Marrow Margin

The thread should have been titled, "In the signs of the apocolypse department." Good luck to em. NOT!!!

Groovy. Thanks for that.

Off the subject of Per Se for a moment... I know Stephen Durfee left the Laundry a few years ago, but whatever became of him? Is he still working in the field or has he fled the restaurant biz. I much prefer his work and creativity to Rouxel's--and this is based on first hand taste testing.

Honesty! I'm not sure Keller would know how to take that. But that's what we all wanted. Nice review.

Steep it in your base (simple syrup/additive) and then strain it through a cheesecloth lined chinois--about a million times.

Pricepoint? Get em in the door. Build reputation, therefore client base, jack prices ever so slowly. Amateurs fall away. Die hard foodies remain. It's a strategy that sometimes needs to be employeed in the smaller markets. Though Atl. isn't a smaller market, the food Richard is serving is just experimental enough to make it look like a smaller market (smaller patron base). I think it's another edgy, smart move.

I'll let you in on a little secret...Galway Pipe Australian Tawny. The best.

Valentine's Day is a big time amateur night. You've got to include buzz words into your menus, familiar offerings for the easily confused. Still sounds like Richard ain't working the Applebee's angle however. And that's a comfort. Hit the place on a slow night, like a Monday, call or email ahead that you want the full deal, 31 courses, and I'm sure you'll be singing a different tune about the experience. Asparagus, caramel and parmesan foam?--in a word, sexy.

Jesus...talk about straight out of left field.

And I've been guilty of this time and time again so I'm not bowing pointing poison arrows at any one person...but, I can't stand reviewers who are so into themselves, their own brilliance, that they feel like they need to wax philosophical endlessly about the perfect Oaxacan mole when reviewing the local nickel and dime Taqueria. Often these folks use specialized technical jargon that the general public won't understand so they can justify their paycheck, or worse yet, feel superior to the simple plebs that will read the stuff. "Chef Bubba's metier was fryer work." "The terroir of suburban Newark was ripe with gastronomic possibility." Shut up.

1.5 cups sugar .5 cup water 1 pint blackberries 1 tbsp. blackberry liquor or better yet Chambord .75 cup veal demi glace 1tsp. butter Bring water and sugar to medium dark caramel, drop blackberries in and let them collapse down, add liquor and allow alcohol to burn off, add demi and simmer together for 5 minutes. Mount with a nug of good butter.

This is the sound of me abdicating.

I'm sure if Chef Keller had gone to Raynaud and Gump's and said - I'm not interested in making any money on this - I'm just doing it for posterity - both would have walked/run in the other direction - fast. Robyn Well of course, he's not going to say, "I don't want to make any money off my creations," and of course, Limoges is going to align themselves with the best "French" chef in the world (many may argue to the contrary). Not everything, or much at all is profit motivated in Keller's world. Go to his restaurant and get one of his magic white truffle dishes where they grate the things at the table. You literally have to tell the waiter "when". Last time I checked, the price on Alba tartufo bianco was 2100/lb. I for one would admonish, no, I'd threaten, my waiters to give each diner three slices, no more. And they're always using a fresh, unadulterated truffle,not yesterday's leftovers. Kind of getting off point. Keller's insane attention to detail may be to blame more than his hopes for a world wide switch to Kellerware. By having a non-profitable line of crockery and china but having Keller attached to the company, Limoges is getting more PR out of it than they could possibly hope for. I read the same article and don't remember getting the impression that this line was destined for Bloomingdales. But lets look at the "facts"... EVO, the company...last time I heard they hadn't turned a profit, but the quality of products produced (vinegar and extra V) was first rate, top of the line. The Mac and Cheese MRE...uh, don't really know, but I'm sure Kroger hasn't been contacted. The quality, according to our bud Awbrig, was killer. California Raisins...correlation to sales? Just plain incalculable. This one I can't attach a quality quotient to because I haven't read any market research but I bet the general public ain't hooking up exponentially more dishes using raisins because Keller's pallid face was in the advertising. Profit motives? Tell me Calphalon coming out with a line of Kellerware wouldn't set the amateur gastronomic world on fire and line pockets a lot more effectively than a line of designer china. He chooses things that interest him, that work for him, that he can feel comfortable putting his name to. Fat Guy was dead on.

I concur.

Let us pray that Thomas doesn't receive the press ADNY received upon opening.

We forget, however, the MRE style offering of his Mac and Cheese. Did anyone actually buy the stuff? 30 bucks?

Sounds like it comes from someone who doesn't quite get the whole Keller dynamic. I don't think commercial success is that important to the guy. He's on some cosmic all-encompassing search for the elusive muse, or at least that's what he puts out there via interviews, television and on paper. I mean read Soul of a Chef. He ain't huntin' the cash cow. Keller, as passe as it sounds, is on a different kind of trip. And as Tony pointed out, he's got to be realizing he's nearing his twilight years and he wants his legacy to be "institutions" that are recognized for their full devotion to the culinary ideals set forth by Point in Ma Gastronome, a gastronomic shrine to perfect food. Great coach analogy. I just can't see Thomas being a jet chef however. Man.

Maybe his target market is restaurants (though at first kick it seems a rather narrow idea). I think it'd be odd for David Bouley or Terrance Brennan to be serving food on Thomas Keller china but who knows.... Or maybe he's only interested in the boutique Helen Turley--small batches, word of mouth cottage industry. Look what he did with EVO, his olive oil and vinegar line. As big as he's become he never once put EVO in major markets. The guy's rhyme has a reason, which, at first glance seems to be counter-intuitive but usually proves to be highly thought out. Who knows.

It's just the nature of the feat he's trying to pull off that's got so many Keller supporters blinding their eyes. But you've got to know, and obviously we all do, that Keller has a strategy in place to combat the doubting Thomases. He's got a million highly trained and specialized oompa loompas in his stable to help him achieve his Willy Wonka dream (Charlie, having been playing by many a blue apron). And shit, the guy ain't gonna fail for at least 5 years, what, with the reservation lines frazzled from the influx. No, Chef Keller ain't of this world. He'll pull it off easily, unless he burns from the stress (which should be the real concern.)

Good question. Hey, at least he's not out there hocking toothpaste and Sante Fe chicken sandwiches and cozying up to the ugly creatures that inherit the nether regions of the marketing machine. Limoges? Bouchon? Per Se? Come on. Keller's too much of a control freak (plasma screen connect to the Per Se kitchen) to let his rep slide. He's too much of a vulcan in that respect. You know, I could be wrong and we could be seeing The Thomas Keller Variety Hour on CBS but I'd be willing to wager my next unemployment check that Keller tm is going to redefine the celebrity chef. Funny quote from the man..."If Per Se fails it'll be because the building failed." He's going into this new phase undaunted. Let's hope for the best.

Sometimes it's best to bait the snake. welcome back Bourdain.

Jesus. Is this all it takes to lose Anthony "Champion of the Culinary Poison Pen" Bourdain. I say it's time to pull that tail out of those bony little Everclear saturated legs and start slamming some foie banners again. l

Simply put, cooking is a CRAFT. The products, inventions of that CRAFT are called FOOD, or in some cases, CUISINE. No matter how ornately or intelligently approached, whether or not the chef has gone to extreme lengths to produce high beauty (lumping flavor into this def.) they still don't fit the admittedly loose definition of an artist. Chefs may feel they are artists because they've put together a magnificent plate that no one has ever seen before but that makes them, if anything, a creative and skilled craftsman. Is NORM from This Old House an artist?

Bouchon is very good, best Brasserie I've been too, bar none. But you owe it to yourself to sit down, relax, drink a few sips of this and that, and watch the gastronomic Barnum and Bailey's unfold before your eyes at The French Laundry. I shudder to think of what will become of Mr. Keller's visions when having to split his attention four ways (actually five including the bakery) but if anyone can pull off a Vongrichten better than the man himself it'd be Thomas Keller. Since the Reichl thing that kicked French Laundry press off back in 1994? 1995? Keller has inundated us with his respect and future hopes for his co-workers. From my own interactions with his staff I can see the respect they have for him. He's gonna have some video screen voyeuristic link to Per Se which I think will be good, but in reality, he probably won't need it. What I worry about too, is the personal touch that having Thomas on premises makes. Anyhow, enough pontificating... Get there.

135 per head for the nine course, 115 for the vegetarian and 5 course. They typically do about 90 covers an evening, every evening they're open, even in torrential flooding, earthquake evacuation, etc. Then you figure in wine sales--which is a substantial chunk of change I'm sure, given the fact that they sell boutique wines from the likes of Helen Turley et al. I spent close to a grand with a companion while there. You go to the Laundry to have an experience, a glutton's feast. The trade off in that experience is financial (and at the waistline). When you think about 7 mil. is about right.