Boulud's Other Restaurants?

[Jason Perlow]

How would you compare the food, service and envionment of Cafe Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne to Daniel? Are they strictly "properties" in Bouluds' eyes or does he have a particular fondness and interest in them? Are they as serious restaurants? Are they at all covered in your book?

[Leslie Brenner]

I'm glad you asked this, Jason. One of the things that attracted me to writing about Daniel was that at the time I was looking for a restaurant to write about, I felt Boulud was not spread too thin. At that time, in 1999, he only had two restaurants, Daniel and Café Boulud. I think that Café Boulud was and is a real treasure of a restaurant--underrated, in fact. Andrew Carmellini's cooking is spectacular, and Daniel's mark is felt quite strongly on it. I've found the service to be wonderful there, too, although to be fair I have to say I was always known there as the person who was in the process of writing about Daniel. The ambiance there is less formal than Daniel, though it's still "correct"--not exactly casual. I like the room much better now then in its old incarnation as Daniel--I find it much warmer. (For those unfamiliar with the history, Boulud opened his original restaurant Daniel in the E. 76th Street location when he left Le Cirque. He closed that restaurant, reopened it as Café Boulud, and then opened Daniel on E. 65th Street.)

Boulud is not the kind of chef who could ever see anything with his name on it as just a "property"--he cares too much about the quality, and also, perhaps to his own detriment somewhat, he has difficulty relinquishing control. So that when he opened DB Bistro Moderne, he was there at the new restaurant constantly, and I understand he still puts in quite a lot of time there. I like DB Bistro Moderne very much, though it's a much different kind of dining experience than either of the other restaurants. The tomato-soup red walls, streamlined banquettes, and lighting add up to a very stylish place, and it's a more high-energy, casual, seen-and-be-seen kind of place than the other two. Since I left New York soon after it opened, I only had dinner there twice--before the official opening--and lunch once, after it had been opened a few weeks. I loved it (who wouldn't love a DB burger?) and look forward to returning soon and trying more dishes.