Great Tastes, Different Vision

PARIS – As cooks, I am convinced that most of us look at the ingredients before us with a single dimension. My asparagus are always blanched and cooked whole (rarely steamed or roasted). My baby leg of lamb is often roasted whole, on the bone, with need of nothing more than a streamlined seasoning of salt and pepper.

Apricots are halved and pitted for a tart, always cooked with their sunshine face up; and my classic vinaigrette varies little, just red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, olive oil and salt.

Habit? A rut? Lack of imagination? Perhaps a bit of all three. In defense of all of us, part of the pleasure of cooking a dish, and revisiting it again, is the simple memory, the pleasant familiarity, of how the food looked and tasted and pleased us the last time. There is also a touch of anticipation involved and, for sure, a dose of security.

But it is clear that chef Pascal Barbot of the Michelin-starred Astrance has a totally other vision. What we mortals see in black and white, he sees in Technicolor. While we look at things straight on, he seems to stand on his head, hang from a bar, cock his head to permit a whole new take on ingredients.

I was amazed by his food when I first visited the newborn restaurant in the winter of 2000. A recent revisit only suggests that this talented, modest chef has grown and grown and grown.

Like many contemporary chefs he focuses on the ingredient first, the process second. But its in his combination of ingredients as well as his pristine, even exciting presentations that he distinguishes himself from the rest of the pack. And no one has thought through the very idea of how an ingredient is cut and presented the way Barbot has.

Along with partner Christophe Rohat, this young chef is one to follow, for sure.

A recent lunch included samples of a good portion of the summer’s menu, and ran the full range of seasonal fare. Crab and avocado, zucchini and baby turnips, fava beans and langoustine, tomatoes and arugula, tuna, barbue, pigeon and veal. As good as ever is his signature crab and avocado “ravioli,” really thin slices of avocado masquerading as pasta, layered over a brilliantly season salad of crab enhanced with lime zest, chives, fleur de sel, and the most delicious, sweet and fragrant almond oil.

But the single dish that sent me into rave mode was his astonishing combination of turnips, begonia flowers, fava beans and marjoram. Big deal, you say? The dish has to be seen and sampled to be believed. The combination arrived in a pure white soup bowl, an artistically perfect color blend of red, white and green. So pretty I waited a full minute to indulge, appreciating the aesthetics of the moment.

The baby turnips had been blanched and sautéed, the same for the brilliant green fava beans. The bright intense flavor of the begonia petals, touched with a bit of black pepper seemed to say that summer was on its way.

Color played a role again in the daily special barbue – the turbot-like brill – standing tall and on end, its alabaster skin offset with bright spring green lemon verbena oil, and a raw, sweet onion salad paired with fresh lemon verbena.

But it’s not just color and show here. Somehow the newness of all the combinations force us to think about what we are eating, and contemplate the incredible variety of ingredients, colors, flavors, textures that nature has given us.

Rohat’s ability to surprise never stops, as zucchini skins are sliced paper thin and layered like a millefeuille with shavings of cool and salty feta cheese, thin slices of white button mushrooms, all set on an ultra-thin layer of crunchy, sweet pastry.

Langoustines are so gently sautéed, served with a juice made from tomato skins, offset by a singular green puree of arugula.

The cool and soothing grey dining room, the starched linens, the gilt-framed mirrors add a restive backdrop to all this modern excitement. Rohat’s choice of wine – a deep red Pic St Loup, Château de Cazeneuve, with overtones of dark red fruit and a touch of gingerbread --- was a totally fitting match. Reservations at Astrance are hard to come by, so plan ahead for your next exciting meal.

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Astrance
4 rue Beethoven
Paris 75016
tel: 01 40 50 84 40
Fax: 01 40 50 11 45
Closed August 1 to 21, February school vacation, all day Monday and Tuesday at lunch. All major credit cards. 30-euro lunch menu. A la carte, 55 to 75 euros, including service but not wine.

Provence Quartet

Vaison la Romaine – We have lived in this tiny Provencal village for nearly 20 years, and never has the choice of pleasant, small family restaurants been better. This is a land of plenty, with the spicy Rhone wines leading the pack, and black truffles, fresh cherries, plump apricots and figs, and all manner of vegetables following close behind. So putting a simple but great meal on the table is child’s play.

But up until recently, dining out was pretty much limited to pizzerias, a few good Asian restaurants, and very little in the way of chefs who knew what to do with the bounty before them.

LE GRAND PRE

The newest game in the area is Le Grand Pre, opened last year by Belgian chef Raoul Reichrath and his Mexican wife, Flora. The two make a perfect pair of restaurateurs, with Raoul alone in his spotless kitchen and Flora in the dining room, sharing her vast wine knowledge and putting everyone is a good mood with her perky personality.

The two have worked all over the world, from the best restaurants in Belgium to the King David hotel in Jerusalem and the Marquis Reforma in Mexico. Now, in the hamlet of Roaix they have transformed an old farmhouse into a charming little restaurant with a wine list that will make most Rhone wine-lovers weep for joy. All the good names are there – Goubert, St Esteve, Rabasse Charavin, Beaucastel, Bouissiere, Domaine de la Mordoree, Santa Duc, and Château Hugues – whether it be white, red, or rose.

Raoul’s food is sophisticated, but not so much so that it feels out of place in a small country restaurant. What I love is that his food does not follow any single school other than his own imagination, which is vast. On a recent evening, he wowed us with a trio of starters – caramelized tomatillo with foie gras; a spoonful of fennel puree; and a crunchy cheese cookie topped with a pumpkin seed – and put us in the mood for sipping a favorite white wine, Domaine de la Mordoree’s Lirac Reine des Bois, a complex, thinking person’s wine made with no less than six grape varieties.

The meal began officially with a platter of plump warm oysters, topped with a green parsley puree and a rich sea urchin sauce. The main course pigeon – roasted fabulously rare -- was caramelized with a touch of soy sauce, giving it a walnut-toned glaze. Cheese comes from my village cheese shop, Lou Canesteou, run by Josiane and Christian Deal. Dessert might be as simple as bowlful of the tangy seasonal strawberry Mara des Bois, showered with crushed black peppercorns and paired with a soothing grapefruit ice.

L’OUSTALET

Few wines have the intensity, authority and diversity as the Rhone valley Gigondas, strong and full bodied wines that reflect the heady summer sun of Provence. Lucky for us, this charming village with its cozy shaded square boasts of the finest spots in the area, L’Oustalet, where owners Marlies and Johannes Sailer help us feast on the freshest seasonal ingredients, ranging from simple, whole tender roasted pigeon to green and white asparagus, baby artichokes with a zesty fresh tomato sauce, fresh Mediterranean fish and shellfish, rich local duck and soothing soups. The desserts are stunning, and might include a perfect millefeuille filled with the renowned strawberries from Carpentras or individual cherry clafoutis paired with a bright cherry sorbet. The Sailers have transformed a village house into a small and welcoming restaurant where, in the summer months, tables spill out onto the shaded terrace where we can watch the sun set at the end of a long day.

DOMAINE DE LA PONCHE

My most recent neighborhood discovery is the peaceful, 17th-century turreted château set in the middle of the vineyards of Vacqueyras, a Côtes-du-Rhône village and appellation known for its peppery, Grenache-based wines. Domaine de la Ponche serves as a simple and homey hotel and a fine table d’hotes where there is a just a single simple but sublime menu each evening. By reservation, La Ponche also accepts diners who are not staying in the chateau. Owners Jean-Pierre Onimus, Ruth Spah and Madeleine Frauenknecht have a flair for simplicity, both in the kitchen, the garden, and the wine cellar. Food with clean, clear flavors is served in the bright dining room and the nicely shaded terrace. A starter might be as simple as the most perfect, thinly sliced cucumbers, tossed in a lemony vinaigrette and heartily seasoned with freshly cracked black pepper. On one visit, the evening’s special was lamb chops, delicious, moist and meaty with a pure lamb flavor, served with a picture perfect, sheer potato gratin. A huge mound of green beans cooked with Ruth and Madeleine’s professional flair made an ideal accompaniment. And you will be a very lucky diner indeed should they decide to wear their Italian hats that evening, for everything they do with pasta and rice is purely awesome. Dessert may be as simple as warm apples, ice cream and almonds. Jean-Pierre is sure to suggest a local wine that will turn you into a believer: A favorite of the moment is the La Fourmone Vacqueyras La Fleurantine, a complex, floral white from the vineyard just across the road.

DOMAINE SAINT LUC

In 1971 Ludovic and Eliane Cornillon bought a ruin of an 18th-century farm, rented vineyards, and as soon as the house was restored, set up a ferme-auberge. They have just a handful of guest rooms and overnight guests also get to enjoy the table d’hotes dinner prepared lovingly by Eliane, one of the best Provencal cooks I know. Their wine has grown immensely in quality and quantity, with a wide range of reds and whites made for drinking today as well as cellaring for tomorrow. A typical meal here might begin with giant platters of tender green beans tossed with an avalanche of basil; a shoulder or lamb paired with onions cooked to a melting tenderness, and a gratin Provencal made up of potatoes, onions, tomatoes and a touch of garlic. There is always a generous platter of cheeses, followed by fruit desserts paired with simple homemade cookies. And of course Landover’s assortment of wines, served personally by the winemaker, who speaks lovingly and he artfully of his craft. You will always learn something from Ludovic. Guests dine in the spacious stone dining room of this lovingly restored farm. (And I have to add that as of the 2001 vintage, Ludovic is making our own wine from the three hectares of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre that make up our very own peppery red Côtes-du-Rhône Clos Chanteduc.)

Le Grand Pre
route de Vaison (D 975)
Tel: 04 90 46 18 12.
email:legrandpre@walka9.com
fax: 04 90 46 17 84.
Closed June 25 to July 3, January 28 to February 26, Tuesday, Wednesday lunch, and Saturday lunch. Credit cards: American Express, Visa. A la carte, 29 to 54 euros, including service but not wine.

L’Oustalet, (in the center of Gigondas )
84190 Gigondas
tel: 04 90 65 83 30
fax: 04 90 65 85 30.
email: loustalet-gigondas@libertysurf.fr.
Closed November 15 to December 28, Sunday (except lunch on holidays) and Monday. All major credit cards. 13.50 euro children’s weekday lunch menu, 17 euro weekday lunch menu, menus at 26, 32, 39, 50, and 60 euros. A la carte, 39 to 60 euros, including service but not wine.

Domaine de la Ponche
84190 Vacqueyras
Tel: 33(0)4 90 65 85 21
Fax : 33(0)4 90 65 85 23.
email : domaine.laponch@wanadoo.fr
www.hotel-laponche.com
Open for dinner only, by reservation only. Closed Sunday and Tuesday. Rooms priced from 92 to 191 euros, depending upon the season. Meals at 33 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Maison d’Hotes Domain Saint Luc
26790 La Baume de Transit
Tel: 33(0)4 75 98 11 51
Fax: 04 75 98 19
email: domainestluc@wanadoo.com
www.dom-saint-luc.com
Six rooms and two studios with kitchenette, from 64 to 99 euros, including breakfast. Meals 25 euros per person, plus 10 euros for wine. There is also a swimming pool on the premises.

Tastes from the Top

PARIS -- In these days of French anxiety, it is always reassuring to know that when all else fails in this country, one can always be assured of a certain gastronomic bliss. Recent lunches at my two favorite restaurants in Paris --- Guy Savoy and Pierre Gagnaire - reminded me of what several hours of pure pleasure can do for the soul.

Since finally receiving his well-deserved and long-delayed third Michelin star, Guy Savoy has been giddy with joy. His staff acts as though they are in perpetual training for a non-existent fourth star, and we the diners are the fine beneficiary of all that unleashed enthusiasm.

Guy Savoy has always been a brave, modern man, a trendsetter in the kitchen and the dining room. He was the first chef I ever saw use such an array of ultramodern white china bowls, so perfect for tiny tastes, with the edges acting as a blank canvas for a chef's creativity. His penchant for modern art took fine restaurants out of the obligatory oversized vases of flowers and a touch of red velvet.

Savoy's latest act of bravery is to serve a single green asparagus on a plate. But not just any asparagus. Imagine the plumpest spear of green asparagus cooked to perfection, with a little rectangular notch carved out of it. In that little rectangle he poses a finely fitting portion of a foie gras royale, a creamy compact, smooth-flavored foie gras, all bathed in a forward-flavored truffle vinaigrette. Not a bad way to start a lovely meal!

I have had the pleasure of twice sampling his turbot trio, a combination of gently poached Brittany turbot paired with ratte potatoes poached in the turbot water (picking up a gentle brininess along the way) and bathed in a touch of turbot butter. This is followed by his "petit ragout des cuinsiniers" tasty bits of turbot quickly pan fried. It is hard to imagine how such simple ingredients can be elevated to more than the sum of their parts, and at the same time left seemingly untouched. In this presentation, flavors are pure, almost intense, textures are clean and well-defined.

Guy pulls off the same success with his "agneau de lait dans tous ses états" combining brochettes of shoulder and roasted leg of lamb allowing us to admire all the ways a single tiny piece of lamb can taste.

He remains faithful as ever to his classics: the ever-soothing artichoke soup topped with black truffles and Parmesan, paired with a rich brioche buttered heavily with a truffle and mushroom butter.

A wine I have loved here is Jean-Luc Colombo's Saint Peray, La Belle de Mai 2000, a beautiful example of one of my favorite grape varieties, Roussanne, which has the ability to offer a wine with a fine balance of acidity, with complex floral notes.

I confess that it is rare that a dessert remains my strongest food memory of a meal. But I can't stop thinking about how pure and pleasurable I found Pierre Gagnaire's chocolate dessert. When the sweet, dark, extravaganza arrived as part of a procession of "quelques" desserts our table burst out with a laughter of joy. It was like a candy store on a plate: four or five rounds of chocolate cookie the size of an Oreo all filled with a smooth chocolate mousse, stacked up like a dark brown millefeuille. The dessert was streamlined and simple in its own right, pure decadence in another light.

Like Savoy, Gagnaire is at the top of his form, and that's saying a lot for both. Somehow, these two classically trained chefs have managed to always keep up with the times, always remain passionate and true to their art, and make us all feel that they are having a good old time at it as well.

Gagnaire's food has always been complex and full of fireworks, but once you think through a dish of his, it really is all about the purity of flavors, with am emphasis too on beauty, on the progression of colors, of varying essences of varying power. Even his butter looks like the more beautiful thing you've ever seen, the color of brilliant lemon zest. Sometimes I think that his food is about all sensations, all the time, and you have to step back from the table and think about what is going on to digest it all in your mind.

But nothing is lost if you just dig in! He is into processions these days, especially during his market menu at lunch time. You will find things like a tiny bouquet of asparagus green and asparagus white, enhanced with a egg yolk pate that looked as though it was applied to the bowl with a putty knife. An incredible gelée of varied vegetables --- peas, snow peas and white Tarbais beans - is a riot of color, texture, spring flavor. Lieu jaune - a generally less than noble codfish --- arrives warm and has a rich herbal essence to it. Here we have the smoothness of the fish offset by the Gagnaire's original 'sel cuisiné," his own varied mixtures of fresh herbs and sea salt that he sprinkles atop his dishes like we use common salt and pepper. Here the mixture is one of chives and salt, and this simple addition creates a texture that common salt could not. Finally, his curry de racines (a mixture of varied root vegetables paired with bean sprouts and pistachio oil) create a colorful, spicy climax to his lineup of starters.

The main course - a perfectly cooked saddle of lamb, pan-fried with oregano and served with a timbale of lamb sweetbreads and sorrel - has an almost a calming effect as it follows the fireworks of the complex first course.

Wines I have loved here include Rossignol's 1999 Volnay Chevret, a fine example of the 1999 red Burgundies that are drinking now with a certain youthful beauty; and Thevenet's 1999 Macon Villages, an always welcome well-priced example of a classic Chardonnay.

Guy Savoy
18 rue Troyon
Paris 75017
Tel: 01 43 80 40 61.
Fax: 01 46 22 43 09.
reserv@guysavoy.com.
Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday, Monday, and August. All major credit cards. Menus at 170 and 200 euros, A la carte, 135 to 175 euros, including service but not wine.

Pierre Gagnaire
6 rue Balzac
Paris 75008.
Tel: 01 58 36 12 50
Fax: 01 58 36 12 51
p.gagnaire@wanadoo.fr.
Closed Saturday, Sunday lunch, holidays and the last two weeks of July. All major credit cards. Lunch menus at 83 and 85 euros and 182.94 euros. A la carte, 155 to 215 euros, including service but not wine.

A Tribute to the American Middle West

Takashi Yagihashi Farmington Hills, Michigan – As maitre d’ Mickey Bakst likes to say, “I wanted people to walk away from our restaurant feeling as though they had never been to Detroit.”

By all accounts, Bakst and the restaurant Tribute’s chef, Takashi Yagihashi, have succeeded royally.

The mission was to bring a luxury restaurant to the Detroit suburbs, where automakers could wine and dine their customers in splendor. But the elegant, eclectic, electric spot situated at the crossroads of a suburban highway (wedged between a gas station and a mom and pop pancake house) draws more than deep pocket guys from the industry. The restaurant, opened in 1996, has received just about every restaurant accolade one can garner in the US, as it is listed as one of America’s 50 Best Restaurants by Gourmet Magazine, and in the year 2000 chef Yagihashi was named one of America’s Ten Best New Chefs by Food & Wine magazine.

Americans always believe that if you sink enough money into a project, you can make it work. Restaurant Tribute – created with a huge, blank check – tends to prove the point. But there is more than money behind the restaurant: There is also passion, serious forethought, a love for blending the classic with the modern in both design and in the kitchen, and a lot of strong personalities to tie it together.

Bakst and Yagihashi, along with pastry chef Michael Laiskonis, have created a true gastronomic haven with a lot of soul. So Andy Warhol art is framed in thick gilded frames, and Asian Bouillabaisse appears on the table. The result is the best of both worlds, carried out with care and calculation.

The wine cellar, of course, is astonishing, with more than 1,000 top world wines on the list, including plenty of welcome half bottles and a healthy selection of wines by the glass.

A recent meal there showed up their special talent for pairing wine and food. A delicate, vibrant and clean-flavored first course of big eye tuna and fluke sashimi, teamed up with geoduck clams and sweet onion-soy dressing, was a dreamy match for the deep-flavored, golden Champagne Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1993.

But the star of the meal was unquestionably the chef’s brilliant Asian Bouillabaisse, a welcome version of the often tired bouillabaisse imitations found around the world. Here, the chef offered a full palate of fish and shellfish – from clams to mussels, to rich meaty lobster – and bathed it all in a fragrant, tangy kaffir lime foam. The full pleasure of the dish was achieved with the pairing of the rich Zind-Humbrecht 1999 Riesling Clos Saint Urbain. Here, the much ignored Riesling grape seemed to do a little dance, happy to play its role by adding spice, acidity, balance and a refreshing counterpart.

A main course roasted loin of lamb (cooked to a perfect rareness) was paired with a measured portion of Hudson Valley foie gras, a fricassee of spring vegetables, and a most welcoming spring pea custard, all tied together with an understated (but oh so evident) red wine and rosemary sauce. The 1996 Italian Barolo -- the Bricco Rocche from Brunate – was in perfect company.

Pastry chef Laiskonis stepped in with energy and clarity, offering a soothing French melon soup with a Sauternes gelée; and a quivering buttermilk pannacotta flanked by a ginger-citrus gelée and a rhubarb-blood orange compote. But the grand finale --- a chocolate caramel egg shell anointed with just a few grains of fleur de sel – brought the house down. In happy company was the 1997 sweet white Bonnezeaux, Chateau de Fesles.

Tribute
31425 West Twelve Mile Road
Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334.
Tel: 248 848 9393.
Fax: 248 848 1919.
Email: tribute@earthlink.com Internet: www.tribute-restaurant.com
Open for dinner only, Tuesday through Saturday.

Nothing beats the anticipation of returning to a restaurant you have loved for years. A recent dinner at one of my preferred restaurants in the world – Rick and Deanne Bayless’s casual Frontera Grill and more formal Topolobampo – found the owners, their kitchen, and dining room, in top form.

As ever, the food was full of dense, intense flavors, with dishes that both offered surprises and that essential security net, familiarity. Most of us did not grow up with palates weaned on banana leaves or crunchy jicama, poblano peppers or pasilla chiles. So Rick and Deanne do their best to add touches of familiarity, both visual and gustative. A case in point is their new tostaditas de Tinga, crispy tostadas topped with home-smoked organic chicken, roasted tomatoes, smoky chipotle chiles, avocado and cheese. The simple addition of a tiny tangle of frisee salad seemed to tell us all, it’s ok, it’s familiar. I could have easily had three servings of these delicious tostaditas. In fact, a fellow diner actually had two!

Other dishes were no less appealing, and included very smooth and tender shrimp tamales steamed in banana leaves and served in a bright-flavored ancho-arbol sauce and a tang, cooling pea shoot salad.

Pork is back in America in big way, showing up on the best menus all over the nation. Chicago is no exception, and the Bayless’s offered roasted Maple Creek Farm pork loin cooked to a welcome rareness, much as one would cook a loin of lamb. The meaty, tender pork was accented by a complex, rich (but not at all heavy) sauce that combined hazelnuts, pine nuts, and pecans in a mole of ancho and pasilla chiles. The accent was almost French in the accompanying braised organic spinach and garlicky bread pudding.

Topolobampo
445 North Clark, Chicago, Illinois.
Tel: 213 661 1434.
Chef’s tasting dinner, five courses, $70 ($100 with wine.) A la carte, about $45 per person, not including service or wine.

When modern meets classic in Bordeaux

Restaurant La Tupina BORDEAUX --- This will not be the last time you will hear of Yves Gravelier and the charming, modern, restaurant that bears his name. If I sit down and think of qualities I personally look for as a diner, Gravelier seems to pack many into a single meal: The food is modern yet bears all the best of the Classic French Touch. The décor is bright – lime greens and tangerine ---- and says fun with a capital F. You feel as though you are right place, right time.

All that would be nothing if Gravelier did not have such fine schooling (Fredy Girardet, Jacques Chibois and Alain Senderens) and an understanding palate. This is food that is inventive as well as attentive: In a single dish the 41-year-old chef manages to surprise and please, offer a course in classic French cuisine, add an

Asian touch, and make it all very, very pretty. Best of all, this man understands two essential elements of cuisine: texture and acidity. We don’t think enough about textures in our food, yet Gravelier understands the human response to a creamy coating of the tongue that plays against a fine bit of crunch. He also gets the importance of acidity in a meal, the very quality that makes us walk out of a restaurant feeling light as a feather. All this for bargain-priced menus at 24, 32 and 40 euros.

My favorite dish here is his starter of grilled pigeon, served with its liver and a deliciously rich red sauce. I’ve had the combination many a time, and savoring it made me think of what can make such a difference when dining in a restaurant that is new to us: that combination of familiarity and surprise. Here, the portion was small and just enough to tease. The taste was pure, classic, and yet was it the fact that it arrived on a plate that might have been rectangular, or square, that made it taste so different? (I once dined with a friend who could not eat in restaurants that served food off of anything other than a round plate….)

Another hit was his 12-hour lamb, here served as a moist cake made up of potatoes and long-cooked lamb topped with rare-cooked lamb nuggets, all served with green asparagus and a brilliant green asparagus sauce.

Desserts were a delight, especially the mix of crispy chocolate and chocolate mousse accompanied by a duet of cherry treats; and the raspberry crepe soufflé.

Service here is attentive, and managed by Gravelier’s wife, Anne-Marie, the daughter of none other than noted French chef Pierre Troisgros.

Nothing is more fear-inducing than returning to a favorite restaurant after a long absence. Fond memories seem to be embellished with time, and it is actually very hard for most places to live up to those skewed recollections.

I have been dining at the warming, fragrant Bordeaux bistro La Tupina for more than 20 years and have never been disappointed. My last visit was no different, and in fact was better than my memory permitted. Everything we sampled at the hand of Jean-Pierre Xiradakis had that magic touch, food with a rich, golden glow, and deep, true flavors. From fat white asparagus teamed up with fresh morels, to giant golden fried potatoes, and on to a fabulous duck carpaccio smothered in deliciously acidic shallot vinaigrette, the food spoke of France’s famed southwest. Don’t miss the hauntingly rich macaronade --- gigantic rigatoni tossed with foie gras and wild mushrooms – or the fare cooked in front of the roaring fire -- chicken, lamb, beef, you name it.

Gravelier
114 cours Verdun
33000 Bordeaux
tel: 05 56 48 17 15
Fax: 05 56 51 96 07.
Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Closed Saturday lunch, all day Sunday, and Monday lunch. 18.30 euro lunch menu, dinner menus at 24, 32, and 40 euros; a la carte from 37 to 44 euros, including service but not wine.

La Tupina
6 rue Porte de la Monnaie
33000 Bordeaux
tel: 05 56 91 56 37.
Fax: 05 56 31 92 11.
Email: latupina@latupina.com
Web: www.latupina.com
Weekday lunch menu at 15.50 euros; lunch menu at 30 euros. Seasonal lunch and dinner menu at 50 euros. A la carte, 31.50 to 75 euros, including service but not wine.

Passion, Persistence, Passiflore

Paris – In the past, the talents of chef Roland Durand seemed to simply pass me by. I sampled his food at the Relais de Sevres, La Camélia in Bougival, and later at the Pre Catelan, and never fell in love with the fare and style that won him a coveted place as a meilleur ouvrier de France.

But persistence has paid off and so has this chef’s passion for travel. In his latest incarnation – the warm, chic, lively restaurant Passiflore (passion flower) --- he has hit it on the nail. His food sings, flies, does a fine little dance. Michelin thinks so too, and awarded him a Michelin star on March 1.

A first glance at the menu will no doubt confuse many diners. What country are we in and what is the century? Here we have everything from steak with polenta to a sweet potato vichyssoise and on to langoustines served with an Indian mulligatawny with Thai herbs, and then stuffed cabbage.

Surprisingly, this Auvergnat chef who spent years living in Thailand manages to combine all of his experiences into a cuisine that is at once modern, traditional, and exciting. He does not color outside the lines, yet his is a cuisine that takes French fare out of a rut.

Durand has a passion for soup, and manages to pass along that enthusiasm with a variety of brilliant renditions: His chilled red beet soup laced with horseradish is a winner and a real alarm clock for the palate. The sweet potato soup perfumed with star anise, along with chunks of fresh crabmeat, was astonishing in its complexity and ability to please.

Favorite dishes here include gorgeous langoustines paired with plump, ultra fresh scallops in a mulligatawny-spiced dish that managed a certain elegance; the wildly audacious jellied calves head paired with oysters in a deliciously capery sauce; and the obligatory molten warm chocolate cake, only here the surprise was a river of pistachio sauce running from the center.

Less ambitious diners will be just as happy with the thick and wholesome seared beef rib steak or the gargantuan and delicious stuffed cabbage. I found the pasta in his raviole of crab too thick, and the warm chocolate tart a bit too lacking in chocolate to satisfy.

The décor – faux marble walls in ochre tones, leopard skin carpeting, lots of chocolate brown, and crisp white linens – matches the cuisine. Service is excellent, and the wine list offers plenty of choice. Try the white Cairanne from Domaine Richaud (37.50 euros) or the fine red Fitou, Terre Natal (22 euros).

It will be a pleasure to follow Durand’s progress, and inspirations that come with the change of seasons.

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Passiflore
33 rue du Longchamp
Paris 75016
Tel: 01 47 04 96 81
Fax: 01 47 04 32 27

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit cards: American Express, Visa. Menus at 30 and 38 euros. A la carte, 45 to 67 euros including service but not wine.

New Kid on the Block: Paris's Very Fine Hiramatsu

Paris – Each season a new restaurant sneaks up on us and seemingly overnight becomes the latest rage. The restaurant of the moment is Hiramatsu, a miniscule 18-seat restaurant set along the banks of the Seine on the Ile Saint Louis.

Since its opening last October, the restaurant has had its share of fans and foes. The achievement of a Michelin star on March 1st only helped fuel the flames of controversy. There are critics who wonder how chef-owner Hiroyuki Hiramatsu – who seems to have come out of nowhere – managed to land such a beautiful site, managed to become the rage, managed to garner a coveted Michelin star in such a brief time.

And then there are those (like me) who say, who cares where he came from, it’s what’s on the plate that matters. And in my estimation, this Japanese businessman/chef has brought an always welcome breath of fresh air to the Paris dining scene.

The crisply elegant restaurant is a tiny jewel box. With black and white tile floors, comfortable beige leather arm chairs, crisp white linens, and lots of ultra-modern Bernardaud china, Hiramatsu is ultimately pleasing.

The menu is as diminutive as the site, with five selections of starters, fish, meat, and dessert. And Hiramatsu’s food has a surprising, dramatic, gee-whiz quality about it, the kind of fare that can get even the most jaded palates excited about the freshness of ingredients and their juxtaposition on the plate.

Like most good modern chefs today, Hiramatsu is obsessed with the quality of ingredients and several meals here attest to his attention to those details. Currently, diners begin the meal with a small plate of paper-thin slices of Spanish ham drizzled with great olive oil and sprinkled with pepper. Utterly simple and utterly divine. The palate teaser is an equally excellent royale, an alabaster-white pudding topped with a fragrant, intense, truffle bouillon laced with matchstick slices of black truffles.

Perhaps the prettiest dish on the menu is the first course serving of duck breast, cabbage, and foie gras. Strips of raw duck breast are mounded teepee- style atop the cabbage and foie gras. At table, the waiter pours boiling vegetable consommé over the duck, allowing it to cook every so slightly.

On the soothing side, Hiramatsu offers a marvelous modern ravioli --- a giant sheet of pasta enveloping huge chunks of firm, white Saint Pierre (or John Dory), teamed up with miniscule cubes of eggplant and zucchini. An almost lactic, acidic sauce served to bind them all together.

But I guess my favorite dish here is the turbot, pan-fried on the bone, and presented at table before whisking it back to the kitchen for the final touches. The turbot is seared with a mixture of very finely chopped dried orange rind and juniper berries, making for a fragrant, pungent coating, and is served with an elegant, equally pungent green mustard sauce.

A close second favorite would be his first course salade de fruits de mer, a mixture of lobster, scallops, bar, salmon, turbot, sliced mushrooms and strips of celery root all set atop a porcelain grill. Beneath the grill lie some 13 spices, all smoking away, giving the dish a mysterious, delicately smoky quality.

Desserts include the obligatory molten chocolate cake, which here runs like a veritable live volcano: I loved the warm, oozing, river of bitter chocolate. Equally pleasing is the millefeuille of orange confits, served with a superb bitter chocolate sorbet.

Service is fine, often chatty. The wine list – created by wine steward Hideya Ishizuka, formerly at the Michelin two-star restaurant Chateau Cordeillan-Bages in Bordeaux -- is excellent, with great variety and a wide choice of half bottles, rarely seen and much in demand.

So who is this mystery man? Hiramatsu has an empire of elegant French and Italian restaurants in Japan, and as he tells the story, he has had a long time dream of having a tiny restaurant in Paris to use as a sort of laboratory for testing and selecting ingredients to export to Japan, as well as training kitchen and dining room staff. He was walking along the Ile Saint Louis one day, found that his current space was available, and grabbed it. The chef spends half his time in Paris and half in Japan, and plans to change the entire menu and all the china four times each year. As he says “Food does not change. Seasons do.”

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Restaurant Hiramatsu Saint-Louis en l’Ile
7 Quai de Bourbon
Paris 75004.
Telephone 01 56 81 08 80.
email: paris@hiramatsu.co.jp.
Closed Sunday and Monday. All major credit cards. 45 Euro lunch menu, 92 euro tasting menu. A la carte, 90 to 140 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Fusion! The French break loose

PARIS -- It’s the modern Parisian restaurant : a clean, contemporary look, cozy chairs, and a menu that might be called many things: fusion, unstructured, Franco/Japanese/Italian. Gone is the French insistence on a traditional first course, main course, cheese and/or dessert. What freedom! Go ahead, break the rules, order two first course, and nothing else! Or just go for two pastas, or, gosh why not just cheese and dessert?

Anything can happen at these places. And while Americans have pretty much been ordering this way for a very long time, this is true innovation for the French. And after a few visits to some of these modern eateries, it is clear that while the French are ready for it, they do sit at the table, often totally bewildered.

Fortunately, at two of the best of the lot --- both Left Bank newly solid spots, Ze Kitchen Gallerie and Caffé – the waiters are patient and informed, and ready to help out any baffled diners.

At one of my favorite new spots, Ze Kitchen Gallerie, chef William Ledeuil has done it again. He has his finger (and palate) on the pulse of the modern diner. Despite the kitschy name, Ze Kitchen Galerie is a delight. The menu is divided between soups, pastas, raw and marinated fish, and main courses, all cooked à la plancha, or directly over a very hot, flat griddle. I have loved just about everything I have tasted over a series of visits. Ledeuil (also chef at Les Bookinistes right next door) wisely hires young chefs from various nationalites so the food has an authentic flavor.

His combinations and creations are always inventive, never wacky. Mussels are teamed up with coconut milk and mushrooms in a creamy, warming soup. Lentils and mushrooms are turned into a wintry soup enlivened with gingerbread, or pain d’epices. I love most, though, the pastas, such as the roborative macaroni with pesto, pine nuts and grilled chorizo. Best of the selection of raw fish and shellfish is his yummy preparation of oysters and scallops in a spicy horseradish cream.

Desserts are simply fun. Try the roasted pineapple served with a tiny vanilla milk shake and a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream; or the cinnamon caramel ice cream with a chestnut milk milkshake.

There is a small but always inviting wine list: Try the always dependable Faugères from the Languedoc, here the intense, well-structured red Château Anglade from Marie Rigaud-Anglade, a fine blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre grapes. The décor here is modern and a touch cold, but that’s the style today.

Caffé, open since the first week of January, is a delight. I adore the décor: Solid brick walls and arches make for a warming setting, and bare wooden tables make for a nice, open room. The menu offers simple, solid, contemporary fare. And rather than the traditional menu separated into first course, main course, cheese and dessert the selections include à la vapeur (steamed); marinés et cru (marinated and raw); plancha (grilled on a flat hotplate); pates et riz (pastas and rice); les canailles (and those favorites of childhood).

Do try the unusual steamed oysters – the tiny boudeuses from the Brittany village of Prat ar Coum -- served in elegant white bowls with a series of sauces. The oysters are also available oh so simply, on the half shell, served with the traditional bread and salted butter.

On one visit, I feasted on a daily special --- the freshest of rouget, or red mullet fillets, delicately wrapped in feuilles de brick, the light Moroccan pastry, and deep fried. Palates in search of heartier fare will adore the steaming, homey casserole filled with joue de cochon, or pig’s cheeks, served with a bounty of winter carrots.

Other specialties include a simple carpaccio of beef; steamed cod with cabbage and smoked milk; orrechiette pasta with broccoli; and traditional risotto Milanese, laced with bone marrow and saffron.

The wine list is brief: Do try the dense and tannic red Corbières, Castel Maure, well- priced at 28.50 euros.

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Ze Kitchen Galerie
4, rue des Grands Augustins
Paris 75006.
Telephone :01 44 32 00 32.
Fax: 01 44 32 00 33.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit card: Visa. 30 to 40 euros, including service but not wine.

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Caffé
74, boulevard de Latour Maubourg
Paris 75007.
Telephone : 01 47 53 80 86.
Closed Sunday and Monday. Credit card: Visa. 30 to 50 euros, including service but not wine.

From a Perfect Angle

PARIS -- I don’t know when I last had such authentic, well-prepare and well-presented French fare as this: Succulent, moist, glistening cubes of lamb shoulder, paired with meltingly tender potatoes enhanced with the essence of violet-toned garlic. Braised veal cheeks so gorgeous any French housewife would fall on her knees with joy if she had prepared them, teamed with a truly original (and successful) gratin of macaroni and artichokes. What could be bad about that? Add a glass or two of the rich, velvety red Vin de Pays d’Oc L’Hermitage, Les Domaine Camplazens (a bargain at 30 euros) and you are certainly on the road to heaven.

All this at the very understated, carefully conceived l'Angle du Faubourg, owner Jean-Claude Vrinat’s “wine bistro,” or little brother of his august restaurant, Taillevent. L’Angle has been open since last March, showing us all that Monsieur Vrinat, once again, knows how to create a winner. The restaurant is just what one wants of this talented man: Excellent classic fare with a modern flair, a drop-dead wine list at worthy prices, and a pleasant setting that does not look and feel like every other new restaurant in town.

The bare, colored-cement floors, brick-toned walls, simple white linen tablecloths and soothing celadon china sets a discreet, undistracting background for what is to come. The menu, brief and in the know, remains true to French culture, while not getting lost in a swirl of nostalgia. The beef cheeks and lamb shoulder assuage our classic cravings, but much of the menu is devoted to more adventuresome, modern fare. The ‘’risotto” special changes daily, and on our last dinner the chef created a lovely creamy dish fashioned of the Provencal poor man’s wheat, known as epeautre. Baby artichokes are prepared in the classic barigoule style (braised in white wine, herbs and vegetables) but are paired with shavings of rich Parmesan and a shower of arugula. A pot of foie gras prepared ‘’a l’ancienne,’ is all that foie gras could hope to be; rich, well seasoned, better than butter.

There is always a trio of cheeses with accompaniments, such as goat’s milk Cabécou drizzled with chestnut honey; the rich blue cow’s milk Fourme d’Ambert marinated in the sweet Loire Valley white wine, Coteaux du Layon; and sheep’s milk tomme de Brebis from the Pays Basque is rubbed with piment d’Espelette.

Even the lady who can do without desserts plunges in here: A perfect layered chocolate cake, served with a fine bitter almond ice cream.

Even if the food were just ok, L’Angle would be worth visiting just for the wine list. It is not a heavy, biblical tome, but rather eight pages of wines that would be worth drinking any day of the week. There is a full page of wines by the glass, including Domaine d’Aupilhac’s white vin de pays from the Languedoc, and Domaine du Deffends’ Clos de la Truffière from the Var. On my last visit, I enjoyed the pleasant white Picpoul de Pinet, from Domaine Saint-Martin la Garrigue in the Languedoc (16 euro), along with the Domaine Camplazens. Other wines worth trying here include Domaine Gauby’s Cotes du Roussillon Village Vieilles Vignes (62 euro); Chateau La Voulte Gasparets, Corbières Cuvée Romain Pauc, as well as Domaine Huet’s always dependable Vouvray Sec , Le Mont (44 euro).

All the while, Vrinat manages to keep his grand restaurant, Taillevent, at the same, fine level. The food at Taillevent, under the direction of chef Michel Del Burgo, remains classic to the core, with foie gras, lobster, filet of beef, saddle of lamb and pigeon leading the way. A recent visit offered a fine, substantial meal, starting with a truly satisfying serving of thick, homemade raviolis stuffed with domestic mushrooms and a dash of truffle, all bathed in a frothy creamy, soup-like sauce laced with foie gras. Equally good was the main course veal chop, thick and served just this side of rare, paired with fat, first-of-season asparagus wrapped in lace-thin pieces of pancetta and seared to a golden brown. Only the individual tarte Tatin, or upside down apple tart, left me feeling a bit deprived and disappointed.

The wine list, as well, is as much a part of the Taillevent experience as is the exquisite service and food: Here, Monsieur Vrinat is happy to help you choose. Don’t miss the selection of white Burgundies, starting at 30 euro, or the white and red Rhônes, including a favorite, Domaine de la Mordorée’s 1999 Lirac well priced at 56 euro, or the their stunning white Lirac La Reine des Bois, at 56 euro.

And once you have been to both restaurants, stop off to fill your wine cellar at the companion wine shop, Les Caves Taillevent.

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L‘Angle du Faubourg
195 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
Paris 75008
Telephone 01 40 74 20 20
Fax : 01 40 74 20 21.

Credit card: Visa. Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Daily menu at 35 euro. A la carte, 40 to 55 euro, including service but not wine.

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Taillevent
15 rue Lamennais
Paris 75008
Telephone : 01 44 95 15 01.
Fax : 01 01 42 25 95 18.
Email:mail@taillevent.com

Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Tasting menu at 130-euro. A la carte, 105 to 225 euro, including service but not wine.

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Les Caves Taillevent
199 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
Paris 75008
Telephone : 01 45 61 14 09.
Fax : 01 45 61 19 68.
email : mail@cavetaillevant.com
internet : www.taillevent.com

Closed Sunday, and Monday morning.

Thomas Keller: A Chef with a Passion

Yountville, California --- Eating at chef Thomas Keller's famed Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry makes me think of watching Fred Astaire. When you watch the master dance, you only think about how much fun he must be having, it all looks so easy, so natural. It never crosses your mind that he is working about as hard as a human being can work.

The truth is, no matter how hard the modest, talented Thomas Keller works, you can be sure he is having fun at it. As he says himself, the trick is to learn to ''maintain passion for everyday routine,'' and there is plenty of that in any kitchen, especially one generally considered the very best table in America.

I first encountered Keller's exciting, well-crafted food in 1986, when he opened restaurant Rakel in New York City, just a few years after he served apprenticeships in some of France's best and most up and coming restaurants, including Taillevent, Guy Savoy and Le Pre Catalan.

In 1994 he purchased the 1900's stone building that had actually once been a French laundry, dedicating himself to creating a top country restaurant in the heart of Napa Valley. There are still rough spots to work out (the restaurant is too cramped for his expansive cuisine), but I can't imagine coming to the hallowed Napa Valley and not trying my best to secure a table at this superb establishment.

Keller has what many other chefs don't have, and that's a sense of humor. As our very first taste arrived on a recent dinner at The French Laundry, our table of four burst into giggles, like schoolchildren. Set before us were his legendary ice cream come starter --- buttery, miniature homemade ice cream cones filled with salmon tartare and sweet red onion crème fraîche - food that was both fun and delicious, and they went down so well with delicate sips of bubbly. It is all the better to know that the chef actually created the dish during a moment of personal sadness, while eating a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone!

The Napa Valley was originally inhabited by the Wappo Indians, and nappa was their word for plenty, and plenty certainly applies to a meal at The French Laundry. Rather than a first course and main course Keller will tempt you with many many little bites, well rehearsed, close to flawless, well executed. And there are plenty of them.

A favorite legendary French Laundry treat is Keller's "'Oysters and Pearls,' plump, gorgeous oysters set atop a bed of smooth pearl tapioca sabayon then topped with a small oval scoop of glistening osetra caviar. What could be bad about this? The kind of dish that must be savored, oh so slowly, for once you down the last grain of caviar, it's all over. All that remains is the fine memory, and a palate still filled with the iodine-rich essence of the sea.

Strong, assertive flavors continue as we confront warm, sweet, fruitwood smoked salmon served with feather-light potato gnocchi all joined together with a signature balsamic vinegar glaze. Keller cooks the delicate smoked salmon in milk (much as the French do traditionally with herring) to help retain its texture and to allow him to serve it warm.

The meal moves on, with rabbit treasures and goat cheese surprises, ending with perhaps his most famous dish, Coffee and Doughnuts, another creation born out of sadness, and you guessed it, a trip to S&K Doughnuts in Los Angeles. What Keller serves in a giant bowl of warm ''cappuccino semifreddo,'' or a frothy white blend of sugar, eggs, espresso extract and cream, paired with adorable homemade cinnamon-sugar doughnuts, yeasty, golden, and reminiscent of some of my best food memories of childhood.

Keller tugs at our food memories in the nicest of ways. He is also lecturing us a bit. He rightly considers a respect for food, a respect for life, but admonishes that "our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease, prewashed precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking." He says it all. So go into the kitchen and cook up a meal you can be proud of, with respect.

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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street
Yountville, California 94599-1301
Telephone: 707 944 2380.
About $100 per person, not including service or wine. Reservations are accepted no more than two months in advance.

	Fish, Main d'or, Chez Marcel, and Il Vicolo

Enter the Era of the Quiet Chef

San Francisco --- We are, at last, entering the era of the "quiet' chef. Thank goodness, all that stacking and fireworks and dishes with 1,000 misplaced ingredients are beginning to be behind us. This is the day of food that is sensible, subtle, understated. And when it is done well, it is simply delicious.

A recent dinner at the two-year old Gary Danko restaurant in San Francisco solidified that trend for me. The meal was superb, from beginning to end. And what's more, service was in line with the finest you will find in the world: attentive, intelligent, grown-up.

A native of New York state, Danko grew up with a food-loving mother from Louisiana and an architect father. Restaurants played a role in his life from and early age, and by 1977 he was graduated from the country's respected Culinary Institute of American in New York state.

Soon he found himself in California, distinguishing himself with awards, accolades and top jobs up and down the state. His name was always mentioned when one asked where to dine in California.

Two years ago he opened his very own elegant, classic, wood-toned restaurant near the Wharf in San Francisco. Wisely, Danko serves no more than 65 diners. Tables are hard to come by, and the food is not given away, but that's the price diners pay for a top restaurant.

I always judge a restaurant menu by the number of dishes I would LOVE to eat. On Danko's dinner menu, there were too many to count. Shall it be glazed oysters with leeks, salsify and osestra caviar? Or a risotto of Maine lobster, rock shrimp, winter vegetables and rosemary oil? And what about the Vegetarian artichoke, tomato and chickpea stew? (And while I was making the final decision, two glorious cheese carts came rolling past, making the decision all that much more difficult.)

I was in comfort food mode and that meant risotto won out. And was I delighted. A perfectly tooth-tender risotto bathed in a soothing rosemary oil-infused sauce, studded with the truly sweetest of rock shrimp and lobster. Elegant, satisfying, a perfect start to a cool fall evening.

As a main course, my cravings for spice won out, and so it was the Moroccan-spiced squab with Chermoula, orange-cumin carrot. Like a perfect color palette the dish had everything: the richness of the meaty squab, the hit or Moroccan spices, the color or carrots with a fine hint of cumin.

Danko's sommeliers have done him proud, with a world class wine list. I devoured it, as I did the menu, and came up with two true winners from California. By all means try the 1998 100 percent Roussanne from Qupé vineyards in the Edna Valley north of Santa Barbara. The white wine has all the qualities of a pure Roussanne: fresh-tasting, with perfect balance of fruits and acidity, bone dry with overtones of pineapple and honey.

For a red, I turned again to the Santa Barbara neighborhood for a Zaca Mesa syrah, full of flavors of peppers, berries, and spice.

Danko offers a brilliant dining formula: Choose three, four or five courses, and the quantity of each course will be altered according to your tastes. And if you can't wait for reservations, the full menu is available at the lovely bar without reservations.

Gary Danko
800 North Point at Hyde
San Francisco, CA 94109
Tel: 415 749 2060
Fax: 415 775 1805
www.garydanko.com
Open daily, dinner only. All major credit cards. Three-course menu, $55; Four-course menu, $64; Five-course menu $74. Five course tasting menu, $74, with wines, an additional $35.

JoJo's Market? Not Yet

When French chefs head for New York or any other big American city, I assume they’re going for the bucks – they want to test themselves and their money-making aspirations in the American cauldron. But when a French chef who is astoundingly successful in New York (and London, Hong Kong and Las Vegas) comes to Paris, my assumption is that they’re looking not for riches but for confirmation, proof that they can not just get rich but cook for the world’s most demanding culinary audience.

So when French-born Jean-Georges Vongerichten announced plans to open a restaurant in Paris I was cheered at the prospect of more frequent access to the wonders of a chef whose New York restaurants – Jo-Jo’s, Jean-George, and Vong -- I have long admired.

Well, I might as well have bet on a better burger coming across the McDonalds counter. Vongerichten’s Market, (the comma is part of the logo, not my typo) is a major disappointment, from start -- the telephone calls to make the reservation -- to the finish.

New York is a wonderful city and I love most things about it. What I don’t love, and hate to see migrate to this side of the Atlantic, is the indifference and even disdain that the hot restaurant of the moment rains on its clients. It took three calls to get a table. For the first one, the young woman who said hello apparently forgot what came next, because she talked instead to someone else in the room until she hung up. The second one obtained the information that there were tables at 7 P.M. and 11 P.M. but no possibility at all in between.

With a third call, again with a lot of conversation with someone else in the room, we found that there was indeed one table in the bar at 8 P.M.

Nothing quite builds anticipation like not being able to get a table in a restaurant and then succeeding. So when we arrived promptly at 8 we were surprised to be practically alone in the place. That didn’t preclude our being seated at the smallest table in the bar, the one right by the door. The smallest table, but the best seats, because we could observe the ditzy disarray at the front desk as well as the crowd when it began arriving at 9.

The diners matched the beautiful decor, as well turned out as the restaurant is inviting in all detail, from the canopy of trees out front to the lightness of the wood wall panels. And the crowd on a recent Saturday night was older than I expected, more the Arrived than the Aspirational. (They were so much my own contemporaries, in fact, that I wondered if they had the same trouble I did reading the small print of the wine list in the low light of the dining room. Why do restaurants pose that challenge?)

Our first choice, the “Black Plate” starter – the plate itself is indeed black – raised our hopes. A rare example of the “fusion cuisine” that has mostly and happily bypassed France so far, it contained a sampling of crispy nems, succulent sushi and delicious fried shrimp, each with its own sauce, and pan-seared quail with a salad of cress whose lack of peppery character was a surprise. The quail too seemed to have been plumped up on steroids, but otherwise the array of tastes was an exotic delight.

To follow, our choices were chicken and salmon, and with those the letdown was palpable. The salmon was not “fondant,” or melting, as advertised, but rather seemed to have been rescued from something problematic. It was served on a bed of “truffled potatoes.” Now this season does promise to be very difficult for truffles, and I don’t know where these were from, but whatever their provenance the transfer had sucked out all of their lusty flavor.

But the chicken was the most disappointing. It had a crusty, caramel top, but the flip side was undercooked and totally without interest. Even my first mother in law made better chicken.

We skipped dessert and coffee, too.

The wine list also bears “fusion” characteristics, with an interesting sampling of wines from the New World as well as the work of several significant French producers. I particularly enjoyed Chapoutier’s Mount Beson syrah from Australia since it reminded me of my Rhone Valley home.

Prices go with the address, if not necessarily with the greeting or what gets delivered in the plate.

If this is indeed the attempt of a chef I’ve always admired to prove himself in his homeland, he’s got work to do. The French critics have been brutal in their reactions, and for once I have to agree with them. You can do better, Jo-Jo. We all know that and you do too.

Market
15, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Tel: 01 56 43 40 90 Fax: 01 56 43 40 92
Open daily. Credit cards : American Express, Visa, Mastercard. About 360 francs per person, including service but not wine.

Moveable Feast, Cross Channel Auvergne Specialties in Paris, A Taste of Lebanon in London

PARIS – One huge, polished wood table for 12, a cozy round table that will just seat five and a few tables tumbling out onto the sidewalk. That is all you get at L'Auvergne Gourmande, one of the newest and finest little places to open in Paris in a while. But the little turns out to be a lot.
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No surprise here, for this is the annex of the generally reliable Left Bank restaurant La Fontaine de Mars. In their newest, pocket-size endeavor the Boudon family has invested all its knowledge of the gastronomically abundant Auvergne region of France, its rich culinary history, its impeccable farm products and some pretty decent wines and cheeses.
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Best of all, they have brought back the daily plat du jour, almost a dinosaur in today's Parisian cuisine. So Monday it is duck à l'orange, Tuesday lamb chops, Wednesday beef tongue, Thursday stuffed chicken, Friday salt cod with the garlic mayonnaise known as aioli and Saturday suckling pig. How's that for hearty?
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But this little table d'hôte - where everyone sits together on bistro-style stools - has a modern take as well. The grande salade de legumes is a mound of greens with seemingly every kind of fresh vegetable imaginable, nicely cooked and dressed and topped with a crunchy tuile, or cookie, made of Cantal, a sturdy Auvergnat cheese of cow's milk. Other starters might range from homemade foie gras and a green salad to a fresh pea soup with little chips of smoky bacon.
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This is the sort of place where you can eat depending upon your appetite. Have a simple Auvergnat cheese platter and a sip of fruity Saint-Pourcain from the gamay grape, or go for the whole shebang with a thick and meaty cote de boeuf, teamed up with a rich potato purée. I feasted on a wonderful breast of guinea hen, pintade, with a deliciously puckery vinegar sauce served with sweet sautéed apples.
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The wine selection, by the glass or the bottle, is vast, inspiring and educational. You can find some little-known wines from the Auvergne, small appellations from the Cotes Roannaise, Gaillac, vin de pays de l'Ardeche and a Coteaux du Tricastin. Paris needs more places like this: energetic, inventive and fun, with some good food to boot.
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L'Auvergne Gourmande, 127 Rue Saint-Dominique, Paris 7; tel: 01-47-05-60-79. No credit cards. Closed Sunday. About 110 francs ($15) a person, including service but not wine.

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ON to London. Wonderful ethnic food at low prices has long been a draw here. A quick tour turned up some of the finest Lebanese food I have ever tasted - at Le Mignon, a tiny, seven-table restaurant in the Camden Town area of northwest London.
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The owner, Hussien Dekmak, does all the cooking and serving and offers a fine, fresh-flavored lineup of specialties from his native Lebanon. The pure, clean flavors make for a happy food revelation of a cuisine that makes so much sense. With a diet based on dried beans, fresh vegetables, olive oil, yogurt and a touch of lamb and chicken, what could be bad?
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Don't miss the hommos beiruty, a smooth, tingling chick pea purée flavored with sesame paste and lemon juice with judicious touches of garlic and parsley, topped with tiny cooked fava beans. Likewise, the moutabal (also called baba ghannoug), a smoky purée of grilled eggplant seasoned with sesame paste, lemon juice and olive oil had that essential, mood-elevating sense of purity.
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I had never before tasted batrakh, thin slices of dried smoked roe served with fresh garlic and olive oil, and would surely go back for more.
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I love lamb sausages from any cuisine and Le Mignon's fried spicy lamb sausage, or sujuk, served with nothing more than a touch of freshly squeezed lemon juice, made my palate very happy indeed. Le Mignon, 9a Delancey St., Camden, London NW1 7NL; tel: 020-7387-0600. All major credit cards. Closed Monday. About £15 ($21.50) a person, including service but not wine.

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A great place in London for a drink before or after dinner is the Sanderson Hotel, one of Ian Schrager's latest hits. The long, narrow bar is graced with elegantly hung sheer white draperies, with lighting and artwork cleverly veiled by a second layer of sheers. The walls of the shiny stainless-steel-top bar are lighted to reflect a cool lime-green glow, while the stainless bar stools perfectly lined up along the room make want you want to hop on and sip champagne. Hip, chic, magical you might say.
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Sanderson Hotel, 50 Berners St., Soho, London W1T 3NG; tel: 020-7300-1400; fax: 020-7300-1401.

Now Paris has Nobu

PARIS – Some of the city’s most see and be seen restaurants are not the sort any self-respecting gourmande would set foot in. But now Paris has Nobu, the creation of Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, with outposts in New York and Tokyo, Las Vegas and New York, London and Aspen and Milan. How could anyone turn out so many trendy places that actually serve good food?

I, for one, am delighted that Matsuhisa, in partnership with actor Robert de Niro, has managed to offer us such a fine level of cuisine. And such a pretty place, all soothing light beige and warm dark brown tones, offset with shiny black onyx and polished copper. Located on what is now becoming trendy restaurant row – off the Champs Elysées on Rue Marbeuf, on the same street as restaurants Korova and Man Ray and not far from Spoon – Nobu took off immediately after opening this July.

There are problems, of course. Even though the large, two-story restaurant has room for 150 diners plus a sushi bar, diners have to fight to get in. Unless, of course, you love to dine at 6 pm.

But on to the food, which is bright, varied, full of flavor, original and at times even brilliant. On a first visit, at least, I highly recommend the tasting menu (which began at 600 francs in July and has already jumped to 650), which changes from day to day. For those less familiar with the Nobu range --- a very modern take on Japanese fare, with a mix of cooked and raw, with a huge assortment of sushi and sashimi – the tasting menu saves one from roaming aimlessly through the menu. Nobu, 53, studied to become a master sushi chef, then took off four Peru, Argentina, Alaska and then Los Angeles, where he opened the soon celebrated Matsuhisa in 1987.

His Parisian tasting menu might begin with a crisp, highly seasoned tuna tartare, or perhaps a salmon tartare anointed with a welcome touch of caviar. Then he will hit your palate with a tartare of yellowtail, or seriol, spiced with a touch of jalapeno peppers. Nobu’s most famous dish, around the world, is a beautifully cooked piece of the freshest black cod, often served in a rich, fragrant, deep black miso sauce. The menu will close with perhaps a heavenly, clear soup with stuffed shitake mushrooms floating on top. Whatever he serves, the food has an original touch, your senses are aroused by the careful presentation, by color, aroma, texture, warmth or cold.

If one orders a la carte, one can roam all over the world. One finds Florida rock shrimp served as a deep fried tempura in a creamy, spicy sauce. Peruvian-style beef rib steak arrives in a spicy sauce. Alaskan king crab claws arrive in a piquant butter sauce. And Dover sole appears in a rich black bean sauce. The skin of salmon – fat and full of flavor – is used liberally, in sushi rolls and even in salads.

My beverage of choice – chilled, crisp sake – can be found in many qualities nad many prices. The waiter, of course, will recommend the delicious and pricey (495 francs for a 30 cl bamboo bottle) for the rare Daiginjo sake, but I found the less expensive Onikoroshi, dry, rich and spicy , quite drinkable, and easier to swallow at a price of 155 francs for a 30 cl bamboo serving.

Service can vary. The youthful, extremely well-informed staff all wear that Disneyland smile. It can be a bit much, but I’ll take an inauthentic smile over snarley service any day. When the restaurant is crowded and full – which is all the time – the cadence of the service can be painfully slow. But I will return, again and again, dreaming of sea urchin tempura and eel and cucumber sushi, asparagus tuna roll and another sip of sake.

, , Paris 8. Tel : 01 56 89 53 53. Fax : 01 56 89 53 54. Closed at lunch on Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. From 200 to 600 francs per person, including service but not beverages.

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Nobu
15 rue Marbeuf
Paris 75008
Tel : 01 56 89 53 53
Fax : 01 56 89 53 54
Closed at lunch on Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. From 200 to 600 francs per person, including service but not beverages.

L’Auvergne Gourmande, one of the newest and finest little places to open in Paris in awhile

PARIS – One huge polished wood table for 12, a cozy round table that will just seat five, and a few tables tumbling out onto the sidewalk. That is all you get at L’Auvergne Gourmande, one of the newest and finest little places to open in Paris in awhile. But the little bit turns out to be a lot. No surprise here, for this is the annex of the generally reliable Left Bank restaurant La Fontaine de Mars. In their newest, pocket-sized endeavor the Boudon family has invested all its knowledge of gastronomically abundant Auvergne region of France, rich culinary history, impeccable farm products, nad some pretty decent wines and cheeses. And, best of all, they have brought back the daily plat du jour, almost a dinosaur in today’s Parisian cuisine. So Monday it is duck a l’orange, Tuesday lamb chops, Wednesday beef tongue, Thursday stuffed chicken, Friday salt cod with the garlic mayonnaise known as aioli, and Saturday suckling pig. How’s that for hardy?

But this little table d’hotes -- where everyone sits together on bistro-style stools and makes quick friends of total strangers -- has a fine modern take as well. Their grande salade de legumes is just that, a giant mound of greens with every kind of fresh vegetable imaginable, nicely cooked, nicely dressed, and topped with a crunchy tuile, or cookie, made of the sturdy Auvergnat cow’s milk cheese, Cantal. Other starters might range from their homemade foie gras and a green salad or a fresh pea soup with little chips of smoky bacon.

This is the sort of place where you can eat a lot or a little, depending upon your appetite. If it is just an Auvergnat cheese platter and a sip of fruity Saint Pourcain from the Gamay grape that your are after, it’s yours. Or, go the whole shebang with a thick and meaty cote de boeuf from this rich cattle country, teamed up with a rich potato purée. I myself feasted on and wonderful breast of guinea hen, or pintade, with a deliciously puckery vinegar sauce served with a counterpoint of sweet sautéed apples.

Hope that patron Jacques is in charge on the day of your visit: His animation is charming and infectious. The wine selection, by the glass and the bottle, is vast, inspiring, and educational. You will find mostly little-know wines from the Auvergne (St. Pourcain is the best known), and small appellations from the Cotes Roannaise, Gailllac, vine de plays de l’Ardeche, and a Coteaux du Tricastan. In short, Paris needs more places like this: energetic, inventive and fun, with some good food to boot.

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L’Auvergne Gourmande (L’Annexe de la Fontaine, Maison Boudon)
127 Rue Saint Dominique
Paris 75007
Tel: 01 47 05 60 79
No credit cards. Closed Sunday. About 110 francs per person, including service but not wine.

Finally, a truly decent place to eat at the main Paris flea market in Clignacourt!

PARIS – Finally, a truly decent place to eat at the main Paris flea market in Clignacourt! Those of us who have had enough of the mussels and soggy fries as

Chez Louisette (yes, Emmanuelle still sings her heart out there) are in for a real treat. In fact, Le Soleil is so good that it is worth a detour, even if you are not in the mood for poking through the market.

Outgoing owner Louis-Jacques Vannucci looks the part. He has just ruddiness and physique to guarantee he is a true gourmand and bon vivant. And he LOVES food and wine. After spending years tracking down great ingredients for French chefs, he finally decided to have a go at his own place. And now, this former café turned into a real familiar family restaurant is the place to show off his talents as a hunter of all things good and gastronomic.

AS one would expect of a place devoted to chineurs (bargain hunters) gourmand, the restaurant has that chic flea market look: Cozy oriental rugs on the floors, sunny golden linens, and clever wine bottle and wine glass logo that is carried out in fanciful wire sculptures framed in flea market finds.

The current menu includes some fine fare, such as a deliciously fresh mesclun salad of mixed greens paired with a generous portion of pan fried langoustines, so sweet they tasted like candy. I loved, too, the generous portions of sautéed chicken, served with a light cream sauce, tomatoes and a touch of brilliant green broccoli. Bean lovers will adore the green bean salad, tossed with cubes of tomato and tons of flat leaf parsley. Vannucci is a fish lover, and the special orders of turbot (served with a fresh ratatouille) and sardines are guaranteed to be sparkling fresh.

On my most recent visit, the owner had just returned from the fish auctions in Normandy, returning with cod so fresh it still had the aroma of the sea, as well as delicate, tiny mussels, almost like jewels. The mussels were cooked in a rich sauce poulette, a mix of reduced fish stock, butter, lemon juice and parsley. The alabaster cod flaked into meaty portions and sent everyone at the table swooning for more.

The wine list here is a but quirky, but there is always something to discover. Or in one case, rediscover. I don’t think I have sampled the white Bordeaux from the chateaux Doisy-Daene is 15 years. The crisp, oaky dry white from the Sauvignon Blanc grape was a pleasure paired with Vannucci’s carefully conceived menus.

A quirky white aperitif wine, a crisp Saint Pourcain, 1998 Domaine Bellevue, is sure to whet your appetite and make you crave a bit more of everything.

But it does not stop there. On weekends you might find live jazz music, and on certain days, as the mood strikes, Vannucci might just go off on a tangent and offer something as wacky and wonderful as an all tomato menu. I think I might just change my ways. And instead of saving those centimes for the flea market, put the change into more visits to Le Soleil.

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Le Soleil
109 Avenue Michelet
93400 Saint Ouen
tel: 01 40 10 08 08.
Credit card : Visa. Open daily at lunch, and Thursday through Saturday for dinner. About 250 francs per person, including service but not wine.

Florence: Flair, Enthusiasm and Effervescent

FLORENCE --- It has been more than 16 years since I first set food inside Cibreo, one of Florence’s best and most consistent restaurants, and one that is filled with the flair and enthusiasm of outgoing owner Fabio Picci.

On that first visit Fabio served up some of his now classic fare --- his signature yellow pepper soup emblazoned with a C-shaped drizzle of local extra virgin olive oil; the memorable tomato aspic, brilliant red and shot full of his signature red pepper flakes; and a truly memorable platter of fresh pecornio sheep's milk cheese, shelled walnuts and an avalanche of garlic, Fabio’s own take on the traditional Tuscan starter.

Since that first visit, I never go to Florence without checking in with the effervescent Fabio. This time around, I had barely crossed through the front door and the chef was dragging me into the kitchen to take a look at the gorgeous, glistening fresh tuna a friend had just sent from the island of Elba. But we would have to wait a bit for that, since Fabio – on this evening cheerfully decked out in a crisp white chef’s jacket, a bright red apron and cool yellow clogs --- had a lot in store for us during that single meal.

Fabio’s once-modest trattoria has now grown into a full-fledged restaurant, albeit one with a fine, casual flair. Diners searching out an even more casual world can still check into his small trattoria on the other side of the wall, or the elegant Cibreo café just across the street.

Call it a parade, call it a procession, the food can keep on coming here, all full of intense flavors, refined fare with a distinct personality. Italian, yes. Tuscan, yes, sort of. Pure Fabio Picci at the top of his form, yes. For he takes native flavors and ingredients and punctuates them with his own style, always making sure that flavors knock you out. A tender squid salad blaring with the spice of his favorite red pepper flakes; an ethereal, feather-light salt cod purée, or baccala; lots of cloud-like substances, like the brilliant red tomato aspic; lots of dense, compact flavors that still manage to shock you with their overall lightness, like the cubed pecorino tossed with fresh fava beans and oil. The tuna finally made its appearance as the thinnest of carpaccio, smothered with a ton of herbs and a wealth of minced raw garlic.

And the memories keep coming, from the delicate tastes of his bright red spicy fish soup and on to his brilliantly prepared red snapper, oven roasted with a bright mix of lemon zest, rosemary, garlic, sage, parsley, red pepper, fennel seed, black pepper and olive oil, then marinated a full day in olive oil. Brilliant, you say? Also delicate and delicious.

“I am a happy man,” declares Fabio. Yes, he knows what he is doing and should well be proud.

My other must-visit restaurant in the area is welcoming family restaurant Da Delfina, a 15-minute train ride from the center of Florence, outside the walled medieval village of Artimino. Like the fare at Cibreo, Da Delfina’s food is earthy, and based on the freshest of local ingredients. Delfina herself, now 92, can be seen sitting shelling fava beans or returning from the fields having gathered nettles, mushrooms, or wild herbs for the next meal.

The remaining duties are cheerfully and passionately carried out by her son, Carlo Cioni, seconded by his wife, Franca and their son, Marco. In good weather be sure to reserve a table on the terrace at lunch time, when you will be able to enjoy an exquisite view of the verdant Tuscan countryside. Da Delfina is known for its game, wild mushrooms, extraordinary local sausages, delicate homemade pastas and assorted meats and fish grilled over the giant wood fireplace in the spacious kitchen.

Starters might include the most delicate—I dare you to try to stop eating them --

slices of fresh as well as aged fennel salami. The fresh version is sweet, infused with the essence of fennel, and supremely moist. The dried version, aged up to a year in the restaurant’s own cellars, is all grown up, dryer, with flavors that are intense, meaty, and sophisticated as a salami can be.

If you are looking for fine Italian essence of purity and simplicity, go for the truly fresh and lactic slices of pecorino sheep’s milk cheese – young and mild but far from wimpy – paired with the freshest and tiniest of raw fava beans. No seasoning needed here, for the ingredients speak for themselves.

Depending on what was found in the woods that day, homemade pasta smooth as silk just might be paired with delicate wild mushrooms that have been sautéed just seconds in olive oil and tossed with the tender strands of pasta. Nettles, or ortica, could find their way into a rich and rustic pasticcio, or complex pie made of pasta and herbs bound with a delicate béchamel sauce.

But I guess my favorite dish of the day was simply cubes of the most moist and delicious pork, infused with fresh fennel and roasted on the wood-fired spit. As ever, Carlo Cioni and family were true to their roots. While Carlo travels a great deal to see what is going on in the food world, he does not let it influence his own authentic cuisine: It is as if he says “This is who I am. This is what I do.” And he does it very well, indeed. Some people call Da Delfina the true endangered species of Florence, a city known more for its tourist trap eateries than restaurants of sincerity and quality.

Two wines definitely worth trying here include the fine Tuscan Carmignano from the house of Ambra, vintage 1998, a blend of Chianti grapes with a touch of Cabernet, making for a truly distinctive red; as well as the finely tannic 1997 Chianti Classico from the Castello di Fonterutoli.

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Cibreo
Via Andrea del Verrocchio 8r
50122 Florence
Tel: 055 234 11 00
All major credit cards. Closed Sunday evening, Monday, and August. 75,000 to 100,000 lira per person, including service but not wine.

	Around Florence

Al Moro Since 1929 Cell Phones Are Tucked Away, and it’s Time to Eat!

ROME -- Anyone looking for a most traditional Roman trattoria need look no more. Al Moro, here since 1929, is the sort of crowded, bustling spots filled with happy and well-fed businessmen and a scowling owner whose barks always worse than the bite.

Go to Al Moro – in a hard to find spot just behind the Trevi Fountain (just keep asking directions) – at precisely 10 minutes to 1 in the afternoon and you will see those businessmen all lined up outside the door. They are carbon copies of one another, all in dark sports coats, white shirts and ties, all talking on their cell phones with animation. At precisely 1 pm the doors open, the cell phones are tucked away, and it’s time to eat!

As you enter, you will come face to face with the owner, Franco, son of Moro and he might try to throw you out. He tries to throw everyone out, but persevere and try to break through that military sternness. The décor here is dark, with every inch of walls covered with artwork of varying value and appeal, including giant-sized photographs of a scowling Moro looking down at you as you dine. (It is said that the departed owner appeared in a Fellini movie and that would be very easy to believe). The scattering of pink roses and the crisp white linens soften that harshness, as do the kind and gentle waiters who only want to see that smile on your face as they serve you.

Specialties here are what we come to Rome for: baby goat (capretto) roasted to a dark golden crisp with tons of rosemary, and served with crispy pan-fried potatoes. Or, Roman-style milk fed lamb (abbacchio) stewed with tomatoes and cooked to a melting tenderness.

Starters must include the rightly famed carciofi alla romana, or Roman-style artichokes that are deep-fried to a crisp. One of those dishes that is close to impossible to do at home, so when you find it on a menu, go for it. Here the artichokes --- crisp on the outside and soft and fragrantly tender on the inside – are served in portions of two huge pieces, so share or go slowly, to save room for more.

And more there is! Al Moro is famous for their spaghetti alla Moro, their version of the popular spaghetti carbonara, though here sauced with the traditional egg yolks and pancetta but neither black pepper nor cream, making for a much lighter, less dense dish. Equally satisfying is their bucatini all’ amatriciana, with those fat strands of pasta smoothly coated with a sauce made up of onion, pancetta, tomato and piquant Pecorino Romano cheese. Overall, the food here tends to be salty, even for salt-loving palates as mine, so go forewarned.

The wine list offers some real Italian treats. Try a beautifully balanced white from the Friuli -- with proper proportions of acid and that intense flintiness that comes from the rocky soils – such as Mario Schiopetto’s 1999 Blanc des Rosis. With your meats, go for Sergio Manetti’s 1998 Le Pergole Torte, the 100% Sangiovese that remains one of Tuscany’s finest new style wines.

As you leave take a soft glance at the carefully dressed quartet of men smoking and silently playing cards. They have been there every day for 40 years: Half an hour for lunch, 2 ½ hours for the daily card game at their home away from home.

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Al Moro
Vicolo delle Bollette 13
Rome 00185
Credit cards: Visa and MasterCard. About 75,000 lira per person, including service but not wine

Italian Back on New Yorker's Minds

NEW YORK CITY --- It seems as though 100 new restaurants open each week in Manhattan, and for the past few years, few of them have been Italian. It was as if New Yorkers had done Italian and were moving on to explore other cuisines, along with their own. But on a recent visit, Italy seemed to be back on everyone’s minds.

The newest Italian to open is Beppe, a smooth and colorful trattoria-style restaurant in the city’s Flatiron district. With warming ochre-toned walls and a roaring fireplace, it is easy to be at home in this new creation of chef Cesare Casella, from the city’s popular restaurant Coco Pazzo.

The best sign of any restaurant is when you sit down to peruse the menu and decide in a flash not only what you’d like on this visit, but also make mental notes of what to sample on the next. I felt this way at Beppe, settling into a lovely mix of marinated mushrooms set on a bed of golden polenta crostino, and teamed up with a peppery arugula salad. Less inspired was the thyme-marinated squid, which lacked essential seasoning, was dry, and simply repetitive.

I loved the idea of his 11-herb pastas with 11-herb pesto, topped off with a colorful mound of chopped, fresh tomatoes. Unfortunately, that old devil herb, sage, was a bit too dominant and overwhelmed the character of its ten other partners.

But the star of the evening without doubt was the spare ribs, Tuscan cowboy style, slow cooked with tomatoes and garlic. The ribs were nice and meaty and made you sit up and take notice.

The wine list is fine, with an old time favorite white, a Vernaccia di San Gimignano as aperitif, and the bold and virile Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Vino Nobile from the house of Carpineto.

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Beppe
45 East 22nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10010
Tel: 212 982 8422
All major credit cards. Open daily. About $50 per person, not including service or wine.

Touch of the South

Paris – They are known, quite simply, as the Pourcel twins, the 36-year-old Jacques and Laurent, part of the youngest generation of Michelin three star chefs. After learning their craft at the hand of the best – Alain Chapel and Pierre Gagnaire to name just two --- they opened their own restaurant, Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier in 1988. Within a decade the Pourcel brothers, along with their partner Olivier Chateau, had their coveted third star.

Now, for those who spend more time in Paris than in Montpellier, we have the pleasure of sampling their distinctively modern cuisine at the newly remodeled Maison Blanche, the large mezzanine-like affair set atop the Theatre de Champs-Elysées on the Avenue de Montaigne. There, amidst a blaze of white, with contemporary touches of black ,we dine with a chic and worldly crowd on such famed Pourcel fare as tiny Mediterranean sea urchins filled with crab meat and caviar, as well as their salad of cooked and raw vegetable of the moment, set off by a red beet caramel sauce.

Since January, the Pourcel and Chateau trio have been splitting their time between Paris and Montpellier and Paris, where they are consultants to the 10 year old Maison Blanche. The restaurant was created by chef José Lampreia, whose Maison Blanche in the 15th arrondissement was a 1980’s hit. Ten years ago he moved to the Avenue Montaigne address, but died soon after the opening.

At today’s Maison Blanche the Pourcel fare is based on the best of southern French ingredients – artichokes and asparagus in spring, truffles in winter months, along with Mediterranean sea urchins, rouget (red mullet) and daurade royale (porgy), lamb from the Pyrenees and green Lucques olives from the Languedoc.

Their wine list is amazing, filled with the best wines of Provence and the Languedoc, such as the rich and intense Domaine de la Grange des Peres, a vin de pays from the Herault, as well as the famed white Chateauneuf du Pape from the cellars of Chateau de Beaucastel.

The best dishes sampled here over several visits include their tiny penne pasta tossed with fresh fava beans, aged Parmesan, and tiny clams, all bathed in a rich basil-flavored sauce pistou; and their perfectly roasted baby leg of milk-fed lamb, cooked with a thick layer of varied herbs and served with the juices of a sweet confit of garlic. I loved, as well, their filling portions of sea urchins and caviar, and the perfectly cooked tiny poivrades artichokes, meltingly tender and irresistible.

While I find their food simpler than in the past (and applaud their success with it) I also adore the fact that, along with menu sections for cold and hot starters, fish and shellfish, meat and poultry, they also offer a good pasta and rice selection, as well as a choice of side vegetables, ranging from a rustic polenta to tiny ratte potatoes cooked with pork fat.

They even tempted me with their desserts, ranging from a loving confit of grapefruit served with a lovely lemon verbena sorbet, and an astonishingly delicious assortment of chocolate selections. Try the Mikado pralin meringue, as beautiful as it was delicious, a masterpiece of chocolate and meringue.

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Maison Blanche
15 avenue Montaigne
Paris 75008
Tel : 01 47 23 55 99
Fax : 01 47 20 09 56.
Open daily. All major credit cards. A la carte, 265 to 740 francs, including service but not wine.