lizziee

As always southern girl, I love your posts, but also, as always, I read them before dinner! Can't wait for the next installments - Gary Danko and French Laundry.

Bux, A balanced menu does not necessarily mean boring. In fact, if a meal put my palate to sleep, this is an unbalanced menu. I totally agree with you that the master chef "balances a meal on the greatest number of scales." The balance could be the surprise, the jolt, variations on a single theme, or what I originally referred to as the symphony. Some symphonies are bombastic, some are gentle, but each is able to hold together in the end. Thinking about those chefs that I most admire and those meals that I have found extraordinary, there is a huge spectrum of taste sensations. Regis Marcon presents mushrooms in all its guises; this is a balance on a theme. At L'Arnsbourg, Chef Klein bombards you with unique flavors, different textures, taste surprises; his balance is his variety. Thomas Keller takes what is ordinary and transforms it to haute cuisine with each dish building to a grand climax. On the other hand, Au Crocodile seemed to have no rhyme or reason to its tasting menu. It was just a collection of dishes that not only by itself were mediocre but taken as a whole were less than the parts. Maybe, then, what I mean by balance is that the great menu is more than its parts; it excites, it stimulates and it builds. Chefg actually said it best on his last post on Trio: "It (our menu) is designed to flow from beginning to end in a progression of flavors, textures, techniques and temperatures."

From the SF Chronicle ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE INSIDE SCOOP Chef Laurent Manrique makes a move to Aqua Campton Place left with no replacement GraceAnn Walden Wednesday, February 5, 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a world-class shocker, chef Laurent Manrique is leaving Campton Place at the end of next month to become executive chef for Aqua Development Corp., the parent company of four-star Aqua in San Francisco's Financial District. When he starts in mid-April, he will immediately concentrate on Aqua restaurant, which has been leaderless since executive chef Michael Mina left several months ago. In addition to Aqua, Manrique will also oversee Charles Nob Hill, also in the city, and Pisces in Burlingame. The group's Redwood Park restaurant closed Jan. 7 and has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Another part of this multiple reservation issue is the fact that once you are known at a restaurant, become a regular diner, always either keep your reservation or cancel in a timely manner and show up on time, you receive favored status. This is obviously irksome to the first timer or occasional diner who wants a prime time reservation at a "hot" restaurant, but once you are known as reliable, you are rewarded for it. Personally, I would much rather see credit card guarantees so these endless reservation games could be a thing of the past.

vserna posted this on the Spain board and I didn't want it to be lost: Christian Parra retired and sold his restaurant last year. But, lo and behold (and good surprise!) he has now teamed up, as part of what he calls "active retirement", with Alain Ducasse to re-open the Iparla, the village square café in tiny Bidarray, a few miles inland from Biarritz. They have installed a top notch team with Alain Souliac (cook), Michel Mialhe (maître d') and Martine Barbot (sommelier), and Christian insures the supervision, which I guess means they will have his signature 'boudin noir' black pudding - the best in the world. They're re-opening March 1, and next year will open a village hotel. Ducasse has bought a house in Bidarray - back to his roots.

carpet bagger, A scrumptious post!!!! I absolutely agree with you that Los Angeles has been crying out for this type of restaurant. This is a real find and exemplifies fine dining at its best. A double thanks to sound for encouraging carpet bagger and myself go to Sona. One of the things I was most impressed with was David Meyer's excitement to "cook" for people who really want to eat fine food. When I said to him that we were excited to be there, he said he was equally excited to have us there and be able to cook for us. We have reservations next week! One question, carpet bagger. I assume the wines were from your cellar. Did they keep the corkage at $15 per bottle?

Lyle, Thank you so much for your comprehensive overview of the Dallas restaurant scene. I greatly appreciate the time and effort it took. If you would, would you play an "I wish game" and let me know what you think is lacking in the Dallas scene and what you wish would open? Do you favor tasting menus over a la carte? What do you consider a fair price for a tasting? Is an extensive wine list important to you? What is the general level of service at a fine dining restaurant? What cuisine is under-represented in Dallas? Does Dallas seem to be ignored as a fine dining city? Thank you in advance for helping with my many, many questions.

threesheets and Lyle, I will be in Dallas this weekend and as of now the only reservation we have is at The Mansion on TC. From reading GuideLive, it seems that they rate French Room and Nana very highly. Do these two restaurants live up to their reputation? What other fine dining restaurants would you suggest? Romantic is not an issue, but excellent cuisine and fine dining is important.

Alain Soliveres is one of the most overlooked chefs in Paris. When he was at Les Elysees, he was, as Patricia Wells noted, performing brilliantly. My assumption is that if he is still performing at that level and now has the added edge of Taillevent's service, Taillevent is a must reservation.

This was on the Ask Tom chat done by Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Tom, I have five reservations in L.A. for Valentine's Day, four of which I need to cancel this week. Melisse, Patina, Campanile, Lucques and Spago. Do you know enough about the scene out there to help me out? Tom Sietsema: Having eaten at them all in the past year and a half, my vote goes to the wonderful Spago in Beverley Hills (better than the original, in my opinion) followed by Campanile on S. La Brea Ave. P.S. PLEASE, please do diners everywhere a favor and cancel the remaining reservations TODAY. You have no idea what a problem it creates for guests and hosts alike when you fail to do so. Merci. Washington, D.C.: Tom: The issue of people reserving at several restaurants is HUGE. They rarely cancel and this is why restaurants must overbook. We are dependent on the turning of the tables because the profit margin is so narrow. It is a tricky balance for us and sometimes all of the overbookings show up and ironically we are accused of being greedy. Making multiple reservations is selfish and generally the same people who do this are the ones who scream the loudest when their table is not ready when they show up at an overbooked restaurant. David Hagedorn Tom Sietsema: Thanks for sharing the restaurateur's position. To add my two cents, I think it is a despicable practice to make multiple reservations. In fact, I don't think Tom Sietsema was strong enough in his condemnation of this practice. To even give that person his recommendation seemed to endorse the multiple reservation practice. Multiple reservations are not only selfish, but completely unfair to everyone concerned.

John, Thank you so much for participating. Each and every post makes for fascinating reading. In the Kyocera thread, you said in reference to your essay "One Knife, One Pot," "It's one of the few things I've written than I can still bear to read." What other essays are still a bearable read for you? Which ones make you cringe?

For vmilor: Regis Marcon http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...=10&t=12069&hl=

Cabrales, I am eagerly awaiting full descriptions of meal #2 and #3. How was the cod prepared? Did the beet dish work at this point in the meal? Would you consider your last meal the best given special considerations?

"Meal #3 brought forth considerably more special treatment." (Cabrales) "Does VIP treatment mean that they bring you little surprises between the courses so that the diner is not sitting there with nothing to do? Anything else?" (Stone) Stone, That is why I asked Cabrales.

Cabrales, You had mentioned that you stopped off at Domaine for oysters before lunch at FL. Did you find yourself hungry after lunch? after dinner? Between the Oysters and Pearls and the Cauliflower "Panna Cotta" with Malpeque Oyster Glaze and Osetra Caviar, which preparation did you prefer? Did you feel that you got "solo diner-automatic VIP treatment?" From your use of the word presumably, I gather that you questioned it. From your menu of meal #2, I can't tell if you were impressed, disappointed, excited or..... Obviously, awaiting for more and meal #3.

Dave, As a further incentive to buy the cookbook, one of the best parts is Keller's descriptions of technique. For example, in the sea bass dish that Stone and Cabrales described which is included in his cookbook, Thomas describes how he was able to get the skin crisp. "Skin will not crisp, obviously, if there's water in it. Skin that is too moist will take a long time to crisp, and you will overcook your fish." The way that Thomas is able to achieve crispy skin is that he takes "the blade of the knife and drags it over the skin, pressing down gently but firmly to force the water to the surface, then pulling the knife back over the skin to squeegee off the water." He advises that you "repeat this pressing and scraping until you've gotten as much water out of the fish skin as possible."

"Within the context of vmilor's thread, it would be interesting to hear your nominations of dishes (both savory and sweet or combination thereof) that have come from Post-Modern chefs that you think have "legs", or, if you want, argue that attempts to make specific, memorable dishes; i.e. tomorrow's classics" is no longer relevant or significant." Given Robert's comments above, I re-read my post on the "21 best dishes" we had this fall in France. We went to 30 different restaurants and from that we composed a purely subjective and personal choice of what we considered the best based on the number one criteria, "Something, I would eat again in a minute." What strikes me about the list is that most of the dishes reflect what vmilor characterizes as "Renaissance." They represent traditional dishes that have in vmilor's words undergone a rigorous re-evaluation. The post I am referring to is reproduced below. The dishes are presented in the order in which they were eaten i.e. they are not ranked. Also, as we ate at some restaurants three times and were able to sample many more dishes, there will be more dishes on the list from that particular restaurant. 1. Salpicon de rouget de roche and capres la wicchia, lard blanc colonnata, feuille de bar de linge mi-fume, deux variete de carottes -smoked bar underneath red mullet with bacon and carrot sauce (Gagnaire) 2. Oeuf coque a la puree de truffes - soft boiled egg topped by dark truffle mousse (Faugeron) 3. Frogs legs done beignet style on top of a parsley/garlic potato puree with garlic chips (Ledoyen) 4. Poularde de Bresse cuitre en croute de gros sel "selon Alexandre" - Bresse roasted chicken encased in a pastry shell (Georges Blanc) 5. Boeuf Charolaise Chateau au vin Fleurie et la moelle, pommes de terre a la forezienne- Charolais beef topped with beef marrow, red wine reduction sauce (Troisgros) 6. Canette de challans epicee et pickles d'eechalotes, pomme soufflees- Roast duckling, roasted shallots, "puffed" potatoes (Troisgros) 7. Lentil ragout with various vegetables with a slightly smoked poached egg surrounded by black truffles(Marcon) 8. La Brochette "Margaridou" - Croquette filled with lamb sweetbreads, morels and ham with black truffle sauce (Marcon) 9. Lamb cooked in bread dough with a small casserole of potatoes and cepes (Marcon) 10. Langoustine tempura with madras curry sauce and chutney (Rochat) 11. Rabbit cutlets served with haricot verts in a garden herb vinagrette (Rochat) 12. La Mousseline de Grenouilles - Mousse of pike filled with frogs leg meat, spinach, fine herbs in a butter cream sauce (Haeberlin) 13. Supreme of pigeon with truffles, foie gras, cabbage encased in pastry (Haeberlin) 14. Mille-feuille croquant de bricelets et d'oeuf poche sur un tartare de saumon mi-marine mi fume aux oeufs de harengs fume- a layered dish of salmon tartar, creme fraiche, a crisp, poached egg, herring eggs, a crisp (Haeberlin) 15. Mashed potatoes topped with black truffle slices (L'Arnsbourg) 16. Schniederspaetle et cuisses de grenouille oelees- frogs leg drummettes in a parsley, garlic sauce (Buerehiesel) 17. Roasted wild duck with a galette of potatoes layered with giblets (Boyer) 18. La Fameuse Truffle en Croute, avec la sauce Perigueux - a black truffle topped by foie gras encased in pastry with Perigord sauce (Boyer) 19. Filets of Rouget with cepes- crispy skin rouget with cepes duxelles mixed with a liquid mayonnaise sauce (Pacard - L'Ambrosie) 20. Lentils with black Truffles (Guy Savoy) 21. 1/2 Lobster served in its shell with vanilla sauce and black trumpet mushrooms (Passard - Arpege) I disagree, in part, with vmilor's delineation of which chefs are "Renaissance" and which chefs are Post Modern. For example, Keller is firmly rooted in tradition. From the Soul of A Chef (Ruhlman) Keller says, "When you're trying to be inspired, where do you turn? My favorite dishes are very traditional dishes, sole Veronique, quiche Lorraine, daube of beef, the short ribs that we do." In his sole dish, Keller tries to keep "the integrity of sole Veronique, but ... given it a modern interpretation." For me, this is what is missing in many of the "Post Modern" chefs of today - that underpinning of tradition, a respect for and knowledge of food. Too many young chefs have taken the genius of Adria and Gagnaire and become poor imitators. They seek innovation for innovation's sake or try to reproduce the technique and then think technique can overshadow taste. I am hard pressed to come up with a similar list of "tomorrow's classics" from the avant garde chefs of today. There seems to be a succession of foams and jellies and mousses that can be pleasant or more than likely weird taste combinations that briefly flicker in your food memory bank. The excitement of cuisine, for me, will always be that first bite and then the feeling that you wish this wondrous taste would never end.

"Saturday's lunch with Stone and two further meals at FL this weekend constituted a bona fide attempt to understand this restaurant." Cabrales, I am anxiously waiting for "the rest of the story."

Dave, I was quoting exactly what Thomas wrote. Cabrales, You should definitely buy the cookbook. The salmon cornets, oysters and pearls, peas and carrots, the sea bass with saffron -vanilla sauce, the caesar salad are all in the cookbook.

Cabrales, I don't understand your comment,"Note I do not own Keller's book, and my dish descriptions might not benefit from information in the book." For example re the orange confit, Thomas describes exactly how to make it in his cookbook. It is made with simple syrup and white wine vinegar which has been brought to the boil and then poured over the orange segments and cooled to room temperature. He calls it confit "because the syrup stabilizes the oranges."

"fried cone with black sesame seeds. The cone was slightly oily" I have made this dish many times and for the record, the cone is not fried, it is baked. There is no oil used at all. It is made with flour, sugar, salt, egg whites and butter which is spread thinly over a stencil and then baked on a Silipat until bubbly and then rolled on a cone and again baked until brown. "(and perhaps some egg yolk?" The oysters and pearls dish is a sabayon (egg yolks) of pearl tapioca.

Thank you to sound. Sona is a must restaurant for anyone who cares about fine dining. Too late for details but this is a definite A experience from food to service.

My AMEX experiences are one reason why I am such a big fan of the hotel concierge service. It is personal, accurate, cordial, swift, sincere and most concierges will go out of their way to make "life" easier. I applaud what you do.

fresh_a, The Amex concierge services are horrible. The last time I used them was in 1999. In 1998, we had confirmed reservations in writing from AMEX at Domaine de Chateauneuf in Nans-les-Pins. I had contacted AMEX one month prior to re-confirm my confirmations. I was told everything was in order. We arrive at Domaine de Chateauneuf and the large iron gate to the property was padlocked with a handwritten note on the gate with the words Morte. My French is good enough to realize that somebody had died. We drove to their golf club and were told that the owner had died, closed the hotel and they could get us a sandwich and maybe find a nearby house who would "rent" us a room for the night. In 1999, I decided to try AMEX again. The following mistakes were made again with all reservations "confirmed" in writing or by fax. Rail travel-973 TGV first class from Paris to Macon - not done Asked for car rental in Macon - not done Confirmed lunch reservations on Sunday, May 21 at Flor de Lis - restaurant closed for lunch on Sunday Confirmed reservations at Table de Claude Giraud in Narbonne on Monday, May 22 - restaurant closed on Monday Confirmed reservations at Le Pont Napoleon on Wednesday, May 24 - the restaurant is closed on Wednesday Confirmed reservations on Wed,. May 24 at La Campagnette - the restaurant had been closed for one year and all that remained was a vacant lot. (We arrived in the middle of nowhere, starved, and that was it - a vacant lot. We learned later from our hotel that Campagnette had been closed a year.) At Eugenie-les-Bains asked for dinner reservations May 25, May 26, May 27 - not done Currently, I use AMEX only for hotel and flight reservations and either do all other arrangements myself or contact the concierge at the hotel I am staying at.

Wilfrid, I would second hollywood's thoughts re Spago Beverly Hills. Unfortunately, Valentino is not as good as it once was. Also, in walking distance, there are a number of choices for lunch among them Mako (pan-Asian) and the new De Mori ( Italian although I have not eaten there). Hotels are not crazy expensive - Radisson ($109), Beverly Plaza ($120), Meridien ($169). All are either a quick taxi or walking distance - sort of.