Bux

In the thread on Régalade, John Talbott just posted the news that Yves Camdeborde will be leaving la Régalade at the beginning of May. His replacement seems like a reasonable choice to continue the tradition, but in a way, this will be the end of an era. I suspect reservations for the next month will be even tougher than ever as people jump for the last chance to eat Camdeborde's food at La Régalade. I don't know if there will be any effect on service, but I suspect Camdeborde will want to go out at his best. I expect the food will be excellent till the end. I think this is a particularly fortuitous reservation.

Off hand, I can't think of a Chinese restaurant in NY that isn't very bright.

Don't get me started again about restaurants that are too dark. I've even had a running feud with my favorite restaurant in NYC and it's not that dark. I did have to write off a decent enough local place. I was about to write it off when I discovered that three tables by the kitchen got enough light to read a menu by. We began reserving one of those tables making it clear that our reservation was predicated on being seated at one of them. The last time there, we were seated elsewhere, which gives double meaning to "last time." Atmosphere? I'm paying to see my food and I'm only interested in eating where the chef isn't ashamed to let me see what he's done on my plate. I don't think I've ever been in a good restaurant in France that wasn't brightly lit. The chefs are very proud of their food, the diners generally dress well and deserve to be seen, the staff is presentable and graceful and the entire dining room is the stage for a magnificent production. I'm quite convinced that dark dining rooms are not atmospheric, but the product of a culture than hasn't gotten over it's puritanical embarrassment of enjoying a meal in public. As for "romantic," give the French credit again for understanding the difference between a dining room and a bedroom and a restaurant and a hotel room. People should be embarrassed to eat in a dimly lit room as it they're doing something disgraceful. Dining out should be a bright and joyful occasion. From my perspective 40's just a kid, can't you tell.

If so, let me add Hévin for something chocolate, perhaps one of his chocolate macarons. Several locations. 3 rue Vavin is in the 6th Arr. At Hermé, try a salt butter caramel macaron and perhaps one the more creative ones like the Isphahan. His chocolate should not be overlooked. La Grande Epicerie (Yahoo Travel mispells "epicerie" as "ipicerie") on the ground floor of Le Bon Marché department store is a great gastronomic stop. Several members also recommend the snack or dessert bar there.

As Girl415 has mentioned the concierge at her hotel, my guess is that she's already passed her choices on to him and that, perhaps he's already confirmed the reservations. I believe Robuchon only takes reservations for the first seating which is quite early in the evening. Actually in terms of dinner time in Paris, it's more like late afternoon. So have a very light lunch. I don't know if you have a sweet tooth, but there are a number of incredible pastry shops in Paris. One shop with exquisite modern pastries is quite near your hotel--Aoki Sadaharu, 35 rue Vaugirard--a few very short blocks east of the metro St. Placide. You're not far away from Pierre Hermé on Bonaparte just off the place St. Sulpice either. Unfortunately neither shop has a salon du thé and you'll have to take it away and eat whatever you buy in your room, or in the park.

Given what others have been saying about Combarro, I'm not all that surprised. There are many restaurants in the world where one can get a good steak or fresh seafood of the first quality, but where you can't find anyone with the ability to make a decent sauce. It's been my lot in life to ask too much of these places, or perhaps to ask the wrong thing of them, but Im learning and travel in Spain is more rewarding to me for that. In Sanlucar de Barrameda I recall ordering just seafoods by name and they came unadorned, either boiled or grilled with maybe a bit of vinaigrette or lemon. A few years ago, I would have instinctively searched for some complex preparation somewhere on the menu, and been greatly disappointed when the dish arrived. This time, my only regret was in ordering the manzanilla by the half bottle. Good advice, for those who have not yet understood this thread.

I've made a trips to Madrid over the years and didn't always find the food to be great or even enjoyable. I don't know if it's been a matter of educating my palate, just a greater appreciation of a wider variety of foods, a change in Spain, or learning where to go and how to order, but I've found a lot of food to enjoy in Madrid and look forward to returning. I do think it's easy to find mediocre food and may be even easier in Madrid than in Paris, which these days is all too easy to do. Eating well in any major city seems to require a great deal of research and some luck, these days.

I would have chosen Bicycle Rouge. It shows what I know about marketing. "Davinci." Now that's genius. Perhaps a higher priced French wine named "Napoleon" will conquer the American market. It worked for puff pastry.

I always wondered if there was more profit in the main courses or it there was more profit proportionately in either appetizers or mains. I know when my mother got older she often ordered two appetizers. Obviously that's less income for the house, but I've wondered if there's a reason a restaurant would prefer you ordered a $15 and a $30 course rather than three $15 courses. The former takes less time to eat and for a restaurant interested in turning tables, that might be a consideration. For the moment, I'll assume the bottom line is the main interest.

The short answer is probably "yes," but you really need to undersand that the same thing applies to restaurants in Paris. I say "yes," although I'm not so familiar with the UK ratings, but from what I understand of Spain and Italy, even the two and three star ratings seem much harder to achieve there, than in France. The one star rating is relative however, even in France. On a universal basis it's rather meaningless. The better the general food in the immediate and even the larger general region, the harder it is to get a star. In an area not known for good food, one star may only mean that this is better than it's neighbors. And that too, we've come to understand lately may be more of a subjective opinion than most of us had thought.

Apart from the fact that Alain Ducasse has interests in both of course! Intellectually, it's an interesting point, but one should not assume he's had Ducasse's food by dining at Aux Lyonnaise.

I would eliminate Gagnaire unless all four of you are interested in very avant garde preparations that might not even appear as food to the average diner. The diner who goes to Gagnaire for the first time has to be prepared to risk not liking food that's far removed from the traditional.

I am in full agreement that haute cuisine has it's place in life and is not what we want everyday, but I also sense that haute cusine is changing and that much of what we've thought of as haute cuisine has filtered down to become just restaurant cuisine. I also feel that French restaurant food is changing. Many moderately priced restaurants in Paris have menus that are not all that distinguishable from what I'd expect to find in NY, SF and surprisingly (for someone who remembers the 60's) in cities all over this country. The techniques are classic and French, but the styles are influenced by neighboring countries as well as Asian ones. Amid all this, there seems to be a revival of old fashioned rustic country food and an interest in preserving this French tradition. I think Ducasse's investment in Aux Lyonnaise is precisely of that mold. The retro bistros of the past decade are still continuing with Constant's cafe and they are a mix of old fashioned rustic and new lighter far with little fuss and brighter flavors in the international style. La Regalade for the rustic and offhand Eric Frechon's now closed restaurant is what comes to mind for the latter style. He's now at the Bristol making luxury menus again.

For the moment, I'm just fascinated that they chose to title their book using the English "Food Business." It's probably appropriate in several ways. English is becoming the European business language. See also Felice's post aoubt le Fooding in the Food Events in Paris thread.

Just a word about l'Epi Dupin. We had dinner in NY last night with Friends who had just been in Paris for a week. They were very disappointed by l'Epi Dupin. Although they had a couple of swell meals in Paris, they are most familiar and discerning about restaurants such as l'Epi Dupin, so I note it here as I did in another thread.

Friends who live in France most of the year and enjoy good food, mostly on a budget, just returned to NY through Paris last week. They were not particularly pleased with l'Epi Dupin, but loved Mon Vieil Ami. The also splurged on Arpege and Carre des Feuillants, both of which they loved. I enjoyed both my visits to Gagnaire. The second time was in October or 2002. Mrs. B. was less impressed the second time around. Not to say she didn't enjoy the meal very much, she just wasn't quite as impressed the second time as she was the first. On the other hand, some others whose taste I respect tremendously, were not pleased.

More at Bonjour Paris. More at Figaroscope.

For the benefit of all members who may be interested in reading other member's opinions about The Apprentice, I've just merged three separate threads beginning almost a year ago. Thanks for your understanding if your contributions appear under a slightly different topic title.

To a great extent lunch vs. dinner is a personal preference. I find lunch very relaxing, but I feel the French tend to reserve dinner as the important meal and you'll find business discussions and tourists may be more prevalent in the afternoon. I don't really have enough experience to say. The only thing I'll add is the caution I've raised before on eGullet. Sometimes the bargain prix fixe lunch is less of a bargain that it appears. Sometimes it's a real loss leader, but at other times it's just there to fill the tables with clients they assume want the trappings of a fine restaurant without the food that made the chef famous. If you order a la carte, you should get the same food at about the same price as dinner. I suspect lunch at l'Astrance will be the equal of dinner. Just a suspicion based on the small size of the restaurant and the youth and dedication of the chef.

I don't know, not having ever eaten in the latter or in the former in years, but I've heard good things about Ze Kitchen Galerie.

I"ll probably be of little help in recommending specific places as I tend to bounce between the very casual bistros and the top places these days, so I hope I've at least been helpful in focusing your request here. Au C'Amelot is very casual. It's excellent food, but there's no choice. Most nights there's only one set menu and the decor is almost absent. Aux Lyonnais may also be too casual a bistro, but it does serve some truly excellent food. I don't know about Carre des Feulliants. It's pretty fancy, but not so luxe. The food covers a lot a ground, assuming it hasn't changed and Dutournier's heritage is solidly rooted in the good food of the southwest of France. I'm not sure why you're eschewing the brasseries. I don't know any that have really great food, but I like Vaudeville for oysters and simple food such as steak frites and andouillette (the French tripe sausage, not related to Louisiana sausage by that name).

Personal recommendations are very subjective. I'd certainly like to hear an abstract description of what you want for your birthday meal as that list is confusing to me. Of the restaurants in which I've eaten for instance, Au C'Amelot (on the rue Amelot) and le Carre des Feuillants are so different from each other. Although not quite at opposite ends of the scale of luxury and formality, they are certainly far enough apart to make comparisons almost impossible. You can have a fantastic meal without paying $250/pp, but it won't be the same kind of fanatastic. At the same time, I've had some great disappointments by trying to eat economically at the top restaurants. Sometimes it works, and at other times you're better off going for the best menu at the second best places. There are places in Paris where it seems as if the first hundred dollars is going towards the flowers and overhead. You will never have as swell an evening at a place where dinner runs fifty dollars, but you may well have better food there than if you try to eat for $125 at the first place. You will probably not recreate your experience of fifteen years ago at la Tour d'Argent for much less than $250 a person today, but you can have excellent food for not much more than $50 a person. I'll rave about my meal at Ducasse for $500 and I'll rave about my meal at Aux Lyonnais for $100 (prices approximate and for two) but they're not the same kind of raves. If you have access to a Michelin guide or even their web site - http://www.viamichelin.com/ - you can get some idea of the relative prices and comfort (look for the crossed forks and spoons) of your choices. The better values may be at the low end, but the more "special" occaisons may be suited to the high end, if you're thinking of one meal as celebratory.

Places that have recently come to fame or a star can be a problem. Often they don't know how to handle the popularity that attends it and service can fall precipitiously. Obviously that's not the norm, or no one would go the starred places, but it's something to pay attention to. My guess is that Violon d'Ingres will be more expensive than l'Angle de Faubourg, and that chez Georges may be as well. Don't equate bistro with inexpensive or stars with expensive, although the latter is more likely to be the truth. There are too many excellent restaurants at all price points in Paris to fear missing any one of them.

Do we know that this was ETA? If so, it's a new type of terrorism for them. The bombing may have the mark of other terrorists. I'm afraid we live with terrorism in our midst. NY doesn't seem safer than Madrid. I have no advice on that score. I lived through 9/11 and was on a plane to Paris within two months. Mallorca and Villareal are the two cross streets at one corner of one of the markets. The Sant Antoni market is at the end of the Rhonda de Sant Antoni, one block from the Sant Antoni metro stop. The Mercat Sant Antoni is interesting. It's square, round or maybe octagonal, if I recall correctly. Anyway, I'd head for whatever markets were nearby to wherever I was. Tapas seem to be available almost all hours of the day, but it may depend on the bar. The thing about most of Spain is that you can always seem to find a bar open with at least one or two offerings even if it's just a cold tortilla and some sausage or ham, but there's no real answer to what you'll find available in a city such as Barcelona except to say variety. One word of warning about la Boqueria, it's right off la Rambla--one of the world's most heavily touristed streets. Some of the worst values I've had in terms of a cup of coffee or lunch have been in places right on the Rambla.

Welcome Backwards Hat. Nice going in getting that l'Astrance reservation. I understand dinner is particularly hard to get. I imagine the restaurant, the food and the prices have changed somewhat since we've been there and I'd like to hear your reaction--whether you've been there beofre or not. My guess is that those four places will shoot your fine dining budget. You don't mention your dining experiences in Paris or if you've been at those places. I've found Gagnaire very exciting and rewarding. It's fascinating food, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that some people whose tastes I really respect, were not pleased. You know your girfriend's taste better than we do, so it's hard to make many recommendations. I'm going to suggest you check out recent threads on Paris, although it sounds as if you already have, as many of us may be talked out on the subject unless we're provoked by special requests or questions.