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Steve Plotnicki

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Everything posted by Steve Plotnicki

  1. Gee I forgot about that white truffle custard. Yummy stuff,
  2. JD - I'm not sure I can explain the difference. It is more pronounced in the traditional dishes. Like the odds of getting a cassoulet in the U.S. that is any good is pretty low in my estimation (it's also low in France at this point I might add.) I can't tell you if it's the water, or the way the lardons flavor the food, or the way a French duck or goose renders it's fat. Chickens clearly taste different. As does meat. But it isn't much different then Italian food tasting good in Italy and not so good outside of Italy.
  3. Only if you son't cook it and eat it .
  4. Cabby - I always bring back truffles from Italy and France the same way. I buy a jar of risotto, empty some of the rice out, stick the truffles in and then pour the rice back in and cover them and then put the top back on the jar. And while refrigeration is a good idea, it isn't absolutely necessary until you get home. The reason you use rice is that the truffles give off moisture and the rice captures the moisture. Otherwise the truffles shrink. And yes, the aroma of the ruffles will permeate the shell of an egg.
  5. JD - Your point about British chefs using local ingredients and applying French technique is a good one. And it also explains why Londoners, whose palates might be more acclimated to that taste profile, might enjoy a place like CB better then a New Yorker would. In fact one of the things I like to eat the least in NYC is French bistro cuisine as I always find that it tastes of NYC and I want it to taste like it tastes in France.
  6. Peter - Fortunately we were traveling with a major wine wholesaler so any appointment we wanted was ours. Robert B. - I think it's a stretch and you are trying to help Italy when the standard you impose is "gastronomic touring." The issue isn't can you get a different meal 45 minutes away, the issue is why every meal in the region you're in has to be based on the same menu. I think I would go mad if I lived in the Piemonte and had to eat the same thing day after day without much variety. And as for variety between regions, for me, the variety between say Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio and Campagna is less then the variety between the Basque region, Gascony and the Dordogne, Brittany and Normandy. And that is probably because the cooking fuel in France changes from region to region and it stays the same in Italy.
  7. Yes well the menu you printed wouldn't necessarily wet my whistle either. I have to admit, I have a bias against London restaurants that are "faux French." Not that I think it can't be done well (witness my write-up of La Trompette from last spring,) but I have issues with the genre to begin with. It never seems to deliver on the promise of "almost as good as French but with a British twist to it." I much prefer a straight ahead Modern British approach like they serve at Kensington Place (in the olde days I mean when it was good,) or a stop beating around the bush and just serve French food approach like Gordon Ramsey does. MPW used to do it well during the era when he cooked at The Canteen (and I guess at Harvey's beforehand which was in the CB space.) But I'm puzzled at the popularity of places like CB or Racine when what they serve is neither here nor there (and this supposes my meal at CB was typical and not an off night.) But if you are going to serve French food, why Britishize it unless it is an improvement somehow?
  8. JD - I think the sum total of what you described adds up to it being an off night which is completely possible. But I have to say that I had "menu disappointment" before I put a spot of food in my mouth. I find that menus that don't read well to me usually end up with food that doesn't taste that good. So when I got there, my first disappointment was seeing a menu that could have been served at either The Square or at La Trompette, and secondly, nothing about it signalled that CB was going to have a unique style or take on how to prepare the style of food. So when the food turned up all mediocre, it didn't surprise me all that much. I think it surprised my dining companions more than I as they live in London and are exposed to the CB plaudits more then I am. In fact when I emailed one last night to get his comments about the food I got the following response; To me, among the Nigel Platts Martin establishments, which all serve what I would call a Modern Britishized version of French bourgoise cuisine, I would place CB in last place after La Trompette (which seems to have improved the genre on an overall basis) and The Square which is a place that is fine but one that I would just as soon skip as I don't see what the fuss is about there either. Of course this doesn't mean I have written the place off and I am certain I will try it again. But then again, I'm also not surprised to find a place of this style that seems to appeal to the London restaurant cogniscanti where I can't seem to figure out what all the fuss is about.
  9. I finally made it out to Chex Bruce last Monday for dinner. There were four of us, winos looking for a place with BYO and their 15 quid per bottle policy suited us just fine. Well I am sorry to report that we were to a person, considerably disappointed with the food. We all wondered what the big deal is about? My meal at La Trompette was much better then what I had at CB. In fact a week later I can't even tell you what I ate. That's how unmemorable the food was. And Bruce was there that night as well. But all was not lost as the wines were super and included a 1990 Grand Siecle Champagne, 1977 Ridge Monte Bello and 1989 Trimbach Clos St. Hune VT Hor Choix. But what am I missing about this place?
  10. Well the German system suits my personality and demeanor better. I can withstand a level of inefficiency based on human failing but not to the extent that it can ruin my day. That it can ruin the Italian day, and that they do not get upset about it to the extent that they actually do something about it, means to me that have come to accept the futility of the situation. I wonder why that is?
  11. Your reputation is doing just fine. But I would have been happier if Giacomo was just a hair better. Otherwise, keep those recomendations coming.
  12. Let's see, one correction. The first course at Camulin wasn't salumi, but a small cotechino sausage that was split on top and covered with fondutta. Robert B. - I left the review of da Giacomo for another thread. Let's just say that the day we ate there (which was for dinner) was one of mishaps. First, it was All Saints Day and when we got to Milan everything was shut down tight. I mean really tight. The only stores open were the department stores alongside the Duomo. So instead of sitting around Milan doing nothing, I had this bright idea that we should drive out to Concesio to the Miramonte Altri for lunch. So I booked a table and asked the concierge for directions. He offered turn by turn or just simple directions so I took both. Then on the way there, first there was a lot of traffic and then a car caught fire and they shut down the autostrada for a half hour. By the time we got to Concesio it was nearly 2:00pm. And it wasn't until we got there that we realized the concierge only gave us directions to the town and not to the restaurant. So we figured there would be a sign for the place in the "cute" town of Concesio which turned out to be more like urban sprawl. So we looked around for someone to ask but everything was shut tight including the police station. And the few people we could find on the street had never heard of the place. After 45 minutes of driving around without any luck, we bit hard and drove back to Milan where we arrived at about 4:00pm. At least the window shopping was nice. I had reserved a table at da Giacomo for a light and latish dinner. But the consensus among our crew was that since lunch was a bust, they would prefer to have dinner at a place with a list full of older wines. So I consulted with the concierge (I sometimes don't learn from my mistakes) who suggested Sadler. He called the place where they assured him they had over 700 diferent wines on the list including selections from the 70's and 80's. So at 8:15 we got into a taxi headed for Sadler. Well at least we thought we were headed for Sadler because it wasn't until we got to the corner that the taxi driver let on that he had no idea where Sadler was. This was despite of the doorman of the hotel telling him the address. One would have thunk that if he didn't know, he could have asked the doorman. But instead he waited until he drove away and then he took out a pocket street guide to Milan. It turned out it was in the Navigli District. But he couldn't find the street and we had to call the concierge for the exact directions. Our downhill slide continued after we finnaly located Sadler because after sitting down, the entire selection of "old wine" from the 70's and 80's was a single from the1978 vinmtage and another one from the 1987 vintage. This was at last, with everything that had already happened that day, too much for me and despite the horror and shock of my dining companions, I announced we were leaving for da Giacomo where our reservation was still standing. I called the dopey concierge at the hotel and I held on while he ordered a taxi to ferry us to da Giacomo. The I got up to find the maitre d' and told him we were leaving and I asked him for a check for the drinks we had ordered. When he asked me why, I told him the story about old wine etc. He said he would speak to Mr. Sadler. But I guess he didn't really mean it because about three minutes later Claudio Sadler, dressed in his chef's whites, appeared at our table with his order pad and asked us what we wanted. I began explaining the situation to him and the longer I spoke the more his eyes were bulging out of his head. Finally when I asked for a check, he responded "it's alright, you can go." I guess he thought that was better then having his head explode. Fortunately the taxi was waiting for us which was the first thing that worked out for us since we got to Milan. We all liked Giacomo as soon as we walked in. We were happier being in a place with a trattoria vibe as opposed to a semi-stuffy restaurant. And we were further rewarded when we got the wine list. Because although it didn't really have much old wine, the list was full of great bottles of recent vintages. Our meal was fine, if not exactly inspired. Large red scampi are in season and I had them in each course I ordered. I started with some Pesci Crudo, then they were kind enough to make me a seafood risotto for one (even though the menu describes it as "for two.") Then I tried to order the turbot but they were recommending the combination the grilled shrimp/scamponi combo. It was all fine, but I found that they had a tendency to overcook things. But the place was lively and fun, and the staff was terrific, spoke english well and went out of their way to make sure we understood what was on the menu. But I will stick to my friends "better for lunch" statement here as well. Robert S. - I think that there is limited relevancy here. What amazes me is that the people in the Piemonte region eat the same thing meal after meal after meal. One would think that with Savona just a mere 45 minutes to an hour away, there would be good and plentiful fish to eat. But I don't think I saw a fish dish being offered anywhere. I wish there was a guide book that only listed "important dishes to eat." Then I could dispense with alot of ceremony and just go eat the few dishes that make dining fun.
  13. The wine pricing was pretty good. Guido had 1996 Conterno Gran Bussia for 65 euros. Our big score though was 1994 dal Forno Romano Amarone at 123 euros at Da Giacomo in Milan. That's about $100 less then the retail price in the U.S.
  14. Beachfan - I don't eat the cous cous. But I do prepare a bowl of the boullion with the fixings and hot sauce and eat it with a tagine. It's cous cous-less cous cous . And yes, the restaurants were pretty liberal with their truffle shavings.
  15. Oh you made me hungry. Personally, I like the following appetizers the best. The Salade Marcellin which is a lovely salad with some nice slices of avocado (a nice touch for France) and then topped with a good slab of grilled marvellin cheese, stuffed cabbage that is drenched in butter and burnt on the outside, and the scrambled eggs topped with grated black truffle. In fact I could skip the entrees and just have those three things for a meal (providing I could find someone to split the salad with .)
  16. After all the board banter about the relevancy of Italian cuisine, I was eager to depart for a few days of wining and dining in Italy. No matter how hard you try, it’s hard to argue about these things in the abstract. Because while over the last 20 years I have done my fair share of dining there, I hadn’t been there since 2000. And more importantly, I have not eaten there since the inception of the board and I was eager to experience the cuisine given the way it has affected the way I see a meal. We arrived in Torino at about 11:00am and picked up a rental car. Soon enough we were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the Torino Tangeziale. All thoughts of a leisurely drive to our lunch destination were gone. Originally we had intended to lunch at Davide Scabine’s restaurant in order to try “gas mask dining,” but the exact name of the restaurant and the address couldn’t be secured in time. So off we were headed to Piemonte for some home cooking. Our first two choices for lunch, Tratorria della Posta in Monforte and I Bologna were closed that day (in spite of my Faith Heller Willinger guide claiming they were both open) so I had to do a little last minute research on where to eat. Prior to boarding the flight, after some minor calculations, I called Tratorria della Unione in Treiso and secured us a table. For me, choosing that restaurant was like swimming into the mouth of the whale as it is one of the Slow Food organizations most famous members. In fact, a number of years ago, some food writer anointed it one of the top ten restaurants in Italy and there was a stretch where it was impossible to get a tablel. We pulled into the town of Treiso at about 1:15. It’s a picturesque Italian village with a nice sunny piazza that is slightly too big for a village that size. An also seemingly large for a village that size elementary school sits smack in the middle of the piazza. The Unione is just at the foot of the piazza and is on the left side and slightly downhill from it when approaching from the direction of Alba. There is a small sign announcing the restaurant (I’m sure they would have a slow sign if they could figure out how to do that) and once inside there are six tables in a smallish room. Maybe the place seats 30 diners. On one side sits some built in shelves with copies of various Italian food and wine guides including a complete collection of the Osterria del Italy published by the Slow Food Organization, a book I had never seen before and one which I eagerly grabbed and flipped through the pages of. The Unione only serves a “carta del giorno.” At first I was troubled because I don’t eat pasta (allergies) and the second course was taillerin (egg tagliatelle.) And despite my being able to communicate this to the non-English speaking and seemingly non-simpatico waitress, who didn’t seem to be offering to have them cook me something else, it was too late to go elsewhere so I figured the worst would be that I would grab a nosh in town later. Of course this proved to be unnecessary as they immediately proceed to shower us with a host of antipasti that weren’t on the menu. They started us with some crostini of liver (unidentified and sort of sweetish) that was followed by a plate of thinly sliced salami and prosciutto. Good quality salami, really fragrant and not very dry. And the ham was from a part of the proscuitto I had never seen before. It was almost all fat with a very thin ribbon of meat in the center. The fat was soft and silky, like the texture of the best quality smoked salmon. It just melted in your mouth and then you were left with the ribbon of meat that also melted in your mouth but had more texture to it. Then (and I possibly could have the order wrong,) they served us Vittello Tonnato. This was just okay as the meat was overcooked and the tuna sauce didn’t taste much of tuna. But it was the next dish that launched us into space as they served a Flan of Cardoons with Anchovy. For those who don’t know, cardoons are an artichoke type of vegetable except long and thin. These were chopped into a coarse puree and formed into a loaf with the entire top of the loaf covered with anchovies. Each of us was served what would be a thick terrine like slice with an additional anchovy on the side. It was so good. I’m not sure what they mix into the cardoons but when they bake the terrine, the oil from the anchovies seeps into the terrine and when they serve you a slice, it is drenched (not too much) with the oil the anchovy is packed in. A stunning dish and a must eat for all you anchovy lovers out there. Pasta was up next. My two companions were served taillerin with a ragu of veal and they set a plate of cheeses down in front of me. And the finale was what I understand is the house specialty, rabbit braised in barbaresco wine. It was slightly overcooked, but it was tasty and the schmutz in the plate was the best part. Whatever they stew the rabbit in, the bits of the rabbit that fall off into the gravy, cooked down, is the best part. In fact, a nice bowl of polenta topped with spoonfuls of that rabbit schmutz would be terrific. More cheese for dessert, and we drank a really good bottle of 1997 Giacomo Bologna Barbera Bricco d’Uccelone. The grand total for this lunch for three people with the wine was 118 euros. Welcome to Italy. We didn’t get to our hotel in Alba until nearly four o’clock. After we checked in, two of us took a spazir though the town. If you have never been to Alba, it is truly one of the world’s great food cities. It is also a pretty affluent place for a town of that size. One only has to take a half a dozen steps inside the old city proper to realize that they are not in some two-bit provincial place. Sure provinciality exists, but it has been washed over with the wealth the region has accumulated from the food and wine industry, not to mention ordinary industry. I find it to be much less provincial then say Burgundy where the business is mainly wine and not much else. On the two main shopping streets, which form an L-shape and are probably not more then seven or eight blocks long between them, there must be at least 25 stores that are dedicated to food and wine in some fashion. And we are not talking about cheap food and wine. Top quality ingredients and preparations wherever you look. And there also must be at least a half dozen cafes where one can take some pastries or gelato with their coffee and hot chocolate. But I was on a mission. I needed to bring back some truffles to a dinner I had been invited to on Sunday. So we made a beeline for the truffle market. Unfortunately it had already closed that day. But a sign was up saying the next market was going to be held that Friday at 8:00 in the morning. After a friend from Laussanne joined us at around 8:00pm, we headed out to Albaretta della Torre to da Cesare for dinner. The chef/owner, Cesare Giaconne, became sort of a cult figure a few years back when Patrica Wells put his restaurant on the list of the top ten casual restaurants in the world. I had eaten a great meal there in 1998, and an ordinary one a year later. But about a year and a half ago Cesare was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And although the restaurant stayed open while he was being treated, the reports were pretty bad. But I had heard that he recovered and was back to work. And indeed this summer in the Hamptons, someone gave a luncheon where he prepared dishes that were to going to be featured in a cookbook he was publishing in English. And then there was a review on this site not that long ago. But I didn’t make the decision to try it again until I was having dinner at Tommaso’s in Bensonhurst two weeks ago where Tommy the owner prevailed on me to go see Cesare and say hello for him. After a 25 minute drive from the center of Alba, you enter Da Cesare into a long, narrow room. At the front of the room is a long table that must hold a dozen plus people or more. Invariably, every time I’ve been there it is full with some type of gastronomic club that has traveled from some far away region in Europe to dine there. This night wasn’t much different and there were three German families with young children who were dining there. As you walk past the table, there is a break in the room and there is a door that leads to a second, smaller dining room. But if you continued ahead, there are two smaller tables and then there is a fireplace where capretto (baby goat) is roasting on a spit. They brought us into the second room, and seated us at the foursome in the back of the room. Luck would have it that all three times I’ve dined there I had the same table. The service seemed pretty unorganized. There were only four people working both rooms and this turned out to be one of the worst things about our meal as it took forever to get anything ordered (including wine for which we had to wait an inordinate amount of time to order.) I started with one of their most famous dishes, sliced porcini mushrooms and peaches. They are served in a sauce that seems to be an emulsion of a mixture of cream and some of the juice of the mushrooms as they cook down. The dish seemed to be a little short on the peaches. What makes the dish work is when the contrast between the sweetness of the peaches and the earthiness (and saltiness) of the mushrooms is present in each bite. If they achieve that balance, the bubbly, creamy sauce acts as a good backdrop for those flavors. But because it was short on peaches it seemed bland. It also seemed a bit watery. They need to cook the peach/mushroom liquid down some more before they add the cream. What could be a great dish served incorrectly. Then the waiter came over top tell us that Cesare would like to prepare for us (on the house of course) an onion stuffed with fontina cheese and then baked in the oven. This was the result of my sending regards from Tommaso when he visited us earlier. About ten minutes later they arrived with an onion the size of a good juice orange that had the top cut off and the center scooped out. It was filled with bubbling cheese. They served us small spoons and as you took a some cheese on it, one tried to scrape the inside of the onion which had been salted to get a little onion pulp on it and also to combine the two flavors. Quite simple and quite yummy. The ubiquitous pasta course was up next. My three companions opted for the agnolotti topped with shaved truffles. Fortunately for me they were offering a polenta dish. It was a shallow pasta bowl where a mound of polenta was smoothed to fit in the bowl, and it sat in a small pool of cream sauce. But in the middle of the bowl, buried underneath the polenta was a red egg yolk. Then they came and completely coated the dish with white truffle. Now the dish was great, but at this point I have to take exception to the Italian way versus the French way. In order to eat the dish properly so the egg gets integrated into the dish (you can imagine the red yolk against the yellow polenta being an attractive combination,) you have to mix the egg into the polenta. But when you mix the egg into the polenta you end up with a sort of porridge concoction that has truffles mixed throughout. Fortunately for me, I forgot about the egg and the issue of what to do with it didn’t come up until I ate my way to the center of the bowl. At that point I mixed it but it was much better beforehand. I think the presentation and taste would be better if they put the egg on top of the polenta by making a small well in the center, and then they cut some grooves so as to let the yolk distribute out in a star shape. Then it would semi-set from the heat of the polenta and they could shave the truffles on tpp. Why hide the great presentation the red yolk makes and why force people to turn what is a great dish into porridge? Okay I’m picking some big nits here on what otherwise would be a great dish (and one I truly enjoyed) but I can’t resist pointing out where great food fails to reach its highest expression as a cuisine. The goat roasted on the spit was next. What they do is to put up various parts of baby goats on spits and then serve it to whomever in the restaurant ordered it on a large platter. The waiter comes to your table with a selection of cuts and you are free to choose which pieces and how many of them you want. This includes seconds, and possibly thirds (I didn’t get that far as my first two portions could be described as ample.) The goat itself had crisp and salty skin with a thin layer of fat under most of it. The meat was sort of whitish in color and it was moist and stringy and was more like the meat you find from veal ribs then what you would see from say lamb. The flavor was mild, with only a slight hint of gaminess. Served with a few nondescript fried potatoes, it was earthy country cooking that gave some decent pleasure. Dessert was a little bit harder to get right. I had wanted the sabayon with moscato d’Asti but it was served with hazelnut cookies. And despite my telling the waiter that I was allergico, and could he substitute something for the cookies, specifically, the Fruitetta dessert they were offering, he insisted on there being no substitutions and he made me order two desserts (I should have just passed as neither was particularly very good.) We drank a bottle of 2000 Sandrone Barbera d’Alba which was a little modern in style for the picky winos at our table. We followed it with a 1996 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falleto Riserva which is going to be a beauty when it is mature. All in all I enjoyed Cesare though it still didn’t hit the heights of my first meal there. We set Thursday aside for wine tasting. We spent the morning at the estate of Aldo Conterno and we followed it with a tasting at Giacomo Conterno, both of which are in Monforte. Both visits were exceptionally good as we toured the facilites (both beautiful,) toured the Aldo Conterno vineyards in a jeep and had exceptionally good tastings at both places with the 1996 Gran Bussia and the 1995 Monfortino being the standouts as expected. For lunch, our first choice the Tratorria della Posta in Monforte was still closed. So we chose to drive to Cossano Belbo for lunch. About forty minutes later we found ourselves in the Tratorria della Posta di Camulin. “Camulin” as it is known, has a bright and cheery dining room, which surprisingly is an unusual attribute in this part of Italy. I have often found to my astonishment, that in both France and Italy, those who built structures in the old days weren’t sensitive to the exposure of sunlight. It was a welcome surprise to be seated in a naturally well-lit room. And to make your meal all that much cheery, the greeting and service at the Camulin is both warm and friendly. There were four starters available, but our waiter (who I believe is the owner’s son) sold us on having an assortment. We started with some salumi of fine quality. This was followed by yellow and orange pepperoncini (roasted peppers,) that were stuffed with chopped mushrooms. The peppers were really fresh tasting, with flesh that seemed thicker then what I’m used to getting in NYC. They had a good crunch to them and each bite would demonstrate a firm yet gentle hand of their being lightly pickled in a vinegar solution. Then they served us Vitello Tonato. I kind of liked the presentation here. They came around with a large platter that had many slices of veal on it sitting alongside a large mound of the tuna mayonnaise. If you wanted a piece, they picked up a slice of veal with some tongs and they wiped it in the mayo and then placed it on your plate. Viola. It looked perfect. Unfortunately as with the Unione, the veal was overcooked although I much preferred the tuna sauce at Camulin, as it was just good quality mayo with a hint of tuna taste. But the next starter set the standard for our trip. They brought us each a plate of Carne Crudo, which was raw veal that was ground ala steak tartar. It was seasoned with just salt, pepper and lemon juice. After they set the plate down they showered it with white truffles. It was so good and fresh tasting that I can still imagine its flavor in my mouth. Clearly this was the dish of the trip and much to my surprise, all four of us agreed. I sat out the pasta course but my three companions enjoyed some taillerin in butter sauce with a gracious shaving of white truffles atop. And for our main dish, we nixed the cooked food that was roast veal and rabbit and we had simply fried eggs with guess what, more shaved truffles on top. We drank a 1998 Pin from La Spinetta. A nice wine, if a bit modern for our palates. And this terrific feast cost 151 euros for the four of us. Bravo. Italian meal of the trip. The afternoon appointments were with Luciano Sandrone and then back to the Barbaresco region to meet with Giorgio Rivetti at La Spinetta. I had tasted with Sandrone in 1998. But I had heard he had built a new cantina since then. This new cantina turned out to be a building worthy of being an estate in Bordeaux. Luciano himself took us around the amazing facility. If you have ever met Luciano, he is a simple man. He appears more the farmer then the businessman. So he seemed a little out of place in his multi-million dollar extravaganza of a cantina, which included an elevator to take us to the various floors in the winery. But prosperity hasn’t changed his demeanor or his level of sincerity and his explanations of the region and its wines are unsurpassed by anyone. If you are familiar with Sandrone’s wines, he was one of the original instigators of the modern style in Barolo. But I found the tasting enjoyable and even the detractors among us were complimenting the wines for their clean taste. We didn’t pull into La Spinetta until about 5:30. They led us into a large tasting room where two other groups were tasting. Giorgio Rivetti, a nice looking man who appears to be in his early 40’s and who also speaks perfect English was working the room. His tasting room was a different scene then at the other wineries. They were all serious and dour. This was like a party where there was cheese available if you wanted it, and there was also a beautiful old deli style meat slicer at one end of the room, surely for times where they slice up salumi for the guests. We tasted through the range of wines and to a man we were tremendously impressed with both Barbarescos, La Gallina and the Starderi which at least two of our party thought was the wine of the day. Hmm, it might not be bad to get some of those into my cellar. Dinner was at Guido. In spite of reading mixed reports about it lately, I had never been. And since they are closing at the end of the year to move into the new location, I figured I needed to try it at least once. Guido is located about a twenty minute drive north of Alba in the small village of Costiogle d’Asti. It’s easy enough to get there, until the last five kilometers, which of course take you up a number of switchbacks to get to the village. The restaurant is in the main piazza in the center of town, in a building that looks like a bank. And to make it even less sunny and cheery, it’s in the basement of the building. Well I guess the rent is cheap. To cut to the chase, our meal was resolutely disappointing. We had the ubiquitous Vitello Tonnato. For once someone cooked the veal properly pink. But I found the tuna sauce to be grainy and chalky. It was better in the simple manner it was served in at Camulin. The other new dish they served us was a plate of sliced cardoons in a fondutta (sauce of cheese and cream) that was resolutely mediocre. My risotto with truffles could have been had anywhere, and my beef braised in Barolo sauce was so overcooked and dry that the two of us that ordered it found it inedible. Fortuntely Piero (a really sweet guy) noticed we weren’t eating it and he replaced it with baby goat. Slightly better but it paled in comparison to the goat at Cesare. We drank a 1989 Sandone Cannubi Boschis, which in keeping with our afternoon tasting, was as clean as a wine gets. I enjoyed it, especially as the black cherry flavor intensified with air. But others at the table were less impressed with the modern style and the lack of complexity they seek in a Barolo. We followed it with a 1985 Riccardo Ratti Barolo which was slightly lighter in style and kind of funky. A decent wine but not one that wets my whistle. We finished up with a 1986 Barolo (Serralunga I believe) from Giacosa. That was drinking particularly well for a non-heralded vintage. On the way back to Alba we recapped the events of the prior two days. We all agreed that the wine tastings we had were superior and we were sorry we didn’t allocate an additional day to visit other wineries. We could easily have filled the day by visiting Altare, Scavino, Gaja and Giacosa. As for the food, my friend Dwight, who is both smarter than I and also thinks in a more concise manner, put it succinctly. “Lunches are really good” he said, “but dinner is the same as lunch. And to make things worse, they try to make the food fancier at dinner which screws it up.” I couldn’t agree more. And it both reminded me of why I travel to Italy less often then I do in France, as well as pinpoint a certain aspect of the French/Italy debate that goes on around here. As to my travels, I have said for years that I am always disappointed with my evenings in Italy. There is just less variety there as to what to eat. And that is mainly a function of the restaurants in a region almost all being the same. I mean that they served us Vittelo Tonato at three of the four places we ate in is really silly. And if you were to compare the menus all across Piemonte, I would bet that the restaurants all serve pretty much the same food. The other thing is that there seems to be nobody in the region (by that I mean the Langhe and surrounding areas) that has elevated the cuisine to a higher level. One would think that in a zona gastronomica that somebody would be breaking (or would have broken) new ground. But Vitello Tonatto in the design of a flower isn’t exactly new ground in my book. And if you add this lack of interesting technique to the issue of the menus being the same everywhere, it can make those evenings pretty disappointing, especially compared to the variety of foods, and variety of presentations you can find in France, or even in the U.S. or U.K. But the dishes that are good, Mama Mia, boy they are really great. Maybe I can take day trips? A final note about truffles, we made it to the market on Friday morning. For somewhere between $75 and $125, one could buy themselves a pretty large truffle. And there was no shortage of them as there must have been a few thousands examples for sale. And I can tell you that the two I brought home with me seem to be of much better quality then what they were serving us in the restaurants. In fact my sons have been complaining about the aroma in the fridge ever since I got home last night. Fortunately for them, I will have to eat them quickly.
  17. The problem with calling something a carrot when it doesn't taste like carrots is a big problem. If chefs were really brave, they would give their dishes names that have nothing to do with ingredients. There is no surprise as to how a carrot tastes. Go to your local green grocer and buy one.That's how it tastes. All you can fo is improve on it from there. But names of dishes are code that you are to expect a certain flavor. To tell you to expect it just to make a carrot taste like tuna fish doesn't help anyone and all it does is sensationalize cooking. If Gagnaire of chefs like him can invent new flavors that make us scream with delight, why call your dish by the name of the food, if indeed it doesn't taste derivitive of that food.
  18. It depends on who you are talking about. People who work at labels that are interested in the music they release being artistic as well as successful are indentifying high quality music. Someone identifys the Cesare Evorias of the world, or even the REM's before they become popular. If you were to look at how many people really make decisions that shape the market, I would bet you it is probably not much more then 300 people in the first instance, and then a few thousand in the next tranch. What is decieving about it is how fungable those few thousand people are with certain people dropping out or being included on a daily basis.
  19. As an addendum, I had dinner at Arpege this past Tuesday night. Since I was eating with two Arpege virgins, I agreed to have many of the same dishes I had on the tasting menu 6 weeks ago. I am happy to report they were every bit as good this time. But I thought I'd post about the new dishes I had. One was a 2.2 kilo turbot that they were parading around the room to various tables which was roasted for two hours in a salt crust. They served each of us a nice slice of the meat and then a thin but meaty slice of what appeared to be the tail. It was served with the house signature "Sauce de Vin Jaune" which was thick and mellow. The meat of the fish being very moist as well. They also served us a roasted sea bass that came with a mild horseradish puree, and some roasted vegetables including a soft as butter yet firm, sweet roasted beet. And each of us received a plate of four large, firm and perfectly roasted sea scallops that were in a light Thai curry sauce.
  20. I only salt afterwards. I find that if I use a good quality sea salt that the steak never misses the salt in the cooking process. And I prefer the crunch of the salt against the meat as opposed to the salt melted into the char. Of course I could do both, but that would make it too salty. And if the steak costs $24 at the butcher, I'm probably not too far off at $17 wholesale. The way they can make this thing work at $35 is if the economics allow them to work on a 200% markup instead of 300%. If dinner cost $50 instead of $35 (which is what it should cost,) that would seem about right. But if there is no cost for rent, decor, etc., maybe they can make it happen. Remember they already had a cafe there. How much more did they add to the mix by grabbing meat from the butcher case and staying open until 9:00pm? Doesn't sound like a lot of new overhead to me.
  21. Had lunch there today. Didn't think the meal warranted a new thread. Started with the Green tea/lime sour in a large shot glass. A nice way to get your palate all zippy feeling. Other tables had it frozen in a small pot of liquid nitrogen. That was cool looking as it looked like a science experiment. But when I asked about it they said it had to be ordered in advance. Then the red cabbage gaspacho with grain mustard which is too small a portion considering how delicious it is. Then a glass with three jellies/purees which wasn't as interesting as the fist two amuse. I started with the risotto with caramelized cauliflower and chocolate shavings I believe. When they served it, the waitress had a pastry bag with cocoa powder in it and she gave it a shake over the plate ad it was magically coated with a thin layer of cocoa powder. Lovely presentation. As for the dish, I didn't quite get it. The cauliflower was lovely. But I didn't find the combination with the chocolate to be all that interesting. It didn't offend me in any way. It just didn't make me jump out of my seat. My dining partner had the crab biscuit which came with some sauteed foie gras and some salmon. The one bite I had was stunning and I found the foie/salmon combo to be surprisingly good. We then split an order of the roasted scallops with caramelized cauliflower sauce. Scallops were good, but the sauce was about as outstanding as it gets. My god they should sell it in jars like fluffernutter to spread on things. For our mains, after a mishap with an order of the salt baked sweetbreads (which were breaded so I had to send them back,) I had "Best-End of Pot Roast of Pork" and since it was being served with a gratin of macaroni and balck truffles, they brought me mashed pommes instead. Beautiful slices of pork that were as moist as I've eve seen pork get. And cooked sort of just this side of medium rare. Thre was aso about a bar size chunk of braised pork belly that was fabulous and it was topped with a glaze that the waitress told me was "double reduction of the pork juices." I tried to press her for the secret ingredient that made the sauce sort of sweet, but she returned from the kitchen saying it was just a reduction. There were also some melt in your mouth mushrooms. Quite enjoyable, and quite normal comfort food that was superbly prepared. We drank a 1992 Kabinett from the Maximum Gruenhauser vineyard in Germany and all I can say about the wine is that it rocked. It was so perfect. I could hardly stop drinking it. And since it weighed in at a paltry 8.5% alcohol, I kept sipping it like it was water. All in all an excellent lunch. And an excellent place for a sunday lunch in England. My main complaint is that the starters were served at slightly warmer then room temperature. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not BUT I HATE THAT. Hot food please. If I want room temperature food I can order a sandwich. I also wish the place served a legitimate tasting menu. I mean they have something on the menu called tasting menu but it is really jut a set menu of four courses. I mean one of those twelve course job that you get at a place like the French Laundry etc. I would like to taste most of the things on the menu, and I also don't necessarily need to eat full size portions of them. But in spite of those few nits, I shall return.
  22. I was actually invited to be the judge of todays festivities but I had a prior engagament at the Fat Duck. I thought at this point, with Heston reading the site and all, that he pinched the recipes off the thread to serve them at the restaurant. So I figured I would try and order them at lunch. "Tony who? Finch? We are serving partrdge today sir, not finch. And Friar? Sorry sir, this is lunch. Church was this morning sir." They brought me mash instead.
  23. At lunch at the Fat Duck today, I tried to order both entries and they didn't know what I was talking about. "Tony who? Finch? We are serving partrdge today sir, not finch.
  24. Macrosan - I am surprised you find that statement interesting. Maybe because of being in the media business, I am trained to look at everything from that vantage point. That's what you do all day long. Figure out why. And not that I am expert in every field, but every field I have ever taken an interest in has a way to study why certain things are prominent. What I should do is to start a thread about why restaurants work so we can list the reasons out.
  25. Cabrales - Your meal would have been more then a mite better if you stuck to Asian fusion dishes instead of being sucked in by game and French style dishes. To a person, everyone I know who goes to UP is disappointed when they stray from fusion inspired dishes.
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