BryanZ

As these were rather large specimens crunchy certainly would not have been optimal. I would call these just past al dente, as they were firm but certainiy had no "bite" whatsoever. The other restaurant I was considering for this meal was Le Grand Vefour. In the spectrum of French cooking CdF certainly is no Gagnaire or even L'Astrance in terms of creativity, but I was happy with my selection. This was undoubtedly French food just reimagined and slightly updated. Also, keep in mind this is effectively the business lunch menu, so that demographic needed to be accounted for. This was simply fresh salad greens served with a creamy dressing with some herbs in the mix, I believe.

Indeed, there were a lot of haute cuisine meals on this trip. I guess the short answer is that I don't believe in white flags. You're in Europe you might as well experience it as best you can.

Paris - Days 11-13 At this point the focus of my trip would shift slightly. My mother and sister would be returning to New Jersey, and I would be meeting up with three of my friends for the next leg. For the next three days we'd be in Paris. Although eating would become less important it's difficult to eat badly in this city. We had dinner one night at Le Comptoir du Relais, the incredibly popular bistro (and hotel) run by Yves Camdeborde. Unfortunately, due to a bizarre technical mishap the photographs from this meal, and an entire day of Paris sightseeing, were lost. And so my fervent documentation of this entire trip was for naught. Lisa, feel my scorn. I'm kidding, kind of. The cooking here is obviously very solid, perhaps a half-step better than other affordable Parisian bistros I've been to. One of the servers was very dismissive and, despite the efforts of her younger, friendly colleagues, put a slight damper on the meal for a couple of my friends. I would return here, however, as the pig's trotter dish I had--slow-cooked, shredded, formed into a rectangular loaf, chilled, sliced, the aggressively crisped in pan--was excellent. Our "fancy" meal in Paris would be lunch at the two-starred Carre des Feuillants. This is a R&C property--my mother gifted me a few certificates to help offset the cost of this lunch--with a great prix fixe lunch deal. €65 for three courses, plus all the extras one might expect. Canapes The first round included, olives, a smoked salmon terrine-of-sorts, and something else I'm completely forgetting. The next round was a shrimp fritter. This was tasty. With this meal we drank a white hermitage for €70. A bit more than I wanted to spend, but I didn't order it. It was a very interesting wine, but a bit funky for me. Amuse Cool avocado mousse with fresh vegetables and some kind of chilled vegetable soup. Tasty but a bit too "soft." What follows are the dishes for four people. White asparagus, asparagus mousse, soft-cooked egg A classic, updated. We don't get white asparagus this size in the States so this was somewhat new for me. A nice, elegant dish. Terrine en croute A serious terrine, there's all kinds of stuff in here. This was very tasty but perhaps more rustic than I'd expect in a two-star restaurant. Trio of tuna Two of my friends got this. I didn't get to try it, however. Pyrenees baby lamb This dish was served for two. What I've found interesting about European meat dishes, even in haute cuisine restaurants, is that they often serve you bits and pieces from a good part of the animal. This is in contrast to the States where "roasted X" is just one piece of loin, sliced. I think this may be more elegant, but the European style seems more real. Fish with potato scales The best looking dish of the bunch. I had a bite of this; it was tasty. The veggies were a nice accompaniment. Crusted duck Truffled cheese For my dessert, I selected this cheese dish. I believe it's a signature dish here. It was very, very rich, very heady. Pistachio cake with strawberries Another re-imagined classic. I had a few bites of this after my cheese. It was refreshing. Raspberry tart A relatively simple dessert. My friend really liked the freeze-dried berries. Chocolate fondant, aka When your camera says, "I hate you." For some reason this was terribly underexposed. Oh well. This restaurant really loves those rectangular presentations. A Photoshopped version of the picture can be seen here. It's a bit of an improvement. Thanks, RobC. Petits fours A fine selection. This meal was very solid. I didn't see any fireworks--then again, I'm jaded--but they put out a really nice experience for a very fair (relatively speaking) price. This restaurant does a lot of business dining and the menu reflects that. It's unintimidating food made interesting, but not too interesting. Our other noteworthy meal in Paris was at Cafe Constant, Christian Constant's most casual restaurant. Thankfully we were able to eat without much of a wait. The menu here is €33. Starters Lobster ravioli Foamy. Two people had this. Neither of them let me try it. Salmon and oyster tartare It was interesting to see oysters in a tartare. Foie gras Nicely seasoned. Would've liked more bread, though. Mains Seabass Apparently, this was difficult to eat out of the little bowl-plate provided. Reportedly tasty, though. Stuffed quail The lovely lady in our group selected this dish. She chose well. I think it was my favorite. Roasted veal with white beans Another very hearty, yummy dish. Throughout the trip I've been amazed at how flavorful the veal is in Europe. Bresse chicken This dish carried a slight supplement. While not as good as the chicken at Cafe Constant, this was a nice piece of meat. Profiteroles Excellent chocolate. Floating island, aka "Man, that dessert kind of sucks." We had built up a rapport with one of the English-speaking servers by the time ordering dessert came around. The profiteroles were an obvious, and enthusiastically recommended, choice. When I inquired about the floating island--never had it before, and it's so quintessentially French--he at first tried to subtly steer me away from it. When I didn't waver, he was more blunt, using the aforementioned epithet. Still, I really wanted to try this dessert in Paris. In the end, it didn't suck at all. It was subtle and light. Out of all the cities I visited on this trip Paris, and perhaps Berlin, are the only places I would want to live in. It's such a beautiful and vibrant place.

Paris - Day 10 Finally, we succeeded in getting from one locale to another with minimal incident. After driving from Positano to Naples, we boarded a plane to Paris. Paris, je t'aime. This city is so absurdly pretty. My second trip, and I think I liked it even more than the first. Eye candy We arrived in the afternoon and had a quick snack at a sidewalk cafe just off the Arc de Triomphe called Lateral. A bit overpriced but with surprisingly good food. Street scene Charcuterie board Salad Onion soup This snack was exactly what we wanted. Dinner on this evening would be at Christian Constant's one-starred Violon d' Ingres. We had a late reservation at 9:30 after a whirlwind afternoon and evening of sightseeing. The three-course, prix fixe menu here is €48. My sister and I partook in this. My mother ordered two appetizer courses a la carte. Crab, avocado, and grapefruit salad Nice and creamy with the occasional hit of acidity. Lobster salad This was really good. Great balance. Beef tongue and foie gras But, oh man, this was even better. Meaty, creamy, great vinaigrette on the beans. Nice textural contrasts with the croutons and almonds. Bresse chicken with macaroni gratin We need chicken this flavorful in the States. This was a full-flavored bird. The gratin was cool-looking, too. Almond crusted seabass with capers A Constant signature that I was glad to try. Creamy fish and bracingly briny sauce. Very nice, but very hearty. Foie gras ravioli with lobster bisque This was every bit as good as it sounds, maybe even better. A hearty appetizer portion, too. Rum baba Quintessentially French, so simple, and so good. Every time I have this dessert I'm always amazed at how the rum doesn't overpower the cake and whipped cream. This version showed spot-on balance. Vanilla souffle with caramel sauce Another great, old-school dessert. Light texture, but the sauce really gave this dessert some body and complexity. This is another signature dish and carried a €3 supplement. I'm really happy we chose this restaurant, as it really plays into one of the key strengths of Paris's dining scene. The mid-level restaurants here, those in €40-€60 price range, are so damn good. We had visited several temples of gastronomy on this trip, but this meal was just tasty. Nothing groundbreaking but every dish was as good as I imagined it to be or better. It's rare that a restaurant have such a high success rate.

Servers re-set the table after each course with appropriate flatware. We were never really served two soups in one course--I suppose the closest was the shellfish soup and the anemone custard at Le Petit Nice--but only one spoon was provided. That's pretty typical.

Positano and environs - Day 9 We would spend the bulk of this day on Capri, a small island just off the coast. After taking a ferry, then a furnicular--it's very mountainous--we visited some Roman ruins at Villa Jovis. As reward for this climb we stopped for drinks near the top on the way down. Limoncello prosecco cocktail Espresso with vanilla gelato This was really good. After we completed our walk down we had lunch at La Cisterna. This is a no frills restaurant located on a side street off the main square in the town of Capri. It's cheap and the food was actually pretty good. Our fine rosé On each bottle is a picture of the restaurant's rather large owner. Kinda creepy, mainly funny. Pizzas These were really good. Probably my favorite pizzas of our stay in Italy. Whole fish cooked in white wine and garlic Our server skillfully disassembled the fish. This was really good and cheap, too. The fish was only €16. For dinner on this evening we would be dining at Hotel Il San Pietro, an extremely nice property located just outside of Positano. They offer shuttle service to their guests and those parties dining at the restaurant. This is a R&C property. Amuse A strange but somehow fitting amuse. The pizza does capture many of the flavors of the region. The quality of the ingredients in this pizza were the best, but, to my tastes, it could've used more time in the oven to crisp up that crust. We ordered a la carte here, as there is no tasting menu. Antipasti Seafood salad Cooked a la minute, so everything is fresh and warm. I think this is a really understated yet beautiful plate of food. Baby prawn carpaccio with shrimp fritters Another nice starter. The fritters were surprisingly good. Cooked and raw vegetables I'm usually not that into salads--my mother had serious palate and stomach fatigue by this point in the trip--but this was very good. Another beautiful plate, too. Primi Paccheri with sea snails and shellfish I was the only one to order my own primi, so I shared. This was good, but was a bit pedestrian. Besides the sea snails, not that exciting. Secondi Seabass with summer truffles and vegetables A solid dish but the seabass at Le Petit Nice was orders of magnitude better. Anchovy tart My favorite of our mains. Cured anchovies sit at the bottom of a phyllo pastry shell. On top is a relish of tomato, then fresh anchovies on top of that. Very tasty and unique. Ravioli with baby prawns Nice, but a bit heavier than what we were looking for. It had been a long day so we skipped dessert. There were a few petits fours to complete our meal. Service here was perhaps the most disinterested we would come across. It's not that it was bad, but you could feel that this place was simply another restaurant, albeit much more elegant, catering to tourists only here for another night or two. The restaurant charges at 15% service fee to non-guests. This was clearly stated on the menu, so we obviously had no problem paying it. Don't get me wrong, the food is quite good here, and our starters were universally excellent, but I didn't feel much of an emotional attachment to the place.

Positano and environs - Day 8 cont'd. Positano is an interesting place. It's surely beautiful but perhaps a bit too touristy for my tastes. The food, I think, would somewhat reflect this, too. While tasty, everywhere we ate seemed to lacked the same intimacy of the other spots on our trip. Beach In the early morning, the beach and dock look positively quaint. Within the next couple hours, it would be much more crowded. View Taken from our hotel, Villa Rosa. The red building at the very, very bottom of the image is Sirenuse, the hotel docsconz mentioned. We were directly behind. Dinner on this evening would take place on the water at Chez Black. I had a mini-nervous breakdown since I couldn't see myself eating at any of these places. Way too touristy. Eventually we settled on Chez Black, as it has a pretty good reputation. I could've done without the shmoozy waiters and all the kitsch, but the meal was fine, at times good. Grilled vegetables Simple and tasty. Caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella Love that cheese. Mixed seafood pasta Mussels, clams, big prawns, some squid, I think. I'm torn on this dish. It was good, but it could've been amazing. Pizzas Again, these were good, but could've been amazing. The toppings were too heavy, I think.

In terms of selecting restaurant I usually choose all of them. Obviously "value" is a concern in that I don't want to visit somewhere that's overpriced and doesn't have the chops--this was my concern with Oustau de Baumaniere, which was thankfully unfounded. Since my family eats anything it's not as if their input really matters. I do have to give props to my sister for finding La Taverna and Don Alfonso, as she planned the Italy portion of the trip.

Positano and environs - Day 8 On our drive from Massa Lubrense to Positano proper we stopped for lunch at Don Alfonso 1890. This is an older restaurant that is going through something of a renaissance. In 2007 they drastically renovated the dining room to suit modern tastes. They're also undergoing significant capital investments on the property, updating the rooms and completely redoing the sizable back garden. Many people have criticized Don Alfonso for its old-fashioned dining room. I'm posting a lot of pictures of the interior to show just how modern the space has become. The signature floral prints and pink remain from the past iteration, just presented in a more contemporary fashion. Dining room While not to all tastes, it is very light and airy. We opted for cheaper of two tasting menus, at €125, I believe. This is a R&C property. Tomato gazpacho, avocado creme A nice start combining acidic with dairy. Bread I'm including this picture for the sake of the foccacia. When topped with their local olive oil--nearly everything the restaurant uses comes from their own farm in Massa Lubrense--this was a course in itself. Certainly my favorite bread item of the trip; I had thirds. Mozzarella souffle A light transition in the more substantial portion of the meal. The portion size was manageable, the texture airy yet substantial, and the temperature just warmed through. Fried lobster with sweet-sour sauce I have to imagine the sauce was some kind of balsamic or other vinegar reduction. This was really, really good, especially for being so simple. The lobster was perfectly cooked and tender, not the least bit chewy or rubbery as is often the case. Antipasti plate From the top right, clockwise: arancino, house-cured salumi, smoked mozzarella, eggplant. A nice collection of bites. The salumi was my favorite, with the eggplant bite coming in as the darkhorse second place finisher. Nice acidity in that latter dish. Ravioli Another amazingly simple dish that surpassed expectations. The pasta dough is actually made more in the style of a Asian dumpling wrapper. It's simply high-protein flour and water, no egg. As a result, the pasta was incredibly thin and almost custardy. The accompaniments were great too but here the texture of the pasta itself took center stage. Reef fish, "acqua pazzo" I'd actually become quite familiar with acqua pazzo--roughly, "crazy water"--back in North Carolina at a pan-Asian restaurant called Jujube. Strange, I know. Still this was a solid rendition using local fish. I felt like something a bit meatier, so for my main I asked for the local goat. A nice bit of grassy gaminess here. In general, however, I thought the mains were a bit boring even if they were still quite tasty. At the back of the plate is a little nugget of deep-fried goat brain. It was yummy. Cheese This was a pre-plated cheese plate but still very enjoyable. At this point, my love affair with real mozzarella di buffala began. I had had it from time to time in the States, but in Italy this stuff is so absurdly good it makes all past versions pale in comparison. I liked the diverse accompaniments on the plate. In the center is "virgin honey." Does anyone know what that means? Fig sorbet with fig gelee A very feminine pre-dessert. Desserts We happily accepted a different dessert of the each of us. My favorite was the lemon granita in the frozen preserved lemon. My coffee zabiglione was tasty just soo rich. It reminded me of a coffee omelette with all the creamy egg yolkiness of the thing. The sffoglia was good, but I thought the filling was a bit dense. Petits fours Yeah, there were a lot of them. Coffee service My mother found this dishware very cute and summarily bought something very similar in Positano. At most restaurants the experience would end here and we would leave happily, if a bit awkwardly, after paying with our certificates. The hospitality at Don Alfonso, however, really took our meal there to the next level. One of the servers mentioned their wine cellar and offered to take us on a tour of it. At the end of our meal, one of the owners of the property led us into their office/library where a few items and books are on sale. A video about the history of the restaurant and its associated farm also plays. This area is separated from the main restaurant and serves as a gateway to the wine cellar. As she went to fetch one of the wine directors we amused ourselves with these wares. We were also repeatedly offered complimentary glasses of limoncello. It would turn out that this restaurant's wine cellar would be the oldest thing we'd see on the trip. This Etruscan excavation is said to be 2700 years old, far older than the castles of Roman ruins we had seen up to this point. At the top, lots of wine bottles Looking down And back up The entire passage is lined with bottles. At the bottom you find out that part of this used to be a well. Can you say, The Ring? Samara was surely waiting just around the corner. In one of the rooms at the very bottom they age a lot of their cheese and some salumi This was pretty hardcore. We ate it up, literally and figuratively. When we returned from our spelunking expedition the owner greeted us with a bag of complimentary dried pasta and a jar of their sauce. Clearly this place is all about hospitality. I was very impressed. And so from there we set off to Positano. Edited: Thank you, MikeHartnett.

La Taverna is near Massa Lubrense. It's on the edge of the peninsula that the main road kind of skirts. This area is relatively isolated and therefore gets more of a local crowd. Positano is probably prettier and better situated but I quite literally still felt like I was still in tri-state area. I'll get to that shortly, however. La Sirenuse and Il San Pietro were simply too expensive. We would however have a meal at Il San Pietro so we got to spend some time on the property. It is very beautiful and probably the property I'd most like to stay at if I returned to the area because it's much more isolated and more appropriately captures the feel of the Amalfi coast.

Positano and environs - Day 7 We returned from our meal at Le Petit Nice at about 1 am and slept for a few hours. By 4:30 am we were on the road to Genoa, Italy, where we'd catch a flight to Rome, then another flight to Naples, then a bus to Sorrento, then a taxi to our lodging and dining destination for the evening, La Taverna del Capitano. As might be expected, this did not go as smoothly as we imagined, for our flight from Rome to Naples was canceled after significant delay. We did, however, have some pretty solid pizza from a fast food court in the Rome airport. Naturally, the appropriate response was, "Screw it, we'll drive." So drive, again, we did. Once you get to the coast it gets mighty windy. We arrived at La Taverna, a two-star restaurant with a few rooms up to, a couple hours before dinner. Just enough time to decompress and sit on our terrace to look out at the Mediterranean. Taken from our balcony. The rooms sit right above the restaurant, which sits right above the beach. La Taverna del Capitano Looking back from the beach. Snack with appertivi With our first drink, we received a plate of traditional snacks. Pickled, cured, brined, and fresh veggies. Here, they charge a flat fee for a glass of wine and this plate, about €10. Bread service This was in addition to warm rolls they'd bring in the more traditional service manner. Here, we chose the middle tasting menu at €85. This meal would be out of pocket, since the property is not a member of R&C. This meal was a nice introduction to Italian cuisine, if a little heavy for the weather. We would've liked at least one cold dish. Everything was very, very hot, like, piping. Amuse This eggplant lasagna was very tasty--and so different than anything we'd eaten thus far--but heavy. Evocative of the rest of the meal, I think. Fried prawns wrapped in seaweed Nice prawns but not nearly as pure and unadulterated as the Etxebarri beasts. This was served with a red pepper sauce and roasted tomato. I was impressed with the quality of the produce, I just wish that part of the dish had been cold. The temperature contrast would've been nice. The coolest/weirdest part of the dish was that the prawn was served on rice paper. As the juices ran from the prawn and other vegetables they made paper strangely delicious. I'm gross, I know, and I happily ate the entire sheet. Cuttlefish and octopus, cooked in plastic. There's also some bacon and caramelized onion in there. This was rich and meaty but quite tasty. White/black tagiolini with squid and zucchini Two thin sheets of pasta are rolled together to create bi-color noodles. Simple but cool. The zucchini is cut to match the exact size of the pasta. This was very good. Ombrina with ham and figs The fish was stuffed with ham, served atop figs, and topped with a fig fruit leather. This was perhaps a bit underseasoned; it could've used salt and acid, as it was very rich and quite sweet. Beef tenderloin, pizzaiola style Slices of beef tenderloin were served with eggplant and mozzarella cheese. On the side was the pizzaiola sauce. Randomly enough, I had a dish very similar to this at Rare in Vancouver, of all places. This was fine, but a step down, I thought. One portion of the beef was somewhat overcooked. For my main, I got the braised veal with paccheri pasta. Our very talkative and amicable waiter was amazed I could finish the whole portion. It was very heavy, though. More a winter or fall dish for me. Palate cleanser of watermelon and peaches poached in spiced red wine "Fragrance of Massa Lubrense coast" 10, yes 10 different preparations of citrus and lemon. This was a bit excessive, but the sorbets were a welcome, icy treat. Petits fours I thought these were a bit superfluous, as they weren't that great. La Taverna del Capitano is a fun little property. One of our waiters spent more time schmoozing with the guests than he did serving food. He also helped us out with internet woes that night and the next morning. He also fetched me from the beach when the day's fish had come in to show me the catch. The wine steward is the owner's daughter and also works front desk. The chef helped me find a plastic bag to pack some extra clothes into. It's a really intimate, family-run kind of place. Thankfully, it's also quite isolated from the masses of tourists the overrun Positano and Capri and is patronized by a more local crowd. It wasn't the most elegant place we stayed but it was very quirky and charming.

Provence, France - Day 6 After breakfast at La Riboto we set off to Marseilles. Really the only point of our going to this city was to eat at the newly three-starred Le Petit Nice. With NYC's Le Bernardin, the two are the only European-style seafood restaurants to carry three stars. Driving in Marseille is stressful to say the least. By the time we arrived at the restaurant after various errands that needed completion, we needed drinks. I started off with a glass of champagne. My mother ordered the house cocktail, made with champagne and blueberry and strawberry purees. At €25 this sure wasn't cheap, but since we would be using R&C certificates for this meal (cue foreboding music) it wasn't so much a concern. Menu There are three tasting menus available. We chose the middle one for €155. Like Oustau, this restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating. The dining room, not where we sat, was also being used on this evening and was definitely to my tastes, especially when they opened the big, sliding picture windows toward the end of the evening. We, however, were sat outside, literally on the Mediterranean. Canapes One would imagine that for a party of three, they would use this serving dish so that each person could try a bite of each. Strangely enough, each square of nine for one person. This gave us three of each of three different items. I wasn't necessarily opposed to this--the items were yummy--but I found it a bit odd. I can't imagine a chef like Grant Achatz would ever do something like this, as it just felt a bit repetitive for no reason. Oysters with vegetable purees, beefsteak tomato gazpacho with tomato and sardine Celery root, carrot, and zucchini with the oysters, I believe. This was simple but very nice. Very pure tasting, sweet oysters and sweet vegetables. The soup with sardine was more assertive, both acidic and salty. A nice start. Duo of sea anemone, shellfish soup I'd never had sea anemone before, so this was a first. I think it tastes just as one might imagine. The little tentacles things are a bit slimy, kind of like short strands of wet pasta. It tastes of the ocean, kind of like seaweed. I liked it, though probably only in small quantities. At the rear is a fried donut filled with sea anemone. On the left is a sea anemone flan topped with an ocean-y foam and caviar. On the right is an assortment of shellfish served with a light herbal soup. A very diverse course, and it was cool to try something new. Seabass with zucchini, black truffle, and Provençal broth In my opinion, the Best Dish of the Trip. This was soooo good; the best fish dish I can recall eating in recent memory. The truffle perfume, thanks to the slice on top and the truffle oil in the broth, was spot on and gave the dish an incredible depth of flavor. The bass held its own and was the perfect foil to the assertive broth of tomatoes and herbs. Seriously, so good. It's a signature dish here for a reason. Pageot I'm not entirely sure what this fish translates into in English, perhaps a small pink snapper. This was really nice and elegant. The sauce behind the fish was applied tableside. At the top of the plate was a condiment that evoked a peanut butter sandwich. Strange but somehow appealing. Poached oysters, crab salad with radish A really soothing dish that was set off by the aggressively bitter crab salad. The salad on its own would've been too much--there was radish puree worked into the crab meat--but the small portion acted as an effective palate cleanser between bites of the silky oyster soup. Roasted veal, peas, seasonal vegetables A really nice meat course. Beautifully roasted veal, topped with sweetbreads, and a nice assortment of vegetables. Kind of like at Oustau, this was just fundamentally tasty. Cheese Three much more manageable cheese plates. Green apple pre-dessert At the back you left you have "powdered meringue" which was pretty damn similar to "powdered sugar." Red fruit and goat cheese This was an incredibly elegant dessert. The cheese was not at all overpowering and was whipped to just the right point of lightness. I wanted to try the signature chocolate dessert, however. As far as chocolate desserts go, this was very nice and light. Good textural contrast. Petits fours A better usage of the nine-compartment plate. Chocolates Cool presentation. So, when we tried to pay, we were at first told that dollar denominated certificates weren't accepted in Europe. Clearly, this was not true. Then, when they calculated the exchange rate they tried to charge a 25% "tax" as a "policy required throughout all of France." Also not true. I was clearly having none of this and tried to get them to logically and rationally explain where this charge was coming from. We would've been happy to pay something like a 10% processing fee if they were transparent about it, but to say this was a R&C policy was simply not true. When they failed to explain where in fact this charge was coming from they quickly backtracked and charged us the market rate. We weren't screwed or anything, but it did leave us feeling somewhat awkward. Oh well. An excellent meal up until that point.

Provence, France - Day 5 cont'd. Oustau de Baumaniere is a storied inn and restaurant. It's been around for over 40 years, I think, and has seen trends in gastronomy come and go. It carried three stars for some time but then was demoted to two, some say because the restaurant did not innovate as much as a three-star restaurant should. If this was in fact the case, I wondered if the restaurant was resting on its laurels and had become lazy or if it had cracked some kind of code and put pleasing its customers before pleasing Michelin inspectors. I admit I was very skeptical about this meal. For one, the restaurant is very expensive; the tasting menu comes in at €175. Thankfully this would be paid for using R&C certificates. Mainly, however, I was worried that I'd be bored by it. It's quite "old-school" to say the least. A good friend of mine, who would be joining me for the second half of the trip, is now the third generation in his family to describe meals at Oustau with near revelatory praise. While I commend the restaurant's staying power, places like that usually leave me lukewarm. While this was not my favorite meal of the trip, it was perhaps the tastiest. This is relatively classical cooking, but it is undoubtedly delicious. During the summer it's pretty much required that you eat outside on the terrace. This area sits by the pool and looks out to the cliffs of Les Baux. In the twilight hours it does have something of a magical--two different people used this word to describe the patio--air. The dining area I'm usually not really into open air dining. It's a control thing, I guess. Dining outside leaves too much to chance; there are bugs, wind, weather, animals, etc. Still, I can certainly see the appeal of this setting. Menus Very graphic-y. Canapes A fitting start to the meal. The crab-filled cannoli were my favorite canape of the trip and almost made it on the illustrious Best Dishes of the Trip list. Amuse Roasted apricot, foie gras and truffle ice cream. For the life of me I can't remember what the puree was on the bottom of the plate. At this point I was still on the fence about the meal. This dish was tasty but almost felt disingenuous. It's like they were trying to be overtly, uncharacteristcally daring to open up the meal. Still, this was a success. I should note that at about this time was when we had a bit of service slip-up that could've been handled a bit better. I ordered a glass of champagne to start which arrived, a bit late, with no incident. My mother, however, prefers off-dry whites to start her meal. When we asked for a glass, using descriptors like "off-dry, some residual sugar, and fruit-forward," the wine steward responded with, "Sweet wine?" Figuring this was a language barrier thing we just acquiesced thinking that they knew what we meant. What we received--the steward did not offer a taste--was a local apertif wine of the vinx doux classification. This wasn't off dry; it was an actual sweet wine, not at all what we ordered. We noted this and got a bit of attitude to the effect of, "So the madame does not like our selection? If so, we will replace it with something more to her liking." It was a bit condescending, and they came back with a bone-dry selection. Not the best service exchange ever. Anyway...there was plenty of good food to come. Foie gras terrine with a foie-stuffed cherry Classic and delicious. Langoustine with languoustine-black truffle raviolo A light broth was poured tableside. So, this dish was awesome and a definite member of the Best Dishes club. The langoustine was firm yet pillowy. The raviolo had just enough truffle flavor to lend a bit of richness to the dish. The broth brought it all together. John Dory with crayfish Another totally delicious dish. The sauce work at this restaurant--spot on in the last dish, spot on here, and even better with the mains--was exemplary. Nothing groundbreaking here, just a nice piece of fish--maybe a bit overcooked and too firm if I'm going to nitpick--some fresh shellfish and a sauce to make it creamy and delicious. Pigeon (with foot, aka handle) Pigeon is a pretty typical, and admittedly delicious, feature on fine-dining menus in Europe, less so in the States. What made this dish stand out, however, was the incredibly rich sauce. Something about crushed pigeon bodies and maybe a bit of liver was mentioned. The attached foot made for an excellent handle to facilitate gnawing. Duo of lamb My mother received the duo of lamb as her main, a signature dish here. You have a single chop and a piece of slow-cooked breast. Nothing ground breaking (again) besides the sauce (again). This was an excellent lamb dish, but I preferred the pigeon, I think. Cheese, aka "You got to be kidding me" Redux We love our cheese. Really, we do. So when the cheese captain came over and started to load up a full size dinner plate I was a little bit disappointed that we'd have to share from one plate. Surely, I couldn't complain about six ample pieces of different cheese, but maybe I wanted a bit more. Little did I know that this behemoth cheese plate was meant only for my sister. Again, this isn't some little dessert plate you see runneth over but a full dinner plate. There must've been a half-pound of cheese on that plate, easy. When we saw how humongous this first plate we told the server to perhaps dial it down a bit for the next 2. Still, this was freaking absurd. Chocolate A surprisingly nice chocolate composition. Usually I'm not a huge chocolate fan, and as a first dessert it's quite the assertive move. The crisp-thing was really good. Strawberries This was really, really good. Fresh strawberries, a crisp cookie, some stewed berries. Simple yet really well composed. Millefeuille We wanted to try something really classic so this was recommended. It was exactly what I was hoping for but didn't open my mind in any way. Confit fruit cart, aka "Satan's chariot" I saw this from afar and thought it was a confit fruit cart. Not very many tables were getting it so I assumed it was some kind of supplement. As we were waiting to pay--calculating the exchange rate takes some time--I inquired if I might have one piece of fruit since I'd heard about confit fruit before but had never tried it. The server was happy to bring over the entire cart. Little did I know... Confit fruit, aka "Oh, this is sooo terrible!" The contents of this plate are the worst things I have eaten in memory. I am not kidding, not in the slightest. It was actually painful for me to eat them. It's like the point is to take out anything redeeming about the natural fruit and replace it with sugar. Not soft sugar, not crispy sugar but a texture that is at once difficult to chew and makes your teeth stick together. I don't fault the restaurant for this, I just simply now know that I really hate confit fruit in this traditional style. In fact, I just pretend that this wasn't even part of the meal. Hell, I pretend my consumption of these demons masquerading as fruit never even happened. Other than this slight misstep, this was an excellent meal. It was the most traditional fine-dining meal I'd have on my three week trip but certainly among the best.

Something like that. Our meal that evening would be dining al fresco at Oustau de Baumaniere.

Provence, France - Day 5 We spent the morning in Arles sightseeing and just walking around. It's very cute but a little bit sedate for my tastes. I like big cities or the countryside, in between doesn't quite impress me as much. We stopped for lunch at a pretty typical restaurant just off the touristy Place du Forum called Le 16 and had what I might call a Provençal (I figured out how to make the funny C on my first try; I'm so proud) meal. My mother and sister had big salads for about €12 each. Lyonnais and one with mixed seafood Nice and crisp for a hot day. As might be expected, I liked the one with the poached egg and lardons. I had the three-course menu for about €22 or so. It was simple, but tasty food. Telines, aka "You've got to be kidding me" When I saw "baby clams" on the English menu, surely this was the starter to get. When the mass of shell and clam meat arrived I was seriously floored. I think I'd heard of these before but had never seen them. What you see here is at least a pound of the smallest clams you've ever seen. There were hundreds of them. I feel like if one person was eating these it'd take at least 30 minutes to pick through them all. Thankfully, I had nimble help. Sea bream Cooked in local olive oil and served with vegetables and red rice. Fresh but a bit undersalted. Profiteroles A fine rendition. After lunch we drove to Les Baux, a town located in and on the white rock cliffs. This place truly felt Provençal, bathed in sunlight and lined with vines and olive trees. Vines and olive trees in the valley, surrounded by little mountains We stayed at La Riboto de Taven, a charming property in the valley. The proprietors are very kind people who clearly have a lot of pride in their small inn. Our grotto room Instead of staying in the farmhouse/main building we were put in this grotto room, literally carved into the cliffs. The space used to be an olive mill in the 16th century, keeping with the culinary nature of this trip. This was very, very cool. In the main farmhouse is a well-regarded restaurant presided over by the owner's brother. He won a star when he cooked in the UK but has since decided to return to his native France and cook simpler cuisine. And now, the creepiest wine tasting ever. Located right above the valley is a nice parking lot that overlooks both the old town and the valley below; it's a popular photo/painting spot. Very pretty. Coincidentally enough, we also saw a small fleet of heavily disguised new BMW 7-Series sedans out for testing. A cool but non-food-related aside. Anywho, the owner of this parking lot is a winery located in the old quarry caves just a hundred yards back. The entrance The chances of being abducted and dragged into the caves at this point stand at about 50/50. Rounding the bend There's no going back now. The, umm, main hall The pictures don't convey how truly creepy this place was. We could hear the bats from deep within the cave. This would be a great place to shoot a horror film like the The Caves Have Eyes or something of the sort. Tasting bar I was hoping the wine would be amazing given the totally strange location and all. Unfortunately, it wasn't. We still felt obligated to buy a bottle because we had tasted. Thankfully it was like €7. We didn't even end up drinking it before we had to hop on a plane, but I think it was worth it for the experience.

It doesn't appear as if there's a thread dedicated solely to Mugaritz. With that said, a detailed report of my meal at Mugaritz in June 2008 can be found on my eG travelblog here.

I spent three days in San Sebastian recently and am blogging about it on eG. The fun starts here. Lots of barhopping, then meals at Mugaritz, Akelare, Etxebarri, and Alona Berri. Lots of detailed pictures and information for those researching a trip to the region.

Simon, I'm curious to hear what you thought of Mugaritz, too, then.

I think it's definitely a cultural difference based largely on what you're into. Many Americans often find European steak too lean and chewy. Europeans, as you've noted, often find American beef bland. Then there's Argentinian beef. And Japanese. It's fascinating how cultural differences manifest themselves not just in cuisine but in the very raw products we produce. Fruits and vegetables are another obvious example. In most of the US, the produce kind of sucks. With that said, there are even regional variations in this country. A blueberry grown in Maine is radically different than one grown here in New Jersey. Magnify that to a global scale--you have Japanese melons that go through MRIs and sell for hundreds of dollars--and you've got a striking amount of variation in something (supposedly) so pure and simple.

This is a small restaurant with only a couple of servers. While this style of service wouldn't fly in a more traditional setting, it worked here. All the dishes and plates were small so serving on a long platter generally made sense. I think all the dishes were presented in this way where we'd pick them up once delivered and explained.

It was gelatinzed gin and vermouth, layered in the straw. You suck it up and let the two combine in your mouth. Again, I like a traditional martini more, but this was nice twist. Definitely having a moment. We found the repetition somewhat bizarre too as it's not exactly a seasonal item or anything.

Provence, France - Day 4 Up at the crack of dawn we took a train from San Sebastian to Hendaye, on the France-Spain border. From there it was off to Marseilles where we picked up another car and drove to Arles. It was a long day of traveling. The logistics of this trip were EXTREMELY challenging, especially given financial constraints, thus necessitating all the time required to plan it. Welcome to Arles in the south of France. Certainly beautiful country and so full of history. Taken from the terrace of our hotel in Arles. We spent one night here at Hotel Le Calendal. Roman colliseum They now hold events--humane, and the occasional inhumane, bullfights--here now. Our first meal in the South of France, besides a couple sandwiches on the train, was at Atelier de Jean Luc Rabanel. Rabanel was the first chef to win a star at an all-organic restaurant. He now has turned his attention to more modern cooking and has garnered a star for his efforts. There is no menu here so my recollection is a little hazy. Dinner here is €75 per person; lunch is €45, I think. Interestingly enough we did not see a single foam in all of Spain. Rabanel would more than make up for this... Tempura carrots Started off the meal. Sardine salad, almond cookie, onion ice cream A very interesting first course. I would've liked it more without the cookie. The ice cream, however, worked well, adding more creaminess and allium notes. Tomato gazpacho with a tuna salad on a breadstick This was very good. Refreshing, extremely tomato-y, and the bread worked better in this application. A reinvention of sushi (or something like that) Lightly seared tuna wrapped around green beans with a mustard-wasabi sauce. Served with a tomato sorbet. My biggest complaint about this meal was there was a lot of repetition in techniques and ingredients. This dish begins to show that. Yogurt, baby leek, onion foam, rabbit liver Wow, that's foamy. An interesting, if not entirely cohesive, dish. I get what the kitchen was trying to do, combine something rich and gamy with something acidic and bracing, but it wasn't a complete success for me. Good idea though, could just use a bit of refinement. Fried artichoke, crispy jamon Iberico, tomato bread wrapped in jamon Iberico Spanish ham makes everything good. Raviolo of mushrooms in tomato pasta served in broth with herbs I would've like a bit cleaner flavors here. This was a nice vegetarian dish, but needed to taste more purely of mushroom or tomato. Lightly cooked salmon, potato puree, enoki mushrooms, sesame foam I really liked this dish a lot. The foam here was very tasty and effective at conveying the essence of sesame. Palate cleanser of lemon cream with herb This was very assertive and kind of strange. Fish served in lemongrass broth with chanterelles This was tasty but a bit too brothy. I don't recall what the fish was. Lamb, chocolate-coffee sauce Nice meat course, especially the sticky sauce the garnished the plate. The garlic confit and beans were also nice. Lemon meringue pie and "virtual" beer of tropical fruit Two nice layered desserts. Sichuan peppercorn ice cream, red pepper chip, stewed strawberries with fresh cheese I liked this idea a lot but the execution of the ice cream fell way short. It was way icy, as if there was not nearly enough fat in the base to make it creamy. The berry component was satisfying in a simple way. Anise liqueur spherication, chocolate-pistachio cookie, olive syrup A bad experience with absinthe that still haunts me to this day prevented me from enjoying the s'fer. The rest of the dessert was fine, if a bit dry. As a general rule, I'm just not that into baked goods. Lemon dessert Nice way to finish the meal. It was quite hot in the open-air restaurant, so this was appreciated. All in all, this was a very solid meal. I really, really enjoyed the salmon and the lamb dishes. Other dishes felt a bit repetitive or derivative but were still generally tasty. With that said, I actively didn't like the s'fer and the lemon crema. The meal represents a fair value, given the number of dishes served. This wasn't among the best meals of the trip, but I appreciate what Rabanel is doing here.

I will admit I've had more experience with grain-fed American and Japanese beef at the high end. I've had a couple decent grass-fed steaks from local farmers and the likes of Whole Foods but nothing I would describe as truly special. I'm sure "special" grass-fed beef exists in this country--Craftsteak would probably be a good place to try to find it--but this was much better than anything similar I've had in the States.

San Sebastian, Spain - Day 3 cont'd. So far we'd done the Michelin thing, done the countryside thing, done the pinxo hopping thing. Surely there is much more to eat in the region, but for our last night San Sebastian we chose to visit a very interesting pinxo bar. This wouldn't be a barhopping night; rather, we'd have a full dinner at Alona Berri, an eatery with the traditional bartop food setup but also a few tables with waiter service. Alona Berri specializes in elaborate pinxos. It's slogan is "Cucina en Miniatura." Roughly, (haute) cuisine in miniature. For €35 plus tax we'd receive several very tasty courses. This meal was surely the best value of the trip, and I highly recommend it for people looking for a haute-ish experience without spending much money at all. The room is far from elegant, but I was so satisfied with the experience, complete with €16 bottle of local white wine. Good stuff. Bar This place and Astelana have the most elaborate pre-prepared offerings. Menu This tasting of sorts is served in a partitioned off area of about three tables. Reservations are definitely necessary. We were seated next to a British couple and a young Spanish couple on a date. My kind of date place. First bite And a big bite it was. Poached quail egg, salmon roe, crispy herbs, other stuff. Uncomfortably large even for my big mouth, but tasty. Ocotopus salad, gazpacho, local olive oil Better than I imagined it would be. Sometimes cold seafood salads just taste like their dressing and are rubbery. Not the case here. Loved the soup too, very rich yet refreshing. High quality olive oil was liberally applied to bread. Shrimp beggar's purse Tasty but rather simple. Perhaps the weakest dish of the meal. Hake with tomato vinaigrette This was actually one of the best fish dishes of the entire trip. The hake was perfectly cooked and tender. The vinaigrette was spot on with salt and acid. Really, really good. Championship pinxos One with squid, another with eel, I believe. These were the most modern of the offerings on the menu. Duo of foie gras What's not to like? Roasted pig Tasty but not as tender as I would've liked. Sea urchin custard I added this an extra course because I wanted to try it. It was yummy. French toast I can't recommend this place enough. Our server was a young woman who made up for her lack of polish with enthusiasm. She seemed genuinely happy that we were enjoying our meal so much. This is the kind of place that I'd definitely eat at even if I had to pay the bill. Affordable, fun, and delicious.

I don't know much about the provenance of the beef we ate. I imagine it was very local and not aged for very long given the dark, vibrant red, as opposed to mahogany, color. The other interesting thing was the color of the fat. The yellow tinge suggests an animal not fed on an excess of grain or corn. As you can see the steak was very lean but still very tender. The flavor, however, is what haunts me. Pleasantly chewy flesh with the fat lending unctuousness and a burst of flavor. I had a nice white asparagus dish in Paris, but we're a few days away from that yet. This paper was a bit thicker than a breath strip--somewhere between that and a thin piece of fruit leather--but of similar texture. Some papers are brittle but this was more waxy and pliable. It lent a nice bit of onion-y sweetness.