For years now I had been “anti tasting menu” after having a few bad experiences that ended up costing me mortgage payments of money.  Was I ready to experience Per Se and all of the high expectations that came with it; YES!

I wore my best suit in the closet and arrived early at the Time Warner building, browsing through the main level mall of high end retail stores.   My guests and I headed upstairs for our 6:15 p.m. reservation.  We were met with the iconic blue door (much like at the French Laundry in California).  Its grand entrance stated quite bluntly how the evening was going to progress.  We were warmly greeted by a hostess as slick as any in NYC.  Her gentle English accent escorted us through the lounge and into the main dining room which overlooked central park.

The table was dorned with heavy  linens, beautiful glassware and flowers that all exuded quality of the highest level.  We were welcomed with great champagne to toast the evening with and thus the menus arrived.  Deciding what to eat at Per Se is really an oxymoron.  There are two menus; one that is vegetarian and one that is not.  As I was parusing the tasting courses I noticed the menus were printing with a “Happy Birthday Carolyn” on the top (a nice personal touch for our table which was celebrating a birthday).  After tossing and turning over whether to have the supplemental foie gras course or not and what to drink for the evening, we let the whistle blow and the games begin.

It would be pointless for me to talk about every single course (approximately twenty of them) and describe each dish.  What I would like to share is how beautiful this meal progressed from the very first item; a cornet of salmon tartare with creme fraiche all the way to the final mignardise at dessert.  I’ve never experienced a more flowing evening of food that progressed like a piece of classical music.  Chilled corn soup poured tableside into miniature soup bowls designed specifically for this purpose made us all wonder how corn could taste this sweet and decadent.  Greatest hits dishes that are popular at both Per Se and the French Laundry made their way onto the menu this evening.  ”Oysters and Pearls,” a combination of Island Creek oysters and a rich “Sabayon” with Sturgeon Caviar was as luxe as one could imagine while drinking vintage Pierre Gimmonet Champagne.  Torchon of foie gras paired with a 1996 Sauternes and orange blossom honey made me want to ask for a second round.  As the meal progressed and the meat courses of lamb saddle and duck breast arrived one after the other we all began to see how magical this restaurant was.

Yes, the little details such as a second round of brioche while you are eating your foie gras so not a single bite has to be subjected to cold brioche is a gesture beyond words.  Smiling faces as they approach your table make you wonder if they are genetically breeding these people to all be the same.  They seem to be wholesome like whole wheat.

As the sun set over central park we noticed the rock fireplace ignite in the front of the dining room.  How a space could make you feel cozy like that with the use of a modern style fireplace in the middle of July was a great feat.  Nothing is ever perfect though, and the staff at Per Se are in fact real humans the make mistakes.  A meat course of Liberty Farms Pekin Duck breast made it to everyones place setting except one, sliding out of the waiters hands and bouncing onto the table.  None of us seemed to care at all, but were more concerned with the fate of the waiter that had simply made an honest mistake.  A moment later the fourth plate of duck was whisked to the table and flatware began piecing apart the course just like the last in gastronomic pleasure.  It was nice to know that these people who seemed perfect are in fact human.  It made the experience so genuine.

There is no wine pairing here at Per Se so we decided to go the traditional route of drink whatever the hell we wanted.  A great bottle of vintage champage, premier cru chablis and delicous red burgundy.  As I took my last sip of wine I could feel the gears switch into what I would now describe as sweet tooth overload.

Part of the tasting menu was in fact a plated dessert course.  Half the table chose the chocolate option which was too complex to even describe.  The other half selected the plated dessert that showcased strawberries in ways one could not have ever imagined.  At this point I was very happy, but the end was not near.  An army of petit fours, mignardies and macaroons paraded their way to the table.  A lovely lady with a glass tray of handmade chocolates approached the table spending over ten minutes just describing the twenty something different offerings.  I felt like I was in La Maison Du Chocolat and I could have anything I wanted.

Great coffee, and the warm lighting of the candle at our table rounded out the laughs and great conversation about life, love and the future.  Surprisingly our conversation that night had very little to do with food.  We all acknowledged that each course we had been presented with was superb on many levels.  As I returned to the table from heading to the restroom, I laughed to myself and took note on how wonderful the hand soap was.  It left a gentle aroma lingering on your hands that made you realize that these guys hadn’t overlooked a single detail.

So what does a great meal comprise of?  Exactly what I described and that is why I consider it my best meal ever.  It was filled with wonderful food that was higher than any level I had previously expected, warm service but most of all, great conversation.  Isn’t that what eating is about?  It is a social activity.  Going to a place like Per Se or any other restaurant for that matter and simply eating the food is not enough.  It must be enjoyed and appreciated.  I walked out of Per Se with my friends and hopped on the escalator down to the bustle of Columbus circle.  I couldn’t wait to make another reservation to come back and do it all over again.

Now, a cynic might be tempted to think, “Only forty dollars for five courses WITH beer? I bet the portions will be tiny and it will be thimblefuls of beer.”

Quite the opposite, my friend. In fact, by the time we were done we could barely sample the dessert. If there was one downside to this whole meal, it was that there was too much food - to the point that I felt embarrassed with how much of each course I wasn’t eating. By course # 3, I was really full. Each course came with a full, twelve-ounce glass of beer, too. Here’s what was on the menu:

Welcome Beer: Tripel Perfection

Aged Robusto cheese, crusty Iggy’s bread, house-made pickles & chutneys

First Course: Witte

Fried Rhode Island razor clams with a cider-tarragon mignonette, and Fines Herbes herb aioli

Second Course: Hennepin

Sweet star anise charred pig sandwich, with summer slaw & spicy sesame bbq sauce

Third Course: Biere de Mars

House cured bacon, sharp local cheddar, pickled green tomato & red onion salad

Dessert: Three Philosophers Quad

Salty pretzel brittle sundae with Christina’s vanilla ice cream & sour cherry sauce

****

Overall, it was a nice meal. Each course was very tasty, and paired well with the beer - though I have to admit the Ommegang beers are not generally my preferred style. The one exception to that was the Biere de Mars. I love love love wild fermented, sour ales. While this was not as sour as I prefer - my current favorite is the Duchesse de Bourgogne - it was a delicious beer, and I managed to finish the whole glass.

A favorite of the night, food-wise, was the opener. The “robusto” cheese was absolutely delicious, and I must find it at the cheese shop. The pulled pork sandwich (for that’s a better description of what it was) was also very good - like a North Carolina style bbq, which tends toward the vinegar taste I love.

I could have done with some type of spicy dipping sauce for the razor clams. Those are so rich, and although cooked nicely, the mignonette just wasn’t doing it for me.

The pickled green tomato was delicious; it appeared on both the “welcome” dish as well as the third course, which was not a problem in my view.

Book Bastard was well pleased to see the Three Philosophers make an appearance. It’s one of his favorite “special” beers - certainly something you don’t have more than one (or possibly two) glasses of in a sitting. The pairing with the sour cherry sauce on the ice cream was perfect. We managed to struggle down a spoonful or two before we burst.

All in all, though, a fun evening, and I’d definitely recommend checking out any food & beer (or wine) pairing that The Independent does. We went to one on Valentines day earlier this year that was fantastic. Don’t wait for a special event, though, The Independent is good anytime: great atmos, pleasant staff, and really good food. Oh, and the beverage selection is phenomenal!

Seriously, these vending people must laugh all the way to the bank.  Now all the sugary candy can be good for you.  I’d like to meet the assholes in the sugar lobby - there must be a lot of them - and punch them in the nose.

Should you find yourself in Morocco - and I highly recommend you make every effort to do so - the hammam is an experience not to be missed. I must confess, the hammam Book Bastard and I visited was not a true locals-only place, in which men and women are segregated. Those places are everywhere in the medina, nondescript doors in alleyways with the Arabic and (sometimes) English for ‘men’ or ‘women’ above the door. No, Les Bains de Marrakech is a lovely spa retreat which accommodated couples, definitely designed for travelers but where more modern Moroccans go as well (Book Bastard spoke with someone in the waiting room who was from Morocco and said he and his girlfriend came there frequently together).

We knew what to expect, yet the experience surprised and delighted us with how unusual, and then thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing it turned out to be.

We were first taken to separate changing areas, given a big fluffy white robe and slippers, and told to remove all clothing but underwear bottoms. The changing area was luxurious, with long leather couches, wooden lockers for your things, marble showers. We were then returned to a relaxing room smelling of incense where we waited, on leather lounge chairs, to be brought together to our personal steam room.

That’s when the hammam starts - and where all modesty ends. We were led to a small room that was completely marble, with two long benches covered in a cushion. Robes left outside, our attendant instructed us (in French; none of the attendants spoke English) to sit on opposite benches and then proceeded to douse us in buckets (gently) of perfectly warm water. She told us to lay face down, then she closed the door and left.

The room was hot. Incredibly hot. The goal, of course, is to steam and sweat out all the impurities. And there comes a moment when you think you’re not going to be able to stand it much longer, and right when you think you’re going to need to open the door for some cold air, in comes the attendant for the next ‘phase’…the black soap scrubdown.

Yes, I said scrubdown. Two attendants came in this time, one for each of us, and rubbed black soap (made from Moroccan clay) over every inch of our bodies. If there was any modesty left after the water dousing, it’s really gone now. Now, we are instructed to lie on our backs and rest. Door closes, we’re steaming in black soap, and truly enjoying it. Laying there, in this foreign place having such an unusual experience, and looking at each other covered in black soap, at first you feel a bit silly. But once you relax and just let go, it’s unbelievably soothing.

Next phase: the attendants come back, and proceed to exfoliate every inch of what was covered in black soap (except your face - which did get the soap treatment). It’s a rough scrub, but not unpleasant. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to someone washing you.

Finally, it’s rinsing-off time, for which there is a handy rainfall shower in the corner. We take turns. The attendant (just one now) is quick to assist with helping you rinse every bit of soap off (that was a bit weird). She helps us into our robes, and then a different person led us to a relaxation area - a long, high-ceilinged room, with low cushioned lounge chairs, and sheer fabric curtains draped between every few chairs for privacy. She returns with small glasses of tea - the sweet, mint tea Morocco is famous for. We rest there for a while, wrapped in our fluffy robes and sipping hot tea. I have never been more relaxed in my life. Other couples are in this large room as well, but the chairs are spaced well apart.

After about ten minutes or so we are collected and led upstairs to our massage. We are together in a room for this as well, each with a masseuse. The massage was fantastic; if you’ve had one you know how good a good massage can be, and this did not disappoint. The room was nice and warm, with a sheer curtain partially separating the two tables, Moroccan rugs on the floor and very soothing music. One difference we noted from massages we’ve had here in the US, is that they’re not all puritanical about keeping you covered up, tucking sheets around every limb while they massage it and then stuffing it back under the covers when they’re done. You are loosely draped with a sheet, which they freely fold up or down as needed to uncover roughly half your body at a time. I’m not sure if this is a Moroccan thing, or a European thing, but it was rather refreshing and definitely relaxing.

The entire experience was so relaxing, in fact, that we booked a second full hammam/massage treatment for the day before we left Morocco. Indulgent, I know, but then again we were on vacation in the most exotic place we’ve ever been so far. And I can certainly tell you, the next time we go to Marrakech, we will definitely be going for more.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

canned chipotles in adobo (amount will depend how spicy you like it)

3 T butter

3 T flour

3 cups milk

8 oz shredded cheese (I use a half/half combo of cheddar & either jack or fontina)

1 box of pasta (a small shape, like cavatappi, elbows, or shells)

about a cup of frozen peas, defrosted

toasted breadcrumbs (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken breasts on a small pan, drizzle with oil, salt & pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Shred or slice into bite-size pieces and set aside while you prepare the rest of the dish.*

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Remove chilies from can, with some of the adobo sauce, and chop into fairly small pieces. I use 4-5, which makes a pretty spicy dish. Set these aside while you prepare the sauce.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. When foam subsides, add flour and whisk frequently for about 3 minutes; roux should bubble gently. Very slowly add in the milk, whisking constantly. Raise heat to medium and keep whisking until it begins to simmer and is the consistency of heavy cream. Reduce heat to low, switch to a wooden spoon and cook another 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently to make sure it’s not sticking to the pan.

While sauce is cooking, add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve.

When sauce is ready, take off heat and add in cheese(s), stirring until everything melts together. Stir the chipotles into the sauce to combine thoroughly. Add in the chicken, peas, and pasta, and stir gently to coat evenly with the sauce.

Pour mixture into a buttered casserole or pyrex dish (about 13×9 size; or two smaller ones). Top with toasted breadcrumbs if desired, and bake in a preheated 400 oven for about 15-20 minutes until everything is bubbly.

Enjoy!

*My method for ensuring the chicken stays super-moist is to roast it on a foil-lined pan; once out of the oven I wrap up the foil loosely around it, and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Once it’s cooled enough to handle (but still warm), I shred or slice it, and put it back in the foil - which now has a fair amount of clear juices sitting in the bottom - and wrap it all back up to reabsorb the juices and stay warm while I finish the rest of the components. This works really well when making chicken for salads, too.

But, c’mon, people…let’s revitalize this blog! I want to read more about food, and wine, and beer, and books (yes, that means you, Book Bastard), and city life, and griping about city life, and more food…and I’m sure our faithful readers (all 7 of them) do too!

So I issue a challenge: let’s not let another half year go by without a post from each of us. Yes, I realize I’m aiming high. I’ll even kick things off…soon. I promise.

Tomorrow I will be cooking for two: me and the Beer Bastard (who also sucks at posting).  If ever there is an opportunity to play with the Thanksgiving standards, this would be the year.  If I really had balls, I would roast the turkey on The Egg…but I don’t have balls.  So, I’m thinking about playing with the side dishes.  To get my creative juices flowing, I decide to search www.epicurious.com.  Here’s my bitch…how can you possibly rate a dish that you haven’t actually cooked?  Almost every single review contains at least one of the following qualifications:

“I made this exactly as the recipe indicates EXCEPT…”

• I didn’t have x, y, or z or I substituted a, b.
• I added x.
• I didn’t have x so I omitted it

This utimately results in comments like

• It wasn’t that great, I wouldn’t make again (maybe you should try making it first, not your ‘creative’ interpretation, which apparently sucked)
• It was too x.  (maybe that’s because you deviated from the f’ing recipe, Idiot)
• It was lacking something (gee, maybe the f’ing ingredient that you omitted!)

I get so irritated when I read these reviews.  I don’t mind people saying “I tried the recipe as written and it was ____ then I tried it by substituting x for y and I enjoyed it much more”.  I just really have an issue with people reviewing a recipe that you didn’t actually try.  You modified it.  You cannot rate a recipe that you did not actually make.  Period.

But here are the people I especially like.  The budding chefs who say stupid things like “I haven’t made this recipe but just looking at the ingredients, I wouldn’t like it”. These people are the worst.  What the heck?  Why are you even reviewing a recipe that you didn’t try?  I hate these people, they suck.

Ahh.  I feel so much better now.  Of course this doesn’t really help me with what to do with my Brussels sprouts tomorrow but you know what, I’m going to take some of these recipes and use the techniques and ingredients to make my own recipe.  One thing I will not do is rate the recipes that I didn’t actually make.

Thanks for reading the bitch.  There are lots of great things that I should write about including:

• Paris and La Tour D’Argent

• Truffle Dinner #2

• What I did with my first fresh white truffles

Maybe a long weekend will motivate me to write.  You should be so lucky.  Happy Thanksgiving!

With the recent movie Julie & Julia, there has been a resurgence of interest in Julia’s classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It seems the reprints are on every bookstore’s front table, and there are numerous reviews of the book and its recipes. A good bit of the discussion centers around whether the recipes contained therein, which Julia worked on for many, many years with her co-authors, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, are really applicable to the modern home cook in 2009.

While the movie touched upon it some, her autobiography gives a much fuller picture of Julia’s goal with that book. She was attempting to make French cuisine - which at the time almost no American wife even considered making at home - accessible and realistic, without dumbing down the recipes. They are still authentically French in spirit, but sometimes substitute ingredients that would be more commonly found in a suburban supermarket in the 1960s. For example, she regularly lists dried herbs where now it is more common to find fresh.

I’ve had the cookbook for some time, but had yet to really try any recipe in full; I use it more as a reference/resource. After seeing the movie, however, I figured I owed it to myself to try the boeuf bourguignon recipe. Now, I’ve made boeuf bourguignon many times…but not Julia’s recipe. The only recipe I ever use is the one from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles cookbook. (Actually, I did once try a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that was ridiculously complex (7 hours! 4 pots! Egads, even Julia’s recipe takes only 4 hours and three pots) and which resulted in a good, but not spectacular, stew.)  I’m a huge fan of Tony Bourdain, his cooking, his personality, his style. The cookbook is well laid out, every recipe is wonderfully written, and the ones I’ve tried produce classic bistro dishes that make you feel like you’re in France (the soupe a l’oignon, for starters). His irreverent style comes through, but does not get in the way of explaining the details you need to understand to do things correctly.

Tony’s boeuf bourguignon recipe is incredibly easy and consistently produces one of the best plates of food I’ve ever had. I have no qualms about making this for company, as it always turns out perfectly. So, yesterday it was with some trepidation and feelings of disloyalty that I set out to make not Tony’s, but Julia’s boeuf bourguignon.

As with many “classic” recipes, especially a rustic country dish such as this one, there are many variations on the recipe. (Do you know any two people who make a chicken pot pie the same way?) Some use pearl onions, some don’t; amounts of wine vary; some use bacon, etc. The basics don’t change, however: cubed beef is seared in some type of fat, some aromatics are added, wine/water/stock is added, and it is left to cook for hours until the beef is fork-tender.

So, some general observations about the differences between the recipes: Where Tony’s recipe uses only one cup of wine, Julia’s uses a bottle. Julia’s calls for a good amount of bacon, none in Tony’s. Tony’s recipe includes carrots as a true ingredient of the finished stew (6 whole carrots added near the beginning, to Julia’s one); Julia’s includes mushrooms, sautéed separately in butter and added at the end to the finished pot, and Tony’s does not. And then there’s the matter of onion: while Tony’s recipe has you add four thinly sliced onions at the beginning, which cook down with the stew and almost melt into the sauce, Julia’s adds only one, but then includes pearl onions (once again, cooked separately in butter and then braised in beef stock) added to the finished stew at the end.

The verdict? Well, Julia’s was good, there’s no doubt. But overall, not better than Tony’s, if I’m being completely honest. I like the un-fussy-ness of the Les Halles recipe. I’m not really a fan of pearl onions, so for me there’s no reason to add an hour-long sauté-and-braise step into the mix. I also like carrots as a real presence in the final dish. What I will steal from Julia, though, is the full bottle of wine (is anyone reading this surprised?). This undoubtedly added to the body and texture of the finished sauce, which was excellent. I also think I will continue to add in the sautéed mushrooms at the end; this was an easy enough step that did add something wonderful to the flavor.

So, in the end, I may end up with something of a hybrid recipe; Boeuf Bourguignon à la Wine Bitch, anyone?

Santé!

Unfortunately, I have an extreme distaste for visiting supermarkets, to a degree most people find odd. This, combined with a lack of imagination when suddenly confronted with piles of produce, whether at a farmer’s market or a store, leads me to buy the same old standby vegetables and make the same old dishes I’m already comfortable with.

For that reason, as well as the fact that I want to support local food sources, and try to buy organic as much as possible, I joined my first CSA last week. It actually took me a while to find a CSA that worked for us both in terms of pickup location, and wasn’t already full. Hence, the reason I’m just getting to one in October. I found Enterprise Farm via the Boston Localvore blog, and discovered they had a fall share that runs September through November; because I was joining a bit late (last week), they offered a pro-rated rate, as well as a “small” share size, and had a pickup right near my house. Perfect!

Last Wednesday I arrived at my pickup location to get my box of goodies. A newsletter had been emailed the day before, so I had an idea of what might be in the box, but as with all CSAs it depends on the crop. There appeared to be just about everything that had been on the list. I received:

2 tomatoes
6 tomatillos
3 pears
one delicata squash
a bag of baby potatoes
2 bunches of baby bok choy
a huge bag of arugula
2 onions
a bunch of carrots
a bunch of collard greens
one head of green cabbage

I suspected (and was right) that the CSA box of veggies would push me to find new recipes for items I may not normally buy. As a friend recently commented to me, “it’s like your own Iron Chef show.” (Thankfully I’m not being timed.) So, how did I fare with this first week? Well, over the course of the seven days, I have used:

• the delicata squash and several potatoes, cubed and roasted in the oven with oil, thyme, salt & pepper
• all of the onions & carrots, two ways: in a pan sauce for duck breasts, as well as to make a shrimp stock
• about half the arugula, for a shrimp risotto with arugula pesto
• all of the collard greens, sauteed with pancetta as a side dish
• the cabbage, from which I made a gigantic bowl of coleslaw
• one of the tomatoes, in grilled cheese & marinated tomato sandwiches
• all of the bok choy, sauteed with garlic as a side dish
• one pear, brought to work for a snack

I still have the tomatillos, two pears, one tomato and half a bag of arugula left. I had never had a delicata squash before, and discovered it is really delicious, so hopefully I’ll get another one this week (it’s on the list). The arugula pesto is something I never would have thought to make before, but was good and is definitely a keeper. The collard greens and boy choy are items I probably never would have bought on my own, so I’m glad I tried them, and would buy them again, though as a leafy green I still prefer swiss chard.

Not being a fan of cooked cabbage, I discovered there’s really no uncooked dish you can make with a cabbage beside coleslaw. And a head of cabbage makes a LOT of coleslaw. Thankfully, cabbage is not in this week’s distribution.

Some of the items in this week’s list are the same (carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes), as well as a few new ones that I’m looking forward to (spinach, sweet corn, eggplant, peppers). A couple of things I’m completely unfamiliar with are on the list: Mizuna and Tatsoi. I don’t have the slightest idea what do to with either of those. (Food Bastard, any suggestions?)

All in all, I enjoyed my first week of challenging myself not just to find new recipes, but use as much of the produce as possible. Hopefully I can keep up the pace. Stay tuned!