L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon (New York)

We went for a first visit tonight, but I suspect we will be returning in the future. I was able to get a reservation Friday night on OpenTable with choices of 5:30 or 6:15 Saturday night, which was a surprise for a prime time at a restaurant of this quality, but I suppose they keep some tables open for hotel guests at The Four Seasons, so they may accommodate late reservations, making this a good option for fine dining without having to plan two to six weeks in advance.

Robuchon's concept is for the diners to sit at a counter around an open kitchen close to the food as it is prepared as in his original Paris restaurant, but there are also tables for guests who may want a more social experience away from the kitchen.

We sat at the counter, which I'd recommend, but don't expect to see that much. There are lots of plants, hanging baskets of fruit, pillars and such that obstruct the view, so you're sitting at the pass of a busy kitchen, but what you see is mainly plating, and not quite enough to figure out too much of what is going on. The presentation is very nicely done, with one or two particularly decorative selections, but not everything is done in that style, so it doesn't come off as overwrought.

It seems the options have been simplified from earlier reports that I had read before going in that we were not offered various sized tasting menus. Instead there is a page of tasting portions, another page with traditional appetizers and mains, the full tasting menu for $190 without wines, and a dessert menu. It is possible to mix and match from the tasting portions, appetizers and main dishes, but we opted for seven tasting portions between us that we shared, plus two desserts, and the server helped us arrange our selections from light to heavy to make for a well paced meal. I thought our server was great, though the busboys were hovering a bit, prodding us along a bit faster than we wanted at first, but they adjusted after the first course or two.

The amuse bouche before the meal was a shot of avocado cream with an intense grapefruit gelée and what I think was a small piece of beef carpaccio on top, which set the tone for the rest of the meal--lots of combinations of savory and creamy cut with citrus.

Now reconstructing from memory and from menus posted on their websites, we started with a Portobello Mushroom Tart, with Eggplant Caviar, Tomato Confit and Arugula and Grilled Squid with what seemed like bacon or jamon and roasted red peppers. The mushroom tart was one of the more graphic presentations with a thin line of balsamic, a small green dot of pesto, and a larger red dot of what may have been a pureed tomato confit, and various other little dots, and it always seems a bit obscure to figure out how to combine these things, so one tastes them separately to guess at what they might be and then dips to taste. It looks great on the plate. The squid is quite wonderful, seared without being overcooked, smokey from the ham, with a hint of the citrus theme cutting through.

Next we had the Seared foie gras and Grapefruit Gratin together with the John Dory Filet with Fava Beans, Chorizo and Sauce Vierge. The foie gras tasted as if it was fried in bacon, conjuring vague reminiscences of rumaki from the '70s, but elevated to something much more subtle, crusty outside and creamy inside, and the grapefruit gratin was a surprising counterbalance. We realized in retrospect that we had too many foie gras dishes, but this one was the most unusual, so for a dish that features foie gras, this would be the keeper. The John Dory was good, but not particularly surprising, which is fine. Not everything needs to be surprising.

Then we continued with Braised Veal Cheek, Thai Jus and Crunchy Vegetables and the Free-Range Caramelised Quail Stuffed with Foie Gras and Potato Purée. Having seen a recipe for the famous potato purée, I couldn't imagine what was really that unusual about it, but the texture really is distinctive--perfectly smooth but not whipped or gummy and with lots and lots of butter to make a kind of a dense paste. I'm guessing they must use a waxy potato to get that texture. In addition to the portion that came with the quail, we received two extra portions served in Staub mini-cocottes, which I think were a bonus. The veal cheek was incredibly soft and the Thai jus a good contrast to the other flavors in the dishes we selected.

The chopped hanger steak and foie gras burgers on brioche buns with fries and house-made ginger ketchup seemed like a good dish to end on, since we'd each get one slider, and this is one of the house standards. Well, it's a very tender burger with a slab of foie gras on top. Do it once to see what all the fuss is about, but the foie gras and grapefruit gratin is more interesting.

We received a pre-dessert amuse, which was another shot glass this time with a raspberry panna cotta and granita, which were well paired--again the figure of a sharp, cold acidic granita against a ground of creamy panna cotta.

Can I say something about the flatware? The spoons are weirdly deep and odd to eat from resembling oversized baby's feeding spoons, and the knives have a symmetrical shape that in a dark restaurant makes it hard to tell which is the cutting edge and which is the spine. My wife couldn't understand at first why she wasn't able to cut through the crust of the mushroom tart.

Desserts were a yuzu souffle with Okinawa sugar ice cream and a coconut dacquoise. The yuzu souffle was really wonderful, yuzu being a flavor that stands up well to the dulling effect of the eggs in a souffle, but I thought a little too large in comparison to the other dishes, which isn't to say we didn't finish it, but it could have been 2/3 the size and would have left us wanting more rather than thinking it was going on too long. I was expecting something that looked like a dacquoise from the dacquoise, but it was a deconstructed/reconstructed version with a dollop of coconut buttercream in a vanilla foam over tapioca with bits of hazelnut (I think) crunch floating in it, and that got me thinking about dacquoise and its connection to this dessert, which isn't an undesirable result.

I had a glass of Alsace riesling and a single espresso, and the bill with tip came to around $325 for two, which I thought was not unreasonable for this level of dining and service. The tasting menu looks wonderful, but eight tasting portions per person would have been way more food than we wanted, and I would only do that if we had planned ahead and not eaten for the rest of the day, but this being a Greenmarket day, we weren't passing up a dozen local oysters on the half shell from Seatuck (he threw in a few extras, so I think we had fifteen actually)--my favorite Long Island fishmonger of late--for a $10 lunch for two.

The Carnegie Gorgefest, A Family Tradition

Daughter and Son in Law of Food Went to New York. For us, one of The City's greatest point of interest is the food.

For our fist meal in Manhattan we went to the Carnegie Deli. The Carnegie has long been legend in our Family. Father of Food tells one of his first trip to the restaurant, which sums up what makes this place extraordinary.

When Father of Food first sat down to a table at the Carnegie, he asked the waitress for a Bowl of Soup and a Corned Beef Sandwich. The waitress looks at him and says dryly "Pick One." My father, not a small man, rather a somewhat hefty fellow at the time, a man that could ironically wear the name "Tiny," says "What am I, a kid? Bring me the soup and the sandwich." She did, and he was sorry. Try as he might, he did not finish that soup and sandwich because one soup and sandwich at the Carnegie could feed a hungry family.

Husband of Food and I kept this tale in mind when ordering our lunch. We were hungry so we settled on a Corned Beef Reuben and a side of Fries, for the two of us. Here is the Reuben. The plate is tilted a bit in this shot, so it is difficult to see just how big it is, but you get the idea, right?

We almost made it through the whole sandwich; I struggled to eat about a third of it, but I was not sorry. Now had I ordered the soup...

Craft, NYC

Craft was opened by Chef Tom Colicchio in 2002, a short walk from the Union Square Greenmarket, as an antidote to some of the food excesses of the 1990s. You remember: a small hunk of flesh centered in a pool of sauce on an enormous plate with another sauce on top of it, and then a coulis in a contrasting flavor and color drizzled across the whole plate, maybe with some crispy bits sprinkled over everything. Everything at Craft, by contrast, is prepared with a few fresh ingredients, but they're the best ingredients you can get. We visited Craft for dinner last night, and I'd say the concept is holding up quite well.

Craft is a fairly expensive restaurant, even by New York standards, but having a meal like this is like attending a performance, and compared to opera tickets, it's not so bad. Grandson of food is at a stage right now (almost two years old) where going out to a restaurant is a hit or miss proposition, and I like cooking at home most of the time anyway, so we're not going out as much as we used to, and when we do, we're probably hiring a babysitter. One memorable meal at $125 a person is unquestionably worth five decent but forgettable meals for $25 a person and then some.

We started with Wagyu beef carpaccio with a vinaigrette and celery garnish as an appetizer. This was the closest any dish came to having a sauce. Before this came there was an amuse bouche in the form of two fresh mussels in a hot pepper marinade, presented on two spoons. Wagyu beef is astonishingly marbled. One can't imagine that it's very healthy for the cattle, but it is interesting, having a distribution of fat to meat that looks like a salami.

For the main course we had the roasted bluefoot chicken, hen of the woods mushrooms, roasted baby carrots with rosemary, risotto with corn and bacon. The roasted chicken is presented to the table on an oval copper gratin dish with the blue feet intact before it is carved for serving and garnished with chives. The mushrooms are just roasted with some butter and salt and maybe some garlic, so the main flavor is the mushroom. The carrots are similarly roasted and served with a sprig of fresh rosemary. The Savory New York site features an interview with Collichio on video, and you can see the chicken, mushrooms, and carrots. Everything was excellent, prepared simply but perfectly, but the risotto was transcendent. It seemed to use a small amount of very smokey bacon, and very fresh sweet corn added just at the end of the process, so that it had the texture of corn that had just been barely steamed.

For dessert we split the warm chocolate tart, which comes with a chocolate granite and Earl Grey ice cream. It came with another little extra from the pastry chef--two tiny semolina tarts. The Earl Grey was very intense and will foster some new experiments with the ice cream maker at home. That's what a good restaurant should do, isn't it?--make you want to try new things in your own kitchen.

Even the way they handle the leftovers is outstanding. They pack them up and put them into the refrigerator and hand you a number, like a coat check, until you are ready to leave. And they sent us home with another bonus--two packets of biscotti that we enjoyed this morning for breakfast as we remembered last night's dinner.

Dogs on the Rise; Let's Be Frank

Let's Be Frank Hot Dogs seem to be on the rise. These frankfurters have been featured in articles in LA Weekly, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Chow, and The New York Times. Maybe they are so much on the radar because they opened a cart recently in LA (Dec. 2007). Maybe they have a great PR firm... But does a hot dog cart deserve so much attention? Maybe, if this hot dog cart is really the precursor to a fast food empire. It may happen. Let's be Frank is growing fast.

I had my first Let's-Be-Frank yesterday at a Memorial Day BBQ and was very pleased. The dog was long and thin, flavorful, and the casing was crisp. I was doubly pleased when I found out that these dogs are healthier than your average dog. They are made with 100% grass fed beef, have no nitrates, no hormones, and are lower in calories than other comparable hot dogs (170 calories, 13 grams of fat per dog compared with 240 cals and 22 grams of fat for a Dodger Dog).

I am interested in trying the dogs directly from the cart. I will be taking a trip to Helms Bakery where the Los Angeles cart resides. Check out this great review from one of my favorite food blogs, the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Blog.

You can find Let's Be Frank Dogs at these locations Marked on our Family of Food Map:

The original Let's Be Frank Locations:
Warming Hut at Crissy Field
Our Hours are:
Every Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Weather Permitting.

AT&T Ballpark-San Francisco
AT&T serving 2 hours before first pitch to top of the
2nd ending, behind the Willy Mayes statue.

The address where you can find Let's Be Frank Dogs in LA:
Helms Bakery‎
8800 Venice Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Brother of Food, these dogs are available in New York at:
Willie’s Dawgs
351 5th Ave, Brooklyn 11215
Btwn 4th & 5th St

Beginning the blog.

Angelenos have two inexhaustible conversations; how travel by car from one part of Los Angeles to another and where this City of Angels hides a decent slice of pizza. This blog is going to focus on the Pizza conversation. Yes, Pizza with a capital P. Food is important in my family. Our highest cell phone bills can be traced back to this simple question, "What did you have for dinner?" We hope to thwart the profits of Verizon and Sprint by posting our answers to that question here.

There will be blogging about the tiny restaurants in the San Fernando Valley, as well as the rest of Los Angeles, from me, the Daughter, but as the Father begins his expression you will read of great fare from Las Vegas. I hope to also lure my New Yorker brother to the blog as he will bring East Coast flavors to life and if you've ever been to New York, you know that these flavors are worth reading about.

Now back to the Pizza conversation, it is sometimes hit and miss, but my best bet for Pizza in LA is Damiano's Mr. Pizza on Fairfax. I had a meatball pizza there about a decade ago, that I still dream about. This place is dark, dark, dark, except for the glare of the beer fridge. While the lack of light robs you of your eyesight and ability to read the menu, it enhanses your other senses and is perhaps why the tastes are so rich. Give it a try. 412 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036


From the Valley, take Laurel Canyon over the hill to Fairfax, past Melrose. It's across the street from Canter's Deli. Or, take the 101 to and drive down Highland and cross over to Fairfax on any street before Melrose. Or maybe go over on Coldwater...