docsconz

For photos and my impressions of a recent visit see this post.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a business conference in Las Vegas and extended my trip to Phoenix for a couple of days to visit some friends. I arrived in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon too late for a full lunch but too hungry to wait for my late dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon to not have anything, especially after traveling all day from the East Coast. Staying at the Wynn, I was looking for something light and found it at Red 8 Bistro, a Chinese restaurant located in the hotel just off the casino. I satisfied my need by ordering two dim sum dishes. Fried pork and shrimp dumplings were tasty. Steamed shrimp dumplings were flavorful though the wrappers were somewhat thick and chewy. That evening I was finally able to hit one of the restaurants in the US that I have been most interested in trying, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon and better yet, I was able to do it in the company of Ronnie_Suburban and his lovely family who happened to be visiting Las Vegas at the same time as me. We arrived for an 8PM reservation (11PM my time) and were seated at the bar per our request. The Menu: Our view into the open kitchen: The Bread: I hate bad bread, especially in French restaurants. This bread, warm and crisp was delicious. I had to really restrain myself from eating too much of it. We opted for the Discovery Menu and chose a wine that we felt would be interesting and likely go well with the bulk of the meal. I have had Joly's more famous wine, Coulee de Serrant, a number of times but never this less expensive brother. It worked nicely even if it is not likely to be mistaken for its more illustrious kin. L'Amuse-Bouche Honeydew gelee, peppered yogurt and prosciutto ham. This was a pleasant way to start the meal even though I found the balance a little too slanted towards the sweet for my taste. I have noticed a trend with many amuses tending towards the sweet, the most pronounced example in my memory being the maple syrup shooter at Cinc Sentits in Barcelona. Le Thon Rouge Bluefin tuna with tomato infused olive oil. Nice quality bluefin simply prepared with good ingredients, there is nothing to not like, yet I didn't enjoy this quite as rapturously as I expected to. The kitchen in action. Le Langoustine Crispy langoustine fritter with basil pesto, this dish is everything it was cracked up to be - delicious! Though clearly not the same dish, it reminded me of a similar dish that I loved at L'Astrance in 2005. We added this course to the menu. La Saint-Jacques Fresh Scallop cooked in the shell with seaweed butter. Yhis dish was beautiful and tasty. Le Homard Maine lobster custard with curry scent and fennel foam - luxurious and decadent. L'Asperge Verte cappucino of green asparagus - this dish was the essence of asparagus - marvelous. La Morille Crispy tart with fresh morels, onions and bacon. Surprisingly, this was my least favorite course of the evening and the only one that I felt was seriously imbalanced being very salty. The underlying flavors and textures were fine, but the salt really overpowered this example. At this point our neighbors at the bar got this dessert that took our attention. Pouring the sauce over the orb caused it to fracture and release the cream on the inside like a flower opening to expose its seeds. La Caille Free range quail stuffed with foie gras and served with truffled mashed potatoes. This dish was a great combination of luxe ingredients, decadent mouthfeel and great flavor. L'Ananas Pineapple sorbet, passionfruit sauce and caramel mousse. Delicious. Le Chocolat Chocolate sensation "creme Araguani" , Oreo cookie crumbs. This was good, but truth be told I am not a huge Oreo fan. I would have preferred just the creme. We lingered awhile over our meal and outlasted most of the customers in the restaurant with us. Here are some photos from around the restaurant: The meal was excellent and worth the price. I was surprised, though that it wasn't busier for a Friday night. I would return either here or in NYC.

Huatta Market On our way from Lake Titicaca to the Juliaca Airport we amde a few unscheduled but interesting stops. One was at an active food market at a small town called Huatta. We spent a few minutes checking out this fascinating spot. Various kinds of potatoes. Various types of dried corn amongst other things Aji amarillo and other chilies. Various spices - whole and ground. Coca leaves. Baskets of Bread. General market view. Prickly pears. Various fruit. Cow's milk cheeses. These cheeses were gathered along with others from the community for shipping elsewhere as an element of trade. After gathering the cheeses were loaded onto a truck for transport.

I remember reading about it awhile ago, but haven't seen anything recent. The biggest problem that many of these markets face is inadequate transportation options, whether parking or public transportation. It is true that tourist dollars can't support these farm markets, because tourists generally are not in a position to use much of the produce no matter how appealing it is. I love visiting these markets and buy what I can. Unfortunately, that is nowhere near what I would like to buy!

Dan Barber and Michael Anthony worked quite well together for long time at Blue Hill and then also at Blue Hill at Stone Barns until Michael recently left for the Gramercy Tavern. Mind you, I am not espousing this, but it is possible and has been done successfully.

Though they wouldn't have done this if it wasn't good business for them, I welcome the shift. I'm also glad that they have done this without caving in to the anti-foie gras elements.

That was an easy one as Alinea and I share the same birthday!

Difficult to do, yes. Hasn't been done in a effective way? What is wrong with the two examples cited above - both top-notch restaurants?

Si, it looks like a fine itinerary. I think you are wise for only doing one booking a day and leaving room for spontaneity and how you are feeling. Unlike some of the younger set around here, I am really only good for one big meal per day.

Sneakeater, you have to use the emoticons!

Alinea's anniversary is May 4th and May 6th is a Sunday.

Lake Titicaca Shore and Nearby That morning on the way from Taquile back to the Peruvian mainland our boat ran through an impressive hailstorm. Fortunately for us, it didn't last and as we arrived on shore the weather cleared. We re-met our driver and van and got on the road for a scenic drive through the Carnaval celebrating countryside. Dextrous cattle. Woman herding sheep and pigs. A recent advance is not having to go all the way down to the lake for water. Fishing boat along the shore. We wound our way through a few towns to a nice spot overlooking the lake at about 14,000 feet elevation where we stopped for a picnic lunch. The view was marvelous and I would like to say that the lunch was as well, but I would be lying. It was a box lunch from the hotel in Puno - the same hotel at which I did not enjoy dinner two nights before. Why should this have been different?

I wouldn't call it a discount. I'm just reading comments like (Docsconz) (JosephB)and taking them at face value. It's certainly possible for someone not to enjoy the food at Momo-Ssam, or to be less than completely impressed by it. Who could dispute that? And it's also possible for the restaurant to be inconsistent. But there has also been an extraordinary level of support for this place, from many of the usual suspects we'd have expected to take a contrarian stance. And the restaurant is a category buster. It's not serving spectacular bistro food. It's serving something that's much more akin to what's being served at the leading edge of the three- and four-star level. On stools. ← The support has been extraordinary, which is the reason my expectations were so high. I have had high expectations dashed before, but I also have gone to places and had my high expectations lived up to in places fancy and not. I have to respectfully disagree with you though about the level of food here. I would prefer the food of Jean-Georges served on an equal setting as that was the specific example used. The food was very good, but I didn't find any of it extraordinary on an absolute scale regardless of the trappings or lack there of. There may have been some things on the menu that we didn't try that we might have liked more than some of the dishes, though we did have a pretty good sampling of dishes recommended here and elsewhere. The food is a reasonable value, but they are not giving it away either. I am not trying to rip this place - I didn't dislike it- I just think that perhaps it might be subject to a little over-hype at the moment.

That is what we were told by our server when we said that we hoped to share.

Are you saying that is more of a neighborhood place rather than a destination restaurant?

No, but we came down for Friday night dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. We made it home last night from the UWS in 3 hours!

Just a quick point of clarification: Momo-Ssam is open from 11am until 2am, and serves straight through. The restaurant doesn't open at 6pm. Rather, it switches over to the dinner menu at 6pm. ← That clarifies that point. We were under the impression that it opened at 6.

Sam, I might feel different with the Bo Ssam, although that is not really an option other than with significant advance planning. My issues weren't so much with the food, which was very good, though not spectacular, but with the overall experience. It was cramped, uncomfortable and had inexplicable service points. This last part was also a problem with the London Bar at Gordon Ramsey. Some things just don't make sense and serve to irritate the diner. That was the case here. In addition, although not outrageous this place is by no means cheap. We left having spent $55pp with essentially no alcohol.

Largely because of the raves in this thread, I had great expectations when I visited Momofuku Ssam bar last night with my wife and some friends. I hate to be a spoiler, but while the food was good, I fail to see what the great fuss is about. The food was imaginative, tasty and nicely presented, but nothing blew me away. The service was friendly and knowledgeable but there were several elements that left us scratching our heads. Since we would be driving 3+ hours home last night after dinner we went early arriving right at 6PM. Even though we arrived right at the time the restaurant was supposed to open it was already mostly filled. We did get seats at a tightly packed community table and armed with recommendations from this board, we proceeded to order. Our opening salvo were the Cracked Empress Jonah Crab Claws with yuzu mayo. I hadn't seen these discussed here and possibly with good reason as they were rather ordinary. The Maine Diver Sea Scallops with pineapple, dashi and scallion oil were up next and delicious reminding me of preparations that I had enjoyed at the old Union Pacific, where I first fell in love with raw scallops. It was with this dish that we first noticed the main service oddity of the restaurant. Although the food is served family style and diners are encouraged to share, they don't make it easy. That is not a dish well served by chopsticks and they only give out individual spoons. We asked for an additional serving spoon for this dish and subsequent ones, but we still had to ask for one each time a dish was served. They were never served with serving tableware! This was a real annoyance, especially after we had to ask several times. The Maine Sea Urchin with tapioca, whipped tofu and scallions was very good but perhaps suffered from extreme expectation. I love uni, but felt as if it were subsumed to the rest of the dish. The Roasted Mushroom Salad with crosnes, pistachio and red ball radish was good, but small and a relatively poor value compared to some other dishes on the menu. Migliorelli's Apple Salad with Benton's bacon, lychee and peanuts proved to be our consensus favorite of the meal. The balance and execution was exceptional with the smoky bacon the unifying force. Tello's Chawan Mushi with black truffle, snails, edamame and scallions was hedonistic. While very, very good, it does not supplant the chawan mushi I had last year at Ame in San Francisco as the best example in my memory. Steamed Buns with pork belly, hoisin, cucumber, scallions were very tasty with plenty of moist, flavorful pork belly goodness. Fried Brussel Sprouts with chilies, mint, fish sauce seemed pretty vegetarian friendly to me. They were pretty friendly to us carnivores too. The Banh Mi was a fine sandwich with great crusty bread. i can see how it can become addictive. The Grilled Sweetbreads with pickled roasted chiles and lime had a nice crispy, charred outside with soft insides in the thicker parts. The thinner parts were perhaps a tad too charred. We finished with the mochi sampler consisting of plum paste with mango, lychee, chocolate with coconut and tiramisu flavors. I found them to be more interesting texturally than flavor wise as the flavors were not particularly vivid. In sum, the food though good to very good did not make any of us swoon at any point. We did enjoy it, but if this is the best food in NYC right now, the City's culinary scene is in greater trouble than I thought. The bigger problem though is that I think the restaurant's new found popularity may have caught up with it as none of us found dining there to be a particularly pleasant experience. The restaurant filled up completely shortly after our arrival. The much mentioned music wasn't much of a factor as it wasn't particularly noticeable over the din of the crowd. The uncomfortable benches and stools at our cramped, shared table with no place to put our jackets other than over our laps didn't help matters either and the issue of a lack of serviceware with family style dining was simply inexplicable. That being said, I can understand how people would have loved this place before it was crowded. Unfortunately, I cannot share the unbridled enthusiasm based upon my experience so far. I took photos, but I don't believe that they ad anything or cover new ground from Larry Lee's excellent shots linked to above. I will be happy to post them though if people want.

Great report, Bryan! I will be dining there next month. It will be interesting to see how many of the same dishes we are served. The distilled earth was developed to accompany oysters. Interesting to see it served with mussels now. Roca demonstrated the technique at the Spain and the World Table Conference at CIA/Greystone in Califonia this past November.

I finally had dinner here - stunning! More to come....

Cool. Thanks. Richard is one of the cleverest chefs whose work I've had the pleasure to experience. Not only is he clever with his constructions and puns, the food hits the mark. Central will be high on my list next time I'm in DC.

Isla Taquile Sorry for the delay! After we left the fascinating Uros Islands we ventured out of the totora reeds and the bay of Puno into the main body of the lake. On the way we passed a number of fisherman returning to shore from a night or early morning fishing on the lake. They used to fish from tortora reed boats, but over the last 20-30 years they converted to wooden boats. The main catch nowadays are trout and kingfish, both introduced species. The traditional native species though still fished are reduced in numbers. Fisherman returning home. Taquile is a largish island that subsists mostly on what they fish and farm as well as some trading with the mainland. The people are known for their weaving and tourism provides a modest boost to the local economy. Recently the islanders have undertaken a process to boost tourism by hosting tourists in special homes. We would do that for a night, understanding and figuring that it would be a good way to be exposed to the people and their culture. Well exposed we were, but not quite in the way that we expected. Being that we arrived during Carnaval, the people were in a particularly celebratory mood so much so that the people who were supposed to host us were so entranced by their participation in the Carnaval that they forgot we were coming and had absolutely nothing prepared for us! Our guide managed to find us alternate lodgings and after quite a hike at altitude, lunch. Taquile carnaval revelers. The festivities involved a lot of dancing, a continuous song and plenty of chicha. Many of the partiers drank until they passed out. We managed our way through the revelers to find a place where we could have lunch. The lunch was simple, but very good and satisfying. Quinoa soup. Grilled kingfish, fried potatoes and rice. The fish was absolutely delicious. The fries were excellent as well. The restaurant owner checking in from the festivities. On our way back we spent some time in the town center and had a vantage point of the small market. ...and views of surrounding fields. We arranged to have dinner back at our lodging from the same people as provided lunch. BTW, our lodging was quite simple without electricity or heat. There was a bathroom and running water outside. Dinner by candlelight consisted of a cold egg tortilla with tomatoes and vegetables and coca tea. I wasn't quite as satisfied as I was at lunch. After a night bundled up under the warm blankets, we awoke to a beautiful Taquile sunrise After a breakfast of hardboiled eggs and cereal we boarded our boat to head back to the mainland.

Is that "faux" foie? Ifso, what is he making it with?

I mean three of the four Paris meals were at Michelin starred establishments. I think a certain level of garnish and decoration was exepected. Nothing was all that groundbreaking in plating, save for the Anarchy 2007 at Can Roca which I will be posting shortly. Can you remember any more details of the dish? Was the foie gras and mushrooms at room temperature? It almost looks like the mushrooms are simply thinly sliced and not cooked in anyway. Was there any other spicing or saucing with the foie or mushrooms? Thanks for anything else you can add! ← The dish was actually quite simple. It was servted at room temperature and the mushrooms were not cooked. That helped give the dish its toothsome quality. If I recall there was a light dusting on the top but I wasn't told what it was. One garnish was a lemon sorbet. The other was a nut oil. The foie was probably cured (per the link above) but besides that there was no additional saucing. Yeah, figuring out gratuities led to a couple awkward language situations. Gagnaire set us straight for France and they were relatively direct about it. I asked if gratuity was included, and gladly would've added it, but was told it was not necessary. I'm not sure if people usually tip more on top of that? In London I was told that 12% is pretty standard by acquaintances, so that's what I did. In Barcelona we assumed that gratuity was included, as in Paris and did not tip on our first meal at Abac. At Can Roca the next day we asked a runner whose English was not strong, "Is there gratuity on this?" pointing to the bill. Looking confused he said no, and we thought we'd stiffed our excellent captain from the night before. Then our captain came over and righted the situation, saying that gratuity was in fact included and that the runner had misunderstood us. Despite that minute or so of panic, all was otherwise well. So in short, gratuity was included. ← Here is a post with photos from the Starchefs International Chef's Congress in NYC this past September showing Barbot preparing this dish. Nice report, Bryan! I agree that the suckling pig at Abac is to die for. Did you have it anywhere else?