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Everything posted by Ptipois
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I can confirm that, David. They never do.
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A delegation of Paris cab drivers may be waiting for me at the door with tar, feathers and ropes as I write this, but I have clearly noticed that the adoption of the euro — which has allowed most prices to rise dramatically — has induced a definite change in the attitude of cab drivers. Now they no longer expect tips and, when you do round it up by, say, telling them to keep the whole thing when the fare is 9.50 and you hand them a 10-euro bill, most of them thank you warmly. And when you do not tip at all, they don't mind. Though I realize it's nice to get a tip when as a waiter you've worked very hard, I am not an enthusiast of the concept of tipping. France is definitely not America, tipping is never mandatory and is only an expression of how satisfied you were. And it should be moderate. I would hate to contribute to a practice which, in the long run, could lead some employers to situations of abuse. I only tip at restaurants and in some taxis when the driver has been cool and showed intelligence in choosing his itinerary.
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Saint-Valentin has been known for a fairly long time as the lovers' day, but has only been seriously celebrated for about ten years in France. Definitely an American import meant to promote commerce, just like Halloween. Interestingly enough, there used to be a lovers's day in France, which ceased to be celebrated in this manner sometime by the mid-20th Century: April 1st. To some extent, Easter had pretty much the same meaning.
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How long should European appliances in France last
Ptipois replied to a topic in France: Cooking & Baking
If you read me carefully, Julot, you'll realize that I'm not talking about the same thing. What I'm referring to is waiting for a technology to mature before you buy a product that uses it. Quite a different matter. -
Because there was plenty of other great stuff!
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I won't be so magnanimous as you, John, and I think Pork Belly is right. I am practically sure that the stalling of the kitchen activity was aimed at catering to Anton Ego, momentarily excluding all other orders, and was perfectly intentional. Madame's unhurried, serene attitude tells it all. Another clue is Claude Lebey writing that the bistrot is "best of its kind", which implies he was pampered in the same manner. What we have seen at work is, unmistakably, a phenomenon of a kind I have witnessed a number of times while working in the vicinity of those old-fashioned, spoiled critics. No accident was involved; there was nothing of the hectic, feverish atmosphere that irradiates through the kitchen door into a small restaurant dining-room (you can even feel it in larger places) when something really goes wrong and what can be properly called a "train wreck" happens.
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I'll let John provide his answers, Rashomon-style. Here are mine: 1) God forbid! (I'm not much of a tipper anyway but in this case, hell no.) 2) I was hungry, it was very cold outside, and we had to wait for the main courses to realize that the place was really hopeless. 3) In the particular situation of visiting a restaurant with the purpose of writing a review, you have to drink the cup to the dregs, however bitter they are. If by some miracle things take off at the end, that doesn't make it allright but it has to be mentioned. I was not there precisely for that purpose, but once you begin witnessing such an interesting little story, you feel compelled to stay until the end credits. Saying something might disturb the natural process. 4) We did skip dessert.
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The fact that she should be in the kitchen and have someone else do the service makes no doubt. But it doesn't take much skill to find a proper waiter for the dining-room, stick to the kitchen, and pop out your head every so often to say hi to the folks, as so many bistrot chefs do. At any rate that should be easier than finding a good sous-chef (which she hasn't been very good at either).
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To resume the discussion about Ghislaine, I think the context adds to the disappointment. Indeed, she has had problems. Whatever her responsibility was, the last few years have not been easy for her. I'd have thought that, starting back from nearly scratch as she seems to be doing now, she should be more careful. But she acted as someone who can do without her customers' satisfaction. That is a mystery to me.
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Chris is right. Bistrot food cannot be defined by its "uncomplicated" nature, and the terms "dumbed down" do not even begin to describe it. They are very misleading to say the least. Bistrot food has two main recognizable origins: 1) French bourgeois cooking of the 19th century (cuisine bourgeoise), and 2) French provincial and rural cooking of about the same period. Uncomplicated is not exactly a good way to describe it, though it is never overcomplicated. Bistrot food of course has to be discussed in a historical perspective: it has to be understood as an urban style of cooking derived from rural sources and from traditional middle-class home cooking. The original type of the bistrot is an urban phenomenon derived from the early 19th-century restaurants and auberges. But it really took off with the "exode rural" in the second half of the 19th century, when thousands of poor people from the remote provinces came to Paris to become servants for the bourgeoisie (Brittany), sweep the chimneys (Savoie), open beer and choucroute counters that were called brasseries (Alsace), run "bougnats" - coal, wine and firewood shops that were also restaurants and cafés (Auvergne, Rouergue and Forez). The bistrot is a derivation of the bougnat, and is often associated with Auvergne and Aveyron (Rouergue), less frequently with Lyon. Even now many "limonadiers" (café owners) are originally from Auvergne. The Costes family, still thriving today, is a dynasty of Aveyronnais. The period when the last remaining bougnats disappeared (early 1980s) was fatal to the bistrot culture, which was revived in the mid-1980s by the likes of Guy Savoy and Michel Rostang and took a very different turn from then on, still trying to stick to some of the original principles, but in a yuppified, no longer popular style. Bistrots and bougnats were related to other modest restaurants, the bouillons and crèmeries, which were places where the lower bourgeoisie and working classes could have well-prepared, nourishing meals at lunchtime. The food was, as I wrote, a mix of cuisine bourgeoise and rural family cooking, and was based on market produce.
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How long should European appliances in France last
Ptipois replied to a topic in France: Cooking & Baking
I think appliances' lifespan nowadays is comparable to cats' lifespan: between 12 and 18 years depending on your luck, intensity of use, and brand. The fancier, the more fragile (electronics get messed up easily). The more recent and new the technology, the more likely it is to break down at an early stage. When I got my first induction stovetop back in 1992, well induction was certainly not new (it's actually a late-19th century technology) but it was the first generation of non-professional induction stovetops. The electronics got screwed up so often that I had to change the motherboard twice. The thing lasted for 13 years though. Now they tell me my second induction stovetop is going to last longer without any need to change the motherboard, because in the meantime they have perfected that kind of technology. My oven is dying, sometimes I can't even close the door. I practically have to kick it hard to close it. This one has lived in my kitchen for 16 years which is a ripe old age for a late-20th century oven. But the light has been dead for 10 years and the timer has gone ad patres for 8 years. Supposed to be a good brand though. -
An interesting update, perhaps. A relatively new place Le Petit Casier in the 15th, where we ate today, has a bathroom in the basement with the most wonderful antique wood doors - all the critics have noted them, so how on earth do you suppose they saw them? ← Oh, this is a simple one. Because visiting a restaurant when you are a food critic or reviewer implies a mandatory visit of the bathroom. Some restaurant guides explicitly request that from their researchers. Those critics have just done their homework. The state of the bathroom tells a lot about the restaurant. At any rate, it should never be overlooked, even if it is not mentioned in the review. This is actually outside the subject of manners. Really, there should be one way to sum up this whole thread before we may switch to another manner-related topic: in France if you have to go to the bathroom during a meal, well, you go. Everybody does, although discretion is obviously the norm.
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I'm awaiting your report, and I'll do one on my blog too, but after what we saw yesterday at lunch it is not such a mystery that Lebey declared that place "best of its kind" in a laudatory way. More to follow. Just to say that my report on Ghislaine Arabian's Les Petites sorcières is here in English and here in French. Edited by John Talbott at Ptipois's request.
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I've already started rehearsing last week, my crêpes were too soft, I'll make sure they'll be the right consistency for la Chandeleur. I always add a little rum or, if I have time, I do the Suzette thing, with real mandarin juice and zest. The traditional origin of crêpes at la Chandeleur is that hens resume their egg-laying routine at this time of the year. Chandeleur crêpes were originally made with the first eggs of the season. If you are able to toss your crêpe in the air so that it turns over and falls flat in the pan on its uncooked side, you're very skilled indeed. If you can manage that while holding a gold coin (or, failing that, any amount of metallic currency, or just some money in your pocket), you'll be rich for the year to come.
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Because I never know if the way I do it can be considered a rule and also because there's no strict rule, of course. But sometimes I pay the check, sometime the other party pays the check (if it's a party of 2), when I go out regularly with a friend we usually take turns, many times we split the bill equally, sometimes somebody at the table thinks they can escape the splitting by offering only the wine (this is considered on the verge of bad manners); sometimes it's count the wine out, split the remaining bill equally, then someone adds the price of the bottle to their share. I would say that splitting the check equally no matter what each person has eaten or drunk is the most frequent occurrence.
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If you really look for something not readily available in the US, think of Corsican charcuteries. Lonzo, coppa, saucisson of semi-wild pig, figatellu, all deliciously gamey and smelling of the maquis. Bigorneaux, small grey shrimp and urchins are delicious as appetizers.
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Indeed. Apéricubes are the quintessential French cocktail snack. I'll gladly give five truckloads of tapenade toast for one box of these. Also, John, real good rillettes on small bits of crunchy baguette are always a winner. Remember those at Spring, a couple of Winters ago? Any Parisian charcutier that has not been taken over by a Chinese take-out is potentially worth trying. I should believe only the fittest have survived.
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Thanks for clarifying. Well we're not in agreement about these subjects, Julot (though I'm OK with your first three paragraphs), but you know all about it. My main disagreement is about this: "Good ingredients well cooked are the exception in the world we live in. They are luxury. It's just a fact." There is some truth to that, but no, it's not a fact. Not all-encompassing, not devoid of variations and nuances, and above all not inevitable. And certainly not universal. As often, you stay stuck on the notions of upscale, luxury and exception without taking into account the many options that are available outside of the much-trodden path of the restaurant and "fine dining" world. And also the interesting variations of products, their availability, their quality, which ones rise, which ones go down, in the course of decades. For instance, affordable chicken is of much better quality in the 2000s than was affordable chicken back in the 1960s and 1970s if you weren't shopping at farms on a regular basis. As is baguette now in the Noughties, as compared to baguette back in the Eighties. About the second part of your post, I am a bit perplexed. I think I see your point but I'm not sure what you'd recommend. Or am I gathering that you are advocating the death of the French bistrot by suggesting that the good bistrot chefs move to more bourgeois surroundings with white napkins, fringed lampshades and well-spaced tables, thus becoming upscale restaurant chefs and charging accordingly, just because they happen to cook good food? And then, if I follow your reasoning path, leave the remaining bistrot chefs (the mediocre ones) to their chipped, close-apart oak tables, noisy crammed rooms and cabinet-drawer kitchens because that's all their diners deserve? I agree that one would sometimes prefer eating a good andouillette without getting an elbow launched from the next table in your eye and without needing earplugs. But that has, to some extent, always been part of the bistrot tradition. And is that a sufficient reason to advocate such a drastic "social purification" of restaurant settings and standards? Not to mention the fact that you may also eat utterly terrible food with all the time you need, in a quiet and graceful setting, with a generous number of penguins attending to your desires. Why necessarily equate the setting with the quality?
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I don't think the quoted post makes much sense, but from what I have gathered, I can at least ask this: Are you mourning the fact that a reasonable number of people in France can still afford eating at a bistrot? I wouldn't worry, it's only a matter of time until you're perfectly contented.
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The one on rue de l'Hôtel-Colbert has been replaced by Hélène Darroze's "bistrot". Not necessarily an improvement (I remember a very nice lunch at this location of Les Bouchons back in 2002).
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Why is it that I feel like I have already read this kind of biased, misinformed and factually flawed article a thousand times? I'm not sure the author has such excuses. If I tried to write such a mediocre article on American sommeliers I wouldn't expect to be excused on the grounds of cultural differences. The info exists, it's there to be searched and it's a journalist's job to get it. Cultural differences are precisely what a decent journalist is supposed to take into account even before he starts writing. This one could have made the minimal effort of getting thorough information and treating the subject fairly.
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Galette only means flat cake, so in Brittany it can be a thin buckwheat pancake eaten with savoury garnishings, or a completely different thing: a small, cookie-sized round shortbread-like pastry. The pastry may be hard or crumbly but it is always rich in butter, based on pâte sablée. The term "galette bretonne" most often refers to the cookie version. When mentioning the pancake one rather says "galette de blé noir" (blé noir = sarrasin = buckwheat). Not all of Brittany uses the term "galette de blé noir" for buckwheat pancake, the term is only used in Western Brittany, the French-speaking part. In the West, they will say "crêpes (de blé noir)" as a direct translation of krampouez.
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I see. Well I think there has always been restaurants where serving large sizes (mostly of dessert dishes) was a way of asserting their difference from more upscale but less generous places. A sentence that is often heard in French about "restaurants gastronomiques" is that "c'est bien mais y a rien dans l'assiette" (it's nice but there is nothing on the plates), which is not really true because many plates of a little something amount to something very big indeed, but at least that's what it's reputed to be. Besides, it is true of some restaurants. That is a tendency that has been going on for some time now. There may be a recent trend, in some isolated cases, to increase dessert portions, as a way to show off (to easily impressed French or foreign diners), but I haven't been in the condition to notice it. What I am pretty sure of is that, for now, generally speaking, there is no particular increase in serving portions.
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A dessert brought to the table in one serving but meant to be shared between two, three or four is not a larger portion than the same dessert already shared between two, three or four plates and brought to the table and used to be the general rule before Nouvelle Cuisine and service à l'assiette. After all, that kind of serving is still the rule of home and bourgeois cooking. As for the large dish of riz au lait brought to the table for everyone to dig in, it is also a traditional way of serving and used to be common in bistrots and country restaurants. It is the principle of "saladiers lyonnais" and is part of the Lyonnais service for appetizers and desserts. For the record, that is how desserts were served at the neo-Lyonnais bistrot "Chez Leni" back in the '70s, a bistrot that IMO was the main inspiration for the Parisian bistrot craze in the 80s and 90s. This is all a completely different matter than the American style of portioning and its possible presence in France. If signs that the French are going to get increasingly obese are to be searched in France, I do not think you will find them in the kind of restaurants that are commented here. Rather take a stroll in the suburbs (not Neuilly or Le Vésinet) and particularly at the contents of the supermarket carts on Saturday afternoons; at the fast-food/kebab/industrial food industry, at the disappearing of decent popular and lower-middle-class restaurants and the impoverishment of the national diet in general for the less affluent. It is unlikely that France will "become American" but some French people will, in termes of size. And the results of the process are already visible in children and teenagers. But, of course, not within the Périphérique limits.
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Here in Guangzhou, nobody seems to have any problems with fresh milk-based desserts like steamed "double-skin milk" and ginger milk, which is an interesting sort of junket where ginger juice is used as a milk curdler. The one we often have with friends in a small noodle house is based on buffalo milk. Milk tea products are popular too. Bottled milk tea, plain or osmanthus-flavored. One of my Cantonese friends loves ying de red tea with lots of fresh milk. It is indeed very good. Coming to Guangzhou sure has made me reconsider my ready-made ideas about the Chinese diet...