winemike

Pommade, c'est une creme epaisse, consistante et homogene.

Your French is very good but it's called "Langues _de_ chat". You'll find recipes on www.marmiton.org or on www.supertoinette.com. (all in french) I love them with mousse au chocolat. Just use them as a spoon. Great.

In Beaune, "Ciboulette" makes the best "entrecote a l'epoisses" I had in a long time. It's cheap and very good value for the money. 69 rue de Lorraine. In Puligny, avoid "Le Montrachet" (the restaurant), I've been there once only but the food was pretentious and not very good. Not cheap either.

Thanks Pim for this report ! Last year, I had the tart of duck foie gras, chestnuts, and potatoes, encrusted in thin slices of crisp potatoes. It was a dish on its own (no Guinea fowl's Ibreast with it). It also came with a entire truffle inside. With a glass of Faugeres "Les Bastides d'Alquier" (can't remember the vintage :( ). Well,very simply the best dish I've ever eaten...

I believe this has been said many times by the Michelin. Certainly said on a TV show about the Michelin guide I've seen some years ago (Des racines et des ailes on France3 or Envoye Special on France2, can't really remember...some big show like that anyway). [PROVOCATIVE MODE ON] Reflection on the Michelin guide : Anyway, this is all about marketing, we keep everything secret and we issue a very simple review (1,2 or 3 stars) with just a list of few dishes for the starred places. Btw, that's why we have 80% of the market for restaurant guides in France. And then, we just let people talk about it and how good we are.... [PROVOCATIVE MODE OFF] Bux, I think you're right, Pascal Remy (whoever he is) ... is all about sensationalism !! Anyway, I do not really care about how they do it. Generally speaking, it's a good guide and I tend to agree with their ratings. They're slow to put the good places in and slow to put the bad ones out but that's known to everyone. It still sells. A lot.

My wife and I made the trek up there yesterday and was quite impressed with the whole experience. It is unique , indeed. It's been perfectly described by estufarian and for me too, it was my best meal in Canada. I love Michael's philosophy(and food !), Nobuyo is a great host and I thought the dining room was great. Leave alone the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere and that the warmth of Eigensinn Farm is just fantastic when there's one meter snow outside ... One thing : estufarian is right when he says that having a lot of different wines makes the whole experience better. So we have taken 6 bottles of wine and opened 4. Of course, we have not drunk it all ! But it has made the meal so much better to be able to match the wines with the food (to some extent). Of course, that all depends on how important wine is for you. For me, clearly, it's important but Michael Stadtlander's food really deserves the best wine.

I must say that I agree with Bux. When I go to a restaurant that has a wine list that takes about 2 hours to read, it puts me off (to some extent). I rapidly go to the wines that I know and do not look at some others that might be great and at good prices (or I have to spend 2 hours with the sommelier). Also, when I then realise that they charge stupid prices for the wine I like, I get frustrated... Do not get me wrong, I LOVE wine. But price and food matching are also very important. More important than the wine itself. Otherwise, I'd just go to Caves Taillevent, get that Romanee-Conti 59 and drink it at home. Which leads me to another important point :the SOMMELIER. I recently went to an WS award winning restaurant and the sommelier I was talking to just had not a clue about white burgundy. Disturbing. Though the wine list was great.... So for me the best wine list comes with the best sommelier for the best advice. At good prices

I've got a question for you cookware experts out there I just bought a Induc'Inox saute pan from Mauviel but I'm still on gas for the moment (thought I'd buy an induction compatible pan now...). I've used it for the first time (on gas) and it's full of stains inside which look a bit like oil stains with that rainbow colored edges. Not that I think it's going to change the quality of the pan but it just doesn't look very good Also, I was not that impressed with the heat distribution. It heated up fairly quickly but when cooking a risotto (on medium heat of course), you clearly see the burner's shape ... quite sad, I found. Do you think that's normal ? Thanks !

Weinbach (Faller), Zind-Humbrecht and Deiss are all near Colmar about 1 1/2 hour drive from Strasbourg. They're all worth a visit but you'll need an appointment, I guess. Other visits which I think are worth it : Domaine Ostertag in Epfig and Domaine Etienne Loew in Westhoffen (about 30 minutes drive from Strasbourg to the west). Etienne Loew is a rising star in Alsace. Probably not very known yet but this will change. He's passionate about what he does and he does it well. In Strasbourg, a nice wine shop I like to go to is : Au millesime, 7 rue du temple neuf. It's near place Broglie on the way to the cathedral. You'll find a great selection of not only Alsace wines (Deiss, Zind-Humbrecht, Weinbach, Loew, Ostertag ...) but also rare, great and (implicetely) difficult to find French wines. Not necessarily the best place for bargains but some things there are just great (Selosse champagne for instance). You'll also find a nice selection of Alsace wines at : La boutique d'Antoine Westermann, 1 rue des Orfevres. It's got a nice selection in its cellar but though it's not mainly a wine shop, it's clearly worth a visit. Especially the saturday morning when JM Zimmerman (the sommelier of Buerehiesel) is there. The SGN from Loew are not to be missed if you go this shop (if you haven't bought them at Loew's domaine first ). Other wine shops are worth a visit in Strasbourg but these are the two I know best... Enjoy Alsace !

For high end restaurant experience : Buerehiesel, parc de l'Orangerie. It's only open for diner during the week and booking might be required. For typical winstub experience : the famous (and fairly good) Chez Yvonne, 10 rue du Sanglier, near the cathedral. Or (better food IMHO): S'munsterstuewel, 8 place du marche au cochon de lait (200 m from the cathedral, towards the river). The "wadele" there is fantastic. Just out of town in Schiltigheim, if you like very creative and "surprising" food, you should try : "Serge and Co", 14 rue des pompiers. Serge Burckel used to be the chef/owner of "One" in L.A. (some of you might know). His food has strong asian accents but is executed with perfect french technique. He's a bit unknown at the moment (I have not seen him in any restaurant guide yet) but he's likely to enter them very quickly

I have been there again yesterday. The magic is back. It was a fabulous meal. I have chosen "a la carte", and went for the frog legs and the Ris de Veau. The too buttery frog legs were magnificent this time. Onctuous sauce, perfect schniederspatle. Everything was perfect. The Ris de Veau was perfect too. Texture (I think this dish is pretty much about texture) was perfect. Almost melting, the croutons on which they are served emphasised that "melting" feeling and I found the dish a real "dish for the hungry". Westermann's food is food for the heart. Food that tastes great and that is not just about impressing people by using "tools" that look like they come straight out from a chemical lab. Yesterday was a true great experience. My previous experience is completely forgotten, the Buerehiesel is still one of my very favourite places. Mike.

Well, I just wanted to say that I had visited these places a lot of times and that Susur (just his food, forget service, wine, etc...) served food which I think is, at least technically, in this league. And these are all 3 stars. I also meant that Michelins can sometimes fail to deliver. And that the only single time I had eaten at Susur, the food was great. I am glad reading from you that you had a more negative experience, I may have been too enthusiastic. I could not agree more with you. Consistency is the key. I did not know Susur before I went to the place (I was in Toronto for less than 6 months), I did not know he was a star and was really surprised with the quality of the dishes even if his food is not my favourite style. To give you a bit of background: I was actually told to go and visit the place as the food may be very good. That's pretty much all I knew about the place, I had no idea of the reverse menu, many different tastes in the dishes (sometimes, far too much for me), etc .... Also, if I had expected perfection, I may well have been greatly disappointed. Anyway, Explorer, tell us about Le Meurice and Le Bristol, I have not been to these places and would love to read your comments. Sorry if I was too personal, I do not like that at all either. Apologies to the readers of this forum. Mike.

Errm, I then realise I still have a lot of vocabulary to learn in English. But briefly, the Riesling was very flattering, ripe fruits but still refreshing. And still this light "petroleum" at the end. A fair finish. But it was completely wiped out by this monster which is the Meursault Clos de la Barre 1995 from Comtes Lafon. Very typical from this winemaker, there is a lot of depth, presence. It has a finish which just would not stop. Notes of toast, slight vanilla, nutty, a lot of oak but what a complexity as well !! We then had the Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 1993 from Comtes Lafon which, in few words, is a bit like the Clos de la Barre but still better. More complex, cleaner taste. Still young, no way to guess it's ten years old (ok, it's not very much for great white Burgundy) but still chardonnay at its peak. For my taste. Wine service was perfect, right temperatures all the time. Never an empty glass. I do sincerely hope so...

Paris is a good place in France because you can get anywhere from it. If you intend to take trains, all TGVs start and end in Paris. You'll be able to make day trips to Champagne, to Rennes (500km from Paris but just 2h in the TGV) and other places like the Loire region for instance. If you do not want to travel within France, avoid Paris. The south west, Brittany, Alsace and Provence are all very typical, very different but it really depends on the lifestyle you want to have in France. Do you want to live in a wine region ? Is "haute cuisine" important ? etc ..

I am a great fan of Buerehiesel. I have been there tens of times and really loved it every single time. I have recently moved out of Alsace (about 1 1/2 years ago) and did not have a chance to visit it since. I have been there a couple of days ago and, somehow, the magic was not there. We were very well welcomed as most of the staff remembered us from our frequent visits. I appreciated that they also remembered small details like the place where we like to sit, for instance. We chose the fish menu (details later) and then came the sommelier. The wine list is magnificent, it's got everything you expect from a 3 Michelin stars restaurant. Clearly, non-French wines were inexistent (about 0.5 % of the list) but the French selection is at excellent prices, you almost feel like you steal them when you choose "Meursault Clos de la Barre 1995 - Domaine des Comtes Lafon" at EUR 105, for instance. The sommelier also recommended a Riesling Kaefferkopf from Maurice Schoech 2001 which was very nice. I'd love to describe these wines but this is a food list So, it started with "Langoustines, Palourdes, Amandes et Moules, jus iodé et coriandre fraîche". My English is not good enough to translate that properly so I left it in French. That was very good, the coriander was not present enough for my taste but the tastes was clean, precise and the "langoustine" was of a perfect consistency. Globally a very nice dish but I was not "hit" as I expected. We then had the so much expected frog legs with schniederspatle and chervil. This dish used to blow me away. This time, even though they were very good, I found the sauce just had too much butter in it, I felt like I was eating butter with a slight chervil taste. The frog legs themselves were perfect. So were the schniederspatle, which had the prefect amount of cream and onions. After the first serving, the staff remembered this was my favourite dish and offered us a second serving. That was very kind of them and I really appreciated this. Then came the magic. For one dish, we were in heaven. "Scallops, chanterelles with white truffle cream, gnocchis and arugula". Mind blowing. The juice, a mix from the chanterelles and the scallops just shut us silent. Every single item in the plate was amazing. Cooked to perfection, beautifully presented. All items in this plate "communicated" with the others somehow. A truly great association. I wanted the moment to never stop. But it had to. The "Saint-Pierre, coulis of parsley with ginger, walnuts and nuts" was kind of refreshing after the fantastic but too demanding scallops (my emotions needed to rest a little ) The freshness of the ginger/parsley mix was welcome but overall, I found it just very good, not outstanding. The "Blue lobster with orange powder, pasta, girolles and "jus de crustace"" was a slight disappointment. The orange powder was overwhelming, present even in the pasta and we just found the whole dish was around that orange powder. Sure, the "crustace" juice was great, very concentrated and the girolles were very nice too but the lobster and the pasta with that orange powder just let me wondering what it was about... The "Bar roti with red wine sauce, fricassee of vegetables" was very nice. Extraordinary concentration in the red wine sauce, fish cooked to perfection and with a fantastic taste and texture. Very good indeed. We then had the cheeses. The munster, Mont d'Or and camembert I chose were very good but not that impressive either. I remember having had better cheeses in many other places. The dessert, a "Confite apple with automn fruits and vanilla ice-cream" was just too much. Too heavy. I could not eat the half of it. The vanilla ice cream is still the best I have ever had (Pacaud and Loiseau are not even close) but all in all, a dessert which left me with an strange impression. Did they want us to be really stuffed ? Did it have to be there because it's winter time? Then came the "mignardises", coffee and it was over. Service was excellent. Very friendly, no useless formalism. The setting (in the winter garden) is magnificent and the timing between the dishes was perfect. I have an overall very good impression of my meal but was not blown away with anything except the "scallops and chanterelles". I will try to try it again soon to confirm my impressions. Maybe I was expecting too much from the place, having "idealised" it while away from Alsace. I hope this is the case and that the magic is not gone.

Yes I did. He would earn stars. Susur was globally better than my last meal at Lameloise, for instance. Also better than my last visit at "La Cote d'Or" where I have been many times. Far better than a 1 star like "Le Montrachet" (who lost it last year, by the way). Far better than Petrus in London, another 1 star ... Do you need more examples ? If you have a problem with Susur's style, that's another issue. Would you be someone who thinks Pierre Gagnaire does not diserve any star ? And I repeat (you have not read that, obviously) : ... he would earn stars.

Surely, you're joking. If you're not ... I'm wondering .... have you really been *often* to Michelin starred restaurants ?! Or do you simply say "there are Michelin stars so the food is good" ??!! Because I have had a lot of misses. Food that I even found totally missed. E.g. Le Crocodile (3 stars at the time) served a menu "Hommage a Sobek" a couple of years ago. A menu with strong middle east notes (Egypt, of course). At the opposite of the very traditional food he normally serves. Not worth any of the stars he had. Not a single one. I have a lot of other examples. Sure, Michelin stars are about regularity. You don't get 3 stars because you served a fantastic meal once but if you deliver consistently what I have been delivered at Susur, he would earn Michelin stars. For his food only, of course. You surely know that Michelin stars are also earned for many other things, service (wine service being very important), variety of the food served, regularity of menu renewals, setting, etc... Susur has a poor wine list (well, if you compare it to the one I have seen 6 hours ago at Buerehiesel, for instance, his wine list is a joke). The reverse menu is a bit too revolutionary and the two "services" at 6pm and 8.30 pm do not help. So it's difficult to say "he's worth 2.12 stars ..." but you cannot state 99% of food served in Michelins are not trys and/or are not missed. Implicitely, Susur would not earn any star. That would just prove you've got no idea.

I believe he's gone to France. He had spent some time in Burgundy previously and it looks like he really enjoyed it

We went there last night and had a great dinner. We sat at Jamie's bar, very interesting. It gives the dinner a very casual feel that we liked a lot. Almost like being part of the kitchen... The dishes, well described (thanks innocente) are indeed food for the heart and are trully great. I really loved the oxtail, for instance. I did not find any *unnecessary* sophistication in any of the dishes. No truffles, caviar et al ... Food for the hungry. We loved it. The wine pairing worked and it was also very reasonably priced for the quality. Will definitely go back there. Given that I work just next to the restaurant, that will happen anyway Mike.

Thanks for your report. I really liked it. You surely appreciate food I have been to Susur just once but visited many Michelin starred restaurant before (from one to three stars in different countries). And Susur was right up there. I am not a Michelin inspector, of course, but if he serves the food he served us (about 6 months ago) on a regular basis, he would certainly earn 1 or 2 stars, without a doubt. And, in Toronto, I have not yet visited a place that would beat Susur if Canada had a Michelin guide. Or could anyone recommend a better place ? I found his food very "intellectual", though. Very sophisticated, and perfectly crafted. Pairing wines with his food is fairly difficult and the "reverse" menu surley does not help. Making it even more intellectual ?

tarka, that's fair enough. I have read this Restaurant Magazine "World's best restaurants" ranking and to be honest, I found it "surprising". In the sense that 1) you can not rank the X best restaurants in the world 2) say you could, everyone would have a different ranking and 3) I can't get how Petrus (in London) made it in there just to name that one... I think that what makes a 3 star restaurant truly amazing is also strongly dependant on your own taste. In Paris, a 3 star place that amazed me - for instance - was L'Ambroisie, place des Vosges. My experiences there were consistently above the ones I had at GS, PG or Taillevent. The main reason is that the food type served there (that I define as "classic with a twist") is my favourite style. I've also been lucky because I visited L'Ambroisie mainly for lunch and I therefore got more attention from waiters (the restaurant was not full...) Anyway, enjoy both, they'll clearly show that two very different cooking styles can be playing in the same league Mike.

tarka, why exactly did you narrow your choice down to Savoy and Gagnaire ? They're probably at the opposite edges of the traditional/creative scale on the 3 stars list in Paris. Is that the reason ? Or is it recommendations ? Mike.

Has anyone been to "La Cote d'Or", just renamed "Le Relais Bernard Loiseau" recently ? My last visit there was about 2 years ago. I remember being impressed with his food during my first visits (5 years ago) but the last times, it just wasn't as good anymore. I've eaten there 3 times in 4 days and it was consistently "lower" to what it had been. I'm just wondering how long the restaurant will stay at the top now that the Chef is absent. I do not think you can expect business to remain constant by doing the same thing over and over again.

Molecular cuisine, I think, defines Pierre Gagnaire's cuisine quite well. If you like inventive food, a good try (though I've never been, but I am desperate to go) is L'ASTRANCE, Tél: 01.40.50.84.40: 4, Rue Beethoven. in the 16th arrondissement. I have heard nothing but praise for this rising star of french cuisine. Reservations might be _very_ hard to get ... Or, another inventive star (I believe his knickname is "The Paris suburb's El Bulli") is Jean Chauvel's restaurant : LES MAGNOLIAS, 48, avenue de Bry - 94170 Le Perreux. tel.01 48 72 47 43 It's got a michelin star. About 30 minutes from Paris, near Nogent-sur-Marne. It's maybe 20 minutes drive from Bercy...

Yes, your question is far too general ... You surely know that Gagnaire and ADPA, for instance are quite 'opposite' experiences. Gagnaire being very creative, with lots of flavours (some dishes include more than 10!) and surprises, whereas ADPA delivers much more 'classical' french cuisine. If you like classic 'with a twist', I've had wonderful experiences at L'Ambroisie, place des Vosges. But it might be difficult to get a reservation. Try to call as soon as possible. If you tell us what cuisine style you like, it would be very helpful