docsconz

Like his palate or hate it, one thing about Parker is that he is consistent. Brad, it sure sounds as if you could calibrate your palate against his. Don't ever buy his highly rated wines. I'm not sure that the converse is necessarily true, however. Nevertheless, his descriptions are generally accurate and they can be used to better effect to guide buying and drinking decisions than his numbers if your ultimate assessment disagrees with his. I agree that Parker has been both a blessing and a curse to the wine world. He has probably ratcheted up interest in wine (at least in North America) probably more than any other single person. The downside, as has been pointed out, is that everyone, it seems is trying to craft wines specifically to please his palate, adversely effecting diversity.

In fact they did offer coffee, which we declined. The blend is the chef's special blend. while I enjoy coffee, I drink it very rarely.

Now for a little more detail about our latest meal at Erlowest. The restaurant really is extraordinary. It is unique for the North Country where the best restaurants really are more bistro like rather than haute cuisine. Erlowest is haute cuisine using a plethora of luxe ingredients, cooking them very well and imaginatively and then presenting them beautifully. The restaurant is not without its flaws, although for the pricepoint and the overall product they are relatively minor. The service, still not quite up to the standards of the finest restaurants in NYC, is improving and is certainly better than acceptable. Last night we opted to order off the menu rather than the Grand tasting, although there were some delicious and unique items located there. After an amuse of some local tomatoes, pine nuts and herbs with balsamico, I ordered Spanish chipirones or baby squid that were labeled as piste'. These were served with roasted red and green peppers and parsley salad. The chipirones were very good, but could have been served a little hotter. They were reminiscent of dining on the Costa Brava. My wife ordered Perona Farms smoked salmon with trout caviar, garden cucumbers and Yukon Gold Blinis. This too was beautifully presented and had a nice balance of flavors. Our wine for the evening was a Condrieu that worked well with the various seafood dishes we had. My wife's main course was Fried Wolf Fish with tat-soi, Roasted parsnips and House -Made tartar Sauce. While the fish was of firm consistency with good flavor, it did not quite live up to its billing as the best fried fish I've ever had. That is not a major criticism, however, since I have been fortunate enough to have had some wonderful fried fish in my lifetime. This was quite good and sufficiently different in flavor and texture compared to other fried fish as to deserve its inclusion on the menu. The roasted parsnips and tat-soi were excellent. My main course, Butter braised maine Lobster with Chantarelles, Potato hash and Summer Truffle did not disappoint. Chef Secich does amazing things with lobster. Therer was jsut enough truffle flavor in this dish to be beguiling without hijacking the rest of the dish. Outstanding. A pre-dessert of crab-apple with chevre and aged balsamic vinegar was just the tonic before the main dessert. I had a trio of herb creme brulees, mint, sage and thyme that were outstanding in the texture and expecially purity of flavor. They each held the essence of the herbs without being overwhelming.. My wife had fresh local raspberries with champagne zabaglione , which she enjoyed very much. The petits fours were particularly interesting and exemplify what I said in an earlier post about a place being charmed when even the mistakes work out well. In this case we received two dark chocolate truffles with cacao. I selected mine and my wife selected hers. Mine waas full of bitter chocolate flavor. I mentioned to my wife that it was particularly lacking in sugar, but this wasn't a bad thing. She said hers was somewhat sweet, though not overly slow. it clearly possessed sugar. I asked the waiter if they were supposed to be different. he checked in the kitchen and said no. I then asked him if we could sample some more. he brought another serving and my wife and I each split one. They were clearly different with one being significantly sweeter than the other. It was actually quite an interesting contrast. They were both very good, but different. I asked the pastry chef about them. She said they werre supposed to be the same. I suspect that someone failed to addd sugar to a batch or didn't add the full amount. Nevertheless, they were both excellent. I particularly like the fact that Chef Secich has discovered the wonderful local ingredients available at the local Farmer's markets. I just hope that he doesn't keep all the great produce for his restaurant. He informed me of some big plans in the coming months for specific events including some very interesting benefit dinners. I will relate more as the news becomes more solidified.

Rogelio, Thank you for this fine report. I am taking notes for my upcoming trip to Portugal. Where is Solar do viho do Porto?

How does one use this? Does a little go a long way?

How would you use the fennel pollen?

Just returned from another visit to Erlowest. In brief, I am happy to say that my opinion remains as positive as it was after my last visit. A place is truly special when even the "mistakes" come out good. I'll provide more detail shortly.

Sounds like good work if you can get it.

No, I was there independently last November. I only learned of his cooking school while there. The owner of Seliano, Contessa Cecilia Baratta, is a real gem of a person. her family and staff are gems as well. It is a lovely place with an exceptional warmth to it. I'm sure his being associated with it is no accident.

Excelente!

I wonder how many, if any, of those restaurants would have three stars in today's New York even if they performed at their height? I think restaurant culture has come a long way since then. I wonder how many would generate even one or two stars?

Seliano is a wonderful place if anyone should be interested in his cooking classes or even if not.

The article says he will be running his cooking school in Italy. I know in the past he has done it at Agriturismo Seliano in Paestum, but I don't know if he does it there exclusively.

I don't know if this is an effective treatment, but so what!. it sounds good in its own right.

Maybe those people get what they deserve if they only care about the number of stars. They are the same people who will only drink and enjoy a wine if Robert Parker or the Wine Spectator or someone else told them they should because it had a particular number associated with it.

it seems to me that Cuozzo is giving Per Se three stars because he is comparing it to what he feels Per Se ought to be as Thomas Keller's NY Restaurant rather than comparing to what other restaurants are and especially what other three and four star restaurants are. I am not familiar with Cuozzo's ouvre as I don't generally look to th NY Post for dining recs, so I can't really address how consistent he is with how he awards stars. His biggest complaint, about the ambiance and decor, was opposite to my own reaction. i thought the space was understated elegance with plenty of space to revel in our privacy. Whether or not Keller is there is irrelevant so long as the experience is exceptional. Mine was.

For a bacon cheeseburger, I'll stay in the U.S. I would be curious, though to try Adria's take on the burger, simply because it is Adria's. Of course, that doesn't mean that it is inherently a better burger than Alfredo's. Is Alfredo's bacon cheeseburger special or is it just better than Adria's?

We used to go to an Italian restaurant called "Teddy's" in lower Manhatten. I remember having some escellent meals there. That was when veal "francese" or veal "piccata" were big. Brooklyn was probably a better bet for excellent Italian food in the '60's and '70's than Manhatten in general. There were some awesome places such as "Two Toms" that had the best pork chops ever and Casa Storta and Brioni's and Monte's on Carroll St. with the best Linguine with Clam Sauce.

Most Of These And I did a search too!

Watching the Olympics on NBC, McDonalds has aired a series of ads for their "new" chicken product that are unbelievably bad even by their standards. They show individual people "defending" their meals against non-existant adversaries. I believe these ads appear to make fun of people with significant mental health problems and are in extremely poor taste. I offer no comment as to the actual taste of the product. What food related ads do you find to have particularly bad taste?

Sheldon Farmstand on Rte 22 in shushan is a great source for wonderful fresh produce (their corn is the best I've had), but especially for regional cheeses (try the Kurni from Nettle Meadow) and locally baked French breads.

I thought I heard that it was closed or closing. Maybe I'm confusing it with another of the Grand Dames.

Lo and behold! Peter Luger as a four star restaurant! My, how times have changed. Other than Peter Luger's are any of the other restaurants still open as they were then? I know Shun Lee still has restaurants, but do they have the same restaurant in the same location? I'm familiar with Shun Lee Palace, but not Shun Lee Dynasty.

Even traditional arancine are fusion food- just that it was fused a long time ago.

I'd rather go to a restaurant with poor service and lousy decor, but great food than a restaurant with great service, beautiful decor and lousy food. My order of importance: Food, Service, Decor. Of course it is nice to have all three. Thanks for the report.