docsconz

Or simply add croutons.

My son recently had his 15th birthday. To celebrate my family had a private cooking class at The Inn at Erlowest. Chef Matt Secich led my family consisting of my wife, myself, our three boys (15,13 and 5) and a friend through making fresh wild mushroom ravioli with a wild mushroom cream sauce, rack of lamb, pommes puree and haricots vert. The three boys actually made the mushrooms and the pommes puree under his expert guidance. Even the five year old participated in a meaningful way. Everybody had a great time and yeah the food wa pretty good too!

I can see that you ate very well in 2004 too. Nothing else in SW France worthy of note?

It would strike me that by the definitions mentioned above that Robert Parker, an EC person has more of a WC palate. This may be wrong, but it also strikes me that RP gets more criticism from the EC than from the WC as regards his palate.

Planeta makes very good wines, but I've always shied away from them because their better known wines tend to be varietals from other areas and relatively speaking they are more expensive than other Sicilian wines of similar quality, but lesser reputation. Perhaps I should give La Segreta Rosso another chance?

It is also true that unless one is living under an autocratic regime that people will continue to spend "scandalous" amounts of money on luxuries when they can.

I am no more keen on overspending than the next guy, but I don't mind spending for something that I consider worth it. I found Per Se "worth it", not so for Ducasse. Ducasse was still overall a superb meal, but I wouldn't spend the amount of money there that I did spend again. As far as having a meal at Masa vs. donating to relief efforts. These are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Whether someone who dines at Masa also is philanthropic is probably not subject to generalization, although I suspect most are.

It has been a little while since I've had it, Owen, so I'm not sure. I bought it in Montreal at the former Chaput. Age alone does not make a great cheese. I can keep many a good cheese for a little while before it becomes a terrible cheese. Some cheeses do age better than others and only do so if aged properly.

Whether or not one agrees with the review and its conclusions is one thing, but how can it not be appropriate for him to review it or give it four stars if that is his conclusion? Should the price exclude it from 4-star consideration? At that price it better be 4-stars!

No, the same way that one doesn't have to be Italian to make a great pizza (e.g. Franny's) or French to make great bread. It is all about the ingredients and the technique.

The oldest cheese that I have eaten (that I know of) is 10y/o cheddar from Ontario. It is sublime. What makes it so? I have no idea.

Sounds like some fine dining, indeed! Welcome to eGullet, treve! Any particular favorite dishes from the above restaurants?

Any place where I thought I might have eaten contaminated food wouldn't be high on my list. But that is my personal point of view. Normally, I wouldn't either, but this meal was sooo good and since there was no clear source I still give it the benefit of the doubt. To do otherwise would almost be tragic. Your key statement, "before Spain was a place to go for food" says it all. I, too have stayed in Paradores before the Spanish food revolution. While they are often beautiful buildings in cool locations the culinary aspects do leave something to be desired. Since Spain is now a culinary destination and that is one of my principle interests in traveling there, I try to find a middle ground - a nice place to stay with which I can still dine at the restaurants of my choice. I love Toronto as well, but not only is Montreal significantly more convenient for me (2 hours by car), the language makes me feel like I'm on another continent.

No fair! These aren't restaurant meals If I would have included home-made meals (especially those with eGullet friends), I'd still be composing my list

Too bad they had eGullet.com rather than eGullet.org. Nevertheless, a nice mention. Good plug for the book too.

Daniel has been around for about ten years or so. How long have Blue Hill and Lupa been around?

I'm sorry...but I have to disagree with you on this one. Our last trip there was one of those full blown nightmares that you can only laugh about. And one thing is certain: the waiters should not assume that they are the only ones who speak Italian. Good lord! Details can be provided if you're interested. But Balthazar and Chez Jacqueline are good examples of tried and true, in my very humble opinion. ← I'm sorry to hear that. I can only hope that your experience was an aberration. I based my mention on my impression that it continues to be well talked about by most people I know who are familiar with it and it apparently continues to be a difficult reservation. Of course, if it is that difficult a reservation, many of those who continue to hold it in high regard such as myself may not have been there in awhile either.

Although it has been some time since I've dined there, Il Mulino still seems to be going strong.

I will admit that the ranking is a bit but not totally arbitrary and reflects my memories and sensibilities at this time. Each of the meals I listed above were special to me in their own ways.

It is interesting that onions figure so prominentlay here. Besides the glorious Vidalia, let us not forget the equally glorious Walla-Walla from Washington.

Firefly is one of the restaurants in DC I hope to get to if I get down there. Others I would like to try include Citronelle and any of the Andres restaurants. ray's the Steaks could be interesting too. I'm not too familiar with Maestro or Yanyu, but you have piqued my interest there as well.

Has anyone been to the Four Seasons recently? It has been awhile for me, although I have enjoyed it when I have eaten there. Aside from the food, it is an amazing room(s).

I'm hoping to make a visit to Chicago when Alinea opens . I would like to visit Alinea and Moto. I didn't include them earlier for an anticipated 2005 list because as of yet I have no specific plans.

Wendy, You eat pretty well too. I'm surprised you didn't put down any local faves. Seattle has some seriously good eating.

I can't be sure why we got sick, although it would appear that some of us might have eaten something contaminated. Perhaps we had a pice of cheese rind that we shouldn't have? I don't really know. Despite that, I still consider it perhaps the meal of my life so far, in a virtual heat with Arzak. For 2005, the meal I am looking forward to with greatest anticipation is El Bulli. I might try to build up some other great meals around it, but logistics and budget may interfere. My other big trip will be to South Africa. That should be interesting culinarily. I may also visit Washington D.C., a place with a host of restaurants for which eGullet has piqued my interest. It has been too long since I have been back to nearby Montreal and I expect to frequent NYC revisiting some favorites as well as trying some new ones. I would love to get out west and to the Far East, though not this year (although I am sending my eldest son to China)