Comments on: Where’s the beef? http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2 Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:53:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: dan http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-93208 dan Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:42:26 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-93208 Paola, I'll take your word for it that there were no potatoes in the omelette - it's interesting that the comment I had above about the repeated potatoes was something that all seven of us at the table felt about the dish - so something in the omelettes clearly reminded all of us of potatoes. I do know you had the outdoor cooking station setup, I have several pictures of it myself, though we weren't watching to see what was being cooked "a la minute" and what wasn't. If you say it was all done to order, then the problem was clearly in the speed it was served at - the soggy and barely warm omelettes were once again across the board, at least at our table. As noted, the octopus was absolutely delicious - it was one of my two favorite dishes of the week. As to the dessert - perhaps it was having a mascarpone tart following immediately on a goat cheese based course, there was something about it that just didn't shine, and honestly, if those were the freshest Mendoza had to offer in terms of fruit, they didn't come across that way - not your fault, you didn't grow them. I agree, it's always difficult to work in a makeshift kitchen, especially when it's not even your own! It's one of the reasons I refuse to cater and/or cook at events outside of my restaurant - it's simply too much of a headache! Paola, I’ll take your word for it that there were no potatoes in the omelette - it’s interesting that the comment I had above about the repeated potatoes was something that all seven of us at the table felt about the dish - so something in the omelettes clearly reminded all of us of potatoes. I do know you had the outdoor cooking station setup, I have several pictures of it myself, though we weren’t watching to see what was being cooked “a la minute” and what wasn’t. If you say it was all done to order, then the problem was clearly in the speed it was served at - the soggy and barely warm omelettes were once again across the board, at least at our table.

As noted, the octopus was absolutely delicious - it was one of my two favorite dishes of the week.

As to the dessert - perhaps it was having a mascarpone tart following immediately on a goat cheese based course, there was something about it that just didn’t shine, and honestly, if those were the freshest Mendoza had to offer in terms of fruit, they didn’t come across that way - not your fault, you didn’t grow them.

I agree, it’s always difficult to work in a makeshift kitchen, especially when it’s not even your own! It’s one of the reasons I refuse to cater and/or cook at events outside of my restaurant - it’s simply too much of a headache!

]]> By: Paola http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-93177 Paola Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:28:34 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-93177 Hi! Wow!! I was reading your review about the lunch you had at Nieto during the MFW, and I would love to say a few things... food and wine are highly subjective issues so I totally respect your point of view and what I want to say does not pretend, and Im sure It wont, change the way you felt about the food you had in Mendoza, but, I would love to say though, a couple of things regarding your observation about the lunch I cooked at Nieto & Senetiner, the crabmeat and potato omelet, didn't have potatoes in it!! not even one!!, it was just fresh local eggs, fresh kingcrab from Usuahia, and some fresh herbs, and it wasn't made in advance and reheated, I "built" an open kitchen, just near your table, with a 20 foot cast iron "skillet" with wood fire, and everything was cooked " a la minute", I would love to send you pictures of it if you want,of course, this, makes no difference if they were soggy for you, but they were not made in advance and reheated,the peach and plum and mascarpone tart, sorry again if you felt it was bought at a pastry shop, local peaches and plums are really wonderful in mendoza in february, and I really wanted the guest to experience that, serving a very simple super fresh and ripe local peaches and strawberries and plums with home made mascarpone cheese. the reason why I chose seafood for the lunch instead of beef, is because last year at the masters 2007, I grilled a rib eye for lunch and the same guest had grilled rib eye for dinner that same night!, so I thought that, for an alfresco Lunch, light seafood featuring a great amount of local ingredientes, like the candied pumpking, the fresh local goat cheese and so on, was a good idea. Again, food is a subjective issue, even though soggy is soggy always! (sorry for the soggy eggs).., it is never easy to cook in an improvised kitchen, and i know all the chefs were doing their best in order to please the guests, and make them happy. Mendoza is a fantastic place in this world, and the Masters of food and wine is a great way to help the world get to know it better, and Im sure it will improve year after year, hope you can go again, and have a better experience, and thank you for posting your comments, im sure they will help us chefs, to do a better job in the future. Paola Carosella Hi!
Wow!! I was reading your review about the lunch you had at Nieto during the MFW, and I would love to say a few things… food and wine are highly subjective issues so I totally respect your point of view and what I want to say does not pretend, and Im sure It wont, change the way you felt about the food you had in Mendoza, but, I would love to say though, a couple of things regarding your observation about the lunch I cooked at Nieto & Senetiner, the crabmeat and potato omelet, didn’t have potatoes in it!! not even one!!, it was just fresh local eggs, fresh kingcrab from Usuahia, and some fresh herbs, and it wasn’t made in advance and reheated, I “built” an open kitchen, just near your table, with a 20 foot cast iron “skillet” with wood fire, and everything was cooked ” a la minute”, I would love to send you pictures of it if you want,of course, this, makes no difference if they were soggy for you, but they were not made in advance and reheated,the peach and plum and mascarpone tart, sorry again if you felt it was bought at a pastry shop, local peaches and plums are really wonderful in mendoza in february, and I really wanted the guest to experience that, serving a very simple super fresh and ripe local peaches and strawberries and plums with home made mascarpone cheese.
the reason why I chose seafood for the lunch instead of beef, is because last year at the masters 2007, I grilled a rib eye for lunch and the same guest had grilled rib eye for dinner that same night!, so I thought that, for an alfresco Lunch, light seafood featuring a great amount of local ingredientes, like the candied pumpking, the fresh local goat cheese and so on, was a good idea. Again, food is a subjective issue, even though soggy is soggy always! (sorry for the soggy eggs).., it is never easy to cook in an improvised kitchen, and i know all the chefs were doing their best in order to please the guests, and make them happy.
Mendoza is a fantastic place in this world, and the Masters of food and wine is a great way to help the world get to know it better, and Im sure it will improve year after year, hope you can go again, and have a better experience, and thank you for posting your comments, im sure they will help us chefs, to do a better job in the future.
Paola Carosella

]]> By: Rebecca http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92524 Rebecca Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:41:25 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92524 Dan-Even if it was so-so, it would have been wonderful to be there! Enjoyed reading all about it! Dan-Even if it was so-so, it would have been wonderful to be there! Enjoyed reading all about it!

]]> By: dan http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92473 dan Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:36:07 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92473 well, if ya have an extra bedroom, and a kitchen and dining room... we could take Casa SaltShaker on the road and come up there an' provide some! well, if ya have an extra bedroom, and a kitchen and dining room… we could take Casa SaltShaker on the road and come up there an’ provide some!

]]> By: Saratica http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92432 Saratica Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:03:58 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20080219/wheres-the-beef-2#comment-92432 sounds so heavenly to be somewhere on the earth where "cuisine" is an actual word, an event, a thing to be sought... still the thing we are missing here in Costa Rica. sigh. thank you for sharing! sounds so heavenly to be somewhere on the earth where “cuisine” is an actual word, an event, a thing to be sought… still the thing we are missing here in Costa Rica. sigh. thank you for sharing!

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