Pan

You just said you didn't like it and they took it away and gave you something else instead? Or did they ask you how everything was and, when you were so prompted, told them? How did this all work out?

Wasabi sorbet doesn't sound like a dessert to me. It was sweet?

That sounds neat. Thanks for the explanation. Does the bread end up tasting much like sourdough bread?

Best of luck, Zilla! I have nothing to add to this thread, with all the suggestions you've gotten, but I want to know more about sour mash. (No, the "leavings after Bourbon is made" doesn't explain everything to me.) Should I be posting on a board about liquor instead of here?

What's the rest of your cuisine like, Chef Fowke? Also, what's the "user posted image" that I can't see in your last post?

Why?

70 Euros for 2, Pete? Sounds like a good value! I missed France this summer (though I loved Malaysia and wouldn't have missed my trip there for the world). It was funny; on the way to Malaysia this July I flew over France - indeed, passed by Auxerre and - and had a chance to reminisce about last summer's wonderful trip.

Seriously? Don't they recognize Nepal and have an ambassador in Kathmandu?

I hope to see a followup from Weinoo where he describes what the replacement coffee tasted like. As simply an observer from afar (New York) who's unfamiliar with Philadelphia places but was curious enough to read this thread, I commend the ownership of La Colombe for their response to criticism here.

What happened when the police didn't like your picture-taking? It sounds like there's a lot of paranoia by and about the distilleries. Is it well-founded on some basis or other? Did you get a chance to hear some good music?

Fat Guy, my brother did have a meal in a Japanese chicken restaurant which sounded like it wasn't that far away from what you mentioned, at least in terms of all courses being different types of chicken.

Isn't what you're arguing the question of whether it has to be avant-garde or "original" in order to be "legitimate"? I vote no. But if what you really mean to argue is whether attempting to exactly copy someone else's work can be avant garde, I think the answer to that is an obvious "no." Avant gardite' doesn't equal "legitimacy" to me, however.

I doubt you're right, FG. Lavagna flambees their whole-fish special for two in the dining room, in plain sight of the patrons who ordered it.

There was an article in the World Business section of the Times a few days ago about mining in Mongolia. [after a search of their web site] Here it is: Mongolia Is Having a Mine Rush

Pete, I'm glad you had a fun trip. I might have been the one whose recommendation of the Comte' at Grand Vefour you saw. Do you remember what other cheeses you had there? I also loved their Roquefort and there was a Camembert-type cheese whose name I forget that was also great. My brother loved their Epoisse, but I prefer less-strong less-stinky cheeses. I didn't stop in Chinon during my trip through Burgundy and the Loire Valley last June, but I did have a chance to sample and enjoy Chinon wines while I was in the region. How expensive was La Maison Rouge, and did it receive a mention or any stars in the Michelin Guide Rouge?

Sure! Why wouldn't it be? As you said, he's made a formal breakthrough, and has already influenced others. It's not necessary for the compositions of avant gardistes to be precisely copied.

That story is amazing, in the fullest sense of the word, and not in a good way. I don't think I'll be going to Mongolia in the foreseeable future.

That looks like good pastrami! Just FYI, I've followed this entire story ever since post #1. I wish I could taste the results, but hey, at least if I can't be in Vancouver, I'm in New York within an easy walk of Katz's. :smile:

Great question. I think that some of these things are possible. I could imagine a relatively inexpensive restaurant that uses unusual and imaginative combinations of ingredients, insists on serving only a limited selection of meals of the day with no substitutions or changes allowed, doesn't have expensive drinks, and doesn't take credit cards. It might even seat people on cushions on the floor or in some other way which, though comfortable, isn't what the bourgeoisie, if you like, are used to in these parts. And conceivably, it might even decline to take reservations. And if there were such a restaurant, it might be somewhere in New York.

Plus you get to take the picture of your SO holding up the Tower (or pushing it over). Yeah, but that's so silly!

Thanks for your answer, FG. Julia Child never worked at a restaurant?

2 Av. between 4th and 5th, Manhattan, NY

Fat Guy, aren't you missing a central part of the original concept of avant garde: the idea that an artist is ahead of his time? If s/he was, her/his work may have been accepted by later generations. Furthermore, not being able to make a living from one's creations does not mean that the artwork isn't shown and the music isn't performed; it means that not enough work is sold at high enough prices to constitute a living. Charles Ives could not have made a living as a composer, yet he lived long enough to see himself lionized and offered a Pulitzer prize (which he rejected). Schoenberg and the rest of the 12-tone Expressionists are lately ridiculed due to a backlash, but Mahler - another musical Expressionist - who made a good living as a conductor and could not have gotten the least bit rich on his compositions, now plays to sold-out halls. Now, could there be an analogy in cuisine? I'm not sure. How could an avant-garde chef find an audience unless s/he had a restaurant, and how could s/he have a restaurant unless it was profitable, the ownership was rich and willing to take a hit, or there were one or more rich backers so committed to the cuisine that they would shell out money to keep the place open?

You're right; I didn't have congee.

What is it?