Who said French cooking was good?

[Scottf]

This may be of interest:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml...24/ixwmain.html

Quite a narrow view in my opinion. Perhaps he should have come here for some recommendations first

[Steve Klc]

There's little of interest here except predictable self-reinforcement of one's readership.

[Simon Majumdar]

Going to Lipp and expecting good food and then complaining when you don't get it is like coming to London and going to All Bar One and thinking it is great.

Oh hold on Fat Guy's already done that

S

[StephenT]

There's little of interest here except predictable self-reinforcement of one's readership.

In other words, nothing of interest at all

[Wilfrid]

The only depressing thing is that he's described as a "Paris correspondent". If he hasn't a clue how to eat in Paris, what's the value of his work in general? Idiot.

[Bouland]

I guess he would have preferred faggots and spotted dick.

[OSulliM78]

There's little of interest here except predictable self-reinforcement of one's readership.

I guessed that to be absolutely untrue - wouldn't the DT readership be of the "can't get a bad meal in France" persuasion?

[peterpumkino]

He has a bit of a point - except he should have started his tome with the word 'many' rather than 'most'. Let's face it 'Moules et Frites' is not my idea of gourmet (or even good) food. But, guys, remember that a newspaper article is not written in gold. The writer's job is to sell newspapers, good news doesn't do this, bad news does. Don't forget the article in the NYT last week trashing Brit restaurant. All the whiners leapt on that one patting themselves on the back saying, smugly, that they were right all along!!!

You can't have it both ways. Moral of the tale: take this kind of article with a big pinch of salt (that goes for the NYT as well).

[mamster]

Going to Lipp and expecting good food and then complaining when you don't get it is like coming to London and going to All Bar One and thinking it is great.

Yeah. He should have gone to La Régalade!

Oh, wait.

There are a few places in the world where delicious and inexpensive meals are to be found practically everywhere. Paris is not one of those places, but I don't see why that should either surprise someone or dissuade him from eating here.

[Gavin Convery]

He does have a small point that I'm sure we'd all agree with, that good food is not found everywhere, that's why a lot of us frequent these boards trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. But what I find really irritating is his smug xenophobic Brit attitude that in fact johnny foreigner isn't as clever as he thinks he is even though there is considerably more chaff in the UK than in France.....ah well that's all I'd expect from the Torygraph.....

[Bux]

And that's exactly what makes it irritating and offensive, but as other have suggested, it sells newspapers. It's reminiscent of the kind of article that appeard in the popular media about Alain Ducasse's restaurant in NY when it first opened, although there was no "Brit" in the smug xenophobic Brit attitude then. It's not a specifically UK attitude.

Food is France has deteriorated greatly at almost all levels but the very top since the sixties, while it seems to have improved at least as much in the US and the UK. Some would say it had nowhere else to go in all of those countries. My sense is that the tide has turned in France the signs lately are good, but it helps to do your homework when selecting restaurants if you care about what you eat.

[Steve Klc]

Peter--do you have a link to that article? The last I read praised Shaun Hill but my NYT attention has been spotty recently.

Gavin--yes as far as the wheat from the chaff is concerned--another indictment of the sloppy DT writer for either not possessing a palate capable of discerning the difference or not seeking out trusted sources to tell him where he should be going.

OSulli--wouldn't you think the persuasion would be "why do we have to go to France for food?" or do you really mean the readership couldn't tell the difference anyway?

[peterpumkino]

Steve:

I don't have the link but here's the site:

nyimes.com

It's the July 17 edition, food section.

And in the Guardian here's another one that should get all the whiners going (I'm nothing if not impartial!).

getting ripped off in the u.k. at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4463970,00.html

But before the whiners start remember this: The Guardian is a very left wing paper and is very anti-American and very, very anti-George W. Bush plus it starts by comparing restaurants in Tuscany and Piemonte with those in London - an absolutely absurd comparision in my opinion. Remember what I said about newspapers being there to sell newspapers!

Enjoy it though.

[peterpumkino]

Sorry, that should read:

nytimes.com

[Steve Klc]

Peter--the very sympathetic NYT treatment of restaurants in Ludlow, including praise for Shaun Hill, ran June 19th and was by Marian Burros.