robert brown

Oy, I forgot that the Bras feature requires a WSJ subscription. No wonder no one is commenting directly. But if someone can add to the discussion, that would be nice. I should add that the odds are short that if Bras has "menuized" this dish, it's not all that it could be.

Tune in to Gastromondial.com which is the site of Vedat Milor, an ultra-serious gastronome from Istanbul. Then send him a note, and I'm sure he will give you as expert a list of recommendations as is possible.

So far we don't know if the dish was bigger or more generous, or used more expensive, or a wider range, of ingredients. I bet he didn't have, as the WSJ photo shows, so many portions prepped. Then it was offered a la carte like just about everything else. ( I do recall that in deference to the locals he offered a 60 franc menu of classic dishes of the Auverne). Not having been to Bras since it became so difficult to score a table, I can only tell by looking on-line year-to-year that in his younger, two-star days, the menu seemed in retrospect very much overhauled from year to year and with several dishes that were added to it according to whim. I wish I had saved my menus, and in those days only Japanese took pictures of their plates. Once and for all, the folks out there pronounce it "BROSS"

Latteria San Marco (Arturorosa) is a little gem; the ultimate expression of a modest and completely honest family restaurant. You go there to eat well and inexpensively (and rather quickly) and with no pretense. Let us know what you think.

I found a slide show on the Wall Street Journal's site http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123792944253730201.html that shows the assembling of Michel Bras' most famous dish. When I looked at the photo of the finished creation, something didn't look right. My wife and I were there at the conception, so to speak, in that we were among the first to have it. I think this was in his first year in his new hotel-restaurant, having been for several years in a rather simple one in the town center (and where we thought he did his all-time best cooking and catering to his clients and their financial well-being). However, since we first had the dish circa 1997 and only the year after that, we can't exactly put our finger on how it has changed (other than the usual mix of seasonal ingredients) Was it more compact; did it have a larger ratio of cooked to uncooked; was it more shaped; was it more copious? Perhaps the answer lies in his cookbook from that time. Maybe there's a former apprentice out there who can tell us? Or perhaps one of you can. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123792944253730201.html

I went last summer on a Friday afternoon and the place was deserted. Actually if it hadn't been for us and Gilles Pudlowski who was probably grunging, I think that might have been it except for one other table. How many people are going there these days, anyway? It was a milestone for me and my wife: we broke the $1000. mark for the first time in 34 years of Michelin three-star meals, but due in part to a bottle of Charmes-Chambertin. I was surprised to see half the number of dishes on the menu that I bet Pecaud offered at his peak; and some Asian influences crept in, possibly the influence of his son? Nonetheless, it was a really good meal in one of the remaining restaurants that still smack of the golden age of dining.

Who out there caught Charlie Rose last night? I missed the first part of his interview with Ferran Adria, and I'll want to see the portion I missed before venturing forth here. I think I caught the bulk of it, and based on that, it was another blown opportunity by a host who has no feeling for, or understands, what gastronomy is about and what's happening with it. I hope to add more later after I review the video tape, digital as it may be.

Regarding Lasserre, do people still go there? It's a beautiful room, but based on a meal I had there several years ago, I wonder if they really try. Who, even, runs the kitchen? For that kind of ambiance and cooking that's meaningful, Ledoyen if not on your list, is surely a much better use of time and gelt.

Speaking of Le Pre Catalan, did anyone catch this? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123796081374435283.html I have to say that after reading the above, I respect Robuchon's taste as a diner more than what he's doing these days as a chef-restaurateur.

In all seriousness, didn't Carson play the Great Santini? Also, I have to think there is a lot of volatility in general in dining in PIemonte. While I haven't been to Il Centro in a few years, it went from first to worse in two visits. But what about Al Enoteca in Canale? It's solid.

Not the same Santini who used to be on Johnny Carson!!!! No wonder he never had an off-day.

He's like a ball player. You never know when he might go 2 for 4. 3 for 4 , or even 4 for 4. The first time I went, he was close to an oh-four; the second, two doubles and a triple in 5 ab's. He's somewhat my man Youkilis, but not an MOT.

I've never been to Renzo outside of the truffle season, but it has to be one of the two or three best addresses up there. As it's closer to Cuneo, it's a bit out of the way. In Milan we also go to Trattoria del Nuovo Macello for their unforgettable veal cutlet Milanese. It is also one of the friendliest restaurants I know of. Under your circumstances, however, you're right to go to Cracco, which on a good day can be great.

It's apparent that they tried an English version and it wasn't worthwhile for them. For sure you won't see one in the foreseeable future. It's interesting that the Slow Food people tried their hand at places to stay; something the Italian edition avoids. In any event, you can get by with the Italian version of the guide, and man, is it ever indispensible, as the man says. Bum steers are rare, though it can happen. The book really leads you through the heart and soul of regional and local Italian dining.

Oh, I think you mean Alzieri, the olive oil family's restaurant. It's not up to the level of Cantime de Lulu, Lou Pistou or La Merenda, based on my two visits.

L'Univers is on no one's recommended list that I know of. One visit was enough for me to know that it's not a restaurant at which the conception is distinguished. Locals don't go there. I was going to say that La Petite Maison has declined rather preceipitously in the last year or two, but, yes the chicken is the only dish worth having. Next time you go and want good Nicoise cuisine, thkink of not just La Merenda, but two doors away at Lou Pistou or Cantine de Lulu. Still, as I said before, L'Aromate is the place I am concentrating on. As I wrote above, Grand Cafe de Turin, near the bus terminal ofr Gare Routiere, has also fallen off a cliff. I believe the fish places either side of it are owned by the same people.

Sheila, I got my subscription from Montreal with the issues mailed from Vermont. Is that what you were involved with?

Let me try this: "Nouvelle Cuisine" came out of "La Nouvelle Cuisine Francaise", an expression coined by Henri Gault and Christian Millau to categorize a group of young chefs in France starting in the late 1960s. Two of the pioneers, Paul Bocuse and Pierre Troisgros were apprentices of Fernand Point, but as time progressed and the ranks grew larger, Jean Troisgros, Alain Chapel, Michel Guerard, Roger Verge, Paul Haeberlin, Charles Barrier in Tours and a few others formed the hard core. (Some also claimed that Jean Delavayne in Bougival, outside of Paris was an early practicioner, as well as Jacques Maniere from Doudin-Bouffnat in Paris). Although there have been attempts to try to isolate its characteristics, I believe that "La Nouvelle Cuisine Francaise" was more a PR device to highlight the young Turks at the time. You could go to Chapel and eat your brains out and have renditions of local classics as well as lightened-up dishes. Probably Guerard had the lightest touch of all these chefs, which accounts for his "Cuisine Minceur". They all had respect for tradition; just read the book of Curnonsky (the title escapes me) that Pierre Troisgros reworked and updated the recipes for. So I am guessing (not knowing much about cooking) that Nouvelle Cuisine is, if anything, a respect for tradition and time-honored techniques adapted in the service of making dishes lighter. Like most new names, this one got corrupted and misued, which accounts for all the confusion, vulgarization and bastardizing. One thing for sure about all of these fellows: They bent over backwards and gave you your moneys worth.

Roger, that's a new one on me. I only know the Louis XV and the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, the latter of which is pretty bad. If you are going that far afield, both the Hostellerie Jerome in La Turbie and Mirazur in Menton are worth going to. I prefer the Jerome's conservatism, but the Mirazur chef is getting some buzz. I need to go back to Mirazur as the one dinner we had there was a bit hit and miss. But the chef there knows his stuff.

Good luck at L'Univers and keep your fingers crossed. L'Aromate, though very short in its number of offerings, is one of the stellar stories of new restaurants on the Cote d'Azur. The chef there has talent to burn. It's gorgeous food made in full portions. Go to the website. The serious food is available only at night. Terre des Truffes has hit the skids. It's a has-been. Cafe Turin has also gone downhill rather quickly.

How is it that I've seen six two-tops available at Momofuku-ko two times after midnight this week? They eventually get taken, but there's a lot of second thinking going on. I didn't have the time to post anything after my visit four weeks ago, but there were two very good dishes and the rest were a poke in the eye of real gastronomy. Chang has his gifts; too bad they get wasted in a place that feels more like a tight-fisted business plan than a real restaurant.

In a city whose dining has been taken over by small plates, high chairs, and spoon feeding, it's good to know that unsung but rock-solid restaurants like Elio's provide a refuge, if not an oasis, from the increasingly dilutive experience of dining out in New York. Once an often-visitor who then strayed, I heeded a suggestion from my wife's daughter that reminded us that it might be time, after six or seven years, to return once more. I give thanks that nothing has changed. Elio's is still packed and noisy and the cooking is as always. What has changed, however, is my appreciation of a very good restaurant that all it needs to do is not to tamper with success, keep doing what it always has, and turn out fresh-tasting, highly-consistent and dependable food year after year, of which Elio's must have close to 30. If you're of the type who has to make some kind of a mark on a place and kid yourself into fooling that some maitre d'hotel or chef-restaurateur thinks you're the incarnation of Cournonsky or Lucien Tendret, then go elsewhere. Elio's is well-oiled, machine-like in its service and is noteworthy for the relative speed that it gets the food to your table. I have no idea who the head chef is, if there is one, or who Elio is, though I think a deceased editor at Random House named Fox and his wife are the money in it and that Mrs. Fox is there most of the time. True, its clientele has been going there for decades, and it shows in the color and coloring of their hair. The menu is big enough, and there are a half-dozen or so specials every night, that you could easily visit once or twice a week. For someone like me who gets to dine in Italy fairly often, Elio's is a decent substitute between excursions. I'm a sucker for the seafood salad, and tonight I also had a perfect grilled calf's liver with onions. It's probably best to go after the room quiets down and the noise level is no longer irksome. Of course if you like your restaurants noisy, then that's another reason to go at the peak dining hour. Let's hope, then, that nothing about Elio's changes.

Julien, to my mind and experience of two visits, hits it right and Food Snob does too in a most remarkable post. The cuisine has a retro feeling for the kind I miss the most, which is to say what 20-30 years ago was loosely called "La Nouvelle Cuisine Francaise". When Le Squer chatted it up with us and the Sultan of Fine Dining, he won me over for good when he said he like best to cook in full portions. This really is a great address and so under-rated and relatively not sought-after by self-professed food sophisticates. Julien, please elaborate on your comments about the state of gastronomy in the restaurants in France today.

Here's new information about Laurent Poulet: http://www.fra.cityvox.fr/restaurants_nice...889/Profil-Lieu

Did everyone ordering that menu get an entire poularde brought to the table? It reminds me of the time five of us went to dinner at the Martinez in Cannes. When the waiter brought us just the saddle of rabbit, I asked him where the rest of the rabbit went. He told us it got served at the cheaper restaurant down below. So what are the chances of the poularde ending up in a sandwich or salad at the Bouchon Bakery or saved for the next staff meal? God forbid anyone paying the freight at Per Se should get to eat anything whole that's much larger than your thumb.