Evaluating Restaurants

Evaluating restaurants is probably considered by critics to be more art than science. I tend to disagree. Guests have the luxury of being entirely subjective but a critic has to be objective in order to maintain credibility for their audience. I think it takes a good deal of experience in a variety of restaurants in order to become enured to the initial emotional swings that can take over when dining out.

I have my own system for evaluation that I think is both simple to use and broad in perspective, and this system has been an invaluable tool in our restaurants.

Five points of quality are evaluated: Quality of Welcome, Service, Atmosphere, Cooking, The Cellar. You may say that this does not make the cooking the focal point and so is inherently inadequate. But to me the guest come in for an experience (a good one!) and since these are the areas that pull guests in they are also the deal-killers when things go wrong. The elephant in the room is level of expectation, and we are happy to feed the expectation.

So tell me what you think? Does it cover everything for you? How would you improve it?

To the right of this posting you will find “Recommendations in France” for restaurants I visited in France recently and how I rated my experiences. Currently in Vegas where I'm attending a design conference with Patrick Sutton - getting some ideas for our new venture. Once I finish dining my way through the Silver City and I know a lot have you have worn that same path, I will have restaurants to recommend and review.

Click on comments and send them in I’ll respond as soon as I can!

Back in the USA

Tasting highlights at home:

I thought I should share a few items tasted. Usually I prefer to give food and scene as context, but maybe sometimes some wine only comments can be helpful.

Chateauneuf du Pape's at home: 1998 Bosquet des Papes "Chantemerle" tasted twice recently is showing beautifully and probably will for another 20 or so years stored well. The flavors and aromas are still very primary (fruit versus others stuff, which you would call secondary) and the wine is quite corpulent but with 10 minutes of air it shows very focused, long well-delineated raspberry, kirsch, and thymey, briary flavors. Good acid, not intrusive. Maybe for lamb with a rich sauce right now.

99 Clos du Caillou Reserve (do not confuse with Les Cailloux). This is one of my favorites from this vintage that excelled for Syrah and Mourvedre. Robust, not as broad and alcoholic as the Grenache supercharged 98's, so not as flashy, but loaded with some dark pleasantly sea weedy character. This could stand a game bird dish well now, or very flavorful pork - like confit. This wine will peak in 5 years and hold for 10 more at least.

2000 Bois de Boursan "Felix" is a beautiful, natural wine that shows the softer, easier, sweet-fruit personality that sets 2000 apart. This will peak soon and may not hold past 2015 or so. Wonderfully spicy on the nose. I want this for very Provençale dishes, like tuna or swordfish slow-cooked in olive oil, or great chèvre. Maybe even a veal dish with a Provençale garnish.

Burgundies gone dumb: it just happens. It doesn't mean that they won't be lovely another day. There are times when some red burgundies of excellent pedigree just go dumb for a period of time and show no charm, focus or personality. Very frustrating. Do not confuse this with wines that are ill-produced (lots of red burgundy) and have no hope or wines that are corked or even wines that are too young to drink. These are all different issues. I've had three wines open recently that I've had a least twice previously that on their most recent showing have gone dumb.

2002 Chambolle-Musigny "Vieilles Vignes" Comte de Vogue. Amazingly charming a few months ago with brilliant raspberry trills and a silky texture. Currently like an ill-fitting shirt.

2000 Chambertin-Clos de Beze Louis Jadot. This was the elephant in the room at a recent dinner. No one was prepared to say how dull this was (and a little hard) and as I had chosen it based on it's previous performances I was not courageous enough to just say "Wow, dishwater!". In November this was lacy, minerally, dark and quite fine. Not like me to not speak my mind...was I perhaps unwell?

Griotte Chambertin 2001 Claude Dugat has twice been MAGNIFICENT! Recently like an ill-bred Santenay from a meager year. Bleeck! These are the ones that hurt. When you open the all-but-impossible-to-get wines and they betray you.

You are probably asking yourself what to do when this happens. Unfortunately with wine there are no make-up games for rained-out dates. It just makes Burgundy the most frustrating of purchases as even with the greatest wines there are no real guarantees of performance. Sort of like owning a Ferrari. Nothing looks or sounds or handles like it when it performing, but it's a bad idea as an everyday car for many reasons.

In the restaurants, once this happens, I will pull wines off the list and cellar them for a bit longer to see if they wake better in a few years. They usually do. Tough exercise and impractical, but these wines are as much art as science.

Best item I've tasted in the past weeks has been a white: Niellon's Batard-Montrachet 1992. Giant corpulent stuff. White wine for veal, chicken, pork, mushrooms and strong cheese. Brilliant acidity. Superb length. Showing dark oak and minerality with a slow-cooked pineapple flavor profile. Great balance.

Best buy in the past few weeks that I've tasted is a new Spanish red on the Pazo list that we're offering by the glass and that we have exclusively: Cariñena , Sinols Coromina 2001 from Emporda in the northeast corner of Spain right at the french border. 100 percent Carinena (which is unusual) this wine has a broad soft texture, excellent depth and excellent perfume for wine at this pricepoint. Drinking well now, it has the structure to age at least another 5-7 years to it's advantage. Super all-purpose wine for Mediterranean food. We have this wine exclusively.

Live at Noon

Everytime I get back from these types of trips I always get asked if I get jet-lagged. I don't. I just stay up until midnight the day I get back and all is well the next day. I do always have a travel hangover, though. I just never realized it before.

Last night at Charleston as I'm circulating from table to table chatting with guests about menu and wines I realized that I kept organizing menus with a bent to Chateauneuf du Pape. White and Red. Then when I was cognizant of it I switched almost immediately to talking about red burgundies, Clos de La Roche and the like. I'm very curious what other travelers have on the brain when they return. So tell me.

The other thing that I'm curious about is the service experiences that people have when overseas. Are they improving? Declining? Are we improving or declining in our culture on a general basis in regards to service?

Weekend In Paris

FRIDAY, March 31st

Gerard Besson lost a star a few years ago. I hear he's on fire to get it back. That's where I want to be: an experienced 2 star Chef who's on a mission at 1 star prices.

Amuse Bouche: Fab play on Gazpaxho with velvety texture, great acidity and beautiful marinated Turbot to garnish. First wine is a 99 Chablis Grand Cru Valmur from Francois Raveneau. I can never get enough of his wines. I think he's the best grower in Chablis pretty easily. Second wine is 85 Echezeaux from Mugneret-Gibourg. Getting my Burgundy fix in Paris. Pretty little room, very classic but warm and tasteful, and brightly lit, as most of these sorts of places are.

I tell the Captain to ask Chef to cook for the two wines I have chosen and to give him a glass of both. The first thing I receive is just honest and delicious: Cold-poached oysters with a big blast of sea salt and a light but creamy cabbagey relish. Super Bon! Great with the Chablis, which is slowly waking after decanting. Pretty wound up stuff.

Next is a plate of lovely asparagus, black truffle and coddled egg. Next is a controversial sort of course, but I like it: raw sea scallops warmed with a truffle veloute and served with poached leeks. Modern/peasant dish. Hhmmfgh! Works with the wine. That's the point.

So I'm watching this English family have dinner here and they are so sweet and human, but I must admit that they crack me up. Papa, sweet pretty darn good French, Mother seems nice, quiet, no hard looks. Three teenage children: oldest tries to be Dad, tall and bad haircut, blue blazer (this has been me too much in the past, oooff), middle son is maybe 16 has dred-locks and a prep school tie - classic, and sister, the baby, is embarrassingly taller than the fellas and has very, very flat sparkly shoes on with a conservative black frock. Conversations are all about who is dating who. Painful, painful memories of Mom and Dad openly chatting up my girl fiends from high school in front of my little brothers. The Italians, two tables, away smoke so seriously you would not be surprised to see tobacco come out of their noses when they exhale. They are drinking Chambolle-Musigny like water. Should be fun when they arrive at the digestif stage of the meal!

The red is very good but not special. It has the ripeness of good 90's and has the perfume around the edges of a great grand cru, but it still has some hard tannins (not a lot but a little green - stems anyone?) And just isn't that focused. My thought is interrupted by either a concert or some sort of big "manifestation" or protest. The protests aren't really very angry. They are mostly 20 year olds looking for stuff to do.

Okay, the dred-locked English kid and his mom are in a race to knock off their off-vintage Pichon Longueville. Good Job! More on the way. I wonder if they and the Italians will go drinking later, I mean Mom and Gerald (I name everyone in the room right away) and the tobacco-enthralled Italians? Gianni has his button-down collar running free - a classic Milanese move. His watch is probably backwards...

Much more importantly, I think I have just had the best pigeon/squab of my life. I only remember eating it with my hand (probably to the great upset to the Japanese along side me). The two girls probably thought I may attack them at any time. Barbarian. Yes, I might be...

The back waiter asks if I want cheese. I ask if she is serious. It's time for a bloody plate of something for the Echezeaux. Chef decides to try to kill me. He sends an aged Charolais entrecote. Maybe 16 - 18 ounces. I recognize a challenge. I crush him. He is (I am playing) so desolated? Next are three cheeses: Charolais, Livarot and a great Reblochon. Superb!

A very good millefeuille with the tiniest of gathered early spring strawberries. Nicely done. Good pastry. Good pastry cream. Nice woodsy little berries. Okay I'm done. Time to visit the kitchen and chat with Chef. Classic stuff. Not cheap...at all, but a good list, aware staff in a pleasant room.

After a few nips with Gerard I am ready for a taxi...very ready.

North for a Week's End in Paris

Thursday, March 30th

After taking TGV from Avignon to Paris, I check in to Le Pavillon de la Reine on the Place de Vosges. I've only been on this square from time to time to look at art at Galerie de la Place, one of the only places that shows Pendelio's work (a Bretagne artist that Cindy and I really like). The hotel is small, personal and has good service. The rooms are attractive and warmly decorated. Patrick Sutton recommended it to me and I'm happy with it. I've been looking for a Paris hotel ever since my old favorite was sold.

Anyway, these guys send me to a place a few blocks away for lunch and I feel like I'm in more of a NYC place than Paris. The music is the same as where I get my hair cut. Decidedly un-French, too-cool-for-school. Decent cheap Mediterranean food, short ok wine list. Great space. I bet this place is very hot at night. I may have to discover...La Tete Ailleurs, 20 rue de Beautreillis, 4eme.

The best thing at lunch is the Saint Marcellin from a super affineur "La Mere Richard" a friend of the owner here. With a glass of a little “Lieu dit Meursault” is super. It's raining now. Time to get more cheese, a bottle and a book....I don't read French very well. Maybe I'll read it a little better when half potted?

Very good shopping in this neighborhood, with lots of interesting shops as opposed to the chain/designer labels. Very pleasant. Also tons of art galleries.

L'Ami Louis is very much itself. I called Louis and he squeezed me in. When I arrive it's full blast. I will explain what that means. I stand at the kitchen window and drink a few glasses of champagne and have a few snacks from the kitchen waiting for my table. Jaques, the young turk in the kitchen, and I analyze all the women in the dining room. I wait for a while...longer than most of my guests would, but I tell them to seat other parties ahead of me. I am so entertained by the bs in the kitchen and watching the movie stars come in, while chatting with the sommelier, an old buddy from many visits.

When I finally sit, it's after the Italian movie star, who finds it suspicious that I order two bottles of wine dining alone. He and his pal have ordered one. Boy are they going to feel inadequate when I order a third (I always leave bunches of wine for the sommelier and the kitchen, they do not have the most considerate clientele). I was talking with the boys a bit about the celebrity crowd they get. It's so funny. The last time Cindy and I ate here with Bob Parker, Billy Crystal and Robert Deniro were at the next table. Cindy is a big celebrity watcher. It frustrates her to no end when I only want to know their menu and wine.

For dinner I order some of the classics, on recommendations from the boys in the kitchen. They get superb Asparagus, huge, no really HUGE, served warm on a chipped plate with a dressing of oil, vinegar, salt and lots of chervil. Gone fast. Every time I've had it it has been the best asparagus of my year. No exception this time. Next frogs legs with a small mountain of garlic sautéed in butter. Smaller than normal, but very tasty. Then my Roasted Bresse Chicken. Great flavor. Only at a farmhouse in Irpinia, in the hills of Campania, have I ever had anything close. The room starts to settle down, though the people-watching here is always good too. The wines I choose have done very nicely. I had a bit of a tasting of 2000 Grand Cru red burgundies: Clos de Tart and Bertagna's Clos Vougeot. The Clos de Tart is soft and pretty evolved and feminine. It's at the height of it's expression. The Clos Vougeot, as you may expect from this terroir, is more burly and masculine, spicy and showing some tannin that still should melt away over the next few years. 2000 is considered a light year, but I've been very happy with the wines from good producers in the Cotes de Nuits in their top sites. The wines from lesser terroirs are just thin. This is an important nuance to understand if you are trying to follow my advice. Another vintage I will use similarly is 1997.

The Italian movie star is only able to smoke the most massive cigars after dinner...what's up? If you cannot handle lots of smoke and perfume this is a bad, bad place. Good night to everyone at Louis and I'm off for a digestif and more people (really poser) watching at the Hotel des Costes. This is always an entertaining scene. Just don't eat there. Cooking is like bad fashion there. Ooff!

Last Day in the South of France

Wednesday DINNER

The little drive to Beaugraviere has never bothered me, but they have but cracking down on drinking and driving and we discussed - too late- having a driver for that night. I've often had the strategy in France of having the meal further afield at mid day and staying in an auberge with a very good kitchen or situated close to several good restaurants. In January, I stayed at a really nice historic property not far away from Mondragon: Chateau de Rochegude. Great public rooms, especially the living room you can lounge in and have an aperitif in front of the gigantic fireplace before heading the 10 minutes to dinner at Beaugraviere. This time we had a good bit longer drive.

We arrive and are greeted by Daniel, the Captain/Maitre d'hotel/Sommelier. He knows his stuff, if demure but fun. A real pro, one of the best anywhere. We head right to the table I always seem to sit. The menu has two sides: pre-fixe menus and the list of dishes a la carte. The a la carte dishes are half with and half without truffles. The whole reason for being there is to get some of the truffle dishes. There are lots of dishes that he has really mastered and he always, always, always gets the best truffles of the season. Even in a poor, low-yielding season like 2005 he gets better stuff than any 3 star I've been in. His wine list is loaded with superb stuff especially white burgundies and red rhones. It's been raided a bit in recent years and does not have quite the same depth in older wines that it had 5 years ago. Still a great list.

The first plate is one that I have often had there: scrambled eggs with truffles. Barely cooked, loaded with truffles. Chave's 2002 white Hermitage was lovely, not yet sleeping and a great backdrop for the dish. People rarely realize that Hermitage vintages for red and white vary enormously, because harvest is at different times. 02 is not a strong red year, but the white from a grower as good as Chave you surely want.

The next dish was one I always have which is a mélange of seasonal vegetables with shaved truffles, vegetable stock and very good olive oil, served warm. Best way on earth to get your veggies. First reds were 99 Domaine de Marcoux CDP and 95 Vieux Donjon. Neither was a particularly good choice but for differing reasons. The Marcoux is a great wine and will be much more so, but it's really closed, unevolved and only so giving in such a state. The Donjon is one of the best of that vintage, but even at the time I thought the vintage a little narrow and only so giving. It remains a wine of more intellectual than gustatorial pleasure. 95 was the best year amongst a serious of tough years 91 - 97. There are good wines and even excellent ones from these years but little like the Barbe Rac we had at lunch.

My third dish doesn't translate that beautifully into English but was a stunning dish: parmesan savory cookie covered in truffle slices and served with his truffle coulis. Bravo. First new truffle dish in 2 years Daniel says (the only truffle dish I would not enthusiastically reorder is the risotto). My last dish was my all-time favorite: foie gras poached in brown chicken stock in a pastry-sealed casserole loaded with truffle. The wine for this was a stunner, not perfect but excellent: 1979 CDP Grand Tinel. This is an estate that I have had no success with before. Rich, many years of life remaining. Lovely aromatics and still a bit of tannin. Must have been a beast at 5 years, it's pretty big now at 27. We kill it off with a little bit of cheese and a long chat with Chef Guy Julien who gives us an insight into the different truffle-producing areas of France. I love that place.

~~

Wednesday, March 29th

Wednesday was just about living long enough to get to dinner at one of my absolute favorite places on earth: La Beaugraviere. The small kinda straightforward restaurant in Mondragon, just north of Orange (Orange has a massive Harley-Davidson rally every summer...in an ancient Roman town, bizarre).

The day begins with a few check-in tastings at Le Vieux Donjon and Cuvee de Vatican. I was at both domaines in January and am happy for the reprise. The Donjon 05's are brilliant. Great wine at any price. Very fairly priced. The Vatican wines are interesting in that they make two cuvees that are hugely different. The traditional wine is just that and will drink well as a young wine. The Reserve Sixtine is a 60 grenache 40 syrah cuvee that sees new oak barrels. Dense and oaky and flashy. Needs time to integrate the wood and soften its tannins. Their 03's were super for both. The 04 and 05 bottles should also be strong. We'll see.

Lunch is at an old favorite: La Mere Germaine. Right in the square in the center of the village it has been a standard for most of the growers in the area. Cooking is solid most of the time although both the cooking and the dining room have gotten a few new flourishes in a facelift a few years ago. The wine list is also pretty darn terrific...if you only want to drink CDP, or other southern Rhone valley wines.

My first dish is one of the best I've ever had there: braised beef heart cooked en terrine with a foie gras garnish in the center of the fat slice of the terrine. Great flavor, texture and no silly unnecessary elements to the plate. Our first wine if the table wine that's made at Bonneau by his son Marcel called "Les Rouliers.". Pretty darn good practice run. Very expensive table wine (39e), but a great buy for delicious stuff.

My second dish is a comfort dish an entrecote steak. Good flavor, shallot fondue is nice. Camargue sea salt on the table required, but glad it's there. The second wine is magnificent: 1990 CDP "Barbe Rac" from Chapoutier. Perfect now. Great balance, expression - every detail in focus aromatically and in harmony on the palate. Best wine of the trip so far. Chapoiutier is a mono-cepagist, so he only uses grenache. Lots of body, fruit, no edges. We knock out a little cheese, coffee and then on to the next few stops.

We stop by Bonneau's vinification cellar where Marcel is working. No one would ever guess that this garage is where Bonneau's magic starts to happen (actually I guess tending the vineyard and their terroirs are really the beginning). We tell Marcel that we had his wine with lunch. He's pleased. He tells us that he loves going to that restaurant especially. It's close to home and offers a good change of pace. He says his mother does a few dishes and his father is the better cook but only does three dishes. The ones he thinks he does well. (Which can be a bit monotonous!)

We step by the cooperative bottling and warehouse space that a group of twelve growers use. We run into Thierry Usseglio, the new president of the group, and Lucien Michel (Vieux Donjon), the outgoing president of the group. They are both there as the bottling machine has broken down. Lucien explains that the reason that his hair is white and Thierry's is still brown is the office. He wishes Thierry "bon chance" and tells us all kinds of hunting stories. He is curious why Dick Cheney would choose to shoot a Republican donor instead of a quail or perhaps a Democrat.

Our last stop was at Henri Boiron's domaine Bosquet de Papes. This has been a huge favorite of mine over the years and a great buy in really age-worthy wines. Henri's son Nicolas has been making the wine for a while now. Nicolas is a real character 6'4", probably 275 and wild dark hair. A real Provencal bear of a guy and pretty damn vigorous fellow too. We taste through the 05 barrel samples and the 04 freshly bottled (which always is a little more narrow than it should be) as well as the 03's. The Cotes du Rhone cuvees are very good, pretty throaty broad wines for CDR. The traditional CDP cuvees are very rich in style and will certainly evolve for a long time. The 04 slower than the 05 to show but the 05 may outlive it. The reserve old vine bottling is called Chant le Merle or song of the blackbird. Counter intuitively, this is not a feminine or flouncy wine. When is the last time you hear a blackbird belt out a blues tune in a rich alto? That would be more like it...a little bit of a whiskey voice. The 04 will be slow evolving but is excellent. The 05 components, grenache especially seemed top, top flight. We talk again about this wine in twenty years. After a bit of a business chat we head off to dinner.