cabrales

I received an e-mail from The Savoy Group, linking to a webpage with Menu's menu. Below is a picture of the Menu dining room: http://www.the-savoy-group.com/Connaught/R...enu/default.asp Indicative dishes include: Pressed tomato mosaïque with marinated goats’ cheese Roasted pumpkin and amaretto tortelli with sage butter White onion velouté with deep fried frogs’ legs in salsa verde Confit fillet of halibut with marinated peppers and raw fennel salad Classic Bouillabaisse served with braised celery hearts, saffron potatoes Oven-roasted cannon of lamb served with polenta cake, Niçoise garnish Caramelised sweetbread with braised Treviso confit garlic served with a wild mushroom sauce Roasted figs with Moscato zabaglione Pear tatin with lavender cream Parfait of torrone, pistacchio sauce and a seasonal fruit compote

Bonjour Paris reports the following: "Korova's closed, Nobu's no more. There's a sniff of bankruptcy in the herb-filled air of many Paris watering holes. Some blame the 35-hours, some the fact that young Turks no longer want to work like young Turks." Do members know if Nobu, Paris has closed for good? http://www.bparis.com/newsletter1464/newsl...m?doc_id=128270

Bux -- Am I correct in interpreting your post to suggest that you believe you could have dinner at the Jamais place without paying the membership fee, e.g., because you are on the preferred guest list? I was curious about what places prior to Daniel would breed a character such as Jamais. See the below, which, towards the end of the article, suggests Jamais was at Ledoyen (before Le Squer took over and aided the restaurant to three-star status; perhaps the chef with whom Jamais worked was Ghislaine Arabian , or perhaps not). http://www.geomancyonline.com/ny-times/geo...0the%20Sand.htm I believe L Brenner's book mentions where Jamais is from, and I vaguely it being a restaurant that is now a three-star beginning with the letter "L" in Paris (i.e., Ledoyen or Lucas-Carton). By the way, I wonder whether Boulud's new book is going to affect sales of The Fourth Star.

I don't think the F&W dinner is readily comparable to a "regular" meal where one has only one (or in Blue Hill's case, two) chef cooking. One can't say that a dinner in which one has five chefs cooking should be priced like a regular dinner. On the poured quantities, I would say we received about a glass of every wine. There were re-pours, but in limited amounts. The champagne for the reception segment was more readily available, and I had two glasses. However, addressing Wilfrid's computations. Let's say the before tax and tip comparable pricing were $140, for the sake of discussion. After tips and 20% tips, that's $180 that might be the appropriate baseline number. Wilfrid -- Here's the quote:

Jacques Cagna appears to offer a chicken dish that sounds interesting (to me, at least): "La poularde de Houdan, 44 euros: En 2 actes : l’aile pochée , sauce crèmée aux truffes, jeunes légumes / la cuisse : rôtie dans son jus, champignons sauvages" (Chicken from Houdan. In two services: Poached breast portion with a truffled cream sauce, young vegetables; the thigh roasted in its own jus with wild mushrooms). This dish is mentioned in Michelin 2001. Have members sampled it? http://www.jacques-cagna.com/menujc.htm

For an event of this nature, one can't expect top quality wines to be included. Otherwise, that would have been advertised by AmEx and/or Food & Wine. Part of why I saw the event as being particularly worthwhile was that I wanted to show support for Blue Hill and to share in an event that was (presumably) signfiicant to the restaurant.

Jason -- :laugh: Bux -- Dan's catering does predate Blue Hill. The presentation of the hors d'oeuvres was varied, across platters, and very visually appealing. For example, some items were on individual black-colored rocks that were themselves on a platter. The black corn tart and eggplant item was served on little scallop (or similar) shells. Visual appeal cannot save a poor-tasting item, but here the hors d'oeuvres were both delicious and visually appealing. I thought she covered that, at least in her estimation. Would you pay $375? That's another question.I edited my post after Jason's post was in place, to address the price question because others had raised it earlier in the thread.

R Washburn -- Does the mailing you received indicate you have to become a member before the very first time you dine?

Below are other relevant threads: http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...=4019&hl=torres http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...=7411&hl=torres

R Washburn -- Were you required to pay thousands of dollars for membership, or is there an initial period when you would be "permitted" to make reservations without having paid? I'm on the ADNY "general" mailing list, and I didn't receive one.

In today's NYT Dining section, Florence Fabricant writes: "Bruno Jamais . . . is to open Bruno Jamais Restaurant Club *tomorrow* in a town house at 24 East 81st Street. Reservations will be accepted only from people on Mr. Jamais's list. Think of Rao's without meatballs."

Robert -- No, I had intended to ask him that, but we talked only about his dish. Carmellini did not "make the rounds" during the meal, but DiSpirito did (not that that was a good thing; I'd have to say DiSpirito is quite customer-savy; his dessert was not appealing, however). Initially, Dan and Mike introduced the other (former) F&W Best New Chefs. Both seemed fairly comfortable doing that. Later on, it was more Mike who toured the room to greet diners. Jason -- Please know that I have nothing against your signature. It's just that, last night, it was, as I recall at least, even bigger than it is now and it had two eGullet "plates with the man" logo (smaller than the version on the upper left hand corner of the index of the board, but still at least 2 inches in diamter) framing it. I appreciate every member is free to do as he pleases, but that's why I took note of your signature, as background. In the context of the recent discussions regarding MQing, I perceived your signature as a stark reminder of your status.

nervousnelli -- While I have never sampled the cobra heart, I guess not all specimens have the "beating" effect. When you have a chance, please consider describing your experiences with this item in SE Asia (including the restaurant where the item was taken in, if applicable).

ellenask -- I understand what you were conveying. I am suggesting you no logner rely on your concierge, and take matters into your own hands, if you want the table.

L'Astrance is a very difficult table to secure. I believe your concierge may have been "premature" in promising what he/she did to you. [Additional suggestion removed, as I had mixed up the dates]

Note to all members, whether SuperAdmins or otherwise -- I do not subjectively intend to respond to messages (including the signature line of a poster's message) that are in fonts larger than the ones in which I post (especially comments that seem to be in bold font and in at least 22 font).

I had a good-plus dinner at Blue Hill tonight in connection with the AmEx/Food & Wine Best New Chefs series for NY. The dishes and wine pairings are set forth below: (1) Assorted Hors d'Oeuvres, Dan & Mike, Champagne Pol Roger Brut Within 5 minutes of my arrival, I had decided that I needed to position myself right next to the pathway from the kitchen in order to maximize my intake of Blue Hill hors d'oeuvres. These items refelcted Dan's catering expertise, and were stunning. They included, among other things: (1) an appealing eggplant puree (very gentle) atop a black corn tart (I had tasted this as part of my meal at BH recently taken in with my sibling), an item enhanced possibly by tomato water (?) -- this I greedily had at least three of over the course of session, (2) spanish mackerel (I assumed this had been slow-cooked; it might have been on papardom or not, and it had a nice flavor), (3) ***quail egg, fried, atop a piece of luscious salmon belly in a thin crisp pastry cup (nice control of saltiness -- I was won over -- err, again :laugh:; I admit I had at least two of these, (4) a miniature version of the restaurant's crabmeat lasagne dish (appropriately salted and realy nice in a smaller quantity), (5) a miniature pan of foie gras (which I did not succeed in sampling), (6) a shotglass of cauliflower soup (appealing), (6) a "fatter" glass (also functioning as a candle holder, but stunning in either role) of mushroom veloute (nice, perhaps with a hint of truffle oil which was not necessary), and (7) an appealing salmon belly item (possibly with pickles). One of the two soup-like items had a single mussel in it that was poignant. Overall, I thought the hors d'oeuvres were very good. Note that the presentation format of the different items being circulated was visually appealing -- little platters with rocks; slender plates cradling several items, etc. (2) Seared Bay Scallops, sea beans, black radish, smoked eel from Wylie Dufreshne of WD50 (F&W Best New Chef 2001), with Christian Moreau Chablis 2000 Apart from Mike/Dan's hors d'oeuvres, this was the best part of the meal. The slight sweetness of the bay scallops against the slight horseradish like aspects of the radish on top of the scallops and the obvious smokiness of the little bits of eel surrounding the scallops. Also, the matte texture of the smoked eel against the arguably quasi-crisp texture, which was also imbued with softeness, of the scallops. Dufresne talked to each table, and I articulated to him my views on his dish. We differed slightly on whether the sea beans had a role. I told him Trotter has been utilziing sea bean in certain dishes of late, and that I did not see a particularly necessary role for the beans. He indicated the beans gave the dish an iodine taste; I noted that wakame would have been a better choice for that, and he did not disagree. The saucing was a relatively salty (in a good way) "white" sauce, with perhaps a bit of smokiness. The wine guy described the paired Chablis as offering minerality, being dry, and furnishing "a bracing edge of acidity". It was appropriate for the dish. Subjectively, I would have preferred this very nice dish paired with a Chassagne-Montrachet, which would have played with the smokiness in the dish. However, the Chablis was also an appropriate pairing. The ingredients for lime/garlic jus were garlic cloves, chicken stock, lime juice and salt and pepper. The other products utilized were bay scallops, butter, sea beans, smoked eel, black radish, salt, cayenne and diced mint. (3) Creme de Gibier with foie gras, chestnut, and macoon apple from Andrew Carmellini of Cafe Boulud (BNC 2000), with Chateau Genot Boulanger Mersault Clos du Cromin 1999 The thickish soup from Carmellini was served in a "Cafe Boulud"-label soup bowl. It was slightly disappointing because its overall sensation was one of its texture (a nice, medium-consistency texture) and of sweetness, instead of the darkness of game that I subjectively prefer. Nice diced bits of foie, and utilization of chestnuts. The apples were almost like very soft potatoes, except that they carried a bit of acidity. A bit lacking in the dark, dark connotations of game, and therefore a dish that fell below that of which Carmellini is presumably capable. According to the recipe provided by AmEx/F&W, the ingredients utilized for this dish were 3 wild game birds: squab, pheasant, guinea hen; onions, celery, leeks, apples, celery root, chestnuts, mushrooms, foie gras, cream, chicken stock, vegetable oil and hazelnuts. The man who was introducing the wines (who was apparently the same man as had introduced wines in Chicago) noted that there had been some "controversy" among applicable chefs as to whether this or Dufresne's scallops dish should be served first. All I can say is that it was evident Dufresne's dish should have been served first (who was engaged in this controversy? ) The Mersault was introduced by this man in such a fashion that it could have been targetted to an audience with zero wine knowledge (e.g., the served Mersault is a Burgundy -- no kidding? ). However, this was not a fault of the chefs, and it was a reflection of the person conducting the wine service, which was apparently from the importer for the relevant wines. (4) Pepper-Seared Venison Loin with Braised Red Cabbage, Glazed Turnips and Orange Juniper Armagnac Jus from Scott Bryan of Veritas (BNC 1996), with Paul Jaboulet Cornas Domaine de St. Pierre 1996 (pure Syrah) Due to the number of guests needing to be served simultaneously (almost 70), we were not individually asked how well done we wanted our venison. That was expected. Thus, I had no issue with the medium preparation of the venison, even though I would have chosen rare, had I been given the chance. The venison was average-plus, with a pronounced flavor of black pepper when taken in. Interestingly, the best part of the dish for me were the little white turnips, which were cooked just right and carried a bit of sweetness. They were rather small, but very appealing to me. The wine was rather nice to sample, and better than I had expected for a Rhone with which I was not particularly familiar. The wine guy indicated it carried notes of blackcurrant, and was almost like blood; he indicated the wine had the flavor of grape, with "a backbone of acidity". (5) Chcooclate-Caramel Panna Cotta with Espresso Foam and Caramel Popcorn from Rocco DiSpirito of Union Pacific (BNC 1999), with Churchill's Ten Year Old Tawny Port This dish was average. The panna cotta was mundane, and the caramelized popcorn did not elevate the otherwise mundane nature of this dish. DiSpirito came by, and was his usual social self. He seemed more animated when I was able to converse with him about his recent menu ( I had visited Union Pacific less than 3weeks previously), but my impression of him remained at best average. In my assessment, this is not a chef who nurtures ingredients, who worries about how his dishes are going to highlight those ingredients. It was fitting that Dan introduced him as the chef who made one of Dan's kitchen team members gasp and indicate she was "in love with him". She certainly couldn't be in love with his dessert on this occasion, had she tasted it. According to the gift bag provided to each guest, the ingredients in this dessert were heavy cream, whole milk, semisweet milk chocolate (preferably Valhrona 66%, coarsely chopped), sugar, powdered gelatin, corn oil, popcorn kernels, espresso beans, espresso coffee, and egg yolks. Amuses were (1) nice bits of marshmallows, (2) a gelee of a flavor similar to apricot, and (3) dark-chocolate-covered almonds. The amuses were presented nicely, and additional almons were included in a little gift bag from Blue Hill in the shopping bag provided to each client. ________________________________________________________________ This dinner marks the beginning of a two-week period during which, for routine medical reasons (which do not in any way affect my overall health and which are preventative) I am not able to take in alcohol. :sad: That means that, at the J Beard event with Patria's chef on Saturday, none of the included alcohol can be sampled. Nor at the eGullet "horizontal" tasting event. Negative attributes: AmEx placed solo diners in at least parties of three. Although my female dining companion was gracious and enhanced my meal experience, my late 50s white male dining companion was a jerk, to put it simply. Since he (shall we call him Mr. Puff) arrived the latest of the three diners at our table and since we have a corner table appropriate for exactly three diners, Mr. Puff received the non-banquette seat. I was not going to relinquish my comfortable banquette seating to him. Mr Puff proceeded to entertain me with the fact that his greatest accomplishment in life was having had a dalience (spelling) with the wife of a certain famous (OJ) criminal law professor from Harvard (yes, A.D.). I really had to control myself to not rebuke him for his stupidity. Starting from the main course onwards, I simply did not speak with this person. I suppose this is one of the risks of signing up to events solo. Positive attributes of the evening: The hors d'oeuvres from Dan/Mike. The scallops dish from Dufresne. The outstanding service of the dining room team. If the same meal were at Blue Hill, I would gladly pay the same amount for the same evening.

Ben -- If you go to Ouest, you can get better than the tasting menu. PM me or e-mail Chef Hawksworth when you plan a trip. scout -- Thanks for putting forth the initial post in this thread. I received information of which I was not previously aware.

HungryChris -- The question of good oysters in NY has been one I have been pursuing for a while now. This weekend, perhaps I will go to Pearl Oyster Bar and provide a report (perhaps not, if I am tired). Aquagrill has a decent selection, although I have not visited recently: http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...&f=4&t=7098&hl= I believe that Grand Central Oyster Bar has the best Kumamotos, when they are available, however.

Gayot reports the following on the two-starred Les Ambassadeurs: "Chef Dominique Bouchet, of Paris' Les Ambassadeurs in the Hôtel de Crillon, has tailored lunch service to fit business schedules by installing 'un dejeuner rapide,' guaranteeing a three-course lunch served **in approximately 75 minutes,** Monday through Friday at €57 per person. The meal includes a green salad with tomato preserve, asparagus and Ventresca de Bonito; pan-seared red mullet on stewed vegetables; chicken fricassee in morel mushroom cream sauce, tagliatelle with butter; and strawberries au gratin in lemon zabaglione cream. Les Ambassadeurs, Hôtel de Crillon, 10, place de la Concorde, Paris, 01 44 71 16 16." This might be appropriate if one were attempting to take a flight home after lunch.

Speaking of Place de la Madelaine, do members have input on Maison de la Truffe? The facility not only sells for consumption off-premises, but has a little restaurant area. I wonder what food quality and prices might be like.

Steve & Robert -- Do you brush your white truffle a tiny bit before shaving it? What implement would be good for that (e.g., new toothbrush, which I have used in the past)?

Steve -- Is the rice in which the truffles were stored thrown away?

Steve -- Do you believe refridgeration is the best way to keep white truffles going? Do you place them into the refridgerator "as is"? I've always wondered about rumours that one can permeate an uncooked egg (in its shell) with truffle aromas by placing it in a jar with a white truffle. Also, I wonder what the effect of rice might be for the truffle's storage?

Has any member received an invitation? It sounds like regulars of Daniel and/or ADNY are likely to have been solicited.