Bernard Loiseau - Merged topics

[mastermatt78]

yes it was very sad,and i hope that i will never hear such a tragedy about chefs ever again,bad press can kill sometime i have been there.......

Edited September 6, 2003 by mastermatt78 (log)

[MobyP]

In today's Observer

[winemike]

Has anyone been to "La Cote d'Or", just renamed "Le Relais Bernard Loiseau" recently ?

My last visit there was about 2 years ago. I remember being impressed with his food

during my first visits (5 years ago) but the last times, it just wasn't as good anymore.

I've eaten there 3 times in 4 days and it was consistently "lower" to what it had been.

I'm just wondering how long the restaurant will stay at the top now that the Chef is absent.

I do not think you can expect business to remain constant by doing the same thing

over and over again.

[julot-les-pinceaux]

I had a deep emotional connection to the place and the man, and it took me a while to be able to express what I think about the restaurant then and now. Here is what I eventually came with, five years later.

The fascination around Loiseau's suicide overshadowed what his specific style and talent were, and I feel that no one paid tribute to it (except Alain Passard, the only chef I ever heard talking about Loiseau also as a chef and not only as a person). I also feel that no one pays attention to the new chef, Patrick Bertron, who is talented and, in my opinion, very far from merely continuing what Loiseau did, if at all. Actually, I keep trying to ask them to cook for me as they did at the time, and they just don't.

[Abra]

I had the unexpected opportunity to eat at the Relais Bernard Loiseau a couple of nights ago, where we had an astonishing reception.

Due to a total brain fart on the part of my dining companion, a French woman who made the reservations for us although I had invited her to dinner, this was our story. Although we were near Saulieu and had reserved there, she'd accidentally looked at the online menu for the Loiseau restaurant in Beaune where there's a degustation menu for 98 Euros. It's a very easy mistake to make, since their site is not very clear. Thus we arrived in Saulieu expecting the 98 Euro experience, only to find that the degustation menus started at 145 and went to 180. We thought about just getting one dish each, but a steak was 92 Euros. Crap. I really hadn't intended to invite her to such an expensive meal.

In a very American way, totally shocking my French companion, I explained the situation to the maitre d', emphasizing how embarrassing it was for me to have mistakenly invited someone out only to find that the price was way beyond my expectations, and I asked him if the chef would be willing to create some menu, any menu, for the 98 Euros I'd planned to spend. Shocking my companion practically out of her socks, he agreed that since they did have a 98 Euro lunch menu, they would try to do something "simple" for us.

My companion, to make up for the mess, offered the aperitif, which was their house apero based on cremant de Bourgogne and an assortment of amuses that included their justly famous fritter of pied de cochon. We had this by the fire before being seated in the dining room.

Then, with impeccable service a procession of plates appeared before us. The restaurant is dark and so I have only a few pictures that are pretty terrible.

Scallops with a turmeric sauce that made me want to lick the plate. That beautiful little basket was carrot slices and spinach leaves, and tasted as good as it looks.

Pigeon with spring vegetables and magret slices, and an incredible toast of foie gras and foie de volaille.

A sorbet and galette dish of pure chocolate in a sauce of bitter orange confit. They emphasized that the chocolate was made without dairy products, and it was incredible.

They also brought us an extensive cheese cart, with a great assortment of local cheeses including a perfectly aged Epoisses, excellent breads with several butters and sea salt, a plate of 5 different mignardises, and

what I imagine is their signature chocolate assortment after the coffee. A glass each of white and red for each of us, both very nice. Not the least hint ever that we were a charity case. And the bill, as promised, 98 Euros each.

While I don't recommend repeating our embarrassing error, my hat is 100% off to Chef Bertron and his classy staff for saving our evening so graciously. The food was wonderful, and the welcome was everything you'd hope to find in a restaurant of that caliber.

[Bu Pun Su]

Thanks for sharing your interesting dining story Abra

Hey, the pictures look great to me and glad that you have a good time there

The way you describe the service and food, it seems that this place is indeed 1st class

[Vinotas]

Wow, most impressive, that's an amazing story about what sounds like an incredible meal. You've got chutzpah!