Michel Guérard - Worth it or Not?

[ginger chef]

would like to know if anyone has been for lunch(cant make dinner) at michel guerards recently as i would like to get there but dont want to travel if its past its best. they do a set lunch only, also is this a good show of what they can do. any other suggestions, possibly toulouse .

[Bux]

We had lunch at Guerard a few years ago. It was the last day before they closed for vacation. As I recall, it was a la carte, but there was a rather limited selection compared to the one we saw at dinner a year or two prior to the lunch. I was rather less impressed by my lunch than we were at dinner, but it's hard to say if it was lunch, or just that the selection was limited because they were closing that night.

Looking at last year's Michelin, Urt pops right out, but unfortuantely Parra has retired and sold the Auberge de la Glaupe, however:

Christian Parra retired and sold his restaurant last year. But, lo and behold (and good surprise!) he has now teamed up, as part of what he calls "active retirement", with Alain Ducasse to re-open the Iparla, the village square café in tiny Bidarray, a few miles inland from Biarritz. They have installed a top notch team with Alain Souliac (cook), Michel Mialhe (maître d') and Martine Barbot (sommelier), and Christian insures the supervision, which I guess means they will have his signature 'boudin noir' black pudding - the best in the world. They're re-opening March 1, and next year will open a village hotel. Ducasse has bought a house in Bidarray - back to his roots.

Re Parra's theory, it was spelled out in an interview with Gault-Millau magazine many years ago, when the explosion of the 'new Basque cuisine' across the border in the Spanish Basque Country began to be heard - even in France. He showed his interviewer a well-used copy of the Escoffier cookbook which he kept in his kitchen, and told him: "You know why they are better than we are, over there on the other side of the border? Because none of them has a copy of the Escoffier in their kitchens."

Christian, long a close friend of the Spanish Basque chefs (his own father was Spanish), had this standing agreement with Juan Mari Arzak of San Sebastián: he sent Juan Mari his boudins, and Juan Mari sent him Ibérico hams from Spain. I fully expect the deal to be continued at Bidarray!

Iparla

Chemin de l'eglise

64780 Bidarray

Tel: 33 (0)5 59 37 77 21

This does not seem to be intended to be a three star restaurant, but if Parra is still preparing his boudin noir, it's worth checking out. I assume you will find lots of good Ibérico hams once you reach Lasarte.

[ginger chef]

thanks that sounds right up my street, i am trying to get to see both the three star and the tapas/brasserie side as i have to serve both styles of restaurant when i return to the uk. any other ideas no matter how off the wall would be greatly received.

[tony h]

Michel Guérard

This is essentially a tiny little manicured village which exists purely to service the restaurant, hotel & spa and is caught a possibly suitable but strange time warp. Its 2 hours from San Sebastian / 1.5 hours from Biarritz/Bayonne and, of course, a little over an hour from Lourdes! The central feature is an opulent president class hotel with kick-ass restaurant (kick-ass in 1979, but we’ll get to that shortly). Truly impressive & it generated a similar sense of well-being last experienced when I visited Blanc’s Le Manoir, Oxford. I didn’t eve consider a single night in the hotel so I stay at the Maison Rose – a genuinely lovely and pleasant hotel next to the main grounds. Frankly – a little twee for my liking but I could have stayed here happily for a few days – the room were simple, colour full and not intimidating to old folk in any way. Wall were leafy and rose clad – fairly postcard-ish but in a good French way.

Extensive gardens, pools and fountains surrounded the main hotel & restaurant & only darkness prevented me from exploring further. The main restaurant is divide into several parts – the rich folk got the bit with the carpet. I was place in a side corner out the way as I was dining alone – however it did give me a pretty good view the rest of the room. The rich folks room was out of sight. Walls were bare stone with a curious mixture of oil paintings (unfortunately the one next to me was a poor follower in the style of Renoir). The ceiling was distressed limed wood – I couldn’t tell if it was new & aged or expensively restored but it worked none the less. Thinking back – the room was quite big & the tables well separated.

The menu was huge – broadsheet sized – and extensive. On side was the a la carte & on the other 3 tasting menus which were just pairings taken from the a la carte.

Amuses: a langoustine encased in delicate breadcrumbs with herb salad and deep shellfish reduction. Perfect, in a classical way. 3 pastries – simple disk with parmesan, the other I couldn’t identify the last was a mini pizza – the only thing of note was the intense tomato from the last pastry.

Bread – imagine the lightest fluffiest cloud with the crispiest of crusts – that was the bread. Seriously good.

Starter – salad of truffle

New potatoes, sliced & layered formed the base of the dish. On top was a thin but generous layering of black truffle with superb creamy white luscious sauce to bind them together. Served separately was a single asparagus spear wrapped in a tempura-like batter.

A good earthy star to the meal – perfectly cooked asparagus and the sauce was quite luscious and truffly with truly long finish. The only questionable note was the black truffle – zero taste. Hmm

Second course: a single large raviolo stuffed with minced wild mushroom hidden in a blow covered by aparagus, wild mushroom and thick “fonds des bresage” (sp). When first served you couldn’t see the ravilolo as the was so much else going on. The “fonds” was particularly well executed – the citrus undertome came through as did the raw wine to give a long and pleasantly mushroomy length. Another good earthy course – a bit similar in to the first but still good enough to not care.

Fish: demi homard

A single plate with the ½ lobster shell and superbly mounted/arranged whole lobster meat filling the cavities. A serious lobster reduction splash on the plate and over the meat. No veg, no fuss. It’s the kind of dish that looks so simple yet you just know there a awful lot that went into it 0 plus it must be a real pain to do each time as there’s no room for error. This didn’t disappoint.

Critron half-sorbet half-granita followed. Its was fine – what more can you say?

Last course – foie gras

Huge slab of foie gras with a few slithers of potato, sauce, ¼ of a small cos lettuce & some grapefruit segments. Visually, not very exciting – oh but the sauce – this was a masterfully, truffly gelatinous deep red wine reduction. The foie gras was seroulsy well cooked – crispy skin with the lightest fluffiest evaporate-on-contact-with-your-mouth sensation – quite remarkable. Also – the cos lettuce was dressed with almond oil & gave unlooked for unexpected pleasure. The potato slithers contained almond or pistachio-like couscous which, again, was very good.

Dessert – citron soufflé. I thought I should stick with the classical theme. Fine but I didn’t think the middle was cooked.

Petit-fours – numerous & wonderful. Of not was the beeswax coated baked custard thing – v good.

Overall – a mixed meal. This was perfectly good & fine classical French cooking. But the description of the lobster dish kind of summarised my feelings “demi homard – perfected in 1979”. And the was pretty much it – this was a stunning meal – but it was as if the last 25 years hadn’t happened. During my wanderings the next morning I got a good chance to eye my fellow guests – most all of them were old (& rich) who came to indulge in the extensive spa facilities (I did look but I couldn’t see any pet spa options!). In the clear light of day it resembled more a hospice than culinary centre.

I wouldn’t really recommend this as somewhere to come to unless, like me, you just happened to be passing. Try it by all means – its very fine cooking - buts there’s so many other places to enjoy than this time bubble. It is 3 stars? Maybe in 1979 but hardly now – I cant image there’s a single innovative recipe since the 80s.

Worth experiencing but not worth going to experience.

Details

Les Prés d'Eugénie - Michel Guérard

40320 Eugénie les Bains

FRANCE

Tél. +33 5 58 05 06 07 - Fax +33 5 58 51 10 10

http://www.michelguerard.com/

[robert brown]

BLH, that jibes with my impression as to what has happened. As one who was there in 1979 and several times before and after, it was a dream. We considered it (ca. 1979) with Troisgros and Chapel, one of our three favorite hangouts. We stopped going seven years ago when it became clear that the restaurant had started on a downward path. This jibes with a report from one of the eGullet departees who was there this spring. It's too bad because it was paradise on earth and the best address in France for food and relaxation.

[Bux]

It's rare that places don't become dated at point or another. It's often a better fate that trying to pretend an aging chef is part of the next generation he doesn't quite get. In '96 we had a pretty impressive dinner. A lunch several years later was less so, but it was also the afternoon of the last day before the seasonal closing and there was a rather reduced menu. What I remember most from the first meal was some rather rustic dishes, cooked superbly well. A duck and foie gras pastry was memorable. I also loved that he had included s few fine slices of andouille in the amuses.

They have several dining rooms. How many they use at one time, depends on the season and the traffic. We also stayed at the Maison Rose and I have to thank Guérard for having the thoughtfulness of providing a second, less luxurious and less expensive accomodation and allowing those who opted to economize on the room choose to eat in the main restaurant. The night we were there, it appeared that there were at least two large dining rooms in the main house being used. One was more elegant and the clientele was more formally dressed and speaking English to a larger degree than in the other room which had a more casual decor. I gathered that guests of the Relais Chateaux main hotel were served in one room and those not staying in the main house, in the other. That suited me fine as our room was predominantly French speaking and local, i.e. not staying in town, but living nearby. There was a large table with two well behaved children and nearer to us, a young couple out on what I assume was an important date.

[robert brown]

This reminds me that we enjoyed our lunch our last day (1996) at Guerard's inexpensive restaurant, La Ferme des Grieves, more than the two meals we had in his gourmand restaurant. It may still be worth a stop if one is close by or staying there long enough to have a second meal.

[Bux]

I've heard good things about La Ferme des Grieves more recently than 1996. In addition to being inexpensive, it's a tribute to rustic cooking as might be seen in a farmhouse.

[pedro]

Try it by all means – its very fine cooking - buts there’s so many other places to enjoy than this time bubble.  It is 3 stars?  Maybe in 1979 but hardly now – I cant image there’s a single innovative recipe since the 80s. 

Interesting point, I believe. Do you think that there's been a so dramatic change in cooking that what was on top of the hill 25 years ago, now doesn't deserve the maximum qualification?. I mean, sure there's been an evolution, but I wouldn't say this has to imply to demote previous achievements. Has a cook to evolve to maintain his reputation, or once they have achieved "perfection" in their style is enough to maintain that?.

Regards,

Pedro

PS: FYI, Michel Guérard and Ferrán Adrià were in Madrid last Friday giving a lecture. Adrià considers Guérard one of his "maestros", and declared that the night Guérard went to El Bulli was one of the most uptight days in his life.

[oldschooltie]

spent three days there last new year.

first visit, having meant to go for the last 20 years.

first night meal was the menu degustation in the main restaurant - as noted by others, many of the dishes had a pretty ancient pedigree, but none of them felt tired or lacked balance or creativity.

second night was new year's eve, so the mother of all gala dinners, again featuring dishes that guerard has created over the years. big crowd, but brilliantly done and fantastic atmosphere.

last night, dinner in ferme des grives - slightly marie antoinette like in atmosphere, but food was simple, good and made for a nice contrast with the previous two nights.

each day we had the minceur lunch, which was a revelation. I've tried to cook this sort of stuff and, at best, it turns out worthy, but uninspiring; here, it was fantastic - flavour, simplicity, execution.

cuisine gourmand and cuisine minceur have been two of my favourite and, for me, most successful cookery books for 20 years. I think that he is an incredibly gifted man, who has helped shape contemporary cooking, so I'm not surprised that people are in awe of him.

the last point - and for me perhaps the most important - at 73, he looks and behaves like a happy man. For a grande maison, he and his staff were unaffected and genuine and appeared to be enjoying their work, notwithstanding an incredibly busy time of year.

[enthusiast]

an utterly impertinent question, but relevant i think to the discussion: how old are you oldschooltie? "meaning to go for 20 years" gives a clue but not enough.

my impression reading this thread is that i would be tempted to go having previously written it off as too old hat - if the quality is so good, who cares about innovation, as long as you know what you're goign for?

just 40

[Bux]

spent three days there last new year.

...

For a grande maison, he and his staff were unaffected and genuine and appeared to be enjoying their work, notwithstanding an incredibly busy time of year.

Sounds as if you made up for the 20 years' absence.

I share much of your outlook. I find it hard to reconcile "this was a stunning meal" with "I wouldn’t really recommend this as somewhere to come to unless, like me, you just happened to be passing" though I suppose I am as guilty as the next person (or is it "foodie") when it comes to looking for the next new chef. On the other hand, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to eat in Andre Dauguin's restaurant in Auch in spite of the knowledge that he had lost a star, or was it two, and that he had announced his retirement at the end of the year. The dining room had clearly lost it's luster and I very much suspect the service was not up to what it had once been, but Monsieur Daguin was a formidable presence and the foie gras as well as the rest of his dishes were still impressive. To have eaten his magret de canard was a privilege and a connection with the cuisine, of cuisine I might have missed.

For what it's worth, we planned two days in Auch and intended to eat lightly at Daguin's bistro the second night, but we were so overcome by the food that we returned to the main dining room for a second helping of foie gras and goose fat infused cooking. From there we went on to Michel Guérard for a night of more foie gras. I left Eugenie-les-Bains with an new understanding of the need to pace myself when planning multiple meals of rich food.

[oldschooltie]

"an utterly impertinent question, but relevant i think to the discussion: how old are you oldschooltie? "meaning to go for 20 years" gives a clue but not enough.

my impression reading this thread is that i would be tempted to go having previously written it off as too old hat - if the quality is so good, who cares about innovation, as long as you know what you're goign for?"

utterly impertinent doesn't do justice to it.

actually, a remarkably poorly preserved 50 year old. The occasion was our silver wedding anniversary (mrs oldschooltie has worn rather better, before you ask).

It's certainly true that it can feel a bit like God's waiting room at times and I'm not sure that we'll be going back before our golden wedding, but I was impressed by the feeling of honesty and lack of self importance of everyone from Guerard downwards. It felt like being at a place owned by someone with nothing to prove to anyone, who was deeply committed to his metier and with a generosity of spirit that communicated itself naturally.

All this at a price, of course

ps how do you get stuff into nice little white boxes?

[tony h]

I find it hard to reconcile "this was a stunning meal" with "I wouldn’t really recommend this as somewhere to come to unless, like me, you just happened to be passing"

This was precision cooking - but god it was dull.

The whole place was a bit like a septuagenarian zoo.

[ginger chef]

had a magnificent meal here last month really given the full tour of michel guerrards repertoire. it was a welcome relief from to much messing around on the plate in spain and the saucing was second to none. if you say is it worth the three stars now. i say yes if it is consistent as it was in 1979 why change. the waterside and bocuse are all in the same style and they are consistent. they have found there formula and are sticking to it and if the results are consistent its not going to loose anything. the servise was typically french , good, relaxed and a little bit snobby. the whole area was beautiful and i dining alone was made to feel very comfortable. it was one of the best meals i have had