jordyn

According to the Cabrales' initial message, proceeds from the cart go to the upkeep of the park.

I was going to recycle another thread, but this board needs more topics. I'm going to be in D.C. next week, and I need to figure out where to eat. Assuming it's not too hard to get reservations, I'll probably visit Elysium one night. At least one other night I'm hoping to stay within my company's $30-ish cap for reimbursed dinners. Here are my questions: 1) Any suggestions for a moderately priced dinner, preferably within the District proper? 2) Assuming price is not the issue on the other night, suggestions? 3) Is the Grapeseed Inn still serving Steve KLC inspired desserts? 3a) Is the Grapeseed Inn anywhere near public transportation? 4) Is there anywhere good to eat lunch near 1300 I, NW?

There are links to a number of wine lists on the Certain Restaurants' Wine Lists thread. More on topic, I've long felt that if I had to eat at one restaurant for the rest of my life, Cafe Boulud would be a good choice. Then again, maybe I've been lucky in feeling that the menu has always felt relatively fresh and interesting. [Fixed to make more interesting.]

My favorite tool lately is a digital voice recorder. New ones of these are very small, so they can be used quite unobtrusively, and I can talk a lot faster than I can write, so when I'm dining with other people, they don't get as annoyed that I'm paying so little attention to them. The only problem is that you have to eventually transcribe your notes, which means in the long run this is definitely not a time saver... I've recently seen very small digital cameras that include voice recording functionality as well, which might be an even more useful tool.

I'm far from the expert in this, but apparently corks suck. I think I've read here on eGullet that most wine spoilage is due to cork problems. New Zealand is leading the way in moving from cork to screwtops for serious wine. The New Zealand screwcap wine seal initiative has banded together a bunch of wine producers who all make use of screwcaps. The referenced webpage has a lot of information. This article describes a more general trend towards screwtops, and some of the reasons why.

Fat Guy: As Steve Klc and lizziee have already pointed out, your argument is as persuasive as it is articulate. As you recognize, anonymity can serve a useful role in providing consumer protection, and I think it's important not to understate the value of that role, but perhaps there is a way to use both anonymity and announced interactions with restaurants to acheive the best of both worlds. I can't articulate what that way is, but I'm sure cleverer people might come up with something.

I've been stopping into Annisa quite frequently recently--nearly once a week, although sometimes only for dessert. It is a comfortable place where I go if I want to be sure of excellent service, good food and interesting wine. This is a strange oasis in New York where everyone seems to be nice, from the greeting by the matire d' to the last plate picked up by a bus boy as you get ready to head out. These good spirits seem to rub off on the patrons as well. Almost everywhere you look, there are glowing, happy faces. Of course, the food probably contributes to that contended look as well, and last night, I had my best meal yet at Annisa. Indeed, it was my best meal in New York for quite some time. A brief recap: 1) Amuse. Sadly, the amuse at Annisa, some sort of fish over white bean paste in a pastry shell, ceases to be amusing after the third or fourth time (as you can see, it was the same way back when Yvonne first visited and is still going strong...) This time the fish was salt cod. Fortunately, the meal got better as it went on. We opted for the five course tasting menu. A seven course tasting menu (which includes a cheese course and one more savory course) is also available. 2) Clam salad. Served in a hollowed-out tomato and over watermelon ice, this dish presented a slight amount of sweetness against a moderate amount of acid from the tomato. Although I thought this dish was fine, the competing textural elements (clams vs tomato vs ice) made it slightly hard to put together coherent bites. 3) Foie gras soup dumplings. Yvonne described these above. Mmm..... A perfect excuse to order a glass of the Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling. 4) Skate. Lightly fried, in a beet emulsion with a drizzle of dijon mustard. As I mentioned in my recent write-up of Blue Hill, beets are not typically a food I enjoy. Mike Anthony's anchovy and beet amuse got me thinking a little bit about that premise, but this dish completely turned me around. The skate itself was a thing of beauty: a small wing, fried to provide a thin layer of crispness at the edge, with gloriously soft meat cut into thin slices. The beet emulsion turned a nice piece of fish into a fantastic dish, lending some sweetness and a slight bitterness while simultaneously giving the plate a dazzling splash of red. A bit of wasabi staged a surprise appearance, providing a bit of heat to counteract any chance the emulsion might become cloying. As Yvonne mentioned, the portions at Annisa are quite small, and I found myself wishing I could order seconds (or thirds!) of this dish. 5) Lamb shank. Shredded, served with mint and oval basil. I was expecting a bit of a let down after the skate, but this dish was excellent as well. Neither the mint nor the basil were prominent notes within the dish, but acted as effective foils to bring out the meatiness of the lamb so that it was not overwhelmed by a pleasant amount of fat. Compared to the rack of lamb offered on the menu, this dish is more flavorful and more satisfying, if slightly less appealing visually. 6) Dessert. My dining companion and I were served separate desserts. She: Chocolate bread pudding with banana puree. Now that I can't get Sam Mason's carrot cake at Atlas, this is the best dessert that I know how to buy. The chocolate is deeply flavored, slightly dense, and just sweet enough to satisfy on its own merits. The banana puree is a light froth with a mild banana flavor, a perfect complement to the chocolate in almost every sense. I stole the plate halfway through dessert because I needed some. Me: Blueberries in a lemon sauce. This was straightforward, simple, and quite good. A gooey, lemony syrup with perhaps a slight hint of creaminess and nice, perfectly ripened blueberries. Accompanied by light, buttery madelines.

Steve: I think there's a distinction between asking a chef to do it his/her way and having the chef actually provide you with the very best meal that they are capable of. In many places, a well-known critic is more likely to get the chef's best possible effort than a typical diner. Maybe not in the places you listed, but certainly a lot of places that eGulleters eat at.

Steve P: I'm not disagreeing that a large amount of the gap between reviewer and typical diner can be made up. But it's work, and who knows exactly what approach is going to work at what place? Especially for a diner with a budding interest in fine dining as opposed to an experienced epicure, it may be difficult to communicate interest to the staff in a manner that is sufficiently compelling. Regarding your examples of places turning out fabulous meals to a lot of people every night, I'll go along and agree that the places you list perform to the absolute peak of the kitchen's capacity for every diner every night. However, you've listed off essentially a collection of the best restaurants in the world; I'm perfectly willing to agree that we should have a different approach for reviewing the best restaurants in the world as opposed to pretty good restaurants in New York City.

I find it unlikely that he could produce such a meal for all of his customers every night.

Fat Guy: Numerous trains of thoughts are crossing. Let me clarify the extent of my argument: 1) Generally, a known critic will receive better treatment in a restaurant than a typical restaurant patron. It may be possible to overcome this gap, but all it takes is the byline for the critic to get the special treatment. In some cases, this variance can be considerable. Reichl seemed to think this was the case at the old Le Cirque--I'm sure there are other examples as well. 2) You're undoubtedly correct that a critic would be unlikely to request the crazy special meal that you describe. I only brought this issue up, because Steve P has suggested that he would *like* the description of such a meal. If such a meal were created, it seems likely that it might not be available every night to every customer, because it would be a crazy effort and almost definitionally unusual. 3) It can be useful to know what a typical diner might expect in a restaurant. That's it. That's the entire extent of my argument. You seem to be suggesting that the typical diner and the critic are likely to be treated equally. Do you really believe that?

I agree with what Wilfrid wrote completely. I just think he'd get a different off the menu meal than Ruth would. I also agree with Steve's last long message about how great eGullet is.

Wilfrid: I'm not aware of any, but I don't have a very good insight into restaurant industry intrigue so I'm not privvy to very man secrets. However, I would suspect a large number of places would be able to concot a special meal if a well-known critic announced his or her presence and asked the kitchen to do its best. Steve P and Fat Guy seem to be indicating that I could enjoy the same meal, if only I know about it.

Steve P: By and large, I agree with everything you wrote. More information is good. One useful data point is the average diner's likely experience. That particular goal is facilitated through truly anonymous reviewers, if such a thing were possible. This doesn't mean that it's not useful to know a whole lot of other information about the restaurant as well. Some people will find various data points more interesting; others will find it less interesting. I really don't think we're at odds over general principles. In terms of availability of special meals, you may be correct that restaurants are willing to put together more expensive and luxurious meal for those willing to pay (then again, others may not--as we discussed on the tasting menu thread a while back, some restaurants may prefer conformity to the menu for consistency's sake). Do you think that this represents the same experience that one of the most powerful critics in the country is likely to receive? Does paying twice as much money give you the same stature in the restaurant as someone who can make or break the place's future? I suspect the answer is no, but I confess I have no good data points because I've never dined with a famous critic, nor am I aware of any secretly orderable fancy menus that I might try to enjoy.

Fat Guy: Plotnicki has expressed a desire to know about the best possible meal at a place. This may or may not include secret dishes, but seems unlikely to be order-able. ("Please just treat me like you do William Grimes, okay?") One can attempt to gain an understanding of that meal, and even to try and reproduce elements of it, but I would be surprised if the average diner had ready access to it. You yourself pointed out that restaurants do not perform consistently at their top level because of the vague threat that the average diner might be a reviewer; if they know you are *not* one, why would they get any closer? I agree it's good to know about the range of a place if you are going to be eating there multiple times, but suspect that this has nothing to do with anonymity.

Why do you feel you can't have it? Because, even if I can order whatever secret dishes the critic got, I certainly can't simply ask for the same level of service and attention the critic would have received. Since service is an integral part of the meal, this almost ensures a differential between the critic's meal and mine. I'm not sure I can even get the secret dishes, though. Does anyone have examples of fabulous items mentioned in a review or write-up of a New York restuarant that are not on the menu? I will be glad to go try and order them at various places as part of a survey of such things.

Fat Guy: With the exception of allowing bias to remain hidden, what are the negatives to anonymity that you see as being so overwhelming: Steve P: The best meal is perhaps an interesting read, but so far at least, not very relevant to me. Most of the time I can't have it, so why do I care that someone else did? Wouldn't anonymous reviewers encourage restaurants to perform as close to their perfect level as possible, knowing that any potential diner could be a reviewer?

I'm with Cabrales and Nesita on this one. My reaction to Grammercy is similar to the one that Fat Guy described in his write-up of the French Laundry: very good...but, perhaps, boring. This judgement is made over the course of a mere two meals, so it's hardly conclusive, but the place just doesn't do as much for me as it seems to for many here. I remember the first time I ate there, ordered a tasting menu, and subsequently spent most of the meal wishing I had instead selected the vegetarian tasting menu that two other members of our party were enjoying. On my second visit, I enjoyed the food more, but found the service to be a bit perfunctory and slightly condescending. I like the place fine, but it's not the restaurant I dream about when I go to sleep at night.

Wimpy: Prepaid SIMs are offered in France, probably even at most ports of entry. As Cabrales points out, this will have the effect of changing your phone number to a French one, so calls to your U.S.-based number will not reach you.

You have leaped to an incorrect conclusion. No matter. You are not the first, by a long shot.

Fat Guy: To the extent that at least one restaurant accountant has indicated that corkage represents a "wet dream" to them economically, how is your position that BYO is appropriate in only the most exceptional of circumstances supportable?

Jaybee: To the extent that there is some discussion taking place regarding the appropriateness of taking advantage of a restaurant's BYO service, it is reasonable to engage in a discussion of the economics of that service, as well as a diner's potential motivations for taking advantage of it

Lizziee: I think your idea is great. I wonder how it would affect the ability of the publication to attract quality reviewers, however.

Woah. Are you suggesting that at an otherwise empty table, the marginal cost of serving that table is greater than the price charged for food ordered plus a $25 (let's assume that's per person) corkage fee? If so, that seems like an insanely bad business model.

Glenn: Thanks for your insight so far. With regards to BYO, what is the view that the management of the restaurant that you are affiliated with takes? Is it allowed? Is there a perception that BYO people are trying to get something for nothing, or somehow acting in a manner that is at odds with the financial interest of the restaurant?