Bux

Upon reviewing my comments in this thread, I think I need to say that I'm not accusing French chefs of lacking integrity. It's just that there seems to be a a new dedication to the craft in Spain.

Essentially, I agree with you. (I'd also be willing to consider The French Laundry a French restaurant as well.) This makes me wonder how anyone can say French cuisine is a thing of the past in New York. It's seriously being challenged worldwide, but not by followers of the Atkins diet and that challenge is late in coming to New York.

Thanks for the reminder. I've got to go up on the roof and get that patio umbrella off of there. I might want to turn over the tables as well and check the planters.

Actually, I said very good. The desserts at Blue Hill were never a glaring weak point, even at the most simple. The rice pudding they opened with was an exceptionally satisfying dessert with its passion fruit foam and that wafer. There were evenings I went to dinner looking forward to that simple dessert. If there was a restaurant with simpler aspirations that served it today, I'd go just to have that. I suspect the pastry chef is there as much because Dan and Mike were spreading themselves too thin by working on more complex desserts and the savory food. This is not to say Pierre hasn't made a significant contribution to the overall continued improvement of the meal. Just remember there are four guys now in the kitchen entitled to call themselves "chef" and the desserts and the savory food are probably growing in sophistication. They've also been working on a line of jellies and preserves. This a matter of expansion. They are also working on a restaurant upstate. My guess is that a second rate pastry chef would have been a disservice to the clientele and that they needed to wait until they had what Marlon Brando might have called a "contenda."

In what way? Is there any evidence that la Cote Basque is very representative of French cuisine as cooked by other French chefs in the New York area? I don't think Bryan Miller implied as much. Of the five current four star restaurants in NYC today, four are French restaurant and I'll bet that most people would have a hard time eating at all five and picking out the one that wasn't. I see mikeycooks claims all of the 4-star restaurants are French. A good case could be made that the food at the restaurant with an American chef is as French as the food at the other four. I'm not sure Atkins has all that much sway over diners, especially when they eat out, but why would you say there's more carbohydrates in French food than in American food, Italian food or Chinese food? French food is traditionally high in fats and proteins. Contemporary French food adds more vegetables and lowers the fat. Bread is always optional and potatoes are no more common than in American restaurants.

The horses were a reassuring sight for those of us who worried that the "real" Mongolia was lost. More jarriing a sight than all those jeeps and motorcyles has been the K-Mart clothing. How far away is the nearest mall, or do they have a traveling salesman making the rounds?

Was la Cote Basque still a four star restaurant? When was it last reviewed in the Times and by whom? I though it was a very interesting article and rather three dimensional. Of course there's always more that can be said about anything. Times change and they change must faster than they used to. There are not a lot of venerable old restaurants around. There may not even be a lot of old restaurants around. People are fickle. Tastes change. Young people don't yearn to become their parents let alone their grandparents. You're far more likely to find some gastronomic codger looking for the hippest food, than you are to see see people eating in the places they associate with their parents. There's also the problem with any restaurant that is seen as favoring it's loyal clientele. It doesn't enourage a new clientele in an upwardly mobile society. Ultimately though, it's the economy.

Ann Arbor is a big college town. There's bound to be some cheap eating places. the U of M has a very international student body and I'd expect Ann Arbor to have more than its share of ethnic restaurants. My sister used to work at the university and we've made a few visits. I'd say Michigan is part of the Heartland, though not as deep into it as Bloomington, Illinois, where she now lives. What Ann Arbor lacked when I was last there, and remember it was some time ago, was truly sophisticated dining. I've since heard claims that there are some good places nearby. No one has made similar claims about Bloomington. That shouldn't be a problem for you, from what you've posted.

Sorry, that's not quite accurate. I've not been to Dijon in a while and haven't dined at that restaurant, but it appears to have had a star last year in the Michelin guide. GM dropped it a notch awarding a 17 this year. (Chapeau Rouge got a 16.) Michelin dropped the star this year. (Chapeau Rouge is one of 7 Michelin one star restaurants for 2003.) Some confusion may have arisen from the fact that Michelin lists the restaurant as Pré aux Clercs with Billoux noted as chef, while the GM lists the restaurant as Jean-Pierre Billoux, at the same address. So both publications deem it worthy of listing, though both have demoted it this year. Nevertheless, GM still awards it the highest rating in Dijon. On the whole I find Michelin a bit more conservative and slower to promote or demote a restaurant. None of this really speaks to your dissatisfaction. It may be a sign of inconsistency in the restaurant, or it may be a matter of subjective taste. I've had some very disappointing meals at Michelin starred restaurants. It's not always easy to put my finger on the reason why, but one meal is never sufficient to to truly judge a restaurant. While Michelin inspectors generally raise or lower a rating only after repeated meals, it appears that GM does not make enough visits to be as reliable a guide as Michelin. On the other hand, they may be quicker to report what they spot.

I really don't think one can sense what's happening by a visit to El Bulli. I think you need to see more.

Thanks, and in turn, I think you nailed it with "integrity." Although I think it's an integrity that's far more than just not short changing the diner. What I've sensed is a real focus on the food rather than the media. Maybe I'm wrong and Spain is still more alien to me than France, but I sense they're very committed not just to their food, but to food. Something Carmen Ruscalleda, chef of the two Michelin star Restaurante Sant Pau, said in a magazine article sticks in my mind. It was about the openess of her fellow chef's kitchens and how uninterested chefs were of hiding their secrets from their staff. She described an atmosphere of teaching and passing on of knowledge. For all the individual creativity that is being expressed, I got the sense they all belonged to some craft guild.

You're giving away a lady's age. My daughter, who's an adult, looks at us as it we were talking about teradactyls when either my wife or I mention the BMT, or the IND or IRT for that matter. For years after the lines merged under public operation, each retained an identity. I don't think there's any evidence left of those three independant lines.

I'd take issue with that. Around about the last week in May every year, they offer the new herring from Holland and it's eminently worth having for the two weeks or so that it lasts. The oysters are good. Aqua Grill is very good for oysters and I guess now that smoking is no longer permitted at the bar, I'd probably perfer eating oysters at the bar to dinner at a table, but I have augmented the oysters from time to time with an appetizer or two. Balthazar probably has the same supplier as Patis. If I found a place in Manhattan where the price of oysters didn't strain and drain my wallet, I'd be scared to eat them, but if you find such a place, tell me about it--the next day.

Truth to tell, I wouldn't know Colombian food if it hit me in the face. I don't have any Colombian friends and haven't run across any Columbian restaurants. That said, I find Latin American foods interesting because the differences between the foods of each country. What is most distinctive about Columbian food? What would I expect to find in a restaurant that would tell me this was a Columbian restaurant if the menu or sign didn't mention it? Suzanne, technically, Jackson Heights is in "New York City," but it is not in "the city." Any one who grew up in Brooklyn or Queens, knew very well where you were going when you said you were going to "the city." "The city" is a rather specific part of this city. Londoners don't have trouble with that concept in regard to the The City in London.

We generally eat pork at a temperature in the 140s F. A good tenderloin will be hard and tough if it's cooked much more than that. As for chicken, we used to cook it until it still shows some pink at the joints and that's the way I like it, but my wife won't serve it that way any more even though we try to buy chickens from small producers at the greenmarket or lately, the Canadian Gianone chickens here in NY. The day I'm fed dry scrambled eggs, or can't get a soft boiled or sunny side up egg, is the day I stop eating eggs. Yes, we try to avoid supermarket brand factory eggs.

I'm offended, or at least maybe I don't understand the comment. It's highly unlikely that either my wife or I will spend much time in France and Spain without at least one of us ordering blood sausage. In Sevilla, this spring, we discovered "sangre," which seems closely related to duck blood, something we eat regularly in NYC's Chinatown. Polish butcher shops are another source of a different kind of blood sausage I enjoy in NY. Caribean islands whose culinary heritage is either French or Spanish are other good places to find excellent blood sausage. I can vouce for both Martinique and Puerto Rico. I also understand that blood pudding is a part of a traditional English or Irish full breakfast.

I don't know about the rest, but if that's the same Can Roca we ate in, it's in the suburbs now and the address is carret. Taialà, 40. It's the one place in town worth going out of your way for a meal. I should imagine it's the target destination of Robert's trip, although there's easily a day's worth of sightseeing in the older part of Girona.

As with any popularity contest, it all depends on who's doing the counting and how fairly the rules are applied. With the advice passed on by HL Menken and PT Barnum under consideration, I'd still have to note that the US must be a fairly large market (not necessarily a large fair market) and that Budvar can't play under quite the same rules as AB. Even when sold as Czechvar, an unfamiliar name, it has to sell at a premium price. Then again that hasn't stopped the success of Corona. Apparently there are fewer people with taste, than there are with excess disposable income. That's really the bottom line for me and a caveat when I look at any popluarity contest or compliation of public opinion such as Zagat's.

While dessert sales may be down, there's a counter trend developing. Restaurants are opening with nothing but desserts on the menu and they are offering multi course tasting menus of desserts. Esapai Sucre in Barcelona, may be the one that got all the press, but I recall a starred restaurnt in Toulouse, France that also offered a five course dessert menu. The restaurant was just on the corner of the grand theater and music hall of Toulouse and the menu was intended as an after theater experience. Here in NYC, we have Chicalicious and someone's just posted the news that Blue Hill's pastry chef, Pierre Reboul, will unveil the new fall dessert tasting menu on October 7. It will be available after 9:00 p.m. This is a restaurant that didn't even have a pastry chef last year. In fact the chefs did a demo at the Hotel and Restaurant show with the idea of showing how a restaurant could produce interesting desserts without a pastry chef, but there's a difference between very good and excellent.

From the Michelin site: Not to mention a star. Fax: 03 80 50 88 89 E-Mail: chapeaurouge@bourgogne.net William, Welcome to eGullet and the France forum. I hope we hear more from you.

Actually, that would have been, and was, my first suspicion when I heard he was named director. I'd assume a strong francophilic streak was necessary for consideration for the job. I will also admit that it may be sign that Michelin wants to break out of its insular mode, but I'd then note that looking towards the UK is not the best way to do that. While the frogs and rosbifs still go at each others throats, there's always been a large element of mutual love and fine dining in the UK has traditionally meant French restaurant, if not French chef. Just look at how many Americans credit their introduction to French food and wine, or their knowledge of the same, to books written by British authors. The Spanish, on the whole, have paid far less attention to France and French food. I'm not saying they've paid no attention. Almost all of the first generation(s) of nueva cocina have close friends among the three star French chefs and the influences are clear. What's also clear is that they don't have the same rigidity of thinking. What's most fortunate and fortuitous and perhaps largely responsible for the present state of professional cooking in Spain, is that the Spanish seem to share a patience, discipline and exactitude in the kitchen that's been missing from American chefs and kitchens and particularly absent in many graduates of American culinary schools where the title of "chef" is assumed upon graduation rather than after years of experience. Whatever my prejudice against American trained chefs may have been, it's easy to point at Thomas Keller, for example, and others to find American excellence and there's a new generation that's dedicated to thinking about what they're doing and willing to do it the hard way if the results are better. They're cooking to their own standards and raising the bar here. I think cuisine is an international sport these days and the talent will show all over the globe. The focus is on Catalunya and the Pais Vasco right now, but no one with any understanding is counting out Bras, Veyrat, Gagnaire or Ducasse for what they have to say (in the kitchen and on the table, if not in print). Of great significance to me, in considering where to travel is the regional food available in Spain at a time when food in France has become quite homogenized and continues to remove itself from its own agricultural background. Perversely, it seems, I am headed to Paris with a good andouillette as my goal and yet have booked up the Spanish part of my trip at starred restaurants. Perhaps I'm just confident that the rustic food will still be there next year in Spain, but may disappear in Paris overnight. Perhaps, its just a case of the shoemaker's family going unshod and a general perverse streak in my nature. There's just no accounting for personal taste, is there? The tide will turn again. The French will be better off understanding the message being carried by those who eat in Spain, than they will in arguing against what we're finding, especially when many of them were responsible for directing attention to the new wave in Spain in the first place.

Actually, I think we say tomatoes. I suspect Americans with a great degree of familiarity with France, and who have friends who are French or francophiles, probably don't know what the rest of the country may be saying. I suspect "trolley" is a Britishism, but would be perfectly understood by me and most people I know who are likely to come across one bearing cheese in a restaurant on either side of the Atlantic. "Chariot," preferably, but not necessarily, with the French prononciation would work as well. Commom language indeed. I just don't want to see one them blokes coming over here and knocking up my sister. Welcome to eGullet and the France forum

I said:

If I'm paying for coffee, I want espresso. I guess I'm not the target audience.