Don't use overly fruity wine for a Bordelaise sauce...one does not want a rasberry sauce on one's rib-eye.

I made sweet potato "gnocchi" last night with an oxtail ragu. It is important to note that sweet potatoes and russet potatoes are very different in their consistency and require very different recipes for gnocchi. I was in an experimental mood and wanted to make gnocchi, but only had sweet potatoes. The result: cement gnocchi. The ragu was quite good though. After perusing some recipes, it seems my ratios were just a bit off. Sweet potato gnocchi uses a much higher ratio of flour to potato. Update: I spoke with a pasta maker at Severinos Italian pasta factory in Westmont, NJ, who recommends using Potato flakes (dehydrated potato) to absorb the excess liquid contained in the sweet potatoes. He also recommends blending the egg first and adding the flour at the end.

After much arguing with my editor, my writings of my trip to Spain are complete. You can download them here. Your feedback is welcome, as this is my first essay since college. I need all the help I can get, as I am not a great writer at this point.

You will need Adobe Acrobat to read this file. If you don't have Adobe acrobat, there is something wrong with you....despite that, you can still download it here.

I passed my WSET test with a B. Not bad, considerng I did not study more than 3 hours total. I'm going to take the Master Sommelier exam next!

I just had what might be my best meal at the famous five-star french restaurent in Philadelphia, Le Bec Fin. In the last six months, this 30 year old restaurant has hired a new Executive Chef and regained its lost fifth star from Mobil. Today's experience was proof that this was deserved. Even more interesting is the Chef, Daniel Stern, is relatively young and has no formal training in french cooking - just a few stints at places such as Daniel, Cafe Bouloud and the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon bay, california (under Gary Kunz).

The meal was spectacular. We ordered the Degustation, a five course lunch, and decided on the wne pairings to compliment. Our first course was an omelette with summer truffles and caviar. Combined with the Krug Crande Cuvee, this was an excellent start to the meal (Krug seems to go well with caviar). our next course, a truly spectacular dish, was the truffle soup with Chicken and fois gras dumplings. The balance of cream, stock and truffles were perfect. Even more pefect was the addition of the 97 White Hermitage from Chapoutier. Next, a Walleye pike with a bergamote (a white wine sauce infused with Earl Grey) and truffle emulsion with ramps and oranges. The wine, a Jody Savenniere Coulee de Serrant, a Chenin Blanc was quite interesting, somewhat similar to an older reisling trocken. our final dish was a roasted pheasant stuffed with wild rice and pheasant and truffle sausage. The bird ame across as a mild duck, perhaps what a duck would taste like if it were half chicken, but with a slight gameiness which worked wonders with the sausage. Paired with a 97 Brunello, this was an excellent way to end the food part of the meal. The dessert cart is a thing of beauty. Le Bec Fin has added some more chocolate to the cart (our last visit was mroe fruit-baed desserts, but that could also be due to the season) which is really what they are so good at there. The Bretz Eiswein went with all of them. We wrapped up with a 1975 Albala Don PX Gran Reserva, which was thick, black and super sweet. And Wonderful.

This was by far the best meal I have had there, both food and service. I will be going back in February I think.

Some Quickies

• My favorite Thai restaurant, A little Thai Kitchen in Cherry hill, NJ, continues to serve up very interesting cusiine at good prices. Yes, I think it is better than Lemograss in West Philadelphia and Som sak in Voorhees - And its a BYOB, which is always nice.
  
• I have noticed that the cost of chicken salad is greatly increased by the addition of grapes. I think raisins are a more cost-effective answer.
  
• Emeril Lagasse no longer demonstrates ANY interesting or new ideas on his show "Emeril Live". Most of it is rehash, and has become an entertainment show. Food TV in general is going downhill, with the only people actually teaching you about cooking are Mario Batali and Sara Moulton (Alton Brown - strange as he may seem was - was quite educational, but does not appear to be on much these days). The rest of them think they are something special - which they are not. This did not stop me from trying to get tickets though.
  
• After ripping the WSET testing for Wine and Spirits, I am going to now say that some of this infomration has actually turned out to be useful. I celebrated by change of heart by purchasing a bottle of Loupiac.

Well, another successful meal today, at Morimoto, restaurant of the famed alumnus Iron Chef Japanese. Morimotos is one of the more uniquely designed restaurants I have ever been in, which contains far fewer 90 degree angles that most other restaurants. Rather than try and describe it, I would recommend going to the website and see for yourself, or drop by for a visit on chestnut street between 7th and 8th.

After about 10 seconds of discussion, I decided to have the 5 course Omakase menu, as did my friend Mark. My first course was warmed oysters in a yuzu butter with a salsa of tomoatoes and garlic on the half shell. This was an excellent way to start off the menu, and although there were only 3 of them, their wonderful texture and flavor made up for it. Next, a salmon "New Style" sashimi with baby sea scallop new style sashimi and ikura (salmon eggs) in a salad of watercress with sea kelp. The contrasting flavors of the bacon-like sea kelp, the rich oily salmon and the salad dressing of citris and bonito made this another excellent dish. And a decent potion on this one as well. My third and favorite course was a tempura chilean sea bass in chili sauce with sesame. This dish reminded me of "sweet and sour chicken" form the divey chinese places, but with a much more delicate and light sauce. For the fourth course, a small plate of sushi, containing the best Mackerel I have ever tasted as well as a piece of toro which was so soft cut like butter yet had the lucious flavors of tuna fat that make it such a delicacy. To wrap it up, I got the "choclate temple" - a tower of chestnut tuille and choclate torte with a choclate custard and shavings of white chocolate. Mark got a tofu cheesecake - which may be some of the best cheesecake I ever tasted - with green tea ice cream and mango.

A glass of Brancott Sauvignon blanc was a good match for the first 2 courses but was completely trashed form the sea bass (beer would have been a better choice). Our server, Chris, was very attentive, offering exceptions to the tasting menu for me, and smiling alot (she has a nice smile, so thats a good thing).

Expensive? Oh yeah. $71 each with tip for lunch is more than I like to spend. We were told that someoene had a $500 per person tasting menu, so maybe we got off cheap. I do think it was worth it. Call it a Christmas present to myself. I'll consider my upcoming lunch at Le Bec Fin a channukah gift.

I experienced the newest of Steve Starr's theme-based restaurants today, called JONES. Jones is a retro 60's era restaurant complete with lime-green couches, uncomfortable red vinyl chairs and 2 working (albeit propane) fireplaces. We arrived at noon, followed by a hoard of people for the 12:05 seating. The restaurant was 75% full already.

The food was very interesting, mostly recipies from the 60s and 70s with some modern flair. I took a chance on a briased beef briskit sandwich, with a side of deviled eggs. The Briskit was tender, although it could have been cooked longer - and shredding the meat might have made it a little easier to eat. The Devlied eggs were very good, a hint overly creamy for me, but with excellent flavors from Chive, mustard and worchester sauce.

The service was decent at best.

the price was good. Lunch for 3 with tip was $45. I would recommend this place for lunch. The dinner menu is a little bit pricier.

I played around with some food this weekend. Here is what I learned:

1. Always smell your seafood when you are buying it. If it smell slike floor cleaner, take a pass.
2. If yo forget to smell your fish when you buy it, make sure you smell it before the local seafood stores close so you can replace it.
2. Arugula overpowers shrimp.
3. $2/oz caviar is overpriced.
4. Avocado is overpowered by shrimp.
5. Red cabbage braised in red wine (and either butter or duckfat) is an incredibly good side dish, especially with fish

My girlfriend has agreed to take me to Alain Ducasse for my brithday! I'll make sure to post about that ASAP.

Had dinner at Django the other night. As always, Django continues to be my favorite BYO in Philadelphia (I think MAX's in Cinnaminson lets me have 4 courses so I will go there first). I would talk about the warm Lobster salad with Blood oranges or the middle-eastern duck that I had (or the Jadot Bonnes Marres), but I want to talk about why I think Django will be around for a long time, as will any restaurant run by Brian Sikora and Aimee Oxley.

First off, there is the food. The food speaks for itself. It is constantly changing, and always fresh. But in looking at the menu, I began to notice something. The sauces are light, if any, and do not take a long time to make. Alot of the dishes require little actual manpower to create. For instance, a confit (which there always seems to be one of) is basically a pot that had food cooking in fat for hours. This is easy. Django does not use alot of sauces, which generally take alot of manpower to make (you have to constantly skim and keep an eye on it so it doesnt boil).

Second, notice the portion sizes. Django portions are not big. They are small. Not French Laundry small, but small enough where you get enough to eat, don't tire of the dish too quickly and still have enough room for the next course. So there are good cost control measures here.

Third, Django does not spend alot of time or money working on their dishes. I have been to many places which feel the need to overwhelm you with food. the other thing is that none of the ingredients are expensive. Lobster may be about as expensive as it gets there. But you wont see truffles, fois gras, or other "novelty" foods which cause many US restaurants to lose money. The fact that they are a BYOB and make all their money from food means that they must focus on the profit margins from their food.

But ultimately, the food is really really good.

Ate at Veritas last night. Veritas is across from Gramercy Tavern, and has one of the most intense wine lists of any place I have even been. This list is updated daily, and wines come and go from this 64 page book. Among the many wine we saw (but could not afford) were verticals of DRC wines, First Growth Bordeaux going back to the 20s, and multiple vintages of Californian cult wines like "Screaming Eagle". We looked at the list for about a half hour before deciding on a 1999 Domaine Roumier Les Cras & 2000 Brunel 'Les Cailloux' Cuvee Centenaire. We couldnt afford anything older, and the prices seem to be exponential based on age.

The meal was spectacular. one of the top meals I have had this year. Veritas does a prix-fix 3 course meal for the table, with 6 appetzers, six entrees and six desserts to choose from. I ordered a suteed Maine skate wing with Oestera Caviar in a Chive butter sauce. This is probably the single-best piece of seafood I have ever eaten. The butter sauce, rich and wonderful, was based on a seafood stock, and melted in my mouth. Bill, who I had dinner with, started with a Crisp Confit of Pork over french green lentils and Banyuls vinaigrette, which was excellent as well. This dish was very rich, and the Banyuls was an excellent accent to the crispy pork.

For our second course, Braised Short Ribs, truffled celery root purée, porcini mushrooms, lazed carrots & Barolo. The meat was its usual tender self, falling off the bone, and the Barolo was not overpowering, as the Rhone was powerful enough to withstand it. Bill had a Roast Saddle of Lamb, byaldi of vegetables(a collection of Provencal veges such as eggplant, tomotoes, etc), roasted garlic & rosemary.

Next we snuck in a 5-cheese course, and moved on to dessert. The Choclate Souffle, which was more of a warm choclate cake, was delicate, requiring no effort to cut, and with cream that was as light as it was rich. I had an Almond Caramel Cake with Praline ice cream. I thought this was very good, a somewhat light dessert (except for the ice cream).

The bill was about $400. One of the better meals of the year for me. I think Bill said it was up there as one of his favorite as well, comparing it to Genoa in Portland, Oregon.

For lovers of asian and asian-style food, there is nothing better than Kikkoman soy sauce. Kikkoman is, in my opinion, the best brand of soy sauce for both cooking and dipping.

It seems that the Japanese culture takes this very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they have created a superhero called kikko-man. I think it's great. I think the US needs a superhero who is into food and wine. Italy has "Super Tuscan"...perhaps we could have "Mega-Merlot" or "Captain Crustacean". Although he might go out of style here.

I recently went to Spain. Going to Spain, for me, means one thing: Dining. So naturally, I have to visit Arzak, Spains most renouned restaurant, located in the Basque country in a wonderful city called San Sebastian. I'll be posting my trip log shortly. In any case, it was the best meal I have ever eaten. Ever.

Here is what I had to eat:

• Cold Peach Soup with Seared Tuna
  
• Roasted fig wrapped im Bacon with green chilis
  
• Whitefish Rilette with avocado salad
  
• Salad of tuna, mache & Purple popato
  
• Salad of Praws with rocket, onion & pimento
  
• Poached egg with truffles & Chorizo Sauce
  
• Crayfaish with potatoes & cheese in prune sauce
  
• Monkfish with pistachio cream & shellfish broth
  
• Monkfish with tomato reduction
  
• Curried rack of lamb
  
• Roasted Quail
  
• Selection of Basque Cheeses
  
• Pineapple Ice cream
  
• Vanilla Ice cream with Cassis
  
• Napoleon of Fudge, white chocolate and creme anglais
  
• Mango & Lemon Sorbets
  

And an Alion 96 Riserva from Ribera del duero.

This is a serious place to eat.

I am studying for the WSET advanced certificate exam. WSET stands for the "Wine & Spirits Educational Trust". I haven't really studied much for the exam, and only upon entering the review session did I find out exactly what a mess this exam is. The WSET are the people who decide what is and is not important about wine and spirits. Yes, that is correct, spirits. Think they arent important? It doesnt matter what you think. It only matters what they think.

First of all, we spent a considerable amount of time discussing the differences between Cream Sherry and Pale Cream Sherry. I mean, who really gives a shit? And questions about how you make it, where it comes from...I mean C'mon! I dont care. People who take this stupid test dont care.

Second, there are waaay too many questions about Lirac and Loupiac. Again: who cares? Its nice of the WSET to be fair and all, but nobody drinks those wines. At least not anyone I know. We all drink real wines.

Third, there is very little time spent on the US. Now although I am not in love with American wines (they all taste like big oaky cabs - even the pinots), but there is alot happening here and is worth mention. Instead, we are going to learn what is furthest west in Loire: Laval or Le Mans. And other Bullshit. Who cares.

If I had realized it woud be a complete BS test (I guess most certifications are) I would have spent my money on Bones Marres.

Finally (and this is the kicker): we get graded on tasting. This wouldn't be so bad except there is apparently a correct way to taste wine. So they think. You have to taste using their system. Complete crap. I feel like a sheep studying for his nonsense.

It only makes sense that WSET based in England.

By the way, Bourrez Votre Visage means "stuff your face".

Ate at Vetri last night. It was excellent. Service
was really good too. Had a 7 course meal (my Friend Mark had 7
also, a few were different) which was really good.
Excellent use of mushrooms and a real good wine list. The service is outstanding, and Jeff (front end manager) is one of the best servers I have ever seen.
HAs some Procecco, some vernaccia, an Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 1996,
an A Sardenian wine, and grappa. I left my notes at home, but
Some of what we had:

-Rabbit terrine with Tapenade
-carmelized Onion flan in cheeese/truffle sauce
(signature dish)
-Almond risotto ravioli in almond butter
-Spinach Gnocci & cheese in some sauce (really good
sauce)
-Chocolate linguini with Wild Boar Ragu
-Parpardelle with monkfish ragu and mozerella
-Oysters in a broth of brine & mushroom stock
-Salad of Black trumpets, Prociutto, cheese & TRuffles
-Salad of baby Artichokes, arugula & fontina with
lemon & oil
-Roasted Guinea Hen with wild mushroom sautee
-Rosemary creme anglais with cocoa powder
-Pear tart with caramel sauce

I forgot the other dessert..need my notes.