docsconz

Leaving aside whether it's an illusion (I do not think it is), that is more-or-less the standard not just at the Times, but at many major publications that review restaurants. There's probably just enough time for Bruni to review it, if he wants to. ← I used the term illusion because too many restaurants were aware when Bruni or other food critics are in the house so they generally don't dine anonymously anyway. That may not necessarily be the case for a blogger or the critic of a smaller publication. I'm not sure that it makes a huge difference anyway.

No need to worry about that now. Instead they should worry whether the next NYT food critic likes Italian as much as Bruni does.

Big news! I grew to admire Bruni as a writer if not so much as a food critic. This will be interesting. I do not know of an obvious choice, esp. as the Times appears to like the illusion of the food critic as anonymous diner. Too bad for Marea.

I think that is a bit more than a one-time attraction. We went last September after a gap of about 3 years and it had changed quite a bit in that time, albeit with a sequence of fairly small changes. Unless it changes more quickly in the future my guess is that a two year gap is probably the minimum for it to be worth going back. Right, like I wrote, "unless it changes - and changes with relative frequency - The Fat Duck tasting menu is pretty much a one-time attraction." ← With its size and reputation, that may not be much of an issue to them, even in the current world economy.

Steven, it is doable with a lot of steps, however, unless the process is easier, I think it unlikely that there will be widespread adoption of this code. The easiest thing for bloggers would be if there were widgets designed and available for the major hosts. If there were, I think that more widespread adoption would be more likely.

David, thank you for another typically excellent post and topic, ever thoughtful. This panel brought to gether chefs who are not only some of the best and most respected chefs in Las Vegas, but in the entire country. That they and others cook in Las Vegas with passion, quality, and, yes, "soul" can , at least in my mind, no longer be questioned. Their dedication to quality produce is second to none and their approach may infact be the only reasonable way to bring to quality ingredients to Las Vegas as farming quality produce on a scale large enough to feed the restaurants of the city would likely have a negative environmental impact just on water use issues alone (though it may be a better use of water than all the aesthetic irrigation in the city). However, what this discussion has illustrated for me is that while Las Vegas may not lack soul or passion in its cooking, it does lack a distinct personality in its cooking that only a truly local or regional imprint can give. That is not necessarily the worst thing, but I now believe that is at the heart of what has been bugging me for so long and what has driven much of our discussion. In any case, Las Vegas is what it is and while it may lack a distinct culinary personality of place, it still offers much truly great food and cooking. Viva Las Vegas!

This will work, however as we state in the instructions "If possible, to conserve our bandwidth, please copy and upload the badge to your own image-hosting service." I'll try to see if there are some general instructions written up for that anywhere, however because there are so many combinations of software and platforms out there, I'm not sure we can give universal directions. ← There may be many platforms but only a few major ones. Frankly, this will not be adopted by more than a few unless it is user friendly. It is decidedly not at this time.

Thanks! I got it to work on Typepad.

Your points are all valid, Sam. One thing that sets the Adrias apart is the time they have and take to devote to special projects. It is also not like they would personally be cooking the pizze. They will, however, employ people who can. It is not like them, however, to undertake something without an understanding of what goes into it and to have a direct hand in the recipes and how the techniques. You are so, correct, though that expectations will be high and possibly can not be met. It will be interesting. I still wouldn't bet against them.

How is one supposed to display the badge? I mean what is the best process for transferring the image to a blog and attaching a link to it? It is not as simple as cut and paste or dropping in a link.

Thinking about it further, Sam, if those people were to make serious efforts at the kinds of foods you mentioned, I wouldn't bet against them either. The reason that they are as successful as they are doing the complicated things they do is that they take the time to study, understand, involve the right people and generally do things right.

The difference is that the Adriás have successfully done traditional foods, albeit not yet pizza. Perhaps they can't or won't do it well or right. I wouldn't bet on that.

According to this article in the L.A. Times, Ferran and Albert Adriá are in Italy studying the art of pizza making with the thought of opening a pizzeria in Barcelona. Some Italians are proud, while others appear to be taking umbrage. Some fear that ferran will make a pizza "foam". Nonsense. What many people don't realize about the Adriás is the deep respect they have for traditional food. elBulli is elBulli, but not everything they do is elBulli. From the article: If this is true, who is to say that the Adriás were not born pizzaioli? I, for one, wouldn't doubt it.

The medical evidence tying sodium intake to high blood pressure is lacking for all but a specific subset of individuals who have a certain type of hypertension. These peopel, if they are receiving medical care tend to be placed on sodium restrictive diets and aware of things and places that are not necessarily in their best interest. I also see no harm in having information available for those who care to see it, but to mandate reductions of any ingredient across the board unless there is strong scientific evidence to do so is an affront. Education is good, but that should apply to those coming up with these mandates as well.

I think it supports both points as it acknowledges your point that a style of southwestern cooking was being done in Texas for a few years by a number of people before Miller opened the Coyote Cafe. It also gives an independent assessment to support my belief that it was Miller who put Southwestern Cuisine on the map for the majority of the country even if he was not necessarily the first to cook under a "southwestern" label. Interestingly, Miller came to his approach from Chez Panisse, where he was the chef after Jeremiah Tower. What Miller did was take the Chez Panisse approach and apply it to Southwestern, especially New Mexican ingredients. All three were/are great chefs who did great things with the foods of their regions and all three have been influential. It is my belief that Miller has had the greatest impact on a national level and as a result is most worthy of inclusion on this list. That should not and does not take anything away from the accomplishments of Pyle or Fearing. That being said, my most recent visit to The Coyote Cafe was nothing like it was back in the late 80's when I had a revelatory meal there (certainly one of the best in my life to that point).

← Here'san article that reinforces both our points:

You mean the chef who wrote a book on cooking sous vide, that modern, scientifically based cooking technique? ← Ha - all kidding aside, sous vide is 30+ years old at the very least, not sure it has anything to do with "molecular gastronomy". They do use a lot of meat glue in that book though, I will give you that. I was referring to this interview I'm just surprised that 9/10 of the top restaurants in the world (still need confirmation on that fact) are now "molecular gastronomy" joints. Seems a big deal to me. ← Thanks for following through on your statement. I'm not surprised about a statement like this coming from a Francophile chef, as they are, with a few exceptions, loathe to admit the usefulness of some of these techniques not developed by the French. I think the reason sous vide is so widely accepted by them is because it was developed by them. Using something like xantham gum is no different than using flour except that it allows the qualities of those pristine ingredients to shine through clearly - hardly a corruption. All cooking involves chemistry, which is why the term "molecular gastronomy" is in such disfavor by the very people who are supposed to be doing it. There is a reason why so many of the top-rated restaurants are of the same ilk. That is because when well used, these modern creative techniques are incredibly powerful tools and the best make incredible use of them. Like all such tools, however, they are only as good as the people using them and are subject to misuse and abuse.

That may be, but what kind of food were they doing then? Miller was doing his thing from the get go and was the one who brought attention to modern southwestern cooking. That was the era when every thing Santa Fe was hot the so-called "Santa Fe Style" in everything from food to decor. Certainly there is not room for all three on this list.

If you want to say Texas cuisine ok, but Mark Miller did all that with Southwestern cuisine well before either Pyles or Fearing. Miller's Coyote Cafe, though now a shade of its former self, absolutely belongs on that list. I'm not sure either Pyle or Fearing do (I have had all three).

Good point.

The Natura water system is great. It provides filtered and UV lighted water in both still and sparkling.

I have just posted a profile of the ultra-green Boston restaurant Taranta on my blog. What other restaurants are extremely eco-friendly and what are they doing?

That might make sense looking back from another dozen years or so, provided that Spanish cuisine takes of and becomes a significant player in the American restaurant scene and culinary zeitgeist. But, thus far, it hasn't. ← Sam, I agree with the first part of your statement, but are you so sure of the last part of your statement? I'm not. While Spanish cooking may not be the most popular cuisine in the US at the moment, its popularity, presence and quality have increased tremendously. All sorts of restaurants are now serving "tapas" based on a Spanish model. It seems to me that there may be more Spanish "Babbos" than Italian right now with Jaleo being the first of its kind. Whether emulation of a foreign cuisine is worthy of a list like this or not is yet another question.

Once again, I agree with Sam, re: minibar. I love minibar. It is one of my very favorite restaurants and is truly the closest thing to elBulli in America, but it is too small and not influential enough to justify a spot on this list. Jaleo may be worthy as it was one of the first and best to really popularize traditional Spanish cooking in the US.

While I agree that it would have been interesting to have Chefs from other cuisines on a panel, in this particular case, the theme was the "French Connection" and so it was specifically directed to French Cuisine. It was pretty apparent that these Chefs are defenders, arguably elitist, in their regard of French cuisine. Certainly the financial backing of the Casino Hotels is what brought these Chefs to Las Vegas. Their contracts apparently read like the contracts of some of the top Entertainers that appear in Las Vegas. Every detail is looked over, including transportation, accomodation, a montly fee and a percentage of the monthly revenue from the restaurant. ← Another point I wanted to add on the issue of competition among the French Chefs is that it is as much, if not more, a matter of competition between the hotel/casinos in Las Vegas as it is a competition between Chefs. Robuchon is at the MGM which is part of the MGM-Mirage family of properties. Ducasse is at Mandalay Bay, also a part of MGM-Mirage. Savoy is at Caesar's, part of the Harrah's corporation. And Boulud is at Wynn, part of the Wynn group of hotels. Aside from the financial backing that has brought these Chefs to Las Vegas and sustained them through these difficult times-they have brought a level of cuisine that otherwise may not have otherwise been accessible to so many people. ← Don't get me wrong, I am quite happy that they are there. Some of their restaurants are indeed exceptional and may even be worth the money they charge. I did find the lack of discussion of finance to be disingenuous, however, when they were discussing why they were in Las Vegas.