Bux

Nope, I don't get any understanding about what you are talking about. "Foreign Spices", sounds like somthing my grandmother would say and I know you aren't my grandmother as she doesn't eat testicles (to my knowledge). We all have a hard time imagining our elders when they were younger. I will say no more on that.

I had an incredible meal when Frederic Cote was cooking at le Bec Fin. My understanding was that he returned to France for personal reasons. I don't know what effect that has on the food served there, but I found his food highly original and creative. We were also treated to some things that were not yet on the menu, but all that is rhetorical now. I recall the dining room as very formal and not only did every man seem to be wearing a coat and tie, but most were in dark suits. I also heard the "Fin" of le Bec Fin pronounced as in dorasl fin by the waiters and clientel alike. Carman's Country Kitchen is less formal. You should go back to the early threads on the this board that mention this place. Carmman herself is an impressive and opinionated woman. We've had the pleasure of eating in her place before we met her and then eating with her here in NYC. Both were rewarding experiences. I ssem to recall that there may be pictures of her truck on Holly's site. They say a lot about the woman.

My eating memories probably go back to the same decade as yours. Alas my dining memories, especially on that plane, are another story.

I would not be so bold as to separate out spices from that which makes a cuisine whole, but since you've already done that, I would point out that the chefs the world over are learning the techniques that make French food "refined," while French cooks are relearning how to use the spices that once drove European history.

Either the Iberian peninsula has not drawn the gastronomic tourist, or eGullet has drawn those gastronomes who have traveled on their stomachs in Spain and Portugal. The third possibility is that they're all here waiting for the catalyst posts that will unleash the responses we're waiting to read. There have been posts explaining why Spain does not see the kind of gourmet tourist that France sees. Even this is changing in at least two corners of Spain--the Basque region and Catalonia. In both of these areas, we now find some of the foremost chefs working in the mode of haute cuisine. Unfortunately, or fortunately for some diners, there is not the network of fine inns offering great food to support the kind of touring that's popular in France. I'm probably repeating myself, but Spain may have more to discover at the unstarred level of dining than France where food is a high art, but the daily cooking has suffered in the last half of the 20th century. It hit and miss and one man's rustic food is another man's heavy and dull food. On the other hand, some of my lesser experiences have been when a second rate chef put on airs. Look for that cuisine grandmere cooking. Sorry I revert to French whenever I talk about food. I suppose it's cocina abuela you should seek out. Casa Teo, in San Andres de Rabanedo just west of Leon was such a place. Although we didn't see the kitchen, we had the distinct impression it was the owner's mother or wife doing all the cooking. An empanada de bacalao right out of the oven was superb and I took the owner's suggestion of fresh sole a la plancha. My wife has tripe. For dessert it was arroz con leche which my notes describe as rice flan brulée--a rice custard with a burnt sugar top. I don't think it's listed in the Michelin guide and they didn't take credit cards. It was in 1999, so I don't know how it is today.

The food in France is not always what it was, or what it should be. Tourism is only part of the reason. Actually gastronomic tourism may be as important to the growth and success of the top places with two and three stars in France, but a steady stream of diners who will never become repeat customers the way a local will, is bound to have a negative effect on any kitchen that is not part of the gastronomic circle. All of the major guides have a good degree of accuracy and should be consulted to fill in what you can't learn online or to serve as either reinforcement or suspicion of online recommendations. My fond memories of Aix go back a ways. the best was in strawberry season when we bought a a pound or kilo of berries at the market before heading out of town. It was only after we stopped to picnic that we realized two things--we didn't get any sugar and we didn't need any. The aroma that came out of the bag when we opened it was just amazing and the berries were too ripe to have stood any more transportation than they were subjected to in our short drive. I'd like to say you won't find berries like this in a commercial market, but the truth is that I've never run across any like them in a farm stand before or after in this country.

I trust you will all report on your trips to Catalonia, but in the Spain forum where we're buidling up a collection of good posts on eating in Spain. For bettter or worse Spain presents a very different experience than France although it's beginning to offer pockets of chef driven haute cuisine.

A gloopy sauce is a real turn off, but I'm one of those people who find plenty of onions in the baked buns or lots of cabbage in the steamed buns a plus. It adds depth to the flavor of the bun. What I don't like is a baked bun with paper on the bottom that doesn't want to peel off without taking a good chunk of bun with it. Buns that have too sweet a glaze are a turn off as well. The steamed buns I miss are the ones that I used to find along Canal Street (NYC) that were reheated on a griddle. They had a crusty bottom that contrasted nicely with the texture of the steamed bread. They were also cabbage and pork buns and unlike the baked pork buns, the pork was not roast pork.

A terrible way to treat fine wine. The bad storage, I mean.

James, even the most casual observer on this site will see that I sign every post with my full name. I am identified in other places on the site by my full name and members can send e-mail directly to me. I don't understand the nature of your post.

All I can hope for is that when the time comes, I'm looking down, not up.

It appears that as the tab increases, the right to get pickier increases. Now I wish that were just the case, but if my one experience at Babbo was not unique, and I hear it isn't, the food is inconsistently prepared and the service can be very off for some people. The main fault at AD/NY is that it's very very expensive and the particular dishes served may not be any better over all than most of the food served at other four star restaurants. I've also eaten only once at AD/NY. Both my wife and I were thoroughly charmed by the food and service once I accepted a suspensded knowledge of what it would cost. I think people are looking for faults to justify not returning or perhaps those who haven't been are looking for faults to justify not going. The fault is the price. It's sort of absurd to say that at that price they shouldn't jack up the wine so high. I mean that's part of the price. That the difference in the price is not relected in the difference in food between AD/NY and the other four star places will keep many from eating there, or from returning regularly. I am a native New Yorker and gew up expecting a restaurant to turn tables. I appreciate the great difference in the overall quality of the meal when the table is mine for the evening, but it's something I don't need most of the time. Most of my life is not lived in great luxury and my appreciation for having the table all evening is probably properly met by a few dinners each year in a French country inn where the cost of dinner is lower and I am in the best mood to fully appreciate the luxury. None of this is a fault of AD/NY.

Obviously the caul fat had completely melted away by the time the fish was served and it's sole purpose (or it's salmon purpose?) was to baste the fish during cooking. Would it have been important to know if the salmon was covered in butter, olive oil or lard while is was in the oven or pan? I always think of the good come backs too late to have any effect, but the question "Do you know what that was wrapped in?" is best answered by "Newspapers?"

I assume you are talking about the risotto. A long simmered pureed soup can't be made to order at the last minute, but even making the risotto with vegetable stock would assume there was a vegetable stock on hand. There's no reason to believe that a complex vegetable stock might be available in any particular restuarant if there was not a dish on the menu that made use of it. I'm not sure if this is Cafe Boulud or Craft Bar, but a good vegetable broth takes longer to make than does risotto and it's the sort of thing a restuarant makes during prep time and not when every station is busy with preparing orders. I'd bet that if most diners made their needs known a day ahead of time, they'd get better results. Many restaurants have menus online and most will fax a copy of the menu. I'm not saying the diner has a duty to do this, only that he might have a better meal as a result, and I emphasize "might." I can't guarantee it will always ensure getting what you need or want.

One of the things that always amuses me about online restaurant discussions is that when the subject is not a particular restaurant, but what to expect or how to deal with situations in a restaurant, is that each participant often has a specific image of a restaurant in mind. When I order a turkey sandwich in a diner or luncheonette I have very different standards for both my expectations of what I will get and for my own behavior, than when I go to Blue Hill for dinner. It's not reasonable to compare the standard for a turkey sandwich at a lunch counter with a main course of salmon in a relatively high end restaurant. As tommy noted, it's not ureasonable to expect that there's a good chance some meat suace or product came in contact with your fish in a very high end restaurant. It may be true that a majority of diners don't really understand what happens in the kitchen, but that's an industry problem or the diner's problem. It's hard to fault a single restaurant for conforming to the norm.

I give her credit for understanding that brasseries are good places for oysters, but I don't understand why she didn't understand their strengths and weaknesses in general. She's correct in noting that little restaurants are not as universally excellent as they were in the sixties when she and I first discovered Paris, but I'm suprised she missed the increase in places where one can just get a salad. I note from her description of the bare trees that it's winter in Paris and suspect she will find more seasonal vegetables used when they are in season. I also suspect that in 1962, the food in Australia was dreadful and today it's probably pretty good. I've seen that change in NY and much of the US. That may also explain her recent disappointment.

An interesting article, but in all fairness to the French she notes that what the French eat in restaurants is not what they eat at home. There's also a line of thinking in that article that I don't follow. For one thing, she follows this with a quote from a French chef. This would weem to indicate that the French no longer appreciate good food. I'm reminded once again of the time Mrs. B went from being "the American" at a wedding party in France to "the American who ate two good sized helpings of pig's feet in jelly." Someone at our table noted it was traditional food, but that few people actually have a taste for it these days. None of my comments are meant to deny her point that good restaurant cooking these days need not be so rich, heavy and devoid of fresh vegetables as so much restaurant food is. These days, French cooks can learn a lot from us and from, I assume, Australian chefs.

Interesting, I've always viewed this dish as originally Neapolitan, but maybe not, or maybe it has arisen spontaneously in a number of places. It is served at essentially all of the many fish restaurants in Naples, My knowledge of European history is weak and that's not surprising considering that most of today's political boundaries are relatively new. I am aware of contact, trading and occupational governments somewhere in the past between Catalonia and Sicily. I'm not sure of the time frame, but I've found one intersting map that shows the Kingdoms of Aragon, (including what is now the Spanish part of Catalonia) naples and Sicily as well as the island of Sardinia as all belonging to Charles I, grandson of Ferdinand (think Columbus, the Inquisition, etc.). Charles I later increased his control when he became the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Noodles are a traditional Catalan dish.

Every supermarket in France sells wine, but there are wine shops. Come to think of it I've bought wine in discount stores in France. I suppose one can do that in California as well. The funny thing was that I was in a monoprix looking for Champagne to bring to a friend for New Year's Eve and the discount store prices weren't as good as those in NYC. I wished I had bought the bottle in NY and brought it over with me. With shelf space at such a premium in Manhattan and the wine competition so fierce, I can't see the supermarkets offering very much. In rural and suburban areas, it may be another story.

Yeah, but it's the pork fat that makes them flakey.

I fear those things are often very subjective and always wonder if it would work again for us, but roll with it.

We've been finding the Schlumberger pinot blanc at between $7.50 and 8.00 and while not a great wine, it's been a terrific buy. I saw it recommended in a French magazine for about eleven euros or something like that. I've thought that like other Alsatian producers they made a range of wines, but I haven't seen the better ones around.

Sautee the onions before you deglaze the pan with any liquid. You might also consider shallots rather than onions. To my taste, blue cheese is too strong a flavor for rack of lamb. The sweetness probably comes from the port. What kind of port? I mean a lot of wine from various parts of the world call themselves port. I don't know very much about port and rarely cook with it. I suspect some glace de viande is what you need for a dark meaty reastaurant type sauce. How long did you wait to serve the sauce after you whisked in the butter? The sooner the better lest it separates. Obviously any water in the spinach will end up diluting the sauce on your plate. Above all else. Don't you know better than to match the colors of your food with that of your plates?

Yvonne, clearly I have some mixed feelings about GT and send mixed signals, which you've highlighted. How do I separate the degree of execution from the degree of difficulty? Without reading back through the thread, I think it was in this thread that someone made an excellent comparison to judging high diving or figure skating. Four star dining should represent the highest quality experience in New York. The issue may be that some us expect to be challenged at that level, while others expect to be satisfied. Or put another way, some people are not satisfied unless they are challenged while others regard challenge of any kind as a less than satisfying experience. GT aims for a different audience perhaps than the four stars do. Nevertheless, I have seen diners at some of the four star restaurants who appear to be uncomfortable in the restaurant, while I've never seen that at GT. I am convinced the staff at the four star restaurants in question are not to blame and that they do all they can to make every diner feel at home. I am also aware that I will be accused of projecting and that's a reasonable accusation, but I believe I am correct. Should I award extra points to a restaurant that makes everyone immediately comfortable or should I accept the fact that some of the responsibility for being at ease in any situation has to rest with the diner? Much of the food we eat is an acquired taste and so are the restaurants in which we choose to eat.

Spoken like a true gastronome.