While We Were Away Stuffing Ourselves with Foie Gras...

A lot can happen in 10 days. While we were off gallivanting around Lyon and the Hautes-Pyrénées in search of gustatory edification and attempting to consume foie gras for 10 straight days, the NYC restaurant world shifted ever so slightly and the food blog chatter continued without pause...

Gary Robins reemerged from the shadows to open Sheridan Square in the West Village. A major league chef shuffle went down over Memorial Day weekend, including the swapping of Jody Williams at Morandi for Tony Liu of August, no doubt in a bid by Keith McNally to entice Frank Bruni to stop in for another 3 to 4 visits. Eater Deathwatched Beer Table, a Savory favorite, and Burger Shoppe (in our humble opinion, there's a big difference between scoring a single case of rare Italian ale and concocting a kobe/gold flake/foie gras/truffle hype-burger). Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud announced their intention to build a culinary dream team to compete at the upcoming Bocuse d'Or competition in Lyon. The Daily News dropped the rumor that a Shake Shack truck is destined for Downtown Brooklyn. "Scallopgate" unfolded on the blogs in the wake of Spike's dismissal from Top Chef and the Observer called out the latest, and increasingly tiresome, ingredient trend sweeping the culinary landscape--wit and irony.

As for our trip, we had the honor of meeting the legendary Chef Paul Bocuse just prior to dining at his outrageously priced three-star temple of gastronomy outside of Lyon, feasted on andouillette, poulet aux morilles and Baba au Rhum at Comptoir Abel, picked up a fine selection of Comte, Saint Marcellin and Camembert cheeses at Les Halles de Lyon, learned how to properly prepare poulet au vinaigre and saucisson briochée with an amazing cuisinier in the mountains and shared in a fabulous magnum of 1964 Salon Champagne. We even managed to have foie gras on 6 or 7 different occasions.