cabrales

BLH -- Could you describe what general amount you have budgeted (if relvant) for the meal, wine included?

Wilfrid -- I would agree with that assessment. From my perspective, the Neo-Nazi/France/Suvir matters were troubling and I commented on them. There was no action -- no clarification to address what I subjectively considered to be an ambiguous (if not misleading, including by omission) post by Suvir regarding his return. However, I accepted the situation and let by-gones be by-gones. I decided I would not post in the India forum, but acquiesced. Other members interested in the Neo-Nazi/France thread apparently did the same, based on my incomplete understanding of interim board postings at least. Suffice it to say that it was John's article that "re-raised" the Neo-Nazi/France/Suvir matters, and members not interested in this rearing itself again might want to ask themselves what the relative timing of the submission of the article was relative to the previous "death" of the Neo-Nazi/France/Suvir matters. While I am personally not aware of when John's article was submitted to the Writers' Guild, the timing relative to the time when the Neo-Nazi/France/Suvir matters had subsided could, for me, be telling. John -- If you are comfortable discussing it, could you consider describing how you became comfortable (as a journalist), including the account of the Neo-Nazi/France/Suvir matter (including an indication that Suvir was the "victim"?) in your article for the Writers' Guild, given the lack of disclosure on the board of the relevant facts?

lizziee -- Thanks for the update. That's an incredible deal -- for full board and a one-day cooking class. E Loubet at two-starred Le Moulin de Lourmarin a reasonable drive from Aix-en-Provence also furnishes certain cooking classes, market excursions, herb-gathering sessions, etc. His cuisine is appealing, even before the availability of cooking classes.

John -- I see significant irony in the apparent deletion of your described post in this thread, relative to the deletion of the entire Neo-Nazi/France thread. When you have a chance, could you discuss whether you see such irony and whether the difference is one of merely the number of posts that need to be deleted, in which case the board could become more vulnerable to trolls who post frequently in a given thread with a view to the thread's deletion?

Aurora -- On the question of whether our own conduct "works against us", my take is that our community is what it is (appreciating it changes over time) and we may indeed not be a good match for every single person who comes in contact with the board. If a new member is suffiiciently interested in the community to post, she becomes empowered to change the course of threads. As you know, part of John's article addresses an implicit issue regarding the balance of more expensive restaurants reported on the board against other subject matter. The "solution", for those who perceive an imbalance, is for members to post more about a broad range of restaurants. If other members choose not to post, the members who are currently posting about restaurants they choose to post about need not consider an obligation to post about less expensive restaurants they may also visit. As for questions that may be presented to a member posting about a favorite restaurant or a meal experience, that process of inquiry is, in my mind, an integral part of the board.Other members are curious about details. If the member providing the initial description does not wish to respond, she need not (I appreciate a pattern of non-response is unhelpful to continued interaction with others on the board). Or she could furnish a cursory response. As Steve P and others have mentioned in multiple contexts, members can ignore threads that do not interest them. A counterargument might be that the title of a thread may not end up being necessarily indicative of its full contents. But that is a fact of participation in the board. How can a member who does not even take the time to peek into a thread expect that she could absorb everything about a thread by reviewing its title? Such a member should have no legitimate expectation of being party to all discussions on the board. I appreciate your question, and look forward to other members' input.

I wonder if "raie" in French refers to skate as described in this thread.

PaulaJ -- The article does not appear to be promotion in essential nature. However, many features of the program decribed in the article were favorably framed by an Ecole des Chefs administrator. Could you describe how the $100 discounted meals at a participating Ecole des Chefs restaurant might work? Were you given access to discounts of this nature, and could you, had you chosen, taken advantage of the discounts multiple times immediately following or prior to your internship?

The calendar on Blue Hill's website describes periodic dinners in celebration of seasonal produce. Could you describe aspects you find interesting of recent menus in celebration of asparagus, peas and corn (July 23), respectively? Have you previously organized comparable dinners for truffles, or for game or other non-vegetable ingredients?

For me, what is disconcerting about John's recent article is that, as other members have noted, a number of the concerns that some members may have with such article had been conveyed on the board in connection with John's prior write-up on eGullet. While John is of course free to write as he sees fit, I come away feeling that not only were extensively discussed concerns regarding the potentially unrepresentative nature of the description of eGullet not addressed, but also (as discussed by lizziee and others) an "unusual" troll-affected period was focused on as though it foretold the decline of the board.

I reiterate my concerns about the appropriateness of certain conclusions relating to Suvir's prior absence included in John's article, when disclosure on the board of surrounding facts has not been forthcoming.

John -- Could you consider discussing what determinants there may be to amounts you are "happy" to pay? Is there a sum (e.g., in pounds) beyond which you would not under any circumstances pay outside of France, regardless of the pleasure derived? If your observation is that you are subjectively not willing to pay the prices being charged by certain London restaurants, that is a different point than a broader assertion that, for many diners other than you, eating a good simple meal outside of the home at reasonable prices is more difficult in England than in the remainder of Europe.

Malawry -- Certain graded components to your courses have been mentioned. Are there instances of students from prior years who have done so poorly, after a certain point in time, that they have been let go by the school? Typically, how is written work weighed in the determination of an overall grade for a course, relative to kitchen performance? Do you get a sense that you and your fellow students are being "graded on a curve"? Also, is it possible to graduate with honors, and how heavily are grades scrutinized in the process of the receipt of job placements and other desirable goodies?

Steve P -- I agree there's no reason to argue. I'm not taking a position regarding Haggis' "bona fide" nature; I merely note some potential "benign" interpretations.

John -- Ditto.

John -- On saving up restaurant meals, could you consider discussing whether you might generally experience the same (or more) total fulfillment from, say, five good meals taken in close temporal proximity to one another as you might from five equally good meals spaced apart (assuming the costs for each series of meals were identical)?

On Perrier's website, the quotations emphasized are: "I am a perfectionist. I am never satisfied". http://www.georgesperriergroup.com/

GordonCooks -- Thanks for the report. Morimoto is one of the places on my "to do" list. From the linked picture, it appears that Morimoto wears glasses. I wonder if he has always needed them, and just wore contacts on IC. Not that I take note of photos of Morimoto, but that may be the first photo I have seen of him with glasses.

Note my observations are anecdotal, and should be viewed in the context of my subjective conclusion that the cuisine at new Bouley and previously at Bouley Bakery is not always excellent or even very good (a view that differs from that reflected in many other posts).

I presume Stern was at the helm of the Ritz Half Moon Bay prior to joining Le Bec Fin. In all likelihood, he could not have been there long. Not too long ago (unclear exact period), Brian Bistrong (now of Citarella Restaurant, NY) was the chef at Half Moon Bay. I wonder what ties (if any) Gray Kunz might have with Half Moon Bay. Is it a coincidence that two recent chefs there have worked with him?

See the below articles: -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 9, 2002 ("Inqlings: 'I am in charge,' says Perrier after ousting Le Bec-Fin chef", by Michael Klein): "Perrier has dismissed Frederic Cote, executive chef . . . . 'I got my baby back,' . . . Uh, but wasn't it Perrier who gave up the baby 15 months ago? . . . so Perrier could oversee his empire. Perrier said at the time that the pressures of opening Le Mas Perrier, his third restaurant after Brasserie Perrier, had sapped his mojo. Perrier also desperately wanted to win back the fifth star in the Mobil Travel Guide that Le Bec-Fin lost in 2000; that didn't happen. Recently, Perrier brought in a director of operations to run the day-to-day while he slipped back into Le Bec-Fin's kitchen. The diminutive, irascible Perrier and the hulking, softer-spoken Cote butted toques. For example: Cote would return from a day off to find that Perrier had rearranged the kitchen. 'Today, I change everything,' Perrier said yesterday. 'Tomorrow, I change everything if during the night, I get a flash. I'm a perfectionist.' Perrier said Cote was headed to France; he was unreachable for comment yesterday. . . . In November, citing in-house friction, Perrier axed Pascal Valero from Le Mas Perrier in Wayne.") -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 30, 2002 ("Inqlings: Going from concertos to coffee cups", by Michael Klein): "Georges Perrier again has picked an American to be the right-hand man cooking beside him at his world-renowned restaurant, Le Bec-Fin. He's Cherry Hill native Daniel Stern, last at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay in California. Stern, 32, worked under chef Xavier Salomon, who trained with Perrier in France back in le day. Stern has toiled at the posh New York chowhouses Lespinasse, Jean-Georges, and Daniel.")

rozapp -- Thanks for your input. I have been thinking about lamb pre-sale, in the context of the region at issue: http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...=10&t=4990&st=0

marcus -- Again, I can only make inferences based on my own perceptions. I would say that I have a subjective belief that is happening, based on maybe 4 visits to the new Bouley, 4-5 visits to Bouley Bakery and perhaps 5-8 visits to the old Duane St. Bouley over time. In particular, for two meals, I took in the same dish within the span of a week for two dishes. The resulting dishes were rather disparate. I don't consider it damning to say that a restaurant can achieve better quality for a dish when a "regular" is present. For example, one could receive the closer supervision of applicable cuisniers.

Below is a March 24, 1999 article in The Washington Post on the Ecole des Chefs program ("Kitchen Privileges: Pay Big Bucks and You Too Can Slave in a Paris Restaurant", by Deborah Baldwin): "Jana Bonomo was on her dream vacation. For six happy days last Christmas, this housewife from Long Beach, Calif., worked from 8 in the morning until well after the dinner hour in the Paris kitchen of French celebrity chef Gus Savoy. One day she sliced three crates of apples; on another, 'I cleaned about two kilos of mussels,' she recalled fondly. And, rubbing a blister, she added: 'I russed 200 pigeons--actually, it was 208.' . . . . Bonomo paid $ 2,015 just to slave alongside a celebrity chef. Her internship--airfare, ground transportation and lodging not included--was arranged by Ecole des Chefs, a U.S.-based service that since last May has acted as a matchmaker, pairing 'interns' or stagiaires like Bonomo with elite restaurants in France. . . . To work from morning to night in a three-star restaurant [savoy had not yet been promoted], Ecole des Chefs stagiaires pay $ 2,515. If they are professionals--chefs from less stellar restaurants--they pay double." The article proceeds: "Status internships help raise Savoy's profile among the upscale travel set and enable him to share his know-how with a highly appreciative audience of repeat customers, she said. Aside from overcoming language problems and answering the funny questions that inevitably emanate from Americans, participating chefs are asked to turn on the charm, offering a warm welcome, an egalitarian attitude and discounts to the interns from overseas that bring down the cost of a typical Michelin-ranked meal to a bargain $ 100. While Jacquet-Bentley declined to say what percentage of her fees go to the chefs, it's apparently enough to persuade even the toughest to treat their trainees as special guests--a strategy that pays off in terms of word-of-mouth advertising. Not that there isn't an element of altruism, according to Jacquet-Bentley. 'Though the money is nice, they do it as a labor of love,' she said . . . . [A]ll [chefs] are current or potential media stars--a key ingredient in the Jacquet-Bentley recipe. . . . Plunged into the mayhem of the typical top-drawer restaurant, some of the Ecole des Chefs interns try to make themselves invisible and spend the week hiding in a corner and taking notes. And, in, fact they don't have to work. 'It's flexible,' said Jacquet-Bentley."

marcus -- My observations suggest that Bouley is noticeably more consistent when "regulars" are included in a dining party. The restaurant appears to be able to produce better food (even as to the same dish) in that situation.

Steve P -- It appears that the lunch Haggis described was particularly tasty, leading to the description of the dishes taken in prior to the question regarding tipping. In addition, Haggis received essentially no assistance from Dimple's dining room team members on his recent visit, and that issue might not have presented itself previously.