Steve Plotnicki

Cabrales-I can't comment on how the Uni served at UP compares to the Uni in France as I have never eaten Uni in France. Also, it is a tertiary flavor in the UP dish as the bay scallop and tomato water/mustard oil combo are the primary movers there. But if you want good Uni in NYC, head over to Sushi Yasuda. I was there two weeks ago and the Uni was like Creme Brullee.

"That column is sheer dreck." Leslie-That's because it is a lifestyle magazine. Not really a food and wine magazine. Conrad-First, there is a thread on the General board about Amanda Hesser of the Times and how her weekly column in the food section is more about her personal life than food. Secondly, I think that most criticism is really about editorial slant. People listen to critics like Hesser or Gill because they relate to their lifestyle and/or sensibilities. In my own instance, I would much prfer to read Calvin Trillin write about eating in New Orleans even if his knowledge of food isn't all that good. But what he does do well is capture the spirit of New Orleans, and why we go there in the first place.

Jason-That might have been the case when the restaurant first opened but since Fred Price came there from Picholine (at least 3-4 years ago) he's been taking care of it. I looked through Willie's catalog and didn't see any wines I noticed on the list on Saturday night. But I think I am going back there later this week and will ask Fred about Willie. But I did eat in Willie's grandfather's restaurant a number of times including going to my cousin Mel's Bar Mitzvah there in 1965. It was a kosher meat restauarant of which there weren't many at the time. I can still picture the block it was on. And I'm sure his Grandpa is turning in his grave over who he married.

Tony-Eating salt beef after it comes out of its boiling liquid shouldn't matter. Any place that is worth it's weight in salt (couldn't resist) would keep the salt beef in a steam drawer so that it would always be moist and hot. Never cold and dry. I would also assume that Israelis who serve Sephardic food, things like humus and kofte know nothing about good, old fashioned, fatty salt beef. For god sakes they live on a Mediteranean diet. What would they know about lean or fatty? It's all lean.

Yvonne-I don't know about the tasting menu. They used to serve one but they stopped. But I don't think the restaurant has the requisite formality to it. It also might be that the combinations are so acute that your palate tires. I don't know. But you are right and it would be a good place for an eGullet dinner. But it has to be when the scallops are still in season and I don't think we have that much time left. Beachfan-It's good for luch too. Maybe better as the room is relaxed. But I don't think the menu is as deep in choice as it was at dinner.

Dinner for four this past Saturday night at what has turned into the most reliable restaurant in town for me. When we arrived, the place was full which I was happy about. Excursions to UP not too long after 9/11 revealed a less than full dining room. But we were made to wait 15 minutes for our 8:15 reservation. One thing that is great about UP is there are no shortage of choices for either the appetizers or the entrees. Still in spite of all of the choice, I stuck with my usual, Taylor Bay Scallops with Uni and Mustard Oil. If I have never waxed rhapsodic about that dish before on these pages, let me take a moment to do so right now. There are six to an order but I wish there were 60. That's how good they are. For those who have never had them, it is a raw bay scallop that is served in its shell. It is doused with a mixture of tomato water and mustard oil and then a small portion of uni (sea urchin) is placed alongside the scallop. You eat it like an oyster, lifting the shell up to your mouth and taking it all in with one big slurp. The scallop itself is naturally sweet but also has a distinct yet mild taste of the sea. The tomato water lends a bit of acidity yet enhances the sweetness, while the mustard oil puts a tiny bite in it. And the uni is the icing on the cake, with its custard like creaminess contrasting with the firmer and springier texture of the scallop, while at the same time offering a second somewhat stronger taste of the sea, as well as additional and contrasting tastes of salty and sweet. It is a masterpiece and I think it is one of the greatest dishes to come out of New York dining during the last 20 years. Conceptually it is worthy of being on the table of any 3 star restaurant anywhere in the world. The wife of the couple we were dining with and had the scallops as well. My wife and the other husband had the Curried Baby Calamari . It turned out to be a sort of risotto-like, or maybe fricasse like depending on how it was constructed, mixture of tiny circles of extrmely tender calamari that were laid somewhat atop, and somewhat mixed in a small pile of rice and then covered in a yellow curry sauce. I believe the rice was cooked in a seafood broth to begin with, though it might have just been tossed in the curry sauce afterward. Whichever, it was quite delicious with an intense, slightly sweet curry that I can only identify as being more Southeast Asian in style like from Singapore. We followed our great appetizers with half portions of the Crab and Spring Morel Soup. It was really a throwaway line that led to this course. There were so many good sounding appetizers to choose from, I narrowed it down to the scallops and the soup. After I ordered the scallops, I said to Fred Price (who sort of runs the front room and does everything from handling the wine to taking our order,) that I was sure Rocco had a big pot of the soup on the stove and could he bring me a little taste of it. Well that request turned inot four half portions (which we paid for if you want to know.) Immediately after they placed the soup in front of us we were in heaven. The aroma of intense shellfish broth was so potent, that one could only put one's nose into the small bowl and take a deep breath of this hallucinative of the sea. And an inspection of the contents of the bowl would make one easily conclude that this was hardly a soup for there was a pile of shredded crabmeat and small rounds of morels that were in a pile that was sitting in a shallow, deep rust color broth. More like a stew than a soup. The soup tasted as intense as it smelled and the pile of crabmeat and morels in proprtion to liquid combined in a sort of semi-gelatenous and meaty mass and made it far more substantial than just a bowl of soup. I should add that later on in the evening someone at the next table ordered an entire bowl of soup and we could smell it intensely at our table. Not having a white wine in my house of proper Alsatian, Austrian or German pedigree, I relied on Fred having something on the list (he always does.) And we had a very nice 1990 riesling from the Mosel by a grower named Soloman that went perfectly with our food. My Main course was a rack of lamb in a mustard and cherry crust, and it was served with thin slices of eggplant that were braised in the sauce until they were so soft they were falling apart. The sauce was studded with a few dried cherries which added to the sweetness but in no way made it a sweet dish. Two others had the crispy soft shell crabs with ramps (and I think braised green papaya) and our fourth had the Roasted Salmon atop some caramelized endive. Just all terrific and all plates cleaned. We drank a 1990 Jaboulet Crozes-Hermitage Thalabert which I brought with me. A powerhouse of a wine for a Croze. Deep, dark chocolate and berry flavors. This wine is just starting to hit a plateau of maturity but it needs 2-4 more years in my opinion. A massive wine for the price it brings at auction. We finished with an assortment of desserts. Fine but not as interesting as the food. And we had a half bottle of a terrific 1993 Vin Santo but I forgot to jot the name down. As I have long held, I believe that Union Pacific is the top restaurant in NYC in its category. It's a shame that the casualness of the restaurant itself doesn't lend itself better to constructing a proper tasting menu. There is certainly enough diversity on the menu to do so. I'm going to see if I can organize one for a special occassion.

Conrad-I think your question needs to be parsed into people who really care about food and as a result are among the initial wave of customers who try a place and the second wave who eat on a more casual basis and go later on. For the first tranch, those reviews are the prime movers. If the New York Times gives any new place three stars, it's a given that I will immediately try and book a table. For two stars the text needs to reveal individual dishes I might find interesting before I will bother. But the second tranch of people are what I would describe as being motivated by word of mouth. They eat out less often, and when they do, the threshold of positive information a place needs to merit a booking is much higher than mine. In those instances, I believe that newspaper reviews are just one component of their choice. They want first hand experience from people who have dined there before they lay down their hard earned, and not often spent money.

Ron-Haven't had any of the Rostaings except the '95 La Landonne and Cote Brune. I found the Cote Brune overrated, and the La Landonne preferrable. As for vintage characteristics, I thought it was a softer vintage than '90 or '91. I havnt' tried the '98 and '99 Rostaings although I own wines from both vintages.

Robert-I'm a little confused. What is wrong with portion control?

Robert-The way I read your thread, you like Eleven Madison Park because it's a French restaurant, as opposed to the other Meyer establishments which are Italian-American, American and BBQ. And I'm intimately aware of how nice the room is because we held our sons Bar-Mitzvah luncheon there on a beautifully sunny Saturday in May of 2000. It is so much nicer than the other places. In fact, one can argue that it is as nice a restaurant setting as can be found. Unfortunately my experience with the cooking is that it's been erratic. I've had great meals and average meals. They used to have a special foie gras tasting with the foie prepared three different ways which was great. But the last time I was there they didn't have it. In fact the menu was a little less daring in general. But maybe they have put some more oomph in the place since my visit in October and I should try it again.

Tony-I was su[pposed to be there the week of May 13-16. But it might be rescheduled for the first week in June. I will know in a week or so.

Tony-I'm afraid we are going to have to stick with salt beef only. Since I developed an intolerance for wheat gluten, my gefilte fish days are over. Same with kishka, or stuffed derma if they call it that there. Spicy mustad and chips are good though.

No one mentioned Assagi. Though I haven't been, to a person my London friends tell me it is the best place to eat Italian in London. As for the others that have been recommended, I vote thumbs down for La Famigilia. There really isn't anything special about that place. In fact my meal was far from enjoyable. Nice garden in the back though. But if you are going to eat in that category, better off with Basilico in Ladbroke Grove. In general I find London's Italian restaurants wanting. Considering its proximity to Italy, I find that odd.

Akiko-I ate there about 5 years ago as well. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. I think there are better places in London to eat. But if you do eat there, I am sure you will have a good meal. As for the limited menu, I recall 2 choices for each course. But I might be dreaming. What I like better than her restuarant is her food shop just next door. They have the absolute best of everything there. There is always a round of gorgeous brie cheese on display that is perfectly ripe. I have often found myself walking down Kensignton Church Road chomping on a small tranch of it. Good chocolate truffles as well if I recall. And they sell my favorite olive oil there. Alziari from Nice

Jaybee-No their book is fine. It's just not something I would carry to France with me for a number of reasons. First, by the time it comes out I already know about almost every place in it. Second, it's a larger book than I want to carry. Le Guide Leby or Le Petit Leby are the perfect things to carry because they are small, lightweight and have loads of listings and all the same information the Hamburger's book has. What the Hamburger's book has that is good is an extensive list of dishes served. But that's for slow reading in advance of my trip. Actually I have stopped bringing books with me completely. One, I am usually in the market for a new release of a guide when I'm there so I have access to more current information. Second, since I got a European cellphone that gives me France Telecom service when I'm there, if I want a phone number of a restaurant I just dial 12 and ask them to connect me.

I don't think anyone mentioned one of my favorite guides Le Guide Leby and their bistro guide called Le Petit Leby. I have been buying them for at least five years. One of my favorite features is that they list the menu of the last meal eaten at the restaurant including the wine. Things like the quality of the bread and coffee are described as well. They also have an index in the back that lists places by dish. Like a list of places with cassoulet that are worthy of dining at. Le Petiti Leby is a pocket sized book and their "Bistro of the Year" feature is very worthwhile. Jaybee-I've been buying your in-laws book since the first edition. I have to say that I don't use it much as I think there are more complete resources out there. It's been a one-time read for me and I might have a quick refresher read before I go on a trip to France. I knew a Hamburger from public school days in Bayside. Howard Hamburger. Any relation?

"They also make the best fried gefilte fish balls I know" Tony-That is outright blasphemy. Frying gefilte fish? Blech. Only in England. What was the next course, deep fried haggis? And eating salt beef or any kind of delicatessen on a bagel is barbaric. Bagels are for fish, the smoked type. Maybe you can get away with tuna or egg salad. But meat on a bagel? Are you sure you're Jewish? I think the next time I'm in London I want to organize the Great Salt Beef taste test. Maybe we can write an article for The Evening Standard.

LML-But Roellinger stole the recipe. It's an ancient Breton recipe from Sal Ty La Crima. Steve Klc-Ducasse in NYC has a dessert cart they offer at the end of the meal with a selection of caramels and lollipops. One of the caramel flavors they offered was sea salt. While it was terrific, I didn't think it unusual at the time assuming that mixing salt with sweet must be par for the course in regions where they farm salt. I can't imagine Roellinger was the first one to do it.

These two were in the bins at Astor Place Wines & Spirits and since I hadn't had either wine, I couldn't resist picking them up to try them. 1999 Domaine Fourrier Griottes-Chambertin - Year after year Fourier's Griotte is an excellent bottle. Though I had heard that the '99 Burgs have been shutting down due to their being in bottle, this was nice and open. Good roasted quality. Maybe a hint of overripness. Tart cherry flavor and pretty thick for a pinot. I went back and bought more 92+ points 1999 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche - Blech. I took this bottle to dinner at Pietro's with such high expectations. A number of people told me how great this wine was. I even heard of someone who had bought an entire barrel from the Domaine. Well the wine was horrible. It was an oak bomb of atomic proportions. It was like someone took a Sonoma Pinot Noir, aged in new oak barrels, threw oak chips into the wine and then added a spoon of highly concentrated oak juice to each bottle before corking. I really couldn't understand it. I'm usually tolerant of oak but there was more oak here than wine. I couldn't drink the wine and left it over. 84 points and only because I could sense there was nice wine underneath all of that wood. Maybe someday the oak will evaporate. I wonder if the European bottling was vinified the same way, or is this a Rosenthal special for the American market. 1982 Aldo Conterno Barolo Gran Bussia - I picked up two bottles of this from a London dealer about three years ago (who in turn had brought them in from Italy.) I tried a bottle when it first came in and it was completely shut. Hard as nails. Then while scavenging around the cellar on Thursday night looking for a bottle to bring to dinner with a friend, the other bottle was staring me in the face. The bottle was in perfect condition. The first pour showed lots of promise and I asked the restaurant to decant it. Well the next pour found a blockbuster of a wine. Intensely meaty. Like concentrated baked ham with cherries, cloves, sage. Over the next hour and half it kept changing and getting more intense. Each new sip found a better wine and a comment from myself or my dining companion about how fantastic the wine was. This is an old school wine with amazing power but with the finesse of a modern style wine. In five years this will be an even greater wine but I think this will continue to improve and drink for another 25 years. 98 points My family forced me to go with them to Las Vegas for a long weekend last month. What I didn't realize before I went was that the restaurants there allow BYO. So we asked the Concierge at the Venetian where we might find a liquor store that sells premiuim wines and they recommended a place called Lee's Liquors about 2 miles east of the hotel. Well Lee's has a temperature controlled cellar in the back of the store with lots of goodies in there, some pretty well priced. I picked up the following; 1996 Marc Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Les Vergers - This was the best bottle of white wine they had by far, other than some straight Montrachet in the $300 neighborhood which I wasn't buying. I ended up buying a bottle of this to drink the first night at Prime and it was so enjoyable I went back the next day and picked up two more bottles. Slightly weightier than a middle weight white burg. Drinking well for a '96. I have had a few that were painful to drink. Pretty crisp acid here. Nicely balanced fruit. Easy to drink and lots of yums all around the table. We drained the three bottles without a problem 90 points and bottle age could yield a point+ down the road. 1998 Ornallaia - I couldn't resist buying this WS Wine of the year which I never had. We brought it to Picasso for dinner. It was surprisingly excellent. I was expecting a bust compared to the hype. I don't know about wine of the year but it's good to see those guys get something right on occassion. Good chalky quality to the wine. Chock full of minerals. A pretty massive wine that really attacked the palate but appeared balanced. Worth laying 2-6 bottles away. 95+ points 1995 Lynch Bages - We brought this to dinner at Prime and enjoyed it so much I went back and picked up a second bottle to bring to Spago two nights later. I heard that '95 Bordeauxs are drinking well and I recently ordered a '95 Haut Brion which I was disappointed in. This was drinking much better. Some of the reviews characterize this wine as lighter in weight but I found it fairly robust. Not generally being a fan of LB, this wine exceeded my expectations. Of course it had all the cassis and cedar one could ask for in their Bordeaux 92 points An aside about the Vegas restaurants, I found them fine enough but basically generic. That they all need to fly in their ingredients prevents any of them from really developing a personality through a specific taste profile that one would associate with ingredients that come from a specific region. But I would say that Prime is a B, Picasso a B+ and Spago a C+. But they are a big improvement over places like Nick's Fishmarket which is what you would find in a place like Vegas in the old days. At the delicious La Trompette in Chiswick, England; 1997 Raveneau Chablis Vaillons - What a delight to find this on their list. Having never had a '97 Raveneau, I was eager to see how they were drinking. Well it didn't have a hell of a lot of fruit. Closed or just not ripe enough? I will bet on the latter 86 points 1985 Lynch Bages - At 140 pounds this was hard to resist. A wine I haven't had in years but one that people are always touting. Well it showed acidic on this night. Despite a terriffic nose that seemed to preview a well rounded wine, it just didn't have enough mid-palate oomph for me. I like my Bordeaux to hit you in the face. Give me the '85 Haut Brion anyday 89 points At Jacques Maximin in Vence; 2000 Domane de Ladiere Bandol Blanc - The best choice on a dread awful wine list. This wine fooled us with its syrupy viscosity. In the past I've found Bandol Blanc to be hard and acidic. Not this. Packed with fruit and a long finish. I had heard that this was usually a good bottle. Do they have a vineyard site with a cool breeze? 88 points and a perfect wine with a plate of Moules Provencal. 1993 Henri Gouges Nuit-St-Georges Porets St. George - Again the best of a dismal list. We were expecting a hard acidic '93 that wasn't anywhere near drinking. What we found was an open, highly drinkable wine with lots of toasty fruit. Not much teroir here and it sort of got boring as time went on 87 points At the delightful Jarnac in Greenwich Village; 1986 Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet - Bad bottle here. I'm not a fan of the '86 vintage as it is (okay Ramonet) but for some reason, Leflaive's wines haven't held up at all. An acid bath and a sour one at that 85 points 1989 Louis Latour Batard-Montrachet - I really dislike the Latour wines. This one for some reason didn't offend me as much as other bottlings have done in the past. Maybe because the Leflaive was so poor and it made it look good. Good weight to it. But not at Batard level if you ask me. Still had a faint hint of the taste that I associate with Latour 88 points 1990 Domaine Marcoux Chateauneuf-du-Pape Vielle Vignes - One sip and I immediately commented that was like an Australian wine with the adddition of terroir. In fact, it was somewhere between Astralis and Blewitt Springs. Not my cup of tea but a great wine in that style. I'm a bit schizo about it and I would say that if I had any I would sell it and buy wines I prefer. But being objective about it, if you like that style it's a great wine94 points 1995 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie La Landonne - Ah this is more like it. '95 not a huge vintage and this wine was drinking fairly well. I don't usually find that Rostaing styles his wines to be big wines. Feminine is too strong a word but maybe the best word considering how so many of the other Cote Rotie producers make such masculine wines. I don't think this will be the longest lived wine. Maybe 5-6 years more. 90 points

Ajay-Don't do it. '87 Bordeaux are likely to be piss, regardless of the producer. If you want to buy good Bordeaux in that price range, spend your money on '85's like Haut Brion and Lynch Bages, or '89 and 90's from l'Angelus, Pichon Baron and '89 rom Lynch Bages.

I ate one meal at The Fat Duck last May and I have to say it was very good. I do not think Blumenthal is so consumed with modern technique that he has thrown flavor out the window for it. My take on it was that his interest lies more in playing with savory/sweet concepts. Hence, the mustard ice cream with red cabbage (an amuse he served me as well.) I also think that although his technique is obviously inspired by Adria and other French chefs, if you asked me to put him in a category I would say he is Modern British. That what the places feels like to me. Here are my notes excluding the wine notes; "First up, a long thin glass, which contained Green Tea and Lime foam. This was followed by a small glass dish, which had three thin layers at its bottom, Crab Aspic, Pea Puree and an aspic of Pigeon. It was quite sensational and could have passed for an appetizer if the portion was larger. The glass dish is intentional as one can hold the dish up and see the colorful layers through the side of the dish. Finally a small saucer that contained a small scoop of Mustard Ice Cream sitting in a small pool of Red Cabbage soup. All three dishes were extraordinarily different and tasty. My palate had now been energized. Crab Risotto that had a thin layer of Passion Fruit Jelly covering it all topped by a scoop of Crab Ice Cream. The dish was an unbelievable combination of textures and flavors, mixing the grainy firmness of the rice with the gummy texture of the jelly and the creaminess of the ice cream, which added a crunchy texture as well from it having little pieces of ice in it. One further note about the wines, the first two bottles were so good that we blew through them in no time and we needed to order the Z-H from the list because we were out of wine. That meant we went through three bottles for five people before the red wines started. Sloshed was putting it mildly! My main dish was Spiced Cod, which was rubbed with 7-8 spices such as saffron, vanilla, cardamom, etc. It was served with a braised Cockscomb, which was strategically placed on the plate in a way that made it look like a mountain range, and a pile of lentils that were boiled in Badoit, which supposedly keeps them from splitting in the boiling water. Just delicious. My dessert was a scoop of Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream served with a Pain Perdu (French Toast) and the various petits fours that were served were things like Chewing Tobacco Caramels and Red Pepper Essence lollipops. All terrific. I have to add that I can’t comment on the dessert wines as I was gone by then. In fact everything after the lollipops is a big blur. Cabrales is correct and the place truly merits two stars. And as for the food sounding outrageous, it isn't anywhere as outrageous tasting as it sounds. As for getting there, Cabrales obviously took the slow train. There are express trains available from Paddington that make their first stop in Maidenhead in a mere 22 minutes.

Ajay-Wine needs time to aerate for a number of reasons. For young bottles of wine, they usually have a high proportion of tannic acid in them. Tannins are an acid that is in the skin of the grape and gets into the wine when they press the grapes. When you open a bottle and let it aerate, the tannic acid burns off and you are left with fruity wine. This phenomenon is different from wine to wine, vintage to vintage, even bottle to bottle given the same wine and vintage. The thing that usually impacts the most on this issue is who made the wine. Traditional producers like Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape will always make a wine that is closed (tannic) when young. If you were to open say a bottle of 1998 Beaucastel, it might take 48 hours for it to be enjoyable. As for older wines like the one I wrote of, they still might be highly tannic. But more likely the fruit and has been repressed by having lived in a near vacuum (in bottle) for the last 16 years. In that instance, it could easily take 1-2 hours for the wine to "wake up" from the long sleep it's had.

I ate at La Feniere this past February when we were on our truffle trip. There were five of us traveling together but two dropped out for this dinner because their car was broken into. The place was lovely, but like many places in France with a star it was too formal in an old fashioned kind of way. In fact I'm not sure if it was just this particular night but we seemed to be the only people dining there who were not in their 60's. I think the three of us were the only men not wearing ties. We had the truffle menu which was a reasonable 100 euros for something like 8 courses. The food was what Patricia Wells often calls "correct." Some dishes were more interesting than others. The food aspired to two stars from the perspective of the technique applied, but probably merited only one when awarding stars on the basis of ultimate taste. I have not eaten at Loubet, but I have to assume he is better than Sammut. I think Sammut would be much more enjoyable if she cooked hearty and simple Provencal cuisine that didn't aspire to that second star. I think in her kitchen the additional application of technique actually removes flavor from the food. A note about the service here. When we first arrived for dinner the reception was rather cool. They stuck us at a table all the way in the corner of the back room facing the window which was sort of odd because it was nightime and dark. We were also the only people eating in the room. I actually got up and asked them to move us to the main dining room which they did. Then we had a run-in with the sommelier. I tried to order a bottle of I believe it was 1985 Nicolas Joly Savenierres Coulee de Serrant which was priced quite reasonably. This order (a deft one on my part I thought) brought a frown to the sommeliers face and he said the wine needed 2 hours decanting time and he didn't want to serve it to us. And although I could have insisted, he was pretty adamanant so we shrugged and ordered a 1989 Sauzet Batard Montrachet instead. The wine was fine (I've had better bottles of it) but in hindsight I felt stupid about it. This guy must sell thousands of bottles of wine that aren't ready to drink all of the time and he doesn't say boo. But this time he chimed in. And I'm certain it's because he has certain bottles of wine on the list to make it look good. He doesn't really want to sell them. I just zeroed in on one of the bottles. Anyway, after we ordered the Batard-Montrachet, and a bottle of 1980 Vogue Musigny VV ($600 of wine) everyone seemed much happier with us.

Freida-I checked the map out on the Le Garde-Frienet website and I noticed that the village is right near the town of La Mole. Though I've never been, I have friends who rave about Bistrro La Mole. It's been on my list of places to get to for a while. What do you think?

I actually composed a post about Maximin this morning but the system crashed and I lost it. Let me try again. I think the meal we ate at Maximin is the epitomy of the French dining experience going wrong. First of all, the menu looked suspicious to me as there were two many dishes using the same item. The Coquiles St. Jacques appeared at least twice, as did the wild asparagus. It smelled to me that Jacques was trying to use up what he had left in the pantry before he closed after Sunday lunch. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing but, it is if the food has been laying around since the middle of the week. And my suspicions were confirmed when the amuse bouche turned out to be a rather large portion of chicken terrine in some type of jelly. It was coarse, both in texture as well as in lack of refinement I thought. I had two bites and I sat my fork down. The Brouillade with Asperges Sauvage was the best dish we ate that night. The infamous set layer of egg at the bottom of the dish seemed to be from a thin layer of the egg batter being steamed by some type of utensil. One theory was that the dish was set on a warm surface and that caused a thin layer at the bottom of the dish to set. But based on how it appeared aerated, I vote for it being steamed from above by a hose like contraption. I guess it could also happen from being placed in a Bain Marie and having the steam come from the bottom. Whatever, the two different textures of egg made for an interesting dish. The asperge were a bit bitter though I thought. But all in all it was pretty interesting. The quality of the scallops in the Salade Catalane was really poor. The coral was fishy tasting, having none of the creaminess I associate with fresh scallops. And the texture of the body did not have the usual springiness I associate with good scallops. Someone said they though they were a day or two old. I think it was more like the better part of the week. But the duck fiasco, which was the piece de resistance in our interaction with Madame is as unacceptable as it gets. When we asked Madame about the four of us splitting one duck, her response seemed to indicate that the canette wouldn't be large enough for the four of us. But then when they brought two rather large creatures to our table, I almost bust my kiester. Then when they brought me a plate that was overflowing with long strips of breast (overcooked by a good 5-7 minutes), I realized that she had told us it wouldn't serve four because there was a second service and two legs couldn't be eaten by four people. Now why oh why, and this is so typical in France, could she not have been specific about what the problem was? Hasn't she ever heard of pleasing your customers? Why couldn't she say that she would be happy to serve one duck for four but two people wouldn't get legs?I would have immediately volunteered to forego it. But Madame has such little imagination because in France, THAT'S THE WAY YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO EAT IT! How could they possibly serve it any other way? And the cheese board consisted of three lonely looking cheeses that looked so unappetizing that we passed on cheese even though it was included in our meal. Now I have eaten around ten meals from Maximin's hand. Five or six at Chantecler, two at his place in the theater, one at Le Diamant Rose when he cooked there, another one somewhere in Antibes though the exact place escapes me, and I have been at this restaurant one time when they first opened about 5 years ago. And I would say that this effort is no better than 40% of what I am used to getting from him. It's too bad. And although I am understanding that the guy is running a business and doesn't want to be stuck with food etc., you need to have some standards.