sethd

Thank you very much for your glowing review of Le Cinq and the amazing pictures. I have two reservations at Le Cinq in three weeks and am already salivating.

Although everything you say about cabs in manhattan is true, I do think that a restaurant should, under certain circumstances,(a guest with special needs, as in this instance) ensure that their guest arrives home safely. I would very much like to eat at Corton: Unfortunately, I have read too many reviews, similar to robyn's, that underscore that the front of the house and service in general at Corton is less than it should be at a restaurant of Corton's reputation.

I have had dinner at Arpege on tuesday, wednesday and thursday nights, as well as lunch on Thursday and met Chef on all four occasions.

The extended menu is a wonderful expereience. I have actually never had the regular sized tasting menu at Per Se. I have never left Per Se feeling too full; sober, well that is another story.

You can see my report on TFL's extended menu that I did last month in the California thread. I expect that if you enjoyed the 9 courses at TFL, that you will very much enjoy the extended menu at Per Se. ← I agree with sickchangeup. I have only had the 'extended menu' at Per Se. It is definitely worth it!!. Just go hungry.. It is a lot of food.

And includes dishes from the main dining room menu.

First, I would highly recommend Louis XV: I just returned from three meals there last weekend. Lunch, Dinner, Lunch. I also ate there 7 times last May as well. The restaurant is superb. I wouldn't worry about the heat. The main dining room is well air conditioned or you can eat on the terrace. My first meal was on the terrace. The last two in the dining room. They serve the lunch menu all year: a choice of two appetizers, two entrees, cheese, and desert from the restaurant desert list and a half bottle of wine per person is included; I believe the coast was 140 Euros. The a la carte menu (found on line) is the same for lunch and dinner. There is also a tasting menu and a vegetarian based menu. Also, everybody in Louis XV speaks English. One caveat, my last meal at Louis XV was my 100th in a ducasse 3 star restaurant. There is no better spot for a fantastic lunch that at Chevre D'or in Eze. Restaurant Mirazur in Menton is a must go for anybody who enjoys food and is traveling to the area. The chef is young, amazingly well trained (arpege, ducasse, bernard loisieu, and guy martin), the service wonderful, food terrific, and the location overlooking the Med, great.

As a regular customer at Per Se, I am not all surprised that you had a superb experience at the French Laundry and was treated like a regular at that establishment.

I returned to Louis XV last weekend for three memorable meals. The first, lunch saturday, was my first opportunity to sit on the terrace. In fact, lunch that day was the first time the terrace was open this season. (Although, i guess the staff felt that it was too cool and the terrace was closed the next day) Sitting on the terrace, affords a fantastic view of the place du casino. I was surprised by how quiet it was sitting there, the sounds of the fancy cars was not too intense. It was possible to hear the birds as well. The menu was similar to last year: the menu heavy on asparagus and morels. For my first meal, I ordered the tasting menu. the main course was the squab: I started with a glass of Lanson Rose, had a 1997 Mouton, and ended with a glass of Muscat. The food and service was as I remembered, Perfect!! The wild strawberry desert is still one of my all time favorites. A great spring dish! I ordered a la carte for dinner that evening: the highlights was the beluga caviar amuse, the lamb for two (I ate alone) and the classic Baba Lunch, the next day, was my 100th in a Ducasse restaurant. They offered to cook a menu for me and I graciously accepted. the highlights: the asparagus risotto, the cochoneet, and louis XV desert. Another tour de force. I was impressed by the perfection and consistency achieved at Louis XV. My only disappointment was I was not able to take up their gracious invitation of returning to the L'aquarium. Definitely, next time.

I highly recommend doing the wine pairings. Aldo Sohm the chief sommelier is a master at pairing wines that mesh superbly with Chef Riperts cuisine. Wines by the glass are between $15 and $40; there is at least 10 chocies each for white, red, and desert wines. The wine list is expensive but not impressively so considering the quaility of the restaurant.

You're definitely being unfair to French beef. Come to think of it, you probably want to keep all to yourself our delicious, properly-aged, and grass-fed tasty Normande, Simmental, Aubrac, Salers, Bazas and Coutancie bovine delights... Not to mention the taureau de Nîmes which yields some of the tastiest côte I have ever tasted. Even charolais and limousin can be good when raised and prepared the right way. ← I still remember a charolais I had at Restaurant Henry in Lyon in 1984. Still the best piece of meat I have ever had.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the above. What do we New Yorkers tend to expect from French chefs that is not on display at these two restaurants? More formality? A beggar's purse filled with black truffles? I thought the general complaint was that these restaurants were too French, not that they weren't French enough. Or are you simply saying the food is great, but not as great as some Americans (who otherwise would not know) think French food should be? I very much like your idea of welcoming Gagnaire and Adria to our shores. We can all regret that economic circumstances make this unlikely for the moment. I'll keep hoping for such things if the economy ever gets better though. Finally, I'm glad that Adour is maintaining its excellence! Based on your recommendation and another note I received, I will have to go back soon. ← I think that most new yorkers have a poor understanding of what the great french chefs are about. It seems that most uneducated dinners in new york (obviously, not most of us on this forum) expect culinary fireworks from any famous french chef that comes to the city. That most french food isn't "new enough, or exciting enough" (both criticism leveled routinely at Ducasse). If the average diner in the city was better educated towards the french culinary giants such as Ducasse, they would have a better grasp of what these chefs represent, and would be more willing to appreciate rather than criticize their restaurants.

First, I have had four wonderful meals at Per Se this month. Second, I have not found any change in the quality of the food at Adour since Chef Dennis took over the kitchen in November and fortunately, Sandro, the genius in the pastry kitchen is still there. There is no doubt that Ducasse and Robuchon have not received warm welcomes from New York city diners. There is a reason these two masters are considered two of the finest french chefs of the last 20 years. There food is great, but not what many new yorkers expect from fine french chefs. Perhaps, we only expect Gagnaire or Adria to come to the USA. My only complaint with Robuchon's restaurant is that it is too expensvie for what it is.

I speak with JG whenever I am at the restaurant and will ask him how he views this list. I really don't think Achatz needs any validation of his restaurant. He is a great chef with an even more impressive and remarkable biography. Remember, in the most recent Gourmet list of the best in the USA, he received top prize. I agree that they are very few shocks on the list. Yes, El Bulli is the best in the world, has been for years, and will remain so as long as Adria runs that ship. However, how do you compare restaurants with such different focus as Momofuko and Per Se, Louis XV and Mirazur, Les Ambassadeurs and L'astrance? The food is superb in all of them, but isn't the overall dining experience different sitting at a table at Per Se and eating at the counter in Momofuko? Also, there is universal knowledge of the significance of the Michelin Guide or what membership in relais and chateaux means to the lay public. How many people really know about this World's Best List other than top toques and people who spend way too much time on boards like this one.

sethd, to answer a couple of your questions: the reviewers are, mostly, chefs, restaurant owners and food writers like myself. This year, I think over 800 judges in total. How do chefs view this? Well, if they didn't care, then surely Grant Achatz wouldn't have left his rest. at 3 am to get on a flight a few hours later for London. Ferran went. Arzak went. Alex Atala went. Heck, THEY ALL WENT. The big shots, I mean. How many awards things do these guys attend? Few. Especially the very hard-working, non-imperialistic chefs like Achatz. so it's easy to say the list is bs. But I really think the chefs disagree. they care A LOT. ← Thanks for the info. Didn't mean to imply that the list was b.s. and I apologize if my response was taken that way. I guess I can mention the list to Jean Georges tonight. Could you give more info on how the list is chosen. There is alot of variation in style and atmosphere of the restaurants on your list or is the quality of the food the sole criterion for inclusion. For example, Mirazur and Louis XV are both superb restaurants (I ate at both on the same day last year), but completely different in approach, style, atmosphere, level of formality etc.

What the world's best list does is fosters conversation. Both for who is on the list and who is omitted. Similarly, most of us can state what the best restaurants are in a specific region. Who are the reviewers? How is the list viewed by chefs and restauranteurs? Will Per Se be celebrating today that it is "best in the Americas"(happen to agree with that one)?I have had the opportunity to have eaten at 10 of the restaurants on the 2009 list. Although I have seen michelin plaques and new york times reviews posted in the entrance of many of these restaurants, I can't recall seeing a similar plaque citing the restaurants position on this "worlds best 50 list.

Apparently, even the staff is impressed with people getting the tasting menu with the wines and asking to have the "Grand Dessert Ledoyen" (all 5 desserts)... I don't know what size the portions are in this menu, but if these are full portions, I think I wouldn't be able to eat much more after the cheese. As for recommandations, I only went once, so I can't really compare. If I had to go again today, I think I'd still order the langoustines, but you already had those three times... This will probably exasperate fortedei, but I really loved the spaghetti dish. There won't be truffles in June and it will also be a bit too late for morels, so this may not be on the menu (or they'll replace the mushrooms, like with chanterelles, and then it's a different dish). Also, there are other restaurants in Paris! Or maybe you're already planning on eating at all the other top places? ← I have eaten multiple times at all the top places in Paris during three prior trips to the city. Now, I like to go twice to the same restaurant during my week in Paris. I also have reservations at Le Bristol, Le Cinq (twice), Arpege, ADPA, Le Meurice, Guy Savoy, and I hope L'Ambrosie. I may try L'ami Jean as well and perhaps ask the concierge to help make one more lunch reservation when I arrive in Paris (either Pierre Gagnaire or L'astrance)

Was the Fat Duck ranked before or after it closed due to the food poisoning problem there this winter?

These were a la carte dishes. The tasting menu is the langoustines (which we had), the turbot and the sweetbread + cheese and dessert. The wine pairings were OK to very good. However, as it's often the case is these kind of restaurants, the wines were not on par with the food. I'm more interested in the food so that's fine by me. If you're really interested, I have the list of what we had. As the markups are higher on the wines by the glass than for the bottles, this is obviously not the most economical option. When you're only a couple, for the same price, you have to chose between optimizing the pairings with OK wines, or have one bottle of a better wine that won't perfectly go with what you ordered. Next time, I may chose the latter, with wine pairings with the cheese and no dessert wine. ← Thanks. I have had the chefs tasting menu all threetimes, as a single, I have eaten at Ledoyen. The first time with the wine pairings. I am still surprised that I was able to make it back to my hotel after the meal for all the wine I had. I am returning to Ledoyen in June and will probably order a la carte. Any other dishes you would recommend.

French chef or Italian making the pasta and saucing it? ← Multiple French Chefs. I have even had wonderful pasta made by American chefs in French Restaurants.;

Did you order a la carte or the tasting menu of the chefs signature dishes? Can u comment further on the wine tastings. Secondly, I have had superb pasta in French restaurants, especially at Louis XV

If the weather is nice, the Rise Bar at the downtown Ritz Carlton is a great place for drinks.

Once again another wonderful, atmospheric review. I have one question though. What makes food exciting? New? Yes, Arpege and Astrance are more innovative. But, they also cater to different customers from Le Bristol. I haven't eaten in the "winter" restaurant at the Bristol, but I have enjoyed, both lunch and dinner, in the Summer Restaurant.

Yes!! It has been on the lunch menu the last couple of years. I had it for dinner last week. Like baseball, one of the signs that spring is here!!!

How was dinner. Anything new on the menu?