Steve Klc

I'll see you in line AJM! Let's hope Sterling gets a tandoor and a wood-fired stone pizza oven.

Where's the creme brulee? That said, never underestimate the power of a good "strawberries romanoff" in season. As an aside, which is a worse indictment--the Prime Rib or the Palm, which doesn't even list desserts: http://www.thepalm.com/sitemain.cfm?site_id=4

PC--I'll just pick up that "crumble" comment--if you're doing "ganache" correctly, and working with good chocolate and a good recipe, there's no crumble. What you aim for is perfectly shiny, smooth and unctuous--and it is not dry, not grainy and not crumbly in the slightest. Congrats on your success so far.

Paula--I wonder if you'd be willing to address what role you see the internet, especially new media and an online community like eGullet, playing in the lives of food writers and cookbook authors who don't live in the middle of a culinary hub like a NYC or Paris or SF? I remember the day you first posted on eGullet and said to myself, aren't we lucky! I wonder if you've ever had occasion to say the same thing and if you find you're able to feel more connected to what is going on around the world as a result? On the flip side, I wonder if the internet hasn't also made it easier for some food writers to use it as a crutch--for story ideas--to rely on others to do what their bosses are supposedly paying them to do--to come up with fresh creative ideas on their own. Any thoughts?

And I bet DonRocks will be more than prepared to address those questions publicly and frankly, as he has since he discovered eG. That's the real value of our nascent but growing eG DC community--the exchanges that can take place between diner, critic, food writer/editor, chef, pastry chef and sommelier in full view--uniquely raise appreciation and awareness even in disagreement. I found something Mark just wrote interesting on few different levels: "In relation to the Andale thread, I spoke with Chris about not being a Yucatan native. His reponse was revealing. He told me that they were able to take the flavors and ingredients and find better ones HERE. Next time there, ask if Chris is in the kithcen and if he can come out and talk for a minute about the food. I'm sure, as an eGullet VIP, that it will make a world of difference." My "cultural immersion" challenge to Mark on that Andale thread aside: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=34&t=28923& my initial reaction is this shouldn't make a world of difference, it shouldn't have anything to do with being an eG VIP--and I know Mark was half-joshing with that line--but the best restaurants in my book are the ones that day-in and day-out are practically VIP-blind. I hope Chris (and David) find the time to join us here, in full view--not just late night among industry friends--and here on eG DC is the perfect opportunity for a chef like Chris "to talk about the food" as he sees it. Chris is as welcome as Grant Achatz or David Hawksworth or Heston Blumenthal or any of the other chefs before him who hang here talking about they do, as is every diner like Bill. But every diner should be a VIP--and every dish which goes out should reflect the passion and skill of the chef as consistently as possible. Mark's other advice resonates with me: "plan on giving this place some time to settle down, and then trying it." It's no surprise if it's "not in league with D. C. Coast or, even, Ten Penh" yet, as Joe writes, but please compare apples to apples--this is a new place and most people are reporting based on but one visit. I also think it's a little unfair to write at this point "this lacks the promise of, say, Zaytinya." If anyone "expected" a new restaurant to be one of the 5 restaurants nominated nationally for the James Beard "Best New Restaurant" as Zaytinya was, that would be like missing the forest and the trees. Let's give Chris and the rest of his team some time to deliver.

Still, you haven't specifically addressed whether Woodbridge will have the Pierre Herme-developed line of patisserie. Do you know?

I just don't see that you have any reason to be angry--but then I'm not sure what the topic "is" that you're claiming to be angry about, Mark. But I want to, my gut tells me it could be interesting. A hypothetical--chef closes restaurant with theme or inspiration A, reopens it with new theme or inpsiration B. It could be Andale, Greenwood or any number of other chefs around the country. The food is either interesting and good or it isn't--it either makes an interesting proposition and connects or it doesn't. A chef is not good because of where he worked--think padded resume with a French Laundry list of high profile places and then the person can't actually cook a lick--in my view he or she is good because of what he's learned, what's inside him, what he can do or create. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether some Slow Foodie is prepared to label what he does "authentic", no amount "immersion" means you understand anything, or whether that chef spent x years anywhere doing anything. Immersion is neither a prerequisite for ideas nor execution. The talent is there and the food reflects it or it isn't. Why--because what a chef does is personal and creative. And a chef with talent finds inspiration everywhere--absorbs everything, synthesizes everything, not just where they've been "immersed"--inspiration could come merely from reading a menu from Martin Berasategui or by immersing oneself in the Fiji Island culture--but it still comes back to how a chef processes that and makes it his own. I have no problem with anyone finding fault with a chef's cooking, a chef's effort--but let it be based on taste and palate fist--not whether said chef has been immersed somewhere the requisite, nebulous, amount of time. Of course, if anyone said I was Greek I'd be upset, I'm Czech. But that has nothing to do with what I do or how I create. Whether you're Mexican, French, Spanish, Italian or Tahitian doesn't mean what you'll cook will be any more or less good, necessarily. Doesn't the only proof of "understanding" something take place in the mouth? Isn't that what you do when you taste wines from growing regions around the world that you've never visited and then try to pair them with a dish? Surely your appreciation could be enhanced by immersion in that wine growing region but is that immersion necessary for you to get a handle on those wines, appreciate them for what they present, identify characteristics, make comparisons with wines from other regions, and then swirl all of that around in your unique palate organizer and spit out a personal recommendation for a client? I sense there's something, some resentment here, that you're not actually saying Mark, but am not sure why or even what it is. Is there a media issue here that's bothering you? Why doesn't the standard of "it's either good or it isn't" apply here? Why the need to label a chef, define what a chef does or is allowed to do?

I ate at Andale once before it became Andale, I forget what it was called then, but remember it as a little more stylish. The meal was good--but not good enough to get me to go back, not special enough to crack into my favorites list. However, and forgive me in advance for taking minor issue with your crack Mark, but talent is talent and inspiration is inspiration. A talented chef eats around, does their research, tastes, tests, infuses, rolls all these things around on their palate and with their creativity, and out comes a product. No length of time spent in a country means you're necessarily going to understand the country or the ingredients and come up with something interesting if the talent isn't there. And in this case I haven't been to Andale, so my reaction is more general. In my case, you know I had to come up with a Mediterranean-inspired dessert program for Zaytinya. I cooked and read voraciously for months, ingested Wolfert and Roden and Kochilas, hopefully to start to get my own handle on Greek and Turkish ingredients and dishes. Some of my proudest moments have been the hugs I've gotten from Lebanese and Turkish diners, from the Abi-najm parents and children of the Lebanese Taverna family even, who had, say, my olive oil ice cream with pistachio or the anise and chocolate with cardamom and said I got it, I got their flavors in ways they didn't think possible and hadn't seen before. That what they were eating was familiar and right yet interesting and new for them in a new way. If I've done my job as a pastry chef, not as a Greek chef or a Turkish chef, I get the hugs. It doesn't matter whether I've been to Greece or Turkey. And unfortunately I haven't yet but will one day. And hope to do an even better job of assimilating that inspiration when I return. Just a thought.

Yes, start whisking as you start to pour the chocolate--just like you would whisk as you start to pour the oil while making a vinaigrette.

There's all kinds of showmanship, folks, I don't think Shaw intends any criteria to be excluded.

"you're implying that traffic congestion and road layouts will be factors. of that, i agree, but i would say for most people, at least initially they are less of a factor. the distance is initially the key point." True--but perhaps "travel time" might even be more of an initial factor than "distance?" And travel time is critically affected by the traffic congestion and road layouts of a location. And yes these are suspicions and generalizations of a typical consumer. But then I'm the kind of consumer who used to detour to the Princeton Wegmans on my way back and forth between DC and NYC! As far as profit margins herbacidal--yes, that's another of the many plusses going for Wegmans--their prices are every bit as competitive as the Shop Rites and Safeways of the world yet Wegmans still manages to offer more diversity and a higher level of quality and customer service.

I've been lurking with this all along Shaw. I'm just so glad to hear Chris is back! and has a showcase for his talent. It will be interesting to see if different criteria for "showmanship" emerge here; all too often the fun architectural or hokey "showmanship" came at the expense of taste. For me, I enjoy things interactive--like pouring tableside--things that exaggerate the hot and cold dynamic--and very thin brittle things which crack easily and are integral to the dessert. But the ultimate showmanship does take place in the mouth. I never tasted this, but I read a description of a dessert at Vetri in Philadelphia which has stayed with me over the years--warmed olive oil poured tableside onto a chocolate disk, melting it and mingling with the dessert below. Sounded like nice showmanship.

My money is on invento. As I said earlier, I'll believe it when I see it--and something can't get pushed back that wasn't legitimately confirmed in the first place. Theobroma--we've discussed and praised Albert's great book quite a bit, so, too Balaguer. (Some might say too much!)

Still, you opened a door I'm going to walk through Sandra and I thank you. And you're not wrong, the conventional wisdom was just a little, well, conventional. If anyone comes across anything, let me know.

Since when have home cooks poured melted chocolate into cream to make a ganache Sandra--instead of pouring cream onto chocolate? If so, there's an even better story here than I thought. Do you have any links to where you might have since these instructions before? Tell me this hasn't already appeared in Fannie Farmer or Bon Appetit or in Junior League cookbooks and I missed it?

Rachel--the IKEA analogy is an interesting one. Our first IKEA opened in Potomac Mills, VA 45 minutes south of DC a long time ago and the second one opened 45 minutes north of DC, in White Marsh, MD maybe two years ago. Just a few months ago a third IKEA opened in our area--smack dab in the middle of those two right on the beltway in College Park. So it took them decades to get the critical mass going to justify expanding beyond that original IKEA. When the Price Club opened here in DC--they first chose a location way out Route 66 near Fair Oaks shopping mall--and many DC faithful made the 45 minute trip. Eventually they found a warehouse space tucked into an emerging Pentagon City, literally 5 minutes from downtown DC, and opened a Price Club much closer. However, parking is terrible there and many times I do not go because it's so crowded and the lot such a hassle. With urban density comes trade-offs. In DC we're finally to get our first Wegmans but it will be, no surprise, way outside the city, in Sterling VA, past Dulles. Their second and third DC-area locations will also be way out--with plenty of opportunity for a custom build and a huge parking lot--as the Princeton Wegmans has and as I assume the Woodbridge Wegmans will have. They chose a Woodbridge space that was terribly under-utilized considering how dense that region had become. If all goes well I suspect we'll eventually get a closer location but I expect for their numbers to work, it will take a long time for this master plan to unfold. The other factors are density of residential housing and highway infrastructure. And I think this may be where that IKEA Elizabeth location analogy doesn't hold up--I wouldn't regularly shop in Elizabeth, I even hate exiting the Turnpike trying to get to that IKEA--coming South it is a major hassle. And that area stinks anyway. The thing about Woodbridge, as I wrote above, is that it has this unique nexus of 1, 9, the Pike and the Parkway. It's genius I say, why didn't anyone else take advantage of this sooner? The Princeton location also has a junction of super highways at its front door which are easily accessible--indeed, I was shocked to learn foodies in Philadelphia weren't aware of Wegmans and weren't shopping there, it was but a stone's throw away. Another thing, you make special trips to IKEA--you make regular trips to a Wegmans. I'm not even sure the Price Club/Costco strategy even applies so well--I tend to make special trips to Costco as well. I go to a supermarket all the time and I bet Wegmans chooses their locations to take advantage of this--get me driving home, driving by, get me instead of going to a restaurant, and get me for the weekly food shopping. Wegmans really makes it painless to go there 4-5 times a week--when its stores are located properly. None of this mitigates your desire to have a full-sized Wegmans within your county, but I wonder if it isn't the parking or accessibility issues holding them back. Or perhaps they're just rolling out stores smartly, building critical mass and you'll get one sooner than you think! I also think part of the Wegmans strategy is positioning--they're not trying to create a bunch of regular supermarkets all over the place--they are creating special supermarkets, special communities worthy of a special drive.

Dick--I think there are several others on this site who have been somewhat underwhelmed by the Trotter experience and even faulted it for being just a little too cold or clinical. Taste, the kitchen's system or methods, whether the chef is actually in the restaurant, how a cooking or restaurant evolves or stops evolving over time, may affect perceptions and there's no need to worry about inflaming anyone. You had one visit and you reported on your sense. I don't think it should matter whether Trotter is there or not if he's done his job hiring and training the right people--but that's a much larger issue. However, my first question for you is--how much of your assessment had to do specifically with Trotter and how much might have had more to do with a dissatisfaction of "modern" haute cooking in general? When you say "The plethora of ingredients with exotic descriptions for each dish, simply clouds the mind and tastes and in the end, I believe clouds your sensations"--I think you're also echoing the standard rap against Trotter--if there is one--but if that "cloud" worked for you and managed to coalesce you'd be calling him a genius, as others have who reacted differently to what they had on their visits. Merely read a list of ingredients in a typical Conticini dessert--it's mind-boggling. However, once you taste it, it transcends. You also write "I believe that Charlie has created a style of food presentation that certainly is dramatic, certainly presents exotic sounding ingredients in an artful style, but if you objectively think about what he is doing, it is not my style." Well, again, I think it's a separate, debatable issue what style Trotter created, and the array of odd or exotic ingredients is also a pretty standard rap--of those who choose to rap Trotter--but where I diverge from you is when you speak of objective thought--there's no objective thought involved when you put something in your mouth. It's good or magical or it's not. And it really shouldn't be about "your" style, it's about "his" style and your ability to embrace it or appreciate it on his terms. Your comment about the lamb chop cut out of the center of a loin of lamb makes me wonder--are you saying this was on the menu and prepared improperly or that a restaurant of this caliber should be able to offer this to you, properly rested as you say, on demand? I also wouldn't rap the nature of an assembly line mis en plas either. That attitude might reflect something more fundamental--perhaps a misunderstanding of the foundation behind the best, most creative cooking going on across this country. It's neither inherently better nor worse--dishes are created, shortcuts are designed--to work within this system at all price points. Many of my desserts are set up just like 'Just in time' assembly now, just like Japanese auto manufacture--and very similar to what happens on many savory lines--as things are sauteed a la minute, (or flashed, broiled, whatever) then arranged and sauced a la minute, garnished just so with the chervil and micro-greens and sent out--all at their peak. If the components are good and if the conception of the dish good, any system to deliver it is transparent to you as a diner. Your perception of what's going on behind the scenes shouldn't really impact how you taste something--and in fact, it might interfere. The menu--and the "system" behind the menu--is a personal offer by the chef, it is an offer a diner can choose to accept or not. Do you think it's a valid criticism to expect it to be something it is not offering to be? The taste of things, however, is another matter. It should be good, extraordinary even, for its price point however it is delivered and I'm sorry it wasn't for you.

That info about the Herme line of chocolate contract was great insider stuff--something I hadn't read elsewhere. However, the chocolates have always been readily available on the net. I was specifically talking about the Herme-consulted patisseries--not the chocolates. The Wegmans "non-Herme" bakery stuff is pretty pedestrian, even at Princeton. Basic, garish, fluffy, tasteless. The Herme line of individual and full-size take away cakes and pastries, however, is stunningly good. It is, perhaps, the most successful implementation of a high quality, high volume retail pastry operation that I'm aware of. A real testament to the consultant and the man who hired the consultant. Yes, MsSumida--it's the space.

Well, I'll chime in quickly to address one specific aspect of this discussion--how to incorporate the chocolate and the cream. Chocolatiers have a lot of techniques and tips to share about this and much of it conflicts, much of it reflects tradition, a personal style and who your mentors have been. I watched Robert Linxe once in a demo stand over a bowl of ganache stirring with a whisk for 10 minutes and another distinguished French chocolatier was seated next to me chuckling at his technique the whole time. Here's what I've found--technique-wise--it is equally possible to prepare an impeccable ganache using a spatula or a whisk if you employ that same gentle stirring from the center out, creating a calm small vortex which will eventually lead to a larger vortex and a shiny well-integrated emulsion. It's more about the proportions of the ganache recipe--the chocolate you use and the science behind the recipe--rather than the technique. Try to prove it to yourself--do the same well-balanced recipe side by side with a spatula and a whisk. You may prefer one to the other--as Michael infers it might be more advantageous to train your staff to do it one way versus the other way--nothing like a whisk in the wrong hands! But both work very well. And in this case we're discussing "ganache" not "whipped ganache," which as Wendy rightly mentioned is a completely different animal. OK. Here's the fun. Now do it the way Colleen and I do all of our ganaches: break all the traditional rules you've heard passed down--start with a bowl of melted chocolate. Then, instead of pouring cream onto chocolate-- pour your melted chocolate onto your "not too warm" infused cream slowly--stirring the top surface gently with a whisk--create that same slow gentle vortex stirring gradually outward until all of the cream and chocolate has been integrated. If you have glucose or trimolene in your recipe, have it in the cream as usual; if you add butter to your ganache, stir it in softened at the end as you would normally. Then compare your ganache texture and unctuousness after it has set for a while at room temperature. (Yes, all of this should take place at cool room temperature and ideally not involve refrigeration at all.) Damn if you don't get more consistent and more perfect results by turning ganache on its head. Molecular gastronomy works.

Yeah, the eG DC community always functions best when it's inclusive--though we also provide a means to communicate privately. I originally thought Joe's question might have been better in Wine, but then I found a recent thread where Mark had already shared some of his perspective on corkage. Mark, Darren and John participated on that "corkage fee" thread in Wine which Darren linked to as well. If I had seen that thread back in June I would have added that I, too, see a restaurant's food and wine pricing and policies as a package offer--a unique package I can choose to accept, decline or ask for an exception to. To me, the menu and the list are one and reflect an offer of service. I'd no sooner expect to be able to bring in my own chocolate or coffee because I thought the chocolate or coffee used in the restaurant was not up to my standards or taste than I would wine. That said, it's a hospitality business. And you lose nothing by asking for an exception or availing yourself of some aspect of an offer--in this case, a "low" corkage fee.

Gotta appreciate the timing of that announcement. Congratulations David and to all of you who get to enjoy him.

You mean to tell me it's mere coincidence that there's a tandoor oven in the Woodbridge Wegmans and a HUGE Indian population 5 minutes away in Iselin? It's nonetheless very shrewd to incorporate tandoor food there, it is the ultimate in "fast-good" take-away. What kind of jobs have you done for Wegmans for the past 4 years? Might as well out yourself. I'm guessing publicist based on that tandoor spin. By the way, your plug isn't shameless, it's more tepid than my ongoing praise for the stores since that magical day I walked into Princeton years ago. I grew up in Woodbridge and think everyone should know their store opens November 9th. It's a very depressing food town, however; from a culinary perspective I loathe returning to visit. Still, it's only 30 minutes from NYC and there's a vast commuter population within driving distance--Routes 1 & 9, the Turnpike and the Parkway all run through it. Ideal positioning, actually. I sure hope Woodbridge turns out to be at least as committed to excellence as Princeton has. What luck if true. But, if Princeton isn't the nicest store, which is in your opinion? And, it's nice to mention a "new" pastry chef, but there wasn't an old one since the store is "new" itself. Does this mean Woodbridge will not have the wonderful, extensive in-house Herme-consulted line of pastries like Princeton?

I wondered about that, because I remember the Inniskillin folks making a big splash about finally getting the EU to admit their icewines and there was much talk of VQA at the time. What exactly are they trying to protect? Are they afraid a $17 bottle of your icebox wine will drive the price down of their $300-400 icewines or that their consumers will have trouble telling the difference? Looking at it a different way, isn't Vin de Glaciere the best selling dessert wine in the US? Could you sell more than you're currently producing without a drop in quality level? Is there enough titratible acidity to go around?

Given the unique cheekiness of the Brits, are you in the rest of the EU Randall and/or did that pose any regulatory or quality assurance hurdles for you?

Or a passionfruit-white chocolate ganache with a hint of thyme or hyssop.