Bux

I forget that Catalunya and the Pais Vasco is not all of Spain, although I have to say that Andalucia and Valencia are catching up and who the hell would expect Las Rejas in Las Pedroñeras, or Coque in the suburbs of Madrid. I better get to Extremadura while it's still there. I guess Palencia and Astorga were the two closest towns to Zamora I've visited and León was the closest place we spent a night. That was a good number of years ago and we had a memorable lunch that was brought to mind by looking at the map. Casa Teo in San Andres de Rabanedo just west of León was little more than a workman's cafe and almost devoid of diners. It was recommendation of yours. Faced with a menu of many ordinary, but unfamiliar dishes, I was indecisive and when the owner said there was an empanada de bacalao coming out of the oven if I could wait, it sounded like an opportunity. It was and on that basis, I took his word that the sole was fresh, although I had my doubts so far from the sea in such an unprepossessing dining room in a town that seemed lost and asleep. After that empanada, I thought I owed him a sign of respect and thanks. The sole was fresh and well cooked. A rice pudding with a glaze of brunt sugar (think creme brulee) finished the meal. Nothing sounds as exciting as it was to eat. The next few days over the border into Galicia brought more traditional food and we had no qualms about ordering fish. If they hadn't changed their style of cooking, at least the transportation was good.

I thought you were here for the employee health care package. I think Andy summed it up well. It's nice to see the growth in membership and quality of material posted, but as someone who's been involved in the organization of the site, it's heartwarming to see an appreciation expressed in print. Thank you for that Jamie. You're welcome to the enjoyment you get out of the Society. Most of all, we look forward to your continued involvement in the site.

I should thank you for the chance to correct you. It passed me the first time, but then I thought the gizzard was a particular part of a bird's anatomy and I couldn't equate it with anything found in cows. Are sweetbreads and shrimp that daring a combination? It seems to me that sweetbreads and shrimp, or maybe freshwater crayfish are something I've had, and maybe outside of Spain -- or have I read too much about mar y montana? Ah! Here it is in my notes, "Mrs. B's ecrivisses et ris de veau" in Lille, France just about three years ago in a very staid and traditional seafood restaurant.

It can be cold. Paris is humid and when it's cold, it's a biting cold that gets to your bones. The sun rarely shines in Paris in the winter. The sky is grey tinged with yellow or green and could stay that way for all two weeks. It's not the travelog city of smiling faces enjoying a beer in an outdoor cafe on a grand boulevard. It's far north and the sun sets early if it rises at all, but the city can sparkle at night and you'll understand why it's called the city of lights. If you'll miss the chance to bask in the sunshine in an outdoor cafe, you'll get the chance to escape from the cold and take a table far from the door and warm yourself with a hot chocolate in a cafe. With luck, you'll appreciate that it's a real Parisian experience that most tourists don't get. Every season in Paris has something wrong with it and Paris is overrun with tourists at what would be the best time to be there if it wasn't overrun with tourists. I think I've said this before, and maybe on this board, but if I don't think January is the best time to be in Paris, I do think Paris is as good a place to be in January as any other place. Obviously, I'm not a beach person.

Beef gizzards? I don't think so. So what parts are these, stomach, tripe, other offal?

But the tables are usually filled with diners who have reserved a month or two in advance. Is is easy to get a couple of places at the bar on a weekday night? How long have you waited.? I've just tried to call a day or two ahead, or a couple of hours ahead in hope of a cancellation. I ate there the other day by walking in at lunch and got one of the few empty tables.

Paris isn't the only example, but these are all destination restaurants. The run of the mill restaurant in a chain hotel in France is not all that lilkely to be different from what you find in the US in terms of quality, except that the name of the dishes will sound better in French. Michelin doesn't even mention a restaurant not in a hotel nearby. Only the Sheraton, Hilton and Sofitel hotel restaurants are cited by name. I suppose I'd aim for one of them, but I'd not expect great value.A not too expensive meal rules out a roundtrip by taxi. If you have enough time, and can leave your luggage at a hotel in the airport, it might be worthwhile coming in to Paris by publlic transport. As far as the local area, I don't even know how you'd begin to search out a hotel. You'd have to leave the airport by taxi and need some destination. I have a 2003 GaultMillau handy. It deigns to list but one restaurant in Roissy and that's Les Etoiles. They gave it a 14/20 which is respectable.

Lupa would seem to be an ideal example, but I find it exceptionally weird to have to make a reservation two months in advance for a "middlebrow" place. Actually, I find it weird to define "middlebrow" by price. It would seem to me that a middlebrow restaurant would be one in which the food was unchallenging, but not sort of blue collar workman's home cooking. I think there are a lot of middlebrow expensive restaurants. Working on the price point of $100-125, There's Balthazar Pepolino on Sixth Avenue below Canal Bianca which pleased us at first, but pleased us less and less on successive trips Landmarc Tomoe Sushi and a host of others I haven't been to in years.

And you all have to admit that many people who like meat, don't like liver. So they must taste different. It is as Jason said, quite an operation. I'm not sure how easy it is to arrange a tour, but I'd urge anyone thinking of going for dinner to consider a tour although it's getting late in the year and dusk may come before you're ready for dinner. As Ya-Roo mentioned, we experienced a great sunset from the courtyard after our tour and before we entered the restaurant at about 5:00 pm. While I don't mind dinner at that hour on a Sunday, it's very early for me the rest of the week. While the operation is impressive, I was struck by the magnificent stone buildings. It's hard not to fool yourself into thinking you've arrived at some Norman abbey as Robert Brown implied earlier in his post on Stone Barns. This would be an impressive property and descriptions would figure heavily in most reviews even if Ducasse or Adrià were cooking there. I should note that I know both Mike and Dan. We were introduced to both by our daughter who's worked in restaurants and written about food. I believe we actually met Mike before we met Dan and before Blue Hill opened for business. Feel free to filter whatever I say through that knowledge. What happened was that our daughter called to tell us a new restaurant was opening or had opened that was both our kind of restaurant and within walking distance of our home. We quickly discovered she was right on both counts and we became regulars, or as regular as people who don't eat out all that often can be. Eventually we met Dan and found him as good to know as his restaurant. We rarely order at either of the Blue Hills and just let them feed us. Sometimes we get the day's tasting menu and sometimes we get something that's not on the menu. Last Sunday we just put ourselves in his hands. I don't know if our dishes were on the menu, as I never looked at the menu, but I suspect they were. When we're not planning a trip, and no one's coming in from out of town, we're not good at getting our act together to make reservations for dinner and in spite of our best intentions, we let the summer go by without getting up to Stone Barns. We were actually quite embarrassed about that when we ran into Dan yet again at the Union Square Greenmarket. Dan said to contact him and we'd arrange a date, which we did by e-mail. Were there tables available to the general public at that time? I honestly don't know. Sunday is usually an easier reservation to get than Saturday. We made our plans about two weeks in advance and took a 5:00 pm reservation which also allowed us a brief tour before walking into an almost empty dining room at 5:15. At some point in the evening, every table was occupied and tables that were empty when we arrived, turned at least once by the time we left. Not everyone has the tasting menu. Did we get special treatment? Probably. When people have met us through our daughter, they usually treat us well. To fill in on Ya-Roo's post, we started with a Prosecco followed by an Albarino from Rias Baixas in Galicia and a Gigondas from the Rhone Valley in France. They also comped us a glass of rose with our vegetable course and between our white and red wines. Considering the quality of the food and the comfort of the restaurant, I would classify those as budget wines. It's a fuller wine list than at Blue Hill downtown. In general I've found their lists a bit quirky, and often full of wines I don't know that turn out to go very well with the food. The scallop dish with the chopped squid could probably use some more detail. I believe it was presented as scallops on a rutabaga puree with a soy bean and squid sauce, which I assumed meant a reduction of squid broth. What it really turned out to be was minced squid in a broth, infusion or some oil that I don't remember, I was so fascinated by the squid bits. At first I didn't realize what these white bit were as they were smaller than grains of rice and kind of hard to isolate. The scallops themselves were also exceptionally small bay scallops and the dish needed to be approached delicately to savor each morsel. That vegetable dish was a stunner. At first I was sure there was a base of meat stock, but I think that was coming from the earthy puree of chestnut. The grapes were certainly an unexpected touch but absolutely the flavor counterpoint that gave depth to the dish although I'd be careful not to assume throwing a few grapes into a vegetable dish at home would improve it. Four of us at that table love the taste of meat and for two of us, the stronger the better as in lamb or game, but that was an eminently satisfying dish. I'd not promise it would have the same appeal to a meat and potatoes guy. The egg in the salad dish was fried, but "fried egg" is misleading. The egg was boiled long enough to set the white, peeled and cooled and then coated with the panko and almonds -- I think it was almonds -- and then deep fried with one half egg to a portion. The warm vinaigrette had pieces of pancetta in it to complete the dish. The chicken soup was a dark brown reduction with enough flavor to justify it's place in the menu not as a soup course. Yes, I thought it a bit salty, but not so salty that I didn't finish it all. I was impressed with the quality and texture of the turkey slices in the soup. It may also be worth noting that we had dinner the night before at the home of a friend who uses no salt at all in her kitchen. The Berkshire pork trio was a thick juicy chop, a slice of house made cotechino sausage and a large cube of pork belly. The latter seemed poached rather than braised or fried and of an incredibly meaty quality. These pigs are raised on the farm and we saw a few of them up on a hill in a fenced off area while on our tour. The cinnamon ice cream was interesting. I was inclined to think it was too strongly flavored until I combined it with the pumpkin souffle. For some reason -- ask Hal McGee -- the cinnamon was neutralized by the pumpkin and the combination was terrific. I need to put my finger on a better word than gentle to describe this food as that belies a certain kind of intensity that exists in the dishes. I'm also tongue tied when I try to explain why food I believe is intense in a gentle way seems like comfort food to me in spite of the fact that it's often like nothing I've had before I ate at Blue Hill. There's one fault. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is even darker than Blue Hill in the city. It is either the most dimly lit fine restaurant or the best dimly lit restaurant I know. Neither seems a reasonable distinction. We never saw menus, but at least one party in the restaurant came prepared with flashlights to see theirs. It just seems so inhospitable to make guest use a flashlight to see the menu. I suspect there's a puritanical streak in Americans that just makes them want to disappear when they're enjoying a good meal. Dining seems so much more of a public celebration in Europe.

I must protest the use of the word "puritan" to describe someone who wishes to enjoy the full voluptuous experience of tasting all of his food.

I'll concur on the potability of albariños and Ruedas and the bang for the buck they usually provide. Let's not forget the Manzanillas from Sanlucar de Barrameda which I've found to be great with simple seafood and shellfish and the wines from Jerez which are often surprisingly good with food, although I'm dependent on others for suggesting the pairings beyond gambas and Manzanilla. I will add that for those who wish to enjoy dining on a budget, wine lists in Spain offer a far lower entry point than they do in similar classes of restaurants in France although I suspect that may be changing, especially as sommeliers recommend French wines and as international gastronomic travel is deflected from France to Spain.

Too bad GaultMillau no longer is anything like GaultMillau... ← Actually, Spain is back in their 2005 edition, as well as Belgium, Germany, Switzerland... But they only list top restaurants (from 16 to 19/20) : ElBulli, the Fat Duck, De Karmeliet, Lea Linster, etc. 60 or 70 pages: not bad, huh? ← That addresses Judith's concerns, but not Victor's. How many pages do they have devoted to Spain, or to each other country? Do they list the top restaurants, or the ones closest to France. I seem to recall a time when GaultMillau listed restaurants that were close to the French border in neighboring countries. Are my memories accurate in that regard?

I think Miguel was rather hoping those of us with some familiarity with the region would name some great restaurants in the area.

Unlike in the US, in France the availablilty of fresh produce depends on the time of year. They don't store apples, for example, like we do so that you can buy apples in March; Beets are generally available fresh from June-November. ← France is different than the US, but over the past two generations it's changed tremendously and for one thing, it's now an industrial country and no longer an agrarian one. There are many small local markets in which one finds local products, there are many markets where one finds the produce from around the world if one looks. Even seasonal produce comes from Africa and the middle east and the bananas and pineapples that have become a staple in France as they are in the US need to be flown halfway around the world. The aisles of frozen and canned goods in the hypermarchés are as long as they are in the US supermarkets. Nevertheless, the cooked beats we bought in the market were fresh to the extent that they were in season. It just happened that they were brought to the market and offered for sale already baked as is a common custom in many parts of France. As I said, I'm not surprised to learn that one can also get raw beets in season as well as cooked beets. What is rare in the US, is to find freshly cooked beets for sale.

I'm not particularly surprised one can get raw beets in France, but I will note that I've seen our friends buy cooked beets in the outdoor market in Pezenas. Among all the fresh fruit and vegetables, there was a vendor selling plastic wrapped cooked beets.

From the User Agreement If the article appears on the web, we'd appreciate a link to it. If not, members may summarize the article or parts of it and offer a synopsis of what's published in the Wine Spectator, but we take intellectual property issues very seriously and require members to obtain written permission to post any copywritten material.The full eGullet Copyright and Fair Use Policy may be found here.

When a restaurant I particularly like is dropped, or wasn't in the Michelin guide, I often wonder if they've chosen to be omitted. I could never understand why Ca L'Isidre in Barcelona wasn't listed. Perhaps it's not the best restaurant in Barcelona, but it's far better than the average place listed. In fact Campsa rates it two "suns." Surely there's more than meets the eye in this omission.

The two posts above were in separate threads. I've merged the two threads. Is this the same product I mentioned in my post last month? I suspect it is, although the cans I've seen were labeled 190 grams. I'm told they make several sizes, but it seems odd for two to be so close. Aux Lyonnais serves a boudin noir that's identified as "Iparla" on the menu. My guess is that it's also the same although I only had a bite of someone else's there.

I think we need to hear a little more about exactly what Adrià said in "his presentation on monday at the gastronomical congress." Perhaps vmilor or someone will fill us in on the subject.

In answer to the topical question, the customer is not always right. That statement is merely a motto for doing business profitably. What it really means is that usually it's more profitable in the the long run for a restaurant to pretend the customer is right and treat him as if he's right. It's actually a hypocritical attitude and it's encouraged many a boor and buffoon to overstep his rights. To return to that subject. I believe a restaurant may make all the rules it would like about its client's dress and the way they behave as long as those rules are not in conflict with the law. If such rules drive away diners, well that's the restaurant's concern. Your money doesn't buy you the right to dine without a tie, have your sauce on the side, make substitutions in the dishes or use a cellphone. It buys you the right to choose your designated restaurant. Once you are there, you dine by their rules. An intelligent diner will make himself aware of a restaurant's codes just as he will be informed of the type of food they serve and the prices they charge. The idea that one arrives at a restaurant with enough money to rent the staff to do one's bidding as social inferiors for a period of time is very ill mannered, in my opinion. On a more personal level, I have to agree with those who have espressed an opinion that a noisy drunk adult is offensive in a way that a quiet baby is not and that a diner speaking quietly into a mobile phone is less offensive than the same diner speaking too loudly to someone at his table. I understand why someone might get tense at the sight of a baby or a cellphone, but that may not always be justified and it may result in restaurants making rules I find stupid. That too is their right as it is ours to criticize.

I don't agree. If customers understood the tipping system, then it is fair. Waiters are paid a flat wage - generally quite low. The remainder of their wage they earn by pleasing the customer. In theory, in a perfect world, the more pleased the customer, the greater the tip. If the tip were to be abolished then restaurant prices would have to increase to meet the shortfall between the flat wage and the tip and therefore, power is taken from the customer. The tip adds a little extra motivation, which in my experience works. For me, it also makes the shift a little more fun There are times when you work your ass off and smile sweetly all evening, and get just a few quid from a massive table, but in general, tipping worked in my experience. ← If. If life were fair, life would be fair. By and large, customers do not understand the tipping system locally. They understand it far worse when they travel and waiters in destination cities tend to experience far less fair tipping.In theory, the more pleased the customer the greater the tip if customers where machines perhaps, but studies have shown that most people tend not to relate their tips to the service received. Big tippers tend to tip more regardless of service and small tippers tend to do the opposite in general and are most easily persuaded that the service was faulty. As long as humans do the tipping, tipping will remain an inherently unfair way to compensate employees. Theories may suggest otherwise especially when they assume that if prices were removed from all good and services, we'd each go into a shop, take what we need and voluntarily leave the exact value of the goods in legal tender. Most waiters I know, and admittedly they tend to work in the higher end of the business, do not want tipping abolished and replaced with a salary precisely because tipping is unfair on an individual basis, and because at the higher end, there are more people who tend to be good tippers than bad tippers. That does't address the fairness issue. Just as there are good tippers and bad tippers, there are people who do their job and there are slackers. The amount of the tip left after they perform their job rarely has a great effect on how well they had already performed, although the regular customer who's a good tipper may see some small degree of extra service. If I may be allowed a broad generalization, I've dined in countries where tipping is a waiter's salary, where tipping supplements a fair wage and makes up a small part of a waiter's income, and where tipping is seen as offensive. The less part tipping plays, the more professional the service seems to be. This is not to say that it's not all culturally driven or that eliminating tipping and paying a fair wage would improve service in the US.

This is the only one I disagree with, Waitstaff are servants -- not my personal servants, but they are there to serve me. They are servants of the restaurant (in the technical legal sense) and they are my social inferiors in that context . Obviously you shouldn't speak rudely to them, but treating servants rudely has always been one of the most loathsome things I have seen (I lead a sheltered life). ← Of course when someone performs a service, they are a servant. The man who removed my gall baldder was no more than a servant too I suppose. Any my social inferior in that context? I don't think so. The man is serving you in a professional capacity when he serves your table. It is not a social issue.

Interesting. So you feel the system that exists in most of the world outside the U.S. is wrong? How does that wrongness reflect itself in terms of lousy service in Italy, France, China, Japan, etc.? ← Exsqueeze me...? don't get your question. My stand is that forced tipping is wrong. Forced tipping does not guarantee good service in any way, shape or form. ← Forced tipping would be rather hypocritical wouldn't it? It is of course quite another thing to pay people a living wage to do a professional job. If not, then I should have taken 15% percent off the price I paid for that shirt because the sales clerk was rude, or just didn't wrap my package fast enough for my taste. The most reasonable argument I've ever heard in regard to compensation of restaurant workers was that they all be paid a reasonable salary and that those who couldn't perform professionally should be fired. We would have to raise restaurant prices.

A Friday night reservation two days in advance in NYC is never going to be easy at a good restaurant. Any discussion about which the diner should choose may be moot.

The web site lists Alexandra Guarnaschelli as executive chef. Adam Platt's review in New York Magazine - July 15, 2002, mentions executive chef Keith Harry.