Bux

Ah, but you said make it taste great. ;) I won't disagree that a lot of mediocre food not only gets served in NY, but lapped up by adoring fans who over rate it. I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky, but I haven't found so many cases of poorly cooked food with a tasty sauce. Nor have I found an example in NY of excellently cooked food ruined by an "exotic" sauce as I had in SF some years back.

I'd tend to disagree. I've had more food ruined by the injudicious use of exotic flavors that never came near fusing on the plate. I suppose many find that exciting and it covers some other faults in cooking for them. There's nothing one can do for over cooked shrimp. Even distraction is no use. Chefs such as Veyrat and Gagniare succeed only because their basic technique and raw ingredients are top flight.

That was utterly strange and incomprehensible. Did I miss a retraction on that or was the Times not inundated with letters to the editor picking that up. If there's anything that refutes NYC's claim to be the restaurant capital of the world, it's the food coverage in the NY Times.Of course there are bargain wines all over the place and on a daily basis, we drink more cheap French wine than anything else. If nothing else, their faults are more acceptable to me, or at least after traveling in France so much, they've become my kind of faults.

There are no misapprehensions in the Internet, only poorly worded posts. I was trying to address "culture" in regard to at least both aspects of the word. While wine is more often connected to art culture than is beer, the point I wanted to make is that wine pervades all levels of society in a wine culutre. In beer drinking cultres, wine is often consumed only by the wealthier members, or by those at the extremes. I seem to recall that this particular Languedoc wine went for about ๖ in a restaurant where there wasn't much under ำ. I don't recall the prices of Bordeaux. The good buys seemed to be in the forties and in the Rhone valley. I saw the same wine this week for around ๖ in another restaurant, but I drank a ห Vacquayras. We should all drink New World wines perodically, if only to remind us why we don't drink them regularly. Actually, I don't believe that. which is to say that the new world should be encouraged. It keeps the old world on its toes and helps keep the prices down. Frank Prial says the bargains are in southern Italy--just when I've been trying to learn about Spanish wines. It's a losing battle. An older friend of mine keeps complaining that he no longer recognizes the wines on the shelves of wine shops. Some have been forced off the shelves and others are no longer bottled under their old names or by their old bottlers. The wines from appellations that used to be bottled by negotiants are now estate bottled. Old appellations have been split and new ones made up. It's a young man's world. After a while the grey matter doesn't keep on absorbing the changes.

I suspect a lot of readers here are not familiar with L'Ecole des Chefs/Relais Gourmands. It offers access to some of the great kitchens in the world to serious and dedicated cooks. As the name implies, it's meant to be a learning experience. It's not really aimed at professionals entering or already in the profession. There is a tuition invovled, although I understand it's not unheard of for a professional to pay for the opportunity to work for a short time in a multistarred French kitchen. The participating restaurants are all part of the international Relais Gourmands group. L'Ecole des Chefs/Relais Gourmands has a web site with more information on the program. http://www.leschefs.com/ Although I have no real knowledge of Paula's cooking or dining experience, I expect that she's looking for a report from someone who's already done a stage with the program rather than information about the chefs' food and restaurants. Knowledge of the food and dining room may not offer an indication of how interesting and valuable an experience it would be to be in the kitchen. Many chefs have more than one restaurant and many who have only one restaurant are often traveling around the world making guest appearances as well. While you can often learn more from the sous-chef, (Loiseau, who's the chef featured in Echikson's Burgundy Stars introduces his sous-chef to the author saying that he cooks Loiseau better than I do.) I'd expect the program to offer a slot of time when the chef is there. It's worth checking before making a commitment. I suppose at lease a rudimentry knowledge of the local language would help as well. Even if the chef's speak English, it would be frustrating to miss all of the banter in the kitchen. As is I'm told that without a working knowledge of English, French and Spanish, you're not safe from being the butt of one group's jokes while you are in the kitchen.

The place on Thompson, just above Houston is the Tomoe Sushi that Jack refers to in his post. For years now, it's had long lines during the most inclement weather. Some time ago they added a plastic enclosed area in front of the restaurant and now I've seen electric heaters in that space, but I think the lines would be just as long without the added comforts. Tomoe is a great place and has had a devoted following for a long time, although I remember a time when I could walk in and get a table. It's justly popular, but also unjustly over rated in Zagat. Many of its clientele just don't eat in better places to understand where it fits in the grand scheme of things. But that's the problem with Zagat on the whole.

In fact, I've discovered that I've used it that way in my notes and am curious as to what made me stop and think and write "restau."

The grim reality is that you have only so much choice. If federal regulatory agencies such as the FDA allow a certain amount of contamination in packaged goods you cannot be assured the aren't there in canned goods, packaged baked goods, processed meats, etc. I don't know that a measurable amount of mouse droppings are allowed in any food, but you can also bet that you can't be sure they're not there, even if no longer in a form that's recognizable. I've bought packaged flour and put it in an airtight container. If months later there are worms in the flour, you can bet the eggs came with the flour and not from the air. Of course if I had used the flour faster, I'd not find any larvae. It would be foolish to believe that minimally processed organic flour sold in bulk in a health food store would be less likely to have such contamination. "High protein" flour and "high protein" lettuce, is probably not poisonous and more likely with organic products. It may in fact be less dangerous than the residue of insecticides. A couple of generations ago, I was in a rather nice tapas bar in Barcelona. There were lots of exposed plates of cold seafood, ham, olives, etc on a counter when someone came along with a "flit gun." I assume the flies were the target. We lost our appetite for tapas bars for years to come and in the back of my mind, I'm no more relieved by the absence of insects than by their presence. Cleanliness is a virtue and always an appetizing thought.

I ate in Les Bookinistes on a Sunday a few years ago, but the current (2001) Michelin indicates it is closed on Sundays. Are you sure it's still open on Sunday or that it's open once again on Sunday? We had a very good meal and the restaurant is centrally located on one of the quais--quai des Grandes Augustins, I think.

Christopher, welcome to eGullet. Take no offense at the things Shaw has said about waiters. It was bad enough when he called them servants, then went on to make anaologies between what ke expects from high price call girls and a waiters, but surely the lowest blow was when he added lawyers to the equation. And we're supposed to think Grimes is the one who hates waiters. ;) Christopher's comments on wine recommendations remind my of the time I was upsold, just a little bit, on a wine. After discussing a few wines and narrowing my choices down, the manager of a restaurant (not GT) threw in a monkey wrench with a recommendation that sounded like it was made with some convinction. After we had drunk a bit of it and it was obvious we were enjoying the wine, the manager came back and told me I had made a good choice, "so and so," the wine critic, was drinking the same wine at another table that night. I appreciated it that he didn't hard sell the wine on that point and that he waited until I expressed pleasure before he let me know what influenced his recommendation.

In NY wine shops, Japanese restaurants, sushi bars and sake bars, you can find an overshelming selection from which to learn. Places like Honamura An and Blue Ribbon Sushi have some very interesting sakes. It's my understanding that only the better sakes are drunk cool.

Which is more important is either a subjective concept, or a silly one. Ditto about better. More has been said and written about wine, and thus it could far more easily claim to be a muse. That and a buck and a half will get in on the subway, or maybe not. Maybe it's illegal to carry alcoholic beverages on the subway. As for inspiring writing not about itself, as well as painting and music, Tommy has the right idea. Where wine rises to the fore, is it's affiliation with fine food and great meals. Neither the average beer hall denizen or the average wino are a part of this, but at the upper reaches of appreciation I think you'll find greater activity in the wine camp. That wine bars are less boisterous than beer halls should not be seem as a cultural failing. It fact wine's strength may be in that it reaches not only the wien stubbe (sp?) and heurigen (sp?) but the highest reaches of haute cuisine. Beer is not unknown in the latter circles, or unworthy of being there, but it's still an oddity. On the subject of terroir, I had an interesting comment from a sommelier in NY on an excelent wine from the Languedoc. The sommelier was not a fan. He referred to the wine as "technical." I didn't get it, so I asked. He said it could come from any place. It was the product of a serious and talented winemaker, but it had no local character.

Ever eat in a place that was shut down by the Board of Health? I mean shut down while you were eating. I have (and lived to tell about it). What was most remarkable was that the inspectors had finished their inspection before we ate and were sitting at a table in the corner filling our their reports as we dined. It was only while we were on our dessert that one of them got up and posted a notice on the door and then informed the owner that his place was shut down. You might think that having finished their inspection they might have owed us the courtesy of a warning. I felt sorry for the owner, who comped us. Not that he had all that much choice under the situation. From what I could gather they were all minor things, but too many of them. Food outside the refrigerator, the refrigerator off by a degree. I wouldn't be surprised if they caught the chef smoking. The place reopened in about a week. I'd still be eating there if the food hadn't gone down hill and if they enforced the no smoking laws, but if they did that, they'd probably have to make the food better again.

Le Dauphin, centrally located in the 1st arr. at 167 rue St.-Honoré, is open on Sunday. I don't know that it was all I hoped it to be. I thought I'd had better food from these same two chefs in Biarritz, but I've heard it highly recommended for Lièvre à la Royale. I had a Basque cassoulet, which had a nice piece of cured pork along with some good Basque boudin noir and sundry other meats. I'm not sure what made it Basque, but the only other cassoulet I've had that was labeled Basque also had blood sausage. I thought the beans were bit watery but liked the bread crumb crust. My wife was ecstatic about her pig's cheeks. We ordered simple first courses and don't remember them as well. I suppose it's on the order of La Régalade if less exciting. Dinner was on the night we arrived from NY, so it was hard to be too focused. Bistrot de Hubert is another choice and perhaps a better contrast to La Régalade. For what it's worth, we had a Sunday meal at le Balzar. This little bistrot seemed overrun with Americans, but I had a wonderful andouille. I felt no connection with my countrymen eating roast chicken and lamb chops. My wife had breaded pigsfeet and was less enthused about the success of her meal. If I had the chance to do it again, I'd probably have chosen Le Vaudeville, but as it's been some years since we've been there, I can't say if it's held up. It's got a neat art deco interior.

One man's fish is another's poison. It all depends. I know people who are turned off by elegance as well as by shabby. I do find that places that used to seem enticingly gritty, often seem depressing today. Maybe I'm getting older. Dirty still doesn't necessarily both me that much if I can fool myself into thinking that it doesn't extend into the food preparation.

The brasserie is a traditional fall back place for Sunday. I have mixed reports of the decline of the Flo group, but I don't usually go to a brasserie for creative cooking or finesse. I suspect they're mostly at least acceptable for oysters, andouille, steak frites, etc. One exception, it's a Flo brasserie but sort of exceptional in several aspects, is Les Grandes Marches, 6, place Bastille, 01 43 42 90 32. Trough a mix up not of our making, we found ourselves in need of a table on a Sunday last July. Les Grandes Marches was the best I could come up with. I'll admit my companions were not so thrilled with my suggestion, but changed their minds by the end of lunch. It's billed as a contemporary brasserie, but the food is certainly not traditional brasserie food. I'll save you the visit to my site. Here's what I wrote:

Holly, Is the airport for departure, Charles de Gaulle (Paris) or Lyon? I've stayed the night in Normandy before a flight from CDG, but it was a flight very late in the evening as I recall. More often, I've ended my trip in Paris, changed planes at CDG, or recently, taken a TGV directly to CDG. If there's a good connection you might consider staying in Lyon and taking the TGV from the station in town, directly to CDG. I like Lyon. Good food at all levels from Alsatian braserie to haute cuisine. I don't recall much in the way of street food, but I've never been above finding something that can be eaten out of hand in s nice food shop. I assume Carman has read the bouillabaise thread here.

This is a classic, and by now very old fashioned, dish. It's a dish we frequently made many years ago, with one exception. I've always found cheese a heavy flavor with most fish and seafood. We'd use a rich veloute based on seafood stock and use a little lightly whipped cream to help the dish brown if were going to finish it under the broiler. I don't have a recipe, but all of the components are in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume One. It was quite a production in our house. The shrimp, mussels, scallops were all undercoked separately and combined with mushrooms cooked in butter and a little lemon juice. The broth from the shrimp shells and heads was combined with the rest of the cooking liquids to make the veloute, which was often enriched with cream. It was wonderful, but today I might find it dull. We rarely make veloutes or use flour thickened sauces. I suppose it's just a changing taste. Even then however, I thought mornay sauces went better with ham and spinach than seafood, but I was a mimority and mornay was classic for scallops and other delicate seafoods.

I always wanted a mandoline, but looked at it as just too great an expense for my kitchen and I sure as #### wasn't going to buy one of those cheap plastic ones. One day a professional who works in one of NY's top French kitchens told me they had a couple of steel mandolines in the kitchen, but that everyone used a Benriner. He persuaded me to buy one and I love it. I've found I can't work with the guard. I watch myself carefully and toss a certain amount of food, or use it for soup. I've nicked myself once or twice, but in general I'm so careful that a paring knife has still inflicted the worst damage here. On the other hand, my wife keeps telling me to use the guard on the basis of her run ins with the Benriner. For a while she swore off it altogether. I see that she's using it again and without the guard, but carefully. I suspect it's a matter of, "I can do anything he can do in the kitchen."

Tommy, your powers of insight are surpassed only by your sense of humor as far as I can tell.

I see from your other posts that you have experience traveling and dining in France. I trust my earlier response here was not too simple minded. You probably have the experience to make your decision which is going to be very subjective. My guess is that most people would opt for the chance to work in a kitchen in France, all things equal, but that shouldn't be a fore gone conclusion. I wonder if the location even matters as if you put in a full day, you're not likely going out on the town.

I've not done anything like this although I am familiar with the program. Perhaps you'll get a first hand report. In the meantime, where have you eaten and what are your interests? I assume this gift is from someone who knows you well and that this is something you look forward to doing. What is it that appeals most to you and where have you eaten? Have you been to any of these restaurants? How did you narrow it down to these six? I've been in four of the dining rooms and one of the kitchens mentioned. Is there anything those of us who haven't been in the program can offer to help you make up your mind? I assume, that you are not thinking of beginning a professional career as a cook. Correct me if I'm wrong. Let me also make a request. When you finish, please tell us about the week.

I wouldn't overlook Tommy's remarks on the subject. The piece wasn't really filler, but it was fluff and we're not so much speaking to the article as around it. Secondly I suspect Tommy's wise to be concerned about putting his foot in his mouth. His insight here, as well as on legal matters, is astounding. Seriously, Grimes has on numerous occasions expressed contempt for both individual chefs and for the profession. I can't recall him writing about the pleasures of dining out, but I've read his complaints about the duties of his job. This article was one of his funnier ones and it was right on, at least about a segment of the restaurants in NY without real concern for context. Humor, not quality restaurant criticism. Restaurants, at least some of them, have changed and are changing. Society changes all the time and in post future shock times the change is accelerating. Nothing is what it used to be. In France waiters are younger (or at least I'm older) and they also have more to say to me. Food is creative and you can't go look up Escoffier's recipes. Grimes makes a point that long winded waiters may be the alternative to long winded menus. Whatever complaints you have with Grimes' buddies in trade, I suggest you start with his editors who are probably also responsible for enouraging the drivel about Mr. Latte. As for waiters, enthusiasm should always be a welcome trait for anyone doing a job, and I welcome a conduit for information from the chef, but unbridled effusion needs to be checked. Are we discsussing the article or the state of the service profession? Call me left-liberal, but the word "servant" needs to be less used in our society, especially as in a "waiter pretending to be a servant." I don't see them doing that. They are not actors, they are men and women doing a real job. Lawyers are not servants, doctors are not servants and the woman who irons my shirts is not my servant. There have always been restaurants where the waiters were professionals and there have always been restaurants where the waiters were actors pretending to be waiters. On this subject and much of what Shaw says in relation to waiters knowing when to interact and how to interact, I am in agreement. At this point Shaw is, in my opinion, on target and I agree wholeheartedly.Robert brings up one of those chicken and egg things. If food is plated in the kitchen, a waiter doesn't have to know how to carve a chicken or bone a sole and you'll never know if he can, but that sort of service began because a generation of chefs wanted control over the appearance of the plate as hit the table. It did not start out in exasperation of the lack of talent in the font of the house. Now, you may have a generation of waiters who are untrained in a craft they haven't needed. With family style groaning board service in Craft, it's not needed there either. I would make no assumptions about Grimes' political leanings, but I don't picture him as a liberal. The great midwestern popularism he seemed to support in his USC review might indicate an empathy for their Republican politics, but one would be on a slippery slope to suggest that he's not part of the eastern liberal establishment.

I've only heard it. I presume "resto" is how it's written if that's what you saw. Thanks.

Let me recommend Jack's site for Day Trips from Paris. There are too many banners on his site and they are paid ads. Do not view any of them as being recommeded. His personal recommendations, when they appear, are usually reliable. Holly, Robert's recommendations are fine except that I'd get away from Paris for a few days and not do day trips. Driving in and out can be as boring and frusrating as in any metropolitan area. As Robert says, you don't have to go far. As good a case can be made for heading northwest to the coast as south to the Loire, Sologne or Burgundy.