ngatti

I think the menu is probably pretty dynamic (I don't know this). I know my own menus can sometimes look quite different by the time of service. I guess that the original menu is more of a wish list that is open to change as the day of execution approaches. Open to changes induced by the vagaries of the various markets. In this age of computers menus can change several times a day if need be. Nick

Oh you're quite right, Steve. I used to butch them at the Four Seasons. My question had to do with where the Cote specifically comes from on the cow. I called my guy at Wotiz meats and tried to explain. He seems to feel (as I do) that here in America, specifically NYC, that the cut has evolved over the last twenty years or so. It was my my position that the Cote de Boeuf comes from a very specific part of the animal, and that there are only two on each cow/steer (1 per side). This jibes with your Lobel's story, for the Cote contains the *two* (sometimes three), what I call, floating ribs. Too me it was properly, the very first cut from the rib end of a bone in Sirloin Strip (NAMP 179). Yes, it is indeed massive and was only served for two (finished with some glazed marrow on top and carved tableside). However my meat guy said that the cut as commonly used today is cut from the rib, what you might call the 'prime rib' (NAMP 109). It seems much cheaper to me to do it this way. This cut, to me is, commonly refered to as a "Cowboy Steak" or a "Bone-in Rib Chop". It's tough to describe without pictures. or better yet, someday maybe I can butch and cook one for you guys . As with lanquages cuts of meat and cooking also change. It is a dynamic after all. I'm told that the Chef who can wield a competent butcher knife is fast diappearing. Cheers Nick

Linked fixed. Nick

Thank You Jayssus! I thought this was pretty good. I like the style. very readable. Maybe we can keep this guy?? This week's Record review. Nick

Thanks for the clarification, FG. Re Cote de Boef vis a vis NYC chefs: What the Fuck do they know. Seriously though, rib can be problematic. Many people don't like the pieces from the chuck end (large clod of fat in the meat. especially in ribs graded prime). Thanks for your nicely done piece and for the reply to my questions Nick

Whoa! Sheesh, and you had wine also!! I would've comped ya the damn cheese. Nick

Nicely deetailed review Dave. keep it up. re the price. Just from my recent experiences, it seems that if the 130 dollars included the wine pairings, then the price is about par. I'm also surprised that there was no cheese course, but some people are funny about offering cheese with fish. Who knows? [shrug] Nick

I really can't say, Dave. But it's true. happened about a week ago. Nick

True story: As the wife and i sit down for lunch in a fairly high end, kinda trendy Jersey restaurant, the waiter approaches and asks if we would like a drink. ME: "What kind of wines by the glass do you have?" WAITER: "We have red and we have white." ME: (biting tongue and doing a good job of not laughing) " Oh no, I mean what type of wines are you serving by the glass?" WAITER: "Well, we have Chardonnay, Cabernet, merlot..." ME: "Why don't you just bring me the wine list." Really folks, you can't make this shit up! Nick

Coupla questions FG. Does 'Gahog and Gachog' = 'Gachot and Gachot'? and re Cote de Bouef. I had always thought that a Cote de Boeuf was the first one or two cuts from the rib end of a sirloin strip, with the bones frenched out . Not really a rib chop (NAMP 109 frenched and cut into chops), but rather the first 1 or 2 cuts off the bone in Sirloin Strip (NAMP 180) that include what I call the floating ribs, just before the feather bones (not so feathery on a piece of beef). This piece (or 2) is then frenched and trimmed. Looks a lot like a cut from the 109 Rib but there are only 2 - 4 portions per cow, and the bones are decidedly thinner. I know people will try to cheat with the first 2 cuts from a prime rib (109), but the bones are thicker and I never thought that this cheat was a true Cote de Boeuf. But what the fuck do I know Nick

Lunch at: Chez Panisse Cafe Chez Panisse has been on my ‘must dine’ list for many years. While I was not able to fulfill my wish for a dinner reservation, I was able to obtain a reservation for lunch in the café’. I considered myself fortunate to be dining here at all and I must say the experience did not disappoint. It is fitting that we make the trip on my 49th birthday as it makes a grand present to myself. My wife and I traveled from downtown San Francisco to Berkeley on the BART. A short stroll down Shattuck Avenue places us in front of the fabled wood building. I’m in awe! Pinch me! As with most of our restaurants this trip, we have arrived early for our 1:30 reservation. We climb the stairs to the café passing a very disappointed couple; who has attempted to ‘walk-in’. This ain’t the Cheesecake Factory (though they were seated at 2:30). We relax in the small sitting area next to the bar and enjoy a glass of wine (2000 Macon-Charnay, Domaine Manciat-Poncet for my wife) and a pint of India Pale Ale for me. After a short wait, we are seated in a charming windowed elevated alcove in the front of the restaurant; completely relaxed yet, at the same time, filled with anticipation. I’m like a kid on his first day trip to Disney World. I switch to a glass of Rioja (1998,Vina Hermina, Crianza). The Acme bread is good and crisp and the butter!! Yes the butter: from the ‘Strauss Family’ and incredibly good. Certainly better than the Plugra that I use. Rich and distinctly flavored, not sour, just…lots and lots of taste, sort of like…what butter has been supposed to taste like all along, only I’ve never tasted it properly in my life until now. The polite and efficient waitress takes our lunch orders. For my wife: the “Heirloom tomato and Atlantic cod salad with marjoram and aioli”. For myself, the “Boston Mackerel baked in the wood oven with cumin, cilantro, and lime”. Many of you have been to Chez Panisse, so I feel as if I’m preaching to the choir: but I must gush. The distinct fresh flavors of every ingredient in both dishes, the impeccable pristine freshness and perfect cooking of the fish. Heirloom tomatoes that taste picked off the vine and carved into the salad just before serving it. The best aioli I’ve ever tasted (better than mine). Bold, beat you over the head flavors filled with gently fading back notes of subtle nuance. Bite after bite of simple exploding flavor. Second course: “Penne past with zucchini, tomato, basil, and pecorino”, for my wife. I had the Grilled pork and garlic sausage with sautéed nettles and sweet corn polenta. Here is where the sole misstep occurred. The penne pasta was grossly overcooked. Otherwise the vegetables were in line with the rest of the fresh produce. Impeccable. The pasta dish contained super olive oil and the sharp pecorino provided good counterpoint to the dish. The sausage was excellent. Two skinny, gnarly looking long sausage, roasted in the wood oven, served over very flavorful and rich polenta with fresh corn kernels stirred in. The nettles, which looked a little like broccoli rape, tasted very good: buttery and tender. All was served with a rich glace for a sauce. Super lunch dish. Time for dessert. The Cheese course for me. The waitress smiled approvingly at my knowledge of Cashel Blue. Other cheeses on the board were Comte, and a very good Reblochon accompanied by more slices of the walnut bread. I also ordered a Bowl of Pluots and blueberries. My wife had the Yellow and white peach cobbler. Her dessert was as homey and tasty as it sounded. My pluots, or rather my one very large pluot was like eating a big purple ball of sugar: one of the finest pieces of fresh stone fruit that I’ve ever eaten. Good coffee for me and a cup of tea for my wife. At this point I asked the waitress for a favor: Being as how it was my birthday,…and that I’m in the business,…and (most important of all) that I’m from New Jersey , would Alice mind autographing my menu. She responded that Alice waters, though in town, was not in the restaurant this particular day. But being that I was from New Jersey, Alice would certainly have wanted me to have the pluot as a gift. Cute. We were then invited to stroll the Café and look at the open kitchen and to walk about through the downstairs kitchen of the restaurant proper. We were allowed to talk to the cooks and chefs and ask whatever questions we wanted. I did note that the number of kitchen staff was tremendous (IMO). Especially as they all seemed intent on that evenings Moussaka (that evenings selection in the restaurant). We then left and walked back to the BART. That evening’s reservation was at Aqua and that was only four hours from now. It was a fine meal. Certainly our best lunch. Chez Panisse is a culinary Mecca and all should complete a hajj to this most seminal restaurant. Thanks for listening Nick

I had one very good meal there, but it was 2 and 1/2 years ago. Nick

No wonder I've always prefered Heineken in cans Nick

It's de rigeur for consomme. It really isn't that much work. I like to throw the eggshells in. The albumen gives the consomme a nice edge. I also grind a bunch of chicken bones (duck, bird, whatever) through the course holes of meat grinder. I put the veggies in too, but leave the parsley and thyme whole to help pick up the 'raft'. I like suzzane's method of staring with jellied stock. I have used room temp stock and on occasion have had to clarify the stock twice. Her method sounds superior and I'm going to use it the next time I make consomme. I had duck consomme with foie gras dumplings at Jardiniere once. Seminal, IMO. Nick

I know that you can buy frozen roasted peppers (red and yellow) from Sysco (a broadline food vendor). So I suppose you should be able to freeze your own. Good luck Nick

Really! Imagine..."I don't like foie gras"???!?? I guess love really does conquer all. Nick

As I've said before, other issues aside; everything SP says is true. Leastwise, I've heard the same things over and over again, from people in the business. Nick

I offer the opinion, that in the very competitive wholesale meat business, saying that you sell to Peter Luger is a selling point to your other customers. Funny how many meat guys sell to PL. Wellll...it's an opinion based on conversation with many meat wholesalers. This would make a good story on it's own. You know, using the sought after cachet (I can't think of a worse word to use within the context of PL) of PL to sell your meat. Exagerating only slightly, the name PL is spoken with an almost reverential respect amongst these guys (wholesalers). Coupla' more cents, just to add some fuel. Nick

Where do they find all those dwarves? Nick

Whatever issues I have with PL aside, I must agree with you. This has been told me more than once by various people in the meat business. One old time wholesaler whose opinion I respect swears by them. Implies that they are the standard. Okay I'm backin' off now. Nick

Dinner at Fleur de Lys I think that a cook/chef and certainly a serious dining avocateur need to build a resume of serious restaurants that one has eaten in. At the very least it gives credibility to culinary opinions. Apart from the sensory pleasures that the immediate meal affords us, the educational values that the persistence of various memories place within the realm of our experiences add depth and training to our palates. Fleur de Lys is a restaurant that deserves to have a place on this diner’s list of extraordinary meals. My wife and I arrived about twenty minutes early for our 8:30 reservation on a recent Tuesday evening. The attention to detail starts with the subdued implicitly warm and friendly welcome from the young lady greeting guests as they arrive. The restaurant is quiet considering that it's full. The small bar is filled with attractive people of various ages enjoying serious desserts or having a drink. Mickey: Fleur de Lys’ omnipresent major-domo offers us a seat in the small cocktail area along with a glass of wine. My wife declines the wine in favor of a glass of water (the reason being anticipation of much wine during the evening); I accept the offer of a glass of champagne. A glass of champagne works for me as an aperitif before my much-anticipated meal. We are seated within about ten minutes at what I thought was one of the best tables in the house. It offered good views of the dining room. And what a dining room it is. There is a main dining area with a smaller room off the rear. I noticed another small room near the entrance to restaurant off the bar's cocktail area. All tables were filled or were soon about to be. The dining room is hushed with conversation taking place in low tones. A beautiful tent parachutes over the main dining room. Impeccably polished mirrors on all the walls give the impression of space. Tasteful arabesques run along the walls. The decor evokes a sumptuousness that acts as counterpoint to the subtly elegant food that is about to arrive. Mickey hands us menus and the wine list and offers us a bottle of water. We choose the Pellegrino. It arrives promptly along with the first amuse: a demitasse spoon of intensely flavored shredded Lobster with summer truffle. We study the menus and see that the prices are arranged by courses. My wife is going to have three courses and I’m trying to decide whether four or five. I want the wine pairings, my wife wants to order wines by the glass. At this point Mickey saves the day. He offers us a special tasting menu prepared by Hubert Keller along with wine pairings. We both gratefully accept and menus and wine list are whisked away. I note here that the tasting menu does not appear as a menu offering, but the many dishes that were sampled came from the ala carte menu. An excellent way to sample a wide array of Keller’s cooking. Our young cheerful English waiter is attentive and informative. He along with the young lady who plays the role of assistant Maitre’D/hostess/dining room troubleshooter; offer knowledgeable help wherever needed. Another amuse arrives. This is a perfectly cooked warm oyster. It seems to be poached until just done and placed back into the shell with some lobster stock. The shell nestled in a pile of white and black rock salt. A great bite, a great tease, for by this time, my appetite has been truly whetted. The first courses arrive. For me a small bowl of chilled cauliflower vichyssoise with a dollop of caviar in the center. Another larger spoon of the shredded lobster comes with it. I’m instructed to swirl this into the soup just before eating it. All is set in a square plate filled with what looked like poppy seed: quite a dramatic presentation. My wife’s first course was over the top! This was a small baking casserole with its lid sealed with a line of pastry. When the hostess broke the seal and lifted the lid, we were greeted with the most complex and intriguing aromas. Inside was a stew of oxtail, foie gras, fingerling potato, and summer truffle, all in a rich jus. On the side of the plate was a small seeded brioche bun with a slice of seared foie gras within. Now my wife doesn’t like foie gras, so after she took an obligatory bite or two, I felt that to that be polite, I should finish the dish for her. This course was served with a Trimbach. My apologies for the lack of wine descriptions; as a rank amateur when it comes to wine, I tend to put myself in the hands of the sommelier. A fish course was next. Mine was wild Pacific Salmon wrapped in Radicchio, with cannelloni beans and a Banyuls sauce. My wife had the cod over heirloom tomatoes with crème fraiche mashed potatoes and horseradish sauce. Fresh fish artfully, imaginatively, and properly cooked and presented. The fish was served with a Solex Chard. We were then served an intermezzo. I again apologize as it was white and none too sweet, but I forget the flavor. I paid as much attention to it as it took to note that the flavor was not cloying and that the dish worked as the palate cleanser it was meant to be. The meat course was next. My wife was served the seared lamb loin with a lamb boudin blanc; a white sausage with flecks of lamb meat wrapped in some lettuce at the one end. Garnish was artfully displayed asparagus and a very rich lamb sauce. I had a seared magret, served at about medium rare to medium, with a red wine glaze and orzo risotto: all very elegant. Perfectly trimmed, seared, cooked and presented. The reductions were flavorful without any trace of thickeners. All flavors were clean. If memory serves, I was also served an angliotti with my dish. I repeat that there were no miscues. All flavors and portions were balanced and clean. We had a Cab with this course. Cheeses were next. Small rectangular marble serviers were presented to each of us with a fan of figs at one end and a similar fan of asian pear at the other. The board for two was then placed at the center of the table. There were four cheeses of which I remember only three: the reblochon as it’s one of my favorites. The camembert as it rminded me of a Plotnicki thread, and a small glass bell jar of a mild creamy goat cheese in olive oil and herbs, along with some small pink dried berries. The goat cheese was the hit. Something keeps telling me that the fourth was a Comte, but I really don’t remember. Thin slices of fig bread and some champagne grapes complete the setting: a standout cheese board amongst many that were sampled on this trip. Desserts complete the meal. My nectarine clafouti with pistachio Ice cream and a teardrop stick of pulled sugar. My wife’s vacherin with dried cherry ice cream. At this point dessert was anticlimactic. They were good, but as a diabetic, I sampled them, but tend not to view them as the high point of my meal. There was nothing here that caused me to react in the way that I had to the foie gras course. Don’t get me wrong, as they were tasty and well presented. Desserts aren’t the high point of my meal, just one aspect of it. The meal was completed with good coffee, friandises and mignardises: a tower of truffles, candies, small madeleines, and other cookies and pastries. I like this sort of thing better then dessert. All were well executed, but at this point we certainly couldn’t finish them. On the way out we met Hubert Keller and exchanged a pleasantry or two with him and Mickey about some mutual friends. We were presented with a small gift of Fleur de Lys notepaper, which we thought was a nice favor. We declined the offer of calling us a cab and strolled the three blocks back to our hotel. This meal ranks with our best. It wasn’t just the food. It was the holistic restaurant/dining experience. This one will be difficult to beat, though we shouldn’t think of it in those terms. It was a memorable meal. We don’t do this often, about once a year. This one goes in the scrapbook along with French laundry and Alain Ducasse, Paris. One caveat. If you do this, bring money…lots of it. Thanks for listening Nick

FG, It was probably the size of the tail that led me to that impression. If the tail is large than the steak can be thinner. The tail is attractive looking, but I don't think that there's much to eat on it. Based on my experience and impression; 36-38 ounces seems a little high. But with the way they're butchered I'll concede a maybe. re the hash browns or German potatoes: Mine were burnt as were the the ones in the large aluminum pan that I saw sitting on the burner in the kitchen, in fact those were burnt black and gettin blacker by the second. They were most unmemorable. I did say it was one visit. Maybe on another one... I wasn't treated shabbily, quite the contrary. The much touted rude waiter didn't exist on my visit. Service was pretty good, but that line...oy! The shrimp cocktail seems to be an automatic for many people who dine at steakhouses. In a steakhouse such as this they should be a certain size and NOT have that transluscent look of frozen out of the shell shrimp. You know.. the slack and serve type. Call me old fashioned, but I think shrimp should be coooked in the shell in court boullion. Then peeled. I'm not saying that PL use Contessa (frozen out of the shell tiger cocktail shrimp) shrimp, or that they don't cook them properly in court bouillon. I'm only saying that my impression of the PL shrimp cocktail tended to that description. I'm in agreement with most here re the scrupulous attention to the quality of the steaks. It's just overall, not my kind of joint. But one can see that it does have its charms and appeals to many people. All of my criticisms prolly add up to a quintessential NYC steakhouse experience. edit: The Palm steakhouse in NYC and The River Palm Restaurant group are, I beleve, two separate entities. I don't think they're related. Nick

I've only been to PL once. Certainly not enough of a visit to condemn or extoll the virtues of the place. It's got character, it's got attitude, in an odd Williamsburg way. The steaks are tasty, but there can be much to dislike depending on your background and expectation. I personally think the place (physical plant) is a little gnarly for my taste. Remember I said for my taste. I haven't, nor do I want to ever deal with that line that starts forming at the maitre'd's station at about 7:30-8:00. It didn't seem worth it to me ( I ate there much earlier and was shown directly to a table). I found the steak for two to be smallish. I too am more used to a River Palm type of steak which is noticeably thicker. The ones that I use are also thicker. My gripe with PL steaks is the amount of tail that their Porterhouse has. I find this tail to be generaly inedible. My quick eyeball scale put the weight of a Luger steak for two at about 28 oz. maybe 32 at the outside. I'm used to a 37-40 oz steak. That increased thickness should define a different cooking and taste characteristic. The flavor is going to be in the selection and aging. Overall, I suspect (remember I've only been once), the vast majority of the steaks served are going to taste very good. The shortloins are selected by Ms. Foreman based on a trained eye and are expertly aged. Her pickiness over shortloin selection is legendary. Remember though, the selections are based on marbleing and fat cover. The flavor is going to be in the aging. Add a bank of very hot french broilers and the percentages are that you are going to get a very good steak. Everything else is secondary. The shrimp cocktail are truly awful, the spinach was good but prosaic and the german potatoes strictly hash house (both tastewise and based on what I've seen of their kitchen preparation). But y'all are there for the steak, not the sides. Unless somebody really wants to go, or is in town and it's on their list, I don't think I'd make the drive from Joisey to Williamsburg. 'sides I don't really jones for steak as much as some of you do. Nor do I have a palette that picks up the subtle aging nuances that some of you seem able to. I'll agree it's a tasty steak, my issues with PL have to do with things other than the flavor of the meat. I like Nina's pst. It is what it is. Like it or not. Nick

Thanks for the 411, Rosie. Nick

I think this place (delmonicos) is open now. Leastwise the Sysco driver (broadline food vendor) was on his way with a load on friday afternoon. I did ask him if he was delivering steaks. He said yes. Nick