Bux

I find really good coffee has a slight chocolate overtone. Naturally, I'm talking about espresso. To my taste, there's no such thing as really good non-espresson.

I got it right once. It's that damn silent "h." I keep trying to see it when I don't hear it.

I caught a bit of that by accident. I guess I missed the best parts. I was enthralled by the taster comments. One of them was explicit enough to describe on dish as "indescribable." It was almost as if I could taste it myself. A good part of the appeal of Iron Chef was that it was a freak show from an inscrutable foreign culture. At home it's a couple of journeymen in clown suits cooking for people who have nothing to say about what they ate.

Once NBC was committed to the show, getting Rocco on the Today show was a breeze. Actually I suspect NBC considered it Rocco's obligation to appear on the Today show. They used editorial time to advertise their own show. Getting him on another network would have been a coup.

Just remember to get Amex as a sponsor of your "reality" TV show. The definitions between owner, sponsor, backer, endorsement and reality have never been blurrier.

These were the official sponsors of the show. The placement of the products was most likely a condition that had to be met.

Nobody has to do anything. People choose to do things like this. The issues are whether the TV show is entertaining and whether it makes you feel you will eat well at the restaurant.

People who are paid to drink it? What do they call a TV program where everyone is paid to promote the sponsor? Does this qualify as an infomercial or commercial? Too often it struck me that the restaurant was there to sell a beer and a credit card. Curiously absent was any interest in the food to be served. I suppose it will come, but truthfully, Rocco driving around with one hand on the wheel and the other on his mobile phone left me wondering about the attitude towards safety in the kitchen. Oh yeah, there's the fire. I was thinking sanitary safety. I didn't think it was a flattering portrait. I thought Rocco came off better on the Today show.

Of all three Michelin designations, the one star is the least reliable. The two and three star designations note an absolute level of attainment. One star indicates quality relative to the area. Thus a remote one star restaurant far removed from all over starred restaurant may be quite disappointing even if the best meal in the area, but a one star surrounded by other stars is usually worthy of notice.

Whoa. Are we talking Ch. Mouton-Rothschield? If so we're talking Médoc. Pauillac to be exact. Correct regarding Mouton, but I'd give some respect to Haut-Brion, a Graves, myself. I think it's well known, but I'm not that serious. Or should I say my budget is not that serious when it comes to first growths. Admittedly, in 1855, Haut-Brion was classified as one of the four first growths of the Médoc, although it was a Graves. I suppose it was just too famous, and perhaps too good, to be a Graves. I have to let Craig get away on a technicality here. Like when did they move Ch. Mouton-Rothschild? Other's have tried, but this is the first I've heard about reclassifying Mouton as a Graves. For what it's worth, Mouton was classified as a second growth in 1855. Premier ne puis, Second ne daigne, Mouton suis became the motto of the pissed off owners. I also question the fact that Merlot is the predominant grape in Graves as most of the wine is white, but of course merlot could redominate because of the percentages used the blend of whites and reds and if its yield is low.

I guess it's a shortbread cookie. I actually cheated and looked the word up in an Italian dictionary. It means "sandy." Shortbread in French is "sable" which also means sand. I suspected an Italian sabbiosa was similar to a French sable.

Thanks for the feedback. I know it's unfair to make assumptions, but I assume a chef will have more of an intellectual interest in the food itself, or at least a professional curiosity, than say, hotel managers,l who are also in the hospitality industry, but might be less likely to share the intensity of interest. In the end, it's a personal thing. Some people are obsessed with the food, while others regard it as a small part of the dining experience. I am far more likely to urge a chef to try Tragabuches in Rhonda, than I am the casual tourist looking for local food. El Churrasco in Cordoba is a universal recommendation. While at El Churrasco, try to speak to Rafael. Actually there are two Rafaels. One is the owner and the other either a captain or sommelier. Either will do and you are likely to be asked which Rafael you want if you ask for him. They have a second historic building near the restaurant, which houses their cave, mini wine museum (a small room with a couple of display cases just over the cave entrance) and private party rooms. It's all worth the short time it takes to see and either Rafael should be able set you up with someone to take you on a tour of the premises. I'm not sure if they speak English, as my wife's first langauge is Spanish. I've found another post of mine on eating in that area in the short Costa del Sol thread. Hacienda el Rosalejo (tel 956 231 000) near Arcos De La Frontera, is listed under Villamartín in the Michelin Guide. Michelin doesn't award it a star, but I think it's well worth a bit of a detour if you're driving from Ronda to Jerez or Sevilla.This place was recommended to us, but I suspect it actually changed hands since and it was our good fortune that it was taken over by able hands. Most of Andalucia is excellent for tapas, but Sevilla is exceptional. We were taken by the range of tastes available. I should note that chickpeas and spinach is evidently a traditional tapas of the area. The most unusal tapas we found at a bar in the market on the Triana side of the Puente de Triana (also known as the Puente Isabel II) was sangre, which we mistook for morcilla. It is also made from blood and quite a bit like duck's blood found in Chinatown. The market itself was not very interesting when compared with the markets in Barcelona.

I used your post for a referrence point for why I post. I was not reading anything into your actions or motives, but generally explaining why I usually post. As most of us do, I sometimes get drawn into a thread outside my interests.

If raw were held to be the opposite of cooked, how come people still manage to cook up raw deals? +++ The operative phrase here may be "something I won't write home about." In an abstract way, I associate writing home with posting here. Both may be euphemisms for "not worth talking about." My last meal at a chain restaurant in a shopping mall doesn't prove much. It doesn't make me a populist and I wouldn't bring it up as proof I'm not an elitist. It was a product of circumstances, and not worth writing home about. +++ I'd be better off responding to the question about when I stopped beating my wife. People seem to be asking that. Well no they haven't, nor have I seen anyone say you shouldn't say you like low-quality food, but now I've run the risk of further offending you if you read my post as questioning your reading comprehension. See how easy it is to push "offended" button. What I think people have said is that they're surprised to see someone come to a food site where there are many people deeply obsessed with the quality of the food they eat or cook, and say they like low quality food. Some of those who cook professionally and have striven to keep their standards high may indeed be offended that someone places so little value on their efforts by posting that they like low-quality food, but I haven't seem anyone say that. By the way, I am taking your statement at face value in terms of low-quality. I've said that it's not unusual for people who have been involved in any field for a long time to make statements that are likely to carry more weight than those made by a novice in that same field. It's not a secret that there are some people here who have been eating for three times as long as you have and perhaps cooking seriously for even a longer time than you have been cooking. Do you think you'll have more to say about food in another twenty years? Do you think your opinions will be better formed and more sophisticated after another twenty years of eating and cooking or do you think you are peaking in terms of knowledge and intellect right now? +++ I always welcome champions of my rights. I hope I didn't exactly say Olive Garden's food was "crap." Neither did I think I caught anyone waxing rhapsodic about it. You are just setting the abstract parameters for the main event to come, I trust. +++ I like tuna sandwiches, although my idea of what's in a good one has evolved over time. Never moreso than last spring in Madrid. Hungry and having missed lunch because my wife wasn't feeling well, I remembered a bar with a great list of sandwiches. I ordered a tuna sandwich and immediately felt stupid. All those sandwiches and I order tuna. Actually I had focused on the roasted red peppers in the sandwich which also had achovies and a dousing of olive oil. Now, I've always been a celery and mayonnaise in my tuna sandwiches guy, (preferably home made mayo though) but this was incredible olive oil packed tuna and an incredible sandwich. Thanks for reminding me of that as well as reminding me that I'm still learning what's best. +++ Depending on who's making the burrito. Come to think of it, if we pick the right guys on both sides of this equation, the burrito could be better most days. +++ That makes sense. I wish everyone gave as much thought to why they post here and what they can put into the site and get out of it. +++ Good food has very little to do with exotic food, unless of course good food is an experience with which one is unfamiliar. Quality food should be a gray area to everyone. Taste is very subjective in many ways. I doubt this site is over your head, although for the time being, some of the threads may be less decipherable now than they will be in five years. +++ Oh please, lighten up! I'm not going to apologize for taking anyone seriously here. I also find the the phrase "Oh please, lighten up!" to be unconducive to a healthy dialog.

On recent trips, I have agonized about where to eat in Barcelona -- there are so many choices and the types of choices are so varied. It's so much less likely I'd be able to choose for someone else. Tell us who you are, what you like, where you're coming from, what and where you eat when not in Barcelona and why you're going to be in Barcelona. Then perhaps we may narrow down a suggestion or two.

Click on the link for a discussion on Sevilla recommendations posted earlier in the year. For us, tapas were the gastronomic highlights of our stay in Sevilla. May I ask what part of the hospitality business you are in, and how it affects your interest in food? Sevilla offered us a perfect example of a restaurant whose charms were everywhere but in the food. It was however highly regarded by many and enthusiastically recommended by someone who plans upmarket itineraries for sophisticated visitors to Spain and who is highly respected for her abilities to know and satisfy her audience. That I could not recommend it for the food, does not seem to stop most people from loving the place. In Rhonda, someone hot on the trail of creative cooking in Spain should not miss Tragabuches, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea. On the other hand, I heartily recommend El Churrasco in Cordoba for its very traditional food and grilled meats as well as for its ambience. A real find, was Hacienda El Roselejo, off the main highway near Arcos de la Frontera, somewhere between Rhonda and Sevilla. Should you get near Sanlucar de Barrmeda, you should have lunch at one of the seafood restaurants on the quai. Mirador de Doñana served us well.

Beef is not to lamb as merlot is to Bordeaux. Beef and lamb are two entirely separate er ... categories. There is no overlap. Merlot is the name of a grape and Bordeaux is the name of a city and of a grape growing and winemaking region (in France). Merlot may come from California, or Long Island. It may also come from Chile or other parts of Latin America and it may come from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy. It may of course come from France and it may come identified as "merlot" on a bottle from France. There's a lot of merlot bottled in the Languedoc and labeled as "merlot". So effectively the customer is saying he's clueless, although he has managed to learn two words that often appear on wine labels.

We had lunch at Guerard a few years ago. It was the last day before they closed for vacation. As I recall, it was a la carte, but there was a rather limited selection compared to the one we saw at dinner a year or two prior to the lunch. I was rather less impressed by my lunch than we were at dinner, but it's hard to say if it was lunch, or just that the selection was limited because they were closing that night. Looking at last year's Michelin, Urt pops right out, but unfortuantely Parra has retired and sold the Auberge de la Glaupe, however: Iparla Chemin de l'eglise 64780 Bidarray Tel: 33 (0)5 59 37 77 21 This does not seem to be intended to be a three star restaurant, but if Parra is still preparing his boudin noir, it's worth checking out. I assume you will find lots of good Ibérico hams once you reach Lasarte.

No real experience in the area recently. A few years ago we stopped off for lunch at Bistrot d'Eygalières "Chez Bru" in Eygalières and enjoyed ourselves immensely, but it's a bit chic, got a star and not particularly inexpensive. It may not even be close enough either. "Casual" and "resonably priced" are quite subjective. I ate in my shirtsleeves or sweater (this was December) and thought it was priced fairly for what it offered. The Michelin shows 60 euros as the least expensive menu. La Malle-Poste at 26 euros for dinner, might be interesting and possibly close enough to you. "Plats de terroir, vieilles recettes garanties accompagnés de vins de propriétaires : Papeton d’aubergine, Tarte fine à la tapenade maison, Lapin à la "pèbre d’aï", Quinquebine du Luberon, Broufado des bateliers, Soupe de pêches à la verveine , Crème brûlée à la lavande … " I have no knowledge other than what I found on the site. Gastronomie en Luberon with links to market days, confiseurs, and a few vinyards, might be an interesting site.

I met him at the Union Square Greenmarket sometime ago. I heard two guys talking about food and looked up to see him talking to Mike Anthony who introduced me. Mike had just finished the Blue Hill Q&A and I thought I'd have an excellent opportunity to plug the site. Wylie had never heard of us, but then it turned out that he was only vaguely aware there was something called an Internet.

Stick to the oysters, except in late May when you can get the "new herrring" from Holland for a few weeks into June. I've been disappointed even by the heralded chowder among other things and the pastries don't even look as if they inspire confidence.

Agreed, Otto is a very atypical situation, but I've had wonderful ice cream in a number of restaurants. Hmm, I wonder how many were made in the restaurant.

I think you're going to find that in any field, the people who are most serious are the ones whose arguments will carry the day. I would think that's almost a natural law. "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like," is perfectly valid for the individual, but don't expect that "knowledge" to affect the thinking and opinions of those who have made the study of art a career or even a serious hobby. "Above average" is not usually good enough for connoisseurs of baseball, opera, computer programs, etc. For better or worse, this site attracts many people who are obsessed with food. Many of them are here because in real life, they have no friends or neighbors who share their degree of interest in food. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Emerson is often misquoted or miscontrued. He didn't equate all consitency with small minds, lest anyone assume the search for consistency is the product of a little mind. It is however the product of an uncurious mind. I don't even eat out regularly at my favorite restaurant even though their consistency is mostly about quality and they constantly change the menu. Even though their style most closely matches my tastes, I need variety and I need risk. I'm not talking about the risk of getting sick as you'd see by by reading (in the UK forum) lxt's Fat Duck review or (in the France forum) Stephen Jackson's Marc Veyrat post. There's an excitement about food that drives some of us to eat out. What I do find almost offensive about your post, is that you seem to imply that the difference between the food at the French Laundry and Cheesecake Factory is nothing but the name, the clientele, and the fact that it's a chain. If in fact, you really don't see the difference in the food, it's understandable that you'll find those who do, to be snobs. And if you really believe that each time Keller opens another place, the food must be dumbed down at the French Laundry, I suspect it is you who are prejudiced against chains. Prestige and mystique play a large role in our society and I've defended my interest in new and creative food, but we have to be able to separate the food from the experience here and we should also be able to understand the part that service plays in enjoying fine food. If chain restaurants can be defended, and I think they can although they are my choice of last resort, it's not going to be by knocking the quality of fine food.

As noted, the truffles in Perigord grow slowly and are quite rare. They also continue to be first rate and inimitable. Keller would be doing well if he can keep getting compared to truffles in the Perigord. One of the chefs most respected here on eGullet, spent much of his time in the research kitchens of Howard Johnson. His name is Jacques Pepin. You'd be correct to point out that most of his French chef collegues didn't get it, but you should also know that after Johnson, Sr. passed on, his son moved the company in a more "corporate" direction run by accountants, rather than the quality research kitchen. Since then, chain research kitchens have not done much research into quality as far as others tell me. Don't be misled into thinking someone puts down the result because the don't like the mentality that created it. They don't respect the mentality because of what it's created. So far in this thread, I've read that people don't eat in places that serve mediocre food because they don't like that the food "being served is corporate" and that "it's a chain." Nonesense, the cause and effect is clearly stated by those who have disdain for the chains.

Pandering is always embarrassing at best, or should be, no matter what end of it you are on. A friend of ours used to tell children that there's an indoors tone of voice and an outdoors one, when they children in her vicinity needed to shout. It's not really a question of being a permissive parent or a disciplinarian. It's a matter of appropriate behavior. Children should be expected to behave like children and adults as adults, but the appropriate behavior inside a restaurant is not that different for both species. One caters to their children by seeing that they get to spend as much time as possible in places that are supportive to their needs and one helps them grow up by teaching them how to behave in other environments. One panders to them by allowing them to behave the same all over.