer's "objective" opinion one is comfortable with (whatever that means) and build a personal consensus from there. I think it might be asking too much...

Why is Pedro reviewing this restaurant again? It is apparent that Santi has not altered his menu since last year. I fail to comprehend why this is a culinary item for this forum?? Judith Gebhart ← i think he was answering a question that was asked about whether the lunch and dinner menus are the same. Regardless, it would be a culinary item if someone actually made an inquiry, no?

perhaps out of respect for the product and the animal?

Rouget should not have a presence, however it is difficult to find specimens here in the US that does not. There are two very different types of rouget, though they are essentially the same fish. Great rouget, what you will find in restaurants in Europe who can afford them, are rouget de roche, that is, rouget that live and feed off the rocky cliffs and stony bottoms all along the northern meditteranean. Most, if not all the others, are sand rougets, swimming in shallow waters and tending to frequent river mouths and sewage outlets as it tends to be a junk eating fish by nature. Think about that. With a fish where many classical preparations involve utilizing its liver, why would one buy a junk eating fish and one that spoils so quickly on top of that? Hence the price differential between the two. And that is if you can find someone completely scrupulous who is importing the product. Most rougets coming to the US are these sand rougets from the southern meditteranean (Morrocco is a common source) and hawaii, believe it or not. Rouget de roche from the northern mediterranean and parts of Portugal, are difficult to find, don't travel well, and are prohibitively expensive for all but the most demanding restaurants and clientele.