Bux

One of the things you should realize is that members often write about their trips when they return, or with the appearance of Internet connections in hotel rooms, sometimes they post while still on the trip. Having already posted on the topic, most people are reluctant to post again because they're not going to give better answers than when the info was fresh in their minds. The forum serves those who help themselves best. I'd suggest you do some poking around and you'll find excellent material. Madrid has had a few threads lately, but there are more if you do a search. Castilian-style roast lamb in Madrid Two local suggestions Good rice dishes in Madrid An excellent dinner at an excellent restaurant There are many side trips from Madrid. Toledo and Segovia are the two obvious ones. If you want a side trip to an exceptional modern restaurant, Coque in Humanes de Madrid is well worth the short trip, perhaps on the way to, or from Toledo, but for us, lunch in Coque is enough. Last, but not least, there are Rogelio's wonderful Digests which will lead you to all the recent restaurant reviews online.

I'm posting this in the France forum because I doubt this product is available outside France. I suspect it's not readily available in many parts of France. It's a boudin noir that's canned in the Pyrénées Atlantic and hot stuff. I mean it's really good as well as that it's made with a nice dose of Basque piment d'Espellette. Had it not been highly recommended to me, I would not have even considered canned boudin. Of course it has the advantage of traveling and keeping on the shelf quite well. Anyone who loves blood sausage and who is traveling through the Pays Basque, should keep an eye out for it. My favorite boudin noir have been those from the Basque region. In fact, I'm told this boudin, canned by Maison Montauzer in 64250, is made according to Christian Parra's recipe. Parra used to own the two star la Galoupe in Urtz where he was famous for his boudin noir among other things. He now has a little bistro in the Basque Pyrenees.

Both my wife and I smoked, but each of us stopped so long ago that we seem like non-smokers rather than ex-smokers. I agree that it's fantastic, but it also must be considered a plus or an unexpected extra. If one travels in France expecting smoke-free dining rooms, it's just setting the diner up for disappointment. Nevertheless, I see less and less smoking in very find restaurants and the tables are further apart as well.

So often as travelers in foreign lands we have to chose between so many recommendations and even then we wonder if there's a little spot waiting to be noticed that we've missed and will hear about as soon as we're home. It's nice once in a while to learn that at least someone thinks you've made the right choices. I may never have paid full service to the fine meals we had at these two restaurants. That's a pity as they both offered memorable food. They easily merit their Michelin star. Rarely are one stars as pleasing in France.

The location is terrific and the view is quite lovely especially if you're driving and forget you're right by the sea because you've gotten lost in a maze of narrow winding local streets. It was a restaurant whose appearance reminded me less of traditional Spanish restaurants or of ultramodern Spanish restaurants than it did of some Relais Gourmand in the south of France at the time. I suppose those reactions are pretty subjective anyway. Speaking of subjective reactions, The more artculate the post and the more I sense a member appreciates food, the more I am reminded of just how subjective our appreciation is. There's no disputing taste. I'm reminded by the description of the rice dish above and that Mrs. B always says her family used to fight over the "pegao" of crust of rice that forms in the caldero. It also brings to mind the arroz plancha at Ca'Sento in Valencia where the seafood rice was cooked on a griddle until a light skin formed. It was then scraped off the griddle so the skin wrapped around the rice and the whole mass fored a quenelle shape with a skin. At Sant Pau, a couple of years ago, we had a relatively simple lunch of three courses a la carte, although we asked them to split the four savory courses and thus each of us had a small tasting menu of four savory courses. Our one retreat from creative cooking was to order a "wet rice" with gambas as we hadn't been eating many traditional meals. It was superb. The rice was cooked in an intensely flavored broth. I was most envious of Mrs. B's dessert of chocolate, fruit and pastry as I had chosen the cheese with pairings. I have yet to enjoy a creative cheese course very much and as well done as the one at Sant Pau was, it was no excpetion. I order them out of curiosity, but never enjoy them as much as a good selection of cheeses, or dessert. As much as enjoy most creative food, savory and dessert, I fall back on the traditional cheese plate found in the two restaurants in provincial France as my ideal.

It's been my experience that consideration shown, is often paid back with consideration given. My philosphy in these matters is that there's a degree of politeness and respect shown by making any concerns known in advance and this has nothing to do specifically with Per Se or even restaurants, but the application of such consideration to restaurants doesn't take but a minute and if it's not paid back, you've not made a large investment. If nothing else, you've sent a signal that you consider this a special meal. On that score, I suspect Per Se realizes that all of it's diners are there for a very special meal and I will agree that it's not necessary or even a breach of ettiquette should you not phone ahead.

Asimov on Cafe Gray. I didn't look for it online, but I'm surprised it's not there. Were you searching for Bruni?

I think it would be very unfair to be disappointed to find the food uncreative. I don't think Bocuse has tried to be creative in at least a decade.

Kitchen Arts and Letters, 1435 Lexington (93rd/94th), 212-876-5550. Glad to hear Waxman is saying the same thing in public he told the publisher.

Regarding special preferences, allergies, needs and the like, most really top restaurants handle them well on the spot, but it never hurts to warn the restaurant in advance and it may pay off in better food and service if the restaurant is prepared. This is just a general comment based on an assumption that it can never hurt.

I was there a long time ago and at the time, I was shocked at the cost, but that was largely because Bocuse itself was a considerable splurge for us at the time. I don't have any record of the cost. Bocuse was the sort of institution that no longer really captivates my interest and I haven't been back. The last time we took taxis out of the city was almost four years ago (January 2001). A trip to la Rotonde in la Tour-de-Salvagny 11 kilometers from Lyon ran about 175 francs (US$ 25) if my notes are accurate. Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or is about 12 kilometers. A taxi to the airport that year ran 250 francs.

It's listed in Michelin, which I regard as meeting some standard at least relative to its price and I find that reassuring if I don't know the hotel. It says its a small hotel of a new generation defined by its minimalist decor. In terms of comfort they show it as a two roof hotel. Often those ratings have as much to do with public spaces, lobby, bar, restaurants as much as the actual accommodations. I thought the web site photographs looked promising. It goes on to say the rooms are bright and adequately equipped. All other things being equal, I'd prefer to be a few blocks further south closer to the placa de Catalunya. Availability might be the unequal factor here.

A swizzle stick is not a straw. Only very young girls and very old women look cute when they forget that.

I didn't notice a truck.

I've had some very mediocre alcapurrias. Treat enough if I happen to be there, but not, in Michelin terms, worth the voyage, or the detour, but I'll bet those vendors have cellphones. Everyone in NY has one but me. Those mangoes on a stick don't do it for me and I've seen those vendors as far sough as 14th Street. Actually I prefer the smaller "Champagne" mangoes we've been getting in the past few years. Speaking of 14th Street, the last time I was on West 14th Street there were some vendors selling food in front of a church. I forget just how far west, but it was west of Seventh Avenue or further. We had just had brunch, so I didn't really look closely at what was for sale.

If you haven't seen the program and my points are based on how the six grapes were presented, let's talk after we've shared common ground. "Divine translates as "of the vine", does it not?" I assume that's humor, but that kind of humor doesn't easily communicate on the net without a smiley and many are going to get stuck on the actual derivation from Latin and French--meaning "from god." Many historians may suggest the foundations of western civilization go back all the way to antiquity, to Greece and Rome, and to a time when Bordeaux and Burgundy were not producing much in the way of wine. The supremacy of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines is neither the beginning of western civilization, nor necessarily guaranteed forever. I'm sure there are those in Pouilly-Fumé might argue about the superiority of their wines, but the lists in restaurants will show higher prices for the best Sauternes than for the best Pouilly Fumés and some of the finest wines in the Loire Valley come from the Chenin Blanc grape. I also have it on good advice that there are winemakers in the Loire who grow American hybrid grapes (clandestinely, as it's against the law) and will argue about their superiority. I trust you're not making the professional suggestion that Dageneaux's Silex or Pur Sang is superior to Ch. Yquem? I don't believe any instructional show for adults needs to be dumbed down or made simplisitc just to be simplified for beginners. More importantly, the hour format was hardly a reason in my mind as I said the information could be presented in ten minutes even allowing for repetition.

Responding to Jonathan's addition of restaurants in the provinces, our first encounter with restaurateurs discouraging smoking was at Andre Daguin's dining room at the Hotel de France in Auch. There were table tents advising guests that they had a smoking room and a dining room and appealing to them to use them one after the other and not eat and smoke at the same time. It had no effect on the table of Italians near us. Daugin has retired. I assume his policy went when he did, but no one goes to Auch to eat any more. Michel Bras' table tent requested diners to enjoy the pleasures of tobacco in the lounge for the well being of the guests in the dining room. Régis Macon suggested guests retire to the lounge for the pleasures of the cigar and cigarette the first time we were there. I didn't notice similar table tents last month when we returned. I don't recall smokers either, but tables are well spaced. I don't find it surprising that chefs whose food is delicate and the result of intensive efforts by the kitchen staff should be concerned that diners might actually want to taste their food.

I'd kill for a good alcapurria, but I don't know about going that far north without a reservation.

Hermitage and Cote Roties, great wines of the Rhone are not made from your triumverate. My guess is that there are fans of Nebbiolo who would view your selection with some scorn as prejudiced. I agree that it was necessary to simplify the field. My argument is that it was not simplified, it was made simplistic. It's not the choice of the six wines that bothers me, it's how they were presented. I mentioned Grenache only in reply to "most common." I don't need to be told that it's a common grape. Much of what's made certain grapes more noble than others is the accident of geography and ease of trade. No one will convince me there's a direct across the board relationship between wine popularity or price and taste. I think Cleese himself made that point. I'll grant that the best Pinot Noirs can compete favorably with the best Syrahs, but is there a Savignon Blanc that can compete with the best Semillion dominated wines in terms of greatness--price or majestry? When the show presented the six wines as they did, it reinforced popular conceptions. That's just directly opposed to my idea of enlightenment. The show pandered to currently popular myth when it could have taught novices how to enjoy wine without prejudice. It's focus on the way wine is made in California is probably misleading as well. In spite of it's mention of the concept of terroir there was no hint that the part of the world that gave us five of these six grapes generally buys it's wine on place name than on grape name. Surely a little history and a mention of changing taste might also have been enabling if the intent was to make the novice feel confident as opposed to putting blinders on him.

When people think of science in the kitchen and hear terms such as molecular gastronomy, they often think of a laboratory and some sort of frankenstein food. Much of what McGee has done is to offer understandable analyses of why things we know work actually do work, so we're not limited to the uses of this information in the way past generations were. For a cook who's not a scientist, It would seem that the lists Mandy wants are the next step. I was struck by how obvious some of the information in the book is, if only someone would have pointed it out to me before. Cooking grains in either milk or stock will result in a creamier milk or more concentrated sauce from the stock even if the pan is covered and there's no evaporation simply because the grains are absorbing the water. One has to be a thinking cook to get a lot out of the book, but one's thinking doesn't have to be on the chemical or molecular level to be enriched and more enlightened. The net effect in my mind is not to separate the art and science, but pair them better. On the other hand, it's thoroughly entertaining to just read the side bars with historical and anecdotal information. History is also an important part of the texts, getting no less attention than science. McGee uses a quotation from Boccaccio's Decameron to illustrate a point in the history of pasta.

Or at least until the next edition. Then again this "revision" was about ten years in the making. I can't imagine what sort of undertaking a third edition would be. I'm already overwhelmed by what's in this one.

They're in focus as well. It does appear that he had the advantage of shooting in daylight.

Here's one suggestion: accompanied by other products, like honey, quince or walnuts, and it is often present after dinner, as a dessert. I'm not familiar with this cheese, but it seems to be a fresh and somewhat bland white sheep's milk cheese. It's not uncommon in France to serve a fresh white cheese like this with either savory or sweet accompaniments including black pepper or something sweet such as sugar, honey, berries, and creme fraiche. My guess is that honey is much more interesting and thus more common than sugar which adds no flavor, but may be less expensive.

"Most common in most people's minds" - perpetuation of mistruth and half truth is a pet peeve of mine. My point would be to refute myth. For me it's fundamental to education. It's my hangup. The subject does't get less complex when the simplicity is based on misinformation. There's a way to make things simple without requiring corrections down the road. They missed that. There are wrong answers, but not in the realm of taste. There is a need to stress one's attention to and faith in one's own taste, but ultimately one is faced with entertaining friends and associates and it helps to know the commonly accepted tastes as well as understand that they too change with fashion. I think Cleese reinforced the idea that one can say the wrong thing to sommeliers by asking a sommelier to tell viewers the best way to approach sommeliers, but I think that was one of the better parts of the show.

Common? Common to where, California? Grenache is more widely planted than Cabernet. Apart from Calilfornia, some of the world's finest wines are either a blend or made from a grape not included in the show. As for less expensive wines, those are not the most common grapes in the world either. My guess is that your good wine merchant is just as likey to be met with suspicion when he suggests another varietal or tells the novice coming straight from the show that the name of the grape isn't the most important term on the label. Maybe I was lucky to come to wine before a time when people feared it. All that was necessary to eliminate disinformation was to say these were six grapes, not the most important six grapes. There's a difference between simple information and simplistic information that's not really acurate.