David Ross

By the way, our crab season is starting to wind down. The new season will start about December 1 depending on ocean conditions, so if you can wait until then to order or buy Dungeness Crab from the Pacific Northwest, you'll be in for a treat of the first of the season crab.

For the crabcakes I start by making a homemade mayonnaise-egg, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and add both olive oil and canola oil. Any basic mayonnaise recipe will do. I use a blender. This recipe also called for worcestershire and Tabasco in the mayonnnaise. I didn't add any herbs or other seasonings. In the crab cakes I use fresh Dungeness crab, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, green onion, some of the mayonnaise and then a bit of fresh white bread crumbs. I added just a bit of Paul Prudhomme Seafood Magic Cajun seasoning. Then I saute the crabcakes in a non-stick skillet using clarified butter-about 3-4 minutes per side just until they get a nice golden brown color and a bit of crust. Thanks for asking. I'm thinking of doing a platter of little crab cakes for an office Holiday party-if my company will spring for the cost of the crab.

Hello everyone. I've not been posting much for the past two weeks. Computer issues which is really a pain in the you know what, and then too busy to devote my normal amount of time to cooking. But tonight I hit a couple of homers. First-Dungeness Crab Cakes. My fishmonger got 100lbs. of fresh Dungeness out of Alaska delivered to his store on Friday morning-and I happened to stop by at 10am, only one hour after he had opened and started selling the beauties. (I found out that most of the restaurants in town only take deliveries of fresh seafood Wednesday thru Saturday-but my fish guy gets fresh seafood delivered in 6 days a week. Yeah!). Now you probably know we take our crab cakes pretty seriously up here in the Northwest. I bind mine with homemade mayonnaise rather than just using an egg. I dip the crab cake in fresh bread crumbs, then fry them in only clarified butter. A dollop of the mayonnaise on top of the crab cake just adds to the richness of this dish. It's actually pretty decadent-and delicious. When I looked over the fresh seafood in the market I immediately put my sights on the fresh Black Cod. My fishmonger had gotten some whole black cod delivered that morning-fresh out of Alaska. Black Cod is also sometimes called 'Sablefish.' It is buttery, soft, oily and tender. I used an old recipe from the Alaskan Brewing Company for the sauce. I cooked with their 'Smoked Porter Ale' ale a few years back at a local cooking expo. We used the Smoked Porter to make a glaze for Black Cod. The Smoked Porter is a thick, dark beer. The smoke comes from the malt-which is smoked over old alderwood boards that were once part of a fish cannery. Pretty unique isn't it? Using alderwood from a fish cannery to smoke malt for Porter. You can get the recipe for the smoked porter sauce off their website. But buyer beware-Alaskan Smoked Porter is very rare and they only release it once a year, usually in December. I was lucky my fishmonger had BOTH the Black Cod and the Smoked Porter. I thought the recipe off the website was a bit sweet for my tastes, so I added some 'Chinkiang Black Vinegar' (Chinese Black Vinegar), to make the sauce more sour. I served the cod on a bed of bok choy and mushrooms.

As far as the cooking and the dishes presented by the chefs, I think the finale was the best episode of Top Chef I've seen. I said the cooking and the dishes presented, not all that gooey shtick and other fluff the producers threw in. I thought the gunk the producers added in was unnecessary and interferred with the flow of the show. So let me get that gunk cleared from the kitchen drain first. I didn't think it was necessary to have the 'celebrity' chefs in the kitchen helping with the prep. I don't think Bravo announced in advance that they were going to showcase three 'celebrity' chefs on the finale. If they had, it might, just maybe, have gained them a few more viewers. But since I don't think Bravo announced the 'celebrity' chef element in advance, I doubt the general viewing public cared much that Todd English stepped out of a gondola on top of a mountain. Other than a few cursory comments from English, Rocco and Michelle Bernstein, I didn't think their presence in the kitchen added much to the show. I did however appreciate their comments on the tasting panel. I think we all knew that Top Chef would bring back a few of the eliminated chefs, so that was not a surprise at all. I think Howie, Sara and CJ actually added more support than the celebrity chefs. That was probably due to the fact that the celebrity chefs were restricted from doing much other than showing for appearances sake and to make a few comments. Howie, CJ and Sara seemed to really step in and offer support in terms of ideas for the 4th dish and support over the stove. I thought the 'live' ending in Chicago was a joke. In fact, I've watched the show twice now and I still haven't seen or heard a mention that they were 'live' from Chicago. I didn't get the point of moving the finale to a city for the last 5 minutes of the show. But on to the cooking and what I thought in general were very creative, well-executed dishes. But as I've said all season, it's pretty hard to critique a chef's dishes without tasting the food, so my opinions of the dishes are far from accurate since I didn't have the pleasure of dining at the Aspen Club. Casey was obviously rattled from the start. Did you catch that interaction with Casey and Michelle Bernstein when they were standing in the pantry area? I thought Casey sounded like she had just smoked some wild Colorado weed! Man her sentences were disjointed and she was speaking in broken English. I couldn't tell what she was thinking-and I don't think she knew what she was thinking or saying. As a result, her scatter-brained approach to the finale showed in her scattered dishes with too many ingredients that fought for flavor with one another. It almost seemed as though Casey had given up and being in the top three was good enough for her. She looked put out at the final judges table in Chicago-especially when the judges grilled her on her dishes and even more so when the cameras picked up her facial expressions as Hung was being judged. Too bad-up until two weeks ago I was rooting for Casey to win-but I fell off her wagon train when she got to Colorado. I thought Dale gave a great performance. My only suggestion for Dale would be to cut down on the number of ingredients in his dishes and realize that more isn't always better. What sounds trendy on a menu-Chanterelles, Curry, Lobster, Bacon, Corn and Gnocchi-isn't always better. As the judges mentioned, the curry overpowered the lobster-which Colicchio said was raw. And I really took a long drink of my ice water when I heard Dale say he poached his rack of lamb in Duck Fat. I thought of beautifully sweet, meadow-raised lamb being stewed in fat. Yuck. But the judges loved the technique and resulting flavors. I've printed Dale's lamb recipe off the Top Chef website and once I find a tub of duck fat-I'm on that dish. Dale's passionate speeches about his love of food and cooking along with his performance on the finale really won him a lot of points and I think he's got a great future in the restaurant business. I've been a fan of Hung's since the start of the show-you're all probably a bit tired of me continually mentioning that dish of Geoduck and Black Chicken that Hung did weeks ago-but from the start I really got on to his creativity. Yes, I know, the technical vs. soul issue has been a hot potato with some of us and I did a lot of writing defending the soul behind Hung's food. But I actually always felt it was his creativity that set his food apart, and I suppose you could argue that is where I found the soul in his food. I think it was pretty telling that all the judges awarded Hung's Duck as about the best dish they have ever tasted-including Todd English going so far as to call it 'Michelin 3-Star.' Collichio is right-if you look at the number of ingredients in Hung's Duck recipe (posted on the website), there is a lot of stuff in that dish. Yet to the judges, the dish on the plate and on the palate tasted quite simple, yet elegant and memorable. I think this was about the third time Hung used the Sous-Vide method to cook a protein, but it appears to work well for him as witnessed by the results he's gained from the judges each time he's cooked with Sous-Vide. The menu description doesn't do justice to the final dish. The website lists Hung's dish as "Duck with Truffle Scented Broth and Mushroom Ragout." Simple enough, but the recipe also has foie gras in the mushroom ragout and the truffle broth is accented with a hint of Asian influence from lemon grass and fresh lime leaves. Now if that isn't a dish from the 'soul' of a talented, rising-star chef, I don't know what is.

You've keyed on something completely overlooked! Hung is Vietnamese. The french ruled vietnam for a very long time, their culture and cuisine would be imprinted on Vietnamese dishes, they would be an eastern variety of Haute' Cuisine. Hung's soul may very well dwell within his native dishes. ← Exactly part of my earlier point-which I only gave in terms of a subtle hint-I was waiting for someone to pickup on the marriage of French and Vietnamese cuisines and how that quite likely could be the 'soul' behind Hung's cooking. But as we've discussed earlier, the 'soul' of a chef is subjective based on whom you ask, whether it be those of us who merely watch the show, Collichio or Bourdain who've tasted Hung's dishes-or Hung himself. And therein lies another one of the mysteries of why I suppose I find Top Chef so intriguing.

I'm a bit tardy in adding my review today for last week's show-but here goes-- Being a native Northwesterner and having cast a few flies in some of our better trout streams, I was pretty excited to see what the chefs would come up with when faced with having to cook trout in 30 minutes alongside a roiling Colorado stream. But I was quite disappointed in Brian's effort and his comments. His dish lacked focus and had way too many elements-a hallmark of his cooking that proved to be his undoing with his elk dish in the Elimination challenge. But what really offended me was his statement that "most chefs don't use trout because we don't consider it seafood." In my opinion that remark was obnoxious and offensive to those of us who pursue the art of trout fishing and secondly to all the cooks and chefs who find the flavor of trout quite tasty and an appropriate 'seafood' to put on the menu. Advice for Brian-if you want to savor the true flavor of fresh-caught trout, camp alongside that beautiful stream in Colorado. Get up at sunrise and cast your fly into a swirling pool just as the flies start to come off the water. Catch a feisty, 15-inch rainbow. Now put a cast iron skillet over an open campfire. Throw in some strips of smoked bacon and fry the bacon until it is crisp. LEAVE the bacon fat in the skillet. Dredge your fresh trout in flour and then fry it up in that bacon fat. Add some sliced potatoes to the skillet. Fry those too. Then plate up your fried trout, thick slices of crispy, smoked bacon and your home fries. Pour a fat mug of campfire coffee then sit down, looking at the rushing waters and have the breakfast of your life-fresh trout. Brian-that just might have impressed Chef Ripert-the chef of seafood. We all know that Brian's obsession with adding a plethora of trendy, or not so trendy, ingredients basically killed his elk dish. I don't think he needed to add two bleu cheese choices let alone one. But I thought Brian's troubles began at the start when he chose the elk shank for a challenge where he had just a few hours to pull off his dish. To really pull that off he would have needed to braise the shank for more than a couple of hours. If he had stuck with the loin like the other three chefs and kept things simple he still might be in the competition. Dale gained ground in my eyes with his Elk dish-marrying Elk with Huckleberries is quite likely the temple of wild game cuisine to a Northwesterner-and his passionate speech about why he should be the next Top Chef. He spoke from the heart, with 'soul,' about why food and cooking are important to him. Like Dale, I even got a bit of a tear in my eye listening to him speak. I thought Casey gave her usual consistent, stellar if albeit not overly creative performance. She's still in the lead in my book. And lastly to Hung. I think I'll venture into the forest a bit on this one and disagree with some of the comments that Hung doesn't cook with 'soul.' I think he does. In my view, this is a young man who came to this country as an immigrant and has taken great pride in the fact that he's trying to find his way, his craft, his art, his skill, in a new culinary path that is unfamiliar to Hung and his family-haute French cuisine. I see it as Hung believing that for him to find that path he had to get the 'technical' skills needed to excel as a chef. So to me that means that his knife skills, his ability to create a dish of black chicken and geoduck, his creativity to garnish a classic chicken dish with 'crispy chicken skin' and his ability to recreate a Le Cirque classic dish of Sea Bass shows his 'soul' in discovering, in finding, his culinary sense. I see it as Hung's journey to being a great chef. That's how he's showing his soul. Is his soul found in a traditional Vietnamese soup or is it in presenting a technically sound dish of Sweetbreads? I don't know. I suppose that can only be answered by Hung or the customers who eat his food. Let the food decide if it has soul.

I've been craving some of those spicy lamb pizzas ever since you posted this delicious set of photos Can we have the recipe for the spicy lamb mixture and the skordalia??

Thank you all! Excellent, excellent responses. Some of you may not have followed my writings and postings-so just to give you a bit of info about me, I'm not a professional chef but I'd consider myself a good cook. Most of my areas of concentration in the food world are skewed more toward teaching, writing and restaurant critiques. And while I started this topic for my own education on how Escoffier created a classic chicken-glace', I am really happy that the topic has grown into a larger discussion about the 'classic' methods as opposed to 'today's' methods for creating demi-glace' and glace.' Thank you to the professionals who have chimed in on our topic. You've all given me many ideas-and many ideas for writing a piece about the methods of Escoffier updated for use in today's restaurant kitchens. But let's keep the topic going-I'd like to continue to hear tips on creating a classic chicken glace using Escoffier's base recipe and secondly, how you are creating 'classic' demi-glace and glace style sauces in your professional kitchen. Finally, do you feel there is still a place in the professional kitchen for Escoffier's teachings on classic sauces? Is the cost and time involved in creating the classic Escoffier demi-glace take a backseat to the final sauce in terms of flavor? Does the classic really, truly, give you an intense flavor that you absolutely cannot achieve through any modern method?

And I also have this funny sense that if I had done a perfectly roast chicken with pan juices, roast potatoes and onion jam that just maybe Chef Soltner would have been quite pleased with some good rustic French food.

Hmm, this past week I would have been faced with a Chicken, a Russet Potato and a Sweet Onion. I wish that the viewer was given information on what other items are in the pantry for the chefs to use. For example, are they given access to things like wild mushrooms, foie gras or pre-made stocks and sauces ala Iron Chef? It's always been a badly kept secret on Iron Chef going back to the days of the show in Japan that the chefs had a large pantry full of stuff to cook with other than the 'secret ingredient.' So hoping that the pantry would give me a few additional items, last week I would have probably done this dish for the "Classic French" Elimination Challenge: Foie Gras stuffed Chicken Breast on Truffled Potato Puree, Chicken Jus, Fried Onion Ring. I would have cut the chicken breast to leave the wing drummette attached. I would have made a stuffing out of the chicken innards along with some foie gras mousse and fresh bread crumbs. I'd follow Robuchon's recipe for pureed potatoes and added some fresh black truffle. If I had time, and it wasn't in the pantry pre-made, I would have roasted some chicken bones and made a chicken jus and then finally, for a bit of crunch, a nice, thick slice of sweet onion coated in panko and deep fried. Just one onion ring. Now I'm not a chef, nor do I have the skills of the Top Chef contestants, but I think if one of the contestants had done this type of dish, they would have scored up in the realm of where Hung was with his dish, much classier and 'French' than some of the other chefs dishes.

There are some interesting posts over in the "Top Chef-What Would You Make?" thread. I'll put a post over there myself with a suggestion on a dish I would have done for this past week's episode.

← Yikes, 22lbs. of baby cow bones! I found a copy of Escoffier's original recipe in a French reference cookbook I have and it's pretty detailed. If I can scare up the veal bones, I may, may, give it a try. If I do I'll report back.

Actually, don't worry, you can still save your mistakes sometimes and make quite delicious desserts. Jumanggy is right, if you think the custard tastes good you could always scoop it out of the cups. Spoon some of the custard into say martini glasses and garnish with some crumbled sesame cookies and maybe a dollop of whipped cream and you would have a nice Green Tea Pudding with Sesame Cookies-a sort of Asian inspired dessert. It would be worth a try.

Can anyone give me Escoffier's original recipe for making a classic chicken based glace' sauce? I know it is a lengthy process that involves lots of bones, vegetables and reductions over the course of many days, but I'd like to venture into making a feeble attempt at the original. I've done lots of dishes using shortcuts to create a chicken jus or chicken demi-glace and I've used commercial demi-glace products to help me along the way, but I'm still coming up short in terms of deep chicken flavor. I thought I'd try the master's original recipe. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you and yes, I agree, we seem to relegate celery to snacks for the kids or our turkey stuffing. Celery gives a wonderful peppery, crispy fresh flavor to many dishes but don't forget it can be served cooked on its own and it's delicious.

I make a big batch and keep it in the fridge. It is a delicious sauce on any warm spice cake like gingerbread or sticky toffee pudding. And REALLY good warmed as a sauce over vanilla ice cream! Rum Raisin Sauce 4 cups whipping cream 2 cups (packed) dark brown sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 2/3 cup golden raisins 1/4 cup dark rum Place the whipping cream, brown sugar and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and reduce, stirring occasionally, until the sauce until is reduced by half or to about 3 1/2 cups. This should take about 20 minutes. Stir the rum soaked raisins into the sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate the sauce. The sauce can prepared in advance. Simply re-warm the sauce in a double-boiler over gently simmering water. Serve the sauce warm.

Last night I did Roasted Chicken Breast on Creamy Polenta with an Oyster Mushroom Sauce and Braised Celery. I had been wanting to do a recipe for 'Celery Victor' for a long time. That's a classic San Francisco dish of celery braised in stock. I braised the stalks and then made a salad out of the celery leaves. I garnished it with some fried shallots. I buy the fried shallots in big jars at my local Asian market. The fried shallots are a lot like French's fried onions. I started with a whole chicken and butchered it by removing the breast and wing in one piece. I cut off the top two wing sections and left the 'drumette.' Years ago some chefs called this the 'airline' cut. I just sauteed the chicken in butter and olive oil to crisp the skin then roasted it in the oven. As I was in the market I found some Beecher's Flagship Cheese and decided to add a good amount of the cheese to my polenta. Beecher's has gotten a lot of press lately-they are located at Pike Place Market in Seattle and the cheesemaker and owner used to work in corporate America before starting to make cheese in recent years. The cheese I bought is a cow's milk cheese aged one year. It is very creamy and tangy and and was good addition to the polenta.

Last night I made one of my favorite Fall desserts-Gingerbread. I served it with a Rum Raisin sauce which is the same basic sauce I use when I make Sticky Toffee Pudding. I poured the gingerbread batter into large cupcake molds so I would have individual servings.

Thank you for the kind comments. I'll write you with some details on the recipes and some tips for cooking duck. I had actually planned on make the fish dish with Chilean Sea Bass, but I didn't get to my fish market-the only store in town that sells that type of Sea Bass. Walleye is a white fish that is buttery in flavor with soft meat. I've also done this recipe with Halibut. I would avoid strong flavored fish like Salmon because the butter sauce is pretty delicate. I'll write you with details on this recipe too.

I also wanted to add that I would like to see Casey and Hung in the final cook-off-if that is what is planned for this year's finale. I liked Hung's cooking talents right from the start. I keep going back to that very creative dish he did in the 'Surf and Turf' challenge of Geoduck and Black Chicken. It was creative and not at all what you would have expected from 'surf and turf'-i.e. Steak and Lobster. And I remember the judges liked the flavors and taste of the dish. I just knew that Hung wouldn't be working in the kitchens of Guy Savoy Las Vegas unless he was a talented chef. I doubt Chef Savoy and his executive chefs would let Hung trim celery if he didn't have some talent. I think in the two French challenges this week-the Sea Bass entree at Le Cirque and the Potato, Chicken and Onion challenge at the French Culinary Institute-Hung's technical skills and his creative talents came out and he was really ahead of most of the others in my opinion. I don't like the guy's attitude, but I do respect him as a chef and I do give him points for mentioning that he's an immigrant trying to make a name for himself. My sentimental choice is Casey. She's really started to pull out some surprising dishes in the past few weeks. I think some of us had probably thought Casey was on the lower tier of contestants. I for one thought Tre was sailing through to the finals. Tre blew it with those smoked potatoes among other failures. But Casey has been consistent and then last week really took the lead with her Veal dish and the side of Cauliflower Gratin. I'd sure eat that on Continental Airlines. This week I thought Casey held steady under what must have been incredibly intense pressure. Imagine walking into the kitchens of Le Cirque and being challenged to duplicate one of their special 'VIP' entrees. Did you see the looks on the faces of those chefs? They didn't appear to be fans of Top Chef! But Casey endured and I actually was cheering her on as she stood Colicchio down when he kept pushing her on the 'rooster in Coq au Vin' issue. Soltner didn't seem to have an issue with Casey using a Spring chicken in her Coq au Vin and in the end, Colicchio acquiesced and agreed that the flavors were right on. So who gives a damn if she used a rooster, a Capon, a Poussin or a Spring chicken? You go Casey.

I've been doing some last of the Summer type dishes before our weather turns cold and I get into more wintery type cooking. Grilled duck breast, mashed potatoes and a fresh succotash with our last of the season sweet corn. Sorry, no fresh lima beans up here so I used frozen. I suppose I cheated a bit on the succotash because I added some sauteed bacon. Last night I made some Walleye. We have a commercial Walleye fishery in the Columbia River but it isn't in season right now so I bought some frozen Walleye. It was just fine-very soft and buttery. I think Walleye has much more flavor than most white fish. I served it with potato puree, green beans sauteed with fennel, a 'tomato jam' I made from my smoked tomato recipe and then a sauce of butter, olive oil and fish stock. Turned out pretty good.

I agree with everyone-this week's competition was the 'best' of the season. I say 'best' because as you all know, I've been hungry for the producers of Top Chef to put more emphasis on the serious aspects of food and cooking into this season's show. I think this episode proved that there can be a place in the show that caters to our demographic of serious foodies while still keeping an element of drama. Personally, I didn't think the Sea Bass dish served at Le Cirque looked all that good. Of course the true test would have been if I was sitting at the table eating the Sea Bass, but the potatoes looked burned to me. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more explanation about the set-up of the quickfire challenge. There wasn't a reference to the sauce, I think it looked like maybe a veal jus? And there wasn't mention that the sauce was pre-made by the kitchen staff or if the chefs had to make their own sauce? I couldn't find any clues in Bourdain or Collichio's blogs that said anything about the sauce. Since the chefs only had about 30 minutes to prepare the dish I doubt they made the sauce from scratch. Just a minute detail this cook would like to know. It really seemed odd to me that Dale didn't seem to have a clue as to how to use a Mandoline. I don't think you'd have to be a classically trained French chef to know how to set-up and use a Mandoline but maybe I'm wrong. I thought for sure we were going to see someone head to the emergency room in need of blood transfusions as I watched some of the cheftestants stick their fingers out too far while they sliced potatoes on that razor sharp blade. Yikes, Dale be careful with that thing! And poor Sara. Sara seems to have just given up the will to win-or any will for that matter. She didn't seem to care as witnessed by her dis-organization in the Le Cirque kitchen. Imagine-being so distracted by where the dirty dishes go that you serve raw fish to Cirrio Maccioni! For God's sake I wanted to shake her by the neck and say "forget the *&%$# dirty dishes and just cook the dang Sea Bass Sara!" And another example of what I would call Sara's tired, 'ready to go home to Jamaica' attitude was that mess of a chicken dish she served at The French Culinary Institute. What was she thinking? I am sure her Jamaican influenced chicken dish can be quite good. But she was specifically told to do a 'classic' dish using chicken, onion and potato and she was in America's premier French cuisine institute. Duh. Doesn't that make you assume you should probably do a French dish? And you are cooking for Andre Soltner. As Bourdain referenced in his blog, an aspiring chef cooking for Soltner would be akin to an American Idol wannabe singing for Celine Deion. I think you'd want to put your best dish forward. Sara, Sara, Sara. Think for just a few seconds when you are faced with a challenge. Think before you cook and you may end up with a better dish. So I wasn't surprised Sara was sent home. Her fish in the quickfire challenge was raw, her chicken dish in the elimination challenge didn't meet the theme and it was also raw according to more than one judge. Nearly as poor of an effort as CJ's Broccolini last week. But I wasn't too impressed with Brian or Dale's dishes in the elimination challenge and I think they are slipping on some dirty water on the kitchen floor. Colicchio said that Brian's 'Sheperd's Pie' was a mess but tasted good. Gosh, I didn't think the French liked much of anything about British cuisine, including Sheperd's Pie. But duly noted by the judges, the taste of Brian's dish was good-albeit saved by the pheasant sausage and fresh ramps in the topping of the pie. I just thought Brian didn't stick with the intention of the theme and got lucky he didn't go home. Dale got way too trendy, then really missed the mark. I bet if he were to have a conversation with Soltner he'd be scolded by the Master that it isn't really necessary to do a duo of anything. Just take a decent, 'classic' ingredient like chicken and you can make ONE beautiful dish. Last week Dale forgets steak number 18 and leaves that poor Flight Attendant looking around the cabin for his dinner. This week Dale forgets his delicious sauce for his chicken entree. That probably won't pass him on this year as Top Chef if he forgets how to boil water in Aspen. I remember attending a cookbook signing when Chef Soltner came to Portland many years ago. I got the sense back then from listening to him speak and reading through his 'Lutece' cookbook, that he was a simple man creating simple food that at one time was described as the best classic French cuisine in New York. Chef Soltner has described himself not as a chef and certainly not a celebrity chef but as a craftsman. I remember him saying at the cookbook signing that as a craftsman his skills were really no different than the skills of the cabinet maker or the wood worker. Take the finest grade of wood and shape it with loving hands using perfect technique and you end up with an heirloom article of furniture. Good advice for a Top Chef isn't it? Chef Soltner gave me that same sense of the craftsman at work this week as I listened to his comments about the dishes on Top Chef-you don't need a trendy, overly-wordy menu description to justify charging $45 for a plate of chicken. But you do need to cook it right and treat it simply so the chicken flavor stars. I think that is why they chose Hung and Casey as the top two chefs.

It's nice to know Chef Henry is on to other exciting possibilities and sounds like diva is in good hands with Chef Renaerts. I'm especially thankful that the management of the hotel seems to realize the importance of the food at diva and their Chefs in terms of showcasing some great Northwest/Canadian food. Great moves on their part.

Thanks. Do you know where Chef Henry went or who the new chef at diva is? Thanks.

Sorry this review is so long in coming. It is a review of a dinner I had at diva at the Met in November 2006. I find that Vancouver has some of the best hotel dining rooms in the country, and diva at the Metropolitan Hotel is one of the best. I'd describe the cuisine as quintessential Northwest-fresh, seasonal, local ingredients (including many Canadian products), classic French technique and upscale presentations, accompanied by local wines and refined yet relaxed service. I guess that would describe a lot of the nicer 'new American' style restaurants in the States. I was in Vancouver in November, 2006, to spend a few days before starting off a 4-day journey across Canada on the "Canadian" streamliner train #2-a trek all across the country ending up in Toronto. I am a big, big, fan of Seasonal Tasting Menus (see my review of the tasting menu at Wing Lei-Las Vegas) because I find the tasting menu challenges the chefs creativity in ways you might not find in dishes off the regular menu. And I always order the wine pairings with each course if they are offered-another challenge to the chef and the wine steward to present the customers with wines that accent and enhance the flavors of the dishes. Anyone sitting in the dining room at diva at the Met can order the tasting menu-but I'd recommend reserving one of the two 'chefs' tables. You get personal attention from the chefs and waiters who personally describe each dish for you and the wine steward personally gives you an explanation of the wine selections as he pours the wine into a proper Reidel crystal goblet. At some restaurants the chefs tables are located right in the kitchen, but at diva, the two chefs tables are on a small landing area just to the right of the small, open-air kitchen. While you have a close-up view of the chefs and the kitchen, you aren't actually sitting in the kitchen, which I liked. I preferred being a bit out of the chefs way. I was served by the restaurant manager, one of the head waiters and the wine steward. While they also served other customers, their priority seems to be to serve the customers who are seated at the chefs table. I hadn't yet mastered the art of taking food photos, so I don't have any photos of the dishes to share with you-all the more reason to go back to diva at the Met at another time. The price was a steal-$75 Canadian last November for 6 courses, another $40 for the full wine pairings. That's only $115 Canadian, plus a bit more for the champagne cocktail, coffee and tip. I don't have a lot of other Vancouver restaurants to use as a comparison-but compared to the prices of tasting menus in Las Vegas, diva at the Met was about 1/3 the price of places like Alex or Guy Savoy. And I'd rate diva at the Met as every bit as good as Alex at the Wynn Las Vegas. This is the menu from November 10, 2006 Ahi Tuna Tartar, Yuzu Citrus Foam. Sumac Ridge Gewurztraminer, Private Reserve, Okanagan Valley (BC), 2005 The hints of citrus and spice in the wine cut through the fattiness of the tuna. Yuzu can be bitter and overly tart but in this case, the chef created a subtle, yet intensely sweet lemony foam of yuzu which went perfectly with the rich tuna. Warm Golden Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Salad, Soft Poached Hen Egg, Glazed Salsify, Brioche Croutons, Grainy Mustard, Sherry Vinaigrette. Benziger Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma, 2004 It sounds like a complicated dish with potentially strong acid flavors in the grainy mustard and sherry vinaigrette-but this was really just a simple salad of wild mushrooms and salsify with a counter-balance between the tangy mustard and vinaigrette against the rich and creamy egg. The wine was less acidic and more refined than the bold Gewurztraminer served with the strong citrus flavors in the first course. Winter Chestnut Apple Veloute, Celeraic Apple Saute. Blue Mountain Pinot Blanc, Okanagan Valley (BC), 2005 The waiter placed a bowl in front of me that held a small cluster of prosciutto crisps in the bottom. He then ladled the hot soup in the bowl and topped the soup with a small spoon of the Celeraic and Apple Saute. My only complaint is that the portion of soup was too much-chestnut soup is very rich so I only need a small bowl. The julienne of celeraic and apple added a refreshing crunch to the rich soup and the prosciutto added a bit of salt and smoke. The pinot blanc was strong enough to hold up to the strong chestnut flavor of the soup and added its own herbal notes to the dish. Sauteed Filet of Vancouver Isand Snapper, Little Neck Clam, Artichoke and Leek Fricasse, Olive Oil Emulsion. Chauteau Gaudrelle, Vouvray, 2004 This was my favorite dish of the evening-fresh snapper from the waters off Vancouver, seared crisp on the outside, yet soft and delicious on the inside. I thought that the 'olive oil emulsion' sounded a bit strong flavored for a delicate white fish like snapper, but it actually was light and rich and creamy in texture with just a hint of olive. I expected a heavier oil type sauce. Fig Stuffed Loin and Sous Vide Rabbit Leg, Creamy Spatzle, Roasted Butternut Squash Puree, Cippolini Onion, Haricot Verts, Thyme Jus. Edmeades, Zinfandel, Mendocino County, 2003 This was my first introduction to 'sous vide' cooking and the results were excellent-the rabbit leg was stuffed with a forcemeat and the sous vide kept it incredibly moist and tender. Any chef who serves spatzle with Rabbit in November is in my good graces-a much better accompaniment to game meat than potatoes. The wide, brush-stroke of thyme jus on the plate was actually more the consistency of a rich rabbit demi-glace accented with thyme. Milk Chocolate 2 Ways, Sweet Spice Honey Poached Pear, Pear Sorbet. Chateau Gaudiet, Loupiac, 2001 This was the best wine of the evening-a thick elixir with the scent of fresh, ripe pears on the trees.