thefoodhunter

Chef Suzana Davila at the Café Poca Cosa in Tucson Arizona. Not only does she make amazing margaritas and heavenly authentic mexican food, she is the damned sexiest grandmother in the world with a 1000 watt smile and overflowing generosity.

PIMENT D’OR My friend Christelle is having a professional crisis. She has decided, at the ripe old age of 25, to embark on a career change. She wants to apply her well-honed marketing skills to the catering industry and has asked me to advise her. Christelle is Vietnamese so I suggested she take us to her favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Le Piment d’Or to discuss the project. Christelle ordered in Vietnamese and I enjoyed a Perrier with salted prune cocktail as we waited. Sounds like a weird aperitif? It is. A dried salted prune is covered with sugar and ice topped off with Perrier and stirred until the prune falls apart and turns the water brown. This is an acquired taste, a bit like salted liquorice, but very pleasant. Piment d’Or seats about 40, there were mostly Vietnamese clients during our visit. It is cheerfully decorated in yellow and red and so authentic you need a native speaker, or this review, to know what to order. Our first dish was ‘salade de boeuf et liserons d’eau’, cold cooked chopped beef and chopped bindweed (a celery like vegetable) on a bed of greens and marinated vegetables topped with chopped peanuts and crispy fried onions. The next dish, ‘crepes de lune à la vapeur’, is small disks of rice crepes topped with chives, taro paste and dried shrimp flakes. They fit on the tip of a spoon and are wonderful when dipped in ‘nuoc mam’ (fish) sauce. I finished my salted prune drink and ordered some jasmine tea for the rest of the meal. We devoured ‘ravioli vapeur’ (rice flour crepe stuffed with shredded pork and black mushrooms and topped with slices of Vietnamese sausage. You are meant to wrap the ravioli in lettuce with peppermint, mint, and a leaf Christelle described as ‘fish’ leaf that has a very fishy taste. Then we had ‘crepes de lune frites’ the fried version of the steamed ‘crepes de lune’ above topped with a whole shrimp, fried and served with mixed greens and marinated vegetables. TOur next dish was a “crepe Vietnamienne’ a huge crepe filled with bean sprouts, shredded pork, shrimp and taro paste. It looks like an omelette and you cut it into pieces and wrap them in lettuce leaves with mint to make a crunchy refreshing nibble, though a tad too messy for catering. The ‘porc et poisson au caramel’ is fish and pork chunks slowly cooked in spicy caramel in a cast-iron pot. It is a sweet and savoury extravaganza! We decided the ‘brochette de boeuf’ would be another good catering choice. Cooked marinated shredded beef and chopped herbs are wrapped in a ‘la lôt’” leaf (also known as a pepper leaf) into little bundles that look like Greek dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) and are served on angel hair noodles topped with chopped peanuts. Next we ate delicious ‘crabes en mue’ sliced deep-fried soft-shell crabs with a salt and pepper coating. Christelle told me only a few Vietnamese restaurants serve this dish using fresh soft-shell crabs. The ‘crevettes sel et poivre’ are addictive and we polished off two whole plates of the crunchy titbits. Our last dish was an exotic ‘soupe de poissons au tamarin’ a tureen of fish, shrimp, chopped fennel and spring onions in tamarind juice. Tamarind is sometimes known as an ‘India date’. It has small seeds and a sour-sweet pulp that is used like lemon juice in Asian cooking. It is also one of the main ingredients in Worcestershire sauce. The total price for our meal came to € 105.76 euros for 4 people. Piment d’Or 111, avenue d’Ivry 75013 Paris Tel: 01 53 79 20 60 Open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

cherry tomatoes with feta and egg An easy to make delicious dish I concocted last week. Fill a ramekin with cherry tomatoes and douse with olive oil. Bake at a low temperature 180°C for an hour. Remove from oven. Crumble feta cheese on top and put in oven again for 15 minutes till the top of the cheese starts to brown. take out of the oven add fresh basil and an egg on top. Leave in oven till egg has desired consisteny. Serve hot. ( RG564 )

Food Network won't air Great Chefs because they can't afford it.

I just reserved four dinners for a couple of American friends who enjoyed each one and never had any comments about Americans. Most of the French are anti-war, even anti-Bush and increasingly anti-Chirac who is perceived as breaking up the UN and causing a huge rift within Europe. When I was in England last week at a food show I did not hear one single anti-French comment. Its time to stop watching the news and start watching cooking programs again....

At the risk of incurring the wrath of moderators who don't want politics messing up this site can I make a suggestion. I believe in freedom of expresion but I also believe in constructive criticism. Rather than pour French wine down the drain, I suggest that restaurateurs or consumers who want to protest the French position in the UN sell or auction off their unwanted French wine and donate the proceeds to a veteran's hospital. At least the money will be going to support the soldiers who may be wounded or maimed for life if this conflict actually happens. Another solution would be to send me your unwanted wines...

What happened to Kathy P and husband and Jen M? David Bizer called the restaurant to cancel as did delights. Tony Finch is right, "nous sommes incapables d'organiser une beuverie dans une brasserie". I'll take the blame for bailing out of the dinner first, I was offered a very high paying job that involved business dinner that night. I was saddened to get a phone call from l'Os à Moelle yesterday asking where all the guests were. I am guessing that some of you may have a hard time pronouncing my long last name, so does 95% of the French population. Next time I'll just use my first name. A bientôt j'espere....

I called the restaurant to change the reservation to 5 people for David, Kathy P and husband, delights and Jen M. If you plan to not go please call them to cancel. The reservation is in my name and I don't want to get a bad rep with them. Delights has said he will be 15 minutes late.

I try to always make a maximum 3 minute description of a meal and use the mini voice recorder built into my cell phone so people think I am speaking on the phone. In cell phone unfriendly restaurants, (my favorites) I am careful that my phone never rings. If it does start to vibrate I turn it off.

Hello all, I will not be able to attend the first egullet meal, I have an emergency work situation that I must attend to. The reservation in my name still stands however, if anyone wants to bring a buddy in my stead let me know else I'll change the reservation to 7 people it now includes: David Bizer Jen M Delights Balex Kathy P + husband Loufood

OK I've reserved at Os a Moelle for the following 8 people at 7:30 pm (19h30) on Thursday March 6, in my name Marc Cosnard des Closets. Marc Cosnard des Closets David Bizer Jen M Martin Rosen Delights Balex Kathy P Loufood Anyone can't make it let me know by private message.

Sounds like Thursday March 6 is best for most. Lets do it! I'm in!! Somewhere cheap yet good. We're not going for the food per se, we're going to be food geeks and have a laugh! We have to start somewhere so lets go to one of the table d'hote places, we'll all eat the same food and sample several different wines. Whaddya say? Marc Cosnard des Closets David Bizer Jen M Martin Rosen Delights Balex Kathy P Loufood (who should be done with her exams)

http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/great...greatchefs.html for the best cooking show on TV with real working chefs.

sign me up for February 28. How about one of the table d'hotes places, "Os à Moelle' or "Chez Michel" downstairs?

OK, Trying again, who wants to eat when and where in Paris. ARe weeknds better or weekdays? Come on Paris egulleteers lets do it!!!

Dear Hollywood, RE the Buddha Bar: My wife Nikki had arranged an all expenses prepaid dinner for a young Icelandic couple (customers of hers) at the Buddha Bar. When the check came one of the Buddha Bar managers claimed to not know about the arrangement. The couple did not speak French and the manager called the police to have the couple arrested and thrown into jail!! The police, who are overworked and have better things to do with their time tried to persuade the manager to relent but to no avail. At 2 AM they were able to call Iceland and one of Nikki’s colleagues came to the police station to bail them out. The police had separated the couple into different cells. The Buddha Bar manager was still waiting for the money!!! The next day the Buddha Bar called to apologize for their mistake and offered the couple a free meal as compensation. What a nerve!!! I heartily encourage any visitors to Paris to boycott this establishment. It is expensive, loud and about as appealing as a soggy egg-roll (one of their specialities!)

I live around the corner from the Favela Chic, a supremely sexy brazilian restaurant bar nightclub with great food powerful cocktails and lots of fun people and great music. You cannot reserve but they seat large groups of people at communal tables and have a menu featuring feijoada, chicken and cashews and vegetarian lasgna. Dinner will run you about 25 euros per person and drinks are 6 to euros per. I suggest the mjitos or caiparihnas. Get there at 8 and get a table and some food, then go to the rear of the place where they have a dancefloor, live vinyl spinning DJ and even a huge bed to lounge on. The staff is all Brazilian and nice (no French attitude) This is a great place, completely unfrench and totally fun. I had dinner there tonite and the DJ played Brazilian music, the Beatles, Abba, Prince, AC DC, reggae and hip hop. The dress code is sexy and casual, trainers and jeans encouraged, they ask men to remove their ties before entering. By 1130 pm most tables are covered with people dancing, there is usually some impromptu stripping by guests, all in good fun. They never let in groups of drunk guys. If you get there after 830 pm (especially on a weekend) you will have to wait outside, maybe for up to an hour. If I was a girl and having a hen night I would go there in a minute. It closes at 1 am and there is a house/techno discotheque downstairs that opens at 1am. Enjoy, Favela Chic 18 rue du Faubourg du Temple, 75010 Paris (near Metro Republique)

Great Chefs filmed Solivares when he was at Guy Savoy. The segment will be on the Travel Channel marathon on December 24.

The first mention of the Constant "posse" that I remember was in the 1996 September Vogue by Jeffrey Steingarten in an article called "Bistrots du Jour". As usual Americans are the first to spot a trend and the first to share information about it. This wonderful article highlighted Yves Camdeborde of Regalade Eric Fréchon of the then named La Verriere, Thierry Breton at Chez Michel, François Pasteau at l'Epi Dupin, Thierry Faucher at l'Os a Moelle and David Van Lear then at Le Bamboche. The article was sent to me by a New Yorker, my best friend's mother who has shown me more about Paris than I have learned on my own living here for 12 years. She is an occasional visitor to Paris but packs in every moment with worthwhile activities. Our very own Steve Plotnicki is also one of these same well-informed Americans who show us jaded Parisians a few of our own secrets. Not surprising actually, the French don't share information, keeping it hidden means power. Americans do share information, distributing means power. Several months after the Steingarten article came out, French Elle magazine featured the above chefs plus Phillippe Detourbe (Restaurant Phillipe Detourbe and les Blés Coupés) Gilles Ajuelos (La Bastide Odeon) Christian Bochaton ( Les Béatilles) and Thierry Conte (Le Cuisinier François). I would add Didier Varnier of au Camelot to this list.

I don't love The Food Hunter. Iv'e never seen the show and Ive' been using the trade name "thefoodhunter" since 1996 for my food brokerage business.I own thefoodhunter.com domain name and my e-mail address has been thefoodhunter since 1996 too. If the Food Network had any money, I guess I could consider a suit. But I know they don't.

I went on the web and found this site: paris@reservethebest.com I tried to reserve at Astrance and a pop up gave me a phone number to call. It was the Astrance number they have no available dates for at least a month. However, when trying to reserve for Taillevent or Gagnaire I clicked on reserve and got a pop-up form to fill out and send in. I have no plans to go to any of these places soon so I didn't fill it out. Might be worth checking out as an alternative to concierges.

Bux: Great Idea for the reservation "bonding" company. We could buy blocks of reservations from the restaurants and ask for a cancellation time frame that will allow them to turn the tables anyway. We bill the diners a small fee to guarantee the reservations that we split with restaurateurs. No shows would lose their reservation fee and then be poisoned, pushed into the Seine and run over with a car, not necessarily in that order. I don't use American as a pejorative term, I'm half American as you know. Not respecting a reservation and not calling to cancel is not a strictly American phenomenon, it is only symptomatic of poor upbringing. Anyone who works for a living values their time, it is only normal to value other working folks time. When I do call to cancel or change a reservation in a French restaurant, as I did every day for one week last October, the reservation staff all said thank you for calling. It is just a question of courtesy and respect for other people's time. I know egulleteers respect the artistry of the establishments they frequent. The French (pejorative) don't like the word service. They had a revolution a few hundred years ago to do away with the notion of servitude. The French class structure still marks people in the service industries as underlings. It is this very French (pejorative again) idea that spoils the French (admirative) experience for tourists and gourmets. Why else would they build in a tip into every bill?

Alas, getting into Astrance is like opening an oyster with a wet noodle. So what, there are plenty of other great places to go to in Paris. The anti-American policies many top restaurants discreetly practice are mostly due to last minute cancellations and no-shows. I have often been asked to reserve tables for American friends at hard to get into restaurants and leave my phone number as a contact. After many no shows and angry calls from restaurateurs asking me never to come back I will only do this service for very close friends. This in no way excuses the hotel concierge for not maintaining your reservation or selling it or giving you attitude. Its a French thing, even we don't understand.

Actually Poilâne does make baguettes but only for 1 restaurant. They are made daily and delivered 1 block away to "Le Récamier" an eating place for French politicians and intellectuals. His 19 year old daughter was named as President of the company after Lionel's death.

Monkfish liver in a can is available for about 7 Euros in Paris at Le Grande Epicerie. It tastes exactly like cod liver (about 1 euro a can).