Bux

According to Wells' The Food Lover's Guide to France, there's a major market in Chagny on Sundays. It's 16 km from Beaune to Chagny. Market days rarely change, but this guide is over 15 years old. Beaune has a Saturday market, but these are often not an all day affair and you may miss the best of it, most of it, or all of it.

Jubilee, a little French restaurant in the fifties near 1st Avenue makes great fries. I've not been tempted to order anything but their mussels and frites. You could get mussels and salad if you're on a no carb diet, but that's not the point of this thread, is it? I had incredible fries at Blue Smoke, but on a return visit, they were just sort of okay. Balthazar has been pretty consistent and very good. I had good fries in a place one stop into Queens on the 7 train. Steak frites at place called Tournesol.

Why carts? Neither Dim Sum GoGo nor Sweet 'n' Tart have carts. Both do things to order and are recommendable. I haven't been to Oriental Pearl just north of Canal on Mott in quite a while, but they have carts.

Define serious danger. The James Beard Foundation reported that Pierre Herme was closing his shop on rue Bonaparte in Paris, but that seems to be false by latest reports. These are good times for bad rumors. Michael, I'm not taking your bet, but if you're selling tickets, that's another story.

Not fair comparing steamed and baked buns. They are different and if you prefer steamed buns, a baked bun will be disappointing. I ilke both. What's really unfortunate was Mayor Giuliani's attention to the "quality of life" in NYC. It was under his adminsitration that the carts selling wonderful steamed pork and cabbage buns were eliminated from the cityscape. The buns were sold directly from a flat bottomed wok and had a crust on the bottom. The rest of the dough was steamed. Two of these were less expensive than a half slice of pizza and a much better lunch on the run. It's taken me years to withdraw from the craving and I'm not sure I wouldn't overdose if I ran across a cart today. Once in response to an earlier lamentation of those steamed bun carts, Eddie posted [on the thread you should have found ]: Pai tsai ro bao - Large fried meat and vegetable (celery cabbage) buns - a Shanghai thing - have been sold at a storefront on Catherine St. for many years. A few years ago the shop, called Li Chugn, moved to a new Catherine St location (just off Chatham Sq.). This all female staffed business is the NYC precursor to the whole generation of 5-for-a-dollar fried dumpling shops (and to your Canal St vendor) that have sprouted up over the last 2 years. They have an excellent product when freshly cooked. Check it out. Eddie bought me one once. It didn't have the crusty bottom I like and truth to tell, I was already stuffed from lunch to fully appreciate it or the scallion pancake, but they were good enough to call me back to the shop. The next time I was there they didn't have any around, no one spoke English and I bought some other dough things that were less good, but interesting. It's a hit and miss thing, but worth the trouble. Unfortunately they don't even have a counter at which to eat anything and it's a few blocks to the nearest park. By the time I reach the park, anything I've bought is gone.

Catherine, I agree with you and Holly. Humility is a great trait. Arrongance is obnoxious. Pride can go either way, depending on how and where it is displayed. We may disagree on what we've seen or read into Lou's article, but it appears we share many of the same standards and question many of the same concepts. I appreciate your follow up and look forward to reading more of your posts.

Mealtime is always the highlight whenever and wherever I travel--or I'm sorry I am where I am. Any civilization that can offer me Michelangelo's David or Monet's waterlilies should be expected to offer a meal of the same quality. My memory of babies, and kids, is that they keep you on their toes by always changing. By the time my daughter was six, she managed to defuse my frustrating moments by telling me she was just going through a stage. I think she even knew which book on the shelves to point to, hoping it would defend her point. Lyon is a city of excellent provisions, although it may be less than obvious outside the more residential districts. The central market is but one source. Pack some snacks for the game. If Sandra's link doesn't work, I suspect you can replicate by doing a search on "Lyon."

A really great crust with great sauce and cheese can't be improved upon and will always be better than some second rate pizza with fabulous toppings. I once had a pretty fine pizza off the back of a truck with a wood burning oven in a market in Gascony. It has roasted red peppers and chorizos and went by the name of either "Gascon" or "Basque" pizza. The other night we had delivery out pizza and I sauteed some onions, ramps and pancetta to put on top. Delivery pizza can always be improved.

We've had several good posts about les Halles. There are a few restaurants in les Halles. I can't report on any of them with the exception of the raw bar at Maison Rousseau. If only out of habit, I tend to think of oysters in the colder months, but I don't think you get better or fresher oysters in Paris than here. Les Halles itself is an excellent market worthy of some window shopping if you don't have a kitchen in which to use most of the products. It's also a good place to buy cheese and charcuterie for a picnic.

It's harder to go wrong in Lyon than in Paris, although I've made the mistake of finding out what kind of three course meal I could get for under fifteen dollars a few years back. With a one year old in tow--and am I confusing you with xomeone else, or are you going to be seven or eight months pregnant?--I'm going to take the liberty of assuming that a long gastronomic meal in one of the city's finer restaurants may not be on the agenda for this trip? Auberge de l'Ile has had an excellent review here, and with only two forks and spoons in Michelin, it may work for as a casual place with two star food. We enjoyed the food at les Loges, but it's a fussy casual chic place and offered inconsistent service a year ago. I can't recommend it with an infant. I can't recommend Assiette et Marée either. It was one of few disappointments in Lyon. Maybe if they hadn't lost our order, then brought us the wrong dishes and finally served us with poor renditions of what we had ordered that were probably rushed out, I might have let with a more neutral attitude. Other diners seemed happy. I found le Bistrot de Lyon, a retro bouchon which isn't even listed in Michelin, to be quite satisfactory. I think Mrs. B was less pleased with her meal, but I thought she ordered too upscale a meal while I had a potage and an andouillette that appeared to be artisanal if not home made. That sort dish is what the bistrots of Lyon do well. Anything with tripe in it is usually good in Lyon, assuming you love tripe. I believe le Bistrot de Lyon was one of several started by Jean-Paul Lacombe chef of the venerable Leon de Lyon. Lacombe may no long have any connection and it's possible that le Bistrot is sliding downwards however. Not much to offer. Unfortunately, our last stay in Lyon was as a stopping place and our focus was a tour of an area to the southwest of that city. Much has been written about Lyon here and Sandra has been good enough to provide a link to the threads in which it's been mentioned. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff to sift through. A mention of the city may pop up once or twice in thread about entirely unrelated subjects.

No, but I thought you were primed to add a bit more.

Humility is good, so is pride, but honesty is what I'd want most of all in this piece. This is the third in a series and we know that Lou has been a working journalist before she entered the Cordon Bleu. Members who have read Lou's contributions to the messages boards would also know of her generosity and willingness to share her knowledge as well as her feelings. I admire her ability to tell us her story and let us share her pride as a fact. I think it must be difficult to report directly about oneself honestly and professionally. If I've played a little part in Lou's education by asking her to say hello to Dorie for me, I'm pleased and rewarded by this series of reports. I also have no fear that anyone can get through a porfessional cooking school in France with old school chef without being capable of showing humility. A couple of stages in a top kitchen will be yet other boot camps. My bet's on Lou and her dedication. There were lots of quicker and easier paths to culinary journalism than the one she chose. There are also a lot of second rate journalists out there writing about food.

I wonder if they are excited by food or just by the chef's antics. As others have said, if I watch a show, I can't always figure out what he's doing and when I know what he's doing, I wonder why the camera isn't helping him explain what he's doing. It just never appears as if it's a show about teaching anything let alone basics. It's not introduction to cooking 101. I saw it as being in the kitchen taking your mind off what's needed to make a dish turn out right. I've tried saying "bam," but it never improved anything I was cooking. Maybe you just have to be a believer.

A quick look at last year's Michelin suggests slim pickings on both Sunday and Monday among the better and better known restaurants. A lot of the smaller places may be open one of those days. You should be able to get some information at the ViaMichelin site, but it will be a tedious search as there's no way to ask specifically for a list of those open on Sunday or Monday. Bocuse's bistrots seem to be open. Current copies of the latest red and green Michelin guides are the best suggestions I can make. I'm not sure about shops and attractions, but I recall spending the better part of a lovely Sunday strolling in the Parc de la Tête d'Or and visiting the Contemprary Art Museum in the Cité Internationale at the far north end of the park. We took a bus to the museum and walked back the Presqu'ile.

Thanks for both warnings. I think we can't be all things to all people, but, for me at least, personal reminiscing is often what makes eGullet interesting. The lore that surrounds food may not be as interesting as eating itself, but it's all interesting to me. I suspect the interest quotient varies by subject matter as well as how well a story is told. We'll each have our own standards. Anyway, I enjoyed your post.

Care to elaborate? I assume you mean that the thrill of eating at three star restaurants is less than it used to be, for you at least, and not that the restaurants are gone. Is the thrill of eating French food gone at all other levels as well. If so, is it gone at all levels because it's changed or because you've changed? Another reason may be that you've found more exciting food elsewhere in a place that previously didn't have exciting food or in a place you hadn't explored. Clearly from your posts elsewhere on the site, you still find it thrilling to eat.

What Klc said. "... Michel who completely ignores the question & highlights a spelling error made by the son & refuses to budge until the son recognizes the error" -- Is this not an old school French trait even outside the kitchen? I think the younger generation has learned to relax and accept imperfection in the world at large, but I remember the days when people would correct my grammar before answering my questions in French. I had to learn to accept that they were not being unkind, but rather respectful in that regard. It was unimaginable to them that an intelligent and personable young man would not want to speak French perfectly. In fact the reason they didn't speak English had little to do with chauvinism, but with an abhorrence of speaking it imperfectly.

Le Dauphin is in the 1st very near the Louvre and it may be convenient for many even on a weekday. It's by no means a destination restaurant, but it's the sort of place at which many will form their opinion of French cooking--if they're lucky. It's not unusual for a good bistrot to do some things exceptionally and others far less so. I'm not sure these places (some of the ones on mogsob's list for example) have an American equivalent. At least in NYC, it's hard to find a three course meal with wine at those prices even thought at the top of the scale, Parisian restaurants are more expensive than most in NYC with the exception of AD/NY perhaps. That lack of a NY counterpart, is part of what makes them so Parisian to me.

It's a beautiful lake. I recall reading that it was the cleanest lake in Europe, although I am always suspect of such claims. It is nonetheless, a beautiful lake and seemed very clean. Suzanne's hotel may be the Hotel listed in Michelin as Les Trésoms which is up the hill south of the old part of town. Michelin says that half the rooms have a view of the lake. There is a very nice hotel on the lake--l'Impérial Palace--and a ways from the old part of town, but it's a pleasant walk on flat ground through a lakeside park. We were there in early spring on a fine weekend and the park was well used by locals and pre-season tourists alike. I enjoyed the walk as much as anything in Annecy, though not as much as lunch outside Annecy. That lunch was as wonderful a meal as we've ever had, but it was before Veyrat started to inject a newer form of cuisine into his menu. At l'Impérial Palace half the rooms face the lake and the park in a generally SSE direction. The other half face northwards where the view is mixed, less park and more parking lot. Annecy is a lovely town, but in the height of season may be overrun with tourists. There is certainly a plethora of restaurants offering medicore renditions of local specialties to meet the needs of tourists. There is also a shop offering excellent Alpine air dried meats and sausages.

Le Dauphin is restaurant I'm always hesitant to recommend, but it's one to which we return for some very solid, sometimes exceptional, cooking at very reasonable prices. The modest wine list arranged by price is a service to budgeters. In most neighborhoods in Paris this would surely be a local favorite, but here in this quartier, it attracts a lot of tourists and that can have an efffect on the service. It's not that they are impolite to the clueless tourists, but that the servers are often run ragged. Worse yet, they tend to segregate the tourists and Mrs. B's request for "non fumer" insures we will sit with the tourists. I'm not sure which dishes I'd recommend in the spring unless the weather is like what we're experiencing right now in NY--40 degrees F in May. We've been there in the generally cooler month and have enjoyed the pig cheeks, lievre a la royale and cassoulet. They also seem to specialize in grilled meats. Part of my reluctance to recommend is simply the worry that some people expect every restaurant in Paris to offer the meal of their life and miss the beauty of the unstarred French cooking, not that the other extreme--those who spend large sums on lavish accommodations in a luxury hotel and then spend their mealtimes at the budget restaurants selected by price alone--are going to appreciate the better local places either.

Is all yak cheese the same? Like cow cheeses run the gamut from brie to cheddar to swiss to jack, etc. Sheep cheese comes as roquefort, feta, peccorino romano, etc. In France they have millions of cheeses, but goat cheeses are all "chevre." I never quite got that. I'd point to a cow cheese on the trolley in a good restaurant and they'd tell me the name. I'd point to six goat cheeses, all of them very different looking and when I ask what they were, each one was a "chevre." I"m sure Abbott and Costello would have had a field day. Where does your yak cheese come from? Is it imported?

I'm glad you've limited this to just fine dining, but even here I have a problem in that few countries offer the same kind of fine dining that France does. Lately I've traveled somewhat extensively in both France and Spain and I'll limit my comments to those two, because they're easier to compare to each other for me than either is to NY where I'm home and in a different mind set. First, in both countries, your money seems to buy a better experience in the provinces than in the capital city. That said, comparable food in Spain seems less expensive than in France. The problem is in finding the comparable food. There are three star restaurants all over France. In Spain the multistarred restaurants are far fewer, and those that exist are clustered together. In terms of ordinary fine dining, that's to say those upscale white table cloth restaurants that may be where the locals celebrate birthdays, I've been disappointed so many times in each country, though at less expense in Spain.

I think that's a great statement to think about and discuss here. I suspect there are few of us here who wouldn't bow to his knowledge of French cuisine, but what is the relevance of that statement to traveling and dining in France and is there any relevance to this forum in the statement? Among the serious contributors to this forum, we've had those who normally exceed 5 three star meals in ten days of travel in France and those who have never set foot in a three star restaurant for many reasons. I find three star dining almost essential to my travels in France, but there are foods that are equally essential to me that I can't find in a three star restaurant. In spite of the fact, or maybe because of the fact, that I'm a city boy, I also find restaurants in the provinces more interesting and satisfying than those in Paris.

I have only one bug story to tell and I suspect I've told it before in eGullet. I'll tell it again anyway. We were traveling with our, then eleven year old, daughter, rather off the beaten path by car. The deal we made was that if would take one bite of everything, I would finish the rest of any dish or course served to her in a ryokan, so they wouldn't think she didn't like the food. There was nothing I wouldn't eat and nothing I hadn't enjoyed in Japan. One morning in a ryokan deep in the Japan Alps, where we were evidently the first westerners ever to stay, we were served a small portion of fried crickets or some similar bug. The look on my daughter's face said it all. I hope we didin't offend anyone, but the bugs were left intact. My wife later remarked that she'd have given it a try late in the afternoon if she a glass of whisky to wash them down. Not long afterwards we had a visit from an old friend who is a Japanese artist and photographer and something of a world traveler with several books on international public sculpture to his credit, although English was not yet under his full command. I told him our story thinking his contact with the west would lend an understanding to our story. He had only this to say, "No taste, just crispy."

This seems to be a universal trend, the world over. Head east from the cape and you'll find half the traditional creperies in Brittany serving pizza these days. Are clam shacks and their seafood cousins holding their own against the fast food joints and an influx of CIA grads in local restaurants with homogenized menus? Are there local specialties that vary as one makes one's way along the coast and are there home grown cooks with individual specialties worth seeking out. I suppose the answer is that they're still there but less easily found and that one needs a good guide book. I much prefer New England clam chowder to New York clam chowder, but I'd never heard of any other choice until we wondered into a shack just the other side of the Rhode Island border. I didn't have to prefer Rhode Island chowder to order it the next time. It was just great to be able to order something I was unlikely to find on the menu in St. Louis or in a can in the supermarket.