Patrice

Sorry Cabrales, I forgot the chef of the year. I think you will agree with this one: Michel Troigros!!!

For the first time in his history, the GaultMillau guide gave this year a pecfect note of 20/20 to a chef...Marc Veyrat. Other restaurants that got promoted are: L'Arpège 19 ( 17 last year) Côte ST-Jacques 19 Then, the losers: from 19 to 17 Loiseau Taillevent Pyramide from19 to 18 Grand Véfour Blanc Meneau

Vegetables in my desserts can act in 2 different ways: -Because of their natural sweetness, some of them ( carrot, corn, butternutsquash, sweet potato...) can play a main part in a dessert. The first example that come to my mind is the dessert I did last year in NY: Almost a Carrot Cake...: Cream cheese Panna cotta, carrot and orange gelée, cinnamon crumble and a carrot and pineapple salad. You can easily see that this dessert is a ''deconstruction'' of a classic carrot cake. But, the main idea behind this dessert was to be able to really get the taste of carrots in a dessert, more than in a classic carrot cake. The carrot gelée, made with carrot juice and a little bit of orange juice was a very simple way of introducing a very clean carrot taste. The carrot salad topping, made of a julienne of carrot cooked in orange juice with some pineapple dices, added texture to the dessert and reintroduced carrot taste. -Vegetables can also play a supporting role in a dessert. Some vegies, like fennel and celery, have a very complementary flavor to other fruits. Fennel, with his anis flavor is the pecfect match with any citrus. I used it last year in a clementine juice ''soup'' with a yogourt and lemon sorbet. The fennel was very thinly sliced a we poured on them a hot syrup to confit them slightly. The syrup, now infused with an anis flavor, was then drizzle on the soup. I'm quite prudent with the use of vegetables in desserts. I use them only when I REALLY thnik that it will be able to push my dessert into another level. And, when I used them, I really want that the people who are eating my desserts to able to taste it clearly. I wont put a beet coulis on a plate for the sake of doing it. But, if I really think that it could bring something interesting to my dessert, I will use it ( I haven't still find a good application for beets in my desserts... )

Personnally, even if their books impressed me a lot, I cannot say that I've change my ''style'' of doing desserts after reading them. But, some of their basic recipes, ideas or technics have made their way into my desserts. I like to surprise the people who are eating my desserts. New textures (very light foams), unexpected temperature ( hot gelée), ''trompe l'oeil'' (one recipe in their last book come to my mind: Foie gras terrine, in the shape of a candy wrapped with a very thin sheet of clear gelée) are different ways of introducing some surprises in desserts. On a more practical level, some techniques, are now part of my everyday pastry tools: I use croquant a lot ( caramel powder mixed with something else: nut powder, gingerbread powder...). I find that their texture, taste and look better than all the other caramel tuile recipes I ever tested. Foams are also incredible. You can mousse anything without loosing any flavour. The way they combine flavor hasn't had a big influence on me. Flavor combinations are very personnal for me. I work with more ''classic'' flavor. It's possilbe to find ''surprising'' combination of flavors on my menus: Milk chocolate, truffle, pecans and bananas. Avocado, coconut milk, lime and vanilla. But, these combination are part of a very personnal process... Most of the time, a like to work with classic flavors and then, I use some ''new'' techniques.

Marshmallows are a meringue ( italienne is the best way to go) with some gelatine. Personnally, for you dessert, I don't think you need any gelatine. You can make an ordinary italienne meringue and then, take you ganache enrobed cake and spread it or dip it into the meringue.

Thank you very much Micheal, it's really a great site!!!

I don't have the recipe with me right now but I will post it later... The restaurant is going very well. The designer has completed the drawings and we are starting the ''real'' work next week!!!

Michael-I recently tried 2 recipes from Michel Bras: the gaufrette and the bread nougatine ( the one with rhubarb). The gaufrettes are incredible. they are very thin and they crack with just a touch from the fork. I used them for a chocolate mille-feuilles ( 6 gaufrettes with chocolate cream in between in layers. The bread nougatine didn't convince me as much. I will have to give it another try...

Welcome Identifiler It's always very exciting to hear of people like you who have a passion for heirloom vegetables and fruits. I haven't tasted the melon Montreal but I heard great thing about it... Our menu will be very seasonal ( read: constatly changing, with the seasons and the availability of products. The smoker will stay at Leméac...I don't know what smoked vegetables would taste? The hareng isn't smoke at Leméac, but I will find from where it come.

I think the chef and owner of La Galupe ( Christian Parra?) sold his restaurant.

Nobody lost their third star but... From 2 stars to only one: Les Ambassadeurs, Gérard Besson and Faugeron From 2 stars to nothing... Astor and La Galupe Those who won a first star: Chamarré, Trou Gascon, Table and Camélia Those who lost it: Maxence, Port Alma, Timgad and Gishlaine Arabian...

I just learn that Le Louis XV ( Monaco) and Le Cinq (Paris) have won a third star from Le Guide Michelin. Le Louis XV, Ducasse first restaurant to won this incredible distinction,losted his third star in 2001. 3 restaurants won a second star: Michel Sarran, Madealine à Sens and Hélène Daroze.

Vegetables will also have their place on the desserts menu. Some vegetables, like carrots and corn already contains a lot of sugar and can easily be use in desserts. Other vegetables, like fennel and celery, have a flavor that is complementary to dessert ( chocolate and fennel, apple and celery) There's also some vegetables that are already used as a fruit (rhubarb) and finally, there's some fruits that are mostly used as vegetables ( tomato). Vegetables in desserts are still challenging for a lot of people. This is why I will try to introduce them on the degustation menu, where each guest will receive 3 desserts. Sometimes, the degustation menu will be built on a particular theme ( ex: corn) In this case, the first dessert, to continue with the theme, could involve a corn-meal financier, with corn ice cream and caramelized pop-corn...

Thank you very much Cabrales for your description of the desserts you had. I'm always very excited to hear what 3 stars restaurant are serving to end the meal

Thank you for your nice report. Did you remember what were the four desserts of the quatuor?

Cabrales-I really think vegetables are the most underestimated ingredients. They really offer a wide range of flavors and textures. Here in Québec, we are lucky to have some really great vegetable producers. One of them, Mr. Daigneault, produce some incredible vegetables year around. There's also a lot of people, vegetarian or not, who are now looking for a more vegetables base alimentation. Cheeses, fruits, grains and nuts will also have a very important place on our menu. I'm sure Stelio, as a chef, will be able to explain, better than me, his motivations and his approach toward vegetables. Chazzy- all the appetizers will be made of vegetables. No meat or fish ( except maybe meat jus, some lardons...) There's also a lot a chance that a foie gras find its way in our menu...

Welcome chefg I suppose you are working at Trio... I had a ver very good meal there about 5 months ago. The chef Grant Achatz is a very creative man with a solid background. I had the tour the force degustation menu and i would say it was one of the best meal I had in Chicago in a long time ( Tru, Trotter, NoMI, Blackdird, Spring and Everest included...)

I'm still the only one working on the saturdays for lunch...

The name... Les Chèvres will serve a LOT of vegetables. There will be some fish and meat but, the main part of the menu will be vegetables. And, like we all know...goat eat salad Goat cheese will also always have a place on our menu.

The menu looked very promising, with a lot of very classic french dishes, some of them with a twist: andouillette, sauce choron... We didn't choose anything, David McMilan was there and he cooked for us... -Salad of pork feet and veal cheek with some fresh horseradish -White asparagus, watercress, cucumber, andouilette and hare loin. -Lamb ''gigot'' with sauce choron, endive and some lentils -Some very good cheeses -A terrific apple tart with butterscotch sauce and vanilla icecream. The decor is a mix of very modern and very old. It's like a modern gourmet snack bar some old touchs: very kitsh plates ( the same they use in smoked meat restaurant, you know, the ones with the brown lines on the border), big ketchup bottles, white music speakers... It wasn't very busy but on the saturday, they were full ( 140 seats...) The kitchen is very big and very fonctional.

I had an incredible meal at Rosalie last night. The design is really great. The menu includes some very classical bistro dishes. Everything looked great. This is a place I will go often!!!

I'm in charge of the dessert for tonight meal... I didn't had a lot of spare time so yesterday, at the restaurant I made a cake: dacquoise with spices ( cinamon, nutmeg, star anise, pepper...), cranberry compotte, almonds praliné and a manjari mousse.

I very proud to tell you that my restaurant: Les Chèvres, Le bonheur est dans le potager, will finally open somewhere in the begining of March... We just signed today for the lease. It will be at the 1201 Van Horne ( in the space previously owned by Ouzeri Mykonos) The place is already really great and I saw last week what our designer will do and We are also very proud of having one of Montreal's best chef with us.( I can't tell you his name right now but there's already some rumors... )

I received my book about a week ago and I'm still speechless While reading this book, you can really fell the ''El Bulli''way of thinking. The pictures are superb, the CD-Rom is a very useful way of searching recipes. It's very interesting to see the evolution of their food through the years. I can't wait to have the other 2 books