Charles Smith

It's hard enough convincing people that swiss chard and artic char are different.

Lizziee- The hotel concierge was a very effective way to make reservations in the case of Arzak. I would definitely suggest making a reservation for any meal at the restaurant in the Guggenheim- which gets packed, much to my dismay- also leave extra time than you normally might for a museum visit as the tour of the museum itself (wanded, 45 minutes minimum) is incredible. I'm not sure when the baby eel season ends, but choosing a tapas bar on them having that is the way to decide, if it is in season. Enjoy your trip, it's a special part of the world. Cheers, Charles

Roasted Brussels Sprouts- Clean them cut in half (or 1/4's) EVOO significant amounts of S&P Sesame or pumpkin seeds roast in preheated 500 degree oven for 20-25 minutes (they should be brown, turining to black) "but I don't like brussel sprouts" turns into "how do you make these"

Mushroom risotto is easily done without dairy- use mushroom or veggie stock and don't add parmesan to the non-dairy (use onions carmelized with EVOO instead)

Danny- Thanks for your time- it's a great opportunity for us to ask some questions. A number of things about Blue Smoke make it seem "replicable"- the items (sauces, t-shirts, etc.) for sale, the accessible graphics, the geographically generic name (as opposed to your other restaurants), and the terrific web site, to name a few. Is this a concept you'd like to roll out to other locations? If so, NYC, or elsewhere? I eat lunch at Blue Smoke regularly and have seen significant improvement in all aspects of the restaurant- nice work! Cheers, Charles

I'm not planning on attending, but I think the Inn's gone downhill over the last 2-3 years. I've eaten there approx. 10 times over the years, always for a special occasion (my father's birthday mostly, and my brother's wedding) and the first 8 meals were memorable, but last year's (2001) two meals were subpar, and the menu hadn't changed, at last not appreciably. The wine list had also deteriorated. The Inn does extend to other buildings in the town.

In Johannesburg there's a restaurant modeled after a train car that serves a game buffet, complete with hippo, zebra, lion, etc. Nothing stood out as excellent, and the hippo, as you might imagine, was on the fatty side.

I'd have her look for Franshcoek and Simonsig- (Producers) and if she can visit the wine country, it is spectacular.

fermented grape juice, or peaches

Upon further examination ( and to save further examination), I'd remove both Supper and Col Legno- both can be enjoyable, but are more inexpensive "filler-uppers" than high quality Italian- iCoppi is better than both.

I would also leave off Accapella- Awful service and prices. edited to add also after seeing Liza's post.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and for the original post- It's a story he loved to tell and I hadn't thought of it for a long time.

To this I owe my obsession, as it created my father's obsession- he used to tell a wonderful story about hiking from his ship in Nice to Antibes to eat at La Bonne Auberge- to see what a 3 star restaurant was like- he was an officer on a minesweeper in the Med- wore his dress whites, etc. He was overwhelmed with the experience, fell in love with French cooking, culture, etc. stopped at the opera on the way back to his ship and lives to eat to this day- a quality he passed on to my brother and me. He took us back there for lunch, (and to Moulin des Mougins that trip)- thanks for the post- great stuff. Cheers, Charles

Glad you enjoyed your JB experience- It's my favorite restaurant of the moment- thanks for the report.

On a typical night, $75 would be appetizers, sushi or sashimi as the focus, with 2-3 dishes of sushi/sashimi (the one you didn't choose as your focus)- $100 would be complete servings of sushi and sashimi, as well as the appetizers- Cheers, Charles

La- It's also a good idea to let Jack pick your wines/sakes for each dish, if you're so inclined- He does a great job matching. Enjoy!! Cheers, Charles

It's the anti Field of Dreams event

I'm interested in understanding what might be available at different price levels- I'm also interested in trying some older red wines, as I've heard that this match can be tremendous- I'll supply some of those. edited to correct typo.

I'm in

he's a part owner, along with his brother in law (who makes the wines), and someone else (not-wine related). It's interesting, b/c to my taste, these wines reflect RP's desires for extraction and power in all wines.

But you deserve Gaja. except, of course, for the oak ;-) and Rabbitt Maranville deserves to be in the hall. edited to hide my stupidity from a wider audience

- buy more- it will be an amazing wine. with only 2, I'd open one in 2007 and then see how it's drinking to gauge the next open- about the Squires' thread- insane. I don't drink enough burg to wade in, but I'm a fan of both '93 and '98 ;-)

It's difficult for me to suggest bargains, b/c I'm not sure what you want to spend, but a lot of the '88's look interesting to me: Cos, Pichon Baron, la Mission- also the '88 Tignanello. the best high end bargain on the list is the '86 Unico. in the lower ranges, the '94 Leoville Poyferre is drinking well now, if you like Beaujoulais the 2000 vintage was excellent so the brouilly might be a good chocie- the '96 Boillot Volnay is a nice choice as well

Marcus- If you've successfully calibrated your palate vs. his, then he's the perfect critic for you. Cheers, Charles

ChefVic- I'll have to check out buckwheat as a cereal- I love pancakes and soba noodles, so that seems pretty obvious. Cheers, Charles