Steve Klc

Ray's the Steaks seems to do just fine with their cramped non-descript dining room--that's because enough people who know food, and who appreciate very good food for a fair price are able to look past a cramped non-descript dining room and appreciate Ray's for what it is. That never happened out in Herndon for the SBC folks, which will be to Herndon and the outlying area's continued detriment and to our gain, those of us who live close to the city. Let no one bemoan the lack of good chef-driven independent restaurants and cafes out in the burbs. SBC never "stood out" in Herndon amongst enough of the apathetic and/or unappreciative locals otherwise they'd likely still be there making a nice living. I would have preferred it if they relocated to Arlington or Clarendon, and that was the other location their team was considering, but rents are skyrocketing here. Also, it's also not like Dupont is chock full of very good food at a fair price anymore--far from it. It will be interesting to see what changes they make moving into the city, whether they keep their "cafe aiming higher" approach or move more overtly upscale, whether they keep their wine pricing as favorable as it was, whether they keep that damn fine Cuban sandwich (second best in the city), and whether they're up to the task. I hope so, they're good talented people deserving of support. And I miss that $8.95 seafood tamale, one of my favorite dishes anywhere from the past year.

I'm curious how many of you see this situation similar to a diner wanting to bring their own bottles of wine into a restaurant? How is that usually handled out here locally? Viewed in that light--it would probably be prudent not to assume anyone could ever bring their own cake into a restaurant--and if allowed to expect to pay a reasonable "cutting fee" per person as one might expect to pay a reasonable corkage fee--and to expect to have such a policy in place which can be explained ahead of time and then fairly enforced--depending on your jurisdiction there may even be legal reasons preventing a restaurateur from allowing a cake baked off-premises to be brought in. Does anyone know if that is the case here? As pots mentioned, sure there's a financial aspect to this--as has been mentioned, if you're bringing in a cake you're likely not ordering the $7.00 plated desserts and not cutting, plating, serving, washing, etc. Just like you're not ordering wines of the list, which are housed in a temperature controlled environment, and served in wineglasses which break and have to be washed, replaced, etc. If you think about a restaurant meal as a timed real estate rental transaction (I don't, but in a clinical sense it could be thought of that way) you'll still be taking up space and resources of a restaurant yet no longer paying for that--space and resources which could be sold/assigned to other patrons. But you have up until that point presumably been very good customers--and many diners leave without ordering dessert. I also think all of Ruth's scenarios are perfectly plausible ones to consider. Still, I don't see this issue as being a "right" but more in terms of a privilege or reasonable expectation. Each restaurant sets its policy and this is just another aspect of the customer service transaction between chef/restaurant/manager and diner. As a diner you can choose to accept the offer or not. You certainly do not have any "right" to expect to bring a cake into a restaurant. I'd always call ahead and ask, even to ask for an exception, especially in a local place where you are known. And the response you get may surprise you--some restaurant pastry chefs enjoy doing special occasion cakes, it gives them a chance to step outside their normal routine. (Though one thing--it isn't usually up to the "pastry chef" to decide whether they'll do a birthday cake for you--the pchef is a blue collar hourly-paid worker--that decision will usually be decided for him or her higher up the ladder.) As Lisa suggests, most restaurants will try to accomodate you somehow because most restaurants realize that's the business they are in--all you have to do to get the ball rolling is communicate. And if you are unhappy about whatever options are offered at a particular place--or are inflexible (for any of the reasons listed above)--then it falls to you to find a place or manager who can accomodate you. And I'm sure you'll have many options. And if I understand stovetop correctly, your chances for accomodation or a special exception are improved if you are reasonable going in and are known at an establishment. Hard to argue with that--and that seems good general guidance for a whole lot of things pertaining to the restaurant experience not just cake.

Who here said it wasn't? When I was last there with my wife we had to do so much chatting about our meal because of all the things she wouldn't eat--foie gras, shellfish, fish. We chatted constantly but briefly about upcoming ingredients and techniques and substitutions and also amongst the other diners. We also knew the chefs had a tough, timed job to do. What I felt, again speaking solely for myself as a diner and chef, is that like so much else about any aspect of the restaurant experience, is that how much is too much and how much is reasonable to expect are valid questions. And I think those answers are always going to be a little different for each of us and different on particular nights. In an ideal customer service situation all questions are handled smoothly and gracefully and all dishes are enjoyed. In reality? You identify and then learn from your mistakes, you keep trying to improve consistency and you move forward. You develop better interpersonal skills over time, you keep trying to instill them, but how many older chefs have them let alone younger chefs? When you say "I would hope that the chefs who are preparing the food have studied its history" I still feel that hope is possibly a little misplaced, it's just a little too abstract and unrealistic, perhaps because I've been around well-trained but less experienced chefs and cooks, perhaps because like many things in food I know that history hasn't been written yet, and perhaps it's because most working cooks can't afford a computer and if they did don't have time to surf. Cooking is a tough, constant process of learning how (first) and why (second) to do things correctly--stepford chefs is actually very apt--and might be taken by some as a compliment. Imagine being the stepford chef on the line of Daniel Boulud or Thomas Keller? You know how to do your job and you do it consistently, quickly and well. You likely can't converse about how Boulud is viewed amongst his peers or whether Keller's oyster and pearls dish shares similarities with any dishes amongst the current Michelin 3 star chefs in Spain. You have time to embrace other things as you evolve and the most passionate and skilled of those cooks do. Most of these guys work and prep, work and prep, they don't spend their very infrequent time off researching culinary history nor can they afford to travel and hit the gastronomic sights. And yes I can also reconcile that with the belief that no guest at any restaurant should be made to feel unimportant or unworthy. Grace under fire has to be acquired. Would the response you get likely have been different if a Kats or Jose or Manuel had been behind or near the bar at that moment? Should it have been different anyway? Guaranteed. Likewise I wish the experiences you and Suzi had were better. I know one thing, though, they'd kill for another chance to undo whatever was not done right the first time and there's enough talent and concern assembled to ensure these remain aberrations.

Some background Suzi to one very interesting component to your posts--unlike some of the currently inventive and/or the relatively johnny-come-lately molecular gastronomist/chefs--some of whom I believe sought a media advantage by mentioning "molecular gastronomy" a little more prominently on their websites, especially after that "Gastronauts" article in Gourmet magazine a few years ago or saw an advantage in mentioning a "stage" usually of indeterminate length at El Bulli almost as a rite of passage into 21st Century cooking (and an easier road to media credibility) but then that's the last time they mention the "influence" of Ferran on what they do--Jose hardly can be said to hide the fact that he worked for 3 years under Ferran before coming to the US, that he returns each and every year to collaborate with Ferran and his team, that Ferran still is his spiritual and culinary mentor and has helped shape the chef which he has become, that he feels Ferran is perhaps the single greatest artist in Spain let alone clearly the most significant chef worldwide, etc. They're both humble best of friends and who do Ferran and Albert visit and travel with in the US each and every year? Jose. Who does Jose send all his best cooks and chefs to train under and to learn how to think about food? That's right, Ferran and Albert. Jose, unlike some "celebrity" chefs, has given credit where credit is due loudly and often in the countless articles written about him or interviews he gives. When another American chef or someone like an Amanda Hesser or a magazine like Gourmet or Saveur or a Food & Wine or Food Arts wants to know who to write about in Spain or how to process what is going on "in" Spain who do they turn to? That's right--Jose is a tireless promoter of others--and then they go and report the "scene" over there right and write about the chefs doing good work over there because they got good self-less advice. That said, don't you think it's a little unreasonable for Jose or any talented chef who came up through Adria and El Bulli, say like the fantastic Sergi Arola of La Broche, not to have the right and expectation to be assessed on their own terms? Do you find Sergi Arola "terribly derivative" as well? If you haven't dined there when you were in Spain then flip through the pages of his "Como quieras, cuando quieras, donde quieras: En la cocina de Sergi Arola." Did you taste or can you determine any distinctions between how his dishes are composed and Adria's? What about Oriol Balaguer--is he derivative of Adria as well? Is so, is that a bad thing in your eyes? One thing I can tell, from admiring your posts on eGullet, is that you've had a special year dining in 2003/2004--you've hit Trio, Moto, WD-50, Fat Duck, El Bulli, Gagnaire--and that you are an engaging, impeccably perceptive writer. I'm envious! You summed up your recent El Bulli experience elsewhere on the site by saying: "I ate at el bulli earlier this year and found the experience frustrating in that only 3 of the courses delivered a "wow" factor for me, many were simply good or interesting and 5 were, to my palate, horrible," so with that assessment you'll probably end up on the minority opinion side. Your negative experience at minibar will likely also be balanced by many more over time who were able to better distinguish and appreciate tastes on the night they dined. On this we likely can't go further nor need to. You had meals you didn't like. But in order to make the claim on eG that what Jose has created at minibar is "terribly derivative"--merely saying "derivative" is perhaps the most egregious charge one could level against a serious chef--the onus falls to you, the person leveling the charge, to demonstrate some grasp of historical perspective, some depth behind how and why you feel the way you do based on what you've read, tasted and dined at that level or in that spirit before. So how far back before this 2003/2004 season does your awareness and appreciation of dining on this creative level go? Or does your assessment begin with feeling Jose is just too much like Adria? Since you didn't like the way the dishes tasted at minibar and didn't think they were flavorful or prepared with sufficient care--that opinion, that assessment, can not be challenged: taste is subjective, and your subjective opinion would then fall in or out of line with all the others who have dined and tasted and ultimately we'd see how many other diners agreed with you over time. You didn't post about how anything tasted originally, for all we knew you had a cold coming on and everything tasted flat. That's always going to be an inherent problem with a single visit as well and I'm glad you followed up. I'm sorry you didn't have a better sensory or customer service experience. What you did post, though, jumped intellectually right to derivation of ideas and concepts and "copying"--which interests me more and I suspect we might discover in the end says a little more about our awareness of and approach to food than it does about the quality and distinctiveness of Jose as a chef or what he offers at minibar. On the other side, people like Shaw and me and anyone who has had incredible experiences at the hands of Jose have to continue to keep our perspective from drawing in too close as well. You live in the UK, Suzi, so I'm curious when you first dined at the Fat Duck? (for those in DC who don't read outside this board this is Britain's most adventurous restaurant.) Do you recall when you become aware of Herve This or his relationship with Christian Conticini or Pierre Gagnaire or when you first became aware of Grant Achatz? Was it before eGullet was founded? When did you first have a Wylie Dufresne dish (pre-WD-50?) or "hear" about the action going on down on Clinton Street or of Paul Liebrandt or Will Goldfarb or Blais down in Atlanta whose restaurant just closed? Do you recall when you first heard the term "molecular gastronomy?" When did you first come across Albert Adria's mind-blowing "Los postres de el bulli?" which came out in 1998? OK--realize I don't actually expect you or anyone to answer those questions in some kind of third degree litmus test--my point is some of those specific answers might help develop a kind of personal timetable when it comes to assessing what might be termed this creative or inventive food, and hopefully a few of those answers predate the past 18 months. (I fear the average diner tends to have shorter memories when it comes to chefs and their creativity. Much of their awareness is media-driven--which is in constant pursuit of the new--and many food media types recycle rather than research and probe.) Moving on--I think Jose came to the US and took over Jaleo in like 92, he had cooked under Ferran for 3 years prior to that. Jaleo is more traditional, though over the years Jose has found devilish ways to work very creative presentations and ideas into his supposedly traditional tapas there, which cost like 5 or 6 bucks. I wish you could have eaten there. But for the sake of argument let's say what he does there is traditional and not sufficiently "creative." Let's say there is little of creative value at Zaytinya as well. We won't even touch whether anything is good or represents a good value. We won't even address what it means to be a successful, significant or influential chef. Just creativity and innovation as specific notions. That said, many of the exploratory concepts and little experimental techniques or creative riffs you had at minibar recently--in 2004--and which opened only in late Summer 2003--were actually developed by Jose for Cafe Atlantico and their "Latin dim sum brunch" back in 1998 when Jose agreed to serve at the helm of both Jaleo & Cafe Atlantico. A huge Food Arts article on Jose the chef (Food Arts is the most significant culinary magazine in the US when it comes to the professional food scene) detailing his creativity there then ran in September 1999--and which is still worth checking out, it's framed on the wall of Cafe at the top of the first flight of stairs--so it was the 1998 season when many American chefs and foodies were first exposed to Jose and these creative dishes and concepts. That's 6 years ago. Not many people in the US back then even knew who Ferran Adria was. In 1998 did you Suzi? In 1998 Heston Blumenthal had not even been awarded his first Michelin star yet. Was he on your radar then? Here, after that Food Arts article, and after people had experienced what Jose was doing at Cafe then, the floodgates opened around the US. A cavalcade of American chefs and writers proceeded to Rosas but many savvy European chefs had already heard of this mad scientist Adria guy even earlier--French chefs, presciently, had already begun to rouse (sp?) fear of him and had begun a not-so-subtle campaign to disparage him and his cooking which continues to this day. To put things in historical perspective for those reading along--I believe 1999 was when the UK's Heston Blumenthal (a darling of the current "molecular gastronomy" acolytes) and the Fat Duck in Bray was awarded its first Michelin star. That year 1999 was when Jose was nominated for the James Beard Rising Star chef award for his creative work at Cafe & Jaleo (which he did not win--Marcus Samuelsson did that year--but still, in a market as vast and diverse as the US you're honored just by being nominated.) 1999 is still two years before Grant Achatz debuted any creative dish of his own at Trio. Jumping ahead, in 2003, the irrepressibly talented Grant Achatz wins his Beard Rising Star Chef award, Jose wins the Beard Best Chef Mid-Atlantic award after his third nomination while his most recent restaurant, Zaytinya, was one of 5 restaurants nominated nationally for the Beard Best New Restaurant. 2004 then saw Heston awarded his third Michelin star--the youngest chef ever I believe?--but for the purposes of this thread--and Suzi's derivative/copying charges which she has yet to address--it is less important what Blumenthal is doing now or even what he's done recently but what he WAS doing--what he WAS creating--back in 1998. And certainly not only Blumenthal but the other likely chefs Suzi might be referring to.) For a specific instance, take that deconstructed American clam chowder dish--which the NYTimes Magazine just "discovered" in 2004 but which Jose has been doing since at least 1998--it was featured in the Washington Post Food section maybe 5 years ago--what's that dish derivative of? What dish did any eGulleteer have during their world travels (or reading) circa 1998 that this was copied from? Does it flow from the Adria culinary spirit and tenets? Undoubtedly, as I think Shaw explains well. But, Suzi, how does it seem to you that this very personal deconstruction, this very individual re-interpretation of a classic American dish--which Jose was the first to do so in such a unique way that I'm aware of or that, say, someone much more experienced than I, Michael Batterberry of Food Arts magazine, had yet to see at the time--a dish which is (usually for the rest of us who have had it over time) absolutely delicious, true in spirit and taste to the original yet also imperceptibly complex (practically raw clam, clam juice turned into a gelee and brushed on the clam, crisply fried tiny dice of potato, with espuma, confit, oils drizzled, et al)--how was this "copied" or "derivative" given that you now know when it was first created and served? Or is this deconstructed/re-constructed classic dish a strong example of exactly why you feel Jose's work is derivative and copying? I think that's going to be a tough case for you to make stick. This as just copying Adria. You're also going to be hard-pressed in general to name another American or British chef doing "more creative" work than this at the time. I'm weak on what Heston was doing in 1998 but there you might be able to help. (I do so hate thinking in terms of these inherently false comparisons--and always try to appreciate chefs for the personal statement they're making at the time--but I'll make an exception here because Suzi you seem focused mainly on valuing creativity as ideas and concepts in time--an intellectual exercise if you will--hence the use of the terms derivative and copying. We won't get anyhwere focusing on how the dishes tasted differently to us or on the quality of those dishes apart from creativity and originality and that's ok.) In the US some other upstarts breaking through at the time were Rocco DiSpirito (yes that Rocco,) Marcus Samuelsson, and outside of NYC Rick Tramonto in Chicago or a Ken Oringer of Clio in Boston were doing some very creative stuff which you might have found (or did find) "inventive," this was around their own visits to El Bulli, and later which they were going to incorporate more into their cooking and go on to garner much deserved praise (Beard Best Chef awards for all, in Oringer's case in 1999 I think) but the list globally--and certainly within the US for 1998 for chefs which might meet your "glutton for the new" creativity/inventiveness/molecular gastronomy test is pretty short. Many of our most creative younger chefs today were still finding themselves and finding their styles back then. Many of the more established older generation of chefs in that day had just made their own trips to El Bulli--Keller, Trotter, Norman Van Aken, Bouley, etc. Let's do another creativity timecheck: Do you know what dishes Grant Achatz was creating and serving in 1998? My bet is he was at the French Laundry cranking out oysters and pearls and coffee and donuts, dreaming of what he might do one day in the future. I wonder what Blumenthal's menu was like then. How far had he transitioned from the very traditional, classic French and European cooking he began doing at the Fat Duck after he returned from his tour of all the top creative restaurants and chefs in Europe like Bras, Roellinger, Santi Santemaria and Adria? Another for instance, and we each can only draw on our own depth and experiences and then compare them to others, but the first chef I'm aware of to use "pop rocks" in both a sweet and a savory application was...that's right, Jose Andres...I'm limited by my experiences and I first had dishes of his with them in it in the 1997-1998 season. Did Ferran use them first? I don't know. Major culinary statement? Copying? Not to me. Many chefs still feel stuff like that is a gimmick--but it sure can be fun, can't it, when you're a diner and experience something like that for the first time. Whether you like it at the time or not, it makes you stop and think about the nature of food and ingredients. So the first surprise and whimsical nature of pop rocks in food as an ingredient was 7 years ago for me--after that it's just assimilated. Does anyone, for instance, know when that oft-written about chocolate dessert with pop rocks of Heston Blumenthal debuted? Two, three years ago, maybe? Is there a connection? Is this called copying? Is this Heston being "terribly derivative?" (I hope not--I don't think that way--and I hope most diners wherever they come from are happy just to put something tasty in their mouth and perhaps moved to explore further afterward.) Take the liquid nitrogen thing you reacted to--how many years have to pass after the Herve This/Christian Conticini article first appeared in English more than a decade ago in Scientific American, extolling the virtues of using liquid nitrogen to make ice creams and sorbets, before it becomes just another technique allowed to be put in service of taste or palate--and no longer has to be viewed as proprietary? Likely this is how Heston found out about liquid nitrogen--what's the problem with anyone anywhere saying hey, we're doing some cool things with liquid nitrogen without also laying out the precis or synopsis of its development over time? You think most chefs have time to read eGullet let alone Scientific American? For the extremely rare chef with This or Conticini or a passing interest in science on their radar that's the quivalent now of saying "hey, we're doing some cool ice creams in the Pacojet," isn't it? Guess what, a lot of people can rightly claim to be doing cool things with Pacojets. That's because nascent bits about the science behind the Pacojet have been shared amongst chefs for years and other chefs have reached independent methods of working and achieving results that they want. You think I have to give credit to Gray Kunz (who first gave a Pacojet to Jacques Torres and where I first saw it in use) every time I serve an olive oil sorbet? The first book on food science and molecular gastronomy by Herve This came out in 1993--and then the inimitably prescient food writer Jeffrey Steingarten wrote an amazing profile of Professor This in Vogue magazine called "Better Cooking Through Chemistry" in March of 1996--so he's been on our radar in the US for some time. His way of thinking and re-thinking tried and true concepts has influenced a lot of chefs and much of this, at the high end, has already been assimilated. Back to specific dishes--the (usually) fresh, clean, fun Jose dishes anyone who has eaten at minibar since it opened in the Summer of 2003 has had, like his inventive composed salad treatments, the little shots like the potato espuma/caviar/vanilla oil, the raviolis, the foie gras corn nut soup, are all 6+ years "old" and he's been refining and re-interpreting and riffing off them ever since--they've been consumed and enjoyed maybe a hundred thousand times? That doesn't mean they're always going to be served properly. But has anyone seen a composed "salad" rolled up in jicama like a sushi roll in nori and then sliced and served on its side with bleu cheese, corn and pomegranate before Jose did it in 1998? Ask him and I'm sure Jose would say that's no big deal--eat it and enjoy it. Worry about its derivation later. Now drying fruit is all the rage amongst elite chefs and pastry chefs but Jose was the first guy I ever saw using fruit powders in savory dishes as far back as when I met him in 1996 or 97--he served a raw clam on a Vietnamese soup spoon way back for an event at the Smithsonian we did together, glazed with a mix of dessert wine/clam juice and sprinkled with raspberry powder that took the breath away of most in the audience--so simple, so daring, so incongruous for its time yet utterly delicious. Perhaps he ripped this straight off an El Bulli menu from the 1996 or 1997 season, but I doubt it, guess we'll have to wait for the volume which precedes the 1998-2002 volume to come out. Still, I guess it is possible a strong case could be made about Jose copying or emulating--so brava on the one hand to Suzi for having the courage to raise the issue. On the other hand, now's the time to back that up a bit. Most people realize minibar is an adventure, a bargain, 30+ special tasty dishes, and don't ascribe more to it than what it is. Taste is always going to be one's own--even at the minibar. And likely a small percentage of diners will always go away dissatisfied. Jose has said, though, that one of the reasons he developed it is to help people in the industry maintain a conversation about food and creativity. For others to be stimulated and motivated to adapt what they do or to see things just a little bit differently. This is part of that conversation. Where the pretending "they don't owe a debt of innovation to other people" comes from or where Jose is quoted saying what he's doing at minibar "is at the forefront of gastronomy" are other things entirely.

I'm still digesting this and find the comments here very interesting on many levels, so thank you Suzi and everyone for having the courage to share some of your thoughts. Good food and good chefs can stand up to scrutiny. "It certainly sounds as though the Minibar staff needs a refresher course in guest relations. Because they are going to get a lot of people going through there who have dined at El Bulli, Fat Duck, Trio, et al., and they need to be equipped to discuss those interdependencies." On one hand, yes, Steve, almost certainly learning how to answer or more likely deflect potentially distracting questions with charm and aplomb is a continual challenge at elite levels of food, it's a challenge to re-orient interesting and engaged diners back to what we both know should be their primary focus--experiencing the food for what it is not what a given diner expects it to be or hopes it will be or wants it to be, helping them engage and then enjoy it, and all the while doing it within a given time frame--all the while not making it seem like you are being re-oriented and kept to a schedule. That's kind of the unwritten "contract" between chef and diner. And then on the other hand, no, I don't think the guys behind the counter do need to be able to discuss these chefs and restaurants and interdependencies in any detail--nor should they--that isn't their job, they haven't eaten there, they're there doing a tough intricate job serving you, under a much higher profile than much more experienced chefs never subject themselves to. Do you ask this much of your sushi bar chef as he's slicing the toro for the next dish in your omakase? I can't speak for anyone but myself here, but you're there for a specific, individual and personal culinary experience, the "minibar" experience, you're not there to interview the guy wrapping the jicama ravioli that night at length on what he knows of the history of who used liquid nitrogen first and in what culinary context. As a diner, you're there to experience and taste a $65 parade of intricate and often complex little dishes--to take the journey Jose created and approved, in other words. It's appropriate to expect a little hand-holding along the way, as one's hand would be held during an omakase, but I think the majority of reasonable diners, regardless of supposed international experience, will deem it inappropriate and possibly even unseemly to bring too much baggage to the "bar." That's not necessarily included in the $65 price tag--enough already is included--and it risks ruining the experience for what it is. Bringing the baggage to eG, however, is very appropriate and I hope everyone can discuss those issues calmly and respectfully: the issue of derivation is certainly valid. So why don't you begin there Suzi: Jose Andres and his "minibar" experience for you was derivative of what and whom exactly? (I, like Shaw, regret your first comments didn't include how a single dish actually tasted--because how things taste, at least for me, trumps everything else--within any meal, really, let alone within this context of extended multiple themes, flights and concepts. And as any chef knows, taste is subjective.)

Sara, Don, thanks for posting these links because I think it is important for everyone to come to better grips with the meaning of this, to better understand and put in its proper context: this is another facet of running a restaurant and another aspect of what it means to be a food professional--albeit a vital one but one that the public too often overlooks or misunderstands--we're often too apathetic or too underaware. We susceptible to being distracted by celebrity, the Food Network or glossy magazines--but when you work in food professionally you begin and end with working cleanly, safely and efficiently. You have to do things in volume when you work in food and you are asked to assume a huge public responsibility--perhaps even an unrealistic one: any executive chef has to oversee, train and motivate a large staff many of whom not making much more than minimum wage and to ensure proper food handling in everything they do, all the time, day in and day out. Given that, it's unrealistic to expect any restaurant NOT to get cited for violations. You know, in good places, it is almost like the military--you get smart experienced people to set up a system, you install smart caring professionals to oversee that system, you run that system to the letter of the law day in and day out, it's very robotic and when it functions well there's very little room for error. Everything smells clean, surfaces are wiped, corners are swept, nothing is under the counter that shouldn't be there, everything is properly labelled, everything is warmed and cooled properly, etc. And even those excellent places receive "critical" violations from time to time. On any given day in any place, it's naive to think things don't go wrong--timing is off, pressures mount, problems have to be solved on the fly, equipment goes on the fritz--and this happens to some extent in every restaurant high and low. From Citronelle to Zaytinya to Ray's the Steaks to Maestro to the corner deli or Thai takeout. The chef walks by, takes one look at the macaroons you've just taken out of the oven, says they are "sheet," takes the whole sheetpan and dumps it into the trash in front of you, and says make them again. Now you're behind, have to press, weigh out ingredients all over again and crack another 64 eggs, yet still have to work cleanly and safely and catch up. You don't wipe up that little bit of egg white on the counter before you put the macaroons in the oven. Your dishwasher has to leave a little early to catch the first of two buses he has to take to pick his kids up and the floor under the counter doesn't get swept or he asks someone else to wipe out the sink and that person doesn't do it. And on and on. The inspector happens to be there and sites you for the trash can momentarily obstructing a hand sink, for not having a test kit to make sure there's enough chemical solution in your wet rag bucket which you used to wipe up that egg white. Every restaurant gets violations, the thing to look for is improvement from inspection to inspection. It's a good thing we're subject to surprise inspections--of which there are many horror stories, closings and of which this one specific report linked to isn't even close to being representative of. You get cited, most require making minor adjustments--replacing this, reorienting that so it cools faster, you move on and keep doing what you're already doing very well--except you do it just a little bit better. These inspections help keep everyone honest and encourage changes be made more quickly than they might be made otherwise. But because of the numbers and resources involved the restaurant inspection program is more akin to the USDA meat inspection program. As a diner you still have to trust your own senses about the level of commitment and caring and professionalism of the places you frequent--and honing that sense is perhaps even more important than any snapshot of an inspection. Anyone know if all the other jurisdictions are online as well? (And by the way, being in the biz, having been in a lot of kitchens around the country, and eating at Ray's the Steaks regularly: if every chef, or "cook" as Mike sometimes like to refer to himself as, cared as much as he does, and runs as clean a ship as he does, we'd all be much, much better off.)

But that's the difference between trying to present professional cooking at an elite level--so you might actually come to grips with it--and churning out a celebrity chef pretend book written in that all-too-familiar, have to be made more accessible, dumbed-down home cooking style--here you're exposed to the real sometimes complicated, sometimes involved, deal. And what mastery or mystery is involved? Really just an exotic pepper which you never realized is readily available locally or via mail order, and base components like a "lemon essence" and "tomato syrup" which would be made regularly in his professional kitchen and probably used and blended in various sauces and dishes--but give credit to Ducasse and his team for giving all cooks--home and pro--a window into just how he develops depth of flavor and layers complexity in his dishes. Hopefully the book will include instructions for storage and a note about shelf-life before flavor deteriorates. We already have a surfeit of quick/easy/simple/repetitive "recipes that work" with generic components like lemon zest and diced tomato--we don't need another one from Ducasse--unless, of course, that's how he actually does it in one of his dishes. The question will be Steve, after you do all this, how much of the depth, the layering, the complexity, can you taste? And has it made you appreciate Ducasse the professional even more?

"Surely, Ducasse is in part responding to Ferran Adria's El Bulli 1998-2002, with which it shares many characteristics both aesthetically (imposing physical presence; photography with a fine-art feel to it) and substantively (the drive to catalog and document a cuisine)" Take one look at this book and this is undeniably true Steve, thanks for getting this out in the open for mainstream readers to consider: first Adria and now Ducasse in new ways aim to raise the media bar, raising awareness when it comes to culinary inspiration and consideration of their ideas and of themselves--basically what it means to do what they do and how we should think of their food (and food in general.) I'd throw the interesting, pretty transluscently photographed but recipe-less Gagnaire picture book into this elite mix but ultimately as "statement media" it's a lightweight or bantamweight in terms of effort and commitment when compared to Ducasse or Adria. Ducasse and Adria have flip-flopped between one and one-A as far as "most significant and influential chef" for many years now amongst those in the know--depending on who you talked to of course--this comes as some kind of surprise to you Louisa? These two have undeniably been Ali-Frazier at the top of the professional chef and food media pyramids globally with different attributes, philosophies, media personas, defining characteristics, agendas, etc. It's just too naive to think that these two heavyweights (and their trusted teams) weren't painstakingly and acutely aware of the role publication, photography, design, the cataloging of dishes, etc. kept playing in each other's rise to the top--and each reacted and planned accordingly. As we dig into this new Ducasse edition it will be interesting to track over time just how influential it ends up being in the real world--versus how influential the Adria 1998-2002 release ends up being. There's no doubt which made the bigger statement and impact initially, the Adria 1998-2002 was a crunching body blow of a release to all supposedly elite and creative chefs worldwide, so it all depends whether you view this race as a sprint or you're in it for the distance. But the question remains: will these two remain one and one-A in terms of influence or significance or will eventually one of these guys move into first, and the other slip into second? "But I don't think, any more than the El Bulli book, that this is a book meant to be cooked from. It is really a book of ideas and, moreover, a sort of culinary art book. I think it may most of all be intended to demonstrate to other chefs what Ducasse's team is doing within a particular contemporary genre. I can certainly see looking to this book, over and over, for high-level inspiration regarding ingredients, combinations, and techniques of preparation and presentation" I think, Steve, with this you've captured what it means for a chef to be "influential"--and frankly I'm glad to see another contender (in English) on the scene. I look forward to you and others returning to this often.

Wendy--I think it's important that you "name" your desserts in a way that reflects you--they're something you created and theoretically they're personal and individual. That is if your chef gives his support. How you name them, how you create and then write the menu, is part of how you create your brand, establish your identity, attract the critics and build the trust in that brand. Eventually you'll have to compromise from the ideal and word things so that they sell--but we're in a customer service business so that's no big deal.

I'd go that far as well. There's no need to qualify.

Danzig--for me, as well, it was about 20 years ago when Queen Bee and Cafe Dulat rocked, but even then the more adventurous locals knew the better Vietnamese food was found at little places set off Wilson Blvd a block or two, with menus printed in Vietnamese off little chalkboards. Queen Bee even then had already been "Phyllis Richmanized" and their shrewd owners sensed if they compromised they'd draw more conservative Washingtonians in. It started an accelerated spiral. You're also bringing back memories--there was a time years ago, like in 1985, I was living in Clarendon, when Cafe Dulat was really really special--it seemed to me like their un-named chef at the time was one of only two chefs in the area who knew how to blend and toast Asian and Indian spices (Yannick Cam was the other who had a special touch with those spices then) and at Dulat that Chinese 5 spice chicken dish was somehow done in just the right way--somehow different than any other version. Man that dish was transcendent. How far that whole strip has fallen toward mediocrity since. However, Arlington and Clarendon still have a handful of small, special restaurants which care about customer service and are worth driving to even if you don't live here anymore--Ray's tops the list of course, but at a lower price point: Singh Thai (you want their fish ball skewers grilled a little extra because you like them grilled longer, they will), Boulevard Wood Grill (which just put this great grilled sirloin tip steak salad on the menu--they won't ask you how you'd like it cooked so you have to chime up that you want it charred on the outside/medium rare inside, sit on the patio and take in the $9.95 bargain of a meal large enough for 2) and Minh's--which just keeps getting better and clearly (to me at least) remains the best Vietnamese in NoVA. They just started doing a Bo Luc Loc-style dish with a flavorful flank steak that is delicious, and comes with more cubes than required for the price. And as Clarendon gets more dense--it's nice to know Minh's has a free private parking lot at your disposal if you can't find a space on the street. I, of course, felt guilty getting steak at these two places, it's like I was cheating on Michael at Ray's.

James--here's a link to the kind of flexible "non-stick" mold Woods is likely talking about: http://www.jbprince.com/index.asp?PageActi...ROD&ProdID=1366 There are a few different brand names--like Flexipan, Gastroflex, etc--and come in different colors--gray, black, orange. Depending on the brand they can range from 1/4 sheet to full sheet size. The 1/4 sheet sizes of the cannele have maybe 18 to 20 cavities.

Oh no, that space is too cramped and too busy to actually teach a class, I was just lending an air of optimism to these wishful proceedings. There's a narrow 10 square foot strip of space which the bread team shares with the pastry prep team and it's busy all day long. Though maybe early some Sunday morning...oops, there I go with that optimism again...

I forget what I wrote before but I don't think I'd be revealing any secret information here: when Zaytinya opened Jose turned to the Abi-Najms for pita consultation, and as we got ready to open Dany was often in the kitchen, he's one of the amazingly talented Abi-najm brothers and sisters, and oversaw the Z. bread team because we installed their "system"--and demand quickly outstripped what one oven could handle and it became a double-decker conveyor belt installation. Jose has a way of putting his stamp on everything he does--tinkering with ingredients, timing, effect, efficiency--whatever he does it is very personal so it isn't surprising the two pitas are very different mktye. Back then Jose also sought out a very talented Lebanese Taverna chef named Abdul, and it was Abdul who taught us his family's traditional method of making phyllo by hand so we could make phyllo by hand, he also helped Jose achieve the falafel mixtures and spreads that after much trial and error with Jorge Chicas and the chefs pleased Jose and ended up being on the menu--and they weren't what Abdul was doing at LT. Abdul now works in the Zaytinya kitchen and is named on the menu by the way, so is the woman who taught Jose the technique to make the "monti" by hand--those great little boiled pasta meat pockets which come out sprinkled with sumac--and who used to nudge me and my Pacojet out of the way when her monti-making crew got in high gear. So the only way you could learn how to do the "Zaytinya pita" would be to work in the back as Daniel initially proposed on this thread, become a waiter or runner so you could conveniently hang back by the oven or talk Jose, Jorge and Abdul into teaching a class about it "in situ." (When I last taught a guest chef class at LT, Abdul was teaching most of the classes in their Lee Highway Market classroom, but I heard they're teaching at the Annapolis location now as well. Bilrus--do you remember the name of your instructor recently--was it Abdul or someone else?)

At Dupont what, Jake? (Sorry not to know...) I wondered about the very high hangar price as well, I think I paid $16.99 a pound but I didn't actually look, I figured I'd try it once since I had never even seen the cut for sale elsewhere--only skirt, flat iron and flank--I believe there's only one hangar per animal so perhaps that's why. If you ever try it you have to cut out that tough whitish vein in the center, pictured below: http://www.outlawcook.com/Page1505.html

You might have seen it here on eG, culinary bear, we've been mentioning Herve This for years. I personally don't like the This chantilly as a working mousse, but more as a technical achievement. Here's a post by Patrice Demers from several years ago: "This explained how to do a chocolate chantilly with only some chocolate and a little bit of water: You melt some chocolate in a little bit of water and then you wisk the chocolate sauce on ice. when the mixture will become cold, you will have a mousse of chocolate ( not a chocolate mousse...) About 200ml of water ( or fruit juice, or coffee...) for about 225g of chocolate. You can now do the same thing with foie gras... With Gagnaire, while in his restaurant, they made some tests. With the help of a ''tamis'' they took a piece of Foie Gras and, in a saucepan, they made an emulsion with some ''fond de canard'' (duck jus). When the emulsion is done, you put the saucepan on ice and you wisk until the mixture become a mousse!!! You can also do the same thing with cheeses. At his restaurant, Gagnaire serves an Époisses Chantilly!" (Patrice is the very busy pastry chef and co-owner of Les Chèvres in Montreal.)

I've been buying the Sunnyside Farms "kobe" ground beef from the Sterling Wegmans since it opened. $3.99 a pound and it cooks up to a very enjoyable charred on the outside/ medium rare on the inside burger at home. In fact, I've been pretty impressed with the whole lineup of Sunnyside cuts Wegmans stocks--the hangar I had was very tender and flavorful (though it was not "aged.") A question--at the Burger Barn--do you have a choice how it is cooked, i.e. can you get it medium rare? So this place is in Sperryville? http://www.sunnysidefarms.com/organic/stores.htm

I meant inexpensive small plates/mezze/tapas-style dining Don--but if you have a different class in mind I'd listen..

Yeah, sorry, I was just typing quickly from memory. She's in that left coast baker group and one of the few to have written a highly recommendable book.

Anne, ok, you've given me something more to go on. Of course Maestro is fantastic but from your comment I figured the high end was out. I diverge from Joe and Haggis man a bit on Da Domenico's--I'd point out that while the food is "good," it's also (to me) a little sedate and bland, you also have to be in the mood for that kind of retro-New Jersey-Italian shtick. The clientele is older, lots of families on the weekends, which seem to really appreciate it when the singing erupts . When I lived in McLean we always went elsewhere to eat--into the city (of course) or into other burbs which had much better ethnic than Tysons had. eCitie and Restaurant Seven promised some sophistication (in decor and in the food) initially but failed to deliver consistently or well. Everything else is power dining, corporate, conservative formula, chain or underwhelming ethnic (Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai) done much better elsewhere. Tachibana is worth a trip, however. (I somehow haven't been to Shamshiry so that might turn out to be a Persian oasis--thanks for that recommendation guys, I'd always noticed it make the cheap/inexpensive best lists but never went.) But there is one place tucked away in McLean, out of sorts for Tysons, really, that might be fun for the right group--in the right mood: it's a small place--a really small place--called Corner Bistro which is less official bistro and more wine bar with French and Spanish-style tapas. Beside the bar, there's maybe 5 tables with stools (not chairs) some really good wines and cava fairly priced, lots of Fr. and Sp. selections by the glass so you don't have to order the all-too-typical-Tysons oaky chardonnay, they have good moderately priced Spanish wines by the bottle, with a younger and neighborhood crowd, single moms just off work with their kids at one table and younger tech or military industrial complex consulting folks in suits just getting off work at another. It's not "as good" as Jaleo but then no restaurant in Jaleo's class is as good as Jaleo, except maybe Zaytinya. But when we're stuck in or sneaking through Tysons, we stop here sometimes when we're on that back road--it's on 6706 Old Dominion just off Chain Bridge Road. 703.918.9770 (You can look at their menu on restaurant.com, and if you decide tonight you can get 60% discount off any of their certificates with code 93935 if you like as well. I've never done this, but this might allow you to stretch your dining dollar even further: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=41528 Depending on where your hotel is it might be a 10-15 minute drive. I've never seen anyone else talk about this place but it has some charm, a casual fun personality and is value-priced. Everything is composed, prepared, deep fried, sauteed a la minute--you can watch the 2 or 3 cooks if you sit at the back side table--though if you are a party of 4 or 5 you'll want to take over one of the front tables near the street and windows so you can spread out. The simpler sauteed, grilled and deep fried things can be quite good--I've liked the scallops, shrimp, squid, lamb chop, sausage, sardines, etc. Mussels can be very good. Everything is like $5-7. Next door is the charming, urbane and at least very good Le Petit Mistral, owned by the same guy, with not much gentler pricing than the other higher end places in Tysons and McLean--but I've gone here early and just ordered their apps and to sit down in quiet civilized fashion--which are priced around 8-9 bucks--salads, grilled shrimp, steamed mussels, anchovies, smoked salmon, all very good but not great. This is another gem of a neighborhood place. I'd consider going here if it seems like your group absolutely wants to stay near Tysons and rather quietly sit down at a table. Entrees are mid-teens at lunch. This isn't corporate or formula or shtick but conservative French essentials, entree prices climb to Colvin Run territory at dinner. They had an early bird fixed price dinner menu last time I was there and took reservations. (Yes, this stuff is done better at several other French places in and around town.) I think Corner Bistro is much more fun and a better proposition, though, if you're stuck out that way. You won't find personal cooking with the interest, value and sophistication of a TenPenh or the Cafe Atlantico latino dim sum out in Tyson, Anne. (You don't know this but I'm involved professionally with Cafe Atlantico, Jaleo and Zaytinya and have been on Jose Andres's creative team since 2002. Everyone in here knows that but I just noticed you only have 10 posts, so you might not. Not that it matters.) If your wedding is in Old Town, you may actually want to eat in Old Town and not Tysons, perhaps at Restaurant Eve, to make sure you know the roads and how to get there and back to Tysons and your hotel. There's a thread on this new restaurant here--you can check their website, from an early report by the very trusted DonRocks it seems you can eat well and affordably at that, if you are careful. http://www.restauranteve.com/menu.html As he wrote "The braised oxtail ravioli is served in a meaty red-wine jus with leeks, and is a fine dish priced at only $7.75. Think about how times are changing: in a bar in Alexandria, you can enjoy a very good little plate of braised oxtail ravioli for $7.75." It promises to be an interesting wine destination as well which your party might appreciate. You might also enjoy Majestic Cafe and Vermilion in Old Town, which Tysons doesn't have restuarants like either. Now if only the times in Tysons were to change as well.

I think you're getting at what I meant to say Wendy--there are a lot of nice "baking and dessert" books out there written and churned out for the home cook in that nice, accessible home cook style by nice well-meaning people which are redundant, which don't add value and don't really move that genre forward. If you already have some Rose Levy Beranbaum, Luchetti, Silverton, Flo Braker, or a Gale Gand or two on your shelf then you probably would be better off adding something different in scope and just a little bit outside what you have, like a Dessert Circus by Jacques Torres, or the Bill Yosses "Dummies" book--then you'll have enough to work from and compare and contrast for a long time. Better to supplement your shelf with something more clearly reference or information-driven--like the Cook's Illustrated Baking book, which can be had from Costco for $18.99 (one's feelings about that outfit and its style or approach aside) or the Robert Wolke "What Einstein Told His Cook"--or move on to home baking books which have a little more depth, value, style, attitude, personality or individuality to offer--like the books by Sherry Yard, Claudia Fleming and Cindy Mushnet (an under-appreciated work this last one.)

What's your definition of a "good" restaurant Anne? Tysons dining is mostly corporate, conservative and power-dining, and rather unadventurous even at the higher price points, Maestro excepted. Would you be willing to drive or are you looking for something close to your hotel--meaning proximity to your hotel is more important than driving a bit and finding restaurant options with greater quality, value or interest? How important would a good wine list be--with some reasonably interesting and fairly priced wines?

Does anyone know if Il Radicchio was considered an "osteria?"

In America, female pastry chefs are very recognized--our media and culinary culture has had a very supportive stance--look at the recent James Beard Best pastry chef award winners: Karen Barker, Claudia Fleming, Gale Gand, Sherry Yard. All have written books, Emily Luchetti and Nancy Silverton made names for themselves many years ago so this isn't even just a recent thing. Most of us in pastry in the US and on eG recognize it is a big tent with good people, male and female, doing very good work in many different styles across many different genres. The question is to find the right style and genre for you. There's no doubt that the pastry profession presents hardships females have to overcome but males have to overcome them as well--but I still think the generalization about there being more females in pastry and baking than on the hot side of the kitchen rings true. Pastry chefs are facing increasingly severe obstacles that have nothing to do with gender, however--I'd be more worried about that than I would about being female, Milena.

That's great news Neil--packaging and price?