Bux

A point for Spain. How often do you find yourself drinking and saying nice things about a wine under 20 euros in a good restaurant in France? If I'm wrong, I'll appreciate the name of the restaurants.

I think Heston Blumenthal was far more interesting and eloquent, but he had the advantage of eating in Juniper. Perhaps that reinforces my position that experience is of great benefit when speaking about a subject. Thom spoke well a couple of times in this thread, but I think he does an injustice to the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have to agree with his opinion that one shouldn't judge a man or a restaurant entirely on a sound bite. We should be free to judge the merits of the sound bite and by extension one can say something about a man who allows himself to be represented by the sound bite. Although it's but a small part of his web site, it was a complete and separate statement that should be able to stand alone. Then again, why should any of us feel he's displeased by all the time, effort and words we spend dismissing his beef? Has this thread really been bad public relations for him?

I enjoyed reading that very much. I don't know it convinced me that Kitching is a great cook anymore than anyone else has convinced me he's an idiot, but it was enjoyable to read what Blumenthal said. It was even more enjoyable to be a witness to his attitude.

It would be a public service if either Ripert or Oz traded places with someone in the hospital kitchen--preferably while I was not having heart surgery or eating at le Bernardin. I have to say I like the idea of a cardio doc who appreciates offal rather than looking at it as a cholesterol bomb.

Some things are relative. A duck is not a turkey or a chicken. When I speak of crisp skin on a duck breast, it's not going to be like crisp skin on a chicken. It will be much thicker and there will always be some degree of fat. Duck and goose fat, is far less unhealthy than one might suppose. Chemically, it bears as much relationship to olive oil as it does to butter, chicken far or pork fat in terms of its ratios of good bad and indfferent fats. This of course, is not meant to imply it's a low fat fat. Nevertheless, if I've scored the skin well, maintained the right temperature and remove the excess fat from the pan as it renders, I can achieve a skin that's crisp and with little enough fat to please my taste. I can't tell you the right temperature. There are no measurements on the range top and I'm not always sure I'll get the optimum results if I haven't cooked a duck breast recently. There is, I'm afraid, some trial and error, but you can adjust the flame along the way. It should be warm enough to melt the fat without going too far into the duck breast. At the end you will need to turn the heat up high to crisp the skin and to sear the other side when you turn it over. My advice is to err on the side of undercooked greasy duck skin and discard it rather than risk overcooking the meat. The perfect skin is the icing on the cake. If the breast meat is rare and succulent, you'll have enough inducement to try it again and get it better. Overdone stringy breast meat will ensure you don't cook it again for another twenty years. Really good cooks can tell if it's overcooking by pressing on the top. Mrs. B is better at that than I am. Others have noted the caution that I left out in my first post. As with all red meat, it's best to let it sit for five or ten minutes in a barely warm place before cutting it. That's another reason you want to take it off the fire when it's a bit underdone. It will continue cooking. One of the problems about taking advice from others who aren't really teachers, is that they tend to forget the things they do by habit. I've never marinated a duck breast, but I've wondered about brining it before hand.

My Spanish geography, as you have discovered, is very weak. I need to get on the road more and drink more Spanish wine (not quite at the same time). That's how I learned French geography, appellation by appellation. Certain areas in Spain seem a lot like the Languedoc in France in this aspect. They have traditionally made cheap wine and the land is not as expensive as in the more famous wine areas. Furthermore, with no tradition in making fine wine, there is a greater freedom of style. In the Languedoc at least, there is almost a new world attitude towards wine making. There is less attention to terroir, or at least an different kind of attention. There is little of no association between the land and the grape. As inferior grapes are torn out, or as land is converted to vineyards, there is little agreement on which grape(s) to plant. Does that also describe some areas in Spain?

Ah, the old two countries separated by a common language thing. To clarify something I said above, when someone says something that, on the face of it, appears to be an idiotic statement, all that I can discern is that the statement appears to be idiotic. I can't truly be sure the person making that statement is really an idiot. Sometimes, intelligent people make mistakes or get carried away and make idiotic statements. It's also possible someone will go out on a limb and take some thought to an idiotically absurd point just to get attention or free publicity. Should that free publicity result in increased business, the "idiot" may be less idiotic than I might have thought. Another alternative that I can't dismiss is, as suggested by Day and Whiting, who have learned to live and perhaps thrive among the English, that I often miss the irony of Englishmen using my language.

Friends in the south of France grill them over vine cuttings. Here in NY, we're pretty much restricted to indoor cooking. I don't mind a little fruit or sweet taste with them, but when I make them at home, it's usually without anything sweeter than a red pepper in the sauce or garnish. I score the skin and fat, but do not cut through to the meat. I also trim any fat that seems to hang off the breast and that will not lie flat in the pan. I like the duck fat, but I like it thin and crisp when I'm finished. I put the breast, patted dry, skin side down in a pan on a medium low flame and render as much as the fat as possible while crisping the skin and not overcooking the breast meat. I like the meat pretty rare and not much more done than I'd like a steak that size. I can't give you an exact time to turn the breast over, but you should be prepared to pour off the renedered fat several times. When the breast is at the desired doneness, you can turn it over, turn up the flame to high and sear the other side. Remove the breasts, pour out most of the fat and cook some chopped shallots in the pan. Deglaze the pan with some stock or wine and pour the reduced jus and shallots over the breasts. Duck stock is preferred, but chicken stock works just fine as would veal. Red wine, white wine, madeira, etc. Swirl in a little butter if you really want it richer. You can make the garnish as plain or fancy as you like. I like sauteed potatoes and maybe a green such as spinach or kale with mushrooms and pancetta. Or just mushrooms and mashed potatoes or polenta. Think of it like steak.

do not invite, nay BEG for, an equally vehement response? If that's not throwing down the gauntlet, what is?What I said was So I'm not defending those comments against the charge of idiocy. I'm just wondering what else he had to say for himself. Let's note that the chef didn't post those comments here on eGullet. There were taken from another text and reposted here. I don't know the original context, so I'm less eager to call him an idiot until I learn more about what he has to say in greater context. I've had some fine rib eye and I'm not about to eliminate it from my diet, nor am I about to tell top restaurants what they should serve. The man's entitled to his opinion, though I'd argue he's best off not telling other chefs what to serve. I've always thought filet was the queen of steaks anyway, but basically I'm not a steak man. I will grant that his statements on beef, as quoted, sound both snotty and misinformed. Will you grant that I've not said you dismissed his cooking outright. One of the things I was objecting to in my post was the reading more into a brief text than is there. tommy, it's been noted before that I have little sense of humor when I think people are poking fun at that which they don't understand. From the early days of nouvelle cuisine to the menu items at the Fat Duck and El Bulli, I've had a lot of dishes that have funny and self depricating names. I've been able to laugh with the chefs. I assume those who like to poke harmless fun at odd sounding menus are not offended that I don't find them worth reading. Apparently we have different perspectives on food and food jokes. That's what makes eGullet such a rich place. In the meantime we all define ourselves and our perspectives on the site with each post we make. I believe it enables others to understand our posts better.

The ability to order half orders seems to be not uncommon in Spain. We're never quite sure where it's acceptable or not, except when it's stated on the menu, but we often ask and get a positive answer. Our other tactic is to share a course thus making a more interesting progression of tastes for a dinner. This works for us in traditional restaurants in the provinces as well as in the avant garde ones. It's especially good when ordering unfamiliar dishes. Menestra has always sounded like a somewhat boring dish, but on our last trip to Spain, I made a mental note to try it as I thought it's the kind of dish that would bring clues to traditional tastes. Thanks for mentioning it. I have not yet had the chance to order it. There seem to be a lot of Manchuela newcomers on the market. We were unexpectedly called down to Puerto Rico for a funeral recently. At one restaurant, where unfortunately the food and service were disappointing, the wine list was also full of holes. After our first two choices were out of stock, the manager came over and recommended an inexpensive wine from La Mancha that was, if not a great wine, the highlight of our meal. I don't recall the name offhand, but it was also a new label and apparently the product of a Rioja house branching out. It was a young easy drinking wine.

Someone asked why Adria was applauded and the chef at Juniper treated with disdain. Robyn's comment above is apt. Plenty of people here have had a good laugh at the idea some of us would pay good money, not to mention make a special trip just to eat that food. Most of those people have never eaten at El Bulli, just as most of those who make fun of the food at Juniper don't know how it tastes. Most of the early posters restricted themselves to commenting on how they like beef, which is legitimate to a point, as long as there's room for other opinion and they are open to the possibility that cooked another way might be both interesting and tasty as a change, if not a steady diet. Those who dismiss his cooking outright without experience are hardly worth my time to read. On the other hand, if I were to limit my comments to the opening quote which I've read and not to all the dishes on the menu which I've not tasted, there's a likelihood, I could support the idiot label because said chef manages to put down everyone else's way of cooking steak and say some pretty challengable things. Still the proof of his technique would lie in the tasting of it and not in the text.

I wonder what you had. I've hit a clunker or two in Balthazar--the vegetable plate was one--and I have friends who are not pleased there, as well as friends who like Pastis and not Balthazar, but I've come to reply more and more on Balthazar as a neighborhood regular. It's quite possible I've just found a few favorites and they keep me happy. The goat cheese and onion tart is a very nice appetizer, although I often go there for the oysters. Mussels and fries have been very dependable. Dependable is important for a neighborhood place for me. Anyway the "frites" have always been excellent with whatever is ordered. In fact they make a very good hamburger although that certainly doesn't raise their credibility as an authentic French place. I'm also partial to the Pavlova dessert and they have good ice creams. It's basic food. It's not fancy food. To a certain extent it's formula food. It's meant to emulate French brasserie food but for New York in 2004. I've found it's better quality than what I get when I pay less elsewhere, although it's not as good or interesting as what I can get for more money elsewhere. It's not destination food. I also happen to be one of those who defend the Flo empire in Paris and find them good enough to earn my money for certain menu items. Disclaimer: I know the chefs, but I also avoided the place when it opened because I resented the limos in my neighborhood. I've come to find the limos as amusing as I find the changing crowds in Balthazar.

As most laws regarding foreign workers in both the US and France most often seem ridiculous, at least to those seeking work, it might just be the case. Nevertheless, there are always loopholes for the persistent, or so it often seems.

mdibiaso, Well said.

I suspect this degree of Frenchness hardly exists in France anymore. Restaurants such as these are sort of sealed time capsules. One imagines that there are scores of faithful clients who have never been to France and who would be disappointed if they went.

Some time ago we were regulars at Jardin Bistro. Even before Gerard left--I believe his ex-wife is running the place now--the food was inconsistent. One of the things I never much cared for was the plating of many of the main course with the same medley of unrelated vegetables. It doesn't take all that much care, effort or investment to carefully garnish each plate with suitable accompaniments. It's not a critical issue and the French tourists who seem to be at home there don't mind, but if it's a neighborhood place and you're thinking of eating there with some regularity, it starts to matter. They had a great pot of white beans and more varieties of animal protein--pig, duck, lamb on the bone, in sausage and whatever--than you should expect at twice the price. I could never finish it. I wanted them to reduce the price by fifty cents and serve half the portion. The moules frites were a bargain until I had to start requesting my fries "well done" so as not to get then half cooked. Then it came to pass that twice in two visits my mussels were distinctly over cooked and, I suspect, reheated. The price differential between it and Balthazar around the corner didn't seem all that great all of a sudden. The big difference is the lead time for reservation, or maybe that I can't realistically depend on getting a table as a walk in. We've done that, but by and large, the only tables that will be available are in the bar and some of those are very small and less than comfortable. The difference in the wine lists seemed to increase the spread in the cost of dinner as well, but le Jardin has raised it's wine prices and Balthazar has decent carafe wines at good prices, I thought. For all that, I have fond memories of Jardin Bistro as a neighborhood place we often saw familar faces. When the kitchen was "on" it was a decent comfortable place that was easy on the wallet. When the fires were very good, they were very good. They always made a good espresso as I recall.

The world is changing. The French don't eat real French food any longer. More than a few years ago I was visiting relatives in Rhode Island and, not by my choice, we ate in a French restaurant that seemed to have a long standing. The food wasn't all that good, to be charitable, but what struck me about the very old fashioned menu was that it was the first time in a long time that I thought of French food as ethnic food.

Not really. There's plenty of paella in Barcelona, but Valencia would get the nod for paella, or at least for paella valenciana which I believe would be one with seafood. As for tapas, they're a national dish and neither Barcelona nor the province of Catalunya are the best places for tapas. I think the fact that several of the larger tapas places in the center fashion themselves as Basque tapas bars is proof enough of that. I'd have to go with Donostia (San Sebastian) or Sevilla as home of the best tapas. Perhaps an arroz cremosa or caldosa with seafood would be more typical of Barcelona, or more traditional. Caracassone, Castelnaudry and Toulouse all get credit for association with cassoulet. Strasbourg -- choucroute garni, although you'll find it all over Alsace. Tarte Flambe and Backeofe as previously mentioned as well. Caen -- tripes à la mode de Caen. Lyon -- almost any dish with tripe, but tablier de sapeur is unique to Lyon as far as I know. Auch -- magret de canard? It's found all over and the Hotel de France is no longer the destination it was when it was Andre Daguin's, but he was the chef who first served boneless duck breast cooked rare like steak and it was in his restaurant at his hotel.

It was some time ago, but I remember reading a Jeffrey Steingarten article in Vogue that dealt with raw milk cheeses and bringing them through customs among other things. It was actually an informative article though possibly not the stuff that goes over big at cocktail parties. Then again, assuming the conversations starts with "I read in Vogue that ..." ... I'm just wondering if Steingarten was the inspiration for the character.

Nevertheless, the Michelin guide plays a part in the choices of foreign tourists, if not the local population. I wouldn't count out the local population either. Those interested in food beyond the normal eating to satisfy hunger quote the Michelin guide as often as any other. Madrileños are quick to tell us how many stars a particular restaurant has when they mention it and those Spanish chefs who have Michelin stars for their restaurants, feature that proudly in their publicity literature. At a certain level they care. That may be most apparent at the haute cusine level, which has been most influenced by French cuisine. I'm aware of Michelin's place in Italy.

You have your own problems. Actually, does that mean you recommend places based on my posts, or that you eat in them? Taste is so subjective. I don't know of a guide or critic whose ratings I fully trust or haven't found some shortcoming in quick time. For that, I'd generally prefer to go to a restaurant based on some one person's very strong recommendation than a fairly consistent good recommendation from a panel. It's useful to get to know the taste of the person whose reviews or posts you intend to follow, but I assure you that eventually you will find yourself at odds with someone who's been reliable in the past.

No one has ever implied that publishing or selling the guides was less than a good idea. it's buying and using them that I find to be on the losing side. Hell, I wish I thought of it first. On the other hand, the philosophy I espouse above might also require me to say it was a brilliant idea for Bayless to sell Burger King sandwiches. Do Tim and Nina believe their publications are a good guide to where to eat. (That's a retorical question. They're certainly smart enough to know how to answer that in public.)

Now that we're speaking of Michelin outside France, at the starred levels in particular, they seem really out of touch with what's happening in Spain.

There's an intellectual quality about some of the food of many of the avant garde chefs in Spain, or perhaps I should say there's a referential quality that that exists between the creative food and the traditional food that may be lost on many foreign diners, myself included, who are not familiar with the traditional food to which the creative food makes reference. I had one meal at La Broche about a year ago. While I left the restaurant with great respect for the food, I was a bit disappointed and felt that I did not thoroughly get it. At the time, I believe I posted comments here to the effect that I was sorry we did not take the tasting menu as I thought it might have allowed me more insight into Arola's cuisine. I recall Vimilor having some interesting comments about Arola's food recently. Our dinner in Madrid ran about $200 for two people. It included a decent bottle of wine and bottled water. Mrs. B was a little under the weather and may have skipped a course, or at least dessert. The tasting menu would have been a bit more.

There are many small vineyards, as well as local tasting rooms supported by local groups, that are open for tasting by drop in visitors. They are, on the whole, designed not so much as entertainment facilities as those in California are, but as places to sell wine. They are designed to facilitate the sales of wine from the winery directly to the consumer. I have visited more than a few in the southwest, but I've almost always done so in the company of friends who live in the area and who are shopping to stock their celler. They often return to the same places year after year to see how they like the new vintage and will almost always be buying. It's more a matter of how much they will buy and exactly which wine as most of the winemakers down there seem to make more than one type or grade of wine. In season, I imagine you will see lots of license plates from Paris and from Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland buying wine in Burgundy at the caves. Although, as a tourist without the ability to carry home cases of wine, I tend not to stop and taste without a purpose, I have always found the owners quite hospitable when I do.