Bux

Did you ever ask yourself how the chefs could create five new dishes so quickly? Are you shocked? Are you saying to yourself, "yet another Food Network gimmick!" ← Unless things have changed since the first season when teams knew it would be one of two ingredients, this is simply incorrect information and the discussion that's already happened here is based on better sources. ICA is as much a competition as professional wrestling. It's entertainment. A limited choice of ingredients is necessary if chefs are expected to bring specialized equipment. Does anyone believe those chefs would bring some of the stuff they arrive with if they had no idea of what the ingredient is? Moderator's note: We've merged some posts on the MSNBC "facts" into the ongoing ICA thread because it's just part of the story we've been discussing and more or less a rehash of material better covered earlier in the Times.

Jean François Bonnet at Daniel. Prior to his current position he was pastry chef for Gabriel Kreuther at Atelier and for Laurent Tourandel at Cello. His last job in France was as assistant pastry chef for Jacques Chibois. Johnny Iuzzini at Jean Georges and Michael Laiskonis at le Bernardin. Neither should need an introduction The trick is saving room for dessert at places like that.

Was that in Auch? ← Yes. The end of an era, I suppose. It was his last year in the kitchen. By the next year, he was president or spokeman for some professional organization of chefs or restaurants. The Hotel de France is still in operation, but we no longer hear of Auch as a destination. Daguin gets credit for first serving breast of duck rare like a steak. Roland Garreau is the current chef. I don't know his cooking, but it seems traditional and solidly based. A problem is that Auch itself is not much of a draw, or on the way to someplace. People travel so far in a day by car that traditional overnight stops need to be destinations to draw business.

So am I, but historically, fusion cuisine is the only kind there is. When the time scale is slow enough, we scarcely notice. The evidence is in my Oxford Food Symposium paper. ← Substitute "food" for "fusion" and my sentence loses nothing in meaning.

If I've seemed to be at great odds with Robert, I too have had the misfortune of ordering a simple salad of tuna at a little cafe brasserie on the main square of a little bastide town in Gascony, only to have it arrive topped with cheese sprayed from a can. After nibblilng on a little lettuce and cottony bread, we paid and left hungry. The day was saved with three kinds of foie gras and magret from the hands of André Daguin. Daguin no longer cooks professionally and I'll bet that cafe hasn't gotten any better.

To be fair to my young chef from Lyon, five of our six dishes--two appetizers, one main course and two desserts--were pleasing, but when the waiter asked about my monk fish, I had to say it was dry and that I did not appreciate the texture. It was actually interesting and gratifying to have the chef come out and discuss the dish with me. At this point, it was my inadequacy in the langugage that prevented a deeper discussion. Were I more fluent in French, we might have gone on to discuss the effects of the red wine on the texture of the fish and exactly why I was displeased. While I found it hard to believe he had tasted the result and liked it enough to serve his guests, I know full well that taste is very subjective. The restaurant, by the way, was in a neighborhood convenient to where we were at lunch time and on a list compiled from posts on this forum. As I recall, the poster was one whose opinions seemed reasonable. As for tastes conditioned by classical European cuisine, I'm not so sure how important that is, or rather in what ways it is important. I've had enough classic French food to re-evaluate my position. I am open to a greater variety of tastes than I might have been a generation ago, but I'm still unpleased by what some try to pass as "fusion." On the other hand, and without enough background to appreciate how much a dish owes to classic Spanish cooking, I've been pleased all over (but not all the time) in Spain by dishes that are rustic and simple and by dishes that might appear absurdly creative until one tastes the results. I've not eaten in Ze Kitchen Galerie.

Cidre and livarot are a good combination, if you haven't already discovered them together on our own. Have fun. Sounds great.

I told a chef in Lyon why I was disappointed in a dish of monk fish. He explained the process of marination and cooking that produced the result that left me disappointed, as if knowing how he ruined the fish (in my opinion) would make it right. I learned never to marinate monk fish in red wine overnight before overcooking it the next day. But yes, the color was interesting. It's never about the foams, it's about the taste. Foam is simply another form of messenger. Edit: Spelling

I hope they'd even be defended by their critics. It sounds as if this kind of interest is what France needs to maintain its gastronomic verve. A clear view of the future is often little more than a realization of a stagnant situation. Three star restaurants as we know them, may be a thing of the past. The king is dead, long live the king. If haute cuisine dies, we will reinvent a new one, if there's interest and all this seems like interest to me. It's happening in Spain where diners and chefs are less tied to a rigid form of how it must all be done. Japan is an excellent example of a place where excellence in food and cooking can exist in different and incomparable forms side by side. The grandeur that is restaurant dining in France on a Michelin yardstick is a pinnacle of western civilization, but change is inevitable and haute cuisine will not live in a vaccum as a museum for tourists. The future will ultimately go to the innovators, not the defenders of the old. One has to follow one's heart and mind. I'm as impatient with those who set the high points of the past as a narrow guide to the future as much as I'm offended by those who have learned nothing from the past and experiment blindly. There are as many charlatans peddling the past as there are those profiting from our gullibility in regard to the new. The moral of The Emperor's New Clothes is as cynical as it appears to be wise. I'm always leary of put downs of what some people don't understand and rarely concinvced others understand that which they claim to understand. I am far more willling to be fooled a third time, than to miss an experience I just might find interesting. Of course l'Ambassadeurs on alist of restaurants is going to make that list fit into shoestring budgets. Rising costs and a broadening appreciation for good food among a broader middle class are two reasons why young chefs will work on a budget, but apparently this movement, if it is a movement, cuts across a broad path.

Nothing more more subjective than when to pick one's battles or how to wage their wars. Even more to the point is the relativity of it all. You're on target when you say the "trouble with Lipp is that it's horribly hyped." The way and extent to which we reject a place we stumbled into by accident is unlike the scorn we heap on the place that came too highly recommended, but you really set my thinking in a totally different direction when you go on to say "for ages it has been patronized by politicians, journalists, public persons obsessed about what seat exactly they were going to get in order to check their popularity level and how remote they were from common mortals." Were I a food or restaurant critic, which I'm not, I'd be tempted to heap some scorn on such a place and perhaps urge and expect gastronomes to avoid it. However, if I were a gastronomic journalist or historian, I might have an interest in visiting such an esptablishment and even documenting its place. Having dismissed Lipp unconsciously for precisely the reasons you mention, I now find myself curious to collect the memory of having eaten in such a place as if I recognize there's a gap in my knowledge base. Sometimes the reason for eating is more than a good meal. Sometimes it is less. Lipp may be the epitome of vulgarity, but vulgarity, at times, is like a train wreck. Neither France or the French are likely to disappoint me someday, although of course they already disappoint me from time to time. I used to say "I love France, but not the French," somewhat facetiously. Of course I love the myth. The reality of a nation is far too changing in nature to ever commit to on a lifelong basis and the French people are far too diverse to love or loathe as a group, but I have my private heros and villains to pull out when I need to make a point. Are cafe and brasserie owners/waiters a breed in France, or just Paris? I think of them as not so unrelated to NY luncheonette owners, workers and countermen of a certain vintage. Thanks for a post that made me reflect and think.

I suspect modern agricultureand improved growing conditions, whether they result from agribusiness techniques or from biodynamic ones, seem to be yielding more luscious fruit per acre resulting in yet higher alcoholic content. I'm sure at every step of the way modern science and technology of wine making is increasing the quality and higher alcohol is part of what's traditionally been seen as better quality. There are a few appellations where the "superior" designation is tied to a higher minimum content. A wine maker in Spain who's set about to make a fine wine in an area not known for finess in its wines, told me he has to plant some inferior grapes in his vinyard just to be sure his wines don't go into the 15% range in a good year. Another friend who's befriended growers and wine makers and helped them with the harvest in his part of the Bas Languedoc told me that most of his neighbors complain about the higher levels of alcohol in the wines these days. Most of them cut their own wines with water to drink on a daily basis because straight from the bottle, they're no longer the beverage they grew up drinking. 6% seems low, but I've enjoyed wines well below 10%. They're hard to find these days. I've seen some albarinhos from Portugal, that run well below 10% and sell for as little as four dollars a bottle here in NY. They can be very refreshing on a summer day.

I rather agree and after having chosen the cook, I find there's a best way to appreciate his talents. It isn't always a tasting menu or a surprise menu, but it often is one or both. I am most thrilled to be in a restaurant where the chef wants to cook for me, and most willing to let him surprise me. Some of this is tied to my pleasure in being surprised and delight in finding new tastes, but some is simply that it seems so relaxing. In the U.S a host is likely to offer a guess a choice of what seem like hundreds of choices for a drink. In Japan I was struck by how I was generally welcomed with a cup of green tea, or some other beverage without being asked if I wanted a drink or being a choice. Once it was a cold glass of Coca-Cola and at the time, I hadn't had a Coke in maybe ten years. I not only found it thoroughly enjoying, but absolutely relaxing not to be making decisions. Not asking a guest to make decisions is apparently considered good hospitality in Japan. There are times when I go to a restaurant for a special course and times when I want something I see on the carte, but there are many times when I'm in the mood for whatever the chef has to suggest. Some chefs are better than others at creating this kind of menu. I find this can work just as well at the lower price range as at the top. "Parsimony" connotes cheap, a negative characteristic to me, while "cost cutting" is simply frugal. The latter I quality I greatly respect. It's always hard to be sure the savings is passed on to the diner, but I don't begrudge a good profit to any chef whose food pleases me. At C'Amelot, in Paris, I recall having a choice of dishes for two of our three courses. It was more than I expected when I accepted the invitation to dine there, and it was more than I needed. Each possible combination of dishes would have pleased me at the price. My first experience with the concept of surprise menu may have been in NY after becoming known to the executive chef and owner of a four star restaurant. This was back in '95 or '96. We were each served a different dish for each course. It was just a sensational evening for all at the table. Pedro notes that this doesn't seem to be unknown in Spain. I've had such meals there. Jonathan offers us the little places in Italy that just happen to served what's cooking that day. John Whiting, who's earned his curmudgeon stripes, says he's "never had a problem with no-choice restaurants." I'm not surprised to see that most early replies here report of success with the concept. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Carlsbad, I don't know that l'Astrance was a source of the concept, although perhaps I'm missing the concept that troubles Robert. What l'Astrance did the first time I was there, was have a menu that was not only a surprise, but to ask the diners what was in some of the dishes as well as to guess the grape and region of the French wines served with the surprise menu. This was a break in the formality of service perhaps, and maybe it wasn't done at all tables. I don't know. It may also have been a way to introduce those very inexpensive and unknown wines the restaurant offered when it was new. That, in itself was likely a matter of small capitalization, but the prices to the consumer was also low.

Thanks for reminding me that I was surprised to read that noodles in Catalunya don't go back before 1929. I had long thought pasta came to the region after Catalan invaders took the town of Alghero in Sardinia in the 14th century. The style of cooking noodles is so different than in Italy, that I am surprised it doesn't date back further in the region.

alibi.com V.14 No.34 | August 25 - August 31, 2005 This Week's Food (Albuquerque, NM) Scroll to the bottom to read: "So you guys already have a strong repeat customer base? Yeah, we've only been open two months and we've got people who are on their 10th, 12th order. People are loving it. A guy out of Dallas reviewed us on his website, 6things.com. We're also mentioned on egullet.com and on one other Internet food forum. I guess it's because people get take-out pizza and eat it in front of the computer. Yeah, probably. I've actually had two or three customers come in and say, "Hey, I saw that you were on egullet!"

The one review I read in the Times where she spoke about fooling the owner who was rude to her once when he didn't know her, and how nice he was when she come back in disguise, left me wondering how astute she was about everything else.

"Nothing can replace the expertise of the professional restaurant critic." I'm inclilned to agree. I'm also inclined to value the range of comments on the net, and there is a wide range. I suspect I'd miss the offhand comments in the supermarket line, although maybe not. I don't tend to shop much in the supermarket. There are probably fewer posers on a supermarket line though. We seem to be discussing two not entirely separate issues here. How much attention should diners pay to what they read and how much attention should chefs pay to the same reviews, gossip and claptrap. Both may affect how I eat. If I follow the wrong advice, it's obvious I may eat poorly. If a chef follows the wrong advice and I like his food, I could be in for a let down the next time. Failure to pay attention to one's reputation on the street, or in print, is bad business, for any business, but it doesn't mean the critics know what they are talking about and a chef has to have some confidence he's on the right path. Running scared seems no better than ignoring comments wholesale, although many chefs are going to have to dimiss a lot of criticism and move on or continue. Often the best idea is to pay lip service to the negative criticism and continue the cooking that pleases loyal clients. I'll recycle one of my favorite stories of the four star chef whose restaurant got a three star review from a new critic flexing his muscles. In print, the chef was nothing but respecful of the criticism, saying his kitchen must try harder all the time. Meanwhile the restaurant continued to be packed with loyal customers who really didn't care what the critic or the chef had to say. The food continued to evolve, but not really any differently than it had in the years preceding the lower rating. Neither reviewers nor web sites have that great an effect on the business of an established restaurant, in terms of commerical success or failure. When they do accomplish is help put the right diners in the right restaurants. People who care a little about food are probably happy with the supermarket checkout line referrals. People who are obsessed about what and where they eat are probably pretty thorough about checking their sources in print and online. I don't think the majority of Americans, or even my fellow New Yorkers particularly share my tastes in food, but I get messages from some people telling me they have found my recommendations useful. I consciously try to get beyond just whether I like a meal or not and I think many of us here do as much or more in that aspect. I was not that surprised to learn chefs read the site. I was suprised to learn that some knew who I was before I ever ate in their restaurant. None of them have ever indicated they were intimidated or running scared. I'd like to think they'd be disappointed if I didn't appreciate their food, just as I'd be disappointed if I learned how many people thought I was full of it when posting. I think that's the context of Mottmott's comments. You'd be surprised at how many kitchens never get the feedback they'd like to hear. Cooking is about communication and sites such as eGullet can provide the reaction to the food that is meaningful even when it's neither glowing nor panning. Chefs are among the worlds overworked professionals. It's not surprising they post so infrequently, but it's great when they do to share a recipe, technique or explain a question we have about a meal. We're not a scary place.

Perhaps, but to whom? With all due respect to diner and public accommodation access that was a feature of the civil rights movement here in the US not that long ago in history, how many of us are eager to patronize a restaurant that doesn't want us when there are other options? The thought of going to a restaurant looking for a fight doesn't sit well with my needs when I choose to eat out. I'm glad to have a Parisian confirm my sense of the evolution in salads in France. I've often felt betrayed. For a long time, I was a stauch francophile who believed the French could do no wrong at the table. I stood with my back literally and figuratively to California and sought to style my tastes to those of the French who in turn double crossed me by adapting the chef's salad of greens, meats and cheese to their own lunch. Perhaps I forgot to mention that in the thread about French insular attitudes towards food.

Curiously, I have only eaten Frechon's food at his old bistro, the one the Bristol hired him away from.

Don't get me started. I once posted about lunch with my daughter on Montorgueil. She had lived nearby in the early nineties and this was ten years later. Her old cafe was still there and we sat at the little tables outside, but she said the street was less animated than it was when she was living in the area. By animated she meant less food for sale and less hawking by the merchants in the street. Fifty years ago, I knew a little shop off place St. Michel, perhaps on St. Severain or just around the corner, where I bought Bourgueil from the vat, that reminded more of raspberries than any fancy Bourgueil in a bottle since. There aren't a lot of places left in Paris where one can buy wine like that. I probably posted the same reply to your last post on the subject.

So why are you posting? Oh wait, all the guys who have the right answer to eveything and know exactly what I should do, never say anything worth listening to or thinking about.

I don't get to spend nearly enough time in Paris for one thing. For another, my interest in "auteur food" not dissimilar to auteur cinema, means I don't get to bistros all that often. When I'm in Paris with access to all those great chefs, I don't want roast chicken or a simple fish dish which I can cook at home (although a vrai sole de la Manche is a real treat). Brasseries are kind of a fall back place for us. They're handy on Sundays when other places are closed and, contrary to the message on the menu at Lipp, they are the traditional place in Paris and other French cities where one often doesn't have to have a full meal. I suppose however, there are brasseries and brasseries. In some a sandwich is an appropriate order, in others a full and often heavy old fashioned meal of oysters followed by choucroute and then some rich pasty or custard. The more I reflect on it, the more peculiar "NO SALAD AS A MEAL" on the menu becomes. French food has changed and what the French choose to eat has changed. Salade, is often a main course in cafes and brasseries all over France and tons of little saladières exist in Paris and allover France. At first they seemed very ladies tea parlorish to me, but we've come rely on them when faced with what we expect to be a large tasting menu in the evening. I've had many a salad and dessert not just in these places, but in cafes and brasseries. Granted cafe/brasseries tend to be less formal than brasseries without cafes, but knowing how many French men and women order a salad for a main course at lunch, there's something just a little offensive not about the message, but the language chosen for the message. I'd have more expected that 30 years ago. In the past, I've really enjoyed Vaudeville which sports an art deco marble interior. I'd go for oysters (in the winter) and Andouillette or Steak frites. Andouillette is a dish I can't get in the U.S. I've found a couple of butchers or commerical charcuteries that have tried making it, but it was always a pale imitation. (The Louisiana sausage of the same name is unrelated beyond the use of casings.) Vaudeville is perhaps one of the least touristy of the Flo brasseries. We were in les Grandes Marches early after it opened, although they were already renovating it. It is the Flo Groups attempt to create a contemporary brasserie. Christian Constant was consulting chef and Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Christian de Portzamparc and his wife, Elizabeth, were the designers. I don't know if it's destination food, but it was a satisfying Sunday lunch with family members who ranged from haute cuisine chef to Parisians more interested in fashion than food. Of course Christian Constant's little cafe should be worth seeing. We've met him, but haven't been to eat there. Benoit was deeply unsatisfying not too long ago. Two visits to Aux Lyonnais have been exceptionally satisfying. Their blood sausage comes from the Pays Basque and is exceptional. Their calves' liver was of a quality I don't find in NY. La Réglade brought memories of my first trip to France, but I don't have a recent visit to guess at how it is today. When I think of bistros, I think of offal meat, not fish and chicken. I didn't mean to come down heavy on Lipp, I just thought the thread deserved some balance.

From that excite.com news article: No porfessional should present news or opinion in an insulting manner, but some people just don't want to hear the bad news. Here a physician tells a patient she's overweight and she complains to the state board of medicine which sends the doctor a letter of concern asking him to aknowledge that he made a mistake. I wonder if this lets him off the hook should the patient develop some illness related to her weight. I mean, could her spouse sue because the doctor neglected his duty to treat her for the underlying condition? Many of us really won't take any responsibility for ourselves. At least one of the doctor's patients came to his defense.

It's been a long time since I've touched ground anywhere between Alexandria, Virgina and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but I was impressed with the dish served by Hank's Seafood Restaurant of Charleston, South Caronlina at the book party for Fat Guy's Turning the Tables. It was a thin gazpacho with clams and crab meat. Both the clams and crab meal were properly succulent. Basically, it's an old fashioned seafood place, but I'd explore some of their more contemporary dishes as well based on this dish.

JohnL probably hasn't said anything that will alter how much attention I pay to Bruni's reviews, but he's probably nailed the reasons I haven't paid much attention lately. I could only add that of all the restaurants in NY he could choose, I'm often puzzled as to why he chooses the ones he does. Sam questions the two star rating. Perhaps we're moving back to Ruth Reichl's bell curve.

Agreed on both accounts and because the restaurant feels a need to make such a formal request I worry I won't be among diners who drive a restaurant to cook the way I want them to cook.