Bistro Basque and Lessons from the East

The best food I had on the trip wasn't in NYC nor in Montreal, but at Bistro Basque in Milford, Conn.
I guess Tony Bourdain is right about the Basque region being at the culinary frontier at this time. My first tapa, called Tapas Cazera: a napoleon of shitake mushrooms, red cabbage, spinache and duck confit, was in itself a great reason to go the Basque regions of France and Spain. My 2nd tapa, called a Lomo, offered pork tenderloin, tetilla cheese, piquillo pepper and black olives, was almost as good. Could I make either of these delicacies? Actually the 2nd best food I had was Lili's mustard salmon. I love mustard on chicken and broccoli (though not necessarily together) but I'd never thought of a mustard sauce for salmon until Lili prepared it. The most memorable restaurant foods were the amuse bouche artichoke coronet at Per Se along with the shrimp at Daniel. I learned from the sommelier at Per Se of amazing possibilities in mock tails that I will certainly be exploring. I've already made a fair copy of the tuna steak with olives, capers and tomatoes dish from Capsuto Freres. Next I'll try and make the scallop dish that so enchanted me at Le B. This week I went out to take pix for the first time since coming back from the great art museums of the East. Did I take better pix? Judge for yourself in the next couple of blog posts. I'm even more enthusiastic about culinary and visual beauty than before I journeyed to the east, and that's saying a lot.