cabrales

Steve P -- Now that's a sign you liked your Blue Hill meals and hope to return for preferential treatment. (Note I agree Mark is very nice.)

nyfirepatrolchef_10-26 -- When you prepare food for fellow firemen, do you consider how quickly the food can be eaten? Also, how quickly do you eat and does that affect your enjoyment of food while on duty?

Steve P -- If Mark Anthony was obsessed with eGullet, why wouldn't he have mentioned it when we spoke to him on Thursday? Note the only way he would have identified our dining party's affiliation, though, was through your name. Did you introduce yourself as Steve Plotnicki or as Steve last week? Had you spoken with Mark on prior visits?

I'd appreciate learning what egg dishes (non-dessert) sampled at a restaurant have been particularly memorable for you. In addition, your input on when humor can play a significant role in a dish (with any available examples) would be of considerable interest to me.

One recent discussion on the board related to food items that are still alive when presented to the diners. I'd appreciate it if you could discuss whether you could have actually sampled live monkey brain during your tour, and provide other information on that potential food item.

Steven S's unusual comment led me to review the Blue Hill website. Here's a link to M Anthony's bio: http://www.bluehillnyc.com/bluehillis_michael.html LML is based out of London, no?

Members might also be interested in the "Food Memories -- Proust on Madelaines" thread in this forum. http://forums.egullet.org/ikonboa....27;st=0

Tony -- I wonder if Embassy, restaurant portion, is busy in part due to the "club/lounge" downstairs. I wonder if one have to either be a member/invitee or dine at the restaurant to access the club/lounge (not that one would want to) (?). Also, I wonder if one can eat at the bar on the level of the restaurant.

mbox -- Consider booking Bras and Veyrat's restaurant as soon as your schedule has some structure, particularly for weekend reservations (e.g., Friday night, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch). Veyrat's rooms are very expensive. Bras' less expensive rooms (high 100 euros) can be considered, although there are much less expensive options in Laguiole itself. If you need the listings from the Michelin guide (e.g., you have attempted to access the website unsuccesfully and do not have the Guide Rouge), I can post the indicated alternatives later. I posted in some thread (which cannot currently be searched for, with software problems) about Roquefort-sur-Sulzon being reasonably proximate to Laguiole. There, one can visit the caves for the cheese; tours are available at both Societe and Papillon. In Paris, you are probably considering the smaller museums -- Rodin (this is nice, with a little cafeteria in the gardens in the back area), Marmottan (spelling? Monet), etc. -- together with the larger ones (incl. d'Orsay). I had a very reasonably priced lunch (under euro 45??/person before wine and tip, for certain menus) at two-starred Jamin that you could consider reading about in a thread in the France forum by that name. Also, one-starred L'Angle de Faubourg (easily within the same price range even for dinner) is the bistro of Taillevent's Vrinat and the prices there were very reasonable as well. I will post on that restaurant in the next week, assuming my laptop problems are rectified. I also had a fair meal at La Regalade (same re: price range), which has garnered differing opinions on the board (see the thread in the France forum containing a reference to bistro and "piss pauvre") and on which I also hope to post shortly. At these places, you will not be receiving three-starred food, nor paying corresponding prices. Then, of course, patisseries at Pierre Herme (see thread by name; also contains references to where one can get P Conticini creations without going to Petrossian). For chocolate shops, others' opinion on the board have suggested Jean-Paul Hevin is a good choice (I have never visited, but hope to do so soon).

I am quite skeptical about live monkey brain indications as well. However: -- The Independent (London), June 11, 2001 (Interview with Anthony Bourdain: Living On a Knife Edge): "One last question, then. Anything you wouldn't eat, Anthony [bourdain]? *Well, he could have tried live monkey brains in Asia.* But? 'I didn't want to look at the little monkey's face as they were popping his skull and getting his brains out.'" Russ -- If you are interested in confirming that Bourdain could have pursued live monkey brains, you could Messenger him. I do not know how frequently he checks the board. -- Newcastle Herald (Australia), June 2, 1999 (Disgusting/delicious): "n an upmarket Bangkok restaurant . . . . He'd watched as waiters set up a big dish of crushed ice in the middle of a neighbouring table. Then they'd tipped dozens of small and very much alive crabs, about 5cm across the back, over the ice. [Guess what happened to the crabs!] . . . [T]he owner of a Newcastle Chinese restaurant . . . told me about the eating of live monkey brains - certain restaurants [in China] had special tables, the top of the monkey's head protruded through a hole in the table, the top of the skull was cut off and the diner got into it. . . . Yes, he'd seen it, he assured me when I told him I had believed that to be a Hollywood invention. Another delicacy he mentioned were small live mice, taken by the tail and dipped into chilli sauce. The diner would throw back his head and lower the mouse into his open mouth. The diner didn't chew the mouse. The particular satisfaction was in having the mouse, stung by the chilli, scramble down the throat, down the oesophagus and into the cauldron of acid. Yes, he had seen it." Please note that I lack even second-hand information on the above. I include the excerpts only for Russ' follow-up, should he be so inclined.

mbox -- Please provide some guidance on your hotel preferences, generally intended price range and your cuisine preferences. When you consider regions to visit, what activities would you be most interested in (e.g., restaurant going, visiting of wineries, seeing the French countryside)?

Jinmyo -- Well, I'm glad you're not diseased.

Steve P -- Do you use the same decanters for white Burgundies as for red wine? What decanters are those? Also, how does one determine whether white Burgundies should be decanted, and how long they might be decanted for, if one is at home?

The meal was very good, with good service from both the dining room and kitchen teams. The wine Steve P brought were much appreciated, particularly the Krug 82.

I would appreciate members' input on where tasty dishes with bone marrow could be sampled in NY and elsewhere along the East Coast. If members recollect, please provide an indication of (1) the general quantity of bone marrow included in a dish, and (2) whether the bone containing the marrow was attached to the accompanying meat.

Wilfrid -- Your recollection is accurate. Here are the "official" names from the restaurant's menu: "Small Plates ... Simply Raw" -- Salmon Belly, carrot-yuzu vinaigrette; Bass tartare, [edit based on Steve P's reminder below, smoked herrings' roe, mussel jus] Chilled Asparagus Soup, yoghurt and mussels [bass dish, which is not on the menu and which was the best dish of the meal for me] Roasted Leg of Baby Beef, oyster mushrooms, roasted new potatoes and fava beans Strawberry and Rhubarb Soup, fromage blanc sorbet Chocolate Bread Pudding, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, cocoa nibs and crisp praline (my dessert)

On "live" seafood, I would be interested in sampling all available varieties. For me, that applicable seafood items' death process is extended by the period of the diner's consumption (with attendant possibilities of a limited amount of "pain", to the extent the seafood item has sufficient mental capabilities to experience pain) would not outweigh my selfish desires. While having a living item does facilitate fresh seafood, the primary appeal to me would be the intellectual acknowledgement of the brutality of taking flesh from a living item. It is not a "power trip", but more the thrill of capturing the sacrifice for me of the other living item -- a fact which is present in non-live seafood and animals eaten.

I prefer a well-executed traditional Bolognese sauce, paired with a pasta with lots of crevices for the sauce to find itself entrapped.

Rosie -- Do you recollect what types of salmon were offered (e.g., from what origin) and was there typically a good choice of preparation method?

I'd appreciate members' input on the relative quality of the cuisine on board cruises departing from Vancouver for Alaska. Also, for day excursions that involve salmon fishing, is there an opportunity, for a program offered by any cruise line, to sample the salmon flesh right after it has been caught?

Robert -- What rationale could there be for certain restaurants in France (albeit not in the majority by any means) sometimes decant white Burgundies? Is it specific to particular wines or bottle sizes?

rozapp -- A nice shirt and slacks would be fine.

I'll confess to having been party to the dinner, although I'm not sure if I would be an "ornament". I agree with the above, and note further: -- While the dining party received a special tasting menu thanks to a previous visit to the restaurant by two other eGulleteers who may choose to "expose" themselves, the "regular" $65 tasting menu also had this roasted leg of baby lamb dish. -- While the meat was from the thigh, upon initially tasting it, its texture was sufficiently unusual that I could not ascertain what precise portion of the baby cow our servings had been taken from. -- Note the taste of the baby beef was very different from veal. As Wilfrid suggested, it had a meatier taste than veal does. The baby beef's taste was not dependent on the effects of fat. The chef indicated that the baby beef were grazed on grass (?). -- This dish was aided by an appealing Chateauneuf du Pape that an eGulleteer had furnished.

Steve P -- Please see the above post.

Russ -- I thought about your request a bit more, and came up with live octupus common in Korea (at least South Korea). Here are some article excerpts on the practice: -- The Mirror, April 30, 2002 (Live Meal Is a Killer): "A diner choked to death after swallowing a live octopus at his home. The 62-year-old gasped as the eight-legged creature jammed in his throat. . . . Live octopus is a popular but often fatal feast in the Asian country [south Korea] -choking six people a year." -- South China Morning Post, June 1, 1997 (Bugged by weird cuisine, by Susan Jung): "Octopus, sliced up while still alive and eaten while moving, is considered a delicacy in Japan and Korea. The fact that the suckers on the tentacles stick to the roof of your mouth adds to the enjoyment." -- The Boston Globe, September 19, 1994 (A debate on food that's alive, kicking, by Charles Radin): "The current culinary sensation in South Korea is san nak-ji - live octopus. . . . Chinese from Shanghai south are wild about zui xia - drunken shrimp. . . . The most expensive gourmet delicacy in Japan is ikizukuri, or 'made live' seafood brought to table still quivering with what Banks would call life. . . . Yoo [ilhan, press attache at the South Korean embassy in Tokyo] noted that 'many very expensive Chinese dishes' start with lobster killed at the table." Please retrieve the complete article on your own for review. Also, the article ends with a vague reference to monkey brains. I wonder if that is another dish involving "live" aspects.