Book Notes: Le Guide Des Restaurants Fantomes

[John Talbott]

Book Notes: Le Guide Des Restaurants Fantomes ou Les Ridicules de la Societe Francaise by Christian Millau, Plon, 2007, 20 €.

When I read Francois Simon’s “Croque-Notes” last week about Christian Millau’s new book that makes fun of restaurants, restaurant reviews and restaurant reviewers, I thought it would be a fun read. But it was not either very funny nor well-carried out satire. Indeed, it’s rather sad that this icon of the ‘6o’s and ‘70’s sounds like someone trying to get back into the spotlight after years of living on the margins. It is prolix, defensive and at times, almost incoherent.

Let me spell out what I think he was trying to do. In the 22 years since he “retired” from “GaultMillau,” I think Millau’s been stewing over how very, very important he was in shaping the direction of French food in the past and how far outside current developments he has become. So these phony reviews of largely imaginary places (eg Chez Papa Louis) but some real ones (eg Drouant,) I think, were intended to poke fun at the excesses of current trends, restos and purveyors, from El Bulli to fusion places, from bourgeois cuisine to Nespresso, from Hevin to Cantin, with the goal of putting him back in the spotlight. But writing humor or satire is not as easy as one thinks. I served as editor of a monthly scientific publication for 25 years and of the many supposedly-humoristic submissions, none survived the review process; they simply were not seen as funny by others.

But back to this book. Each review is about 3-4 pages long and bear a striking resemblance to those found in Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s “Paris Out of Hand: a wayward guide,” Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1996, which is not to say he copied the style and some of the ideas, but rather, that French restaurants present an appealing and seemingly easy target of satire. I finished the book feeling rather sorry for M. Millau, once such a mover and shaker. Perhaps returning to “straight” writing/reviewing, he can once again find himself shaping the direction of French cuisine.

John Talbott

October 5, 2007

[docsconz]

Thanks, John. Well done satire, as rare as it is, can be a marvel. Less than well-done often reflects poorly on the writer. Too bad for Mr. Millau.