docsconz

Sounds like a great anniversary weekend. I actually liked Aqua in Las Vegas better than S.F. Any photos from Chez Panisse or Aqua?

I can't totally confirm this, but I just tried calling them and got a generic computer generated message that did not mention the restaurant - not a good sign. Paradiso is a restaurant that should have been better than it was. They had some superb dishes with a good location. Major downers were the prices - expensive and a terrible wine list.

Wonderful news!

That would be about right. I didn't actually see the pans since they came out on a big tray.

No doubt they are best still warm and truly sublime, but they were still better than most of the competition one night and transatlantic journey later.

Chameleon is a fun place with good food. despite the fact that the chef came from Chez Sophie, it not in that league (nor Springwater) but then the prices aren't either. The last time I was at Chez Sophie (last week) the food was as wonderful as ever, but I was impressed as to the level of the prices. IMO it is still eminently more than worth it, but it is not inexpensive.

Please keep this coming. It is amazing. I can't wait until I have the opportunity to try some or all of these dishes and others. The sheer creativity is phenomenal. The writing, too, is a pleasure to read. As far as the dried creme brulee, are you going to discard the idea because someone else came up with a similar product presumably through a different process? That is the impression I got and I hope it ain't so as yours looked marvellous.

To me Chez Sophie and Springwater Bistro are the two best restaurants is Saratoga. Chez Sophie serves consistently excellent bistro fare. It emphasizes quality ingredients, the provenance of which is important. They do local as much as they can. If Slow Food gave awards in this region, it would definately have a snail of approval. Springwater is excellent as well, particularly with some more exotic fish dishes. Local provenance is important to them as well, but probably a little less so than Chez Sophie. Another restaurant I have heard good things about, but haven't been to myself is Dine. If you care for haute cuisine and wish to go a little further afield (about a 30 minute drive from Saratoga), you may wish to try The Inn at Erlowest on rte 9 in Lake George. Chef Matt Secich is making creative, world class cuisine with top-quality ingredients. It is a top-notch NYC meal at a fraction of the price. While he goes far afield for the ingredients he covets, he also values local provenance highly. For a more casual meal in a fun setting, you might consider The Chameleon on the Lake on Saratoga Lake. The owner, Richard Rodriguez is a former partner in Springwater Bistro.

I haven't received any reply at all yet. I sent my email on the 8th. I hope that it has been received. Miguel when did you send yours?

Thanks!

David, If there was any confusion it was mine. I was just emphasizing the point that the shrimp were fresh.

We had anumber of examples of the luscious pasteis de nata while in Lisbon, but none were as good or better than those from pasteis de Belem Here they are going fast The are stacked two together. I apologize that I didn't get any good pictures of an individual pasteis. It is a popular place. here is a film crew at the Pasteis de Belem: We actually visited there twice, the second time the evening before our trip home. It actually followed our meal at Ramiro. These were so good that we brought a carton home for our boys.

How did I miss this earlier? This looked like an absolutely delightful and delicious meal and with such company! Yet another reason to visit Madrid. The egg with the mushroom mousse and truffles looks incredibly tasty not to mention the foie gras. The other dishes weren' too shabby looking either. Mole? Is that typical?

I'm looking forward to it. I am very impresseed by his cuisine.

Did anyone think of sending the dish back or asking about it? One certainly shouldn't have to at a restaurant like Per Se, but I suppose even they are capable of mistakes. at the very least they might want to know that a particular dish isn't particularly appreciated.

Ok, I can see that in the first two platings, but not in the final plating with the disc shaped bread. That appears to be resting flat on the bottom of the plate, although I suppose it isn't. It is an intriguing dish. Personally, the stems are my favorite part of the broccoli.

Fabulous report about an extremely exciting project. ChefG, I have a question about the sous vide cooking of the broccoli. It appears in the photo as if you are cooking it in water on top of a range. How do you control the temperature to a constant 170F or do you? Another question - I do not see the broccoli stems in the final platings. Are they there? Thank you for the insights.

David, You will have a wonderful time there! The markets are incredible. I will be posting some photos of the three markets I visited when I can get around to it.

I have no doubt that the shrimp were fresh and not frozen. There is simply too much awesome fresh seafood around there to think otherwise. Whether or not they were alive until the dish preparation is another question altogether. I tend to doubt it.

Thanks, Tana. This photo was actually taken through a colored plexiglass wall so the color is not so much due to the low ambient light (although that is a factor) as the color of the glass.

I have a feeling that there is going to be a lull in the action on the eGullet Boards once this book comes out until his Q&A.

It seems as if everyone thought the calamari pizza too bland. Did anyone add salt to it? Was that an option? If so, did it make a difference?

Not that I can recall, David. My memory is that the olive oil and shrimp were the most assertive components along with a bit of tomato. I wish Simon was around. I'm sure that he could answer this.

Nice pics and descriptions. I wish I coulda been there!

Nathan and David, thank you for well-thought and written replies. This is a truly fascinating technique. I can say that I have eaten truly stunning products of it, yet concerns remain. I will add that I am not so much of a conservative here that I will not eat more of it in the future. I most certainly will do so despite the risks that there may or may not be with the technique. I will, however, continue to play devil's advocate here. The overall experience of twenty years may be sufficient to conclude that when done properly this technique is not a big short term risk, but it says nothing about long-term risks. This will probably be difficult to impossible to assess. One thing that is different about sous vide from more traditional techniques is the ambient temperature of the cooking medium. My understanding is that if cooking to a temperature of 115F with sous vide the cooking medium (water or steam) is kept at 115F. The temperature for conventional cooking is always over the danger zone. With the exception of previously processed foods like hamburger, most potential contamination is on the exterior of the meat and therefore subject to much higher temperatures, thereby significantly reducing the potential for contamination. With processed foods like hamburger this is obviously not the case thus the recommendations for more thorough cooking. This is true, but at even lower temperatures than with sous vide. I would agree that this appears to be true at least with processed foods. It also doesn't matter how food is cooked if it is contaminated after cooking. I very much hope that the technique is safe and is used wisely and appropriately with good technique since the results are so wonderful. I would very much hate to see the more puritanical components of the US Food Safety hierarchy come down on this like they have on raw milk cheeses. Personally I believe that everything has risk and that some risks are more worth taking than others. I still like Vioxx and Bextra for example