cabrales

Agence France Presse noted mid last month the following: "Rene Lasserre . . . celebrated his 90th birthday this week with some of the country's top chefs . . . [C]hef Gerard Boyer [of Boyer Les Crayeres, Rheims], a former trainee now named a three-star chef ..., described the nonagenarian as 'our spiritual father.' Among diners tucking into macaroni stuffed with black truffles topped with pieces of lobster, or foie gras with truffle juice and pumpkin soup, were more former staff turned three-star chefs, Guy Savoy [Paris], Jacques Lameloise [at Chagny] and Marc Haeberlin [of Auberge de L'Ill, Illhaesern, spelling] [This is not necessarily as impressive as it sounds; Lameloise and Haeberline returned to family establishments] . . . . At this week's celebration, Paul Bocuse . . . described Lasserre as 'a genius and a forerunner of current marketing.' Alain Ducasse [of Plaza Athenee, Paris, and Louis XV, Monaco]. . . lauded his forebear's 'rigour and unbending demand for quality regarding hospitality, service and the arts of the table.' . . . Lasserre, who founded the restaurant 60 years ago, also had chefs Pierre Troisgros [at Roanne], Freddy Girardet [formerly at Crissier], Alain Senderens [of Lucas-Carton, Paris] and Michel Guerard [of Pres d'Eugenie, Eugenie Les Bains] at the party, along with Jean-Claude Vrinat, owner of Taillevent, and Claude Terrail, owner of the Tour d'Argent."

Scott -- Thanks If you have a chance, please consider discussing how you would rate the described establishments (relative to one another).

Hiramatsu appears to have more prix fixe tasting menus in place now, including a menu degustation at a much-higher price of 130 euros. The menu d'affaires (business lunch menu) has been split into two levels of offerings -- 50.00 and 70.00 euros. There are further menus at 92.00 (this is likely the prior non-business-lunch, tasting menu) and 130.00. http://www.hiramatsu.co.jp/lang_french/carte.html

Wilfrid -- I was rather intent on sampling the lamb shanks, but I vaguely recall that there was no tripe on the menu (??). No member of our dining party took in tripe.

ron -- I'm uncertain how mature the lamb was, but it tasted considerably more mature (i.e., with lamb flavors) than most lamb I have sampled in the US. Its aromas also suggested a more mature specimen. (?)

robert and Susan brown and I had a wonderful time catching up on things last night. We had dinner at Ouest, which I thought offered an average meal. I began with an oyster stew that also featured oyster mushrooms and Yukon potatoes (in very small cubes). The broth was thin and tomato-based, and the dish was average. Susan and I sampled the appetizer of duck, "crispy egg" and parmesan that robert had ordered. It was nicely composed, but suffered from significant flaws in the "crispy egg". The batter coating the egg white was heavy and dense and did not exhibits signs of having been recently deep-fried. Also, the batter was not particularly good in taste. However, inside the firmed-up white of the egg was a runny yolk. This dish was the subject of some discussion as to how it had been made. I ordered the signature dish of lamb shanks, which are available only on Mondays and Tuesdays (query whether only for dinner?). The dining room team member assisting us wanted to rush our order to the kitchen, as this item was apparently on the verge of selling out for the night (it was around 8:45-9:00 p.m.). Later, she was to note that spare ribs constitute the other signature dish of Ouest. Apparently, the lamb shanks have a different accompanying base from time to time. Last night, it was a ragout-like mixture of white beans, arugula and small roasted carrot slices. On other occasions, it could be polenta, or risotto, say. I have never had Valenti's lamb shanks, although I had visited Cascabel on more than one occasion. They were a significant disappointment. susan and I agreed that a mature lamb specimen appeared to have been used, as the taste of the lamb was rather strong. The lamb shanks were marred by at least two key problems. First, the utilization of garlic was so heavy-handed that the bitterness of the garlic overwhelmed the meat. Second, the lamb, while moist in many places, had some dry areas. Due to these reasons, I took in perhaps 1/3 of my dish (helpful to my ongoing diet).

I've only eaten at L'Astrance and La Regelade. I wonder if Passiflore (at which I have not eaten) might also fall within this category. The chef there recently published a book in French on soups. I would say that Jerome Borderaux at newly established Chamaree (the subject of an unlinked thread entitled Chamarel) is coming to be viewed by the French culinary scene as being included in the gruop as well (despite being less established). After two meals, I'd have to say that I do not like Chamaree's cuisine.

Lesley -- Do you have a sense as to why the Pourcels were in Montreal?

Have members visited Le Bec's "Cafe Epicerie"? It's open for Sunday lunch, among other times.

Below are links to certain limited information on Sketch: http://www.art-review.co.uk/html/site2.html (photo of top floor) http://www.art-review.co.uk/html/features3.html (description, not of cuisine)

The December 2002 edition of Thuries features G Savoy in the L'Album du Chef. He discusses his third star. Below is a very rough translation -- "I said that the first star is the recognition of a cuisinier. The second is the confirmation of him. The third, the consecration. Over the years, with the publication of the Michelin guide, I protected myself. There were several of us on the list. And then my focus shifted to my sensations, my team, my suppliers ... Everybody lives the event in his own say, with smiles, with tears .... Everybody took part in that happiness and even if certain personnel leave us, nobody will forget that morning. If at one point I had admitted to having been pushed aside, today I feel extremely happy to have felt, one day, the emotions that famous third star would induce in a cuisinier."

Wilfrid -- What were your impressions of the service from the maitre d' (is it still the Asian American gentleman)?

You mean noting the names of the sequence of courses that I took in, when you refer to reprinting of the menu? While I used to type in menus not otherwise available for use by other members, I no longer have the time to do that. Thus, all menus typed in in recent times are menus listing dishes sampled (perhaps you did not focus on that fact). Without the dish names, how can members know what was taken in?

Steve -- Overaggressive because I don't collapse in the face of certain arguments you might sometimes seek to advance? Parsing = Exposing the strengths and weaknesses in overgeneralizations, which might be why you might be an over aggressive poster.

Ed -- Yes, thanks for your abundant input. On cornstarch, are there certain brands that might be more appropriate for cooking? Do you mix the cornstarch with warm water, or water that is short of that?

marcus -- If you are comfortable doing so, could you please consider discussing in what sense you made reference to "aggressive" posters?

Below is additional information on the current collection of Herme offerings: -- Satine -- Pate sabelee, cheesecake aux fruits de la passion, marmelade d'orange creme au creme cheese. Candied orange peels are utilized in the middle of this item. The cheesecake is very light, and the orange cream on top is artistically presented in swirls and with "browned" edges in areas. -- Ivoire -- Pate feuillete, feuille de chcolat riz au lait, creme de mascarpone a la gelee de balsamique. Three thin white chocolate disks with white material inside them. On top are little shards of silver leaf. Between the crunchy millefeuille bottom and the previously-described white colored top is a cooked down fruit mixture reminiscent of the effects of christmas cake -- with ginger notes and possibly figs, plums and apples. -- Emotions Acidulee -- Riz au lait au mascarpone, pommes poeles au pain d'epices, gelee de citron vert a la menthe. An apple cross-section on top is not entirely dried. Then 7-8 tiny cubes of Christmas-cake-like material that represents the pain d'epices. The gelee is very bitter, in an appropriate way. Then a small layer of cake (sponge-like), with chunks of green apple. Then, the dense rice-containing item. Like previous Emotions offering, this one is time-limited (the prior versions were indicaetd to be no longer available) and served in a round, fat glass. -- The white truffle/hazelnut macaron was nice, although the white truffle connotations seemed limited to the creamed portion to some extent. -- I noted there are several varieties of Herme ice cream, including Ispahan flavor (see earlier posts).

marcus -- If you perceive the described reason for the focus on BH, and for the content of the France and NYC forums, would not the appropriate channel for addressing those concerns be to encourage a larger number of members dining in France and in NY to post more about their meals (as opposed to invoking the participation of another *few* members)? I hope we can have increased participation, that more and more members would write more frequently about their restaurant experiences and other views.

I've never eaten at the places mentioned in Paris as being potentially bistro modernes (except for La Regalade, which is much more like a traditional bistro, but with better food). Thus, I can't comment. In technique, as previously suggested by others, BH is more ambitious and more successful than Paris bistros. As for why BH gets discussed more on the board, it's in part because more members eat there than at many other venues.

Ed -- I appreciate that cornstarch is a critical item in the Chinese kitchen. However, in French cuisine, as you know, using cornstarch as a thickening or binding agent would be severely frowned upon. I wonder whether there is an argument that reliance on cornstarch to attract flavors is a flaw of the stir fry technique, and therefore whether the overall benefits of the stir fry technique outweigh its costs (which include the need for cornstarch, if one sees cornstarch as a negative). What are your views on the benefits of stir frying, and other detriments of the technique? Also, as you know, for stir frying, the traditional method did not use electricity, and relied on other forms of fuel. Do you sense that the the effects of the wok as deployed by a given cuisinier, can vary markedly depending on the fuel source, assuming other considerations are held constant?

I don't purport to know why Nobu was not actually successful in Paris. However, my own hypothesis is that (1) the average French person is better able to differentiate between good and bad cuisine more the average preson in the US (and the average Paris inhabitant is better able to differentiate between good and bad cuisine than the average person in NYC), and (2) there is a large number of restaurants in Paris that have better cuisine than Nobu, whereas in NYC there are fewer such restaurants. (2) is a corollary of my subjective belief that US restaurants are not as good as restaurants in France. Under this theory, Nobu is more successful in London because, despite certain very good restaurants in London, such restaurants are fewer in number (absolute and relative) than very good restaurants in Paris. This theory is also consistent with why Cello, a restaurant I liked considerably, might have had to close. I ate at Market and I believe it would not be inappropriate for it to get into trouble. Market is particularly vulnerable because of its expensive rental location. I do not intend to be mean, but restaurants that don't cut it should be closed. Kurova is a good example -- Coca Cola chicken? I have never eaten anything other than Herme pastries there, but I don't feel sad at all about the closing of Kurova, except to the extent it affects Herme's activities.

I would agree that the BH decor is elegant (and, being burgundy-driven in some places, much to my liking). I would also agree that the tables are somewhat close together, but that is not an aspect that has bothered me in the least. The reason that a bistro analogy is fundamentally flawed is that the *cuisine* far surpasses what a Parisian bistro (moderne or not -- as Steve P referenced), could offer. What typical bistro in Paris can provide the type of subtle and balanced (for me, those are very good attributes) cuisine available at BH? In fact, I'm not sure there is a restaurant in Paris that readily comes to mind as offering a similar cuisine.

P Wells provided a recent review of Lucas-Carton (i.e., subsequent to the change in the menu to list wines first, and food pairings for the wine second). http://www.patriciawells.com/reviews/iht/iht.htm Wells notes a dish that I recently enjoyed very much, as part of a meal that was the best I have had at Lucas-Carton yet. The white truffle polenta dish with the described wine (Corton Charlemagne) runs almost 200 euros. The pour was very generous, and I ended up consuming perhaps 3 glasses (for the specified price of the pairing, and not three times it) "the puddle of creamy polenta laced with white truffles from Italy, a fireworks of smooth textures, intense fragrances, rounded out by the cool Corton Charlemagne 1990 from Domaine Bonneau du Martray, rich with truffle and woodsy essences of its own." The polenta dish included a little quail egg yolk underneath one of the truffle shavings. The polenta dish was followed by the lobster with vanilla/vermicelli dish, which I liked very much. The supple vermicelli was appropriate against the "crisp" texture (not in the fried sense, in the natural taste sense) of the Brittany lobster. With all respect to Jon, I wouldn't necessarily characterize the dish as lobster noodle with custard. The vanilla sauce was thinner than custard might imply. Also, the vermicelli in the L-C dish were softer and more appealing than the typical noodle accompanying lobster in an Asian preparation. Not that I wouldn't also like to sample some lobster with noodle at Mandarin Kitchen, but I felt the L-C sampling was worthwhile. The one criticism of the dish is that it was rather vanilla-flavored -- too much so by a small margin for my taste.

E Loubet has published his first book -- entitled, translated, "A Springtime in the Louberon region with Edouard Loubet". It's a bit too focused on the chef in some parts for my liking, and the local herbs and other products may be difficult to secure in the US. However, Loubet's cuisine is one I like considerably, and the recipes are appealing-sounding. http://www.chapitre.fr/frame_rec.asp?sessi...ubet&source=all

I vaguely recall Jeffrey Steingarten may have a chapter on MSG in his book "It Must've Been Something I Ate".