Steve Klc

Stu--if any of us were not already convinced that L’Astrance was a must visit--your notes on price surely seal the deal. What a fine-dining bargain! Do you speak French or were you conversing in English?

As we've talked about previously, I use Graffeo (800.222.6250) predominantly and I have the same setup as you Josh. I buy 2# whole bean dark roast at a time, packed in two bags, shipped 2nd day. One goes into the freezer and one into the hopper. And I've yet to try home roasting--as long as I can trust specialists to do it right, at a fair price, I have other fish to fry. The next question for me is--what's the machine I trade up to eventually?

Cabrales--I made that mussel curry suggestion--and suggested mentioning the book--because of a larger theme that has woven its way through many of our threads--how to receive the best possible dining experience? My sense is it never hurts to ask--to request things politely--as long as those requests are reasonable. Many of us have talked about being a "knowing" customer and that a customer or diner has a responsibility and can affect how they are treated--especially in French restaurants. So in part, I'm curious whether more than a just a passing awareness of a chef's book might influence a meal positively.

Off-topic, but why the choice of Atlas? And, wow, thanks for the time it took to pull all that together. I'm in the same position you're in w/ Fabrizio and Dario--but with Jose Andres because he's a good friend. He cooked for my wedding. It helps that lots of other knowledgeable people think he's one of the best chefs in the country--so when I write about him I'm covered. And I'm at db in NYC on Friday--let's exchange reports when we get back. Because I live in Virginia I'm guilty of not heading to Maryland enough--though did make it to Mannequin Pis about a month ago, before the Olney Theater, and was very charmed by the place. I haven't mentioned it yet here--nor my recent excellent meals at Cafe Majestic, The Elysium and at Restaurant 7 in depth--just because I haven't felt us reaching any kind of critical mass of interest yet. Your presence has helped change my view a bit and hope you join Malawry and the rest of the gang as we grow.

In "demi-sec" style champagnes and sweeter sparkling wines, I know of only two widely distributed in the US Jason--the Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial, which I adore, and the Veuve Clicquot. I was just in a Total Wine superstore down here over the weekend and they had the Clicquot demi-sec. I have also seen the Moet in smaller splits, which would seem to be a natural choice for a restaurant to offer two diners after a meal. You don't see the sweeter champagnes more often because there is an entire marketing scheme in place to position champagne in our market--and sweetness complicates the message. Sweetness is perceived as inferior. The fact that the French drink sweet sparklers all the time as apertifs, that sweet champagne is a nice match with several cuisines and that sweet champagnes are the only champagnes that go at all well with dessert--is irrelevant and counter-productive to marketing and promotion. The Italian sparklers are just so cheap and innocuous I suspect that's why you see them on restaurant lists and in stores. Sometimes the demi-secs from Vouvray that TCD mentioned can seem to be different animals--with their own grades of sweetness and effervescence. Chappellet Vineyards made a wonderful 1998 Demi-Sec Chenin Blanc in this style, released it in 1999 and I think it's still available. Shramsberg Vineyards makes a delicious--and unique--"Crémant Demi-Sec" that is an off-dry, dessert-style wine. Crémant traditionally refers to a sparkling wine with less pressure and softer effervescence--and the way Schramsberg does it results in a creamier texture. This is an impressive wine--and doubly so when paired properly with dessert.

What an impressive website cabrales, thanks for the referral... and what a bargain--580 or 780FF menus? I'm curious that so many dishes from the book remain, that I'll be very interested to hear your notes and impressions of the service and plating.

Maybe you need to kick start your habit with some chili oil--my favorite additive for the veggie chili there beside the oyster crackers.

Malawry--on the non-meat issue--and admittedly not barbecue, but have you tried the red vegetarian chili at Hard Times? Nicely spiced and interesting, I think. I've chosen to order it over the meaty ones several times.

You didn't try to do too much cap--and your experience is welcome and appreciated. I think I'd like to comment on what you didn't comment on: ever eaten at Tosca or are you too close to Fabrizio/Goldoni to assess fairly? how about DC Coast and Citronelle? you've rounded up most of our usual suspects otherwise. I have another one for you--the Elysium in Old Town, especially with respect to your observation about service in DC. I ate there on Saturday night and the service was the most flawless and sincere I've experienced at the high end down here--and Gian Piero, the chef, even comes out to your table instead of being presented a formal menu. Been yet?

Sandal--you may have seen we've had a few heated discussions about barbecue on other boards. If you read the Post and the Washingtonian they've had their favorites and there is little agreement or concensus--nor can there ever be inherently. I think it also depends how much barbecue baggage and pre-conceptions you bring to the issue. (Barbecue tends to bring out alot of "authenticity" wackos who wax poetic on proper technique.) I haven't had good experiences at Old Glory--and actually think it fits in quite well with Georgetown, an area I frequently bash for being underwhelming and unimpressive for dining. Though some, whose opinions I trust on other restaurants, have written and spoken highly of it. I've never been disappointed with Rocklands since the original location in Glover Park opened. I lived a few blocks away for 10 years and enjoyed many a brisket, pulled pork or grilled salmon sandwich there. Now that we live in Courthouse, we still go to the Carpool Rocklands--and when my wife and I got married last year, we asked John Snedden to do our rehearsal dinner. He didn't disappoint and even did a whole roast pig for us, which we proceeded to pick apart very primally. Also in this part of Arlington is Red, Hot & Blue in several forms, none of them consistent of late. Years ago I've had very good food from them. I haven't had any ribs up here, even at Rocklands, that rival the regional barbecues I'm used to, like in Louisville Kentucky.

Bux--the "petite homard aux saveurs de "l'île aux épices" is a dish I described and is on pp.90-91 of the book. Interesting that the dish is still on the menu in 1997, don't you think? The John Dory "retour des Indes" is on pp. 104-105 and is perhaps spiced with the most complex mixture of the book. The lamb with épices douces "grande caravane" is complex--and in the book is served with quenelles of a cucumber ice, pp. 170-171. The veal dish is more complex than I realized--close examination of the book reveals a gelee infused with sage and hyssop--and the chutney of apple, pear and pineapple with cumin, but also ginger. I'm drooling thinking about these and envying cabrales even more than usual. Roellinger employs the term "curry" solely with the mussel dish spice mixture on pp. 148-149.

I edited my post since you replied--did you catch the mention of the wine added to the curry veloute? I'd bet if a similar mussel dish is on the menu as an entree--and you referenced the dish from his book--you would be provided a small portion.

Cabrales--I've never visited either, but "Le livre d' Olivier Roellinger" caused a bit of a stir among the French-watchers here in the US when it was published in 1994--setting a new standard for chef's books--not the least of which was because of Roellinger's extensive use of exotic and Asian spices all lovingly revealed in lush photos--little setpieces shot from above (to become the preferred style of certain glossy American food magazines, albeit presented less atmospherically.) The sticker is still on the jacket--I paid $118 US back then from Kitchen Arts & Letters. It just might be the most elegant chef book yet produced. Tempting from the book is a complex lobster salad with ginger, galangal,vanilla bean, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, brown sugar, lime, lemongrass, tamarind, dried fruits like fig and date--and a few things I'm unsure of the translation--like graines rouges de rocou--used at different stages in the preparation. He has another tempting lobster dish with a kind of piquant chutney of tropical fruit and spice (apple, pear, banana, red peppercorn, cumin, ginger). The langoustine dish in the book employs an interesting blend of sesame seed, almonds, fenugreek, cardamom, coriander, "graines de courge" in a complex bouillon. It might be a bit off your topic--but the Mussel and curry veloute looks so simple and good--he even spells out by weight his "curry" spice mix. Roellinger blends a sweet Coteaux du Layou wine in with the cream and curry.

I'm hung up here on one issue--don't MPW and Gordon Ramsay cook French-influenced modern food? Wilfrid--briefly to your point that "some of the foods we are talking about, French and English, are not really restaurant dishes" I'd agree that many of the English home-style dishes have not found their way onto restaurant menus worldwide--but the comparable French "home-style" dishes have--all over the world--and the French versions of their mothers and grandmothers cooking thrives to this day--on restaurant menus in France and abroad. This French comfort food--which paralleled the haute cuisine track--perhaps is becoming even more relevant as the decades pass--and as the fine dining distinctions blur between countries.

Bux--that post of yours was a very thoughtful bit of writing, nicely framed. Thank you.

Sandal--why not start a new thread for the barbecue? as we're getting more DC-interested people--let's ask specific questions and feature specific restaurants in individual threads. I'll reply--on that thread that you start--whether you've been to Rocklands barbecue at Carpool yet, down the road from Hope Key. I think that's technically Ballston.

Cabrales--on Bernachon, I don't remember tasting their chocolates at the Salon and am not sure if they did a dress. Can you describe the dress? That might jog my memory. Hevin had a dress in his stall, Henri Le Roux had a beautiful dress in his stall. I don't think Marcolini did a dress--he had a pretty full speaking schedule, judged the French World Cup tryouts and he was in his stall quite alot. Those three were tops for taste within the large room of French chocolatiers. My dress was in a separate large display area behind glass in another room--apart from the demonstration area and where the French chocolatiers were. Tea has been used in French chocolate confectionery and restaurant desserts at least for 25 years, if not longer. I believe Earl Grey was the first one co-opted by the nouvelle guys in the 70's that fell into regular use; even very conservative French chocolatiers have had all sorts of tea ganaches for some time. But as to why tea works with chocolate--you already have bitterness (and usually also acidity) in the chocolate so adding a tea with acidity and bitterness is not always inuitive; I suspect it's the floral fragrance and fruitiness of certain teas, the citrusy oil of Earl Grey, the maltiness of green tea that complements. I've never done it, but I am sure someone has taken advantage of the smokiness of certain teas with chocolate--since we know they've used cigar tobacco.

Is it possible for a word to be used once--and forever be damned as overused? I nominate "Hegelian" for due consideration. Clicke moi

Yes, from a visual botanical perspective. (Of course, it would be true mastery to create such organic artistic displays in chocolate to accompany the desserts.) In the US you can't even import a cacao pod unless you're a florist and buy in bulk for "arrangements." They're illegal to smuggle back in with your luggage. Thanks for the translations and quotes cabrales--I suspect the one article was written about the time I was there!

Cabrales--I of course meant inattentive on the part of the reporter or journalist--not you. A typical "gateaux" there might contain a chocolate mousse of "unique origin," (a special, expensive varietal cacao) pistachio cream and pistachio biscuit. But then I think it's more helpful to describe a few dishes well and completely rather than a gloss.

Yes cabrales, Pouget is very young and the Hotel Bristol pastry chef--Gilles Marchal--also gave demos at the Salon. When I was there they had just done a few chocolate creations with tea for a French society of tea drinkers--including a good ganache with Szechuan tea that was new to me. The Il Palazzo buffet was stylish and elegant, in a very chic setting, but it was basically a chocolate buffet, not integrated with cuisine. No individual dish stood out as best of its type--against the likes of a Hevin, Conticini (at Peltier) or Herme. Pouget seemed to like nuts alot--using many in a variety of mousses and even a foam. Alberto Adria went to the buffet, too, and told me he thought it was "very good." Pouget and Marchal (Lesley was very favorably impressed with Marchal in Montreal) seem very interested in exploring new flavors and are open to new presentations--part of a younger wave exploring freely. Many of the individual desserts that Timeout reported were different in November--and in fact their description seems too bland and inattentive flavor-wise--though the details and logistics of the buffet seemed the same. It's in the Normandy Hotel.

Speaking of malls, Valde, ever had Luciano's NY style in Tysons? How does that compare for you? It's typical NY style--meaning just very good--rather than great NY brick oven style--like Lombardi's.

Thank you Steve for sharing--you've helped me tremendously. I would suggest that any Bras book in English is easily worth $50--that's how revered among chefs and how significant he is. One question--is it volume or weight?

Steve et al--is this the Ici La Press version everyone is talking about? Here's a link to a Houston Chronicle article that might be relevant: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/food/demers/976676 In it, the writer says "Ici La Press doesn't merely reprint European food books -- or even just translate them into English. The editors transform every aspect of each book "into American," especially those pesky metric measurements that still haven't become the rule here and the absurd European tendency to assume we've all mastered a host of techniques." So with respect to the new Bras--does it seem written for the American home audience? are weights in ounces vs. grams or are measurements in--he gasped--volume? Steve--where'd you buy your copy? Is it possible that the Bras book, published by an American company, in English, with American measurement, was made available for sale in France before the US? It seems Amazon.com has not started shipping it for the "bargain" price of $35. Also--anyone--have you seen the Ici La Press re-issue of the Michel Bras notebook on desserts, previously available only in French? This would be very significant were it to be in English--and not dumbed down to volume.

Blue--what kind of machine does your place have?