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Lest one think that that was all there was to this meal... Crepes - pistachio, raspberry, caramel. Vanilla zabaglione with black pepper madeleines, ruby grapefruit, blueberries, and blueberry coulis. Chocolate - croquette, brownie, mousse with orange, hazelnut hot chocolate. The desserts were delicious and a fitting almost end to this wonderful meal. The grapefruit in particular provided great balance to the sweet zabaglione. The hot chocolate was decadent and one of the very best I have ever had. Chocolate caramels, raspberry pate de fuille, and sugar cookies. This was the end of an amazing evening of dining with great friends. One can not ask for more than spending an evening like this with great food and great friends in a lovely setting.

Veal2 - Tenderloin, shortribs, fiddlehead ferns, oven-dried tomatoes, baby turnips, sunchoke Interesting, perfectly prepared and delicious. Cheese, pecan butter, crimson gold apples, orange marmalade, toasted baguette The specific cheeses in this vast array elude my memory, but this was one of the better combination cheese courses i have had. I could have made fine meal on this alone. Wild rice crispy treat. This little morsel of wild rice and first of the pre-desserts was wildly good, a clever alternative to the family staple. Blood orange creamsicle with black currant whipped cream. This was another clever and delicious variation of an American classic treat. next...

Depending on your location, there may not be anything better around. Witness my hometown (backwoods of western north carolina) No red lobster (yet) but just about the best food the county proper has to offer is a Chili's and a Barley's. Local acts are for the most part inconsistent or mundane at best. an RL would be an improvement (and probably isn't there because of the arcane liquor laws the county sticks to despite the people who leave in droves for entertainment elsewhere, but i suppose that's another rant) ← Very sad, indeed. What tends to make these places popular is their consistent mediocrity. People generally prefer the devil they know than those they don't. If they are the best restaurants in an area, that speaks really poorly about those areas.

Charlie, I am sorry to say that I don't have an opinion as I haven't been there, although I do like the concept. The best seafood meal that I have had in recent memory was at Ca Sento in Valencia this past May. Though it wasn't purely seafood, that was the bulk of the meal. Perhaps I have missed it, but I don't recall seeing a report on Passadis on this Forum. Perhaps you could provide us with some necessary research? Take one for the team so to say.

If you do make it to Abac, be sure to have their roast suckling pig - it is as good as I've had anywhere.

That review gets what makes the restaurant unique for the area. It is not a great restaurant for a number of reasons, but it is very good and fills a niche in the area previously unfilled. It is on my Saratoga go-to list.

For some of the less exotic stuff (for Barcelona) Kiosk Universal in the Boqueria does a good job at a very reasonable price. Perhaps it is not quite as wonderful as Rias, but still blows the doors off of any seafood one can find in the US. Wherever you go, the langoustines and local red shrimp should be wonderful. I also particularly enjoy eating razor clams and grilled fresh sardines when I am in Spain. If you have a chance to try percebes or esperdenyas, do. I haven't been to Rias, but it will be high on my list to go to next time I am in Barcelona. Remember that top quality seafood is expensive - perhaps more than any other class of food. You won't find better anywhere than what is available in Spain. The usual is outstanding and the best, sublime.

Looks like you have done your research. Those are all good choices. Welcome to the eGullet Society!

It was the reference to portion size in that review that I was responding to. The portions are not tiny even if they are not gargantuan. I would prefer quality over quantity anyday. This is the closest thing to Mexican food that one might enjoy in Mexico that I have ever seen in the Capitol District. Even the tortillas and tortilla chips are hand-made and fresh.

Had lunch today at Cantina, a new Mexican restaurant occupying the old Professor Moriarty's space on Broadway.This is not your Chi-Chi's style Mexican with enchiladas smothered in salsa and melted jack cheese with portions to feed an army of gluttons. This aspires to be more of a Bayless type Mexican restaurant using true Mexican ingredients such as huitlacoche and epazote, while sourcing most of the rest of their ingredients from quality local farms. I had a quesadilla with cojita cheese and huitlacoche. Though a tad salty, it was quite flavorful. I followed with a carnitas burrito that had good flavor. It was served with rice and refried beans and topped with creme fraiche, pico de gallo and guacamole -very good. The restaurant has been criticized for serving "small portions." The portions, though not gargantuan were sufficient for me to take home a doggy bag. The price was also quite reasonable for Saratoga in January let alone August. I will be back.

Most of their cheeses are very good. The goat and regular cow's milk cheeses are not as good as most of their European counterparts. The Lincoln Log is very good, but drier and not quite as flavorful as a good Boucheron. The Fior di Latte and Buratta though are truly excellent.

Have you had Zingerman's burrata? It is as good as any I've had in or from Italy. I stand by my statement.

They certainly aren't hard cheeses even if they are not quite as soft as gorgonzola.

Actually, Steven, you can just walk into those stores and others and buy many of the cheeses I mentioned. As for the revolution in cheese making occurring up here in northeastern NY and Vermont, I do not believe that it is an exaggeration. In the past two years or so there is a burgeoning supply of truly high quality cheese from a number of cheesemakers. The number of these cheesemakers has easily doubled or tripled in that time as has the number of quality soft cheeses available. This has always been a quality dairy area, but now more and more of the production is heading towards artisanal production by committed artisans. I used to love 3 Corner Field Farm solely for their lamb, because that was the one product that they sold. They are now heavily into making cheese with their bounty of sheep's milk that are world class in quality. You can buy 3 Corner Field Farm cheeses at the Union Square market on Saturdays. Though not specifically cheese, Fage Total Yogurt's production for the American market will be made in this part of New York starting this winter. The explanation given for why here, was because the conditions and milk quality are most like that of northern Greece where the stuff is currently produced. It is not like I haven't enjoyed great cheeses in Europe, but the great cheeses there are not necessarily easy to find on an individual basis either. The best cheeses are often small production cheeses found only in specialty stores or at the farms themselves. Where Europe still excels over what is happening here is the diversity of high quality cheeses available. I agree that the US is not in Europe's league just yet, though the gap is closing more quickly than one might think, largely because our cheese making tradition is gaining traction and theirs is beginning to get fouled up by EU regulations.

Over the past month I have enjoyed a wide variety of soft cheeses from around the US that disprove the thesis of this topic. At the Fancy Foods Show in NYC I sampled a number of delicious soft cheeses including the simply superb, soon-to-be-commercially-released Truffle Tremor from Cypress Grove, world-lass bleus from Oregon's Rogue Creamery, Hoja Santa Goat Cheese and Queso Fresco with Epazote and Chiles from The Mozzarella Company in Texas and great aged goat cheeses from the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company. In the middle of the month, I traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I sampled a number of house made cheeses at Zingerman's Creamery. Their house made burrata was sensational, while their soft goat's and cow's milk cheeses were also excellent. This past weekend, I attended The Salem Courthouse Al Fresco Dinner, which featured foods local to Washington County, N.Y. During that dinner, a visit to the Sheldon Farms Farmstand and nearby farm tours the following day, it was quite evident that there is a huge revolution in quality cheese-making going on locally, examples of which include the exquisite sheep's milk cheeses of 3 Corner Field Farm, especially their Shushan Snow as wells as great goat's milk cheeses from the likes of Sweet Spring Farms, mixed milk cheeses like the camembert like Kunik from Nettle Meadow and wonderful cow's milk ricottas from Dancing Ewe Farms and Bennington, VT.'s Maplebrook Farm. The picture for soft cheeses in the US is only getting brighter despite the limitations on raw milk use. Many of the best cheese makers are using meticulous technique and the lowest possible pasteurization temperatures permitted.

From The San Francisco Chronicle: The trend towards the corporaitization of Napa continues. Also changing hands this week in Napa were William Hill Estate and the brand Canyon Road, both bought by E&J Gallo.

Red Wine Poached Halibut, creamed spinach, saffron cipollini onions, golden raisins, walnuts, beurre rouge Flavorful and nutritious! Monkfish, fingerling potatoes, early morel mushrooms, sweet peppers, blue lake beans This dish was relatively simple, yet still delicious. We were a group of 10 people including three children, who were given a private room. Along with this parade of fine food we also enjoyed some nice wines, unfortunately I didn't write them down and the specifics escape my memory as I was concentrating primarily on the food and the conviviality of the group. The children did a fine job of trying the various dishes and enjoyed the food and the meal other than having to put up with the adults for as long as they did. Regardless, they were troopers! Porcini Soup, curry oil powder, spring onion, porcini mushrooms This deeply satisfying soup may have been my favorite dish of all in this spectacular meal.

I guess that it is not for nothing that Spain is one of the biggest seafood eating countries in the world.

Alas, no. It has taken us a little while to co-ordinate our reporting. I am sure that you will once again enjoy your meal there. Hearts of Palm, prosciutto, English peas, grape tomatoes, basil, roasted radicchio, pecorino romano, balsamic glaze A complex dish, the flavors harmonized well with another veer towards a sweeter side of the palate in the guise of a savory course. Of course the sweetness was due to the excellence of the ingredients - especially the succulent peas. Slow Roasted baby Beets, beet and rutabaga tortelloni, watercress, asparagus, charred sweet onion, extra virgin olive oil powder Another complex dish that works well and incorporates a number of modern techniques to fine effect. Foie gras dippin' dots with vanilla-banyuls vinegar syrup. Similar to Wylie Dufresne's foie gras dots that I had had shortly before this dish though with a very different presentation - clever and delicious. Soppresatta and date relish with a sunchoke chip. Small, but a nice interlude amongst the dazzling array of courses. White peach ice. This was a nice palate cleanser.

Confit sweet potato with crystallized ginger, bacon, and maple syrup froth. Like his former co-worker at The French laundry, Grant Achatz, Chef Binkley took a twist towards the sweet within the savory portion of the meal with this course. Nice job. Grape consomme lava lamp - grape consomme with passion fruit, watercress, and burgundy caviar, prosciutto powder on the rim, and ruby grape. Clever and delicious, the whimsy in this course rested with the blinking lava lamp light. Pommes souffles with sauce vert, tonka bean bbq sauce, spicy catsup, and honey mustard. Absolutely greaseless and perfectly crisp, these pommes were simply superb.

Should be interesting indeed! Though undoubtedly a blow for elBulli, I have no doubt that he will be highly successful. Yet another reason to return to Barcelona - as if I needed one!

Reminds me of the ham served at Rafa's. How prevalent are true marisquerías in Madrid?

I have heard a lot about Binkley's over time from my friend, molto e, and I am quite happy to say that it was every bit as wonderful as he had told me. The menu posted above only addresses the main part of the meal. It was preceded by a number of little bites - a big number of little bites! Curried Pear Soup I love curries and this one didn't disappoint with its creamy marriage with pear. Citrus cream cheese with grated flash frozen salmon Decadent play on breakfast only lacking the bagel and coffee! Mozzarella, almond, golden raisin, and caper salad This dish showcased many of the modern techniques in Chef Binkley's arsenal including his use of liquid nitrogen. Carbonated blue cheese foam with candied pecan, endive, and port reduction More modern techniques for a subtly flavored delight. Swedish meatball with sour huckleberry jam A nice take on a classic. ...more to come...

Much of art criticism is dependent on a knowledge and familiarity with art history. The context of a piece of art within history is important to provide a sense of value and perspective. What made Duchamp's R.Mutt important was not its sheer physical beauty, but the context in which it was presented. What made throwing paint onto canvas art rather than something anyone can do was the time, place and context within which it was done by Jackson Pollock. Ironically one of the very things that makes Adria's work art is its context within the history of gastronomy, a context and history all but unknown to most art critics. I suspect that is at least one reason for the lack of voices from within the art world on the subject of Adria as art.

Thanks, Rogelio. The food looks great with beautiful presentations. What else was in the wine dim sum besides wine?