Noisy restaurants on purpose?

So How Is Europe Managing Without American Tourist Dollars?

More is Better?

The Doggie Factor

In these troubling and difficult times worldwide, we wanted to address our visitors on a more personal note. While many of our readers are still very wealthy despite the troubling financial difficulties, we know there are many of us still able to travel but needing to rein in some of our more lavish adventures.

May we suggest, perhaps, renting a villa or apartment in your favorite destination and combining the fun of shopping farmers markets, searching out the great prepared dishes France is famous for in their alimentations and boucheries and preparing some local specialties yourself all interspersed with eating in your favorite restaurants.

Visiting Asian countries with their rich cultural heritage, also provides a plethora of reasonable and delicious choices and cuisine.

Europe is also offering many wonderful deals in luxury and mid price hotels as package deals. Out of season travel not only is usually less expensive but provides relief from summer crowds, over worked waiters and different seasonal tastes in the cuisine.

With some creative planning, the world still awaits all of us with wanderlust and questing palates.

Linda D'Aprix - Managine Editor
10/15/08

For decades, 80% of American travelers never get further than Paris and think they have been to France. Who would ever claim to have visited the United States with just a trip to New York, or Britain and never get out of London?

Big cities are fabulous centers of business, culture and historic sights, but they are their own micro-culture. In France, out in the provinces where the history is still being lived, culture is vibrant and is even more of an expression of the country than its big cities. Sure, you probably won't see the huge collections of famous paintings, but you will see Roman ruins and can probably perch on a fallen column and have a picnic bought from the little shops down the road, breaking crusty bread and spreading a local, fresh white goat cheese on it.

Each region has its own tastes and flavors all connected to the nature of the land itself, dripping with the historical evolution that has shaped the local culture, the invasions by different armies all bringing their own additions from seeds and recipes to gene pool. Local culinary traditions that are constantly evolving is the most pervasive living culture in France, despite the incursions of fast food.

Before you plan your next trip to France, we would recommend that you read "The Discovery of France" by Graham Robb. It is a fascinating exploration of the regional areas of France as they came through time, each area so very different from the next, each with their own history, traditions and even languages. He spent 2 years poking into the nooks and crannies of rural France.

We would recommend not trying to "do" France in one go. Far better to really fully explore one small corner, especially at a time when they are having some traditional celebration ("fete") such as one devoted to their cheese, or wine, or olives, or . . . well you get the idea. Visit the small wineries, or cheese makers or bread bakers (an early rising is necessary here). All you have to do to break through the natural country reserve is to express interest in what they do and do it genuinely. Your ignorance coupled with your interest, gives them an opportunity to expound about something they are usually very proud of.

Even if you don't understand French very well, gestures and demonstrations go very far. A little research in advance helps too.

So give the rest of France a try; I think you will like it. But take a large scale Michilin map with you that shows all the small roads or you will take up too much time getting lost.

Lastly, when you stop for lunch, just order the local cuisine (if your dietary dictates allow it) and ask for recommendations on the local wines. You will be seldom disappointed and usually happily surprised.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
3/8/08

When it comes to smoking - is it permitted or is it banned - what is good for one person is bad for another. France is joining many states in the US and countries in Europe in banning smoking in public places and now as we enter 2008, this extends to restaurants and cafes. And that was after a reprieve since in February 2007, smoking has been banned in France in all public places; except restaurants and cafes. However, it has been true for many years that restaurants and cafes have been required to provide non-smoking areas. But our experience is that these laws were routinely flouted by smokers who were abusive if their malfeasance was ever pointed out to them.

For confirmed smokers this will present a most annoying restriction. For most non-smokers who have had to endure the smell of stale smoke pervading and sullying the beautiful aromas of their fine cuisine at any level, this will be heaven.

As a reformed smoker, I do understand the pleasure of smoking. As a non-smoker who cannot escape the fumes stinking up my clothing, fouling the air and ruining otherwise heavenly meals, I delight in France's decision. However, I think, that smoking is a choice and if patrons find that smoking enhances their meal, they should be allowed to. However, in doing so, they should not be allowed to foul non-smokers air space. So cafes and restaurants, hotels and other public spaces should be allowed to offer sealed smoking spaces for such patrons with air extraction equipment that can prevent the leakage of the fumes and expunge them from the air.

But perhaps these government decisions are not founded uniquely on smell, but on the cost to the taxpayer of increased medical costs that accompany the habit that offset the profit they make in huge cigarette taxes.

So visitors to France this year, if you loved going to France because you could smoke before, during and after your meal, BEWARE! Or will the new exclusive law be treated with the same distain as the partial one has been in the past?

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
1/2/08

Well if there isn't one there should be! When we do our annual gastronomic trip to Europe, especially France, every year, despite eating a full range of dishes from the top chefs even those awash in butter, cream and desserts whose tastes lift you off your chair, I loose weight. Then I return to California with our lite, fat free cuisine and put back on the 10 lbs I have lost in 6 weeks in France.

How can this be?! Well portion sizes probably have a lot to do with it. As a product of English boarding schools in the 1950's the concept of not eating every scarp on my plate was beaten out of me at a very early age. Tendrils still remain in my sub conscious, especially when confronted with delectables that would be a crime to leave on the plate. In France, however, sublime tastes are presented in sophisticated amounts, not gargantuan mountains on a serving platter. Style accompanies taste.

The same can be said for dessert servings. A touch of this and a dab of that; an egg size "boule" of ice cream with a sliver of apple tart. A small symphony of delight that while rich does not over burden the digestive system. If the pasty chef's creative extravagance is too much, then those seeking a lighter finishing touch to their meal can usually enjoy several "boules" of a variety of sorbets to cleanse the palate. Fresh from the garden herb teas are usually available as well to aid those digestively challenged.

I was struck by this contrast the other day as I was finishing an excellent dinner at Tamarack Lodge Resort in Mammoth, CA. As I perused the dessert menu, I was struck by the fact that there was absolutely nothing offered to those whose digestions can not handle copious servings of rich desserts. All or nothing seems to be the operative philosophy in California. From a profit stand point surely it would be better to sell a dessert than not. But also wouldn't it be better for the dinner to be able to have something to finish off a fine meal? For surely it had been a very fine meal. And we are not just talking about money here, but about pleasing a range of clients not all of whom have the digestions of a 20 year old.

So a plea to American kitchens as they assemble their menus - don't forget those who either don't want or cannot eat rich desserts. How about a selection of sorbets and not the dreary "strawberry, raspberry or kiwi" for crying out loud! Take a look at "Suzanne's" in Ojai, California who makes her own sorbets which are some of the best on either side of the Atlantic. Her dark, bitter chocolate is superb especially coupled with a scoop of her coconut. The pear sorbet of Daniel Jourdan of "Hostellerie de la Fuste in Valensole, Haute Provence.

While I don't remember the name of the restaurant in Marseilles from many years ago, I do remember the trio of lavender, thyme, rosemary and pastis sorbets (really more like mini ice cones) served in tiny thimble glasses at the end of the meal. Or the small, round and exquisite apple tart of Chef Michel Vignaud in his "Clos des Hospice de Chablis" on the edge of the famous wine town of Chablis in Burgundy, France. Thin slices of apple on a paper thin crust served warm from the oven with a spoon made, egg sized scoop of home made vanilla ice cream on the side. I'm drooling at the memory!

I did not need a Tiramisu swimming in Creme Anglaise at Tamarack, nor any of the huge servings of pie's with mounds of ice creams enough to feed a village in Somalia. I just want a delicious ending to a meal not a meal of sweets in itself.

Oh I know the argument that Americans want quantity for their money or mistake a gilded lilly for quality for their money, so sure, go ahead and give it to them, but don't remove the more exquisite offerings for some of the rest of us in the process.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
3/17/07

Maybe it is just us old people, but who out there would really prefer to eat with friends, or alone for that matter, in a purposefully noisy, echoy restaurant? Please tell us by emailing us because we would really like to know.

Speaking for ourselves, we hate them. We will not eat in one. To our thinking, the enjoyment of a meal is not only the taste of the food, the graciousness and professionalism of the service but the ambiance in which it is eaten which includes nothing that will intrude on the focus on the taste, the textures, the success of the chef (whether of modest but willing talent or of the stratosphere of chefdom) in creating a set of well balanced tastes and gastronomic pleasure. Nothing is so irritating than noise where you cannot hear yourself think let alone taste.

Not to mention the pleasure of talk with friends between courses that is drowned out by noise, the noise of people having to shout to make themselves heard. How can you enjoy your meal if you have to shout a conversation then cup an ear to try to decifer the reply?

We noticed this trend starting in early 1980's in Los Angeles and hoped it would be a fad that would die out soon. Well a quarter of a century later it is still with us... and growing! One of our favorite little Mom and Pop (reduced to just "Pop" in recent years) restaurants, L'Auberge, in our village of Ojai just sold. It was never a fabulous eatery serving overly rich Belgian food in a bit of a dreary surroundings, but Sunday brunch was always a special favorite on the terrace that overlooked the story book valley and distant mountains. Their butter lettuce salad with the only creamy dressing I like, the real French main course and dessert creps, the onion soup, the omlettes, all delicous and marvelous to consume in the fresh air, with the view and the simple, unpretentious surroundings. It has been a treat in our bag of local special treats for decades. A warm welcome was always extended by Paul the Belgian owner. Always a beaming smile set in a ruddy face filled with good will even when business suffered during an economic squeeze.

But now the new owners, a Hollywood producer of course, made an offer that could not be refused and promises to make the restaurant more fun and exciting and noisy and echoy as though that is a good thing! One more special treat bites the dust! Sure it could use a bit of sprucing up, but more noise!!??

So do email us with your opinions (for or against) at the email contact to the left.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
11/10/05

While the very wealthy can still afford to stay at and eat at the high end establishments we cover at length in GourmetVoyageurs, the high prices and weak Dollar are making such chefs more difficult for a large percentage of the American foodies. We have met many people of more average means who save up all year in order to be able to have just a few meals with chefs they have read and dreamed about for years, probably relishing the experience far more than those with far more means. The French do this themselves after all.

For you, we are enjoying covering young chefs who sometimes have just chosen to spin out of the orbit of the top chefs for whom they have been working and honing their craft; others who have learned their skills in less prestigeous kicthens but who have studied the approaches of their personal gastronomic gurus by reading, visiting or being friends with other young chefs who do work in the high end kitchens.

One of our favorite is Chef Eric Canino who is inspired with his succulent, young vegetables. These are just run of the mill garden variety vegetables but he renders them is many marvelous dishes, many quite unique. Some are the dish itself; other matched with excellent meats, poultry and fish. They are filled with the fragrance of Provence. He is the chef at La Cremaillere in Haute Provence. Because he sticks to inexpensive ingredients his prices can be far more reasonable the the haute chefs who seem to require foie gras, caviar and other expensive and/or labor intensive ingredients.

Another is Chef Olivier Brissy of Chateau Pioline in Aix. His food is delicious and artfully presented at reasonable prices. The chateau is a lovely old country chateau with a long and interesting history and is full of real French character rather than modern interior design. Eating Brissy's food either in the elegant dining room or out on the ancient flaggstone terrace under the plain trees is pure magic.

Slightly more expensive because of its location is chef Chef Thierry Thiercelin of Villa Belrose on the outskirts of St. Tropez. He has garnered his first Michelin star. But he too has dishes that are pure vegetables from his own gardens that are excusite.

If you are over near Montpellier, the food is wonderful at the bistro of the famous twins of Le Jardin des Sens who opened their Brasserie across the street just a couple of years ago called Brasserie La Compagnie des Comptoirs. It is modern inside and out with fabulous dishes from all around the coast of the Med. No one chef here is the star, rather it is masterminded by the brothers and staffed with a talented team of young chefs.

In Burgundy, there is a chef, Gilles Lafontaine, also doing great things with vegetables but he is no kid. He worked as a head chef on several of the trans Atlantic passenger ships. But his food is full of youthful directions, modern, filled with vegetables and even vegetarian dishes in a charming country atmosphere. He may have laurels but he is not resting on them. Just up the hill from the 3 Michelin star chef Marc Meneau in the walled hilltop village of Vézelay, his food is worth a trip. M. Meneau sends people to his restaurant when he is full or closed.

So while the top restaurants may be over the top, there are a lot of great places to eat really special food that won't break the bank account.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
3/22/05

So How Is Europe Managing Without American Tourist Dollars?

Well that depends on who you are talking to. It is certain that there are less Americans traveling in Europe this year and Americans seem to have been the major supporters of the European, especially the French, tourist economy. But many Europeans, such as the Germans, who used to travel to hot countries off the European land mass are having their holidays within driving distance from their homes. So perhaps just as Americans are doing their travels at home, so are the Europeans.

Chateau de la Chevre d'Or in Eze Village near Monte Carlo, though, find that their American visitors have only fallen from 35% last year to 27% this year. Ousteau de Baumaniere in Les Baux-en-Provence who parceled out some of the blame on their high percentage of American guests for loosing their third Michelin star a few years ago that they had had for over 30 years. Despite this, there are still quite a few Ameicans trecking to Les Baux but certainly not in the masses that once was the case.

Europeans have been accustomed to raking in the US Dollar for so many decades all the while moaning that Americans are destroying their home lands and culinary traditions that they seemed to forget that their personal prosperity had a direct connection to the US vistors. Will they now perhaps moan about their reduction of income and blame Americans for that as well?

We are a little tired of hearing about the plague of the MacDonalds fast food joints that have sprung up like weeds all over Europe, even France. Everyone bemoans the destruction of the French culinary traditions by this giant chain. Yet these very chains would hardly enjoy the success they are enjoying if the French themselves did not frequent them. If the French and others stayed away, the chains would dissappear overnight. The French themselves have rushed to emulate the "Nouriture Rapide" (fast food) with their own versions like "Quick" a chain of burger joints. Cafeterias have also sprung up everywhere like "Frunch" often found attached to supermarkets.

Perhaps what they are missing in blaming America for this scourge, is that it is not America that is forcing this method of human refueling upon them, but the nature of their society is changing around them. The French no longer can have stay-at-home-moms, they are seeing their 2 1/2 hour lunch breaks cut down to an hour. Wives must work; they cannot spend all morning shopping for lunch and dinner and have fresh food on the table and lunch and dinner for their families. Workers no longer have the time to go home, eat a 3 course meal, sleep it off and return to work. The market place is simply responding to the change in the realities of the work place, the changes in the society and the fast food establishments supply a need.

Happily, the French fast food is of better quality than that of the US so all is not lost. The MacDonalds are becoming the new teenage social center. Open late they are a great place to rendez-vous.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
6/12/02

The Doggie Factor

I am doing some more grouching. Why I wonder, do we in the United States (and I believe that the United Kingdom has the same laws with King Charles Spaniels exempted) prohibit dogs from restaurants and in the main even outside on a terrace? The excuse is one of concerns with hygiene. I can see the concern with hygiene in an operating room where everyone who is admitted is washed and scrubbed and wearing antiseptic gloves and masks on their faces. But in a restaurant?!

Oh, I am as concerned about hygiene in a restaurant as the next person, perhaps more. I worry that the forks and spoons I am about to put in my mouth may have been handled by a bus boy who has a streaming flu. I worry that another bus boy who brings the drinks holds the glasses by their rims with hands that may have just cleaned out the toilet. I worry that the raw foods may be left out of the fridge too long or that the raw chicken was cut up on the same cutting board as the salad.

I keep a sharp eye out for tables with small children who all seem to just getting or just getting over a cold, flu or other human contagious diseases. I have watched customers cough into hands holding paper money which they happily hand over to the bakery assistant who puts them into the till and sneezes over the change. Then without washing hands picks up a crusty load and hands it over to me. In one of France's 3 star kitchens I saw a pastry chef produce a humungous juicy sneeze over a table full of fresh fruit desserts he had just prepared, joke and place them all on the tray going to table nine.

I have yet to eat off of a plate, use utensils or eat food prepared by someone of the canine persuasion. Nor have I discovered a canine hair in my soup. I have not caught a case of fleas or hosted a tape worm even though Doogie our Shi Zhu is attached to us by an umbilical cord. I have seen small children throw a large percentage of their food onto the floor in a wide circumference, been bothered by them playing noisily all through the restaurant while their parents eat on oblivious to the ruckas. Dogs that accompany their family usually clean up after the children and for the most part sit quietly under the table.

If hygiene is the measure of whether dogs should not be allowed in restaurants, then I feel that the measure be applied with an even hand. Perhaps everyone should be stopped at the door and tested for the presence of germs that are contagious. There should be an inspector rejecting anyone in the kitchen or serving staff from working when sick. At the very least kitchen and serving staff should wear breathing masks and disposable plastic gloves not to mention hair nets. (Singapore has had that law for quite a few years now). Floors should be hosed down every hour with strong antiseptic hoses. If we are not prepared to do this, then let dogs accompany their family into restaurants and stop pretending that they will make us sick.

Sadly, even in France where dogs are more welcome than anywhere else in the world, some chefs like M. Alain Ducasse will not let them into their dining rooms or even on the terrace outside. In the cool weather, it is quite possible to leave them in the car. But when the sun shines, cars become ovens very quickly and since a dog's body temperature is higher than us humans, they can die quickly even with the windows open a crack. We love to travel with our dog. We meet many people with the dog, their's, our's or both as ice breakers. These contacts open up conversations on many subjects. Our lives are richer for these experiences all brought about due to the Towsers of the world.

So I appeal to the lawmakers of the world to be a little more reasonable and logical and allow restaurants, at the owner's discretion, admit dogs.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor
1/8/01

More is better?

My wife, Linda, never gains a pound. Never has. Its disgusting! I so much as look at a Marquis de Chocolate and my belt buckle pops. But for some reason, I do not seem to gain weight when we are eating for a couple of months in France. At first I thought it might be the weather. It could not be exercise because we do more of that here in the US than in Europe. It is when I return home that I seem to gain the weight as though the calories have been freeze dried in France awaiting California air to reconstitute themselves and colonize my midriff.

But after a particularly superb meal at The French Poodle in Carmel, California that faithfully presents the French dining experience in both taste, ambiance and serving portion, it occurred to me that perhaps it is the serving portion that is the key. It certainly is not the fat and calories in the food itself.

In France, the meal is spread out over time. The portions are small and when done well, are filled with exquisite taste. There is just the right amount of time allowed between courses for digestion to proceed. The whole meal is not heaped on one huge plate to be consumed and delivered to the digestive system in one massive onslaught. Let's face it, there is a sophistication of delivery to the table as well as the digestive system going on here.

The experience at The French Poodle came at an opportune time. We had enjoyed many good meals; massive meals; huge portions. I was brought up in English boarding schools where every morsel of the disgusting gray mass on the plate was required to be consumed on pain on a whipping. That was gaggingly difficult. What is not difficult is to consume every morsel of delicious food on the plate even if it is three times as much as one really wants or requires.

When did we, in this country, decide that diners needed enough food on a plate to feed a small village in Senegal? If you watch the busboys, they regularly return to the kitchens with plates half eaten. With a background in post W.W.II England, with food rationing, it seems a crime for food to be wasted when half the world is starving. But it also is an assault on our own national health. Would it not be more sensible as well as economical to serve much smaller portions and offer instead free second helpings to those who really want to stuff themselves?

But there is another aspect to the "more is better" approach to cuisine. In California, and creeping from California, young chefs who are trying to make a name for themselves are cooking with the idea that the more tastes on the plate the more exciting and distinctive their plates become. Then load in hot spices to zap the taste buds and you will thrill the diner. They seem to have succeeded in gaining a following. But for those, like my wife and myself, who relish the artistry of many young and not so young French, Italian, Portuguese chefs who are celebrating the cult of "the freshest and the best" produce, it is hard to take especially since so few can master the balance of the tastes.

We love the pure tastes of the finest meat, vegetables and fruit to come through to the palate. It seems a shame so many young chefs do not follow the direction of arguably the formost chef in the world, Alain Ducasse, who says modestly, that he tries to pick the best ingrediants and then get out of their way. Strong sauces, salsas, spices, pepper and other ingrediants used with a heavy hand mask the transidental tastes of fine meats and vegetables as does too many conflicting tastes on the plate. A pungent ratatouille can be a marvelous vegetable dish but matched with a delicate fish will totally overwhelm the ability to appreciate the fish.

So we hope that the current fad of "pile it all on" will give way to greater finess and the artistry of taste, not necessarily in the French style, but applied to any style of choice, strong flavors or gentle.

Peter D'Aprix - Executive Editor.
9/17/2000