docsconz

The photos are as great as ever, YT. I loved the commentary as well. I am very jealous of those of you who get to go to Alinea with such frequency. I will have to find a way to get there again in the not-too-distant future!

My recollection of a manestir is that a a small magnet is placed in the bath, which is placed on a plate that has an internal revolving metal element that than moves the magnet causing a striing action. A circulating water bath is sort of like a jacuzzi in that water is constantly taken out and the recirculated back in. This is also reminiscent of a fishtank water filter.

Thanks, DLV. That certainly makes sense vis-a-vis e.coli. I'm not so sure about the mad cow even if the spinal cord, etc. is avoided, although that probably wouldn't hurt.

While using a thermometer to cook meats, unless cooking sous vide, never leave the meat in the oven until the target temperature!

How might this be so?

I just ordered some of this cheese from iGourmet. Will report back on my impressions.

Durian ice cream? Sounds like something I will have to try!

Lookin' good! I have to try that chicken next time I return to Paris and the urchin looks sinful.

I've had La Bella before, and I agree, they're very good. And the shipping is very reasonable. I assume that was $12 total for 2 cases, not $12 per case? BTW, are those 28 oz cans? Thanks. ← I find Quality System Approval ISO9001:200I listed, but...I don't see DOP anywhere on the La Bella can. Does that mean they are not DOP? ← That's right. If it is not on the label it is not DOP. it may still be good, but not DOP.

No question it was one if not the best ICA ever. Let's keep this topic for discussion of the restaurant and this one or discussion of the show.

I thought that this was a pretty good battle with a terrible, though visually interesting ingredient (live fish). Both chefs acquitted themselves well. Clearly Wylie was more original and got scored accordingly. Whose tasted better? I couldn't say, although given the judges reactions to some of Wylie's dishes it was clear who was going to win. I had to laugh at the interchanges between Steingarten and the other two judges. It was worth wathcing the show to see WD's techniques in action as well as those interchanges.

That is hilarious! Thank you.

I guess this is sort of an amuse bouche of a report Looking forward to the rest.

Where is the link? Sounds interesting.

My last experience at Nougatine back in 2004 was not good, particularly from a service perspective - so much so that it took me until December of 2005 to go back to Jean-Georges. I will gladly return to J-G, I'm still not sure about Nougatine, though.

Not your typical chocolate truffle!

I would say that if one is taking the time to initially praise or berate a restaurant and subsequent visits differ from the former than there is a certain responsibility to follow-up as others may be taking the initial recommendation to heart. Subsequent visits without a change of experience do not require additional criticism although follow-up reports are not without value as they indicate a level of consistency.

docsconz, I'm not completely convinced of that statement. People have always expected constant creativity. You should see all the trendy restaurants (and their copycats) that are popping up in Los Angeles. Rather, it is just plain hard to be a successful chef, period. ← russell, here here, doing anything at the top level is tough to achieve,and even harder to maintain and improve upon ← I will add to my previous statement, that Russell and dragonflychef, you are both correct, it is "just plain hard to be a successful chef, period." I did not and do not mean to imply otherwise. That makes the great innovators that much more exceptional. The difference between the successful hypermodern chef and the "trendy" restaurants is where they fall on the spectrum I described above. "Trendy" restaurants are strictly derivative following styles that have become "hot". The hypermoderns and other innovators who do not neatly fit into that category are the ones who are making the styles "hot" in the first place. Trendy restaurants can still be excellent, fun places with great food and neede not be dismissed out of hand or scoffed at. They definitely have their place as well.

There is a difference between creativity and execution. The chef at a more traditional restaurant must execute the dishes that he makes at a consistently high level, but is not under the constant pressure of coming up with novel dishes, techniques and presentations. Executing at that level consistently is certainly difficult enough. Patrons go to traditional restaurants because they want foods that are recognizably familiar. Yes, there certainly is performance pressure to produce those dishes well and my admiration for chefs that do that well and consistently is boundless. Execution, though is no less important for a hypermodern restaurant if their dishes are to arrive on a consistent basis. As for hypermodern chefs getting cut slack, perhaps it is harder to compare one dish against another, but the bottom line is whether the dish works to the patrons and on what level. If it does, it is a good dish. It can still be subjected to critical analysis though. I believe that it is a question of the diner's experience and confidence with the cuisine. Clearly not all hypermodern or innovative cuisine is great and not all cuisine is great because it is hypermodern or innovative. I have had cuisine that I haven't liked and have said so. I have mentioned ad nauseum on eGullet how disappointed I was with my meal at Pierre Gagnaire last summer. Certainly the creativity pressure is not limited to the hypermodern chef as most haute cuisine chefs, hypermodern or not, are subject to similar pressures. The story of Bernard Loiseau as written in The Perfectionist by Rudolph Chelminski provides a good example of these pressures. I strongly wish to reiterate that this is not an either-or situation. I would certainly take a well made and delicious traditional meal any time over a mediocre hypermodern one, however, when the latter hits on all cylinders as I have experienced at El Bulli, Arzak, Alinea, WD-50 and elsewhere it is to me an experience without equal. There are also a number of restaurants, perhaps the majority of haute cuisine restaurants, that are located on the spectrum between fully traditional and "hypermodern" or experimental. It seems that most of the haute cuisine restaurants of the bay Area fit somewhere on this spectrum. Many of these restaurants are incorporating techniques taken from the hypermoderns or molecular gastronomists even as they have moved on to other things. The real value of avant-garde is the development of elements that filter down to the rest of the world. Obviously not everything does, but the world would be a poorer place without them.

This would be a very difficult choice as I was fortunate enough to have many outstanding dishes in New York this past year. If I had to choose one though it would be the woodcock I had in upstate NY last January as described in this post. Runnersup include the Shrimp cannelloni, chorizo, thai basil at WD-50 , Black Sea Bass, fragrant coconut juice, parsnips and lime at Jean Georges the nanzenji soup with house made tofu at Bouley Upstairs and of course the Broiled squab, onion confit, preserved lemons and squab jus from Jean-George My best dessert was probably the Cider sorbet, pine needle gelee from Sam Mason at WD-50

I do not believe that this is the case. If the food doesn't pass muster it shouldn't matter what kind of cuisine is produced. It is harder to be a successful hypermodern chef, though, because people are expecting constant creativity. It is not enough to be new and different, though. The food must be that and delicious or else it won't survive. Why this food carries additional cachet (if it does) is because when it is successful it adds much more than simply delicious food.

Dining once or twice at a place over a year or two hardly makes one a "regular". Quite frankly - with a lot of these places - they've opened and closed by the time I got around to visiting the city in which they're located. Alinea hasn't been open for even a year - and I suspect it won't be around next time I'm in Chicago (2007 or maybe 2008). Ditto with someone like Blais in Atlanta (I get there more often than I get to Chicago). His original place opened and closed between my trips there. Ditto with La Broche in Miami. I did manage to get to Mosaico in the short time the original chef was there (but I travel to Miami more often than most places). Robyn ← The only reason I haven't been to alinea more frequently is because I don't live there. I would venture though that trips specially made for a restaurant would qualify even if it isn't as often as I would like. I am not a gambler, by any means, but I would put a wager on Alinea being there long after 2007. It is a truly special restaurant and it does not seem to have a shortage of patrons. There are plenty of traditional restaurants that open and close within a short period of time. So long as the business plan is sound a good restaurant of any ilk should survive.

funny you should say that, on a first blind date at at an expensive sushi restaurant my date went on and on about loving the finest things in life etc- wink wink "HEY BABE I'M LOADED!" so I ordered piece after piece of the most expensive cuts of fish on the menu, not one filler fish..just to see when he'd balk- to give him credit he didn't say anything but the looks he gave me were pure scorn (laced with pervy charm) when he left for the restroom, I payed the check. Left that date like a rockstar Cant wait to try sushi yasuda! about how long will a meal run time-wise? ← Great story! The meal can run for as long as you have the appetite and wallet. When I was there for lunch we ran up a bill a little over $100pp in about an hour and a half to two hours if memory serves me right. It was awesome.

For whatever it's worth, if people like you, who really enjoy and admire avant-garde cuisine, want more people to give it a try, I'd talk about the pleasure it gives you sensually. I've been wanting to go to Manresa (I know, it's not avant-garde) because of all of the posts by people who focused on the food itself. Yeah, of course I want the other cylinders you mentioned; but they don't mean jack to me without having the food as my reference point. So use the food to convince me to get to the restaurant. I'm in a much better position to grasp its philosophy, etc. after I have some first hand experience of it. Have you read the posts on the food in topics such as Alinea, WD-50 or Philadelphia's Studio Kitchen for example? If they don't get you excited about the food, nothing will. I'm also not sure that Manresa does not fit into this world. That I will know better after first-hand experience at the end of March. I know that Chef Kinch uses many of the same techniques, is creatively original and focuses on multi-course tasting menus, things all these restaurants have in common. I do believe that someone who is inflexible, fogey or not, will not take to this cuisine as it requires too much trust of the chef. That doesn't mean that someone who is not into it is necessarily inflexible or a fogey, though. One must approach this cuisine with a thoroughly open mind to get the most out of it. As for the descriptors, I think they work for people who like that sort of thing. Avant-garde is really a catch-all phrase for anything leading the way. Nouvelle cuisine was the avant-garde in the 60's and 70's. Hypermodern is a new term to try to distinguish the approach of these chefs with very different styles that are philosophically akin. As for your statements above about how many conventional things you haven't tried that you are eager to, I say, go for them, but why is this style mutually exclusive from any of them? I feel the same way. There are many cuisines that I need to explore more and am thrilled to do so. There is no need for mutual exclusivity.

Very interesting list! Did you post on your Gagnaire dinner. I would be very curious to read about it as Gagnaire was my most disappointing meal of 2005. How did the Robuchon restaurants differ? Did you go to the two in Paris?