La Paulee dinner (menu)

The person who translates our menus into French for us is a native of and grew up in France. He is now a semi-retired attorney. He would surely be amused (but not upset) to know his translations are so carefully parsed.

Except for being pigmentally challenged, white Burgundies can be, and often are, transcendent. An example is we had a Le Montrachet '10 at our table that was a marvelous experience both alone and with food (a senior moment hides the producer's name from me...and we did have a lot of wine).

. . . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

The person who translates our menus into French for us is a native of and grew up in France. He is now a semi-retired attorney.

So he’s been a poor French speaker his entire life? Or getting sloppy in his old age?

Would you print menus for your friends that included butchered English?
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

The person who translates our menus into French for us is a native of and grew up in France. He is now a semi-retired attorney.

So he’s been a poor French speaker his entire life? Or getting sloppy in his old age?

A native speaker would never make those mistakes. Period. Pommes de terre douce or Trois Façon [sic]. Gimme a break.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
proper parsing of blinis aux levain grillé is 'toasted (sourdough blinis)'. I take this to be the chef's creativity on display: s/he will make blini from a sourdough-style batter.

Looking at the picture now, you are right. Nothing toasted probably. Looks like a fairly standard-issue blin with some sort of cultured milk product and caviar. The misinterpretation comes because a "loaf of levain" is often used in spoken English to mean a "loaf of pain au levain;" JL knew that but persisted nonetheless.

JL "knew" nothing of the kind. I have never heard the phrase "a loaf of levain" prior to this claim. Indeed, I did not know that levain is considered and English word.Curious, I turned to the OED. They do indeed list levain as short for the French pain au levain(although all the OED can muster is three quotations from food writers dating from 1991; I'll still call it sourdough bread) . Mark was criticizing the French though and levain grillé does not mean toasted bread. I interpreted as Jeff did since blini au levain clearly follows the construction of "pain au levain."

I do find Pete's information that the person who translates the menu is a native French speaker somewhat mystifying given all the errors that have been found over the years. The only explanation I can think of is that he is not a functioning speaker of English and struggles to translate what he can't fully understand, rather in the manner of the menu I read in France that offered as the English translation of lotte "devil fish" (no doubt just anti-clericalism) or the book on Gigondas that translated the French sevrer (to wean) as severing the baby, which I consider an extreme way of doing that.
 
I have traveled with the gentleman in France and he communicates liberally and fluently back and forth in French with waitstaff, friends, etc., etc. There are lots of places for the error(s) to get introduced e.g. stenographer, typist, chef, printing company, and so on. Having said all of that, he does this totally as a volunteer so his attention to detail might be less than y'all prefer; however, he serves our purposes well ...and at a good price, read: free.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
proper parsing of blinis aux levain grillé is 'toasted (sourdough blinis)'. I take this to be the chef's creativity on display: s/he will make blini from a sourdough-style batter.

Looking at the picture now, you are right. Nothing toasted probably. Looks like a fairly standard-issue blin with some sort of cultured milk product and caviar. The misinterpretation comes because a "loaf of levain" is often used in spoken English to mean a "loaf of pain au levain;" JL knew that but persisted nonetheless.

JL "knew" nothing of the kind. I have never heard the phrase "a loaf of levain" prior to this claim. Indeed, I did not know that levain is considered and English word.

OK. I take your word for it, but anyone who has lived in the SF Bay Area would likely agree with me.
 
This must be because in SF, they package a powder and call it sourdough starter. They must thus have needed to steal the French word to refer to an actual sourdough starter.

To drift this thread, I am particularly loathe to lose the proper French meaning of levain (ambient yeast, referred to both in breadmkaing and winemaking). Not on this bored, but regularly on wineberserker someone argues that yeast is yeast and there is no real difference between added packaged yeast and ambient yeast. Noting that one can't really argue this in French because it would amount to the non sequitur of saying that levure is levain doesn't prove them wrong but does show that making the distinction is hardly either rarifed or without purpose, as I said somewhere else.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Huh? [Read as: I’m genuinely confused about your confusion. I like white Burgundy.]
Firstly, it's chardonnay.
Secondly, it spoils spontaneously.
Thirdly, it's pricey.

But I'll admit I like Chablis.
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
I have traveled with the gentleman in France and he communicates liberally and fluently back and forth in French with waitstaff, friends, etc., etc. There are lots of places for the error(s) to get introduced e.g. stenographer, typist, chef, printing company, and so on. Having said all of that, he does this totally as a volunteer so his attention to detail might be less than y'all prefer; however, he serves our purposes well ...and at a good price, read: free.

. . . . . Pete

you get what you pay for. . . .
 
“Firstly, it's chardonnay.” A fabulous grape variety.

“Secondly, it spoils spontaneously.” That would defy the laws of physics. Chemistry and biology too. So demonstrably false.

“Thirdly, it's pricey.” I cannot argue with that except to say there are still well priced examples.

“But I'll admit I like Chablis.” A-chah! (I would write this in Hebrew with a proper guttural Chet, but I don’t know how.) And anyway who doesn’t like Chablis?
 
My recollection is Brother Connell referred to his ambient yeast loaf of bread in the French style simply as Levain. But maybe he will chime in to confirm or correct?
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
“Firstly, it's chardonnay.” A fabulous grape variety.
"Fabulous" means non-existent or mythical. I won't buy such a grape, either.

“Secondly, it spoils spontaneously.” That would defy the laws of physics. Chemistry and biology too. So demonstrably false.
There was a recent update.

“Thirdly, it's pricey.” I cannot argue with that except to say there are still well priced examples.
You can fool some of the people all of the time....

“But I'll admit I like Chablis.” A-chah! (I would write this in Hebrew with a proper guttural Chet, but I don’t know how.) And anyway who doesn’t like Chablis?
אהה!
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
“Firstly, it's chardonnay.” A fabulous grape variety.
"Fabulous" means non-existent or mythical. I won't buy such a grape, either.

“Secondly, it spoils spontaneously.” That would defy the laws of physics. Chemistry and biology too. So demonstrably false.
There was a recent update.

“Thirdly, it's pricey.” I cannot argue with that except to say there are still well priced examples.
You can fool some of the people all of the time....

“But I'll admit I like Chablis.” A-chah! (I would write this in Hebrew with a proper guttural Chet, but I don’t know how.) And anyway who doesn’t like Chablis?
אחה!

FIFY
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Huh? [Read as: I’m genuinely confused about your confusion. I like white Burgundy.]
Firstly, it's chardonnay.
Secondly, it spoils spontaneously.
Thirdly, it's pricey.

But I'll admit I like Chablis.

There are also acceptable chards made in Macon, GA. Last night a 2014 Valette Macon-Chaintré was just peachy.
 
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