robert brown

Andy, when someone threw candidate Bush a curve ball (a googly to you), i.e., a question he wouldn’t really know the answer to, he would often reply, “That’s a great question”. Your question IS a great one, and one which I have thought about from time to time. I believe the short answer is that the stars are awarded, up to a point, within the relative qualitative context of the country in question. However, I have to qualify my response because it is based on a comparison of France to Italy and a smattering of Central Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. Unfortunately I haven’t been in the British provinces in years and years, and when I am in London I never eat fancy-schmancy. Probably the toughest call for Michelin to make is whether to give a restaurant one star or none at all. I would guess that in fringe gastronomic countries like The Netherlands, Michelin would give a star it wouldn’t otherwise give if the restaurant were in France or Great Britain in order to single it out as sort of a favorite in a maiden claimer. My suspicion about the two-star category is that one finds a certain amount of latitude best seen by there being restaurants that have no chance of ever receiving a third star and ones that are in the midst of ascending to ultimately obtain it. I find that lots of two-stars are strong in one particular area at the expense of another; i.e. elegant surroundings with really a one-star kitchen. One often finds this in major cities in France, Italy, England (just London, I suppose), etc. In the three-star category, I’ll be interested to hear about Bux’s meal at Comme Chez Soi in Brussels. This would be a good indicator of the quality, vis-à-vis Michelin’s standards in France, of top-rated French restaurants outside France. In Italy at the moment there are three three-star restaurants, two of which I have patronized. To my mind the one meal each I had at these restaurants, both of whom have the wives doing the cooking, didn’t come close to being among my most memorable Italian meals. In fact there are a dozen or more one and two-star restaurants in Italy where I have had far superior experiences. How this observation of mine ultimately addresses your question I’m not even sure. Are the inspectors in the various countries different than the ones in France? (I would imagine so). Does Michelin award three stars outside of France using the same criteria in France? If you look at some of the other guidebooks published by Italians, there are several restaurants they give higher ratings to than the Michelin three-stars. My best reply would be that you need to get a certain number of meals in a given country under your belt so that you can instinctively make a guess as to what one, two, and three stars might mean in the country in question and how stringent the criteria are. The whole question of reliability, which may seem to vary from one Michelin Guide to another, seems also to be a factor; so I’m not even sure it would be possible to have pan-European standards. If there were, we could be back to the days when Michelin gave no three-star ratings to any restaurant outside of France! Does any of the above do anything for you beyond hinting at how daunting your proposition is!! (Edited by robert brown at 11:48 am on Nov. 10, 2001)

Steven, how's the grub there (Manducatis)? And speaking of Babbo, your review was right on the money. I'll be grabbing the grilled pork chop Monday night. (Edited by robert brown at 11:54 am on Nov. 10, 2001)

I'm starting to think that Grimes would like to go back to the NY Times Culture Desk. He gave the impression that there was something wrong with getting into the food, and that he was looking at it more than he was tasting it. It seemed to me that the Bid review was written by someone who is a bit of a cold fish.

Babbo is the obvious choice among "hot" restaurants. I'm going back on 11/12 (or 12/11 in Europe) and will try to remember exactly what is on the menu. Last week I believe there was calf's head and tripe among others. Batali's Roman place, Lupa, on Thompson would have "abats" also, but I haven't been there.

Steven, in light of your fondness for Chef Matt and the lengthy review you did of Bid, I'm sure I'm not the only one curious to know what you think of Grimes' review. All the best, Robert

Steve, welcome home. How did your trip & demonstration go? What did you otherwise do foodwise? Any discoveries, surprises or letdowns? Let's have the goods. Many thanks, Robert

Almost as we speak, Robert Buxbaum is, I believe, in Brussels and will certainly chime in about Comme Chez Soi, the city's top-rated restaurant. I have no recommendations as I haven't been in Brussels for several years. I can tell you that sons and daughters of "diamantiers" like to spout off that the restaurants in Belgium are better than the ones in France. Anyone who has spent time in both countries knows how patently ridiculous such utterances are. As for Amsterdam. another place I haven't been to in a few years, it always struck me as a difficult restaurant city. I always enjoyed buying the new herrings from street vendors. However, the season for that is, I believe, only May. Indiginous Dutch food is near the bottom of the food chain in my opinion. However, Indonesian food I have always found to be more enjoyable, and though I suspect, like Thai food, that it doesn't travel all that well, places like Samo Sebo and Bali are fun for riestafel or nasi goring. Otherwise sea food is probably your best bet in both places. And in a pinch the "brooje" or sandwich shops in A'dam will do as a cheap meal. Perhaps there are some new places I don't know about, but I can tell you that the well-known Ooster Bar (sp.?) and "Five Fleas" are nothing special, though the former I remember as quite okay and fun to go to. Othewise, "Calling all ex-hippies: Can you help this guy out? (Edited by robert brown at 11:06 pm on Nov. 6, 2001)

In spite of less-precise service and the room needing a facelift (or perhaps, more appropriately, a tummy tuck), I found, after a nearly two-year hiatus from being a regular, the food at Nobu to be pretty much as I left it: innovative, direct, unpretentious, and very satisfying. We and our friends stayed with dishes we pretty much used to have: Sashimi salad; black cod with miso; rock shrimp with ponzu sauce; Atlantic char with fried spinach leaves (new to us) some cut rolls and more. It's as I remember, although my wife who is a gifted restaurant analyst thought Nobu was even a bit better now than then. (Edited by robert brown at 12:13 pm on Nov. 6, 2001)

I'll ask my NJ friends what town we went to when we ate at Dennis Foy's place. He is painting more than cooking. Nice paintings, too. More in the next day or two.

Rosie, I don't live in NJ, so I don't follow the NJ Forum quite as closely as a Jersey resident. However a couple of months ago some friends who live 30 min. or so from Long Branch (I think) took me and my wife to Dennis Foy's part-time restaurant (open weekends since the end of summer, I believe; but with DF one never knows, apparently). I had a very nice meal as I have always found his cooking to be within himself and quite flavorful. I'm just wondering if he is someone you follow and if other people like him or have discussed him on e-Gullet or elsewhere. Perhaps they would want to give him a whirl. (Edited by robert brown at 2:34 pm on Nov. 4, 2001)

Jason, what do you mean by URL tags linking properly? Is it significant that you brought it up in a hot dog thread? Yours, Robert

Yvonne, I think you should "go for it" anyway. It's your dream to go to La Caravelle, so why not. It sounds like the kind of restaurant that is nice and elitist and still retains the snobbism and gentility that one associates with high society of NY, London and Paris of several decades ago. My hunch is that the grub won't be as exciting as a handful of the most-mentioned "hot ----" restaurants in town. While I have never been to La Caravelle (but did fly in British European Airways ones in the 1970s) I did go fairly recently to La Cote Basque. I suspect your visit will be something like mine: Enjoyable food and the hard-to-find and different experience of visiting an old war horse, chestnut, or whatever. Think of "quenelle de brochet" as light gefilte fish with a shellfish sauce.

Franklanguage, Nice is about 20% Jewish (ca. 100,000 Jews) and with a ton of tourists. I just wonder about the probabilities of making appetizer taste like it should over there. (Given my age, the pain-in-the-ass environment for doing business in France and the state of international tourism, I doubt I'll be the one to realize such an undertaking). I'm glad you also brought up diPalo's. It's a real New York City treasure; the food shop closest to what you would find to a stand or stall in a market in Italy. ( I like that they let you buy all unpackaged products in the quantity of your choosing and that their prices are extremely fair; i.e. the large Badia olive oil is around ศ. vs. as much as ะ in my area.) It seems to me that there are more Italians than Italian-Americans there as well. P.S. Do you remember George Rock? (Edited by robert brown at 4:08 pm on Nov. 1, 2001)

I deal with the problem by waiting until I arrive back home (usually from overseas) when I'll have first thing a fresh turkey sandwich on rye with cole slaw. Then the next morning, it it's a Sunday, I'll go to Barney Greengrass for pickled lox, kippered salmon, smoked sturgeon and a bagel with a schmeer. I've toyed with the idea of opening up a sandwich shop in Nice that serves smoked salmon and cream cheese on a bagle. I could call the place "Make It Nice", but I'm not sure how well it would do over there.

I think you described it right after all. My French friends often talk about "crise de foie" without ever mentioning any specific symptoms. It really is a drag to have to raise the surrender flag in Europe. I can only recall one time in Turin in about 1980 when I just couldn't eat. I think it was a combination of exhaustion and a minor stomach disorder. I don't think I can do the doubleheaders of my youth when it would be lunch at one three-star and dinner at another, or lunch and dinner at one. Even when I swore I would have a light lunch so I would have a good appetite for dinner, I would still overdue it at noontime. That Southwest cuisine, though, is challenging to the disgestive system, which is why I have only once or twice ventured beyond Eugenie-les-Bains. Where in Paris will you go?

I wasn't blown away by Trama either, but that was a long time ago. Bux, I would imagine you have a real treat in store when you get to Bras. As of five years ago, anyway, I felt him to be the most interesting and maybe even the best chef in France. I think you really have to eat there two times if you can. I keep telling myself I must go back as it has been probably five years since I was last there. I bet it's even better. I'm sorry Pat didn't make to Auberge des Cimes, but I fully appreciate that when one makes an ambitious itinerary, a place or two falls by the wayside. It's fortunate that it and Michel Bras are just a few hours apart by car. I never understood fully what a "crise de foie" is. Is it something like the pain one that is associated with gallstones? I used to get that and it could have come from lots of rich food.

Bux, by the end of your trip your stomach should be in great shape:nicely stretched out. I'm not sure I'm a good jet-lagged eater. Each to his own I suppose. How do you account for your feeling that way?

It turns out the supplement I have here came with the 2000 G-M Guide. I left the 2001 in France and it may not have had the supplement at all. But the supplement isn't very useful as it covers only the major cities: 23 in 15 countries (including Prague). Did you get the 2000 guide here or in France? I thought Souveyrens was higher-rated than that. Anyway, I'm curious to know what your visit to Comme Chez Soi is like.

It's Restaurant Scholteshof in Hasselt that belongs to Souvereyns. When are you leaving?

Bux, Wynants, last I knew, is Comme Chez Soi (the restaurant name escaped me last night). I wonder if he is still around or alive. ( I never read that he died). I met him once when he was visiting the same restaurant as I was, and he didn't seem old at the time, but this must have been late '70s as he was going to see Jean Troisgros the next day. My guess is he should be mid-late 60s. Roger Souvereyns I believe is a three-star guy in the Waloon district. He's a Chapel accolyte. I read an article about him in the Wine Speculator, but I'm so backed up with unread issues, it could have been a few years ago that the article appeared. I forget the restaurant's name. Isn't there a big deal place in Antwerp as well? Bulletin: I just found the Europe supplement that came with the Gault-Millaud France guide. Wynants is still there. He gets a 19 in it. (Edited by robert brown at 11:58 am on Oct. 28, 2001)

There's some new place owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter, but I think it's more a candy place with ice cream as well. If no one else chimes in, I'll get more of a handle on it. My mate's daughter was there last week.

Robert, now I'm jealous of you. I'm planning to go abroad after Thanksgiving, but with the craziness of the world now, nothing like this is guaranteed. It would be nice to go to Steve's demonstration, let alone the whole show. I look forward to your report. In Brussels is Pierre Wynants still around? What about Souvereyns? Have you ever tried him? Have a great trip. Robert

Steven, I didn't mean survival literally. It was just a way to express my feeling that culinary life in NY could well go on without missing a beat without it. Also, the other restaurants you mention have, for the most part, a sense of history or deep association with dining in NY that I don't think Aureole has even if those restaurants are living off past glory. Did Grimes indicate that he had gone back to Aureole or was the piece like the one he did for Bid, in which you couldn't tell if he had been there or not? (I suppose another review is imminent). Until then, I see nothing to defend until the results of the culinary aspects of the changes are in. Of course if I had know about a potential second life for the place, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the post. Also, who is Jerry Hayden? Maybe he could give me a better meal than Palmer did. As for Bux's post, Relais & Chateaux has so dropped its standards over the past 25 years that I am not surprised at anything that gets into the association. (Edited by robert brown at 9:20 am on Oct. 26, 2001) (Edited by robert brown at 11:07 am on Oct. 26, 2001)

I suppose you're right if you consider it junk food.

Steven, after a couple of beers, it's time to get serious. Here's something for you and anyone else. During tonight's episode of "Survivor" I began thinking about Aureole. It's a place nobody on e-Gullet ever recommends or writes about. A couple of years ago I had a meal so unexceptional that I never even considered giving it a second try. Shortly after I went, Grimes demoted it to two stars; one of his best calls. I can't remember what I ate, but do recall a cramped, tasteless room and a distinct lack of warmth or consideration from the waiters and sommelier. Palmer was there in the kitchen as well. What is there about this place that still keeps it in the top ten food-wise in the Zagat (other than how one feels about the Zagat Guides), yet which our posting cognescenti seems to have forgotten about? (Edited by robert brown at 11:04 pm on Oct. 25, 2001)