oscubic

Sweet green onion taste with a rich creamy foie texture.

Haven't tried the tea place yet as I had been out of the country for a few months now. Am headed up to Berkeley tomorrow so there's a slight chance I'll hit up the tea place. While it was in construction I had the impression that it might end up being one of the many bad student targeted Pan-Asian establishments on the south side.

I think Wall Berlin has been closed for a year or two now, replaced by a tea house that may have opened recently. I haven't been around for a few months so I can't say for sure. As far as cafes there's a place on Ashby and College that's always crowded if you're in the Elmwood neighborhood.

A taxi costs around 16 euros to Mugaritz from the Parte Vieja of San Sebastian, depending on traffic, or about 9 from the center of Errenteria. It's pretty far up the rural hillsides, with more lambs than people in the surrounding area. I have a few pics and will post a detailed report in a week or so about my experience eating there, doing a 3 day stage, their housing for stages, Lo Mejor de la Gastronomia, 80 cent glasses of wine, talking to Andoni about hot women in SF that eat weird things, and all sorts of other tidbits

There is a bus that runs from SF and drops you off less than a block away from the restaurant. I think it takes around 90-120 minutes, but I'm not sure. And they do use cooked maple syrup. I once asked the chef de cuisine if it was possible to make maple syrup using the dehydrators they use for the cookies, crisps, etc, and she replied, "Yeah, in about a thousand years."

I recall a few years ago when I was working in a famous raw vegan place coming to work and being quite certain smelling that somebody had snuck a side of bacon into the kitchen. However it turned out to be smoked salt. What dish it was used for I can't recall although I suspect the chefs may have been experimenting with flavoring the spicy tortilla soup with it. Now the uses of a baconifying seasoning for times when using bacon fat or bits aren't practical could be numerous. Has anyone used any of the different kinds available on the web? What are your opinions and favorites?

Bux, I suspect that you may be correct about this. Most of the cheese vendors I saw were of the larger manufacturers and wholesalers and not individual cheesemakers specializing in one variety. Even so, they still had a fairly large selection of seemingly high quality fresh cheeses as well as the aged, dry giant wheels. I suspect some of those wheels must have weighed 300 lbs or so. I really wonder what the smell must have been like during this past summer. If I'm not mistaken the RER closes after midnight?

Anchovy chocolate is damn good. They managed to capture its flavor and an appealing dose of salinity without the harsh saltiness and intense fishiness. There were thankfully no fish chunks in the chocolate either. Slightly bitter, creamy, finishes long and savory, quite delectable. Goes quite nicely with their chocolate flavored jasmine tea. Unfortunately I had the stomach flu (I suspect via a bad langoustine at Cal Pep) through most of my stay in Barcelona and couldn't sample more of the places I wanted to. But Cacao Sampaka is definitely worth hitting up while in BCN for breakfast or afternoon choco-tea.

While I was in Italy my host said that mentioned using Vialone Nano rice as well. As I was a bit hesitant to carry additional weight I didn't buy any while there. Are there places to find it in the states? Berkeley Bowl carries a million kinds of carnaroli and arborio, but I don't recall having seen our V. nano there. And Adrober, congrats on your dish, rizzo was among my first and still one of my favorite things to cook.

I was in Rungis a few weeks ago, took the earliest metro out to the southeasternmost stop (forget the name) and then took the bus out to the market, which was relatively full of people headed in that direction. There is also a night bus from Chatelet that leaves earlier. Many of them did not appear to be professionals, a few even seemed to be people scavenging throwaway fish and such. I attempted to contact the English tour number listed in the Food Lover's Guide to Paris book, but that number appears to have been disconnected, so I went alone. Although I arrived towards the closing of the fish market, I had no problems perusing any of the twentysome buildings, and many of the merchants allowed me to take pictures of their displays after I asked permission. I didn't attempt to buy anything, as realistically I couldn't expect to eat entire flats of produce without access to a kitchen. It's quite an amazing experience, akin to Tsukiji, albeit for produce; however I felt the quantity was more impressive than the variety of produce. The cheese buildings also are quite amazing and pungent, even at below 0 degrees. Once I get back to the states in December I'll post some pics.

Il Ritrovo was almost full, but able to accomidate a single diner (myself) without a wait for a somewhat late lunch last week. I was also the only non-Italian. Possibly due to the communication barrier, they were reluctant to sell me a bistecca below 1 kg, not even at the 600g mark that seems to be the standard for most Florentine restaurants. I politely insisted, and although they seemed doubtful of my ability to finish it (and said "no primi for you" or something to that effect), they relented and served me my 2.2 lb steak. I sense that being of somewhat less than imposing stature and asian suggested to them that I was one of the many Japanese tourists in the area that happened to wander in by mistake. Evidently they have never seen footage the skinny hot dog eating champion. At any rate I finished my steak with much gusto and satisfaction (delicious, as reviewed earlier), they seemed happy and relieved, comped my wine, and I didn't need to eat for the next 22 hours or so, except some gelato to ease it all down. Bravo to the bistecca!

"like crossing mushrooms with the best sex you ever had" what kind of mushrooms? Sounds like Bill had a good time at burning man this year...

Suzanne was my server as well when I ate there last December, and the service was wonderful. Even had a tour of the kitchen, although as a cook I usually find it a little annoying to be gawked at.

As my visit to FL was back in February I don't think I could write out an appropriately detailed review (nor do I need to with the extremely well written ones already on this thread) however I did have one very minor qualm about the service. Our waitress, an attractive young lady possibly from a scandinavian country, had the oddest habit of saying "you're welcome" even before we had said thank you. Thus there was at times a race to say thank you even as she approached the table. A little awkward and truly bizarre. Did anyone else have that experience? ps Yes the foie supplement is worth it. oh yes.

bratt23, kudos on having your trip to Europe better planned out than I I'm actually changing my itinerary at this moment to something pretty similar to what's been mentioned on this thread (throw in a little Alba even with the bad truffle season, Provence and Madrid). I think it's a great idea to increase your food exposure and perspective before heading into school (or at any stage of one's career for that matter). It seems like you're already pretty set on going to culinary school though. I trust you've read the debates in these forums about going vs. not going already. Also, have you had a chance to trail any shifts in a restaurant yet? It's a good learning experience and I think it's a good idea to have a taste of restaurant work before putting down the money for school. Oh and if you want I can lend you the various Europe travel books I've accumulated when I get back to the bay area this winter.

I'm not crazy about the Zagat guide but Roxanne's food rating dropped from a 25 when it's initial rating came out to a 21 currently. A little bird told me that they've had a lot of problems keeping staff...

So my initial excitement about working here has quickly waned and I'm beginning to reconsider. I already knew that French chefs yell a lot and I could handle them calling my slightly imperfect food "MERDE!" and occasionally throwing them against the wall. But the last few shifts I've worked in addition to the usual yelling they've begun to forcefully shove me (irksome when a "behind/attention" call would suffice, downright infuriating when done in conjunction with being called an idiot because I can't understand everything they say). I'm reminded of something Alfred Portale said (in _Becoming a Chef_ if I'm not mistaken) about the main thing he learned working in France was how not to run a kitchen, with his chefs telling him "This is shit, you're a shit, and you'll never be a chef", etc etc. Now I've worked in some dysfunctional abusive kitchen environments, but when it starts becoming physical and personal I feel lines have been crossed. I know that my work there has been up to par, ahead of some of the other stagiaires but behind some who have been there almost a year now, but I think that my poor command of the language has singled me out for some of the chef's misdirected temper problems. /vent off So...... I'm leaning towards not going back to work tomorrow, but what do you guys think? I know it'd look good on the resume but I'm beginning to convince myself that the free time I'd have to go around and sample the regional cuisines of Europe might be more educational and much more enjoyable than my current situation.

Thanks for the support everyone, I'll have a few hours here and there the next few days so I'll be sure to check these things out. I had been checking online fusac but had no idea the paper version was more extensive.

I ok'ed this with Bux first, so please don't flame me. I'm just looking for a room in Paris to sleep in, I'll pay a few hundred euro a month through the end of the year, so if anyone is willing to house me or knows of any vacancies, please let me know. I'm staging at Lucas Carton near the metro Madeleine, so ideally looking for something vaguely near the 8th arrondisement or near metro lines 8, 12 or 14, but anything in Paris would be ok. Thanks for taking the time to read this and sorry to spam the board.

I also loved this review of Lucas Carton. Disgusting!

ok, here are some impressions after completing my first full week of work: 1) 70 hours of work per week is tiring 2) lots of foam for cream based sauces 3) great staff meal (important because most of my waking hours are spent here) 4) it would be nice to know what they're yelling at me in french I've been the commis for the hot apps station, doing a lot of the mise en place, plating during service, and dressing a salad of cepe mushrooms that goes with the trio of cepes plate. There's a risotto topped with cepe foam which is good but the addition of minced ginger just doesn't work for me. The presentations coming from the meat and fish stations are really beautiful. loufood: Why so long at ADPA? I staged at GD for a week until I decided that paying bay bridge toll and then $10 parking to work for free wasn't really worth it. Was a good experience still though. I'm here at LC for 3 months. I suspect that they might start paying by the end of the period but I've got people and hopefully a job at Chez Panisse waiting for me when I get back home. They do bake their own bread here and I agree, a little too long under the heatlamp and it becomes an unsweetened biscotti. I saw one Cordon Bleu stagiaire here on the pastry side but still haven't been able to connect too many names with faces yet. mikeycook: Staff meal comes with the opened wines, although with the older reds it's all undecanted sludge.

I was just accepted as a stagiaire here yesterday and am starting my second day of work today. So far the kitchen environment reminds me mostly of Rest. Gary Danko's kitchen, but with a more international cooks, and in french (obviously). Has anyone had the chance to eat here? What did you think of the experience? As a cook I can't afford to dine at as many places as I'd like to, and am still hurting for cash with the plane ticket here, etc.

I recently had the chance to trail a bread baker shift here and would like to clarify a few things and add my 2 cents.... The bottom three ovens shown are actually the gas ones where the bread is baked. The loaves get steamed initially, although the steam is vented out in the final few minutes to further develop the crust. The top oven is electric but I did not see it used while I was there due to bad calibration. Pastries are baked inside the production area out of sight in smaller electric ovens. Overall I was very impressed with the precision and attention to detail of the bakery; doughs mixed at exact temperatures and never overproofed, etc. They recently boosted production for their wholesale operation and in my opinion the QC dropoff was almost negligible. Still some of the best bread I've ever had.