"FrenchLaundry" news and stories

Another day, another list. This time, it's Anthony Bourdain's "13 Places to Eat Before You Die," which appears in the June issue of Men's Health. Bourdain's article shouts out restaurants and stores across the globe, from New York's smoked fish shrine Russ & Daughters to Spain's gourmand ground zero, elBulli.

Bourdain acknowledges that as "any seasoned traveler can tell you, the 'best' meals on the planet are the result of an ephemeral confluence of circumstances," and makes convincing arguments for each of his picks, which also include Kansas City, Kan.'s Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue, Tokyo's Sukiyabashi Jiro and London's St. John.

But even with the disclaimer and rationale behind Bourdain's choices, plenty are as likely to find fault with his logic (and apparently abundant frequent flier miles) as they are with a list proclaiming, say, the best pizza places in the U.S.

We have the text of the article so you can weigh in on Bourdain's hits -- and misses -- after the jump.

• Lamb shoulder has it all -- affordability, flavor and tons of tasty variations.
• We always hear about diners' complaints, but here's a report about the crazies (um, that'd be us civilians) the restaurant staff has to deal with.
• Gluten-free noodles from Italy's Rustichella d'Abruzzo are here. The verdict: The rice is not so nice, but the corn is totally sweet.
• The Cupcake Kit: An "all-encompassing" kit to make cupcakes a bit more festive.
• Berkeley's Sea Salt offers a revamped bar menu with nibbles including devilled duck eggs and ahi tuna mini-burgers.
• French Laundry gets a new chef de cuisine; Corey Lee heads out on his own and Timothy Hollingsworth takes over.
• Tom Colicchio (head judge of "Top Chef") and sous chef Sisha Ortuzar have cooked up a new book of "'Wichcraft."
• Did you know that there are a myriad of olive oils to suit different needs in the kitchen? A new book might help enlighten you.

A few months ago, Sarah showed us some photos taken by James Yu, a former Slashfood writer, of his visit to French Laundry. Now Kevin, a Slashfood reader, has shared his own experience at Thomas Keller's world class restaurant with us. Though a few of the items are duplicate, I thought the majority of pictures (and individual courses) were unique enough that we could afford to take another peek. His tab? Over $600 per person, which included the extensive tasting menu, drinks, tax and tip.

In case you aren't aware, Thomas Keller recently won the title of Outstanding Restaurateur at the 2007 James Beard Foundation Awards, and French Laundry was named 4th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine, scoring as "Best of the Americas."

Needless to say, this is pretty much the ultimate in food porn. I've included a few more of Kevin's photos after the jump, but you can visit his entire collection (with full descriptions of what you are looking at) at his website via the 'read' link below.

Source

Nation's Restaurant News had a mouthwatering article today on what it terms a long-overlooked beef cut: the deckle. Maybe it's been overlooked by the chefs of top restaurants quoted in the piece but barbecuers have known about the fatty part, or cap, of the brisket for years.

As a competition barbecuer, I've engendered a healthy obsession with the deckle for years and enjoy a rich fantasy life as my alter ego, Joey Deckle. But I have to say that myself and my fellow meatheads have never really cooked with deckle in the way the chefs from The French Laundry do. The deckle includes not only the fatty part of the brisket, but any part of the strip of muscle and fat that lies right on top of the ribs. So that means that rib-eyes also have a deckle, which is precisely what chefs are starting to use. The French Laundry grills its deckle and serves it with such high-end accoutrements as Perigord truffle macaroons. They're also curing it and making into lardo to shave on to salads. Good lord, lardo!

By the way, if you're interested in cooking some deckle at home one chef recommends searing it and then cooking it at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, to medium rare, and then letting it sit for 4 to 5 minutes. In case anyone's wondering, this cooking tip applies only to the rib-eye cap and like cuts, not the brisket portion, which as all pitmasters know, needs to be smoked for hours on end to achieve superlative succulence.