Bux

I'm always pleased to see serious posts about cheap wines and Ŭ a bottle falls well below just inexpensive these days. The other day I read a usenet post by a guy who wrote that someone else was lucky because they could still enjoy wines that cost less than ฟ. I understood what he meant, but found it an irritating comment. I assume the Portugese albarinho is akin to the albariño of Galicia in Spain just north of Portugal. It also grows overhead in vineyards that looked like nothing else I've seen in the US, France or Spain before. I've not known it to be picked early, but it's a wonderful wine with seafood and I've found the least expensive to offer both enjoyment and the best value. Not too expensive for the roof nor too inferior for a good restaurant in the winter.

As one who learned the basis for all he knows about cooking from watching Julia, I have to suspect this is the root of your problem. ;)

Shaw, Now if you can produce the URL for the story of the recent caiman in Central Park, perhaps Andy will truly understand NYC. ;) Holly, There are no absolutes, but I'm with you. A bit of adventure in dining is far better than safe and mediocre. Just don't ask me for affirmation immediately after the next time I make a lousy choice.

It's interesting that a member here, who writes for http://foodtourist.com, noted there that Ducasse actually has ownership or control over some 8 different restaurants in France, Monaco and NY. Only three of them aim at the top however. I find your comments on AD/NY rather accurate, although subjective. While I enjoy reading wine lists with rare aged wines on the list, I prefer those with a good selection at prices I can afford. These are not the same lists that would encourage Wine Specator to issue an award to the restaurant however. I'd take some issue with the comparison to Gramercy Tavern. It's a favorite of mine, and the food and service are faultless, but dining there never left me feeling as good as lunch at AD/NY did. During lunch at least, I felt it was worth every penny. Later, I felt the food was not any better than I had eaten in several NYC restaurants for less money. Still, it wasn't just the ambience or the service that had us feeling so well taken care of. Nothing annoys me more than eating in a restaurant where I feel more attention has been to anything other than the food. Perhaps another meal might put it in better perspective, <grin> but yes, it's a restaurant I have to think three times about booking as opposed to Daniel, Lespinasse, Le Beranrdin, Jean Geroges, GT, etc, where I only have to think twice about the price.

Let me recommend the cidre from Manoir de Kinkiz in Quimper, Brittany. It carries the French Appellation Cornouaille Controlee designation and comes corked like champagne. It's as good a French hard cider (6% alcohol) as I've run across in the US. You're not likely to find it in supermarkets. It's imported by Louis/Dressner whose wines from odd corners of France have also been reliable. So far I've only seen it in Astor in Manhattan. As with my recommendation for rum, there's a bit of chauvinism in this as well perhaps. My daughter married into a Breton family.

In my estimation, a couple are well known in NY. To say they are famous in NY may be a stretch. None are NY chefs, although one is from Boston and also operates a new restaurant here in NY. I don't believe even the most respected and best known of the lot has a reputation equal to the top half dozen chefs in the US, but of course all of this is subjective.

Or it should mean you can trust it will be in their style. When I post a message playing devil's advocate or defending the side that appears as if it's being tried in abstentia, I often worry about the defensive flame it may attract. Therefore I was very pleased to find your intelligent response. It's clear you didn't go blindly into Ducasse and had solid grounds for expecting better. I'm not a vegetarian, but I suspect your comments on successful meals will be invaluable to someone else. As for smoke, we've had all sorts of problems and some pleasant experiences in France. This is probably another thread. (See Non-smoking in France.) I'll note that when our daughter returned from a trip to Paris she raved about her food at Guy Savoy and then added, "but you don't want to go there." Apparently they not only allow cigars, but encourage them. She said that fortuantely they were in a corner and for some reason the air currents in the room moved in such a way as not to carry much smoke her way. A few weeks ago, at a nice one star restaurant in Brittany, we were almost smoked out. We finished dinner none too soon. As we were leaving we saw two more cigars being prepared. Last but not least, should you care to post a list of vegetarian friendly restaurants in France on the France message board I'd be delighted to see it and some others might find it of critical use. For those interested in reading more posts about Ducasse, there's a thread about Spoon in Paris on the French board (Edited by Bux at 12:14 pm on Aug. 14, 2001)

I expect I will have no problem continuing to find interesting and unique places in which to eat in North America, just so long as I continue to limit my travels to Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle , San Francisco and New Orleans. ;) It's difficult to travel on your stomach across the US. It's a reasonable way to travel in France and other parts of Europe.

I don't rail against chains. I generally avoid them in the hope of finding something different and interesting thought not necessarily better. Part of my theorhetical complaint about chains in general is the sameness and lack of variety and regionalism, but in real life all they do is put the bars serving greasy bugers and the pizza shops selling lousy pizza out of business most of the time, so the loss is rarely real. Paris is full of chains, and I don't mean the fast food places. I'm thinking of the Belgian mussel chain and the Bistro Romain Italian restaurant chain, as well as some others in which I suspect I will never set food, but there's also the Flo chain which may be guilty of homogenizing brasserie fare, but they have saved and restored some of the most wonderful rooms and kept up the overall quality of the food. Most of them are a great choice for a simple meal or raw oysters and fresh seafood. To prove they could more than save and operate a traditional brasserie, they opened a modern version next to the Bastile Opera and we had a fine meal there that was surprisingly contemporary in a contemporary chic setting. I woudn't let my theories interfere with my dining enjoyment, but I'll still hunt out a quirky little restaurant for sport.

I'm going to disagree with you. My opposition to chains is purely philosophical. They sacrifice individual expression and therefore ultimate choice in favor of consistency, which in itself is something I find less than desireable. I'd rather eat in one of Jean-George's "chain" restaurants than all but perhaps a very few diners, but for each one of Jean-George's restaurants, maybe another restaurant with greater individuality might spring up. Of course Jean-Georges is not a good choice as his restaurants are quite unique, but my point is not diminished by the exceptions nor by the fact that the economics of restaurants these days help make the chain inevitable and acceptable in many ways. My point is only that should Ducasse manage to run a chain of a thousand identical restaurants all up to his Paris/Monte Carlo/NYC standards, you'd probably fall all over yourself finding that little diner that serves it's own brand of forthright and honest simple food.

This is a subject of such broad significance that it may rate a separate thread. It may be a subject that has been discussed to death, but certainly not to any conclusion. I'm generally inclined to advise diners to go to restaurants that serve the kind of food they like. If you don't eat fish and seafood, you don't go to Le Bernardin. If you don't like red meat, you don't go to Peter Lugar. I suspect there are many restaurants best avoided by vegetarians as the kitchen is not adept or prepared to offer an interesting selection of vegetarian dishes. In this specific case, the diner made advance enquiry and took what I would consider the necessary precaution. When a restaurant of Ducasse's caliber says they would be glad to accomodate you, I would assume they mean in their style. I mentioned an incredible meal at El Bulli in another thread. Fish and seafood dishes usually predominate in their very long and intricate tasting menu. One member in our party of six, has an allergy to fish and seafood. We noted this when we reserved, saying we'd like to have the tasting menu which is served generally only for the whole table. When arrived we were asked if we wanted the tasting menu. We said "but one of us is a vegetarian." In what may have been the only moment of condescension that afternoon, the waiter replied, "Yes, we know that." from that point on, every course, every little hors d'oeuvre or tidbit of seafood that arrived for us, was accompanied by a meat or vegetable preparation that was prepared with equal care and with no less complexity for our friend. There was nary a bit that was in any way inferior to the chef's most special dishes on our menu. Having accepted your reservation as noted, I see no excuse for Ducasse's restaurant not to have had at least one interesting offering on hand for a main course. I'm not ready to condem them on this one report. There are many things I don't know. For one thing, I have my doubts that even a preparation of nothing but carrots and peas at Ducasse is likely to resemble Green Giant canned or frozen vegetables. Another question I'll ask is did you consider ordering two appetizers or what the French call entrees. Frequently restaurants in France have vegetable preparations as a first course, but courses in France are usually far less set than in the U.S. One can take any number of combinations making for as long and large a meal as one wants. (Looking at the current Ducasse/Paris web site, I see only one vegetarian plate on a rather short carte.) Perhaps it's a matter of miscommunication, but as a world class restaurant they have some obligation to understand requests and to be clear about their response. Have you expressed your disappointment to them? On the whole, it's been my observation that vegatables take a back seat in French haute cuisine restaurant, expecially in France. Moreover, most recipes for vegetable seem to call for meat stocks and jus. There are notable exceptions, but it's a fact of life. Have you had better success at other restaurants in Paris? I suspect many people would like that information.

I've toured Charlie Trotter's kitchen. I'm not sure that's much of a special treat. He's very proud of it and I believe eager to show it off to those who care enough to ask. I seem to remember a table actually in the kitchen subject to the noise, smoke and abuse of the kitchen. Can anyone confirm this? I think there is a multifarous, but subjective appeal. The notion seemed to start at a time when chefs were becoming celebreties and when many Americans began idolizing chefs and idealizing the profession. What could be more appealing than to join the chefs in the kitchen and watch what they do. It was a new concept and there was only one table in the kitchen table and many in the dining room. What better opportunity for a jaded diner than to have some new experience that was only available to a few on any given night. Then there's Ouest, a restaurant on the upper west side where the kitchen is in the dining room, or at least there's no separation of the two and many tables have a full view of the cooks and the stoves. This is a big step from the many kitchens with a glass wall.

Quite right. Of course I meant Hachis de Volaille Parmentier. ;) I'm not sure it's not traditional, but nevertheless, I think the best examples of this sort of dish, whatever their name, are made with diced meat, not ground. (Edited by Bux at 6:14 pm on Aug. 11, 2001)

It's likely there are older bars. Fraunces Tavern in lower Manahattan served George Washington, but Fanelli's and MacSoreley's claim to have operated continuously (and illegally) thoughtout prohibition and of course without the proof of a license for that period.

Are we talking short hair or long? I mean horsehide, rabbit, mink or monkey fur? I don't really want to know, except that it confirms the fact that the more I know about some cultures the less I understand them. A fur covered seat is bad enough, but in a public loo.

Fanelli's is right across the street from the Mercer Kitchen and I'm sure it must be the one to which Andy refered. It is rumored to have operated continuously through Prohibition. Of course Mike Fanelli told it that way.

Jason, size doesn't matter, at least not in this regard. The French and the British refer to it as an aubergine. We use eggplant. Shepard's pie is something we usually make without a recipe and more often than not, with diced left over roast or braised meats as much as raw ground beef or lamb. We'll use carrots and celery in addition to onions and garlic. Mushrooms are not essential but always welcome. I've never added flour or cornstarch, but will mix in a bit of the mashed potatoes to thicken the meat mixture. I like a bit of parmesan or gruyere in or on the potatoes and I'll run the tines of a fork over the top to get more surface to brown. A bit of butter on the top will help nicely as well. Fowl, by the way, is a good as meat for this as far as we're concerned. Not sure if chicken or duck hash quite earns the name of shepherd's pie however.

Is there a recipe model for shepherd's pie? I might suppose it needed lamb or mutton, but here in the states I take it as any chopped or ground well cooked meat and vegtables that have been baked under mashed potatoes. If not, perhaps a dish my wife had in Paris might qualify. Blood sausage under cover of mashed potatoes. I think it was boudin noir parmentier on the menu. I imagine English blood pudding to be stodgier than the French will will often have no, or a minimum of, cereal filler.

There's a fairly expensive Relais & Chateaux establishment on the west coast near Rincon. The son of one of the owners did a stint at Daniel and some other top places in NY. I don't know that he does any cooking there but at least he knows good food. We spent a night there way back, I can't recall how long ago, in fact. At the time, he had lured one of the younger guys working at Daniel down for a stint in the kitchen. The food was quite good. The problem I had was that it wasn't really Puerto Rican food. He did a duck breast, (very non Puerto Rican) with papaya that was however very successful. I'm not a fan of meat and fruit, but found the papaya an exception as it's not so sweet. In fact I'll recommend papaya and prosciutto as a great combination. The one thing that did impress me was that the inn (sorry the place is called the Horned Dorset Inn) had arranged for local farmers to grow produce for them. We had some micro lettuces that were not at all a traditional crop but I didn't mind that at all. I will also note that I suspected the food would not be traditional and we stopped off at a local place for lunch before checking in and had some traditionally overcooked fish. Boy was I sorry. Bad food is bad food.

It's been a long time since we've been back. I was not a fan of Patria and would not have looked up Rodriguez' restaurant. Marisol rings a bell. The last time I was there I read an article on the chefs, most of whom were doing "nueva cucina." I recall she was mentioned. We a couple of good meals at Chayote. The chef was a fiend of my brother-in-law and had worked or done a stage with Robuchon at some point in his life. The food was pretty interesting and on the whole fairly successful in terms of adapting outside recipes to native ingredients and native recipes to ingredients recently available on the island. The clientele seemed to be a mix of tourists and sophisticated locals. On the whole it catered to the locals, who were a regular and stable base of customers. The big minus was that it didn't match the island image I wanted. ;) I think it's no longer open. My favorite was La Casita Blanca far off in a nontouristy not so classy residential neighborhood. It had some good traditional food in an unsophisticated setting. All in all, the success of my trips was measured by how many cuchifritos I could come by that weren't sodden with grease. Generally I couldn't wait to change my clothes before making a beeline for the huts out by Boca de Congrejos. I'll bet they may no longer be there now that the road is paved.

The only one of those I know is Les Bookinistes which we wandered into shortly after it opened. With so many choices we've never been back. However, not only did we find the food creative and good, but perhaps because it was still new, they were very friendly and most eager to let us know they spoke English in spite of our preference to use French. I remember one of the waiters bending over backwards to serve two young Janapese women who spoke no French and imperfect English. The apparently weren't very familiar with French menus and were having great difficulty constructing a dinner. Thanks for the post. As valuable as these are as recommendations, I find them even more interesting as a comment on what's cooking in Paris these days. What's on Ducasse's plates and whether or not Passard is serving meat may be the subject of many articles in American journals, but many Americans may not realize how French food in the little bistro and neighborhood restaurant has changed. The French have come to terms with foreign ingredients and new ideas, and mostly without resorting to a forced "fusion." This is true in the provinces as well as in Paris, if to a lesser extent.

I haven't got the article in front of me, but I though Prial claimed that allowing wine to breath and age was not what one wanted from a cork and added that the ability to store wine upright was an advantage of a plastic cork. I seem to recall reading that Jancis Robinson supports the contention that 5% of all wine is corked. I also seem to recall that she favored the beer bottle cap as a solution. As a collector of bottle caps as a kid, I rather like that. I find screw caps less than aesthetically pleasing. My worry is that most plastics are unstable and that the chance for them to impart a taste to the wine should be of great concern.

I believe the 151 proof also functioned to make killer drinks for serious alcoholics, students and tourists seeking to loose their inhibitions. You could mix it with fruit juice and still have an eighty proof drink.

Most spirits are over 80 proof. A quick look at my cabinet confirms that most malts and whiskies are 86 proof (43 percent alcohol) and most brandies and vodkas are 80 proof. I beleive Bourbon must be 100 proof to be bottled in bond, but I wouldn't bakc that up with even a friendly bet. Anyway, I assume jhlurie is referring to alcoholic beverages in excess of 50 percent alcohol. I recall a 151 proof rum. I believe it's principle function was to float on top of drinks to provde the fuel for a flaming tourist drink.

No, but hardly an unenviable position from someone who loves to eat fine food more than talk about it as well as someone who prefers to talk about it rather than criticize it. It appears to be a nice site, by the way. Looking forward to greater examination.