Bux

I think it was about five dollars as laurenmilan said. It just seemed about twice the price of an ice cream cone, but I think Ciao Bella gets a pretty high price for an ice cream cone. The older I get the more frequently they raise the prices. How much is one or two scoops at Hagen Daz?

For a place that many consider "hot," it's the families that really define the crowd as undefinable. I've seen toddlers and I think the place may even have high chairs, but don't quote me and that may have been at brunch. I've seen a baby stretched out in a little carriage fast asleep and oblivious to all the noise. 8:30 is probably peak time. It's a bit more relaxed late at night when the crowd thins out, but that seems to vary from day to day or for reasons I'm not hip enough to fathom.

Hey, go to bed. It's already tomorrow in France. Actually I started looking at the Rungis site before you posted and then I saw your original post so I thought I'd post the two bits of info I found and when I did, I saw you already posted the link. Great minds thinking alike. It's the same the whole world over. It's easier to tell you it's not possible than for them to bother learning how it's done. I had the same problem with the front desk at a hotel in Spain. I needed the code to get on their wireless network. Didn't know what I was talking about although I pointed at the bilingual sign on the counter. We're not Internet people they said, while I was figuring they were hotel people and I was aksing about an advertised hotel service. Just hope they'll go away is an international way of dealing with people.

I would think so. (Nice presentation, that is.) The idea of a smoked scallop is intriguing. I don't know much about smoking fish and have never had a smoked scallop, but I wonder what 45 minutes of hot smoking would do in terms of texture. Most hot smoked fish I've had has seemed pretty well done. I have not idea how long it's smoked and I've never had seafood that's smoked--well maybe canned clams. The red you mention reminds me that in a good restaurant in France, you'd be likely to get the coral with the scallop. From time to time I've seem fresh scallops still in the shell with the coral. The coral is the best part, but it deteriorates quickly and most commercial fishermen just toss it overboard with no expectation of getting back to shore in time. I didn't even think to mention the coral. Fifi -- It sounds as if they were perfect. In the old days, I never objected to more cream. Boiling down lots of cream was one way to thicken a sauce without using too much roux. Our problem was that people were turning down our dinner invitations because we used so much cream. Theoretically, it may be possible to over reduce the sauce and get too much intensity, but I don't ever recall that happening.

I've always been led to believe the public had no access to the market. It's not like Les Halles used to be, or like Washington Market in Manhattan was like before those markets were moved out of the city centers. It's really an industrial place. However their web site seems to indicate there are tours. I seem to recall Adam Gopnik speaking about being taken to Rungis, in one of the chapters in his book From Paris to the Moon. From the Rungis web site: It's rather unclear if you have to come with a group, or if there are regularly scheduled guided tours or even if you have to be a marketing or culinary student to arrange for a group tour. Here's the web site. If it doesn't come up in English, click the UK flag. Poke your way around, send an e-mail to the address listed or call the phone number. http://www.rungisinternational.com/ Good luck and if you have any success, please report back to us. Edit: I see loufood has edited her reply to post the same link, but I'll leave this stand.

Okay, no body liked my grilled cheese vending machine, or maybe you've all seen one in the states, but I'm full of admiration for depth of Jason's experiments, which I'm sure have only begun. It's not hard to imagine a restaurant about the size of the Tasting Room here in NY, with less kitchen than they have. I see a bank of four or five $7.00 toasters and a stack of teflon bags. All of the hot food is prepared in those toasters, but it's a full service restaurant with a professional chef, I mean toast person. I am surprised at the loyalty people have towards the desired degree of toast. Beer drinkers all too often have a favorite beer they always order. One of the reasons I'm more sympathetic to the wine mentality is that wine drinkers perfer a variety of wines at different times and with different food. Even with the same food, they usually acknowledge a variety of wines as the spice of life. I guess I'm some sort of toast doneness slut. I like some breads just warmed and others toasted to a crisp, but it often depends on the time of day and my mood.

I don't remember, but it is sort of a rambling place as I recall. In memory it was made all the more rambling perhaps because we seemed go through corridors upon arriving and were then offered a kitchen tour when we finished dinner. This lead us in a completely different route. I can think of many restaurants where someone has gone out of their way to lead me partially to the rest room or, in one case, where I was escorted via an elelvator to another floor . There are levels of luxury I find unnecessary, but harmless. My overall impression of CT was one of an exceptional midwestern restaurant rather than one that was trying to emulate a European restaurant. It really seemed democratic to me (in a good way ) though not so democratic as a cafeteria where one carried one's own tray.

Bux, even though most of your posts here have had the attitude of a snob with a capital S, I think what you have written about your father comes close to correctly defining the situation. There is good food and there is "fine" dining. I much prefer the former everytime. Adam, keep it up. I thought your "review" was great. I would call someone a snob if he felt it necessary to put down someone else's lifestyle. I'd find a person a snob if he couldn't for a few hours make himself at home in someone else's millieu. Just because one person doesn't enjoy something does not qualify them to gratuitously insult and make fun of those who do. I don't know what kind of person would take that quote out of the context in which I posted it. Here's what I said. Do you really begrudge anyone the right to enjoy haute cuisine or is it that you begrudge me the right to have had the opportunity to have shared something I love with someone I loved. Am I a snob to have wished my father was with me when I enjoyed some of the great meals of my life? Do I gather you believe fine dining and good food are never one and the same?

Part of my problem is that as a "fast food" shop, in the way that a fine ice cream cone shop is a fast food shop, I'd expect to be able to get a portion that was satisfying to the extent an ice cream cone is satisfying and about the same size. There should be a half size portion in a walkaway cup. I wonder how much those custom designed plastic bowls and spoons add to the cost of a portion. I don't find they add to the pleasure and I would buy the product more often if it was sold in a smaller size.

If I can make a suggestion that I didn't see yet, it would be to cook the onions and the potatoes separately for the hash and combine them when you add the meat. Sometimes extra steps in the kitchen are the easiest way to ensure the best results. Saving time and energy only work if the final product is right. While we had the budget to eat out twice last week, the overall week's expenses were tempered by a large pot of soup that fed us most of the rest of the time. Mrs. B made a soup from white beans and cabbage with some chicken stock. There was some calabaza squash which was pretty well dissolved and added body to the soup and there was some chorizo and bacon that had been languishing in the freezer. Ham ends would work as well if not better. There were two dinners and a lunch for us. At the end of the week the cabbage had all but dissolved and the beans were getting soft. We thought about adding some stock or water and pureeing the soup, but we just made bruschetta and omelets as two course meal.

I'm not an expert on CT. I've been there once. I was well treated. Although I came to haute cuisine at much older age than Adam, I've been dining in such restaurants in several countries for long enough to be a keen observor. I'm not a native of Chicago and this was my first hight end experience in Chicago. From what I could observe, there were few people in their twenties perhaps, but plenty of diners quite a bit younger than I was. All were reasonably well dressed. It may or may not be polite, but my curiosity level was much higher than if Ihad been at home in New York. I was more than a bit interested in conversations around me and particularly in those between the staff and diners. I had the impression that a good percentage of the crowd was there for the first time and that for many of them, this was their first experience in this type of restaurant. In fact, it wouldn't have mattered if there was only one couple that fit this description. What is applicable here is that I heard people tell the waiter this was their first visit and that the menu was unfamiliar to them. I couldn't tell if they had read a lot about CT in magazines or just simply heard it was the best restaurant in Chicago at the time. They did not express any discomfort, they expressed an unfamiliarity with the food and did so without a chip on their shoulders. In turn they were treated not only professionally, but with warmth and interest. I was quite impressed with the openess on both sides and took it as a sign of midwestern attitudes, which might be described as an ability to take life without an "attitude." This was all a few years ago and CT may have changed it's attitude. I can't truly say, but with my little first had knoweldge, I sense Adam's report of snooty and snotty treatment is either a product of his insecurity or a figment of his imagination as my view of CT is that of a third type of restaurant. It is what it is, but welcomes everyone to appreciate what it is and will bend over backwards to help any diner willing to meet them with an open mind.

I'd add the wine first only so that I'm sure the alcohol evaporates. Adding stock at the same time is fine if you're sure your proportions are fine--and if they're not you can add more stock or water later. I've deglazed saute pans with wine, brandy, water, stock, broth, and probably some other liquids I can't think of right now and haven't seen a difference between them in dissolving the bits stuck to the pan. Scraping the bottom and stirring is important to get it all dissolved. I'm not sure I understand the referrence to discoloring the onions and mushrooms.

That I didn't find it funny, is not my point. That he came back and defined his post as a review was my point. I saw the humor, but I also note that he was reinforcing what I see as a reverse snobbism perspective. I thought his follow up script had more humor, but I didn't know bellinis were a gay drink and I'm sorry his palate didn't play a role. I think I generally have trouble with stereotyping because so few of the people I hang around with seem typical of their type.

I've only been to New Orleans twice in my life. Once was long ago while I was in college. The other was a bit more recently when we combined a visit to New Orleans with a trip to the crawfish festival in Breaux Bridge, LA. For Cajun food, I think you really want to get out in the country, though I don't have any specific recommendations.

I never forget a face. I've only been to Craft once, but the names/faces in the crowd were sitting along the back wall. Well not exactly, but two out of three. There was a sommelier along the side wall, but I think his table was the furthest to the back. The celebrity was in the back towards the right and the guy who could probably name his table seemed happy in the back towards the left. We were in the middle of the room and with people who knew the chef and the captain. As I recall the four tops were along the walls and the larger tables in the middle of the room. Everyone seemed pleased to be sitting wherever they were. In general, I'd be interested in not being right near the bar, otherwise it doesn't make a difference.

As a kid, I thought "pastafazool" was a curse word. Later I learned what it was and much later how it was spelled in Italy.

Marie-louise -- The problem with using Arial is that I don't believe it is monospaced and thus may through off the formatting where text is arranged in columns such as recipe ingredients. I'm not sure what are the best choices of a monospace Mac font these days. Monaco used to be a good standard. You might try that. Project -- sorry to hear you have difficulty seeing our pages. They actually appear in a color I'd describe as blue, not purple, and for me the text is on a background that is almost white. From what I've seen of the next version of our software, it's going to be shades of red and tan. That may well be far worse for you. I'm going to pass your information on to the guys who are responsible for the software and for the graphics and colors used on the site. In the past, we've had several "skins" available to allow members to see the site with different colored backgrounds. I'm not sure what we can do to modify anything for you, but I also assume this is not just your problem, but one that affects others. One other thing. Your text editor sends returns at the end of every line you type, so your posts all have very short lines on my monitor instead of wrapping with the size of the window. I'm not sure that's a real problem, but I thought I'd mention it. We may even have discussed this before.

Coquilles St. Jacques is the French term for what we call scallops in English. Coquille is the French word for shell and the scallop shell is the symbol of St. Jacques (Saint James in English). Pilgrims who traveled to Santiago would return with scallop shells, real or sculpted, as souvenirs. Scallops are cooked in many ways in France and the US (where broiled and fried were most common) but French restaurants, particularly in the US at a certain time, popularized them as served in a large scallop shell with cream sauce and mushrooms gratineed with a bit of mornay sauce. They usually appeared on the menu simply as Coquilles St. Jacques and one know exactly how they were prepared. Even in France, if no other preparation is noted, this was how you would get them. They were, and are, available not only in restaurants, but pre-cooked in the shells ready for the home oven or broiler, in traiteurs and epiceries all over France. Properly prepared, they were, and are, a wonderful rich dish. The addition of some shrimp or small mussels makes them better in my opinion. It is an old fashioned dish in many ways. For one thing, in spite of all the warnings about not overcooking the scallops, they are invariably overdone (to my taste) when they finish the final broiling. Contemporary taste buds are also likely to find the rich cream masks the delicate flavor of the scallops. Traditional roux based veloute sauces, such as what's done in preparing this dish, may seem pasty today no matter how well the flour is cooked in the butter and no matter how long the sauce is simmered. The margins of my Julia Child books show notes reducing the amount of flour in these sauces over the years until the point where I almost never use them. I've always found the use of cheese with fish and especially with scallops to result in a less than satisfactory combination. Scallops are just too delicate and too expensive to be overwhelmed with a mornay sauce, in my opinion, although I'd note that my opinion goes against classic tradition. You still see these stuffed shells in the refigerated display cases in France with thick congealed sauce and a pile of grated gruyere cheese on top. My suggestion is to assemble the dish with the sauce very hot from the sauce pan rather than reheating the whole thing in the oven so as to minimize overcooking the scallops which could be cut thickly or left whole (I really prefer my scallops rare and still translucent, but I'm not sure that can easily be accomplished in this dish) and to cover the top not with mornay sauce, but with a tablespoon of lightly whipped cream. Then put the filled shells, or gratin dishes, in a hot broiler for as long as it takes to brown the whipped cream. There would be no cheese at all in the dish.

I'm a Mac guy myself. I see project has posted his message using html coding to keep the formatting, but hasn't specified a font. I suspect the font displayed is determined by our browsers. The preformatted post shows up in whatever you have selected as a monospaced font. I suspect you may be using Microsoft Explorer which is not always the most Mac (or user) friendly browser. If you are running OS X 10.2 or higher, you should be using Safari. It's built for the Mac and just works better on all sites that are not specifically written to match Explorer's peculiar rules. Nevertheless, you can change font faces and sizes in "Preferences" in both browsers and I assume in Netscape and others as well. I've changed the font size in both browsers and the change shows up right away in Explorer, but not in Safari. I may need to quit and restart Safari or change something else as well, but I suspect you are using Explorer because that's the browser in which project's post appears very light on my monitor.

I think that highlights my objection to Adam's second post where he claims to have written a reivew. I didn't know more about why he didn't like CT after I read the first post. Yes, he had to begin somewhere and I'll suggest that one begins by learning, not making fun of a new situation. So once again I'll suggest it was not a review but an intended comedy piece that plays to a specific audience. If I were not trying to be so politically correct, I might suggest it panders to that audience. I still welcome Adam here. If I haven't given him any hope of finding an appreciation for CT in a future visit by learning from what's been said here, I'm sure my posts can also serve as the subject of the same sort of humor as befell CT. At least it's not been a total waste.

Specifically what I was referring to was making fun of something in front of people who take that thing seriously. What you see as a poor attempt at a review, is something I see as a parody of a review mocking the subject. For it to have been a review, the reviewer would have had to show some understanding of the medium he was reviewing and offer some insight to the reader. I learned nothing about find dining or CT. A few people seem to have had their prejudices pandered to. I thought he treated the people who worked there rather shabbily in that piece. By extension he was making fun of all those who appreciate that sort of restaurant and that sort of food. Quite simply there's no real need for that and if you're going to write that sort of parody, it has to be brilliant or it's just offending to many people.

Perhaps you take your religion too seriously.

What bother's me about that post, supposedly written by someone who "was so excited about going there, [he] hardly ate anything that day so [he] would be able to savor the entire meal," is that so much of what one should have expected at CT was reported with such contempt. Why? Why was he surprised at the age of the diners? And if he was, why was he put off and alientated by it? May I take personal offense in the knowledge that had I been there, it would have made the room less comfortable to him. I see people far younger than I was when I could first afford such restaurants, but they don't offend me. Nor am I offended by children in such places if they're well behaved. Nor am I offended by people in wheelchairs, etc. So much for the issue of the age of the diners. It's a non issue for me and I don't understand why Adam made it an issue. As for the "wariness" of the servers--pure projection. He felt uncomfortable and had to blame the restaurant for his failure to research those things that were most important to him--the age of the diners and how to interact with wait staff at a formal restaurant such as CT. Sorry, Tony, this is not an issue of being underwhelmed by the food. As for his appreciation of the food, as someone pointed out, the chicken tasted fishy, but that wasn't the problem. No, Adam made a mockery of haute cuisine and them came to the wrong place to poke fun at it. If I wrote a parody about religion, I wouldn't choose to recite it at a church social and if I visited someone's home, I wouldn't send his relatives a note poking fun of the family's customs and habits. If I did, I trust I might understand why no one was laughing.

I believe it was Adam who raised the issue of religion as if it were relevant and I was a bit put off by his comment. Someone already replied that needing "value" might have more to do with the economic climate in which one grew up--the depression being a major factor in the financial outlook of a whole generation. I've taken to reminding people who call me a cheapskate, that I grew up in the depression, referring to the dip in the street elevation in front of my childhood home.

Bux, you can't really be saying the New York Post isn't a paragon of ethical journalism, can you? Sorry, I wasn't meaning to impugn the integrity of the Post or any particular print journal. I only meant to raise the issue of how the print and online media interact with each other and how they interact with the public. Suzanne's message touched on that issue, but I was trying to be straight forward in in my post. I think I would prefer to make my statement in public and allow a reporter to collect his information from what I've posted. I also understand why a reporter would want to source unpublished information rather than take if from what's published on the web. However, asking for private information here, is not so different from asking for a private reply to any public post. It raises the issue of short circuiting replies and leaving the general membership out of the loop. In general, I'm reluctant to answer private questions as it defeats the reason for eGullet's existance--the public sharing of information and opinions.