Anahi - not for me

One thing that really irks me is a so called trendy restaurant that's crawled its way up from the primeval sludge, and made its way into all the guides and magazines, the collective dining public's mind, and somehow, despite the fact that they were famous pretty much only in the 80's, because Jean Paul Gauthier went there once or twice, and because during fashion week it's filled with noisy, stupidly dressed American fashion press people , they still retain some sort of authenticity.

It went like this: It was Saturday night and I had no idea where to go, but a strange hankering for Argentinian meat or ceviche. I called Anahi: "We've only got space in the back room" (ie for the little people). Ok fine. I'm hungry. We arrive. Restaurant empty. We are relegated to the back room while the Argentine lady owning roams around the front room, preening herself for the real guests (who, by the way, take two hours to come).

The first round comes: decent, although tiny empanadas , guacamole, a little too smooth (think baby food) and lacking a bit of spice, but with great homemade bread, decent ceviche . We order our meats, told it comes with green salad. Everything comes with polenta instead.

"Can we have the green salads we were promised?" I say to Argentinian owner lady and fashion ambassador. "No it comes with polenta". Me: "We were told it comes with green salad". Her: "You'd like extra green salad". Me:"No, I'd like what we were promised, green salad". Her: "OK, sorry for the waiter , he never works in the restaurant, only on Thursdays". Okkkk......The kicker was when she took away a small bottle of Pago juice (20cl=8€!! , 85 cents in the local Monoprix!) that was only half empty, and spirited it away to the kitchen. When told , she said sorry, disappeared into the kitchen again, and was seen bending down to get the juice bottle - yes yes yes , at just about poubelle height. I could go on and on: the basil/tomato sauce on the brochettes was forgotten, no sugar offered with coffee, etc etc

I was fortunate my company was so charming.

Chateaubriand Redux

I've never been a huge fan of Inaki Aizpitarte's Chateaubriand. Maybe it's all the media hype surrounding this bad-boy Basque, a rogueishly handsome, perpetually unshaven lady killer of a cuistot. Maybe I'm jealous of all the attention he gets variously from the top food and travel magazines, as well as a legion of hot young foodies. My friend and fellow chef/food blogger extraordinaire once told me, "I don't know what all the fuss is about- it's nothing special, just n'importe quoi" . Another friend Trish, who profiled him for a top French food mag thinks he's sex on a stick. Most girls do. I swear when he pops out of the kitchen you can almost hear the panties drop.

Well, all this hype has sort of muddied the water a little, making people expect something on the level of El Bulli I have the impression. All the fashionistas and gastro-tourists arriving for dinner last night had a similar look on their face, "Is this it?" One bobo type style editor girl got into a heated argument with the head waiter because they took more than 4 seconds to find her reservation. He couldn't give toss. I expect he gets it every day. Too much press buzz giving an impression of something else.

Anyway, last night I got it. A 45€ , five course menu with very decent food is a good deal:Amuse bouche of marscapone, crab and pissenlit, Bouillon with mushrooms, radishes , foie gras and various crunchy peanuty things floating around, lieu jaune with mashed purple tomatoes and raw, thinly sliced cauliflower, Lamb from Hugo (a bit too chewy), with carrots, agrumes and "carri", and a pear crumble/yoghurt dessert with caviar like little yuzu pearls. Cheese (coulommiers, "young" gorgonzola and chevre) was very decent.

So, despite previous misgivings, I've been won over for a simple, slightly creative cuisine at good prices. And it really was fun observing all those stupidly dressed fashionidiots waiting for my table in desperation at the standing room only bar, while I slowly sipped a last glass of chilled bubbly ;)

Memo to the Heinz people - Pittsburgh ends in 'h'

Funny how such a simple thing such as, GASP, fact-checking can get overlooked by a multibillion dollar company such as Heinz.

Yes, people, Pittsburgh is spelled with a 'h' at the end....

...just not on the millions of 140 year commemorative bottles that just hit the shelves.

And yes, I will consult for money.... ;)