magnolia

Wish I had read this post before I went to Madrid for Easter weekend...but alas, egullet was down every time I tried it for a few sad days there... I tried to see that Prado exhibit (as I live in GB it would have been particularly relevant!) but the queue was too long on Easter Sunday (free entry) So I went to the Reina Sofia instead, and was really impressed by the collection as a whole, not just the Guernica. I did not have a great food experience, but this is not Madrid's fault. It's too long a story involving cranky travelers, vegetarians, Easter closings, and the like. Anyway my highlights were tapas (no surprise there) and a cafe meal in the central park, with wonderful fresh granizado and a huge bocadillo. A low light was dinner at la Champaneria, a paella specialist that churned out perfunctory prix fixe set menus. Another highlight were the bars, though, they really know how to mix some mean cocktails - and all the fresh juices make the drinks even better (and I am not even a mixed drink-er!) Another thing I noticed - and perhaps someone who has spent more time there than I have (i.e. a grand total of about two months over the course of 1

Cabrales, by when can I let you know? I have never been there & want to look it up tonight; I don't know anything about Pourcel(s) - am interested in your assessment, the good & the bad. I may take you up on it. Also...and this may preclude my taking your kind offer...I was thinking of going out of Paris for an overnight (like Saturday night for example). Any gourmet destination suggestions within reasonable (i.e. one hour) distance of Paris; not requiring a car; or lots of major planning would also be most appreciated...

If anyone is going to be in Paris & hungry those dates, let me know - I am starting to reserve... Also any/all suggestions (aside from what has been posted herewith) are most welcome.

I am definitely going to be there from the evening of March 24 through the morning of March 27. I can have dinner on the 24th; lunch or dinner on March 25; and lunch on the 26th...

Here's the link to Friedrich's gushing review. http://online.wsj.com/article....body%29 If this doesn't work, just go to www.wsj.com and type "Hiramatsu" in the search box

Vama on King's Road in Chelsea might be called 'nouvelle Indian', lots of variety and items you don't normally see on traditional menus. It's a white-tablecloth and reservation kind of place. I really enjoyed it.

See if you can get your hot little hands on the "800th Anniversary" edition - I'd be curious to know if this is available in NYC (or environs) and if so, how much it costs. It's amazing. Also if you don't mind my asking, how much the 25-year-old was? Thanks!

"The writer (Gopnik) moved his family to France in the mid 90's to be a foreign correspondent for The New Yorker Magazine. Most of the articles (if not all of them,) are about exactly the subjects you just wrote about. But the articles begin from the point of view that once upon a time France was indeed culturally dominant. Art, cooking, culturally accepting.." OK it has been awhile since I read the book, and maybe it's worth another read if only because I respect the opinions of other posters herewith. But I don't remember it being much about this at all. I thought it was a bog-standard foreigner's extremely superficial take on the French, à la American/Englishman on a grand European tour (reminiscent of the 1800s I guess) where the only appreciation of French culture or psyche that the author expressed was an appreciation of his position as a smug correspondent on an all expenses paid boondoggle, taking the very easy way out and treading the same territory as many before him. Granted, perhaps that was his assignment and if so, he cannot be faulted. But whether or not you agree with his sentiments, the book itself was not particularly enlightening, and by exerting a little effort, he could have really done a much better job given such a plum opportunity. Am I envious of Gopnik? Definitely. Great work if you can get it.

On a related note...the Altantic Monthly's 'word court' discusses translation of menu items & other linguistic minefields in: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/03/wallraff.htm

"What forces determine eating habits? Decisions in agriculture, I guess. I am sure there are some upper class farmers in Britain, but the farming class has traditionally been overwhelmingly distinct from the aristocracy or even the upper middle class. etc etc" I don't have time right now to read through all these interesting responses in full, but this is one of my favourite discussions, and I will do so when I have a moment. But to add my two cents to this discussion, as a reasonably knowledgable student of French culture and a less knowledgable but no less earnest student of British culture, I do think it's actually much more a cultural issue (that's not to say that decisions about agriculture are also cultural...in both senses of the word, growth and nourish after all you can't spell agriculture without "culture") and a simple (not to say simplistic) one. The fact is - and this is not a *judgment* of any kind, just an observation - that food, wine, and the enjoyment thereof (i.e. not just for sustenance) has always been much more important to the French than it has been to the English. At least that's the impression I get. The French attitude, in general, seems to have been 'we have to eat... so let's make it great and an event and make the best of the ingredients we have, however lowly they may be, they should be the freshest, most quintessential of their ilk - i.e. don't use something if it's out of season, eat something else'...and the English attitude, in general, has been 'we have to eat'. Full stop. That's not true of every French person, and certainly not true of every English person either. But for whatever reason...this seems to me the core difference between at least those two cultures. Also a difference in attitude which might contribute to this is that French people are much more vocal complainers, and much less tolerant. So in general they will not put up with bad bread, unripe vegetables or fruit, a crummy high priced restaurant. But English people will, they may complain under their breath, or passive/aggressively, or say 'mustn't grumble' ... but they will not vote with their feet/pocket books and they are too "polite" (or shy or whatever!) to direct a complaint, criticism, etc. to the person/people who can address it. This goes not only for food but for lots of things. Things are changing on both sides of the Channel, but that's my impression...more later.

I stand corrected - the Coeur de Lion is indeed from Christian DROUIN, though there are misspellings of his name all over the 'net - even on the French websites.

Be careful - that article was, according to the fine print, first written in 1994. I hate it when they reprint articles - why can't they ante up and hire someone (even the original writer would be better than just reprinting) to update it or do a new one? A lot has happened in last eight years...

Not sure if these offer tours or tastings, but my faves are : Lemorton and Drouhin (different from the Burgundy)

Looks like March 24-26 or 27, maybe we could find *someplace* worth visiting and open Sunday night as I doubt I'd make it before mid-day given the train schedule...Let's keep each other posted and I'm open to all ideas.

Ba dum bum... Well, I have the lyrics - in Yiddish no less - if you want 'em. Good to know it's still being performed, and that Sammy's is still around. My family used to call Sammy's "Heart attack on a plate".

There was a very good article in the Weekend FT "the business" magazine, March 2, on the very subject of restaurant mark-ups - though it doesn't go into great detail about wine mark-ups specifically, it does a good job of analysing both sides of the discussion.Sadly it is not available online but it is on p. 20, title is "Lean Pickings". And while we're on the subject - I do recall going to the Garrick Hotel/Restaurant in Cornwall and being impressed with their wine mark-up policy, which is - or was at the time - to add a fixed mark-up to all wines, I may be getting this wrong but I seem to recall it was a few pounds for a wine under £x; and slightly more for wines over £x - i.e. £5 for wines over £20. The restaurant's goal was to enable people to try more expensive wines they might not otherwise be able to afford, by eliminating the straight percentage mark-up, but still make a modest profit. So I guess the restaurant was making its money on entrees, which of course require a lot more labour, talent, care etc. which is what a customer should be paying for - unless the place is a really high end wine-specialist where you are paying for the sommelier's time, expertise, energy, effort, etc. - and not just for someone to pull a cork for you. To answer Cabrales's about good BYO places in London, in fact, the only BYO places I've ever come across are "ethnic" restaurants, for example the much lauded New Tayyab behind the Mosque on Kingsland Road...and a decent place in Chelsea Market, I think it was a steakhouse but the name escapes me. The Cook House in Putney used to be BYO and it was indeed *very* good. But no longer. Other than that, I believe there are none. One thing that I have been able to do - upon special advanced request (depends how often you go to a restaurant, how friendly you are with the powers that be) is to bring my own wine to a regular licensed restaurant, and still pay a corkage fee. This is obviously not very encouraged but for a special occasion, and for a wine that the restaurant does not stock, it's a less way of having your wine and drinking it too... be sure to offer a glass to the owner...

That makes sense, because they seemed so eager to display quantities of meat, which must be a sign of prosperity, and many course of food one after the other. The only retail shop I had a chance to visit was a petrol station (like a mobil shop or a Shell shop) and it looked just like a petrol station anywhere in Europe, with lots of sweets, cookies, sodas, snack & junk food. So my experience is not very profound or a scientific survey, I just thought it was interesting. I found the lyrics to an old Yiddish song called "Rumania, Rumania" which makes reference to all the good foods they had in the 'old days', and implies that Romania invented Pastrami and other foods of which I saw no evidence in restaurants. What did the Romanian people you met think of Indian food? I don't think there are any Indian restaurants in Romania (though I'm sure there will be soon...I even had Indian food in Vietnam!)

Scratch that...looks like my trip has been delayed, it will be either: the end of the week of March 18, possibly over the weekend too...or the week following that, but before March 27. I'll keep you all posted...you, too, Bux.

Well they will always have a place in my heart; I have found a recipe for olive oil ice cream in a French cook book, and it calls for an ingredient for which I was having trouble finding a translation - crème fleurette; ultimately Jon Tseng found out what it is, a 35% liquid fat cream that does not exist here...so I called La Trouvaille, and they put me through to the chef; I explained my problem, he very kindly spent five minutes explaining the differences between all the creams, and then told me the closest thing here would be single cream.

And while we're on the subject of attempts to translate menu items that don't translate well into English (or other languages) ask a French person what 'zizzi' means, and they'll giggle - it's what little boys call...what makes them a little boy. Maybe the owners did this deliberately

I may be in Paris next week and am trying to leave some time free for a decent lunch or dinner...not sure yet where I'll go, but if anyone would care to join me, speak up!

Cabrales, I'm very interested in hearing more about your experience at Mju - I have been a few times and I love the place. I am by no means an expert, but I don't think the food is particularly Japanese - at least not like any Japanese I have ever had. Perhaps the presentation is like a Japanese scroll...thin brush strokes, each element very carefully positioned, monochrome background...But I found the combinations & flavours to have more in common with those of Arpège, l'Astrance &tc. or Papillon in NYC... call it 'fusion' (gag) for lack of a better term... But whatever it is, it's surely different from anything anyone in the UK has ever encountered (except perhaps those who have eaten at The Fat Duck, which I have not), hence the careful explication of the menu by the servers, and also the indication of what is served raw, warm, cold...The unexpected and sometimes surprising, if offered without any context or comment, would surely strike the first-timer as odd. The wine list is wonderful, well priced and well-matched to this weird food. Admittedly it's not to everyone's taste, and also I haven't been to Sydney so I don't have anything to compare to Mju...

I've been asked to help choose wines for a wedding in Myrtle Beach, and would like to use a local supplier. Any/all recommendations of upmarket wine shop(s) in the vicinity would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

That is actually where we are staying!

I see your point. But put a few years a few pounds and a sparkly track suit on his wife, and she could be from the 'Bubbeh Belt' of Florida...