Bux

It's unnecessary and irrational. But having been in the position of being an author (and a lawyer) having his manuscript reviewed by a publisher's legal department, I can tell you that your choice is to do it their way or not have the book published -- there is very little room for negotiation, even if you're a literary agent like Michael Psaltis is (he is my literary agent). So some lawyer at Random House mistakenly thought it would make some sort of difference not to name Chodorow, Blue Hill, etc., and the Psaltises surely had no choice but to comply. Since it's pretty easy to figure out what's what, I guess it doesn't really matter. ← To someone outside the publishing industry or legal profession, it's still going to suggest the authors are making claims, stating opinions as facts or otherwise making questionable statements whose veracity cannot easily be challenged. What probably matters to the lawyers, publishers and authors is that putting a fake name to the character pretty much renders that person helpless to make a meaningful defense or claim of damage.

I notice it's a six month subscription with no promise of renewal, so I'm not apt to start while my print subscription is running. I see that application for the online edition also requires subscription to some e-mail.

I could generally say the same about my tastes as well as about C'Amelot. As the fates would have it, the night we were there (some years back) they actually had a choice of two main courses. Interestingly enough, one of those choices was a dish I had chosen the night before at another restaurant, so I was fortunate to have had the choice. Had I not had any choice, I probaly would gone right ahead and had the same dish again and considered my self fortunate to be able to compare two different preparations. Whether one likes any restaurant depends on the person more often than the restaurant. Knowing why another likes a restaurant is usually far more important than knowing if he likes it. We were there with another couple I knew only from the forum. They were charming people and we had a wonderful time. This was not destination food nor is it a destination restaurant, but it's the kind of place where you can enjoy good food in good company and forget you've come to Paris, but appreciate that you are in Paris. It's a far more personal eperience than one might get in a three star restaurant and at a very gentle price as I recall.

I've noticed that Western foods are often strictly limited to items that are easier to eat. For example, the prevalence of filets. Growing up eating Chinese foods, I feel that I'm a lot more skilled at eating boned foods, using my mouth to seperate the bones from the meat. I suppose this is the same kind of dexterity one needs to tie a cherry stem, but I unfortunately have yet to master that feat. ← I'll go one further. Most westerners are conditioned not to do many of the things Asians do that either enable them to enjoy their food or show their appreciation of food they're enjoying. It's almost as if the basis of anglo-american table manners is designed not so much on the enjoyment and appreciation of food, but on making it less enjoyable. Using one's mouth to remove the meat from the bones is generally considered unrefined in most American circles, but this is not the place to have a subtread on cultural dining differences.

Alas, a google search for biche only brings up sites in French. No Surprise there. Worse yet a recipe for Filet de biche sauce poivrade crémée is illustrated only by some nicely turned vegetables for garnish. It's a form of game or deer. If I'm not mistaken, le cerf is the male, and la biche is the female of the species. Faon at birth, bichette at a year old and biche after two years of age. Biche is also a term of endearment. I suppose "bitch" is as well in several American subcultures in and out of prison. photos

I've had an exceptionally fine meal at Tru on a trip to Chicago some years ago. Duck tongue has always interested me, simply beause I've loved veal, beef and lamb's tongue. I've resisted ordering it in a Chinese restaurant simply because it seems too tedious to eat because of the "bone." I admire the patience of Chinese diners who get the tastiest morsals from around the bone when eating duck, squab, etc., and I notice I leave so much more meat. I'm curious about the work involved in "deboning" the tongues in the kitchen and what sort of recipes they used to cook the tongues at Tru. Did they deep fry them as you plan on doing?

The cold will absolutely destroy the texture of a tomato. That's just one reason so many tomatoes shipped from afar have such a mealing texture. Tomatoes kept in a closed bag or container will ripen better or faster. Fruit flies have been a very rare problem. As for crawling things, they haven't been a problem in our building since we all got together and used and replaced those Combat things on a regular basis many years ago. I never thought we'd actually see zero popuation as one floor was opposed to any spraying or other insecticide use because of their pets, but they agreed to the Combat.

Few restaurants open aiming for four stars. Perry Street was certainly not one of them and that should come as no surprise. A little as the economy can sustain a small group of such restaurants, it would seem foolhardy for one chef to try and have two of them. It would make better sense to capitalize on the name and open a restaurant with a lower overhead. I suspect the profit margin is slimmer at the top as well, though I'm not saying chefs are shortchanging diners at the lower range. I think most people Cafe Boulud as better value than Daniel, for instance. Well see how Perry Street shakes out in regard to Jean Georges.

It might have been a bitchin' pate, but my guess is that it was perhaps biche. On the other hand, I missed the date for the Maison Carré. That inexcuseable for me. After all, 1758 isn't all that long ago at my age.

Past performance in dining must mean something, for our future is built on our past performance, but will past performance in a restaurant offer a guarantee of what you will get tomorrow? If nothing else, past performance affects the expectations from the next meal, but why does one diner demand the same satisfaction that comes from repeating his favorite foods and meals ad infinitum, while another soon tires of yesterday's perfection and is only satisfied by new discoveries at the table? Is there a national ethos that leads one country to demand the food they know and another to demand creativity? I sometimes suspect so, but at other times this seems cyclical. Surely there are ties to whatever else in happening in the culture. It's not surprising that creativity in the arts, along with that in food is blossoming in Spain with the return to democracy and the disappearance of an oppressive government. Do our tastes in restaurants help create our social patters, or do our social mores influence our tastes? Trends will always come and go. The big story will be if we no longer have trends. Still, there are fads, and there are trends. A rash of BBQ restaurants in New York will provide locals with a greater choice of food and dining styles, but is not likely to affect the way four star restaurants do business. However, a trend towards a more casual life style, may well affect the dress and service in those restaurants. Some trends are part of a bigger wave that have a longer and more widespread effect, but they may be less worthy of place in the list of next year's trends. Globalization affects what we eat as well as how we eat. The opportunity to eat the same way and eat the same food all over the world is increasing, but it may not be that we will all want the same thing. Years ago, there was an interesting BBC program on the English language and its universality. One of the most interesting aspects of the show was mention that as the use of English spread, the variation in the way it was used increased from locale to locale, so that Jamaican's were hardly speaking the same language as Sri Lankans, although both professed to be speaking English. Does anyone think we will wipe out diversity or that food will not continue to be an interesting aspect of travel, if not one of the interesting reasons to travel? Is anyone ready to count out the slow food movement? Even after spectacular meals in what may be New York City's newest and it's longest running four star restaurants serving the best internationally available provisions, I'm not at all prepared to argue that the best restaurant in the area isn't one located on an experimental farm in Westchester County and focusing on locally raised foods. All three restaurants however, are pioneers of sorts in the art of cooking sous vide. Llike Clark, I can’t wait to see what’s next, in this forum and later when I go out to dinner.

It may be difficult to pick the particular point where the thread left not only foie gras in Chicago, but the subject of food as a theme, and became an abstract political discussion, but we did the best we could and removed the last few posts. If necessary we'll remove more, but please let's not argue the abstracts about the role of government in our lives in these forums. Thank you.

33rd and Park should put it within ten minutes walk, not five, as I walk. Michelin distinguishes two and three star restaurants as worth a detour and worth the journey. I'd walk an extra five minutes just for a slight edge between unstarred restaurants.

They are in fact, the very opposite of preachy. They will cut that boiled ham and American cheese they carry without any condescension and they won't tell you that you should be using extra virgin olive oil if you don't ask for it. On the other hand, should you begin to ask questions, you may soon find yourself getting samples and a good education in the differences between spring parmesan and that made in the winter, or the nature of the various olives used to make oil. They carry some nice varietal oils as well as blends. Which is best according to Lou, is always the one you like best and he never upsells a customer. On occaision, if he thinks you've got the interst, he may let you know about something he's got that's special, even if it's a bit more money. And if Sal asks if you want the male or female mortadella, just tell him whether you like it with nuts (pistachio) or without.

I guess it would depend on which Troisgros Bon Appetit was talking about? Claude went to Brazil, where he met and married a Brazilian and where he makes his home. That hasn't stopped him from opening restaurants in Miami and New York. CT was his restaurant in NY. It was in the spot later occupied by Union Pacific. He is currently involved in the Chodorow restaurant that occupies the old Rocco's on 23rd Street. More here. From Claude's own home page, here's his version of the family history: Pierre and Michel have a cafe in Roanne and one in a department store in Tokyo as well as their three star restaurant in Roanne. La Maison Troisgros web site.

The effect can be synergistic. I'll agree that inertia can have a large effect on one's enjoyment, especially of a meal. I can think of many instances where a bad day was saved by a good meal and a bad start in a meal managed to be saved along the way, but more often than not, good meals get better as they progress and bad meals get worse.

I've never had morcilla that resembled chorizo. Not to say I've all the varieties made in Spansish speaking countries. I've had spicy boundin noir in Martinique. Boudin creole it was called and I've seen boudin antillese or something like that for sale in France. The morcilla from Puerto Rico is often spicy. I've also had blutwurst or something like that from the Polish butcher on First Avenue around Sixth Street. That's fat like salami and generally sliced and eaten cold.

Flott is a good brand of Italian olive oil packed tuna. I believe they do pack ventresca as well as more ordinary tuna. The Italian products shop on Grand Street is Di Palo's. 200 Grand Street, 212 226 1033, if you want to call and ask what they've got, but they usually have ventresca in stock. Italian cheeses and homemade mozzarella and ricotta are their specialties, but they've got excellent prosciutto, speck and a whole range of salumi as well as a range of Italian estate bottled olive oils and other products. Above all, they're really fine people to know and deal with. Lou's son is over in Italy now studying cheesemaking some place associated with the slow food movement, so now there's hope this venerable shop will last another generation. Try not to go on a weekend unless you go early. It's likely to be packed. Prices are also very good.

Say what you will about the woman, and when she appeared out of the kitchen, I've had some unflattering things to say. When that woman was cooking, or dealing with serious chefs however, she was talented, dedicated and admirable.

I recall that after I selected the wine, he told us that he was particuarly pleased with that wine. He thought it was one of his best purchases lately. It was a St. Joseph from Bernard Grippa and St. Joseph was the closest wine area to the restaurant. Of course 90% of waiters and wine stewards compliment my wine choices. The most profuse compliments come from my selection of a wine they're most eager to get rid of, so I pay little attention to those kind of comments. This time he apparently meant it and took great care of our sevice, making sure to pace our consumption. It was an excellent wine, but it was also more expensive than any St. Joseph I had tasted before, so it seemed reasonable at the time. In retrospect, it must also have been a great year, because when I found a Grippa St. Joseph here in NY from another year, it was excellent, but not quite up to the one we had there. Many things go into the memory of his service that night. He also introduced us to Maury, a dessert wine from the south my wife found intolerably medicinal, but for which I developed a taste before my glass was finished. Most memorable was the deftness with which he plied his trade with one arm. These are the kinds of memories of hospitality that have solidified my francophilia over the years.

I don't think anyone is arguing that. ← Then I think you should carefully re-read Bux's last post. . . . . ← Perhaps you're suggesting I rewrite it. Whatever you read, I didn't write that they're mutually exclusive on an abstract level, only that as one gets knowledge in a field, one become known in that field. Once one sets foot in a restaurant kitchen, the odds drop that one is anonymous in all kitchens. Once you speak to a student at the CIA the same thing happens. It's a trade off. I could write reviews as Frank Bruni, but if it was ever discovered I was he, I'd be accused of duplicity and asked what it was that I had to hide. Furthermore, although my recognition in a restaurant as a reviewer would be nil, my prejudices would be questioned all the more and my reviews of any restaurant in which I might be a regular would be all that much more suspect. Let's say I got my knowledge of food while studing under an assumed name and working in restaurants under an assumed name. I then write reviews under a different assumed name. I give a four star review to the restaurant of a guy who knew me under another name and the truth somehow comes out. Can you imagine what people would say, especialy since I wasn't really anonymous when I ate in that friend's restaurant.

I should consider leaving 19% and sending 1% to the IRS as contribution. Actually, that 17% is probably a minimum. With most tips being left on credit cards, the paper trail is so great that most tips may be reported straight away by the owner.

I would say that high end restaurants are cooking for people they'd like to become regulars. That is to say, they're cooking for people who are likely to appreciate their style of food and are not going to bend in the wind to please a very general public's tastes. An anonymous reviewer who doesn't understand the food has less chance of driving the right diners to the right restaurant than a critic who can explain the food as well as describe it. The most impartial critic would be one from Mars who's just arrived, but I doubt he'd be in much of a position to understand the food well enough to help me decide if I should try the restaurant. We all bring our prejudices to the table and if we're honest they come through our reviews so the reader is forewarned. I will agree that an anonymous reviewer can bring a degree of impartiality to a review and that's a positive thing. I won't argue that it doesn't matter. I will argue that it's not as important as some people think it is and that in more cases than we'd like to admit, the trade offs may make for a much more rewarding and informative review. On the other hand, if impartiality is all a reviewer can bring to the restaurant, he's not prepared to write a review I'm likely to find rewarding enough to read. I'm glad to see Steven express agreement that anonymity can serve the idea of consumer advocate, because we don't need to pretend otherwise to argue that this is a limited part of a good review.

It's not a cooking show. TV has learned to ham up the cooking shows devoted to those who supposedly cook, so the general public won't turn the dial. The Today Show features cooking segments designed not to offend those who can't, don't and won't cook. The helpless disinterested anchor is their hook.

I hear he's actually a genuinely nice person to work with, although that's not from someone in one of his kitchens, but it was enough of a reference for me to believe he's not a bad person. I suspect he brought the bad guy persona on himself in his appearances on the wide world federation of iron cooking when he celebrated his victory climbing up on his work table and stepping all over his cutting board. Some thought he was a bad winner, some thought it was unprofessional to walk on the food prep surface and some thought it was a vulgar display of bad sportsmanship. So he became the guy everyone wanted to see lose. It's good for ratings, but people should remember that role a chef plays on TV is just a role. I wonder how much attention he pays to his restaurants however. After some tasty appetizers at Bolo, we were pretty disappointed by the quality of the execution of our main course dishes. Just simply below average and enough so that concept didn't even matter. It appeard to a case of celebrity chef mailing in his executive responsibilities in overseeing the kitchen. I liked everything about the place but the cooking. So I supsect he's earned his position of being seen and treated as TV celebrity rather than restaurant chef.

To tell the truth, I rarely get to the upper west side these days, not that I get to the upper east side all that much more often.