Mimi Sheraton

You're right about the main ways to do it..reading and asking..I have been fortunate enough to have food contacts in most countries in most countries who have guided me..otherwise I ask anyone who speaks English - even cab drivers but rarely hotel concierges who tend to send foriengers to "safe" places. I would of course try to access newspaper and magazine articles dealing with various places, but thatis obvious. Sorry not to be of more help.

Alas, yes..Kossar's bialys have become somewhat softer and breadier and they have become stingy with the onions. Leo Melamed maybe a big macher, but he's a pushover for talk of bialys or pickles or herring..give it a try and send him my best. Have you ever tried a bialy with chicken soup? I haven't, but the idea just occurred to me.

Happy to report that The German Cookbook is still in print and doing very well after 40 years - 2005 is its anniversary. So I love German food and like you bemoan its disappearance in the U.S. This is partly due to the feeling about heavy food and the rather leaden presentations turned out by many old German restaurants in this country..Much the same can be said about Scandinavian, by the way. Yet there is a lot of light and stylish German cooking especially in the Schleswig-Holstein area around Hamburg and Bavarian food could also have an appeal if lightened a bit - but not lightened in flavor. Schweinhaxen for example as well as the veal kalbshaxen sell very well in Italian restaurants where they would be described as stinco or as jarret in a French bistro. Ditto blood sausage - boudin noir - Maybe it's all in a name....

Wigs and glasses were my most effective disguises...glasses becasue I've never needed them and so they were not connected to my face, and wigs (I had 3) for obvious reasons. Eventually of course, one gets to be recognized by body (hard to disguises unless one dresses as nun or a knight) and by my husband who refused to do a Serpico, so at times, I went without him, especially at lunch.

My visit to India - about a month-long - was in 1960 but I do remember some wonderful meals. In those days, MotiMahal in New Delhi, had not yet achieved tourist status and the tandoori grilled meats and chicken, served with slivers of hot green chile peppers on the side, were a revelation, as was the naan. I also loved Bombay street foods such as bel poohri (forgive spelling ifi i differs from yours) and enjoy it now at Madras Mahal on Lexington Ave. in NYC. Indian vegetarian food is probably the world's best with so much flavor one never misses the substance of meat...flavor to chew on. I think Chinese and Japanese are better know becasue theya re more prevalent and easier to understand and both offer many dishes not too exotically flavored. Upscale Indian restaurant had a hard time when they first opened in NY because like several other cuisines, they were fromerlly found only in cheap restaurants and the public was not used to paying high prices for them. Also many people I suggest Indian food to, say "I don;t like curry" and that's that..too bad for them.

When you speak of a chain restaurant, I assume you mean those that all alike in theme and menu - not a group of diverse restaurants under one ownership, such as those of Jean-Georges or Richard Mellman's Let Us Entertain You. I have eatne in chains when driving on highways and always order breakfast no matter what the time of day. I order fried eggs becasue so far as I know they are not available pre-cooked and toasted English muffins. I did once eat at an Olive Garden and would do so again only if starvation were the imminent alternative, I which case I would order spaghetti with butter. At Howard Johnson's, I might have a hot dog and some ice cream. The Daily Grill is a rather upscale small chain and simple things are passable.

I have not done much eating in the southeast in recent years with the expcetion of a recent visit to Charleston where I loved the authentic-tasting, but slightly stylish version of local cuisine at the Hominy Grill..especially their shrimp and grits. But of course I know the dishes of that cuisine and consider it a very egelant one ven when done in ruistic ways - sort of French-informed with things such as she-crab soup and the various uses of curry. There wre also good modernized versions in the restaurant of the Plantation Inn where I stayed. Like New Orleans food, the success of this food depends on the ingredients, many of whch can only be had locally. And all along that coast, I love the steamed shellfish spiced with crab boil.

So Miguel, I've thought about your question on and off since reading it and first I must say that even if I fail, and the planet surives after a few horrible days, it won't be so bad because the planet has been surviving lately with more than a few horrible days. Try years! I do not think I would choose food that deals with the visitors' prejudices as that might rule out, for example, the best apple pie made with either a lard or butter crust and Northern Spy apples because it is sweet that's what they think we eat. So, first and foremost, there would be Louisiana gumbo - seafood with okra, or if okra were not available, a duck, oyster and andouille gumbo thickened with file powder..The Louisiana cuisine is our best original regional cuisine, and a natural fusion long before that terms was invented. Next, as a product and preparation, a steamed Maine lobster of at least 2 pounds which true Mainers realize is where real flavor begins to set in (despite shibboleth about larger lobsters being less tender) served hot with melted butter and a wedge of lemon. Many Europeans prefer cold lobster cold with mayonnaise and while I like that, I think the hot steamed version is very American and far more flavorful. As a starter, if I may be permitted to cheat, I'd serve a cup of very hot, just-made clam broth, pure and straight...that to me is strictly American and the very essence of the Atlantic seashore, to say nothing of being the distillation of all of my childhood summers in Brooklyn-by-the-Sea. I have never known a European or an Asian (but not Chinese) visitor who has not raved about our steak - porterhouse or T-bone, for me - even though I have had Charolais in France and Kobe in Japan that I think even more remarkable so I would serve the best I can find - Niman ranch as at "V" steakhouse, or the best sirloin at the Palm. Two weeks sampling beef in Argentina left me conflicted..I wanted to love it, but kept reaching for the salt and chimichurri. Believe it or not, I would serve a real U.S. hamburger - not a fast-food patty - to illustrate where the derivative came from and what the echte should be..thick, rare, a good bun, ripe tomato and onion and coarse salt and freshly ground pepper on the side to be layered in at will and maybe even Heinz ketchup. Although based on a German creqtion as is the hot dog, the presentation and condimenns are all completely American and seem to have an instant appeal to the youth of almost any country, as comfortable and practical as blue jeans and sneakers..I'm thinking too about Austin-style barbecued beef... Chicken pot pie, for sure, lard crust, hand-torn pieces of white and dark meat (not cut into cubes with a knife), small white onions, chunks of carrot, some fresh, tiny peas and ordinary champignon caps quartered vertically, all in a sauce that is basically a veloute..cream sauce with chicken stock as part of the liquid. I'd also add chopped parsley. If I may add to your quota, I would include the apple pie as described, a la mode, with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream and in season, huckleberry (not blueberry) pie. And could there be so churlish a visitor as to not love strawberry shortcake, when the berries are local and succulent and not the hollow, white Driscoll travesties from California, the state that in more ways than one, I consider a wasted miracle. And for a simpler dessert, a newly harvested McIntosh apple grown either in Mass. or NY.

I now realize, Bond Girl, that you said experiential..not experimental...but isn't all eating and tasting experiential? I assume you mean for its own sake, as at the highly-touted El Bulli in Spain where I have not been...That is fine if it is so labeled and not offered as being a real meal..it is a great luxury, of course, and very elitist, especially when so much foam is involved, but for those who care, a very intriguing esoteric experience...and one with a long history..ours is not the first generation to create such eating.

Unterman is correct and my apologies. I've always felt a restaurant owner writing critically about food matters has the makings of a conflict of interest, but the SF Examiner seems not to mind.

Hi Miguel, What a nice way to ask a very intriguing question! I am fast-replying so you'll know I'm not ignoring you...I want to give some thought for a day or two. Please stay tuned. It's one of the most interesting questions about food that I've ever been asked.

I'm pleased that you liked Bialy Eaters and also that you enjoyed Kossar's..I hope you selected those that were well-done, crisp and brown as the pale ones are not very good. As a matter of fact, Kossar's has declined somewhat and my next mini-project is to find an even better source somehwere in NYC. I have no bigger projects at the moment but am thinking of something havign to do with taste and flavors.

Hi Steve and thanks for inviting me aboard and for the generous words on my book. So far all reviews I have seen except one have been reassuringly complimentary..one exception came from Patricia Ullman in San Francisco Examiner who objected to my negativism. Some think negative reviews should not be printed but I feel differently, especially for restaurants that are new, highly publicized, golden-oldies or any much in the public view. Negative reviews lend credibility to the positive ones. So far, no threats or lawsuits but it may be a bit early. I have many reviews coming up and many appearances and signings around the country. There's much I would like to add to the book - like maybe a whole other book - but much of that has to do with non-food experiences I had in places I traveled to long ago..1960 in Bali, Moscow, Phnom Penh, Calcutta, Cairo, etc. Sort of Between Meals, but we know that title has been famously taken.

Sorry to say, food is even worse now in those hospitals which I have experienced. Cuts in labor costs, more pre-prepared items, growing pressures on hospital budgets all work toward food that is worse than it was 30-40 years ago.

As far as I am concerned, if it doesn't taste good, it is a failed experiment. I give no points for trying just for the sake of trying. Otherwise, I am in favor of experimentation but do not think all experiments should be served forth for dinner.