Sunday, March 23, 2008

Honey Moon 2006 Viognier

I love this wine. I realize it's gimmicky, in the sense that you feel like you're drinking honeysuckle juice and not wine, but I could drink a bottle of it without realizing it. And tonight my housemate has made some really fancy iranian food, so I'm looking forward to reporting how it went with that...

Per Se

Per Se reminds the CC of why he doesn't go out to eat in the "white tablecloth" restaurants.

Pitch perfect food but emotionally frigid.

The CC assumes readers have heard of the above restaurant and Thomas Keller. There was a 9-course menu, etc. and it was excellent. However, it was the equivalent of dancing with someone who spends all their time more concerned about their hair not falling out of place than having a good time.

The CC will also note the nosebleed borderline-larcenious prices.

Mr. Keller should note that at those prices errors are not forgiven. A waiter trying to take away a course before the diner has finished not once but four times is clearly not acceptable particularly when the restaurant is 60% empty for "second seating" on a Saturday!

Leaning over to refill water and coffee in front of the diner while he/she is speaking is pretty much a no-no straight out of the Culinary School 101. That it happened repeatedly is simply unforgivable.

The idea isn't that Mr. Keller isn't brilliant (he is, and the CC is competely and utterly in awe!) It's that now that "sous vide" and "shaved salt" has spread far and wide into the repertoire of the average talented culinary student, and that Mr. Keller's discoveries are accessible to the average homecook, he needs to amp up his game, or drop the prices (or both.)

Let's turn to some current pop songs to finish the review.

Is the CC sorry he went?

Non, je ne regrette rien!

Would the CC go again?

Don't take me back to Per Se, no, No, NO!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Ian Banks' "Use of weapons"

Woolly recommended it, so I read it. Maybe it's because I haven't read the first couple books in the Culture series, or maybe it is genuinely disappointing, but I was depressed by it...

Saturday, March 15, 2008

In Bruges

I went to see this movie cold turkey, knowing absolutely nothing about it, simply because I'd been to Bruges as a child and loved it. I was astonished at how good it was, and predict it will become a favorite. I don't know whether this has any basis in fact, but I thought this movie could have its roots in theater of the absurd. When I was a teenager I was quite involved with theater, and my favorites were Beckett, Ionesco and Pinter -- Pinter's "The Birthday Party" is my all-time favorite piece I've acted in. Watching "In Bruges" brought the feel of The Birthday Party back, and it was so weird and powerful that I had to go back home and watch an episode of numbingly familiar and comfortable X-Files, and drink a bottle of wine to wash the taste from my mouth. Don't get me wrong, it's a good feel, to some extent, but that was a tough and formative time, and it's hard to feel like you're back there again.I may have to go watch In Bruges again ... I don't remember when the last time I did that with a movie was. LoTR maybe?

Coppola 2005 Rosso

This is a blend of 51% Zin, 29% Syrah and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, according to the label. Aside from the ridiculousness of specifying the blend to an accuracy of 1%, this blend also doesn't seem to work. I had a glass of it a couple nights ago, and I'm not thrilled to go back to the bottle. It might be time to make chicken vindaloo!

Update: a few days later I went back to this bottle... and was confused. This time around it seemed much much better, tasty and aromatic to begin with. However, 10 minutes into sipping, it had devolved again. I don't mean it had gone bad in the glass, but rather in my mouth. There's some bizarre chemistry going on with this wine and my palate...

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Father's office -- Santa Monica, CA

Returning from a conference last week, we stopped for a burger at "Father's Office" in Santa Monica. This place has apparently won every award imaginable for the quality of its burgers, and though the Florian burger circa '99-'02 has a special place in my heart, this was in fact the best burger I've *ever* had. The place has open seating, meaning you have to wait until someone leaves and then fight everyone else who's milling about for a seat. It's also very very loud, so it's not a great place to have a conversation -- but they bill themselves as a reimagining of the local pub, and when did you go to one of those to talk?

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta

There is this amazing place down in the Village called Raffeto's that makes fresh and dried pasta.

They supply half the restaurants in the city. Dried pasta is $1.25/lb. This is some amazing stuff, y'all.

I bought nine pounds. The Italian dude looked at me a little funny but he grinned and winked when I went to pay up.