Louisa Chu

Had my first one this past Sunday - from Jean-Paul Hevin - check out a photo on their site here. Chocolate puff pastry - glazed perfectly - very dark, rich, shiny, and appealing. Modern, minimalist decoration - the lines scored outside are traditional but reveal the signature of the house and patissiers - garnished with a bit of finely crushed chocolate nibs. Interior - classic almond filling but with chocolate morsels throughout and a bit of crushed pistachios. Deep cocoa aroma, surprisingly not very sweet at all - very good chocolate experience - might be even better warm. I found the feve! A little urn - part of their Atlantis treasure theme this year - set of 10 for only 29E. Crown - matte gold, good quality heavy cardstock, again fairly minimal but not too modern. I've only seen two out of the three offered at Fauchon. The two classic puff pastry with two fillings - classic almond and an interesting sounding saffron-pear. There's a third in chocolate but I haven't seen it yet. Very cute feves - seven different puzzle-shapes that fit together to form a city-center map of Paris - with the Seine running through the middle - each with a single letter that spells out F-A-U-C-H-O-N. Set of seven currently available at 109 Euros - makes their galettes a bargain in comparison. Crown - cute but regal - with a big Fauchon "F" insignia. Lenotre - three kinds - the classic; a very cool square caramelised pear filled - the shape a riff on their macarres/their square macarons; and a plain, dry, unfilled - I shudder to think. Available in boutique with a glass of Sydre - the amazing artisanal cider by Eric Bordelet, the ex-Arpege sommelier who went back to rework his family business in Normandy. The feves - really sweet, small oval plaques illustrated with their Lenotre girl in seven Lenotre scenes - with Lenotre shopping bags, attending to her Lenotre macaron wedding tower, etc. Feve sets not currently for sale - have to wait until all the galettes are filled - available at the end of January. Crown - abstract - stars shooting off the top. Most excited to see and taste - and find the feve - in the galettes of Pierre Herme. His feves designed again this year by design house Tse & Tse.

Pan, thanks very much for the orchestral clarification! Jellybean, thank you for the touching history on Pacaud. And yes, trois macs - three macarons - as Michelin awards macarons not stars. I'm not going to get into the comparisons amongst Messieurs Cerrutti and Piege - and now M. Moret - versus M. Pacaud - but chez Ducasse is chez Ducasse - it is very different than any of the other three-stars. And no one - but no one - takes a call from M. Piege as anything but heart-attack serious. As for the mythic, legendary, status stuff - it's just really not that way in the kitchen. We have great respect - and sometimes fear - of the great chefs - but at this level we cooks also bring with us our own sick, obsessive-compulsive, insane, perfectionist, narcissistic tendencies. Madeleines - I have no basis of comparison since we haven't served them this past season. But yes, the details at Ambroisie - trust me, I'm all about the details.

The dough weight for a batard is less than a baguette so yeah it will be shorter but not necessarily wider - I'll get the specs on both. You mean what does "bastard" mean in French? Nothing - not used in French.

I'm going to be spending some time in the kitchens starting this coming Thursday morning. If you have any burning questions please post them here and I'll try to get them answered.

Would love some beef tendon and turnip right now - it's freezing in Paris too. And my mom's red-cooked beef - and oxtail soup - especially the oxtail soup. All that fat seems so forgiven - even essential - in cold weather. Had a hard time justifying it when I lived in LA.

Yes, the French make French toast - and call it pain perdu - forget about maple syrup though. What's called French bread in the States is pretty much a baguette. But in France a baguette's a pretty much standardized thing - the kind of dough and the size - usually 250g - and shape. When you talk about a baguette in France you're usually talking about the standard white bread baguette - but you can get a baguette de campagne, etc. too. Pain paysanne or pain de campagne refers to bread that's made with farine de siegle - a darker, rye flour - but not at all the same kind of rye bread that we think of in the States. It can be any kind of shape or size - boule/round loaf, petit pain/roll, etc. - not just a baguette or batard. A batard on the other hand refers back again to more the size and shape. Smaller than a baguette - I'll have to check on the size - and again can be white, campagne, etc. Side note - batard also means bastard in French so watch your context. Rock hard, day old baguette - avoid it by sticking leftover baguette in a plastic bag the night before and toast it up in the morning.

I want that green tea Mont Blanc chocolate ice cream thing! Kristin, are Mont Blancs common in Japan? And do they do them with chestnut paste there too? I'm going to have a Matcha green tea galette des rois from Aoki Patisserie here in Paris this coming week - and a chocolate one from chocolatier Jean-Paul Hevin - but I would to have the two flavours in one!

Thanks Pan for the link. That's so bizarre. I mean I know some restaurants have a really small staff - but to have no cooks?! Is that like having an orchestra but only the conductor shows up?

marcus, well sure you can - I'm going next Saturday with someone who falls into all those categories. Here's the thing with 3-mac French restaurants - there's no conspiracy to keep anyone out - it's just a matter of constantly fluctuating factors. If a restaurant says call back in a month - don't - call back the next day - and the next and the next and the next if necessary. Pan, just a matter of semantics, but a Chef de Cuisine should always be there - a chef/propriataire or exec chef not necessarily. Do tell - what happened in Chablis! shilly, is it your belief that a star chef - or even chef de cuisine or even sous-chef for that matter - cooks in the kitchen? Cooks cook - chefs usually cook. But in a three-mac Paris restaurant, one of the chefs will have a look and touch over every single piece of food that goes out of the kitchen - from the butter to the foie gras to the St. Jacques to the Homard de Breton to the Volaille de Bresse - even the toast - everything. As for websites - it's a cultural difference - the cultures being France and the restaurants - websites are new - most of the top cooks I know do not even have email addresses.

A creme brulee and a creme anglaise are totally different things - the latter's a thick liquid and yes, the former's more like a panna cotta. As for the right consistency you have a little play with personal taste - make it as firm or as soft as you like but it should be set but a soft set in the center.

By the end of 2004 I hope to have a better understanding of what will be my professional signature style of cooking - a prototype restaurant menu that I - and others - will recognize as representative of me - and much that I will have learned from Ducasse and El Bulli and the great kitchens in China.

At ADPA we use Victorinox as our cheap, everyday - but decent - knives. They're like less than 10 bucks for a paring knife and only in the 20's for chef's and bread knives. But don't use a serrated knife for bones! Get some garden shears or a cheap Chinatown cleaver instead.

It snowed here in Paris this morning - but turned to rain by afternoon. My favourite season here is winter - especially Christmas, New Year's - I can't believe it's Galettes des Rois season again - and then there are the crepes in February. To me, winter is feasting season.

Kristin, I had almost the same thing as part of my dinner tonight - rice, natto, soup, and nori - in Paris! But I also had some leftover cheese and macaroons for dessert. Beautiful new pix too - thanks again. Bonne chance on the lottery!

I don't know about English-language websites as a primer for French food but as for books I recommend Saveur Cooks Authentic French and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. Was there something specific you wanted to know?

Thanks again Kristin. Oh too bad - that's what I wanted - pix inside grocery stores! And I guess they're wise to the mini-cameras - being Japan.

Jellybean, may I say, as the lowest person on the worldwide Ducasse totem pole, I'm very proud that you think Louis XV is the best table on the Riviera. And for anyone who's really interested, they might have cancellations. At ADPA we are technically booked for New Year's Eve but there are a few tables being held for regulars that have yet to be confirmed-confirmed. Slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Kristin, could you please take some pix on your next trips to the market? And is your fridge big by Japanese standards? And do those tantanmen packs contain the beef too? It's huge by Parisian standards - like mine - I shipped mine over from the States and my French friends marvel over it. Thanks so much again for sharing this all - including your thoughtful husband and sweet children too!

One of the most frightening statements you can make to a restauranteur.

Yeah, shumai can have anything in them - shrimp, chicken, f-f-fusion ones with cheese - but the classic ones are pork. Those Yokohama ones look goood.

Chinese! Shumai are Chinese! They're a dim sum specialty - steamed pork dumplings - and apparently one of the most famous foods in Yokohama - according to Kristin's link above.

Kristin, how are you such a babe with three - adorable - little kids?! And I love how the famous food of Yokohama is shumai - the food that cured me of vegetarianism - and there are even decent ones here at the Asian traiteurs here in Paris. Can't wait to see what's on your menu this week!

Pan, I don't know if there is a minimum age for kids at ADPA. I'll find out. But of the two kids I've seen visiting the kitchen with their families, they looked about 8 or 9. Fifi, I don't know the legalities of banning babies from restaurants in the States. And why get me started about dogs in restaurants? Do I need to write the book about how my dog dines out in France? In cafes, etc., if the other dogs are wandering around and it's cool with the staff, then she wanders around too. But in one-stars and up - and Robuchon - she stays by my side. At Chez Clovis - one of the last surviving old-school Les Halles bistros - they encourage her to jump up on the banquettes; at Le Violon d'Ingres they bring her a beautiful and huge white ceramic terrine as a water bowl. But like I said she can't go with me to Ducasse - but she is going to Gagnaire.

Mark, sorry but I think you have your answer here - you can't do a no babies policy in the States. It's such a hot topic that you'd generate a lot of bad publicity - especially because your boss is French. At ADPA - Ducasse in Paris - we have a no babies policy. And no dogs. Considered kind of strict even for Parisian standards, because usually it's just an unspoken rule - to have an actual policy in place is kind of a big deal. But it is enforced. Children are allowed though.

Hey in Paris dinner comes before the soft-core titty show - at both the Moulin Rouge and the Lido - there are priorities around here you know. And at the Lido the menus are "crafted in collaboration" with Paul Bocuse! The dinner package is actually a pretty good deal - only about 40 euros more than just the show alone. As for how they are, according to friends who've been to both - don't ask - the food's not bad, the shows can be fun if you're in the mood, and - as is often the case - drinks are expensive but help get you in - and stay in - the mood.