Bux

Actually it was a day when he made the rounds of the dining room, though I don't recall him having much to say. He seemed quite shy. He's not one of those outgoing chefs. Be careful or I'll trump you by mentioning my dad's condition. I've a good mind not to recommend any other places to you.

Perhaps I'm missing something in this conversation and maybe Fat Guy will clear this up, but I assumed it was Fat Guy's way saying there wasn't enough truffle oil to make much of a difference in the dish one way or another, which is to say it was hard to notice.

Menton, I just switched my tongue from my left cheek to my right cheek. Notice that I said much, not all, of that is a pity. There always seems to be a god side and a bad side to everything. Provence is far more charming if you don't mind all the tourists. The Languedoc is more relaxed and shorter on tourist destinations. It's also closer to El Bulli, if not full of starred rest I used to say one couldn't find a bad meal in Lyon, but I've found one. Then again, I have no one to blame but myself even for having the curiosity to see what thirteen dollars would buy in the way of a three course meal, and actually that wasn't so bad. It's a pity no one flys from NY directly to Lyon, but catching the TGV at Charles deGaulle airport in Paris and is rather painless and easy, at least as easy as changing planes and far easier than having to go to Orly to catch a domestic flight.

But the Languedoc is no Provence. It is a backwater without the ambition or appeal of Provence. It's also poorly served by chefs and restaurateurs for the good reason that the native don't have much money and spend less. I'm not even sure all of them eat that well either. They don't pick over the markets so quickly and the invading hordes from the north that are buying property seem less interested in the best food than they are in the warm climate and less expensive property. Much of that is a pity, by the way. There's no perfect life.

Robert, I'm curious to know, and there's no way for me to experience what you experienced then and there first hand, what you saw that appeared to approach fear. We found the staff reasonably relaxed and increasingly so as the meal progressed. Smiles from us were returned and questions were answered with enthusiasm. When Esilda asked in Spanish, what "hinojo" was, the waiter at a loss to translate the name of a Spanish vegetable from Spanish into Spanish said "something we grow here," and immediately left for the kitchen only to return moments later smiling with a bulb of fresh fennel in his hands. I don't doubt your feelings and understand why you questioned the possibility we had connections or might have been VIPs, but I assure you we, on the other hand, are as puzzled as to what you could have experienced to elicit your reactions. With the exception of ginger chef's unhappiness there, I remain unaware of "problems plaguing the establishment."

They're probably disturbed that your friends eat before they go to the market. Wht waste time when someone else is getting the best st. Remy cherries or last Cavaillon melons of the season! Also, anything more than a glass of rose and a croissant dulls the senses. As there's no shop of any king in our friend's village and the nearest baker makes awful croissants, breafast is usually yesterday's bread--toasted with butter, jam or honey and espresso, cafe au lait or tea. Rushing, is just not something I tend to do when I'm there. the cherries, anyway, come from a tree in the vineyards of a neighbor in the village who allows them to pick.

For us, it was the best spent 300 euros of the trip. You do have my sympathy, but I'd truly feel guilty if your comments led anyone away from booking there.

The rue Merciere seems touristy, but my guess is that much of the crowd is local and that it serves a local market as much as a tourist market. I had looked forward to a tripe dish in Paris at Aux Lyonnais. One review I read mentione the tablier de sapeur--a breaded square of stomach or tripe, but I had to settle for one of the best pieces of calves' liver I ever had and some foie gras and pork shin. On the whole though, Aux Lyonnais does some justice to its name. I'm sure there are people who would find it excessive for dinner to occupy so much of your day. You're safe here though. We sometimes stay with friends in the Languedoc. When we do, we have breakfast then head out to shop for dinner. Twice a week there are major markets in towns of varying distance. In any case, we may split up in whatever town we're in and meet for coffee late in the morning and return to their house for lunch which is almost always cold prepared things from the market and left overs from the fridge. When lunch is over, we nap, walk, do a bit of laundry and then begin cooking dinner. It's a full life, but other guests of theirs have been know to say "you get up, eat, shop for food, eat again, cook dinner and eat once more" as if there's something wrong with that.

One of the things that's particularly beautiful about the post is how srhcb used the quote feature to focus attention. Not only does it do that, but it uses our bandwith economically in a socially responsible way by treating it as a sustainable resource. One can't help but have the impression there's thought behind the post.

I've always associated "bio" and "biodynamique" with plain old "organic," which is a term that's all too abused over here. Once again, I learn something specific from eGullet. I've little experience with Steiner or his philosophies but am very much prejudiced by my first encounter with a mother who was raising her son in accordance with those philosophies. The child was energetic and unfocused and drank coffee for breakfast. He was in a playgroup with my daughter and the mother was adamant about his not being exposed to "education." This meant the "teacher" in the group could only babysit him and had to be careful not to open a book in his presence or to refer to anything related to numbers or the alphabet while he bounced off the walls near her. It was a pity because our daughter was already forming sentences and quite curious about the signs she was beginning to recognize. It struck me, fairly or not, that Steiner's philosophy was to stifle communication while I have thought of "bio" and "organic" as experimental in a creatively concrete way. I strongly suspect there's a lot of science masked by the voodoo as there is science that's buried in folk medicine. We need to extract what's good and not overlook what we don't understand. I have to wonder if a plastic cup could replace the cow's horn or it there's a possiblity there's a chemical in the horn itself that leaches into the soil. I trust someone responsible will be looking into those possibilities in lieu of just laughing at the obvious. Theories are dangerously easy to dismiss or follow blindly when one doesn't look closely. For what's it's worth, I would have agreed with anyone who advised not pushing education on children, but that's far different from stifling curiosity.

C'Amelot is certainly a good choice. Comfortable food in a pleasant place. No pretensions, just good cooking. One of it's big differences may be the range. Little or no choice is offered. There's the menu of the day and perhaps a choice of appetizer, main course or dessert. I don't know what Aux Lyonnais was like before Ducasse took an interest in it, but earlier this month, I found the kind of combination of fine and rustic that made me think of la Regalade. It was the most expensive of the bistro/small restaurants in which we ate, but I thought it was also the one that was most compelling. 110 euros for two appetizers, two main courses and one dessert from the a la carte menu, with mineral water and a decent beaujolais. We skipped coffee. Were I willing to take a second choice in terms of a starter and dessert, I could have had my main course as part of a 28 euro menu and spent 10 euros less. Esilda would have saved less as she didn't order dessert. By the way, I recall a post somewhere on this board about being wary of the wine by carafe. The carafe of the day was a bit less than a half liter and at 42 euros, it was 9 euros more expensive than my 750 ml bottle of brouilly, but it was a Grand Cru Mazy-Chambertin and quite possibly an exceptional value.

Proper soaking and rinsing will rid dried salted cod of any noticeable saltiness. On the whole, I find recipes call for more soaking than is necessary, but obviously the longer you soak the fish and the more times you rinse it, the less salt will remain so recipe writers probably err on the excessive side for good reason. I wonder even if an educated palate could tell the difference between a brandade or croquette made from fresh cod from one properly made from the best salt cod. The texture of well soaked salt cod is still different from fresh cod and I'm sure it makes a difference in many dishes, but where it's beaten up and part of a batter (the croquettes) I don't know. My thought on the desserts was that the lunch prix fixe might serve as a laboratory. It's just a guess and not an educated guess.

That's pretty good stuff for washing fish and I don't care how far the fish traveled. For all I've said in defense of Ducasse, I'm sure I'd find Cafe Boulud a better value. My appreciation of Fat Guy's post, is that he didn't do a "consumer reports" job, and that's good in my opinion. I think the value factor of any restaurant has to be noted in some way, but it shouldn't overwhelm the critique of the food which really deserves an abstract assessment. It's unfair and unreal to make analogies, let alone of restaurants to museums or galleries, but when I read a review of an artist's work, I don't expect all that much attention to be paid as to whether his latest work is overpriced or underpriced. I know that fine art at the museum quality level is well removed from consumer interests and that restaurants are best appreciated by those who consume the meals, but I think it's worth a moment to consider the food and the restaurant first and then to offer an opinion on value. Pan -- "Biodynamic," often referred to as just "bio," is nothing more than the French word for what we call "organic." A "bio" food shop will be one that compares to a "health food" store here in NY. Obviously the word gets bandied around as much as "organic" does here. A loaf of bread in a shop may be referred to as bio because it's whole grain or because it's actually from organic flour. On the other hand, the French government, or the EU, may have actually passed some laws restriciting its use, but you get the picture. "Bio," like "organic" is an umbrella term covering a lot of serious scientific work and a bunch of cranks." We're still left separating the organic wheat from the organic chaff.

Quote of the week Real [fat] men don't eat salad? That caught my eye as well. I was even more struck by the comment about the "salt-cod fritter" I'm not sure I follow, but it may be because the average quality of "salt cod" in New York, which is often not cod at all, is so far below the accepted standard in Spain, Italy or France. On the other hand we all have blind spots and as I often crave the bacalaitos fried in oil that's changed almost every year along the beach in shacks and stands in Puerto Rico, I may have a high tolerance for pungent salt cod. Seriously though, I doubt many Americans have had quality salt cod and might not distinguish it from fresh. I'm told it's even better in Portugal than in Spain. In Spain there are whole shops that are devoted to salt cod and they're not that tiny. Cod of various qualities is sold at different prices and the cod is divided into parts not unlike the way a pork butcher would sell, chops, ribs and butts and fresh hams. The dried salted jowls, of course, commant the highest prices, but the boneless loin will sell for more than the tail for instance. It sounds as if it's a good deal and would be even with "pungent" salt cod. I don't know what's up with the desserts. Did they bear any resemblance to the desserts on the a la carte menu?

Probably not, at least not as you'd define them. My turn. Don't they have restaurant reviewers there? What they have are seasoned reporters who have just discovered the concept of supply and demand. Imagine that, some restaurants offer bargains at lunch. How long has this guy been covering restaurants in NY?

Burmaball says he is interested in staging for two weeks. It's very doubtful anyone would offer pay or even lodging for that short a time. I've heard chefs say the first month a stage is in the kitchen is lost time and it's not until the second or third month that the kitchen gets any benefit from the labor. I'm sure that's a self serving comment and not the truth, or at least not quite the truth, but a two week stage will be seen by the restaurant as a favor to the stagiaire. Many starred restaurants charge for that privilege and it doesn't matter if they are hosting an amateur cook or a visiting chef. Of course that doesn't apply to visiting dignitary chefs or exchanges. I think the task at hand is convincing the chef, one is a worthwhile candidate for a favor. Anyone got any suggestions as to how to do that without previous connections?

A savarin, if I'm not mistaken, is much like a baba but baked in a ring mold. It should also be soaked in rum or kirsch according to the Larousse. Perhaps a good case can be made that the difference between the two is that one is male and the other female. Perhaps some clever restaurant would figure a way to serve them both together with appropriate table side plating.

There is, or was, a Hungarian wine whose name in translation means "bulls blood." It was served to me by someone of Hungarian lineage. It was some time ago and I can't remember how good or bad it was, but it was an inexpensive wine. It was, at least, red, which I hope can't be said for the Vampire chardonnay.

Actually we both thought it was clearly the best meal we had in the Pais Vasco. In fact it was the all time best meal in the region for us. Adria belongs in a class by himself, quite above the competition and my suggestion for anyone who wanted to touch the peaks of Spanish cooking would be to dine in Can Fabes, Martin, and Las Rejas, not in any particular order. Who knows what a third trip to Martin or a second trip to the others would bring, but I'm surprised to hear negative reports about Martin's food or service. I'll concede that his logo is peculiar at best, but don't really see how it or the iron dividers would affect the enjoyment of a meal. Even ginger chef who was not happy in the kitchen, acknowledged eating well in the dining room. Although we made our reservations based on the appreciation of an earlier trip, I have to note the mostly very favorable, sometimes ecstatic reports other have left here. I think everyone should be able to come to their own conclusions about a meal they've had and are entitled to form opinions based on that meal without bowing to the opinions of others, but if it's a minority opinion, that also has to be acknowledged.

How large were the tentacles? I've mostly cooked pretty small squid here in NY. Rarely are the whole squid as much as a foot long. I separate the tentacles from the body and rub them vigorously under cold water, but I don't worry about the tentacles or the skin. Much of it comes off, but the rest gets cooked. Perhaps the squid are so small that it doesn't matter or perhaps we are talking about different varieties.

Do you speak Spanish? Few of the Spanish chefs seem to speak English. Many of the ones in Catalunya and the Pais Vasco speak French. It doesn't hurt to write and I'd knock on doors if I was in the area, but if you knew someone and had an introduction, you'd have a better chance. Perhaps you'll get some advice from those who have done it here. We've had a few people write about their experiences. I'm not sure how all of them got their stages.

What can I say? I was distracted by the food.

You're preaching to the choir. Even before I learned to appreciate Spanish cooking, I came to realize that the best cured pork was available in Spain. The ham, the lomo, the dry choricos were all exceptional by international standards. Hams that I was told were of average quality seemed terrific and then I began to pay attention to the prices of the best quality stuff in the markets. It was all domestic (from Spain in Spain) but far more expensive the prosciutto available in New York. We've been noticing more and more Spanish products in the south, particularly in the Rousillon and Pays Basque, but now we're seeing a lot in Paris.

So which one is it, bread baked in house or from Balthazar/Le Pain Quotidien??? You say in another post: "They bake all their own bread, that's probably one or two people right there." Just somewhat confused. "They bake all their own bread, that's probably one or two people right there" was the post right before yours and clearly in response to the post before it that addresses a comment appearing on the AD/NY web site about Didier Elena's team of 20 chefs. That should have all been clear to anyone reading those two posts. It's AD/NY who bakes their own bread.

There were some iron room dividers holding potted plants--ivy perhaps--in the dining room at Martin Berasategui, were there not. I hardly noticed them although I recall thinking they brought some of the garden indoors. The dining chairs, although painted green, didn't strike me as outdoor chairs. I do like garden furniture in general. It's usually much simpler than indoor furniture.