Bux

I have a really urgent need to reply in this thread. I'll be back as soon as I've had my coffee. In my freshman year in college, I recall a debate in the dorm on whether aspirin was addictive. The guy across the hall from me thought his answer that it was not addictive was definitve. He felt he was the authority because he's taken an aspirin every day for the last several years. Neither coffee nor eGullet is addictive. I'm an authority.

We were disappointed in the food at Benoit and found the prices unreasonably high. Overpriced? Chiberta, where they also speak English and cater to tourists, which seems even more of a specialty here, served a superb pigeon cooked precisely rosé while Benoit's was well past medium in our estimation although ordered on the rare side of rosé. 30 € for Benoit, 34 € for the far superior cuisson and presentation at Chiberta. Pigeon's not their specialty? 10 € fir a 50 cl. of Chateldon at Benoit. Chiberta charged 7 € for a liter. At l'Atelier de Robuchon the price was 4 € for a liter, although that was counter service. To top it all off, the coffee was 6 € for an espresso. The highest price we paid anywhere in Paris including Goumard, a four fork establishment where the comfort and elelgance should easily add a buck or two to the price of anything, but where better coffee was served at a euro less. Granted, the crab soup, (soupe d'etrilles) was excellent and the aroma alone made it worth ordering. The langue de veau Lucullus was perhaps, far too lucullan for it's own good, at least to my taste. I guess I was expecting a salad of veal tongue with a hearty dressing in what I think of as a bistrot style. What was served were slices of a layer cake consisting of very thin slices of tongue held together with a "frosting" of pâté de fois gras. It was nicely complimented by a salad of lentils, but it was far too rich with the "pâté" overwhelming the tongue not with flavor of foie, but with the texutre of fat. Uneveness hit the main courses as well. Cassoulet may be the dish to order, and perhaps braised dishes come off better than those supposedly cooked to order, but it was unseasonably warm for early September. My pintatdeau with chanterelles fared better and was fine. Dessert was excellent if you like good old fashioned French pastry and order the house pastry whose name escapes me, but it was puff pastry, strawberries and pastry cream. I might have fared better with my first course had I paid attention the dog and pony show carried on for the adjoining table of two generations of Americans, with the older being at least my age and probably far more affluent, but with very limited ability to read the menu. Almost every dish in the house was paraded past their table in an effort to allow them to choose wisely. The chef, or someone in chef's clothes, explained each dish in accented English. The rest of the back room was pretty well filled with tourists. We left with the impression that the prices reflected not the quality, which was average, but the ability to entertain those at sea in Paris and because Benoit has become the sort of establishment that can command a few bucks more simply because it is known and an establishment that is mentioned in many guides, both current and old. When we arrived, Mrs. B felt the front room was the tourist room and was glad to have been seated in the back. When we left, I felt the front room was largely French. Whether more care was given to their orders, I couldn't say. I think Benoit is a great place for anyone with very little knowledge of French cuisine and for whom a few euros is not going to break the bank, but I left there feeling it's to be consigned to the guide books and the recommendations of concierge's who are sure they know their clients. It's a picturesque place and the service is with a smile and in English if need be, or French if you don't ask questions in English.

Benoit is a place I'd put in that category after our meal, which wasn't bad, just uneven, but very overpriced although the gentle and patient way they had with tourists may well make the premium worthwhile for those who need excessive guidance and reassurance.

If I were in Paris, I would look in the area just northwest of where les Halles used to be. That's where Dehillerin, on rue Coquillière, and many of the other professional cooking supply houses are still located. I recall a discussion quite some time ago on the pastry forum about baking supply houses in France. A few excellent mail order places were mentioned with web sites, but I don't recall an address in Paris. You might well search or ask in that forum if you don't get an answer here. Edit: I see I've been scooped while trying to check if Dehillerin had them.

The comment on taste would more likely be triggered by texture and have nothing to do with taste. It's a matter of strong textural association.

Ice has always been rare in France. If there's one thing that separates the French from the Americans, it's temperature. The French are, as a rule, not only prone to suffer a warmer stuffier room than Americans, but abhor ice. There's a belief that too cold a liquid will shock the stomach and that ice cold water will ruin your palate and digestion. Drafts are also something to be avoided at all costs. So I was shocked to see ice cubes in a glass when someone ordered a Perrier a couple of weeks ago in Paris. Eau de robinet has always been available in most places, but it's now commonly seen on tables in many restaurants and often freely offered by many waiters. Tap water in Paris is passable, but doesn't taste quite as good as that of NY. On the whole, I don't think many bottled waters taste as good as NY water. Mrs. B often prefers bubbles. Eau gasseuze is still cheaper than champagne.

If I were to puree a white asparagus and mix it with egg and cream, bake and serve it as an "asparagus flan" in a better restaurant to an American foodie, I'll bet I'd get smiles of satisfaction. If I were to serve a white asparagus as offered in Spain, the reaction is likely to be a murmur that it tasteds canned, which it probably was, but that's besides the point.

I admire the professor both for her honesty and for her communication of the fact there may be something she's missing. I have at times noted that I've come to enjoy Spanish cooking more and more, but that it's taken time to make certain palate adjustments. Posts in this forum, what I've read elsewhere and the attitudes of the people eating at other table have given me pause to rethink and adjust my palate as much as possible to get the most out of my travel and dining experience. I'm not bragging about my talents, it's just that by dismissing one's own learned preferences and standards, one can add a greater depth to the travel experience. I've learned a lot, slowly and as a result, I "know" a lot less than I did. There's a certain kind of opinionated outlook that's heavy baggage. The professor seems to recognize that.

Correct, of course. Just as each individual is different, there's likely to be a discernable difference between any cohesive group of diners and certain differences between diners from one country and another. I'd also agree with your generalization of American diners being more open to trying different things, especially in the context of those interested in foods at all. Foodies often tend to look down their noses at their fellow countrymen who have a very limited palate, but the truth is that it may be as bad or worse in other countries than it is the US. Then again it can be misleading if we look at the diners in destination restaurants. There are so many factors. It's a good question who would most use a Michelin Guide devoted to NY. It's more than just an issue of who buys the most of the current guides. Do Parisians use the red guide for Paris. Although it's the guide whose stars are most bandied about by diners and by chefs, I doubt that a Madrileño uses the Guia Roja when selecting a restaurant in Madrid.

Coque -- http://restaurantecoque.com/ -- is the only restaurant site I can offer from those.

Getting back and forth between Barcelona and the airport doesn't seem to be a problem. What might be more inconvenient is getting anywhere from the Tryp Hotel if the only option is getting a cab to go either to the airport or downtown. The Colon is a nice hotel with a view of the cathedral, but I'm not sure the gothic quarter is the most accessible to taxis or public tranportation.

Interesting question, but I would have to say that those who follow Adrià best, dont follow him, but their own destination and ideas. You might get different answers if you ask who follows the same path of El Bulli and who follows his own creative path. There are many wonderful restaurants in Spain with creative cooking, but which have not yet received international recognition or three stars.Coque, in Humanes de Madrid, just south of Madrid Las Rejas, in Las Pedroñeras, in the middle of nowhere, well in Cuenca province Ca'Sento, in Valencia. Mugaritz, in Errenteria, near San Sebastian Come to mind immediately as personal favorites, not that my experience is vast in Spain. All have one star in the current Guide Michelin, but surely deserve two, or maybe three, by the standards used in France. There are others at the at the two and three star level that are also personal favorites, but are more well known already.

My assumption was that the Tryp was right at the airport (although I don't recall a hotel right at the airport) or that it would surely provide shuttle service to and from the airport. This message on their web site doesn't offer that information or hope: "The hotel is located right next to the International Airport of Barcelona (BCN) and about 10 km distance from the city center. Easily accessible following the signs from the airport." Up until the moment I realized you might have to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel as well as from the hotel to town and back, this made a lot of sense. Now I'm not sure unless they have shuttle service at the hotel. Once you pile everything into a taxi, it it may not matter all that much how far you go in terms of schlepping.

Harold McGee's revised On Food and Cooking will include a new chapter on Fish and shellfish. I'm looking at an uncorrected proof, so I won't be quoting anything, although I suspect the final edition will be a source of reference and be quoted many times in these forums. There are a couple of paragraphs on parasites that could put people off on eating fish altogether, although maybe not. The first microscope didn't stop people from drinking water just because they saw microscopic things swimming around in it. The problem arises when the stuff is big enough to see with the naked eye. So those little threads in salmon are really worms. Damn, just when I had managed to convince myself they weren't. Freezing kills most parasitic worms, as does cooking. I've been told that salmon is rife with worms and that all salmon sold as sushi or sashimi must be frozen before it's served. I've always wondered about the rare salmon that's served in fine restaurants. Is it frozen, is it safe? It appears that farmed salmon is less prone to worms than wild salmon, but that isn't a guarantee and it isn't enough reason to favor it or think it healthier for me or the environment. All of this is fascinating, but I can enroll in a brainwashing after I've learned all I can, so I can go back to enjoying fish? McGee's book is due on the shelves in about a month and he'll be here for a Q&A on November 8

When Michael Ruhlman spoke of "Bouchon, Olives, Spago, etc.," I assumed he meant of Bouchon in Las Vegas as a clone of Bouchon in Yountville and not of Bouchon as a clone of the French Laundry. Do you see a difference between the chain wherein all the restaurants have the same name, and those restaurants owned by one chef, but operating under different names? Jean-Geroges' places come to mind as well as Keller's, although in each case at least one restaurant within the group has cloned itself as a chain. The more I think of it, the more complex the issue becomes. Do you believe a chef has to be in his restaurant for the food to be at its best? Although I wasn't absolutely convinced I needed to eat at the Robuchon's "Atelier," I found food to be absolutely perfect in terms of conception and execution and, of course, "the chef" wasn't there.

The Barcelona airport is one of the most accessbile from the center of the city. The taxi ride is short in the wee hours of the morning and there's a train, actually a rapid transit commuter line that runs from the placa de Catalunya to the airport. I don't know how early it runs and I'd understand staying at the airport itself, but once you move any distance you might just as well be in Barcelona, in my opinion. I mention that the railine is a commuter line only because it may be inconvenient if you have lots of luggage, but the there's not likely to be much traffic heading out from the city at seven in the morning. Of course you could stay at the airport and take the taxi out to the hotel after dinner rather than taking it in the morning.

Roellinger has other places and suggestions in Cancale. Check his web site http://maisons-de-bricourt.com/ before you leave. Mont St. Michel is pretty overrun with tourists. It's far better now than in July or August, but I'd suspect spending the night and being there when the bus loads are gone could be exceptionally wonderful. We actually haven't been at Mont St. Michel in about forty years. It was less crowded then. We have stayed in a town that was overrun by tourists and it was sublime at dusk and dawn when the streets were relatively empty. It was Collanges les Rouge. Have a great trip.

In a word, "yes." I was about to ask if McGee wasn't one of the people everyone wouldn't most want to ask a question in my last post, but I didn't want to be too coy before we entered his name on the calendar. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll note that my daughter was his editor at Scribner. I trust no one would believe I'm doing her a favor by inviting the author of such an aniticipated book to participate here, and it should be obvious to all that we're the audience McGee or any other serious professional in the industry, wants to reach.

It's a strange question about a strange topic. The US would probably not be my first choice even if it were a choice. I'm stranded here already. I suppose it would be Paris, if only for sentimental reasons and those of relative comfort. I can get around well enough in Paris on my own, know the city a bit and feel capable of finding what I want to eat there. There are places in Spain with more intersting food, but they would seem more confining to me before the month is up. I would avoid bad food as much as I could. At one time that wouldn't have been a worry. Today Paris has a lot of bad food. I'd search out a good deal of haute cuisine if money were not an issue, but I could undoubtedly do without it if money were an issue. I'd search out the things I can't get here in NY including the andouillette I didn't get on my last trip and I'd really like to do a thorough tasting of all the pastry Paris has to offer. I never get the chance to do that on a short trip because I'm usually too sated from the restaurant meals I try to squeeze in. Jean Paul Hévin was right around the corner from hotel two weeks ago and I never had room for even one chocolat macaron. What I regret most about every trip to Paris is that I leave too many things untasted and the food shops on my short list never get visited. A month would be nice, but stranded doesn't compute. Last year were stranded in Barcelona for a few days due to a general strike. I e-mailed my daughter to tell her of our situation and that we'd be returning later than expected. She wrote back that drinking cerveza and eating jamón doesn't count as stranded. Thanks for asking. Is the check in the mail?

There are many references to the restaurant in this forum. Rather than point to a few threads, I suggest you do a search. I was there about a year and half ago. I may have a menu from then, but in all honesty its going to be difficult to find when I have the time.

Shopping in Europe is fun, but expensive these days, though European brands will still be cheaper in Europe. Malika thanks for the candid response. I have a deep curiosity about why people travel and where they choose to eat when they're interested in food. Mrs. B is a travel agent by the way and thus the subject is one we talk about. I've been traveling on and off for about 45 years since the first time I went abroad. I've done it on a high and low budgets. They say it's better to be rich than poor, but on the whole, nothing will ever replace the trips on a student budget or the one where we had a set amount of money and the ability stay in Europe until it was gone. My education in gastronomy was formed on a very low budget, and I now enjoy haute cuisine as well, but good food is good food at all levels. Arzak, Akelarre and Berasategui would all be excellent places to eat. Berasategui is clearly my favorite, but it's based on few meals at each restaurant. In fact the region around San Sebastian requires an extended stay to appreciate fully. I don't feel I know it at all after three visits. Grab what you can. I favor fancy lunches and dinner at tapas bars. Arzak may, or may not, be as spendy as it gets in Spain, but I can assure you that this kind of meal is more expensive in France. Hondarribia is a neat town. We've not stayed at the Parador, but we spent a night at one of the other two hotels in historic buildings. In fact, it was at the least expensive of the three. Be sure to visit the lower part of town with the fisherman's residences.

I think you're right, at least as far as we're seen, but do you think that's changing? Haute cuisine seems to be becoming an international style. Also with the rise of Spain as a gastronomic destination and influence, do you sense that France is losing it's grip on the public and the critics' perception of excellence? Are chefs such as Keller and Trotter perceived as anomalies, as close enough in style to count as French or a potential new wave?

Shoes, definitely shoes? In terms of dress, restaurants have become incredibly less formal than they were a decade ago in Spain or France. It's been my experience that it's the Americans who are often the most formally dressed, but the least sylishly dressed in many dining rooms, but that's a broad generalization. Age is a factor. Older diners tend to be more conservatively dressed or at least more dressed up. As a man, Arzak is the sort of place I'd wear a jacket or blazer if the weather were cool enough, but I wouldn't be surprised to see many men in sweaters or in shirtsleeves with a sweater over their shoulders or to have me put my jacket over the back of my chair. Arzak is a special restaurant and an excellent choice, but I'm curious, why, or how, did you pick this one for your first starred restaurant? Do you travel much in Spain or Europe and where do you eat at home for a really special meal? All of this is none of my business, but you might be willing appease my curiosity about how and why people pick restaurants. I assume reading here was part of your process.

As has already been stated in one way or another, all other things being equal, the free range chicken is very likely to taste better, but all things are never equal. We've been satisfied with a number of brands of free range chickens that have eventually gone down hill. As the brand sells better and better, more farmers are supplying that brand and presumably, they all adhere to a certain minimum standard, but they all don't produce as tasty a chicken. As has also been stated, "free range" means a lot of different things and thus may not mean much on a label.

The new edition, and it's probably more accurate to refer to it as the new book, is still scheduled for early November or the end of October. That is to say, copies should be in bookshops by early November. "New Book," because a broader range of subjects is covered in greater depth in a text that's about two thirds greater in length. Even the material that has remained has been rewritten to reflect McGee's latest understandings. I've been thumbing through an advance proof and what's interesting is that at first glance it seems the most definitive collection of information I've ever seen, but one soon realizes McGee is much too smart to believe he's got the final answer. I'm reluctant to quote from an uncorrected proof, but I think I'm safe in noting out that in his introduction, he quotes a French chef as saying "I know that I never know," at the first workshop of what has now become the International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy 'N. Kurti.' I'd still bet that this book will settle a lot of bets. I can only imagine the effort it took McGee to basically rewrite this book. I think of his editors with a certain amount of envy and pity. There was however, considerable justification for the new work. Twenty years ago predates the Molecular Gastronomy movement and the current acute interest in the science of food preparation. With that interest has also come the increased knowledge to satisfy the interest and who better than McGee to put it all together again.