Photo: L'Etoile Madison, WI

"Delicious food starts with great ingredients which
are in abundant supply here in Wisconsin." Chef Tory Miller


Tory and Traci Miller are the co-owners of L'Etoile, a wonderful fine dining restaurant in Madison. Last year Gourmet Magazine named L'Etoile one of America's Top 50 Restaurants. Tory and Traci carry forward a tradition started by L'Etoile founder Odessa Piper: support local farmers and the sustainable agriculture movement.

For Valentine's Day we enjoyed their three course dinner with wine pairings. Food, wine, presentations, and service were simply outstanding. Bravo to Tory, Traci and staff on a truly great performance. Highly recommended. L'Etoile's home on the web is here.

"Some men's words I remember so well that I must often use them to express my thought. Yes, because I perceive that we have heard the same truth, but they have heard it better." Emerson

Fred Jacobs: again suggesting that radio web sites integrate video, again he's right, here. Kudos Fred! Cory Bergman weighs in, his post Radio stations scramble to post video online with comments here. My sense is the video must be easy to find. No more than two clicks to find and play. The technology must be transparent. Make it easy for me to share the video. Don't make me download a custom player. Don't make me register. Don't make me think!

Congrats & cheers: Erica Farber, my former RKO colleague becomes my fellow honoree as she is to receive The Conclave's highest honor - the Rockwell Award. Well deserved!

The sail to Sydney - Day Eleven: Ron Fell, another Rockwell Award honoree, checks in aboard the Queen Mary 2 on his way to his charge of 20,000 words in two weeks. Read Ron's latest post from the Pacific here. (Closed circuit to Ron: roast would be the adjective in roast beef meaning roasted, my thought is your roast beefs is correct if somewhat awkward. Looking forward to your review on the Todd English room.)

MTVN layoffs: In her 2/12 memo to staff Judy McGrath writes: "Our industry is at an inflection point and many companies are going through the process of adapting their business models and organizations to the new realities." She said "approximately" 250 US-based staff would be terminated. Meanwhile back at the ranch Sumner says..."We will keep creating and changing the content. MTV is changing all the time. The consumer is king. We will continue to move with the taste of the consumer. We will continue to drive our product around the world. International expansion is one area, but organic growth the creation of channels and offshoots channels will continue to be a major source of growth for Viacom." Read Sumner's interview by Scott Roxborough via The Hollywood Reporter here. Bravo Scott, well done.

Frontline: news war. Part One was excellent. Congrats & cheers to all involved. Bonus: Series producer Raney Aronson online chat, transcript via WaPo here. Aronson: "I do think that many people were aggravated with Judy Miller's defensiveness that her sources were wrong, so then so was she."