robert brown

Yeah, but Hearth kept us lingering for 45 minutes before we sat down. The 45 minutes usually starts with the words "They're finishing their desserts" or "They're about to pay the bill."

I've bought the Stone Church Farm poussin many times, which is undoubtedly an indication that I think they are very good. My problem is that Guido's in the Berkshires stopped getting them, claiming falsely that they are no longer available. Eli's has them, but it is unfortunate that the last one I bought appeared to have been taken in and out of the freezer since it was full of water.

Johnny D, you ought to start thinking about getting on base after going 0 for 8 instead of these wise guy posts.

albiston, well done. echristie, we really appreciate, and are needy of, your forthcoming coverage. Have a blast!!!

Miguel, you should become a restaurant psychologist. That is a post for the ages. Just to embellish it a bit, I have a few cardinal rules. One is allow every employee his or her dignity. Don't try to befriend them, which actually is a fairly common occurance that Americans are guilty of. Rather, be effusive with the "merci"s every time someone does the smallest task. Second, always make eye contact, particularly when you are ordering something or asking a question that you may think makes you appear uninformed. Related to this is what Miguel called the pedagogical function that servers feel they are fulfilling: Don't be ashamed to show ignorance. In Spain, where I am still at a low level of familiarity with the country's wines, I also say, "I don't know these wines. What do you recommend?" I like this line because it implies that I know about French wine, which I do to a certain extent. If there is one overriding tenent, it's to let the staff know that you have an abiding interest in and curiosity about their restaurant. Any server who is immune to that from a client doesn't deserve to be on staff. .

Francesco, Albiston: The few others I know who have to been to dal Pescatore share my reaction which is more or less that their dishes were too studied or soulless. I really look forward to hearing about Vissani. He is extremely undervisited, even unvisited, in my circle; nor have I read anything about him either here or in the non-guidebook press. When are you going? I'd be willing to give Pinchiorri another whirl if I could ever my wife to do it. I don't blame anyone who concentrates on trattorias, osterias and smaller restaurants in general in Italy. It's what eating in Piemonte is all about, and Piemonte is the region I know and love the most.

What's this supposed to mean?: “The war in Iraq, security issues and international trade problems have led us to believe that the venue of the competition should be moved to an area where there would be fewer causes for concern and conflict for all those involved,” International Sommeliers Union President Giuseppe Vaccarini said. Enrico sounds like the kind of guy who could knock Ken Jennings off "Jeopardy."

Is the guy French? What did he do to deserve it?

French service, or service in France, has become less like Nureyev and more like Steppin Fetchet (okay, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson to make a better analogy. The kind of ballet-like ("choreographed" is a better term) will soon be extinct. Right now it survives in the big Michelin three-stars and some two-stars or grand hotels, but it's just a matter of time before the rampant understaffing puts an end to it. Arpege, although a small restaurant, is a good example of straight-forward, informal service in a three-star restaurant. Notice, however, how no one over forty works even in the big establishments such as the Louis XV, Ducasse's restaurant in Monaco. A lot of the servers there are not French and almost every restaurant feels it has to have the token female hauling dishes around. When I started out dining in France, there were no women servers at the upper-echelon restaurants and some had an elder statesman-type who were fixtures for decades; for example La Cote d'Or, Restaurant de la Pyramide, Alain Chapel, among others. Now with cost-saving at the forefront, every worker needs to be young, strong and energetic. There really is no way to generalize how to posture yourself within the interaction between you and your order-taker, waiter or sommelier. It depends mostly on experience. I actually have had aggregious examples when a restaurant employee in France has tried to intimidate me or show me up. Because I have had so much experience, I have gained the presence of mind to challenge it with the inevitable result that the offender always backs off. If I had to say what the truest mark of an experienced diner in a better restaurant is, it is having the presence of mind to recognize what is taking place and to react accordingly. It took me awhile to reach that point, all of which is to say that the more you eat out, the more you get out of eating out.

Jordi BCN, it would make a nice discussion. I'm neither a cook nor a food historian, yet my academic training sniffs a good contemporary and cross-cultural matter worth sinking one's teeth into. Off the top of my head, there seems to be three factors contributing to the sweetness-in-savory issue. One is the early, classic dishes that are germane to a cuisine that entail both the sweet and the savory; i.e duck a l'orange, with peaches, etc.; mint jelly with roast beef, cranberries with turkey; and recent haute cuisine inventions such as Lobster with Sauternes or vin jaune. Second (and often part and parcel with the preceeding) the influences of ethnic cuisines (MIddle Eastern, North African, etc.) on American, French, Italian, British cooking; and third, the contemporary, conscious making of sweet savory dishes that go beyond the naturally sweet through the use of sugar that represents an appeal to the modern palate's love or craving for it. I think it's this third aspect that people such as myself find bothersome. Usually I find it a distraction which brings out in me a longing for the separation of sweet and savory that best works when one gets to the dessert course where the clear transition can make the sudden, blatant, intentional sweetness a delightful encounter. Now I'm beginning to think that was the primary reason I had such a tough time at Espai Sucre

As far as I know, you still can't buy beer in a New York supermarket on Sunday morning. So if you want one with your take-out from the local appetizing, you're out of luck.

A few of you have signaled your intention to take pictures at, and write some text about, the Salone del Gusto. Would those who will be doing so, please reconfirm on this thread. Albiston has offered to write an introductory essay that will be followed by each of your contributions. If we can have everyone post their stories at about the same time, we can then keep all the follow-up posts together and after your special coverage.

albiston, where is Al Sorriso on the list? I have been there and didn't like it. The same for dal Pescatore and Enoteca Pinchiorri (but that was a really long time ago, but don't think I would change my mind if I were to go back). Lorenzo is another I went to years ago and plan to return to as it is one of vmilor's favorite. L'Ambasciata I recently visited and reported on. No desire to return there, although it wasn't bad. I am sure I have been to several that almost make the list; Miramonte l'Altro, Tenda Rossa, Aimo e Nadia, da Vittorio, Antica Osteria del Ponte (but a long time ago when it was almost brand new), Sole in Ranco, La Frascsa ( a long time ago), and Arnolfo. It is not that I assidulously avoid the restaurants in the 17-18/20 or Tre Forchetti categories. It's that being in Nice a lot, we do our eating in neighboring Liguria and Piemonte where such restaurants are almost non-existant (or, indeed, are non-existant). I'm really weak on th Adriatic side of Italy and, except for Rome, south of Tuscany--a situation I am hoping to remedy. My preliminary, tentative and even speculative hunch is that when you go beyond what are the really good so-called second tier restaurants, you get into an approach to cooking that sacrifices heart and soul for rigid, overly-disciplined conception and execution.

John, the Condes de Barcelona is my hotel of choice as a result of staying there soon after it opened in the early 1990s and liking it enough never to stay anywhere else. It’s a decent deal for the money. I do share your observation about the service, however. Last summer the front desk got the dates wrong of a few restaurant reservations and only after some pleading and arm-twisting did they force one that was fully booked to let us in. The manager reduced our bill as an apology. In the hotel’s favor is its very nice location across the street from Gaudi’s Casa Mila and a couple of blocks up the street from La Casa Battlo; the short walk to Cacao Sampacka; and within fairly easy walking distance to the old part of the Rambla and, of course, La Bocqueria market. The seventh floor of the newer building has some rooms with a balcony that look on Casa Mila and, from a distance the Sagrada Famillia. Ask for one.

Coming into the West Coast from Japan, I have always found the Customs inspectors a lot tougher than those in NYC. In fact, I chatted it up with one in Portland who told me he was going to Paris with his girlfriend. I told him he should go through Customs at JFK. In conversation with another Customs employee, I found out that the food dog handlers aren't allowed to tell you the name of their dog. I can vouch for Cantin. It's very good. She doesn't have a really large selection, thank God.

albiston, I've dined at a lot of restaurants in Italy, but only four of the ones on the Tre Forchette list. I don't know if that says more about me than Gambero Rosso. Of the four, I would only return to the Gambero Rosso. Maybe the inspectors should go work for the France Michelin. What does it all mean? It strikes me as ironic.

Bux, what about New York? Sweetness in savory dishes has reached sizeable proportions, so much so that I now ask the order taker to tell me which dishes aren't sweet. (Except at steakhouses, of course). John, you don't look too bad after all the eating you did. Thanks again for the great reportage. What did Jordi do before becoming a chef-restaurateur?

I had a similar problem when I had dinner there in June. There was a private event going on, and the kitchen didn't bring out my main course with those of my companions. They brought me an extra and complimentary course. It doesn't really absolve them. In fact, the overall service got compromised by the event. I like the food there, however. I need to go back after my several-months absence to check on my nearly-infallible dictum that restaurants only get worse.

It came upon me this morning that there may only a handful of fans over the age of 92 who have a memory of the Red Sox winning a World Series (86 years plus four or five years needed in order to imprint it). So I figure the older a Red Sox fan you are, the more you need to celebrate. If how much a team has won the hearts of America counts, these next three weeks are the final ones for the Curse of the Bambino. A dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan probably doesn't have the optimism to admit, but this should do it, as this year's team has no glaring weaknesses. As a member of both Red Sox Nation and eGullet, what are you planning to serve as your victory dinner?

Milla, I’d like to give you a belated welcome to the site. Eat your brains out so that you can keep enlightening us. Meanwhile, I’m waiting for a resolution as to why I have grave qualitative doubts about the Ducasse organization, which, by the way, includes a desultory major birthday celebration dinner for four in New York that set me back $1200. I admit this was in May of 2002, but that I have been dining on Ducasse’s cuisine since my first lunch in Monaco about 10 years ago. Alas, during that time I have watched the prices go up and the choice, service, intensity of labor, and quality of the cuisine go down. So while all of this will remain in the theoretical realm until I return to ADNY (which might resolve the differences of opinion), you can understand my reluctance to make another reality check (or meal check, for that matter). I share the same feeling sense of disappointment with Thomas Keller, but for different reasons. The nine courses that Keller puts on the table don’t strike me as one of championship possibilities. His leadoff dish (usually one of the handful of his long-established great ones) gets the meal off to a flying start. By the time you get to the meat of the order, there’s no pop left. The dishes are little pieces cooked off the bone, and I don’t see where the quality of his lamb and beef are of the best. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors to a Keller meal, such that it is often impossible to judge (let alone savor) whatever it is gets put in front of you. Three bites and it’s gone, a kind of sleight of hand that makes judgment and contemplation often impossible. Keller’s way of offering a meal runs counterproductive to his great talent. Take away the two or three best from his starting nine, and you’ve got something in between the Yankees and the Mets.

Steven, who conceives the dishes? Do they come from Paris or does Delouvrier make them up, or something in between? My meal in July at the Louis XV was so mediocre, at times bordering on the scandalous, that I wonder from reading milla's over-the-rainbow report if Ducasse is trying a lot harder here than in Monaco (or Paris, even). His Monaco chef de cuisine Franck Cerutti had the best restaurant going in Nice (Don Camillo) for a while, but had to give it up, perhaps because he was working for Ducasse in Monaco at the same time. I don't think the situation at the Louis XV is his fault. Perhaps the Societe des Bains de Mer is reigning in the purse strings while hoping to rip off the rich, naive foreigners who dine there (but not me, of course).

John, these are great pictures. Having had lunch there in August, 2003, I appreciated seeing what I missed by sitting inside. Regardless, you ampified my good memories. This is a great address. I'm glad you have had the good luck to have dined there.

If food could make you look good, there might be something to it. It's all b.s. to me, although I have previously here compared Ducasse's and other chef business empires to those of the heads of famous fashion houses. To try to market jars of confitures like haute couture is absurd. Speaking of Fauchon, I couldn't be happier that their Madison Ave. and 77th Street store closed and will be replaced by the Sant' Ambreous which is being reincarnated in the very same quarters it occupied before.

albiston, thanks for the info. and heads-up. I have always found the various Italian guidebooks such that no single one is useful by itself. When I travel, I always need to bring several with me since none are "complete" and others focus only on certain levels of restaurants. It used to be that one could always get by in France with only the Gault-Millau, but someone tell me which single guidebook would you bring with you in Italy if space were extremely limited? For what it's worth, I always bring Faith Willinger's Eating in Italy, the Slow Food Osteria guide, the Gambero Rosso and the Guida de L'Espresso. I like the Veronelli as well, but no one guide strikes me as being significantly better or more useful than any of the others. I also think that many of the higher-rated restaurants (read "fancy/expensive") are not worth a return visit.

Marco, please let us know how you find the truffles. Thanking you in advance.