cabrales

I have historically liked the cuisine at Union Pacific, and Wednesday night was no exception, although the sweetness theme linking the meal was unduly stark. I agree with Wilfrid's comments, and add the following observations: -- The asparagus amuse was not particularly interesting, but the pineapple gelee in the salmon amuse was fairly well-executed and subtle. It did not have the unusal stark taste of pineapple, a fruit of which I am not particularly fond. A note on the presentation of the amuses. When they arrived, the dining party, spearheaded by Steve P, immediately noted that we were slated to have asparagus as the first course of our meal and Copper River salmon as a subsequent course (we had initially decided upon our own tasting menu that would have included asparagus where the bluefin tuna with yuzu dish ended up). Steve admonished the party to refrain from taking in the amuse until we had addressed this potential problem with the restaurant. The maitre glided over, and remained his very responsive self during the 3-5 minute discussion that ensued. There was a quasi-vote among the dining party, and other discussions, before the amuses were taken in. The maitre d' assured Steve the chef was attending to the sequencing and composition of the dishes included in the meal (?). -- The Copper River Salmon was cooked just to the right limited level. It was luscious and smooth, and the dish pleased me despite the re-utilization of rhubarb (which I like a great deal, both as to its color and its taste). We were fortunate to have caught the apparent end of the CRS season (?), although the scallops with uni dish was not on the menu when we visited. -- Soft shell crab came more spicy than I had anticipated. Steve quickly surmised that the saucing included XO sauce, although it had been modified to be slightly more complex. -- The eggplant with the lamb was interesting (in a good way). It was described as Thai eggplant, and was a dark green color. I liked the way the seeds inside the eggplant felt when taken in, and thought the noticeable bitter tones were helpful. The cherry aspects in the glaze were dominated by the mustard notes, which were themselves appropriate. -- The restaurant provided different surprise desserts for each diner. I received a chocolate, molten-center item with ice cream -- I always seem to receive a chocolate item in these situations, even though chocolate is not a favored ingredient for me. I was eyeing the banana dessert Wilfrid's Beloved was savouring.

Abagail -- Our sympathy. Are you doing alright? :confused:

jaybee -- I did not intend to dissuade members from evaluating the restaurant for themselves. The prices for lunch are reasonable at $35 for four courses. Old Bouley used to be my favorite restaurant in NY (indeed, in the US, T Keller included) as well, and new Bouley served me one dinner recently that was imbued with all the promise of the old.

Several of my recent posts confirm I have been rereading Joseph Wechsberg's "Blue Trout and Black Truffles". Below is an excerpt on La Mere Brazier's "chicken in half mourning" dish: "Mother Brazier . . . cooks her chicken . . . in a bouillon made with salt, carrots and herbs, but without onions (which is unusual, onions being the trademark of Lyonnaise cooking). The chickens are larded with slices of black truffles and *wrapped in white muslin bags*, so they will be cooked evenly from all sides. Three or four chickens are cooked together in large earthenware vessels."

Below is an excerpt from Joseph Wechsberg's "Blue Trout and Black Truffles" on the Tour d'Argent canard (duck): "It was premiered in 1890 by the great chef Federic Delair . . . The ducks come from large duck farms in the Vendee region, near Nantes, where the soil and the climate cooperate in creating half-wild ducks suited for the recipe. At the age of six weeks the ducks are smothered, to prevent loss of blood, packed in paper and crushed ice, and shipped by rail to Paris . . . . The carcass of the duck is put through a silver press and the blood (the 'juice') is caught in a special dish. Added to it are the mashed-up raw liver of the duck, a glass of port, a little Madeira, and Fine Champagne, a few drops of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and spices. The sauce is started on a hot fire, which is slowed down after a while. It must have the thickness and color of melted chocolate. The slices of the underdone meat are cooked in the sauce, under constant stirring, for twenty-five minutes, and served very hot from the silver plate."

Perhaps the below menu furnished too many surrounding items for the ortolan dish. However, members may find it interesting. It is the menu of June 7, 1867 regarding a lunch hosted by Napoleon III for Tsar Alexander II and Kaiser Wilhelm I. Joseph Wechsberg describes how this menu is framed at La Tour d'Argent in "Blue Trout and Black Truffles": Hors d'Oeuvre Potage Imperatrice Souffle a la Reine Releves Filets de Sole a la Venitienne Escalope de Turbot au Gratin Selle de Mouton Puree Bretonne (lamb) Entrees Poulet a la Portugaise (chicken) Pate Chaud de Cailles Homards a la Parisienne (lobster) Sorbets au Vin Roties Canetons a la Rouennaise (duckling) **Ortolans sur Canape** Entremets Aubergines a l'Espagnole Asperges en Branches Cassolette Princesse Bombe Glacee The above was taken with: Madere Retour de l'Inde 1810; Xeres Retour de l'Inde 1821; d'Yquem 1847; Chambertin 1846; Margaux 1847; Lafite 1848; Champagne Roederer.

I hadn't contributed my little mishap because I assumed it was very common and would have been described by others. I was eating a filet of some type of fish, and got too greedy and careless about checking (once the flesh was inside my mouth) for embedded bones. A little bone scrapped itself along a portion of my throat while I was swallowing, but thankfully did not lodge itself there. It wasn't necessarily painful; I just felt it happening and felt the area to be different when I swallowed food for the next little while.

I do not know whether I could participate. It would depend, among other things, on the date for the event. However, a sampling of macarons would be interesting -- including Pierre Herme-Wegmans, Payard, Fauchon NY, etc.

Also Union Pacific. Thanks to everybody for the responses to date.

robert -- Thanks, for the detail and the wine! I did not want to misrepresent it and another bottle that I did not contemporaneously document the name of.

Steve P, robert brown and his wife Susan, Wilfrid and his Beloved and I had dinner at Union Pacific last night. The cuisine was fairly good, and we enjoyed talking about it and other topics. Amuses -- Green asparagus with grilled morels and fresh pecorino; Salmon with caviar and pineapple gelee Bluefin Tuna with yuzu Roasted Foie Gas with rhubarb and lovage puree Crispy Soft Shell Crab with a hot and sour XO sauce Wild Copper River Salmon, with rhubarb and fava beans (sequence relative to crab may have been reversed?) Rack of Lamb with a cherry-mustard glaze Various desserts Our BYO wines were appealing, and consisted of: a 1989 Musigny, Jacques Frederic Mugnier; a beautiful white Burgundy that others could better describe; a 2000 Riesling, Cuvee St. Catherine, Domaine Weinbach; a 1983 Salon; and an unusual Alsatian wine that was paired with the foie gras and that others could better describe. Susan and I thought the sweetness in some of the dishes could have been better controlled. Steve P and I discussed how sweetness combined with other flavors is a distinguishing aspect of certain dishes at UP. I will provide a more detailed description of the meal at a later point.

Peeled green grapes are items I continue to enjoy, although I don't eat them often nowadays because I would be the one doing the peeling.

Much discussion has resulted from the general question of copying/taking inspiration (the General forum?), and from the more particular question of Blumenthal's operations (in this forum). Perhaps the threads will be easier to locate once the search function in the upcoming software is in place.

The food that I ate with frequency during my childhood does not approximate the type of cuisine I appreciate today. For example, while I was only very slightly exposed to French cuisine (not particularly developed versions) as a child (and excluding my late teenage years) from time to time, it is clearly my favorite cuisine today. I now have a keen sense of the types of products that please me, and the restaurants (particularly in France) that please me. Making choices, informed by one's subjective preferences, and bearing the upside and downside of them are part of growing up. The same principles apply with respect to a diner's choice of what he takes in. When I was a young child, certain of the very few restaurants I like were not even operating as such. Of course, the me of today would have fared just fine eating at certain restaurants then that no longer exist. I have never eaten cuisine from the hands of Point, Bise, Chapel or Dumaine and never will, of course. There are some restaurants that I feel I missed out on while I was somewhat older, although still not a developed diner -- Girardet's restaurant in Crissier, perhaps the period when P Troisgros was jointly cooking with M Troisgros, and Robuchon at Jamin. Those restaurants could have been accessible, had I had my current preferences and knowledge earlier in life. :confused: Not only do I not look upon the food of my childhood with particular fondness, but I feel I missed out on so many things by not having developed as a knowledgeable diner at an earlier age range.

Mao -- I have now visited the new Bouley three times as well (2 dinners, 1 lunch). The first two visits were disappointing; the third wonderful (but for a particular reason that may be difficult to replicate). The restaurant can reach a very high level of cuisine for NY, but generally appears to operate at a level lower than that in my preliminary assessment. I have had the same dish be unappealing one day and gorgeous the next week. I agree that the restaurant appears to lack consistency, although the dishes within a meal appear to have consistency -- they tend to all be disappointing when one is disappointing. Note I will further explore the restaurant after taking a slight break from it.

I see. BYO is slightly less attractive to me because (1) I frequently dine alone and would contemplate bringing a bottle (instead of 1/2 bottle each of red and white), (2) the cuisine is much more significant than the wine for me, (3) I frequently find that the actual offerings on the day of visit contain wonderfully unexpected items (relative to even recently updated Website menu listings or signature dishes), and (4) I do not have a wine cellar from which to draw bottles and instead purchase in tiny quantities on a generally "as needed" basis. However, I do believe wine lists are overpriced and am seeking to formulate a general response to that.

Steve P, lizziee & Beachfan --- Are you familiar enough with a restaurant's menu, and/or bring versatile enough wines, that you know what you bring will match your subsequently-chosen dishes? Or are there enough people in your dining party that you generally know things will even out? Do you call in advance to notify the restaurant (including as part of making the reservation) if you know the restaurant generally allows BYO?

Steve P -- Yes, a friend of mine is getting married at the Four Seasons, Aviary (spelling?), near Carlsbad this summer. I do not have much time, but would be interested in the tuna cages (where exactly are they)? I am also flying into San Diego, so could take in lunch at a restaurant there quickly before the wedding.

Steve P -- Do sommeliers seem unhappy when you do not order from the list at all?

Jinny -- Consider the above post.

The Fat Duck, UK http://www.fatduck.co.uk/wine_list.html

When members provide input, could they consider commenting on particular wines that appear to be a good deal? For example, at L'Orangerie, Haut Brion Blanc 1988 is $255 and is not at a particularly high mark-up. And, amusingly, the Vosne Romanee, Henri Jayer 1985 is listed incorrectly at $32! I don't know why the L'Orangerie wine list page has the caption "The Cellar of God" near the top of the page?!

I wonder whether Blumenthal speaks French. How is he able to understand French cookbooks? :confused:

How would a diner teach himself how to cook dishes by merely sampling them? Wouldn't he need some fairly strong technical culinary skills to be able to "replicate" dishes, including the subtleties? :confused:

Jinmyo -- Water chestnuts have a weird crunchiness to them. An ugly sensation that I sometimes feel I can sense through my teeth as well -- I know that sounds unusual.