Patrice

Daniel's menu Cafe Boulud menu db Bistro Moderne menu If you go to Daniel's new restaurant, db Bistro Moderne, you should try the Boeuf en Gelée as an appetizer and the now famous db Burger as main course.

This new ( I think...) company make couverture chocolate for pastry chef , like Valrhona or Barry Callebault. Someone told me it's one of the founders of Valrhona who started this society... I really don't know much more thing about that chocolate but I just tasted it today for the first time and I wanted to know if somebody knew this product

What do you think of the chocolate couverture made by La Chocolaterie de l'opéra?

Not chocolate, but I had some quite interesting food with cocoa: -At Marc Veyrat: a potato purée with a truffles center, covered with cocoa -At Michel Bras: potiron ice cream with a touch of cocoa syrup -Café des Délices ( Paris) : Scallops with black pudding, balsamic vinegar and cocoa

I never went to their restaurant, but I own their book. If I remember corectly, one of the twin works on the appatizers and the desserts, while the other conceive the main courses.

I agree with Bluehill, Ilo and Cello I had very very good meal at each.

Thank you Marc It's a very interesting story By the way, where can we buy this magazine?

After visiting Hermé's boutique, I found Constant's shop quite ordinary. I didn't tasted anything...I wanted to keep some strength for Hermé. In Albi, near Toulouse, I visited Michel Belin. We were quite lost in this small town and we were searching for his boutique. We stopped a women on the street to ask her if she knew where was Belin's shop. She told us that she was Michel Belin's Wife !!! She had just closed the boutique for lunch but, she opened it specially for us and she offered us a special dégustation of her husband's chocolates. It was incredible!!! The last chocolate, infused with tobaco was one of the most incredible thing I ever tasted. We bought 2 boxes of chocolates and she gave us a rare bottle of dessert wine! We then ask her if she knew a good place where we could go for dinner and she told us that her husband is a very good friend of Michel Trama...she tooked the telephone and made a reservation for us.

Fifth Floor menu I'm also planning a trip to California in maybe 1-2 months and Masa, Fifth Floor, Gary Danko and The French Laundry are on my list.

I also heard some mixed reviews about Le Jardin des Sens. Take a look at Pourcel's new brasserie: La Compagnies des comptoirs Any one visited it?

Masa has a new chef: Ron Siegel ( who won the iron chef in Japan!!!) I read some very good thing about this place and their new chef. You should also take a look at Fifth Floor, whit their new chef: Laurent Gras, formerly of Peacock Alley in NYC ( Laurent has been chef de cuisine for Alain Ducasse...) Elisabeth Daniel seems also like an interesting choice.

I had a very very good meal at L'Auberge de la Charmein Prenois. ( near Dijon) The restaurant now hold one Michelin star but, I wouldn't surprised if they get another one in the next years. -Salad of trompette de la mort, lobster and tomato confit -foie gras with smoked tuna -coings sablé with caramel ice cream and endive coulis...

Robert- except Keller, I ate in all these restaurants this past year. I also want to point that Bernardaud, in the same line of dishes, produce some big square plates that are also widely used in restaurants.

The Bernardaud dishes you're talking about are now used in a LOT of restaurants right now in the world: Trotter, Keller, J-G, Tru, Cello,Radius, Clio, Gagnaire, Trama, Veyrat... Most of the time, the 2 dishes you're specifically talking about were used in dégustation menu. I don't think any chef would reduce the amount of food in a plate to make it able to fit in a specific dishe. When used correctly, theses plates can be the perfect choice to serve amuses, pre-dessert, or multi-courses meal.

The name is chosen since quite a long time. We've been working on our concept for over one year. The decoration will be made by Jean-Pierre Viau, who has designed some of Montreal's best restaurants: Toqué!, Soto, Globe... The menu will be in constant evolution, I really like to experiment, to try new things. I really don't like routine. The menu will go with the seasons. It will be quite a short menu: 5 appetizers, 7 main courses, 5 desserts, plus a 5 courses degustation menu. I already started to work on my summer desserts menu.

They only say that it's a new start for Bon with their new chef: Amat. The menu reflect Amat style: cold tuna with spices, eel. They didn't indicate if he's cooking regularly at Bon...

Amat is now the new chef at Bon in Paris.(G-M April 2002)

Hi Richard A chef from Montreal is now working at Bras. When he came to Montreal this year( while Bras was closed), he told me that. I had confirmation while reading Bras new book: ''Même s'il doit ouvrir, au printemps 2002, un restaurant au Japon, il réagit vivement quand on le dit sous influence japonaise.'' By the way, everyone should take a look at this fantastic new book: BRAS

I ate in Les Bookinistes in November and I had a very good meal. But ,Wiliam Ledeuil, the former chef of Les Bookinistes, just opend his own restaurant: Ze Kitchen Galerie. His new restaurant is next door to Les Bookinistes... I read some very good things about this new place. You should maybe check it out.

Thanks Simon for sharing your wonderful experience in a french kitchen. I'm waiting for your next posts having read so much good things about L'Ousteau.

Yes Margaret, it's a carrots and oranges salad with cardamom ice cream. He serve the dessert in a Martini glass. The carrots are cooked in a cinnamon sirup. This desserts, like others from Hermé can be taste at Korova, where his wife also serves as consultant for the main menu.

Any desserts?

One of them is only on desserts, while the other, Petits Festins, contain mixed recipes. You can really feel Bras spirit throught these books. The recipes in Petits Festins are more accessible for everybody.

I'm a fan of Michel Bras work and I've got all his books: his 2 notebooks, Essential Cuisine and the newone: Bras. All of them are extraordinary!!! But, the new one, with his incredible pictures of food and of l'Aubrac, his a gem. For those who didn't had the chance to have a meal at this incredible restaurant, it's maybe the next best thing... and, for the others ( like me!!!) who had this chance, it's the best way to remind you of this unrivalled place.

In the new french Saveur magazine there's an interesting story about Hermé and his wife, who receives guest to lunch: os à la moelle with caviar, macaroni with truffles and carrots and oranges salad with cardamom ice cream!!!