docsconz

What's a southerner like you doing going to a Yankees game anyway? The hot dogs are better at Shea! (Actually not a frequenter of Yankee Stadium myself, I cannot honestly say that and I don't think I would ever say that I went to Shea for the food anyway - but maybe despite it! )

A few Saratoga tidbits: Springwater Bistro -After a long hiatus, I returned there last night for dinner. Besides being excellent, it was an absolute steal. From March through April every Wednesday and Thursday night they are offering their menu for a choice of appetizer, main and dessert for $20.07! We are talking excellent food with a wide variety of choices for next to nothing. I had grilled calamari, a generous piece of sesame-crusted Hawaiian Tomo for my main and chocolate mousse with passion fruit coulis for dessert. This was a serendipitous discovery as we went to rediscover an old favorite that we have missed for too long. Max' at Mrs. London's. Construction is underway at the site adjacent to Mrs. London's, the former Mabou Furniture store. Realistically opening is not anticipated until late summer at best according to my source. I have been looking forward to this restaurant ever since Max London left Eartha's. In case anyone didn't see it, the latest issue of Saveur (March 2007) called Michael London "the best baker in America." While that distinction is probably a ridiculous one to make for anyone, he is certainly at least one of the finest bakers I have experienced in the US with his work on a par or better than anything else I have had. His croissants, breads, canneles, Brittanies and especially apple tarts are simply incredible. His cakes and pastries are pretty formidable as well. Professor Moriarty's is now closed, soon to be converted into a Mexican Restaurant. While it has been years since I ate at Professor Moriarty's and even longer since I enjoyed it, when my wife and I first started coming to Saratoga together in the early 80's it became my first favorite restaurant in Saratoga.

Instead of the Yankees, you could go to a Mets game and eat at a nearby place like Sripraphai, something we did the last time we went to Shea.

I think that whether or not the practice is pretentious is a question of the degree to which it is done. To take your example of naming the cow from which the butter is made is a little precious and depending on how even that is done (i.e. tongue-in-cheek or dead serious) could very well be pretentious. However, I think the practice of crediting the farms and farmers who work so hard to provide top quality produce is a good one that serves to encourage other farmers to do the what it takes. When I visited Varietal, I did not have the impression that this was done in a pretentious manner at all. That is not necessarily true of all other restaurants that engage in the practice. Other than denigrating the practice in general, Bruni did not provide any specifics besides the now much discussed "Grower" champagne as to how this may have been pretentious or over the top at Varietal.

Clearly it is a big operation fronted by a big name and will have more of an impact than a neighborhood restaurant wood. What upsets me about the inclusion of foie gras, especially the way that it was done, is that it takes a very polarizing issue and adds it to others that are much more less polarizing but yet hungry for a pulpit and suddenly paints those issues with the same brush as the polarizing issue. Thus plenty of people who agree with those issues but disagree on foie gras will have a hard time accepting the entire message thereby limiting whatever beneficial effect Puck's support may have given those issues.

Most of this is laudable. The only part of this that I have a problem with is the first part - banning of all foie gras. Obviously there is a huge difference of opinion regarding whether or not foie gras production practices are inherently cruel. While some farms may be cuel with their practices, I do not believe that it is inherently so and that people continue to anthropomorphize to an extreme. Basically, I think Puck caved.

Whether at Varietal or elsewhere, Jordan Kahn is a talent to be reckoned with. I just hope that with his youth he doesn't get too discouraged or too disenchanted from some of the criticism that he has received. If he can weather that storm he has a bright future ahead.

While perhaps not a widely known term to the general public, I believe a good case has been made that the term "Grower Champagne" is one that is known and appreciated by those who have more than a passing interest in wine. Given that Varietal has placed itself as a place to go to to enjoy fine wines, why would they not label those particular champagenes as "grower" and why would they not try to educate those customers who might not yet be familiar with the term and the characteristics of the wines that make them qualify for the term? Why should that be subject to ridicule? I think information is a good thing, including the provenance of my food. i think giving credit to small farmers is laudable and not worthy of derision. Whether or not the kitchen does something laudable with those ingredients is another question entirely. Bruni seems to be arguing for ignorance.

Excellent report with nice photos. I'm looking forward to the rest. Le Miu is a restaurant that I hadn't heard of before. Uni is my favorite as well. The catfish at Sripraphai is perhaps my favorite dish there and utterly unlike anything I've had elsewhere - talk about processed food

The Altiplano After our chifa lunch in Cusco we had to hightail it back to The Monasterio to meet our guide and driver for the drive to the airport four our afternoon flight to Juliaca, our gateway to Lake Titicaca in the Peruvian Altiplano. Upon our arrival we were met by a new (to us) guide, Javier and driver, Percy. I thought Montana was Big Sky country, but this was right up there with that. This photo shows the fields of the Altiplano as we headed towards Puno and Lake Titicaca. Our first intended stop on our way out to Puno was supposed to have been Sillustani, the ancient pre-Incan and Incan burial mounds, however, the lighting was stunning and as we were driving we saw a homestead with a number of llamas out front and asked the driver to stop. No.2 son making friends. As we got out of the van to see the animals, people came out from the house and invited us in to see it. The entrance from the inside. The people were very gracious and friendly, offering us some bread and demonstrating aspects of their lifestyle. We were obviously not the first visitors to have ever stopped by, though our visit was pure serendipity. Javier showed us some of the food items that they used on an everyday basis. Homemade cheese that was offered to us. Take note, Pontormo - another variety of potato! The kitchen. Demonstration of grinding quinoa into flour. Other demonstrations included weaving a blanket and tilling the soil. While the tip I left for thanks was appreciated it was not required.

That is an absolute steal of a deal. I wish that I could be there.

Varietal or any specific restaurant aside, I think you hit the nail on the head with Bruni.He is entertaining and he tries very hard to be. Now there is nothing wrong per se about writing that is entertaining, but his reviews tend to be more style than substance at least when it comes to food. I suppose that I shouldn't complain too much about him though as he is consistent and predictable in his reviews and therefore fairly easy to calibrate against one's own tastes. The only problem is that as the NYT critic if his tastes differ from one's own, then due to his (or any NYT restaurant reviewer's) undue influence on the NYC dining scene, one may not have much of one's interest around to enjoy.

Given Bruni's clear biases, I'm surprised that he liked Varietal as much as he did. Nothing about that review surprised me. Unfortunately for Jordan Kahn and others with a bent towards culinary creativity it appears to me that we are entering into a period of a little backlash against the style. Santi Santamaria's reception at Madrid Fusion is perhaps another example of this. Bruni is certainly feeding into this perception. I don't think that we will have heard the last of Jordan Kahn though, despite bruni's essentially negative review of his work.

doc do you always ask permission when taking photos? I have found that I generally don't unless someone is looking at me rather particularly....and I always wonder about professional bloggers, if they ask or not. ← I can't say that I always ask, but if I am in an in-your-face position I will definitely ask. If I am really hoping to catch a candid shot and I am not in a position of being rude (i.e.subtle), I don't necessarily ask. I will never, however, take a photo of someone who refuses to be in one such as the frog lady. Depending on the situation I will often show the subject the photo and/or offer a small tip (if warranted and not a situation to seem condescending). Most people are happy to oblige and while some expect a tip, most do not, though it is generally appreciated. Some obviously touristic situations require a tip. ← You quickly learn that if people show up outside your hotel and other stops in full colorful National Geographic photo opportunity regalia that they are there for your photos and a tip. Most of the places from Cusco to Machu Picchu are for tourist and photographers are everywhere and they are used to it. ← No doubt that most of the colorful outfits in and around Cusco were for the benefit of tourists, though not all. When my wife was there in the early 80's she said that most everybody wore traditional garb. Not so the case in Cusco or the sacred valley nowadays. Now around Lake Titicaca, the story was a bit different.

Cochabamba... I was born there! In Bolivia, they know cochabambinos as the ones who really enjoy eating. There's typical food to be had at virtualy every hour of the day!. And the pacha mama stuff, I still do it, spilling a bit of my beer on the floor. Sorry, this was a bit off topic... ← godito, and I have a Cochabambino grandson. Born there but of American parents. So now Bolivia is kind of an adopted country of interest to me. We need to get Doc to tour Bolivia now. He would do it great justice. ← My next stop was in sight of Bolivia

I will look forward to your impressions!

Thank you, Pontormo. It wasn't quite as serendipitous as getting into a cab and ending up at a cabbie's recommended destination. This was a place that our guide frequented and recommended and the driver that we had for the previous four days took us to. We invited both to join us, which they happily (for us) did. The whole thing was still pretty spontaneous as they were officially finished with us for the day. We had developed a nice relationship over the previous days and this was a great way to cement it. That's why I posted the warning. I have to admit that was a little stronger than I expected or had seen in other markets such as the Merced in Mexico City or the market in Puebla, neither of which were exactly tame. Thank you. I would very much like to learn more about this as well. Perhaps it was simply the time of the season, but we didn't really see an incredible variety of potatoes. I will show some others though from the Altiplano. Why eating that ceviche of course!

What is the relationship of these three plates in this post?John. All the images are part of the same course. The first image was a paprika bread roll. Unlike previous bread offerings that were made by local bakery, Red Hen Bread, this one was done by Alinea. They just came by and placed one of these on our plate, no questions asked. It is designed to be complement the CHANTERELLE dish. The second image is what the dish looks like when it arrives at your table. Note the clear cylinder surrounding the ingredients. The server then pulls up the sleeve and voilà, the following two images becomes the end presentation. Check out the MAITAKE. ← Gotcha. Thanks to you and Josh for explaining it. I will likely be taking my son to Chicago for a college tour sometime before the end of the summer so I will hope to do something then if not before.

We had our final morning in Cusco free and spent it doing a little touring around the Plaza do Armas and a bit more shopping We spent more time shopping than we originally planned which left us very little time for lunch before we had to get to the airport to fly to the next leg of our journey. We spied a little chifa just off the main square and decided that that would be a good opportunity to try one.. The restaurant El Dragone Dorado was located on the second floor of a corner building with views overlooking the Plaza de Armas. Being in a hurry we ordered rapidly and I took only a few photos. The food was quite good. While sharing some similarities with Chinese-American cooking, there differences that were apparent primarily in the ingredients with many Peruvian items featured prominently like alpaca and various Peruvian vegetables. One item that I particularly enjoyed were their chicharrones de pollo These were served atop fried potato slices and paired with a savory lemony dipping sauce - delicious! The wonton soup was very good as well though not particularly unusual. It had plenty of feathery-light chicken in it Other dishes included curried alpaca, duck fried rice and garlic pork. All were good. Our next stop would be the Altiplano and Lake Titicaca.

doc do you always ask permission when taking photos? I have found that I generally don't unless someone is looking at me rather particularly....and I always wonder about professional bloggers, if they ask or not. ← I can't say that I always ask, but if I am in an in-your-face position I will definitely ask. If I am really hoping to catch a candid shot and I am not in a position of being rude (i.e.subtle), I don't necessarily ask. I will never, however, take a photo of someone who refuses to be in one such as the frog lady. Depending on the situation I will often show the subject the photo and/or offer a small tip (if warranted and not a situation to seem condescending). Most people are happy to oblige and while some expect a tip, most do not, though it is generally appreciated. Some obviously touristic situations require a tip.

What is the relationship of these three plates in this post?

Wow! You did have me going for a few seconds, YT, after all it was your birthday! Spectacular photographs of spectacularly beautiful food! It is nice to see that both you and Grant Achatz are still very much alive and kicking...not that I had any doubt! What is particularly amazing about the quality of this photography is that it is done table-side during dinner. Though they look like they could have been, they were not shot in a special photo shoot. It has been too long since I have been to Alinea.

MAP Cafe - Cusco Situated in the same plaza as the Hotel Monasterio is the fascinating Museo de Arte PreColombiano or MAP. In addition to its superb displays, the Museum is home to the MAP Cafe, purported by some to be the finest restaurant in Cusco. My experience with Cusco restaurants is unfortunately too limited to be able to state this with any degree of certainty, however, I can certainly believe that it might be. At the very least it is a restaurant well worth visiting for its delicious Nuevo Andino cuisine. This cuisine is based around using native ingredients and even preparations in a contemporary style. (It is a fusion cuisine of traditional ingredients and modern style and technique. Etched image on the door to the MAP Cafe. The restaurant design is interesting, especially given its setting within a museum. It is a rectangular glass box that winds up itself as a display within the museum. The Cafe from outside during the late afternoon. Our reservation was for dinner. We were seated at a table in the corner of the restaurant with square bread rolls still warm from the oven and olive oil with Andean mint brought out promptly. This bread and others we had were excellent despite the difficulties of baking at altitude. The Andinos have had years to practice this art and that time, it is apparent, has not gone to waste. A small salad of tomatoes, olives, queso fresco and herbs was brought as a very refreshing amuse. While we were generally careful to limit our intake of raw vegetables, we did not completely avoid them. This was one place where we left discretion behind and I'm happy to report that we did not suffer any ill consequences. Indeed throughout the trip no-one suffered anything that was not easily controlled with a little Imodium. The restaurant in action. The Menu. The prices are listed in nuevo soles, valued at a bit over 3 soles to the dollar. There were many items listed on the menu that I would have liked to try, but alas we only had one opportunity to visit this restaurant. Causas, however, are a Peruvian classic that I had very much been looking to try. There are many variations on causas, which are basically mashed potatoes mixed with other flavorings and topped with additional elements. This menu offered a Trio of Causas as an appetizer, something I could not pass up. Causa with freshwater shrimp, hardboiled egg and avocado. Vegetarian fava bean "solterito" salad. Smoked trout causa. Causas may be the ultimate combination of comfort food and creative cookery. Each one was marvelous without being disharmonious with the others. I loved the presentation as well. No.3 son enjoying his Lomito Saltado sandwich along with the very easy to eat fried potatoes that seemed to be everywhere. The quality of the fried potatoes also seemed to be excellent everywhere. This is a country that takes its potatoes very seriously. Normally a very adventurous eater, No.1 son was in the mood for a sandwich and having recently been to Philadelphia on a college hunt decided to try the Peruvian version of a Philly cheese-steak - Bife a la Parilla, Tomate, Provolone Andino y Chimichurri. He enjoyed it, but still prefers a good example from Philadelphia. No.2 son, aka The Tenderloin King, enjoying his Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce and Red Wine Quinotto. The dish was nicely done, but the quinotto in particular rocked. Quinotto as the name implies, is risotto-like prepared with quinoa instead of rice. My wife's Tuna with Lima Bean Tacu Tacu and Rocoto Teriyaki Sauce My Braised Lamb Shank with Roasted Tomatos and Stewed Green Barley. This dish had been specifically recommended by our initial guide in Lima and did not disappoint. This malbec from Mendoza worked nicely with our meal. Turron Amelcochado - Colorful and delicious. Canutos de Quinoa y Lucuma - a great example of Nuevo Andino cuisine. Fresas al Almibar de Maiz Morado Sauteed strawberries with blue corn sauce - this dessert was as good as any that we had on the entire trip. Throughout the meal we were treated to lovely live Andean harp music. Overall between breakfast at the Monasterio, lunch at Ceicheria Las Machitas and dinner at MAP Cafe this was our best overall day of eating even though the single best meal of the trip was yet to come.

Another quintessential NY food is pizza. There are a number of places to get great pizza, but one that I would recommend in particular for someone coming to NYC for the first time is Grimaldi's located under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn. In addition to great pizza the views of Manhatten are fantastic and it is around the corner from Jacques Torres Chocolates. Do try to be there by noon as that is when the pizza oven and thus the pizze are at their best and you can still get a seat.

Why wouldn't it include fiction? If the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and letters is any indicator, it most clearly does. Witness The Oyster House Siege, Jay Rayner's fictional opus for example.