Steve Klc

The latest in conflict of interest: http://www.suntimes.com/output/feder/cst-fin-feder07.html

Cabrales--undoubtedly "digging in" is part of the intent and how you eat a dessert part of your experience. Could you speak to the temperature of these desserts in containers? Were they served straight out of a refrigerated case--indicating that they'd been prepared in advance, possibly even off-site? The creams you mentioned were soft, squishy, smooth or firm or gelatinous, as with a "bavarian" which contains gelatin? You also mentioned that you usually dislike complex cuisine--and in this case you appreciated Herme's complex combinations of flavors and ingredients. Another layer of complexity would be more contrasts of warm/cold and crunchy/crisp elements. These seem more like parfaits composed ahead of time. For Korova restaurant patrons--did you get the sense these creations would be assembled a la minute--and then perhaps have greater contrasts of temperature and texture? Or are they getting the glass right out of the takeout case?

Bux--I wonder if this is what gentlemen and ladies of a certain generation called a rocks glass?

Respectfully cabrales, how is that different from a chef choosing to candy, poach or sweeten any strict vegetable but use them in a dessert application? why the construct? surely it's an artificial one at best. there are ingredients, combinations of ingredients, combinations of combinations of ingredients, and all can be combined, cooked, stacked, arranged, highlighted--or not--at the whim of a chef or pastry chef. why, for you, does a stated or inferred intent behind a creation mitigate how the experience of that dish is perceived or discussed? aren't the real issues a) the merging and commingling of ingredients not commonly or historically used in a dessert application and or b) the possible surprise, unity and flow such use of savory ingredients--be they vegetable or fruit--provides to an overall experience? when Conticini cooks his "carrots and coriander" for his justly celebrated Yablock dessert he is highlighting the inherent fruitiness and sweetness of the carrots--would you exclude that as well? To my way of thinking, what purpose would that serve except clouding an important analysis? does final form play a role in your decision--whereas Passard's tomato retains a form and Conticini's carrots are julienned and but one component of a larger, complex constructed dish? if Passard's tomato was prepared with the same intent and treatment--but then chopped up and used as a salad layer in a larger constructed dessert or in Margaret's mille feuille example--would that be ok to include? (A larger issue is "What does it matter what a chef says?" The final assessment and appreciation of any dish doesn't actually have to rely on this at all. The proof is on the plate or in the glass. It works or it doesn't. Going deeper to stated intent can help clarify--but cabrales, how does your use of this intent clarify? I say this with all seriousness and respect--because how you analyze is important and interesting to me--why keep the Passard tomato separate? Here, I can't help but feel you're compartmentalizing for no good or valid reason. A tomato is only a fruit botanically.) For instance--to my way of thinking chefs and pastry chefs using pumpkin, squash, flower blossoms, rose hips, all those strange fruits and vegetables Charlie Trotter uses to trick up the significance of his books, weird melons, avocados, plaintains--are using seemingly strange ingredients in interesting and uncharacteristic ways just as in the examples we've already discussed. Peppercorns would actually be "fruit" if we stick rigidly to classification. Maybe I'm being too global and inclusive, I don't know. I'm still interested how some of these desserts work after a meal at Korova rather than tasted in isolation there. Pastry shop pastries are one thing, restaurant-style desserts and pastries another. Like Bux, I'm very grateful to you and interested in your details of presentation cabrales--I'm getting the sense Herme is aiming to regain a bit of media attention and playing a little "catch up" to Conticini in a few areas.

Thanks Patrice--something else that can be problematic are white chocolate ice creams--due to the fat content. It's not an easy ice cream to do well.

Magnolia-- with respect to the olive oil ice cream issue--it depends on the recipe--some can be stored for a few days just fine with proper use of stabilizers or emulsifiers or a base of fromage blanc. You just have to a) have a really cold freezer and b) understand how to use stabilizers. (Many professionals do not.) The best olive oil ice creams and sorbets, though, based on Adria's and Conticini's recipes, are spun a la minute in a Pacojet--which you can't duplicate at home, unfortunately, without the Pacojet. So if you have $3,000 (US) lying around and get a Pacojet, you're all set.

Let's not disallow Patrice's inclusion of the tomato here: while being a fruit, it is commonly perceived, albeit erroneously, as a vegetable and is similarly strange and uncommon a dessert ingredient as anything else mentioned, like carrots and fennel, for instance. Since this thread morphs from Herme chocolate to desserts of others, and we include an example of Herme's use of tomato, all should feel free to weigh in about the Passard tomato in this context.

Here's the link to Robin's catalog: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives....asp?AuthID=103 She seems fun and accessible--kind of the food writer equivalent of Rachael Ray of the Food Network. I really liked this Q & A with Frances Lappe: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives....asp?ArtID=1816 It would be good to have her hang around here.

Another excellent article: http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051....050202A

Liza--I suspect critics and food writers donate to cookbooks to charity all the time, especially in college cities which have a thriving second-hand or used bookstore scene. Years ago I remember finding dozens of cookbooks, supposedly from Phyllis Richman's personal collection, at the Dupont Circle branch of Second Story books. I even bought a few despite my lack of fondness for her ability as a restaurant critic. I suspect donated or inscribed books can travel through several hands before they find a permanent home on one's shelf. Can you imagine the pile of dreck from cookery writers, food authorities, food personalities and, yes, even chefs that must accumulate in newspaper food section editor's and reviewer's offices? It has to be massive. I wouldn't indict the critic too much on this--and as far as chefs cozying up to critics, well, don't be a naive naif.

Maile Carpenter earned a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for her feature "Eating in Michael Bauer's Town," which appeared in San Francisco magazine and which Chocokitty linked to previously. In case anyone would like to revisit, here's the link: http://www.sanfran.com/features/bauer/bauer.html This passage resonates no less than the first time I read it: "On top of his duties as the Chronicle's lead restaurant critic, he is also the paper's food editor and head of its nine-person food department. Most other major metropolitan newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, separate the tasks of section editing and restaurant reviewing, but at the Chronicle, Bauer has autonomous control over every food-related story. He's free to print a splashy feature about a friend's new restaurant, for example, and to decide which chefs to cover in his "Secrets of Success" recipe column. Bauer's role was expanded even further in March when he was appointed editor of the Sunday Chronicle Magazine. The new position gave him the authority to kill a column by his longtime rival, Patricia Unterman, and to run a cover story in May touting the genius and fame of his close friend Cunningham along with Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters."

I went to this year's Beard journalism award dinner and found myself seated at the Washington Post table with Tom Sietsema, nominated for his "Let Them Eat Steak" piece and also Walter Nicholls, who was there to accept on behalf of Joel Achenbach, should Joel win. My report of the evening is here: http://forums.egullet.org/ikonboa....08;st=0 Walter was not nominated this year (they submitted his biscuit piece) but as Malawry stated previously, and with which I agree, he should have won last year for that in-depth Rappahannock piece, which had to have taken so much time to research and write.

Suvir--did you notice that a chef from Tamarind is cooking at the Beard awards tomorrow? Here's the link: http://www.starchefs.com/james_b....er_beck Is this who you heard was coming? Methinks the publicist for Tamarind is very well connected.

I'm reminded of a previous thread by Patrice: http://forums.egullet.org/ikonboa....;t=5595 Perhaps members have had similarly adventurous tasting menus in France? Thank you so much Margaret--you had me hanging on your every word. You know how some couvertures can seem reddish when melted--like Valrhona Manjari? Was the ganache filling reddish at all from the piment?

Gavnich--what do you like about these restaurants, how interesting is the food and how fairly are they priced? Is there a standout with a more romantic ambience among all the ones discussed? I drive to NH too and have to be prepared.

Would anyone like to weigh in about how receptive the Chronicle restaurant critics and food writers have been toward NY-based chefs who move west?

Here's the NYTimes link a few have mentioned: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/dining/01STUF.html Florence Fabricant's first graph is "Some American butter makers are turning out richer butters, with more butterfat than the federal minimum of 80 percent. This is good news for serious home bakers because more fat means less moisture, making pastry easier to handle and yielding better results. Even in clarifying lower-moisture butter for cooking there is less residue to skim off." Personally, I've tried to adjust all my baking recipes to Plugra and I think the fact that Trader Joe's sells the 1# blocks for $3.00 is a super deal for the home baker--one which should be talked up more by food writers. I haven't experienced the staleness others have from this source. We freeze butter, too, all the time in normal household freezers which aren't anywhere near as cold as a commercial freezer. But as many on this thread have suggested, artisinal "eating" butters can and do surpass Plugra, which I think of as more of a "baking" butter.

The discussion Cabrales started in another thread comparing various famous chocolatiers has gotten me thinking about some of the less famous, less well-known chocolate encounters eGulleteers might have experienced along their forays in France. Don't limit yourself to bon bons and ganache fillings. Chocolate and foie gras? duck confit? peppers? Anything obscure or regional that a member might like to report on? Name names.

Bloated--what thick bar? I'm only talking about Marcolini's French-style candies--the dipped, enrobed style--and they are, indeed, as flat and thin-walled as Herme or Hevin. He cheats a bit by using a flat molded shell for some palet-style candies--so the bottom and sides of the candy are "molded" then filled then covered with a plastic sheet. So the top looks shiny and looks hand-dipped but it is not footed and enrobed--and as a result--not as clean and traditional--as those of Hevin. Undoubtedly easier to produce, though. I have never had Marcolini's candies at a retail store--which might suffer as any chocolate mishandled and stored for too long. I only sampled his candies fresh from his booth at the Salon du Chocolat, which were impeccably fresh.

Or just contribute pieces in their area of expertise--and not in areas like classical music where others might do it much better. The problem with food and restaurant criticism--and why the music analogy doesn't work fully here--is that you have to be a generalist inherently just to do a decent job. My lack of awareness of rap wouldn't hinder my ability to discuss the Masonic themes in Mozart operas. In food, I have no problem with writers knowing their limitations and areas of expertise and working within them--those that don't know their limitations yet go beyond them anyway are the problem. I say let's give Robin a chance to show us what she knows. Better to announce your disinterest, bias and prejudices upfront rather than delude your readers into thinking you don't have any.

I'll bite. The burger is a bit pricey and if you're the only one in your party who ordered it, you have to share more than your primal instinct would like.

Liza, of course not finding any "enlightenment, knowedge or interesting food writing in her column" would be a good thing for us, too!

How do we know Robin is male? My read after this first column is that Robin is a decent writer looking for an edge, trying to establish a strong voice or an identifiable shtick in order to get noticed and attract readers. No more, no less. Personally, I think it might be fun to follow Robin a bit despite his/her misguided and probably faux-populist sensibilities. It isn't unusual for a free city paper or weekly to focus on the lower end of dining and food as its readership is young. Occasionally a writer for a paper like this--like Brett Anderson did while at Washington DC's City Paper--demonstrates a deft hand reviewing and appreciating high and low. Brett went on to contribute pieces to Gourmet and landed a job as a mainstream newspaper restaurant critic in New Orleans. We just might end up liking Robin.

Helena--Cluizel makes expensive, excellent chocolate bars and blocks which rival the best in the world if not are the best in the world irrespective of price--not the bon bons--the finished chocolate candies we're mostly talking about here. Cluizel's bon bon line is commercially competent--rather sweet--some of this ended up as private label stuff for Fauchon and is not indicative of what could be achieved by using their single estate and unique origin chocolate varieties. This bon bon line does not have a good reputation in Europe--is not too dissimilar to Neuhaus or Godiva or Bernard Callebaut--and has in a sense hindered the acceptance and success of introducing the high-end Cluizel couverture line (blocks, bars and pistoles) to chocolatiers and foodservice. If one were to taste the candies--one would not be moved very much, certainly not moved to spend serious money on the couverture. What they needed to do was establish two lines--an elite line and a commercial line--and market them differently, almost with two identities, missions and distribution. You can't sell elite prestige and commercialism simultaneously unless you rely on market confusion, a media incapable of discerning the differences and a lack of awareness among your customer base. Most top pros in France say they use Valrhona but alot of Barry makes it's way into the blends, I'd suspect. Conticini's guys were using both when I was in his lab. And cabrales, I don't prefer dark chocolate to milk, I enjoy both equally when done well. However, milk chocolate tends to have less snap and less bite due to less cacao % content, less depth and at least to me, offers less of a match or foil to various flavors than dark. White chocolate is just fat and mouthfeel--albeit great fat!--and I don't object to it as much as some purists--it just has to be balanced and factored in to an overall experience by adjusting other flavors. For instance, I do like white chocolate in ganaches especially with some acidic fruits like passionfruit because of just that balancing out on the palate. I do a dark passionfruit ganache also but it is a completely different animal.

and I think it might be a good time to interject that this is only happening at chef-driven higher-end restaurants that are competing against each other and vying with whatever the media standards are at the current moment. Restaurants and chefs trying to get an edge. The vast majority of diners and dining experiences will remain appetizer/salad (with salad before the meal not after) followed by a big entree on a big plate, skip dessert (because it's not good anyway), and then coffee (not espresso) for some time to come.