107660 Fri Feb 20 02:14:27 -0800 2004 12 24 Canada 0 582205 Chefs Susur Lee (Susur, Toronto) and David Hawksworth prepared a very special and delicious, one-evening dinner at West recently, with each chef preparing alternating courses. The menu is below; descriptions to follow in a few days. -- Amuse bouche, Tuna and Wasabi Mousse, Susur Lee (after certain other amuses) -- First course, Roasted Venison Loin/Uni/Mountain Potato, Burnt Butter Sauce, SL -- Second course, Mount Lehman Squab with Savoy Cabbage and Foie Gras, David Hawksworth -- Third course, Braised Oyster/Oxtail, Black Truffle Sauce, SL -- Fourth course, Alaskan Weathervane Scallop with "West" Berkshire Pork Belly, DH -- Fifth course, Roasted Marinated Sablefish, Spiced Citrus Sauce, SL -- Sixth course, Dungeness Crab and Lobster Gelee, DH -- Dessert, Coconut Kumquat Ice Cream, White Chocolate Coconut Crisp, Toasted Citrus Meringue, Rhonda Viani (West's pastry chef) At the end of the booklet distributed during the meal (with the above menu), there are bios of each chef. Susur: "Susur Lee was born in Hong Kong. He did his apprenticeship at the Peninsula Hotel from the age of 14 to 21. After finishing his apprenticeship he moved to Toronto to pursue his career. He opened Lotus Restaurant in 1987 as chef/owner. In 1997 he closed Lotus to take a position in Singapore as executive chef of the renowned Club Chinoise. He was also executive chef and consultant to the Ton Lok group's 17 other restaurants. In August 2000 he opened Susur Restaurant in Toronto, Canada. As well as his duties at his restaurant, Susur Lee makes numerous appearances as a guest chef and lecturer the world over." The bio for Chef Hawksworth: "A Vancouverite by birth, David spent a decade in Europe honing his talents in some fo the finest Michelin-starred resutarants (le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, L'Escargot, The Square and Isola) before returning to open West in December 2000. A year and a half later he debuted at New York's prestigious James Beard House and in 2003, West was awarded the much coveted Vancouver magazine 'Restaurant of the Year' award [my addition: Gold award]; judges proclained 'The level of sophistication and the sheer technical accomplishment of David Hawksworth's cooking outshines every other kitchen in the city.' He maintains a relentless drive for perfection, cooking seasonally and creatively, continually sourcing our region's finest ingredients." Fri Feb 20 02:14:27 -0800 2004 0 cabrales 1 582220 Ok, I have to snicker at that one. I live in Mount Lehman, and I'd be shocked to find that we're known for our great squab. Am I missing something, and Mount Lehman is truly famous for its squab? It's a little tiny town that got absorbed into Abbotsford ages ago. - Leilah Fri Feb 20 12:22:37 -0800 2004 582205 0 Leilah 2 582222 Mount Lehman? If I had a big rig that needed to be washed and lubed, I'd go to Mt. Lehman. Poultry? Probably wouldn't be my first choice. Fri Feb 20 13:02:38 -0800 2004 582220 0 Lurker 3 582225 Unfortunately this reflects a general lack of understanding of the small producers (including fishers and small wineries) that are really driving the food revolution in B.C. And it’s about time. Although, compared to, say, Quebec, we’re backward in developing our artisan cheese community, although that’s starting to change with folks like Poplar Grove, Salt Spring and others. The provincial government (and other agencies who seem to be in the sway of big business) wants to homogenize food processing as much as possible. In doing so they are threatening the survival of many family farms and specialty producers that actually produce interesting foods. Case in point: Thomas Read organic chickens, not really that small but under seige from the B.C. Egg Marketing Board and others. They actually raise chickens tha taste like chickens and eggs that taste like eggs. Anyway, yes, there’s great squab (and quail and more) to be had from Mount Lehman. You can find them at T&T Supermarkets (not to mention on the menus of better restaurants like Bearfoot Bistro, Lumiere and of course West. Fri Feb 20 14:20:13 -0800 2004 582222 0 audrey II 4 582226 I'm all in favour of individualistic producers making foodstuffs of quality and distinction. I'm just curious what the terroir of Mt. Lehman adds to the squab. Seems like faux euro pretense to assign a geographic locator to fraser valley poultry. It also begs the question, is Mt. Lehman squab better than Aggasiz (sp?) Squab? How about Barnston Island Squab? Reeks of an affectation rather than useable information. Fri Feb 20 14:29:16 -0800 2004 582225 0 Lurker 5 582230 Agreed, completely. In fact I have a feeling that Mount Lehman is the name of the company ... that just happens to reflect the geographic origin. But I don't think it's really intended to be a terroir thing. Anyway, I have tasted it and it's delicious in the right hands. Maybe after this I'll betempted to pick some up, dust off my Larousse and give it a whirl! BTW it's interesting to see more Vancouver 'western' restaurants using what to used to be served mainly in better Chinese restaurants. Sat Feb 21 01:23:55 -0800 2004 582226 0 audrey II 6 582237 I'm not certain whether the Mount Lehman reference is to the region and/or to the producer, as Chef Hawksworth has named producers on his menu for certain items like artisanal cheese. I should note that the Globe & Mail has already heralded Chef Hawksworth's squab dish to be the consensus view on the best dish of the evening. I note, in contrast to the limited suggestion (perhaps playful) in the G&M article (with recognition of the collaborative nature of the chefs' meal) of a pitting of the chefs' dishes one against the other, that the evening was very collaborative and the chefs offered their own styles, with their joint preparation of the meal highlighting the abilities of each :) Let me elaborate a bit on the Mount Lehman squab dish. It was the first dish offered by Chef Hawksworth in the evening, because, after the amuses, the meat-oriented "main course"-type dishes by each chef were presented. This presentation of the main course-type dishes before the appetizers is consistent with Susur's typical menu progression at his Toronto restaurant. A part of the menu distributed to each table describes this: "In Susur's restaurant it is his preference for the more substantial dishes to be served first, with the lightest course preceding dessert; this will be our order of presentation tonight." After the initial drinks offered by the restaurant (in my case, champagne, of course :) ), each table could choose their own wine. Certain bottles were included in the Susur souvenir menu as being possible selections, but the whole West winelist was available. We chose a 1/2 bottle of Chateau Branaire Ducru '95, St Julien, which was taken with the squab. Each diner received two "pieces" of Savoy-cabbage-wrapped foie and Mount Lehman squab. The Savoy cabbage was cooked, but not more than necessary and retained a slight integrity of crunchiness, as well as its spring green color. If I recall correctly (and my notes are sketchier, as I was busily eating away), a significant aspect of this dish is that neither the cabbage nor its contents were hot -- perhaps they were slightly above room temperature, but I wouldn't even call them warm. This allowed the intrinsic flavors and textures of each element -- the cabbage, the foie and the squab -- to be portrayed. The squab was without skin, and was cooked literally rare. It was not cooked more than that, and really conveyed the sensations of the gaminess and intensity of the bird. Of its having once been imbued with blood and life, and having sacrified itself for us (For those reading along, I've long been interested in sampling birds at the rare level of cooking.) The flesh, not having been aggressively handled during the cooking process, retained its slinky and seductive feel in the mouth. A little bit of star anise had been utilized in the squab, and this was to be nicely echoed in the West pork belly dish later on in the evening. The intensity of the squab inside the cabbage was balanced slightly by the (appropriately) less prominent foie, which was also cooked without aggression. The foie offered up some creaminess and also some oiliness (in its intrinsic texture, to be clear, and not from cooking oil). To the right of the two Savoy cabbage wrapped items on the plate was a column (from the perspective of the diner) of mushroom cappuccino saucing, which was appropriately gentle. Then, some crushed pistachios, to the right of the mushroom capuccino. An excellent dish :) Sat Feb 21 21:33:37 -0800 2004 582230 0 cabrales 7 582239 sure hope not!!! Sun Feb 22 02:27:06 -0800 2004 582237 0 sneezer 7 582273 Excellent write up - sounds like a really unique event. A few questions if you don't mind Braised Oyster/Oxtail - Was the Oxtail/Pastaball done like an oversized ravioli? Im having difficulty picturing it otherwise - Cooked first, formed into shape and wrapped in pasta and boiled. Dungeness Crab and Lobster Gelee - Were the red pepper bits in the Gelee, and was lobster the primary flavour of it? When you say spiced pineapple, what spices or at least in which direction did they take the fruit - sweet or savoury? Thanks Tue Feb 24 14:54:13 -0800 2004 582237 0 Gobstopper 8 582279 -- "Braised Oyster/Oxtail - Was the Oxtail/Pastaball done like an oversized ravioli? Im having difficulty picturing it otherwise - Cooked first, formed into shape and wrapped in pasta and boiled." Although I can't be sure about the preparation method, I suspect that the pasta was cooked separately from its contents of braised oxtail, which clearly had not been subject to boiling. That there were gelantinous bits mixed in with the shredded braised oxtail supports my "no boiling together" observation. I believe the contents were cooked, and then cooked pasta was drapped over the contents and sort of molded into a rough ball shape. Also, the saucing coating the oxtail was too undiluted for the interior to have been subject to boiling. The draping was not as "tight" as a ball might connote, and the overall shape of the item was less flat than a ravioli. Also, the item did not have the pressed edges of pasta without contents that some ravioli designs entail. -- "Dungeness Crab and Lobster Gelee - Were the red pepper bits in the Gelee, and was lobster the primary flavour of it? When you say spiced pineapple, what spices or at least in which direction did they take the fruit - sweet or savoury?" The pineapple had savory spices. In general, I don't believe additional sweet spicing is helpful for pineapple, in the context of savory dishes. I don't recall if the red bell pepper bits were in the gelee, although they likely were when I consider the design of the dish. I wouldn't say lobster the primary flavor of the gelee, although it was one of the flavors of the gelee; the flavor was more evolved than that, like certain dashi almost. Tue Feb 24 15:45:01 -0800 2004 582273 0 cabrales 1 582259 Our party arrived at West at 7 pm, for the very tasty and appealing "East Meets West" dinner. We were warmly greeted by Tim Pittman's team. (Throughout the evening, the West dining room team was wonderfully helpful -- providing professional, detail-conscious and articulate assistance and handling well the 70-or-so dishes that were being served within a short period of time for each course.) There were a number of small groups of diners having cocktails around the restaurant. I was offered a glass of champagne, before being seated. We received a plateful of amuses. While I didn't take notes on the amuses, they included: (1) a piece of sushi roll containing a reddish-colored fish, the special aspect of which was that the soy (instead of being served separately) had been used (together with something sugary) as the marinade for the included fish prior to its having been wrapped into the sushi roll (likely a Susur amuse), (2) foie gras square on a piece of square toast (this was likely a Hawksworth contribution, perhaps a little pun reference to his signature appetizer of Partfait of Foie Gras and Chicken Livers with Golden Apple Gelee and Brioche) -- the foie square had a dollop of quivering wine-and-possibly-chicken-stock-based gelee on top that enhanced its taste, (3) a savory oval madelaine-texture-type item with a hollow up on top, in which sat a little bit of goat cheese and a sweet/sour confit vegetable item that was purple and that might have been onion or shallot, and (4) a "piled" conconction on a crispy circular base that included the strandy texture of gently cooked leeks or white asparagus with a touch of alcohol, a smoked fish segment and bacon-type bits on top. -- Amuse bouche, Tuna and Wasabi Mousse, Susur Lee This dish was more like a tasting menu dish than an amuse in both attention paid to composition and size. A very evocative presentation, with a little medium pinkish central item that was irregularly shaped (but in the general shape of a rectangle with indentations and rounded edges). Three deep-fried curved strands of something like taro protruded from the top of the pinkish central item. Visually, my immediate reaction was that this tuna dish was made to resemble the carcasse of small birds with little rib bones jutting out. When I told Susur this, he laughed and said that his visual intention had been different. To create the visual perception of a sea urchin with three symbolic spikes protruding from its shell (my reading seemed more in keeping with the curved nature of the taro deep-fried pieces, for sea urchins tends to have straight spikes on their outside). This central pink creation turned out to be a layer of sashimi-thickness Ahi tuna that had been cloaked over a gentle, green-colored wasabi mousse. Tasted similar to sushi, but was more refined. The wasabi mousse texture was lighter and not that spicy in the mouth. The saucing for this dish was quite engaging. If you imagine the pinkish central item in the middle of a long rectangular white plate, it was as though the principal brown-colored saucing were emanating from the right-hand-side of the pinkish central item. The saucing consisted mostly of thin strands of brown sea moss (i.e., the "fatt choi" one sometimes sees in Chinese vegetarian dishes) that had a soy glaze (slightly bitter, as though Chinese confit orange peel or something similar had been utilized; cooked down sauce). There were orange colored and green colored herbal oils in streams adjacent to the streak of soy-based saucing. Also, strewn across the plate were tiny half-balls of slightly sweet, slightly acidic, pickled vegetables (zuchini and carrot) and a tiny bit of cauliflower that had been confit and that was a yellow color. -- First course, Roasted Venison Loin/Uni/Mountain Potato, Burnt Butter Sauce, SL The venison was done literally rare and was not particularly sauced on a stand-alone basis. It was a thick-ish piece of venison loin, and conveyed the sensation of the meat. When served to the diner, it was at only a temperature slightly above room temp. I liked the uni-infused sabayon on top of the venison. It was appropriately voluminous in quantity, and yet light as a sabayon should be. Communicative of the uni tastes. But it got better! :) There were large pieces of uni hidden beneath the sabayon, lending their slinky creamy texture to the sabayon. Very interestingly, also hidden in the sabayon were juliennes of mountain potato. The mountain potato juliennes were slightly crunchy (not as crunchy as waterchestnut), and yet had a very slimy, intended intrinsic texture and mouth feel (slimy in an entirely positive sense). The texture of the mountain potato coated the mouth, adding density, but not necessarily a flavor distinct from the uni (except for the texture of its slight crunchiness) and was a wonderful base for the sampling of the uni. The slimier texture of the mountain potato caused the uni to feel creamier than if the uni had been sampled on its own. The final element above the venison was a bit of seaweed, to augment the ocean sensations (iode) of the urchin. Below the piece of venison was a slightly sweet puree that contained some amount of mountain potato (in a very different form from the juliennes in the sabayon) and possibly potato. Also in the dish was a cooked down piece of daikon radish, in a circular cross-section piece. It reminded me of the similarly-shaped piece of daikon radish one sometimes sees in certain Japanese "oden" preparations or in certain Vietnamese pho (beef noodle) dishes. The daikon was soft. The burnt butter sauce was more complex that the butter reference suggests. It carried a bit of acidity, and was quasi-creamy in texture. Our dining party took in a half-bottle of the Chateau Branaire Ducru '95, St Julien. The West dining room team decanted the bottle, and served it, appropriately. -- Second course, Mount Lehman Squab with Savoy Cabbage and Foie Gras, David Hawksworth Each diner received two "pieces" of Savoy-cabbage-wrapped foie and Mount Lehman squab. The Savoy cabbage was cooked, but not more than necessary and retained a slight integrity of crunchiness, as well as its spring green color. If I recall correctly (and my notes are sketchier, as I was busily eating away), a significant aspect of this dish is that neither the cabbage nor its contents were hot -- perhaps they were slightly above room temperature, but I wouldn't even call them warm. This allowed the intrinsic flavors and textures of each element -- the cabbage, the foie and the squab -- to be portrayed. The squab was without skin, and was cooked literally rare. It was not cooked more than that, and really conveyed the sensations of the gaminess and intensity of the bird. Of its having once been imbued with blood and life, and having sacrified itself for us (For those reading along, I've long been interested in sampling birds at the rare level of cooking.) The flesh, not having been aggressively handled during the cooking process, retained its slinky and seductive feel in the mouth. A little bit of star anise had been utilized in the squab, and this was to be nicely echoed in the West pork belly dish later on in the evening. The intensity of the squab inside the cabbage was balanced slightly by the (appropriately) less prominent foie, which was also cooked without aggression. The foie offered up some creaminess and also some oiliness (in its intrinsic texture, to be clear, and not from cooking oil). To the right of the two Savoy cabbage wrapped items on the plate was a column (from the perspective of the diner) of mushroom cappuccino saucing, which was appropriately gentle. Then, some crushed pistachios, to the right of the mushroom capuccino. An excellent dish :) -- Third course, Braised Oyster/Oxtail, Black Truffle Sauce, SL This dish consists of two parts. The first, on the right-hand-side, was the single braised oyster sitting in a pool of glistening orange little beads that had a thin, brown sauce. It was clear to me that Susur intended the visual pun of (1) having a flattened, slightly-browned-on-the-outside oyster resemble foie gras (i.e., an ocean product resembling a meat produce), and (2) having translucent tapioca beads (likely too small to be Israeli cous cous) artificially stained a medium orange to resemble trout roe or other fish caviar (i.e., a starch product resembling an ocean product). When I asked Susur about this at the end of the evening, he confirmed my observations. I liked the way that the braised oyster, which was subject to heat later on that formed the slight browning on the surface, had a more developed flavor the way that certain braised meats do. There might even have been a meat stock in the brown thin saucing surrounding the tapioca beads (?). I also liked the little dark pink petals, with small patches of white color for the portion closer to the stem, that were on top of the oyster half of the dish. The second part of the dish was a generally ball-shaped creation, with the exterior formed from green pasta (similar to the skin of certain Chinese dumplings, dyed green). Perhaps the green dye was intended to give a first visual impression of a vegetable product, wheras the actual exterior was a pasta product. There were juliennes of black truffles generously included on top of the pasta "ball". The inside of the pasta ball were shredded oxtail with a dark sauce, coupled with very interesting, distinctive, discrete small bits of a gelantinous material that might have been tendon, fat close to the tendon or a part of the cow that was somehow both close to gelatninous/fat-materials and yet had a sort of dense texture. A fairly complicated dish. I have noticed that some Susur dishes have the type of complexity and intricacy (in design and in preparation) that certain diners might like more than others. It's a question of which cuisine styles may match a given diner's cuisine preferences that may have determined which dishes during the evening resonated more to a given diner. The wine-by-the-glass suggested by the restaurant to be paired with this truffle dish was a lighter red that would help bridge the progression from red to white (that, reflecting the progression of the typical Susur menu). A German wine, the Weinout Lingenfelder Ganymed Spat Burounder 1999 was based on Pinot Noir. -- Fourth course, Alaskan Weathervane Scallop with "West" Berkshire Pork Belly, DH I've seen a pairing of scallops with a meat item at West before, but it was particularly nice to see the pork belly included in this type of composition. The pork belly was yummy, and carried a bit of star anise to echo the earlier Hawksworth dish (coupled with cardamom, in the case of the pork belly, in traces). In general, I'm not a big fan of using an equal weighting of seafood and meat product as the principal components of a dish, but at West this combination has worked well on every occasion I have sampled it. A delightful aspect of this dish was the use of tomato in different forms to tie the seafood product of scallop with the meat product of the pork belly. The tomato showed its versatility, and integrated the two parts of the dish. There was a helping of Hawskworth's tomato jam (carrying a little bit of a spicy kick) beneath the pork belly, and some frisee and other greens on top. The jam was moist and flavorful. The tomato components in the scallop side of the dish included (1) small thin, crispy, semi-dried (not completely dried) slices of mini tomatoes (cross-section-type rings), which were cute-looking and conferred a little bit of crispiness onto the scallop on top of which they were set (adjacent was a piece of crispy, matte-tasting basil-like leaf), and (2) a thin tomato vinaigrette that was below the scallop (gentle, like pureed tomato, but more refined in texture). I liked not only the way the tomato was utilized, but also that tomato wouldn't necessarily be the first accompaniment that comes to mind when either pork belly or scallop is mentioned. :) We continued with a 1/2 bottle of Jean-Marc Brocard 1er cru "Montmans" 2002. The Chablis was nice and flinty, and fortunately was not at all fruity. -- Fifth course, Roasted Marinated Sablefish, Spiced Citrus Sauce, SL Roasted piece of sablefish, which had been marinated in citrus and honey. The honey was complementary to the intrinsically slightly fatty flesh of the sablefish, which was presented in a fairly large filet. Three large rings sat on top of the sablefish filet. The three rings were pastry-based and thin. They were not sweet, though, and might have even carried a bit of beef or other meat-stock in their preparation. There were a few bits of baby herbs between the three rings and the sablefish. Surrounding the sablefish, and offsetting the honey marinade for the fish, were segments of citrus in a slightly sweet oil. The segments included tangerine and a very tart grapefruit. The tartness of the citrus might have been intended to highlight the intrinsic oiliness of the sablefish flesh. A nice element of the dish was a nicely displayed, pale lime-colored kalamanzi, whose jus resembled lime jus, tied in a satchet with a bow. http://starbulletin.com/2003/02/05/features/ingredient.html (shows orange-colored kalamanzi, instead of green) A half of this small citrus had been placed in a satchet and tied with a bow. This was intended to be squeezed onto the sablefish by the diner. I considered a length of quasi-dry/confit proscuitto-like item, which was also included in the dish, not necessary. This item was quite crispy. Overall, this was a good dish. -- Sixth course, Dungeness Crab and Lobster Gelee, DH I liked this dish very much :) The components of this room-temperature-to-slightly cold dish included, in addition to the very fresh, shredded Dungeness crabmeat and a single, somewhat larger piece of lobster flesh: (1) saffron creme fraiche, (2) Iranian caviar, (3) fried vermicelli noodles that were light and crunchy (but relatively neutral tasting -- a key aspect of the dish construction to balance out the intensity of the lobster gelee), (4) cucumber juliennes, (5) chives, (6) interestingly, feve-type-and-size green beans that conferred a bit of crunch in addition to the fried vermicelli, (7) little bits of *spiced* pineapple (including in the gelee portion), and (8) bits of red bell pepper. Sounds complicated, but the tastes worked together very well. The lobster flesh was crisp-tasting (in the sense of fresh, elastic), and the key to the dish was the seafood-flavor-infused gelee. All the above items were intended to display the intensity and texture of the gelee, as described below. The gelee was wonderful. How would I precisely described it? Intense in flavor, but not heavy. Unusual, in a very good sense of the word. The texture of also interesting -- sort of wobbly, but with noticeable semi-solid/semi-liquid globules within the gelee. :) A dish that interestingly took some risks (in the sense of being relatively unconventional in composition), but that worked very well. -- Dessert, Coconut Kumquat Ice Cream, White Chocolate Coconut Crisp, Toasted Citrus Meringue, Rhonda Viani (West's pastry chef) A dessert shaped with an upward twirling-type orientation. Light and good-tasting, with a kumquat and speckled vanilla-based sauce. The saucing was dotted around the main creation in circular little circles. The kumquat saucing was relatively non-bitter in this rendition, exhibiting a bit more its citrus/sweetened qualities. Icing sugar had been strategically sprinkled over certain parts of the dessert. The ice cream was, if I recall correctly, encircled by, and enclosed loosely in, a portion of the main dessert. The base of the creation added a significant amount of flavor. It was based on toasted coconut juliennes and toasted almonds. In taste, the above-described dessert was more integrated and "cleaner" than my description suggests. Mignardises were nice, and of two varieties. One had a banana-flavored, marshmallow-like mousse on top of the thin, moderately sweet round base. After the meal, Tim spoke briefly. He mentioned that the chefs' collaboration, which was entitled "East Meets West", had taken more than one year in planning. Chef Hawksworth and Susur were introduced to the assembled diners. Susur thanked his sous-chef Jason Cardoon (sp), and Hawksworth mentioned that there had been about fifteen people in the kitchen. (My table was directly in front of the kitchen, so I saw the faces of the chefs above the tinted portion of the glass partition of the quasi-open kitchen, although I was not seated at the kitchen tables that were adjacent to the plating area of the kitchen.) Susur beamed at the diners, "When the weather gets warmer, I hope to see you in Toronto!" I had a conversation with Susur, and also spoke with Chef Hawksworth, before this special evening came to an end :) Background information: -- Globe & Mail report of event: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040221/FOOD21//?query=susur Mon Feb 23 22:02:06 -0800 2004 582205 0 cabrales 2 582260 J Richler writes in the National Post: "The meal began with a cool slice of tuna wrapped around wasabi mousse, the plate dotted with tiny boules of cucumber, carrot, daikon and marinated salmon eggs, a saffron glaze and another made with soy and thick with sea moss. Next came Lee's roast venison on a bed of pureed lily bulb and dashi braised daikon, with burnet butter sauce and a topping of Japanese mountain potato, a root vegetable that offers elements of slime and crunch, tossed with hijiki seaweed, and topped off with a fat piece of sea urchin and a sabyon of ume, a Japanese plum.... H[awksworth] presented a splended supreme of squab wrapped win savoy cabbage with foie gras, slow roasted to a divine state of tenderness, with a mushroom froth, a lovely reduction and some crunched hazelnuts on the side." The other dishes are described less. Mon Feb 23 22:30:42 -0800 2004 582259 0 cabrales 2 582295 Once again - another insightful and detailed review - I felt like I was there with you. thanks Thu Feb 26 09:38:27 -0800 2004 582259 0 GordonCooks