Steve Plotnicki

Bux - You're not the only one who hasn't liked Prune. I don't know what it is. Maybe the place just rubs me the right way. I think if you stick to simple things there you can have a good meal. As for Cafe Boulud and formal, it is formal. It doesn't really seem much less formal to me than when Daniel was there. And it certainly isn't any less formal than a place like Aureole. As for Versailles, I have found the following to be true at Cuban restaurants in Miami. And I'm sure this goes for many types of restaurants all over. They pre-cook lots of stuff in advance to prepare for the busy times of the day. So I've had the Pollo Versailles be fantastic when it's freshly cooked, and mediocre when it has been pre-cooked. It was the same with the Chicharons de Pollo at Puerta Sagua on Collins Avenue. One time I had them and it was among the best dishes I ever ate. Hot, crispy, oily, garlicky. Truly finger licking good. But the next time I had them they had no luster and I realized they had been cooked earlier and "finished" for my meal. So I've learned to ask them to make them fresh. You know this is an entire thread in itself that I will consider posting and see if the professional have anything to say about it. As for Norman's, I've eaten there a half dozen times and I would say that 4 out of 6 meals were great and the other two not as good. But oddly enough, the 4 times I went on weekdays during the 3rd week of March when my kids have spring break were better meals than 2 times I went during President's Day Weekend when the boat show is on. So I don't know how much there is to blame on it being too busy down there.

Bux - What MikeC and I are distinguishing Balthazar from is a place like Canteen or any of the other purely trendy places where as soon as they start getting a hip crowd, the food becomes merely prefunctary. And while there are people who go to Jean-George for status reasons, and treat the food as perfunctory, they still go there *because they heard that the food is the best in town* even if they don't have the palate to tell themselves. As for the chefs at Balthazar/Pastis caring, that's the point of why they have lasted. They could have become like Canteen.

Simon - You know the cover is thicker than a paperback. It's stiff but bendable. But it's not a hardcover. It's an inbetween size to 8 1/2h x 6w. And there are a handful of color photos. Your point about personalities is well taken. But in France Alain Passard is a personality. I've seen it with my own eyes. Yet there isn't a suitable representation of his work. I have to say that this isn't the case for Spanish chefs. There have been numerous beautiful efforts of cookbooks from Spain in the last few years. Amazing photgraphy. And even Italy might be starting to get into the act and that lovely book of recipes from Don Alfonso was recently published. But France, pitiful. I have to add that French food books that are nothing but books that pat themselves on the back for being good at what they do well also seem to sell well. They have no shortage of books touting the superiority of their ingredients, codification system of food and wine, or the great lifestyle that goes along with it.

What has the French cookbook business come to? I picked up a copy of Regis Macon's "Ma Cuisine des Champignons" the other day. It is a semi-paperback book (come on Simon, what is the trade name for that?) I find it amazing that 3 star Michelin chefs aren't worthy of having their books published in a top quality way. In addition, many of them don't even have books. Is there a Passard book, Boyer book, Bras book? Every idiotic British, Australian or American chef has a cookbook printed on glorious stock and with terrific photgraphy to boot. But the French chefs often get relegated to second class status. I can recall publications of Troigros and Guy Savoy recipes in recent years that I would call "cheap" efforts. Occassionaly, a chef like Veyrat has a nice book published or the Pourcel twins had a top quality book publsihed as well. But most of them are horrible. What is it about French cookbooks. Don't enough French people buy them so that the quality of the books can be at a high standard? Just go into one of the large bookshops like Virgin on the Champs Elysee and their cookbook selection is pathetic. But down the road at Galignani the cookbook section is wonderful. But that's because they carry all the U.S. and British cookbooks too. Even in the way of topical books. The French do not seem to have food writers who are sourcing out new trends and alerting the world to them. The entire modern bistro revolution happened without a single French writer coming up with a cookbook based on the recipes of places like La Regalade, Eric Frechon, L'Epi Dupin etc. How can France maintain it's status as the culinary capital of the world without having a history of it's cuisine adequately reduced to print? (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 11:21 am on Jan. 8, 2002) (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 11:22 am on Jan. 8, 2002)

Simon - Sonny Bryan's BBQ in Dallas is quite good and one of the famous and classic BBQ places in the South. Their Hot Links (bbq sausage) are especially good. And this summer we had ribs flown into NYC from Austin from The Salt Lick and they were quite good as well. In the upscale Tex-Mex department, I always liked Stephen Pyle as a chef. I'm not sure what the name of his restaurant is these days. Each June they hold a charity benefit in Rockefeller Center and famous chefs from all over the world come to town to cook. For the last two years running, Pyle had the best food. And it was a Who's Who of chefs there. Two years ago, he served an excellent Foie Gras Tamale.

Simon - Xelaju in Queens is the only one I know of. I've never gone but it was the darling of the Chowhound crowd for a while but that was a few years ago. I'm not sure how it is these days. It's a bit of a ratty place too. How about El Salvador? There are a few of those around. Have you had a good Papusa lately? (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 8:15 am on Jan. 8, 2002)

Rob - Are you going to Midem? I've gone every year since 1986 but this year I'm not going. Cannes itself isn't a great food town. It suffers from the same ailment that resort towns offer suffer from. Transience. And the locals don't really frequent the fancy restaurants in the hotels. The other thing you have to rmember is that the cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian food. Up until the unification of Italy in 1896?, the border between France and Italky was at the Nice airport. So you will see lots of pasta shops and other things Italian everywhere. In Cannes, I always found the best meal to be at La Cave on Blvd. de Republique. It's a simple and homey place with mostly Provencal preprations of vegetable and meats. If you want to cut your teeth on a classic yet simple Provencal meal, go to La Mere Besson just off the Croisette. You can get yourself a nice Soupe au Pistou (white Minestrone with Basil) and some chicken or monkfish prepared in the local style. A nice simple place we always to go to is Le Croquant on the street that is right in front of the market. Of the simple Italian places that proliferate the coast, this is among the best. The Maitre' D at the Palme D'Or turned me onto it a number of years ago as a place the locals eat. They have some great mussel preprations and also serve these kind of Istrian kebabs that I haven't seen anywhere else on the coast. These three places are all cheap. Of the hotel restaurants, we always preffered La Palme D'Or in The Martinez Hotel. But the Villa des Lys is supposed to be great although we never tried it. Of the beach restaurants, Plage Odine has the best food. There are a few things that are unique to the area and which you should try or do if you have time. The first is to eat a proper Bouillabaisse and the best place to eat it is at a place called Tetou in the town of Golfe Juan which is about a 10 minute cab ride from Cannes. The problem is, they might not be opening this time of year anymore. It used to be that they would close after x-mas, and then open for the Midem convention, and then close again until MIP (the TV convention) which was the first week in April. But a few years back the owner told me that business was too light and he was spending the winters in St. Martin. You should have the concierge check but definately go if it is open. Unfortuantely, the other good place to have it is closed for the entire winter. Another thing that is a must do for first timers is having lunch at Le Colombe D'Or in St. Paul de Vence. It's about a half hour cab ride. It's an old coaching inn and and it's main claim to fame is that they traded room and board for art. So the dining room and halls are filled with Picassos, Chagalls, Miros etc. The food is nothing to write home about but the atmosphere is classic. If you are a fish eater, a great place to go is Loulou in Cagnes-sur-Mer about 3/4 of the way back to the airport. They probably make the best fish soup anywhere and is the best place for grilled fish and meats on the coast. Finally you should try and go to the market in Nice one morning. It's quite a colorful place and it sort of defies description. Cannes has a market too, but without the color of Nice. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any more info.

Yvonne - Let's see. Saying that it is meaningful that Hitchens likes Cafe Loup is like saying that it's meaningful that Carl Bernstein likes Elaine's. It's about the scene, not the food, And like I said, Cafe Loup is a great space and has a nice long bar. It's a shame the food isn't just a wee bit better though. In terms of Gotham, I just think that people want to eat the same cliche over and over again and Alfred can't rock the boat. As for USC, it is what it is. I think that if it wasn't so sought after a reservation, or didn't get a score that is between 4-6 points more than it deserves in Zagat, people wouldn't resent it so much. I mean it's a good Italian inspired restaurant that does some simple things really well. And I've had a number of enjoyable meals there. But I wish it didn't have the clammer. As for Balthazar, what I meant was that unlike a place like Canteen whose food is in the crapper because it gets by on being a trendy place, Balthazar has (or maybe had as I haven't been in a while) pretty good food. Considering the number of people they feed, they could serve junk. But I think they actually want to serve good brasserie food. But I hear that isn't the case at Pastis, although I've never been there.

Robert - I have been to La Chaumiere a few times but not in 6 years. But you describe it well. I never knew they served a lamb chop, just the steak and the leg of lamb. I always thought they were both a bit tough. But I thought it was always a fun place to go with a large party because of the way they serve the food family style. I sent a friend of mine there last summer and he loved it. It was pretty expensive from what I remember. As for La Meranda, are you speaking of pre or post Domenic Le Stanc? I ate there a few times when the Giusti family ran it and once after Domenic took over. Better for lunch than dinner. Do you go to Le Petitie Maison which is across the street from Alziari? What a crazy place that is. How about Josy Jo in Haut de Cagnes? It's very similar to Loulou, but with an emphasis on meat instead of fish. In fact Josy is the sister of Loulou's wife. But they make a great Magret grilled over wood. And yes I think I got your email. But you should try sending it again just in case.

Jason - That's like saying tomato sauce and pasta aren't from Italy because the tomato came from the U.S. and pasta from China. The issue isn't origin, the issue is where is the best expression of those food products. So the issue for Zinfandel isn't where the grape originated, it's who has created the standard for expressing the varietal.

Cabrales - I recently had a bottle of '82 Salon but it was a bit too mature. I bought it at a shop here in the city and I guess the storage was suspect. But I've had some great bottles of '85 and '88 this year. I'm not usually a fan of the '85 vintage in Champagne but the Salon is great. But 3000FF for the '82 Salon is a bit dear. I see '82's being sold at auction all the time for less than 赨 and '85's for between 贝-贶. I still see '88's advertised in London for about ๠ a bottle. As for the Lafite, that doesn't sound unreasonably priced although offhand I don't know the value of that bottle. I'll ask a friend who would know though.

Hank - I always found the Bouillabaisse at Bacon to be a little "correct." It tastes fine but the place is a bit too refined to make a dish that needs that much digging into. I want to break out into a sweat when I eat a BB and Bacon isn't a sweaty kind of place. I think they also strain the broth too much. Part of the refinement. I much prefer a John Dory with olive oil, tomato and basil steamed in parchement there. I like Tetou much better for BB. Robert - It's funny you brought up Loulou and eating meat there because I just wrote about the Cote de Boeuf there on the cooking board. But I've never been to either of those North African places and I have to try them. Have you ever been to Les Chaumieres on the Grand Corniche between Nice and Eze?

Samantha - I was at Helene Darroze last January. It was after a music industry convention in Cannes so there were lots of people in Paris for the weekend. The attorney who has represented my company since we started in business was in Paris for the weekend and he had just gotten engaged so I threw a party in his honor. Here are the notes of the meal. But remember, it's a year ago and I have heard a few varying reports since then. "<i>Before I say anything about dinner I have to tell you that by far it was the best meal I had on the entire trip. At first I was a bit of a skeptic. Food from the Languedoc? I was hosting a small dinner party for one of my attorneys who had just gotten engaged and I wanted the evening to be special. After rejecting Benoit and all the other usual Paris warhorses, a quick read through Patricia Well’s columns, which are online at the International Herald Tribune, sold me on restaurant Helene Darroze. While Patricia got it wrong about the décor, which she didn’t like but which we all thought plush and chic, she hit it across the fat part of the bat when describing the food. Ms. Darroze is a 32 year old chef who has just won her first Michelin star. She deserves at least two if you ask me. Reading through and translating the menu, the food sounded so interesting. There was an entire page of Foie Gras preparations followed by an entire page of truffle dishes. The food sounded so unusual that someone at the table hid his menu behind his chair in anticipation that later on someone was going to ask exactly what it is they were eating. We all laughed when during the first course someone said, “Is there fish in my dish? I taste something that tastes like fish.” and he promptly pulled out the menu, so we could discern that the fish flavor was coming from some codfish that was aerated into foam. I started with Foie Gras that was crusted with sweet spices and served with chutney made from exotic fruits. It had a sort of Middle Eastern quality to it. Did the Moors eat Foie Gras that tasted like this 500 years ago? Another starter was Root Vegetables braised in a truffled bouillon and topped with grated truffles. Or how about an ice cream sundae sized cup filled with a Cappuccino of Codfish topped with Watercress Puree, a Soft-Boiled Egg and then Ossetra Caviar. To a person and there were eight of us, everyone was raving about the food. The house specialty is a local dish called l’Escatoun, which is finely ground white polenta mixed with fresh brebis cheese from the Basque region, hazelnut butter, truffle flecks and then huge rounds of grated truffles. It was like eating truffled pudding. We were each served a bite size portion of maybe 3-4 spoons but it was so rich that some people at the table couldn’t finish it. The main courses were even better than the appetizers. A Rack of Lamb with an Anchovy and Herb Crust was so good that I almost ate my way through the bones. Pigeon lacquered with Sichuan Peppers was served with a huge slab of grilled Foie Gras, Potato and Pumpkin Gnocchi and was absolutely melt in your mouth. A Guinea Hen had truffles stuffed under its skin and was served with Potatoes, Violet Artichokes and large cubes of Double-Smoked Bacon. And then there was a dish with lamb served three ways. A Preserved Shoulder in a sauce of red wine and eggplant, Saddle stuffed with kidneys and a light Stew of the Neck with Leeks and Carrots. And a line caught Sea Bass was served on some spelt risotto with cabbage, bacon and some crusty seaweed. Again, every single dish was raved about. I get to eat in a fair share of good restaurants and it’s unusual to run across one this good, and different. If anything was sub par it was the service, especially the wine service. It was actually hard to get the wine ordered and poured. Even the list was a disappointment. I had expected a list that was loaded with good cheap wines from the Languedoc. But instead it was mostly outrageously priced Bordeaux. But I did manage to hunt out some 1998 Jean Dauvissat Chablis La Forest which was so good we blew through three bottles 90 points and was well priced at ฽. A spicy and fruity 1997 Domaine Canet Vallete St Chinian Maghani was easy to drink but seemed a bit low in acid. 89 points. It was a great night and I’m sure we will be back. </i>" I hope this helps. (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 11:09 pm on Jan. 6, 2002) (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 11:54 am on Jan. 7, 2002)

Steve - No what passes for a Salamander in this country is just a commercial broiler. I think my unit gets up to 25,000 BTUs. It's the same unit they would use in The Palm. I just have the smallest model. I can only get 6 Strips in at a time but really 4 for optimum cooking. Mark Straussman at Campagna once told me that you can take an entire rib chop, and put it in the oven at 450f and it will come out all seared on the outside. As for style of steak, we are diehard burnt crust, rare inside people. The best steak I know of outside of my home :), is at Loulou in Cagnes-Sur-Mer. Eric Campo (Loulou retired) gets these huge Cote de Boeuf from Boucherie Marbeuf in Paris. He has this old fashioned bronze grill and he is able to slow grill the meat. If you order a steak for more than two people, it's so thick that he grills it on all 4 sides. And as long as I'm giving him a plug, he makes the best Soupe de Poissons I know of. Masterful.

JPB - Agree with you about Lobel pricing. But the Strip steaks are worth the uptick. In fact, I made strips from The French Butcher for my wife and myself tonight and they don't come close. Balducci's has pretty good meat. But I think it used to be better.

Okay I cheat when it comes to steak. I have a salamander in my apartment. These days you can't put one in because it's against code but mine was put in before the code changed. So I can make steaks just like any of the top steak houses in NYC. Over the years, I have served many a dinner guest an absolutely charred on the outside and rare on the inside steak to their absolute amazement. As a result I have bought NY strips, rib steaks, rib lamb chops at almost every good butcher in the city. By far Lobel's has the best strip steaks. Nobody else comes close. Occassionaly they get a highly marbled loin that is in the vein of Kobe beef and if you are lucky enough for them to cut it for you it is the single best NY Strip you will ever have. Rib steaks are another matter and I found the best rib steaks in NYC at any of the places that get the best quality from Debraga & Spittler. Les Halles is a good source, The French butcher is another. Lobel's can have the best ones but it's not as consistantly better like the strip steaks are. And just to transcend beyond beef, rib lamb chops at Citarella are the best that I have found.

Liza - Now it's coming back to me. We made a scallop dish from I think Le Bernadin last year and the scallops were wrapped in Saran Wrap and then poached. Possible? I don't have the cookbook here. John - Boeuf ala Ficelle sans ficelle? That's what it sounds like using a plastic baggy instead of poaching the meat directly in the liquid. Have you ever tried to make a dry Pot au Feu that way? It sounds like it would be great with that fatty cut of meat and the usual condiments like horseradish, mustard, etc.

Pan - First of all, you don't usually need 30 days to get a lunch reservation. I was speaking of dinner. But even for lunch I've found that if you call up for a reservation for the same day they are usually booked. So you got lucky. They must have had a cancellation. Unless you went at 2:00pm when you can usually get a table.

JimmyO - I'll be glad to give you more info on any entry you want. Some of them were originally longer but I cut them back. But for many of the meals I can dig up the notes I wrote at the time, including what I ate and what wine we drank at the meal. Liza - Now that you bring it up, I've seen somebody cook using Saran Wrap. It was on TV. But it wasn't Rocco, it was somebody else. I'm trying to remember who it was but I'm drawing a blank. I'll post if I remember. Have you ever had/made that salmon dish that Paul Mincheli made at Le Duc where a tranch of salmon was placed between two glass plates and then placed atop a pot of boiling water. If I recall correctly, it was in the First Edition of the Patricia Wells Foodlover's Guide to Paris and maybe in later additions. Almost similar principal. John Karangis - Sensei is as good as it is because they do a good job of adapting local ingredients to that Nobu/progressive Japanese style of cooking. You know I ate at one more place on the Island. We had lunch at the Hailiimaile General Store and I forgot to post it. It had all that hype around it but it kind of reminded me of the Fog City Diner in S.F. You know gimmicky food. Give it a C--. The people who run it are great though. (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 9:43 am on Jan. 6, 2002)

Project - You bring up a good point. Every important wine region is based on an indiginous grape. California wines are based on varietals where the benchmark bottling comes from elsewhere. The indiginous grape to Ca., Zinfandel, is not really ageworthy. So Ca. as a whole has to compete with varietals that have been growing in other parts of the world for centuries, if not thousands of years. And show me a place where Cabernet Sauvignon has been growing for 500 years instead of 50 and I will show you a place that makes a more complex wine.

Project - When I was describing Burgundy, I was describing the terroir system. The entire strategy of Ca. winemaking is not terroir driven. I mean what is the equivalent of Montrachet, i.e. the actual best spot in Napa or Sonoma to grow chardonnay? Or where does Ca's best pinot come from? Is there an equivalent to Musigny? This is a long and complicated topic, and it really is a corrolary to some of the conversations we have recently had on the restaurant boards about the homogenization of food, wine and travel. But the French system of doing things evolved at a time when wealth was poorly distributed, and marketing techniques were unsophisticated. I mean when they came up with the A.O.C. classifications, how many people could afford the Grand and Premier Cru wines? So all you had to do was label them properly and the wealthy would know what to buy. The Ca. wineries are making wine at a time and in a place where wealth is prolific. So the economics are to make thousands of cases of wine, instead of 150 cases of Chevalier Montrachet that go to a handful of people. The climate is an issue too. The growing season in Ca. is much longer than it is in France and it's hotter too. In France they can pick their grapes at the end of August and if they go through mid-September those are really ripe grapes. But I was Napa at the end of October 1999 and the grapes were still hanging. And they were going to let them hang for two more weeks. The grapes were so ripe that we pulled a few off the vines and tasted them and they were like port.

Tommy - First, like I said, some might have been from 2000 and my memory might be less than clear. Second, if you eat out 2-3 times a week (which is easy to do with a NYC lifestyle) that's 100-125 right there. Also, I own a business in London and usually take anywhere between 2-4 trips to Europe a year. Finally, with school breaks at x-mas, spring break, sleep away camp visiting day and the requisite side trips, it's easy to get to that number. Finally, many of the meals are wine tasting related, especially at the high end. (Edited by Steve Plotnicki at 11:10 am on Jan. 5, 2002)

Project - Nothing to feel guilty about. Although crude is a pretty strong word. How about simplistic instead? If your palate was oriented towards cabernet sauvignon based wines instead of pinot, syrah, grenache, nebbiolo etc., you would probably have a higher acceptance level towards Ca. wines. But subtleties are not Ca's strong point. And the wines don't stack up well against the varietals mentioned. Do you ever drink Bordeaux? If so, you might try and find a bottle of 1978 Mondavi Reserve or Chateau Montelena from the same vintage. They don't offer the same level of complexity as their French brethren but are delicious wines and are most enjoyable to drink. Dominus in 1990, 1991, 1992 & 1994 are good wines to drink. And Ridge Monte Bello in almost any vintage. And 1985 Stag's Leap Cask 23 is one of the great wines of the last 20 years. And for the modern "cult" type wines, Harlan, Araujo and Shafer make good ageable wines with a reasonable level of complexity. But again, these are all cabernets. Anyway, the wines are out there, you just need to know what they are. I agree with you about Ca. chard, but I have to say that they are purposeful and I've thrown a number of clam bakes where they perfectly fit the bill. As for pinot, the strategy of Burgundy is so unique, that the power based winemaking technques they use in Ca. totally miss the point. And your analogy about classical music and rock and roll is spot on. But you have to approach the wines the same you way you approach music. If you listen to Elvis and are looking for the same things you look for in Mendelsohn, you will come up empty. One listens to Elvis looking for the things that Elvis has to offer.

When I lived in Forest Hills there was a guy who delivered in my building so of course we signed up. The novelty was better than the seltzer though and we stopped after a few months. Seltzer is really good for only two things. Making egg creams, of which I am a master with my bank shot spritz off the side of the glass to keep the head creamy. And to spritz a shot into matzoh ball batter to make them come out light and fluffy. Otherwise, the bottles are amazingly heavy and are a pain in the ass to schlep around. Better Badoit if they didn't have those silly tall green Alsatian like water bottles.

Cabrales - I'm not sure how many magnums they have so you're just going to have to drink it with me :). As for the Ruinart, have you searched on Winesearcher.com? That's usually useful as a source. I have a way to ask about the chefs table at Troisgros. Give me a few days.