Sam Sifton’s latest review focuses on classic French cuisine at a place where, apparently, rich people who’ve had plastic surgery and wear “soft cashmere jackets and rolled silk ties” hang out. They feast on things like pike quenelles, frogs’ legs and Dover sole, and finish their revelatory dining experience with soufflé.

La Grenouille, the restaurant in question, is a New York institution, a family-run business on East 52nd Street that’s been around since 1975. Sifton marvels over the leather-skinned crowd, the caviar and even the carpeting. He mentions his tongue twice – pea soup “lingers” and pistachio-crusted terrine “caresses.” Okay, so this makes me vomit a little in my mouth – he also notes that the foie gras melts like “velvet in the mouth.” Also, vomit.

But I can’t tackle this one. I’m biased. I adore a dimly-lit bistro, would travel for a perfect steak frites or coq au vin with a carafe of pedestrian red. I feel less awed by than uncomfortable around opulence and old money. I hate quenelles made of fish. I think I might hate all quenelles – I can’t get used to food that’s been molded.

A small part of me almost rebelled against Sifton’s assertion that classical French cuisine is something to be honored and protected and maintained. Can’t we create new classics? More accessible classics? Of course we can, and we are doing so, I remembered. But these innovations and deviations would never come about without the presence of the original.

Sifton captures the atmosphere well. It’s dreamy. And if I experienced it, as he suggests we all do as New Yorkers, I might be sucked into the opulence, too. I’ve never had a country terrine, or tasted great foie gras. And no, I can’t afford to and neither can most New Yorkers. But I suppose it’s possible such things would inspire me to mention my tongue.

Read Sifton’s review of La Grenouille in The New York Times

Beef Bourguignon: What a yummy, warm and luscious dish.  Julia’s made it and Ina makes it today.   I’ve been making it for years, too.  In fact, it was one of my ex’s favorite dishes. Culinary skills were never a marital problem. Ironically today when we go out to dinner with our kids we usually both order the same thing!

I’ve buffed the menu up with the addition of a sparkly Kir Royale cocktail (creme de cassis or chambord with champage) and the most beautiful sugarplum and apple tart. The dessert is found at Epicurious and when I figure out how to link in and copy the photo – I’ll post it.

Beef Bourguignon Menu

*  Kir Royale – creme de cassis &champagne
*  Cheese Platter with Marinated Olives & Crackers or French Bread (i’ll select cheeses from the Venissimo Cheese Shop in Hillcrest – great store)
*  Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette (a la Ina Garten)
*  Beef  Bourguignon
*  Mashed potatoes or buttered noodles
*  Dessert: Sugarplum Carmelized Tartlets with Calvados Cream (from Epicurious site)

Meat Tip – Remember: The better the meat, the better the stew. While cheaper and coarser cuts may be used, the following are most recommended. Count on 1 pound of boneless meat, trimmed of fat, for 2 people; 3 if the rest of the menu is large. 

First choice: Rump Pot Roast.  Other choices: Chuck Pot Roast, Sirloin Tip; Top Round and in Last place – Bottom Round.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 4- 8 ounces dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced
• 2 ½ pounds chuck beef cut into 1 1/2inch cubes)
• ½ c. flour
• 1 tsp. salt & Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup Cognac
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 1 yellow onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 1 leeks, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 spring fresh thyme leaves or scant 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
• 1 can (2 cups) beef broth
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound frozen whole pearl onions
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced
• chopped parsley for garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, salt & pepper.  Dry beef cubes with paper towels and dredge them in flour.  In batches in single layers in skillet, sear the beef in the hot oil & butter for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the casserole dish. Deglaze skillet by adding the Cognac, stand back, and ignite with a match.  Stir to deglaze.  Pour over meat in casserole dish.

To the deglazed skillet sauté bacon, garlic, carrots, leeks, chopped onions & parsley.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon & veggies are lightly browned. Add bay leaves, thyme, and tomato paste to skillet, stir and add all to beef in the casserole.  Add wine and enough beef broth to barely cover meat and mix well.  Taste for salt & pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 2 hours. Stir occasionally and add more beef broth if necessary.

Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Saute the frozen onions & mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or more until beef is very tender.  Serve with buttered noodles, mashed potatoes.  or with puff pastry tops.  Even better the next day.

Be sure to serve it with french bread to sop up the wonderful gravy.

San Francisco’s Café de la Presse is such a sweet little bona fide, modern 1930’s French bistro that looks like a delightful piece of France. It even has an international news stand. Love that. It’s ideal for a nice breakfast to see and be seen. Located on Grant street, Café de la Presse is right around the corner from the best shopping in the city. Not only is their coffee to-die-for, but they have this delicious French toast with fresh berries that will make your mouth water. This bistro being French, still manages to make one of the best burger and fries in the entire city. A suave enjoyment and the blissful life among Union Square give this cafe the perfect balance. Be there or be square. Just thinking about the place makes me crave the coffee, mmmm.

Tyler describes this as a classic French bistro dish, but it looked more German to me – sausage, cabbage, potatoes…you know. But apparently, it’s French. The picture makes it look so simple and comforting. We were really excited about making it on Wednesday, November 4.

The recipe is incredibly easy. You start with the sausage, then use the same pan for the apples. A pot of water is boiling on another burner, for the cabbage, and that’s it. However, Tyler slyly stuck “Velvet Potato Puree” at the bottom of the ingredients list. This is, in fact, a complete second recipe that also needs to be made. And guess what? To make mashed potatoes (which is what that is, in case you didn’t know), you need yet another burner on which to boil them! Yeah. Thanks, Tyler. :-S

So here’s what happened: we strode confidently into the kitchen, completely prepared mentally and ingredient-wise. We decided that the potatoes would take longest, so we put them on to boil immediately. While that was happening, Christine took care of preparing the apples for their turn in the skillet, and I tackled the cabbage. We chose to wait to start the real recipe (which begins by cooking the sausage) until our potatoes had at least begun to boil.

Anyway. The recipe calls for a full head of Savoy cabbage. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that variety, but it’s light green with highly textured leaves. I think it’s beautiful, in an agricultural sense. I was separating the leaves and putting them in a bowl, ready to dump into the boiling water when the time came. The bowl filled quickly, because the cabbage leaves are inflexible when raw, and the curve wasn’t helping with the lack of room. <sigh> There were several “man-overboard”s by the time I finished.

Christine didn’t have any “man-overboard”s with the apples.

At last our potatoes began to bubble away, so we started cooking the sausage. I am deathly afraid of cooking anything that sizzles, because I panic when I get hit by the grease splatters. I know – I’m not really an Iron Chef, if that’s the case. However, that’s why I cook with Christine. She has no fear of any kind, so she doesn’t mind turning the sausages and being hit occasionally with specks of grease. So she handled the sausage, for the most part.

We stuck a pot of water on the back burner, to begin heating for the cabbage. The burner back there is so small and not very hot, so we knew it probably wouldn’t reach a boil anytime soon. But at least it was beginning to heat up.

At this point, Christine removed the sausage and dumped in the apples. They are caramelized with brown sugar and fresh thyme. Can  you say, “Yum!”? The place began to smell like a real bistro, that’s for sure.

The potatoes finished, and I began to put them through the ricer. Ever used a potato ricer? The thing is an absolute beast, to use AND to clean. Wow. BUT, it makes the potatoes fluffy and lumpless. This I like. So I riced. Tyler’s recipe calls for heavy cream and butter heated and melted in a saucepan, but there was no way we were getting out another pot, and we certainly didn’t have room on the stove for that. I stuck it in the microwave instead…worked like a charm.

I had just finished the potatoes, and they were still in the mixing bowl, when the water for the cabbage reached a rolling boil. This necessitated a quick switch of gears to dropping cabbage leaves into water, rather than carefully pouring hot milk into potatoes. This is when I felt like an Iron Chef.

Tyler specifically states that the cabbage should stay in until wilted, but still have “tooth” (whatever THAT means). About 2-3 minutes. This we did. To the letter. But…having never cooked cabbage before, it must have been hard to tell when it was wilted but still had tooth, because our parents adamantly declared it undercooked. Maybe so. I kind of liked the crunch factor, but I guess that’s not how cabbage is supposed to be. Next time, we’ll let it droop and get mushy, and I’m sure we’ll have rave reviews.

The most amazing part about the whole dinner was the moment when I finished tossing the cabbage with parsley and butter and Christine called everyone to eat. Everything was on the table at the same time, everything was hot, and (with the exception of the cabbage, I guess) it was all cooked to perfection. Triumph!

Until…

…we looked back at the counter, sink, and stove. Oops. Because of the recipes’s demanding timing, there had been no opportunity to “wash as we went”. As a result, the stove still had three pots on it, the sink was absolutely filled with bowls, spoons, knives, etc., and the counter still had the mixer, a few towels, and miscellaneous utensils strewn about. But the food was hot – there was no time to look back with regret! We just sat down, enjoyed our dinner, and left all our dirty dishes in the capable hands of our sister Mary, who happened to be on clean-up duty. Our mom probably helped, too.

So in summary, this meal was absolutely fantastic. We will definitely be repeating it in the near future.

On a scale from 1 to 10: 9.

The apples were absolutely 100%. Couldn’t have been better. That’s probably because Christine did them. We’ve already been over the cabbage…so that subtracted some pointage. I enjoyed the sausage, but we are thinking of trying a different flavor next time. The strong pepper taste really got to some people. The potatoes were out of this world, if I do say so myself, but Christine and I decided that to make things easier (timing- and stovetop-wise), we would do the potatoes in advance in the future.

Matthew Tivy Presenting Cocoa Vin Recipe at Chocolate Show

I was honored to be asked to present my recipe for Valrhona Cocoa Vin at the 2009 NYC Chocolate Show on October 31st.

It was a crazy weekend in NYC with the convergence of Halloween and the NYC Marathon (I’ll do a separate post for that when I get my photos).

Mini Valrhona Cocoa Vin

You can find the recipe for the Valrhona Cocoa Vin in my post of January, 2009

For more info on the International Chocolate Shows:

www.chocolateshow.com

Here are some other photos from the show:

Tempting Chocolate Display

Renowned Pastry Chef Jacques Torres

People ask me what my specialty is all the time. What does that mean? Can anyone tell me? I can’t say I know many cooks that really enjoy getting that question. I mean, why limit us? Who wants to be tied down to one type of cuisine? Then I try to explain what I do. I usually spout off the same bullshit as everyone else like, uh…seasonal, market-driven….organic…local…blah blah blah. I mean, that is what I strive for, certainly. Do I do it without fail? No. I still shop at Costco. I was there today.

You know what? They have GREAT Parmigiano Reggiano. They sell a giant block of it for like $15. I think the brand is Cello. It is the best quality Parmigiano Reggiano I’ve bought in the LA area. (And yes, I’ve bought from the Beverly Hills Cheese Store,
Say Cheese, etc. etc.) It has a moistness to it. It doesn’t have that waxy texture or SUPER hard texture that a lot of them have. If you shave it, you don’t get this hard, shiny, plasticky piece of pseudo parmesan. You get a beautiful, salt-crystal-filled, paper-thin slice of REGGIANO. That’s what I buy at Costco. No, I don’t ever buy produce, maybe an occasional avocado for my breakfast. I do have to say their rotisserie chickens are a seriously guilty pleasure. They’re dirt cheap and so delicious…. you KNOW they’re pumped full of water, ‘butter flavor’, salt, and God knows what hormones and they probably sit in some sort of torture cage that ass-rapes them once a day. But GODDAMN, they’re TASTY.

My friend Matt is a private chef for a wealthy client in Malibu. NOTHING irritates him more than chefs who pontificate about how they only shop at farmer’s markets and change their menu every day to reflect the seasons. He’ll say something like: “Bitch, I was AT the farmer’s market this morning and I didn’t see your happy ass there. Oh, and tomatoes in February?? What the hell is that?” He’s got a point. A lot of chefs are blowing smoke up your collective asses. They’re sure as shit not shopping at farmer’s markets. They’re getting their crates of mealy tomatoes in February from the same distributors that serve your local senior housing. Now, I’m not saying ALL chefs. For instance, just about EVERY time I have EVER been to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market, I have seen Mark Peel personally tasting and picking out the produce for Campanile. Granted, I used to work there and I know from experience that he AND someone from pastry is there every week, but, without fail, I always run into him. Other chefs I used to see all the time were Nancy Silverton, Govind Armstrong, Josiah Citrin and Corina Weibel. Oddly, I would also see Jake Gyllenhaal ALL the time. He’s a serious foodie and I thought I read somewhere that he attended CCA for a while.

Anyway, my point is that I am not so much of a purist that I won’t buy Velveeta. (Velveeta + Rotel Tomatoes = Queso…after all). I cook all sorts of different types, nationalities, schools of thought…etc., etc. I guess one unifying theme would be “SLOWWWW” food. Now, that means different things to different people. To me, it means SLOW literally. I’m ALL about cooking the ULTIMATE bouillabaisse that takes 3 days. (Oh, and remind me to tell you guys THAT story some day. It’s pretty funny. ANTHONY knows.) I will feed a damn sourdough starter 3 times a day for 2 weeks straight, like a fucking pet, to make a transcendent loaf of bread. You know why? I love the process of it. I get joy from cooking and it’s meditative for me, much like gardening. If you’re looking for quickie meals in 30 minutes or less, go ask that untrained and lucky-ass hack Rachael Ray…don’t come to me.

Oh, and speaking of hacks…give Rocco Dispirito a call…you ain’t finding it here.

That said, a lot of my recipes SEEM like they take longer than they actually do. And I don’t like to use the word ‘recipes’ anyway….I like to teach techniques…because, once you learn the technique, you don’t need a recipe. It may take me 3 days to cook something, but it only translates to a short amount of work per day. It’s not like you’re standing over it for 72 hours straight. So, keep that in mind with future blogs that you might read. Don’t be scared that you won’t have time. You think I have time? Ask MAGGIE if I have a lot of extra time on my hands….yeah…you guessed it, she says unequivocally: NO!

Anyway, back to my ‘specialty’…I guess a lot of what I do is very ‘Bistro’ in style. I think, if I was going to open a restaurant, it would either be a Gastropub or a breakfast/lunch sort of place. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I was just at The Hungry Cat again the other night. A bunch of us, including the above-mentioned Matt and a prominent food blogger and editor for Variety.com, Dana Harris, among others… went to grab a meal and drinks after our friend (published author and sometime BabyNanny) Catheryn’s book release party. The Hungry Cat could be called a bistro, seafood house, gastropub. I love their food…especially their brunch and Bloody Mary’s, as some of you know. Ahhhh, there’s something about a bistro late at night, when the lights are turned down low, there’s Tom Waits on the soundtrack, the foodie conversation is bitchy and raucous and you’re drinking martini’s and slurping down Chef Creek oysters on the half shell from British Columbia:

The burgers come with house-smoked bacon, blue cheese AND a fried egg on top, just to make sure you’re really dead.

I love the unfussy vibe of a bistro…along with the care and yes, Matt, seasonality of the menus. Bistros, Brasseries, Gastropubs, Enotecas, Trattorias, call it what you want. It’s the convivial feeling of sitting around a candlelit table sampling each other’s food, drinking maybe a bit too much, gossiping about how no one can actually taste the fresh sage in the Granny Smith apple cocktail, drinking hearty wine out of shitty glasses, slurping oysters…eating stick to your ribs food. Well, I should say….stick to my ASS lately.

Anyway, my point is…I was inspired. Inspired to a do a series of blogs based on what I consider to be my ‘specialty’. Slooooooowwww…relaxed…..seasonal…..regional…sensual food. I guess I’ve already been doing that but I want to focus on the Bistro-vibe for a little while. Specifically, French Bistros….I’ll be exploring different regions of France for a little while because I think that this kind of food just fits the season. Yes, I will occasionally be anal about my ingredients or techniques because I want you to know the very best way that I’VE come up with for making a particular dish. These dishes aren’t fancy, they’re not ‘new’ and ‘avant-garde’. They’re classics, for the most part. Stews….peasant food….UPSCALE peasant food. You won’t see me doing ‘tall food’. Been there, done that. You won’t see me doing foams….and if I do….feel free to just shoot me right there. (To me..they always look like spit….not that Ferran Adrià isn’t a genius…it’s just not my thing.)

So, relax….have a drink…loosen your tie….maybe loosen that belt a little. You’re going to need the extra room. Slurp down those last 3 oysters. We can always order another dozen.

To be continued….tune in next time for a bit of a culinary tour of France.

Are you a coffee snob? You know, one of those people whose mission in life is to make and drink the perfect espresso or cup of coffee? In your world, the coffee must be ground to a particular standard, the water filtration must be just so, and even the method by which the coffee is expressed from the grounds is the subject of careful study?

If this describes you, then you must visit LA Mill in Silverlake. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of stopping by and experiencing this unique coffee house/French bistro. Only in LA could you combine coffee perfection and rustic French cuisine against an almost seemingly contradictory modern backdrop. And yet it works – the place was buzzing!

My sister Cara, the kids and I sat down for a late lunch in the posh dining room. Immediately, my children began to worry that the food would be too fancy, and therefore not edible. We were pretty famished, so we began with dessert – that’s what vacations are for, right? We started with the House-Made Brioche Doughnut Holes with a side of Madagascar vanilla crème. And with the kids won over (and no longer cranky from being overly hungry), we dove into the menu.

My daughter ordered the Elia’s Sliders, which were three sliders with carmelized onions, sweet pickle, tomato, arugula, and cheddar on brioche buns, served with a side of delicate shoestring fries. My son, figuring a ham sandwich was a pretty safe choice, ordered one of the baguette sandwiches, Jambon de Paris au Beurre Sale’, consisting of fine French ham with salted Vermont butter and a cone of handcut potato chips. My sister and I both feasted on salads: for my sister, the Chipotle Chicken Salad with apple, currants, scallions, almonds, and celery served with sliced ciabatta; for me, the Flank Steak Salad with tender seared flank steak, sherry honey vinaigrette atop a mesclun blend.

All of our meals were extraordinarily delicious, and we ended up sharing since none of us could decide which was the most delicious. Then, we punctuated our fancy lunch with some – you guessed it – perfectly crafted coffee: for me, it was a nonfat latte, and for my sister a soy version. Just the smell of the coffee sent me over the top.

By this point the kiddos were getting restless, so I never did have time to purchase some coffee beans to bring home and enjoy. But, from previous posts, you know my love affair with LA. Sactown is home, but LA is home away from home. And now, I have a yet another reason to visit.

Tell us, do you have a favorite coffee hangout?

LA Mill
1636 Silver Lake Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca 90026
(323) 663-4441

By Maria Chacon Kniestedt

Even though I’m thinking of moving all my restaurant reviews to Yelp, I figure I at least owe you this post. And by “you” I mean both my readers (are you still here?) and my neighborhood.

Ready? Let’s do this.

While I still think the Upper West Side has its problems, and it cannot even pretend to be a restaurant hot-spot, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t had some good meals here. Over the past few months, I’ve found a few places worth staying close to home for.

Nice-Matin

You know what I love about the above picture (which I shamelessly borrowed from this blog)? It shows the exact table we ate it. It’s the one on the left with the dude in the white shirt. In fact, he kind of looks like me. So you have my official permission to imagine that he is me, and that you’re watching me eat dinner. Exciting, isn’t it?

I was only reminded of this restaurant recently, when a friend posted a review on Yelp. My wife and I actually ate here months earlier, in the middle of grueling apartment search.

Although I’m going by my rapidly deteriorating memory, I have nothing but warm and fuzzy feelings for this French bistro. It wasn’t stuffy (as some French places can be) and the food and drinks were well prepared and priced. The fish (snapper for me and salmon for my wife) was fresh and delicious, and dining al fresco on busy Amsterdam street is one of those quintessential NYC experiences.

If you have to eat on the UWS, eat here.

Shake Shack

Honestly, so much has been written about this updated-but-still-old-school burger joint, I’m probably not going to be saying anything new.

However, I feel I must get a few points across:

• The burgers are fantastic. Probably some of the best I’ve ever had, and certainly the best of any quickly prepared burger since last time I was on the west coast (In-N-Out animal style, I’m looking at you). As opposed to other burgers, these actually taste like beef…and glorious beef at that.
• The chocolate milkshake was similarly revelatory. Maybe they faked me out, but there was a deep chocolate flavor there. It was also thick without being pure ice cream. Perfect.
• The fries suck. Sorry, but they do.

Because I don’t want to end on a negative note, I’ll say that this place is a spitting distance to one of my favorite places – the Museum of Natural History – which has enough of a park to allow slow savoring of the SS deliciousness. I recommend you grab a bench and enjoy.

Big Nick’s

This place is classic.

There’s no other word for it. Its menu is a million pages long, it’s open 24 hours (or 23 with one hour of clean up) and it serves every kind of pizza, burger, salad and sandwich imaginable. And it’s right up the street from our apartment!

I’ve had a bistro burger, which was probably one of the more upscale burger they have, and what else can I say – they nailed it! The pizza by the slice is similarly great: a thin, huge wedge of NYC goodness. It gets a little crisp when they warm up it up, and it practically begs to be folded, NYC style.

The only chink in Big Nick’s armor (that I’ve witnessed anyway) would be their take-out/delivery pizza. I don’t know if it’s a different person making it or what, but it’s nowhere near as good as their pizza by the slice.

Other than that, this place is the ultimate utility player. Go late night for added crazy.

Sarabeth’s West

We heard this was the best brunch on the UWS, and having not consulted any other place for brunch, I’d have to agree.

As was expected, there was a line when we arrived. But it actually went quickly, partially because we were staring at some sort of Latin Arts parade that hadn’t yet got started.

The restaurant itself was an anomaly: it just doesn’t look like a NYC restaurant. With its pleasant, but decidedly not busy or trendy interior, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we were dining anywhere on the east coast: urban, suburban or otherwise.

I was in a sweet mood (as opposed to savory) and got the cinnamon-apple French toast. I can’t put my finger on one particular thing, but this plate was amazing. Each piece was the perfect size, the perfect flavor and with the right amount of fruit, butter and syrup accompaniment.

Actually, now that I think about, I don’t remember anything my wife or her friend got. For all I know, their food could have been terrible. But anyplace that wows me with French toast gets the benefit of the doubt.

Oh wait, I remember one more thing: our waitress had the most annoying voice I’ve ever heard. And that’s how I’m going to end the post. Kind of anti-climactic, ain’t it?

About a week ago, I was strolling down N. Lincoln Avenue when I came across a building that made me wonder if I had just transported back in time. The building was Krause Music Store and it can move even the most stubborn modernist to dream of a time when buildings were intricate and beautiful.

Picture courtesy of Time Out magazine.

Here are some details about Krause Music Store which can be found both on a plaque outside the building and on the City of Chicago’s Chicago Landmarks page.

Address: 4611 N. Lincoln Ave.
Year Built: 1922
Architects: William Presto and Louis H. Sullivan (his last commission!)

In attempt to describe to you exactly what it looks like (I love the Time Out picture, but it simply does not do the store front justice), I wrote the following description:

Upon first glance, in broad daylight, Krause Music Store looks like a tiny opera house. The ornate terracotta façade is so perfectly symmetrical and elaborately designed that, despite its actual depth, it looks flat from across the street, even propped up from behind, like something out of a Hollywood set. The building also stands out because of its whitewashed colour. Surrounded by square buildings made of simple red brick, it is like a flash of obsidian among a pile of rocks. At night, the yellow bulbs glowing in the wide, inviting entryway give the clay surface a golden tint.

You really must see this building at night, so I am going to suggest the following itinerary, so you can fit it in after having dinner.

First, grab a pint at Huettenbar (4721 N. Lincoln) in honour of Oktoberfest. This bar is one of the last authentic Germanic bars in Lincoln Square and comes complete with a German staff, long wooden bar and many a German beer on draught.

After you say auf wiedersehen to your bartender, turn left out the arched, wooden doors and look for Krause Music store on your left. If it is still daylight, the lights will have not turned on yet, and you can marvel at the animal carvings in the terra cotta. Then cross the street and head over to Bistro Campagne (4518 N. Lincoln) to tuck yourself into French food served in a luxuriously French countryside atmosphere.

I will be headed to Bistro Campagne tonight and will let you know how it is!!!!

Once you have polished off your dinner, go back to Krause and admire it some more!
Dev xx

In case you haven’t noticed, I love French food- real authentic hearty French food that sings to my heart, purrs in my belly and misshapens my thighs.  Especially after returning from a wonderful trip to France a few months ago, I’ve been daydreaming about re-living, even if but for a fleeting moment, that experience of being in a real French bistro.  I love the bustle of a bistro, the long banquettes and crowded tables, the carafes of wine that go with my escargots and foie gras paté, the old school waiters who aren’t afraid to tell you what to order, the gentlemen drinking their Cognac and the madames enjoying their cafe on the patio as they readjust their stylish scarves to keep their neck warm from the cold Parisian chill.  And I recently had such an experience in the heart of Culver City at Le Saint Amour.

Owners Florence and Bruno Herve-Commereuc closed their downtown restaurant, Angelique Café, and reopened in Culver City a few months ago.  The concept of serving homemade French charcuterie (made by Bruno himself) and authentic French fare is still unchanged, though the space is magnificently upgraded.  This magical brasserie has the power to transport you in an instant to Paris.  Am I in Saint-Germain-des-Prés on Rue St. Andrés des Arts?  Or is this in the Marais close to Place des Vosges?  The tall ceilings, tiled floors, long red banquette against the wall, large distressed mirrors on the wall that make the dining room seem larger, small tables narrowly spaced next to one another, specials of the day written in white chalk on the board, large front windows facing the sidewalk framed on the bottom by white lace panels, French waiters scurrying to and from the open kitchen carrying carafes of tap water and plates of mussels…..ah yes, I am in Paris.  The atmosphere is so authentic, that more than half of the customers were also French.  The owner of The Little Door was a few tables down from me, appearing to be very much at home.

I’ve never had a bad experience in Paris, though the city has a bad reputation of having rude waiters.  Well for those of you who have this opinion/prejudice/fear, Le Saint Amour is quite the opposite.  Florence was a most generous and gracious hostess, all of the waiters were attentive and warm, and nobody made me feel rushed.  Everybody seemed relaxed and happy.

Thursday night is the best night to go, when oyster sommelier or maitre écailler Christophe Happillon is there with his oyster cart.  He’s there in front of the open kitchen with a big friendly smile on his face, as he gently shucks each oyster himself and shares his vast knowledge with all of the customers.  I’ve never met anybody more passionate about oysters than Christophe.  As he held each oyster in his hands lovingly and tenderly, he told us about how the quality of the seaweed bed and water temperature affected the flavors of the bivalves.  How they originated in one ocean but are now farmed in another, altering the brininess and finish of the oysters, why certain shells are round versus flat, why some are blond versus gray.

The Carlsbad Lunas with the round and blond shells left an acidic kick in the back of the mouth, and had a stronger aftertaste that was complemented by the shallot viniagrette.  The Endless Summer oysters from Baja California had a light cucumber finish.  The Fanny Bays, my favorite, had a creamy and rich texture with a light lemongrass finish.  All were perfectly shucked and presented.

When Bruno took our order, he gave us a slight frown.  “You’re not getting the boudin noir?  You have to order it, I made it myself.  Let me bring you some!” 15 minutes later he emerged from the kitchen with a plate of boudin noir, a proud smile on his face.  As he set it down on our table, he also pulled up a chair and watched as I took my first bite and gave him my best genuine O-face.  Ahh, exquisite.  This blood sausage was rich in flavor, bursting with complexity, yet light in texture.  The apple compote was a perfect complement to the dense iron-rich sausage.  One of the best I’ve ever had.

The ris de veau veal sweetbreads with frisée was a bit on the dry side, but nicely prepared with a slightly crispy skin and perfect with the acidity of the capers.

The escargots with garlic and parsley butter were just like what I would expect at a Parisian bistro- succulent, juicy and buttery.  They were simply divine.

The pied de cochon farci, boneless pig’s feet with tartar sauce, was outstanding.  It came out as a small square object, and as I cut through this pig’s skin pillow, cochon goodness came gushing out like a burst pipe.  I could see tender bits of pig skin, collagen, meat, mushrooms and flavorful jus just begging to be slurped up.  This went beautifully with the tartar sauce and the bitter watercress salad.  An amazing dish from start to finish.

The terrine de foie gras de canard ‘maison’, house made duck liver terrine, was out of this world.  It rivals some of the best that I’ve ever had in Burgundy and Paris.  En fin, we had the entrecote au poivre, the grilled rib eye steak with pepper sauce and fries.  This perfectly medium-rare grilled steak was amazingly tender and flavorful.  It was refreshing to get a steak grilled just the way I ordered it- it’s actually hard to come by these days.  Grilling meat correctly seems to be a lost art.  The foie gras, boudin noir and steak all went beautifully with a bottle of 2006 Savigny-les-Beaune ‘Les Gollardes’ from Jacques Girardin.

Even the dessert was to die for.  The baba au rhum left me speechless.  It tasted exactly like what I envisioned the most perfect baba au rhum to taste like.  Moist and sweet with a hint of rum, with tender candied fruits that were soft and subtle in flavor.  I couldn’t even get good baba au rhum in France, but here I was in a little heavenly bubble in the middle of Culver City, eating French bistro food that was better than what I could get in France.

I could go on and on, as I cannot contain my excitement for Le Saint Amour.  It’s true French bistro food in a true French bistro environment with true French staff and true French hospitality.  I think I just found my new favorite digs.  This place is exceptional and quite simply, c’est magnifique!

http://www.lesaintamour.com

Random trivia:  Boudin noir is made from fresh pig’s blood.  When making it traditionally, it takes several people to perform this task.  When bleeding the pig, one of the forelegs has to be constantly moved around to avoid clots from forming in the blood vessels and thus facilitating drainage.

When I first looked at Bistro LQ’s menu online, I got excited.  I mean, really really excited.  A French restaurant in Los Angeles serving everything that I love under one roof?  It was a dream come true to have a fine restaurant offer frog legs, foie gras, sweetbreads, head cheese, bone marrow, baby eel, duck gizzards, goat tripe and lamb tongue.  Heave~n!! I almost cried tears of joy as I double and triple checked the website to make sure these weren’t typos.  The day before my dinner reservations, I got an email newsletter from The Tasting Table about the cheese cart at Bistro LQ.  My excitement was growing by the minute and my hopes were high.  At the same time, I knew that I shouldn’t go in with high expectations, since this bistro was still only 2 months old.  But still…I couldn’t wait to eat tripe and tongue.

My first impression of the restaurant was great.  I loved the high ceilings with floating glass globes and the simple minimalist decor.  The maitre d’ and waiters were all French, so I knew I was in good hands.  As we toasted with a nice sharp Prosecco and a mediocre Alsace Brut Rosé, I became wide-eyed with enthusiasm at the diversity of the menu.  It’s really one of the most impressive menus that I’ve seen in a long time.  There is a lot of thought and creativity infused into the description of each dish, and Chef Quenioux is not afraid to experiment with bold concepts and expensive delicacies.  It was difficult not to order everything on the menu.

The complimentary amuse bouche was a mussel over polenta with veal jus and lemongrass.  The polenta had a wonderful consistency, but the mussel was too fishy and it wasn’t something I would want to eat again.

We started off with the foie gras 3 ways.  The first was a sautéed foie gras on top of roasted unagi with smoked green apple infusion sauce.  The dish looked mouthwateringly delicious, but the foie gras was unfortunately quite firm in consistency and overcooked.  I concentrated really hard on each bite, trying to see if my taste buds could understand why Quenioux paired the foie gras with eel and this apple sauce, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get myself to understand or like it.

The other 2 preparations of foie gras came on a long rectangular glass plate.  The torchon style foie with violet scented bitter chocolate was divine.  The incredibly flavorful and tender foie paired beautifully with the bitterness of the thin dark chocolate squares.  This was one of my favorite items that evening.  The Earl Grey tea roll, however, was hard and dry, reminding me of those stale airplane rolls that come in plastic bags on economy class food trays.

The foie gras sandwiched between quince marshmallows was a delight.  The marshmallows had an almost erotic supple pillowy consistency to them, and the foie was just as soft and delicate.  Except for the clear quince gelée, which was overwhelmingly sweet, this was a fairly good dish.

The head cheese filo with watercress bouquet and anchovy emulsion was my other favorite dish of the evening.  As I cut through the middle of the filo packet effortlessly with my fork, the thousands of flaky layers of filo gave way to an incredibly rich and flavorful stew of warm head cheese.  The large chunks of tender head meat and collagenous marvels were well balanced with the tartness of the watercress and the salty anchovy emulsion.  This anchovy sauce, a concentrated version of the best bagna cauda you can ever have, was outstanding.

The frog legs were not so exciting.  The barbecue sauce was like a dressed up version of American bbq rib sauce, and the spicy violet and begonia chutney was like oversweetened Indian mango chutney.  Given that this is a French bistro, I wish that Quenioux would serve frog legs the classic way- pan fried with garlic, butter and parsley.

The eel roll with fresh herbs was not only overcooked and dry, but also served with a plum sauce that was way too sweet.  It was accompanied with chanterelle mushroom and grits, which was actually quite flavorful with a nice texture.  There was a small crock pot of baby eels grilled with piment d’Espellete.  I was really looking forward to this dish, hoping for a true Basque rendition, but the eels were extremely soggy, leaving absolutely no texture whatsoever.  In fact, the oily eels easily broke apart, as if it had been marinating for months.  I was hoping for at least a little bit of texture.

I was really interested in trying the monkfish cheeks.  I’ve had beef, veal and pork cheeks before, all of which have been flavorful and tender.  Why not monkfish cheeks?  After the foie, it’s probably the second most flavorful part of the fish.  I’m surprised other restaurants don’t serve it, considering how cheap the overhead is.  Well, this dish at Bistro LQ was a let down.  The cheek meat was overcooked, tough, dry and stringy.  However, the cipollini onions had a wonderful sweetness which paired well with the pomegranate molasses.  The molasses sauce was perfectly tart and sour, and it would go well on risotto among other things.

The menu item I was most excited about was the lamb composition with medium rare roasted lamb chop, sautéed kidney, sautéed sweetbreads, poached tongue and shoulder confit with swiss chard gratin and jus roti with lemon and star anise.  Lamb is my favorite meat, and I love organs more than meats.  This dish for me was the ultimate extravaganza and dream come true.

However, my radiant smile gradually turned into a difficult frown with each successive bite.  The lamb chop was well done, the sweetbreads were overcooked, the tongue was dry and tough, and the kidneys were stale.  It was as if everything was microwaved on the wrong setting.  I was so disappointed, I felt like crying. The swiss chard gratin didn’t provide any consolation either.  A delicious glass of Joseph Swan ‘Cuvée des Trois’ Pinot Noir from Sonoma saved my sour mood.

The baby goat braised with Guajillo peppers and oregano scented tripes was also a disappointment.  The dry stringy goat meat, made into something that looked and tasted like a deep fried egg roll, was mediocre street food.  The tripe was too gamey and left a bad aftertaste.  I’m not sure if enough proper care went into its preparation.

The first dessert we had was the coconut dacquoise, Italian merinques with Mexican green onions, cilantro, fresh coconut and tartar of fresh mangoes with mastic powder.  It was an interesting dessert- I’ve never seen green onions and cilantro in a dessert dish.  I wasn’t too keen on the combination of flavors.

The composition around dark chocolate was much better.  The mole chocolate mousse with hints of complex Mexican spices was deep and tantalizing, and pouring warm dark chocolate sauce on it made it even more decadent.  The chocolate pancake with mascarpone cheese and chocolate oil was light and soft, and the soufflé style chocolate with szechuan peppercorn was okay.

The most exciting part of the evening was indeed the cheese cart, as The Tasting Table had pointed out.  They pulled out a spectacular rolling wooden cheese cart to the tableside that was filled with classic and rare French cheeses.  Our French server was extremely knowledgeable about each cheese, where it came from and what it tasted like. It was so difficult to decide which ones to try, as in a perfect world one should be able to try all of them.

We received 8 small mason jars containing different cheese condiments.  From what I could taste, they included: roasted cumin seeds, blueberry gelée, sweet onion jam, bell pepper mustard, cranberry chutney, green tomato compote and green tomatillo ketchup.  It was really fun to experiment with different taste combinations of cheeses and condiments, though ideally it would have been nice to receive guidance from the restaurant.

As I savored the lemon and raspberry macaroons and wonderful marshmallow that came as our petit fours, I reflected on the Bistro LQ experience.  I really wanted this restaurant to be fantastic; I wanted to call this my new favorite restaurant.  I envisioned myself going here every other week, feeling torn between the venison tartar and slow cooked scottish hare, or shall it be wild boar shank versus pigeon with gizzards and heart?  Oh, how happy that would have made me.  But alas, the menu and the vision was too ambitious, and the execution just could not keep up.  However, I support Quenioux’s vision and his willingness to serve bold dishes rich in game and organ meats, so I will not give up yet.  My plan is to revisit Bistro LQ in 3 or 4 months.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed until then.

http://www.bistrolq.com

Random trivia:  Did you know that when piment d’Espelette (Espelette pepper) was first introduced to Europe in the 17th century, it was considered a cheap and reasonable substitute for black pepper, which was extremely expensive at that time?  Now the roles have reversed.  Piment d’Espelette retails at about $20 per 40 gram jar.

Comfortable traditional French bistro known well by the McGill community. Has a pleasant, private courtyard during the warmer months. Recommend for lunch. As is typical in Montreal bistros, servers have to be flagged down for everything.

3487 Ave. du Parc at Rue Milton

metro: Place des Arts

Affordable table d’hote menu, though uninspired cuisine and food is almost more diner than bistro. Generic vegetable potage, unpleasant cold spots in the beef stew (microwave it a little longer next time, please), cold dry carrot cake. Pleasant service. Ok for residents too lazy to go elsewhere, but hardly recommendable for  foodies with the entire culinary treasure trove of Montreal at their disposal.

363 St. Francois-Xavier at Rue St. Paul O.

metro: Place d’Armes

small French bistro serving one pre-fix menu. Simple butter lettuce salad with walnuts, steak with mustard sauce, fries, large old-fashion profiteroles. ~$25. Able to gawk at gawkers taking pics of disgraced Residence Inn, where a concrete tile had killed a woman over the summer. Reservations a good idea.

2022 Rue Peel at Blvd. de Maisonneuve O.

metro: Peel

Endive Roquefort Salad - Photo by Philippe Touitou

Here’s an easy and appealing  salad for the cooler weather. This is a salad that works well with many different combinations of ingredients. You can substitute Chevre if you prefer, or a different kind of cheese. You could also add some dried cranberries or some apples (or both) to give some extra color and flavor. And you could use a different kind of nut (I like pecans or pistachios).

Unlike many salads this one goes well with a glass of red or white wine due to the roquefort cheese.

I’m not bothering to give you a traditional recipe here since this is a pretty simple dish. I’ll give you an easy Dijon Vinaigrette recipe (following a traditional 3 parts oil: 1 part vinegar ratio). I’ll throw in a couple pointers on putting the salad together, then you’re on your own so have fun making some interesting combinations!!

Dijon Vinaigrette:

Makes 2 1/4 cups

4 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar (preferably imported)

1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar

1 cup Vegetable Oil (replace 1/4 cup veg. oil with walnut oil if desired)

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste

Water as needed to thin

Method – In a blender combine mustard and vinegars. Drizzle in oils until blended. Season with salt and pepper, add water to thin if needed. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For assembling the salad:

Cut your endive into julienne strips or crosswise as desired. Toss with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent discoloring. Add vinaigrette (not too much) and cheese. Toss well and garnish with walnuts.

one of my favorite French bistros in the city, this Frencher than French bistro has an authentic stainless steel bar, snappy bartenders, and satisfyingly serious bistro food.  I know it’s hard, but save room for dessert – you won’t be sorry!

Gets an A- due to sometimes curt, sometimes slow service and the difficulty of getting a table. Reservations should be made at least  a day in advance. Great for tourists who want to imagine that Montreal, Quebec = Paris, France.

3927 rue St-Denis at Duluth

mtero: Sherbrooke

Trendy contemporary French bistro, presentation, and décor. Recommend especially for business dinners and dates for its smartness. Nicely presented and delicious. Wines are good, portion sizes are just right for a 3-course meal, and desserts are mandatory (or so Rachel Recommends). I was especially charmed that the pot de creme was served in a mason jar. Moderately priced for such a chic establishment. Reservations and at least business casual clothes recommended; I’d probably leave small kids at home. The determined diner can just manage to stroll here from McGill during good weather.

250, avenue des Pins Est at Ave. Henri-Julien

metro: Sherbrooke

The Paris Cookbook

by Patricia Wells

Famed food author Patricia Wells has written a love letter to Parisian life. Having lived in France since 1980, she’s at home in the glittering night life of Paris or the slow calm of her home in Provence, which she has also written about in her book (to be reviewed by me in a future post), The Provence Cookbook. She wrote about bistros long before it was discovered by a voracious American culinary scene.

She certainly doesn’t give bistros short shrift in this book, but she also discusses the 25! Michelin starred chef Joël Robuchon, featuring several of his recipes including the famedMacaroni aux Truffles Joël Robuchon, variations of which have become quite fashionable here in the States.  She pulls a recipe from Guy Savoy’s brasserie, Cap Vernet (Salade à la Maraîchère Cap Vernet,a simple mixed green viniagrette-infused salad with thinly shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano). And she creates dishes inspired by market vendors and old clipped French magazine recipes.

Many famous and obscure Parisian citizens inside the culinary orbit are name-checked and you’ll catch a measure of the passion that Wells feels for Paris and French cuisine. 

It’s an interesting read and well worth adding to your cooking library.

Are you fond of animals? Here is one you won’t find in a zoo. Ever heard of a flying pig?

Well, this Flying Pig can be found in the first floor of the New Eastwood Mall. This Flying Pig is not a real animal, it is actually a restaurant—A French-American Bistro to be more exact.
I was lucky to have my dad come over on Thursday and Friday. So, that meant I could feed my appetite with something delicious. What got us attracted to eat there was the name. Let’s face it—Flying Pig is an amusing name and a catchy one too. At the back of its menu, it actually tells you why the restaurant is called Flying Pig. It was coined by the owner’s four year old son who probably found “flying pig” an amusing thought. The young little boy must have thought of it after his father was reading the story of the three little pigs—to whom the restaurant is dedicated to.
Just as the big bad wolf must have enjoyed the first two little pigs, so will we! The restaurant’s menu is filled with many different ways of how to eat pork. At the same time, we can choose which part of the pig to it. There are ribs to choose from. Knuckles are also available. The skin is also as crispy as ever. It also has amazing staple food to mix it with—ranging from rice pilaf, paella, plain rice, salads and mashed potato. My favorite was the mashed potatoes—trust me, it is the best!
The menu is western. You get to taste European and American cuisine in one place. Of course, pork is not the only thing in the menu. Beef, salads, cheese, burgers, fries, soups, vegetables and many more are also in the menu. Anything European or American you crave for is there!
Though the food may sound so sophisticated, the place is a very easy place to feel at home into. The atmosphere is light. It has many paintings of flying pigs that immediately puts a smile on your face. My favorite painting was Barack Obama—wearing a ‘change has come’ shirt—riding a flying pig. Plus, the price is cheap for a European-American restaurant. Remember, westerners dine for hours. You pay for the place and not just the food.
If you are looking for a place for both your brain and stomach, Flying Pig is the place. You can always make your imagination run wild thinking about flying pigs and the food is just delicious!

La Methode

by Jacques Pépin

Publisher Pocket (September 15, 1984)  

ISBN 10: 0671504959

ISBN 13: 978-0671504953

Recently, we discussed Pépin’s companion to this volume, La Technique. This is the “continuation” of that first volume. There really isn’t much distinction between the two volumes – it’s not like the first only talks about “techniques” and this one talks about “methods” (as if there’s a huge difference between the two terms).  He basically wanted to cover topics that he hadn’t really covered in the first volume, so he starts with something ignored in the first volume – sharpening a knife.

He then covers such diverse kitchen skills as butterflying shrimp, straining and skimming sauces, boning a saddle of lamb, making various chocolate constructions such as boxes, leaves and bark, and he also covers such esoteric subjects as peeling and glazing chestnuts, carving  ”cucumber turtles” and ”mushroom fish”, and preparing marrow.

Once again, there are copious black and white photos that illustrate each step in the various processes and there are plenty of recipes to keep any recipe hound busy for months.

You can now buy both volumes bound as one, but the originals can still be found in separate volumes for a reasonable cost.

Pépin is a treasure who we should celebrate here in the US for being someone who, along with Julia Child and Paul Bocuse, made it fashionable to embrace French cuisine. And this enabled America to look past its shores and also to its immigrant population as culinary inspirations which have enriched our own cuisine.

La Technique

by Jacques Pepin

Publisher Times Books (December 12, 1976)

ISBN 10: 0812906101

ISBN 13: 978-0812906103

This is a companion volume to Pepin’s La Methode, which I will review in a future installment of Cookbook of the Day.  Both volumes can now be purchased in one volume, but I’ll discuss each one separately.

This was the first of the two volumes and it’s exactly as the title describes – all about technique. It starts with holding the knife and finishes with making Cheveaux d’Ange (angel hair). No, angel hair doesn’t refer to pasta, but rather sugar gossamer “angel’s hair” used to decorate elaborate desserts.

There are recipes scattered throughout but only recipes that require use of a technique to accomplish. Filled with step-by-step matter-of-fact black and white photographs, Pepin takes you through the basics of breaking down a chicken, shucking clams and oysters, making terrines, poaching eggs and even folding napkins.

This was one of the first really practical volumes on technique that clearly showed the American chef step-by-step how to replicate the results of the top chefs of the world. It, along with its sister volume, is really a foundation book for any kitchen library. You should pick up the new combined edition if possible, but you can also find the two books in both hardback and paperback in selected used book stores. My copy of La Technique is hardback, while my copy of La Methode is in paperback. I don’t mind at all. 

 A confetti version of  Cheveaux d’Ange  - imagine that it’s made of sugar and sits atop some elaborately constructed gateaux.

Rebecca Taras, NBC Chicago Street Team

I’m not here to provide a history lesson, but I have to address the fact that today is Bastille Day. While you may see it as an excuse to dine at a resto in town that’s offering a special menu, the day actually commemorates the storming of the Bastille (a prison),

Monet - Bastille Day

which took place on July 14, 1789 (the theory behind those crazy priced menus you might see this week.) While it sounds like a horrible reason to celebrate, the act actually symbolized the fall of the king’s power.

While my favorite Bastille Day memory was sitting with my mom on our hotel balcony (in our pajamas, I might add) watching the French soldiers march off to the annual parade on the Champs, I managed to make my way to the kitchen this morning to make up a batch of crepes for old time-sake. The truth of the matter is, I own Charles Aznavour CD”s and most would consider my apartment a mini Parisian flat in the heart of Chicago. While I try to get away for a short visit once a year, I fill the time in-between with events and experiences to hold me over until the next visit. Whether you love France or just good wine, Bistro 110 has a Tour de France Wine Tasting Series that will be venturing into the Loire Valley on Thursday, July 23 from 6-8 p.m.

Chateau de Chaumont - Loire Valley

Summer is a time to be casual and mingle, so the event will take place on Bistro 110’s newly opened “terrasse,” the outdoor patio where guests can sip  and nosh at their leisure. Along with the French staples of bread and cheese, Executive Chef Dominique Tougne will provide a selection of bites ranging from Valencay-Style Chicken with Grapes and Muscadet Wine Sauce, to a Whole Poached Salmon “Bellevue” with Tarragon Mayonnaise.

Reservations are available, but not required. Attendance is $25 per person, including tax and gratuity (a bargain in any language.) Bistro 110 is located at 11o East Pearson. 312.266.3110.

The New Professional Chef

by The Culinary Institute of America

This is the basic textbook of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). It’s big and expensive. I don’t recommend buying it new, but you can sometimes find it at used bookstores for $20 – $30.

Obviously, it has a lot of basic information about things that a chef needs to know about nutrition, safety concerns, kitchen tools, food prep and food ingredients. However, I think that some of the other books that I’ve recommended that focus on specific things like ingredients, cooking techniques for specific cuisines, etc. is money better spent.

I’m recommending this book to those who have the occasional need to produce food for large gatherings. if you occasionally throw large dinner parties, patio barbecues for family and friends, or do the occasional catering gig, this book is invaluable because it had many many recipes for basic sauces, stocks and classic dishes that are designed for 10 or more people.

Most restaurant chefs in quality restaurants keep this volume handy, and it’s a short-sighted professional caterer that doesn’t also use this volume often. It’s also useful for the non-pro as well, but only if you cook for large families and gatherings occasionally.

Address: 554 Duluth E.
Phone: 514-849-8844
Reviews: montrealfood.com, Martiniboys
We had a business dinner here a few weeks ago. The atmosphere of this resto is quite nice – although it is a small place, it feels large. Everything on the menu here seems to have a bit of a sweet touch to it. No matter whether its the poisson du jour or something a little more meaty, the sauce for each had a sweet touch – a little maple here, a bit of caramelized sugar there. Overall it was reasonably good, but having eaten at Le P’tit Plateau the week prior, it seemed to be lacking just a little something. Probably worth a return visit, although not obviously so.
Price: $220 for four including tax and tip.
Beer: La Montagnaise (Brasseur La Tour a Bieres)