Bux

I know of at least one hotel where the concierge appeared to be an independent contractor. That is, he seemed to offer his services at large to those not staying at or connected with the hotel in question, via a web site.

I'm also pretty sure its coverage does not extend to any area not covered by its national guides. I don't believe you will find any infromation there that hasn't already appeared in the other red guides.

I shared some pizza at Otto with two moderators, three members and a couple of spouses. I was less ecstatic than the three members as I recall, but I'm not sure they've all posted. I think Fat Guy summed up his position very well when he responded to a question about where in the pantheon of places named as best pizza in NY on his site, by saying Otto didn't make the cut. While I didn't think the pizzas were great, I thought they were good enough that I didn't have to feel embarrassed about enjoying them very much. I noted that the ice cream was the best food in the house. I don't think I was the first to say that and I certainly wasn't the last. In fact, although there's a fairly wide range of reaction to the food and the place, it's been quite a while since I've read a truly original thought on the restaurant that's been posted here or elsewhere on the site. I had lunch before I had dinner there and I was impressed by the caring service at lunch. At dinner, starting with the discombobulated reception, the service was very friendly, but a little haphazard. Since then I've been hearing worse reports. I'm surprised to have only read one eGullet report complaining about the way you are asked to wait and pay attention to the posting of a city name that matches the one assigned to you. No names are called out and there's some suggestion that the system is erratically employed or worse yet, unfairly abused.

Bux, you surprised me with that one-- Most of the restaurants in France do not turn over the tables at dinner. (Except maybe the high-volume Michelin's). There just isn't enough time. You sit down between 8 and 9, and finish around 11, 11:30. Here they try to get 2 or 3 turnovers at dinner seatings. Anything above 90 minutes in the US, and the restaurant starts cleaning the table and handing you the check. The only exception might be in Paris, where I have seen some turnover of the tables at the busier places. That was my mean twin brother dissing NJ. Pay him no attention. When he's in Paris he disses the provinces as well.

Rillettes Definition A basic recipe Real rillettes have a tremendous amount of pork fat in them. The can be spread on bread as easily as soft butter.

That is just about the worst level of unreliability one can come up against. Far better to have the more basic information wrong, like the wrong phone number so you never made a reservartion. Nevertheless, I've heard the worst reports about the restaurants I like the most. Lest my taste be entirely dismissed, some of them are restaurants you've written so lovingly about. There doesn't seem to be a restaurant that universally gets high marks. I'm about to say that's probably not true about the worst restaurants. We all agree about those, but the proof we don't is that the worst restaurants seem to stay in business.

It was Hermé who was pastry chef at Ladurée after many years as pastry chef at Fauchon. His own macarons at his own shop now may be the paragons of all macarons. A note of caution to American readers here who are interested in making macarons or macaroons. "Macaroon" is the translation of the French "macaron," but there is no resemblance between what is sold as a macaroon in the states, and what it sold as a macaron in France, or for that matter in the few places in the states where you can get real macarons. Payard Patisserie on Lexington Avenue in NYC, comes to mind, but there are others. Macarons have been discussed elsewhere in eGullet. Praline is another word that means quite different things in Belgium, France and the U.S. I believe we have also had discussion on this subject as well. Perhaps another note that the andouille of Louisiana bears no resemblance to the andouille of France is in order as well. It's another subject that's been covered elsewhere on the site.

"No" to me? You're quite right. Although the rich spend more, and more on the higher taxed luxury good and thus contribute more of the gross tax figure, they don't spend more as well and pay tax on less of a percentage of their income and this untaxed money may be invested and bring more worth. Thus those earning just enough to make ends meet will never be getter off and those with excess income will continue to amass a greater share fo the wealth. The argument here (which I should note I do not subscribe to) is that this investment will help the economy. In fact, not much trickled down in our trickle down economy.

The problem with objective reporting on restaurants is that most of us are going to be subjective. On the other hand, since I don't share anyone else's subjective opinions on food, I might be best served by an objective view. Subjective reviews are fine it you understand the author's prejudices and preferences and there's enough text for the ratings in numbers or stars not to matter. The realization of how important the subjective is has been brought home recently by a number of different reactions to restaurants with the few people whose opinion I trust the most.

Steve, as I recall, those rings are concentric are they not? A friend of ours once remarked that you could classify restaurants by luxury of service according to the number of saucers and plates that appeared under your coffee cup. I've thought of those rings as a representative graphic of that thought. p.s. I realize John will be eating in places where he expects the proprietor will be spending all his money on things that will go in John's stomach and not on silly plates under his coffee cup.

I've just read Marcosan's topic starter and believe we are better served by one topic on VAT, so I've merged the two topics. I trust Philippe and the rest of you will understand if not agree.

Philippe, were you at that very hip cool bar? I think there's only one bar so it must be it.

Pudlowski's name and guide have been mentioned a few times on this board. You might do a search to see if anything significant has been said. I seem to recall his name from old issues of Cuisine et Vins de France. He used to review restaurants in a column. I'm not sure if he only reviewed restaurants in Paris, nor am I sure if he's a current contributor or not. I join Jaybee in his interest in hearing about John's experiences in Paris.

My understanding of the VAT in Europe in general is that it serves in much the same way as our income tax. Just as our graduated income tax is supposed to place the burden on the wealthy, the VAT is supposed to hit those with greater disposable income as they spend more money, but unlike an income tax it encourages people to save money rather than spend it. Well those are the theories of those who propose the taxes. In reality you can easily poke holes in any tax plan. The details often give lie to the theory or should I say rationalization. The tax on average bistro food has often seemed punitive to me. Maybe at the stratospheric three star prices another twenty percent doesn't mean much, but my guess is that it hurts the small restaurants who are just above the five and a half erpcent cut off.

What no bidding? No wining and dining? You're easy.

But less so if you have four or five courses, no? With the way prices are going in Paris, I wonder if you could do as well there for the money.

The process can take a long time. Liquids won't help the onions caramelize, unless they leave sugar after the water boils off. High heat will crisp the onions. Low heat and enough oil in the pan and time.

Search. Do you have a box to enter a term? Of course you'll have to enter the Spanish word, term or name of the dish or whatever it will let you search for.

Holly said they banned smoking because so much smoke in the small cafe makes it impossible for them to put out quality coffee drinks. Is that so hard a concept to understand in a discussion group supposedly dedicated to good food. They're not as proud of the product they produce in a smoke filled environment as they are of one they can produce in a smoke free environment. My philosophical view is that in America, one has the right to make the best product one can and one does not have to cater to the cool, trendy and hip. Why is it that the same people who can argue that it's an owner's right to maintain an unhealthy environment for his workers if it's one he feels comfortably in and one that's profitable, don't stand up and defend the owner's right to present the best product he knows how to make?

The last brasserie we dined in on a Sunday, was les Grandes Marches which is a very updated contemporary space owned and operated by the Flo group. It was there chance to show they could do something original rather than just take over old spaces. It's not strictly a brasserie I suppose and has neither a traditional menu nor traditional decor, but we were pleased by both the decor and the food. It all depends on what you want to eat. I tend to favor a brasserie if it's got good fresh oysters, at least in the winter. We have a soft spot for Vaudeville, but I'd keep my order to basic food such as steak frites. I had a very good andouillette there and it's a place I'd try for oysters and raw seafood platters.

As I may have noted in earlier mentions of les Magnolias, I was far less convinced by these dishes. Nevertheless, I also found enough "fun and interest" to guardedly recommend the restaurant. I also found it extremely interesting that this restaurant in the suburbs was completely full at lunch. To my taste, I found the food still in the experimental stage, although the technical facility, professionalism and sophistication of not only the cooking but every aspect of the restaurant requires respect. That it was supported by the community was both a little surprising and very encouraging to me. At lunch on a Tuesday there was a remakable mix of couples and businessmen filling the dining room. In the end, however, the food did not really leave a lasting impression on us. I had a hard time focusing on any single dish and found too many flavors that just didn't gel into a satisfying dish. I've heard people say that about Gagnaire. Whether it's a limitation I set on food, or just a matter of subjective taste, is hard for me to say. We spent about 135 ? with a reasonable Cotes-du-Rhone, I believe, coffees and a tip for the service and I thought we certainly got our money's worth even if I'm not a fan.

Admittedly, there's a high tolerance for cold toast as well in France.

I don't expect that much difference between an American restaurant and a French one, but then again I live and eat in NYC. I suppose I should watch out of they'll lock me in a room with Plotters. As for butter, it may well depend on where you are. Two and three star restaurants customarily serve butter on the table and damn good butter at that. Around Nice, I wouldn't expect to see butter on the table except at the multi starred restaurants, but in Normandy or Brittany, I suspect butter appears more often. My friends in the Languedoc rarely put butter on the dinner table, breakfast maybe, but not dinner. My family (daughter's in-laws) usually have butter, at least when we're there, but then my son-in-law will have purchased some farmer's butter at the market that makes Plugra taste like Crisco. I've not seen farm butter at the stalls in Provence. I suppose we agree that dining varies as one travels. As for the speed of service, my wife is always telling me to slow down because she feels the restaurant is rushing us and will have the next course on the table as soon as we finish the first one.

Menton, in France where bread with meals is perhaps more important than it is in the US, do you recall being served warm bread?

Macrosan is correct. His preference is for cold bread. Actually I suspect it is for room temperature bread and I join him in that preference. If I were the sort to decide what's correct for others, I'd say that's the right way to serve bread. First I'd say that a lot of restaurants serve warmed bread to make it appear fresher, i.e. straight from the oven, to a segment of their audience. A lot of other restaurants serve the bread rewarmed precisely becuase it's stale. Somehow enough diners have begun to see that as a service and now expect, desire, or demand warm bread. I don't believe I've ever been served warm bread in France and can't recall being served warm bread in a top restaurant in France. Warm bread has not been a part of fine dining. The exception is toast served with foie gras or pate, or a hot dish such as saucisson en brioche. It may be that some American breads do take well to being reheated and served warm. That would just widen the gulf between those whose palates and preferences are honed in France and those who dine in most parts of the states. I've seen any number of customs and preferences vary from locale to locale. In repsonse to other posts on the thread, butter should not be too cold to spread easily on a cold slice of bread. Bread isn't sliced until it's sliced all the way. I don't get that one either.