Escoffier

A 6 year old isn't a problem. A 36 year old can be a problem... As we get closer to a date we'll post all the information Scott. She (and you) are welcome.

Oxtail soup made with Korean radish and onion. Five grain rice (which is really 17 grain rice) in honor of the first full moon of the new year. Kimchee at exactly the right ripeness. Oh Wow! chocolate covered cakes with a layer of cocoa icing (Brian calls them Korean Little Debbie's) Dried oyster mushroom and garlic nibblies. Japanese mocha filled yellow cake.

much better FOIE than FOU...oui? or if you prefer, un meilleur foie que l'imbécile...yes?

Gras = Fatty (or fatty liver if you're following along at home)

Well done, Principia. Next tour you will be able to teach...

Stop by Super H or Grand Mart and get it out of the freezer. Also durian, red bean, jack fruit and others.

Tallula gave us hot chocolate with home made marshmallow and beignet....made being out in the snow panic more than worthwhile.

A-yup!!

Brian it was great fun and Grover and I are already starting to put together next month's tour. We're thinking of a "eating at Super H before you grocery shop" tour. Going to be limited to 3 people (you guys were just the right size to shop with) and participants will have to come hungry and ready to explore.

Not only beer (Japanese and Korean if I remember correctly) but other alcohol as well. A good time to try soju if you're brave enough. I owe goldenticket one but we may be able to make it for the entire table.

Must have been the night for comfort food. Grover and I had bulgogi, some newer kimchee and 5 grain rice (in honor of the full moon). A nice vouvray and we were done for the evening. Tonight, Oxtail soup...yum!

Quoth The Band: "Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train" Actually after googling Virgil Cane you find he's a very accomplished musician. Wednesday at 10:00? I think I can make that.

I think if you are careful to pick and choose, Tempt Asian is still a cut above most "grab and go" Chinese restaurants. As I said earlier, the porkbelly was as good as what we had when Peter Chang was here, but you're absolutely correct, shelf life of most restaurant reviews is very short.

I noticed the same thing but then I started to wonder...maybe I'll just do a search for champagne and see what comes back. Normally, winezap is a very good source of strange, esoteric and sometimes hard to find wines. Maybe they dropped the ball on this one. The search for champagne came back with over 15 pages of Champagnes so I'm going to assume that the search for RM only looks for those letters in the name or description. You have to love search engines.

On my second trip through RM champagne on winezap.com I got different results entirely...following was returned from exactly the same search. Strange! Larmandier, Guy Vertus Brut Champagne Premier Cru $33 - 42 White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages Larmandier, Guy Vertus Rose Champagne Premier Cru $38 - 38 Rose | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages Larmandier-Bernier Ne d'Une Terre de Vertus Cuvee Non Dosee (Disgorged 15 March 2001) $40 - 40 White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages Larmandier-Bernier Vieilles Vignes de Cramant Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs $22 - 53 White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: N.V., 2000, 1999, 1998, ...all vintages Larmandier-Bernier Brut Blanc de Blancs 1Er Cru $33 - 33 White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages Taittinger Artists Series Collection Armand $250 - 450 White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne Vintages: 1981, ...all vintages

Direct quote from the webpage. YMMV...you think they may need a bit of an assist?

I just checked on winezap.com and they list only one RM Champagne: - Guy Larmandier Cramant Blanc De Blancs: - Produced by Guy Larmandier, the Cramant Blanc de Blancs Champagne is - an excellent Champagne Blend. From the Champagne area of France, this - Champagne Blend features a Dry taste and White color. Someone will have to help me out here, is anyone familiar with this champagne? Pricing ranges from $39 to $54 depending on vendor.

we had the same reaction. It is definitely fried and in Chinese I believe it's noted as a "filet". I found it overly salty but tasty.

Ok, I threatened (promised?) to tell everyone what we had for dinner last night, so here goes: We arrived a few minutes early and told the hostess we'd be happy to wait until our reservation time. She disappeared for about 2 minutes and came back and said, "Your table is ready". From there out, we left ourselves in the capable hands of the Tallula staff. We were no more than seated when Derek our waiter (waitperson?) came out and gave us the details of our dinner. Josh R. came out with the first wine and off we went. Dinner was the following: 1st Course: Gastrique glazed and seared Tuna with roasted shallot cous-cous. A very tasty and perfectly seared Tuna. I like the Tuna but the cous-cous is good enough to be a course by itself. Paired with a 2001 Marc Tempe Pinot Blanc, from Alsace. Fruity and dry with a floral nose and a long finish. 2nd Course: Seared Fois Gras with Brioche and Pistachio Bread pudding, Sauternes Jelly and a bittersweet Chocolate and Framboise sauce. Someone must know my weakness for Fois Gras. This was smoky and wonderful and some of the best Fois Gras I've had in a while. Paired with a 2004 Champalon Vouvray Off-dry Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. Citrusy, long finish, very refreshing. It set off the Fois Gras perfectly. 3rd Course: Seared Beef Tenderloin with potato Risotto, crispy vegetables and a morel mushroom reduction. Rare to medium rare Beef. The beef was very tender and flavorful. The potato Risotto was an eye-opener. Risotto doesn't always refer to rice. In this case it refered to ricing the potatoes. What a great complement to the beef. Paired with: 2004 Connatoio "E" Sangiovese from Tuscany. I like Sangioveses and this one was no disappointment. Big, robust, great boquet and a perfect match for the beef. Josh also brought a French red but like and idiot, I didn't get the name or vintage. A similar bouquet, slightly drier and possibly a bit more robust. 4th Course: Dessert was Vanilla-bean Cheesecake with a strawberry, lychee sauce. I had to share this with the next table it was so good. Grover (who was complaining about being full managed to somehow finish all of this... ) Paired with: 2004 NI Volf Moscato D'Asti. From the Piedmont region of Italy. A very pleasant way to finish a great meal. We bought glasses of this for the next table. Dinner wasn't over yet however...because of the snowy night, we were left to contemplate the journey home with hot chocolate with home made marshmallow and beignet. All in all, a very pleasant, gracious dining experience hightened by extremely good wine pairings. Grover and I can't wait to go back and do it again.

Grover and I were there on Thursday night and the fried fish was as good as ever (even if I do find it a bit salty) and the pork belly with steamed buns and broccoli was as tender and tasty as could be. Even though we didn't see chef Chang personally, his personality came through in the food.

Dolsot Bi Bim Bap and bori cha at Super H after spending 2.5 hours exploring with some fine people ...

HERESY!! HERESY I Say!!! pizza=gooey cheese (real stuff, not some namby pamby soy substitute) and nicely slightly burned, thin crust...

Mike, You're not being cynical now, are you? Mrs. LaPorta still makes a pretty mean carrot cake and some of their food is pretty good (and very filling)...and the jazz pianist in the bar is decent...

Our reaction as well...some of the "older" diners the night we were there looked like they were being asked to go butcher the beef for their dinner or something...(this doesn't preclude me being an old-fart..a title I proudly wear).

They have removed the Elysium name and it's now a (more) formal dining room. Grover and I went there for our anniversary one year (when they had the made to your order with our ingredients) dinner. The food was very good. Grover, I and our befuddled dining companion Mark went late last year and Elysium was gone but we went to the same room and had some very good food (I'd have to find Grover's dining diary to find out what we ate). Very attentive service, and a very good roasted garlic spread for the bread stand out in my (somewhat erratic) memory.