Steve Plotnicki

What do you think the odds are that Romano's Famous Pizza has the best gyros in the city?

Now aside from the fact that Turkish style might be better, what exactly is the difference between Turkish style and Greek style?

I'll second what JD said and add that it goes beyond language. If the French see that you understand or are interested in their customs, they will go out of their way to make your experience better. You can't imagine how much your standing can rise with a waiter if you order your steak "saignant" (rare.) People have mentioned French xenophobia but there hasn't been much discussion about its source which is French pride. The French devised a system that offered the best quality of life to be had in the western world. But history has dealt them the wrong hand for the future. Their xenophobia is really a defense mechanism to insulate themselves from a changing world. Unfortunately, their assimilation into the rest of the world is just a matter of time. But it also means that as it happens their way of life is disappearing. This was always the contradiction for Americans. We wanted their way of life but our way of making money. Now that they are starting to learn how to make money our way, we are complaining that the bread is now mass produced and the cheese is made from pasteurized milk.

Yatagan on MacDougal Street blows Opa Opa so far out of the water it's almost in Greece. In general, I find that Turkish is usually better then Greek in this category.

In the Hamptons we have wild pheasant running all over the subdivision we live in. You see them crossing the road all of the time. They are free to roam until the local fox (providing he hasn't been shot by a farmer) catches one of them for dinner. But I haven't seen one turn up at dinner anywhere, or stuffed and over a mantle. We're civilized in this country.

Actually that is only one of the main differentiators. I always thought the main difference between classes on a plane was who you got to sit with. It's the same concept as choosing your neighbors.

For many people, dining out is a service issue like airline reservations. Most people I know do not cancel their airline reservations. They just let them lapse. I think if the restaurant industry tried to educate people a little on the topic they would have less no-shows. Otherwise, I don't think Americans realize the difference in the way American restaurants and Parisian restaurants turn tables.

Just for the record, Robert Parker, not that he is the only or the best for this information, but he is somewhat of a reliable one, recommends that the '85 Cos be drunk between 1994 and 2010. So in another 2-3 years it will be fully mature. He recommends the '89 Ducru be drunk between 2001 and 2020. So if you drink it now it's at the very young side of the maturity spectrum. Personally, that is way too young for my taste as it won't have developed sufficient secondary flavors yet. You need to get up around 2010-2012 for it to be what they call "a point" or perfectly ready to drink. If you save that bottle, you will be rewarded for your patience.

What makes cheese shops in France superior to the ones we have here is the level of affinage compared to U.S. shops. When I was in Paris two weeks ago, having missed my lunch due to travel dificulties, I walked over to Barthelemy and bought some Bouchons de Chevre. I indicated that I was going to eat them "tout suite" and the ones they gave me were perfectly ready to eat. Not overripe or underripe, perfect. You just don't get that type of quality control in this country. Part of the reason is that the volume of cheese sold here, even in a place that sells lots of cheese, is insufficient to use up all the cheese they need to use to keep things at a high level. The other, and probably more important reason, is that cheese knowledge in general in this country is generally low compared to France and the U.K., especially competency in the tradition of affinage. The reason French cheese shops are so good is because they are ripening cheese in their own caves (at least when that applies.) The result can't be beat. Just go to a place like La Mere Richard in Lyon and ask for a small round of St. Marcellin to eat on the spot. They will poke and prod a good half dozen or more rounds until they find the right one for you. And if you said it's for eating two days later they would poke a different group of rounds. I can't think of a single cheese shop in this city (save for Murray's or if you were being helped by Steve Jenkins himself) where the staff has that type of competency.

Charlene - Having BYO'd at Chez Bruce two weeks ago, the corkage is 15 pounds per bottle. As for your wines, the Cos has a wee bit more to go with aging, maybe a year or two. The Ducru is nowhere near ready. Could be another 7-10 years. Can't help you with the '97.

Word.

I'll vote for naff. The concept sounds good, but I've never had a good fondue. They are popular at Artisinal in Manhattan these days but everytime I've had them there I was disappointed. What the Swiss call a Chinese fondue which is boiling oil that you cook meat in is a bit better because there is actually something to eat. But fondue could only be popular in a region of the world where they make more cheese then they can sell. Raclette is a far superior and nuanced cheese dish. But it is relatively more difficult to make then fondue since you have to cook the cheese after every serving.

I guess you need a private email if you're that dumb. What is your address? I'll explain it until you get it through that thick head of yours which will probably be when t'ishabov comes.

I can't even get that far because those wines are unacceptable for a "special dinner" at any price. To say that people pay $X for them at retail, so that means it adds $X of value to the meal is not a valid argument to me if the wines aren't up to the standard of the rest of the meal to begin with.

I feel like you guys are apologizing for the poor wines (and that list is really poor) because you like Blue Hill. I like Blue Hill as much as anyone. But crap wines are crap wines. If Cabby paid $375 and they served her frozen TV dinners, her liking them alot wouldn't make them any better then they really are. Do you think she would feel the same way about the meal, or any of you would be defending it if they used mass produced, hormone and antibiotic injected meats and poultry? Good is good, crap is crap, value is value and a ripoff is a ripoff. And to say that it's all relative only degradates things that are of high quality and good value. And it seems to me this dinner did more to support American Express Platinum and Food & Wine then it did Blue Hill. If you want to support Blue Hill it's easy, eat there and eat there often. But what does any of that have to do with the cost of the meal being 2-3 times what it is really worth?

It doesn't have to be top quality wines. Decent wines will do. Lesser quality negociant bottlings are not acceptable especially given the style these chefs cook in. And it isn't even a matter of price. If one was interested, they could serve decent wines at the same price point. An $11 Cote de Rhone made artisinally would be more in keeping with the point of the evening then a mass-produced, commercial wine that cossts 2-3 times the price. At this point, even the airlines offer better wines in business class then what they served you at that dinner. That is totally unacceptable. As for why you went and your show of support, what that has to do with the price being a ripoff is beyond me? It doesn't change the fact that you were served top quality food, and the wines you were served were among the lowest quality around and I can't imagine they were served for any other reason then the importer (I believe Wildman has Jaboulet) was stuck with them.)

Excuse me but Jaboulet is a crap, commercial winery. There must be a dozen better producers in Cornas who make top quality wine, For them to have a dinner with five top chefs who are basically known for cooking with artisinal ingredients, and then to offer wine that is the equivelent of a Kendall Jackson is more then a ripoff, it's a crime that shouldn't be allowed by the food police. And even if you didn't take that into consideration, you can pick up a bottle of the Jaboulet at Berry Bros. in London today for about 15 pounds. When you charge $375 for a dinner that might ordinarily cost $80, and the wineries you serve are all third tier, you deserve to be called a ripoff.

In fact I would bet that the concierge sold your reservation to a regular customer of his, or some other variation on that theme. You should call the restaurant and ask if they have a reservation in your name for that night. Or see if they ever did. Then I would explain to them what happened and see where that gets you.

No those are pretty good prices. The Ogier would be about $40 in the U.S. Can't say about the Pegau though. We spent most of the time in the "rare wine" room. Those prices were pretty poor. I wanted to take a catalog but they were charging 6 euros. Can you believe that?

Those were a bunch of crap wines. For that much money they could have served something good. Ripoff.

Jin - Hmmm, maybe fingerlings. But not like the yellow fingerlings I get in NYC. These were on the white side. They serve them in little circles about a 1/2 inch thick. They're great when they are slightly smashed, drizzled with olive oil, grated black truffe and some sea salt. Crispy salad on the side and a glass of red wine. Sounds yummy huh?

Maison de Truffe is a bit tired, but not a bad place to have lunch. In particular I like the truffle studded sausage. The risotto with black truffe ain't bad either. And they have an excellent, although a bit expensive, list of Bordeaux. In fact those gritty Graves wines make a nice pairing with black truffe.

I'm a big fan of flights that leave Europe for the U.S. that depart late in the day. I mean why take the 12:30 flight from Milan when you can take a 6:55pm flight from Paris or even an 8:00pm flight from Heathrow and spend the day eating and shopping?. And you don't have to schlep your bags around because they check them through. So on saturday which was the day we traveled home, we took a 9:30 flight from Milan to Charles DeGaule and laid over until the last flight of the day. Having no luggage to deal with allowed us to be in a taxi by 11:20 and at the Marche aux Puces in Clignancourt by noon. After a half hour of checking out what the Marche Serpette had to offer, we met up with eGullet member Marc Cosnard des Closets and wife, the winemaker Stephane Ogier who was up from Ampuis for a Rhone wine show in Paris the following monday and another friend of ours who lives in St. Helena (notice how only eGullet members or food and wine celebrities are worth mentioning by name . I had wanted to eat in Le Soleil for awhile. A number of NYC restaurant and food business owners had recommended it to me. It sounded like a welcome addition to the Paris weekend dining scene which offers significantly less choice then on weekdays. And if one enjoys the flea market, the choices are really slim. Considering how many weekend days I have spent strolling the market, a quality restaurant was a big plus. And just from an initial glance, the recommendations seemed to have some meat on the bones as the feel of the place when we entered was more in line with an upscale Paris bistro and not the crappy places you usually find at the market. And the decor eventually set the stage for a clientele that could only be described as weekend casual chic. The food at Le Soleil is in keeping with it's name. It's sort of sunny country style cooking with a nod towards Provence. I started with some nice wild salmon. Four perfect slices of raw salmon that were slightly thicker then one usually finds in a carpaccio. They were served with a dollop of aioli and some steamed rattes. Then a pan sauteed veal chop that had a tinge of garlic to it (rubbed with cloves before going in the pan?) served with some garlicky mushrooms and more rattes. This nice and hearty cuisine really hit the spot on a cold rainy day. Other dishes people enjoyed were a tuna tartar seved in a large mound, a lovely platter of thinly sliced carpaccio of coquille St.-Jacques, and a tranch of swordfish that was baked in a casserole dish (maybe Marc can weigh in with the exact preparation.) I ended with some sabayon with fresh figs. And we drank a 2000 William Fevre Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume that was reasonably priced at around 30 euro. A good meal and a big improvement in dining for those who like to stroll the flea market. We said our goodbyes at about a quarter to three and then we were off to do a little shopping. First we headed to Place Maidelaine to check out the new wine shop opened by a company from Barcelona. Lavinia, must be the most beautiful wine shop in the world. It was more like going into Niketown then a wine shop. And they had a selection to match the space. A huge number of choices from every region in France as well as loads of choices from the rest of the world. Except the prices, double ouch. Anywhere from 20-40% overpriced on French winesup to 100% overpriced on high-end California cabs. So we didn't pay them a very long visit. Then we jumped back in the car and headed over to the Pierre Herme shop on rue Marbeuf to pick up some of his terrific Coconut Tuilles (wheat free, hurray,) expect I found out they don't carry the cookies there. Then over to Barthelemy for some Vacherin to take back to the states, but they were closed for the holiday weekend. Back in the car, over to rue Boneparte to the other Herme shop where I stood on line for 25 minutes to get in and be served. Despite my annoyance at waiting in line, I kind of liked the idea of people wanting to eat well to the extent that they would wait on line. The world needs more quality food products like that. Four packages of tuilles, 24 miniature macarons of assorted flavors (a house gift for the truffle dinner the next night,) and one Ispahan for eating on the flight home later, it was back into the car and over to the Casa del Habano where someone in our party bought cigars. Then a stop at Hediard on rue de Bac to buy sachets of verveine, and a final stop at our hotel of Tuesday evening where we had left some luggage and then poof, we were back at the airport by 5:45. Surely a great way to spend the day.

I never understand why a service charge needs to be added into the bill? Why not just raise prices to reflect the cost of service like they do in Europe? If the idea of adding service is"demeaning," I don't see how it is any less so just because they do the math.

I think why you would like something in Provence and not in London (context and environment) is a different issue then the ingredients used in a dish tasting different in both places because of where they originate from. Just look at how the broth from local chickens can flavor your risotto differently. I mean there's a reason other than technique that risotto tastes a certain way in Milan and that I've never managed to find it replicated anywhere else.