lizziee

sound, Thank you so much. We have reservations this Saturday. I am so looking forward to a dining experience. Any other must haves from the menu? Should we just say "cook - we'll eat." Does David Meyers like to do full-out tasting menus? We will take our own wines - usually we do a champagne, a white and a red. Our preference is for Burgundy - yes or no? Thanks for your help.

A HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!! I did it. I have to be very patient as it takes a long time to load.

What would I do without you guys! Here I have spent $170 on a book/CD (postage from France was hefty) and I would be looking at a blank page on my computer. I am going to try it again.

Steve, As an aside, because we ate there 2 nights in a row, Adria did not serve us the regular menu the second night. Instead, he did a retrospective of his most famous dishes, a precursor of what he did this year.

I am on a Mac and I will have to try it again as I didn't see all your instructions until just now. I don't remember seeing fotos, but then again, I am really dumb at this. What does buscar mean? I did click on that and nothing happens. The only way I could unload was to turn off the computer. I can't believe how stupid I am at this. However, I am having a wonderful time, using my own menus from El Bulli as a guide, searching out my favorite dishes in the book and salivating. Notwithstanding 2001, I was so blown away with El Bulli in 2000 that I could talk of nothing else for months. Plus every restaurant experience, afterward, was a let down. It is great fun to see what I raved about.

Steve, Thanks for walking me through this. That's not the problem. Stuff comes up; I get the long list of dishes, but that's it. Of course, I don't understand a word of the Spanish -- are there pictures attached to the list. Should I close everything down for more memory? I don't get a back function. I don't know what I am doing.

Steve, The short answer - Nope!

Both are in Spanish.

The cookbook just arrived today! It is incredible. Now, for someone who is completely computer illiterate and doesn't read or speak one word of Spanish, how do I use the CD and what should I expect to see - pictures, words only? Thank you, Robert for posting this.

Yippee for LA!!!!! Thanks for the post. Let's hope people will support a fine dining restaurant. We certainly need it. What was the tasting menu like? Was the tuna dish on the menu? Were the wines from your cellar?

The first time I went to French Laundry was by myself. I got there at 12:00 and left at 5:30 as the first diners were arriving for dinner. At staff meetings before service, the VIP menus are discussed. Thank you chefg for your responses, commitment and passion.

There's also a small airport in Napa. I wish somebody did own and fly a private plane.

Mike, You can either fly to Oakland or SFO and it is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to Yountville. Oakland is generally the better airport to use as it is smaller and has a less chance of closures due to fog.

I know nothing about the Dallas restaurant scene, but I know a young chef who would like to try a fine dining establishment. My questions, then, are much needed advice.

awbrig, We might not have great food in Los Angeles, but at least we don't freeze.

awbrig, Come to LA where it is 78.

Cabrales, La Belle France is published through Terence Y. Sieg and can be found at www.labellefrance.com. Over the years, I have found wonderful suggestions. As to La Tour Rose - Here is my post: Now for our worst meal on this year's trip. Also in Lyon, it was La Tour Rose - The Ultimate Disaster. We had eaten at La Tour Rose when it was a one star and had a wonderful meal. This year it lost its only star and, although we were worried, Francois, the concierge at Cour des Loges had heard good reports from the guests. He had not yet recommended it. As it turns out, a good thing. The chef was so distraught at losing his only star he had to be hospitalized (only in France!) and currently there is a new chef (at least they call him that) plus new servers, manager, etc. The restaurant is absolutely magnificent. It is located in another of the 14th century hotels in old Lyon. It is as if you were sitting in a glass "cage"--the ceiling and 2 sides are all glass. You are sitting in the middle of history--colonnades and little passages are all around--in the "old days" these were used for smuggling. This particular night we should have used them to sneak out of this experience. With our champagne --amuse--strings of fennel (I think, as our server hurriedly mumbled his description). There was a pronounced licorice taste. The green stuff had been made into greasy, oily tempura strips. 1st amuse--cream based soup of small bits of almonds, foie gras (according to the waiter) and an aromatic olive oil swirled on top. There was no taste of foie gras (I doubt it was there) and after a couple of bites, it was boring to eat. 2nd course--after a long (over 30 minutes) wait, we were presented with a tart of anchovies. This was a greasy mess of mushy eggplant and tomatoes swimming in olive oil, with fishy smelly obviously tired anchovies laid over the mush and topped off with a stale, tasteless, greasy wafer. 3rd course--cold oyster soup flavored with lemon and served with 3 tiny egg-white quenelles on which were place about 5 grains of caviar. The oyster taste was there, but with no presence of real oysters and so little caviar--no texture or crunch. This was a rendition of a classic dish--mediocre at best. 4th course--lightly cooked, lightly smoked salmon served on an array of mixed greens. The salmon was old, smelly and rancid. We had one bite saying --even the cats of Lyon would reject this mess. By now we had eaten one piece of fennel, two soup spoons of the foie gras (?) soup, one piece of anchovy, and one of salmon--not a very good picture. What was hard to understand is that the room was full of what appeared to be convention types, a table of 8 American women with badges on, but also a number of tables of "locals." They were all scarfing down this stuff that we could not even get past our lips--we hope they all did not die of ptomaine poisoning that night. 5th course--we were dreading the next course, the filet of boeuf. It arrived, a stringy, flavorless hunk of beef swimming in a brown mess of sauce that had no finesse. I wondered what sort of "reduction" methods the "chef" had used on this. It also did not help that we were supposed to cut this leather stuff with butter knives--we asked for the standard steak knives that are used in every French restaurant--they were grudgingly provided and still the meat was tough--only ate our "standard" one bite. Wine--and a wine story. For wine we chose the 00 Gangloff Condrieu-- and St. Bonnet), wonderful and the 99 Gangloff LA Serein Noire, Cote Rotie. This is a wine we had not heard of from Mathilde et Yves Gangloff--higher priced than the La Barbarine that we love. The sommelier was very enthusiastic. It was very good, but not spectacular. I had to ask for the proper glasses--which did not help. Certainly a very good Cote Rotie, but not any kind of value. Now--the story. The Gangloff has a very unique label. They had just poured one glass of the Gangloff for us and we waited to enjoy it with our meat. My husband, then, sees one of the comis pouring our wine as wine by the glass for some other couple--well-what to do, limited French but we are being screwed out of 30+ % of our 130 Euro bottle... My husband took action by pointing out the mistake to the Maitre d' who immediately verified it with the comis who poured...no real apologies from anyone other than the kid who screwed up, but they eventually brought us another bottle of the same wine--making good on our money--except the new bottle was freezing cold...the sommelier had become very snooty all of a sudden--embarrassed or something--he did not present new glasses, and poured the new wine directly into the old--who knew if the new bottle was bad..but ..it was so cold we wouldn't have been able to tell anyway. Toward the end of the meal, I went to the bathroom and mentioned to the manager, Yves, that La Tour Rose used to be a wonderful restaurant with memorable dishes like the sliced potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar. He sort of shrugged his shoulders and said, "What do you expect from a restaurant with no stars?" We have eaten in many non-starred restaurants and have had some wonderful experiences at places like La Cote Rotie in Ampuis, Can Peio in Junas, Le Saint Laurent in Macon and Le Mimosa in Saint Guiraud, etc. What a mess - considering food, wine, service et al--this ranks as one of the 3 worst dining situations we have had in years. At this point we gave up entirely on the meal, even though we had quite a bit of red wine left. We decided to make sure that the "staff" did not get the pleasure of our wine and became mixologists with a new "recipe" just for our servers. Our special recipe--1 part red wine, 1 part Evian and 1 part left over white wine.

Peter, I can't talk about the cheese course since I haven't been to Taillevent recently, but the Vernet and Claudio are THE BEST!!!!!!!! In all my years of staying in Paris, there has never been a better concierge. With Claudio, just e-mail your request and it is done. Nothing is too much, nothing is impossible. He is the finest. Peter, as far as I am concerned, you have found the best. And the elevator is an experience.

southern girl, I have to stop reading your posts before dinner! What incredible food that you so lovingly and beautifully described. Thank you for a wonderful post. What is moi?

La Tour Rose was the winner for our worst meal in France EVER!!!!! They just lost their only star and deserve to be taken out of Michelin entirely. We stayed at Les Loges, but did not eat there. However, we were doing business with a very knowledgeable "food and wine" person from Lyon who felt that Rotunde was superb. Somewhere, I have the review from La Belle France. If you want me to summarize it, I will be happy to do so. Are you going to Leon de Lyon for lunch or dinner? We felt lunch was a better alternative - more Lyonnaise specialities.

Sorry Cabrales. I haven't eaten at Rotonde, but Michelin says it is open for lunch on Sunday. Enjoy Auberge. I think you will be suitably impressed.

Cabrales, I would highly recommend Auberge de I'lle which is open for lunch on Sunday. This is my review which I posted before. Lyon--Auberge de l'lle It is hard to call a 2 Michelin Star restaurant a "discovery", but Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex just received his second star in March. There does not seem to be much "buzz" about this restaurant in the States. This is a wonderful restaurant located at Ile Barbe about 20 minutes outside of Lyon in an old country house built in the 1600s. It was a tough find for the cab driver as it is down next to the river under some bridges. We had champagne and amuse outside in a tree-shaded courtyard. The chef, himself, presented the amuse and explained to us what we would be eating. (His English is perfect as he has an ex-wife who now lives in Marina del Rey in Los Angeles). The amuse were: 1. 3 types of vegetable crisps--beet, potato and bundles of basil, parsley and cilantro. 2. baby shrimp in what he described as Japanese mustard, but it tasted more like wasabi and a touch of honey. The dish was presented in a wonton crisp. Unlike an Asian-inspired dish that we had had at George Blanc a couple of nights before, this had just the right balance of Asian flavors. 3. a canapé presented on a toothpick - the bottom layer sliced potato, then blood sausage (a Lyon specialty) and a round roasted shallot on top. We were then presented with the menu and the wine list. The menu is not a listing of dishes. On one side there was a poem by the chef describing the end of summer "terroir." On the other side it simply said 3 dishes 72 euro or 5 dishes, 90 euro with no description of the dishes. Again, the chef reappeared and he described each dish in detail. He does this for each table so it is a good thing that this is a small restaurant. He also acts as his own sommelier. WINE: His choices to accompany his food: 95 Chassagne-Montrached, Premier Cru "Les Ruchottes", Ramonet--a great choice with the early courses. 96 Saint-Joseph, Cuvee du Papy, Domaine du Monteillet, Antoine Montez (Chavanay)--a producer we did not know--the chef mentioned that he was one of Montez's first customers and that he gets a good allocation of a very limited amount of the wine. He was pleased to share his discovery with us. The wine turned out to be a perfect representative of the region. Full bodied, fruity, solid and big--delicious and well paired with the meat and the cheese. We certainly appreciated the Chef/Sommelier's guidance. We were shown to our table in a small room at the front of the 1600's house. The ceiling is planked and the floor is the original stone flooring. There were 5 tables in this area and a side board serving table in the center. The Chef has created a display case with Michelin Red guides dating back to 1919. Above the case there was a raised dining area with one large round table for 8. The feeling is that of dining in someone's home. The staff is very welcoming and excited to have you as a guest. The amuse at the table--a cold pureed gazpacho soup served in a tall shot glass with a round avocado ball and a fried oyster skewered on a toothpick laid across the top of the glass--delicious and pretty. 1st course--mushroom soup, with a cappuccino foam served lukewarm. The incredible part of this soup was the briefly sautéed small chunks of foie gras that you "discovered" as you ate the dish. 2nd course--just roasted gamba (large reddish prawn) in the shell with sweet spices, fruit chutney of apples, plums, and raisins. This dish could have been over-wrought or "too much". Instead, it was well balanced and done with restraint. The chef used the words "sweet spices" to refer to the Indian spices he used. 3rd course--sautéed rouget on a bed of potatoes that looked like potatoes Anna with cepes, a crisp bacon strip and a uni sauce. This was the least successful dish. The potatoes were somewhat soggy and needed more crispiness, both for taste and texture. The cepes were good, but no match for Regis Marcon's freshly foraged ones from the Ardeche fields. The uni sauce was not as intense as other ones we have had, maybe due to the incredible quality of sea urchin available now in Maine and Santa Barbara. 4th course - guinea hen with a cepe mushroom red wine sauce with crunchy bits of chestnuts and plump wild cherries. Absolutely wonderful!! This dish really showed off the chef's talent. 5th course--as soon as we had finished the hen, I heard our server say to the chef--they are ready--they just finished the hen. This was his notice to fire the next dish. About 10 minutes later, we were presented with large white bowls which had steel ring molds placed in the center. Together the chef and our server removed the rings and out oozed "risotto" in a red wine porcini mushroom sauce. The rice was cooked just until creamy and with some crunch--his timing was perfect. The chef apologized at this point because he had to leave for a meeting at 3:00 PM and he was already 40 minutes late. The chef, of course, did not leave immediately. He mentioned that the second Michelin star is just the starting point for his career. He is just 36 and is passionate about his profession. (As an aside, the chef can't use his right arm as he was crippled from a bad auto accident about 10 years ago.) He is also very enthusiastic about the work of other chefs. He has visited The French Laundry in each of the past 3 years and admires Thomas Keller immensely. Everything at Auberge de l'lle shows the dedication of the entire staff. They are in the process of constructing a cigar room on the second floor. A beautiful private dining room is in place. Even the bathrooms are unique. You climb a small circular staircase, you arrive at the toilettes--the only thing that distinguishes male from female is the halo of blue and pink illuminating the glass doors. After the chef left, we had cheese and an array of desserts and coffee. By this time, I had put down the note pad and spent my time savoring the dessert wine that the chef offered us. All in all, a wonderful "find" for us in Lyon and a restaurant experience I would recommend highly.

The Best Of Art Culinaire P.O. Box 9628 Morristown, New Jersey 07963 Tel# 973-993-5500 Fax# 973-993-8779 www.getartc.com Each book is $38.00

Nick, There are bargain fares on Expedia. I found one for $565 round trip from Kennedy to Paris. Well???

Cabrales, Even though we have different additions, how do you feel about those chefs that were included/excluded? Who was mentioned for the United States in your addition?