LuckyGirl

brescd01, I want to say that our fruit de mere plate at Goumard was 80 Euros. We shared the largest platter for one that they offer. It is more than enough for two people. We shared a similarly priced platter at Bistro du Theatre in St. Germain en Laye and were served maybe a third more overall than we were at Gourmand but I would give a slight edge to Goumard for the pristine freshness and the ambiance. Please note this is not to say that what we had at BDT was not fresh as it was wonderful but Goumard's was just a hair better, could even have been a matter of the day we went.

Along that line, I find "Is there anything I can bring you" or "is there anything you need right now" far better questions than most of those that have been part of this thread. I also feel however, that there shouldn't need to be a question if the server is on the ball. Eye contact is a good way to determine whether there is an issue or not. My peeve is servers who tell me what the special "is going to be". It drives me nuts to hear "the fish tonight is going to be halibut. It's going to be sauteed and then the chef is going to serve it with blah, blah, blah.

Glad you liked the "new" Goumard; it's fun/elegant, whereas l'Ecailler is fun/funky. Another fine platter can be had at the big Dome but I also like the Bistro du Dome because it's open 7/7 but no platter there. The new La Maree + Rech are elegant as well. Cannot do badly most places except La Cagouille which I think has slipped except for finger-burning moules. ← Thanks again. I don't need such elegant surroundings to enjoy a good plate but it was a nice treat and I'm sure we will return as will the family we dined with. Elegant is most appreciated by me when it is not overdone. Goumard, while highly decorated is done so in such an elegant and cohesive manner that it is most enjoyable. BTW, we enjoyed several nice meals at Bisto du Theatre in Saint Germain en Laye including a very nice fruit de mere plate. I translated their menu for them so now they have an English version to hand out to those who need it. At first I was confused between Bistro du Dome and Le Dome du Marais. Do you have any thoughts on Le Dome du Marias (not as a place for seafood but in general)?

John Talbott, I am primarily interested in a fruit de mer platter but would also like your pics for other fish since you mentioned it. I decided on Goumard for dinner last night. Since L'ecailler du Bistrot is closed on Mondays I thought we would be better of at Goumard on a Sunday night. I didn't want to chance L'ecailler du Bistrot being out of any items on the night before they close for the day. Goumard was wonderful. The decor is absolutely gorgeous. All of the Lalique glass in the lighting and other decor pieces is beautiful beyond belief. Every item on the fruit de mer platter was impeccably fresh, clean and crisp tasting and the cooked items were cooked perfectly and well chilled. Three of our companions greatly enjoyed their bar and the fourth enjoyed his beef dish. Pierre45 thank you for the recommendation of L'ecailler du Bistrot. I am looking forward to trying them another time. I am also looking forward to any other suggestions folks may have.

After reading past posts I *think* I have decided on Goumard for my evening of fruit de mer. Is this a good choice? Are there other places I should consider? TIA.

My thanks again to RandyB for the New Nioulaville rec. I will post more when I have a chance to put my thoughts together with my pics but suffice it to say I was there for dim sum lunch today and found it very enjoyable.

Of those "fancy" ones you mentioned, could you pick your top 2 or three for me? Also, thanks for the Shandong recs and thanks to everyone else for their recs. I have quite a list of places I would like to try.

Exactly. It boogles my mind the way commercial beef in the US is raised.

Great! Thank you, RandyB. This sounds like what I am looking for. I love a great turnip cake so it sounds promissing. I am planning to go there when I am in Paris later this week or over the weekend. John Talbott, I am goig to get to Shan Gout this trip as well, errrr, shall I say, I will not be going to Shan Gout. There are several things I've been craving since I've been in Europe and Szechuan cuisine is one of them. Thanks for the tips!

I am glad to have stumbled across this topic. I am an American who disdains commercial American beef and adores French and Swiss beef (even the average French beef that one may find in many places). I find commercial American beef completely lacking in flavor, even most of the prime stuff. I do not enjoy the taste or mouth-feel of the fat from corn-fed beef not to mention the horrible practice of using antibiotics and hormones that turns me off from eating commercial American beef. At the same time, when one gets range or pasture raised grass-fed beef in the states it is often overly strong in flavor, too grassy to be enjoyable. I have found a rancher outside of my hometown of Cleveland who seems to know how to properly raise grass-fed beef. His beef has an incredible, depth of flavor without the pungent grassiness that so much grass fed beef in The States has. So, after reading this thread it seems to me that the reason I enjoy French and Swiss beef as much as I do is that it is grass-fed but done so properly. I think the issue in the states with grass-fed is that it hasn't been commonly done for so long that people do not know the art of it i.e. when to feed on what grass, best time to slaughter etc. My husban and I eat far more beef when we are in France and Switzerland than we do when we are home in the states because we so enjoy the beef here!

My thanks to you both. For Easter we had an early afternoon brunch at Drouant. It was perfectly lovely. Brunch that consisted of four small plates: one, a perfectly cooked poached/soft boiled (sous vide?) egg with a few delicate slices of jambon Iberico, a cumin carrot soup, a fruit salad and smoked salmon with herbed fromage blanc. The meal was served with very nice breads, pastries, fresh pressed juice, coffee and tea. It was a perfect meal with wonderful service in a lovely room. Also thanks to John Talbot who asked for some details on my Easter brunch at Drouant. I am posting a link to the blog entry I made for our Easter day in Paris. http://athomearoundtheworld.blogspot.com/2...r-in-paris.html We did not do any finer dining on this visit so Drouant was even more appreciated. It was a really lovely brunch. So much so that I am still thinking about it, especially the egg.

Does anyone have thoughts on places that will be open in Paris Easter day? I think the ideal choice would be a beautiful brunch but we could also go for a nice dinner in the mid-priced range. If anyone would like to join us to dine on Easter send me a PM. We will be a group of 4, all Egulett participants in varying degrees. TIA, Diane Edited by John Talbott and split three topics to make more easily searchable.

Tammy's suggestion of Tapawingo is a great one. My husband and I have been there for a weekend cooking class and it was so, so wonderful. The class was a good balance of hands on cooking, dining and wine tasting. I really can't recommend it enough.

Yes, that's it! Thank you Alex. Your assistance was much appreciated. Diane

Jeremy Kittelson was the Chef at Tapawingo for several years and he left last year/earlier this year. Does anyone know where he is now? TIA, Diane

Tammy, if you or Marmish would post that recipe I would be much obliged. That for me, was the quintessential slaw, just how I like it. TIA, Diane Nevermind... I didn't read far enough into the thread...

Oh my gosh NancyH! I am sorry to hear about your fall. What a way to cap off the weekend. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Many thanks to all the Chicago folks who in various ways hosted us and helped with on putting this event, especially Ronnie. KarenM it was so good to meet you and lovely to spend the afternoon in your kitchen for the bread class. Tom, I knew the bread class would be great but you managed to far exceed my already high expectations. You are a great teacher and I am still floored by the packet you put together for the class! Thanks to to Santo_Grace for picking up the great BBQ which gave those of us who attended the class the opportunity to try one more Chicago eats place. Also, it was very gracious of you to open your kitchen and oven to us! The whole time that Mr. LuckyGirl and I spent in Chicago was amazing, both the scheduled events we attended and the few things we did on our own with friends (Alinea and Hot Doug's, oh my!). Gary, thanks to you for putting together the Szechuan dinner. I SO enjoyed it. Also, if anyone can tell me what the chopped green was that we had I would appreciate it. From the poking around on the net I've done I *think* it may have been chrysanthemum but I'm not sure. I loved it and would like to know what to look for so I can make it at home. The best part of the weekend was cooking and eating together on Saturday. It was wonderful to visit with old friends and to make new ones as well. I regret that we didn't get to visit as much with some old friends as we would have liked to but everyone was so busy! I trust we'll have more opportunities to visit before next year. Each course of the dinner was a treat. I especially enjoyed the chicken and waffles- seriously good eats. CaliPoutine's composed salad was beautiful and I adored her peach and blueberry cobbler. Peach and blueberries are one of my favorite fruit combinations. I took some of the cobbler with the intentions of having it with ice cream once we got home to Cleveland but it didn't make it out of the hotel the next morning. It was good breakfast Ronnie, the ribs, the ribs, the ribs... Thanks for grilling for us! And, the coleslaw, who made the coleslaw? It was perfect. Thanks to LAZ for the Chicago shrimp dish and oh, yes, the amuses were lovely too. The prize for lovely though goes to KarenM's ratatouille. Wow, they were beautiful dishes and the flavors were perfect. I didn't get to try most of the starters but that was one impressive cheese plate. Thank you for your generosity nyokie. Alex's tomato and watermelon soup was refreshing and perfectly balanced. I admit, I was skeptical about watermelon and tomato together but he nailed it. maggiethecat, thanks for the shout out for my beet stem pancakes. I love sharing those with people! nxtasy, I guess I'm either going to have to purchase that Four Seasons' Cookbook or hope that you and your Mrs. can come to Cleveland to help me celebrate my 40th birthday and make it for me in April! That torte was really, really special and I know that I want it to be part of my celebration. KerryBeal, your apple cake was also right up my alley. I like desserts that are not too sweet and your cake was enjoyed by both Steve and me. OH! One more thing, THANK YOU to Kathy for introducing us to the Baylor's watermelon. I really didn't believe that watermelon like that existed anymore. You folks in Chicago are very lucky to have the Baylor family and their watermelon business. I hope that Steve and I can make it to town again before the season ends. Phew, I hope I didn't leave out anything! Once again, seeing everybody and making new friends was wonderful. The fellowship of the event is the best part!

Am I correct in assuming that I will be able to find fresh beets at the ethnic market just as readily as I would at the Evanston market?

Totally OT, but how can a train be 2.5 hrs late??? Its not like there is traffic. Oy, its going to be a long day ←

Holy cow, the Szchuan dinner menu is incredible!!!!!!! Ronnie, I too have been looking forward to a smoked or BBQ'd meat item from you so I'm glad you're still on for that!

When I was growing up my Grandmother would make broccoli soup, we called it soupy macaroni. Basically, take a pot of water add a few cloves of smashed garlic and chopped broccoli. Cook this for a short while then add a box of elbow macaroni (or whatever other shape you might like). Yes, you cook the pasta in the pot with the broccoli. When you serve the soup generously grate your cheese over top add voila, simple Italian peasant soup.

I eat the rind too but for melting the cheese into a white sauce for pasta and cheese I don't want the rind ya' know?

Thanks to you both. So, the gist is that the rind will not melt which I suppose I should have figured based on the fact that when one lets soft rind cheeses go to room temp or say, bakes brie, the rind doesn't melt. I like the idea of tossing the rind into the white sauce so that all the cheese can melt off and then pulling the out the ring, JYoungJoo. It seems like there would be far less waste doing that vs. trying to cut away the rind.

I feel like this is a pretty basic question and I apologize if it has been asked and answered before but I didn't come up with anything when I did a post search. If I am melting a soft cheese like brie or camembert in a bechamel sauce, will the rind fully melt or do I need to peel it and only use the center of the cheese? TIA!