docsconz

Good questions all, Sammy. Time will tell. I do know that they had been contemplating opening a second restaurant closer to Albany. I think I prefer this scenario to that.

That would have been Sophie in her prime. She really was outstanding. I have no doubt that this will prove an excellent business decision and I wish them well with it. I am curious as to what will become of the diner.

Bux, I would agree with this statement. I admire Jose Andres very much, but one 8 seat restaurant does not make a major center of the avant-garde no matter how good it is. Minibar may be one of the best restaurants in the US, avant-garde or otherwise, but its presence in DC says nothing about DC's willingness to embrace the avant-garde aesthetic. The lack of a more receptive audience in NY surprises and disappoints me. For all his faults, Rocco when at his peak at Union pacific was a very exciting chef. Other than Wylie where has that gone? This is why I am curious about Gilt.

I have to say, I was unconvinced by my meal. I recall a dish with chocolate and scallops that left me puzzled in a way even the occassional unconvincing dish at elBulli did not. Nor was it so shockingly unpalatable as a series of acrid desserts at Gagnaire once. It was just that no combination of the the tastes in any order gave me a clue as to how the whole might be as good as the sum of the parts. For what it's worth, the scallops were exquisitely cooked and I was a little sorry I doggedly tried to find some reward in the combination. ← I love avant-garde that is creative and daring so long that it tastes good or at least interesting. I was very disappointed with Gagnaire. I am not into culinary nihilism. I have yet to try Paul's work, however, I will keep an eye out and a mouth open for it. The photos are interesting, although the pig slaughter is just a tad on the macabre side. Whatever.

I received a press release from Chez Sophie today. They will be moving from their wonderful little diner spot off exit 13 of the Northway into downtown Saratoga Springs at the Saratoga Hotel come this March! I have mixed feelings about this. The current restaurant is particularly charming. That charm might easily be lost. On the other hand, Paul and Cheryl Parker are committed to what they do and this seems like a splindid opportunity for them.

That's a very nice report, HFK, and best wishes on your married life. The one comment I have on the substance of the report though, is that I don't see how this policy limits upselling or a waiter's attitude towards selling wine. After all, the service charge is still based upon the pre-tax amount of food and beverage. Given that a lot of people tip less (rightly or wrongly) on more expensive wine, I would think the incentive to upsell would be even greater with a guaranteed 19% service charge. That the waitstaff at TFL didn't is a testament to their professionalism. I am not sure what the best solution is, but so long as it is a fixed percentage of the total bill, I am not sure that is an improvement from the customer's perspective. I routinely tip 20%, but like the sense that if the service is subpar or rude I can adjust accordingly. Fortunately, the need to do that has been rare in my experience.

Interesting review, U.E. Itseems like a totally unfortunate situation. The food certainly looked good, especially the scallops. It is too bad the dish was ruined. I wonder if your take on the wood pigeon might have been different if you were personally more inclined to European stle fowl, although by your description it sounds as if that might have been only one issue amongst others with this bird. The service attitude sounds abominable for a restaurant of that caliber.

Just had an excellent meal tonight at a new restaurant in Saratoga, The Mouzon House located on 1 York street near the Farmers' Market (518-226-0014). This restaurant as well as One Caroline Street is run by David and Dianne Pedinotti. david is the chef at Mouzon. The restaurant occupies a restored old home formerly occupied by the Mouzon family. The restoration has left a wonderfully funky space with a number of small and intimate dining rooms and original artwork painted for the space by the very talented Pedinotti daughters. Chef David is apparently a self-taught cook who came to the business after a successful construction career. He learned well. The food (at least on the current menu)seems to have a serious NOLA bent to it with offerings of crawfish etoufee, gumbo and other creole flavored dishes. While the foodis not off the charts creative, it is well founded in classic technique. I enjoyed thin sliced filet mignon with risotto, wild mushrooms and leeks for an appetizer, followed by a well balanced salad of boston bibb lettuce with serrano ham, nuts, pea-shoots and a light roquefort dressing and a main of a very tasty bouillabaisse. This had a number of mussels, clams, large whole shrimp (head on, tail-shell off), white-fish, bread and a hearty broth. While not the greatest I have ever had, it was much, much better than acceptable. In fact it was pretty darn good.. My wife had snapper baked in papillote. This too was very nicely prepared. Dessert was shared by the table. It ws "chocolate pate", a thick, creamy mousse served sliced and smothered with whipped cream. If I have a significant criticismof the restaurant it is the wine list. It is boring. I settled for an Erath pinot noir, which wsa a good match across the board. It was reasonably priced. I had to really work to come up with that one. I should cut the restaurant some slack here as it is only two months old, but it has a mature sister restaurant that recently won a Wine Spectator award. At the moment the wine list does not match the caliber of the food. Hopefully that will be remedied as the restaurant matures. The price for two including cocktails, food, wine and tax prior to tip was $152.50. This restaurant is a very welcome addition to the Saratoga restaurant scene. It has plenty of character, class and excellent food. I will happily return. This meal was had anonymously and no comps were received.

Sounds good to me too. Now, I just have to get myself to Madrid!

John, do you really think so? You think she's at the level of Can Fabes or El Bulli? I can't say cause I haven't eaten in all of them, but for what I've heard she's nowhere near a 3 star. I'd really like to know what you think. ← SD, I do think that she is at the level of Can Fabes, which is wonderful. El Bulli is in another dimension in my mind. My meal at her restaurant was at least as good if not better than any I have had in the NYC three star restaurants and I have eaten in all of them. Per Se was really the only one of them comparable to Sant Pau in my estimation. Indeed, there is quite a similarity of style between Ruscalleda and Keller that I had never really considered before writing this post. Their styles are much closer to each other than either is to Santamaria or Adria or Arzak in my limited experience of these cuisines. It is hard to put my finger on it, although the plate composition as well as flavor and textural balances play a part. Both cuisines are somewhat subtle. I will never forget the composed cheese course at Sant Pau. It was the best of its kind I have ever had anywhere. The combinations were beautiful, delicious and simply brilliant.

Where's El Bulli?

Congratulations to Carme Ruscalleda! She is more than deserving of this third star. I wish that I could have had a direct opinion on Can Roca. My bad luck kept me from getting there. From the comments I have heard about Moo, I am surprised that it got a star. As much as people seem to love Can Roca, I've only heard the opposite of Moo.

My local Price Chopper Supermarket in upstate New York has been carrying Central Market products for awhile now. I only recently decided to try some, however, based on this thread. The products they carry are limited. I bought some cheddar crackers and asiago crackers. The asiago crackers were good, although the cheddar were all spice and no cheddar flavor. While they weren't bad, I was looking for cheddar. I also bought a variety of stuffed olives. They were ok. I'll keep an eye out for the Italian sodas. Price Chopper used to carry President's Choice products from Canada. Now that is a quality line!

Ditto, although I am sure much can be said for staying directly next door in Cala Montjol. I do think that this would be less of an advantage for lunch than it would be for dinner. The Almadraba was excellent and a good base for the area. I much preferred it over the Golf Perelada.

Very interesting data, Patrick. This certainly helps give credance to the idea that direct human health effects of rBGH milk iare likely no different than non-rBGH milk. Of course that doesn't address issues of non-direct or environmental effects looking at the human adolescent data, I can't help but wonder what those averages were like in generations past? I wonder if they are higher today could that be a causative factor for the increased incidence of diabetes? Obviously, this is likely to be a next to impossible study to do as I can not imagine that the data would be available for earlier generations or even testable.

I must say that this strikes me as being peculiar. How far into the meal was it when you were served the kid? That they would tell you the dish was unavailable and then provide a roasted version that roasted for three hours is indeed strange to me. Unless your meal ws exceedingly long, they must have already been roasting the kid when you asked about it. It is then strange that they wouldn't have told you of it then. If they made it specifically for you, then it must have been roasted as they clearly would not have had enough time to cook it sous vide. If the latter, that was a nice gesture on their part even if it didn't fully work out to your satisfaction.

Unfortunately, it most definitely is not!

The anatomical definition is certainly correct, although I always thought that there was another definition that consisted of being "central to" that stemmed from the anatomical one. I believe that is what the above writer was trying to use. My interpretation of the term "wine fundus" is the one who is "the go-to person" when it comes to wine. That is to say the one who always gets the wine list in order to choose wines for a group or who is always asked by one's peers for wine advice. By the way, the writer, I believe incorrectly used the plural when the singular "fundus" should have been used. Are you a wine fundus as opposed to are you a wine fundi.

I can't believe that no one has mentined pintade or guinea fowl! Or if one wants to get more exotic, how about woodcock

Not from me on my recent trip to Paris. While I love avant-garde cuisine (El Bulli, Arzak, Alinea and WD-50 are amongst my absolute favorite restaurant experiences) Pierre Gagnaire proved to be a major disappointment to me. The dishes all looked marvellous, but there was a preponderance of bitter and off notes that did not appeal to me. Perhaps it was an off-menu or an off-night. I can understand why Gagnaire has developed the reputation that he has, but my dinner struck out. I did love L'Astrance, though. While not as avant-garde as the restaurants I mentioned above, it certainly wasn't purely traditional. The combinations were beautiful and the flavors and textures worked quite nicely. This was my favorite meal in Paris on this trip. It was a lunch.

Well, what did you have that was so good? Where is it?

Actually "Organic" milk carries a price premium where I live as well. The product I mentioned above that is produced without BGH supplementation is not labeled "organic'. It is much more like the Ronnybrook type situation that Sam mentioned except that it is a cooperative and not a single farm. I share a lot of concerns about the "organic' industry as well. I would much rather buy locally from farmers I know practicing agriculture with techniques designed for sustainability and producing high quality produce resulting from the care they put into their work. I don't mind spending a bit more to support that kind of farming, most of which is not labelled "organic", even though many "organic" principles are used. To me it is not the label that is important. It is the methods used along with the quality of the product.

Wendy, Have a great birthday dinner-I am so jealous. Molto E ← Me too. What are your culinary plans for St. Petersburg, Wendy? Perhaps you should start another topic on that if you haven't already.

An extraordinarily thoughtful report, lxt. Are you sure the kid was roasted and not cooked sous vide? When I was there a year ago, I was under the impression that the kid was cooked sous vide and finished for the surface maillard reaction. The dish was sublime.

If this were something in which the benefits were clear, I would agree. I still do not see any real benefit, however, and combined with the environmental concerns I believe this technology remains a net negative. I didn't question this previously, but where is the data cited on the rats taken from?