vserna

Les Terrasses is Alvaro Palacios' third wine, after L'Ermita (60 year-old grenache vines) and Finca Dofí (a younger vineyard planted to grenache, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and some merlot), and the only one of the three made from bought-in grapes, mostly grenache and carignan. It's a pleasant honest Priorat, no doubt, but in an entirely different league. Priorat, as a wine for food, is comparable to a powerful but very aromatic Châteauneuf-du-Pape like Château de Beaucastel. You need meat dishes, not necessarily the proverbial grilled beef steak, but certainly powerful and spicy: from a venison stew to such exotic dishes as a lamb rogan josh or a goulasch with spätzle noodles... About the prices: I'm afraid the Clos Mogador, after finishing No. 4 on the Wine Spectator's Top 100 list for this year, will see its price rise and inch closer to the other two. But great wines of this caliber are no longer cheap anywhere in the world.

Yes, all three of them. L'Ermita, Clos Mogador and Clos Erasmus have almost constantly been the top three in the region for the past decade, and in 2001 all three were fantastic, combining power with complexity and elegance: an unlikely mix. Very expensive, though...

Indeed, in addition to reds we have a white wine category and an "other wines" category for fortified, sweet or fizzy wines, and there's always a winner in each of those three. But this was a very strong year for reds, so every single one of the 12 'honorary mentions' has gone to a red wine. I think this is the first time in ten years we have had such a situation...

It's in Spanish, but at least the names of the wines are easily comprehensible... http://elmundovino.elmundo.es/elmundovino/...icia=1073220997

...and, by the way, this being the French board, let's not forget the terrific tripes à la mode de Caen, perhaps in that old Les Halles bistrot, Pharamond.

And it is, Michael. Even better at the (sadly, soon to close or change hands) old Madrid tavern, Las Batuecas, where the star dish is a juicy, tender, round Spanish potato omelet (tortilla de patatas) surrounded by a nice, soupy helping of callos a la madrileña with its bits of tripe, veal's hoof and chorizo. Barbarian comfort food.

Veal hoof is seldom eaten alone in Spain. It's usually combined with veal tripe for one of those dishes (callos) that most Anglo-Saxon diners will refuse with a shudder. In addition, some spicy chorizo sausage is added to the hoof and tripe in the Madrileño version, while the Galician callos come, perhaps unsurprisingly, with chick peas. Other animal's feet do show up often on their own: pig's trotters and lamb's trotters. Curiously, these feet are called 'hands' in Castilian.

Yes, but beware! "Veal's eyes" mysteriously turn, when translated into Spanish, into "veal's ears". Not that I particularly care for either...

The comparison is a bit like saying scotch beats Tennessee sour mash. What's the point? These are two entirely different stews, loosely united by kidney beans, but the large white haricots cocos and the smaller black feijão preto have different textures and tastes, the meats are entirely different (pork and beef with feijoada, lots of duck or goose with cassoulet, with pork sausages only added in the Toulouse version), and also the cooking methods; the feijoada is served with lots of accompaniments like farofa, orange quarters, fried cabbage, rice... and cassoulet stands on its own. I think there are three great kidney bean-based stews in the world - Brazil's feijoada, southern France's cassoulet and, in Spain, Asturias' fabada. Ranking them would be a waste of time IMHO. Tasting all of them, if possible in their native surroundings (ingredients are hard to duplicate, and they're very decisive), is better! Cassoulet at Le Tirou in Castelnaudary, fabada at Casa Gerardo in Prendes or (as friends tell me - I haven't been there myself) the Saturday feijoada at Sagarana in Belo Horizonte: that would be the closest to perfection for each of those three hearty stews. Now - Boston baked beans, anyone? Would that rate in the top tier? Any other great bean stews?

Why? Portugal is a smaller country, therefore with a little less geographic and agricultural diversity than Spain, so unavoidably the 'variety' factor is less powerful. However, Belgium is also much smaller than France, yet the Belgians shouldn't feel any complexes about their great food! I believe Portugal is so strong in so many areas (dried codfish, fresh fish, shellfish, suckling pig, soft cheeses, vegetables, soups, 'conventual' sweets, dry table wines, fortified wines...) and even in cooking techniques (the cataplana should be promoted internationally as a 'double wok', and it could become the next great utensil in kitchens!) that it's just a matter of exploiting them adequately and of working on updates of the traditions for Portugal's cuisine to thrive and its gastronomic reputation to grow.

Actually, now that no one is watching or listening and that Alain has been dead for far too long - Bocuse could never beat him in his wildest dreams!

Indeed I've eaten in Yountville, otherwise I wouldn't have an opinion. I find Thomas Keller's cuisine refined and satisfactory, but hugely dependent on (very thinly disguised) classic French techniques, and as such less original and less modern than what many other chefs throughout the world (including the US) are doing today. I believe that its middling level of sheer creativity would, by itself, exclude The French Laundry from a list of 'best in the world' wannabes. I don't have a single candidate for 'best restaurant in the world'. That's preposterous IMHO - just like a 'best wine in the world' would be. (Or 'best painter in the world' - although I personally have a weakness for Vermeer, I couldn't reasonably protest if someone else prefers Velázquez...) Too many variables, too many incomparable qualities that make such rankings absurd. Not to mention the fact that I don't even know all the Michelin three-stars in Europe. There is of course a group atop the rankings, where I would put El Bulli, Michel Bras and Arpège, but someone else would add or subtract names. I sincerely don't think The French Laundry quite has what it takes to be ranked in that lofty company. Just a notch below.

The recurring theme of The French Laundry as "best restaurant in the world" never ceases to amaze me. IMHO, it reveals amazing degrees of parochialism and disinformation on the reality of the world's great restaurants.

Gambero Rosso has as much of a peculiar political/gastronomic agenda as Michelin does in its own way. And this goes both for tre forchette and for tre bicchieri. That is why so many in Italy are wary of it. I'd say it's even less reliable than Michelin in one sense: it's still playing the perennial rating-hike game, which Michelin has more or less abandoned, and thus keeping up the illusion that restaurants are improving all the time. Just my 2 eurocents'.

One minor correction, Paul: Van den Ende's company never was sold to Telefónica. It was merged in 1994 with John de Mol's Endemol, and this company was later sold to Telefónica.

To the Terra web site (also saying such things as "I go a couple of times every year to McDonald's to have a burger"). It's in Spanish though... http://www.terra.es/alimentacion/articulo/html/ali5929.htm

Mmmm... Ferran and burritos. Not as far-fetched as some would think. Then again, if he ever gets some inspiration in this field, it'll probably be with something less Tex-Mex and more genuinely Aztec or Maya... As he was recently telling a Spanish interviewer... "Last March I went to Mexico and they gave me some worms called escamoles, and I had all sorts of trouble convincing myself to eat them, and then it turns out they were delicious. Then again, what are our angulas (baby eels)? Well, worms. And our 'centolla' (sea spider)? A big spider." In the same interview, Adrià says he has had "four or five magical meals" in his life, one at Michel Bras' restaurant (modern Spanish cooks should erect a monument to Bras, who was long their spiritual leader...), one of Kaiseki imperial cuisine in Japan, and "two in the United States". He doesn't say where, but I'm pretty certain one of the two was at Charlie Trotter's. He also says that "by far, China is the most important culinary nation, and it's in constant evolution, not immobile as some believe." That said, Ferran can get some decent Mexican inspiration close to home. Spain is as full of Tex-Mex fast food as the rest of Europe, but Madrid is the only European city that I know where a couple of serious Mexican restaurants (Entre Suspiro y Suspiro, Taquería del Alamillo) of 'foodie quality' can be found.

And (picking up on the Toronto mention) I am still looking for more input on Italian restaurants abroad... but not only in New York! (And Valentino in Santa Monica... I see it's still considered the best Italian there. Goodness, I last ate there in 1984, and it was already the best Italian in LA. Are they doing things extraordinarily right, or is the LA restaurant scene much more petrified than I would have thought?) One example: There are no fewer than four Italian restaurants in Paris which Michelin has judged worthy of one star each: the Gualtiero Marchesi clone at the Hôtel de Lotti, Carpaccio at the Royal-Monceau, Sormani and Il Cortile. Any opinions on the true culinary merits of these?

The Negresco was already very good under Alain Llorca, Robert, and he will help revitalize the Moulin de Mougins. (Ah, the Roger Vergé heyday, 30 years ago...) Alain is in Madrid in two weeks, and I'll try to see what his plans are...

Yes it does. It's one of their dishes. And you can choose rice or vermicelli as the base: this second version is called 'fideuà' and is an increasingly popular alternative to rice in paella-type dishes since someone (no earlier than the 1950s) had the idea to substitute pasta for rice.

You really had a lot of bad luck at Can Majò, Robert. I've had very decent paellas there, although their best rice dishes are a bit soupier than paella, much in the Catalan style: their 'arroz al caldero', rice with lobster, and the 'arroz a la cazuela estilo pescador', with a mix of fish and shellfish; their 'suquet de peix' (fish stew in a rich broth) is also delightful. Catalan comfort food, essentially.

Of course they're all pretty different. That's what makes them interesting. Carbon copies is something we can do without! I'm a lot more sanguine about Sant Pau than you are, though. I think Carme Ruscalleda is a huge talent. It's impressionist cooking, yes, but so delicate... http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/fish/shrimp/santpau.htm

Can Majò is really the place in Barcelona for seafood paellas. It's in the Barceloneta quarter - the former fishermen's quarter, a small peninsula alongside the Port Vell (Old Harbor) of Barcelona. But there are other similar, extremely worthy fish and seafood places in the area which are just as recommendable, although perhaps less well-known. Note these names: Can Ramonet, Can Costa, Cal Pinxo, El Suquet de l'Almirall, and (in the nearby Moll de la Fusta) El Merendero de la Mari.

That's easy, Bruce. As I've mentioned, Rafa in Roses and Hispania in Arenys de Mar. For the modern, 'starred' experience, two more, truly great restaurants: Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar and El Celler de Can Roca in Girona. To add a third regional restaurant, there's the classic Hostal de la Granota (the Frog's Inn) in Sils. Yes, they serve good frogs' legs. (And other stuff...)

I am often struck, when following this board, not by the fixation with El Bulli, Arzak or Mugaritz - these are great restaurants, and they logically center everyone's interest - but by the exclusion of everything outside these fabled, starred restaurants when planning trips to Spain. The itineraries I've seen include those, plus Can Fabes, Martin Berasategui, Akelarre, etc. - and no room or thought at all is given to traditional or regional places. It's understandable that the cutting-edge places concentrate so much attention, but I think all those who only want to eat at these types of restaurants will miss culinary experiences that are as interesting and often more original, more 'different'. I can tell you this: if anyone is familiar with Pierre Gagnaire, he will be less surprised with El Bulli than with Rafa's modest bar-and-restaurant in Roses. Outstanding raw materials are a Spanish specialty, and sometimes they can only be found in Spain, or are different in Spain (lamb, suckling pig) from what one would find under such names elsewhere. These products are best highlighted in simpler, 'terroir'-oriented restaurants than in the havens of refinement. The blinkered foodie will thus miss, if he/she only goes from three stars to two stars to three stars again, all these treats that really mark the soul of Spanish gastronomy: - the Roses bay shrimp or the L'Escala anchovies at Rafa's, or perhaps the tiny springtime Maresme green peas (next March!) and delicate langoustines ('escamarlans', in Catalan) at Hispania, a few miles down the coast - the classic menu at a down-home 'sidrería' in Guipúzcoa (these raucous, fun cider-making and cider-serving establishments' offer typically is a fresh-tuna omelet, a porterhouse steak with piquillo peppers and a 'pantxineta' cake) - the unique texture and taste of a Castilian milk-fed lamb of the 'churra' breed, slowly roasted in a low-temperature baker's oven - the opulence of a 'cazuela' (small earthenware pan) of sautéed baby eels followed by a grilled 'a la espalda' sea bream at Kaia, Elkano or Kaipe, the fine fish 'asadores' in Getaria near San Sebastián - the real paella, a very wide, very shallow pan with the thinnest (less than a half-inch) layer of Calasparra short-grain rice, first fried and then cooked with a classic accompaniments of wild rabbit and small snails, at Paco Gandía's paella shrine in Pinoso (Alicante) - the explosion of fresh Ribera del Ebro vegetables, perhaps under the guise of a palatable mixed 'menestra' with bits of serrano ham, at such Navarra restaurants as Maher in Cintruénigo: cardoons, artichokes, piquillo and cristal peppers, tiny 'cogollo' lettuces, asparagus, broad beans... - the fastuous three courses (soup, vegetables, meats) drawn from a pot of 'cocido madrileño', the chickpea-dominated Madrid 'pot-au-feu' in one of the three nostalgic dining rooms of the capital's 165-year-old Lhardy restaurant... ...and many more such moments. Take my word for it: a serious foodie trip to such countries as Spain or Italy should always include one 'moment' like those for each three-star meal enjoyed. Only the knowledge of both ends of the culinary spectrum will enable the 'gastronomad' (as Curnonsky used to call them... er, us) to understand the breadth of the food experience in these countries. But of course you're free to go to Italy and spend a whole week not eating spaghetti even once...