BigboyDan

There are several restaurants around France with this name, but I assume: - Restaurant l'Ecurie, 68 av. Charles de Gaulle 95700 Roissy-en-France tel: (0)1 34 29 85 28 Call 'em up.

vserna, ?Necesitamos charlar en español? Por favor, no se tome la ofensa, apenas un discusión vibrante. ------------------------------------- - Marcus made the Senderens comment - I addressed him for it. - 1975 is when Spain was opened to the world; before, she was as isolated as any country behind the Iron Curtain (Miro, Picasso, or Calder: offered the Spanish as devastated, scared, lonely, angry, confused). -- Spain does indeed have exellent food (la comida del pueblo) JUST NOT ENOUGH at the haute cusine level, still too raw in developement to make a determination of her grander value to technique. Es todo que tengo.

vserna, See above, I addressed my comment to "marcus". Spain has great food, everywhere, you and I both know that... but at the haute cuisine level there are so few contenders that it is hard to draw a conclusion of their true value to world gastronomie. I know that Spain got a late start (1975), she'll only improve at the top.

Robert, Merriam-Webster Main Entry: bac·cha·nal Pronunciation: 'ba-k&-n&l, 'bä-; "ba-k&-'nal, "bä-k&-'näl Function: noun Etymology: Latin, shrine of Bacchus, probably back-formation from Bacchanalia 1 : ORGY 2, 3 2 a : a devotee of Bacchus; especially : one who celebrates the Bacchanalia b : REVELER As you say, the grande luxe ambiance type of restaurant does't really exist anymore - not in Paris, London, Mexico City, nowhere (outside of a State dinner or private party, maybe); LC doesn't pretend to be. One does not have to take wine-by-the-glass per taste serving at LC, they're more than welcome to choose from the menu and from any of the 15,000 bottles from the cave. Also, as a seasonally-working French chef, I do not care about fulfilling someone's fantasy of receiving a trancendent orgy through food. Of course, If you'd like to buy Laperouse and make me chef...

BigboyDan, perhaps you've just awakened from a long sleep. Whatever one may think of Adria, Spain is no longer a culinary backwater, it's the place where the most exciting things are happening. On the other hand, there is a real question as to whether France is in the process of, if not becoming quite a backwater, at least losing its longstanding culinary leadership. I don't actually believe this to be the case, but if Senderen were the model for France, then its obsolescence would already be upon us. ← Marcus, You're kidding, right??? Spain is still a pretender at the haute cuisine multi-starred level; tapas and hams are great though. My eighteen year-old daughter, who grew up on bistros, brasseries and Parisan starred restaurants, lives in Madrid attending school; I visit Spain often, eat there too. I'll be sure to pass on your comments on the possible obsolescence of his gastronomie to Senderens, I'll be working for him in the Spring. Food is meant to nurish, not to entertain... THAT'S THE PURPOSE of all French culinary technique.

Maybe he means "not making a profit during initial years." I've opened restaurants that started earning a profit versus expenses within four months time of opening, others longer; and a few, much longer. What's really difficult, though, is dealing with the investors (myself included), all of who want their investments back quickly as possible...

vserna, You're too funny. Spain is a gastronomic backwater compared to France... Adria offers gimmickry, Senderens offers food.

Almost anywhere. When I leave Paris and I find myself in New York I want thin-crust pizza and thick cheesecake. Hmmmm.

Any kitchen photos yet? A scanned set of plans?

Sure. But they only serve pizza and cheescake.

Bragard 2, rue Christophe Denis 88026 EPINAL Cedex Courriel : bragard.paris@bragard.fr Tél.: 01 42 09 78 09 Fax.: 01 40 38 99 02 Les produits : Vêtements professionnels They are the industry standard bearer. Keller of the French Laundry wears them, along with their aprons (the best). Bragard is available in the us at: http://www.republicuniforms.com/webshop/fr...p?PageNo=FRAMES

fresh_a, Name a Parisian establishment that you consider a: "temple to gastronomic experience" Don't be afraid to challenge the Guide Rouge...

What's the skivy on its closure? Thanx.

Truest words; especially at 11:43pm on the Boulevard Saint-Germain eating with friends deep inside Brasserie Lipp.

Admin: this thread started administratively with posts split from the thread on Masa and Bar Masa. $1000 per couple for dinner. Two suckers born every minute.

Yes. D

Many of the best steakhouses in the western part of the US buy from these guys: http://www.stockyards.com/ Their prime is pretty good...

John Whiting, Coming from an Englander, I'll take you word for it.

"We don't take food very seriously in many ways." That's right; especially in Haute Cuisine. I work in France every other two years - to keep up with the big leagues. The two-stars can still wow a discerning patron; and it's the two-stars that allow the three-stars to do what they do, and get away with it. It's all so much better in France - and you know it.

I am an American - and I don't care what's going on in US restaurants outside of the one I work in (Mobil 4-star in Santa Fe - guess which). I just spent three months working in a Paris two-star kitchen; that makes a total of forty-three months of working in French starred restaurants over the last twenty-five years. The French are proud of the inroads of French cuisine and French technique throughout the US, that's about the limit of their real culinary interest - well, that and Mexican food, which I cooked aplenty for the staff.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that the chefs at Mon Vieil Ami were not inspired by America only that I don't see any attempt to copy the food they cooked in the US. Perhaps they are cooking a very similar menu, but I suspect that in DC, that menu would have seemed very French to an American clientele. I understand the point and noted my own conversation with a French chef several years ago whose own greatest inspiration was from his stint in the US. 1. Modern western cuisine is very international these days and at levels far simpler than haute cuisine. There are any number of menus in little restaurants in Paris that would not seem unusual in restaurants in NY or SF--or even in American cities with less of a history of French restaurants. 2. I see no discrepancy between this and the fact that the menus may have been worked out in Alsace with Antoine Westermann. Let me thrown in another story I've told here before. About nine years ago, I met a young French cuisiner working in NY. He had been here a year or two as line chef and then sous chef at one of NY's best restaurants. I asked him how his work here would be regarded when he returned to France, specifically how it would look when stacked against working at Georges Blanc, his last employer in France. He said it would be as if he stopped cooking for a few years. No one would care at all where he worked or what he did in the states. New York was no place. Not so many years later the same chef and I were discussing his recent trip to Europe and the meals he had eaten there. It quickly became obvious to me that because of his position as sous chef in one of NY's best French restaurants he was getting VIP treatment right and left in both France and Spain. Much of the attention was coming from chefs who had eaten his food and who had met him in NY. I reminded him of our earlier conversation and his reply was that things have changed drastically in just a few years and that was several years ago. French chefs are aware of what's cooking here and are being influenced by it. Paaaleeeeeeeeeeeeease! The French care about US influences in the same way that Mexican cooks in San Antonio care about what the Mexican scene is in France. Zippo.

"...great Mexican restaurant in Paris...' You mean, like a "great French restarant in San Antonio", right?

Study the history of La Posta in Las Cruces; talk about influence.

Being overwhelmed or underwhelmed by a restaurant after one or two visits says nothing much about the restaurant, but does say much about the diner.

La Reserve is still exellent - ate there two weeks-ago.