
jaybee
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Everything posted by jaybee
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I will check my cellar this weekend and let you know. I think I still have a few bottles left.
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A thread unravelled: if a reader starts at the most recent post in this thread and works his/her way up, there isn't a clue that it started with Ouest as the topic. Not complaining, mind you, just observing. Without pulling strings, how long does it take to get a dinner reservation at Ouest while not still full from breakfast or too near midnight snack time?
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I know what you mean. We took that route in the late 70s. Raymond Thoullier was stilll in action at Baumanier, Madame Point was keeping the faith at La Pyramide, Jacques Pic was in the kitchen, Rostaing Sr. was making lobster consumme by the beach. Verge was earning his three stars. For food, that was a highlight. It was also memorable because just outside Avignon a stupid high school girl pumped both cars in our group full of gazole (they were petrol engines). It took the better part of the day to get the engines flushed and working well enough to bring the cars back to Hertz for replacements!
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I don't quite agree with you Steve. Yes, the fesh charm of an ancient walled town and timbered buildings does wear off after your third or fourth tour. But the wonderful aspect of France is that with all the trips and the years, my sense of discovery is still sparked by being in a region or town I've never seen. The Sologne was so different from other regions, and so enjoyable, and this trip was just two years ago. I suppose the same would be true for Italy and possibly Spain, but somehow no other country has captured us as has France. I've yet to go to Britanny and Normandy!
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Over the last 30 years, we've averaged quite a few holidays in France. We have the good fortune to have great friends (and relatives) with whom we travel who are dedicated trip researchers and ace planners. We agree on strategy, region and main goals, then he connects the dots. There was a three star trip from Paris to Nice that went through Baumaniere, Troisgros, Lameloise, Pic, Pyramide to name a few. But my favorite was a recent two week visit to the Sologne during October. It was game season. The misty, almost mysterious landscapes, small towns wth great antique shops and the food, oh the food in nearly every little restaurant, auberge and bistro we chose. The game birds, hare, boar, venison, were prepared in rustic style. A great fan of tarte tatin, we went to it's namesake hotel in Lamotte-Beuvron and oh joy, was not disappointed. It was even better than my own! When I can, I will go into more detail. Suffice to say that a warm glow comes over the four of us when we talk about that trip. Do you have a favorite trip? Where did you go? Why does it stand out over all the others?
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Beachfan, I have limited experience with your downtown benchmarks, (I know Balducci's meats and cheese and they are usually great) but I will say in over 25 years of steady patronage that I have never found Murray's to be less than superb in taste, texture and quality of slicing for smoked salmon, sturgeon, whitefish, pickled herring in cream sauce, or sable. I have never had better smoked salmon, except for some smoked Norwegian wild salmon that I bought at Petrossian. I also think Murray's sell a better bagel than BGs. Murray's tuna and whitefish salads are very tasty and they serve a vegetarian "chopped liver" that my daughter (a non-meat eater) loves.
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Simon, for my money, the smoked fish at Murray's beats any I've had in NY and perhaps anywhere. Their pickled herring is the tops. But they are take out only. Here's a tip. You can phone in an order to Murray's and pick it up without waiting at the counter on busy weekends. Barney Greengrass is more than the food. The whole experience, the place, the customers, the staff make it a unique place to eat. Gary, who has run it for several years is my next door neighbor. He's a very lovely man and totally dedicated to the place. But I really miss "Shirl" and "Moe". The wallpaper in the dining room is something else! And the Nova/eggs/onions dish is one of my favorite things to eat in the world. They caramelize the onions in chicken fat long beforehand, then combine with the nova and eggs. uuhhhhmmmmnnn (Homer Simpson sound). :)
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Beachfan, you should go, but for a weekday lunch if you can, Sunday if that's your only choice. I eat lunch at BGs at least once a week. The not to be missed nova/eggs/onions plate is delicious and a signature dish. The sturgeon is very good. So is their sable. They have very good cheese blinzes. If you are with company, a platter is the best way to go: sturgeon, nova, sable would be my choices. The whitefish is variable. Pickled herring is OK but not great. The cold borscht with sour cream is very good as a beverage. Good chopped liver. Their corned beef sandwich is among the best I've had. Ditto the chicken soup with matzo balls. Order appetizer plate instead of a sandwich and make your own. Nova and sturgeon (3 slices each) come with tomato, onion, pickle, cream cheese, butter and a bagel of choice. Fresh squeezed orange juice is very good. The place is a zoo on weekends, so get there early or resolve to wait a long time in a milling crowd that will spill out to the street. If you are alone and don't mind a squeeze, you can get a place at the small counter in the front room (BGs version of a sushi bar) usually a lot faster than a table. It's no day at the beach but can be a real experience. I love to people watch there, especially the midwestern tourists who haven't a clue. Also note that no credit cards are acccepted on weekends. Cash only.
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I tried to reply to this on the original thread but it seems locked. So I'll try this method. I started a cellar in earnest in 1966. Being a novice, I decided that the more the better, so I built a cave that could hold about 1000 bottles. I used octagonal clay tiles (they're called "ag tiles" and used for leaching fields for septic systems!). Each holds a 750 ml bottle perfectly. I eventually bought 80 cases (about 950 bottles). Being a novice wine snob I went right for the top and bought mostly first growth Bordeaux reds (a good smattering of premier grand crus) and too many whites for our drinking frequency. (I have some lovely grand cru Chablis from 1966 that make nice bookends). A few very good burgundies from the early '60s found their way in too. (Recently drank a '66 Bonnes Mare (or is it Bonne Mares?) that was down there for over 25 years and it was wonderful). The average price (1966-1972) was about $65-$96 per case of 12 750 ml bottles! I am just now drinking the last of my '66s, '70s and have a few '75s. The '61s are all gone, alas. The cellar is in our weekend house so we drink fewer than four bottles a month, if that, except for summer, when the champagne and young white wine consumption goes up. The point of all that history is to say that if you enjoy good wine, you'll never get it as inexepensively as when you do the aging. So my advice is to build as large a cellar as you can possibly build and stock it with as much good wine as you can afford, including futures. Within reason, of course. (Excellent Bordeaux futures can be had for relatively reasonable prices. Unfortunately I missed all of the 2000 offerings before the Parker ratings caused them to skyrocket). Then drink good young wines until your stock is ready. At that point, depending on your age and liver, just deplete, deplete, deplete.
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Friday night we (6) are dining at City Hall. I so enjoyed the burger I had at lunch (Steve Shaw's suggestion) and the look of the food on other tables that I had to go back. I would appreciate any suggestions for dishes we shouldn't miss (try saying "don't miss dish" after one of their martinis).
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Thanks Steve P for your description of lunch. Vicarious lunch though it was, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now Ihave some unfinished business to add to my list. Lunch at PL. Inspired idea. Did you have dinner that night?
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In the early 1970s I worked on a microwave cooked bacon product called Reddi-bacon. It was a based on a technology owned at that time by the Reddi-whip people (Hunt-Wesson) and licensed to Sugardale Foods in Canton, Ohio. We (Grey Advertising) conducted research on the product. It was packed in toast-sized packs each containing five strips of perfectly cooked premium bacon. Four or five packs were in each box (20-25 strips total). To heat, you popped a pack in the toaster. In two or three minutes up popped ready to eat bacon. A small absorbent pad at the bottom of the pack took up any residual grease. The product was delicious. Our research showed that the product was so good that bacon consumption increased from a weekend treat to a nightly snack or meal accompanyment. Mothers reported having to hide the packages from their kids. The product was too much of a good thing! Another problem with the business at that time was that Sugardale wanted to price it like a packaged food--the same all the time. Pork belly prices fluctuated so much that they could not keep a steady shelf price. The product never made to to the market. Maybe Hormel solved these problems.
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Gee Steve, were you scared by a lox slicer as a child? This must be a terrible burden.
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Steve, do you mean that you think I've made up the story? Or are you commenting on a flaw in service in a 3 star restaurant, which, in my experience, does happen. For some reason, the waiter did not feel fluent enough in English, or confident in his ability to make us understand what he was saying that he side stepped the issue. Who knows. That wasn't the point of the story, was it?
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I used to feel the same way. Recently I have enjoyed a good gin martini straight up with a starter of clams and oysters on the half shell. There something about the way the cold gin mixes with the taste of the clams that creates a new and very enjoyable flavor. And if I order a dozen or more clams and the martinis to go with them, whatever follows always tastes great!
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Many Americans I know talk defensively about "arrogance" of the waitstaff (Maitre 'd) in "fancy" French restaurants. They are uncomfortable and feel as they are in a battle from the start. An early lesson in a three Michelin starred restaurant taught me that from top to bottom, the staff want you to have a great experience. Four nascent Francophile gourmets were at Table at Dodin Bouffant, when it's chef and founder was in residence (I think his name was Manier). We had researched the place carefully and knew its signature dishes, among which was a "seafood omelette." Our practice was often to order a fifth entree or main course "for the table" so as not to miss anythng good. We did so here. After starters and some wait, we saw that the omelette was not to be ours. Puzzled (after all, 3 stars!) we asked the waiter to bring it. He looked worried. Soon after, a tall, dignified man came up the stairs and made his way across the dining room. My brother-in-law recgonizing him, said "oh look, there's the great man hmself." The "great man" came directly over to our table, bowed slightly, smiled warmly and said in lovely French accented English "good evening", to which we replied, a little nervously, "good evening." "You are enjoying your meal?" he asked. "Oui" said we. "I wish to tell you your meal is on the wrong track." he continued. much to our chagrin. (We were about to get a "c" in 3 star ordering. What if the word got around?) "I will explain." And explain he did. "You order the lobster bisque, yes? And then you order the seafood omelette. The sauce on the omelette is the same as the lobster bisque, so if you have one, you do not need the other." Wagging his index finger from side to side like an admonishing teacher he straightened up and finished his lesson, "It is redundant." Wrong track? Redundant? These were unfamiliar concepts to we untrained Americans. At this point, a heaping plate of seafood omelette appeared and was placed in the middle of the table, family style. Two forkfulls proved the man right. It was quite redundant, though delicious. From that moment on, we have always been careful to ask the captain if our meal is on the right track. More than once we were advised that an herb in the starter will clash in our aftertaste with a sauce in the main, so we might do well to pick a different starter. Or that a particular wine would compliment a sauce better than our choice, because the sauce was made with it. A friend was refused a cup of coffee at the start of a meal in a simple country bistro by "madame" with the reasoning that the bitterness of the coffee would ruin his palate for the meal that was to follow. My friend explained that, if he didn't get an expresso soon, he would be asleep and unable to eat. Madame said "ahhh" and brought the coffee poste haste. At another country bistro, we were advised to try a cold glass of sauterne with our foies gras instead of our ordered champagne. New to the game, we agreed, and have not ordered anything but such with our foies gras since. If you care to read my member bio, you will see how much I have learned at the hands of talented, dedicted and ambitious chefs, restauranteurs, and wait staff. We leave our defensive- ness at the door and assume the advice, or guidance of the staff is offered not to make us feel like dumb Americans, but to help us enjoy the meal. So the best advice I'd have to getting the best from French restaurant dining is to let them do their best, ask questions, no matter how dumb they seem, and unless you really know better, take their advice. When they see you do this, they will take responsibility for you and pride in your pleasure.
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Well, yes. But there seem to be few in this august group who don't. {:-)
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Wow, Peter! And I thought I was being creative with my "Bis-trots" story! So I wasn't too far off from reality after all. Too bad Trotsky didn't trot fast in Mexico. He might have lived to compete with Stalin.
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Whenever I order specials at a kosher deli, the waiter asks "boiled or grilled." I like the texture of boiled but the extra crispness and little char on the skin of grilled. So I say "both". They don't like that. I do this at home with kosher beef franks and kockwurst or specials. I found that this makes the texture of the skin "plunkier" and the mouthfeel of the meat better than pan grilling alone. Pan grilling to get the skin to the texture I like usually requires more time than the filling benefits from on such intense heat. Also, unless you have one of those rotating grills, you have to keep turning them to get an evenly done skin. The meat starts to get a little dry on the outside edges or cooks unevenly. As you say, they are already cooked, so the job is to get the skin texture right all around and keep the insides evenly hot and juicy. Boiling first does that.
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I can recommend an alternative to a restaurant. Tadisch's Grill makes a wonderful cioppino. I never leave SF without having some. Several years ago I asked for the recpe and the waiter handed me a brochure that offered jars of their cioppino sauce. I keep at least six quarts of the stuff on hand. Follow the recipe for ingredients and you'll have a great version at home. After a while, you can improvise on the basic recipe. I found that adding clam juice or fresh clam liquor and/or some shrimp stock instead of water to cut the sauce adds a great flavor. Make some sourdough garlic toast, add a crisp white wine...yum
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Oh boy, this is a dangerous topic. I get hungry after reading a few posts. Jinmyo, your recipe sounds like heaven. I find that "specials" or knockwurst satisfy more than hot dogs, though the ones they serve at Artie's in NYC on the upper West side are really good. Years ago, there were a couple of carts in midtown that had the slogan "New York's Best Hot Dog" in blue on a yellow backgound. The franks were big and fat, cooked on a flat griddle, had a crisp skin and were spicy and juicy. They were served with real deli mustard on a firm, yeasty bun. The cart was usually on the corner of Fifth and 57th. I asked who made their franks and the vendor said they were custom made by Sabretts, using a recipe of their own making. I haven't seen them in years and wonder what became of them. Fat Guy, the combination of a grilled kosher hot dog and a crispy baguette is great. The engineering is cool too. BTW, does anyone else boil their franks until the skin is tight and finish them to a dark crispness in a fry pan?
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Legend has it that the name "bistrot" came about in the Napoleanic era as a result of the poor hygiene and low quality of food served in the inexpensive tiny restaurants that were housed in the very small buildings that had "bis" in the address, such as 242 bis Rue De Grenelle. Diners at these establishments rapidly developed intestinal problems and had to hurry to "la toilette" several times in the course of the meal-- hence the appelation "bistrots". (oh, I'll walk a mile for a pun).
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Excellent point. I was thinking the same thing when I tried to answer Baruch's question. That's why I used the term "traditional" bistro and asked which French places posters used as their benchmarks. Any bistro that is created now and consciously refers to the "old" style in decor and menu is self-conscious. It is a reproduction, designed to evoke a specific feeling from bygone days. (The real, original, places such as Chez Denis are "authentic" and an endangered species. There are few, if any, like it in New York in terms of cuisine). But then isn't any place self-conscious if it is carefully designed to evoke a specific feeling? Ilo's, for one example.
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Here's a related question: is there a bistro in New York that you would choose over your top choice in Paris if they were side by side? Is there one you would rate as an equal.