Letters

Tony Garcia
Miami

Liver Lover's Lament
A few observations about Jen Karetnick's review of Robert's Place ("Second Coming", June 4): The word "starter" in French is masculine, and the adjective that qualifies it should also be masculine.

One does not "pass off" duck liver as foie gras. Duck liver, as well as goose liver, is foie gras as long as it comes from force-fed birds. Actually, connoisseurs prefer the duck. Foie gras may be called "maison" only if it was received raw at the restaurant and cooked there. Last time I had foie gras at Robert's it appeared to be the commercial kind.

Foie gras should never be served with croutons but with freshly toasted bread slices kept warm in a folded white napkin. It is heresy to serve gherkins, cornichons, or chopped onions with foie gras. They do not enhance its delicate flavor but overpower and kill it.

Jean-Pierre Miquel
Coral Gables

Mariel: Ignorant and Racist
I resent the statement of Damschroder Boothe ("Letters," June 4) that the 1980 Mariel boatlift brought to Miami Beach an influx of a marginal element who subsequently produced marginal offspring. All the Marielitos I know (and I'm one of them) are very well educated, and we adapted easily to this system. We work, we pay taxes.

The problem is not the people coming to these shores. The problem is greed and the drugs that were used before and after the boatlift, and also people like Boothe who refuse to see the truth and blame a scapegoat.

Bernardo Gutierrez
Miami Beach

Mariel: Try Plymouth Rock
With regard to Damschroder Boothe's comments, I'm sure the true native population of the Americas would agree that the boatlifts of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth centuries brought hordes of a marginal element to these lands!

Lee Allison
North Miami Beach

Mariel: He Begs to Agree
I have four very strong words to say in response to Damschroder Boothe's letter about the present state of South Beach: Yes, yes, yes, yes!

G. Randall Sherwin
Sunny Isles Beach