Vinotas

Am I a heathen to suggest Les Halles' breakfast? I've eaten there on business meetings several times and I have to say the croissant is buttery, flakey and quite delicious. It's one of the best I've encountered in NYC in a long time. Payard's are OK, though even he admits they're not as good as Parisian ones. Just my $0.25 (inflation). Cheers!

So I finally got around to writing up my report on Madrid but sadly the pictures won't come through, and then there was some sort of formatting issue, so I just decided to be lazy and post a link to my blog: http://vinotas.blogspot.com/. The whole food-related part is there right now. Cheers!

Agreed. Likewise with a high level of sweetness, due to the abundance of corn syrup in those foods. ← LOL! That was going to be the subject of another thread... I go to Europe a lot due to my business (especially France) and when I get back I always feel everything here, and I do mean everything is very, very sweet. Even savory dishes. I do believe, as Katie states, that it's due to the high doses of corn syrup in many American foods. It's quite a shock to the system when I return home, I must say. Cheers!

I'd like to see salt on all the tables too. But no chef is going to send out an under-salted dish so that you can decide how much salt you want. That's an idea for a concept restaurant. ← OK, then at least a reduction in the salting in the kitchen would be nice. But I do think it's telling that shakers have disappeared from table tops lately.

Nice! Great idea but needs tweaking, as I said.

I have to say, I would prefer if chefs allowed us the luxury of deciding how much salt we want on our dishes. This can only be an improvement on the current situation. Another trend I notice lately is the lack of salt/pepper shakers on tables. Do you not trust us to know what we like? Are you that afraid that we'll abscond with them? Enough with the salt!!!!

Smoking and alcohol consumption does dull one's sense of salinity... I'd be curious to know which NYC chefs smoke (or their line cooks) and whether it correlates with the levels of saltiness in their food. ← Hah! From what I've seen, most of them smoke/drink/other to excess. Seriously, though, I like salty food as much as the next person (much more so than sweet foods, though I do find many foods in the US sweeter than in Europe, even in savory dishes), but as Fat Guy said there does seem to be a massive over-correction going on. It's gotten to the point where I'm thinking of saying "no salt" with every order. This would be against my better judgement as I usually prefer not to tell chefs how to cook their food (except to say black and blue for my steaks). Cheers!

Following our dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar the other night, I remarked to DutchMuse how salty many of the dishes seemed to me. He concurred, and this got me thinking. I've been finding that many restaurants are really over-salting their food lately, and I'm not the only one to notice. Here in NYC, this has almost become an epidemic. Now, I like salty food (heck, my signature dish is a salt-crusted standing rib roast), but there has to be some balance. At a certain point salt overwhelms the very nature of the food you're trying to flavor. And I know that salt is a flavor-enhancer, but I think chefs are starting to get out of control. So is it me? Is my palate becoming more sensitive to this? Or is it a trend, as certain other respected palates have suggested? Is it only in NYC or are folks in other places noticing this? And why would chefs need to turn to salt when many of the restaurants I eat in use organic, or locally-grown, or at least high-quality ingredients, that should have enough flavor on their own? Discuss amongst yourselves. Cheers!

Oh, it was kind of neat that Chef offered us a dish that isn't on the menu yet, a foie gras "snow". He freezes a block of foie, grates it using a planer, then adds lychees, raisins and peanuts to the panko-looking dish. Interesting but needs tweaking, IMHO. Folks at the table seemed to like it more than me, and I LOVE foie gras. I think I am still full... Cheers!

Oh... the horror... of a food hangover... We hit Ssam last night and it was a whirlwind of food and wine. Chef Chang was there and greeted us and basically cooked for us personally (several at the table knew him very well). One of the best meals I've eaten in a while. Great company and wines made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. My only nit is that many of the dishes were overly salty. But otherwise everything was spot-on. There were some new dishes and many old favorites, including the Concord grape dessert (though that was one of the salty ones). The Bo Ssam was just out of this world. I'll wait to see if DutchMuse posts his food notes here otherwise I'll do it later. Right now I need to drink lots of water and avoid thinking about food... Cheers!

Wow, seems like there was a bunch of EGullet'ers there on Saturday. We went there around 7:45-8pm and sat at the table farthest to the left after walking in. Drinks were great (I had my favorite, the Paul's Club and another one with Champagne and bourbon, the name escapes me), my wife and our friend had the Desert Rose. Service was good as usual, though I do prefer sitting at the bar. After, we hit Flea Market for dinner, then visited the new wine bar, Solex, which was great. Jet-lag kicked in around 1am and I turned into a pumpkin. Cheers!

Madrid was fantastic, had some great meals and some nice wines. I will post a full report with pics soon but I wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted advice on where (and where not) to visit. Cheers!

Do they still have the Concord grape deconstructed peanut butter dessert? That was fantastic. I happen to be joining DutchMuse on Monday and am really looking forward to it. The last time I was there was after meeting Weinoo at PDT! Cheers!

Bagel scallion one? Ooooh, I will have to try that, we are going with a friend from out of town on Saturday. Cheers!

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, just different. More subtle and complex, while the grain-fed beef really shouted its presence on the palate. Comparing them was an interesting exercise, and I think I would choose one or the other based on my moods and the wines I was drinking (grass= Burgundy/lighter Bordeaux/Italian, grain= heavier Bordeaux/Rhone/CA). Still, we had a fun time, despite how bad the wines showed that night. Cheers!

I agree with you, that sweet wine sucks. ← Good to know, thanks for the warning, wine, as you can imagine from my Username, is important to me. Heck, this is a wine buying trip! I leave tonight and will report back with pics on my blog and reviews both here and on my blog. Cheers and muchas gracias!

Ooooh... I live for places like this! Drooooool....

Try to go to Reina Sofia Museum and then head to Sergi Arola's restaurant in the new museum's wing. Great food from a great spanish chef but not that high-end as his La Broche. ← I have Saturday the 17th free so maybe I'll try to do that. Gracias!

That about sums it up, I believe. The grass-fed was good, it was more subtle and more complex but the grain-fed really stood out for its in-your-face beefiness. And the term "succulent" is the right one, I think. BTW, there's a picture of the two cuts HERE. Cheers!

Gracias everyone! I will post notes when I return next week!

Last Saturday we did a taste test of grain- vs grass-fed boneless sirloins. Both had been dry-aged 28 days, the grass was acquired at a butcher shop in Rhinebeck, Fleischer's, and the grain-fed was purchased at Grace's, here in NYC. I had been told to pan-sear the grass-fed for 2 minutes on each side, then again for 2 minutes on each side, for black and blue (my preference). The grain was also cooked to black and blue in a stainless pan using a healthy mix of olive oil, butter and duck fat. Needless to say, the place got pretty smoky pretty fast... That said, it was an interesting comparison. The grass-fed was subtler and chewier than the grain-fed, which exhibited some powerful beef notes. The crust on the grass-fed was crunchier and darker, however, and while it was cooking I detected notes of grass in the smoke rising from the pan. I liked both, so I can't say whether one is better than the other, they're just completely different beasts. I think it will depend on one's mood, really. Interestingly, the next day, the grass-fed had a better taste than the grain-fed (yes, we had leftovers, 4 lbs for 4 people is too much for us). Considering the poor showing of the wines, we were quite relieved to eat well. Cheers!

Yes, she is quite the cook, so I do try to bring some good juice.

I will be in Madrid for the first time next week until Thanksgiving on business but should have a little time to explore this lovely old city (ie eat my way around). Anyone have any current recommendations for things I should not miss (time might be tight, so don't misses are important)? FYI, I am staying one block from the Congreso de los Diputados and I love to walk around and eat local things (so no 3-star Michelins need apply). Thanks in advance! Cheers!

Sigh... yes, but I couldn't say my usual snarky comments as it was the host's wife and they were both quite pleasant. ←

Sigh... yes, but I couldn't say my usual snarky comments as it was the host's wife and they were both quite pleasant.