Bux

While I've had nothing but excellent food and service at le Bernardin, I hardly think it's in a class of its own. Certainly Daniel and Jean Georges have given it competition for years. ADNY and Per Se are newer arrivals, but with a difference. I believe neither of them turn tables. That alone could make the difference between two and three stars in the minds of Michelin.

If I said I believed your support of the Psaltis brothers was fueled by externalities, would that be a less reasonable thing to post? I dare say, Mimi's earned a credibility we can only aspire to. I believe she made herself clear on all accounts related to the meal and the book.

. . . . ← I've had but one meal at the Beard House and I didn't think it offered great value, but it's a charitable institution and value is not necessarily the reason to eat there. Interestingly enough, I had a dish there that I had previously eaten in the restaurant whose executive chef and sous chef were cooking that day. The biggest difference between the preparation of the dish at the Beard House and as served in the restaurant was the amount of foie gras in the stuffing. The restaurants donate all the food as well as the talent. Although the chefs complained about the facilities and the kitchen, they were able to replicate the quality of the restaurant's cooking. Sometimes Fat Guy nails the situation. An experienced and accomplished chef can produce great food under less than stellar conditions.

I can't figure out your defense, but neither of those things are important to others. It's not that Dan Barber would never make use of someone else's recipes, Daniel Boulud's most famous dish is one for which he gives credit to another chef. What seems false to me is to make an issue over an intellectual chef having cook books and using them as if that somehow proves he has nothing of his own to say or teach. What sort of squeeze are you referring to?

I think it's already been pointed out that slander is very difficult to prove. My understanding is that the injured party would have to prove monetary damage stemming from the slanderous remarks to actually achieve a financial gain from the suit. In most cases, lawyers will advise clients not to sue. Publishers are not likely to publish a work they think will result in damages, although they may not shy away from publishing contentious material. I wonder how much harder it is to prove that you've been slandered if your name is changed in the account. As much as I suspect all parties appearing in the book under their name, or a fictitious name, would be pleased to see this thread end altogether, the argument that the book must be telling a tale that resembles the actually truth simply because no one has sued is simply false reasoning.

I suppose that is hearsay. Whether I tell you what I've heard, or what I've seen, what you believe is bound to depend on a ombination of the credibility of what I say and my personal credibility. I mean that in the universal sense. Substitute "one" for "I," and "another" for "you."

I don't think personal gain or even a perception of gain is necessary for a statement to be a lie. There are people who habitually lie, though it harms them, aren't there? ← An intentionally false statement is the definition that works for most people. I assume most people lie because they feel they will gain somehow. It could be personal financial gain, it could be the hope of a relative gain in reputation, or it could be the satisfaction of hurting someone else. My mother used to habitually lie to not hurt other people's feelings. It often backfired, but her intentions were honorable. Still she gained by feelilng better about herself at the moment. A mistruth told with the understanding that it's not the truth is the definition. We need not go into the reasons the liar lied to understand the lie.

I believe earlier I posted that the book is creatively harmful in a calculated manner. I think that qualifies.

With all due respect, my grapevine tells me that a respectable segment of the NY culinary world knows they are full of shit. How long that might take to filter down to culinary students is anyone's guess, but I believe it's okay to get a bit outraged over malicious statements that depart from the truth whether or not the truth is ultimately known in larger circles. I may more correctly be criticized not for my naiveté, but for my righteous streak when if comes to publishing bullshit. While I have a hard time believing any culinary student wouldn't jump at the chance to stage at Blue Hill or Stone Barns--which I consider among the most interesting handful of places to work in and around NYC--that doesn't mean I don't think the Psaltis brothers won't keep on pushing their luck lying about other chefs. It may just be a character fault of theirs. People get away with murder every day in this country, so I have no faith justice will prevail in any situation. In my opinion, as long as Psaltis lies only about those chefs who have already hired him, he may have little to lose, as he seems to have burnt most of his bridges behind him. At any rate, your assurance that no restaurant will be harmed or lose hires as a result of this book is comforting. Would you also have a good explantion of why one would go to great pains to mention the co-chef's name and clearly describe the restaurant, but change the name of the chef/owner?

The innuendo that Pepin, Batali and Bourdain are closing ranks to protect entrenched interests is a bit insulting to all concerned and no less so to our readers. It might be far more truthful to acknowledge that they retracted their blurbs on reading the rest of the book. You may, if you wish, insult them for writing the blurb before reading the book.

Absollutely the right to talk about what he saw, but no right to be creatively harmful as I believe I've made a case for the way he told the story about Alex Ureña and the restaurant we know to be Blue Hill. The Psaltis version doesn't have to match the Ureña version or the Barber version, but there are facts that must be common to all versions for them to be seen as reasonable versions.

My assumption that he is telling the truth is just as disingenous as your belief that he is not. Excuse me for giving him the benefit of the doubt. You're all but calling him a liar. And, BTW, so sorry to disrupt your vacation. ← No Lesley, you've repeated the same statment several times with no supporting post. I have, with each of my posts included back up explanations and supporting arguments. I expect no one to buy my opinions at face value. I feel I have to earn that support.

Perhaps an insult is not the greatest harm that can be done via a book. Perhaps someday you'll have the experience of needing to staff a kitchen on a budget as does Peter who has only to turn to the CIA to see prospective employees reading that he has nothing to teach them. That's the way a hit man works. A few words of praise and a couple of kisses on the cheek before you put the knife in someone's back. The naiveté on this board about how the restaurant world works, just stuns me, especially when it comes from so called professional chefs. I wonder about the ivory tower in which they work and in what parallel universe that must exist. The twins know how to hit low and no one here gets it. It's like using a rubber hose. It leaves no visible mark. I truly believe neither the supporters nor detractors of the book have a really good sense of what's going on and just how calculating this whole book was.

As has been pointed out by those more familiar with publishing than yourself, it's common practice and we don't even know if they were sent the whole book, or the final copy.

In terms of the first part, that isn’t actually what Psaltis writes on pages 126 - 141. He writes that he and Alex Urena were to run the kitchen, and that Barber (ridiculously called Peter in the book) stepped in as co-chef after the fact. With respect to the second part, the claim that Psaltis “was hired two weeks after the restaurant opened five years ago” would certainly be damning to Psaltis. It seems a bit hard to swallow, though. Psaltis is quite specific about, for example: -Recounting (pages 126 - 127) a dinner meeting with Urena and Barber at Peacock Alley during which the restaurant was discussed pre-opening. -Specifying the month he came to the restaurant (January, page 129) and the month the restaurant opened for friends-and-family pre/soft-opening meals (February, page 130). -Naming the people who were at the friends-and-family meals: his friends Laura, Jason and “Greenie” from Huntington, and his brother and co-author Michael (page 130). -Giving detailed accounts of post mortem meetings held after the friends-and-family meals (page 132 onward). Urena seems to be claiming that Psaltis wasn’t there for any of the above -- that it was a complete fabrication. Of course, specificity does not equal truth. But the detail provided in Psaltis’s book is compelling to me. ← A well turned defense counselor, but Ureña didn't say Psaltis wasn't there at those meetings. It seems to me that perhaps he just wasn't hired until later. I have attended meetings for a project that was never undertaken and for projects that were undertaken, but for which I wasn't hired. I see neither smoke, nor a gun here.

But in a Time Out New York article published in 2000, Doug Psaltis is specifically referred to as the sous-chef: Also: The story is available online here: http://www.timeoutny.com/eatout/240/240.eat.ramps.html -- this, at least, would seem to be a bit of homework the New York Times didn't do. ← You know I read that article, several times over the years. I have a couple of copies in my library. What it says is that Doug was sous-chef, not Alex's co-chef as he says in his book. It goes on to say that Dan is the chef chef since he’s calling out the orders and working the pass, which is what the top chef in any kitchen does, and that Dan clearly knows his way around the kitchen if he’s breaking down vegetables, fish, and meats. Even the title sous-chef may be questionable in a new restaurant opening on a tight budget. It's often easier to give a title than a salary to boost the ego of one of the guys in a new kitchen. The author of that article was one of the few people who would talk to me at all. What she had to say is that she didn't have much memory of Doug. It seems to me that he wasn't one with much responsibility or input into the restaurant that took off big, quickly. Alex apparently did have much to do with the origninal success, but even there I have some questions. You and I never shared the same opinion of the restaurant. I felt it was a destination restaurant from early on and you didn't. More to the point I seem to recall that when Alex left, your predictions were negative and you expressed the view that Alex was the talent. I wondered why you had that misapprehension then. I better understand that today.

Once more, I have to ask how you know that any of his allegations are true? Where do you get your information from? How are you so all knowing? I am offended that you expect us to take any of this as proof of anything. Why can't I enjoy myself in Venice with the firm knowledge that people know what they post as knowing. Why do you go on defending the allegations as truth while those who post otherwise are asked for proof? Is it not diingenuous?

El Poblet was stellar as well. A young and inexperienced staff tried too hard to be what they weren't and it provided a smile or two to us. The servers are charming. They try too hard and two self consciously to provide a level of service that is beyond their own experience, but it doesn't detract from the meal. We had lunch that day and I regret we didn't have the appetite to try more courses at El Poblet. What we had would induce me to return, though Denia itself didn't have much to offer us beyond some wonderful Gambas Rojas and Quique Dacosta's cooking. It's pretty much a beach town and I suspect best visited just out of season if you're going for the food.

Almost two weeks later and no report. Should we assume it was a meal not worth mentioning?

I haven't been to Ca L'Isidre in years, but I'm surprised if not shocked. I'm curious what went wrong, although with "miserable disaster," I might ask if anything went right. I have no objections to your going to Can Fabes over Abac. I liked Abac, but Can Fabes was in another league. Again, it was some time ago.

Vedat, let me try to offer you something about Ca'Sento, and yes, I agree about Rogelio's taste in food. On the basis of the small sampling we have of diners in Spain, I will say that gastronomy in Spain is thriving not simply because there are talented chefs, but because, if our sampling is at all representative, there are those who really appreciate food. At any rate, I have considered myself fortunate to have their advice and I don't discount a particular Spanish gastronome approaching my age either. I'm off to Italy on Monday and preoccupied with that. I also regret to say that we have no real notes on our meal at Ca'Sento, simply a list of the dishes we had. We left the restaurant on a real high, although the meal got off on a bad footing as we arrived too early, before they opened and they didn't have a cava by the glass. Often that's enough to ruin a meal. That with the food came an abrupt turn around is very much to their credit. The problem in relating details is that feeling so good, we decided to walk to the Calatrava museum complex on a hot day with no shade to be found along the path. We proceeded to spent a long time in the surrounding park taking photographs of the buildings and were exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel. Hence we didn't do anything about expanding our brief notes or posting about the meal while it was fresh in our minds. I distinctly recall wanting to take the tasting menu, but finding it missing some dish we wanted. At that point, taking advantage of Mrs. B's fluency in Spanish, we sort of negotiated a menu of courses, half courses and split courses. This became yet another lesson of how to get the most out of a good restaurant, if you're lucky. If Sento (Vicente) seemed annoyed at our early arrival and disappointment at not being able to have a glass of cava, his manner turned increasingly sympathetic as we asked for favors and pestered him about which shellfish to order, asked if could we split this dish or that dish and said we couldn't eat in Valencia without a rice dish. His suggestions came flying back, often in the form of you must have this with never an argument from us, just a bit of negotiating. That at least once he disappeared into the kitchen to return and tell us the chef, his son, (it's a familiy affair, mom is also in the kitchen) said our menu was a bit unbalanced, increased our admiration. You will probably appreciate that that the only miscommunication was that we thought the chef was changing a dish, whereas he was adding one. No harm there and no argument after we had eaten both dishes. We were glad to have given our assent. All of this set the mood for our appreciation. Our list of courses are in Spanglish, or course, and I present them as such with misspellings and partial translations. Mrs. B was good enough to enter them into the computer. I will be interested in hearing your comments on the freshness and quality of the raw materials should you choose Ca'Sento. Valencia 30 April 2004 Ca'Sento Egg yolk (partridge) in caramel, Foie gras between caramel sheets (amuses) There was an attempt to discuss that egg yolk, but I appeared to touch on sensitive grounds and gave it up. At any rate, this version was superbly crafted. Perhaps more delicately formed than the other. We don't seem to have a photograph of the elusive Espardeynes, a la plancha with olive oil and garlic (minced garlic, mildly flavoring the dish) Ostras envueltas en acelga y manita de cerdo con garbanzos Poached oyster wrapped in Swiss chard. Pig's foot was mainly for texture. Ventresca de atun (con gazpacho?) soy sauce and minced green and red peppers, etc. Cigala cooked under a crust of salt and egg white Lubina (crisp skin) with clam, chipperones and pasta. Arroz a la plancha con gambita de playa Close up of the rice which is finished on a plancha where it froms a crust that is scraped off in a curl with the rice nicely inside it's own shell. What can I say? I am a sucker for base foods. I like starch. I like it when a professional chef turns his hand to home cooking, cuisine grandmère or the like. Rice wasn't much a part of my background, but Mrs. B tells me her family fought for the pegao (pegado) or the rice that stuck to the bottom of the pan. Raúl Aleixandre, the chef, does a nice riff by intentionally forming a skin. The rice inside of course was special as well. Pre-dessert mint gelee with orange ice cream Pear pastry with poire williams sorbet Pineapple slices (sheets), pineapple gelee, coconut ice cream.

Personally I enjoy places where one feels the need to wear a tie at times. Alas they're a dying breed and the kind of service that went along with the formality of dress required by diners at formal restaurants seems to be dying out as well. Not so at Can Roca. The same may be said for elBulli, by the way. I don't think I've been to another restaurant in Spain where the service is so perfect. Well perhaps Can Fabes, but it's been a while. I have previously noted my surprise at finding this level of service in a provincial restaurant in Spain. It's as good in every respect as any I've found in NY or Paris for example. It offers just about everything I want along with what I need from a service staff and introduces nothing I don't need. I've noticed unfortunate pretension in three star restaurants in France and a bit of stiffness in upscale country restaurants in Spain. The best ones are relaxed. At Can Roca, they manage to stay relaxed, while offering the most formal service. It's one of those restaurants where I enjoy watching the floor show. Corinna's comment about over zealous staff is a good one. It's a common fault. I always suspect it's a fault imported from the US. It's not a fault at Can Roca.

Reading over my post, I see how it might be taken as churlish, I trust you didn't take it that way. I was lucky to start traveling in Europe when it seemed as if it could be done more economically, and it was most reasonable to start at the bottom to build a solid understanding of basic French food, largely because the other costs of travel were so much less. I should admit that it's much harder to find that solid basic food than it used to be, but the quality at the top of the star charts may be as good as it ever was, or better. Anyway, those were different times and Europe was a different place. Three star restaurants can always be an enriching experience and who's to say exactly when the most opportune time in one's culinary education has come to make the most of that sort of investment. Some of my comments come from questioning my own focus on stars when I travel. At times I've felt I've missed the forrest for the trees, or is it the other way around? I'm sort of wrapping up my trip to Italy, the first one in many years. I find it's easy to forget to leave time for the little trattoria with all of the famous restaurants calling attention to themselves. I should also agree that if one is going to have one's first three star meal, neither Passard (Arpège) nor Gagnaire, are ideal choices simply because they are very singular places. I've eaten wonderfully at both, but I have a wide appreciation and an intellectual curiosity about food and didn't at all mind that after an extraordinary meal at Gagnaire, the desserts seemed to sport the tastes of vinegar and aluminum shavings with a heavy dose of saffron. We found the savory courses stunning, but we both pushed the desserts around the table trying to hide all that we couldn't eat. For many diners, that would ruin the evening and they'd never give themselves the opportunity to have a second meal that was more even and sadly without quite the same highs but with desserts that pleased. Arpège is just very expensive and perhaps past a point of diminishing returns so that any sort of a budget is troublesome. It's not that you can get what he has to offer for less anywhere else, it's just that you can enter the realm of sublime and thrilling food for much less money.

Taste, in food as well as in service and ambience, is subjective. I would not dispute the fact that the restaurant is more international in style than a restaurant like Ca L'Isidre for example, or that the some Americanization hasn't been grated on the family's Catalan roots. Barcelona is a prime tourist city. More than that, it's a port city for Mediterranean cruise ships. Many of the best restaurants in town cater to tourists as do many of the ordinary out of the way restaurants. Last spring we ate at Comerç24, Abac and L'Olivé, the first two were as international in ambience as Cinc Sentits. At Comerç24, the waiter was pandering to a table of five loud and most informally dressed young diners from the UK. At Abac, the diners were all restrained, but there were a good number of Anglophones in the room. At L'Olivé, a good neighborhood restaurant serving more traditional Catalan food, one waiter was playing up to a very nmixed group of loud Americans who had evidently met on the boat. The afternoon we were at Cinc Sentits, business was relatively slow, so I don't have much to say about the typical crowd it may draw on a good night, but I think it's unfair to say it reaches out to foreigners the way other restaurants in Barcelona do not. Cinc Sentits may be short on local color, and even the food may nod a few times to international tastes, but in a way, that should make it less of a tourist destination. In fact, I might not recommed it to tourists who weren't gastrotourists. I will admit that having followed Jordi's progress on the net, and in this forum to some extent, that I felt so at home as not to notice anything strange about the service, but I can't fault a friendly welcome and the ability to explain the menu and discuss the wine list in English. I once recall a thread here about avoiding restaurants frequented by tourists. I think I agreed that a tour bus outside was a bad sign, but that a preponderance of foreigners was not always a bad sign at a restaurant. The very best restaurants become destinations and draw a clientele worldwide. Cinc Sentits has been well reviewed locally, and gotten some good English language press outside this forum.

Well at least you had the pigeon which in our nine course menu came after I was quite sated. Even though I thought I was completely full, that pigeon and its rice disappeared in no time. I think I could have walked in there full, and still enjoyed every course. I must say however, that I didn't have much appetite the whole next day. That didn't stop me from ordering a very rich dinner the next night, but it did stop me from finishing it.