Margaret Pilgrim

Cabrales, you took the thought right out of my head. When we arrived, it looked like it would be "several minutes" per person for those outside, "several minutes" each for those not yet served inside, or a good chunk of an hour before it was our turn to gape in indecision. We should know by now that a sunny spring Sunday is not a good time to check out someplace trendy. :p

Be forewarned that Sunday afternoon before last there were 18 people waiting outside on the sidewalk, and as many already inside waiting to be served.

Absolutely, Robert. I believe that this simple kind of communication forges a partnership between the diner and dining room staff that exponentially improves the experience of both diner and those who serve the table.

Bux's original response is on point. While I may have personal thoughts on several of the restaurants you are considering, my sense is that you should, at this time, try to book at L'Astrance. The other three have histories that suggest that each will retain its present essence over time, and that you will have the opportunity to visit them at a future time, something I would definitely advise. L'Astrance alone among these, is the dining room that may well grow out of and away from what it is now. Do be aware that L'Astrance accepts bookings exactly once month in advance to the day of the requested reservation.

Good point re the Saveur Anderson Valley article. It spotlighted a not-too-often-reported area, and an area that would more likely be of interest as a week-end destination for a local. In reflection, I don't know a sole who "does" the Napa route anymore, except to book at French Laundry and spend a night in the area, or occasionally run up for lunch someplace. It's not that it isn't interesting, just that we've done it so often. However, just last month I provided house guests with maps and winery info, and pointed them toward the bridge. Napa and Sonoma remained the magic draw for them. :-)

Steve, you are asking for pith at a time when I had promised to be nice. What can I say? First, these special issues are usually bland in both their selection and critique. I have seldom read a state-of-the-art wine tour in one of the popular food magazines. And from my reading, most food magazines offer only their "interpretations" of restaurants' recipes. I never assume that they are the original. In fact, dumbed-down is what we usually get in these special issues. Delfina doesn't need a plug from Gourmet,and wouldn't be better for getting more than a passing nod, and Citizen Cake is usually filled midday when the locals actually do drop in for lunch, when I would guess not a few decline dessert. And, admit it, it is comforting to know that when you realy want "sweet", Joseph Schmidt is there.:-) What can I tell you? My single strongest impression was that this issue was put to bed months ago. It's an east coast magazine's impression of the Bay Area. If you aren't familiar with the area, it has a lot of good tips.

Steve, I have no quibbles with their stories. I would have liked to see more specifics about food in Berkeley. While it gets local panning because it is so un-PC for Berkeley, you could do an article on 4th St., certainly on Shattuck Avenue, and on College Avenue in the borderline-with-Oakland Rockridge area. These are great food areas. The choices in the hotel article are safe and the comments fair. Burton and Knickerbocker have put together fairly representative lists for their chosen neighborhoods. Some of the stars missing from this article are included in the 100+ list. Caroline Bates' choices include two I haven't visited. We (three) ate at B44 early last year, where we all had excellent dishes, but this review would have been more honest had it at least mentioned the noise level. Other than that, the review was a good one. I can't comment first hand on the suburban Asian houses, but their reporting on both Chinatown and Clement Street are pretty much on target. I was pleased to read Jocelyn Zuckerman's notes on Healdsburg, a serene and much under-appreciated small town north of Santa Rosa. I don't want to talk about the Frisco Kid article. Over all, I suppose I could have done with less about life-style and more nitty-gritty on where to find great food. As a frequent visiter, what were your observations?

Steve, like most of the special issues in food magazines, the March Gourmet presents the magazine's current slant on what's happening in the area. What I usually find most valuable in these issues, and find it true of this one also, is the 100+ great things collection. There are a lot of treasures buried in this list, for visiters as well as those living in the area.

Dumb question #463: Since we have no plans to visit Normandy in the near future, and since I have been interested in finding some good Calvados, and since I haven't a clue what "good" Calvados is, can some of you help me? We stock what is supposedly decent Calvados for cooking purposes. I am currently paying around $35./for a "short" 5th. I don't find it particularly "delicious". I have also tasted what was purported to be 20 yr old stuff at a producer tasting; it was firey, but didn't have a substantial layer of fruit flavor. What I need to know is, is there such a thing as a Calvados that is both firey and "apple-tasting". Not sweet, but with a strong apple presence? Or am I looking for something that isn't charactistic of the beast? I would particularly like to hear about producers whose stuff I could find in Paris.

Roger, Zuni is one of those amazing little places, where for, what? 15 years at least? I have never had a bad plate. I'll never forget one time when my husband got upset because I ordered zucchini blossoms at a time when we had 5 plants full in our back yard! But just as I suspected, I learned something new and had a wonderful dish. It's also one of our son's favorite places to visit during the last (10pm) seating for an excellent meal in a more relaxed setting than prime time.

Two concepts emerge from this exchange: Bux's tenent of the wrong person/right restaurant, and the idea that a restaurant can be different things to different people over the course of its several seatings, ranging from frenetic and brisk service of menu-determined dishes to relaxed, conversational waiters sharing ideas and culinary treats. This begins to make a lot of sense to me from all viewpoints. (Our son seldom gets his ducks in a row in time to make a prime time dinner reservation. He is frequently able to get in around 10, and has often told of the different atmosphere in the dining room and charm of service staff, particularly in places known for difficult attitude. I never took this out of his context and applied it to other restaurants and towns.)

I swore that I wouldn't touch this thread with a 10-foot pole. And I certainly am not trying to push any buttons. My husband and I eat an average of 40 dinners a year in Paris. We patronize small, neo-bistros run by young, adventurous chefs who cook with passion and construct amazing dishes from the best products of the market: La Villeret, Repaire du Cartouche, Clos du Gourmet, La Dinee, Les Amognes, Les Magnolias, twice last year at L'Astrance, most ranging 14 to 16 Gault Millau points. Except to a couple of places in the headlines, few Americans venture to the outer arrondisements that draw and support these new and ambitious chefs. Regardless that we are Americans, the welcome and service in these houses is almost universally warm and professional. The prices are within 50 to 100FF of Regalade. We visited La Regalade for the first time around 5 years ago. We were disappointed with our meals: other than good bread and classic terrine, we were served overcooked and over-salted food, perfunctory service, English the language of choice in the dining room. We didn't return for several years, but allowing that something was wrong with either the kitchen, front room or us, went back for a second time to be served more of the same. This last spring, because the press and guide books kept loving this restaurant, I again booked. Compared with all of the many dinners we enjoy on just about any night in Paris, this one was one of our worst. We left much of several courses because of excess salt. (I should note that I always carry Kosher salt in a tiny pillbox in my handbag since so many restaurants do not place salt on the table. We do consciously avoid salt.) The service was abrupt. We were flanked by Americans. It was, for us, a miserable evening. I really don't believe in the concept of a restaurant having a "bad night". The odds are just too great against your being there when everything under the kitchen's and dining room's control falls apart. I am becoming a convert to the concept of the wrong customer. If a dining room is able to fill every table for several settings every night, they are doing something right, if only public relations with the press. I do think that when we on egullet recommend a restaurant, we are obligated to describe it as fully as we can rather than repeating that this address is a "must", so that the diner can make an intelligent decision about whether that restaurant provides both the level of cooking and kind of ambiance that he will enjoy. I notice that Gault Millau 2002 has taken away the coups de coeurdesignation from La Regalade. It retains its rating of 15 points.

While Root and Liebling are the proper introduction to French cultural matters, if you are leaving in a matter of a couple of months, I would suggest that, in addition to them, you add a pragmatic approach: read Polly Platt's French or Foe. Cutting to the chase, she will instruct you on how to act and react in order to get along with and come home in love with the French.

The most comprehensive translator I know is Dictionnaire Gastronomique Français/Anglais published by La Maison du Dictionnaire Hippocrene Books, Inc. (tel: 212.685.4371; fax: 212.779.9338) ISBN: 0-7818-0555-4 500 pages of fine print and a lot of detail: 7 pages on treatments for oeufs, 10 on sauce. It doesn't give pronunciation, and is French to English only. I can't remember where I got mine, but have a hazy recollection that it might have been Jessica's Biscuit, on the net or by 800 number.

I’ll add another layer to this discussion of GM vs M. I agree that if we patronized three-star dining rooms throughout France, I would indeed be more interested in Michelin’s evaluations than in GM’s. However, to be honest, we choose little dining rooms that are usually awarded 14 through 17 GM points. I have always been frustrated with the lack of detail in Michelin’s listings at these levels. GM, right or wrong in their point assignments, has always given me enough information regarding both food and ambiance to feel confident in making the nightly choices for our several visits a year. So far, we have had excellent results by reading between the lines as intuitively as we can to pick restaurants in this range. Regarding other sources of restaurant review, I love the Figaroscope section of Le Figaro on Wednesdays. We have enjoyed many wonderful evenings, squeezing in the unexpected special dinner by a rising chef months before the address became internationally known. And then, because GM tends to be more inclusive, I find it is a more effective address/fax/phone book for restaurants and lodging throughout France. Well, just being a better phonebook isn't all bad!

Hardbound, 850 découvertes, 300 coups de coeur. The most obvious change is the conversion from alphabetical listings to descending numerical ratings ala Michelin, a little unnerving when you're looking up a specific restaurant. First glance shows L'Astrance garnering Grand de Demainstatus and rating of 16 pts., Les Magnolias (in the suburb of Perreux sur Marne), picking up coups de coeur and 16 pts.along with Paris' Table d'Anvers and Les Muses, old favorites Les Amognes and Repaire de Cartouche both coups de coeur at 15 pts.

Falaffel at midnight, or one of its corollaries, happens to everyone at one time or another. Ours was in Edinburgh on a bitterly cold January night, when in spite of having done lots of homework, everything fell apart. 1) I hadn't reserved for dinner; 2) I didn't bring my entire list of options when we left the hotel; 3) I failed to realize that there was a local economic downturn that had forced most of my "hot little rising chef" restaurants to close. So we crossed and recrossed Edinburgh in a freezing wind while I kept trying to pull rabbits out of my hat, wracking my brain to remember names from my researched-but-left-at-home list. Fully 2 hours after we started out, we wound up "eating Italian" just before they closed the kitchen. The crowning blow came the next day when, 300 miles away, I realized I had left my favorite scarf with the Italians. Since then, unless we know that we have decent options, we reserve at dinner. Husband's orders. (No, it's not romantic, but it's a heck of a lot more romantic than he is after I pull something like Edinburgh!)

I've just returned from the Hillsborough Antique Show, where I saw a wonderful collection of 18th and 19th century corkscrews and wine paraphernalia. The thing that caught my eye was a bottomless leather "bottle cover" with two forged iron projections, one on either side at the bottom of said "bottle". It was explained that you dropped this contraption over a bottle, put a foot on each of the iron steps and pulled out a recalcitrant cork! Most inelegant, but probably highly effective. With its mellow aged leather, and burnished-with-use iron fittings, it would be a wonderful piece to put next to a service table in the dining room. (It is still available, since at 跾., I need to think about this one a while!) If you're into collecting corkscrews, you should add this specialist to your dealer list. Both his stock and professional knowledge were extensive. http://home.pacbell.net/dean_w

Dstone, your list is a good one. I am confused by your somewhat ambiguous comment about Alma. I take it to mean that you have had negative feedback. Since our several experiences have been so positive (beautifully prepared food and some of the best and most knowledgeable service we have had in recent memory), I am very interested in hearing what negative reports you have heard.

San Francisco is known for only a couple of major dining rooms, but what we have over many cities is the number and quality of our lesser known houses. There are dozens that have been around for a number of years, Pane e Vino, Plumpjack, Cafe Kati, Universal Cafe, Ma Sumi Tante to name only several where the food seldom disappoints. And within the last couple of years, there has been an explosion of wonderful small places, most unfortunately never heard of outside the city. My favorite is Delfina on 18th Street at Guerrero, which shouldn't need introduction to anyone who reads the national food press, serving Italian accented dishes including a ricebean salad in lemony olive oil dressing, topped with grilled calamari, melting lambshanks, and when they have it, rabbit to kill for. Caviat: Delfina is noisy! New last fall is Alma, on the corner of Valencia and 22nd Street, with Johnny Alamilla cooking Nuevo Latino/French style, such as a half-dozen excellent cerviches, a main course dish of white beans with butternut squash in a cumin-scented broth with a perfect confit of duck leg set on top at the last minute, perfectly cooked and elegantly sauced fish (yellowtail, yellowfin), a hangar steak accompanied by Latin influenced potatoes dauphinois, dulce de leche creme brulee, and an unctious chocolate gelato with jalapeno that is always available, but never on the menu. We have visited Alma three times in the last month; it is that good and that comfortable. And that inexpensive: last night's dinner for the two of us = 2 starters, 2 main courses, a shared dessert, large bottle of mineral water, 2 coffees, a bottle of very interesting Argentine Elsa Barbera (at an astonishing ย!) came to an incredible ๰ including tax and a 20% tip! (Edited by Margaret Pilgrim at 3:07 pm on Feb. 1, 2002) (Edited by Margaret Pilgrim at 6:24 pm on Feb. 1, 2002)

Bux, as usual ;) you are absolutely correct. Official numbers in France are 10 digit. However, when calling or faxing France from without France you drop the initial zero. Thanks for the "heads up". I will add this point to my original post. We have also always picked up our tickets in France, and were surprised when the rep said that they would be sent out immediately to our credit card address, supposedly arriving next week. Besides the added potential glitches between the two mail systems, we will now also have to keep track of the paper tickets. Perhaps not the best way to go, but we'll give it a try this one time.

33.08.36.35.35.39 is the telephone number for an English-speaking SNCF reservationist. (From outside France, the number should be dialed 33.8.36.35.35.39.) Bookings can be made up to two months ahead of your return date. If you pay by credit card over the phone and if there is enough lead-time, tickets will be mailed to your home address. If not, they will be issued at the station. For those who prefer to deal with a real person rather than book online, this is a really simple, easy and inexpensive way to book from home. Your phone charge will be the only additional cost. (Edited by Margaret Pilgrim at 2:41 pm on Jan. 31, 2002)

Steve, do you feel like getting a little more descriptive? Such as who, what and where? Many thanks.

You do have to love the irony of RB's original story, though. Here is a woman who would rather be known for serving company a cake made from a mix, rather than one who is creative enough to invent something extraordinary by making important additions to one. Amazing. ;)

Doug, I haven't the foggiest idea of the name of the place where we get the fried clams. It is inside Faniel, as I remember just off the central door, probably on the south side, and is the major seafood stall. Hope this helps.