Diancecht

we drank this with yesterday’s lunch hubby knows me so well. this was perfect: crisp, dry and just enough fruit to accentuate the chicken. we’re trying to expand our universe of italian white wines beyond pinot grigio and vermentino. great choice.

hubby wants to do a standing rib roast and twice-baked potatoes for new year’s eve lunch so we just need to figure out the vegetables and dessert. one of the guests is an extremely picky eater….i have mentioned him before. disinviting him is not in the cards. 🫤

we kept it simple this year xmas/birthday lunch for three caesar’s salad roast chicken, roasted vegetables homemade strawberry ice cream; chocolates with liqueurs; cookie plate (cookies from a bakery in north beach, sf) the chicken gravy had madeira stirred in

None of the cinematic tropes that have come to define today’s food documentaries — sweeping pans, glistening surfaces, a climactic symphony of strings — are present in Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros, a spellbinding new four-hour documentary about the three-starred Michelin restaurant Troisgros. In place of the usual grandiloquent aesthetic of luxury spun up by docuseries like Chef’s Table and Taco Chronicles, the film offers up the unvarnished, observational style of Frederick Wiseman. The 93-year-old filmmaker — known for depicting the inner workings of societal institutions, including the New York Public Library, Boston’s City Hall, and a Massachusetts correctional institution — takes an exhaustive approach, filming hundreds of hours of footage and piecing them together without exposition or a dramatic arc. Sequences unfold organically and slowly, encouraging viewers to contemplate and engage with them in their own time. With his latest, Wiseman puts fine dining under his microscopic lens, demystifying it and providing a compellingly humanistic portrayal in its place. Nestled in the idyllic French countryside, Troisgros boasts a remarkable legacy spanning four generations, and since 1968 when it was under the direction of brothers Pierre and Jean Troisgros, it has maintained three Michelin stars — standing to beat the 55-year record held by Restaurant Paul Bocuse. (The Michelin Guide reevaluates restaurants annually and has been known to dock a star if its standards aren’t maintained, placing outsize stress on chefs, even causing some to voluntarily return their stars.) The restaurant’s current proprietor Michel Troisgros built upon the foundations of his father Pierre’s nouvelle cuisine — itself a radical departure from the heavier tradition of classic cuisine — by infusing it with his own perspective, inspired by Asian ingredients and his travels in Japan. Michel is in the process of passing the torch to his two sons César and Léo, who are also talented chefs. hubby and i have lots of things to watch, having said that, this is on our list. click for more

when they served the beet course, there was a glass beet “we were supposed to contemplate as we ate the food”. i wish i was making this up…

petit crenn was lovely when hubby and i went in 2018. they may reopen it soon once the pop-up phase is over. there’s bar crenn which might be worth visiting.

they seated us at the worst table: a dimly lit corner situated next to the entrance to the kitchen. we couldn’t ask them to reseat us because the others were filled.

the room has only eight tables and yet i can barely hear hubby. there’s lots of wood and zero sound absorption. i just don’t understand how a three star michelin restaurant doesn’t have carpeting. it’s not like they can’t afford it. may 2017 review at the infatuation june 2018 sf chronicle review oh, but you’re not here to read my rants about the décor. some dishes worked such as dry-aged black cod served with meyer lemon, chard kimchi, preserved persimmon and herb/flower salad and dungeness crab ice cream with caviar, crab chicharrón and crab broth, and others were a complete miss (like a beet ceviche in which the grated root vegetable bordered on acrid due to being overwhelmed by vinegar) and a carrot taco with rutabaga and turnip purée that basically tasted like nothing. a fermented leek tart (leek custard, buckwheat sablèe, leek tempura) doubles as a cheese course and bridges savory and sweet. some of you who are purists might find yourself wishing for plain old cheese instead. i’m glad we went, but i don’t think we’ll be returning anytime soon.

just pix of a dinner from last night, including what must be the best chicken karaage in sf we hadn’t been there in a while. with a 20% service charge, the bill came out to a little over $220 for 2 people. 82 14th (folsom) august 2018 review from mission local michelin bib gourmand blurb june 2016 review in sf chronicle (bauer)

take a look at the photo; it’s from the current issue of new york about a private club at hudson yards with two restaurants: zz’s and carbone privato

a good trial run for x-mas dinner. i am thinking of doing bollito misto. hubby said, “what is up with you and these dishes with many components?” to which i replied, “if we can’t travel to italia, this is replicating a slice of it at home”. sorry @voyager, hope your d-i-l gets well soon!

it’s from delfina (3621 18th (guerrero)) if you ever come here

earlier this week: broccoli rabe pizza with mozzarella and caciocavollo tripe with chili oil, herbs, lemon and maldon sea salt lemon soda pomegranate panna cotta with balsamic vinegar

yes but @Wilfrid is and i was thinking of him when i said that because it’s french regina has you finish the stew with red wine and more mustard but i switched the order of steps slightly by adding the wine along with stock prior to braising.

it’s a regina schrambling recipe from the nytimes quite good actually and perfect for keto, come to think of it. just reduce the amount of carrots.

we haven’t done turkey in several years. it’s usually non-traditional for us, and this year will be no different. also, we prefer to serve it as a lunch (which means that everyone gets to go home earlier, clean up is a breeze, and hubby and i can spend the rest of the day in a confused slumber). menu for six: ragù della domenica (braised pork chops, sausages and pork ribs with sunday sauce) tiella di patate e funghi (potato and mushroom gratin) pomodori gratinati (stuffed tomatoes topped with breadcrumbs) fagiolini e patate (green bean and potato salad) blackberry crumble pie pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust homemade chocolate ice cream chocolates tea, coffee, liqueurs

this was a couple of weeks ago - beef stew with chanterelles, dijon and cognac, served with a lettuce and radicchio salad, and mixed fruit for dessert.

hum, that’s weird. i thought i checked the box that gave access to non-subscribers. oh well… that duck dish in simon’s pdf is lovely

it’s a gift article so anyone can read it

click and enjoy

oh well i’ll confess that i didn’t read it closely

maybe she disclosed because transparency and ethics? pure speculation of course. i don’t want to think her talents aren’t up to par.

“The funny thing is — I don’t even know if you guys know this — we never even wanted to have a fancy restaurant. The original version of Ko was a $75 tasting menu,” he said. “I didn’t open Momofuku to get glory or to have a sommelier — all these things we ended up having.” uh huh

and i am hardly a francophile or even well-versed when it comes to french food but i know what it is without googling

i have, but not recently. once was on a french foodblog where the author resides in lyon, france and the other was in this article in the nyt from february 2023.