robert brown

Bux, what's the original? You mean, "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." I liked one of the waiters at the Louis XV this past summer who did this kind of pirouette around the table, placing with a grandioise gesture a .50 euro piece of nougat on everyone's plate as if he were saying." Wow, look at this; we're not done yet. Aren't we generous?" When it comes to cheap shows of "generosity", Ducasse is a specialist.

What's the menu?

The one nice thing about noisy restaurants is that you can burp without offending your tablemates. Other than that, I find them counterproductive to meaningful dining. Here's this week's study in contrasts. Tuesday night I went to Mix, which is on purpose designed to heighten the din and ruin your dinner. The floors are bare; the walls are brick; and the ceilings are high. I wanted to enjoy the food for a variety of reasons, but found myself struggling to do so. To put it simply, the noise detracted from the culinary enjoyment I believe I would have had otherwise. I couldn't think straight, let alone concentrate. I could barely make out what my friend sitting across from me was saying, due, admittedly, in part from getting my hearing messed up by spending several years listening to the likes of Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Jackie McLean and other jazz musicians through earphones on a treadmill. Tonight, though, was different. I must have been the last serious restaurant goer in New York to have, at last, dined at the Savoy. My wife and I walked in cold in both senses of the word and got a ground floor table. While we sat in front of a pair of wall speakers, the music from it (until shortly after 8:00) was tasteful and played all evening at just the right volume so that you could both listen and talk. It gave us a genuine opportunity to talk about the food, which was some of the most well-conceived and sober I have had in New York in a long time. Where have I been all these years? Every dish was delicious. I am glad, in a way, that the restaurant has found a nice level and that it seems reasonable as far as getting a table. Savoy is a civilized place, fairly-priced and a pleasure to go to. I believe the lack of extraneous and the artificially-created noise-enhancing environment had something to do with it.

I started a thread over a year ago in which I said that once you left Italy, even going the short distance to Nice, Italian restaurants lacked the authenticity one encountered in Italy. Nothing has changed since then, at least to my mind. Sometimes you are served a dish in other countries that have the components but not the a situation in which the total is more thanthe sum of the parts. Maybe it is partially psychological. I suspect, however, that it is mostly in the lack of the impeccable, authentic ingredients you find in Italy. The closest I get is bringing back prosciutto, Parmesan, ricotta, and roasted marinated peppers from DiPalo's and putting them on a plate as antipasti at home. I used to think Babbo in New York came close to dining in Italy, but not any more.

Fat Guy, good work coming up with that. I never would have thought to find an internet reference. "Fute" means "crafty". "Bison Fute" then is a French government cartoon character (crafty bison) adopted to inform drivers about traffic jams, heavy traffic, etc. that one should be aware of in certain areas at certain times of the year; i.e. the February school holiday period in the Alpes during the ski season. I guess what I see are signs signifying a potential area of heavy traffic during a certain period. I do recall seeing a range of dates that are on the sign as well. This doesn't have much to do with the bison at Mix, which I enjoyed. Nonetheless, my wife and I thought the clam chowder and the chocolate pizza were really good. The chocolate pizza has a good chance of rivalling in popularity the chocolate biscuit with the liquid chocolate interior, which has become one of the most ubiquitous baked desserts in the world.

Bux, I went to the toilet (unisex) at Mix last night: a most memorable visit, as it turned out. I went to lift the toilet seat only to have it come off its moorings, so to speak, in that the assembly at the back of it had become unscrewed. I placed it along side the toilet bowl for safe keeping. Before that, I was unable to lock the door because when I turned the latch, the bar would not go into the hole in the molding. As I was leaving, however, I got the jist of it for what that was worth. Also, I think this was the first WC in my memory in America in which you started the water coming out of the faucet by stepping on a pedal. It must be confusing for anyone who hasn't traveled abroad, although the loos in a few of the fancy hotels here may have this. I had the bison, too. All I can think of is those signs on the French toll roads in summertime that say "Bison Fute" with an accent aigue over the "e". It always makes me think of fleeing buffalos. However, when I just now tried to find out what it means, the only definition I could find for "bison" was bison. Does anyone know what the autoroute signs mean. I think it has to do wiith warning drivers of periods of heavy vacation traffic. Oh yes, I found Mix an interesting venture. It's tough to add anything distinctive to these pages.

Bux, thank you so much, especially from one who discusses gastronomy at the level that you do. I am also glad that it comes across as good enough to be considered a piece of journalism.

I may not have met Albert, but I have his wife Silvia Fernandez. She works in the el Bulli office/"taller" and she appears to have it all: looks, charm, poise. You can see a photo of her in my "Cabinet of Dr. Adria" piece that should be in the Symposium fridge. Nice going, Albert.

Edsel, the e-mail I received from the books' designers said "maybe late next year" for the English edition of Volume 2. You could be looking into 2005.

Loufood, of course I know Albert is the dessert chef, but I alway have had the belief that he contribute more than that and that it was impssible to know from the outside looking in. Your post, therefore, is very revealing and tends to confirm my hunch. Good work there, Loufood.

Bux, that's because you spend too much time in Paris. I think I told you about the time I was discussing with Michel Bras' sister about the pronoumciation of the his name. She said to me, "Ici, on pronounce tous les 's' ".

As a Forum Host I try to stay away from politics. But I'll go along with that.

I follow the dollar against the euro like a hawk (www.saxobank.com is a good place to do so. Just tell them you're not a trader when they call after you register). I go to France because I have to, but I am curious if anyone is postponing plans to go, or is choosing other European countries to visit. If you still are planning a trip to France, how might you compensate for a dollar that is, depending on where you calculate it, 25-35% lower. Unfortunately I see no desire in Washington to turn the greenback around, especially when you have the Secretary of the Treasury saying we have a strong dollar policy and the currency market should determine the level!!!! (An invitation to knock it lower, it seems to me). I've been looking for a top since 1.05 and continue to do so here at 1.2154 (the latest from Saxobank).

And guess what. Michel Bras and his fellow Aubracians want you to pronounce final "s" as well

Robyn, after you've milked the message boards, don't stop posting. We want to hear about your travels. Reminisances are appreciated as well.

Edsel, I think I can find out for you, but Spain being Spain, it may be a matter of saying one thing and turning out to be another.

Robyn, we must both be ex-hippies. I like your posts. It would have been nice if T&L explained the archrival thing. I am sure when vserna wakes up he can tell us. It must be philosophical, though it is hard to imagine Ferran Adria being the archrival of anyone. A few people who have been on the site as long as I have (a month or two after eGullet started) know that I miss the good old days and belabor the point that high-end dining doesn't have the generosity and the concern for the well-being for the restaurant client that it used to. Restaurants and chefs have become parsimonious, as seen in the smaller number of people in the kitchen and dining room; the ever-growing lack of choice of dishes (often no choice at all); and the general loss of autonomy of the diner. It's all becoming rather gimmicky, too in a number of ways and mediocre chefs parade around with big egos. What passes as "a great meal" used to be undistinguished or mediocre ones, at least in terms of quality of ingredients and creating dishes with culinary integrity. Bux, certainly Adria has the dishes down pat, but I think he wants to know if all those people in the kitchen can execute them and that they can be prepared and served in orderly fashion. One day I hope to be able to ask him why certain people leave his restaurant scratching their heads, if it bothers him, and if he thinks about trying to cut back on the number of dissidents. vserna, you make the restaurants in the various regions of Spain sound so enticing. Is it possible for you to compare gastronomic touring in Spain to that in France, both now and in your salad days? How do you think the two compare now in terms of excitement and rewards? You have me dying to go hither and yon in your country.

Those schmucks at Gastronomie.com!!!. It says after the name of the restaurant in parentheses "2 etoiles Michelin". Thanks for the correction, Menton1

Pedro, It is nice to know someone misses me. Thank you. I love tapas as much as whoever is sitting along with me at a tapas bar. I was only trying to point out that there is a trend, in keeping with the New Dining Parsimony, that leaps on tapas and uses them as a kind of shortcut. . I think if you want to make a meal out of tapas, you should call a spade a spade and do it at a tapas bar. While Adria includes what he calls "tapas" in his menu, they are only a smallish proportion of the entire dinner. I sense, however, that more chefs are leaping on the "tapas" bandwagon at the expense of other ways of cooking. I avoid these places, so I cannot really say to what extent this is taking place. While I am at it, here is my latest hypothesis about Adria and el Bulli. I think you have to see the restaurant as an extension of the "taller" (studio/laboratory) in that it is the testing or proving ground for what he and his colleagues develop there. I don’t think Ferran is primarily interested in being a restaurant chef these days, which is not to say he doesn't care about running an honest, high-class operation, which el Bulli is. However, el Bulli exists primarily to propagate what the el Bulli principals refer to "our way of cooking", which is why chefs can always obtain a reservation and aggressive, well-connected foodies get the lion's share of the other tables. However, regardless of who you are, you do not go in there expecting that, unlike what other great chefs attempt, the goal is to please you to the maximum, or hope that every dish does. Earlier this year, I believed that to "get" what el Bulli was about depended much on one's sensibilities. Now, however, I believe that you have to think of yourself as a guinea pig as much as anything, realizing that Adria will throw at you whatever he wants. Still, he wants to know how people react to it. (There are people in the kitchen taking note of what comes back untouched or lightly touched). If Adria wanted to use el Bulli so that it becomes a part of the lifetime dining experiences of as many people as possible, he would find a way (which obviously he can't) to comfortably return to serving lunch and keeping the restaurant open seven days a week in the shoulder months. Meanwhile, however, he is also attacking gastronomy from every angle, documenting and sharing his work and influencing what we eat regardless of the club-like nature of the el Bulli restaurant.

Gastronomie.com reported today that the two-star Michelin chef Pierre Jaubert committed suicide at age 49. He was the owner-chef of the Hotel Bordeaux in Pons (Charante-Maritime). It's a name new to me. Has anyone heard of him or dined on his cuisine? There were no details or speculation as to why he took his life. Can anyone add more information? It's a tough racket.

Pan, thanks for the story. I think we need to hear such tales as much as possible as everyone just might benefit if the people who own such places hear about these kinds of incidents. I find Fairway a brutish, souless place. But they sure bang out the food. We still like to go to upstairs to Mitchel London's Fairway Cafe from time to time. In fact, we went there tonight. However, it helps prove the point I once raised in the old Symposium that restaurants only get worse. At the Fairway Cafe there is no more free BYOL. In fact, they don't allow it at all now. The free hummus is gone, replaced by a handful of Nicoise olives. Prices are up noticeably and we think the portions on the ribeye for two have shrunk. I had the onion soup gratinee and a burger, both of which were quite okay even if not the best of breed.

I like all the people who put forth the various analyses of how fine cuisine has changed over the years, usually in the phrase "the trend towards this" and "the trend towards that"; the end of haute cuisine; the mixing of various cuisines; dishes that purport to show that cooking is art; tasting menus with small portions; 15 teensy courses; and on and on. The biggest change, however, is that the food that great restaurants threw out 15 years ago was that which the kitchen never used versus today's garbage, which is the food the customer didn't finish. One day soon everyone will realize that change in how we dine is determined at its roots by economic considerations. This is why there are fewer great chefs that many experienced eaters have a curiosity in (and Adria leads in that department, at least for me) and why they are often just as happy to dine in an "old-fashion" restaurant where the cooking bears some resemblance to evocations that are more than a chef's "statement". To me, tapas are, and should remain, bar food. It is unfortunate that they now do service as the meal itself. I can see their appeal to chefs, however. They can be prepared ahead of time and they create less waste. The worst, however, is that too many high-profile chefs have taken all the challenge and the romance out of high-end dining. It is becoming increasingly more a matter of "you eat and drink what I tell you, or tough luck". I have to disagree with Miguel about discovering the qualities of a restaurant. I like to go in as wet behind the ears as possible at a restaurant I have never visited. The cleaner the slate your present, the better notion you will have of how a restaurant handles its general clientele. In fact, I find my analytical powers compromised even if I go with people who know the waiters and chef or have some kind of a leg-up on a place. I know that if the staff is kind and generous to me, it is because of some combination of how they perceive me and how forthcoming they are.

Suvir, there may not be any vindaloos to being tears to my eyes, but your post does. When there are so many chef-restaurateurs who couldn't care less about their customers (other than they don't bounce checks), your love and sensitivity for everyone who wants to dine at Amma is extraordinary. Congratulations on the Times review. I never saw a more laudatory, completely positive review. It was really one that belied the number of stars.

Sara, is it July or nothing? April and September are statistically more in one's favor. Calling on a Sunday used to be recommended. Perhaps it still is. I don't know how the fellows there are doing it for next year. They had to give up on the January 15 "free-for-all" of this past season.

Even if my asking the person who took my last-minute reservation this past Saturday evening if Suvir would be at the restaurant was the reason my wife and I were treated like family at Amma, I would bet the ranch that even if I had not invoked Suvir's name we would have been fawned and fussed over, at the latest, by our second visit . I told myself that I would not let my past gatherings with Suvir and our messages back and forth cloud my judgment of Amma. I do not believe it did, nor in the case of my wife either, who doesn't let anything cloud her judgment. Fundamentally, Amma is the proverbial breath of fresh air in the Indian cuisine dining scene in New York. We decided to order two dishes that were new to us--the spinach chaat and the Parsi halibut--and two that we could compare with other experiences--the behl poori and the tandoori lamb chops. We loved all of them, with the only small flaw being the temperature of the halibut, which could have been warmer. But I do not want to forget the best raita in a lifetime of ordering raita. The fried spinach leaves placed on top was a touch we had never encountered. It imparted a delicious crunch. It should be a side dish one should order every time out. Desserts were great as well; a rashmali and panna cotta, if memory serves me correctly. I am a staunch beer drinker in Indian restaurants, but after allowing me to have an Indian beer that was new to me (Iron Horse), Bikky began championing the glories of wine with Indian food and shared with us his quest that takes him all over the world to find wines that compliment with Indian spices. He gave a marvelous Australian Shiraz that went well with my halibut and another Shiraz and a French Chardonnay. He was almost all ours, it seemed, for our entire visit. Rarely have we received such attention, let alone in a restaurant where people were waiting for a table. Anju, Amma's proprietor, told us that this was his first restaurant and how fortunate he was to have Suvir, Hemat and Bikky. Hemat checked up on us a few times in his most warm and gracious way. We enjoyed his cuisine at Diwan, but here at Amma, it is clear he is enjoying the opportunity to branch out and be challenged by dishes that are not clichés. We missed seeing Suvir who was just returning from a trip. But we will back very soon and look forward to seeing him. After all, Amma, as I told him, is our new culinary home away from home, which we left praising it highly. Amma is astonishingly well-run with service that is considerate, unaggressive and, during our meal, never missed a beat.