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I knew this would complicate matters Thanks for the input. I currently have a reservation at Redd's, but may change to Bouchon, Cindy's BSK or Go Fish! The only reason I didn't go Bouchon in the first place was because of TFL the night before. I know they are different styles...to a point. What is most representative of the Napa Valley?

I am not sure if you are referring to anyone in particular. Personally, I think that this very complex issue is certainly worthy of discussion. While I do not think that racism is necessarily a major part of the answer, it certainly can not be excluded at least to some degree as a contributing factor either directly or indirectly.

My wife and I will be in the Napa Valley early next month for the Worlds of Flavor Conference on Spain and the World Table at CIA/Greystone. Our meals are essentially covered for the conference. Unfortunately we will be heading home directly after. We arrive on Wednesday with dinner at The French laundry that night. The conference starts Thursday evening leaving us with only one lunch spot to fill. We will be meeting an old College friend of my wife's for that lunch. I had hoped to go to The General's Daughter, but alas, it is not open for lunch. Restaurants under consideration include Redd's, Bouchon, Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen and Go Fish! Please let me know what you think soon as time for reservations is passing. You know I will report back Thanks.

Welcome to the eG Spotlight Conversation, Jose! We look forward to having you with us this week. Let me kick off the week by noting that the Spanish kitchen has grown into a pre-eminent role in the world of the culinary arts. You have been a fantastic ambassador for the Spanish culinary world in the U.S., and it is clear that the influence of Spanish cuisine in the U.S. is growing. What do the recently completed 'Spain's 10" events in NYC and the upcoming CIA-Worlds of Flavor Conference on "Spain and the World Table" mean for Spanish cuisine? What effects do you foresee them having on American cuisine and what will these effects mean for you?

About Jose Andres Throughout his career, Jose’s vision and imaginative creations have drawn the praise of the public, the press and his peers. José has received awards and recognition from Food Arts, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Saveur, the James Beard Foundation, Wine Spectator, and Wine Advocate. In addition, José has been featured in leading food magazines such as Gourmet as well as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Good Morning America, Fox Sunday Morning News with Chris Wallace, the Food Network, and USA Today. Widely acknowledged as the premiere Spanish chef cooking in America, José is a developer and Conference Chairman for the upcoming Worlds of Flavor Conference on Spain and the World Table at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, November 2 – 5, 2006. In 1993, Jose moved to Washington, DC, to head the kitchen at Jaleo. From there, Jose took on executive chef responsibilities at neighboring Café Atlantico and later Zaytinya. In July of 2003, Jose embarked on his most adventurous project to date with the opening of the minibar by jose andres at Cafe Atlantico. A six-seat restaurant within a restaurant, minibar by jose andres continues to attract international attention with its innovative tasting menu. In the fall of 2004, Jose opened a third Jaleo and Oyamel, an authentic Mexican small plates restaurant and launched the THINKfoodTANK, an institution devoted to the research and development of ideas about food, all with a view toward their practical applications in the kitchen. Every week, millions of Spaniards invite Jose into their home where he is the host and producer of “Vamos a cocinar”, a food program on Television Española (TVE), Spanish national television. The program airs in the United States and Latin America on TVE Internacional. Jose released his first cookbook this year, first published in English, Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America (published in the United States by Clarkson Potter) and shortly after in Spanish, Los fogones de José Andrés (published by Planeta). The book is an homage to Spanish cooking and to tapas, one of Spain's gifts to the world of good cooking. Jose Andres is passionate, intelligent, dedicated, witty and a fan of FC Barcelona. Jose has been a member of the eGullet Society since 2004. More on Jose Andres in the eG Forums: Cooking with "Tapas" by Jose Andres Vamos a Cocinar - cooking show with Jose Andres Jaleo José Andrés' Minibar Zaytinya Oyamel Cocina Mexicana, Crystal City Cafe Atlantico Jose Andres recipes from Tapas in RecipeGullet: Potatoes Rioja-Style with Chorizo (Patatas a la Riojana) Moorish-Style Chickpea and Spinach Stew Squid with Caramelized Onions

<div align="center"> Jose Andres</div> The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters is honored to have one of the premiere chefs in the United States and the world, Jose Ramon Andres, join us for the next few days for an eG Spotlight Conversation. The multi-talented and energetic Chef Andres is the executive Chef for a number of leading Washington D.C. area restaurants, author of the cook book Tapas, television host and producer, eGullet Society member and a frequent participant of influential culinary conferences. <div align="center"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400053595/egulletcom-20" target="_blank"> <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1160963336/gallery_6393_3739_5256.jpg" hspace="16"></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8408063146/egulletcom-20" target="_blank"> <img src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1160963336/gallery_6393_3739_9982.jpg" hspace="16"></a></div> For more information on the career of Jose Andres, please see About Jose Andres. Please join Rochelle Reid-Myers (Malawry), Pedro Espinosa (Pedro), Ron Kaplan (Ronnie_Suburban), Rogelio Enriquez (Rogelio) and myself in welcoming eGullet member Jose Andres as he fields questions and discusses his career, restaurants, book, tv show and Spanish food both in the U.S. and Spain! To post a question, click "New Topic" at the top of this forum. Each question will be its own topic. Once a question has been posted, we ask that the membership refrain from any additional posts or commentary until Jose has had the opportunity to respond to the post directly. Once Jose's response is up, the topic is open for in depth discussion by all members, and we warmly encourage followup conversation. Please note that this eG Conversation may be moderated, and your question may not appear as soon as you post it. Also, we may edit new topic titles for clarity. Welcome, Jose and let’s begin this eG Spotlight Conversation!

For the purposes of this discussion I am focusing on the world of haute cuisine. The numbers appear damning, but why are they the way they are? What are the underlying reasons? Individual racism is probably still a factor in at least some instances, but the question must go beyond that. Are black men and women entering the culinary field in proportional numbers? If not, why not? If they are, what is happening to them to hold them back? Is it inherent in the system? Are there cultural issues dissuading some black men and women from haute cuisine?

I have to admit that I have fallen way behind on this thread and am only now going back to see some of the other platings. Amongst other dishes there are quite a few amazing looking calzones out there as well. It has been some time since I have had a good one. My father was a General Practioner (M.D.) in Brooklyn. He had a patient who hailed from around Naples, who was a pizzaiolo and had his own pizza place in Brooklyn (Lenny's on 5th Ave. and 16th St.(?)). In addition to excellent pizze he made wonderful calzones. My father was retired but would still take care of a few older patients including him and his family. Whenever he would come by the house for a medical visit he would always bring a few fresh pizze and some calzones. Those were the days!

That looks wonderful! Calzones don't come any better looking (and I imagine tasting) than that. My two favorite Italian pastries are sfogliatelle and cannoli. I would have a hard time choosing between the two. A top-notch sfogliatella is hard to find, but may beat a top-notch cannolo. An ordinary cannolo is probably better than an ordinary sfogliatella, though.

Arne, excellent report! We have a few shared experiences in there. Aux Lyonnais was also our debut restaurant in paris last year and was outstanding. Our son who was then six years old still can't stop talking about his dinner therre, especially a dish that mixed pasta, steak, cheese and mushrooms. I have to agree with him that it was outstanding. Marie-Ann Cantin is very impressive. Our money was well spent there. In addition, I too thought L'As de Falafel good, but not extraordinary. Looking forward to the rest.

There are actually very few African-American executive chefs in New Orleans. A few months back, a friend and I came up with this list: Breannan's (Chef Lazone Randolph) Muriel's (Chef Erik Veney, now Ex. sous at Stella) Upperline (Chef Ken Smith) Morton's Steakhouse Roux Bistro at Sheraton Hotel (Chef Christopher Brown) I might be forgetting someone and there might have been changes recently, but only 5 (now 4) African-American executive chefs in city where African-Americans built the culture and the cuisine is sad. ← Any idea what things were like before the hurricane? If markedly different, it would be an interesting question to ask why. This is an interesting topic that is somewhat surprising as the food service industry is one that has the reputation (rightly or wrongly) of being more open to merit than most. No doubt as in the rest of society in the US and elsewhere there are examples of overt racism. Those are not the examples that make this an interesting topic though as, hopefully, they are easier to ferret out and fix. It is the indirect forms of racism and sexism that I believe are more pernicious and more difficult to fix. One of those questions is whether any segment of the population is being excluded from particular positions or are there simply historical and/or societal reasons discouraging members of any background from particular positions. I certainly don't have the answers.

Brian McBride was at Melrose, which was exactly where Blue Duck is now. ← Thanks. I am not familiar with his work, although it sounds like I should be.

I suspect that the list is not available on-line or it would have been linked to (did I miss it?) Corduroy only got "delicious deal"? That severely understates its worth as the food is fantastic without qualification for value. Where was Brian McBride involved prior to Blue Duck? I thought Vidalia excellent as well, Charles. The company wasn't too shabby either. There are definitely some places in DC I need to return to.

Unfortunately samples at events like this are the exception rather than the rule. I don't think this is due to any lack of desire, but rather to difficult logistics as the sample would need to be made ahead of time. Finding the space, manpower to do so is a daunting task. at the recent Starchefs.com International Chefs Congress there were very few samples passed around to the audience for those very reasons. This could not have been any easier. Of course if the group is small or working in a particular restaurant's space, it is easier to accomplish.

Were the dishes shown on the screens in your photos produced in front of the audience then or were they from videos? ← It was a combination. Adria mostly used the video screen. Others used a mix of live and in person. ← Thanks.

Were the dishes shown on the screens in your photos produced in front of the audience then or were they from videos?

The problems seem fixable to me. Whether they will is a whole other story.In any event, there are plenty of restaurants that are somewhat maligned by the food cogniscenti, but survive for years or decades nevertheless. Cafe des Artiste, One if By Land, and Tavern on the Green are the poster children in this department, but there are many others. Besides, with three stars from the Times and four stars from Crain's, the reviews haven't all all been negative — as they have been for Crafsteak. We on eGullet tend to forget that there are an awful lot of diners (and not just the B&T/tourism crowd) that don't come to this website for restaurant advice. ← Mark, you are correct that many palces are able to survive and in some cases even thrive off their names for quite some time. I don't think that we tend to overestimate our influence on eGullet. Rather, I think we may tend to think that we more likely rerpresent at least a certain segment of the public and our opinions tend to reflect those of others like us who may not be posting here and that these opinions may have some bearing on the future of restaurants of certain aspirations. What will happen to Del Posto? Only time will tell. For the most part it does not appear to have resonated with what I presume was at least part of its initial target audience. While it is possible that they may be able to fix that, it is much more difficult to do so after impressions have been formed. I keep reading this thread to see if they have turned the corner. While it seems they have made progress, it is still not at the point that I feel compelled to return.

Thanks for the report, Emma, although I am a bit confused on on your comments on Adria. What was so dogmatic about what he had to say? What did his emo cover? Also what other demos did you see? I would love to read additional reports on this. It will be interesting to see how this compares to The World of Flavors Conference in Novemeber at CIA-Greystone. Did anyone go to any of the dinners?

It is a good dish. While I wouldn't say it is superior to the traditional version, it is much easier and a good alternative when the traditional can't work.

Is it legal to even look at this? What a pear! This makes me really want to come to Phoenix!

I am as cynical as the next guy about this, but it may be cheaper because of volume sales or maybe for reasons I mentioned above.

Now, it's not just the science geek in me that's fascinated by this stuff. The fact that the culprit of these contamination outbreaks is a rare but deadly mutation of a beneficial bacterium (while some sources merely call E. coli harmless, other reputable sources point out that its normal form aids significantly in digestion) means that we can't just go wiping out all sources of E. coli in the environment without negative consequences. And managing the food chain so that only the nasty O157:H7 (and a couple other deadly mutations) get wiped is a significantly more challenging task. And it doesn't even start to address the possibility of other such mutations arising. They're bacteria, after all--they reproduce fast and mutate fairly easily. ← Outstanding post! You've captured the essence of this conundrum in rather few words.

In addition to cavas, Spain is a great producer of a number of inexpensive fine wines. I would look for reds from Toro or Jumilla and whites from Rueda or Galicia (albarinos are great, but starting to get pricier). If find these wines within your price range, chances are they will be good values.

I feel the same as I always have. If they are produced by reputable cheesemakers, I will take my chances. ← My concern is more that the cheeses are handled and stored correctly. Not just flavor concerns but safety as well. I try to buy from reputable cheese mongers. I feel safe in my assumption that these folks deal with reputable sources. ← This is a key part of the equation as well. I never buy my cheeses from the back of a truck being sold by strangers (unless it happens to be the local farmers market )

Agreed, Russ. Ironically, there are risks to being too fastidious. My personal approach is to try to keep as many of the risks as possible, reasonable risks. Sooner or later something is going to get me, but that will happen whether I am ultrafastidious or not. In the meantime, I prefer to try to enjoy the life that I have and not get overly concerned about every remote possibility.