russ parsons

Must have been a Monday night. That was my assistant. come clean mark, we know that sometimes it takes more than a tastevin to make a sommelier feel pretty.

my buddy david shaw introduced me to the shakerato, which is apparently all the rage in tuscany, or at least was two years ago, and now it is my summertime morning ritual: double-shot of espresso. good teaspoon of sugar, enough milk to lighten the color of the coffee, 3 ice cubes (not more, not less). put them in a sealed container and shake the shit out of them. it will froth into an icy milkshake. delicious.

it's a quagmire and you're just sticking in your big toe. capitalize varietals, or only when part of a proper name? does the vintage go before or after (2003 Duckhorn Merlot or Duckhorn Merlot 2003)? Special designations in quotes or in parentheses (2003 Duckhorn Merlot "Three Palms" or (Three Palms))? what about if it's a region? what about if it's a special designation that does not refer to a placename, but a quality? ((Special Reserve) or "Special Reserve"). What about the Germans? How would you punctuate this? 2003 JJ Prum Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett (Mosel). my head hurts. in the end, it doesn't really matter. we don't even follow style consistently in the newspaper (in food, we capitalize all varietals; in news they don't).

could well be old beans, i also think it could be hard water. i know from having lived in new mexico that from time to time they would change the water mix or something and even split peas would never soften. frustrating.

it was my impression that everyone with a reservation had gotten a call saying that when the restaurant was ready to reopen, they would be given a chance to reschedule. perhaps i was wrong (if not, figure roughly 4 months of reservations, at 20 tables a night, six nights a week, plus three lunches ... that would seem to be a pretty heroic effort in itself). i'm hardly impartial. thomas is a friend and i know a little of what he is going through with all of this. more to the point, he's a guy who in all the time i've dealt with him -- friendship and before --has always held himself and the people he works with to the most rigorous standards as far as taking care of customers. (further, granted the nypost is a print publication, technically, i think anyone would agree that it--and particularly page 6! -- operate under a slightly different set of criteria from most.)

one thing that's been overlooked in this discussion is that press releases have little effect if no one will pick them up. it's no longer my call, but if i were still editing the section i would be hesitant to run something in my newspaper about tentative opening dates until i had it straight from thomas that the date was very firm. otherwise you wind up in a game of constantly running updates correcting stories you've already run. i suspect most editors feel the same way. anyone who has ever worked with a contractor on a project of any size knows that until the thing is 80% done, any finish date they give you is, at best, wishful thinking. this doesn't fully explain why they haven't addressed the issue on their website, but i suspect the reasoning is the same. Until you get a date certain, all you'd be doing is fanning the flames. i suspect that if they were keeping us regularly updated on the contractor's predicted finish dates, this thread would now be filled with posts about how much we hate the restaurant for leading us on. "bastards said April 15 and I planned my trip and now they say May 1!" Sometimes, in the absence of real information, silence is the best policy ... a dangerous thought on the internet, huh?

i do seem to recall a conversation not too long ago someplace very near here about the ethical difficulties of restaurant critics having friends who are restaurateurs. apparently, that goes even for blurbers who are chefs. it gets to be a very complicated little world.

yup, what he said (i should just post that after everything mark says). but i'm sure he is far from the first warm and folksy tv personality to be that way. more to the point, i honestly always found his food to be second-rate and much of his information even worse. still, that so many people who have now graduated to this website got their start watching him does say something for his contribution. maybe we should regard the frug as cuisine's "gateway drug."

i just discovered the eryingi (sp?). they grill well, but they're really terrific for pickles.

always on my shopping list: strauss family dairy yogurt; pizza dough (the regular), herb salad mix, dried blenheim apricots and dried montmerency cherries. also niman ranch pork. capers. the best mustard. really good cornichons. the cheap olive oil is perfect for cooking.

actually, i only use one pan, though it does take more time. i cook each vegetable in succession in the same skillet. when they're done, i put them in a mixing bowl. when they're all finished, i return them to the skillet for final cooking. and yes, anchovies are absolutely wonderful. once you use them in a ratatouille, you'll hate to leave them out.

customer says to the waiter: "what do you call this soup?" waiter says: "it's bean soup." customer says "I know it's been soup, but what is it now?" (told to me, repeatedly, by a dear old friend who was a writer for groucho). i'm a big fan of bean broth, obviously, but one thing i've never tried: clarifying it? has anyone done this? i've got this fantasy picture of a bean consome with some beautiful cooked beans in the bottom of the bowl and a clear broth on top. i remember years ago john sedlar did a similar thing with posole and it totally rocked. on another matter: i found that cooking beans with the lid off GREATLY increased the cooking time, by a factor of 2 or 3, in fact. furthermore, i found the beans didn't cook as evenly. i strongly recommend covering the pot while cooking them.

of course, this is just a hypothetical discussion since all the things that make ratatouille great--eggplant, peppers, tomatoes--are still 2 or 3 months away from being in season. but i really like to make ratatouille cooking each vegetable separately, then combining them for a short final cooking to meld the flavors.

sorry, assuming too much. the la times website. la times food section

i want to thank everyone for their advice on wines to include in the tasting. the story ran yesterday and is up on the website. be aware, it was intended for the general reader, not the specialist, and i only included wines i could actually buy in southern california. and before i stop making excuses: yes, i know clos st. hune belongs to trimbach. apparently, while i was away my fingers forgot. it will be corrected.

anybody got any good tips?

benno's a great cook, no doubt. the last time i ate at french laundry (just before thanksgiving), we had an amazing meal. afterward, the captain came over and said thomas wanted to talk to me in the kitchen. when i went back, i was handed the phone. thomas was in paris for a meeting and benno had cooked the entire meal. i couldn't tell the difference. ps: there's a really good description of the food in my colleague s. irene virbila's piece in the food section yesterday.

anything deep-fried. they do that amazingly well.

there's actually a funny story (that may even be true) about how currants got their name (obviously they're not related to the ribes family which produces fresh currants). that is in the old days, produce dealers specialized in raisins from corinth (hard to believe, but before, say the early '20s, raisins were an expensive, imported product). try saying corinth a few times with a new york accent.

i use trader joe's as my regular grocery store these days. but i still can't help missing the old days, particularly for wine. they had much more of a "scavenger" operation and were always picking up incredible wines that distributors had decided they couldn't sell and then passing them on at great prices. i remember in hte mid-80s buying 5 to 6-year-old prum ausles riesling for under $5 a bottle.

1) the wax is not harmful. it is intended to help the vegetable retain moisture (moisture loss=wilting). neither does it have flavor. it does have texture, though, which is not good. 2) it will wash off, but it's a pain. soap works (though, of course, you have to rinse well). wax won't wash off a candle, because it is entirely wax (whatever wax washes off, only reveals more wax). 3) don't want to know about the carrot, either.

i'm not sure i'd make ceviche with freshwater fish. too many parasites (many of which can withstand pretty low ph). tilapia is a freshwater fish, but it is farmed, so it might be a little better (though i've never liked the flavor). a good starter for ceviche is raw shrimp. it's clean, firms up well and tastes great.

for tuscany, well, there are more books on tuscan cuisine and wine than just about anyplace else in the world. carla capalba also has a fine guide: something like "food lover's guide to tuscany." if it's emilia-romagna, then you're looking for "the splendid table." there are a couple of other books that anyone who has even a passing interest in food ought to pick up before they go to italy: fred plotkins "italy for hte gourmet traveler" and faith willinger's "eating in italy." i always xerox the applicable chapters before i go and keep them with me for ready reference.

somebody gave me one of those "rabbits" and it works ok. the one i really like is from some knockoff company called "bonjour". the action is much freer, the ratchets work better and the corkscrew seems to work better with older, softer corks.

a friend of mine had great luck on opentable.com. at this point, i'm still not sure what the re-opening date will be.