Margaret Pilgrim

Michelin claims that Repair is closed from July 25 through August 25. To check, their phone number is: 01.47.00.25.86. They do not list Os, and Gault Millau says that at publishing date, they had not committed their closing.

Cheeseandchocolate, do we really want to bring "Repaire..." to general attention? Or should we just keep it a secret?

Four of us visited Incanto Thursday night and were impressed with the professional service and the precision of the kitchen. There was attention to detail from the waitstaff (my husband had refused Parmesan when it was offered by our server; the head waiter came over within seconds to see if there had been an oversight) to the kitchen (the carrot cubes in my husband's pork ragu sauce were brunoise; my whole fish was completely boned before roasting). Wine service was excellent, both recommendations and the timing of refills. Incanto offers, free, decanters of house-filtered water, either still or sparkling. These were replaced whenever they got low, as was bread and butter. The plates, very well executed Italian with local accents, were simple and superb: meats and fish very well prepared, pastas handmade, accompaniments of local heirloom tomatoes and, I believe, roof-grown greens and herbs. Among the very carefully prepared dishes we enjoyed were a simple green salad of house grown greens, heirloom tomatoes with fresh mozerella, an antipasto platter showcasing some very fine meats, a whole bonzoni, a chitarra spaghetti with sole, pork ragu over "nona's handkerchief" pasta, a perfectly cooked pousin with melting eggplant and roasted red onions. I have no sweet tooth, but the desserts at this place really shine. Of the ones we tried, my husband said that the vanilla bean panna cotta with saba, strawberries and cracked Tellicherry pepper was the best version he had ever had. One person had the "backyard Santa Rosa plum Italian ice with balsamic drizzle over broken polenta cookies" which was served in a soup plate and said it was fabulous. Two of us had the stone fruit panzanella with extra-virgin olive oiil zabaglione: it was unbelievable! A soup-plate of sweet peaches and nectarines, cubes of oven-toasted bread, huge spoon of just-sweet-enough zabaglione of lovely texture and a haunting flavor. There was both a small and expanded cheese course available also. This is one of those rare dining rooms where you feel that every single employee has enormous pride in how he performs his job. I hope they can keep it up, because it was a joy. FYI 3 courses with wine and service was $70 a person. Oh, and we never knew our waiter's name!

Chiming in from the West Coast, and listing those prices that 1) I can remember and 2) the prices I am willing to pay: 30 limes @10/$1 $3.00 3 pounds (really nice) new white potatoes @ .39 lb 1.17 20 packages Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup Mix (He likes them) haven't a clue 6 fresh flour tortillas about .50 5 lbs. sugar Off the shelf, about 2.79+ here. I won't pay more than 1.79 (I hoard it on sale) 3 ears corn 1.00 1 can Jumex Plum Nectar Sounds expensive. Again, haven't a clue So shopping at my convenience and at best prices in my area, I would have spent essentially $7.00 and come home without either the Ramen Noodles or the Plum nectar. You do good, Maggie.

Noted in August San Francisco Magazine: Hirigoyen is named as one of four local cooking talents to receive San Francisco Magazine's 2003 Critics'choice award, named best chef. Others were Richard Reddington of Auberge du Soleil, rising star chef; Elizabeth Prueitt of Tartine Bakery, best pastry chef; and Claudio Villiani of Incanto, best wine director.

pim, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I remember that Suncrest is one of the several/few varieties that Frog Hollow is trying to keep alive. So you are saying that these are Frog Hollow peaches that you bought and are so enjoying?

I have found that I can sample a piece of fruit from Frog Hollow or other farmer's market stand, find it exquisite, buy a half dozen of the same variety, and find that they are not at all as good as the piece I tasted. Fruit varies from tree to tree and in fact from limb to limb, and of course, varies by ripeness. Always check that the fruit for sale is the same ripeness at the fruit cut up for samples. I remember buying a $2.00 pear from Frog Hollow one year, turning to rejoin my husband with a "What was I thinking?" expression on my face. Was it worth $2.00? It was a pear. Frog Hollow, I believe, gets a lot of press because of the orchard husbandry they practice, sticking with old varieties that other more commercial orchards have found too expensive to preserve. That doesn't necessarily make their fruit taste better than other properly ripened fruit, as Irish Cream suggests.

David, simple and reasonable, try: Bonnieux: Le Fournil 04.90.75.83.62 Lourmarin: Le Récréaction 04.90.68.23.73 and Le Bistro 04.90.68.29.74 We ate out at several upscale places in Lourmarin, which we really did not enjoy much. It was too hot for formal dining and rich food. We were much better served at several almost nameless cafes where we were able to eat outside in the (relatively) cool of the evening. Between Lourmarin and Cadenet, and untried by us but sounding intriguiing, is Le Paradou. 04.90.68.04.05 It is a small farmhouse-hotel on the Aigue Brun river. You might give them a call and see if they fill your bill. The food is reportedly quite decent, reasonable and authentic. For a destination lunch, in addition to Bux's "Chez Bru", which we did enjoy a lot, I would add Le Bistro de Paradou (04.90.54.32.70) in, whatelse, Le Paradou, which is a few km south of St. Remy. While Peter Mayle put it on the map, it continues to garner decent reviews. We had to cancel our reservations when my husband turned ill that morning, but will definitely try to get there on a later trip. If you book for a Wednesday, you can schedule lunch to follow a trip to St. Remy's lively market.

Thanks, Mrs. B. Since I pulled them up, I thought I'd pass them along. L'Oison La Bastide Monpazier

Make sure you eat once at Cafe Miranda in Rockland. Kerry, the chef/owner, was at Chez Panise originally. Also, for an obscenely large crab or shellfish cake (perhaps 6-7"), go to Conti's on the wharf. Gringy place, and surly chef, but very fresh and quintisential seafood. (As a Californian, I will admit openly that I don't "get" lobster rolls. We just don't eat hot dog buns out here, nor pay $14. for lobster and mayo. What we did do was go to French and Brawn and buy impecably fresh picked crab, 8 oz for each of us, a lemon, some cocktail sauce, some good bread and a bottle of chilled white wine and pig out on the deck outside our bedroom.)

Thanks, SWoody, for your roadmap for changing both ways of thinking and doing. Much success and joy in your new kitchen. Don't worry about "the lads". They will learn by osmosis.

Stephen, it is my sorrow that eGullet doesn't bring us more names and reviews like your lovely description and excellent detail of Auberge Saint-Fleuret. This is precisely the kind of place that my husband and I try to ferret out. It takes me only minutes to create a list of starred dining and lodging for a given area, but hours and days to come up with small and charming not-yet-touted places like yours, assuming that I am lucky enough to come across them at all. Many, many thanks, and do please continue to advise us of finds in your beautiful area. Bux is right in saying that there are obvious places to stay and to dine in that department, but I am beginning to think that Aveyron as a, say, weeklong, several stop destination would be an interesting thing to do. Again, thanks.

In another thread, it was suggested that most Californians eat at home most of the time, and go to restaurants for special occasions rather than for daily rations. I thought it would be interesting to see if that is really true here on eG. My husband and I have a policy that we will go out to a decent restaurant once a week; this just doesn't happen, and I have often asked myself, "Why?" First, we usually shop at the Farmer's Market once a week and hence have good produce, cheese, meat and sausage on hand for a good portion of that week. We live several blocks from a Chinatown where fish is glistennngly fresh and produce, while not organic, is excellent and really cheap. A couple of blocks in the other direction are two carriage trade markets and one of the city's best butchershops. Good bread is available everywhere. Trader Joe's is within a couple of blocks. The house is always full of good ingredients. Second, we travel a lot and are often eating lightly because we have just returned home, or slowing down consumption in anticipation of several weeks of great restaurant meals. Third, we have been cooking for so long that it is easier to toss together a very good meal than it is to find one out. We do eat weekend lunches out or bring them in: soft tacos, burritos, dim sum, Vietnamese barbequed pork rolls in rice paper, or if we are feeling particularly evil, barbeque. When we do eat out in town, it is probably no more than every 6 weeks, and in inexpensive-to-low moderate places (around $100. for 2 people, 3 courses with a modest wine and sparkling water); some places where we haven't been disappointed are Delfina, Zuni, Piperade, Chez Nous, La Table, Alma, Firefly, Lorca, all of which have been well discussed on this board. We almost never eat Asian at dinner. How and where do you spend your food dollar?

Just home from the holiday, I am late to this thread. As someone who has experienced California cuisine for 65+ years, I am both interested and amused. Californians who care about food eat fresh and excellent produce, seafood, poultry and meat. We (I) have done so for many more decades than the concept of California influence on national, much less international food. Well into our experience, Alice Waters brought home her love of French simplicity, and spawned an enormous number of student chefs who took her passion of French technique plus the obvious sensibility of eating seasonally and locally to every corner of the US. Sometime in the early 90s, Le Monde published an article that described her influence on the 3* chefs in France, but, unfortunately, I thought at the time that the suggestion was so obvious that I failed to save it. If California has a claim to fame, it is that is has brought cooking full circle: use what you grow; grow it with integrity; as in medicine, but frequently ignored by those who cook, "above all do no harm" to your product; and enjoy with good wine and good friends. Far from wanting our food "plain", we expect to have fine ingredients at our and local chefs' disposal and their preparation in ways that least detract from their essence.

Reduction+butter sauces finally made sense to me after I read one simple caviat: the cold butter must be incorporated into the hot reduction...without entirely melting. It is this just-not-quite-melted butter that makes the sauce thick. It should be served as a warm sauce, not a hot sauce.

Lobster Eggs Benedict? Regular eggs for a main course serving, quail eggs for a starter? I, personally, would grill the medallions after steaming the tails. i.e., Toasted English muffin or crumpet, medallion of lobster, poached egg, Hollandaise, sprinkling of piment d'Espelette or Spanish paprika

My father used to undertake "doing things the old way" projects from time to time. I remember when he decided to make sauerkraut, although there wasn't a single sauerkraut eater in his history. He started it in an enormous crock in the kitchen. It was moved to the porch. Then the garage. Like many cheeses, its odor was 10 times its taste... and growing.

I think the ware that Richard refers to is Vallauris ware, made in France. Mine are glazed on the inside, unglazed on the outside; the lids are glazed on the outside and unglazed on the inside. They are a warm tan-to-brown. While excellent ovenware, you can (and I do) use them on gas burners USING A METAL DIFFUSER PLATE or griddle under the pots.

Whether blotting during or after cooking, Katherine has the solution: Use 1 layer of paper towel between layers of newspaper. My mother-in-law taught me this decades ago! Still works.

Menton, intrigued by your question re: the quintisential Lyon eating experience, the bouchon, I bring to your attention the following list from FRANCE magazine. I insert the disclaimer that I have not visited any of the following: "Bouchons: Six of the Best" Au Petit Bouchon-Chez Georges 8 rue du Garet metro: Hotel de Ville Cl. weekends Brunet 23 rue Claudia Metro: Cordeliers Cl mon and tues Le Merciere 56 rue Merciere Metro: Cordeliers Open daily Bouchon Lyonnais Daniel et Denise 156 rue de Crequi Metro Guichard closed wkends Le Pasteur 83 quai Perrache Metro: Perrache open weekday lunchtime only Chez Marcelle 71 cours Vitton Metro: Massena closed weekends

I can only address 2 of your multiple same-name houses, both Chez Paul. One is located on the Place Dauphine on Ile de la Cite. It has two entrances, one on the Place and the other on the Quai des Orfevres. This Paul serves classic bistro dishes in a typical old-time bistro setting, including a famously squeaky kitchen door. A second Paul is a couple of blocks east of Bastille on the corner of rue de Charonne and rue de Lappe. It is also an old bistro, but has some updated dishes on the menu. From time to time, this place is very popular and reservations are needed. Both of these Pauls are inexpensive to moderate in price. I should note that we haven't visited either of these two in at least half dozen years. The third Paul is, I believe, a considerably hipper neo-bistro in the 13th near the Butte aux Cailles.

The Bull Moose Cookbook by Christian Herter of political prominence in the '40s (?). It is male oriented, opinionated, ignorant and a good reference book on how not to dress, prepare or cook almost anything!

OXY-CLEAN! Yes, I shouted. Oxy-clean has changed my life. I use it on all whites (underwear, lingerie, dishtowels, towels, sheets) as well as antique linens and mid-tone colors. Yesterday I used it (in solution) to remove a scorch from a very expensive white shirt. You know the kind: you have ironed the entire bleeping shirt when, ZAP, somehow you burn one edge or corner. I used a Q-tip to dab the solution on the scorch, and it simply disappeared. I did not bother to rinse out the solution since it was a very small spot. I have NEVER so far injured any garment using this product.

Danielle, the "proper accent" is always appreciated in France. However, once again you have provided us with your always excellent postings of what's happening now "under the stars". We will make an effort to give your recommendations a walk-by. For what it's worth, La Cave Gourmande is the old eponimous stomping grounds of Eric Frechon, now at Bristol. Last I read, La Cave is worth a visit, although it is always close to impossible to walk in such large shoes. Also, for what it's worth, depending on compatibility of systems, accents may or may appear on your readers' screens as they do on yours. For that reason, they may or may not be worth the effort outside of correspondence or notes that you are printing out for your own use. Again, thanks for your post and its many recs. margaret