robert brown

Steven, perhaps you could ask your friend Matt if Passard was the first to cook with blood. I remember having salmon in a blood sauce at Passard in the late 1970s. I also once had a delivery of cold sesame noodles with blood from Pig Heaven, but I don't think it was supposed to be part of the dish. Yours, Robert

Margaret, I dig. Keep your eyes posted for postings; on telephone poles, guys and gals handing out flyers, and if you happen to hit on one, take a quick look. "Vide greniers" are the low men on the "puce" totem pole, but one never knows.

Margaret, food for sure. "Vide grenier" is more or less translated as "emptying the attic." I guess they are not written up in Aladdin. I'm pretty sure they are noted in the local newspapers and notices plastered on street-sign posts or hoardings. I went to one the summer before last in a neighborhood of Nice and found an album of annotated photographs taken during a battle in Russia during WWI. Lots of junk of course, but old books too. It's not always a person's attic as, like the flea markets, there is probably a core of regular/part-time dealers. But if you find something, it's bound to be cheap and you can bargain hard.

Danielle, "vide grenier" is another form. I'm sure Margaret has been to a lot of those. You can find good stuff. I'm from Springfield. Does Brimfield beat Montpellier? Best wishes, Robert (Edited by robert brown at 10:20 pm on Oct. 6, 2001) (Edited by robert brown at 10:24 pm on Oct. 6, 2001)

....especially in January. But give me a break. I'm talking over 20 years ago!!

Gosh, you all made me remember that I ate at L'Huitriere just before I got interested in serious gastronomic touring. I remember a petite marmite in a ca. 1900 dining room. I guess it's still a tourist place, but it must be fun if it hasn't changed. What happened to Provence and the Cote d'Azur? At least I could say something "au courant".

Steven, did I guess right about Ellen going to Bhutan? I received your subscriber e-mail today. You know, I may have met Chef Matt ten years ago at the sushi bar at the 3rd Ave. Lenghe (when Chef Morimoto was the sushi chef) I think so because it is difficult to forget an American who told me he was living in Paris and working at Arpege. Did you get an answer about Chef Paul from James at Atlas, or did he shrug you off? All the best, Robert

I'm with Bux. I'm also, to say the least, jealous (as I'm sure Bux is, too). I can't add much more except that Talloires is so beautiful not to spend a day in. Le Cottage is an economical alternative to Pere Bise and right next door. Not "grand luxe", but comfy. To talk a stroll around the bay or hire a rowboat and tool around the lake is delightful (if it's not too cold or too late in the year). Let me know about Auberge des Cimes. It has been a favorite that I haven't been to since 5-6 years ago. Once Regis Marcon schlepped two pots of confiture to NY for me; that's the kind of fellow and establishment you'll be visiting. Take good notes!! Bon Voyage. Robert

FG, did your wife take a laptop to Bhutan?

We ate Amat's cooking when he was in Bordeaux city. I remember he had a menu in which every dish was red. But we haven't been to the new place. Is La Reserve in Graves still there? The duck hearts were terrific. I think I had them two days in a row. Have you ever seen duck heart in USA anyone? (Edited by robert brown at 11:38 pm on Oct. 3, 2001)

Robert, I suspect that the aristocratic, big-business chateau owners in Bordeaux get to eat all over the place. The other guys probably not since they are mostly the heart and soul winemakers of Burgundy, the Languedoc,etc. The more interesting question is why the dearth of great restaurants in Bordeaux. I can only think of possible reasons such as the huge acreage of vineyard sites, the more lucrative return from cultivating grapes rather than other products, and the lack of diversity in what people raise and grow in the region. I wonder why there is not more of a seafood culture there, for example given its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. I can only recall all the duck dishes I saw, although I have to admit I have been to Biarritz more than Bordeaux. We also often would not get any further west than Michel Guerard's either. In an off-the-wall, abstract way, I wonder if all that Cabernet Sauvignon, Franc and Merlot, affect the cuisine; i.e. the ingredients scene in Burgundy is much more diverse, probably because red and white Burgundies are the most versatile wines with food? Then there's always the climate factor. When I get back home I'll check one of the greatest reference books about French gastronomy, the Guide Gourmand de la France that Gault and Millau did before they started their guides and magazine. (I'll explain it later, as it is a must-have if you can find it. Robert (Edited by robert brown at 1:49 pm on Oct. 3, 2001)

Patrice, Is your trip still a "go"?

Roger, you have my sympathies. A close friend of Robuchon recommended it to me. Maybe that's why, since the chef at the Pre Catalan was Robuchon's "second".It's such a drag to be led down the primrose path and spend all that money. Did you have that weird dish with the bones and the marrow? Where else did you go in France? Best wishes, Robert (Edited by robert brown at 12:09 pm on Oct. 2, 2001)

Bux. I made a subtle reference to Dinnerrush; the restaurant in the film was called Gigi's Trattoria, but you would have had to look hard. What about the Four Seasons here in New York. Doesn't it have Picasso or Le Corbusier tapestries? I haven't been there in almost 20 years. I always had the notion that Boyer was in the second tier of the three-star guys, so maybe we shouldn't feel bad we haven't been there. L'Ambroisie has always gotten away from me. What is it like? All I've heard is how expensive it can be.

Funny, we had the same feeling about L'Esperance as you did. We went soon after he got his third star, so that must have been 1970-something. His wife was kind of robotic, and she sat everyone in a waiting room, just like you there to have your teeth cleaned. We also found being in the dining room cold and formal. We never have returned since the food was a notch below that of the chefs we liked the most. I don't remember paintings, but to see good art in restaurants, I guess you have to go to La Colombe d'Or in St. Paul- de- Vence or the Cafe Kronenhalle in Zurich. We could start a new thread of good art in restaurants! Oh yes, Maximin is/was friends with some of the School of Nice fellows, Arman, Cesar,etc, so you see decent paintings, drawings, and sculpture there. Of course Arman's stuff is all over the place; i.e. the restaurant universe, since he trades it for meals. Can you think of other places with good art besides Gigi's Trattoria? (That wasn't so good art-wise either!!)

Bux or anyone else. Do you have an opinion about Roellinger and Boyer, two places I've never visited? Did you see that a French investor sunk 5,000,000 francs into L'Esperance? ( I picked it up a few weeks ago on the web site of L'Hotelier Magazine, I think it's called). Robert

Does anyone here know when and if Morimoto is opening his place in Philly?

Dear Pat, Since 1990 there has been a paradigm shift in gastronomic travel in France. First, hardly anyone from the USA does it anymore, as people have been brainwashed by a self-serving American gastronomic press that brainwashes people that it is no longer necessary. Second, beginning with the catastrophic, untimely loss of Alain Chapel, the more-like-two-star cooking of Georges Blanc, and the slippage in Joigny and Vezelay, the north to south Paris to Lyon trip (no one ever thought trying it from Lyon to Paris) takes second place to going east to west. Therefore, my first piece of advice to you is, “ Don’t fly to France, fly to Switzerland.” Get a car on the French side of the Geneva airport, drive to Tailloires and stay at L’Auberge du Pere Bise for two nights to get over jet lag in the most beautifully situated hotel in France. But try not to eat there (or take small meals), as the food is not interesting anymore. Instead, eat at least once at Marc Veyrat. Then head for Lyon, stay at the Villa Florentine, eat in a genuine old restaurant or two (Leon de Lyon and La Mere Brazier come to mind) and visit the market on the cours Lafayette.. Next stop could be to the citadel of post-war 20th-century provincial French cooking, Restaurant de la Pyramide where the new chef there is getting very good press (though I haven’t been back since Madame Point died). With your ultimate goal being Laguiole for Michel Bras (at least two meals), visit an old favorite on the way, Auberge des Cimes in St.-Bonnet-Le-Froid. It now gets a 19/20 in Gault-Maillau and is probably just a notch below Marc Veyrat and Michel Bras. Being a denizen of the Cote d’Azur some of the year, I haven’t been to Paris in a couple of years. What stands out from the last time was the bad meal I had at the hands of the highly-touted Frederic Anton at the Pre Catalan. Anyone to report otherwise? Robert