Steve Klc

LML especially but others, too--what about the famed blue lobsters of Brittany? I've never had them, but a recent show on the US Food Network had an extensive piece on them--and the one chef in the US who can get his hands on them, Laurent Tourondel at Cello in NYC. Have you ever had them and are they worthy?

Sandra--I haven't been in D & D in the city in a while, but at least in the D & D by me they still have coffee sitting out in big Third-world looking bags, exposed to the air for who knows how long. Nice display but don't you think that coffee is just a pale version of what it might have been if stored better? Plus, I'm always afraid someone might have just spit or spilled something in those bags. Not that I am one of those bacteria phobes, but you know what I mean.

where was the farm? In that Yepsen book, there's a cute story about a variety called "Ben Davis," grown primarily in the South and Midwest, then floated down the Mississippi on barges to new Orleans. Yepsen describes it as having "the toughness of a potato" and quotes an apple merchant as saying that "It keeps like a rock but it's not a very good rock." and you have it on something by recalling that great apple dish from the first Jean-Georges book--kind of like scalloped potatoes. But the larger issue is the great value of slow roasted fruit--and how even less-than perfect fresh fruits can be enhanced by roasting in the oven, with sugars and spices and sweet wines, basted just like a turkey.

A few observations: Most chefs and pastry chefs don't write their own recipes and don't write their own books. Usually a chef's recipe is filtered, tweaked, modified, co-opted, dumbed-down--choose one depending on your level of cynicism. Sometimes by that chef's pr person, an editor at whatever magazine feels like promoting said chef, a credited co-writer or an uncredited ghost writer. The flip side of this is that most chefs don't have a lot of experience writing recipes to begin with--chefs work from lists of ingredients and weights or amounts that to an outsider must seem like code. That's because it is code. Add to this the inherent problems of translating Spanish and French into American cooking English--where most of our best cooking ideas are being stolen from these days--and you can just imagine how screwed up things can get. The chefs I know that hide, deceive and with-hold are usually the least talented and most insecure--or the oldest and most bitter, part of an old-school that realizes their time has passed them by and are hoping someone, somewhere will pay them for their years of experience--as younger, free-spirited, more media savvy and enthusiastic chefs step up into the breach. Inversely, I've found the most talented chefs--of any age--to be quite giving and willing to share. I have to admit something, too--that very rarely do I adhere to even my own published recipes, which I've put alot of thought into and tested in a "home" kitchen when necessary for that audience. I'm often tweaking, adjusting, playing around--it's a creative spirit thing. But I'd give anyone anything out of my PDA. Now, what that person can do with it is another thing. All day today Colleen and I have been making and deep frying different croquettes for the Windows of Hope dinner we're doing on Tuesday in NYC. Now, I had to submit a recipe in advance, a rather perfunctory easily-doable one along with an espresso foam, milk gelee and creme brulee. Anyway, what we do on Tuesday will be very different from the recipe that will be published in the souvenir booklet--it will still have the liquid chocolate center oozing out--but because we started playing around with the batter, now we're rolling it in crumbs of caramelized hazelnuts and dacquoise--and then deep frying it. But that spirit is what is important--and can easily be duplicated by others. Another corollary to this is crediting sources of inspiration, giving credit and acknowledgement to the recipes of other chefs--and perhaps even more importantly--food writers realizing when they are being snowed or conned based on a depth of knowledge and experience with food, rather than just their experience writing pithy phrases churning the culinary media machine. I find this to be abused much more frequently than a chef NOT giving a full recipe, intentionally holding back. Plus, let's not forget that there is alot of sloppy cooking going on out there--alot of corners being cut. Isn't it a bit unrealistic to expect such "reliability" out of recipe collections? That's why I've written eslewhere on eGullet about the relative lack of importance of recipes--they are not rigid but instead snapshots in time--and secondary to principles of technique, respect for ingredients and one's spirit and palate. I'd suggest it is these factors that fail someone much more frequently than an incomplete recipe. And the sources and books that I value most have less to do with specific recipes and "key" ingredients and more to do with philosophy and spirit and technique.

I think the key thing here in a discussion of apples is what some have touched on already--now isn't the time to talk about great, flavorful apple possibilities--and funky, mottled but oh-so-flavorful "heirloom" apples--because none of those varieties are available anymore and haven't been for months. There is a small window for heirlooms--and may I recommend a charming little book called "Apples" by Roger Yepsen for anyone interested in learning more about these odd, old, regional apple varieties. Ashmead's Kernel, Calville blanc, Esopus Spitzenburg and Newtown Pippin (or Black Twig) have been my favorites for baking and special desserts--they are incredibly deep, tart, complex and interesting compared to the varieties seen on supermarket shelves. I'm lucky to live near a vineyard--Linden--in Virginia that inherited heirloom apple trees and has made an effort to grow and harvest them, selling the fruit to the public first-come, first-served. Jim Law is the vintner and he has been directly responsible for a few of my best apple desserts ever, solely because the fruit was so special. Here's the link: http://www.lindenvineyards.com/lindenvineyards/cfm/orcha.cfm I've brought them to Florida and to New York for events and restaurants. The Yepsen book is a great guide to find out which apples can be held, stored through the winter and a few actually improve with age, though I never seem to have left to test out this hypothesis. To add to the spice and flavorings list--I love saffron with apples, especially saffron with apples and chocolate. I've also found that the better the apple, the less the need for spice--which allows the character of the apple to come through. Which is why I like saffron so much--it's subtle when used with a light hand. And remember, Adam is talking about coriander the seed--the spice--not the leafy herb--and by recommending mixtures like coriander and clove he's really giving us all a culinary history lesson, harkening back to the middle ages when exotic and expensive spice mixtures were the way to show what wealth and influence you had. To the two Adam mentioned, you could add black pepper and cinnamon for instance and have an amazingly fragrant apple pie. Diced apples sauteed in a bit of wine, lemon juice and all of these spices--perhaps with a few raisins and diced figs thrown in--then folded up in wonton skins and deep fried is another way to enjoy them beside pie--and perhaps a little closer, historically, to the way apples were more commonly enjoyed way back when--for fires and deep-frying in lard was just as common as baking a pie in a heated skillet (with a heated lid in the fire, too). Oven evolution and dissemination out into the towns happened much later.

I haven't used a vacuum yet, but am eager to hear the reports of others. Pastry chefs like new toys in the way guys like electronic equipment with remotes. From my French press days, long since abandoned, I'd agree wholeheartedly with Sandra's comments--and I'd also add another way to assess the quality of coffee--to taste it in other words--is to sample it at room temp and then again when it is cool. Flaws show up much better then also. Also, may I suggest weight over volume, even with coffee. I realize it is apples and oranges, I can't but think that all of you French-pressers are just somewhere along your way to espresso enlightenment. Buy a semi-commercial machine, grind finely and consistently, and I suspect many of you will leave the press behind--even those who like their coffee "Americain"--diluted from full strength with water.

Jaybee--isn't there a two way gas thing going on with freshly roasted coffee in a package--that the roasting process starts something chemical that can't be stopped--and hence the reason why we see those funky valves on packaged coffee? does your vacuuming process affect this--ignore this--circumvent this? are we being sold a bill of goods by coffee manufacturers that by using these special valves we are buying coffee in the best condition? I've been told by a few coffee manufacturing friends of mine, and seem to have verified myself, that the most important things about maintaining coffee beans are a) preventing their exposure to air and b) using the beans quickly, so that means buying fresh in small amounts--as you and others have addressed. My question is--if frozen in an airtight container--and then allowed to thaw unopened--where does the negative effect of humidity come in to play? And are you also saying that the volatile oils are in some way irredeemably altered--in the freezer--in some way? The reason I ask is--as a professional pastry chef--we're asked to use the freezer skillfully in the performance of our job. I've written elsewhere about this. Is it anecdotal or proven--and where are the sources--that properly freezing coffee beans and proper thawing of said beans--is demonstrably worse than other storage methods? I can see where constantly removing, opening and returning a container of beans to the freezer is bad--and would attract humidity and be deleterious--but isn't this "poor freezing" of beans what the experts are talking about? Is it also your sense that vacuum-packed beans at room temp--is always preferable to vacuum-packed beans, frozen and then removed to thaw? Isn't it true that the issue of bean storage is possibly more diverse opinion-wise than the seeming agreement of your sources? Sorry to start to go off on this Jaybee but I seem to have found a kindred spirit in you and possibly others here that care about their beans--and hope we can flesh this out a bit more and share our personal observations.

Sounds to me like we have the making of a very good Delia vs. Martha Stewart cultural comparison thread possibility--will it be Delia-tips or "good things?" any takers? In fact, one of the things that has most surprised me about eGullet so far is the relative lack of rancor and comment upon Martha and her culinary influence in this country. Perhaps with the announcement of K-Mart's pending bankruptcy a few Martha observations might be warranted? It's my sense that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has their hands is so much these days that influence us--does no one else remember the publication of that first Weddings book and how influential and ubiquitous that made catered events way back when? was it so long ago that people have forgotten? Or am I possibly waxing nostalgic about her influence? Let's not forget that she is on the Food Network. Thanks to Ron Johnson for seeing fit to include her and for reminding me that I feel Martha has provided us with so much good and bad fodder for so long that she dwarfs the impact of all these other lightweight food personalities combined.

I'd suggest if critics and food writers did a better job covering the restaurant scene and chefs and exploring the context behind what is current--more reportage as "journalists" rather than Mr. Latte and "what's hot"--waiters wouldn't have to be so effusive and diners awareness would have already reached a critical mass--rather than just been piqued and confused. Plus, I like enthusiastic, effusive waiters--especially if that enthusiasm extends throughout the meal with attentive service. If one views servers as a conduit to and from the chef, frankly, I see that communication as a good thing.

I'm so with Bux and jhlurie on this one--criticizing the design, layout, flow, logic and aesthetics of a website is fair game--and just because a site has something to do with a chef or recipes doesn't give it a free pass. That's like saying it isn't fair to criticize the presentation of food at a restaurant--denying that one eats visually, with their eyes, first. Duh...we do. To carry that anaolgy a bit further--say a dish is presented well--and then when we bite into it with a fork it is impossible to eat well, squishing and squeezing out all over the place, falling apart and spilling sauce on our trousers. Wouldn't we rightly criticize the construction--the logic--of that dish and ultimately be dissatisfied with our experience, even if it initially seemed promising after reading the menu, saw that it was composed of quality ingredients and then again looked great when it was served? Of course we would. Also, we have too many recipe sites. Collecting recipes is not developing content. It's not about recipes anyway--or even amounts--but about appreciating ingredients and understanding the science and techniques involved. Recipes are so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. (Yes, I realize I'm a pastry chef writing that.) I'm curious what recipe sites HubUK would put out there as having great content?

All other considerations being equal--service, decor, location--and at a given price point--is it more important to you to perceive that your "NYC Mexican" is more authentic or that it is better--i.e. more flavorful or interesting? I'm sensing a strong "authentic" undercurrent here.

Your post made me want to eat there Jack and thanks for taking the time to share. however, the food and presentation sounded a bit more interesting than what perhaps appears under the entry for "comfort food" in my dictionary, and certainly less predictable. you didn't mention prices other than the wine--what were apps and entrees? also, don't be surprised by underwhelming dessert choices at a small, chef-owned place, it's usually a chef's weakest area and typical not to hire a real pastry chef in the beginning. Like you, I'd give high points for a visible chef and also a certain degree of latitude. I suspect she's one place--one restaurant--away from doing more challenging cooking; currently she's limited not by her ability or ideas but by the form, structure and expectations around her.

Have any of you seasoned UP-goers noticed that Rocco never seems to put his pastry chef's name on the dessert menu? did it strike any of you as strange? That might explain why he seems to rotate through so many of them--that and the fact that desserts have to be walked down two flights of stairs to be approved by the chef--then back up the stairs and out the pass. Can't be good for internal relations, not to mention quenelles of sorbet. Anyone notice whose name was on the dessert menu?

In case this helps anyone else fess up, my repeated weakness is for Egg McMuffins. In self-delusional moments I have even defended this as the perfect fast food item if done well. I enjoy them immensely. I can tell you which McDonalds in northern Virginia toast their muffins properly and which don't. Remember this was jhlurie's idea.

Margaret--could I implore you to start a thread in "Elsewhere" sometime about your dining experiences in New Hampshire and Portsmouth? I've been going to NH for a few years now and would love to hear your thoughts.

However, what we might discover in the process is that those small restaurants are de facto chains--let's use the corner takeout Chinese restaurant in the suburbs as an example. The vast majority of them are producing the same mediocre Kung Pao chicken et al with the same commercially produced, wholesaled sauces and dumplings and frozen stir-fryable vegetables--probably obtained from the same huge national suppliers. You know what I'm talking about here--the dishes that seem to have some blend of the same 3 sauces--20% sweet and sour, 30% black bean, 50% szechuan-like-- that undoubtedly are delivered in big tubs and ladled out. I've seen this stuff at Food shows--and I swear it's effectively making all the Chinese restaurants around me a chain. So perhaps another way to look at this is the use of commercially prepared wholesale ingredients and convenience products.

Steve--can I infer from your post that you think Starbucks does a good job with their bakery-style goods? Locally outsourced products may be fresher in theory--but are they more flavorful in actual practice? What guarantee is in place that those freshly delivered goods are maintained well on site and not held past their optimal life? What has one gained if those locally-sourced goods are still produced to a corporate recipe so that they are high in cheap fats, full of flavorless flours and/or have enough sugar in them--to act as salt does, preserving and prolonging moistness and shelf life? I'd like to know who has the contract for Starbucks--I doubt it's Payard or Bruno Bakery or one of Maury Rubin's places. Sometimes--just sometimes--good use of a freezer--and proper flash-freezing at the source, be it fresh fish, breads, whatever--can mitigate the supposed advantage of buying locally and elevate quality and consistency, especially in chains. Knowing how to manage your freezer well is a vastly under-rated skill. By the way, your drive thru post made me laugh so hard I almost fell out of bed. And NewYorkTexan, I think you are spot-on with your writing about chains, keenly observed and argued.

Salad survival tip for chain restaurants--when no interesting bowl of Pho or Korean barbecue can be found hiding around the corner--make your own dressing tableside. Ask for the salad undressed--ask for oil and vinegar to be brought to the table separately along with one of those small 2 oz. clear plastic Solo takeout containers with lid. Ask for a sprinkle of dried oregano if it's not already on the table. Pour your own oil, vinegar and spice into the container and shake. I know this seems anal, and appears to defeat the reason why we eat out, but many a halfway decent clean crisp chain salad has been ruined by too few choices of gloppy non-descript commercial dressings too liberally applied. My nominee for chain restaurant that does not disappoint at its price point: Bertucci's. I've eaten in several in NJ, DC and VA over the years. Of course it has been homogenized just enough so that nothing sings, zings or surprises--and about 55% of the dishes use ingredients that are overly-processed--but if you order carefully, it will not underwhelm, especially if accompanied by a cold Moretti or very fine iced tea. Some locations are even located in downtown cores and offer a legitimate, viable dining alternative at a very attractive price. My personal experience has been that the suburban Bertucci's locations have offerred more reliable cooking, better customer service, have had more attentive "owners" on site and bent over backwards accomodating parties with children--than many independently owned, much more expensive fine dining establishments.

Ron--how about those rolled, deep-fried oysters while you were in "Louaville?" They alone put Louisville on the Southern map of culinary distinction, though I realize some of you from NO might take exception. I had the very great pleasure to date someone from Louisville for a few years and we visited quite often--often enough, in fact, that I'd make sure we had to drive down Taylorsville Road just so I could stop in to Mazzoni's. This was circa 1995 and you're so right about the barbecue in and around that part of the state. We ate alot at Mark's Feed Store but I liked the shack's on the outskirts of town even better. The only problem I had was with the fine dining. very conservative, unremarkable and unevolved. I tried--I really did--to climb on board the "Kentucky Fine Dining" bandwagon and never could. I haven't been back since 1997. Though then there was alot of energy along Bardstown Road and Shelbyville Road and in Middletown, in the arts, small entrepreneurs, some edginess and interesting food creeping in among the antique stores. Who knows, perhaps by now it's a full-fledged foodie heaven. It was certainly leaning that way. And who would of thought that I'd find pretty good dim sum in Louisville? But I did. While you were in Memphis did you ever at Raji? (Edited by Steve Klc at 8:19 pm on Jan. 11, 2002)

It misses the point assessing how many media types hang out here--it's the content that counts regardless of the source. In fact, I'd suggest many in the print media still immensely fear the immediacy and accountability of the internet. Write something stupid or inelegantly argued in a glossy or newspaper and it's soon forgotten, frequently protected behind the ever growing trend of paid, premium access for media archives as an online business model. As more food writers and editors attempt to transmogrify Ruth-Reichl-like into the celebrities themselves, content managing will become even more imperative. I suspect chefs and media will compete even more fiercely for this food personality pie. We're lucky to have who we have--those brave and few with stones like jayraner and bourdain. But we're also lucky to have the participation of so many non-media types, disparate in sense and sensibility all swirling in the pot.

Just to chime in here, we drank both Magic Hat #9 and Fat Angel over the holidays up in New Hampshire, but they are pretty widely distributed up and down the east coast. They have a cute site, too: http://www.magichat.net/main.html Beergeeks can't stop talking about this microbrewery and I have to admit I like their complex, funky, flavorful beers. It makes me wish chocolate companies had enough verve and spirit to craft similarly interesting and risky chocolates.

Holly--re: point #3--remember when it all of sudden became fashionable NOT to lead with Le Bec-Fin? I wonder what role the critical mass of new restaurants played in that--and what role food & travel writers, out to make a name for themselves, played as well. I'd be curious to see you place the NYTimes role in that context. America media loves the fallen star resurrected story. And I'm one of those people who does believe NYC is the top tier--all alone and not even seriously threatened. Depth, diversity, competition, media density, talent, compensation across the broadest spectrum. Not that size matters (gee, where else have I heard that?) but if prodded, I'd list my secondary top tier food destinations in no particular order: SF, Chicago, Boston, Philly, LA probably with the edge over DC and Seattle. I haven't spent enough time in either of the Portlands, Vegas, Houston or Atlanta or any of the other media favs to assess, but doubt they'd crack that list.

Oh come on Holly--do we not read the same stuff? Granted, I do not pour over Philly's newspapers and magazines as much as I am sure you do--but Philly restaurateurs and chefs have griped and sniped forever about national media not paying appropriate attention to Philadelphia as a viable, dynamic restaurant destination--that it's been basically some variation of "Georges Perrier and then what?" John Mariani of Esquire (my frequent faults with him aside) has long championed Philadelphia as a sleeper city--perhaps more so than any other national food personality and I wonder what you think about his current piece in the January 2002 issue of Philadelphia Magazine, titled "Is this a great restaurant city or what? Here's what he says in his first graph: "For reasons that range from mere naivete to pure ignorance--and not a little snootiness--Philadelphia's remarkably diverse restaurant scene hasn't registered with Americans in the tantalizing way other cities' have. Which rightfully annoys Philly's restauranteurs, and certainly bewilders me." His words, not mine. My sense as an outsider? By the mid to late 90's insular Philly restaurateurs and chefs figured out how to play the pr game--instead of backhandedly bitch--how to advertise, promote and bend the food machine to their benefit a little better (or so it seemed to me) how to play politics a bit better and get the city to start promoting itself as undergoing a renaissance of hotels, entertainment, conventions and RESTAURANTS. And all of a sudden there was more in Philly than Perrier and Susanna Foo. Americans start reading about Center City, Old City, Rittenhouse Row, tourists start coming AND STAYING. Pasion! pops up in a slick package--at just the right time for Nuevo Latino--gets branded best New Restaurant of Philly, bags a James Beard Best Chef-MidAtlantic nomination and lo and behold is the only Philly restaurant in Gourmet magazine's (admittedly specious) 50 Best American restaurant list. I'm not saying I agree with that assessment--just that Philly chefs have griped about it. (I can't intuit whether they "believed" it.) But I have read about their "annoyances" when seemingly compared unfavorably on the national scene--be it perceived historical under-representation in the glossy magazines or at the glossy James Beard award selections of Best Chef-MidAtlantic--for years and years. Granted I haven't filed any of this stuff away, but to deny this is folly. I guess we could go back and see which chefs got nominated and when--and then slot Philly's score historically against DC, Boston, wherever after New York's. I realize sensing a city's self-worth, culinary identity and significance is a tough, ephemeral endlessly arguable thread. Again, that isn't what I am trying to start. I cannot put Philly in its proper national context or ranking because I haven't eaten there enough nor enough in SF, Chicago, Boston et al to compare authoritatively. That won't prevent me from sharing my sense, however: Philly reached critical mass as far as a top destination restaurant city around 1998 and it has been full steam ahead ever since. It's pointless to try to rank it, or any other of the secondary cities, as Mariani does. The US is too large and there is too much going on in the top tier of secondary cities, to which Philly belongs. To me, Mariani has seemed inextricably linked to an outsider's perception of Philadelphia for years and years--and this goes way back to the rise of The Book and the Cook events held in Philly. You see, Mariani is a critic who also writes, promotes and wants to sell his books there--talk about a double dipper!--and natch there will be a few book signings in Philadelphia at Philadelphia restaurants he promotes in print. Gee, not a surprise that Philadelphia Magazine--which relies on soliciting restaurant advertising--asks a notable national shill, (oops, I meant authority) to write about Philadelphia restaurants. Here's an interesting link to the Book and the Cook/Mariani/Philadelphia commingling: http://philadelphia.bcentral.com/philadelphia/stories/1997/03/10/smallb2.html Sorry if I offended your sensibilities Holly. didn't mean to. hope this helps flesh out what I meant.

some trusted Hawaiian sources for you Rosie that might help, especially if you use a French press pot: http://www.kona-coffee-council.com/ http://www.smithfarms.com/

From the looks of it, my opinion is precisely the same as yours. I am constantly bemused that Kinkead's is as highly regarded nationally as it is--recently ranked #27 in Gourmet magazine Top 50 Restaurants in the US issue. 27th best in the country? It hasn't been in my Top 10 of DC for awhile and there are 27 better restaurants in NYC alone. Then again, that Gourmet stunt has been fairly well dissected elsewhere, so maybe that's not the best evidence. Or is it? A coupla issues here regarding Kinkead, but also germane to DC's other most well known chefs, too, like Donna and Richard and O'Connell and Pangaud--how do you stay relevant and vital as you age, how do you spin that for a largely uncritical food media, as you've allowed yourself to settle into a rut surrounded by a conservative, uncritical and mostly unknowing clientele, as your life energy feels the pull of advancing years, as you ask yourself what's next, what happens to the "game"--either the cell-phone toting, jet-setting celebrity chef lifestyle that Jean Louis showed us the ticket to or simply how to keep making a buck in a tough business? I could go on, but you get my point--these chefs specifically and DC generally are at a very interesting, fragile point right now culinarily speaking: which way will we go? Maintained and sustained mediocrity--which is what I think it is when compared nationally and internationally to other elite cities--or a rebirth or renaissance? Unfortunately, the food scene here seems as intransigent as the political--neither will change anytime soon. And thank you for the kind words. Chefette and I would be proud to coordinate an eGullet get-together down here with you and others anytime, to meet a few chefs and "expand" our board. Just my luck, though, that I'll probably have to be in NYC when you are here. That's been happening to me lately.