bourdain

Michael: Are you now--or have you ever been--a member of the communist party? And what's up with the Cleveland thing? What year exactly was it that the Indians took it all?

Argentine beef was (and might again be) allowed into the US--but only boneless cuts, packed in cryovac. So. You've got a leaner, tougher, less flavorful piece of meat--that's been soaking in its blood inside plastic for God knows how long . And you can't even dry-age it. Sound good? Not to me.

Pinotxo is first one in the main entryway--slightly to the right. Very very fine--and Juan is famously a great guy. And yeah..there WAS a bowl of orange/ tangerine "air"--and a dessert that disappeared completely in the mouth--but no foamy sauces at all. Powders, gels, hot and cold consommes, agar-agar, various substances that mimic snow and sleet and soil...and pulled cotton--but no foam in the sense we've come to know it.

SALUMI!!

Just returned from shooting in Spain--a fairly relaxed 'work' schedule--so there was some downtime to just hang out and have a good time. In fact, all of the shooting was a good time--and I think that thanks entirely to Ferran and Albert Adria we got some really and truly incredible stuff on tape. They could not possibly have been nicer or more cooperative--even opening up the Taller for a day's session with their chemist and industrial designer for a day-long session to show us how they do it. In Barcelona, revisited Boqueria first thing to see old friend Juan at Pinotxo. He buried me with early morning beer, prawns with wild asparagus, braised veal 'face', tiny, tiny baby squid (ink and guts still in with white beans and balsamic reduction, the ubiquitous and fabulous bread rubbed with tomato olive oil and garlic--and of course the famous tortilla. Marvelous as always. To Jamonisimo for a lengthy tasting of extramadura and salammanca ham in the back of the shop(Adria says that proprietor Senor Martine's family- raised and cured Salammanca ham is the best in the world--and it appears to be). Wolfed down a bottle of Dom (better than Cava says Martine) with cans of lovely Galicean clams and fatty tuna .. Stumbled around the old quarter eating everything in sight. A day at the beach in Sitges. To the Taller where we spent the day watching experiments with the Adrias. Albert took us out for lunch at their favorite Japanese place--where needless to say, we got the full treatment...Albert's English is quite good. (Ferran's English is nonexistent--his Spanish diifficult even for the Spaniards. But somehow, between French, Spanish and his very expressive hand movements and facial expressions and the context, I understand nearly everything he's saying--and he seems, remarkably to understand my French). To Roses. Checked into the Almadraba Park Hotel. Went to scout Rafa's for next day's lunch and couldn't resist eating dinner: whelks, sea cucumber (espardenyes), tiny, tiny clams (petxines), rascasse, a small sole, a small turbot, tiny squids (chipirones). When we ordered everything on the menu, Mrs. Rafa immediately warmed up. Rafa told one of our party to eat with hands--and was very pleased to see me gnawing on a fish head and sucking meat off the gums. The next day, woke up, took a dip at the pool and bumped into old friend Juan Mari Arzak who it turned out was spending his vacation there. Big hugs and kisses and the great man promised to join us for coffee at El Bulli that night (he'd eaten there the night before). Back to Rafa's to meet Ferran. Man--he LOVES that restaurant. And he LOVES Rafa--who eats at El Bulli on the last day of every season. Ate everything in the counter--it was arriving from fishermen as we sat there. Rafa has closed down the annex next door as he can't get enough suitably fresh fish to meet demand. He insists he does NOT want any more business! But he's awful proud of what he is selling. Ferran and I ate more squid, sea cucumber, monkfish 'bouilabaise'--"the Spanish version" said Adria, then correcting himself: "No. Bouillabaise is the French version of what WE do!" Some incredible gambas and langoustines--which we naturally sucked the brains and juice right out of (Maybe Adria's favorite food--sucking the good stuff out of screamingly fresh Gamba head . It's the inspiration for a dish at El Bulli--as is the sea cucumber Rafa does). More clams--which Adria eats at whirwind pace. A bottle of Galicean white--followed by Muscat. Rafa's is as good as everyone says--and Rafa and the Mrs were very tickled to hear the title of the thread "Rafa's Rules Roses". (Rude Photos to follow). To El Bulli. Where I ate in the kitchen with Ferran and my Spanish editor. (I think we burned her out translating for seven hours for the cameras between the mix of French, Catalan, Spanish and English)An amazing fantasy land magic act which I will unfortunately have to refrain from describing so as not to conflict with imminent journo obligations. (read all about it very soon) Suffice to say it was sensational, strange and fabulous. And did I say almost always delicious? Ferran, sitting across from me, watched every mouthful--often giving very precise instructions on when, how and in what order. He ate right along with me--if not slightly ahead of me--Thirty plates...much much Spanish wine, sherry and more sherry. Arzak arrived for coffee and dessert and the two best friends are a joy to be with together. To the patio for gin tonics till three AM. Adria decided he really liked Chris and Lydia (the shooter/producers) watching them scarf an abbreviated version of the meal standing up at a counter in the kitchen after shooting. We all left drunk, stuffed, happy and laden with books. The next day, we were invited to join Arzak, his wife and friends at the pool for an informal lunch of wine, squid, anchovies, lobster, fish, some huge green and red tomatoes. The hotel went completely off-menu, laying on some really good, really fresh stuff. We ate with our hands, in bathing suits, family style, off family style plates. An afternoon of eating, gossip, philosophy-Arzak easily one of the nicest guys in the world--and most passionate--a complete pussycat and a great chef. BTW, Juli says hello to the well-known- to- him egulletteers who've been to El Bulli. Two more El Bulli books--along the same lines as the first 98-2002 are in works. English translation SOUNDS like it won't be available for some time. The Wiley estimate of 12-18 months sounds about right. Juli says they are independently publishing it--but I gather others will distribute in States and elsewhere. Well worth waiting for. It IS a work of genius. Almost everything you really need to know about Adria you get watching him taking sheer delight in the simple things: watching iberico ham fat dissolve between his fingers, sucking gamba heads, closely observing the surprise register on your face when one of his dishes unexpectedly explodes in your mouth--turns out to be something different --and more delicious--than what you expected. He loves what he does--is COMPELLED to do what he does, a driven, passionate, very nice, generous man--and an important one. Other notes: There is no longer foam on the El Bulli menu. (an 'air' dish, yes--but NO foam) Other innovations have long ago replaced it. The fried sardine rack in shroudlike 'cotton' is one of the most wonderfully bizarre things I've ever layed eyes on--and very tasty. Wish I could go on--but that's for the article. Sorry to be so coy.

No.

Dude; Adria's taking me to lunch at Rafa's followed by the full treatment at El Bulli. My wife and I will have some periods of down time while Chris and Lydia shoot B-Roll. So, it's gotta be Roses--all the way.

I'm leaving for Spain Friday and will be in Roses for two nights. Staying at the Almadraba Park Hotel. One day I'm having lunch at Rafa's --followed by dinner at El Bulli. Any suggestions for the other night's dinner? Maybe also a breakfast/lunch place? Interesting sites for shooting B-Roll? Gracias!

"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for a few friends.. Finally, you do it for money " --Moliere

And shame on all of you who missed a good Simpsons reference.

abbeynormal: I like you. I really really like you.

The caption "Squeal Like A Pig!!" looks like a natural.

Those chefs intimidated by the high prices demanded for Wagyu (kobe hybrid) steaks might consider the fabulous (and reasonably priced) shoulder cut called "paleron" by the French--and "Flatiron, Scotch' or Chicken' steak by US. It's tasty, with a good yield--and when center tendon is removed, makes surprisingly tender and flavorful grilled or seared steaks. Usually only good for braised or stewed dishes, this flavor-packed vaguely filet shaped cut is tender as hell--due to the Wagyu's heavy rippling of fat. Price to serve one portion? About 6-7 dollars, with garnish and sides. (Compare this to the current NYC cost of serving for one 12 oz trimmed Black Angus sirloin: an appalling $18.00). Next big thing? Probably not. But the lesser, cheaper cuts of the Wagyu are clearly well worth investigating.

"I own both the piss and the cup" Party at Simons!!

Simon comes to work after a long night at the Wenlock: "Uhh..Simon..a word please?" "Ngnnn...uh..yeah, right. Sure." "It has been reported that you haven't seemed a hunded percent lately. You seem tired and listless--and that "Oral History of the Mellotron Years" book you bought for us last year--well--it hasn't been performing as well as hoped. Some (I cannot, of course give their names) have even suggested that this project was the fruit of an addled mind. Be so kind as to piss in this cup, old boy--will you? We'll all feel better about things. "

If I, as an employer, suspect that an employee might be doing drugs--either in the workplace--or in off hours (to the detriment of work performance), should I be permitted to demand a drug test? That's a lower threshold of evidence than even a cop or MI5. Meaning ANY employer could demand a drug test simply because, in their judgement they SUSPECT someone of using drugs. That's a lot of latitude to give a regional manager for Pret A Manger.. And could this power be abused? As in selective testing and interpretation of results? Yes. Yes it could. Next comes the polygraph.

Should there be mandatory drug testing for everyone--or is it just okay with you guys for cooks and workers in heavy industry? Should, publishers and editors for instance, under this bold new principle of "protecting workers" have to piss in a cup at random intervals--and before hiring? If not--why not? Certainly publishing is a business where substance abuse is not exactly unknown.. Fair's fair, right? Some of you seem to have no problem sharing the history of every substance you have had in your body with the private sector--something I doubt you'd be so eager to allow of the police. (For good reason) . Do you really want every potentail employer to know that much about you? Do you not find something grim and soul destroying. maybe a little undignified and well..Fritz Lang's Metropolis..about the prospect of workers lining up to piss in a cup? In order to work? In order to stay employed? You guys get all cranky just cause we listen to all your phone calls out at Cheltenham--and yet you want to let your boss know when you popped your last valium, smoked your last joint, drank too much, started slathering on Rogaine or began taking Viagra? And WHICH workers--in what sectors will end up obediently and regularly handing in their still-warm samples? Will EVERYONE--across the board have to be drug free? Or, more likely just "some"? And which of these options would be worse? Will drugs and substance abuse continue to be okay for "artists" and "writers" and "intellectuals"? Naturally, the wealthy will continue to be able to careen about in their expensive vehicles snorting coke. No boss to demand a piss test? No problem. Let's remember what "zero tolerance" really means. There's an underlying current here of "drug testing is okay--for THEM. They're too stupid to do drugs. They can't handle them. Now where's my Xanax?" Is "trust" between employer and employee a vanishing concept?

No no no..What I'm saying is that companies will be much more careful about initial hires..much less inclined to give somebody "risky" a break. That chefs and hirers would operate defensively--in their own self interest--with less inclination to risk give somebody the traditional second chance. I don't WANT that kind of frightened thinking' By the way, Tony, have I mentioned that I'm enjoying this--and that I hope you are too? I should also mention that the kind of policy you describe is surely the inevitable way of the future. As inevitable as the Starbucks soon to appear on your corner.

" A lawsuit can happen when it can be shown that an employer has been "negligent" in respect of his/her duty of care towards employees." Exactly wrong. A guilty VERDICT or legal CULPABILITY can happen when it can be shown that an employer has been "negligent" A LAWSUIT can happen very easily--all it takes is a plaintiff and a lawyer with a reasonable expectation of hourly wages. Large companies don't fear guilty verdicts or actual liability--as much as they fear the expensive and time consuming legal process. ( see McDonalds vs The Stupid Twat Who Stomped On The Accelerator With Coffee In Her Lap). Mcd settled that case--though they knew that they would surely have prevailed under Res Ipsa Loquitor ( "Coffee is hot. Coffee, when poured on genitals, hurts and maybe even wounds"). This policy of mandating concern is seen only as potential expense and risk..and companies--in an already risky business--will of course react with their usual reptilian logic and minimize that risk. Ergo: Drug tests, mandatory referrals, conversations being recorded for the record and distributed to appropriate officers of the company, etc. The question soon evolves to "Why should I give this guy a break? He might screw up and sue me!"

Great. Just what the world needs. More lawsuits More "cover your ass" policies from employers. So. GR, potentially, hypothetically could face a lawsuit for "allowing" a friend and employee to go off the rails? The apartment owners who incurred damages could, theoretically, sue the Savoy Group? Grieving relatives might sue for the loss of a loved one? Sounds like it . (not saying they'll win--but it sounds like they have grounds under the law) What kind of "cover your ass" hiring and employment policies does that kind of potential outcome breed? Corporations and companies worried about liability generally become more intrusive, restrictive, and standardized--and generally "dumber" . Have you ever looked into the eyes of a Dept of Human Resources Officer? The word "vapid" comes to mind. Drug testing prior to hiring--and more careful screening and reference checks creates an environment where whole segments of society will have trouble finding work in a business that has been traditionally a refuge for outcasts, misfits, immigrants, and eccentrics. That's fine for the military--not for the restaurant business which was once particularly welcoming to "alternative lifestyles" . I can think of a lot of chefs and cooks who would not have made it through the door, would never have been given a chance given that kind of ethos. Myself for one. Stabilized on methadone and crawling back up from years as a crackhead and junkie, I needed WORK. I needed a CHANCE. Do you think I could have gotten work if my employer saw the metabolites in my piss? When I kicked meth--on my own--do you think I could have held that job, if the chef--who'd see me shaking and freezing in front of the oven a few minutes a day- -had referred me to head office? I think not. " The lawyers say we have to" is rarely a precursor to humanistic or good practice. And while I have no doubt that you have the same kind of right wing "libertarian" nut-cases that we do--who want to remove any and all laws, taxes or guidelines under the guise of "freedom", I don't want my employer in my shit cause he's scared of a lawsuit. I don't want to worry about informers. I don't want mandatory drug testing (surely in the cards with this kind of mindset--as employers rush to avoid liability. I don't want a legal obligation to "snitch" on my coworkers and employees . Which is what it comes down to. It is most terrifying to me that both right and left now move in unison. The right wants to know everything about us because we might be terrorists or illegal immigrants. The left wants to know everything about us because they think we're too dumb and potentially litigious to make sensible decisions for ourselves. In the end, we give up freedoms to crackpots and functionaries on the fringes of both ideologies. "Paternalistic" is, unfortunately, not too bad a word--whatever butt-ugly bunch is misusing it. "Freedom"--also a criminally misused word, did once mean something kinda nice. Governments are (and should be) notoriously awful at modifying human behavior. Let us hope they never get good at it. (see Singapore)

"On the train of the revolution, we will lose the liberals at the first turn." Lenin

I have, by the way, studied "management theory" and "supervisory development" at CIA. And might point out that Kitchen Confidential is now (incredibly, I agree) required reading at Cornell (in hotel/restaurant management, I believe) and many other culinary and management and business schools.. And I am frequently invited (though I have yet to accept) gigs addressing the business community on "Team Building" and "Crisis Management". The Harvard Business Review recently did a long, rather wistful article on my views on same. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have managed people for over 20 years--and I'd guess you'd have a very hard time finding someone who worked for me who will say I was "unfair" or needlessly cruel, or dismissive of their needs. So I guess that makes me real smart on this subject... I am not anti--union. Clearly they are needed--in industry in particular. And I don't want to sound like a fucking Tory. I'm an old school lefty near- Trotskyite from waay back. But NOT in the kitchen. I have seen what the Big Daddy Will Take Care of Everything lefties of my generation have wrought (I can't smoke a fucking cigaretette in a saloon for one). A near complete abrogation of our human responsibility to ourselves and to others. A codification of acceptable human interaction which is, in my opinion, anti-human. A chef in an old school kitchen deals with individuals. A union chef deals with "The Workers" according to strict, generic guidelines. Seniority--rather than merit rules the day. Is there anyone more completely out of touch with the real world of WORK , more patronizing, more willing to doom us all to mediocrity than a "Human Resources Director?" or a shop steward or a restaurant union official ?You can take "Maslov's Hierarchy of Needs" and your MMPI's and your drug testing right the fuck out of my kitchen. Now clean out your locker. You're sacked.

SpenCer. Sorry, bro'.

"Rednecks" Finch? That sounds like "hate speech" to me! In fact that deeply offends my heritage as a"son of the soil". A written warning will be placed in your file. A second instance of this kind of insensitivity will require complusory sensitivity training . Third strike and you're out. Please write a written apology to Spenser--oh wait, no, not now, It's time for your "break". The kind of corporate and union kitchens you describe often exclude from the get-go anyone who's even smoked weed in the last six months. So who-really is more "inclusive"? What sector of the industry-truly--on a ground level, really is most welcoming of personal foibles, socio-economic differences, racial, religious, national and sexual "diversity"? The freewheeling independent is far more accepting of those who otherwise would slip beneath the radar. I draw your attention to the recent "Ed" the lunch truck guy show, where Ed is coached, terrified, peer prssured and mentored by that poster boy for "Oppression" Gordon Ramsay (among others). Notice the difference in ED at the end. Proud of himself, Notice also the proprietary pride of the chefs when Ed brings home the Gold. That's real--and a good analogy for the relationship between chef and abused commis. Successful chefs do NOT rule through fear or intimidation. Whatever it looks like to outsiders. You can't--and shouldn't. A chef with a whole crew who hate themselves and feel like utterly beaten down, exploited tools of a chef who doesn't apprecate or look after them doesn't last. Chefs rule through example and through leadership--in the classic senses of those words. Take away the meritocracy aspects of Our Thing where it's all about raising up and empowering individuals to be the best they can be-- and you are left with..well..a Hilton where a lazy, shiftless, mediocre employee, by simply sticking to minimum standards and manipulating the guide book and labor rules, can survive year after year, outlasting successive regimes of chefs. We've all seen it. Find a truly good corperate or union kitchen. I'm waiting....

You say "I hate alcoholics" ...but in most of the restaurant underworld what we really mean is "I hate non-functioning, stumblebum alcoholics" who are likely to screw up, make unpleasant scenes, repeatedly embarrass us etc. The quiet drunk grill guy who manages to keep it together every day is a much loved character--even if he strips down to a gold lame thong and passes out at the bar down the street every night. Of course, when his health goes, or he starts showing wear and tear and age, we don't love him so much anymore--and likely toss him to the wolves. Or brunch shift. "I hate alcoholics"? I doubt it. Some--if not many--of your/my culinary heroes are alcoholics. The whole industry revolves around getting good and plastered after work--or at least "coming down" from the rush. And don't even talk about writers--an evil bunch of drunks if I ever seen one.(to a large degree). A decidedly more complex scenario than discussed here(as yet). Does the business, by its very nature, attract marginal people with a taste for melodrama--and booze? And other often illegal sensations? Yes. On a very basic level, people who are passionate--truly passionate--about food tend to have similar enthusiasms for a fine beverage--and see nothing wrong with the pleasurable effects of alcohol (not to mention drugs, not to mention a good blow job--or analagous reciprocation) We tend to be sensualists. On another level, people from similar socio-economic backgrounds tend to find themselves in the cooking life--and have since Roman times. On another level: Who trusts a cook who doesn't like music, sex, a nice pint or three after work? What is great about this business is a tradition of being loyal to--and loving those who stand with you--even with all their flaws. Of knowing that we shall all surely die--and not caring--at least until tomorrow. We do the best we can--as all good people do--to struggle through the day, make decisions that often change lives. We tolerate the often fatal flaws in our friends as we hope they tolerate ours. We judge, in the end, by the demands of the job. And that's as fair or fine a judgement as you can find anywhere on earth.