VIEWS | 390K. Ten Most-Viewed Posts in December. Thank You for Reading.

Guadalajara, December 30, 2017 – Thank you for reading this blog.

We just passed the 390,000-view mark. Next stop: 400,000.

The top ten posts that you, reader, were looking at in December were  focused on the tax bill that was passed at the end of December. Here is the list:

Entry

TAX BILL | Details, details Dec 2, 2017 4 comments

TECH WARS | Have You Noticed? Taxis+Uber+Lyft=More... Dec 28, 2017

TAX BILL | Latest on House-Senate Conference Dec 13, 2017

NEW YORK CITY | Best Workplaces, by Type of Busine... Dec 2, 2017

TAX BILL PUZZLE | Thatcher Policies in Reverse Dec 17, 2017

TAX BILL | Sen. Heinrich Calls the Tax Bill "Immor... Dec 4, 2017

RISE OF HITLER | Mar 5, 1933 – Nazis Elected, Dest... Mar 5, 2017

PSEG | Toxic Pole March, N.J.-L.I., NY Aug 28, 2014

FOOD BIZ | Do You Think Restos Have Genders? Dec 29, 2017

STOCK MARKET | What does this look like? (2:10 pm ... Nov 30, 2017

Please let us all have the benefit of your thinking by commenting on any of these posts or contact us at info@cityeconomist.com or john@boissevainbooks.com.

To subscribe to this blog, or its comments, or to search its contents or to forward it using G+, see the options at top right.

FOOD BIZ | Are Your Restos Male or Female?

A typical tasting course (one of six, eight or
 twelve) at Lula Bistro in Guadalajara.

Guadalajara, Mexico, December 29, 2017 – What do you think?

Are there male and female, yang and yin, restaurants?

Caroline picked out several of the best restos in Guadalajara for us to visit during the interlude between Christmas and New Year's.

We started with Lula Bistro and El Hueso. We had different views about whether they could be identified by gender. Can you add to this discussion?

Lula Bistro – Yin?

The first place we went was Lula Bistro (lulabistro.com, +55-33-3647-6423). It is beautifully decorated with modern fixtures and indirect lighting. The atmosphere is hushed and respectful of the hard work going on in the kitchen to prepare its three tasting-menu options. We passed up the 12-tiempo (course) tasting menu and opted for the six- and eight-tiempo menus at MX$850 and MX$1,200 (US$40 and US$60).

We had one plate after another of delicate items in a subtle sauce. Every one was beautiful to look at and scrumptious. Here is a listing of the courses for the six-course tasting menu:

Pescado del Día, Ensalada de Betabel, Pulpo a las Brasas, Pescado Miso, Cheese Cake de Queso de Cabra Orgánico, Sinfonía.

Each of the items on the list is either a mélange of several other items as in the photo above, or is decorated with delicate sprigs or shavings or dollops or gorgeous edible flowers.

What was not to like? It was fascinating to examine, and not one bite was a disappointment. It was healthy, as well. Despite the number of courses, the total calories for the six-tiempo menu I estimate were well below 1,000. It well deserves its self-description, Alta Cocina (Haute Cuisine). We could all have handled the 12-course menu, though none of us went away hungry after the shorter repasts.

Caroline asks questions of the helpful waiter.
Steffi shows confidence in Caroline's
line of questioning.

El Hueso – Yang?

The next evening we went to El Hueso (huesorestaurant.com, +52-33-3615 3591). The name is Spanish for "The Bone".

The entire restaurant is decorated with animal bones that were found in the desert, whitened by the  sun. Those not used to decorate the walls are piled in boxes and under shelves all through the restaurant. You could say it's different!

Customers sit at long tables and the general atmosphere is conducive to talking with strangers, as at a club table. We were surrounded by non-English speakers, all of whom were friendly and communicative nonetheless. The atmosphere is that of a rural wedding feast, as the diners are not reluctant to express their high expectation for their coming food and drink.

Main course on the table.
 Caroline took a photo.

Instead of multiple courses per person, we were advised to consider each menu item as a portion to be shared by two people.

So the four of us (we were joined by Steffi) had two appetizers, two main courses and two desserts. In contrast with the day before, these shared portions were more than we could eat.

The two starters were Pulpo Adobado and Tomato Salad. The two main courses were Rack de Cordero (Lamb) and Cabreria (an unusual cut of beef close to the bone).

Despite sharing each of the three courses, we probably consumed 50 percent more calories than the evening before.

As Alice looked away for a moment,
Caroline caught her Dad taking a lustful
anticipatory look at the rack of lamb. 

Yin or Yang?

The Lula Bistro looks like a yin resto. Emphasis on the appearance and delicacy of the food. Many small items. Respectful atmosphere. Dignified serving. High class. A good place for a guy to take a woman he wants to impress.

El Hueso is more yang. Big portions, communal eating atmosphere, friendly – largely because of the outgoing, even festive, attitude of the well-trained waitstaff. Fun! A good place for a woman to suggest to a man she is interested in...

What do you think?

Oh, btw. Lula Bistro was sparsely attended. El Hueso was full.

Postscript: We all had dinner again tonight, this time at La Docena, which is rated one of the 50 best restaurants in Latin America. Caroline has dined at their Mexico City restaurant. Caroline read my post above and said that it is an over-simplification to call a restaurant yin or yang. She said the décor at Lula Bistro was yang (masculine) and many of the presentations at El Hueso were yin. Of course, she is a true expert on the food biz and she is right. As Carl Jung said, there is an image of a woman (anima) inside every man, and an image of a man (animus) inside every woman. When I say a restaurant is yin or yang, I should be more careful and put it all in terms of which gender predominates. Is the distinction between yin and yang in ambience and cuisine useful for you?

To subscribe to this post, or its comments, or to search its contents or to forward it using G+, see the options at top right.

FOOD BIZ | Le Canard Enchaîné (Shrine to Edith Piaf)

A Vegetarian Napoleon—Eggplant sandwiching red peppers, in
sweet sauces. Photos by JT Marlin.

KINGSTON, N.Y., June 18, 2017—We had a fine dinner at Le Canard Enchaîné here in the Hudson Valley, in the early capital of what became New York State.

We were sent to the Canard by the manager of the Hurley Stone House, a B&B a few miles south of Kingston.

Originally known as Esopus, after the tribe of Indians that lived in the area, Kingston was a significant early settlement of the Dutch in New Amsterdam. It was there in September 1777 that John Jay and other rebels declared the independence of the New York colony from the British Crown. When, the following month, Kingston was burned to the ground, the colony's capital was moved for a while to Hurley.

A 600-page history available online, dating back to 1888, records the distinguished role of Kingston back to 1609 when Henry Hudson sailed up, on behalf of the Dutch, the river now called after him the Hudson River, in his ship the Haef Maen (Half Moon). In 1620 the Dutch formally claimed the area within the 40th and 45th parallels, between what was then the Commonwealth of Virginia and New France.

But... back to the dinner at Le Canard Enchaîné. Karen had as a starter the Vegetarian Napoleon, which was red pepper sandwiched between layers of eggplant, with an endive leaf on top to give the dish some panache, and sweet sauce all round.

Warren had the pea soup, guaranteed no cream in it. Alice had the duck and I had the shrimp Indochine.

The Canard (Long Island Duck).

We were all impressed with the quality of our food and—doubtless encouraged by our enthusiasm—the chef-propriétaire came out to recommend the desserts. He told us that under the restaurant is hidden a 4,000-square-foot wholesale bakery, in which pastries are made daily for the huge New York City market, going to fancy places like the Carlyle Hotel.

It reminded me of my 1963 and 1969 visits to French West Africa, where Air France delivered fresh croissants every morning to Abidjan in the Côte d'Ivoire and Dakar in Senegal. It's hard to get croissants right and sometimes you just have to go a long way to find the pastry chef that really knows from flakiness.

We tried four pastries — the tarte tatin, crème brûlée, a chocolate mousse cake, and a tarte au citron. Five-out-of-five stars all round.

My FOOD BIZ posts focus on the inexorable economics of the culinary industry. If they were chapters of a book, its title could be Your Food is a Harsh Mistress.

I had a conversation about restaurant economics with the restaurant's chef-propriétaire, Jean-Jacques.

He calls his restaurant a bistro to give himself a little freedom from nonfood distractions. He does not want to be trapped by the fussy elegance that makes the restaurant business so exhausting for its workers. Jean-Jacques says:

"The people who decide on the stars for Michelin can keep you from getting a star for many reasons that have nothing at all to do with the food. Par exemple, the flowers on the table may not be fresh enough. A detail of service may not be comme il faut. Many young chefs now want to keep their attention on the food. Other things are distractions that push up the cost of the meal, that keep restaurant staff from having enough time with their families. Today, chefs want to take off two days a week, like everyone else."

Indo-Chinese Shrimp. Shrimp served on barbecue sticks with a noodle
planted on top like a flag, with a generous portion of ginger below.

I know what he is talking about. I think back especially to Jacques Dejoux's introducing us to the Maison Pic in Valence. That's a restaurant where the chef-propriétaire Anne-Sophie Pic is the third generation of outstanding chefs. She maintains all the traditions of service, and Michelin shows its respect with continuing the family's three-out-of-three stars. Service in her restaurant is conducted like a Cathedral High Mass. Hard to do.

By contrast, the closest thing to an altar in Le Canard Enchaîné is a corner where Jean-Jacques showed us several deeply venerated Edith Piaf posters and a sketch of the great chanteuse.

What Piaf sang so well and defiantly about the vicissitudes of her life could sum up what the four of us thought about our food here, more than 100 miles up the Hudson River from New York City, a place we knew had a great history but place that we did not, in our blithe ignorance, fully appreciate was a site of haute cuisine:

"Non, je ne regrette rien." (With lyrics here.)