docsconz

Welcome to eGullet, Andre. Here is a link to a Wiki How-to article on tasting chocolate that is pretty much right on. The two most important elements when tasting chocolate as with most foods are the sensations of taste and texture. It is critical to let the chocolate melt in one's mouth in order to truly taste it, something I don't always have the patience to do. As with any quality element, the more one does it, the more one is able to distinguish nuances, though one should be able to determine that different products are in fact different even if unable to identify what is different or why it is different. This past summer at the NY Fancy Foods Show, I had the opportunity to taste a variety of different chocolates, particularly the line from Valrhona. Tasting the various chocolates of their "Grand Cru de Terroir" line was indeed instructive in noting differences between the various chocolates. I am not enough of an expert to distinguish whether the terroir of one place consistently shows through the Valrhona products and similar origin products from other producers, but the valrhona products are certainly distinguishable from each other. Examples from that line include the 66% "Alpaco" from Ecuador, 64% "Tainori" from the Dominican republic, 72% "Araguani" from venezuela and the classic 64% "Manjari" from Madagascar. Other companies like Michel Cluizel also market delicious single origin bars.

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately, according to Luisa's blog, it appeared in some markets as early as this past Saturday. WNET in NYC took place yesterday. Fortunately for me, it doesn't premiere on my local channel until the 12th. This episode is of extra interest to me as I am planning on traveling to India with the World Of Flavors program this spring.

Another possibility for fish may be due to the extremely limited shelf life of the fresh product. That would be particularly important in places that really value fresh fish as opposed to frozen, which may be one reason this phenomenon is not really observed in the US.

I think they can and do provide context to the degree that they make a diner feel special. Very, very few restaurants can do this consistently. elBulli is one of them.

The only time you should sear very cold meat is if you're doing a tataki-style dish (ie. raw meat seared on the outside, then sliced thin and served like sashimi or carpaccio). Otherwise if you want even cooking the meat should be as warm as possible before you sear/cook it. It's funny - he advocated soaking pulses and other dried items before cooking (to speed up the cooking process), but advocates using cold meat (slowing down the cooking process) - and every single chef who has ever been a grill cook knows that for best results you want to use meat that's been warming up next to the grill for at least half an hour... Anyone who's ever tried cooking a piece of meat from frozen knows that cold meats don't cook right. He did get the sous-vide part right - you cook the meat sous-vide first, and then sear it, precisely because you want your meat as warm as possible before it gets seared - putting it in a water bath is the same principle as letting it come to room temperature, just taken further along... I have Harold McGee's book, and while it's somewhat interesting, I never really read it. If you really want to improve your cooking, Hervé This' books are much more useful and interesting - his books that he co-authored with Pierre Gagnaire are also very good reads. Just my professional (chef) opinion... ← This has taken what McGee wrote out of context and did not finish the instruction: In regards to pasta, I was curious and wrote him to see if he had any more specific recommendations. This is what he replied:

As a number of these posts including my own demonstrate, context is so important in determining the impact of a particular meal. Of course. the best restaurants can create their own context.

I don't think this should be viewed as a competition, but rather a celebration of the marvelous meals we have had in restaurants with recognition of those restaurants, destination or neighborhood, that pleased us the most.

If I have a mediocre meal at a restaurant I expected to have a great meal at, I will and have posted about it. Pierre Gagnaire was an example for me in Paris, El Poblet in Spain. A mediocre meal at a restaurant that I did not expect great things from is hardly worth writing about though. On the other hand sometimes a mediocre meal at a restaurant with low expectations may also be worth noting.

I greatly appreciate all the sentiments offered here and via PM. They are truly moving and I am deeply honored by them. I must say, however, that I retired from being a host, which only means having given up administrative duties. I still plan on posting as I always have if perhaps not quite as prolifically.

As with most things I tend to be a moderate on this issue. While I am extremely skeptical of bloated health and nutritional claims for any food from either a neutraceutical approach or a holistic avenue, I do think both views have their merits. I agree with Pollan that the field of nutrition is incredibly complex and tends to be oversimplified. In addition, most of the "research" is carried out or supported by industry with clear bias. Seemingly weekly changes on whether specific nutritional elements are good or bad seems to support questioning this approach. Nevertheless, I am against burying our collective heads in the sand and foregoing promising areas of research simply because they are complex. FWIW, I will continue to eat what makes me comfortable and what I enjoy in moderation (increasingly so), while maintaining an interest with a healthy skepticism in the science of nutrition.

Ouch. Tough story. I once had a somewhat senile elderly relative take a leak just outside of a restaurant at which we had just finished eating. It was until that moment a restaurant that we frequented.

Great report, Ron. It looks to have been a wonderful meal, though not what I would have expected from Trio/Alinea alums. I suppose that you don't get Nantucket scallops much in the Heartland, but they are truly special.

You get around pretty well yourself! A few of those restaurants have been on past years lists for me, but I have not yet tried Arrows (that was on your list last year too), Cyrus or Annisa, though I came close to doing Cyrus in 2006 and would have had I more time then. Your top two remain my two favorite restaurants in NYC, though Fiamma and Tailor are now right up there for me too.

Lenski, have you reported on your meal at Mugaritz? That is one I must hear about! Nice list.

Thanks, Judith. To answer your question, because I went to Spain and Peru with food and dining in mind. Had I been to Italy his year, there probably would have been a few more Italian restaurants on the list. I love to travel and I love to eat. I do both as often as I can, but particularly love to combine the two. I guess that was more than 25 words

That is one of the best stories I have read in a long time, although I'm still not sure that the tooth was worse than what you were already eating!

Alinea is another one that has always been at the top of my list when I have been able to get there. My one visit to APDC was not so successful, though I would return.

While I think portion size may be one of the reasons many Americans look supersized, I think lifestyle is another. The US is a much more automobile-centric country so people live a much more sedentary lifestyle in the US outside of certain metropolitan areas. For example, I have a much easier time eating what I want and as much as I want and controlling blood sugars in such places as NYC, San Francisco, Paris or anyplace where I walk a lot to get around than I do when I am driving everywhere. That is ironic given that one reason I moved to the part of the country I did was to be outside and exercise more!

It's a fun series. I love the interplay amongst the various chefs and guests. My dream would be to be a guest on the show. I think it would be great fun.

Your list is more precise than mine as Binkley's is in Cave Creek and not Scottsdale as I wrote. Regardless, it is a superb restaurant with wonderful food and would be wherever it was located.

It is truly a wonderful thing when a meal resonates like that. Though I have not had the best meal of my life there, J-G is one of my very favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, I did not dine there in 2007 or it would likely have been on my list as well as it has in past years.

For me 2007 was an outstanding year with a number of extremely fine restaurant meals not cracking my top ten or even my top twenty. Indeed, 2007 will be a difficult year for me to beat as travels brought me to Spain, Peru, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix and of course NYC. I had some great meals cooked by professional chefs in private kitchens that would have been very high on this list, but did not include them since they were not in restaurants. Here are my top 20 restaurant meals from 2007. elBulli Cala Montjol, Catalunya, Spain 4-May Ca Sento Valencia, Spain 2-May L'Esguard Sant Andreu de Llavanares, Spain 29-Apr Blue Hill at Stone Barns Tarrytown, N.Y. 30-Mar WD-50 N.Y., N.Y. 17-Sep Fiamma N.Y., N.Y. 23-Nov WD-50 N.Y., N.Y. 5-Jan Huaca Pucllana Lima, Peru 24-Feb Lunch L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Las Vegas, Nevada 23-Mar Binkley's Scottsdale, Arizona 27-Mar Wing Lei Las Vegas, Nevada 25-Mar Levante Benisanó, Valencia, Spain 30-Apr Bodegas Casa Montaña Valencia, Spain 30-Apr Monastrell Alicante, Spain 2-May Tailor N.Y., N.Y. 24-Nov Coi San Francisco, CA. 16-Oct Canteen San Francisco, CA. 18-Oct Kokkari Estiatorio San Francisco, CA. 15-Oct The Dining Room at the RC San Francisco, CA. 17-Oct El Celler de Can Roca Girona, Spain 3-May Las Machitas Cevicheria 20-Feb Cusco, Peru

One restaurant that clearly needs to be on your list is Tailor. There is certainly a renewed interest in cocktails and cocktail creativity. It has also spread out around the country with recognition and homage being paid to some of the contemporary mixologists. Last night I had a Pegu Club cocktail at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs.

I agree, Marc. I also was less than thrilled with MSB when I went, but because of the continued raves of people whose opinions I value, I will likely return at some point even though I otherwise wouldn't based on my experience there. I also didn't think the food was bad. I just did not find it revelatory like so many here have and did not like the trappings that went along with it. Had the prices been in line with those trappings, I might have thought more highly of the place in terms of value, but they weren't. [Moderator note: The original Momofuku Ssam Bar topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the following part of this discussion is here: Momofuku Ssam Bar (2007– )]

Of note for followers of the Saratoga restaurant scene, Dan Spitz, formerly chef at Beekman Street Bistro, is currently working at Max's. He had been private cheffing in the time between Beekman Street and Max's. A planned trip to Italy to study further traditional Italian cooking did not pan out as originally hoped.