Bux

Check out the Hacienda Benazuza in San Lucar la Mayor about 25 k outside of Sevilla. Here are excerpts from a post advising me on where to eat in Andalucia. How are you getting around and traveling from Granada to Sevilla? If you are driving, there was much more in that thread that was applicable. The best way to get the most out of eGullet is to do a search for old posts. It's rare that a member will answer the same question with as much detail the second time it's asked and this is hardly the first time people have asked about Granada or Sevilla. For all that, neither is a great restaurant town. Seville, however is a great place for tapas. It vies with the Pais Vasco perhaps.

Purebred local Aubrac cattle. Roasted, but I'm not sure about à la braise. Braise could be embers in this situation although I think it usually means much the same as it means in English. I'm guessing it means simply grilled on a hot grill over live embers here. A butter sauce whipped with air, pork/bacon fat and garlic, rice with fat and swiss chard (or related greens). Once again, I assume the fat is lard or pork fat, although it could conceivably be anything including butter or a combination of fats, but I think gras alone is likely to mean lard.

I doubt anyone is filling bottles from casks anymore. I don't recall if it was Waverly Root or AJ Liebling who wrote about a little bistro across the street from the Ecole des Beaux Arts where they offered a number of AOC wines in carafe from casks in the basement. It was still there in the sixties, and still had decent food and offered a selection of wines in carafes. By the eighties, the food had gone to hell and I doubt they now have casks in the basement. Few enough starred restaurants serve wine in carafe and I doubt any have casks. My last three star meal was last fall in Paris. It was at Arpège. Arpège can be very pricey, but it doesn't seem to have all the trappings of a luxury restaurant. I don't recall anyone tasting the wine before, or after, I did. Then again, I should probably ask my wife. I believe the bottle was opened behind my back. We had a Sancerre that ran about 80-90 euros. It's a rare year that I get to have more than a pair of three star meals in France and lately we've been spending more time in Spain than France. On the whole, I'd say wine service is more casual in Spain, even in three star places and there are few Michelin three star restaurants in Spain.

I'm trying to recall if a sommelier has ever tasted my wine prior to serving it to me and I'm not absolutely sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's never happened. Have I observed this phenomenon? Yes, many times. It's far more likely to be a service performed with a very expensive bottle than with a relatively inexpensive bottle of wine. For some people, all wine ritual is pure ritual and meaningless. That however, is rarely the case in a truly fine restaurant in France. I should say never the case in such a restaurant in France, by definition. It's a crass joint if the service becomes a meaningless ritual for tourists. I had a wonderful lesson in wine service, among other things, at one of my first dinners in a fine French restaurant. It was at la Pyramid in Vienne in the late sixties. M. Point had passed on, but his wife and second in command were still running a fine show, albeit two stars, not three, by Michelin standards. It was off season and there were only three tables occupied. Mrs. B and myself were on our second trip to France, in our twenties and not very flush. We ordered a bottle of beaujolais which was brought open and unlabeled. I rather assume it was drawn from a cask in the cellar and it was good beaujolais, by the way. The glasses already at our table were righted and the wine poured without ceremony. I don't believe I was even asked to taste the wine. Why should I have been? The staff was probably drinking from the same cask. Across the room from us, was a three top. I recognized one of the fashion designers at the table because of his involvement in the art world. They apparently ordered a nice burgundy. The glasses on the table were changed and one gentleman at the table was given a taste before the wine was poured. At the end of the room, was a large--at least a dozen or more people--table. At the head of the table sat an older man in blue denim overalls. He was clearly the host. A group of men and women in various outfits sat around the table, at least some of the men were in coats and ties. There was also a young girl, of perhaps four or five years of age, who spent much of her time running around the table. I assumed they were locals and I strongly began to suspect the patriarch probably owned one of the most valuable plots of land in burgundy. Their wine was brought rather ceremoniously to the table for visual inspection, than removed to a corner of the room where it sat upright for a short period. It was opened in the corner and a small amount poured into a very large glass by the sommelier who took a sniff of the wine before setting it down. He returned in a few minutes to take a sip of the wine. It may then have been decanted, but I honestly don't recall. In due time the table was served and the host then took a sip before approving the wine which was poured into glasses that were a bit larger than the others used so far that evening. I know I've told this story before. My aplogies to those who have read it before, but this set my expectations for life. When I see a fuss made over a young Beaujolais, I am amused--although less so when the cork is all but shoved up my nose. Likewise, I am sad when a truly fine bottle doesn't get the attention it deserves. When the diner is paying a large sum for a fine wine, I think it's a service for the sommelier to taste the wine.

I'm quite confused here. I'm totally at sea in regard to a candle having a role in in clearing a sommelier's palate. I'm not familiar with the use of a candle in regard to a bottle of wine in the dining room except as a light behind the wine bottle to see if the wine itself is clear and to see if sediment is going to enter the decanter when the wine is decanted. Then again I really have no idea of what went on in Taillevent. "There was a lot of faffing around with the wine – passing it over a flame & so forth," just seems so subjective that I don't know what to make of the statement. One would not expect an inexpensive half bottle of wine to be subject to decanting, but it's conceivable that there are no inexpensive half bottles of wine at Taillevent. I've been in restaurants where there are no inexpensive wines, at least not to my pocketbook.

That's excellent. I only have the 2003 here and I didn't see that last year. What you describe is basically what Michelin has always offered. It's too late to help on my upcoming trip, but I look forward to seeing the new guide. I wish such a map were readily available on the web, but Michelin doesn't make that map available on the web either and I'm not aware of any web iste where this kind of information is available. I suppose they must leave some reason for people to buy the printed guide. The Campsa guide comes bound with a set a maps covering all of Spain, and these maps are detailed and useful for driving, but because they divided all of Spain into more than 80 separate pages bound into the guide, they are maddening to use for planning a route. In fact, we find we want a set of Michelin maps even with the Campsa guide, so that in the end, the maps serve to make the Campsa guide a very large and heavy guidebook to pack and carry on an overseas trip. This is less of a drawback for a Spanish resident. The Campsa guide does come with a CD and we travel with a laptop. Unfortunately the 2003 CD was not cross platform and didn't work on a Mac. The future lies in a PDA accessible guide.

Show me two great restaurants and then tell me that one has a great PR team and the other has none at all and I'll tell you I really respect the chef with a PR team as a businessman, but it the food is equal, I won't prefer the one because it has a great PR team. Serve me great food when you're up and running and treat me well. The PR hype is only useful as news. It's useless as "no news." Why does a restaurant have to issue a series of press releases to say that there's no news yet? When there's news, I'm sure there will be news. No news is no news whether it comes from silence or via massive mailings and phone calls. We've perverted the media. It's now required to tell us nothing. We used to be disappointed at no news. Now we want it at regular intervals. I'm sorry, I honestly believe people have something better to do than tell me nothing. If they don't, they should find some honest work. And oh yeah, if there was a string of "nothing new to say" no news press reports coming out of Per Se, there would be a bunch of people accusing them of thinking they were so important that we needed to be reminded they didn't know when they were opening.

Let's assume there's a public relations incompetence here. What of it? It's one thing when management or staff has been rude to me, but is this anything that's going to stop you from eating at Per Se? I rather doubt that Thomas Keller is not far more bent out of shape by the lack of a definite date when he can reopen his restaurant than any of us should be. This date is not being set by the restaurant is much as it is by the contractor and perhaps, local officials and inspectors. Keller and his PR staff are in the middle of all this, and if they're not handling the release of information that's likely inaccurate and changing as fast as they get it, what of it? If I were Thomas Keller and I had time to read eGullet right now, I wouldn't look kindly on those who felt hard put by what I'd consider were my afflictions and I'd be hardly likely to award a free dinner to grumblers who were amusing themselves by guessing when I might be able to get back in business. My assumption here is that Keller is constantly being put off by others and caught in the middle and you're probably correct in thinking every delay is going to complicate the re-opening of Per Se in ways that probably extend beyond just the logistics of diners and reservations.

I think this is an important point. Without even getting into the heart of the miserly manner with which Michelin awards stars in Spain--we've had meals in unstarred restaurants that were better than some two star meals in France--the blank spaces on the map of stars in the Guia Rojo mean that one can travel in an area with no real clue as to which restaurants are the better ones even relative to local standards. Campsa's one, two and three stars and R (for recommended) rating cover more of the map. Well, they would if Campsa had a map showing stars. That's one more thing Mrs. B and I agree on--a map with the location of outstanding restaurants is most useful for tourists planning a driving itinerary. For a business traveler, or a train traveler, most likely to be in specific cities, a list of cities and their restaurants is fine, but for those who are driving and willing to go way out of their way for a good meal it's almost essential to have a guide that shows where the good meals are in relation to the area in which we will be. I recently put up a plea for places along a Malaga - Alicante - Valencia - Madrid route. Most all of the restaurants suggested on eGullet were in the Campsa guide, but I wouldn't have necessarily known where to look without the help I got here. Which all goes to prove Pedro's point. Seriously, Spain is a really inviting place for the gastro traveler and I don't know where else an English speaking gastronome can find the kind of information we have.

That the article clearly states that Camdeborde is opening a lunch only brasserie, but then indicates that Ourcine is not lunch only, is why I assume Ourcine is not the brasserie Camdeborde is opening.

In France, tax and service are included as part of the price of the dish as listed on the menu, so service is not added on at the end, but it is built in to the prices. I know of both locals and tavelers who leave nothing, those who leave two to five percent and those who leave more like ten percent at most restaurants.

I believe Menton's distinction between du midi and de midi is correct.

I've read the figaroscope.com page, but not the print pages of Figaro and my French is not so fluent that I would normally take sides in this issue, but I need to ask Fresh_a if his version is based soley on what he's read in the Figaro, or if there's some other insider source of information. The web page speaks of Camdeborde's new adventure mentioning "repas de midi" and "style brasserie." After that it says "En attendant," which I assume means while waiting for this to come to fruition. It then goes on to talk about "Sylvain Danière et son Ourcine"--or Sylvain Danière and his Ourcine. I read that to say Ourcine (the bistro) is Danière's. Furthermore we now know that Oursine is open for dinner. I'm rather convinced that the "brasserie," or bistro, or resto that will serve brasserie style food, is as yet unnamed and unannounced. An interesting question was also raised to me. Could "repas de midi" mean meals of the midi, or south of France, rather than meals of noontime? Given Camdeborde's background and the food and wine of the southwest were well represented in la Régalade, and that Ourcine seems to focus on the southwest with Basque specialties, this is a reasonable question. That question seems to be answered in the negative by what's on page 11, but it was an interesting thought. It still appears to me that Ourcine is not that adventure of Camdeborde's spoken of in the future on the fagaroscope.com site minireview of Ourcine.

Yes, everything is a question of timing and balance, but I suspect timing and balance are seen subjectively by most of us. Those of us who have raised one child are far more confident we know exactly the best way to do it. Friends who have raised two of three kids tell us each one was different and that each one had his own needs and each one required a change in technique.

You mean like how a dozen years of trying in vain to get your kid to clear her own dishes and just bring them to the dishwasher becomes unimportant when you hear she had dinner with a friend's family and washed the dishes afterwards. You can never be quite sure how your kids will react when you're not there. For better or worse, how they act at home and when you're around may not be the way they act when you're not there.

I'm always missing the irony and would love to assume that's the case here. I don't really expect people to be polite or impolite to me because of where I'm from, but I find most people to be very polite to me in France and Spain, the two parts of Europe in which I'm most likely to travel. When and if they learn I'm an American, if there's been any discernable difference, it's usually an increased politeness, although generally there's no change.

Context, if not everything, is at least very important. My guess is that Adira has the ability to see across the lines that divide certain contexts. He can see a manaufacuturing process and adapt it to a artisanal craft or extract that part with can be applicable without prejudice. I fully appreciate the craft behind a meal at El Bulli. At our first meal there, a friend noted that he thought it was the most labor intensive meal he had ever had. This was in no way directed at the quality of the food and not meant to be a value judgment in regard to quality or value, although of course it easily justified the cost of the meal and made us wonder how he could even afford to serve such a meal at that cost. As for "processed," I was only trying to defuse the connotations of the word. We all process food on the way to our mouths. In our mouths we further process it on the way to our stomachs. Nevertheless, it seems that Adria doesn't have the the same aversion most of us have to what we all regard as "processed." Klc spoke of a dish Adria made using canned corn. In his trials and errors along the way to perfecting the dish, Adria discovered that canned corn brought a better result than fresh corn and thus chose to use canned corn. For most of us, canned products are anathema. It's worth noting, particularly in a disucssion about processed food, that the Spaniards have great love for many canned and jarred products and this could explain Adria's freedom to use canned corn. It's possible Adria lives in his world, which crosses two of ours.

Not only have my happiest surprises come from the unexpected, but excellence has come at the most unexpected places and times. Many of my best food and travel experiences have been unexpected and those wonderful surprises have occurred on the best planned trips, but outside the planned itinerary. My most dreadful meals have also come at unplanned moments. On the whole though, good resources will not so much level out the experiences as raise them immensely.

Over a year ago I read about both the nhube and Fast Good concepts in an nH magazine they leave in their hotel rooms. As presented, the nhube concept sounded as if Adria was giving them ideas about how to de-formalize dining, or eating in restaurants to serve the needs of contemporary travelers. It seemed as if he was aiming for a lounge where one might eat in a relaxed atmosphere, possibly even watching television. On the one hand it sounds like everything your mother taught you not to do at the table. On the other hand it was really a 21st century approach to hospitality for transient guests, especially business people who comprise a large part of any hotel's population. The impression I had was that Adria was not involved with the particular food that would be served in these spaces. The Fast Good however, seemed to be a place where the food would be of his design. I also sensed not so much a reaction against fast food, but against the idea that slow food and the Slow Food movement was the only alternative to fast food as we knew it. Perhaps I read more into this than Adria intended as I've found the Slow Food movement to be rather political and held hostage by different groups in different countries, each with its own agenda. Fast Good in Spain should not be seen as a very revolutionary concept. What is a tapas bar if not fast and most of the time it's pretty good. Some times it's spectacularly good. Pret a Manger has raised the quality of fast food in England. As for Adria's food style, time will tell. Most of what Adria does at El Bulli doesn't seem suited for mass market, yet much of what he's involved in employs laboratory techniques that might well be suited for industrial processes. On this board, I've read at least one post that's accused him of making "processed" food. Part of what a creative person does is not just invent things out of thin air, but see and understand what others have traditionally done and give new meaning to that. Chefs have always processed food. What is the essence of the difference between searing steaks, marinating scallops for ceviche and slicing fish for sashimi and how does it differ from what's done in a food processing plant? What has the industrial processor lost along the way and what is he doing that's applicable to the chef?

Now that my memory's been rattled, I remember a guy years ago who came around at the end of the work day, which meant about four o'clock for those sweatshop workers in SoHo, yes, it was that long ago. I don't recall if he even had a truck, but he had a box of fish that he sold on the street. There was ice in the box, if that makes it more attractive to anyone. I'll bet he worked at a wholesale market and that the fish was as fresh as the stuff you'd buy the next day in the shop, but I never bought any. It seemed he had a regular trade, so how bad could it have been.

You will find Cuban Rum in supermarkets in Spain. There's a US embargo on Cuban products.

As foolishly, apparently, as you do. More shamefully I have even at times consulted a Zagat survey. I find the phone book abslutely clueless. I would love to have a friend of impeccable taste to consult every time I travel or one at home who's been to every restaurant--and in fact, from time to time, that's exactly what I do use when I'm lucky. I'm not 100% sure of getting what I want or deserve, but the odds go up considerably. There are times when a review is well enough written that I can ascertain that this is a restaurant I will enjoy regardless of the stars. At other times, I can guess I will hate the place, but the high rating almost ensures I must go out of curiosity. I think part of the issue here is how differently does one regard that numbers, ratings and stars at home and when abroad.

I'm sure they were steaks, but it's not exactly like Lobel's has an overproduction not entitled to A.O.C. labeling. I like to believe I can have some faith in the provenance of the meat supplied by my local butchers. I watch them drop the whole quarter in the gutter and drag it across the street from the truck to the shop and god knows what's happened to it before hand, but I have some small, probably unwarranted hope that what my butcher sells was never part of a downer cow on its way to the FDA test lab.

"Street meat" is all that comes to mind and I haven't a clue as to what that could mean. I'm not sure exactly what words my mother wispered to me in the cradle that would make me run like hell in your situation, but the reaction is as close to any survival instinct I may have. Not only do I not want to buy, but I don't think I want to be near any transaction taking place. I remember once in college missing a bus connection in Scranton, Pennsylvania and wandering through town waiting for the next one, when someone asked me to step in an elevator. It didn't even occur to me to ask "why?" before making my exit.

It's not that it has to have syrup, but when it does, it will taste fresher and less like cooked or canned fruit salad when the syrup is added at the last minute. Many fruits are not that sweet and a bit of sugar syrup or honey can make the macedoine more luscious. It's also possbible to infuse a syrup with an herbal flavor that makes the macedoine all that much more distinct from one served elsewhere by others. When Adria thinks about food, it's not unreasonable to assume he isn't thinking about what has to be done, but what he can do. That's precisely what nH Hotels are paying him to do. Think of him as a "can do," or "idea" man for nH. He's hired for his creative thinking, and if some ideas don't pan out as vserna suggests, well that's the risk of trying to be creative. Better a few ideas that don't quite work than a dull hotel chain. That for some, "dull" and "hotel chain" are synonynous is exactly what nH is trying to overcome. For some travelers, the idea of staying in a chain hotel is no more attractive than dining in a chain restaurant. I don't think the two are necessarily the same. Then again, I've eaten very well in all of Daniel Boulud's NY restaurants. Can they be considered a chain?