Bux

Of course the reason not put fleur de sel in your stew pot is that it tastes just like salt and when it's dissolved, and a whole lot more expensive. It's really not much different from any other salt in terms of taste. In fact, I'd just as soon have that dirty grey stuff in my soup. I believe it is richer in other trace elements and flavors of the sea. What's unique about fleur de sel is it's uniform size somewhere short of coarse salt crystals and it's crystaline structure. Under a microscope you can see its rough surface which helps it hook onto food unlike most course salts which tend to slide right off the food. I don't know about the two island producers of sea salt and fleur de sel, but one can buy salt from peddlers at tables along the salt flats near Geurande for next to nothing. It's a little more expensive in town and a whole lot more so in the states after it gets into fancy packages.

I realize a lot of people are very literal and more than a bit conservative when it comes to eating and talking about food, but the concepts of wit and pun in naming new restaurant dishes arrived in force some decades ago with nouvelle cuisine. Of course it's really been around before any of us were born. Head cheese is not a dairy product. I don't suppose there are any marzipan fans among those who object to those playful names.

Celery is to me, distinctly Belgian, although I am now starting to see celery in the preparations outside Belgium. I will also say that most of the places I saw in Belgium seem to offer many styles of cooking. This is true in France as well these days. I remember when they only came marinière" all over France and with cream in Normandy.

Given that the Shake Shack is just a block away, I was going to ask for a comparison of the burgers. I realize the Shake Shack doesn't offer all those toppings, but how do the patties, lettuce, tomato and bun rate against each other and relative to price. They seem to occupy the same middle level of the market. I like the idea that people can talk of relative healthiness even when talking of a bacon cheeseburger, but soya oil is highly over rated (by the soy oil council or whatever) and lard or tallow, is probably no worse in which to fry potatoes. Is there such a thing as all natural American cheese? I thought it was all processed stuff, but I may be wrong on that.

And you went back for a second slice?

I was once riding the train in France with a family and a couple of kids eating McDo salads. I innocently mentioned that McDonald's in the US didn't have salads like the ones the kids were eating. What the hell did I know about what McDonald's offers. When I got back to the states I noticed a big sign in a McDonald's window advertising just the sort of salad I didn't think they served.

I think the reason it feels intrinsically Spanish is that there are so many creative chefs in Spain today who feel the freedom to create and yet are strongly influenced by the traditional food of Spain and the food cooked by the grandmothers. As for going to eat there--whenever we can get a table. Clearly there was an audience ready for this food.

You say Mas is probably a two star restaurant. Could you clarify that? Do you mean that based on your meals there it seems like a two star place to you?

Speaking of reviews half filled and half empty, one gets to know more about posters than about the reviews they criticize here.

Food is a concern, but cheese is not one of the foods that seems to be a part of that concern. At JFK, an official went so far as to tell me chocolate was not food as if I was bothering them by declaring it. So much for the top of my food chain, or at least the non-alcoholic part.

They probably know already. Your name is on the reservation chart. That's where they look to see who's coming to dinner.

My butter was absolutely at the perfect temperature and consistency for spreading and I had no need to scrape it off the top. I rather hoped that was typical and a sign that someone was paying attention to detail. The salt itself was another indication, but on the whole made little impression on me. Some people like salt butter, others like sweet.

My experience is similar to Kahrs'. We were served cold mugicha on entering a ryokan on a hot day. Up until that time, we'd always been served hot green tea upon checking into a Japanese inn. We found the mugicha very refreshing.

This is not correct! Although the signature dish of Léon is Moules Frites, they have many other items on the menu, Fish, steak, steack tartare, and salads. But let me also reiterate that the moules are the only thing to order here, even though there are many other choices. Frankly, moules frites is a fairly simple dish, in a butter-garlic sauce, so I could not see going 2 1/2 hours to Brussels for just moules. We thought the moules we had here (for lunch) were quite acceptable, and the frites were above average. When someone says that the dish here is inferior, in what way? Was it the mussels, or the sauce? Both are so simple, it's hard to imagine a significant difference as the dish prepared in Léon is quite good. La carte de Léon de Bruxelles. Although one could be left with the impression that all they offer is moules frîtes it seems they have a broader carte. I've not eaten at a Léon de Bruxelles in Paris, nor at Léon in Brussels, but in general I feel I've had plumper and more flavorful mussels in Belgium than in France. It's a gross generalization, of course. It's the simplest dishes which often separate the very good restaurants from the very mediocre, however. I've had overcooked and dried out reheated mussels on more than one continent. The fact that a dish is easy to prepare is no guarantee it will be well prepared anywhere. Chain restaurants have an advantage of economy and a means therefore to be a good value. Their system of distribution may afford the freshest product or the stalest product depending on how it's operated. I know this is a generalization that may be seen as unfair to chains, but rarely are chain restaurants operated by professional cooks of great ability, or with the same pride as a smaller individual chef operated restaurant. That said, they often have the advantage of keeping the bottom level higher than at independent greasy spoons. I understand your reasoning however that if they are good in one place, how much better can they be elsewhere. As for going two and a half hours just for mussels, that's probably why I rarely think of ordering mussels in Paris. I can get very good moules frîtes less than two and a half blocks from where I live in Manhattan and have several other choices not much further away than that. I love mussels, but don't think of them as special to France.

First, welcome to eGullet. I don't mean to imply that the decision to open Casa Momo was a questionable one. I've really loved what I've had there and enjoyed the opportunity to further explore Spanish wines. It's simply that I'm curious about what led you to open a tapas restaurant, albeit a New York interpretation rather than an imitation of one in Spain and what led you to open a restaurant inspired by Spanish food. Did an interest in Spanish food lead you to think "tapas bar," did an interest in serving tapas style courses lead you to consider Spanish food? I see a progenitor in the Italian tapas, or antipasti, served at Otto. Am I off the mark here? It would have almost seemed a natural to open an Italian snack bar without any particular precedent, so why Spanish food, or at least Spanish food as a starting influence rather than Italian food which might have seemed a safer idea? My interest in Spanish cooking has been rather intense lately and I've been traveling extensively in Spain. While the food at Casa Momo doesn't remind me of any particular restaurant or place in Spain, it's not so far removed that I would be surprised to discover such food in a new restaurant in Madrid.

Now that you've opened the topic to a broader range, I've thought of less traditional cold foods and particularly of ice cream. I don't really know how important ice cream has been in Spain. With modern refrigeration and distribution it's all over the place, but I'm thinking of the more unusual flavors and uses at chef driven restaurants. Well before Elena became a force in Arzak's kitchen, Juan Mari Arzak served a tarragon ice cream with a pear dessert that was striking. This was also before herbs became popular ice cream flavors, although they had been popping up elsewhere in desserts by the time I had tasted Arzak's food. Maybe the best dessert ice cream I've had was at Mugaritz, where Andoni Luis Aduriz served an intense calcabaza ice cream with caramelized pumpkin seeds. I think I was also positively influenced by the wonderful color of the ice cream that was almost, but not quite, cantaloupe, mango or peach. Perhaps even more interesting are the savory ice creams which are being seen all over in haute cuisine, but this is an area in which the Spanish chefs have pioneered to a great extent.

Cuisine grandmere, or cocina abuelita, it's well appreciated by the great Spanish chefs as well and that includes those who are known for their very creative cooking. This is from the DIGEST:

A task much more difficult if you are not the waiter but rather an unstarred home cook wihtout any authority. Mrs. B has no problem not only telling me how the food will be served, but that I will like it--all with good authority.

It is of course, the Leon de Bruxelles chain than my Belgian friend says offers moules frîtes in Paris that are inferior to those served in Belgium. I don't know what that says about French food, or Belgian food, that so many come to Paris yearning for a dish that can be had better elsewhere. I've hardly made a scientific study of mussels, but the plumpest I've had have been in Belgium. From my early travels in France, I associate mussels with Brittany and Normandy, but not all that much with Paris. In fact, in Paris, I mostly remember having them in Breton crèperie/restaurants. They were never served with frîtes. Today, the French restaurants in New York that serve mussels, tend to serve them with French fries.

Have you tried doing a search? I'm sure the restaurant's been mentioned many times. He's highly respected. The food is very creative and although most reports are excellent, I've heard from those who did not enjoy dinner there. The latter may be true of every restaurant. What exactly do you want to know about it, or more specifically what do you already know about it?

My understanding is that it will be out this fall. Expect a complete rewrite more than just an update.

I find it fascinating, that within my adult lifetime, a classic Belgian dish has been adopted by the French to the extent that it's so identified by others. Then again, I'm told that French fries are themselves of Belgian origin, not French. When I first traveled to France, one never saw frîtes served with mussels. Now moules frîtes is as common as steak frîtes. This is even the case in the reaches of Brittany, where every other crèperie is also a pizzeria today. Unfortunately, I don't know a reliable source of the dish in Paris. There's a chain of (Belgian) restaurants in Paris that is know for their moules frîtes, but I can't really say how good it is. A Belgian friend has only told me that the mussels there are not as good as in Belgium. I have to say that the mussels I've had in Belgium were probably much better than the ones I've had in France.

Jesus, what can you tell us about the Raff tomatoes? When I see them in the market, they are usually at least partly green and rather misshapen or at least not at all the perfect little red globe of a fruit that is grown in hot houses in Holland. Most noticeable of all is that they usually cost at least twice as much as the perfect red balls. I suspect they are a type of tomato bred for their flavor and not eye appeal. I think of them much as I do of the heirloom tomatoes that farmers here in the northeast of the US have started to cultivate in great quantity and which are so highly prized by the best restaurants, but I don't have experience with the Raffs in Spain.

eGullet.com should be large enough to accommodate the interests of those who love the latest innovative cuisine and those who love the traditional food. It was the reputation of Arzak and Adrià that brought me back to Spain, and once back, I developed an interest in the regional and traditional foods as well as in the great chefs whose names are less well known in the states. Good food is a passionate interest of mine, but so is creative thinking. When they're put together, I find it rewarding to taste the results. "Grandmother's cooking" is a style of cooking appreciated by any true gastronome. Ask any great French chef.

My first andouillette was in a one star restaurant in Joigny at a time when Côtes St. Jacques had no stars at all. I am reluctant to make any anatomical references to race horses in a paragraph that speaks of first experiences. Let's just say I knew only that it was a sausage and a local specialty and that there was nothing small and delicate about the object set before me. I was young adventurous and fairly commited to learning all there was to know about French food, but I was unprepared for a plate of food that smelled more like a stall in need of cleaning than, ... well, a plate of food. I was proud of spotting that local food on the menu and of selecting a local wine--a vin gris de quelque chose from someplace near Chablis I have never heard of or seen since, but it was excellent with the tripe--but I suspected that a little research might be worse than no research at all and something more familiar such as a few snails or frogs' legs might have been a better ides. I'm sure I've written about the experience before on eGullet, but I can't find the post, so bear with me if you've heard it before. To make what seemed like a very long meal, a short account, I will say that a combination of embarrassment and curiosity led me to attack this thing, albeit it with trepidation rather than gusto. Throughout most of the course, I felt I was one bite away from stopping with Mrs. B's less than encouraging "You don't really have to finish it," ringing in my ears, yet each time I put that one last bite in my mouth, I found some reason to have another. Admittedly, some of those reasons, especially early in the course, had more to do with machismo than than anything else, but somewhere close to the finish, I was hooked on the whole thing and I became a convert. I believe I said something to the effect that it wasn't as big as it looked, when I finished. I'm not sure today if I prefer the more delicate sausages, or the coarsest packing of guts replete with all the aroma that separates the men from the boys.