Everything old is new again?

[Rachel Perlow]

The menu at your new restaurant is purely French, yet I understand that your reputation is based on an eclectic, fusion approach. Has it been difficult to leave that proven style behind and the signature dishes that went with it?

[tripe]

I have never considered myself as a cook with a reputation fdor fusion, a style that very, very few have mastered and certainly not me!

Eclectic perhaps yes, at The Fifth Floor with such a great food shop adjacent to me it was impossible not to plunder, but I felt that each ingredient should have its integrity respected and to do that you can't serve up a mish mash of cuisines.

It was very easy to go back to traditional French cooking as it has been the food I have always been happiest with wheether it is in my iown kitchen or seated in a restaurant, and the more bourgeois the better.