Bux

It was not to discredit Philadelphia, let alone the rather ordinary neighborhood in which Carman located herself, to suggest that it was a fluke where it was. It would seem to be a fluke almost anywhere. However, I've been in Burlington and I know what you mean. Burlington, as I recall, is full of appealing little places that serve mediocre food.

I haven't had a subscription to Food Arts in some time. I should see about fixing that. There was much about the decor and service at le Bec Fin that I found curious. It's an interesting and respectful clientele. I'm not convinced they know as much about food as New Yorkers, but they don't tend to ask for sauce on the side and come to dine with respect for the chef and the restaurant rather than with the arrongance of some NY diners. As I said, there's an element of time capsule, but the food is very contemporary under Cote. Of course there's no Carman's in NYC. Where would you put it? There may be a corner that resembles hers somewhere in Staten Island. Actually, I think she's a fluke and would be anywhere. I'd expect that in a college town, except as you note, it's not really a cheap breakfast, although a bargain assuming you don't mind sitting four at a table sized for two cocktails.

Shades of the Heston Blumenthal discussions on the UK board, perhaps there's monkfish liver ice cream on the Fat Duck menu.

I believe the bread at Cafe Boulud is the same bread as at Daniel. It's baked at Daniel and therein may lie the difference.

And you still refer to him as a friend? ;)For what it's worth, and very little in relation to the original question, my understanding is that canned monkfish liver pate is available on the continent. I believe it is packed in Scandinavia, perhaps Denmark. I suspect this is what I had when I ordered a foie de lotte tartine in a favorite little Parisian lunch/snack spot (Cuisine de Bar. 8, rue du Cherche-Midi -- nice open face sandwiches and desserts, but an icky sweet salad dressing that tasted as if it was imported from the US in bottles).

I've known Daniel Boulud for some time. For one thing, I originally did his web site. His concept for Cafe Boulud was a casual place where his friends, regulars and people in the neighborhood could drop in wearing jeans and sweaters. The neighborhood works against it. I often find the patrons in CB better, and more formally dressed, than in Daniel. My explanation is that casual to many of the people who live on Park and Fifth Avenues in the seventies, means a blue shirt and tie. On the other hand, Daniel is a destination restaurant attracting all sorts of out of town tourists, who may be very intrested in food, but who don't normally dress. CB, as a second restaurant, doesn't get that destination restaurant tourist trade and sometimes seems to have a more formal clientele. In keeping with Daniel's ideal of his two restaurants I wear a tie to Daniel, but not to CB. Sometimes I feel out of place at both, but the service tells me otherwise. ;) Robert - The CB dinner menu with prices is at http://danielnyc.com/cafe/cbdinner.html and the db Bistro dinner menu is at http://danielnyc.com/bistro/dbdinner.htm. Cafe Boulud (20 East 76th Street) is not in the theater district, but db (55 West 44th Street) is. I've expressed my thoughts on trying to have a great meal and go to the theater on the same night elsewhere. I don't think it works. I prefer a light supper afterwards. Nevertheless, I like Le Bernardin (155 West 51st Street) http://le-bernardin.com/. How about the less formal Nougatine at Jean Georges (1 CPW) http://starchefs.com/JeanGeorges/home.htm although the last time I was near Nougatine the noise at the bar was overwhelming.

For out of towners, it should be noted that there's some difference in price between the Tavern at GT and Cafe Boulud, although both offer what I consider good value for the money. Daniel, Cafe Boulud, The Tavern at GT and Gramercy Tavern are four rather different restaurants, although I am a fan of Daniel Boulud, Andrew Carmellini and Tom Colicchio. Cafe Boulud is an interesting place. It's gets far less notice than it deserves. I suspect it's because it's seen as Daniel Boulud's second restaurant. For that reason alone, I suspect it will be omitted from many best restaurant lists. I think Felonius hit it on the head when he described his food in terms of "satisfying in terms of sheer pleasure." I think I could sum up my last meal there in one word--"delicious." It's sort of comfort food raised to a whole other level. I'm sure the venison is worth seeking out, I've had it last fall or winter, but I'd really like to get uptown and try Andrew's grandmother's pierogis. I can get venison at Daniel.

I doubt that hot water leaches chemicals out of the pipes. Hot water pipes and hot water heaters do tend to build up more scaling from minerals in the water. I'm with Shaw. I'd prefer to err on the side of too big a pot and too much water than attempt to cook pasta in too little water. Perhaps that's also the reason I agree with him that the cooking of the pasta will determine the minimum time from start to table. My earlier response was to Jason's remark about the hassle of making sauce. I feel the same way Shaw does about boiling water when I think of eating a few Chinese dumplings. They cook in less time than ravioli and I can make do with just hot oil and vinegar in a pinch, although it doesn't take much longer to use black vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallion, etc. It's filling and washing the pot in addition to waiting for it to boil that takes too long. Putting the lid on it helps. With canned tomatoes, it's probably the brand that's more important than whether they're whole, chopped or crushed. The nice thing about whole tomatoes is that you can chop or puree them quickly and chop them as you want. Thus a can of whole tomatoes is more versitile. By the way, canned tomatoes should not be a "stable" as I earlier noted, but a "staple." ;) Ziti, penne, shells, bowties, etc are all fine. Athough some seem better suited to certain sauces than others almost all will do in a pinch. Spaghetti broken in half is unacceptable for much the same reason Jason puts oil in the water. It's a question of respect for those who taught me all I know about pasta. ;) Totellini, won tons and kreplach have been served in broth for what I assume has been centuries. It's really just a variation. In recent years I've noticed that fine restaurants will often serve featured ravioli with just a little broth and maybe some other garnishes in the bowl. It's not a big step to serve a reduction that almost sticks to the pasta. In fact it will combine with a bit of the grated cheese and you will not need a spoon, although the latitude of how much to use and how concentrated it should be, will allow you to create many different dishes. A current favorite of ours is the green spinach ravioli from DiPalo's (on Broome and Mott). I don't like tomato sauce with this and we often have it with thinly sliced mushrooms, a bit of reduced stock and freshly grated parmesan.

Sometimes it's even better after five minutes than after ten. Canned tomatoes should be a stable. I don't think prepared pasta sauces need be although we often freeze our own. More to the point, depending on the filling, ravioli are fine with just some warm olive oil and grated parmesan. A few spoonfuls of some very concetrated stock or meat glaze and grated cheese are another thought. Olive oil may be more likely to be on hand, but Fat Guy says he freezes concentrated home made broth in individual portions.

I don't know what part of the city you live in, but at a neighborhood joint that's hurting a bit for business, two or three visits in a month will endear you to them forever. If it doesn't, you can be sure they don't know how to run a restaurant and will not be there long eonugh to worry about becoming a favored diner. At a place such as Daniel, you should be prepared to sacrifice your first born. Obviously Fat Guy has taken this subject very seriously and what he says is almost golden. I was being a little bit facetious and it's not so completely different at Daniel. The problem is that there are already so many established favorite diners and as you've noted, you're competing with some of the fattest wallets in the country. One trick, of course, is to spot a new restaurant and be among the first to go two or more times. Fat Guy is correct about lunch. Since we're speaking about Daniel, I'll tell you that Daniel Boulud once told me (at lunch) that he thought his lunch crowd was more food conscious than the dinner crowd. Unfortunately that was at his smaller first restaurant where he was more likely to meet all his guests. Even more unfortuantely, his eponymous restaurant has not been open for lunch since the WTC attack. It's also possible that a two or three hour lunch is not part of your work schedule. Some other suggestions to add to Fat Guy's advice. If you can't have lunch, accept a very early or very late reservation. Unlike first class Parisian restaurants, the better NYC restaurants will reuse most tables at least once, if not twice in the evening. Almost no one gets to reserve a table at the precise prime time. Weekends are worse than most weekdays. Some days are particularly easy to reserve or even walk in and eat. Yom Kippur eve is a light night at NY restaurants. Any night there's a championship ball game involving a NY team, tables are often suddenly available. Look for easier reservations if the Yankees make the World Series. A note on the importance of making your genuine enthusiasm known. I've heard from people who have claimed their service improved measureably during a single dinner as the waiter(s) picked up on their appreciation of the food. Most of the great restaurants in NY are full of tourists and locals who are there for reasons other than the food. Forget whatever you may have heard about front of the house staff not getting along with the kitchen. In the top NY restaurants there is mutual respect.

Whatever I've said about Michelin was in another thread and I'm not sure others will remember, or have read it. Michelin is a guide and my guess is that many, if not most readers, regard newspaper reviews as a guide in installments. After most NY Times reviewers will have published a year or so's worth of reviews, you can expect to find them for sale as a bound edition. It's usually paperbound, which is less than you can say about Michelin. My 2001 GaultMillau is paperbound and falling apart after only two trips. Of course the NY Times bound edition of reviews is out of date upon publication, but the Michelin and GM are both summarizations of last year's visits as well. One wants to have eaten at a three star restaurant the year before the stars were awarded, not the year the stars appear. Am I wrong in believing most people read reviews as a guide and for aid in selecting places in which to dine? I believe most people read movie reviews for the same reason. I suspect I may not be wrong if I say most people read most reviews as a guide towards how to spend their time or money. I suspect most people log on to food and restaurant message boards for the same reason. I suspect we do not have a usual cross section here, for which I am pleased. Not that I wish to discourage that sort of Q&A either. The US doesn't really have a national newspaper. The NY Times is available across the country, but even in the metropolitan NY region the editions vary in what they carry beyond national news. Reviews of NYC restaurants may be replaced by reviews of local restaurants in the suburban editions, if I'm not mistaken.

You must mean "sails," as I don't think anyone was buying his line of goods.

It's a story I've probably told too often online, but some years ago, my wife and I spent hours at a table with a artisanal distiller of eaux-de-vie south of Agen, France. He seemed far more interested in our conversation than in selling spirits to us and he was constantly pouring tastes of clear alcohol into fresh glasses while asking us to guess the fruit and to distinguish between several eaux-de-vie in separate glasses. Although too small a group to draw any conclusions with scientific accuracy, my wife beat me hands down. Our host was not surprised. After years of this, he was firmly convinced that women had better taste buds. For what it's worth, his experience was that Belgian women had the finest palate of all.

I hate to join in on this, but it's already so long and boring that I can't do any harm. LM is annoyed because he feels Blumenthal is an exceptional plagiarist (how far our expectations of fine restaurants have come from the time all important chefs strove to follow a classic example for each dish) and because of Blumenthal's press coverage. This topic which took over the thread was in response to a little article about taking some two year old children out to diner to experience their reaction to some unusual and interesting food. I believe the restaurant was described as most interesting. I don't recall a focus on creativity or global originality. It strikes me that one would have to have some prior deep seated feelings about the chef, the restaurant or the journalist involved for that article to trigger such a response. I've not been to the Fat Duck, but, some time ago, a friend living in the area thought I'd enjoy seeing a menu and sent a copy of it to me. It was interesting and I noted some similarity to some dishes served at Martin Berasategui, but I've noted many similarities between some dishes on many restaurant menus. It's a small world and getting smaller every day. Restaurants that truly serve dishes composed of flavors and tastes no one has ever thought of before are usually really truly awful. It the meantime the Fat Duck and Blumenthal seem to have received some good press in American glossy food and wine magazines as well as in Britain, where all the reviewer journalists are insular if LM can be beleived. One of LM's points seems to be that no one in the British food press has ever eaten outside the UK. I'm sure many American food writers have and they still find Blumenthal interesting subject matter. LM claims to have proven his case of plagiarism elsewhere although he also seems to suggest he stands alone in his conviction. I admire LM's confidence, if that's the best word. I seriously doubt that Blumenthal's menu is entirely composed of exact copies of dishes first produced elsewhere on the continent, but if it is, LM is correct in understanding that no one else cares. From what I read about Blumenthal, I have every reason to believe he understands what he is doing in terms of the food, seasonings and techniques he is using and that's all I really need to know until I get the chance to taste his food. The idea of taking some toddlers there to eat was a fine idea for an article, by the way and we should consider ourselves fortunate to have an eccentric or two among our posters. It's really boring when everyone's both correct and on the same side of the issue.

I've started to use an interactive spellchecker, but as it doesn't care if I "live" or "leave," the net effect is to make my mistakes harder to catch. We spent an afternoon in St. Emilion. It's a charming village, assuming one overlooks the fact that it seems to exist for the purpose of being a tourist attraction. It was not so bad in September and probably much better in November. I suspect that like a number of tiny villages that have not changed in centuries, it's at its best in the evening when day trippers leave and again in the early morning. I should probaby also admit that, at times, I take a certain social pleasure in being in a place that's a destination. At any rate we contented ourselves by just being in the area and making our connection with the terroir by watching the grapes grow. Admittedly, we have become more passive tourists these days, at least on occasions like this. France is a big place and vineyard hospitality varies from area to area. At one extreme are the Grand Cru Medocs where invitations are difficult even for professionals, with certain exceptions. For instance Chateau Beychevelle, coporately owned, has regular guided tours--without tastings. At the other end of the scale are the many small wineries scattered about France where there isn't much to look at in the way of impressive buildings or even sophisticated machinery, but drop ins are encouraged, tasting is gratuit and the owner hopes you will buy a case or at least a bottle. Our friends in the Languedoc do much of their wine shopping this way. Even in St. Emilion, I suspect you will find smaller producers with limited distribution eager to have you knock on their door. Look for "degustation gratuit" signs. If there's a chateau you want to see, you can write ahead and see if they will accommodate you. If you have any contacts with merchants, distributors or sommeliers, they may be able to arrange a visit to some places. It's worked for me in Napa Valley. If you go to Bouliac, and if you're a fan of contemporary architecture, you might ask to see the guest rooms at the St. James. Jean Nouvel is the architect and his talents are best (or least) displayed in these rooms. As he seems not to have had a thought about maintenance or repair, I'm curious as to how these rooms have withstood daily use. Among his other works are the Arab World Institute and Cartier Foundation buildings in Paris, and the renovation of the Opera house in Lyon.

Gee, I hope that's a typo. We hate to loose new members so quickly. On the other hand, it you intend to overdose on cheese and foie gras, I suppose it's only understandable. Welcome aboard.

I think I may have mentioned Amat's Le St. James in Bouliac across the river from Bordeaux. Our first visit for lunch made me a fan of his food years ago, although it was Jean Nouvel's architecture that I really wanted to see at the time. I don't recall my wife's meal, although I know it started with a tartar of raw fish and oyster, which I coveted after she allowed me a taste. I had the seasonal special of pibales (tiny eelets) in olive oil with some Basque hot pepper and his specialité--pigeon pastilla. I was surprised to see a dusting of powdered sugar, but I understand this is the way it's done in north Africa. It was superb. A chocolate dessert with pistachio cream made for a perfect meal. We were so pleased that I found the one star rating totally puzzling. We returned about a year later and stayed in the inn for a couple of days. I started dinner with a fish tartar. It had been on my mind. My meat course was less impressive this time, although I thought the restaurant was still stronger than one star. I don't know what I missed, but Michelin still rates it as one star. Maybe it's Michelin who's slow to notice as the GaultMillau rates it an 18. It was difficult to pull ourselves away from the gastronomic restaurant the second night, but we chose Amat's bistro, the bistroy--for bistro & destroy. The food is simple, but well done and of a local character. The service is adamantly bas cuisine but with a smile. Our wine was opened and plunked down before us without ceremony and we were left to pour our own tasting as well as serve ourselves, but when we ordered too many canneles for dessert, the left overs were carefully boxed and presented to us with our bill. I believe the canneles, Bordeaux contribution to pastry, are also served after dessert in the main dining room. They are worth the visit to either room. It's another specialty of the house, although even fairly good ones are a treat. La Tupina brings back a somewhat funny but embarrassing memory for me, but a wonderful one for my wife. On a fall night we entered passing a wall of fire and many birds roasting on spits. My wife immediately ordered a roast pigeon. I spotted a truffle menu at an unbelievable price. You know what they say, if it looks too good to be true ... . Only afterwards did I realize that the menu noted truffes de himalya or something like that. I had heard about inferior truffles from China, but wasn't thinking. Well I slogged my way through a meal of course after course all heavily laden with truffles that were as flavorful as old potatoes from the supermarket, while my wife enjoyed her perfectly cooked pigeon. She said it was one of the best she'd ever had and couldn't imagain how I could have passed one up after seem them. My only revenge was that it was hard for her to eat as she was laughing so hard. Of course I also have the advantage of first hand working knowledge of Chinese truffles. La Tupina's hand written wine list/book is a gem of some sorts. It's a fat bound book of small pages of graph paper--one wine to a page.

We haven't done the restaurant week lunch thing often or recently, but some friends suggested we get together and give it a shot this week. Union Pacific was our eventual choice. UP has been mentioned recently on this board and criticized as often not being perceived as a "value meal." With three choices for appetizer and main course and a couple for dessert, I thought if offered a lively meal and great value. That's the short mention, although I should add that the deal continues beyond restaurant week. Some less positive notes are that the wine list has few choices at the lower end and the lower end is not very low. There were choices in the thirties and forties, but even through the fifties the pickings were slim. It's fine food that really calls for bottle of wine and if you're determined to do it on the budget you may be stressed. Nevertheless, with one bottle of wine (light consumption for the four of us) and three espressos--beverages were still less than the food--the bill came to about ๪ per couple and we considered it money well spent. If you're determined, you can go with the least expensive wine, or just a glass of wine and skip coffee. With four glasses of wine, a bottle is probably less expensive anyway. The music was most unpleasant however. I do not find music with a pronounced beat, conducive to digestion or conversation. The music might actually keep me from thinking of UP next time, in spite of the fact that we loved the food. Portions were small, but comfortably adequate for lunch. I don't know if they are bigger at dinner or on the a la carte menu. Service was very good, although very leisurely. The pace was find for us. No one was going back to work. Salad of asparagus with mushrooms was nicely seasoned. Artichoke soup with a single shrimp and some bits of ham was very interestingly seasoned and had a nice acidic kick. One member of the party tasted the soup and found the seasoning extreme and judged the soup unpleasantly inedible, however the two who ordered it, loved it. Anyway I thought they were bargain courses at the price. Someone ordered hake and found it excellent. Three of us ordered duck with sour cherries. A few slices of nicely done pink breast and a falling off the bone leg were served with a few baby root vegetables, some tart cherries and a fine reduction with a hint of sweetness and acidity to pique our tastebuds, but not overly so as to ruin the wine or the duck. I didn't taste the chocolate dessert, the creme brulee was served with a grapefruit sorbet. The sorbet didn't do much for the creme brulee in my opinion, but the creme brulee, flavored with sesamee seed (no actual seeds in the custard) was just the sort of thing I'd hope to see on a ฤ menu and quite satisfying.

I've frequently had monkfish liver in Japanese restaurants. I've heard it's been available in some other NY restaurants, but have not been fortunate to run across it. I've seen it for sale in European fish markets, but not commonly. I know I saw it in a fish market in Brittany because I have a photo. It's quite delicious. I've thought of it as foie gras de mer, but of course it's different. Worth having, at any rate.

As long as it doesn't make you go blind. ;)

I disagree. I mean I agree we agree, but I disagree that it's good. ;)Threads are generally far more interesting when the participants disagree than when they agree. Don't you agree? ;)

Assuming you really like a certain flavor, it would seem only reasonable to assume some intensity would be a plus. It will depend on how the dried shrimps, in this case, are used. Put in soups they release much of their flavor to the soup. Ground to a powder and used to coat fish, they are but one element in your mouth. The exception would be when they are popped into yout mouth like candy. Even then, I've found the full flavor is released slowly. I suspect the dislike is as much related to the change in flavor as it dries as much as the intensity. Dried herbs rarely taste the same as fresh although some change more than others. Prunes and plums have a different taste, as well as a different texture and consistency, which I suspect also affects your sense of taste. As far as texture and taste, I think it's pretty well agreed that different pastas made from the same formula, have a different taste because they feel different in your mouth. It's no surprise that dried shrimp look like dried bugs. I've long found that fresh shrimp look exactly like fresh bugs. At least I've tried to convince myself of that, but it's never managed to make crustaceans repulsive or lend gastronomic appeal to bugs. I was never more aware of that then when, at a dinner party hosted by a Japanese friend, a bowl of small shrimp was passed around the table. For all the resemblance to bugs, I had little trouble overcoming an initial reluctance to eat them as everyone else did--shells, feet and all. It was only after I started to enjoy them that I noticed some of the more fastidious guests removed the feelers. Admittedly, we were well oiled with predinner drinks at the time and, as I've often found the case in a Japanese dinner party, there were glasses of several different kinds of alcohol in front of me. My single experience with bugs, crickets or cicadas, was cold sober and at breakfast. It was an experience that I limited to the realm of sight. Our eleven year old daughter who was traveling with us, took some solace in being able to point out that the difference between us was one of degree and not an absolute reluctance to deal with some new foods.

We've foud that when making pesto in some quantity, blanching the leaves enables them to keep their color better. I'm not sure if this works to the same advantage if you are freezing it right away.

I have to say that I really enjoy traveling for the purpose of having a different experience. The shops and products in most cities are already so familiar to those from other cities, as well as those who shop in malls and don't live in cities. Restaurants are getting more similar as is the food they serve. One of the reasons I've been enjoying visits to Spain is that the food still has a greater local character than does that of France. It's boring to travel to Brittany and find as many pizzerias as creperies. On the other hand, at any given time, most of the population is at home and not traveling and commerce is not completely driven by tourism. Londoners may have no reason to go to Paris, and New Yorkers, no reason to go to London, if things continue as they are, (unlikely, but bear with me for a moment) but those from Brighton will still have reason to travel to London. When traveling, I'm always drawn between seeking out the greatest food and the most regional food in any area. In great metropolitan centers, I'm not sure if regional exists in the same way it exists in rural and especially agricultural areas. On the other hand I could be be completely off base. Those who frequent McDonalds tell me they find delight in exploring the differences between the shops in various parts of the world.

My handy, but hardly authoritative paperback dictionary says that a puree is made from cooked food. I always thought you could puree raw fruit, such as a banana. What I think, or thought, carries little weight, but when I've run across other forms of pesto (those not based on basil) I assumed they were sort of new takes on an old standard, rather than some traditional alternative. Anyone with a good Italian dictionary or authoritative Italian cookbook reading this?