Mrs. B

Just another country and another continent where the Michelin list isn't my list. The interesting thing is to realize just how much perhaps we've let Michelin influence our thinking about French cuisine and choice of restaurants in France. Our opinions have, I suspect, always been tempered by knowing the star level in advance of a meal. Based on our tastes and experiences, I find a good part of this list to be rather bizarre, but no more out of kilter with our experience in Spain or more recently in Italy. My guess is that Daniel was hurt by the sheer number of covers they serve an evening. Whether the numbers alone prejudiced the inspectors into believing they couldn't maintain consistency, whether they found inconsistency or were simply offended by the number of times a new table was seated are things we can only speculate about. The one stars seem a particular hodge podge of choices. Blue Hill, one of our favorite restaurants in Manhattan along with Daniel, Cafe Boulud and WD-50, is most conspicuous by its absence, imho. We took vserna, a member here and a Spanish critic and journalist on food and wine, to Blue Hill when he was in NY promoting his own wine. (He's also a winemaker.) He went to Craft on his own. He wrote about the restaurants he visited in the US in an El Mundo (Madrid) travel supplement. His comments on Blue Hill couldn't have been more glowingly positive. I suspect he won't be disappointed given what he's had to say about Michelin in the Spain forum.

For perhaps sentimental reasons, as perhaps sentimental reasons are as good a way to pick among brasseries, or among the Flo brasseries, we like Vaudeville. Balzar didn't seem worth a return and Lipp never really appealed to us. La Coupole was a hangout for us some forty years ago and it's changed enough not to return on the basis of sentimentality. La Coupole is just no longer there in that context.

It did for me at Pierre Gagnaire as well. Fortunately, I made up for it with some stellar meals at less "stellar" restaurants. ← The problem with life on the cutting edge is that one can be left bleeding.

← Quite a departure in format.

They hold a number of covers open for walk-ins, but I'd suggest arriving early to count on a table, so it may not be any better than arriving ten minutes late for a 6:45 reservation. It would be interesting to hear about the wait for a table at various times on various days. We were there the other night and here's what Bux posted, or at least as much as is reasonable to repost here.

http://www.uvm.edu/vtquarterly/vqfall05/shaw.html Better information on this site in the France forum. The wine is much appreciated for drinking, but also for cooking morels, chicked and even lobster. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1036405 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=60211 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=787416

As far as we know, vin jaune is made entirely from savagnin grapes. It's not a grape grown much in France and it's cultivation is probably restricted to the Jura region. Bux knows more about this stuff than I do and I think he's already posted about the first time we had chicken and morels in vine jaune. Anyway, it's a great wine with an unsual flavor akin to sherry in a way (resulting from the "flor" that develops in the cask) and it may take something of an educated palate to appreciate. http://www.chambres-hotes-jura.com/gite_de...a.html#vinjaune

Since I too was one of the "lurkers" who did not post a question, I'd like to thank Chef Adria for his time, effort and interest he took to communicate with us. It is rare to find a famous chef give so much of himself.

Several of the Relais et Chateaux hotels in the area offer one and more days of cuisine. If you don't have their book, check the website, I believe they list cooking courses.

The pass is the area in the kitchen where the plates get their final touches, plate cleaning and inspection by the chef and where they are "passed" to the waiters. Hearth has three stools on the side of the counter where the plates wait for the waiters. You can watch some of the cooking in the kitchen from those seats. It is sort of cool because you get to see what the offerings are before you decide what to order.

I had the sweetbreads wrapped in cabbage leaves floating on a beautifully clear and flavorful beef consome with a brunoise of carrots. It was really good. I ordered the duck which was a combination of a small breast roasted rare and a confit drumstick. The confit was very tasty, just right. The breast was cooked at the proper rareness (as I asked) but it was chewy, tough and tasteless. I have bought tastier duck breasts from d' Artagnan in Gourmet Garage. I was a bit surprised and dissappointed. At $90 pp incl wine and tip I expect better. We had a Wolffer Reserve Merlot, NY State wine. I guess Stan liked it because it was smoother than the wines we usually get which are heavier and tannic.

I agree with Bux, but if you insist on staying at the Tryp hotel near the airport they supposedly offer a free shuttle as mentioned in the information page in the airline's computer: "FREE SHUTTLE FROM THE HOTEL TO THE AIRPORT WHERE YOU CAN CONECT THE TRAIN AND BUS. " You can take the shuttle back to the airport after you've checked into the hotel and take the metro into the city. I don't know how late the shuttle works so you might end up having to take a taxi from the city center to the airport hotel.

Menu translation, (with Pedro's assistance): - Córdoba's salmorejo with iberico ham and quail egg. - Maple smoked foie gras over vanilla bread and rose chutney - Morels au gratin with white shrimp and green asparagus - Cold potato salad with chicharro (trachurus picturatus) - Snails in two different recipes: - - Stewed with Saracen wheat - - A la llauna (see the thread "On snails" for more info) - Grilled large red prawns (carabinero in Spanish, aristeus antennatus) with Iberic pork jowl - Fried egg over a boletus edulis (king mushroom, cep) mousse with fresh truffles [not listed on the handwritten menu] - Iberico pork with sauted season greens, mole poblano and wheat tortillas Unfortunately, by the time the rest of the meal came along, we were too engrossed in the conversation and too many wines to take more pictures. - Assortment of cheeses - Sorbets and ice creams - Sheep milk flan with pacharán (Navarrian's liquor made with sloes) - Light cake of chocolate stuffed with chile chipotle - Moroccan tea (with mint, leaves from the lemon tree, etc)

"critters" -- perhaps the added protein in your mushrooms was the cause of your side-effects We purchased some cepes in a market in France this past month and when cleaning them found some had little holes indicating the possibility of little worms. We were told by a chef to cut the cepes up, blanch them in boiling water with vinegar (the vinegar kills any worms or parasites), dry them and sautee them.

This is the first chance I get to read this thread (Bux tends to hog the computer when we are on vacation ) Thank you Lucyand Loic for such a wonderful evening. And you certainly guessed right about our meal the previous evening. Light it was not, it was a typical Lyonnaise meal. Bux had the "tablier de sapeur" for those not in the know it is basically a slab from the stomach (tripe) breaded and fried. I had my favorite, "pied de cochon" boned (thank god or we would have spent three hours for lunch on one dish) repacked with some breadcrumbs and fried, served with a side of potatoes gratin. If I had walked ten hours after I might have digested that lunch in time for dinner. Light it was not. What Bux neglected to mention (you blinded him with such a magnificent tray of cheese) was the wonderful octopus dish and the incredibly velvety, mushroomy soup. The wines were wonderful too, I can't believe we went through four bottles, but this was also a very rich meal and one needed all that wine to help with digestion, no ? It was all wonderful, thank you again.