Bux

Good points and I see a common thread to Dan and Pim's messages. If a restaurant has three stars and a certain universal respect, it's best to go with an attitude that the restaurant can teach you something you don't know about food. I trust I'm not putting words in either Pim or Dan's mouth. Again and again I'm reminded of Jeffrey Steingarten's comment about needing eight meals to understand and appreciate Passard's food at Arpège. Most of us may never have eight meals at Arpège and many reading this forum may not be so lucky as to have eight meals in Paris. It seems criminal when one has scrimped, to spend what seems to be a fortune and not to have the transcendental experience. It happens all the time for any number of reasons including the fact that these moments are hard to plan. Many of my epiphanies have been at holes in the wall, but I'm probably moving in a tangent to the thread at best, so I'll stop, but if I have a point, it's that expectations play a very large role in people's ultimate satisfaction with their dinner and more so at the mulitstarred places.

The walk from Chez Michel in any direction is probably not charming in every direction and for some time. In fact, far less of Paris is charming for walking at night than it is by day. Shops are generally shuttered and except for those concentrations of brasseries and cafes, Paris is quiet at night. Late at night, the banks of the Seine, and I presume the Canal, are nice. The metro stops running shortly after midnight by the way, but it would be rare for a bistro dinner to end that late. I have fond memories of a dinner at Chez Michel and of a lunch and dinner at Aux Lyonnais. Chez Denis has escaped us so far. I regret I've not spent enough time in Paris to know all the restauurants first hand. I've found Aux Lyonais the more exciting of the two, but I'd love to give them both another chance or two. I'm with Felice in that I don't see either as in your neighborhood although I've probably walked further from a restaurant to my hotel in the middle of the night. I very much like to take a long walk after dinner, even in dark boring neighborhoods. I would eat lightly in the afternoon before any three star meal, or at least I would advise eating lightly. I give better advice than I set an example.

It's one thing to have inconsistent reports from different people eating the same meal, and another to have inconsistent reports from a single person reporting on two different meals. I think it's safe to dismiss the reports of those who don't agree with me. Just kidding, but different reports from different people, even on different nights will always suggest it might be a matter of different tastes. Not so when the inconsistent reports come from the same person. I don't have to stress that to be imperfect is to be human. Most everyone else is already saying that. Most of them are addressing imperfection in terms of off nights, but it should also be noted that every dish on the menu is not created equally. Yes ago I was advised to order the dishes mentioned in the Michelin Guide. (The red guide mentions a few dishes at each starred restaurant and one or two local wines that can usually be depended on to be inexpensive or at least at a value point.) These dishes are usually the ones the restaurant is most proud of serving and the ones on which their reputation is most solidly built. To miss these dishes is sometimes to miss the restaurant's strength. There are members who swear by tasting menus and those who swear at them. My overall impression is that it depends on the restaurant. There are restaurants whose tasting menus may be their specialty, and there are those restaurants where the true genius, the special dish, never appears on the tasting menu. There's just no way to do a proper tasting portion of the rack of lamb in bread crust or a whole fish baked on the bone. I recall once ordering a specialty at a two star country inn and returning later to order something else. The second dish was flawless, it was sheer perfection, but it was not the kind of dish on which a restaurant builds its reputation. Perhaps that's also the difference between a three star and two star restaurant. The three star is far likelier to excel across the lline, but still there's no guarantee. At the neighborhood bistro level, there's certainly going to be less consistency. Well certainly not that I will admit to.

From another thread:

That is really baffling, I was under the impression that the problem is with the way/where the pigs are slaughtered not the place of their rearing. Why would the raising of the pigs be a problem? Is their diet? Elie ← Going back to that July 18 post, it seems that Victor is saying the certification of slaughterhouses is the problem. I suspect the herding or even shipping of livestock to Denmark from Spain and the return of the carcasses is just too cumbersome or costly a process.

George, on the assumption that some of the members might be interested in meeting you and might well miss an announcement in the local papers, let me invite you to contact us so we can alert members.

Neverheard of Eggettes, but those look suspiciously like what are sold from stands and pushcarts in NY's Chinatown as Hong Kong Cakes. No recipe here, but I have watchen them pour the batter into very old fashioned cast iron cake makers. All of the makers I've seen have been circular.

For what it's worth, in Brittany, a galette is a savory crepe made with buckwheat flour.

I believe Dan had another later piece focused on the production of healthier food. My recollection is that he made the point that some foods, e.g. free range hens, were simply healthier to eat than battery hens and that the increased price per pound might well be offset, or at least reduced by the increased nourishment per pound. In a similar vein, broccoli raised on a small organic farms is far more nutritious than that produced in a monoculture with the use of heavy chemical fertilizers and pesticides. More product per acre may not mean more food, or at least not more nourishment per acre.

As I noted in one of my posts on the Fancy Food Show in NY: When I went back the next day, I managed to ask my question and get an answer. I thought my second taste was better than the first, perhaps it was the power of suggestion, but still not up to the quality of the better ham I've had in Spain. I was hesitant to report my discussion on the site because I was frankly unsure I had spoken to the right person and didn't want to pass on misinformation.

To put this in perspective. If this was a commercial for two restaurants, I wouldn't refuse a dinner invitation at either. If I'm choosing and paying, there's no question that Lang is the front runner. It's merely how much more I'd be willing to pay for his food than Flays as portrayed in the show. As for the judges, none of them would rise very far up on my list of preferred dining companions.

I thought Cook's Tour was almost as scripted. No Reservations has a rawer look and feel to it. I accept that as intentional, although it's possible it was a matter of budget. On the whole, I thought it worked, so it doesn't matter. The result is that the pretend is more naturally "pretend this is real." For what it's worth, I actually found that most acceptable. That's episode one. I wouldn't review a restaurant on one meal, but a first meal often determines if I'll make another reservation. Will I cancel any dinner invitation to watch? That's a silly question in this day of home recording technoogy. Let's say I'm very likely to set the VCR.

The brand new Vere factory is in Chelsea. I'm not even sure they're distributing yet. This is a new company just beginning production. Vere is using a special Plantations chocolate made for them. A rudimentry vere website is up with a notice that "veregood.com opens Septmber 2005." You can request to be added to their mailing list, make a wholesale inquiry or ask for a press kit. The eChocolate Plantation Chocolate web page offers information and online sales. A list of retail locations in a number of states and Toronto carrying Plantations chocolate is here. I couldn't find any information about the line of ganaches developed developed by Will Goldfarb. Will's bonbons are true to Plantations intensity with high percentage of cocoa solids and no extraneous flavors such as vanilla. Kee's sweeter chocolates will appeal to a a more traditional chocolate candy lover with their cream fillings, but she can toss in a few new wrinkles such as chili along with the rasberry, cream, mint, etc. Her bonbons are impressively fine with very thin walls of glossy dark chocolate. Kee's is just south of Spring Street on the east side of Thompson Street.

I suspect they do, but the Fancy Food Show was in NYC and they were serving samples of the ham they were exporting to the US. Their answer seemed to be that the ham they were distributing in the US was raised and slaughtered in Spain. It may be that person to whom I spoke was misinformed or not really a spokes person for them.

Does that mean they were dead, or in that hibernation like stage? My assumption is that snails for food have to be alive, or cooked. Dead snails would rot rather quickly.

From that article by Florence Fabricant: That's always been my understanding, but when I spoke with the person at the Redondo Iglesias booth at the Fancy Food Show in NY recently, she assured me that their pigs were not only slaughtered but raised in Spain. Looking at the Tienda Serrano ham page I don't see that claim made for the Redondo Iglesias ham. Indeed, they go on at length about the curing, but say little about the raising or breeding.

Down around Alicante, the snails impart a taste of rosemary to a paella, if I neglected to mention that the first time around. No knowing the local language can be a real hindrance to learning about the local food, but knowing a little of the language can be exciting when what you get is not exactly what you thought you ordered. As Mrs. B's Spanish was learned in Puerto Rico, the Spanish names of certain European vegetables are missing in her vocabulary even though she's cooked them in NY and knows the English term. Asked to describe hinojo our waiter at Berasategui turned on his heels and went straight for the kitchen only to return with a bulb of fennel. It was strange to realize you knew the name in French, Italian and English, but not in your first language.

Can I keep my Whole Foods shopping bags? I kind of like the knowing glances they bring when I'm in Bloomingdales. Actually, as Busboy said, anything that makes you think has value and I've been forced to think of food shopping in terms of cachet. I realize I've been smug in the way I enjoy walking down the street with my shopping bags inscribed in Cantonese or Mandarin. While the pork and mangoes are cheap in Chinatown and better than what I get elsewhere, unfortunately the beef and the tomatoes are rarely worth my attention. Surely I'm a fraud at the Greenmarket if I'm not willing to give up bananas and mangoes for a steady diet of heirloom tomatoes (during their very short season).

I had absinthe once years ago when I was much younger. A cousin of my wife's returned to San Juan from a cruise with a bottle smuggled in from some port where it was not illegal. Or maybe it was purchased on the sly from some seedy pirate in a trasaction that was illegal at the point of purchase for all I knew. I was actually rather surprised to be offered absinthe as these were older and far more establishment middle class types than we were. I must say we didn't find it likely to be habit forming. Perhaps it was unforunate that it was served straight in small doses. Water and sugar might well have improved its reception. A little ritual might have served to endear me as well. I wonder about the connection to pastis, which is also a sweet herb and licorice alcohol that's mixed with water. Similar to absinthe, it's also a clear liquid that turns milky when mixed with water as it is in France. Somewhere in the back of my mind, in a rather squishy region that has more information than it can readily sort these days, I seem to recall pastis as being a law abiding replacement for absinthe, or absinthe without the wormwood. The Mediterranean countries of Europe are still largely wine drinkning places, but it seems to me that France has any number of brandies and other eaux-de-vie as well as liquers that are traditional and could have as easily served to get people drunk as fast as absinthe. It's curious that absinthe wasn't quickly replaced by one of them. It always helps to have a warped sense of humor. Certainly it helps in the case of Tony, but I mean that more generally in life.

. . . my favorite being 2002 Rollan de By. I'm making arrangements for one of my importer friends to ship me some cases. ← Rollan de By, at least in previous years has been available in New York. I really don't know the comparative pricing between NY and France, but a previous vintage was once recommended to us by a NY sommelier to serve to a large group of people. It was a special occasion and a much larger group than I normally care to wine and dine, but also a group that included some fine taste buds I didn't want to offend.

That's far from a discussion of the merits of the piece and, as you admit, sheer speculation. I like speculation, but it's not an argument and it's unfair: Had Malcom presented it as an argument? I read it as his opinion, which, just like Julie, he's entitled to have and express. I actually thought it was a fair assessment of the situation. We'll agree to disagree unless someone can present facts. Balotines and pates, taste best when made from tasty animals and the expensive parts of any animal are not necessarily the tastiest parts. However, a balotine made from a free range chicken is likely to have more flavor than one made from a battery chicken from the supermarket. One wonderful thing that Julia always stressed was that the French chef or housewife, never wasted anything. Every scrap was used. The French have a technique for cooking everything. They have techniques for cooking your chickens and old hens. For every recipe that calls for an old hen, there's one that calls for a fish minutes out of the water. That the French can cook an old hen and produce a delicious dish is not to say that they don't care about the quality of the bird or the wine in the dish. There are old hens for sale at the Union Square Greenmarket. Those free range birds are also best suited for braising as they're flavorful but can be a little tough. If I wanted to make a coq au vin to impress you, I'd buy my bird at the Greenmarket and not the supermarket. These are complex issues and I think Julie did us a disservice with her simple and sweeping generalizations and judgments. I can't prove it, but I've offered the reasons I believe that. First, as you know, I think almost anything that makes people think (and argue) is a positive contribution and that this thread is great and that Julie deserves credit for making it happen. Second, I thaught her point that the FM/WF crowd has a tendency towards self-congratulatory navel gazing -- reinforced, in WF's case, by a multi-million dollar marketing scheme -- in the face of much more important problems than was a good and important one. Since others had had the kindness to point out the problems with her piece, I thought I'd bring the other side forward. Truthfully, I do most of my shopping in Chinatown, but patronize the Greenmarket and Whole Foods more than a bit. I've not read any of WF's corporate literature, but when I go there, I don't see a lot of judgmental people. Perhaps, unlike Julia, I just don't know how to recognize it in a shopper. It's like in the Emperor's New Clothes, ignorance and a lack of faith makes us skeptical and we can't see what others see. Now don't tell me I've gotten the moral of that story wrong as well. I will agree with you that it appears WF has done a good job of marketing. So has the discount supermarket. I am also not surprised to see you post "since others had had the kindness to point out the problems with her piece, I thought I'd bring the other side forward." I read that as saying you're in this less from a position than simply because you enjoy a good argument and would be happy to take either side. Isn't that "if" and not "when" unless some proof is presented. Actually, I suspect that what one ate was a status symbol as far back as cave dwelling times well before shopping replaced hunting.

It's very self indulgent. I suspect you either get caught up in it, or you don't. For that reason alone, I found the review in the Times admirable. It was objective. I fully understand why some people aren't amused by Tony missing the boat and being left out in the cold. He's arriving in Paris, how interesting is it to see him waiting unsucessfully for his ride into town? If you're looking for a travelog, this wasn't it. Truthfully, there wasn't much in the way of notes you'd want to take in preparation for your own trip. You don't even get to know the name of the bakery, but it wasn't about that bakery, it was about baking and bakeries. It's a fiction as well as a documentry. Almost every scene is a set up. It was about Tony. If Tony rubs you the wrong way, it's a boring show, but if he interests you, it may be enough to see him shiver in the cold night just to get to the line about rubbing two fat chicks together to stay warm. (That's not an exact quote. No replies please.) That I enjoyed the show doesn't mean it represents a major advancement in TV programming. It's just a welcome respite.

Actually, I thought I found those sorts of accusations in the original article where the upscale Whole Foods and Union Square Greenmarket are deemed to be "judgmental." The implication that Whole Foods and the Greenmarket do not take food stamps uses a falsehood to argue a point not made otherwise and should not go unchallenged. I disagree that it's nit picking. There is truly no counter to be made if one can't disagree with specifics. I will still insist that a French chef making confit de canard would greatly prefer the freshest of duck meat at the start. Let's agree on the use of preserved ingredients, but note that they may constitute some of the most expensive ingredients to come to the table. It's not just caviar, but salt cod as well. In Spain, I've seen salt cod selling for a multiple of the best tuna at the Greenmarket or wild Pacific salmon at Whole Foods. Preserving was always the preserve, so to speak, of those who had enough to stash away and the best quality of preserved food itself came to command high prices. In any event, I feel you're twisting my response out of the context of her suggestion that the chefs who cooked haute cuisine were concerned with sauces to cover the taste, or lack of taste, or inferior products. You seem to be playing the technicality card. Furthermore, it's Alice Waters who said her love for fresh herbs and vegetables came from her experiences in France. It's just not reasonable to set Julia Child, who I love more than Alice Waters, as the one who brought all of French food culture to America and Alice as a never ran in the same department. They need to share the honor for bringing different aspects as they saw them and as they could make their timely contributions to our culinary culture. I haven't taken issue with the positive things in Julie's article, but with the unnecessary tarring. Have any of the article's critics implied otherwise? Did Julie make a positive contribution? Does she really get credit for bringing unpleasant truths by stating the obviously true and surrounding it with mistruths? I don't think so. You don't agree entirely with the article, but you're not willing to be critical of the mistruths. In the end, Julie noted that there's not much difference between the good shopper and the bad shopper at both ends of the scale. A proper attack on the negative aspects of the "organic" movement can be made. Julie didn't make it in my opinion and I've tried to explain why I didn't think so.

We thought Cinc Sentits was an excellent value and tasting menus seem to be their specialty. As for service, the afternoon we were there, Jordi was trying out a new waitress and it seemed as if he was unhappy with her performance. I had no problem with the service, but then his charming sister, who's the sommelier also doubled as hostess for us. I fear I'm too late. You have to give a little warning next time.

I'm not sure we're getting a fair sampling of the audience here. I suspect Tony could sleep for an hour on a NY subway train and member would watch and exclaim perfection afterwards. I think the NY Times reviewer saw it through less jaundiced eyes and on balance her comments were critically favorable. Ms. Heffernan implies the Rocco comments are sophomoric, but that Tony pulls it off. Tony does the wrong thing, if not the wrong thing, at least the politically incorrect thing and gets away with it. The moralizers can wag fingers, but most of us are rooting for him to get away with it the way we sometimes don't want the bad guys to get caught when they're obviously the heros. With the sophomoric humor and more than enough over extended indulgent takes, the episode is far from perfect. It's coarse, not as in vulgar, but as in rough, and I have to thank, or even bless, the Travel Channel for letting us have it that way. It's certainly not that he's doing what others are doing, but better, that makes it worth watching. Better is the easy stuff to review and rank. A is like B, but better than B, so A gets the better review. No Reservations is a bit like Cook's Tour but really not like TV as we know it. That's at the heart of the matter. It's a bit of anti-TV. It's not quite like a breath of fresh air, but maybe like the aroma of a ripe raw milk cheese. Paranoids and conspiracy theorists know the good stuff is out there, but "they" are keeping it away from us. Tony brings it home. In an early scene Tony's sitting there with his coffee and croissant telling us what's wrong with American breakfasts of ham and eggs, while later on with no shame, he's eating roast beef sandwiches for breakfast and loving it. Hypocrisy? No, not while his major points are about enjoying the minute, taking advantage of the opportunity and experiencing where you are when you're traveling. This is, by the way, more of a travel show than a food show, but Tony's a cook and he's got a devoted audience he's trying to keep while he adds to it. It's probably as much abstract art as travel, but that's not a bad thing either. It was good to hear Louisa's voice. I almost didn't recognize her. "It's not a flattering outfit," said Mrs. B. It's probably implicit, but I'll be explicit. Tony's people came to our people looking for a Paris "fixer." Louisa, who's probably the first person I've closed a Parisian bar with in just about forty years, was head and shoulders at the top of our short list of recommendations. Forty years ago I closed bars with young artists and architects, now it's with chefs and foodies. The food is better.