docsconz

New or not, I personally like the trend towards more casual dining, though I do not necessarily equate that with less duration. Meals at places like Alinea and elBulli, though not formal by dress standards still take a full evening and happily so.

Is there place better for this than Chez Panisse?

Discussion on the question of a trend towards casual fine dining has been split to here.

Unfortunately, I'm not quite yet Patience, my friends.

Why not compare the styles yourself and let us know what you think?

Even if it did have honey, it wouldn't be sugar free!

Moderator's Note: There are threads devoted to children in restaurants. Though to a certain extent, the issue is pertinent to this topic, I would ask that the topic not devolve into another debate on whether or not children belong in better restaurants. Please use those other topics for that.

Cusco Market Part one One of my priorities in arranging our itinerary was to get to a local food market. it is one of my favorite things to do when traveling, especially if traveling within another culture. Our best opportunity time and otherwise was in Cusco. Our guide took us to the central market for a tour. Although the morning (spent at Sacsayhuaman) had been beautiful, it started to rain just as we entered the covered market. Unfortunately it also got fairly dark making it more dificult for me to take the photos that I really wanted to. Nevertheless, I got a few that I could use. We entred the market by the fruits and vegetables, which was a nice way to start. Pepinos. I have seen these in my local supermarkets, but nowherre near the qualiy of these. We sampled a number of different types of local fruit. Before we realized what he was doing, No.3 son was eating the rind in addition to the pulp of the cherimoya in the photo below. Fortunately, he never got sick! Lucuma. We encountered this tasty fruit most commonly in ice creams or mousses. It was the most unique fruit that I tried on the trip and one I hadn't experienced before Peru. I liked it. A variety of Passion fruit. This was more tart and less flavorful than the passion fruit I am used to. Mangos. Avocado stand. General view over a produce area. More to come in one or two more posts. Warning: some of the photos from the meat/offal area are graphic.

Damn, that's a lot of umami in one place! Philadining, you are to food photography on the internet what Bob Guccione was to a certain other kind of photography in magazines! David, how did the price of the Flannery meat compare to Lobel's? It's things like this that make Penn look better and better.

I am in awe that you went to Macchu Picchu via the Inca Trail. We hiked Huayna Picchu to the top and that was plenty! They had a sign for it, but did not have the roast leg of pork when we were there. If I had to choose between the two though I was happy with the lechoncito! The cuy was probably most reminiscent of rabbit, though it had a flavor all its own. How much of that was due to fairly aggressive seasoning with Andean herbs is another question. I'm not sure what Pyramid you are referring to. The only excavation we saw in Lima was at Huaca Pucllana. We did visit the catacombs, but that was at The Convent of San Francisco near the Cathedral - fascinating place!

A colleague of mine doesn't eat lamb for similar reasons. I'm glad that I only had a dog growing up!

Sundays can be problematic anywhere, but it was almost a year ago that Molto e and I had a great meal on a Sunday night at Ame. Unfortunately, it doesn't meet all your specifications. One place that might, though I'm not sure if they are open on Sunday is Incanto.

Davydd, our trips contain a number of similarities, especially at the beginning and the end. perhaps even the middle even though the locations are a little bit apart. I was very pleased with what our agent put together for us. I knew of good places to Cusco and we subsequently went to a few and were brought to another that I had no clue about. As is often the case, even though it might be fairly fancy, the best dining is often not to be found in hotels. Sometimes though, especially when traveling with kids, expediency takes precedence.

I've received a lot of grief from Molto e about those guinea pigs as he had one as a pet when he was a child When animals like that (or bunnies) are often kept as pets within a culture, it becomes more difficult to eat them. My youngest son (7y/o) managed to taste the guinea pig, but couldn't bring himself to eat it. He also had a hard time with alpaca after having spent a good part of the morning playing with some. While that is often the case, those living on small farms or even larger ones frequently eat or butcher animals that they have come to know. I am sure that it is difficult to do the first time, but one probably gets used to it, especially if one is somewhat dependent on it. It is no wonder that there is such a strong proscription against eating cats, dogs and horses in the US (and yes, even guinea pigs!). Thanks for the plug, Pontormo!

Cusco We returned to Cusco by train arriving at our hotel around 7:30PM. By the time we were checked into our rooms and freshened up it was close to 9PM. We were tired and not really interested at that time in exploring further. Besides, considering that we were staying at The Hotel Monasterio. one of Travel and leisure's top hotels in South America (No. 6 in all Latin America for 2006), we opted to dine in the hotel restaurant, Illariy, an elegant room off the main hotel courtyard. Unfortunately, the food, though attractively plated, left little memorable on the palate despite ingredients such as South American king crab, alpaca, Peruvian beef and a few other items. Breakfast, on the other hand, was the best of the trip with an excellent array of fresh juices, fruit, charcuterie, cereals, superb croissants and pastries that were particularly notable for having been baked at such a high altitude, eggs to order, bacon and various sausages.

Ha, I see what you are saying, but I am pretty certain that those little cuy were not running around on carpets! I think that they were some little bits of fur that did not come off earlier.

$1000? Why spoil the caviar with all the other stuff? I think it is excessive and a poorly wrought publicity gimmick.

Hi Johnny. Thanks for checking it out. Like many dishes, I'm sure that there are a variety of ways of roasting and serving the cuy. What was served to us was, I am sure, only one way of doing it. It would not surprise me in the least if other people do serve it on a stick. Unfortunately, I did not get to see the cuy roasting, so I can't speak to the specific method used. Neither did I examine the roasted whole cuy closely to see if they had been eviscerated prior to the roast or only after the were shown to us. I suspect the former. The kidneys and liver were left in, but other organs were not served.

Macchu Picchu Macchu Picchu is an amazing place, although tis part of the trip was not really about food. Nevertheless I can't not put a photo of Macchu Picchu up so here is one with my family. We spent two days and one night there with the night staying at the beautiful Macchu Picchu Pueblo Hotel in town. We did have a decent dinner there in the lovely dining room and a good breakfast the next morning. Unfortunately, I did not order well in the restaurant that night and I also did not bring my camera. The best culinary moments in the area came during the afternoon of our arrival after we had completed a tour of the Sanctuary. We had lunch at The Macchu Picchu Sanctuary Hotel just outside the main entrance to Macchu Picchu itself. This was a buffet lunch with a wide array of choices. While everything was pretty good there was one standout element. It was a beautifully delicious lechoncito or roast suckling pig. Since the weather was so humid, the skin was not as crisp as it might have been, though it was still good. The meat, however, was moist and just so delicious! One could also return as much as one cared to...and I cared to - a lot The highlight of the desserts for me was a lucuma roll, similar to a pumpkin roll in the US. Unfortunately, i did not take a picture of it. The following day after we completed our visit to macchu Picchu and just prior to to catching our train for the return to Cusco, we had a quick lunch at Tonto's. I had heard a lot about the ubiquitous pizze in this area so decided to try some. The pizze were tasty but not particularly remarkable. Though I wouldn't go out of my way for one, it was an inexpensive and reasonably pleasurable quick lunch.

I go more for specific ingredients than specific dishes. Spring: Asparagus Soft-shell crabs fresh morels strawberries fresh peas ramps Copper River salmon Summer: cherries peaches corn tomatoes duck eggs Fall: pumpkin taylor bay scallops Nantucket scallops Italian truffles Winter: oranges meyer lemons Maine shrimp to name a few

Thanks for the fine report, Bricktop. It is getting to be time for a college-search visit to DC. minibar will certainly be a great intro to DC for my son.

The sign on the buiding states that the opening is in April, 2007. We're looking forward to it. It's two doors over from Beard Papa, the Japanese choux place. ← Might make for a tough choice.

I like that...in several ways.

There's plenty to work from there!

My suggestion would be to visit some wineries and buy some wine that you develop a specific association with. In that case, those particular bottles will always be "extra-special." We recently were visited a friends with whom we visited Tuscany back in 1998. I took advantage of the opportunity to open some bottles that we had brought back with us from some of the wineries that we visited. It helped make that reunion even nicer. Depending on your access to transportation and your itinerary Catalunya may afford you the best opportunity for this. Brian Murdock's books Let's Open a Bottle and Spanish Wine: A Pocket Guide are good sources for worthy wineries. They are both available on Amazon.com.