Max Hauser said...

> I apologize for this slow follow-up (the original thread was 18 years
> ago). It's about a recipe that was popular but slightly mysterious.
> This posting resolves the mystery and the dish's history. I've
> included some of the original 1988 thread because it's missing from
> current public archives, like thousands of RFC threads of the late
> 1980s through early 1990s [1]. The original 1988 postings appeared on
> the companion wine newsgroup rec.food.drink in a thread on cooking
> with Sauternes, but they're about cooking, not wine, so I post this
> here [2].
>
>
> Narsai David was an influential restaurateur around Berkeley,
> California from the 1970s.

> -- Max Hauser. (Original content Copyright 1988, 2006.)


Max,

Funny you should mention it.

I had the pleasure of working at David's restaurant in Albany, CA back in
the 70s. He had a TV cooking show in the mornings.

What I know of the man was that he never set foot in the kitchen, except
on one occasion. He came in late in the evening with three bottles of
wine and told me to take the labels off the bottles and then he
disappeared back into the dining room.

I filled a bucket with hot water and sat the bottles in it to soak. After
about 20 minutes, I took the labels off the bottles and threw them away.
I put the bottles on a shelf to dry.

A while later he comes back into the kitchen and asked me for the labels.
I told him I threw them away and the bottles were almost dry.

I've never seen a face go so beet red before! WTF did I know about
collecting wine labels! I was the lowly dishwasher.

He didn't say a word and walked out of the kitchen. The next day I
reported for work there was an envelope for me saying "We are no longer
in need of your services." with my final paycheck!

The stupid man. LOL!

So ended my career as a dishwasher/wine expert at his French restaurant!

Andy

P.S. I didn't think anyone else on the planet knew the fat man.