Bux

Rogelio, I much appreciate the additional resatuarant recommendations in the area. They're especially welcome because of the specialties offered. All too often someone goes to the right restaurant, but out of unfamiliarity, orders the wrong food. I try not to show up too early at a strange restaurant so I can see what others are eating and not make the mistake of ordering roast meat and seeing everyone else order seafood, or vice versa. I suppose to a real connoisseur, there may be no great paellas, but to a novice, there may be no really bad ones if the seafood is fresh and not overcooked. Even the ones in second rate restaurants in NY that use the wrong rice, are still a pleasant dish. It's like bouillabaisse, it's all pretty good until you know how it's supposed to be made. I often think life is much more enjoyable to those who are least discriminating. They can enjoy everything. Perhaps not. It may be that they never really enjoy the best. Victor, we will take you up on that lunch date. I'll let you know when we're arriving and which days are good for us. La Sort didn't make your list. Was that because I already mentioned it, or because the ones you note are more compelling?

What a charming thread. I don't know what thoughts to put first. Life is never so black and white as disgusted would have us believe on faith. Shall I emphasize that there's been nothing presented for us to examine in all that disgusted has posted. One needs to agree or disagree with the posted position on the basis of one's own experience. Secondly, if one has ever read an illuminating review that's sparked any interest in dining at a specific restaurant, disgusted's point is invalid. Yes, there's a lot of bad reviewing out there and a lot of bad food as well. There are also an awful lot of dumb diners with neither the discretion to know what to read and who to believe as well as without the discernment to know when what they're eating is worth eating anyway. I don't think I've ever been dissuaded from eating in a restaurant by a negative review or a negative listing in a guide book. There are times, especially when I am traveling in a foreign place, when use the relative scores, comments and mentions I come across to chose the particular place(s) in which I dine. True, all of these things may be invalid and lead me astray, but even when they are all negative, I will have dinner someplace none the less. The worst that happens is that a bad (bad, not just negative) review stands in the way of a new restaurant getting known to strangers. While eGullet allows its members to use aliases or noms de plume, it requires all of its managers and hosts to identify themselves clearly. I have some sympathy for those who have legitimate reason to remain anonymous, but the downside of such policy is that from time to time we get angry tirades such as this one. Had Gary Marshall been at all successful in having his questions answered, it might have been a different thread. As to what disgusted claims to have said, it appears to me that it's along the lines of there is a god or there isn't a god. People who believe one way or the other, often find it obvious. I trust you also didn't tip. Presumably from those without Internet access. I'd not fault you if you did. Just don't expect me to react with an appraisal and appreciation for the act. Alas, I have nothing funny to say about this. From the little I've read from the very amusing Mr. Gill, I doubt he's made much of a positive contribution to culinary criticism and it's a pity this thread didn't take an enlightening tack.

Driven by greed, (we have free air tickets to Málaga) but only partially by greed (we have a free hotel for a week, but will only stay in Málaga for two days) we are driving from Málaga to Madrid in about a month. Driven by the interest in seeing another part of Spain we haven't seen in forty years, and by an interest in getting a good and authentic paella as well as the new food in the southeast, we are driving by way of Alicante and Valencia. Le Café de Paris in Málaga was closed for vacation when we passed though the city just about a year ago. This time we have a reservation for lunch. It's quite possible that two days in Málaga is one day too much, but it will be nice to relax there, I hope. I don't particularly enjoy driving the way I used to years ago. We intend to spend no more than a few hours in the car each day and are thinking of taking the inland route around Granada rather than the coastal route east. We're also not particularly beach people, but unless I'm misreading Victor's posts on Alicante, Moraira seems like a place with particularly good restaurants and perhaps a place to stop for an extra day. I gather Casa Paco is where I want to get the true paella that will enable me to speak with some expertise when I mock all the paella sold sold in the open markets and hypermarchés of France. Are there any other or better places either inland or on the coast I should know? La Sort also stands out, if only because of the Robuchon connection. Ca'Sento in Valencia also looms large in my mind. If all goes well and the restaurants are open on the right days, we'll hope to make reservations at las Réjas and Coques along the way from Valencia to Madrid. The latter at lunch on our way the day we arrive in Madrid. I'd appreciate thoughts from those who are in a position to guide us.

That appears to be due south or maybe SSE of Valencia. I don't see Diamus on the map. Oliva and Denia are on the coast, or almost on the coast and straddle the provincial borders of Valencia and Alicante. Vserna and maybe others have recommended several restaurants centered around Moraira. A search on their names here and maybe at the http://www.campsa.com site should bring more information. El Poblet (1 sol) in Denia, Casa Pepa in Ondara, Girasol (2 sols), La Sort (1 sol), La Seu (just moved, but a sol in its previous location) and le Dauphin (recommended, but no sol), all in Moraira-Teluada, L'Escaleta (1 sol) in Cocentaina, Casa Paco in Villena and Nou Manolin (1 sol) and Monastrell (recommended) in Alicante comprise the list that I've copied. The number of "suns" (sols) and "recommended" come from this years Campsa Guide. Casa Paco appears to be the place to get an authentic paella--one with rabbit and snails rather than the paella Valenciana with seafood so popular on the coast and José Moll at La Sort, is a pupil of Robuchon.

Restaurant Colibri

Per Se also has a private function room. It's not hard to imagine that it too was pretty well booked.

There are some similarities among all the islands, but there are major differences, or so it seems between the English, French and Spanish speaking islands. In a thread entitled Puerto Rico, I recently posted about the meals we had last month in San Juan. The most successful meal, to me, was at a local restaurant that features good old fashioned and rather homestyle cooking. Three of us started with codfish fritters--bacalaitos--that made from a thin batter and consequently rather thin themselves. Our main courses were goat stew, pigs feet with chickpeas and salmorejo de jueyes. The last one is a shredded land crab that's been seasoned and cooked. There's not much meat on a land crab (jueye) and separating the meat from the shell is fairly labor intensive. This is a dish I've only had in restaurants. There used to be a few places in the sticks on the coast that specialized in jueyes. They were rudimentry restaurants that featured concrete tables and benches. The national dish of Puerto Rico is probably asopao which is more of a soup than just a wet rice. Asopao de pollo is probably the most common form, but it's great with seafood, either one kind, such as shrimp, or a mixture of shell fish. In addition to soffrito, roasted red peppers and green olives, (alcaparado) recao or cilantro, stock and the main ingredient, there should be plenty of chorizo. As chickenlady has discovered the best restaurant food is generally found in shacks, often by the beaches.

That which we call "history," is the accepted truth. Why it's been proposed as the truth and why we accept it varies from time to time and place to place. Photography became an important factor only to be undone by photoshop.

Come May first, La Régalade will be Yves Camdebordeless, however. Full post in La Régalade thread.

Just to add a minor comment on dress, we were at Gagnaire last on a Friday evening in October of 2002. Ties and jackets predominated. There was a party of four--two youngish couples from the UK. The women were informally elegant, but the men were just tieless with white shirts and dark jackets as if they removed their ties after work. There was also a family that appeared to be from Spain. The mother and father were well dressed, but the children were not. I seem to recall the grown son was in jeans. Everyone else seemed to be wearing a tie and jacket. It's been my experience that I've enjoyed the tasting menu far more than ordering a la carte when in restaurants driven by very creative chefs. I'm quite convinced that when faced with unfamiliar foods, I'm best off letting them orchestrate the meal. As my familiarity with the cooking increases, it may make sense to order a la carte at times, but I am a fan of approaches such as the one taken at El Bulli, where the diner is just fed. Nevertheless Marcus makes a compelling point about the carte at Gagnaire, enough so that should I have the chance to dine there in the near future, I would be likely to order a la carte. Until I do, I'm not in a position to take sides on the issue of which way to go on a first visit, although my gut reaction is still to take the menu set by the chef the first time.

Portugal is supposedly still a bargain, but as Miguel has noted earlier I believe, really good seafood is not going to be cheap anywhere in Europe. I'm more familiar with NYC's Chinatown and it gives new meaning to relativity. I can't even begin to compare prices or even relative value between restaurants in Chinatown and those in the rest of Manhattan. And yet I know of a place in Chintown where certain crustaceans bring prices approaching three figures which puts the total bill up near the luxury uptown restaurants. At the same time, one can easily eat well for thirty or forty dollars for two people if one focuses on the skills of the kitchen rather than the rare ingredients.

Hard is relative, but that's probably not the most descriptive term I could use. The rind I recall was a bit crusty, but maybe no more so that that of other washed rinds I generally eat. I may also have a cheese in mind that's a Berthaut cheese, but perhaps a bit stronger than most Epoisses. I know we ate that one with a spoon and I seem to recall being served Epoisses with a spoon in France. I'm not betting the farm on that, however and even if, it's possible that wasn't the norm although Mrs. B shares my recollection. On the web, I'm finding many pictures of Epoisses out of the box, although several web sites state The Texture can be very runny and it might be wise to serve this sinful cheese with a spoon. I think serveral commercial web sites get that blurb and the product from the same importer or exporter, or so it would seem from the exact same wording on mulitple sites.

There's a thread in the NY forum about "fine dining" and were it starts to separate itself from ordinary dining and whether there's a different standard in NYC than there might be in other cities. I suppose "cheap" is also relative to a few things such as where you are and what you get for the price. Dinner may be dinner, but not all meals are equal. It's also not reasonable to translate the price into dollars and think in terms of what that will buy at home. Most meals in Europe will cost about one and a half what they cost last year because the dollar is so weak. Europe itself is not cheap for traveling Americans, at at least what was cheap last year, is not cheap this year in dollars, although the price to the locals hasn't increased that much. Anyway, fresco's meal was six courses and beverages. One can't expect that to come at the same price as a simplier meal.

These two sites should at least give you the phone numbers if you don't have a Michelin Guía Roja handy. About the only other useful information is found on the image of a restaurant bill that can be viewed by clicking on the euro sign. It's worth noting, especially for all of you who bone up on your high school Spanish before heading to Spain, that the dishes are listed in Catalan not Spanish. I've yet to find a restaurant that didn't have menus in both Spanish and Catalan in Barcelona and everyone seems to speak Spanish, but the daily working language seems more and more to be Catalan. Abac http://www.webares.com/catala/rest/bcn/dades/frbcaa10.htm Alkimia http://www.webares.com/catala/rest/bcn/dades/frbcak10.htm

The real problem is that there is no way to put more than a small bag in the overhead rack and it's impossible to secure all the luggage one normally finds on a train covering a long distance in that rack. Aisles are barely wide enough for two people who are not imtimately acquainted to pass each other. Where will people put suitcases, if they need to travel with them?

My guarded opinion is that Santi Santamaria represents the current best of Catalunya in terms of establishement and contemporary cuisine as opposed to cutting edge cuisine, and that his restaurant El Raco de Can Fabes is the one that best meets the description of "best restaurant" as little as I like the idea that there is a "restaurant" in any objective sense. At any rate, El Bulli is too far away from Barcelona for dinner.

In my opinion, there's no justification for repacking a cheese for sale one week after the producer's own "best by" date. Nevertheless, I can't recall having an Epoisses that was removed from it's container. As I recall, the rind is always hard, stuck to the wooden container and generally strong and unpleasant tasting. If I eat a bit it's just because I'm too greedy to let a bit of the almost liquid interior get past my spoon. To my taste, cheeses such as Epoisses and Vacherin Mont d'Or are best served with a spoon after cutting a hole in the top of the rind. On the other hand, it should be a rather deep yellow almost bordering on orange. (I'm relying on memory and may be overstating the difference between Epoisses and the paler Vacherin Mont d'Or) "Brown," would not be a good sign. A distinct amonia aroma or taste is the sign of a cheese well past its prime. "Best by" dates are always an estimation and one wonders if the producer took into account the fact that the cheese was destined for export. The further a cheese travels and the more hands involved along the way, the shorter it's life span in my opinion. Under these conditions, one week could well be a long time. That however, should not be your problem and all the more reason the seller should not have covered the original dates, nor sold the cheese without some warning and perhaps at a discounted price.

"Fine" is a strange term. I'll open up a bottle of wine I purchased for $8.99 and taste it. Mrs. B will ask "How is it," and I'll reply "Fine." By no means will I be attempting to say it's a wine that meets the definition of "fine wine." I had a fine dinner at Hearth the other evening, but I wouldn't consider Hearth to offer "fine dining." At the same time, if you asked me about the food, I wouldn't consider "fine" to sufficiently describe the pleasure of the meal. If some people want to think of Olive Garden as fine dining, it's fine with me. If others believe there are only a handful of fine dining establishments in NYC, that's also okay.

You will make mistakes. I don't mean to put you on edge or increase any anxiety, but it's inevitable that when meeting anyone from a foreign culture, you will make some mistakes. I take comfort in the fact that if they are not sophisticated, social errors will matter less and if they are sophisticated they will understand you are a stranger to their customs and will understand. There are many books on the subject of the differences between American manners and French manners. Most of them are humorous and deal with an American's history of faux pas upon first meeting their spouse's French families. Take comfort in the fact that people live though it and look back at their own experience with humor. Most American's expect the French to be a warming hugging Mediterranean country. They are not. They are an extremely reserved and formal people with a codified set of manners to which you are not an intitiate. For all that, I have always found the French to be the most genuinely hospitable people if you show an interest and respect for their culture and an appreciation for their history and culture. I've found this to be true as a student in 1959 and I find it true today when I meet friends of our friends in the Languedoc and my daughter's in-laws in Brittany. I understand your position however, as I am infinitely more comfortable in the presence of French strangers then French relatives, especially when meeting new people in a formal setting, such as at weddings. We compensate for our social ignorance by showing great appreciation for their wine and by eating as much as possible of the things they expect Americans not to eat. Bleudauvergne gave some good advice on table manners, especially the "no hands on your lap." Elbows on the table if done gracefully, are not a problem however. It's amazing how two western countries can have such opposite conventions. Just realize it's a matter of different local customs and not some universal genetic fault. The French will. The French are very proud, but they are diplomats by custom and habit. I am looking at a "Buss Map" of France. It's an attempt to graphically represent the number of cheek kisses normal in each part of France. It's not all that helpful as it really represents the maximum. Four kisses in Brittany are expected when we arrive after a long absence, but three are sufficient on the second morning of our visit. Should we meet more than once on a given day, French effficiency dictates only two kisses. I am kept in training here in NY by my son-in-law.

My memory's been jogged. I use the Benriner to shave both the fennel and the parmesan cheese for fennel and parmesan cheese salad. I ususally work with a hunk of cheese about 1 1/2" to 2" wide and shave the cheese pretty thin. I also use it shave paper thin slices of pecorino romano for something else.

For what it's worth and at risk of sleeping on the couch tonight, when I said the "he" was the one-armed sommelier in Montrond-le-Bains many years ago where we first had that wine from Grippa. At Hearth, several people asked me about my wine choice, but I believe, as Mrs. B does, that the woman was there to help and guide diners make wine choices, although I seem to remember her wearing much the same outfit, or shirt, as the other servers. I guess I just don't look closely at other women. Paul was busy elsewhere in the room and the young woman with whom I spoke seemed well versed and eager to discuss wine. For all I know, all the waiters are well educated in terms of the wine list. I remember Paul's jacket vividly.

I'm afraid I'm in that class as well. Train travel has already become a bit uncomfortable as there has never been a "safe" place for luggage and getting on and off trains with the luggage we carry is getting tougher especially if it's not a terminal stop. I was able to check luggage on the Brussels to CDG TGV, but I wonder if that will still be an option. Most French inter-city passengers seem to carry a small overnight bag. Unfortunately, many terrorists seem perfectly willing to kill themselves. A sad commentary for our life and times as you've said.

Unlike Jinmy, by the way, I hold the mandoline in my right hand and swipe with my left hand. Lefties take note.

I had the veal breast (24). no I haven't read this thread since I last posted on it and didn't read MichaelZ's post. The veal breast plate comes garnished with sweetbreads, and roasted cauliflower and a few other items that played nicely supporting roles. This is really good food. There's no accounting for taste, but it's the kind of food that should have fairly universal appeal. It offers the satisfaction of comfort food although the dishes themselves have an element of creativity or personal statement that make the meal unique. Given the background of those involved in the restaurant, my expectations were very high without needing to read the reviews and praise heaped on Hearth here. Happily these expectations were matched by dinner. The price in respect to quality is excellent. The octopus cooked in red wine was rather interesting in that had I been served it with my eyes closed I might have thought I was eating meat rather than seafood. I asked Marco if it had been braised in stock by any chance and he said "no." Apparently what I was tasting was the gelatin released by the octopus combined with the reduced red wine. It was intriguingly delicious. The pannacotta was a superb example in both texture and taste, although I might have liked a slightly more complex dessert. The espresso that followed dessert was excellent and that's worth noting as most restaurant espresso is disappointing. As Soba wants me to say something about the wine, it was a St. Joseph from the northern Rhone from Bernard Grippa. I was actually looking for something slightly less expensive, but this caught my eye simply because a St. Joseph from Grippa has a nice place in our memories from an dinner close to the St. Joseph region in France. Then I chose it by chance, but apparently it was a pet wine of the sommelier and he made it a point to return to our table later and recommend cheese that would go well with the wine that was left after telling us to be sure to save some wine for cheese. I entered the room with the preconceived image of large bandages and copper staples, but the abstract pattern of felt and copper on the wall just didn't support that image. I'll give Ms. Hesser credit for creative thinking and poetic license, but I don't really understand why one's mind would go in that direction and if it did, why one wouldn't check the thought when writing a review. The unfortunate thing about the felt on the wall was that it didn't absorb enough of the sound. I felt the room was too noisy. There are no tablecloths and all of the surfaces, other than the felt on one wall, are hard. When the dining room was full, it was loud enough to interfere with conversation for me, but not loud enough for me to consider it a factor when planning a return visit. Service was very attentive and perhaps a bit too efficient. Soba mentioned the one problem. Our plates were snatched from the table while Esilda was still using her knife and fork. That may have been enough to make us feel a bit rushed although there was no pressure to finish our meal quickly and our espresso was served well after we finished dessert, as we requested.

That's a shame to hear. Service was quite good the two times we were there. At lunch the place was empty and we expected fine service. The second time was on a Friday at dinner and the place was packed. Service however, was attentive, efficient and smooth. The wine guy seemed to know his stuff and gave us good advice. About the only complaint I had was that they asked us to put our complete order in at once. I would have preferred to order a few plates at a time as the mood struck. They were very nice about bringing our food in three flights exactly as requested and cleared the table between each "course." I wish I could be sure, but I think they gave us new plates and table ware with each course of shared tapas. In fact, I think it was the best service I've ever had in a Batali restaurant. So it's really a shame to hear of your experience.