Q: Paris v New York

[Andy Lynes]

You trained with Savoy in Paris, how does that experience compare to running your own place in NY?

[Tom Valenti]

Apples and oranges. The product, the price of real estate, etc. The real advantage that the French in particular have is that they have a lot of government sponsored apprentices, so consequently the level and sophistication of cooking is aided by that fact -- when I was at Guy Savoy we would do 55 dinners a night with 14 cooks in the kitchen, many of them not paid by the restaurant. At Ouest we do on an average of 300 dinners a night with 8 people in the kitchen. Doing the math you can easily understand.