John Talbott

Oh boy. I'm going to have to eat all my words/stereotypes/etc. Tonight at a good place, not only was there a Dansk-type salt shaker/black pepper mill but red pepper flakes (without seeds) in a bowl. Whoa!

Probably because it is La Cape. ← I've been repeating that error time after time. It's also in Cenon not Bordeaux. Google La Cape Cenon and you'll get it.

Granted I was eating at a pretty crummy place today but they had those supermarket black pepper mills so I stand corrected.

All interested might want to listen to Radio France gouts report yesterday on honey.

I appreciate all the feedback, but I return to my observation: but now in Italy.Why? I think we need a first or second generation person's input.

Thanks Braden both for the report and for organizing these tastings. You are clearly making the France Forum the leader in taste tests (Gault/Millau eat your heart out!) For everyone's information, the essential info from the Planning topic has been preserved here. The rest, per policy, has been deleted. On to mustard and pretzels! (I assume we'll be clued in on your pretzel formula - esp how a totally American, and some might argue, Lower East Side, product, can be reproduced in Paris.)

I too am fascinated by the opportunities WWOOF may open up and look forward to reading the follow-up. But as Felice said, let's stick to food here not sociology. Thanks John

They had seeds.

Wednesday’s NYT had an article by Nancy Newhouse on what she calls the “three principle schools” in Paris: Le Cordon Bleu Paris, l’Ecole Lenotre and l’Ecole Ritz Escoffier. How helpful her brief exposure to three classes is/will be to those seeking to make a decision is in question; for instance, I doubt that Americans would want to spend the time and money at Lenotre to learn more about cooking Italian dishes.

I was eating in a regular pizzeria tonight in Florence (regular meaning not fancy, 85% pizza, no Wolfgang Puck frou-frou stuff) and I was once again struck by the fact that there was/were no black pepper mill(s) but there was a rare item in my experience, a bowl of red pepper flakes. Now, I'm older than your Italian-American mother or grandmother or greatgrandmother and I recall when the only restaurants in America that had black pepper mills were Italian; thus query 1, why did native Italians, opening Italian places in the US, feature black pepper mills when American, French, etc., ones did not? Second query, for years the primary delivery system for hotness (in my recollection) has been whole red peppers in bottles of olive oil, but tonight I got the real, un-oiled thing as flakes, just as one would, again, in the US, by those same Italian-Americam immigrants. On the France Forum this sort of ? would start a food fight, but I'm just looking for a calm historico-socio-cultural explantion. Thanks all (and it's not true that everything is closed in Italy in August, I'll report on my fantastic finds Monday) Ciao, John

John, I for one appreciate the updates. I'm busy updating the restaurant map to reflect this compendia, but its slow going. Still. the map is starting to look a bit more complete. ← To you Dave, and all who contribute, our hearty thanks.John and Phyllis PS Double salaries all.

From the Italy Forum some news for the schadenfreud inclined.

Baguettes This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior topics on eGullet forums. Please feel free to add links to additional topics or posts or to add suggestions. Baguette de tradition Baguette de tradition tasting Baguette de Paris 2007

I don't want to duplicate Chufi's phenomenal topic on Amsterdam and beyond, but an article in yesterday's Wall St Journal singled out places in Rotterdam, so I thought a separate topic on the city would be OK. Barbara Chai mentioned: Old Dutch, Bazar + Cafe Dudok.

Actually, rather than PM them, Pti, could you add them to this existing topic to which you've already generously contributed. Thanks. John

Ok, Ok, OK, I give up. And agree with Dave, as usual. I have a Rosieres and it's just fine; not a Viking but it gets the job done. You might want to take a look at this topic, albeit on stoves bought in Italy.

For me, a mixed review. I agree. But you'll be in France and coming from the Asiatically-superior Northwest - as my 3 1/2 year old says - Why?Go a bit farther - 2 stops - 5 minutes - live!

Wow I never thought I'd see this one on the France forum.I happen to be an expert on eating in Villejuif, or should I say, on not eating in Villejuif. I was out there to give a talk a couple of years ago and "cased" every restaurant within a mile of the hospital I was at and there was no there there. There are indeed Chinese places but if, say you look at viaMichelin, it advises you to go to l'Avant Gout, Regalade, l'Ourcine etc. So, since it's so near the city by Metro, I think I'd advise you to do that. PS I wound up eating sandwiches the patients had prepared and they weren't half bad. And the wine was pretty good too.

Go North, Picardie, Pas de Calais, Ghislaine Arabian country (she's reputed to be running a catering Co. now around Paris; maybe she'll cater you some.)From the topic =

My wonderful wife Colette has tired of waiting for a table at Warren's, any suggestions in Portsmouth or Kittery for lobster where we can reserve? ← John, I don't know if you are still in the area, but we had a very nice dinner last night at Latitudes, at Wentworth-by-the-Sea in New Castle. The setting is beautiful, overlooking the marina and the bay. The lobster preparation was unusual--they wood-grilled the tail and steamed the claws in one of those chinese bamboo steamers, which was the way it was presented at the table. My ahi tuna was very rare, served with heirloom tomatoes. ← Nope, we're long gone, by the time you read this I'll be figuring out what's open for lunch in Florence. But thanks. We ate at Capt'n Simeon's and did very well indeed. But thanks very much.

Me too, for both the Chestnut Hill location and Johnnie, who is responsible for introducing me to the virtues of l'Ami Louis, Michel Guerard and jambon sur l'os with a touch of beaujolais at midnight. A great loss. Why haven't we done a tribute to him on eG?; no one except perhaps Julia Childs and James Beard did more to promote fine food in the media in those days.

The Week of August 13th, 2007 August 2nd, in an article titled “The Liturgy of Cassoulet” in Le Point, Olivier Le Naire recommends the Rodriquez family’s Château Saint-Martin Trencavel in Montredon (Aude) and gives Jean-Claude Rodriquez’ recipe. August 5th, member Joe Ray in the Boston Globe had a nice article on the food on the Rue Paul Bert in the 11th featuring restos le Bistrot Paul Bert, l'Ecailler du Bistrot, Le Café Titon + Le Temps au Temps (but not Unico) and the book store La Cocotte and wine store Crus et Découvertes. {While the French press has covered the street’s blossoming, this article, of course, is in English.} Friday, in Le Figaro, there was an article by Juliette Lipman all about expat Americans in Paris and what they do, mentioning them clutching their Zagat’s while going to their favorites: l’Os à Moelle, Chez Juliette, Le Comptoir du Relais, l’Astrance + Fish La Boissonnerie, places along the Hemingway Route: Harry’s Bar, Bar Hemingway + La Closerie des Lilas; for pancakes etc: Breakfast in America, Colette Water Bar, La Cantine du Faubourg, Bound, Thanksgiving, Bagels and Brownies, La Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché, the Real McCoy, Joe Allen + Le Fumoir, the bookstores Shakespeare & Co, Village Voice + Brentano’s and websites The Paris Times, Paris Craigslist.org & Franglo.com as well as three other places: Bikram Yoga Paris, Nail Bar Sephora and le spa Talika at the Pershing Hall. This weekend, in Figaro Madame, Francois Simon reemerged to write a tribute to the 72-year-old Michel Guérard and his “astonishing food” in Eugenie-les-Bains. Recently, there have also been articles about the summer inventions of Dalloyau by Nadia Hamam and Berthillon, by Alexandra Michot as well as three restos on the Riviera - mentioned by Vérnique André: Le Récif, plage de la Bonne-Source, in Pornichet and the Castel Marie-Louise + 14 Avenue in La Baule. Please post comments here and not in the Digest thread.

Lot’s of news of new things and musical chairs on lesrestos.com: to whit: in July, l’Estrapade in the 5th was reprised by a young Béarnaise chef Marc Baucor; and for the rentree: Le Clarisse is opening in the ex-l’Actuel/Casual, 7th, space with a chef Arnaud Mene ex-La Ferme St-Simon, also Chez Pierre Au Palais Royal in the First, in another remake, will have chef Pascal Bataillé, ex-l'Arôme + l'Ami Marcel under the direction of Eric Sertour, ex-Residence Maxim’s + l'Atelier des Compères starting in September, and finally that a new patron arrives at Pearl after the rentree and its new chef is Fréréric Chalette, ex-l’Estrapade, see above. Web Radio du Gout has a few announcements of wine events that I’ll let you read about involving Blaye, Reuilly and the best wines of 2007.

Oh, and in case you didn't read it in the Digest, two Sundays ago, in the NYT travel section, Sarah Wildman wrote about Nantes and suggested eating at La Petite Epicerie, Tabl’o Gourmand, l’Atlantide + La Cigale. You might want to check the rest of the article out as well.

I’ve been a great lover of Legal Seafood, especially in its earliest downtown and Brookline locations. Even in the Pru building I found it good. And a couple a years ago a friend/colleague and I were stuck between planes at Logan and made do very nicely indeed with the one in Terminal B. Finally, just a couple of months ago, Colette and I ate at the one in Terminal C and were pleased. But Sunday, something was off. While my raw-bar assortment was fresh and clearly just shucked, the oysters were pretty tiny and my Portuguese stew/soup had two big slices of what can only be described as chorizo-Spam. Colette’s chowdah was too greasy for my taste though she was delighted with her wood fire-grilled scallops. Unfortunately, our Muscadet Sur Lie, which admittedly, under the best of circumstances, ranges from thin to tasty, was on the very very very thin side. The bill = $73.40 without tip.