Business lunches

[Bux]

The Week of October 18th, 2004

Figaroscope’s “Dossier” reviewed “Business lunches” for the following types:

Political:

Chez Françoise

Tante Marguerite

Ferme St-Simon

Maison de l’Amérique Latine

Esplanade

Le Divellac

Le Dôme

Chez Ramulaud

Media:

Murat

Relais Plaza

Zébra Square

Pichet

Le Divellec

Chiberta

Cap Vernat

Table d’Anvers

Fashion and Show-Biz:

la Suite

l’Orénac

Grill du Park Hyatt Vendôme

Rue Balzac

Pierre à la Fontaine Gaillon

Thiou

Fouquet’s

Publishing:

Drouant

Cigale-Récamier

Perron

Duc

Dôme

Rotonde Montparnasse

Montalembert

Laurent

Paris

Orient Extrême

Gaya Rive Gauche

Flore

Lipp

Closerie des Lilas

Big Bosses:

Les Ambassadeurs

Le Meurice

Alain Passard

Taillevent

Laurent

La Salle-à-Manger

Other:

J’Go

I Golosi

Le Soleil

La Cave Gourmande

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That question came to my mind immediately. It's clear the big bosses have the big wallets, but I wonder which profession has the best taste. I'm inclined to dismiss the fashion and show biz crowd and suspect they have a need to see and be seen and attracted by decor as well as influenced by social needs and trends.

François Simon's review of Le Dome his “Haché Menu,”--"Bottom line: no need to return" doesn't speak well for the publishing and political crowds. Politicians are always suspect, but I'd have thought the publishing crowd might be a good one to follow. Then again, most of the people i know in publishing either edit or write about food.

[Jonathan Day]

The French captains of industry (heads of public companies) and their advisers (investment bankers, lawyers, consultants, etc.) spend a lot less time lunching in restaurants nowadays.

First, most big companies have internal dining facilities, some of them very grand. Even professional offices will have dining rooms where nearby restaurants can send in dishes. Dining in these settings is more private, and the conversation flows more easily.

Second, a bit of "American" austerity (it is usually attributed to the US, though of course the same thing has happened in Britain) has crept into the upper echelons of French business life. A glass of wine at lunch, perhaps, but not much more than that. Lunch from 1230 to 1600 is not the norm. Deals are still made at three star restaurants (those menu prices seem less onerous when the shareholders are paying) but not as often as 20 years ago. Most business offices don't close at mid-day; after all, new York is just waking up at that point. Lunch is usually more than a sandwich or a trip to McDo's, but globalisation has made itself felt.

[Ptipois]

That question came to my mind immediately. It's clear the big bosses have the big wallets, but I wonder which profession has the best taste. I'm inclined to dismiss the fashion and show biz crowd and suspect they have a need to see and be seen and attracted by decor as well as influenced by social needs and trends.

François Simon's review of Le Dome his “Haché Menu,”--"Bottom line: no need to return" doesn't speak well for the publishing and political crowds. Politicians are always suspect, but I'd have thought the publishing crowd might be a good one to follow. Then again, most of the people i know in publishing either edit or write about food.

Interesting lists. But they don't tell us much, indeed, about the quality of taste in those professions, for each category includes good, average and bad places. The lists just don't take into account, for instance, that some people in publishing care about good food and that some others just don't (or they wouldn't be caught dead at La Closerie or Le Café de Flore, which is not really an eating place anyway).

There used to be a "professional" gourmet crowd in Paris, before the 80's, when the printing and typographic trade was still within the city limits. The moving of the newspaper offices and printing workshops to the suburbs, and the moving of the Halles away to Rungis, have proven fatal to high-quality but unpretentious lunch culture in Paris. Nowadays you cannot guess that a place is good because fashion people, publishers or politicians go there. But you used to be able to trust a bistrot because it was full of typographers at lunchtime...

[John Talbott]

Interesting lists. But they don't tell us much, indeed, about the quality of taste in those professions, for each category includes good, average and bad places.

Figaroscope's lists in their "Dossiers" or "Quartiers," as opposed to "C'est nouveau" and their biannual compendia, which rate places by hearts (1-4) and numbers (1-10) respectively, do not allow one to judge much. I include them in the "Digest" mainly because they give some folks an indication of where to go depending on the dish they want or quartier they're in, which while the "Michelin Red Guide" does as well, is not nearly as inclusive or interesting.

most big companies have internal dining facilities

Jonathan's comment about company/establishment dining rooms is indeed one to heed. I was silly years ago when I declined to join friends in such places, but some of my nicest meals have been at the dining rooms at SocGen, the Ecole Polytechnique (open to the public) and, yes, even the French restaurant at the American Embassy (avoid the other two - the fastfood and American ones - unless you've been in Outer Mongolia for 10 years).

[Jonathan Day]

For an example of corporate entertainment à la Française click here.

The text says that a joint performance of (Britain's) Royal Academy Ballet and France's Ballet of the Paris Opera was given to celebrate a century of entente cordiale betwen the countries. Prince Charles and Bernadette Chirac were in attendance. BNP Paribas, the giant bank, provided corporate sponsorship.

Then, to ensure that everyone left with warm feelings about Britanno-French entente, the bank presented a dinner for top British and French corporate executives, in L'Orangerie, their headquarters building, shown in the picture. Pierre Gagnaire, the 3-star Michelin chef, supervised the catering: an improvement from the rubber chicken, overdone fish or leg of lamb with a cloying sauce so often served at corporate events. Some aspects of life are fundamentally better in France.

[fresh_a]

I wouldn't call this a typical example of French "corporate entertainment", it was held for a pretty big event...