Wilfrid

Hehe. "Well, I say it's porridge, and I say the hell with it."

Thanks for those comments, which are certainly persuasive. I know my partial "solution" is generally unpopular round here, but I often wish the chef's would show us a few old tricks. That wild mallard would have made a fine civet or salmis - but maybe you just can't charge those prices for stewed meat, especially stewed on the bone: it has to be the same old lightly cooked square of breast.

Oh, please rub it in. I saved money by the simple expedient of barring my Beloved's entrance to the restaurant and packing her off home in a taxi. My math tells me that the wine pourings must have cost around $90. Champagne, a white, three reds and a Sauternes. That's actually not bad value. I thought the pours were sufficiently generous, and recall one or two top-ups.

It has been pointed out to me in a PM from an expert that Bouley currently has four stars too. Again, while I dined at Bouley Bakery, I missed the original Bouley and haven't yet tried the new one. The consensus here and elsewhere seems to be that the new Bouley is not (or not yet) as good as it once was.

Back to the culinary details. Either the pigeon breast or the duck breast, which are merged in my memory, was almost impossible to cut with the knife supplied. The meat was not tough, although one diner reasonably assumed it was; it's simply that when such meat is cooked rare, it has a dense, springy texture which is not unpleasant but requires a serrated-edge knife to be appreciated properly. They could have broken out the Laguiole, surely. The potato Dauphione which Nick mentioned was a sad, doughy thing, and the red cabbage just not as good as I can cook myself. I thought the artichoke puree under the pigeon was quite pleasant.

oops

It would be nice if the New York Times had a listing of four star restaurants to focus this discussion. Certainly the following have four stars: Daniel Le Bernardin Lespinasse Jean-Georges Alain Ducasse at the Essex House My first question, from recent experiences at Le Bernardin and Lespinasse, is: to what extent are any of those restaurants cruising on past reputations (although ADNY is a relative newcomer)? I had a dinner at Le Bernardin not long ago which certainly had some high spots, but was not a start-to-finish one-of-the-best-restaurants-in-the-world experience by any means. And yet it has a wide reputation as being one of the two top places to eat in this city. The disappointment that was Lespinasse is being discussed right here. My last dinner at Jean Georges was good, except for a let-down with the sweetbreads, and since I haven't been to Daniel this year I won't comment. So: is a serious re-evaluation of the city's top echelon urgently overdue? And I do have a second question: at this level of dining in New York, has there been a significant drop in standards over the last six to eight years. When I started enjoying such restaurants, back in the '90s - with Gray Kuntz at Lespinasse, Boulud at the original Daniel, Lutece still basking in Solltner's glow, Les Celebrites (I never went), Chanterelle and Aureole all highly respected, Bouley and the original Le Cirque about to close - the scene at the top level just seemed more exciting. Am I right or wrong?

The point is, Cabby, that if you are going to put a cloche on one plate, you may as well put a cloche on every plate. To do otherwise suggests it is fair to assume that we will rudely eat our dishes before the return of the absentee. And it is not as if they didn't have enough staff or cloches to perform the trick. We should have asked, perhaps, but it only slowly dawned on me what a silly position we were in.

I am about to star a separate thread on New York's top restaurants in general, which might be a good place to talk about Daniel and ADNY. Yes, Nick, right about the single cloche. Did they expect us all to start eating while she was gone?

At least we weren't asked to wear name-tags. Happens at some dinners, I gather. What did you think of service? I thought it was adequate, but again the price tag makes you look for stellar.

Nick, you are going to be really bad about this dinner, aren't you? Not that you're wrong.

Can you not postpone the dinner for a week or two. I am going to really miss this thread.

I was party to the disappointing dinner, and thanks Nick for posting the menu. I would hope we can get some views from other members who've eaten at Lespinasse this year, so we can gauge to what extent we were unlucky, but I have to say that my overall impression was of a restaurant cruising on past glories. I'd be particularly interested to hear if the carte might have been a better option. Bottom line - the cost: $360 per head. $175 for the tasting menu, and the rest was wine pourings, tax and gratuities. We were comped a round of cocktails, and didn't add a cheese course, or we'd have hit $400. For purposes of comparison, I have spent $350 a head at Alain Ducasse. We did have the table for the whole evening, but the level of cooking and service was steps below Ducasse. Not that the restaurant was under any pressure to turn our table. Okay, it was a Tuesday and there was a storm outside, but I would say Lespinasse was maybe half full when we started, and emptier for the second sitting. These used to be very tough tables to get. Last time I was at Lespinasse was toward the end of Kunz's tenure, and I never ate at Les Celebrites, so this was my first taste of Delouvrier. A Scottish game menu could hardly be more up my street. Let's review the highlights: Oeufs en cocotte - cepes. Started out well, with soft eggs in little covered pans, served over meaty cepes, with a strongly truffle-flavoured creamy broth (perhaps truffle oil?). All worked well together, and it was hot. Perdreau - foie gras - choux blanc. Pieces of partridge breast cooked rare, layered with very rare slices of foie gras, wrapped in a cabbage leaf package. Neat and clever, and with a richly aromatic steam emerging with the first cut. Reminded me of the excellent squab and foir gras in b'stilla-style pastry being served at Atelier. A good dish. Celeri rave et truffe noir. This accompanied the grilled wood pigeon. The celeriac was chopped and creamed into a kind of "risotto", and the vegetables flavor, combined with rich black truffles, was memorable. Falvors exploding in the mouth - something which should have been happening all evening. The lowlights: The shellfish dishes were ordinary; the langoustine semed tired after a long swim. Wood pigeon and wild mallard are birds with dark, gamey breast meat; if they are to be served in successive courses, then they need to be prepared in strikingly different ways. Serve a braised leg, make a sausage, do something - if you just offer a grilled breast in each case, the diner is going to feel they're eating the same dish twice. Especially if both are garnished with black truffles. Cold food. The meat entrees were cold. I know I repeat myself on this subject, but I want hot food at these prices. They did have cloches about the place, but used them only when a diner left the table during a course. Nick, as a professional, had some sympathy with the kitchen on this point. As a punter, I did't. Tired old minced pineapple fruit soup. We weren't offered the cheese cart. I think the chocolate dessert plate was pretty good, but not beyond what you might expect at many restaurants. I did enjoy some of the wine pourings, but I wasn't taking notes. I think it was a Puligny-Montrachet with the langoustine and a 1999 Chassagne-Montrachet with the partridge which I particularly enjoyed. I believe a second burgundy was served with the pigeon, but it was somewhat closed. A cabernet with the duck came as a bit of a tannic suprise, but was acceptable. Nice Sauternes with the dessert. Was anyone else paying attention? The conclusion? How have the mighty fallen. Not the feeling you want to walk away from a $360 check with.

No, that's very kind of you, but really. I am just interested in the details of the planning, as anyone would be.

If you dispense with having a name tag, does that mean you don't have to pay? ( logistics)

Would you like an independent party to draw up a seating chart? Just trying to help.

Why don't we start the meal while standing up, promptly at seven o'clock. Eat the first two courses while moving around the room meeting people. Then for the other courses, alternate between sitting boy-girl-boy-girl and all men/all women tables. I think if we eat like jackals we could be done by eight thirty. Oh, shoot, I'm not coming, am I?

I concur with those views on Lamazou. I used to live nearby and shopped there regularly. The owner is a charming gentleman from Tunisia, but he certainly has a passion for French cheese. It is a small store, and a lot of their regular business is making and selling sandwiches, but I recommend trying it for soft French cheeses especially - Vacherin in season, Reblochon, Pont L'Eveque, Munster, Livarot. They have some decent hams and charcuterie, and an odd obsession with British grocery items (as if they bought ten per cent of their stock from Myers of Keswick) - McVitie's chocolate digestives, Piccalilli, and so on. I used to go elsewhere when I needed to choose from a wider selection, but I am happy to give them a boost here. They deserve support - not least, echoing Bux, because I believe they sell the cheese out of love; there's probably more money in selling sandwiches. Contact details.

Apart from potatoes, you can also fry eggs in it. Duck eggs ideally.

I was awoken on Sunday morning by the sound of an explosion. Caused, apparently, by leaving one of these to boil without supervision. If you want to paint your kitchen walls and ceiling light brown, this seems to me to be by far the fastest way of doing so.

Brief searching persuades me that almost every restaurant in Manhattan has at least one violation. Le Cirque and ADNY seemed to come up clean. One my favorite restaurants had vermin in the kitchen. Oh, good.

...who had also previously visited the restaurant.

I agree. Within the constraints of the import regulations, quite a good range of cheeses can now be found in New York. But even a place like Artisanal will sell you cheese which is too old, dried out, over-aged. It's s shame. Bux: silly mistake, which I have now corrected. The shop on 3rd is indeed Lamazou, and they do a little affinage on a small scale.

Toby, what was that delicious buttery salty goo I was tasting just before I left, which reminded me of dulce de leche?

Good question. There's a stack of canned anchovies packed in salt (the cans aren't all that big) at Wild Edibles in Grand Central with a big sign saying something like "Yes! The salt packed anchovies are here!" I know I have eaten these in tapas bars in Spain, but I am struggling to recall whether they were exceptionally good.