guru

Unfortunately, i didn't have the foie gras cause i cook it myself every day. Cooks tend to be tired of it once in a while.It'l come back.I often order non-luxuous dishes when i go to a restaurant,like i said, being in the business myself i try to see what other chefs can do with everyday ingredients and i was specially amazed by chef Jean-Paul Giroux of Le Saint-Augustin. But then again, you don't pay the same price at his place. That's why i say that with a certain price category comes a certain expectation. I don't expect the same thing when i'm paying 30$ or 70$. Like l'Express and Les Caprice de Nicolas. I also heard that he was doing a lot of "three ways" last year but there seemed to be none this time. People talked a lot about the veal dish and we thought that the plate called " Le Cerf Dans Tous Ses Etats" would be something similar but it wasn't. Maybe i should give it another try. I thought Claude was great at Mediteranneo and was hoping for something much higher at the Cube. Maybe it just wasn't a great night(we all have them).

Lesley, i once was in that same position of opening a restaurant and i completely understand what it means but i don't agree on the idea that you should review a restaurant in its "opening effort". I'm sure the food we serve now is more precise and closer to the ideology that we try to follow. I'm also very sure that a lot of people said bad things about us back then but it would be very hard to find these "mistakes" now. I still think that the food at Cube was very ordinary.

(for Cabrales) Actually i drank a pretty good bottle of St-Joseph that i paid 80$ but in that range, there wasn't a lot of choices. You had to go around 120$ for something a little bit serious and you could easily go till 150.The food is quite cheap and that impressed me.We took two glasses of white with the apps but they where offered by the house since i knew a few people over there.(for Lesley) Since the restaurant opened last year i was intrigued by the name of the establishment then by its look and specially by the look of the hotel. After seeing the dinning room, the tables, the cuttlery, the plates, i was hoping to see a new way of doing things in the kitchen. If you're trying to change things that have been accepted since Escoffier or further, why not go all the way. Is the personnel capable of that? Not the wait staff. Some of them seemed to be bored. The food itself was everything a good cook can do. Some small details could have given a few accents and make the dishes more complex and more enjoyable.For example the salsify roots with the lobster should have been roatsed instead of being just blanched. The whole dish would have benefit of that. Like i said, the food was o.k. but i expected more of that chef(it's almost been a year since the opening, things should be tuned up by now).

I still don't really know what to say about last night's dinner. It was my first time and i had heard so much about it since its opening that i would have liked to leave with a better impression. My friend started with two pieces of veal sweetbread and a grilled shrimp over a fruit ketchup while i had a half lobster with some salsify roots, spring onions and lobster jus. Then my friend had a plate of Quebec venison. One part was a braised short rib and another was a roasted piece of the leg. I already don't recall the accompaniements. My main dish was a piece of Quebec lamb over some flageolets and chanterelles. We continued with cheeses and had no desserts.I am not saying that the food wasn't good, though the grilled shrimp was over cooked and we had to leave it aside because of its burnt taste. My general comment would be that the portions are extremely small and that the real show is not in the plate. Food was o.k. . Considering the price i paid (230.00$), i would have liked more sparkles. I thought the wine list prices raised rapidly. It would have probably itched less if i had paid in american dollars. I'm really sorry to say it didn't live up to my expectations.

If you have Tom' colicchio's cookbook you should try his recipe. Someone made that for me recently and it was great. It has a slightly tangy punch. I also tasted it last year at Craft and liked it a lot.

Can anyone tell me why i should go to Bouley on my next trip.I noticed that people are talking about him again and i've been wanting to eat there for a long time. Considering that he once was considered the best of NY, i think that my visit has become mandatory.I'll be sure to report when i'm back (in september).

Hello everyone, it's kind of funny that nobody mentionned Quebec beers. I know it's sometimes not seriously considered but they have won a lot of prizes in Europe. Don't you agree Lesley.