Le Meurice

[Aloha Steve]

I was just looking at the current menu for Le Meurice online, and I noticed there are no less than five dishes the feature seaweed in one form or another.

menu

This is the September menu, so not positive how long the link will work.

This is strange to me, because at my meal there, I had found the seaweed portion of the foie gras dish decided unsuccessful, although others might disagree, of course. Not to suggest that all seaweed is necessarily the same or anything either, but it seems like rather an odd ingredient to pop up so many times. To me, it almost seems like it might be a case of innovation or incorporation of Eastern influences or whatever that is done more for its own sake rather than for the food. Or maybe Alleno is just very inspired by seaweed.

When we ate there in November 2008, they had 6 or 7 dishes featuring white truffles. In fact, I'm pretty sure they had a separate truffle menu with the dishes.

So, perhaps, they focus on a single ingredient, then feature dishes showcasing that ingredient ?

I have a story about that night's dinner. Ginger and I took our friends there as a thank you for their help in a business deal that worked out very well for us.

Our friends are French, live in Paris and Arras, dine very well and one fancy's himself a self taught 'gourmet' cook, which I believe is true.

I am the only one who orders a dish with Truffles, it was a appetizer. At the introduction of the nights menu, the maître d brought a wooden box with two big lovely looking truffles to show us. Our friends oohed and awed but I was the only one to order a dish with. As soon as the truffle was finished being shaved onto my plate, out shoots my wife's hand, takes the plate, and proceeds to give out friends a third each of MY shavings !!!!!!!!!!

They look at me and say something like 'Are you sure'......I wanted to say give me it back ! But I did not. I smiled and said please enjoy. (Which of course I meant as they are really good friends)

I will never let my wife forget and bring it up once a month or so. LOL

[The Food Doc]

Has anyone been to Le Meurice in the past few months? I have reservations on Thanksgiving Day, and I want to know if quality has suffered since Yannick Alleno left.

[Taka]

Has anyone been to Le Meurice in the past few months? I have reservations on Thanksgiving Day, and I want to know if quality has suffered since Yannick Alleno left.

I was at Le Meurice on October 7th- is that recent enough?

I don't know where this info everyone has gotten came from- chef Alleno was definitely there when I had dinner- I saw him come out to the dining room a couple times and I recognized his face.

I cannot comment on the state of 3 star restaurants in Paris as this is my first experience at a 3 star restaurant there, but I was very pleased overall. However, there were definitely some downsides to the meal:

The foie gras dish that was prepared with kombu had too many lobes- three big lobes is too rich and too heavy- that really weighed my stomach down and made it difficult to finish the rest of the meal. I finished the whole thing because it was so good, but that didn't help.

The grouse dish was far too salty and rather heavy-handed- intense flavor but to the extreme and with too much salt- I didn't enjoy that dish at all.

The first dessert with rhubarb in it was too sour and not to my liking because the sourness overpowered everything. The second dessert was chocolate-based and was much better.

My parting thoughts are these- the whole dining experience was lavish and spectacular. I felt that the service and the ambience and the wine pairings really highlighted the food. Even though there were some dishes that I didn't like, I felt that overall it was a great dinner. I've eaten at many French restaurants in the US and in Japan, my first time to Paris and I thought the food was prepared to a very high standard. Obviously, each individual's tastes differ, so it's not that surprising that a prix-fixe meal would have some dishes that someone may not like. I didn't feel that this detracted from the meal, if that makes sense.

I hope this helps.

Taka

[olivier]

The foie gras dish that was prepared with kombu had too many lobes- three big lobes is too rich and too heavy- that really weighed my stomach down and made it difficult to finish the rest of the meal. I finished the whole thing because it was so good, but that didn't help.

That would be a big plus for me, not a downside!

The first dessert with rhubarb in it was too sour and not to my liking because the sourness overpowered everything. The second dessert was chocolate-based and was much better.

Are you from the US? I'm asking because I ate rhubarb twice in the US last year, at two different places (JG and Ssäm bar, exactly) and I found it too sweet, on the contrary, lacking the sourness I like. I'm not sure if there's a difference in the variety of rhubarb used here and there, or if it's treated in a different way...

And, well, maybe the one you had at Le Meurice was really too sour after all.

[Taka]

That would be a big plus for me, not a downside!

The first dessert with rhubarb in it was too sour and not to my liking because the sourness overpowered everything. The second dessert was chocolate-based and was much better.

Are you from the US? I'm asking because I ate rhubarb twice in the US last year, at two different places (JG and Ssäm bar, exactly) and I found it too sweet, on the contrary, lacking the sourness I like. I'm not sure if there's a difference in the variety of rhubarb used here and there, or if it's treated in a different way...

And, well, maybe the one you had at Le Meurice was really too sour after all.

Yes, I am from the US. I very very rarely ever eat rhubarb, but the strong acidity of the preparation at Le Meurice was simply sour- I just didn't like it. I don't want my dessert to be sour and especially sour to the point of overwhelming all of the other flavors in the dish. That was simply poor execution IMO.

Taka

[The Food Doc]

Thank you very much, Taka, for your insight. If what you say is true, then Chef Anello will hopefully still be there when I have dinner at Le Meurice. I am glad that despite some missteps, you enjoyed your meal there, and I do hope that I will be similarly rewarded.

[mm84321]

It seems Alléno has departed Le Meurice.

http://madame.lefigaro.fr/art-de-vivre/yannick-alleno-pourquoi-quitte-meurice-211212-330986