cabrales

Charles -- When you have a chance, please consider discussing whether you have sampled the omakase and what interesting items it contained.

I heard second-hand that one of the sushi chefs at Jewel Bako used to work at Bond Street. Is there further input on Jewel Bako?

The "trunk" part of the geoduck at least does have skin. I have eaten geoduck at certain sushi places. However, I wonder whether the skin has been removed (probably) and which part of the geoduck (i.e., the portion inside the shell or from the trunk) the sashimi-quality flesh was from. Also, do members have input on the extent to which geoduck can be cleaned while they are alive (and how)? Geoduck seem to live at least at times in sand near water (according to the Pacific Northwest forum), and I have seen live geoduck (temporarily at least) in bins devoid of water in Chinatown. Would one keep the geoduck in water while its trunk were being -- err -- "trimmed"?

In reviewing Bourdain's response, I thought about whether I would take in the live monkey brains if the opportunity presented itself. Sadly, I have to admit I would not be deterred by potential pain for the monkey affected, but would be more worried about whether the monkey brain carried diseases that could be transferred over. :confused: With seafood, I tend to worry less (unjustifiably) about getting ill from eating those items alive. I have thought about taking flesh from a live salmon caught on an Alaskan cruise day excursion (not yet pursued). More easily implemented would be my buying a large geoduck clam from Chinatown and taking meat from its "trunk" while it was still alive. I believe this to be possible because a geoduck clam is very large (see the Pacific Northwest forum for background), and may sustain an initial knife cut. Also, the "trunk" of the clam is long and amenable to that type of cut. I would prepare some soy and wasabi for sashimi style eating, and also a little pot of bouillon for quick immersion and eating. (Apologies if members find this plan unappealing. I will implement it sometime this year and report back)

Steve -- When you have a chance, could you consider walking through the steps involved in decanting, including the choice of a decanter (size, materials included, shape, etc.)? Also see my post almost concurrent with yours above.

I was reviewing the calendar of events on the Blue Hill website, and noted that today there is a special tasting menu in celebration of local peas (interested members should verify with the restaurant prior to reliance). http://www.bluehillnyc.com/bhcalendar.html Other upcoming featured local products -- July 23 (corn) and August 20 (tomatoes -- that sounds interesting).

I'd appreciate some background on black salt, including how its taste might differ from other types of salt. I've come to appreciate the visual beauty of dishes more in recent days, assuming the crucial fact that the dish is delicious. I'd imagine black salt to be quite visually pleasing on certain items.

Steve P -- When you have a chance: What wines did you decant overnight, and do you use the same types of decanters for red and white wine? Also, when you are decanting white wine, do you allow the decanter to sit in an ice bucket?

Members should note that the wine tasting would begin earlier than 8:45 pm. When I asked the restaurant a few weeks ago, 5:30 pm was a possible indicated time for the tasting. Any members interested in taking up Nina's reservation might want to check on timing, etc.

Russ -- I posed the monkey brains question to A Bourdain in the current Q&A session and received the following response:

Below is a thread with discussion that I value considerably: http://forums.egullet.org/ikonboa....43;st=0

I'd appreciate hearing from any members who have dined at Parkheuvel.

I'd appreciate members' input on why the following is a violation: "A cook touched a piece of fried fish with his bare hands to see if it had cooled enough." Wouldn't manual inspection of cooked food be a routine aspect of cooking, presumably? :confused:

Helena -- I might need some basics before I can take a chef's cookbook and prepare items in it. It's a problem that the cookbook I would enjoy cooking from is likely "Atelier d'Alain Senderens", including the Canard Apicius (high, high difficulty).

Priscilla -- When you have a chance, please consider further describing the octupus "encounter". How were the tentacles removed from the octupus (e.g., was the octupus alive when that happened, did it react, how large was the overall octupus, etc.)? Also, were the tentacles twitching when presented to you, and, if so, more out of being "alive" or out of reaction to the soy/wasabi? Did the suction cups adhere a bit to parts of your mouth?

Hopleaf -- I can see how you and others might prefer a different name. However, the name of the series does convey that it is intended for people with no prior knowledge of a subject matter (which would be accurate for me, in the case of actual cooking techniques, etc.) and that the books are written to be easily understood. I think I am going to need all the help I can get.

I ordered the book, but have not yet had a chance to review it. Over the weekend, I did go food shopping, and bought some d'Artagnan prepackaged chicken sausages (now frozen -- egad, but intended to be cut up and added into any purchased pasta sauce as needed), some Ranier cherries and a small tin of oscetra (which was immediately gobbled up). I also visited the Union Square market for unborn eggs, but the stall that normally carries them has very limited quantities and was sold out by the time I arrived. I took in a container of decent purchased green tea ice cream over the weekend as well.

Gary -- TimeOut provided a relatively early (in hindsight, correct) update on the Italian cuisine and AH. I might have posted on that somewhere in this forum. Interestingly, when I was at locanda locatelli during 1Q 2002, Ramsay was chatting with Locatelli.

Gary -- Did the article mention whether Ramsay has experience with Italian cuisine or how he intends to supervise the new restaurant? His bio would suggest Ramsay has not worked meaningfully with Italian cuisine. I don't disagree with Ramsay's decision to choose a non-French cuisine for the Connaught. It certainly reduces the risk of cannibalization of RHR, Claridge's and Petrus.

Robert S -- I'm going to visit a few more times before an assessment. [sob, sob -- I'm hoping I will rediscover through more visits the lyricism I used to see in Bouley's cuisine. This radical a change over time in my assessment of a cuisinier has never before befallen me. Bouley used to be my favorite cuisinier in the US, not just in NY, and taking into account T Keller. While Bouley was never my preferred cuisinier taking into account other countries, I really liked the old, non-bakery Bouley. My views have been shifting on restaurants, though. For example, Chanterelle was the restaurant I chose for 12/31/99, after Gotham Bar & Grill cancelled my reservation from not having sufficient clients to choose to open that evening. Yet a recent lunch visit described on the board left me feeling disappointed. A preliminary switch in the opposite direction is Cello, which I did not used to particularly like a while ago. However, a recent visit left me fairly satisfied with the cuisine and its subtlety. I will visit Cello a few more times before coming to a more concrete personal conclusion.] Perhaps robert brown could provide a take on our lunch? Liza -- A weekend lunch.

Jon -- Which part of Bleeding Heart are you referring to? There are potentially at least three areas that one might dine at (incl. an informal bar area and the more formal restaurant, which is not that formal in absolute terms).

robert brown, Susan and I took in lunch at Bouley recently. Our assessments were unanimous, and not positive, relative to our expectations. However, the service appeared to be better than my prior visit.

Maria -- I would readily take in the above live items (including a small piece of octupus), except for the rats and the monkey's brain. While for some diners there may be a "frat boy"-type mentality, for me the desire to take in flesh from a live item reflects the thrill in my mind of the proximity of the connection between the eaten and the diner. It's not necessarily a desire to inflict pain or injure the eaten item, but more a sense of rendering more direct and visible that which lies behind our every meal involving, among other things, seafood or meat. Also, I suppose, a curiosity, not dissimilar to my curiosity aobut ortolans and fugu.

Winot -- Were you referring to the unutilized "upstairs" area? That area is not intended to be used, very generally.