Louisa Chu

chefg, this is the first time you've dined in your dining room?! I wonder how it would have been had you dined solo, with friends or other experienced Trio diners - rather than a reporter. Would you consider doing that another time? Do members of your staff ever have a dining room experience? And please - Matrix Reloaded?! Might I humbly suggest that you give yourself a break? For me, when I cook, yes, of course I know the scenes, I know the story, I'm not surprised by the ending. But when it's working right, the scenes, story, ending still hold me, draw me in emotionally, satisfyingly lead me to the end. For you, what's your Lawrence of Arabia? That's how I imagine your dining experiences for you to be.

Moby, physically? No. But now I fantasize about an eGullet line-up of assistants. I'll work on the feed. FedEx me some brunoised carrots. And Provencal stuffed veggies - the usual suspects - tomato, pepper, zucchini, eggplant, etc. Flesh scooped out, mixed with a meat/fat/rice stuffing, stuffed back in, baked until tender. Sometimes topped with some breadcrumbs and/or cheese, baked golden. Served warm or cold. Preferably with a chilled rose. Overlooking the Med. Pan, merci! Maybe we should explain that it's a tradition here in France to wish someone good luck on exams by saying "merde" - like wishing an actor "break a leg"! hollywood, thanks for the link and the tip on the hazelnuts. But I think I would die before I could shell 3 pounds of fava beans! If only we could do the frozen. And yes! Dare I say it? I've been more inspired by the Italian preparations of fava beans - but French presentation of course!

hollywood, WOMD? And yes, pirate, thanks. How do they taste? Strong or mild? Eperlans are like smelt - small and silvery - and apparently harder to come by but I've seen them in the markets. In Basic we did a recipe where we took sole and shaped strips to look like eperlans. Jon, jalapeno poppers.

fresh_a, oh no. Details on the Dior party too please! I would like to know what's served - and I guess we should center it on food and drink - at a 6 story loft party in Paris - albeit in the 19th but never mind.

Quite a bit of money is available as scholarships - and some of that scholarship money went to me last year. The James Beard Foundation Scholarships. OK, so they're not spending it on the kitchen - where do you think the money goes?

hollywood, went to the Saveurs Salon last night. Started with a free glass of Champagne and it got better from there. Stuffed myself like a foie gras duck on food and drink samples. The tastiest items were the cheeses and sausages - covered in molds I'd imagined only allowed in biowarfare labs. Pan, sadly, yes about the bread. But the staff in fine restaurants should overlook any kind of indiscretions. Moby, spife - that's it! And the ravioli we had - I asked Chef Boucheret - former chef at Ledoyen - and he said no puree - just small dice the foie gras then lightly saute it to render the fat, the rest the same. Jonathan, more on the El Bulli pea puree ravioli please. Sauce? And I think the Ledoyen ravioli disproves the axiom for precisely the opposite reason as yours at Batali. At Ledoyen the dish was pure, subtle, and harmonious. The filling, a taste and textural reduction of the sauce. When you first see the plate you see those small but whole, earthy but otherworldly, gnarled but beautiful morels - and small slabs of seared foie gras. You expect strong flavours with such a strong initial visual - and from the deep aroma of the morels. But the tastes are subtle - with more of an emphasis on aroma and texture. The pasta was another surprise. So fine and thin you could see the filling within. But perfectly al dente purposefully serving that sense of the phrase. Your teeth actually feel a resistance before breaking through to the filling. And the filling, again, a refinement. Much like dark chocolate ravioli in chocolate sauce. Jon, cromesquis, soup dumplings, jalepeno poppers - yeah, pretty much all the same concept. herbacidal, if only I'd asked for it - I'm sure those guys would have been happy to oblige. Bux, oh my, what are you reading these days?! But seriously, we have found what we believed to be extraordinary generosity to be common courtesy here in Paris. And no, the French are normally not an excitable people. Except in the kitchen.

Moby! Ugh, you're putting me through my culinary paces! OK. The ravioli filling was diced morels with smooth foie gras. So I'm guessing that they pureed sauteed foie gras and then added sweated morels, binding the mixture with cream. So kind of a mousse of foie gras but not really a salpicon of morels - since a salpicon usually refers to a cooked dice bound with a cream or even sauce but not really with a mousse. And the sauce. The dish was garnished with seared foie gras and sauteed morels. So again I'm guessing, they seared the foie gras, removed it, reserved the fat, used some of the fat to sweat some shallots, sweated the morels, deglazed with some alcohol - maybe Port - reduced it down to a syrup, added some white stock - maybe poultry - reduced, added some cream, reduced, chinois-ed, mounted with butter. As for the peppers and the cress, for my taste yes - I would have liked some more heat and pepperiness - but for French haute cuisine, no, it was correct. I'm supposed to find out about the stage this week. But the strikes have made everything crazy so now I'm not sure. I'll ask Chef Chantefort to call on Monday if we don't hear from them by Friday afternoon. hollywood, I don't know Paris Pastry in Westwood! Where is it and what's it like? What else do they have? I did have a running croissant competition with a friend of mine when I was there. She liked La Conversation's the best - I thought La Provence's were better. As for the other stuff, you can get the same Evian and Volvic water there. Same for Maille mustard. I actually prefer Peet's coffee! But the cheese and bread, well just wait until you get back to France. And I get knocked on my ass with discoveries here almost on a daily basis. Going to the Saveurs Salon tomorrow - food show - I cannot wait. alacarte, thank you so much! You know what? I actually did forget about those chocolate boxes until you just reminded me - I gave away one so two more to go! Bux, as they say "C'est normal." But it's not, is it? And this is Paris - the big bad city - not some little French village! Suzanne, well, don't forgive the French completely yet for the way the sometimes abuse pasta! But those ravioli were incredible. And I just made the most amazing fresh pasta for the first time this session - and lucky enough to have Chef Bruno teach me hands on. He worked at an Italian restaurant here in Paris for 6 years - before he went to Maxim's. The private dining room's focal point is actually the view of the garden just outside. I thought it was a private garden but I just went by there the other day and saw that it was not - it's accessible just steps off the Champs-Elysees. The far curved wall looks out onto an expansive green lawn, flower beds, and stone fountain - though it wasn't on. You first walk in through heavy, gold-framed glass doors and take about three steps down into the dining room. It's a simple, columned, thickly carpeted, heavily curtained room. Easily held about 10 round white tableclothed tables for 8 - could have been set up for double. Comfortable, gilded, upholstered armless slipper chairs. A luxurious garden room. And I do have a camera. The ex took/lost the cable to download so I need to get a new one! Coming soon! Maggie, thanks so much. And that would make sense about the spoon! Though I must admit that while the appropriate silverware was provided that bread was used - discretely- for the last of the sauce.

WHAT???!!! I can't believe this! I sure hope the summer regulars beat some sense back into them! (I knew I should have stopped after the 10th sample! Damn!)

T, I don't want to be like Red Lobster? In what way? I like their volume. awbrig, yeah, I want to know too - how do they cook their stuff? Remember their all you can eat Alaskan king crab leg specials? I think my immediate family alone must have created losses so big that they stopped this deal. Suzanne, I like that Match sushi assistant's style. I thank everything I kill before killing them. Pat, what's your rule for size and cooking time? Mark, I draw the line where I draw it. Some people don't need a line. How about you? Spencer, thanks. I like to kill without cruelty. There's actually a law in New Zealand against killing lobsters inhumanely.

Pan, you bring up an interesting point about perspectives on prices. At first I thought, wow, you thought Fennochio was expensive? I thought it was the best deal in town - a couple of bucks for a huge scoop on a cone, rich, perfumed - gelato - cafe seating. But then I remembered you lived lived there on a student budget. Which is my perspective now on Berthillon - but their servings are tiny! Where's the heart these days? North or South? I'm looking forward to my first summer in Paris but the South calls to me.

But Robert, I think your advice is best. I think a visitor to a village like Falicon is better off asking for the restaurant of Chef Delacourt!

Catherine, I'm not sure that humility is or ever will be considered undesirable or inconducive to true mastery and creativity - so if it was it would surprise me. One of my initial disappointments at Cordon Bleu was we were not allowed to work in teams - except in some specific Intermediate and Superior Patisserie practicals. Our chefs explained that practicals are designed so that we each perfect our own skills. They expect students to learn to work in teams during their stages. Your insightful ideas about following the direction of the materials directly contradicts much of what classical French cuisine teaches. The onion will be cut and cooked fondante as it must. The fennel will be blanched and pureed because it must. Why is the oldest knife in the drawer the dullest? My oldest and sharpest knife is a cleaver selected for me by my mother. The oldest knives my chefs use are barely recognizable as knives, so frequently sharpened over decades of use but guarded with tender care. Doesn't what overwhelm and exhaust one diner potentially startle, soothe or delight another? I don't currently live in a culture that worships novelty or accepts all influences - I live in France. Thank you again for another thought-provoking post. Lesley, I agree with you completely. Holly, interesting that you use the martial arts metaphor. I often use that mental discipline in the kitchen as well. One of the goals is to present yourself so that one never needs to engage in confrontation. Not obnoxiously but quietly confidently so. Especially interesting remembering how many of my ancient great-uncles could have knocked over me or any of my cousins with a move we'd have never seen coming! Pan, thank you. But as Chef Pascal warns us "There are more Salvadors than Dalis." And Fennochio, it's the incredible ice cream place, right in Place Rosetti, across from Cathedrale Sainte Reparate. My favourite flavours wavered between melon and lavender. Maybe it's blasphemous to say but I think they're so much better than Berthillon. Fat Guy, I'd love to read that story. Bux, I truly do too and if I haven't said it sincerely enough then you in your more civilized manner have.

Menton, the name of the restaurant is Parcours. Robert, I just saw your post. Perhaps this is a more updated article on gastronomie.com. Thanks so much again for the tip.

Oh no. Not so fast. Recipe please?

Plasma screens with only four in the kitchen?! Hopefully I can try this place this summer. Thanks for the tip.

Bux, thank you so much. I'm just so grateful that I have any knowledge to share that perhaps it comes across too prideful. Yet another of the deadly sins of which I'm guilty - gluttony most commonly of the others. I do hope you will help keep me in check. Pan, thank you. I'm speechless. I am so completely in awe of musicians - an art form which I appreciate deeply but sadly have no ear - that you would speak to me as a fellow artist/performer leaves me protesting that I am unworthy. You will help me in thosedark moments that I hesitate. You have spoken in the words of a true master. Thank you again. And did you go to Fennochio when you were in Nice? One of my favourite places in the world.

Meow. Or as they say here in France, miaou.

And thank you Perlow family for the links! Both very funny and informative.

Oh, Brooke. There's no "we"! You're on your own with the PETA people! But seriously, thanks very much for sharing your tips and personal insight into the matter!

I just saw a CuisineTV show here with Paul Bocuse where he takes the hostess around the Lyons Les Halles to taste his favourite cheeses, sausages, etc. They sit down for lunch at a little cafe inside at what looks like an American food court and are served a plate of simple, hearty, tasty food - literally meat and potatoes. Is this kind of thing good for one year olds? Lots of different stimuli? And I'm sure lots of vendors who will dote on the both of you! Bon voyage! And football?

I've only made croissants once before, under pretty advere conditions, but they turned out pretty well, so I have hope that anyone's can. Checking my notes, the ingredients and recipes are similar to Julia's and Larousse's - Really Nice, the salt amount's missing in the Larousse recipe - but there's a couple of major differences in technique. We used fresh compressed yeast and we barely worked the dough in the beginning - as one would with a puff pastry dough. Just smooth, not elastic. And we were told when using a dry yeast to let the dough rest for 4 to 5 hours before turns. And if using fresh yeast, mix it with the milk and then with the other dry ingredients - you never want the yeast coming in direct contact with the salt or sugar because they will kill it. And when we use butter for turns it's supple not soft. It holds its shape but when you handle it, but it bends not breaks. And when doing the turns feel free to add flour to dust to keep the dough from sticking to your work surface, but brush off all the excess - best with an actual brush - before folding and turning so you don't incorporate too much more flour. When slicing into this kind of pastry - puff type pastry - lift the dough a bit to relax it because when it's rolled out, it's spread and then when sliced it will contract. And we weighed the triangles so they were the right, consistent size - 70/80g each. Hope this helps. And Really Nice, your last bit of advice is perfect! I'm almost always amazed when these things turn out!

Sounds really good. I love kale. Thanks for the recipe. Can't wait to try it. And you never know about spices especially in ethnic melange cultures - like Louisiana. I was surprised to learn how much saffron and curry they use in some southern French regions - from the ancient sailing routes.

CyN, I wonder what the response would have been had it been passed on to Madame. I do think this may be have been a clash of cultural and personal differences with a very unfortunate outcome if you do indeed never intend to dine at Lucas Carton because of it.

Living in the land of baguette-eaters I really miss good cornbread. One of my favourites back in the States is at Wishbone in Chicago. And of course Yankee cornbread can be a whole meal - just eat a whole batch and don't go giving it all away. I didn't realize that it was a southern tradition to mash and eat your cornbread and greens together. What are the common greens to eat these days? Is it really kale? With curry?? Thanks.

JAZ, you have just changed my life. Living in the land of wine drinkers I'm a closet cocktailer. When I go out to a bar I don't want a glass of wine - I want their best house speciality cocktail. I don't want to start dinner with champagne - I want a colourful, complex cocktail. Your deconstruction as grammar and formula is brilliant. I can now understand the language - and the balance of elements. I can now create my own cocktails - whereas before I was subject to the tyranny of recipes and the whims of bartenders. Other than the size of the glasses, what's your opinion on the glassware used? Are they like wineglasses - will a margarita glass make a difference to the drink? Thanks.