robert40

tasting menu = $64. with wine pairing = $104. well worth it. ← My, my. It's just a little over a year later and the dinner is $75 and degustation is $155. Now, I've never been (but am contemplating a visit on my next trip to D.C.), so I don't know if the price reflects a change in the number of courses, etc... I just looked up Komi's menu. Can anyone enlighten me as to what Orata mi alati might be? It's listed as a main course (for 2, served with local beets). Alas, I don't speak Greek, and neither does my Google. u.e. ← Dorade. Sea Bream. etc. etc Don't miss Komi my friend. I'm not sure if there's another restaurant out there at the moment that I could recommend more.

Robert, I know that you have wanted to pull a Griswald's and road trip to Bianco for over a year. The fact that you and your family actually did it for Pizzeria Bianco and that you loved it is so great. The trip looked fantastic by the photos that you took. Best, Eliot ← It just may take another year to recover.

Before anyone passes judgement that I am a raving lunatic please remember this site is for those passionate about all things food. And we often do things which some may find a bit out of the ordinary in our quest for it. Which may explain my cross country drive to Pizzeria Bianco from upstate NY. I can't say much other then what has been said before. It was absolutely worth it to my family and I. We sampled everything on the menu but one salad. ( After 2,500 miles why not?) Chris Bianco was a pleasure to talk to after our meal and could not have been nicer. Truly passionate about his work. Some photos for those interested. http://www.flickr.com/photos/84954050@N00/...57600966565712/

Outstanding! Full report to come. Better then my meal at ad hoc last week. Also met Chris who passed out tee shirts to the family. Great guy.

Doing lines in the bathroom of Chez Sophie? I am at a lost for words Sophie Parker is likely turning over in her grave.

I was eating dinner at El Celler Can Roca in early May with my wife. After the meal, one of the best in my life incidentally, I was visiting the kitchen on invitation from our waiter. He mentioned that they had an American chef from Chicago now working there who could show us around. The chef came out and I told him I love Chicago and in fact had wonderful meal at Butter. His face brightened and said "I opened Butter." I looked at him again more carefully and asked "what is your name". He said "Ryan Poli." I was so shocked it didn't even occur to pry into HOW he ended up there. I live in Seattle but have been to Butter twice and met Ryan once on my first visit. I am embarrassed to say I did not recognize him right off the bat. I guess I was just not expecting him there of all places. Anyway, that is where he is: working at Celler Can Roca. -K ← I would assume he is doing a stage.

Just a side note. This is only speculation on my part and I have no idea if I am correct or not. Yet I can't help but wonder if Komi's closing this week is due to Johnny Monis attending the Aspen Food & Wine Classic? If so I am amazed! I realize it is a small restaurant with a small staff. But it is very unusual for a chef to close based on not being in-house for a couple days. Bills continue to roll in and the thought of closing is unheard of in the industry. I once worked at a extremely well known restaurant in the DC area and at times we would not see the chef in two weeks. Never mind two days. Truly impressive and certainly a sign of extreme dedication.

Luckily we don't need to wait to the 19th to read Food and Wine magazines article. http://www.foodandwine.com/bestnewchefs/

Which route are you taking? 81 to 88 then 87. NY State Thruway? Also if you make it in 7 hours your doing some serious driving. Edited to add. Pretty good timing Doc. We must be on the same wavelength.

Once I managed a kitchen where we had brick oven pizza's on the menu. They were offered in two sizes: Small= 1 to 2 servings and large 3 maybe 4 servings. During service one evening a server walked into the kitchen mumbling under her breath about cheap people and them not getting bread. Curious that there may be a problem I inquired. She hesitated but finely informed me table such in such only ordered one small pizza and there were four at the table. I let her know it was the restaurants policy to serve bread to all tables and if she was going to take it upon herself to discriminate she could punch out now. In the mean time I took notice of the table as this restaurant had a open kitchen. Seemed to be a family of four and based on my gut feeling I made the following decision. I cooked a large pizza and told the server to bring it to the table and explain my mistake and their small will be out shortly. On the other hand I can totally relate to your frustration! I can't count the times I seen red over getting split plate orders. And imagine those restaurants where the order must be split in the kitchen? It can call chaos on the line. Yet in the end I would hope it all balances out by those diners who go all out in ordering: Tasting menus, extra app. or dessert. Or at least I would like to hope so. I can guarantee you that naturally a plate charge is a option. But there will be those who will be annoyed by it. Even more so if your restaurant has been around awhile and long time customers notice a sudden policy change. Like those who commented up thread this is the hospitality business and many in the industry tend to forget that. More then anything we can only second guess what someones situation may be who is sitting in our dining room. Would your opinion change if you approached the party of four one evening and in conversation one confides they have half their stomach eaten away with cancer and can't finish a whole entree? Or a fathers out of work yet really wants to take his family out to raise their spirit's? Such is life and we really never know for sure. For the record.. The restaurant did not eat the loss of the large pizza. I paid for it myself.

I have to say I am envious of those above who have recipe notes/cards from generations before. I would gladly exchange every cook book I have along with a few fingers for such a gift. I recall a conversation with my mother shortly before her death where she wished to index every recipe she had. I told her not to be silly and how she sounded a bit morbid. She smiled and said death is part of living son and you can trust there will come a time you wish you had these recipes. She was right!

A signed one in 200 special edition copy of the French Laundry cookbook.

Chris, I must have been in denial over the last few years trying to convince myself I was just unlucky in locating Inner Beauty. Now you confirmed my suspicion that they stopped production. It truly was a wonderful sauce with depth of flavor and not just heat.

Rarely am I so impressed by a restaurant or have my expectations so far exceeded. And if so, after only one visit I often will withhold comment thinking it may be a anomaly. Maybe the stars just happened to align perfectly for me last Friday but I can't hold back. Run to Komi... Don't walk. This young chef and small staff is doing some amazing things and taking no short cuts. Recently picked as one of Food and Wine magazines 10 best new chefs for 2007 is well deserved. I am sure it has been said before that the room is small and understated with the focus on the food. Which is fine with me as it was warm and inviting with a neighborhood feel. My wife and I ordered the degustazione menu with wine paring included. Derek Brown the sommelier formerly of Citronelle did a outstanding job of paring wines to the something like 22 or 23 different course's which we had over a four hour time. Looking back, how I wish I would have wrote them down but this was one of those rare meals where your afraid to do anything that will distract your attention from the experience. Not one course was disappointing. Small charred padron peppers with a sunchoke panna cotta filled with a quail egg yolk and topped with caviar. House chorizo sliced paper thin over scallop ravioli with cauliflower was delicious. Boudin Blanc with morels was off the chart's good. I found the small labor intensive items Chef Monis adds to each dish truly impressive. Like the venison mousakka next to the loan. Or the morcilla as a side to the squab. He cures many items in house which adds a whole other element of flavor to a dish. This is a chef who seems to take the extra steps to take each dish to another level regardless of the amount of effort it takes. I see a lot of chefs out there getting a whole lot more press who would benefit from getting a cooking lesson from Johnny Monis. I know for a fact if I was ten or fifteen years younger I would be knocking on his door asking for a stage. Komi can hold it's own next to some of the top meals I ever had and I can't wait to return.

I am not sure I agree that someone wishing to learn about haute cuisine for the first time should visit WD50. Or any of the restaurants serving a more modern cuisine. I guess a good analogy is one needs to crawl before they can walk. There is a huge population out there who have no idea what a fresh peach taste like. Or the basic traditional cooking technique's practiced for years. I would recommend visiting a restaurant like Jean George or Per Se and experiencing what a Frog Hollow peach taste like, or a chicken from Four Story Hill farm. That can be a revelation in itself for one learning about great food for the first time. Then after that one can move on to what the Liebrandt's and Dufresne's of the world are doing.

Just shows you never know how a thread will end once you start it.

Prior to above he had a very small place in Scotia that I enjoyed.

There is a seasonal local hamburger joint in my area called Jumping Jacks located in Scotia, NY. Once heard it was the top grossing restaurant in the Capital District. It recently opened for the season last week with all the local radio and TV stations giving it full attention. I don't get it and never will! Totally mediocre food that's not even a step up from any other fast food chain. The only explanation I see, is that it's been around for generation's and people hold it dear to their hearts for sentimental reasons. Which I guess I can understand.

Just to give an idea of what people are offering around here: You can make 15 dollars an hour working at a Donut or coffee shop, a 16 year old kid can get 15 dollars an hour at a chain restaurant, and during the summer you can flip burgers and make club sandwhiches at a golf course for 15 dollars an hour (sometimes more). Hell, 14 year old kids in fast food restaurants start at 10 dollars an hour these days... Outside of the hospitality business, you can START a trade with zero experience, have your training paid for, get full benefits, and a 15 dollar an hour wage out of the gate (after 1 year goes up to 20 an hour, after a few years and you recieve your ticket it goes to 30-45 dollars an hour, depending on the trade). You can do just about any thoughtless manual labour and make 15-20 dollars an hour. For 15 dollars an hour all you should expect is someone to come in sober, and be able to learn simple tasks. I've worked in fine dining restaurants where the garde- manger cook was a homeless guy they brought in off the street, because that's the only person that was willing to work for their wage... ← But you see this may be the very problem that the industry is now facing. Before anything, I can't help but believe many culinary students are disillusioned by the wealth and fame of the Ducasse's, Keller's and Jean Georges of the world. I'm still a firm believer in the notion that this business is driven on passion and the love of the job and not the ambition of getting rich. This is not saying hard working people are not entitled to a decent wage. With that said. At what point can the average little Sally's Italian Cafe in No-Wheres ville USA afford 20 dollar an hour cooks? And at what point can the average owner be assured his/her grill cook will show up Saturday night without a hangover? What will that simple expectation cost 20, 25 dollars a hour? I just can't see the small time owner other then the chains affording that kind of unskilled labor cost. Iv'e seen cases of chefs having to pay the off the charts cost of peeled and deveined shrimp because it was more cost affective then paying the labor of a cook taking half the day to do it.

As for myself, I would have not hesitated paying top dollar if you had the chops to back it up. But I had cases when I told so-called experienced cooks to break down a few tenderloins only to come back and find them portioned but untrimmed. If one can't handle the very basics as that I have a hard time justifying their demand for 15 dollars a hour. And that may be the lowest level of a example, the highest being please don't smoke crack next to the dumpster. I believe the talent pool is lacking in the mid-level restaurants throughout the country which most likely reflects about 90% of all.

Wish I would have gotten advice like this before my drive to Di Fara's a few months ago.

I am planning on taking my son next week. Needless to say I'm a bit apprehensive now being we share about the same driving distance to the city. Certainly not a trip around the block.

With the way culinary schools are pumping out student's you would think this would not be a fact of the industry. But unfortunately it is. I can't count the times I have been in your position. Full of optimism and drive and the desire to succeed and produce a quality product. Only to find myself burned out in six months taking everything on my own shoulders. I kid you not when I say there were times when I took staff to the finest restaurants in NY if I thought I seen a spark of enthusiasm in a prospective cook. I did anything possible to enlighten a passion within them, even if it was out of my own pocket. Mostly to no avail as the realization hit me that many are not there for the same reason as I was. Many were looking for weekend beer money and had no other expectations or desire. Unfortunate fact of the business. Keep trying and hopefully you will get lucky.

Outstanding thread Bryan! Loving every moment of it. For those interested in seeing photos of Gagnaires truffle menu see link. http://chuckeats.com/blog3/2007/03/29/pier...value/#more-132 For the longest time Gagnaire refused photo taking in the dining room. Whatever his reasoning I'm glad he changed the policy.