Bux

One thing I'll say about this show is that it makes me nostalgic ... nostalgic for a time when there wasn't reality TV maybe. I remember when an AmEx card seemed like a status symbol. Even the green one would do. It wasn't a credit card that had a limit like one from a bank and you had to apply to become a member. Today, American Express is fighting a losing battle with Visa and MasterCard. I also remember when Coors wasn't available on the east coast and maybe not available anywhere east of the Rockies. There was a mystique to the beer. Invariably someone would bring a six-pack or case to college and a few guys who never really drank much beer, or who drank too much would ooh and ah. Complaints from the rest would be answered by comments like it doesn't really travel well or you have to get it in bottles, not cans. I guess it was always a second rate beer. I haven't owned a car in years and my familiarity with any make or model is limited to short term rentals of whatever cars the rental companies choose, but my mother-in-law drove a Mitsubishi. As best I recall, they treated each other poorly. I'm not sure who's lost the most or come off the worst in this arrangement. The editing manages to keep us from ever seeing this as reality, while losing the real excitement of a restaurant. Last night when super Rocco came down to save his and everyone else's ass the show took a huge nosedive for me. It turned from second rate sit-com to dumb cartoon. Rocco, after contemplatively rolling meatballs, single handedly prepared every dish that came from the kitchen to raves from the now adoring diners while the rest of the kitchen staff just watched in awe as their hero saved the day. And then came the losing kicker that the next show would find him in the front of the house again. As the editing and staging becomes even more apparent, it becomes obvious there's no real reality. It's a pity that a chef I admired, at least to a degree, comes off looking so bad. Maybe it's time for a makeover. Is there an open spot on Queer Eye? Speaking of queer eyes, I spotted one post that I thought was in poor taste. It brought no reports, but there were a few sharp responses from members sensitive enough to both call the poster and not to make a fuss. We try to protect the greatest freedom of speech when it comes to opinions about food, but that doesn't mean we have to allow bigoted references to stereotypes or the use of pejorative names. It can be the kind of thing that gives heterosexuals a bad name.

From The Good Fat Cookbook by Fran McCullough. It's not all that simple however. Trans fats can be created by just heating oils and fats, so if you cook with natural fats, you're going to create some trans fats yourself along the way. To add to the confusion, conjugated linoleic acid is a natural trans fat that is in milk and meat and apparently good. I'm loathe to simlify anything in the book. The healthiest fats are the unsaturated ones, provided they're also unprocessed and haven't oxidized. The author prefers lard and butter to highly processed canola and soy oils and even to some unprocessed unsaturated oils because they are fragile and usually break down in the bottle before they get to the consumer. One of McCullough's main points is that as a result of successful lobbying by soy and canola interest groups, our diets have suffered. Now that McDonald's has eliminated the tallow in which they fried their potatoes, the fries are less healthy than before. If nothing else, reading this book should at least reduce any guilt self serving lobby's have instilled in the public's mind regarding lard and coconut oil.

My guess is that the average guy in the Intermarche is not going to feel all that intimidated by by Robuchon's package, so to speak, and will opt for the cheaper brand more often than not. I would agree that the economics of the 21st century bodes poorly for the local chef in his local kitchen in France as for the mom and pop in their little restaurant in America. Chains need not represent mediocrity, and I think it's chains not canned soup or packaged mashed potatoes that spell the greatest threat, but they surely represent homogeneity and I'd agree than a constant diet of the same food, even if it's good, is boring and undesirable.

The problem is not that people are putting down the chef content to stay in his kitchen and cook, but that some people are implying that there's something wrong with the cooking of the chef who does endorsements. They're also saying that the same person couldn't possibly cook a fine hot dinner for some fifty people in a restauant and develop a recipe for a canned soup that's better than others on the market. It is in fact, possible to be a poet and a journalist and be good at both and it's possible to paint a great painting and design an outstanding corporate logo. We live in the age of specialization, but we need to respect the da Vinci's when they arise. It's quite possible for one man to devise a better canned soup, paint a better painting and build a better mouse trap, although I would not argue that we live in the age of specialization because our temperment has changed. It's a fact that every aspect of life seems to require undivided attention attention to succeed, but let's judge the results of others on the basis of the results.

Are you sure you'll want to look at a stove when you get home from the job? This month you could use a solar frying pan anyway.

When I posted this? What I meant was that I might like a quiet table in the corner, but the restaurant might consider the vip table to be the one that commands a view of the entrance as well as the one that everyone sees upon entering. Mostly however, I really don't understand the fuss some people make about where they sit in restaurants. I think they do it just to make a fuss. I think that must be how big shots are supposed to behave. I think it's less important to important people. We did get a really shitty table the other day after waiting forty-five minutes at the bar, but it was a crowded night and we walked in at prime time without a reservation. It stood to reason that were likely to get one of the tables in the bar and not one in the main area because those would all be reserved. It was just that this table was even smaller than most, although not the worst table in the room. We could have refused the table, but we had just finished drinks and were hungry. We had intended to have a at least two courses and a bottle of wine, but felt the table was too small to put plates, bread and elbows on at the same time. When the waiter came we told him the table was only big enough for hamburgers and a carafe of Cotes du Rhone. He said they made great burgers and I said we knew, otherwise we would have left. Sometimes in life, you just have to punt. We know the chefs, but not the owner, and sometimes we're recognized and get a dessert or something on the house. It was a busy night and our name wasn't on the reservation list, so they wouldn't have known we were there that night. Someone has to get the worst table in the house. A really fine restaurant should not have any unacceptable tables. As shitty as I may have said this table was, sitting there having a good hamburger was preferable to staying home and making omelets. I should also note that I have the restaurant's preferred reservation number and that had I called earlier, I might well have had a reservation, so why should I complain?

Does anyone know if there's a dating code on any of the finos or manzanillas? Twice in my life, I've developed a thirst in Spain for manzanilla. It may be that it disappears in the US because neither the life style or the food is as appropriate, but I suspect it's because the wine is not as fresh. I will also admit to thinking of sherry as an aperitif, and not a table wine, but in a seafood restaurant in Sanlucar de Barrameda, we continued with a manzanilla through lunch and ended up ordering a glass of white wine each when the (half) bottle of manzanilla was finished. We agreed that the manzanilla was a better match with what we were eating, which was mostly simply prepared shellfish. That's the problem. In Andalucia, you can almost be assured the fino or manzanilla by the glass is fresh in a restaurant. Even in Madrid, I'd be more likely to ask for a fino rather than a manzanilla. Even in Spain we really don't see much consumption of sherry outside of Andalucia. In Madrid, and much of Spain, it seems cerveza is the aperitif of choice these days.

Wow, I just clicked through to their boudin noir page. Nine varieties including an Antillais and a Fumé, although I'd have to an oignon first. Pretty fancy list of boudin blancs as well. Maybe I want an appartment with a kitchen rather than a hotel and restaurant reservations the next time I'm in Paris.

It's worth noting here that Arthur Lubow, in the upcoming article on Adria and Spain [Article here. Discussion here.] in this Sunday's NY, asks "How can a French chef turn a profit?" given the taxes and laws in France. He mentions Robuchon's chain of L'Ateliers and goes on to say "As it is, El Bulli just breaks even. Adrià supports the operation with product lines, ..."

I can assure you that not even everything culinary in Spain is happening in Catalunya. For one thing Arzak who is generally credited with being the father of contemporary cooking in the Basque area is alive and well, although his daughter may be the major influence in the way his kitchen is going. And they're not alone in that area by a long shot. But if vsrna can be relied on, and I've done very well relying on his advice, things are happening all over Spain. We had a phenomenal meal southwest of Madrid in what we thought was the very underrated one star Las Rejas. We've also had terrific inventive food in Andalucia. Other travelers report excellent experiences in Rioja and around Madrid.

I don't know that much about andouillettes. I'm still doing research. Some have a mild taste and aroma and some can be "appreciated" from across the table. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference. I know some are made from pork and others from veal and it's not always clear which I'm ordering. I'd like to think the barnyardy flavor -- an acquired taste, to be sure -- that's strong in some, is not the byproduct of poorly cleaned intestines. In fact, I'm quite sure it isn't, but I don't know if the lack of such character is due to over processing, or the animal itself. I had one at Balzar, one of the brasseries taken over by the Flo group that I thought was very mild. I distinctly recall commenting to my wife that maybe I've become jaded with andouillette as it didn't seem distinctive tasting. Then I had a much more artisanal seeming product, it was all misshapen, at a small bouchon in Lyon and it was distinctly distinctive. It didn't strike me as an off-taste however.

Meanwhile the NY Times reports that Spain is the place to go to eat. No doubt however, that in a few years Adria will be selling frozen air.

I did and they said there must have been a mistake of some misunderstanding. No one admitted to the surcharge on ATM withdrawals, but they gave me a $20 credit. That left me $18 to the good on that withdrawal and at least a hundred dollars in the red on past exchanges for debits and withdrawals as well as insulted. I moved the bulk of my business to the other bank. It's hard to find someone who isn't passing the buck (no pun intended) at any major corporate bank however.

The story of my life. I'm surprised this is not someone's sig at eGullet.

In spite of my response to the word "gourmet," I think the opening post questioning the gourmet worthyness of felafal goes to the heart of your question. I don't think a simple felafal sandwich, or even felafal on a plate will ever be considered haute cuisine. If it ever achieves that status, it will be because of the preparation and serving and more likely becuase of the way it's incorporated into a dish, but I don't think a dish has to be haute cuisine in order to be memorable enough for people to long for an excellent example of the genre. I enjoy good felafal, but I doubt it will ever rock my socks off, though.

Might I be so vulgar as to ask for the cost of the menus you had? I know Grand Vefour gets about a third of the dinner price for its lunch menu and it sounds like a particularly good deal. On the other hand, as I've mentioned on another thread, I've had both the seasonal dégustation menu and the lunch special at Carré des Feuillants where the spread was almost the same, but I found the much more expensive dinner menu to be the better value. Had I come to lunch without ever having the dinner experience, I might have been impressed by the preparations, but they didn't have the depth or scope of the creativity and complexity of the dishes on the seasonal dinner menu. It was some years ago and in the fall, so it was completely different from what you had, but in the abstract, your menu reminds me of that meal. Your lunch at Grand Vefour seems almost perfect, but I wonder how well it conveys what Guy Martin can do. I have not eaten at Guy Martin and have heard lunch is a good way to enjoy the restaurant, but I have been unsure if that's because of the good deal, or the light.

I was told by Chase that they didn't apply the 2% foreign currency surcharge, but when I did a test withdrawal in France, I got exactly 2% less money for my withdrawal from the Chase account than I did on another bank account. Unfortunately I made the test on the trip following one in which I paid everything with my ATM/debit card.

I trust that was not l'Amroisie on place des Voges to which you refer.

Last night we went out for dinner at the last minute and walked into an all too popular restaurant in the neighborhood without a reservation. A forty-five minute wait shoudn't have been a surprise and I was about to leave, when it dawned on me, we can sit at the bar and a have a drink. Old habits are hard to break and mine was to avoid bars for well over twenty years in NY. (Admittedly, the older habit of not avoiding bars twenty years ago was even harder to break, but once I got the second hand smoke out of my system, I couldn't stand going back.) That's hardly going to change the economics of the bar scene, which was two deep all night at this bar--my wife got a stool, I stood--but the house and the bartender got to split twenty bucks and the house sold a dinner they wouldn't have sold. Mrs. B's plan was to go home and make omelets if we couldn't get a table, but a bar stool and glass of wine was an acceptable compromise. And, as I mentioned, business at the bar seemed brisk. I saw a few couples with kids. The couples were having a drink at the bar while waiting for a table. I wonder if they'd have done that in a smoky bar. I don't think the bar business is dead, just changing its clientele. Don't get me wrong, I still have some sympthy for the displaced smoker/drinker who has no social place to go. I just don't buy the business loss angle to quickly.

A year or two apart, we had the seasonal tasting menu and then the lunch special at Carré des Feulliants. There was a world of difference. The lunch special was nice, but nowhere near the tasting menu experience. We felt the seasonal tasting menu at twice the price, or more, was the better value because it really took us to another level.

From another thread here in the France board, here's an opportune post. I noticed yesterday that Repaire de Cartouche is on Patricia Wells' 2003 list of favorite places in Paris. I would say this means 'the cat is out of the bag.' She talks about the boudin noir they serve, which makes me think I may need to work it into my itinerary.

I think many of us share that sensibility. There have been times when my finest memories of a trip are of the new and exciting foods I've tasted at the hands of very creative chefs, and other times when they are of some old fashioned, and maybe even rustic, food that was prepared superbly well. Sometimes it is of the food I went looking to find and sometimes it is of the other that I ran into unexpectedly. There are many restaurants that are not my first choice, but which nevertheless are necessary to visit for me to keep my balance.

That link didn't work for me. Try latabledanvers.fr instead.

There's another old favorite of ours. We've only been there twice and not recently only because we don't get to spend much time in Paris and because there are so many places I want to try. That I don't have enough money could be another reason, but we found Carré des Feuillants to be one of the best values, so price is not a good reason here. Nevertheless, I haven't heard it get much good press of word of mouth lately. I'm glad to see it appreciated.

Paul, I'm looking forward to hearing about your next meals in Barcelona. It's been a while since we've been to Can Fabes, but it was certainly not disappointing at all. All the more surprising because it was touted so highly. I'm always afraid three star restaurants will fail me in some way if only because expectations are unreasonably high. Maybe I was easily pleased because we . Compared to El Bulli and perhaps a number of other contemporary restaurants in the area, I suppose it seems a bit traditional, but it's certainly first rate cooking and service and by no means was the food dated three years ago. I realize cooking is moving very fast in northern Spain.