cabrales

I received a postcard announcing 2003 Sakagura's Sake Tasting Event on February 1 (Saturday), 7-10 pm, for $24. The Japanese name is "Kikisake Kai-Setsubun", with the last term denoting a "curious Japanese festival based on the old Chinese lunar calendar". The event is described as featuring 60 different kinds of Junmai (pure rice) sake, with "complimentary traditional Setsuban dish[es]." The reservations number is 212-953-7253.

Below is link to Tojo's website: http://www.tojos.com/menu/tojosmenu.pdf

Have members visited restaurants located at the Mohegan Sun casino facility -- particularly T English's and M Jordan's restaurants? Does any restaurant at the casino offer relatively "serious" food? Michael Jordans Steakhouse http://www.michaeljordanssteakhouse.com/ http://www.mohegansun.com/dining/gourmet_dining.jsp

John Mariani's newsletter notes the following: "On Jan. 27 San Fran clefs Traci Des Jardins and Thom Fox will co-host the 'Taste the Difference' dinner at Acme Chophouse to benefit the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. A panel led by San Francisco Chronicle food writer Kim Severson will offer rural and urban perspectives on sustainable eating in the winter. Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm will speak about winter farming. Dinner and discussion, including wine, gratuity, tax, and a donation to CAFF is $75 pp. Call: 415-644-0240; www.acmechophouse.com ."

Tony -- The best restaurants in London are French or French-styled. There's no question in my mind that the two- and three-starred restaurants in London constitute the best restaurants in London, regardless of cuisine. It might be more at the one-starred level (i.e., not the best restaurants in London, but good ones) where there might be an argument for inclusion of more Chinese restaurants, no?

Anthony was written up in the December 2002 edition of Food & Wine as well, in an article entitled "Cave Man". Excerpts follow: "In cheese-obsessed France, the role of the affineur, or cheese ager, is as essential as that of the cheesemaker. 'To put it at its most basic, the cheesemaker maeks the cheese, while the affineur gives it taste,' says Bernard Anthony, the cherubic affineur for such Michelin three-star chefs as Alain Passard, Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Senderens and Alain Ducasse." Anthony also supplies J-G Klein at L'Arnsbourg. Anthony's disciple Pascal Vittu is also pictured in the article.

Tony -- I was trying to articulate that a reviewer *need* not state her preferences, even though she may *choose* to do so. In the case of Michelin, it's a France-based company and has been around for a long time. If a new reader looks at the UK guide and is interested in Chinese food and sees not too many starred facilities offering such food, she would presumably look elsewhere. If she were looking for Chinese food in the first place, she would not be dissuaded from pursuing that food. I personally don't believe Hakasan deserves a star, although that is also the case for certain other one-starred restaurants. It has good dim sum, based on one visit I made, but it is not the type of one-star that Petrus or Putney Bridge is (and that's not just because the latter two restaurants are French-styled).

Are members aware of any public transportation or private bus companies linking San Sebastian and Bilboa? LML -- As you know, I am new to the dining landscape in Spain. Is there anything I indicated above with which you disagree?

Tony -- Restaurant reviewers generally do not have to explicitly state their preferences. Even reviewers that conduct a large number of assessments do not have to document explicitly what they like or not. Every reader of a review/assessment should know to be careful in using *any* guide, including in determining whether the preferences implicit in the guide's recommendations comport with the reader's own preferences. As we have previously discussed, there is a argument (to which I adhere) that an assessment of a restaurant is inherently subjective.

Perhaps this is telling about me rather than about the db truffle burger, but I am quite interested in the black truffle burger at db. Since the regular db burger is almost $30, the $50 price reflects a $20 increase only for fresh black truffles. (Note I don't know if I'll have time to sample the burger, but I will try.) I took in the regular db burger earlier this week (before the Wednesday NYT article), and will be able to recall the taste to compare it when I take in the black truffle burger. My dining companion and I agreed that the black truffle effect which is supposed to be a component of the existing db burger and which is described in the name of such burger could not be meaningfully detected in the taste of such burger.

Bux -- Sometimes I feel I am cocooned in my hotel room between meals, just resting up until I am ready for the next meal to blossom.

lizziee -- As you might recall, I dislike Jardin des Sens as well. Thanks for the input re: Pyramides. Due to my interest in taking in chicken dishes and the mention of F Point in the name of the dish, I am going to go to Pyramides this year (hopefully). My only meal there was fairly good. I'll report back.

Speaking of Time Out, I recently received an e-mail from opentable advising me that the Time Out New York Eating & Drinking guide is on-line and there is a free initial trial period (apparently subject to sign-in procedures): http://eatdrink.timeoutny.com/?url=optb

You've encouraged me to go buy the magazine, ironically.

I'm not sure, re: restaurants to remove for Arzak. I did not sample Akelarre or Mugaritz. Zuberoa had appealing food, with very capable service. On your route in France, it's ideal from my perspective too. I have not done that route myself, but considered (without executing) the following possible route: a Paris to Montpellier TGV (Jardin des Sens), then a 3-hour drive to Bras, then the Trama-Guerard portions of the trip you described. I don't know when I'll revisit San Sebastian, although I am eager to revisit Arzak. I am in the process of delving into the cuisine of M Troisgros, among other cuisiniers, and have almost at the top of my priority list a sampling of the chicken in pig's bladder dish at Bocuse (which happens to be close to Troisgros, as you know). (I'd like to sample the fish in the pastry crust, and the red mullet with potato scale dish too.) Also in the vicinity is Pyramide, at which I was precluded from sampling Henrioux's version of chicken in a pig's bladder dish (named after F Point) on my prior visit due to my not having called in advance to make the request. Those represent my immediate set of gastronomic goals. On Bordeaux, do you have any plans re: restaurants? I wonder what Amat's former place is now like. What places are relatively appealing, apart from La Tupina?

Thanks for your insightful answer. Is there anything unexpected about the recipe for the devilled eggs served at Blue Smoke?

Coop -- Is there a reason (e.g., no reservations availability) that you picked Hermitage over West? On Bacchus, a November 2002 Vancouver Magazine article suggests there are the following special offerings: "The Wednesday night Bistro Menu and the Sunday evening roast chicken dinner are both remarkable values." Have members sampled any Bistro Menu at Bacchus? Note I have never visited Bacchus. http://www.vanmag.com/0211/diner.html (discussion of Bacchus towards the end of the article)

I have only been to Divellec once, many years ago. In reviewing its indicative website menu, I noticed the following potentially interesting dishes: -- Piballes pochées à l'huile d'olive, piments, ail confits: These are the little seasonal eels that I've always wanted to sample. I am monitoring Divellec for this reason, among others. -- Homard à la presse avec son corail: This is a signature dish made with the Divellec signature lobster press (it looks a bit like the Tour d'Argent duck press, but it's for lobsters). I sampled this dish when I visited the restaurant, but don't remember anything about the experience (not necessarily a negative; this predated my note-taking days). http://www.le-divellec.com/us/page2.html

I asked a person at Arzak about baby eels. I think the product's season is Dec/1Q of the year or so (I forget the exact response). I don't know if it would be around when you visit, but, if it is in season, it can presumably be had at Arzak.

Porcini => I have to admit that I only deduced that porcini are cepes less than five years ago.

Tony -- That's a good point. I have never eaten at the described restaurants, but have heard second-hand accounts of some of them. The Oriental at the Dorchester Hotel definitely had the decor. On clarification of ratings considerations, why would Michelin have to explicitly state anything if most users of the guide understand how Michelin rates and what its preferences might be?

"Porci" wouldn't necessarily be hard to pronounce for people who can draw the analogy to the pronounciation of porcini.

Liz -- I believe you have covered the "must" restaurants around San Sebastian. Depending on the number of meals you have, you might want to consider more than one meal at Arzak. I believe the restaurant merits that, and you might even want to consider sacrificing one of the two-stars if time constraints intervened. You might also want to allocate one meal to tapas, although I found the tapas to generally be of lower quality than I would have hoped. However, I was not visiting recommended tapas places, and was merely sampling what I happened to come across. I was surprised by the appropriateness of some of the Spanish wines recommended to me. That is something to consider, although Arzak and Bersategui both have French selections I found interesting. If you have a lot of luggage, the Eusko-Train might not be as attractive an option as a taxi. If you are pressed for time, there is an overnight train back to Paris, but the downside is that even the top-priced sleeper cabins involved at least four to eight people (I forget the exact number). I ended up taking a day train. The train is slow because, even though certain trains are described as TGV, many portions of the track cannot accommodate high speeds. On the timing of lunch relative to dinner, I think your indications are fine. I found that what changed my eating situation a bit was the shorter time lapse from one dish to the next, at each of Arzak, Bersategui and Zuberoa. I was taking very brief notes, but the next dish would arrive before I finished doing so. The shorter time lapse made me feel slightly more "filled" during a meal than what I was accustomed to. You might want to visit a bookstore. A number of Spanish language cookbooks that are difficult to find, even books that are still in print. Berasategui has a number of books, including a more recent one. The chef from Akelarre also has something out. I bought a book on Arzak collaborating with Adria in connection with the millenium; this book is available at Arzak and one can see it from the lounge area. By the way, the lounge area at Arzak is very modern and beautiful (although not large). Greys and steel tones, and a wonderful way to take in an aperatif if you arrive at the restaurant and still want to delay your dinner by 1/2 hour or so. The house aperatif is a white wine concoction with some sort of lime sensations and a sprig of mint. For some reason, it has ice cubes inside it. It sounded terrible and I was tempted to order something else, but it is nice and should be sampled by at least one of you.

Happily I haven't yet had to forgo anything, but I would forego wine and bottled water for a star or a material improvement in cuisine. If I had to, I would forego nicer acommodations, shopping for clothes and taxis in Paris for food. On the prix fixe lunch or other "bargain" meals at two- or three-stars, the quality of the experience depends on the particular range of choice offered and other fact-specific considerations. I can vouch for the quality of Lucas-Carton's 78 euro "business lunch" though -- it currently contains one of the restaurant's top three signature dishes (the foie gras in steamed cabbage) and a choice of at least five items in each course. The quality is no different, in my assessment based on an increasing number of visits during lunch and dinner (a la carte and prix fixe), than that at dinner. The atmosphere is a bit different, because of the effects of light and other considerations. But the food and service are equally good. I believe Grand Vefour has a good quality prix fixe lunch as well, although I have not ordered it. My question is this: Let's say restricted economy airfare from the US to Paris costs $500/person. If the total budget were $1100/person for a week, and the post-airfare $600 had to cover accommodations and food, not more than $300 would be left for food even assuming very reasonably priced accommodations. Why would the traveler not choose to allocate the total budget of $1100 on a Quebec vacation, where airfare might be $200/person, and assuming the same accommodations cost of $300/person for the week were still applicable, $600 could be left for food? Unless one is visiting Paris for the first time, do members perceive a strong attraction to Paris (or any other place) other than food-related attractions? For example, how high a priority is restaurant going relative to visiting museums or engaging in other sightseeing activities in Paris? (Note I no longer do anything, in general, between meals if I take in two significant meals a day in Paris. Even if I take in one significant meal a day, it takes a lot of rest in the hotel to be ready for the next meal.)

The NY Post's report on Rodriguez: http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/nycuis...tures/66629.htm