robert brown

I like Coke and peanuts even though I'm not a Southern boy.

Bill, what's the truffles in restaurants situation you have encountered in terms of cost and quality?

I remember the hot sauce at Pearson's place in Long Island City as being just that. The one at the new place was not, although my understanding from Marcus is that people generally eschew hot sauce at the good places. I agree with bbq on his evaluation of the sauce.

For what it's worth, my weekly truffle report, Albatartuffi, states that quality is improving day-by-day for the white Alba truffles.

Listen Reggie, where I grew up, Springfield, Mass., half the kids rooted for the Sox and half for the New York team. The unimaginative ones went for the latter. The only reason they did so was because the New York team had already won three or four World Series in a row.Then when Steinbrenner took over, he sucked all the life and color out of the team because he had them so scared. My whole life, even back then, people said rooting for New York was like rooting for General Motors. It's true. Since off-topic posts are frowned upon, watch the game tonight and eat all your chicken a la king since you think the New Yorks are like Royalty. Oh yes, do you think Brian Cashman's grandfather ever did anything like writing the screenplay for "Casablanca"?

I've dubbed this World Series the "Bobbeh" Series since it's taking place in New York and Miami. Having been raised in Massachusetts, I have been a life-long Red Sox fan. I would rather endure the pain and suffering from never seeing the Red Sox raise a World Series flag over Fenway in 85 years than being a Yankee follower. Yankee fans I imagine to eat at Mama Leone's and Luchow's, and Boston fans at Jake Wirth's and Jack & Marian's. No one ever writes about being a Yankee fan, but the written lore about being a Red Sox one is the stuff of good literature. (Lots of great painters are for the Red Sox, too). So, of course, I'm hoping the Florida Marvin's can win, which makes the appropriate food chopped liver, potato knishes, and whatever pleases your take-out fancy at Barney Greengrass.

OKay, since you asked. I went a few weeks ago, the first night it began serving. Since it was beginning a test run, I didn't feel right posting as maybe it would shortly improve. My wife and I were not impressed, however. The brisket was dry and tough, although the pork shoulder was tender and flavorful. The onion rings were nearly nothing but batter and the French fries ordinary. We are not barbeque mavens, however as we have never been to any of the landmarks down South. We did go several times to the "Stick to Your Ribs" in Long Island City and remember the food being a lot better. The highlight of the evening occurred when co-owner Ken Aretsky introduced himself while we are eating and begged for an honest assessment of our meal. My wife, after asking him if he really wanted to know, told him that her brisket was dry and tough. In the end, he didn't really want to hear it; but when he claimed he did want to hear it "because my wife says it's always good", I said, "the food, you mean?" He didn't relate to that one, either.

Blind Lemon Higgins and I take full credit for bringing the guy back to his senses.

BLH, if you want to score some Iranian caviar, I found a reliable guy in the Spice Market. The eGullet man in Istanbul is vmilor. He's from Istanbul and knows the territory, especially restaurants. PM him if he doesn't chime in.

Japan sends over their better chefs and we send over guys from Kraft, General Foods and Swanson. Nice going, Renaud. Did Chirac write his lines? Last I knew, France was replete with culinary trade schools. But why do they need to start something to spread the so-called Gospel to foreigners when the problem is that France needs to reinvigorate its own domestic gastronomic life?

Quarkz, two restaurants that won't be expensive (although no restaurant in Piemonte is crazy expensive unless you go nutty on the wine-and some would say not even then) are the oft-mentioned Trattoria della Posta in Monforte d'Alba and Da Bologna in Rocchetta Tanaro (15 km east of Asti) that is owned by the brother of the late Giacomo Bologna. Carlo Bologna is a jolly, good-natured chap who takes care of everyone while the Mrs. does the cooking. There is no menu; Carlo recites the dishes of which there is a small choice among each course. My meal was tasty and traditional and lots of fun. Carlo can also arrange a visit to the family winery near by where his nephew will give you a private tour with a decent amount of tasting. Of course you have to buy something. The "Ai Sumi" , one of their two top-of-the-line Barberas is worth getting since it seems to be less findable than the Bricco dell' Ucelone. This is a popular place and you should reserve as soon as you can. (Closed Tuesday according to last year's "La Guida d'Italia" aka "The Espresso Guide".)

Bill, you also get a tonier clientele at the Villa Crespi while San Rocco is more bourgeois and families, though I doubt you'll get kids at that time of year. One factor wold be how much time one spends out and about. I just found it nice to be able to walk into town and gaze at the lake. Talpearl, where are you staying after the lake? Trattoria della Posta might be worth trying to work in since it is the more down-to-earth cuisine-wise than the three I suggeted. But I would be lost to tell you which of thoe three to throw out. My only complaint about Enoteca is the room and ambiance. It is on the second floor of the local enoteca and what seems to be the town hall. It is a little dreary, I thought. But that's not a reason to skip it. I guess you should try to add another meal unless you are down there just for a couple of nights.

talpearl, I have dined in all but two; Borgo Antico and Sancarlo. Bill, I am sure, has hit all of them several times, while I have visited these places between once and three times) But since you ask (and Bill can back me up or contradict me), here's what I think: Your list covers several of the good ones. I think we would put Enoteca in Canale (just down the road from Il Centro) on the list and maybe even one of the three you should visit. Felicin has pretty much been exposed as a money-grubbing tourist trap and lacking in integrity. Bill would agree with me on that, I am sure. Cascinalenuovo I have been to just once. I though it was good, but not a place I felt was distinguished. Trattoria Il Posto is more traditional than Il Centro and Enoteca, but real solid. I have found it a bit variable to a certain extent, however. Cesare is inventive without being off on a tangeant; but its specialty is simply grilled meat, particularly goat. Peaches with porcini is a great dish you will likely encounter. My list of three is Il Centro, Enoteca and Cesare.

ExtraMSG, I think your post is insightful and thought-provoking. I wouldn't sell short the USA in terms of its contribution to various avant-garde movements in a variety of art forms. Since Abstract Expressionism, the United States has pretty much "owned" the recent history of art (with Germany a noticeably but still distant second) and new music and modern jazz). However, I agree with you about cuisine where American chefs have been more followers and consolidators than true innovators. We do well with providing an economically robust and diverse gastronomic "industry" as we also do with the art forms that are home-grown such as jazz (better Jackie & Roy than Siegfried & Roy) and film. I'm not sure I understand your point number one. Are you saying that the ephmeral nature of food leaves us only with memories and that the economic aspect of cuisine precludes an avant-garde cuisine from ever taking hold (in the USA, particularly)? As for intellectual leadership, are you basing that on culinary intellect as it is derived from native intelligence and formal education or just the superority of chefs in France, Spain, Italy, Japan, etc? I suspect that because American chefs are delayed entrants to the profession, they may be better educated than those that begin learning the trade at high-school age. But if you're talking about culinary "mother wit", then you are probably right.

talpearl, Bill votes for the Villa Crespi. What can I say? How many nights will you be staying around the lake? I wold certainly book your restaurants. It is still the busy period. What have you selected? Right now I am high on Il Centro in Priocca d'Alba, as is Bill. That would be my #1. I'll leave it there.

I recollect having something akin to a shrimp cocktail at Al Sorriso, but it isn't a matter of ordering wrong since the dish should not have been offered in the first place. But I have it in mind to go back. I found the Villa Crespi kind of spooky in places and somewhat isolated. I would stay at San Rocco, still.

Talpearl, just call me Bob Klapp. One third of the Michelin three-star restaurants are very near the Lake of Orta, which is the say Ristorante Al Sorrisso. My one encoounter with it is abouot seven years old and for what it's worth, we were not bowled over. But that is meaningless. Just in principle you should go because it's there. Pinocchio in Borgomanero (one of the hardest-to-find restaurants in all of Piemonte) has for the past 20 years never let us down. Our last dinner 18 months ago was very good, although we experienced one highly contemporary dish, as if the chef had been down to Roses (el Bulli). This area of Piemonte is terrific for discount shopping: Loro Piana, Colombo, Agnona, and others. It's worth digging out the info. on the web. In Quarona, where the Loro Piana factory and discount store is the "Bib Gourmand" restaurant Italia, which gave us a tasty, solid, honest and well-priced lunch. Where are you staying? We have spent nights in both San Rocco and the pseudo-Moorish "folie" Villa Crespi. We much prefer the former. While contemporary and not as distinctive as the latter, it is just as comfortable and, most important, right on the lake and a five minute walk into the old, rather charming village of Orta San Giulio. Villa Crespi is not on the lake and not near anything where you can walk to and kill some time.

JB, I woldn't go quite so far to call any of my meals at Jouni great. One was thoroughly enjoyable, one very nice, and the third okay. I suggested it for Viking and his group because I believe that Jouni will put forth his best effort and he and his partner Giovanni are ardent, well-informed gastronomes and enjoyable conversationalists. I do agree with you about the 90 euro lunch menu at Ducasse if it still offers the squab in offal sauce (Pigeonneau a la sauce des abats) which is extraordinary. I don't believe the restaurant offers as much as it did seven or eight years ago; you can easily see how it has trimmed back.

Jellybean, we have had three meals at Jouni that have ranged from marvelous to okay, the less-pleasing one occurring at lunch where the four of us were the only clients. Overall, it is a fine and needed new address to an otherwise lacklustre Nice restaurant scene. Jouni buys his seafood in the covered market in Ventimiglia where there is a fish section with five or six merchants, one of whom provides several Nice restaurants. What day of the week was your lunch? Did you have the panisse? Just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, it doesn't make a restaurant, either. Because I was also impressed on several visits by the fresh seafood at Carletto in Bordighera, I recommended it to vmilor who subsequently lamented that the fish tasted old. Shit happens. What can I say?`And, by the way, Jouni is from Finland.

I think you'll find La Regalade one of the more popular Paris bistros on eGullet. I've been there a couple of times, and as the saying goes, "What's there not to like?" It's a tremendous value for money (okay, a very good one now that it takes $1.16 or so to buy a euro); the food is tasty; the choice very large; and many of the products interesting at a time you will be there (several unusual game birds from the South West Berne region). It is somewhat hectic, certainly tight, and with service that is perfunctory, but well-mannered and efficient. In a culinary world that offers diminishing returns, this restaurant is an exception. I can't imagine your leaving without feeling you ate in someplace special.

FG, are you part of the neo-Fluxus group?

On the other hand, you have ChefG who won't look at "el Bulli:1998-2002" because he's worried that it may compromise his originality, I remember when some of the Michelin three-star chefs in France would make each other's dishes, giving credit on their menus to whichever chef whoe dish they replicated. I'm wondering, though, if slavishy folllowing a recipe and coming up with a somewhat different result is comparable, or as legitimate, as reinterpretinga musical compositiion. Then take painting in which artists who are overtly influenced by an artist with a bigger name and are therefore denigrated for it.

I think we need to differentiate between those avant-gardists who almost single-handedly move artistic and design fields further along, or in new directions, and those that follow along stylistically working in the idiom, adopting the formula or conventions of the genuine innovators, which is not to say that this second-tier can not produce exciting, appealing or distinctive work. I think this holds true in cuisine, with Adria recognized as having made a major formal breakthrough in cooking single-handedly, but with other interesting cuisiniers recently coming into prominence. (Often an avant-garde gets split off into national characteristics and groupings such as the Bauhaus in Germany and the De Stijl movement in Holland---just like cuisine). I believe that what we are been discussing here is the bar to entry. If we take Fat Guy’s proposition that a cook can be in the avant-garde by creating recipes without being a restaurateur, we have something akin to architecture in which some of the most awe-inspiring ideas such as what emerged from the minds of Russian Supremetist and Constructivist architects of the 1920s, which never left the drawing phase, versus the avant-garde concepts that actually got built. There are some avant-garde fields (in fact the ones that bring to mind avant-gardness the most frequently) where the means required are mainly the expenditure of time and effort; i.e. literature, music composition, painting). Others, however, require expenditures and fund-raising beyond the means of most individual artists, be they the commissioning of a John Adams orchestral composition, Christo’s wrap projects, or the Yoshio Tanaguchi expansion of the Museum of Modern Art. We probably need to differentiate between the theortical and that which is realized. The former can have a part to play in the latter; in fact the theoretical can and does influence avant-garde artists and designers, but because those who conceived them were not able to have them see the light of day rarely are recognized to the degree that the real practitioners are. In avant-garde cuisine the bar to entry is high and the pioneers, even if you don’t want to call them avant-gardists, all made their food available to the public. What may be worthwhile discussing is if Adria makes his recipes freely available, is that a contribution to the avant-garde if he is the only one who can make them the way they are meant to be.

I wrote a bit about Cacao Sampaka this summer. It was my morning hangout during my four days in Barcelona. The chocolate in general is a terrific value for money, but given the price, it can't compete with the finest French or Belgian chocolates. I believe there are eight boxes of 16 pieces; each box with a theme (Doscsconz can probably name several, but one was chocolatte made from cocoa from various countries; another "avant-garde" with anchovy, among others,etc.). Most memorable, since I shouldn't be eating this stuff in significant quantity, was the sugar-free slabs that come two in a sealed package. I'll stop here since I don't want to steal Docsconz thunder. As I also wrote, my "dinner" at Espai Sucre was one of the worst in memory.

Bill, you sure do know how I share your love of Piemonte. For these folks, I would think they would have to rent there since anyone who rents a house for two weeks doesn't want to take a double hit of paying for both a house and a hotel on the same day. I also find Piemonte very long on gastronomy, but short on art and culture once you have explored Torino there is not a lot of major sites to see. (Great for discount shopping, however). I still like my suggesstion of around Lucca/Viareggio (I mistakenly put Pietrasanta in the wrong place; it's above Forte dei Marmi). They would also be near the great Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo and Porto Ercole, which is fun to bum around in. By the way, how are the truffles shaping up?