cookperrync

These are, in fact, the same species as Perigord black truffles (Tuber melanosporum). I have been out to the orchards where these are being raised. It is an amazing operation and the gentleman raising them, Tom Michaels, is an absolute delight. I have some stinkin' up the fridge as we speak. Cheers...

Conch... where do you work? which restaurants are closed? how is biltmore estate? was downtown asheville hit as hard as biltmore village? thanks for the update... perry

Does the entire table have to get the Tour de Force? Cheers, Perry

Thank you for the excellent review... What must it cost to run a kitchen like that? FG do you have any insight on what the labor cost and food cost is for restaurants on the level of Mix, ADNY, Daniel, JG...? Just curious... Perry

is the fat bubbling under the skin yet...? wish i could be there... so close yet so far away. perry

Hip is hard to come by in Asheville. Salsa's can be fun, if not a bit crowded. The food there is good - however I find the flavors to be bit repititious. Another restaurant owned by the same man, Hector Diaz, is Zambra. It is a nice space - hip by Asheville standards. The food can be quite good - fresh and interesting - a bit of Spanish, Morrocan, and Mideast - served in tapas style. Service is slow, and not particularily knowledgeable. The newest hot spot in town is Rezaz's. It is a pan mediterranean restaurant, with a great interior. Service is spotty, but food and wine prices are excellant. The food can be quite good and satisfying, but also does not always live up to the menu descriptions. If you want something quick and downtown go to Doc Chey's. It is a semi-chain (branches in Atlanta) with pseudo-asian style food. Good for what it is, lots of it, and cheap. Sunday afternoon at Jack of the Woods is great. The have pub grub - with some vegtarian options - and a live celtic music jam. A great crowd (10-90), and a good place to drink a pint of their house brewed ales. My two cents, Perry

I believe that's Sunday, July 20th. Cheers, Perry

rozrapp... i am the chef there...! if that is not biased, then... cheers, perry

I might have missed the boat on this one...but: For dinner: Gabrielle's at Richmond Hill Inn (pretty biased about this one) - fine dining, elegant atmosphere, excellant use of local ingredients Reza's - decent food, great prices, hip atmosphere Note: I have not heard great things about Grove Park Inn in some time For Breakfast: Early Girl Eatery - best breakfast in asheville, fresh ingredients, servers with great tattoos Best of luck, Perry

If you check out The Venetian website Venetian Webpage, you will find information of TK's newest venture: a spin off of Bouchon. It will open in the new wing of the Venetian. Not a full scale French Laundry, but a bistro open from early to late. Cheers, Perry

I've read that the opening was the 10th. Any word yet...? Perry

Chef... Thank you for taking this time to chat. I am a young chef and have always been intrigued by the creative process that happens in the kitchen. Could you talk a little about how you make time to experiement with foods and combinations, and just how you set out creating dishes for Trio? I am also curious about reluctance from the owners of Trio to try "new" things and how you handled those issues - if they existed. Again...thank you for your time and I hope this continues... Perry

Thank you for taking this time to chat. I am a young chef and have always been intrigued by the creative process that happens in the kitchen. Could you talk a little about how you make time to experiement with foods and combinations, and just how you set out creating dishes for Trio? I am also curious about reluctance from the owners of Trio to try "new" things and how you handled those issues - if they existed. Again...thank you for your time and I hope this continues... Perry

Sounds incredible. I must ask: How much does the book cost? Thank you for a wonderful review. perry Edit: Posted before Robert's edit, which included the price...

If you were to host a cocktail party in your own home of a diverse group of friends which three cocktails would you serve at the party, and why? Thank you, and thank you for your inspiration, Perry

Dear Chef Ripert, I am interested in the mental process you go through when creating a dish for the restaurant. I think there is a tendancy with many young chefs try and obtain a name for themselves by combining many odd ingredients and hoping that the results work - innovation for innovations sake, not necessarily for the good of the diner. (I recently read of a chef in Spain, not Adria, who made noodles out of squid combined with oat bran foam and bacon ice cream...). I was hoping you could share with us the process you go through when creating a dish for the restaurant. A student very much inspired by your work, Perry

time to weigh in... in my opinion four star food doesn't necessarily need to be incredibly innovative - and in most cases shouldn't. four star food should be perfect. pristine ingredients prepared with expertise, and care. these kitchens should be sending out food that tastes good because they know it tastes good. i don't have the time and the money to eat someone's 'innovative' experiment. i find it fascinating that in this topic no one can nail what it means to be innovative - you want flavors that aren't muddled, but you don't want the likes of ferran adria - maybe your palates are jaded and your taste buds worn out on expensive wine and too much sugar and foie gras...

Your top six recommendations then...? Thank you... Perry

Any thoughts, recommendations, stories, warnings of Couvron in Portland? Thanks...

When I cook, I use three different types of salt. I find that iodized salt, even when dissolved into food, still imparts a minerality that I find disgusting. There is also a tendancy to over salt with iodized because of the porosity of the salt. It is much easier to get away with with over-salting with kosher which has a lower porosity and excess tends to fall off in the pan. So no iodized for me. I use kosher to season foods prior to cooking and during cooking. I use a fleur de sel as a finishing salt: a few grains just to enhance. It is especially good with fish as it tends to bring some of the "briny" qualities back to the fish. Try it on slices of rare cooked tuna, or on bittersweet chocolate... Finally I use a fine sea salt (Baleine) for baking. It is as fine grained as iodized, if not more so, which makes it ideal for baking and desserts beccause it dissolves easily and distributes evenly. Perry

I am branching out from the Craft debate...Couldn't help but input: 1. Le Creuset Dutch Oven: All the advantages of a cast iron, but with much easier clean up. Beautiful for soups and braises. Also as a stock pot, pasta pot... 2. All-Clad Sauteuse: Great for saute, small roasts, and steaming/glazing vegetables. 3. Kitchen-Aid Saucier: Rounded bottom for easy access of whisk. Great for making pastry cream or custards. Primarily for reduction of sauces, but I use it more for dessert prep. Better than All-Clad because of "helper handle" opposite the long handle. 4. Berndes 9in Non-Stick: For eggs. My wife really likes this one becasue she doesn't have to use a towel to hold the wood handle. 5. Halco Brand Sauce Pots: Available at restaurant supply. Dishwasher safe, welded handles are not perfect but after two years of constant abuse not one has busted. Also they are induction ready, heavy bottomed, and CHEAP. 6. Do I really need any more...? NO. I have more, but I use those the most. I have some copper, but don't notice a significant performance difference to warrant the maintenance. I also recommend a non non-stick pan for fish. You can get a much better crust on the fish skin (the best part of the fish) with a non non-stick. Perry

Craft is about the food. But that is the concept of the place - the food. It makes the concept inseperable from the food. I just get the feeling that they are pretending to be something that they are not. They claim to provide some groundbreaking method of serving and preparing your food. When, in fact, they are preparing the food the way they prepare top quality food all over new york and serving it just like you could get if you asked at any restaurant in town. When I work I can't tell you the number of people that want to mix and match their menu - veggies from here, starch from there. What do we say? Yes. I just get this feeling that they feel like they are doing something that no one else is doing, and I would disagree. Perry p.s. Ahh...How I wish we could discuss this over some braised short ribs and a Cotes du Rhone!

Interesting. I see the point how distinctive Collichio's style is, however, I don't feel that Craft's food is that different from GTs . The difference between Spoon and ADNY is phenomenal and the same with Vong and JG. Scanning over my menus from GT and Craft and can spot dishes at Craft that are striaght out of GT: braised pork belly and fish stew for example. From Craft you could take the monkfish wrap it in some of the charcuterie and pair it with truffle vinaigrette and you would have a TC standard from GT. You would be hard pressed to perform the same action at Vong or Spoon. I tend to agree with you, however, on the issue of "form following substance" and the overall gestalt of a place: Passard's cooking would not taste the same on my back porch. But does the room, service, and concept at Craft warm you over to look past the possibly dull food? Rather selfishly, as a cook, I hope that one comes to a restaurant for its food first...I know, though, that is not always the case. And all of this boils down to the question of what makes a great restaurant great... Perry

I think that I do have a bit of a different view when dining out. I am looking at the entire restaurant as a machine. How does it all work together...the service, the wine, the food, the lighting, etc. I think about what the restaurant is trying to do and what it actually does. I think that is the root of most of my dissapointment in Craft. In their mission and their attitude you are supposed feel that they have reinvented the restaurant. They just don't follow through from their mission-nothing is new. I don't feel that Craft robs me of inventiveness - I understand what you are getting at but don't agree with the implications. You are suggesting that there is nothing new, inventive, creative, or exciting about Craft (almost an admission on your part that Craft is dull). As a culinary professional I respect Craft because in my humble opinion the food is prepared with skill. I just feel that there is a failure to complete what they have started. There is some beauty in a simple sauteed fish, but beauty shouldn't come at such a high price and with a "holier than though" attitude.

To all... I am sorry about the delay in responding (as a side note I would recommend lunch at Bacchanalia in Atlanta for any would-be travelers to the South). I see now that I have been away for a few days that nothing has really changed in the debate. Reading through the posts I think that maybe some of the overall focus of the debate has dissipated. What is the heart of the matter? There are some of us (the correct ones ) that find Craft to be dull, uninspiring, and lacking soul, while others find it to be the best restaurant of the moment, year, century. I just don't believe that Craft is all that different as Steve Shaw believes it to be. Collichio's cooking is Collichio's cooking. Braised, Roasted, Bacon and All. His food is good...I can't deny that. I would argue that Craft and GT are not that different in food preparation. Collichio uses the same purveyors and cooks with the same technique. The only difference is that at Craft all the seperate ingredients placed on different plates. Craft is a marketing ploy - you can get twice the meal at GT for half the price. I can't afford to eat food that is a concept (they really don't pay cooks very well for how hard we work for the critics). When I go out to eat I want something that is not a mental conjecture of how well lavender, eel, chocolate, and watermelon go together. I want something that satisfies on a much more basic level. I thought that Craft would provide that. It is more in line mentally with what I like. Craft, however, fell flat. I don't know that I can adequately explain it. But I will argue that Craft is a concept and one that is not terribly ground breaking. How "new" is ordering totally a la carte? He has simply taken his style and combined it with the concept of a 100 year old steakhouse and decided to charge you a lot of money for some very basic food. Perry