Bux

The more I examine this issue, the more I suspect that the purpose is to tell the client that Michelin has their interests at heart, but that they (Michelin) cannot be held responsible for changes made by the individual establishments listed in the guide. These hotels have assumed responsibility for maintaining prices. Sounds like a disclaimer to me. I'm not a lawyer, but I've read disclaimers and this smells like one. Are the hotels willing to risk the wrath of Michelin? I don't know if there would be rath. Nevertheless, I wouldn't be surprised if anything there could be used in a French court to hold the restaurant responsible for what Michelin says they are. Anyway, neither Michelin nor the restaurants seem to have made a contract with the consumer, so it's just between Michelin and the restaurants. If enough people complain, it will be interesting to see what Michelin does about future listings. They could refuse to list the offending restaurant or take away a star. Will they? In any event, I don't think you can prohibit the addition of a more expensive menu as long as ones for the listed price are available.

Of all the restaurants mentioned, l'Astrance is the one where a big jump was to be expected. The menu prices when it opened were exceptionally low and diners had to be aware they were getting the bargain one might hope to get from a new restaurant desparate to attract a following. Most of the others have no excuse. We should note that Robert reports from areas that live on high flying tourists. We were in the Bas Languedoc for exactly one week and did not experience major increases. There's a lot of tourism in the region, but most of it is in the form of summer residents with second homes of a modest nature. We did not eat in a starred restaurant and several of our restaurants were not listed in Michelin. Some were new--at least one opened the week we ate there. Thus it was impossible to notice any gouging. As many of our menus ran about twenty dollars for a prix fixe three courses, I could only marvel at what we got even when it was just fair quality. I did notice that prices were always in nice round numbers and that even the tolls on the highway were in ten cent increments. I assume some rounding up all over had to be in effect if only for simplicity if not out of greed. In Spain where we spent a little more time and money on food, we found it remarkable how exactly many restaurants may have calculated their prices. Some places seemed to round up to even numbers, but it was not uncommon to see dishes listed at 19.83, 15.03, 33.06 and a menu at 57.10 euros, (7% tax not included) for instance, at l'Esguard or similar pricing at both neighborhood restaurants such as l'Olive and starred restaurants such as Jean-Luc Figueras in Barcelona. Looking at the cartes right now, I can see some of those same numbers repeated. Obviously they are the exact conversion from some nice round number in pesatas. None of this was any surprise after stopping to pay tolls of a buck fifty-four, I mean 1.54 euros. Actually the 1.04 euro toll as the oddest I think I've ever paid--it cam out to $0.99 on my credit card bill. Fortuantely these tolls could all be paid by credit card at an automatic machine no different than an ATM and I didn't have to fling pennies in a basket or wait for change.

There are plenty of banknotes and coins, not to mention stamps, around that are worth far more than face value. I will grant that among any single rare issue, those in better condition will command a hgher value. I suppose you can slice and dice this anyway you want, but the value of things is related only to what people will pay.

My guess, assuming your reading of this is correct, is that best you could ask for is that there be a 214 euro menu and that it be offered to you. If there are menus at 100 euros, 214 euros and 300 euros, I don't think you could demand the 300 euro menu for 214 euros because the 300 euro menu isn't listed. In any event, I question the value of entering into any fine restaurant with an adversarial attitude. If you managed to get Arpege, or any other restaurant, to serve a 300 euro menu for 214 euros, my guess is it might be a less enjoyable version. Who knows? Maybe they'll think you're a Michelin inspector and treat you even better. Caveat emptor and let us know how you fare. On the other hand, there are alternative interpretations of the MIchelin statements. Note that they allow leeway based on a change in costs. Another way to see this is to understand that Michelin disavows any legal responsibility in regard to prices. You can argue with the restaurant or sue them, but you can't hold Michelin as a party involved in fixing the price. Your recourse would only be to note your disappointment with the restaurant and hope Michelin takes note and removes a star for what should be seen as a fault in service. For Michelin to rmove Arpege from it's listings over a price increase, mihght well hurt Michelin's reputation more than Arpege's.

Cherche-Midi is one block east of the division between the 6th and th 7th. The dividing street is rue du Sèvres until it meets rue des Saints Pères which becomes the line. Poilane is securely in the 6th by a short block. The 7th has Poujaran, however.

In regard to jaybee's comments, one might wonder if the recipes in the guides are as well tested as the ones in the cookbooks. Few cookbooks offer more than recipes suited for cooks at one level or another. Julia Child always gave a full lesson in the techniques invovled in every dish. Her early books are the ones we go back to for the information missing in almost every other cookbook. Most cookbooks are written for people who know how to cook. Mastering the Art of French Cooking assumed the reader know nothing of French technique and maybe little about cooking. I've not noticed a preference for bland or boring. An increase in one's own standards ican alter how their perception of other opinions. I wouldn't rule it out as a contributing factor. For the most part, I think it has to do with changes in Ms. Wells. I just don't think she's as sharp as before. She's been doing this too long and may have too many prejudices in regard to food. As for changes in the way she sees food, I have to refer to an article about her California physical trainer/guru. I wish I could remember where I read it, but the article along with phtographs of a slimmer Ms. Wells didn't do much to support the contention we still shared similar interests.

Her Food lover's Guides to Paris and to France have been invaluable resources. The latter has never been updated and by now many of the addresses are stale and the details are no longer reliable. The Paris guide has been updated several times and remains fairly reliable. Some of her cookbooks are excellent as well. She's been the respected restaurant reviewer for the International Herald Tribune for a long time. I don't know what this says about the need for anonymity as she's been anything but anonymous in France for a long time. I understand she used to do reviews for l'Express--quite a feat for an American woman. She runs cooking programs from her property in Provence. Of late, I've found more fault with her reviews than I had in the past. Years ago we met an artisanal distiller who was full of praise for her professionalism. In fact we were led to his distillery by her France guide. He was impressed that she came, tasted his wares, bought some eaux-de-vie and the featured him in her book. He said that was unheard of. In France if they're thinking of writing about you, they immediately ask for free samples. He had quite a high opinion of American ethics as a result.

As for the spices, it was not clear to me from reading the recipe that the spices are heated (toasted) before grinding. As I read it, he ages the ground mix in a wooden box for two weeks. I would have thought one would want the spices ground just before using. The wooden box--not glass jar--is interesting. He doesn't specify any particular wood, but I wonder about benefit of transference. Then again maybe if the box is constantly reused, it reaches a point where it no longer absorbs flavor and aroma from new powder but imparts the flavor of past mixes. I don't know. I'm a bit in the air about that. Your comment about vacation is apt. I think Gourmet has always been about eating well while traveling and not about traveling to eat. It's still about the life style more than the food. For me there's far less disappointment that they're well behind the curve than there is pleasure in seeing Roellinger get the notice he deserves.

Olivier Roellinger has been the subject of some interest here before as has the use of curry by French chefs. The arrival of his e-mail newsletter Subject: En juillet chez Roellinger seemed worth bringing to the attention of members. The e-mail featured links to new information on his site and an online article in Gourmet magazine. You can find a set of links for the English versions here. The page in French is here. The recipe for the Curried mussel velouté, includes instructions for making the blend of spices as well as instructions for the entire preparation. This is but a bit from the Gourmet article on the restaurant and the chef:

I'd be happy to believe this if I wasn't at all familiar with a well know brand of cosmetics that was selling, or more accurately not selling, at popular (lower middle economic level) prices. In a desparate move, the company revamped its image with new packaging, new advertising and a new image. It is now a successful company selling the same goods a upscale prices. Or perhaps I finally understand how they managed to improve the quality by raising the price. Maybe I've never really grasped this cause and effect thing. Than again maybe it's well understood by people smarter than I am, that inherently the quality of a perfume is really the quality of the packaging, just as we understand that the quality of the meat is really the market price it can command There are few of us here who don't admire a scrappy contender, and I'm impressed by how far you can carry this even if it requires a bit of shuffling, but every once in a while I get an inkling that you believe all this and I find that scary.

Life, one might say, should be like a good meal with one constantly taking sips from the glass and having it refilled. Of course analogies suck and one might argue that the quality of the wine is at least as important as how full the glass is. Things, as Marcosan has suggested, go in cycles. This is not at all the same as going in circles. The only constant is change and as we cycle we pick up and discard so when we come to the top again, we are in a different place. Lest you envision a series of loops with an x and y axis, I suggest we may all see different points of the loop as "top." As things, be they restaurants, foods, fashions or whatever, become familiar they tend to become both comfortable and boring. There will always be those who are bored first. In general they will become the avant garde for some cause. As things become boring and enuogh people become jaded, the new will arise. For example, the plated dessert will begin to replace the chariot. Outside factors such as economics will often hasten or deter change. Not all new ideas or customs will survive or become the standard, but as the middle people latch onto an idea, it will prevail and as that happens, the conservative element opposing change will be joined by members of the old avant garde who have a tendency to become jaded quickly and by those who have abandoned the old just long enough to become nostalgic. To stay with the plated desserts for a moment, I tend to feel that they are more interesting, when well done, than a barrage of unrelated deserts on a trolley. Yet, after not seeing a dessert trolley for years--perhaps more than a decade--I was I was delighted with the prospect when I met up with it again. It brought back many fine memories of old fashioned eating and good memories of excellent and seeminly unlimited dessert choices. A half dozen years ago, I might have been less joyful and thought the restaurant was just too staid and didn't understand that times have changed. What we want is variety and change in our life. For young people there's always something new. For those of Robert's and my generation, the new is more often than not going to often appear as a reincarantion of the old, or the old--if we can still find it. Robert, is thought provoking--and I could ask no more from those who post here than to provoke my thoughts on food and dining--when he says: but he is not above extolling the virtues of El Bulli which is the epitome of a place that says "take it or leave it" and where the a la carte dish no longer exists. We are all fickle. I want my plated desert as well as the opportunity to eat my cake from the trolley. I am a great fan of Blue Hill and l'Astance and likely to leave each with a satisfied smile on my face, but I am increasing enjoying finding remants of the old style and although I went to Catalunya in seach of the new cuisine, I found myself as much in love with the traditional restaurants as with the creative ones. I also loved the ones inbetween. There's too much good eating to really worry about style. I think I feel the same way about arguing whether French food is better than Italian or Chinese, or whether Norman food is better than Burgundian or Provencal food. It's all interesting to discuss, but none of it will get in the way of my enjoying as wide a range of table pleasures as I can manage. Let me close by saying that I don't think Robert was worrying about style, but offering us abstract intellectual food for thought. Where is Luchow's when we need it? And I don't mean to imply that this all hasn't been said as well in fewer words when Klc quoted Shaw.

For a moment I couldn't think of why someone would frequent the Balzar on a regular basis unless they lived nearby, but I had a nagging feeling that when we were last in Paris, I thought we were staying very close to where Gonik lived. We were just off rue du Bac between St. Germain and the quais. That would have been a few blocks from both his places. It was not an inconvenient area and quite central especially in terms of the right bank and the Louvre, but I always felt that block or two before the Esplanade des Invalides was a deterrent to walking in that direction as they were so boring. It does not surprise me that Catherine Deneuve would live in an expensive area, yet I've usually found the cafes on place St. Sulpice filled with scruffy looking students. There is also a hotel on the place in which I've stayed which I would describe as budget. I no longer see it in the Michelin. Perhaps it's now shabby rather than budget. I will note that the shops in the area are tres chic. That south end of the sixth near Raspail and blvd. du Montparnasse has always seemed nice to me, but the boulevard seemed so full of fake places and chain restaurants the last time I was there. It was an area I really liked forty years ago and can't completely adjust to what it's like now. Then again, I go back the gare Montparnasse before there was a tower.

Or in other terms, you don't always get what you pay for, but you will pay for what you get. It's far easier to pay too much and get inferior goods, but it's not so easy to find the best for less.

Just to interject a non Indian and non Asian note into the use of coconut milk, Esilda's (Mrs. B.) recipe for Budin de Coco (Coconut Bread Pudding) calls for Cream of Coconut (Coco Lopez brand) but since it's not always available, she's worked out a recipe that uses coconut milk instead. There is some adjustment in the amount of milk and sugar in the recipe to compensate.

El Bulli is fully booked for the entire spring, summer and fall season. It's only open for about half the year or so. My understanding is that it was "sold out" well before it opened for the year. Nevertheless, people do get reservations. My assumption is that there are cancellations. I don't know if they follow the practice of keeping tables open until the last minute. They don't turn tables and they only serve dinner. The best approach is to offer to take a cancellation at the last minute and convince them you are earnest and eager to dine there. That's difficult if you don't live in Roses. We've met with Alberto and had some other connections. I'm sure that didin't hurt. The willingness for us to remake our travel plans and change our reservations for more than a week of our proposed trip when the restaurant was able to confirm a date near the one we wanted was critical. I understand Robert was willing to drive from Nice on a day's notice. Of course, if you're a personal friend of someone like Alain Ducasse, I imagine you'd also go to the head of the list, but you wouldn't be asking here in that case. Other than that, I can't offer much specific advice. I can tell you there are some other restaurants in Catalunya well worth going out of your way to eat in, and there's some really satisfying food in unstarred restaurants as well. These were easier to reserve. The starred ones were reserved maybe a month in advance but most were not full at lunch on a weekday.

Liberated by their puritan spirit is what I'd say if I read that they were liberated by seeing excellence as a form of decadence. It's a good point--an ascetic liberty. Those you cite don't seem to espouse that all the way however. They seem to take such a middle class moral virtue to the enjoyment of food. I don't buy into the religion it's too limiting. I am pleased they find contentment, but it's a path with an artificial dead end. I should reread Liebling. I seem to recall that he found excess money a hindrance in learning about eating, but not necessarily when enjoying what one has learned.

Yes, I think those writers had no audience, or at least a particularly small audience in England, for haute cuisine. I think they also wrote about what they knew and the food to which they had been exposed. We are all the products of our experiences and limted by our knowledge.

I can't contribute much to the fish chips, but the sugar coated pork skins (cortezas de cerdo garapiñadas) have a cousin in Super Grab Brand Baken-ets Traditional Fried Pork Skins, although the latter lack the sugar coating. Those of us who have ever thought we could improve upon a easily purchased conveniently ready-to-eat food product without practical concerns of efficiency, expense should not see this family resemblance comment as a criticism, nor should anyone who regularly pays twice as much for a better potato chip. I think El Bulli also has to be approached as a place where you will be expected to think about what you are eating as much as you will be expected to enjoy your meal. Adria goes beyond challenging your taste buds. Any preconception you may have about dinner is fair game for his menu. This is an approach that most certainly offends many diners and the reason I limit my recommendation to dine here to those who are likely to be ready for the challenge and likely to enjoy it. I think any great creative artist (and let's not get hung up on "fine art") needs to be able push the envelope of his medium without fear. In other threads on eGullet, I've seen relatively intelligent members put down conceptual art and dismiss those who appreciate or have explained it. It's not unusual for casual museum goers to allow themselves to consider Picasso as an artist, let alone a great artist, until they discovered he could paint successfully in a classical style as a youth. Leaning on analogies puts me on thin ice here, I realize, but bear with me. The point I will make is that for me, the reason to stay with Adria is not based on any knowledge I have about his ability to produce a classic Spanish or international dish of haute cuisine, but how often during his meal he is convincingly successful with the dishes he delivers to the table and how persuasive I find his overall sensibilities. It's a ride I find both interesting and pleasurable--sure I get pleasure out of the interesting part and I find pleasure itself an interesting thing--the bumps in the road are an integral part of the experience.

I beg your pardon. What you just said in your example is that what they were unable to sell for $15 a pound now gets sold for $5. And that's very reasonable. Now if I can in and asked for steak and they asked me how much I was willing to pay and I said $5 a pound and then they offered to sell it to me for that only if I would accept it ground up, you might have a point. Hmm, kind of like those discount clothes with the label shredded maybe.

I'd love to pick this up on the Spain board and see it have a good run, but there doesn't yet seem to be the interest in the US or by other members of this site. The fact that it's different is interesting as it's different in many ways from many things including what I've thought of as traditional Spanish food. Then again I've also come to find much more than I had originally thought interesting about traditional and regional Spanish food. It did not win me over as French food did, although my introduction to French food was at the least expensive end. Somehow, over the years my education in French cuisine may have made me more susceptable to the charms of Spanish food. If this were to prove to be the case, would that make French food more universal or would it make Spanish food so much more complex at it's most homespun level? Of course we can't deny the influence of haute cuisine (French) on chefs like Juan Maris Arzak. Could we have Berasategui without Arzak? I don't know. None of this explains the wonderful no star meals that thrill me far more than most in France. Is it the newness, the French influence, and international influence, an awakening to a more robust food, the freshness of local products or some factor I've not yet put my finger on? Jaybee is correct that raw materials will play a role in the fact that there's much we will not see here. Can you imagine a baby lamb so small that the whole carcass fits on a platter not much larger than a large dinner plate and which serves two as a main course?

Lemmee 'splain it all clear. The ground sirloin is more expensive because it's better. That doesn't mean the resultant hamburger is better, it's just the raw meat that's better on an abstract scale irrelevant of its intended use. Now if you could price the ground sirloin hamburger at a higher price than the ground chuck burger, then we'd know it was better. Capeesh?

I always thought a "free" market was one that offered the freedom of manipulation to anyone with enough leverage.

What a pity. We passed by and it looked as inviting an old place as any I'd seen. If it had been lunch time, I might have walked in just because of its looks. I had hoped to hear more about, although that's not what I had hoped to hear. Okay. It was lunch time when we passed by and I recalled the name from an old list a friend had of inexpensive places. We wanted little more than a snack in terms of a French lunch and enjoyed a salad and light main courses, but it seemed quite capable of offering more. Anything but a destination restaurant, but the kind I wish I had in my neighborhood in New York where I am hard pressed to eat as well for anywhere near the money. Its type however is not uncommon in Paris.The quartier latin is also a farily large area and has its better and worse corners. It's the area to which I first gravitated as a student, but have felt the need to move west as I grew older. It's very touristy and thus full of restaurants, many of which depend on the tourist trade rather than the loyal client. Not all tourists are without taste or guidebooks and there's plenty to choose from. It's also full of student restaurants offering meals at very low prices. That's most true to the east bordering on an area with many Arab and north African restaurants. My preference would be the 6th closer to the 7th which puts you closer to Plotnicki's 7th but unfortuantely on the other side of all those ministerial buidlings. I recall several boring walks at night on streets lined with government offices and behind the senat. They're fairly well patrolled by police however. I've liked the 6th right on the edge of the 7th and a few blocks south of St. Germain. It's centrally located and close to the action, but somehow a bit quieter and residential. It offers two metro stops with three lines at Sèvres-Babylon and St. Sulpice and a good department store with food mart--Bon Marché. Catherine Deneuve has an apartment on place St. Sulpice, or so I've been told. I figure she can live wherever she wants in Paris. Moreover she chose to live there before Pierre Hermé set up his shop just off the place. There are good restaurants around. There are some that have been on my list for some time, but I haven't yet tried. So what does it say that I like the area, but usually find myself going elsewhere to eat. I think it's just that Paris is so easy a city in which to get around by foot, metro or bus. My assumption is that Gopnik may have lived in the quartier latin while he was writing From Paris to the Moon as he described a local brasserie as sort of a second home. That brasserie is also very heavily frequented by English speaking tourists.

lizziee, I'm not sure anyone's head would be clear enough to understand anything after all 13 pages. For the moment at least, lets assume this meat is much more expensive than the massed produced and hormone injected boeuf hache to be found in the hypermarché. There are those who, having discovered that they usually have to pay more for better quality, assume higher price is always indicative of better quality and they will buy Aubrac beef just because it costs more. Of course there is always a group who will buy it because there's not enough to go around and they must have what others can't have. That rarity will also attract another group of whom I can be less sarcastic, those who want to taste it out of intellectual curiosity at least once. I am likely to be discovered in that group. This is not a simple issue and there are always people who do the right thing for the wrong reasons as well as those whose reasons are sound. Finally, there are those who have tried the beef and find it desirable enough to seek out again. The sad fact is that it becomes harder and harder to defend French food as the standard bearer when the hypermarchés are full of massed produced and hormone injected dreck. Then again I thought the EU had stricter rules on hormones, or is that only for beef from the U.S.? It's too easy to separate haute cuisine from the daily food of the French, but I suspect the rise of French cuisine to it's position of prominence (Is that a better or worse term than "dominance" or "superiority?") has largely been tied over the years to the basic diet of the French at large. AJ Liebling and Waverly root did not form their opinions and dedication to French food by touring the three star restaurants, although they may have eventually enjoyed them as well.

One of the arguments given for the superiority of French food is the ingredients. I think you are right about Spain having some incredible ingredients whether it's the seafood they take from the waters or the pigs and sheep they raise, the quality can be incredible. It's part of the reason Spanish restaurants in New York have not measured up to those in Spain. My understanding is that even the Spanish hams we are now importing are not really Spanish hams, but hams that are cured in Spain from the meat of pigs raised in Denmark. Spanish farms have tried to get USDA approval. Since Plotnicki assures us that quality will rise and be recognized. I'm not ready to rule out the possibility that American gastronomes will recognize Spanish haute cuisine. Italian has been with us for a long time. Maybe Mario will be the avant garde of a new Italian food renaissance in the states. In the meantime I hear of more young American cooks going to Spain and my guess is that what they learn there will be seen in American restaurants. Time will tell. By the way, the Craft Bar "charcuturie" Plonicki mentions is Italian in influence and one of the better instances where an Italian influence can be seen. I don't discount the influence. I'm just not willing to write off Spain. Nor am I ready to write off France where the chance of discovery and new possibilities being found is at least as likely as in the music of jazz. Probably greater.