Bux

I use a microplane for grating parmesan cheese. I've had a Benriner for years. I really find it useful. I've nicked myself once or twice--I've also cut myself with regular knives. On the whole I'm careful and don't use a glove. I coveted a Bron for years, but a couple of people who worked in a top French kitchen in NY asked me why I wanted a Bron when everyone in their kitchen uses Benriners in spite of the fact there's a Bron in the kitchen. So, I bought the Benriner. I don't find sliding to be a great problem. I don't have a problem with it not making thick slices. A knife is fine for thicker slices. I use the julienne blades quite a bit for strips. Long cucumber strips make a nice salad for instance. I will also cross cut the strips by hand to make miniature dice.

For those who haven't been following all along, The discussion of the original show, with some 1500 posts on that topic is here.

A couple of posts in flagrant violation of The eGullet.com User Agreement and more specifically The eGullet Coyright & Fair Use Policy were removed from this thread. Please continue to discuss the food related scenes on the Simpsons, but please refrain from extensive quoting of dilogue. Many members have managed to post their own thoughts and to paraphrase the action and dialogue successfully without infringing on the intellectual rights of the creators and owners of the show's content.

The problem I keep hearing is not that that Food TV is useless or has nothing to offer, but that it offers less each season, and that the least intersting shows dominate prime time. A long list of what it has to offer is damning if the best of that list are repeats of shows that were cancelled or discontinued.

Great cheese link. Worth a look for anyone interesting in learning about French cheeses. it gives the type of milk (cow, goat, sheep) as well as the area in France in which the cheese is made, the seasons it's available, traditional choice of wines to serve with the cheese, and a description of the cheese, it's texture and taste. There are a few ringer cheeses fron Italy, Spain and England as well.

Local is relative. To a European, California wine is local to all of the US. My daughter's French in-laws live in Brittany and bring me Burgundy or Bordeaux wines. Sometimes consumables are a welcome blessing when your guests or hosts don't share your taste.

I was thinking largely of the multistarred places such as Can Roca in Gerona, Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar, and the exceptional El Bulli and Can Fabes. On a lesser level, we had a very enjoyable meal in a restaurant in Barcelona at L'Olivé. It was the evening after a general strike and few places were open, so we took our chances here. The food was fairly traditional, but it was clearly a modern restaurant with both contemporary decor and contemporary touches to the dishes and the menu. Here's what I wrote almost two years ago. I meant to imply that I thought the prices were hardely upscale, especially for the food and service. I didn't see L'Olive as a destination place, but rather as a good value for someone who was already in Barcelona. It's been some time and I haven't heard anything else about it.

Not good but successfully popular--I don't see any contradiction.

Actually I'm not the guy to talk about restaurants in Barcelona. I've eaten most of my great Catalan meals in the countryside. I have little first hand experienced in Barcelona proper at the top places and even less with the avant garde places. I was most favorably impressed by Ca L'Isidre, but part of that may have to do with mistakenly thinking it was a neighborhood tavern before I got there. I think it was also my introduction to a fine rendering of traditional Catalan food with touches of modern or contemporary cooking. I seem to recall we arrived rather tired and ordered lightly, but the quality came through nevertheless as I realized it was far better than what we were looking for. As with really good food, it quickly brought our attention and appreciation up to its level. I just remembered why I was not in the mood for fine food. We had just arrived in Barcelona and I was taking my last doses of an antibiotic and couldn't drink wine. That definitely puts a damper on my mood and lessen my interest in food. All the more credit to the food that changed my mood. We also ate at Jean-Luc Figures. I remember enjoying the meal very much, but found the service much too rushed. I distinctly recall each course arriving at the same time they cleard our tables of the previous course. I think it seriously interferred with our appreciation of the individual courses as we had no time to think of them or discuss them. I just have no first hand experience with those other places, although I know of a couple of good casual places. Whatever I know of the details of the revolution in cooking in Barcelona, I know mostly from what I read here. I have been thinking of the one great meal idea and it's occurred to me that of the really and truly outstandingly great meals I've had in Spain, there was one that was about a half hour's drive north of Barcelona and probably accessible by train and taxi and maybe even worth a taxi ride back and forth. El Raco de Can Fabes has as good a claim as any three star restaurant in Spain as being the best restaurant as well as the place to get the best food in Spain. Santi Santamaria, in spite of the fact he's not doing the experimental work that Adria is, or perhaps because he's not, is certainly on the short list of the greatest chefs in Spain. If one is willing to consider Sant Celoni as accessible from Barcelona, El Raco de Can Fabes is Barcelona's best restaurant and unlike El Bulli, I think the food is accessible to a wide range of diners.

Pretty much why I resisted commenting on the idea, especially since they're going to go ahead regardless of what I think. The better the meal, the less I appreciate any distraction. Distraction at a dinner table could even be conversation unrelated to the meal at hand. If it's a really good dinner, don't sing, dance or annoy me with questions about my grandson. My guess is that the producers didn't have me in mind as their audience.

I recall being impressed when Bouley was there and then just moving on myself as a fickle New Yorker. At some point we accompanied friends who felt it was worthy and we were disappointed. I was unable to communicate with the waiter about how I wanted my kidneys cooked. I'm sure it was my fault, but no matter whose fault it was, it left me feeling it wasn't my kind of restaurant. A while back, with Harold Moore in the kitchen, I heard it was reaching another peak. Unfortunately, we never made it there to taste the food. I also Moore's departure as a negative sign.

It's the prime ingredient in "mama strength" coffee. It has a special flavor that we can't find anywhere else. It reminds me of home. I have the opposite need. When I'm home, I crave reminders of France.

The little sign says " ... Chèvre, white or ash," those appear to be ash covered. I recognize the symbol from the flag of Toulouse, or maybe it's the Midi Pyrenees. I guess they have some sort of stencil. It looks neat. Anyway, I'd guess it's a chèvre from the Midi Pyrenees. It may have a name, but 90% of chèvres, no matter how distinctive are just called chèvres. Oh, and I'm glad everyone is proud of their North American hometown markets, but les Halles de Lyon are special. Take another look at the cheeses.

Medalia D'Oro? I've never tried to buy coffee in France and will generally agree that it's better in Italy, but why Medalia D'Oro and not Illy or Danesi? Actually I prefer some of the coffee in Spain. If I ever come to Lyon via Spain, I'll bring Spanish coffee and Xerez, although what you really want is ham and lomo.

Is it my imagination or could one search on a restaurant name at viamichelin in the past? It seems to have gotten easier to use, but less useful. I guess if you remove a few functions, it gets easier to use. I didn't realize the GM listings were two years old. The wide world web is terrific, but only if the information on it is up to date. pagesjaune.fr may be the best site if all one wants is the phone number. At least it's up to date.

Sarlat is also a town that's much more charming out of season than in season.

Things from home that represent where you live are always thoughtful gifts. I've found that the French don't always know what to do with maple syrup, although it's beginning to find it's way in to desserts in French restaurants, so an appreciation must be growing. By and large the French enjoy wines and for all their public chauvinism, will enjoy an American wine as well. The idea that all American wine is inferior to French wine is patently offensive, although don't press your French hosts for an opinion, as they can be sensitive to admitting they're not the only ones to make wine. We always bring American wine to our daughter's in-laws and they bring us French wine. We also bring jam and honey if it's artisanal and regional. Friends of ours who live most of the year in the Languedoc, often bring wine from the states as gifts for their friends in France. One point in regard to wines is that your host is not likely to serve it when you're there. In the US, a wine brought to a dinner party is often served at the dinner. That's a custom I don't like as it's the host who should be choosing the wine to compliment the food, and that's been discussed here in another thread. In France the gift will more likely be accepted as a gift and not as a contribution to the meal. Another good choice is a book of art photographs, especially if the subject is meaningful to you. Photographs of your city, state or a place you vacation may be appropriate.

I guess I was not really aware that Gallego was a distinct language or that it was as alive as it is until we traveled in Galicia a few years ago. There are sounds that remind me both of Portuguese and of Catala. It was interesting, in a very abstract way. If you appreciate vserna's posts "as well" as mine, I've done a great job of faking it. I've been taking Victor's advice since we met on the NY Times food forum sometime after a trip to Arzak sparked an interest in Spain as a gastronomic destination in the late 90's. My enthusiasm, as I'm still discovering Spain as a gastronomic destination, is greater than my knowledge. There have been a few American champions of Spanish cooking, but Spain has not traditionally been a destination for American gastronomes. That's changing. Right now, Spain probably still has the attention of more American chefs, than diners. We've discussed this elsewhere in the forum, but Spain isn't set up with gastronomic inns encouraging that kind of travel the way France has been for generations.

You must make it a habit to sit at 8:00, 8:30, 9:00 or whatever is the local witching hour where you live and eat. I've seen this many times. There is a point in the evening when the lights are dimmed a notch. I suppose some people always eat before this happens and others arrive after it's happened, but some of us always think there's an approaching blackout.

Not as far away from the lower Ramblas as possible in the literal sense. Once you're northwest of the placa de Catalunya it's a different Barcelona. I'd say the placa de Catalunya was the center of town. The area we like runs along the Rambla de Catalunya, pas. de Gracia and Pau Claris from the Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes almost up to av. Diagonal, but closer to the Gran Via is more central. In terms of a good restaurant, when you speak of eating in the best restaurant in Barcelona and of an upscale restaurant with excellent seafood, it seems to imply you may be unware that Barcelona is in the middle of a major culinary revolution.

Pikayo is a beautiful place, located inside the new Museo de Artes de PR, but I wish the restaurant was up to its decor and location. Service was not up to fine dining standard. Appetizers arrived before the wine. The recitation of specials was too long to remember and recited without emphasis. This unplanned and stressful trip was already enough of a budget breaker that we just went ahead and ordered a special without asking the price. That's never a good habit. In this case the special was obscenely priced at more than twice the price of the average main courses. I half expected that and it was one of the reasons I opted not to order the foie gras recommended to us by someone we knew who was also eating there that night. The Caribbean lobster tail might have actually been worth the price if it was perfectly cooked. It wasn't. I would have traded the whole tail for one or two medallions from Blue Hill in NY where a tasting menu runs the same price as the single dish. Huge portions of less than absolutely perfect food are a turn off for us. I'm told this is the best restaurant in San Juan and I've no doubt it is. There's a fair amount of finesse and refinement in the cooking and the recipes, but without a local tradition of haute cuisine in a town where restaurants are driven by tourism that's not gastronomic, this is probably already a better restaurant than the market drives. [interestingly enough, we had a few conversations with locals on days after our dinner and what I felt was pretty much confirmed. Opinion seems to be that the quality of the cooking has declined as the ambience has gone upscale. The new location in the Museo de Arte is a place to see and be seen and the design and decor get more attention than the food.] The kitchen can turn out very good food. My sea bass was exceptionally well cooked and the dish itself was well conceived. Our appetizers while nice, just weren't up to the level of cooking we expected. The salmorejo alcapurrias were very nice, but not special and the garlic mayonnaise just seemed commercial--out of a bottle and doctored with garlic. The same sauce appeared on top of the lobster ginger "pegao." "Pegao," the rice that sticks to the pot, was here, a rice cake that was too thick and too dry and which overwhelmed the delicate lobster. I expected a thinner crisp rice disk. Something more like a blini. I found the wine list a bit curious. The whites were dominated by California chardonnays and I assumed that's what the chef felt went best with his food. I'm unfamiliar with California Chardonnays, haven't liked most of what I've had and never moved on to the better ones. I asked the waiter if I could get some help with the wines and he replied that his favorite wine was one of the two albariños, but that people know chardonnays, so that's what stocked. I didn't know how to process the information that implied this could be a restaurant that could cater to me if it wasn't catering to to its market. I'm a fan of albariño wines. Their discovery has been instrumental in my developing an interest in Spanish wines in general. There was a strange, at least to me, $2 charge per person for water, but you did get all the Fiji water you could drink and a 15% service charge added to bill, with space for additional tip clearly marked as "extra tip." I can't remember what I thought of La Casita Blanca the first time I was taken there. I'm sure I wasn't impressed by the disposable cups for beer and water or the unmatched vinyl tablecloths. The menu of unfamiliar stews and Puerto Rican home cooking couldn't have been all that enticing either. Over the years, I've learned to love and respect the home cooking--and restaurant meals in Puerto Rico haven't hurt my appreciation for Borinquen home cooking either--and lunch at La Casita Blanca has become one of the more rewarding parts of a trip to San Juan. We go for Lunch as we're told dinner is the same food, reheated, although most of it is stewed or braised and may be okay hours later, if they're not sold out of the dish I want. This is a really popular local place and best visited with a native. The dishes of the day are all listed in Spanish on a blackboard and if you're not both fluent in Spanish and acquainted with the local cuisine, many of the dishes may be a mystery. It's a very down home place. They've expanded, San Juan has become more urban and chickens are no longer running around in the neighborhood, but there seems to have been no deterioration in quality or service, nor have the prices gone upscale. Three of us ate for $55--complimentary bacalito fritos, three main courses, five beers, two coffees and 20% tip. We arrived at about two o'clock and the place was packed. The gate was locked and they wouldn't let us in because they said they couldn't handle any more customers. We offered to wait at the bar, but there was no longer a bar, so we stood outside. Our determination was appreciated and a waiter returned with three fruit drinks with rum on the house to "alleviate our wait." Our choices were representative of the menu--Patitas de cerdo con garbanzos, Fricasse de cabrito and Salmorejo de jueyes (pig's feet with chickpeas, goat stew and a stew of land crab meat) and came with a choice of rice and beans or tostones. The fiery house "pique," is usually for sale by the bottle. Unfortunately didn't have any for sale at the time. This is not what I'd really call a destination restaurant, but I don't know if one can eat better food in town, and certainly not better at twice the price. It's just good home made typical food or maybe traditional food. I wonder if it's as typical today as it used to be. We skipped dinner after that lunch and had some wine and snacks with friends in the evening. One of them, who's in NY a lot and who knows his food, suggested we try Tasca El Pescador for lunch the next day before we left the island. This was part of a three part recommendation in response to our tales of the meals we'd had and our inquiry as to where we could get some good morcilla to take home. Across the street from the Plaza Del Mercado (just off the Calle Canal exit from the Espresso Baldorioty de Castro) and catty corner to El Pescador was a butcher shop where we might get some home made morcilla. The market itself was a colorful covered tropical fruit and produce market and for good measure, there was a good fish restaurant run by an-bullfighter from Spain. We started with really good appetizers--buñuelos de bacalao, ensalada de carucho (conch) and avocado--were enough to whet our appetite for more food, or should I say my appetite. It was a very early lunch and appetizers were enough for Mrs. B. The recommendation was for the fresh fish and the waiter said the salmonettes were local and fresh. Regrettably, I forgot that fish are generally way overcooked in simple places and that was the case here. I'd return, but maybe to try the arroz con calamares or zarzuela de mariscos as well as explore more of the appetizers. There's a menu on the table and a handwritten sheet, with today's dishes and prices, is presented. I noticed mofongo and arañitas on other tables, but not on the menu, so it pays to ask about those standards. Prices were reasonable. This is a down home place, but upscale from La Casita Blanca. $12 for the fried fish with tostones or rice and beans and a forgettable salad. The appetizers were five to seven dollars. There was a small but nice selection of wines, all Spanish and equally divided between red and white--five albarinos, including one in half bottle size--at good prices. Flan de queso was sticky and too sweet. I'd skip desserts next time. All in all it seems a find. A look at the market and the block of bars around were reminders of a earlier time in San Juan. We bought some "pique" from a vendor in the market. We just couldn't pass up the reused rum bottles, some with the original labels still on. I made sure to screw the tops on tightly before asking the lady to pack the bottles in a plastic bag for the plane.

I don't see how Per Se or Keller's image has suffered or why he owes the public anything. The restaurant has suffered more than its potential diners have. In your original post on this, you said the restaurant should give a copy of its new book ot those who lost reservations. Why? If the answer is because it's good public relations, then Ducasse, Boulud, Vongerichten and Ripert should be giving out free books along with a host of other chefs.

I hope they speak Spanish as not too many tourists are likely to speak Gallego or Catala. Welcome to eGullet. We look forward to more posts about the local Barcelona.

I seem to recall a recent post here about Danny signing a contract to operate some more elaborate food stall in Madison Square Park this year.

Thanks for that bit of news. We'll be looking forward to reports of the first meals in May, as well as to news of what Camdeborde is up to in the fall. Brasseries are a dying breed of restaurant. The Flo Group gets lots of criticism for turning the best of the traditional brasseries in Paris into a chain, but my sense has been that were it not for them, we'd be seeing fast food in those spaces.