Bux

I think I've posted Penelope Casas' words to that effect in another thread and it was on my mind when we arrived in Sevilla. Out intent was to focus on tapas and skip formal meals in Sevilla, especially after enjoying tapas so much in Jerez earlier. In spite of the fact that several of the tapas bars we visited in Sevilla had rather wide selections, my enjoyment of tapas is heightened when I can visit several different bars. After a day of walking to see the sights and a few visits to tapas bars in the afternoon, we were looking to just sit in one place and rest our feet for a few hours. I think Poncio also serves tapas, but I'm not sure if there are tables or if you have to stand at the bar and if there are tables, I'm not sure if they can be reserved. While we had pretty good luck picking bars at random, as well as using the Michelin guide, your specific recommendations should be valuable the next time I'm in Seville.

Macrosan makes a good point. It may be worse to be admitted and made to feel uncomfortable than to be denied service in the first place. That assumes you have an an alternate place in which to dine that can provide the same experience. I support the laws we have regarding entrance to places of public accommodation here in the U.S., although they may not always go far enough to assure all citizens the same services and treatment. From an ethical standpoint, all restaurants should be open to all people regardless of sexual orientation, and I don't care if you believe it's an orientation one chooses or gets at birth. However, I find it less offensive for a restaurant to serve a minority and exclude the majority when it's been obvious that the particular minority group suffers from discrimination. In an ideal world, the best restaurants would be about the food and the best chefs would only be interested in attracting connoisseurs of good food and not diners who support the chef or owner's lifestyle.

Herb, if I may offer, "sweet" sausage is not "sweet." Used in relation to sausages -- fresh or dried -- sweet means not hot as in not spicey, not piquant. At least that's the case in relation to Italian sausages in NY. A proper French crepe is also too thin to have much room to be airy. At least that's true for a savory crepe, as opposed to a sweet crepe, which in this case is actually sugary. In Brittany, a savory crepe would be refered to as a galette and have buckwheat flour in the batter. If I am not mistaken, the savory crepes at le Gamin are made with buckwheat flour and authentic. Savory crepes made with white flour, filled with seafood or other stuffing and served at fine French restaurants with a cream sauce were also lighter, but I haven't seen them on a menu in many years. Dessert crepes are also a little lighter and there is such a thing as a crepe soufflee which is quite airy, but it's not the standard Breton crepe. Sorry if I sound pedantic. I thought it might be useful information, although it seemed Lauren was familiar with crepes. With some regret, I should note that I've found Ceci-Cela's croissants are not what they used to be. The best croissants in SoHo these days, in my opinion, are at Pain Quotidien. They are pricier however.

I resent the implication that dessert is not "the food." I think a lot of decoration is being used, but as long as it's not to the detriment of the dish, I don't mind. Much of it is really not meant to change the taste of the food any more than the design of the plate itself. Where it's not enough of a flavor that would add to the dish or where it's an off taste or a product that's inferior to the main components, I think the chef is doing himself a disservice. Where it's harnless decoration that has no overall effect on the taste buds, I accept it as decor, just as the flowers on the table add to the mood and see no harm.

I can empathize with that.

Marina, I've enjoyed our e-mail conversations leading up to the Q&A and I've particularly enjoyed your posts in threads on various boards here in eGullet. I hope you will find the time to remain part of the community by logging in and sharing information and opinions with us as well as benefitting from what members post. You have our thanks for coming here and sharing your knowledge and interest in the food of the Pyrenees with your detailed and responsive replies to our questions. Thanks also for permission to enter the recipes posted as introduction to the Q&A in eGRA, the eGullet Recipe Archive. We trust this will set a precident for chefs and cookbook authors to follow. My thanks also to the members for their interest in, and support of, this and other Q&As and for helping make eGullet the success it is rapidly becoming. This Q&A is officially closed to new posts. Please feel free to continue any discussion by starting a new thread in the France, Spain, Cooking or Food Media boards as appropriate.

Yes, she is. And maybe so. I was wondering if the Frenchmen your sister was fending off were being flirtatious with you or with her and if either of you might regret the fending off.

The discovery of Albariños had a lot to do with my willingness to travel to Galicia. Burgans has consitently been the least expensive I've found and it's often on sale for $9.99 around New York. In addition to being the least expensive, it's one I enjoy very much. One thing summer means to me is the chance not only to drink rosés, but to enjoy them. Some wines go with fish, others with goat cheese and still others with red meats. Rosés, as I've said before, go with eating outdoors on a sunny day. I don't like to pay too much attention to most of them, but I enjoy them and I enjoy my food more for them. Vin Gris de Cigare from California and a Rosado from Julian Chivite in Navarra, have been periennial favorites and I'm sure I've recommended them before.

Exceptionally expensive is a relative thing. As a New Yorker who's dined in Paris and began our trip by eating in two of Madrid's most expensive restaurants, I did not fine it expensive in the abstract. La Taberna Del Albardero was an exceptionally lovely place and I could not really fault the service, except to say that courses arrived far too quickly one after the other as we've found all over Spain, but we were quite underwhelmed by the food. It came highly recommended to us by a group paid to recommend places to stay and eat in Spain, and plan itineraries for Americans traveling on upscale budgets. It made us think of old fashioned hotel dining. Perhaps that's what most free spending tourists want. I don't know if there's a better place to try, but there were a few recommendations on an earlier thread. BlackDuff recommended Egaña Oriza and Los Cuevas in Andalusian Treats. Elsewhere on the site, I recall vserna mentioning Poncio. His recommendations have served me well online over the years in Spain and even in France. We planned on having tapas rather than dining and changed our minds at the last minute. Poncio was completely reserved by the time we thought to call and we tried La Taberna Del Albardero, as it was near us at the time we decided to have dinner. A fritura pescadito was 12.90 euros and composed largely of chunks of fried cuttle fish unceremoniously placed on top of salad. A consomme of jamon with two small ravioli was good, but not that interesting at 12.50. A stew of jabali (boar) for 21.20 was rather dry, dull and not at all the work of a kitchen that really cared. My lamb chops at 22.00 were not as good as others I'd had along the trip. When asked if I'd like them "pink," I replied "red -- rosa," then correcting myself in Spanish with "rojo." I can't imagine which of that indicated well done. A Beronia Reserva from Rioja was 25.80. Prices do not include the 7% tax and there's a 3.30 cover charge for two. I may be over reacting -- places that focus on ambience, decor and service with less regard for the food are a bane to me. Clearly I am in a minority -- a Usenet restaurant group thread once showed that a majority of American diners choose a restaurant on the basis of ambience and service with food playing but a very minor role down the list of reasons to choose one restaurant over the other. My fantasy is that the priorities of most who post and lurk here are closer to my own.

Dijon mustard above all others, almost all of the time. There are plenty of good brands, but I'd choose Maille first. Variety is the spice of life, and I've tried other kinds of mustard, but they just don't deliver. As for refrigeration, I've never seen mustard go bad, get moldy or anything like that, but I believe it stays fresher and keeps a better taste if it's refrigerated. A jar of mustard begins to lose it's flavor after it's been opened. I once brought back a huge jar of Maille mustard from France, it wasn't that I couldn't get that brand here, or that it was so much cheaper or fresher in France -- although it was pretty cheap per ounce -- but I had never seen such a large jar and though it would be neat to have. Of course the mustard began to lose it's piquancy long before we hit the bottom of the jar.

Something new rather than a tradition, are the Telemadres in Spain. There's a thread on this in the Spain forum. It's not quite the same thing, but of some interest to those fascinated by the idea of having a home cooked lunch at work.

Note only that they're all pioneers in terms of sealing the bottle to elimate the off taste odor of a corked wine. Someday they'll be honored for their groundbreaking work in that area or my name's not George.

Good story. I'd be curious to know what he recommended. Maybe you want to start a thread in the France board if you can remember.

"I will receive" is probably something I should say before I open any thread in the Japan forum.

I'm going with huevos de choco if only because it was a new discovery in Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain and I can't get it in NY. Choco is cuttlefish or seppia, I believe, certainly something from the greater squid family. It came boiled or poached and served with a vinaigrette sauce. They poach the roe sac, or maybe it's the milt, but it's clearly "eggs" on the menu and slice it in thick sections.

The news on the TV is reporting a noticeable drop in patronage at Chinatown restaurants. Worse yet they're reporting that rumors are floating around that cases of SARS have been found in the NYC although there is absolutely no evidence for this. I live pretty close to the growing border of Chinatown and feel a connection to that community if only because it's probably provided well over half of the meals I've had in restaurants since I've lived in Manhattan. Since we returned from Spain early this month it's served me five of my eight restaurant meals, (not counting pizza by the slice) although I have some sympathy for those who fear the unknown. At least they're not avoiding the neighborhood out of misguided hatred. For the merchants of Chinatown, who have not recovered from losses after 9/11 this is another unfair blow however. Chinatown is not only a source of restaurant meals, but our major food marketing destination. It's the place where we buy all of our pork, fish and seafood as well as most of our fruits and vegetables, although at this time of the year we also look forward to the growing supplies at the farmer's market.

Las Rejas has one star in the Michelin Guide. In an area not packed with stars, one star can often mean it's not so bad as the prevailing food in the area, but when it was mentioned in eGullet by vserna, it was with the sense that something important was happening here -- something important enough to warrant at least a detour and change in plans. Going with our gut reaction, we decided to drive from Madrid to Andalusia rather than fly or take the train. Our gut was well rewarded, although it was probably an even greater treat for our palate. In any event there were enough sights we had never seen along the way to justify our route although we ran into one snag planning the itinerary. Michelin doesn't list one recommended hotel in town and the Campsa guide didn't have one to recommend either, although it gave Las Rejas two stars (sols, or suns, actually). A quick e-mail to travel industry colleagues in Spain brought a reply that wasn't much different than if we had asked if we should run naked clockwise or counterclockwise around the restaurant before having lunch. Where to stay in Las Pedroñeras was a question just too preposterous to be taken seriously. Las Rejas however, was well known and from the foodie in the office came that advice that it was well worth any detour. Gastronomic travel in Spain is just very different from what it is in France. Charming inns are not connected to the best restaurants in the provinces. Fortunately so many things conspire to suggest one take the most important meal of the day at lunch quite often. Post lunchtime siestas however, dictate one should rent a larger car with reclining seats than one wants when trying to navigate the historic centers of older towns and villages. Life is full of compromises. Manolo de la Osa's kitchen is not. Nine courses and dessert greeted us and not one of those courses seemed to have slighted creativity although it was clear the chef wasn't trying to dazzle us with outlandish innovation. It turned out that we had a mutual friend who called ahead to alert the chef of our arrival. The standard tasting menu is evidently less than 9 savory courses. At some point around the seventh course, Mrs. B stopped mopping up each course with bread and the waitress noticed her inability to finish a couple of dishes. The server whispered to her that she shouldn't feel bad, the chef had added a couple of courses to the meal for us. Had each course been served family style, I would have had more than my share of each one from the delicate, but refreshingly brisk amuse of a cylinder of clams in fish aspic with blood orange juice to the unctuous boned and roasted lamb's foot that was reassembled, glazed with a meat jus reduction with a hint of sweetness (quince?) and served with with roasted red peppers and a "quenelle" of crushed potatoes and sauteed onion. The composition of the meal itself was as much a work of art as the individual courses which generally proceeded from the light and contemporary to the more rustic and traditional dishes with disarming diversions along the way that not only kept our interest, but which left us wondering in what direction the side trip would take us. From the amuse we proceeded to a poached plump oyster, gently spiced calabasa sauce with candied lemon peel. This may or may not have been the Ostras, citricos, curry y azafran listed on the carte. The spicing was extremely delicate, as was the poaching of the oyster. The use of candied lemon peel which although outrageous to the mind, was correct to the taste buds. Foie gras with apple puree and balsamic vinegar and toasted hazelnuts. This was not a dish that said "Spain" to me. The garnish was much simpler than most French chefs are using these days, but the quality of the terrine needed no garnish to be appreciated. The toasted hazelnuts were nice with the foie gras and although we intended to drink very little with an eye to getting back on the road after lunch, the dish merited a nice sweet wine which we didn't order. Queso fresco de pastor, trufas, hierbas y frutos secos. Manchego cheese soup with nuts, apple, tomato confit and chopped truffles suspended in olive oil. The dominant flavor was of a sharp cheese in combination with the complementary flavors. We found this to be a unique dish and a tour de force. Crema de patatas, hongos, trufas, especias. Potato cream/puree with truffle/viande jus, tocino (pancetta), migas (bread dice) and chopped truffles. The rich tocino brought out the earthiness of the truffles. This was another impressively delicious dish. How any chef could reduce potatoes to the smoothest possible puree and not think of adding bread crumbs to restore some character is beyond me, at least now that de la Osa's cooking has demonstrated it so well. Sopa de ajo 2002 caliente. Garlic soup that seemed quite traditional, at least in origins if not in execution. Garlic bread croutons, Serrano ham and poached egg were brought in a bowl and the waiter added a chorizo and tomato flavored broth at the table. This was a dish whose success was dependent on the depth of flavor of the broth. The simplicity of the dish and it's arrival at this point in the meal was a key factor in it's effectiveness as well. Ravioli of small game with cepes and asparagus and a little meat jus. Very thin, translucent pasta rolled around a filling of small game braised and finely shredded to make it a deeply flavored unctuous stuffing. It was a bit like the morteruelo we had experienced a night before, but unlike the morteruelo, it had no bread, large game or domesticated animal flesh. Sea bream (besugo) with tomato compote, pesto sauce and meat jus. The fish was cooked à point, and although one of the more traditional dishes simply presented, it would not have been a disappointment at a two star meal. The savory course concluded with the boned lamb's foot, which I found compelling in spite of being completely sated at this point. When I first realized how full I was and just how rich this piece of meat was, I assumed I'd just taste it for the intellectual experience, but it was so delicious that I polished off my dish. The accompanying potatoes and roasted pepper could not have been more "Spain." I was rather astonished that a meal that had impressed me earlier by it's creative spirit ended up being all the more impressive for it's rendition of what seemed an old fashioned rustic dish. It should be understandable that it was hard to pay attention to dessert, but a millefeuille of chocolate layers sandwiched with banana mousse, vanilla ice cream and a saffron cream sauce was pretty well finished, perhaps to the surprise of our servers. Coffee was a disappointment. We've found the coffee in most bars and cafes superior to that in fine restaurants and wondered if the top restaurants were importing their coffee. In all fairness to Las Pedroñeras, it should be appreciated for being widely known as the garlic capital of Spain.

We use them in a very similar way to steam or braise salmon. Sautee the leeks (in wide slices) in butter, braise in water or stock (fish, chicken or best -- shrimp broth) and with a little liquid in the pan, steam the salmon fillets or steaks on top with a cover. You may need to turn the salmon over midway and I'm sorry I can't give you timing on this. Some julienne of carrots and celery give the leeks a little color and depth of flavor. In fact you can vary the proportions of the vegetables to meet your taste or what's on hand and if you precook the vegetables separately you can slice and dice them any size you want.

Marina was at El Bulli in 2001, I believe. Since, then they've eliminated the service of lunch and by doing that, they've doubled the the number of requests for dinner reservations. The restaurant has become known to a more mainstream audience as well. I suspect reservations are far harder to come by now than they were as recenlty as two years ago.

Well put. I would note that it's three theads in two forums -- there are theads currenly running on El Bulli here in the Spain board and in the Symposium. The one here is open to unmoderated discussion while the one in the Symposium is more directed. The two threads complement each other, at least I see it that way.

It's always rewarding when a recommendation of a minor restaurant delivers the satisfaction I had to someone else. I still get confused between the many varieties of fresh and salt water crayfish, shrimp, prawns and "little lobsters" in France and Spain. The rice dishes we've had at Can Majo have always been the wetter ones, but I think you're safe with any form of rice and seafood there as well as any seafood a la plancha or with sauce. As Mrs. B's first language is Spanish, we do have the advantage of glancing at the menu and then asking what's fresh or special today. We've yet to visit Espai Sucre and it's high on my list. All sweets -- desserts, chocolates, etc. -- are getting a lot of attention in Barcelona. If chefs worldwide are focused on Catalonia right now, none seem more so than pastry chefs. I can't think of another place that's dedicated to sugar as Espai Sucre and which is not just a pastry shop or salon du the, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more pop up in Barcelona and other places. I remember eating in Jardin de l'Opera many years ago in Toulouse. It was just to the side of the main theater/opera house/recital hall in Toulouse. It was a gastronomic restaurant with one or two stars serving traditional meals to omnivores, but it also offerred an after theater tasting menu of some five dessert courses. I'm eagerly looking forward to your full report. Let's say I'm eagerly looking forward to hearing abourt El Bulli and curious to read what you have to say about KFC. The etiquette of posting is not all that formal. The guidelines are to post where the information is of best use to the community. That community includes the majority of members who lurk and never post as well as those who contribute heavily and have much to say on the issues. I think both are best served by contributing to current threads wherever possible. This thread is but a week old and going very strongly. I'd urge you to continue it with your report(s.) You may find that parts of the report may need threads of their own or that comments on certain restaurants, such as El Bulli for example, serve best in a thread devoted to that restaurant. This information and opinion on this site will never be neatly pigeon holed as there are just too many overlapping interests and subjects. Use your best judgement. If necessary we can always move a post and merge or split threads to make things work better.

Not only what, but where? The other evening as I was coming home, I was stopped by a tourist and asked if there was a Chinese restaurant in the area. By way of clarification, the young man said he was from Ireland, that he didn't have adventurous tastes and was just looking for a simple chicken curry. Chinatown is not a long walk from my front door and I pointed him in that direction and recommended a Shanghai restaurant that is good, cheap and the closest Chinese restaurant I could recommend. I was not about to discuss Shanghai food as it might relate to whatever passes for Chinese food in whatever part of Ireland he was from. There are many Chinese restaurants in NY that serve a curried dish, but it's hardly the dish a New Yorker would ask for when looking for a typical Chinese restaurant.

4th installment Regrettably, Mrs. B wasn't feeling any better the next day and we cancelled our reservations at a simple restaurant, but one bearing one Michelin star and featuring Galician seafood. I spent a good part of the day running around town seeing additional museums and checking out Madrid in the drizzle the other half of my team wanted to avoid. There's not too much to report on in the way of food. I subsisted largely on familiar tapas, ham sandwiches, a little beer and agua con gas. We had a late morning coffee near the hotel at what appeared to be a popular local bar. It may have been late morning, but it was our first coffee of the day and I was relieved to realize their were twin brothers behind the bar and that I was not just seeing double as one or the other popped in and out of the kitchen. The list of sandwiches and tapas was a mile long and including hot dogs and hamburgers. I'm too big a guy to hold that against them and went back to check out the sandwiches for lunch. I ordered a tuna fish sandwich. There was no whole wheat toast option and no need to ask them to hold the mayo. Actually, it was a need to discover tapas beyond ham and chorizo and my focus on beautiful red peppers and anchovies that led me to order the anchovy, pepper and tuna sandwich, and although it was not an El Bulli experience, it challenged my association of mayonnaise and canned tuna fish. It was also great tuna fish, better perhaps, than the olive oil packed tuna I get in New York. Both the anchovies and the roasted red peppers were meaty and this attempt to quickly abate my hunger with known foods turned into a gastronomic event if not a highlight. I washed the sandwich down with a short beer, which came with it's plate of complimentry green olives. Remembering how good the coffee was that morning, I ordered a slice of Torta de Santiago, both because I like it and because I liked the idea of ordering something across the bar by asking for it by name and not having to point without my translator at my side. Paris is a great place to be when you're ready to dine, but you can't grab a quick and satisfying bite at almost anytime of day the way you can in Madrid. Knowing I'd have no company for dinner either, I just spent the rest of the day snacking on the run to be sure I'd ruin my appetite for dinner. Later in the day, I sighted something in the window of bar near the train station and contemporary museum that would remain a mystery for another day. It looked much like burnt twine wrapped around two sticks and not unlike what you might expect to find in the remains of a kite flyer's supply house after a fire. It's proximity to other things I recognized led me to believe it was a form of food eaten by the natives. I wondered if that was it or if there was something hidden inside that was the part meant to be eaten. --------------------------------------- y mas

I share Claude's opinion that it used to be illegal, but is no longer. I know quite a few people with dual French/US citizenship.

I understand. I mocked a recipe in the Michael Ginor foie gras book. It combined foie gras with smoked eel and green apple. It was from Martin Berasategui in the Spanish Basque region. My daughter told me that if I didn't get over there, try it and like it, she was going to disinherit me (or something like that) for having no taste. We took her advice. There are a number of restaurants where one best adapts a don't ask, don't tell attitude. Don't ask what's in the dish and don't tell the waiter what you like or want, just put yourself in the chef's hands and learn.