Steve Plotnicki

They screwed up that hotel but good (Pont Royale that is.) I stayed at the Montalembert for years, always ogling the Pont Royale as I fantacized how much fun it would be to be a hotelier in Paris. So when I heard that it was finally going to be renovated I thought that would be a good thing and I would end up having a choice between the two places. But they did it so tacky, in a faux Nina Campbell style. And yes the rooms at the Montelambert can be a little small but they are so well appointed and organized that it never bothered me. But if you want to have a treat sometimes, reserve room 81. It's an attic room with a large picture window with an unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. It's like living in the Chagall painting Paris out my window.

That's excellent news since I am often in that neighborhood. There has always been a dearth of good places to eat in the 7th on that side of Invalides.

The kitchen at Manoir does not cook with the requisite intensity for its reputation and for the setting. The food sounds better than it tastes. Lackluster sauces, food served at room temperature, things like that. It just seemed to me that they don't care enough. But the place was nice and the photo of the room looks lovely. I wish the food was better. It doesn't surprise me that the Johnson's think the food at GR is in a diffrerent league. It is.

Actually the Times had a good article in the magazine section a few weeks back on miso and mirin marinated/rubbed Chilean Sea Bass kebabs.

The best fish kebabs in the world are the Swordfish kebabs (at least they used to be) at Elias Corner. They were always succulent and had just the right tinge of marinade. They would serve them on a bed of greens. Don't know what they marinade them in though, Greek stuff.

Cabrales - Why do you feel it is so important to defend the Moulin, going as far as making excuses for them by making hypotheticals about their difficulties in getting good help? Robert's review wasn't unfair. Couldn't that be what he experienced when he went there? And if a restaurant has bad and unfair policies about things like room cancellations and time limits on ordering, and someone finds that offensive, then why shouldn't they complain about it in print? There are no excuses for a 21 day cancellation policy, and saying one can use it as a credit in the future doesn't make it a good policy.

Spqr - Shrimp are easy. The trick is to cook them until they first curl up then they are done. If you take them off the fire at that exact moment you will find the happy middle between uncooked and rubbery.

"So now I see it as his "problem" rather than my incompetence. 'course I usually cook so he has to clean and everybody's happy." I don't cook either but my conceptual contributions to our daily meals are of such substance I was able to get out of cleaning .

No the whole matjes herring phenomenon is Dutch I believe. At least that is how they spin it at the Oyster Bar in NYC when they have their matjes herring festival.

For the life of me I can't figure out how to clean the dishes. I'm even too intimidated to try it.

"I think there's a danger of taking it for granted that, during the nineteenth century, cuisine at the domestic level was "better" in France than it was in Britain. It was certainly different in terms of ingredients and cooking techniques." Wilfird - You're not going to waste all this good work you've done trying to sneak in the conclusion based on a subjective definition of "better" are you? I think we've come up with a number of important reasons as to why one was dominant and the other not, 1. No interuption in French agricultural tradition as opposed to the laws of restriction 2. An interuption in the evolution of British peasant cuisine as a direct result of the laws of restriction. Since the farmers were thrown off their land the tradition of simple cooking died and whichever way it would have evolved over the next 100 years never happened 3. A tradition of educating people to be chefs where it seems there was no such tradition among the British population. And to offer household servants as chefs who were not formally trained in the most complex technique of the day is not a good response. There needs to be British chefs who could cook meals in the style of the top chefs who were working at hotels and restaurants. Just like there is today. 4. Effects of the wars which took a heavier toll on England than it did in France Now I would think that would be sufficient to conclude objectively that France was dominant and England inferior. But of course, if you like steak and kidney pie better than foie gras one would argue against it. But I thought the point of these threads was to eliminate those subjective arguments.

Happy Anniversary Fat Guy. And Mrs. Fat Guy too.

Everything in wine is fashionable. It's just that some regions of the world like the Loire, or almost anything that comes from Germany or Austria isn't fashiobale with collectors. So there are "bargains" to be had because the wines aren't in demand even though some of them are terrrific. But you are limited to Chenin Blancs from the Loire, Cabernet Francs from the Loire, Riesling from Germany and Rieslings and Gruner Veltliner from Austria. Bandols which are 100% Mourvedre are will priced as well. But if you want any of the less esoteric wines, they are both fashionable and pretty expensive.

I haven't been but I heard from a friend that they make a good paella which is only available on Sunday and Monday nights.

Shanken is pandering to his readership. WS was the first to champion high prices when the stock market was headed north not south. In fact they began that whole auction watch page a number of years back where they tumpeted the lastest wild prices paid at auction with headlines like "82's rise another 12%." What Shanken is saying now is something the rest of us have been saying for nearly five years. There is no reason for the prices of wine to be so high. As I stated in our earlier discussion about BYO, the $270 I had to pay for a bottle of 1999 Meo-Camuzet Clos Vougeot at Lespinasse is outrageous considering they probably paid $60. And I use that number because I was able to buy it for $90. They should be selling that wine for $125-$150. Mogsob - The creation of places like Veritas, Trouville and Washington Park seems to fly in the face of your argument. You can say that those places exist almost solely for the purpose of having a textbook like wine list.

All these responses are just proving that the food industry (especially the produce aspect of it) went through a period of consolidation and the quality suffered. To say that producers grew different specimens of fruits in order to ship them long distances omits the salient fact that only a large, well capitalized business could afford to undertake such a project. It is not something that would be the baliwick of small growers. And on the other side of the equation you had a consolidation amongst the supermarkets and buyers from places like A & P needed to buy tonnage to keep their shelves stocked. What happened in the food industry is what happens in every industry that finds itself in a monopolistic position and the quality suffers as a result. Some smart guy comes along with a better product and segments the market. The supermarket chains, feeling they pushed all their competition out of business, thought that they could dictate what quality produce the consumer would have to buy. They calculated that there was more business selling tomatoes to everyone in their region then there was to be had by selling better quality tomatoes to those who would be willing to pay for them. So they decided to choose a standard of quality that was affordable to everyone and could be shipped long distances. They completed neglected the customer who would be willing to pay more money for top quality tomatoes and who lived in a place where they could be shipped. They could have carried both types of tomatoes and made everyone happy. But they probably calculated that the trouble wasn't worth the projected profits so some accounting type probably nixed it. That's what happens when decisions about products like food are made by bean counters and not big fressers. But because of their mistake, you now have lots of small producers and local gourmet market chains and green markets that are taking advantage of the people who the supermarkets alienated. Fortunately they still do a good job on things like corn flakes. Macrosan - You should go out and buy Paul Richardson's book on food in England. I can't remember the name. But the first chapter is on Kent and what happened there and how the farms were abandoned for hops and how it all happened.

I used to love it when K-Paul's came to town. Those meals were fun.

La Mere Germaine is a simple place with decent enough food. A good place to take lunch. I haven't been but "the place" in the region is supposed to be Bistro au Paradou. I think I posted on my trip. It was a truffle fest in February. Check the boards. But we didn't eat at Moulin but at La Feniere instead. It was nice but not something I would drive an hour for. This is the funny thing about Provence. It has this mystical reputation about food but the restaurants there are truly poor compared to other regions of France.

Paradise Garage was a club on King Street off of Hudson that peaked at the height of the disco era. Larry Levan was the DJ and he was probably the greatest DJ of his era. The club had a large black gay clientele and the music it played was by and large for that audience. But the crowd was mixed. They had no liquor license so they had this huge juice bar which is why I made the reference. Tim Curry recorded a song about the place titled Paradise Garage. I went about a half a dozen times and it was one of the great experiences of that era. It was by far the best club I've ever been to. Here's a link to a tribute site Paradise Garage

"my guess is that you'll eat better at the chef's restaurant when he's not there, than you will eat at another restaurant when he's doing a guest shot." In my fantasy restaurant the chefs are at the top of their game, or else.

"A roving dining society is another model and one with historical precedent. " Yes we can terrorize restauranteurs and chefs. I always wanted to own a restaurant called "Guest Chef." It would only serve lunch from Wednesday-Saturday and each week there would be a different visiting chef. I figured it would cut down on the cost of my airfare to places.

Paula - I just drove to Lourmarin from Chateauneuf-du-Pape in February. That drive took me about an hour. It should be about a 35-45 minute drive from Avignon. And yes Robert's post on his recent meal at the restaurant (literally only a few days ago) should be on the board in the next day or so.

Well James Beard is the right model but this would be in the chefs own restaurants. The Food & Wine Society of which my friend Gora is the president is a better model. This would just be the nuclear version of it. Actually I attended a dinner given at Ada by the Food and Wine Society which Gora hosted and it was a pretty interesting meal. But the purpose of MY club would be over the top meals. Personally, I would like to eat Boulud or Vongerichten in a 50 person setting giving a peak performence. Wouldn't you? You don't get a chance to do that very much anymore.

"French wine hasn't been made to age since 1978" Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. What Rich is referring to is the modernization of winemaking techniques which also might be called an internationalization of the winemaking process. Prior to the '80's the style of winemaking was geared to longer term aging than it is today. But for someone your age, it doesn't make a difference because if the wines age 50 years instead of 30 that's of no use to you. But as to his point in specific, I wish he was right about the 10 years because I would like to drink my 1990 Latour and Cheval Blanc now. But the last time I had them they seemed to need another 10-15 years to be drinkable. I guess Rich must like his wines tannic and with primamry fruit flavors.

Robert - Gee I thought you were older . Let's try and do this by drinking window. 1999 Red Burgundy is one of the most delicious vintages to come along in the last 20 years. It probably has a 15 year drinking window with the top wines lasting for 20+ and the lesser wines 8-12. 1999 White Burgundy is very good if a bit austere. 2000 is supposedly a bit riper. 10-15 for Premier Crus and 15-20 years for Grand Crus. 1998-2000 Southern Rhone wines probably have a 10 year drinking window for the "normale" bottlings and 15-20 years for the luxury cuvees. The 1999 vintage is more classic than the other two and it might take that vintage a few years longer to reach maturity. In the Northern Rhone, 1998 and 1999 are terriffic in Cote Rotie with '98 classic and '99 riper and opulent. I would say 15 years of aging there. Same for Hermitage in 1999 and that could approach a 20 year aging window. Bordeaux as Jaybee posted is great in 2000 but you will wait 30+ years for the top wines. But there is a good opportunity in Bordeaux with the 1995 vintage. It drinks very well these days and it appears it will drink straight through to maturity. With 1996, parts of 1998 and 2000 being better vintages, the wines are severely underpriced (if you call $150 a bottle for first growths underpriced.) But I think they are truly delicious wines. 1994 has some good wines in that unerrrated vintage that also offer good value and will drink in the next 15 years. Spanish wines are a tougher call. The modern style riojas like Artadi drink well now, but I'm not sure how ageworthy they will be. My best guess is they will peak in 8-12 years. I'm not a huge fan of the wines of the Ribero del Duero so I can't help you there. 1996 & 1997 Barolos are good will cellar for 15-25 years depending on the grower. I can't help you as much with Tuscan wines since I don't drink them very often but the single vineyard Sangiovese wines from 1997 like Flaccionello dela Pieve are great, as are some of the Super-Tuscan styles blends like Siepi which is half merlot and salf sangiovese.