docsconz

Spectacular report, Klary! You ate well, indeed and provide ample testament to the bounty of the PNW. I love your photos. My favorite of all, though is this one: It speaks volumes.

I didn't say that the majority of fast food's customers are children. I did say that kids are their prime targets. Kids also tend to get their parents to go. Sure it is not their "job" to raise children, but if they had more of a sense of social responsibility, we might not be discussing this now. Most parents are not particularly knowledgeable in this area, anyway, and even if they were, they have a hard time not giving into their children. For a variety of reasons, I do not take my family to FF joints except on very rare occassions. Let me turn this back around. Is there anything truly worthwhile about trans-fats in a culinary sense that could justify their continued use and is not provided for at least as well by other fats?

Your points are generally well-reasoned, except I don't agree that with this example at least, the government is telling the individual what to eat. They are talking about a ban for restaurants, in which people do not generally have a clue of they are eating transfats or any other kind of fat. The product is generally invisible, leaving people without a choice. That is precisely why I think this is different. My understanding is that this does not include supermarket purchases in which transfats are clearly labeled. I suppose an alternative law would be to require menu labeling of items with trans-fats and how much. The other irony is that there really is little if any culinary advantage to using or eating trans-fats. ← The major fast food chains do have the nutritional value of its products posted on websites and in the restaurants.. ← Their prime customer targets also happen to be kids.

Your points are generally well-reasoned, except I don't agree that with this example at least, the government is telling the individual what to eat. They are talking about a ban for restaurants, in which people do not generally have a clue of they are eating transfats or any other kind of fat. The product is generally invisible, leaving people without a choice. That is precisely why I think this is different. My understanding is that this does not include supermarket purchases in which transfats are clearly labeled. I suppose an alternative law would be to require menu labeling of items with trans-fats and how much. The other irony is that there really is little if any culinary advantage to using or eating trans-fats.

I am also concerned about the slippery slope, however, I think this case is somewhat different than some others like the foie gras issue, in which people can clearly choose whether or not to have foie gras. Not necessarily so with trans fats as they are typically an anonymous ingredient, especially in restaurants. This is potentially more of a public health issue than some others. I am not saying that I agree with it, just that the issue is not so clear cut.

ditto! What's in the Paco? Thanks in advance and thanks again 'doc for some outstanding work! ← I'm not sure there was anything special in the Pacojet onstage as it was used just to demonstrate the technique. The Pacojet people were doing demonstrations with samples in the Exhibits area. They used a number of different ingredients.

A student of mine who lives in Saratoga Springs said, last spring I believe, that Little India had closed. We were devastated, as it's been THE place we eat when traveling north of Albany. I wish we'd known they'd moved to Court St! Well... hoping that's still the case, we'll definitely search them out. Speaking of Saratoga, is the gelato there particularly good or are we just that ready for a snack by the time we get there? Lonnie ← The gelato I have had there is ok, but I wouldn't call it special. I can see the allure after a long drive, though.

Very eclectic mix. I envy your travel schedule.

I dare say it is. I am very much looking forward to finally tasting a full meal at some point soon after Chef Liebrandt sets up shop in his next venture. I waited too long for Gilt. The few tastes I was able to get of his cuisine this week definitely left me wanting more. He did a dinner for members of the Congres the night before that was generating raves from those who attended. Alas, I was not one.

Paul Liebrandt: Artist or Artisan:The Role of a Chef Chef Liebrandt getting ready for the stage with Michael Harlan Turkell. Is there any doubt that Paul Liebrandt is extremely creative? I had never met the man prior to this Congress and I had never eaten a morsel of his food. His demonstration was simply fascinating. While there was not much discussion on the stage of the chef as artist, Chef Liebrandt and his crew simply demonstrated why that designation should be taken seriously as they prepared several items that were thoughtfully creative, technically precise, sinfully delicious and visually beautiful. The principal dish of Chef Liebrandt and his crew was a Foie Gras "Crispy". Liebrandt's Pastry Chef, Jordan Kahn preparing ingredients for his demo. Pre-demo kitchen conference. Organizing croquants Chef Liebrandt explaing his ingredients and techniques. Sherry marinaded sous vide foie gras. Scott Reisenburgher starting to plate the dish. Slicing and plating the foie. The red cubes are sous vide prepared watermelon. Chef Liebrandt showing a watermelon cube. Building the dish with sucrose/glucose crisped croquants Chef Liebrandt showing the translucent croquants. The demonstration plate. Jordan Kahn demonstrating a technique to make pastry swirls. The wonderful Pacojet. No professional kitchen should be without one. Passing around samples of the foie. The plate might not have made it past me if I weren't going to Jean-Georges for lunch. My apologies to the Chefs whose demonstrations I missed including Pierre Herme, Masaharu Morimoto, Wylie Dufresne and Josh DeChellis. It was not for lack of interest or desire. I did, however, spend the time eating very well and that should make any chef happy. Still to come, the home stretch of demos including Sam Mason, Davide Scabin and Sergi Arola; The Rising Stars Review and afterparty.

Welcome to eGullet, Lenski. That is strong praise, indeed given the roster of restaurants you mentioned. I have been to Moto once under less than ideal circumstances(immediately after a long delayed flight). I will have to return when next in Chicago. Nice picture of Chef Cantu on the cover of the new Gourmet.

I agree, but tomatillos don't have "a sweet pineapple flavor".

I agree with oakapple. The idea of giving up stars is not consistant with moving into the Lespinasse space at The St. Regis. If it becomes more informal, it might be in the way that El Bulli is informal.

My blood sugar is getting high just looking at that eclair. That sandwich didn't look too shabby either. I loved the eclair photo drama, too.

Panel: Sustainability and the Professional Chef: A Discussion in Partnership with Chefs Collaborative. Chef Peter Hoffman of Savoy, Moderator Chef Todd Gray of Equinox. Chef Traci Des Jardins of Jardinieres Chef Greg Higgins of Higgins His restaurant was ranked #28 in Gourmet's "Top 50 Restaurants". Chef Bruce Sherman of North Pond Jenn Small of Flying Pigs Farm This discussion was done in collaboration with Chef's Collaborative, a Slow Food-like organization of chefs devoted to issues of sustainability. Their Statement of Principles: This basically sums up the underlying tenets of the discussion. Each of the chef participants discussed their roles and experiences in working with local, seasonal produce and their own reasons for doing so, even when it proves to be more expensive in the short term. Aside from ethical reasons, ll the chefs felt that the quality of the produce they could get was superior to more traditional channels and getting even better all the time as the US continues to embrace the concepts described above. One of the major impediments to more chefs using quality, ethically raised produce has been cost. Jenn Small talked about issues facing her as a farmer. She noted that as more farms are making the choice towards sustainability that the support and equipment needed to do so are becoming cheaper and easier to find reducing the cost for everyone. Other issues discussed included "certified organic" and "certified humane" labels. Ironically, these very labels tend to favor larger, more industrial producers, leaving the small farmer behind. While all felt that the techniques behind the labels are in general a good thing, there are high costs associated with those certifications that many really good small farms cannot afford. Jenn Small mentioned that a farming family earning $20-30,000 might have difficulty paying several thousand dollars annually for the certifications. The point was made that it is much more important to know the farmers than to simply go by the presence of any label. The panel also emphasized that chefs are arbiters for the general poplation and if they continue to set the trend for local, seasonal produce, the general public will continue to follow. All in all this was a rather thoughtful discussion on a topic near and dear to my heart. Indeed, Jenn Small's farm is near where I live and I consider she and her husband, Michael Yezzi, friends. One of the reasons I particularly enjoy about living where I do, is the quality of the local agriculture and the availability of reasonably priced, sustainably raised product from people I know and who i know care very much about what they are doing and why they are doing it. While it might almost seem out of place to have had this panel in this program filled with exotic ingredients and precise, scientific ingredients, I don't think that could have been any further from the truth. A variety of delicious ingredients, exotic or otherwise, exist because their is variety in the world. Without sustainable agriculture and the people who choose to maintain that variety, even though it may be less profitable in the short term, we are all at risk for watching the culinary choices and quality available to each and everyone of us shrink into homogenized conformity.

I grabbed some take-out before heading for the train upstate last Thursday. The tuna nicoise sandwich was excellent as was the fig danish. Both items absolutely hit the spot. For the quality I thought they were reasonably priced.

My wife and I had many many wonderful lunches and Ferdinando's. May I ask what year your picnic was? ← Getting personal, aren't we? May, 1986. The last time the Mets won the World Series. ← I was just curious, for some reason, if it was before we started going there, or when we were going there. Not that you care, but we overlapped. ← Actually, it is comforting to know, for some reason. Brooklyn has changed a lot since then- in some ways for the better and in some ways for the worse. One thing that was definitely better back then was the view from the Promenade.

That particular column has a few interesting bits to it besides what directly pertains to this thread. It will be interesting to see how the Keller restaurants will be affected and what Ms. Cunningham does. I am sure her services will be in demand. I hope it works out well for all parties involved.

My above comments are not meant to imply that there isn't room for improvement. Ther always is. However, considering that this was their first event like this, I think they did a remarkable job. Ideally I would like to see more time given to each demo with the chefs really having the ability to flesh out their techniques and have the Congress spread over a longer period of time. Of course the difficulty with the latter suggestion is that that require more time for many of the attendees to take from their busy schedules and would be more expensive to produce.

This strikes me as the problem with many such conferences: they're ambitious in the wrong ways. StarChefs pulled together an incredible group, but seems to have done very little with it. I suppose that's inherent in the StarChefs approach to everything. Still, I think most such events could stand to learn a few lessons from IACP and Southern Foodways Alliance, where they try to generate new thinking rather than just put on a show. ← I wouldn't say that they didn't generate new thinking at all. The demos were wide ranging , well done and interesting. Watching Albert Adria's video was fascinating and beautiful. Just because a well-informed culinary professional might be well aware of these techniques, as they would if all they did was read eGullet , doesn't mean that there wasn't plenty to learn. besides, the real value of meetings like this and even in my own professional field of Anesthesiology is to get together with one's peers for insights and discussions. I thought this provided a fantastic opportunity for that invaluable process that simply can't be accomplished any other way. Steven, I would have to strongly disagree with your sense that they did very little with it. If my reporting doesn't show it better, that is my fault.

Why is tripe bleached? If anyone feels this would be better discussed in another thread, but all means point us to that thread, but I really wonder about this. I never knew tripe was bleached. And I guess my next question is, how do they make sure to get the bleach all out completely before the tripe reaches diners? I find chlorine bleach really gross in any context. ← Not to hijack the thread, Pan; but the bleach is almost never all the way out when tripe leaves the processing plant. When you open a box, you can still smell the chlorine smell. I find that the tripe has to washed several times to eliminate the odor. I have never worked with the unbleached product. ← Unbleached is apparently very difficult to find commrecially.

My wife and I had many many wonderful lunches and Ferdinando's. May I ask what year your picnic was? ← Getting personal, aren't we? May, 1986. The last time the Mets won the World Series.

I came across this online exhibiton entitled Value Meal: Design and (over)Eating that used food and food based themes very provocatively in the name of art. Obviously, not everything in this exhibit leads to a sense of comfort or satiety. What do you think of these works and what other demonstrations of food in contemporary art have you come across? Thanks to coolhunting.com for leading me to this.

Partly because he is a good chef, partly because he is a good guy and partly because of his experience with 9/11, Michael Lomanico is one of those guys who deserves to be successful. He seems to have had a bit of a hard time since Windows on the World. I hope his luck has changed for the better.

Thank you. I thought the conference was well worth going to. I don't know if the information presented, as good as it was, was particularly unique and groundbreaking to anyone who keeps up with the industry, but it was a fantastic opportunity for networking, seeing equipment up close, talking to various vendors in one spot and having a damn good time. I do not have any video, though I believe Starchefs.com will be coming out with a DVD of the proceedings. I would be happy to attend again without hesitation if I have the time available to me next year.