Bux

At least I now know why I couldn't find it at http://www.pagesjaunes.fr . "Tour de Montlhery" brings it up immediately. I was also confused by the reference to St. Sulpice. I've never found the place St. Sulpice to be full, let alone full of riffraff. What would you be doing there before dinner anyway? It's a decent place with a cafe or two, but its proximity to Pierre Hermé is it's best feature these days and a visit to Hermé's shop would not set me up for a heavy old fashioned bistro beef dinner on the other side of the Seine. Picaman, I quit smoking long before many of our members were born and will agree that smoking in France bothers me less than it does in NY, but probably enough to keep me forewarned about Chez Denise. All things are relative, or so it seems. The problem with smoke in Paris now is that it's not necessarily the nostaligic smell of Gauloise or Gitanes. Then again, I've previously noted that at one time the smell of the street urinoirs was part of the odor of Paris. It was less offensive than it should have been, but I'm glad it's gone.

I agree with Tommy and I'd add Mother's Day to Valentine's Day. I try to avoid eating out both of those days. It's like being on the road with Sunday drivers anyway. I feel your pain, you get the worst diners making reservations and then they don't show up anyway. Bullshit about services not being rendered. You render a service just by taking a reservation and another one by holding a table. If I buy a theater or concert ticket, do I get any more service if I don't attend the performance than if I don't honor my reservation at a restaurant? Restaurants should have a guaranteed prix fixe and it's paid when you make the reservation. You can buy beverages and supplemental dishes when you're at the restaurant just the way the orange drink in the lobby of the theater isn't included in the price of the ticket. And yes, the service charge would be included in the price of dinner when you reserve. Waiters are no less professional than the guys in the kitchen or the performers on stage who are not usually tipped and who have a salary. Anyone want to borrow my soapbox? Edit: Oh yeah, I don't live in NJ and rarely eat there.

Nice blog work. Chez Denise - 5 rue Prouvaires, in the first, just south of the jardins, but actually I've yet to eat there.

Thanks for the follow up. I think I understand your message a lot clearer now.

That he has to be looking for a new outlet, or that you'd even suggest it, is a reaction to our times. Generations of successful chefs died at their stoves. Times are different, and in a way, he's not really breaking ground that's all that new.

bux, the key word in my second point above was "only". i was wondering if the implication of your musing was that expansion was the only release for restlessness. Then we're on the same page here. While this may be what Keller "has to do" for himself, I didn't mean to imply it's what any chef in his position would do. I also don't think Russ and I are on different sides here. Most of our lives, even those of the less glamorous of us, are fairly multifaceted and we're driven by many needs and urges at once and these are often conflicting. Perhaps a career or a life can be ploted as a diagram in the way one can plot the forces acting on a beam or structure. What Russ and I have mentioned are the forces that work in conjunction with each other. A less successful chef may want to get off his feet just as much as Keller, but he may not have the options Keller has at this point. I think everything Russ said is valid and if any assumption I've made is not valid, it's not because it doesn't support Russ' contentions.

The last time I was in Lyon, I bought myself a box of Bernachon's Palets d'Or, maybe a pound or less, on our way back to NY. The first one or two were more bitter than I remembered and rather intense, almost too intense. By the time the box was finished however, I had no interest in other chocolates for some time. A diet of that kind of thing can really ruin you for just candy.

Absolultely. The classic wine for a Kir is an aligoté. It seemed too esoteric to mention it. I've seen very few bottlings of the varietal, especially here in the US and I suspect there are fewer plantings of it in Burgundy than there used to be. Its certainly hasn't disappeared. Doing a search on potatoe + aligote, the traditional potato dish from the Auvergne, I was surprised that most of the links were to pages that happened to mention both potatoes and bourgogne aligoté, rather than to the potato dish. I also suspect the grape is underrated and has suffered in popularity due to chardonnay's unfortunate popular success. I agree that it's a waste to use a fine wine to make a Kir. Just as the syrupy creme de cassis masks the acidity of an aligoté, its sweetness will mask the qualities of a better wine.

Wow, never figured Nimes for an international airport. I wondered where you were landing in France. I figured maybe Avignon, but I don't even know what kind of airport they might have. It will be interesting to see what effect these airlines have in geo-economic terms.

Why not? Why not any direction. The challenge of creating and maintaining a top restaurant has been met. For some, maybe many, the challenge and reward would just be in keeping it going forever. For others the challenge might be to do something entirely different. I think there's one path that deserves criticism perhaps and that's selling out. It's clear Keller isn't captializing on his success by charging more for cheaper copies. He's creating new restaurants and stretching the breadth of his control. That he will have two fine haute cuisine temples means that he won't have the same type of control he had in the French Laundry, but it doesn't mean they both can't be excellent and world class as well as good value in their price range. Time will tell how successful he is, but his direction and his effort is as valid of that of any other chef I know today. I think it's a lot about not compromising in one way or another.

Let me add one thing to counter critics of chefs who dream big, or who dream like entrepreneurs. Keller has lived the dream of the old fashioned artisan chef. He's created as perfect a restaurant as anyone in the US and did it in line with the romantic image of a chef at home and tied to his kitchen. It's a restless society and a restless time in which we live. Where does one go from where Keller is, or was a year ago?

I also find Tony's reading or Keller very interesting. At any rate, whatever Keller is doing, he's not becoming Emeril. If anything he's following where some three star chefs in France have led and what Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten have already started. Neither the French chefs, nor the New Yorker's I've mentioned have quite set a pattern to rigidly follow. I'll expect Keller to do it as well, if not better on his own terms. Still, it's a lot trickier to do it away from your home base a la Ducasse, than it is to have satelites near home like Daniel has done with Cafe Boulud and bistro db as reports from Palm Beach might indicate. Taillevent is an interesting choice of example. It's the one gastronomic restaurant in Paris that's owner driven as opposed to chef driven. It's a restaurant where perfection is achieved in the kitchen, but direction is from outside the kitchen

I've always enjoyed a glass of beer, but not been too eager to mention that as everyone thinks it's too filling before dinner. Interestingly enough during our last trips to Spain, we often saw people enjoying a beer before dinner and then ordering a bottle of wine with dinner. Spain produces one of the world's great aperitifs in my mind, and that's a Fino sherry or perhaps even better, Manzanilla from Sanlucar de Barrameda near Jerez, which is superb with seafood tapas, olives and almonds. Both of those are dry, and the Manzanilla almost seems salty. At the opposite pole are the sweet aperitifs the French drink. This includes Muscats, which more often show up in the states on the dessert wine list. In France, I'll see them offered as an aperitif, but order them myself for dessert. Over the years, I've developed some taste for them, but generally a Kir is about as sweet an aperitif as I like. That's a bit of creme de cassis in a glass of white wine--inexpensive Burgundy for perference if it's called "Kir," but almost any white will do in a "vin blanc cassis." By the same token, most fruit based sweet liquers can be used in lieu of the classic creme de cassis. Mrs. B like her Kir to be white wine slighly colored. I'll take a healthier dose of liquer, but our daughter's in-laws in Brittany make it about half and half. That's sweet. I think it's a sin to adulterate really fine champagne, but a Kir Royale is a nice aperatif. Proseco, cava and a host of other sparkling wines make fine aperitifs with and without additions. I've rarely enjoyed Pastis in a restaurant--in fact, I rarely see it in a restaurant in France and it's made too strong with too little water in NY--but I have had it as a pre dinner drink in friends' homes in southern France. It's a good cafe drink however. As for those trademarked French bottled aperatifs, I hardly see them in restaurants. I think they may be a product of another era and possibly ready for a nostalgic comeback. I see a lot of composed cocktails or aperatifs in better restaurants in France. Most are champagne or wine based and generally seem like a way to jack up the bill. That's a good reason for me to order a bottle of white wine to start and drink it with the amuse, but champagne, I will admit, is always an alluring choice and the one I'll make without thinking. I'll drink to that.

I'm a food man myself. I'll put up with some terrible decor and quite a bit of inferior service to get at really good food, but Lapérouse is about dining as much as it is about just food. Service is part of fine dining and there's no reason it shouldn't be mentioned or featured in a post especially if it's the overriding consideration to the poster and the food was not sensational. I'd be far more upset with a recommendation that "the 30 euros lunch menu with no choice as to dishes is a very good deal" without the caveat about the service. It's always best to go with reasonable expectations. What I don't quite understand is the comment "the service pleasant enough" in conjunction with the later comment that the service was "unsatisfactory." The first implies service of at least average quality or better and the latter of less than average quality.

La Clape is a designation for a wine that comes from an area near Narbonne on the Mediterranean. I believe it's a village name that the wines are a cru within the Coteaux du Languedoc and that "La Clape" by itself is not an AOC designation. Clape is also the last name of a winemaker in the Northern Rhone who makes a fine Cornas. Wines from La Clape and Cornas from August Clape are two very different wines, with the latter being much higher priced and far more age worthy, but perhaps one of them is your wine.

Posted in the France forum. I've moved the responses over to this board as it's a story that's of broader interest in terms of News and Media and food guides in general. A post or two may now appear as a non sequitur, apologies for that. It's a most interesting story. Unfortunately it smacks of a little sensationalism, but what's telling to me, is that Michelin is not saying every restaurant is visited every year. It's generally been felt by most observers that Michelin is conservative when it comes to altering a rating, but I, for one, have always believed that every establishment has been visited at least once a year and that multistarred restaurants are visited more often and perhaps by different inspectors. Brown is quoted as saying "We have never said that we visit every hotel and every restaurant every year." I suspect many who have had faith in the Michelin ratings will be a bit shocked to hear that. On the other hand, there's no need for the sensationalism of repeating last year's oft published inaccuracy that "top chef Bernard Loiseau committed suicide following the decision by the renowned GaultMillau guide to cut its rating for his flagship La Cote d'Or." I recall that Loiseau committed suicide after the announcement was made that he hadn't lost a star, in spite of the rumors that he did. "Flagship" is a curious word to use in this case as well, although it's true that he had another restaurant in Paris.

I guess I missed the "still" in that sentence and its emphasis. I've known of a few good restaurants that have made the most of multiple seatings as a way of keeping prices low at the loss of a more traditional liesurely dining and even locals have accepted 7:30 reservations as a fact of life, but generally speaking, restaurants that are doing a good business before 8:00 are best avoided. They are likely to be catering to tourists in my opinion. I'd also hazard a guess that most walk-ins are tourists. The French make more of a point of reserving a table, even if it's only a half hour in advance. I've been told by residents that it's considered more respectful to call ahead.

By their flashguns shall ye know them. No, it was just a thread in another forum. Most people who take photographs of their food, do it with a digital camera and from close up. Results are far better with ambient light than with flash. I don't think most eGullet diners take people pictures in restaurants. I doubt that many eGullet members use a flash in a restaurant. It's possible that some people find the taking of pictures, even without flash, to be offensive, but you mentioned flash guns and thus I wondered about them. I haven't seen a thread where members talk about setting off flash of any kind in a restaurant, but it's a very big site and I can't see it all.

I don't mean to let this thread be hijacked, but you are correct that "honesty" in food is at least as subjective an issue. I don't necessarily find other people's modes of dress to be perverse when they are less formal than mine, or even less formal than what I see as proper. My wife was more upset than I was at seeing jeans and matching denim outfits at Berasategui in the Pais Vasco, but the jeans were on a young Spaniard and the matching his and hers denim shirts and jeans were on a middle aged couple who might have been Dutch or Scandinavian. I don't have a good ear for accents. Come to think of it, I didn't see too many ties on either Spaniards or Frenchmen sitting near us in any of the starred restaurants in the region. Americans and South Americans seemed to favor shirtsleeves or jackets without ties as well. At Arpège in Paris the week before, everyone seemed to be wearing a tie and jacket except for one conservatively dressed man in a sport jacket without tie and one rather casually dressed t-shirted young man with his female companion. My wife thought they were dressed for the beach but I excused them as they were British. Indeed, I find it strange to see the French taken to task for not wearing ties, in a thread started by someone from the UK whose boyfriend objects to taking a tie abroad. I'm afraid my experiences don't exactly jive with yours. I find the French may often dress more casually than the British, but do so with greater panache and elegance. What concerns me most is the reference to eGullet members setting off flash guns in fine restaurants. Has this been a problem for you? Have you experienced this in many restaurants? How do you recognize them?

I don't know le Dome du Marais. Michelin lists it as offering a good meal for a low price. One of the ways a restaurant can offer value is by economizing on the number of offerings. There's less waste, it takes fewer cooks, etc. and the savings get passed on to the diner. I suppose the lesson for all of us here, is to find out as much as possible about a restaurant before we reserve. There are some restaurants in Paris, the highly regarded C'Amelot comes to mind, that may offer no choice, except perhaps for dessert. The food is good, but the diner needs to be as flexible as if he's eating at someone's home. No one likes to walk out of a restaurant after one is seated and hasn't eaten, but no on should be expected to spend an unhappy time in a restaurant either. In additions to being prepared for a restaurant, the one other advice I can offer is that all restaurants in Paris, and the rest of France, are required by law to post their menu where it is visible from the street. If in doubt, it's possible to check the menu before entering the restaurant. I would also hope that anyone who chose not to dine at the restaurant at the last minute, for any reason, would call and cancel the reservation, even if it was already past the scheduled time. No shows are uncommon in France. That American diners have no compunction about not showing up for their reservations, can have a negative effect on our ability to make them. I've heard stories (here by the way) from people who have had their reputations ruined because they did a favor for someone by making a reservation and then learning that the party never showed up or called. Even concierges have lost credibility in a similar manner.

compared to whom? Compared to me, the Italians, the Spanish and my British compatriots, in that order. I regard as inept, dressing for dinner as if you are going to watch, or even play, a tennis match. This is all very subjective and standards here are quite culturally subjective. The standards of dressing are subjective in terms of taste and propriety. Are we saying that the French wear clashing shirts and jackets, or that they don't wear a tie to dinner? I'm not sure, we here in America, understand that there's a proper tennis watching outfit and another suitable for dining under all circumstances. On the whole, we've abandoned the tie in a considerable number of circumstances. From what I can tell, so has everyone else. In any event, it's quite something to stereotype an entire nation.

Good food and reasonably priced, but I've had my last meal in the dark. There are basically three tables far in the back near the kitchen where you have enough light to see the table top. Reading the menu, or worse yet, the wine list anywhere else in the restaurant is a real feat without a flashlight. For a while we made a point of requesting one of those three tables and that request was honored, but the last time we were there they sat us elsewhere in spite of confirming one of those tables over the phone. As a consequence, I ordered pasta, which is good there, but the specialty is roasted meat. I just didn't want to wrestle with a quail or animal shank in the dark. I just don't get it.

I will let her know I'm offended that she didn't remember my name. The problem is in knowing which waitress was the terrific one. It's been a while since I've had less than excellent service there.

At one of my last visits to Eleven Madison Park, there was a table of four twenty-something adults and two babies--little babies in diapers. At least one of the parents made several trips outside. Obviously it wasn't this winter. These were serious parents and I wonder how many of the four of them were actually able to enjoy their dinner--then again that's all relative to their other options. In any event, there was no noise from the table and I was struck by how resolutely urbane and sophisticated the whole thing seemed to me. Eleven Madison Park has always seemed a very urbane and sophisticated setting to me to begin with and it just seemed so civilized for this party to join the rest of the clientele. Let me note that before I encourage everyone to bring their baby to dinner at the best restaurant in town, I assume there was a lot of luck involved here and that the parents may have just caught a particularly small window of opportunity.

The inclusion of a few mediocre truffles in a dish isn't going to ruin the dish. My problem was that it just got more boring as the meal went on.