pirate

I will be in Milano for a couple of days next month. I would greatly appreciate knowing the 3 highest rated restaurants there.

I'm pleased to find my opinions on Grand Vefour and Violon d'Ingres corroborated by Croque Monsieur. And I especially concur with the comments on fish in Paris.

loufood: Thanks but I meant restaurants. I will be in Paris for 8 days in the middle of October and I wondered about restaurants.

In France one finds "saumon sauvage" listed to distinguish it from the farm-raised salmon. Also line caught as opposed to netted. With respect to animals wouldn't there be some designation? Perhaps there are regulations. Hard information, please.

Yes the enormous prejudice by Michelin for French restaurants in France and elsewhere.

The quality/price ratio at the Flo restaurants is good to very good. When I have my French editors and their wives to dinner I usually choose La Coupole. The ambiance of La Coupole is very Parisian and especially pleasing and flattering to women. I've never had an exceptional dish there except for one. The French have created an elegant version of rice pudding called riz a l'Imperatrice (please pardon the lack of accents). For a number of years I've ordered it when possible. In fact, I even ordered it for the special menu of a dinner party I gave at the legendary Perino's in Los Angeles one time. Not very sucessful. However lunching at La Coupole one day it was on the menu and it was correctly made (Ali Bab would have approved), spectacularly good, never bettered and still fondly remembered.

Isn't Grand Marches part of that "Flo" chain that now owns Balzar?

I was first alerted to Balzar in 1974 by French acquaintance and went a number of times until about half a dozen years ago when all those mentions in American foodie magazines made it very touristy. I read Gopnik's article on the restaurant in the New yorker when it first appeared (after I had stopped going). Gopnik's article is filled with journalistic exaggeration and dramatization. I agree with John Whiting's assessment of the restaurant.

I ate at the Bristol six months before "paulbrussel" . A a la carte lunch: scallop dish followed by duck. Frechon in charge and in the kitchen. I agree with the "paulbrussel" rating.

"dislike" or envy

I looked at my bookshelf and found three books not mentioned. They are physically beautiful books almost works of art by themselves (that's why I bought them) written in Italian with Engish translations. Not knowing Italian I don't know how good the English translations are. All were published by Editrice de "Il Vespro" Addresses in Milano and Palermo. 1. Antonella Santolini "Roma in Bocca" (1976) Preface by Piero Chiara 2. Ambra Ferrarri "Emilia in Bocca" (1977) Preface byFranco Cristofori 3. Grazietta Butazzi "Toscana in Bocca" (1977) Preface by Tino Buazzelli

Weinhaus Weibel and Steirereck are my two favorite restaurants in Vienna

For years I followed the the culinary wisdom dished out by endless cooks on TV and in books, I slavishly timed my dry pasta cooked at home to the dictates of the package instructions. Strangely I was never happy with with the results. The pasta was too firm. I used big pots and a huge overabundance of water. So about a year ago I decided to add 30 to 50% to the recommended cooking times and ended up with tender but not mushy pasta. So I'm culinarily incorrect. The pasta is undoubtedly not "al dente"; too soft to be called that. Rice and risotto next!

to Torakris: Very helpful post. Among "palate cleansers" at a top-notch place was a shiso leaf sandwiched beteen two thin slices of daikon. Some of the sushi spread a sweet sauce (mirin?). The quality of the rice was astonishing and made me realize how important a component it is. Getting back to shiso, there are many important medical and nutrative properties of plant leaves. For example, the stinging nettle contains an antidiarrhetic and an antidiabetic. Do shiso leaves have such properties?

In the USA besides there not being a wide choice of sauces at top NYC places like Kuruma Zushi and Sushi Yasuda, very knowledgable clients sitting next to me would mix soy sauce and wasabi together before dipping anything. I got the impression that this was the proper procedure. However in Tokyo at equivalent places, besides the choice of sauces accompanying dishes was much wider and the quality of rice vastly superior, the sushi cook would frown and replace my mixture of wasabi and sauce with a clean dish everytime. With no comment but the message was clear.

Robert Brown: Rather interesting post. What sprang to mind was Wagner's term "gesamtkunstwerk" for his opera productions. It seems that the same term applies to the Adria's culinary productions.

John. I ate there once. Very classic. I vaguely remember having turbot fresh and simply prepared. The clientele struck me as knowledgable eaters; a good sign in my estimation. It seemed a bit pricey but I definitely didn't rule out returning.

The specific intersection with M.Vrinat is unlikely and Taillevent, with three stars is now much harder to get into and the cuisine has changed. But there are restaurants around the world that treat clients in just as nice a way, and many are posted on egullet, which is why it's such a valuable resource.

Correction: The French restaurant at the Gravenbruech Kempinski had one Michelin star at the time. The German restaurant did not. Quality of lamb: I've generally found it higher in Germany than in France. For example a bit later on that Paris visit in 1971 I ate at Chez Albert which had two Michelin stars and had "Carre' d'agneau aux aromates" listed as a specialty in Michelin. It was tough and of poor quality.

The entries on the L'Ambrosie thread bring to mind an instance of being cajoled into expressing myself in French. It was 1971. I had flown into Paris and decided to dine at Taillevent which at that time had two Michelin stars. It was a weekday night and I arrived without reservations. M. Vrinat himself greeted me and showed me to a table. I don't quite remember how it happened but I probably gave some indication of knowing French. M.Vrinat insisted on my ordering in French and was very patient and understanding. Well I wanted the rack of lamb on the menu for two. He agreed to offer it for one (and in fact I got the full rack for two at half price). These came with pommes de terre sarlaidaise which are potatoes fried in goose fat with sliced black truffles. I had noticed that a nearby table had these served without truffles but I got truffles. I did struggle with ordering a wine. M. Vrinat proposed a Cte be Beaune I didn't want. I finally came up with "quelque chose plus corse' " and ended up with an excellent Nuits Clos des Porrets. The rack of lamb was the best I've had in France , only equalled by a rack of baby lamb in France and a rack of lamb at the Gravenbruech Kempinski in Frankfurt (when its German restaurant had one Michelin star). The latter was served with quince (it was October) which propelled the dish to greater heights. I have been addressed in French in restaurants many times but have never conversed since.

Can't speak to the restaurant but the museum is magnificent. Exterior used as home of character played by Louis Jourdan in the motion picture "Gigi"

Yes, I lunched there on Thursday, the 26th of June. $45 for three courses. Drinks tax and service added $37 to that. Started with excellent sashimi of kampachi. Then the chef sent out a dish of potato gnocchi with a creamy basil (?) sauce as an extra. It was delicious.The main dish was swordfish which was the daily special. This was a letdown. The fish was too mushy to be really fresh. Dessert was a pistachio semifreddo with chocolate. I liked the "micro" strawberry shortcakes that came with coffee better. Service high grade and friendly. It was a hot day and I wore an open shirt and light cotton twill pants. I was seated at an excellent table.

In the earlier post it should be "mouths" not "months" for the quote from Root. Among the restaurants mentioned by John Whiting I've only eaten at Chez la Mere Michel. It was in 1982. The turbot with beurre blanc and the omelette souflee au rhum were superb. A return in 1983 or 1884 was a disappointment. I believe the restaurant closed soon thereafter, not surviving the original owners. There was a restaurant specializing in Cahors wine in the 11th called A Sousceyrac. I've ate there several times in the 80's. The food was classic and correct. The one memory I retain is the time I liked two main dishes on the menu and ordered both (in sequence). The patron came over and warned me it was too much He was right.

Since Ducasse's interview in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago, in which his strictly business approach is highlighted, and the ensuing development of his empire, I've stayed away from his restaurants. Is this latest scheme a way to get publicity as a saviour of French cuisine while also finding talent for his empire? I was fortunate enough to eat twice at Aux Lyonnais at its height, difficult as it was to book. Let me quote in part from Waverley Root's Paris Dining Guide (1969) "The Lyonnais is (1) the best Lyonnais restaurant in Paris;(2) one of the three best bistros in Paris;and (3) one of the dozen best restaurants of any category in Paris. You will understand here why Lyons is considered agastronomic capital, although all of M. Violet's fellow Lyonnais do not take as many pains as he does to demonstrate it. For instance, rebelling against the insipid taste of artificially bred trout - which is all that ordinarily can be had, since the government forbids selling brook trout commercially -he imports from Guilvinec, in Brittany, the sea trout which can be legally taken in the river mouths during a very short season in the fall. M.Violet's menu is a model document. It describes exactly the dishes he presents, and from time to time tosses in a bit of extra information. Under the name of that typical Lyonnais dish, hot sausage, you read 'In Lyonnais families, hot sausage is eaten with butter and boiled potatoes'. ......" You can understand why I termed Ducasse's Aux Lyonnais a Disneyland version. Edited to make correction noted by Pirate in a later post.

All the references to genes brought to mind that there are books and websites relating blood types and nutrition.