violetfox

I'm a happy customer who will tell EVERYONE. It's interesting to me that this topic, which has at times been a helpful and interesting discussion of tipping practices, has in my opinion descended into something...less. I return to my previous question: is it more informative and useful for everyone if you give a decent tip most of the time, and if you leave one that's less generous, you speak to the manager about the reason for it? I didn't think that that was a complicated question.

Did you go in the morning? We were at the bar starting at 11:30. It was a lot of food for two and I really enjoyed the experience as a whole. Anyway, photos are up! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlunar/sets/72157615955150180/ ... almost done them all. Just need to finish with Jean-Talon and post-trip sugar. ← I was there at 1, and also sat at the bar. I did pretty well until the feves with duck magret and the quail - overwhelmed! Everything was wonderful. Thanks for the pictures.

Hey, I was at the Cabane on Sunday, too! Good heavens, that was a LOT of food, and utterly delicious. Loved the soupe au pois, now need to add foie gras when I make it! The tourtiere was great and I really loved the homemade ketchup. Cretons and ployes, too. OK, I loved everything. Really, really fun atmosphere. I'm very glad that I went. It took me about a day to recover and be able to eat again.

ps - do I get a prize or something for the largest number of adjectives and adverbs used in a single post?

Reporting back on the tasting menu with foie gras at Toque! WOW! Easily the best meal of my life! I had this with the premier wine selection, because I thought it a unique opportuniy to experience some wines that would be really prohibitively expensive by the bottle. This is a seriously pricey experience, but absolutely extraordinary. From the first amuse - crispy bread chips with cream and scallions, a sort of sublime chips and dip - through the amazing scallop seviche, cured salmon skewered on a crispy noodle, the truly "hallucinant" foie gras with brioche, ground cherries (I keep neglecting to preserve these when they spring up in my garden), hazelnut dust, the single best dish I've EVER eaten, a deconstructed rabbit ravioli, duck magret, Charelvoix blue cheese and chocolate feullite (sp? sorry) - oh yes, and the fir-flavored truffle! - truly astonishing, and totally specific to Quebec. If you're looking in a dictionary for "peak experience" - this menu is the definition. Montreal continues to astound me with a level of cuisine that I beleive is unparalleled, period. And today, the APdC cabane...whoa. By the way, the poutine I had earlier yesterday at La Banquaise was swell, too! :-) tres heureux!!!

Thanks for the update! I'd say that I was dieting in preparation, but since I'm out the door just now for poutine, I guess not... :-)

Someone on "another forum" just said that the Cabane did not open today? Is that correct? I've got a reservation on Sunday, so I'm a little concerned.

Which isn't what I said. Straw man arguments are becoming a bit of a sport around here. This particular tempest is all about a second hand quotation. Even if the words were ever said, we have no context. As far as we know (and this strikes me as likely, considering everything else we know about Ripert), he was mocking some old French folk wisdom. ← That's not my concern. My concern is that IF a woman in a kitchen can be discriminated against for something this stupid, that's a situation which demands legal attention. That's ALL that I said. I am not even saying that it's been established AT ALL that it does happen. Please note that I said specifically that I believe that Ripert respects women and that the comment - even if accurately attributed to him - itself is not my problem.

I think that if there's any actress around who can capture Julia's enormous personality and charisma, it is Meryl Streep. I'm looking forward to it, too. Honestly, I'd watch any movie with Meryl Streep and the great Stanley Tucci.

I'm sorry, but "we all can agree that it's wrong and stupid, but that's just the way it is" is really not good enough. I'm not questioning that Ripert is respectful to women, because I believe that he generally is - but this fallacy is indeed disresepctful and should be eliminated. "The heirarchy of the kitchen" is NO justification. I was willing to let this go as mere nonsense, but the idea that a woman could be ordered out the kitchen because it's "that time of month" without recourse - at least in this country, I can't and won't speak for France -is a much more serious matter.

Ah, my first smile since near the beginning of this, er, interesting thread! Yes, I can conclusively state that I have heard from friends who heard from friends that they know several women who have successfully made mayonnaise BY HAND!!! at *THAT TIME OF THE MONTH*

This is a great topic. Thank you, snowangel! Here's my list: CLARITY. All else can be forgiven. Pictures, excellent quality photography, preferably not too "styled. Nice art, in addition, is a plus - I'm thinking of Jacques Pepin's beautiful book, Chez Jacques. Pleasant typeface. In a functional cookbook, manageable heft. A coffeetable book can weigh as much as necessary. Page numbers that are large, easy to read and to find. An excellent, useful index. I'm a huge fan of cookbooks which are clearly designed to be read, and have a nice narrative style.

I'm curious about your apparent feeling that there would be something wrong with "appealing to housewives" - am I reading that correctly?

I figure that I might as well hop into this topic, since I'm also going to Montreal this month. I have my reservation made for the Cabane APdC. Whee! I also have a reservation at Toque! - my first visit. I'm considering the tasting menu with foie gras. Any thoughts about that? Also, if I'm able to eat anything else at all after those two experiences, I'm thinking about other possibilities. I have already tried and enjoyed La Banquaise, Maestro SVP, L'Anecdote, various goodies at Jean-Talon, les Chocolats de Chloe, and of course APdC. What do I need to try next? I'm especially considering Joe Beef, something wonderful in Chinatown, other great ethnic food of most any kind. Thanks!

"happyhoarfrost, good for you for disciplining your sauce. i know for a fact it is all but impossible to cook thoughtfully when there's a four year old in the room. and you need to pay attention when you're making a mayonnaise; this is part of the pleasure. "also, and i should have put this in the post, it is common knowledge in France, according both to Eric Ripert and Becks & Posh, that women who are menstruating cannot make mayonnnaise. It always breaks. Always. Posted by: ruhlman | May 21, 2008 at 02:08 PM" on Ruhlman's blog

Anyone within driving (or flying) distance of Montreal, or anyone in the Northeast, even, should be reading an endless banquet - an invaluable guide to the amazing food world of Montreal. Lots of fine travel information about other places, too.

OK, now - being an artist, and generally terrified of numbers - I'm getting confused. I want to be a good customer. Is 20% a still decent tip, or are customers being expected to enter into some algebraic equation to determine an adequate or exceptional or punitive tip? I guess my next question would be where, exactly, these sorts of computations are being expected, because I'll be sure to stay away. I respect and appreciate waitstaff tremendously, but if a good tip in my opinion is going to be resented because I haven't properly crunched the numbers, the heck with that.

I love the book, too, but I agree, Chufi, this is one of the coolest aspects of it. It really challenges me to try different flavors and combinations to see how I perceive them. The idea that the way an individual's palate perceives a flavor can vary so widely is pretty mindblowing in a wonderful way. No food nerd should be without this book.

I'm fascinated by your comment. Ripert has always seemed like a nice, personable fellow and a wonderful cook. I love "A Return to Cooking" and "On the Line." I've never seen or heard nim make any comments that exhibit "offensive points of view." Care to elaborate?

I was under the impression that a commercial is supposed to make you buy the product. Then again, the number of times that I've actually bought a productbased on a commercial is so small as to be statistically insignificant. At any rate, we're not talking about Diet Coke very much - we're talking about Colicchio. Oh yeah, I can't stand and wouldn't ever drink Diet Coke - even with a big hunk of lime and Captain Morgan. MAYBE with a LOT of Captain Morgan, if truly desperate.

I completely agree, Chris. I'm getting more than a little tired of cheap shots aimed mainly at Achatz by people who have elsewhere pandered to the practice of "molecular gastronomy." The ad implies that this sort of presentation is preposterously theatrical - surely nothing of which Top Chef could ever be accused! I'm not very fond of Top Chef, but I've always had respect for Colicchio, and this is disappointing. As far as the argument that "well, he didn't write the ad" - I'm sure that he didn't, but no one held a gun to his head to make him appear in it, either. If anyone doesn't want to eat or do this style of cooking, that's fine - but to disrespect another chef's creativity and vision is beyond tacky. ← Why would you be all burned up if Achatz isn't? ← " If anyone doesn't want to eat or do this style of cooking, that's fine - but to disrespect another chef's creativity and vision is beyond tacky." In case that didn't say why it bothers me clearly enough, I am not a food professional, but I am an artist and a student of creative process, and it bothers me a lot when anyone, chef or any other creative person, is mocked for doing something new or different. As I've said often elsewhere, I was initially as surprised and suspicious of "molecular gastronomy" as anyone - until I had some good and surprising food. The bottom line obviously is "does it taste good?" - if the answer is yes, the approach doesn't mean a thing.

Thanks, Maggie - the handle actually belonged to a distant relative, a real name. One of my sets of eggcups was found on sale at Williams Sonoma, mostly nondescript but with fairly huge attached saucers, and in cute pastel colors (for spring, of course!). Now, with the approach of Easter, temptation will lurk everywhere I turn. I hope that I can resist, but I'm not sure. The original idea was "oh, I won't just use them for family Easter brunch, I can do all of those cool egg things that I have in cookbooks and impress EVERYONE!" This has yet to happen a single time. I do use my eggcups, usually on Easter morning. I think that you have inspired me to use them more often. Thanks!

I completely agree, Chris. I'm getting more than a little tired of cheap shots aimed mainly at Achatz by people who have elsewhere pandered to the practice of "molecular gastronomy." The ad implies that this sort of presentation is preposterously theatrical - surely nothing of which Top Chef could ever be accused! I'm not very fond of Top Chef, but I've always had respect for Colicchio, and this is disappointing. As far as the argument that "well, he didn't write the ad" - I'm sure that he didn't, but no one held a gun to his head to make him appear in it, either. If anyone doesn't want to eat or do this style of cooking, that's fine - but to disrespect another chef's creativity and vision is beyond tacky.

This experience/experiment sounds worthy of it's own thread to me! ← Amen to that! Anna, best of luck to you! I'd love to see a thread focused on how it's going for you.

JeanneCake wrote, in part: "As a customer, if my experience is less than satisfactory during the meal, it's my job to let the server know so my experience can be improved. If I don't tell them, but pretend that everything is "just fine" then give them a small tip, how does that help them not repeat the offending behavior if it was the server that is contributing to my less than satisfactory experience?" Hi, JeanneCake. I couldn't agree more. If service is good or better, I leave at least a 20% tip. There have been a few times in the past where I left 15% if the service was a little dodgy- with some real mistakes or omissions, but not huge ones. Afterwards, I thought "I probably should have said something." I tend, though, to leave 20% even when I perhaps shouldn't, because there are a lot of things that can go wrong that might not be the server's fault. Your point that, if something is truly wrong, you need to tell someone specifically what you found unacceptable and not just leave a low tip, is exactly right. Just leaving a low tip when you are displeased isn't helpful. It would be especially helpful in a restaurant which has, say, excellent food and might have a problematic server. You'll either get a positive, respectful response and be able to enjoy the place in the future, or you'll find out that they really don't care, and your money is better taken elsewhere. On the other hand, yes, there are people who are jerks and leave shamefully low tips. There's no excuse - NO excuse - for chasing down a customer and demanding to know why they did it. If that customer shows his or her face at your restaurant again, though, I'd say that no holds need be barred.