docsconz

Nice, JJ! Here's another good article on Chef Achatz and Alinea from Chicago magazine. I had another outstanding dinner there this past Saturday night. I will write it up when I get a chance.

First off, I agree with the posters who suggest that GE should be taking care of this problem. That being said, induction cooktops are actually quite competitive with gas and electric even without considering the savings via its improved energy efficiency and improved safety. They can also put out a lot of energy. While they may not be quiet as good as really high BTU gas burners (I'm not sure that they necessarily aren't - mine gets my pans quite hot and i am now able to do a number of things with high heat that I was previously unable to do with my electric Jenn-Air). they do a great job.

Get an induction cooktop - electric with the speed, heat and fine control of gas, while being more energy efficient to boot.

I recently bought an 8 inch non-stick omelet pan and love it.

High end cooking today from Ferran Adria to Eric Ziebold is basically a continuation of Nouvelle Cuisine, albeit with stylistic variations. Unless one prefers the heavy sauces of classic French cooking, one owes a great debt to those chefs who gave us Nouvelle Cuisine. This style is the basis for what some now call "Technoemotional" cooking, a term which encompasses much creative, modern, haute cuisine cooking. The term would only be used as an insult by someone who has no understanding of the history of modern cooking.

I had cocktails with friends this past Saturday night prior to dining at Alinea. The space is superb and the cocktails truly amazing. The attention to detail is extraordinary and really shows up in the quality of the outstanding cocktails. I can truly say that I have never had better or a better experience at a cocktail lounge. We sat at the bar with Michael. More details, including a few photos to come.

Mosaic is on-line!

The website is supposed to be out today, the birthday of Alinea. I saw Chef Achatz early this morning at Alinea. They have been working feverishly to get this going. I am happy to report that other than appearing to be (understandably) a little tired, Chef Achatz is looking quite well and his food and this project remain things to very much look forward to.

It has been a few years since I last ate at Moto. While that meal was enjoyable with one standout dish that I can still specifically recall (the fish cooked inside the box), overall, my feeling that while it was fun and good, the tricks were the star rather than the flavors and the food. Since that time, it seems to me that Moto has matured as a restaurant. Yes, the tricks are still there and I hope they always will be, however, they were employed with imagination and humor to achieve effects that elevated dishes beyond their usual spheres and into the world of haute cuisine, much like Wylie Dufresne does at WD-50 or Jose Andres and Katsuya Fukushima at minibar. The approaches, imagination and humor at each of these restaurants is of the same ilk, even if their individual styles differ. The technique now appears to be squarely at the service of the food rather than the reverse as each dish was imaginative, fun and most importantly, delicious. Details and photos (hopefully - it was dark) to come after I get home.

If anyone would know it would be the team from elBulli. Albert Raurich would likely be as expert as anyone on this. There are plenty of similarities between Spanish and Japanese cuisines, so much so that at the Spain and the World Table Conference in 2006, Japan was the only non-Spanish country represented to present on these very similarities.

A couple of years ago, who would have predicted that the opening of a classic French bistrot, even under the name of Ducasse, would have garnereed this much attention in this forum?

I'm not sure it does make sense, how can something taste more like itself than the real thing? Surely when we start talking about something having the "true essence of olive" it can only be "true" up to the point it tastes like the olive, after that it must become an artificial flavour that no longer tastes like an olive? ← A concentration of is probably a better way to explain it. ← I disagree. A concentration tastes particularly strong and overpowering. Adria's creations such as the olive, simply embody the ideal of the ingredient without being overpowering or off-putting.

Cacao Sampaka fits the bill. You can also get great hot chocolate at Escriba on Las Ramblas. Oriol Balaguer has great chocolate, though i don't know if he has hot chocolate.

Kiosk Universal in the Boqueria is a good place for good, simply prepared seafood at a relatively reasonable price. It is best for lunch, but be prepared to wait for seats at the counter.

By Jove, I think I'm getting the hang of this thing. I revisited roast chicken tonight with some modifications from my initial effort. What turned out was perhaps the most perfectly cooked roast chickens that I have ever made, falling short, perhaps, of a couple of Bresse chickens I once made in Paris. This time I took a chicken from the same local source as I did with my initial effort. I rubbed it with salt and a masala for chicken that i brought back from India. I programmed the CVAP to cook at 145º F for about an hour with a browning point of 8. After its hold cycle I kept it in the CVAP under the "sell" cycle at 150º F for about another 2 and a half hours before removing it to carve and serve. What came out was a perfectly juicy on the inside, crisp on the outside bird with joints that simply fell away. In addition, the masala provided nice flavor to the bird. I served it with cumin/yogurt mashed potatoes and Mark Bittman's pimentón microwaved cauliflower and a 1998 Kistler Hyde Vineyard chardonnay. This is why I purchased the machine! Compare to my first CVAP roast chicken.

This speaks to a conversation I ahd the other night with a friend about how PETA is promoting the possibility of in vitro meat production, which may actually be a reality not too far down the pike. While that might actually, if it ever becomes popular, allow for eating meat products without having to kill a living single animal, it would likely ultimately do so at the expense of any number of breeds and species, wiping them out should they no longer be economically viable..

Wylie Dufresne and Sam Mason are always in their kitchens cooking as is Fabio Trabocchi. While the 4 star chefs may be away frequently, those with fewer than 4 stars are generally in their kitchens unless they have tv shows. j-G is frequently in his kitchen as well. Samuelsson has too many kitchens now and like other chefs with a number of restaurants, J-G being an exception, probably doesn't focus enough on any one of them. I have never actually eaten at any of his restaurants, so have no opinion on his food. He is a likable guy though.

But would you return frequently at the normal (e.g. non-Sunday night special) price point, Doc? From what I gathered from your review, amuses were not good, bread service was meh, the sweetbread dish was too sweet and the pork belly was too sweet to your taste. Our meal, back in March, while okay, didn't entice me to want to return. We had lousy cocktails while waiting for our table, the room (as well as the crowd) was fairly boring, and it was pretty expensive. I suppose if I lived in the neighborhood the Sunday night special would work, but otherwise once was enough. ← I would return to try it during a regular night. Depending on the overall direction of that meal would determine whether I would return for that again. The Sunday Suppa was a very good value, with the skate (possibly the best skate dish I have ever had) worth the price of admission by itself. That dish was a demonstration of the chef's potential, even though my experience overall was uneven. For the $38 Sunday Suppa (sic), it was easy to tolerate.

I came down to the City yesterday to take care of some business today and staying in the UWS, my friend Joseph B and I decided to stay in the neighborhood and check out the Sunday Suppa at Dovetail for $38 each. We tried to get a reservation this past week for Sunday evening, but were unable to either on OT or by calling the restaurant directly. The restaurant did encourage us to try our luck by walking in, which we did. We were seated around 8PM in a busy (for a Sunday night) dining room. The room itself was decorated with a minimalist modern perspective, the colors being primarily earth tones. Lighting was too dark for me to bother with photos, a shame as the plates were all nicely presented. Tables were small and close together. As with ewindels, we were given the same amuse of vodka gelee, salmon roe, etc. While pretty, this was not a good introduction to the restaurant as it had an overwhelming fishy finish from the roe. The corn bread, billed as cheddar corn bread, was fine for what it was, though I could discern no cheddar flavor. The menu had a nice variety of choices with any one of them attractive enough to order on any given day. This day, however, as with many others, I was in the mood for sweetbreads, while Joe went for the pork belly. The sweetbreads, poached then sauteed, were well executed with a nice external crunch, but the dish was undermined by overly sweet accompaniment of fennel and citrus, though it read fennel and mustard on the menu. I couldn't discern any mustard, which was too bad as that might have cut the sweetness some. There was some acid to the dish, in a J-G sort of way, but it was totally insufficient to salvage this disappointment. Joe's pork belly, OTOH, was much better conceived, although it too was perhaps a little sweet for my taste, though not to the point of ruining the dish. I was beginning to think that this was just another overhyped restaurant... until redemption arrived with the next course, a perfectly executed panko encrusted skate over gigante beans, spinach and a garlic, ginger and cilantro fish broth. The textural contrasts between the crispy panko crust and the soft, hot interior worked beautifully, while the flavors stood in perfect balance. This was a dish that would have been worthy of J-G and good enough to make me want to return. Dessert was a lovely baked chocolate mousse with coffee mascarpone. Service was friendly, knowledgeable and reasonably efficient, though they twice forgot to bring more cornbread to the table. In short, the meal presented a good value with a flash of brilliance amongst some disappointments. If I lived in the UWS, I could see returning frequently to explore the various menu options.

I would give extremely strong first hand recommendations for Ca Sento in Valencia and Monastrell in Alicante for the kind of food that you seek and a strong second-hand recommendation for La Sirena in Petrer, which is essentially around the corner from Torreblanca's shop. ← hi do you know if sa cento has a web site i cant seem to find one cheers ← I don't believe that they do, but here is the page from the Campsa Guide.

While it certainly could be done in a pretentious manner, Alinea, like elBulli, manages to avoid that. There is simply too much humor and real creativity to be pretentious. It comes off not so much as a temple, but a magic show for the senses.

Thanks for the excellent report. It is good to hear that Canteen is still performing impossible things from that tiny kitchen. It may very well be the best of the bistronomic restaurants in the US right now. I agree, I would be there regularly if I lived in SF.

I know!! And, how is it that Extebarri makes it onto the Top 50 for the first time this year? ← Are you saying that it shouldn't be on there? I haven't been myself, so i can't say one way or the other, however, its reputation has grown dramatically over the past couple of years, so I'm not surprised that it is now on there. ← I think (s)he's saying is that it's nuts that this is the first year on the list. this place is certainly one of the finest dining destinations in europe today. ← By all accounts that I have read and heard, this is true. Etxebarri is one of a handful of restaurants at the top of my list of destination restaurants I desire to get to try along with Mugaritz, Noma and Ryugin (not on the list), however, the increased awareness of Etxebarri as a great restaurant is relatively recent with probably relatively few judges having been there themselves. If the reports I have read are true, the restaurant will no doubt continue to climb further on future lists.

Kai-m, the tour at Alinea does not necessarily provide more food or more food elements than other 3 star restaurants, though there is plenty of food. It is like elBulli in that by presenting each element separately, it allows one to focus on that particular element, heightening the experience, by reducing the clutter and the confusion. Some courses are little bites, while others are more substantial. No course is as large as an a la carte course at a traditional three star, but the accumulation works beautifully, especially over the time allotted. It also allows for more focused and better wine pairings.

I know!! And, how is it that Extebarri makes it onto the Top 50 for the first time this year? ← Are you saying that it shouldn't be on there? I haven't been myself, so i can't say one way or the other, however, its reputation has grown dramatically over the past couple of years, so I'm not surprised that it is now on there.