Taillevent Celebrates 30 Years Of Three Stars

PARIS -- This has not been an easy year for France’s top restaurants. There’s the economic crisis, the suicide of Bernard Loiseau of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, and the recent retirement of Champagne’s Gerard Boyer of Les Crayeres in Reims, reportedly linked to Loiseau’s death.

So it was a pleasure to put a positive spin on it all with the recent celebration of Paris’s Taillevent’s 30 years of three Michelin stars, the guide’s top rating that is currently shared by only 25 restaurants in France, 15 of them in the provinces, 10 in Paris.

In 1946, Andre Vrinat opened the first Taillevent in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, receiving his first Michelin star in 1948. In 1950, the restaurant moved to its current quarters --- an elegant and classic hotel particulier --- and by 1956 was awarded a second Michelin star. Andre Vrinat’s son and current owner – Jean Claude—joined the restaurant in 1962 and by 1973 the restaurant had gained the Michelin three-star rating. That same year, three other restaurants shared the honor. Chefs at two of them – Alain Chapel of La Mère Charles in Mionnay, and Jacques Pic of Pic in Valance --- have since passed away, and Claude Peyrot of Le Vivarois in Paris closed his restaurant several years ago.

Since 2002 the kitchen at Taillevent has been in hands of Alain Soliveres, who seems to be leading the restaurant down a positive path. Taillevent will be ever respectful of classic cuisine but both Vrinat and Soliveres realize that classic need not mean worn or outdated. The celebration meal, and careful choice of wines, showed just what Taillevent can be and can mean some 30 years later.

A starter of chilled tomato gaspacho, studded with capers and celery and embellished with a scoop of mustard ice cream set the stage for things to come. Bright, pretty, and full-flavored, the appetizer shouted modern and elegant all at the same time.

The first course viennoise de sole aux ecrevisses was a wink at two of the most classic ingredients of French cuisine. Perfect rectangles of moist and delicate sole were escorted by the mellowest of crayfish, almost sauceless and pure. Coincidentally, the waiters poured the 1999 vintage of Domaine Henri Gouge’s Nuits Saint-Georges Les Perrières from glistening carafes, the same wine I sampled on my very first visit to Taillevent in 1979. The golden, rich, and complex wine married perfectly with the sole, with neither overwhelming the other.

As another nod to modernity, the 40-year-old Solivérès – born in the south of France -- offer an earthy bowl full of epeautre du pay de Sault en risotto, or spelt from the region of Mont Ventoux in northern Provence, cooked like a risotto in plenty of rich stock. Tiny bits of arugula were intertwined with the grains, and all was topped by a generous portion of the tiniest of girolles, or baby chanterelle mushrooms. Here, a modern French wine – from young cult winemaker Laurent Vaillé at the Domaine de La Grange des Pères in the Languedoc --- brought the pleasures of the dish full circle. The poor man’s wheat, as épeautre is known, cried out for the crispness of and coolness of this solid white, a Roussanne-based wine dripping with comforting flavors of honey and butter.

For his classic touch, Solivérès looked back to Taillevent himself, 14th century chef to French royalty who was the first to codify French cuisine in the form of a manuscript published in 1373, le Viandier. Soliveres offered his rendition of Taillevent’s roast pork, with a succulent roasted suckling pig, anointed with such rustic ingredients as chestnuts, and lentils, as well as grapes and pears. Spicy, ginger and cinnamon-flecked meatballs – or caillettes -- were made of pork liver, hearts, brains and tongue and wrapped in delicate caul fat.

To accompany this creation, Jean-Claude Vrinat hesitated between his father’s favorite wine – the Bordeaux La Mission Haut Brion and a Burgundian Volnay Marquis d’Angerville. His father’s love won out, and this full, rich red at its height of maturity blended seamlessly with the complex pork offering.

A pure passion fruit soufflé – served simply and elegantly in the fruit’s shiny purple shell – closed the meal, with sips of 1925 Bas Armagnac to send diners on their way.

Taillevent
15, rue Lamennais
Paris 8
Telephone 01 44 95 15 01
Fax : 01 42 25 95 18
email : mail@taillvent.com
web : www.taillevent.com

Closed August, Sunday, Monday, and holidays. All major credit cards. A la care, 110 to 140 euros, including service but not wine.

Two Tables in New York: Daniel and Annisa

New York, NY – Making the new seem amazing without being bizarre, making the tried and true seem totally refreshed, doing this day in and day out year after year, that’s the mark of a great chef.

I have followed Daniel Bouloud’s inventive cuisine for more than 25 years, and he shows absolutely no signs of letting up. Take a table in his 1930’s Hollywood-style dining room – words like plush and lush and posh come to mind – on New York’s Upper East Side and let him and his attentive staff take care of you.

Daniel’s cuisine is steady but far from boring, and for sure he is one of those chefs that manage to surprise you, staying one step ahead of the game, presenting you with a dish before it becomes a cliché. But behind it all, you know that his standards are high and he’s not just there to make waves but make pleasure.

Sometimes new is just the tiniest twist on a classic, like his recent main course of veal cheeks cleanly flavored with rosemary, miniature Thumbelina carrots, a mound of spinach, and – the surprise – the creamiest of polenta flavored with a welcome, refreshing touch of citrus.

Earlier this year, Daniel created an astonishing, multicourse feast that covered all bases, dipping into Asian flavors with a lemongrass-cured salmon appetizer; setting us clearly in France with seared tuna embellished with peppers from Espelette in the Pays Basque, tiny bites of crisp socca (chickpea batter crepe) from Nice and a remoulade Nicoise full of the flavors of the Mediterranean; and taking us to Italy with an unforgettably smooth and satisfying ricotta and fontina ravioli showered with shavings of fresh black truffles.

World cuisine it is, and he pulls it off with finesse, flavor, bravura and clearly lots and lots of hard work, discipline and planning. While dining in America I never get enough of the country’s top-rate crab, and Daniel filled the void with an astonishing salad of North Pacific Dungeness Crab, soft textures offset by the crisp of cucumber, the sweetness of mango and the surprise of a summer roll stuffed with the bright flavors of mint, coriander, sweet pepper and mint.

Daniel spares nothing in terms of quality ingredients – whether they are sweet Nantucket Bay Scallops, Vermont baby lamb, or Beau Soleil oysters from the coast of Maine.

The wine list alone is worth a visit, with knowledgeable wine stewards at your side throughout the meal. Some recent treats include Peter Michaels’ 2001 Sauvignon Blanc “l’Apres Midi,” and a stunning red Russian River Valley Seghesio Zinfandel “Old Vines” 1994 that still had tons of life left in it.

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ANISSA

There are times you sit down and examine a menu and soon you find yourself thinking, dish after dish, “Why didn’t I think of that!” And this is the way I felt as I began selecting my meal at Annisa, a thoroughly pleasant Greenwich Village restaurant run by chef Anita Lo, where everything from the service to the execution of the food is straightforward and unmasked.

The all-white dining room creates a soothing, comforting environment and the efficient staff - void of attitude - make you feel that much more at home. The modern American menu is full of pleasant surprises, from the kumquat and lemon confit that brightens a pleasing salad of shaved fennel and fresh jumbo shrimp, on to the miniature lemon and radish garnish that flanks the memorable unagi – or eel – that is served tempura-style, bathed in a salted egg yolk batter.

Hours later I could still close my eyes and relive the mouth filling taste of the thin slice of charred eggplant, laden with spice and set atop a cloud-like dollop of yogurt. This nice twist on what could well be a hackneyed dish is embellished with a tiny timbale of perfectly cooked, deep green lentils.

Here the chef deep frying oysters in a buckwheat batter and anoints the salty bivalves with fresh caviar; while smooth, alabaster sablefish is marinated in miso, set atop a rectangle of silken tofu, and set afloat in a golden brown bonito broth.

But perhaps my favorite dish was the straightforward sautéed filet of skate, teamed up with cubes of avocado, the right hit of chili and tender bits of Iroquois corn.

In a city overrun with large and often impersonal restaurants, Annisa is a little jewel to put on your list when you want personality, full flavors, no nonsense.

Daniel
60 East 65th (between Madison and Park)
New York, NY
Telephone: 212 288 0033

Annisa
13 Barrow Street (between Bleecker and West 4th Street)
New York, NY
Telephone: 212 741 6699

A Bistro Revolution

PARIS -- You might call Jacques Lacipière a revolutionary. When he opened his traditional little bistro in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in the 1990’s, it became an instant hit. Somehow, it hit a chord for what we wanted at the moment; The place was always sure to be jam packed, so you felt you were at the right place, and the energy from the sounds of the good times within was always infectious. At a time when only the top restaurants were caring more about the quality of the ingredients than just about anything else, bistrotier Jacques was up there with them.

Now, after shutting down for several months for a facelift to the dining room, kitchen, and the menu, he has emerged with another small revolution on his hands. And I love it. Lacipiere has transformed the tiny dining room that now seats about 25 elbow to elbow into what might well be the first Elegant Bistro. The walls are wood, the recessed lights are halogen, the chairs are cozy, the napkins a pale grey linen, the napery a crisp white. The menu is still ingredient based --- fresh sole from Saint Gilles Croix de Vie and milk fed lamb from Pauillac – and the dishes are way beyond bistro. But the noisy, welcome sounds of good times are still there, the wait staff still don their black Bon Accueil work aprons, and everyone seems to come with fun in their pockets.

The food and the wine list chart new territory. The food is light and complex, full of surprises, but most of all, satisfying. I loved the tiny roasted langoustines teamed up with cebettes – tiny spring onions – bits of bacon and a dark, rich jellied consommé. (Jellied fare is the kiwi fruit of the moment, showing up everyone and with every course.) Fresh green asparagus from Pertuis, in northern Provence, sits upon a bed of tiny minced vegetables, showered with shards of Parmesan.

A main course poultry – volaille du cros de la Géline – is first poached, then roasted, making for a bird that is both moistly tender and crisp at the same time. Placed on a spoonful of creamy morels bathed in sweet vin jaune from the Jura, it made a very traditional combination taste brand new indeed.

Desserts get points for pretty as well as taste. The thin apple tart appears as a golden rose, almost too beautiful to eat, but we did. Served with a salted caramel ice cream, it made for a perfect ending. Equally fine is the tiny raspberry tartelette, with the plumpest and ripest raspberries set on a crunchy cookie-like pastry.

The wine list offers some real treasures. It is full of little treats, with wines from well-respected winemakers who are not widely known, such as Dureuil-Janthial and Domaine Joblot in Burgundy, Domaine Montvac in Vacqueyras, Domaine des Espiers in Gigondas, Daniel Barraud in Saint Veran and Domaine H. Pellé in the little known Menetou Salon. I was delighted to discover Domaine Joblot’s rich, juicy, smokey white Givry Clos de la Servoisine 1999, decently priced at 46 euros a bottle. Equally exciting, and beautifully priced at 23 euros a bottle was the 2001 white Chateau l’Ermitage Costieres de Nimes, cuvee Sainte Cecile, a wine rich with the Northern Rhone flavours of Roussanne and Marsanne and loaded with pleasantly oily, mineral richness.

As part of the face lift, the restaurant – redecorated by the Parisian design firm of Joelle Sultan-Marouani – also features a new exhaust system. It was put to a tough test as a constant smoker sat next to me, and not a whiff of smoke found its way across the table. Thank you, Jacques, for thinking of the non-smoker!

Bon Accueil
14 rue de Monttessuy
Paris 7
Telephone: 01 47 05 46 11

Menu at 29 euros, including service but not wine. A la carte, 40 to 60 euros per person, including service but not wine.

A Robuchon Revolution, A Return

PARIS -- One common trait among very creative and very successful people is the ability to constantly reinvent themselves. Chef Joel Robuchon – who “retired” from the restaurant business but not the food business in 1996 -- is back in all his glory.

If you are someone like Robuchon, the reinvention is a good thing. Particularly with chefs, one becomes easily bored with delivering their 10 Greatest Hits day after day, as I am sure they do, too.

Robuchon “retired” at the top of his game. He said goodbye before we were ready for him to go. He knew he was generally considered the best chef in the world, and decided to leave on his own terms.

He is back, with a restaurant that is new, a concept that is new, a look that is new. At L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, the kitchen workshop comes alive. No more stern maitre d in starched white shirt, bow tie and formal black suit. No more tables or starched linens, snooty sommeliers who hold the wine list at arm’s length. This is 2003, Europe, and JR is reinventing what it means to dine out.

There is just room for 42 diners, all seated at oversized and comfortable red leather stools, with plenty of room to dangle your feet at the bar. The décor is all black and red and stainless, with real food assembled like still lives throughout the dining room. Chefs are in black, not white, the staff is bright red. You sit face to face with the sommelier, the wait staff, with JR himself, who wanders by to see what everyone has ordered, and wants to know if it pleases.

Here he is, the timid one, the chef who NEVER ever emerged from the kitchen for all those years, never went table to table in the dining room as chefs have done for so many years.

The kitchen itself is “open” but discreetly so. Ever since the day he left his eponymous restaurant on Avenue Raymond Poincairé Robuchon has been plotting and dreaming of this restaurant . Cleverly, he took on restaurant consulting assignments and carefully placed his top men in place: Sommelier Antoine Hernandez and chef Erick Lecerf at the Astor, where they achieved two Michelin stars. Philippe Braun, at Laurent, where he achieved two Michelin stars. The fourth chef, Eric Bouchenoire, remained at his side as Robuchon, they are all equal partners in the affair.

And the food: It’s a something for everyone menu, a world menu, filled with the new and the daring, the tried and true, comfort food and some of the dishes he made most famous. On opening night, May 5, we began with a trip down memory lane, with a few carefully prepared servings of his famed crème de choufleur aux huitres, creamy, sweet, and memorable. But the dish had a new look: Rather than being served in porcelain tea-cup sized bowls, a clear martini glass did the trick.

Everywhere, there are new and different looks of china, glass, some imported from Japan, everything diminutive in size.

Robuchon takes influence from Spain, where he spends his time off, and so there are lots of dishes “a la plancha” or cooked right on a fiery hot griddle, such as oversized langoustines seasoned with coarse salt. There is gaspacho and paper-thin sliced ham from Spain, spaghetti carbonara and an outstanding Vitello tomato from Italy, steak tartare and frites “bonne-maman” from France.

Robuchon classics -- such as his merlan frit Colbert (deep fried whiting), look just as welcome and at home seated at a stool as at a stiffly starched linen-covered table.

Perhaps what’s best is the ambience. The great sounds of a lively bistro, yet everyone is talking, making friends with the stranger who sat down next to you a few minutes ago. Robuchon wants to break the mold of the formal restaurant, bring quality to more casual dining.

Prices are reasonable, and one can come in for a simple serving of gaspacho at 6 €, then a giant spring vegetable salad for 20 €. Or, one can have a multicourse meal, beginning with two or three tapas style starters – such as fresh avocado rolled around spoonfuls of crabmeat or irresistible sweetbreads decorated with fresh bay leaves and served with a lovely rendition of Swiss chard, a single wilted leaf wrapped around crunchy stalks, bathed in a creamy white sauce. Lamb, beef, veal, tuna and fresh cod make up the main course offerings.

During these opening days, no reservations are being accepted. And, bravo, there is no smoking allowed in the restaurant, ever.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
5, rue de Montalembert
Paris 7
Telephone: 01 42 22 56 56
All major credit cards.

A la carte, about 50 € per person, including service but not wine. Open daily from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm to midnight.

A Spring Splurge of Creativity

PARIS – The city’s best tables may be suffering from a loss of customers – atypically almost every grand restaurant currently has at least an empty table or two – but that does not stop the top chefs from continuing their ongoing bursts of creativity.

Is it spring that’s in the air that gives the chef’s such cognitive energy, or the fact that spring ingredients just look, smell, taste better than at any time of the year? With some chefs, I’d give them three stars just for coming up with the ideas they do, even if they weren’t executed.

Often, it’s the simplest idea, a little twist or extra touch that make my enthusiasm jump off the charts. At the elegant Michelin two-star Laurent – hand’s down the best place for romantic dining outdoors in Paris – chef Alain Pegouret almost made me leap from my chair when the waiter set down a trio of giant langoustines cooked “tandoori” style, accompanied by a glistening green, perfectly formed mound of finely shaved avocado, drizzled with almond oil. The langoustines had been gently marinated in a not-too-spicy tandoori marinade (a blend of cumin, ginger, chili pepper, quatre épices and salt) then quickly pan seared. Gratefully the spice did not overwhelm the delicate, deep-sea flavor of the langoustines, served with a welcome tangle of well-dressed herbs. The gorgeous avocado dish appeared as perfectly formed curls of the rich and meaty fruit, stacked cautiously one atop the other, almost too pretty to eat. Pegouret sets the curls atop a spicy guacamole, and seasons it all with mixture of lime and orange zest, for a colorful and flavorful contrast. The langoustine/avocado pairing was brilliant, the dish a symphony of texture, color, flavor, aromas.

With the dish we sampled a delicious white Château de Cazeneuve from the Languedoc, a blend of Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Viognier, and rich with flavors of honey, acacia, pears and ripe fruit.

Guy Savoy’s three-star creativity knows no boundaries, and his recent creation of a carpaccio of Daurade royale – the Mediterranean sea bream – was smothered in a cream made of oysters, creating a delicate but brightly flavored starter.

In the same vein, at the three-star Ledoyen, chef Christian Le Squer offered us a startlingly delicious pairing of giant oysters with a tiny bowl of oyster cream topped with a welcome dose of caviar. At the same meal, he surprised us with what the waiter called “pain de crevettes” and lo and behold the bread did taste as though it had been infused with shrimp. In fact, it was prepared with a healthy dose of mixed dried seaweed from the Brittany coast.

One can always count upon three-star chef Pierre Gagnaire to come with something new and different: At a recent lunch he created no less that eight dishes I had never sampled before. The two most amazing were a dish he simply called aubergines braisee and it consisted of a mix of eggplant that had been reduced to a purée so rich it was as if he had completely captured the smoky, dense essence of this versatile vegetable, almost multiplying its flavor, then topped the little round with a shard of very thinly sliced, dried eggplant.

If there is an upcoming trend to follow what I call “shot glass cuisine” – the proliferation of tiny mousse-like concoctions served in a clear shot glass – it will be the gelatin mode. Gagnaire’s rendition hit the spot: Cubes of bright green zucchini were folded into a pale golden wobbly jelly made with the fresh lemons from Menton, all topped with a soothing fromage blanc ice cream.

Finally, at the two-star Pre Catelan chef Frederic Anton’s creative combination of beets and Comté cow’s milk cheese wins raves. Who would combine beets and cheese? Here he combines paper-thin shavings of cooked beets perfumed with a touch of nutmeg, with equal-sized rounds of aged Comté from the Jura, drizzling it all with meaty cooking juices. The starter opens the palate, soothes, and makes one salivate, getting ready for even more to come.

Laurent
41 avenue Gabriel
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 42 25 00 39.

Guy Savoy
rue Troyon
Paris 17
Telephone: 01 43 80 40 61.

Ledoyen
Carré Champs-Elysees, first floor
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 53 05 10 01.

Pierre Gagnaire
6 rue Balzac
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 58 36 12 50

Pré Catelan
Route de Suresnes
Paris 16
Telephone: 01 44 14 41 14

Who is Influencing the Great Chefs of France?

PARIS – Who is influencing the great chefs of France? Asia, Asia and Asia. It’s impossible to dine in restaurants large or small, expensive or bargain-based, without coming upon fare that is wrapped Asian-style, seasoned with herbs and spices with an Asian accent, or filled with such non-traditional French ingredients as papaya, mango, fresh ginger or Japanese seaweed.

In some small way this is not all that new, for French chefs have been using flavors such as vadouvan and green papaya, cumin and mango, and sushi-ized bites for a long time. What is new is that the trend has become almost ubiquitous and chefs such as William Ledeuil at the trendy Le Kitchen Galerie on the Left Bank are no longer just flirting with Asian thoughts, but taking a stand and taking action.

Ledeuil has been moving slowly in the Asian direction, but a recent trip to Thailand only reinforced his own feelings that what diners want more of today is lemon confit and black radish, Thai-curry and ginger-marinated guinea hen, even peanut ice cream with a pistachio sauce. And in the hands of a classically trained French chef, the fusion works, especially when someone like Ledeuil begins with a classic base, and applies the Asian accent to achieve more clear and specific flavors, as well as to lighten up contemporary fare.

In fact, he is so into his new Asian larder of food that he is now offering demonstration cooking classes in his open kitchen one afternoon each week. (For specifics call the restaurant.)

Two recent meals there suggest that Ledeuil is on the right track, but needs just a bit more fusion of flavors in some dishes. I applaud his careful and studied use of everything from fresh lemon grass to fresh lime leaves, and lively Thai curries. His most successful dish to date is a lightened and well-examined version of the famed Thai curry soup, here a beautifully seasoned and totally cohesive dish generous with chunks of young chicken, redolent of fresh citronnelle, just a touch (not an overdose) of rich coconut milk, and full of vegetables such as baby asparagus, fresh spring peas, highlights of tarragon and offset by fresh Thai coriander leaves. His creative touch – he thickens the soup with an Italian artichoke purée and marinates the chicken in, among other ingredients, Japanese rice vinegar – is everywhere and I am eager to see just where all this experimentation will take him, and us.

Unfortunately, some of the dishes – such as the fine marinated fresh tuna with a citron and mango condiment and the grilled pigeon with a condiment of asparagus, basil and polenta were very good on their own, but there was no true liaison, no true link, no handshake between the finely crafted French style and the new Asian touch.

The chef now eschews cream and butter, preferring that sauces be bound with juices and emulsions, vegetable purees, bouillons or marinades. A trend worth applauding as long as we don’t get caught short on flavor and satisfaction.

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When brothers Philippe and Marc Delacourcelle opened their Clos Morillons in the 15th arrondissement of Paris in 1984, they foresaw the fusion trend. Even back then, their menu was filled with Asian spices and a favorite guinea hen bathed in a sauce with a faint touch of vanilla. Philippe ran French restaurants all over Asia for years and returned with a changed palate.

The brothers were absent from the Paris scene for a bit, and are now back with a new and lively wine bar in the 5th, a jam-packed month-old spot filled with fare that is sometimes on the spot, sometimes tentative. Bistro-style, the Pré Verre menu appears on chalkboard and ranges from a stunning potato and foie gras terrine from their Clos Morillons days; a welcome lacquered mackerel set on a flavorful almond purée; and an excellent and unusual dish of seared baby squid with a terrine of lentils and sesame seeds. I loved, as well, the braised suckling pig with its deliciously creamy cabbage, and the meaty beef cheeks. Less interesting was the veal served over a strange potato and root vegetable purée. And in the dessert category, I confess that the strawberries in curly parsley sauce did not deliver me to a joyful state of bliss.

The wine list offers some pleasant discoveries, including a fruity and dense vin de pays de d’Herault, from the Domaine de L’Escalette. The 2001 is made from Carignan vines more than 80 years old, giving character and personality to a wine that is still in its infancy.

Ze Kitchen Galerie
4 rue des Grands Augustins
Paris 6
Telephone: 01 44 32 00 32
Fax: 01 44 32 00 33

Closed Sunday. All major credit cards. A la carte, 40 to 45 €, including service but not wine.

Le Pré Verre
8, rue Thénard
Paris 5
Telephone: 01 43 54 59 47
Credit card : Visa

12 € lunch menu, including a glass of wine.
Dinner, a la carte, about 24 € including service but not wine.

As If the Angels Were Cooking

PARIS – Of all the chefs I have spent time with over the years, few have impressed me with their depth and stability as has Benoit Guichard, on his own since 1996 at the famed restaurant Jamin in Paris’s 16th arrondissement.

Before that he could be found fine-tuning his talents as the faithful lieutenant to Joel Robuchon, both at Jamin and later at Restaurant Joel Robuchon on avenue Raymond Poincare.

Today, he appears full-grown and very much his own man, with a style that is classic, contemporary, modern, even touched a bit by Asian inspirations. If someone wants to fully understand what is truly great about French food and about classical French training – the discipline, the rigors, the constant search for excellence on all levels – then they should reserve a table at today’s Jamin.

Guichard – with two well-merited Michelin stars to his credit -- is now cooking on all burners, and has fine tuned his style, which is by no means static. His menu changes almost day to day, as one ingredient enters the market and another departs. He seems to be in a “wrap” mood, a little conceit that is reminiscent of Asian food and one I love. On one visit we found a perfect rectangle of turbot wrapped in bright green spinach leaves, almost a gift-wrapped package to please the palate, sauced in a delicate and golden Champagne sauce and flanked by a pair of fat, fragrant and perfectly cooked green asparagus, the first of season from Provence.

A starter might include an almost Chinese-flavored morsel of chicken wrapped in a veil of dough and expertly deep-fried. The breast of the famed breast chicken is “wrapped” in a super-fine bread coating that seems to have been handled with the fingertips of an angel.

Another evening, a complete sense of well-being came over me as the waiter delivered a first-course of a giant, soft-cooked egg enveloped once again in that angelic bread coating. The now-golden egg sat on a bed of wilted spinach dabbed with a rich truffle sauce. Alongside, a trio of perfect green asparagus added proper contrast in color, flavor, pure enjoyment.

I can never get enough langoustines, and here the chef who hails from Brittany’s langoustine-rich waters, knows what to do. The least possible! A duo of giant langoustines are wrapped into a delicate homemade pasta, all floating in an unctuous chestnut broth. Here, the marriage is magic, for the flavor of the deep and dense flavor of the chestnut seems to pick up right where the lingering flavor of the langoustine left off, almost like finishing a sentence.

Guichard can go classic and homey when he wants to, and nothing is more satisfying than his long-braised joue de boeuf, or unctuous beef cheeks pairs with gigantic rounds of pasta coated with melted Comté cheese from the Jura.

On one visit, the finale ended was a rich and satisfying chocolate feuillete, a truly angelic puff pastry; on another, it was a roasted mango glazed with a highly reduced pink grapefruit sauce and served with a soothing citrus granite alongside.

There are some treasures on the wine list, and current discoveries include two selections from the region of the lovely village of Minerve in the Languedoc. The Chateau de Gourgazaud -- owned by Parisian businessman Roger Piquet -- is beginning to make some nice waves. His 100% Viognier 2001 is full of the ripest fruits – pears, citrus, a touch of honey – and the 1999 red Minervois La Liviniere Reserve would make any wine lover smile, with a fine balance, and the roundness and plumy notes of Merlot paired with the flavors of red fruits ripened by the summer sun.

Jamin
32 rue du Longchamp
Paris 16
Tel: 01 45 53 00 07
Fax : 01 45 53 00 15
Email : reservations@jamin.fr

Closed Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. 53 € lunch menu, 95 € dinner menu. A la carte, 105 to 135 €, including service but not wine.

Fine Bistro Dining at Delicious Prices

PARIS -- The newest crop of small Paris bistros offers some truly fine bargains, as well a cuisine that is totally modern yet wed to classic traditions. One of the handsomest “remakes” is La Grande Rue, located in the 15th arrondissement on the premises of the old Chez Pierre.

Here, chef Emmanuel Billaud – who studied with both Joel Robuchon and Alain Ducasse -- is turning out some pretty fine fare at totally delicious prices. The dining room is adorable – everything is as it was in the 1930’s, down to the double-faced clock, bentwood chairs and Art Deco patterned tile floors. But a fresh coat of paint, canning jars filled with goodies as appetizing décor and nice crisp linens give it a totally refreshing air.

This is also one restaurant that not only asks whether you want to dine in the smoking or non-smoking section, but they put the non-smokers in the front of the room, the prettiest part of the tiny bistro.

While walking to the restaurant I thought “I hope they have pasta tonight,” and sure enough, my wish was granted. Those tiny and wonderful ravioles de Royans from the south of France are bathed in the richest, most golden of broths. Equally good – though not one that would stun a true Italian – was the creamy risotto, bathed in an herb-rich sauce.

The fish selections – a turbot and a bar – were good but not great. I had the feeling the fish was just not as fresh as it might have been. But the day was saved by the most delicious and most perfect lemon tart I have tasted in years. Strange how dessert fashion seems have pushed the classic, puckery lemon tart off the bistro menu. Thanks, chef, for bringing it back.

The wine list is tiny but the St Chinian – always a great buy – was just right at 21 francs a bottle.

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Le Timbre

It’s just the size of a postage stamp, so why not name the restaurant Timbre! Restaurants don’t get much smaller than this one, a single simple room with space for no more than 20 diners. Le Timbre in fact reminds one of the famed La Merenda in Nice, where diners perch on stools, elbow to elbow and watch the chef cook in the miniscule kitchen at the back of the room. Le Timbre is always jam-packed and has the kind of cheap and cheerful, let’s play restaurant air. But there is nothing amateurish about the fine and honest bistro fare, with just the proper modern touch. Owner Christopher Wright keeps himself super-busy in the dining room, and one may have to wait a bit for service, so be forewarned.

Le Timbre has one custom that I applaud heartily and wish other restaurants would adopt: As soon as you are seated at the table Christopher brings you a complimentary glass of wine, on our last visit it was a welcome glass of chilled sauvignon blanc. What an easy way for a restaurant to win friends and increase the diner’s patience level!

I adored the ham and lentil salad, a pretty, molded round of lentils set in the center of the plate, with a thick slice of Spanish ham set atop it. There were also tiny cubes of ham laced through the lentils, making for a hearty, well-seasoned dish. Another starter – a warm curried beet soup with a dollop of crème fraiche atop it – was a pleasant surprise.

I had a ringside seat into the tiny kitchen, so even before ordering I had a chance to check out the day’s menu. The plump seared and roasted pigeon looked delicious, so I opted for this perfectly rosy and moist poultry teamed up with lots of buttery cabbage. Equally honest was the pan-fried Auvergnat sausages served with a fine parsnip purée and a touch of green salad. The baguettes are delicious, the homemade millefeuille is worth a return visit, and on the menu you’ll fine Michel Richaud’s fine wines from Cairanne. Who could ask for more?

La Grande Rue
117 rue des Vaugirard
Paris 15
Telephone: 01 47 34 96 12

Closed Sunday, Monday, and August. Menu at 27.50 €. Credit card: Visa A la carte, 28 to 35 euros, including service but not wine.

Le Timbre
3 Rue Sainte Beuve
Paris 6
Telephone: 01 45 49 10 40

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. Credit card: Visa. About 30 euros a person, including service but not wine.

Thoroughly Modern, Totally Classic

PARIS – Anyone wondering what might have happened to Grand French cuisine should reserve a table at Les Elysees du Vernet, where the talented Eric Briffard has been working his magic since December.

With touches that are both thoroughly modern and totally classic, Briffard’s current menu offers something for everyone. From the plumpest and sweetest scallops to his rosemary-infused grilled lobster and on to the finest duck I have ever eaten anywhere, he somehow covers all bases.

While some chefs let the finest ingredients speak for themselves and others prefer to impose their own personality on the ingredient (often smothering it in the process), Briffard manages to pull off both. There is absolutely no question about the quality of his ingredients, which he treats with utmost respect. But what is amazing is his range of creativity.

Briffard is one of the many talents to come out of Joel Robuchon’s kitchens, and to my mind one of the best. After sampling a series of dishes in a single sitting – one more appealing than the next – one is reminded of watching a top athlete perform. How does she or he do it, one asks. With lots and lots of practice, more than the rest.

The very first dish on the menu is a pure virtuoso performance: Legumes racine du potager du Joel. With all manner of winter root vegetables in a single dish, each is treated as though it was made of gold, not simply plucked from the cold winter ground. Arranged on a square glass plate like a perfect bouquet, we devour bright red radishes, yellow as well as orange carrots, turnips, Japanese artichokes (crosnes), baby onions and leeks, and celery root, potatoes and onions. A shower of the thinnest julienne of fresh truffles perfumes the dish and adds a perfect crunch. The vegetables are escorted by a tiny toasted baguette slathered with a brilliantly flavored horseradish cream that’s dusted with minced fresh truffles and paired with a delicious jelly of pot au feu, offering a perfect contract of textures. .

His food is complex but everything is there for you to see, so it is food that’s easy to understand. My favorite langoustines were treated with the respect they deserve, arriving out of the shell, teamed with paper thin slices of chorizo, a platter or crunchy vegetables and a winning artichoke vinaigrette.

The black truffle season is almost over, so if you want one last hit of this magical mushroom, race over and sample the copious salad of golden sliced charlotte potatoes literally smothered with thick discs of the most perfect and sensual fresh black truffles. Tangled with the warm potatoes are bits of dried tomato and thin slivers of lomo, or faintly smoked pork loin, a Basque region specialty. The slight smokiness is welcome, almost giving the truffles themselves a slight hint of smokiness.

Equally delicious is his beautiful tart of leek and truffles, a retooled version of Robuchon’s famous truffle and bacon tart. Here, Briffard uses the mildly salty ventrèche (France’s version of pancetta) sparingly, letting the leeks and truffles cut into generous slivers play a colorful black and green contrast. Alongside, there’s a slim shot glass full of a frothy sweet onion cream, laced with a bright hit of balsamic vinegar. Brilliant, just brilliant.

My favorite sherry-like vin jaune from the Jura appears in sauce bathing a creative combination of sweet white Saint Pierre and oysters; while a beautifully grilled lobster arrives smoking from the kitchen, the fragrance of rosemary filling the room.

The duck – canette de barbarie au sang – was just the best I ever sampled. Fragrant, rich, rosy, it was the true definition of that fine and often abused poultry. Served with surprising tamarind sauce, turnips and pears poached in spicy wine, it is a fine winter dish if there ever was one.

Desserts are original as well, including a pan-roasted baby pineapple deglazed with cider vinegar and served with a rich vanilla ice cream.

One could make a meal out of their bread assortments, ranging form yard-long slender bread sticks rich with the flavor of top-quality olive oil to a fine version of the Italian slipper bread. The classics – such as olive rolls and whole wheat – are hard to turn down.

The wine list is exhaustive and includes some treasures, such as the dense, intense red 100 % syrah Vinsobres, Civades 2001, from , priced at 50 €.

Now that the hotel – built as a townhouse in 1913 – has the talents of Eric Briffard the best thing they could do is hire a decorator to re-do the dining room. It could be one of the prettiest in town, with its Gustav Eiffel glass ceiling and lovely volume. As it stands, the lighting is all wrong, the décor totally out of date and heavy, even headache inducing. They could at least buy the chef some new plates: The mismatched old and new, square and round, hardly do justice to Briffard’s talents.

Service here is excellent, attentive without being invasive, and relaxed in a modern sort of way.

Les Elysées du Vernet
Hôtel Vernet
25, rue Vernet
Paris 8
Tel: 01 44 31 98 00

Closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at lunch. All major credit cards. 45 € lunch menu, includes service and half bottle of wine; 120 € tasting menu at dinner, include service but not wine. A la carte, 110 €, including service but not wine.

A Pair of Winter Bistros Le Cosi and Les Bouquinistes

PARIS - Le Cosi: What’s there not to love about Corsican food? It’s a perfect blend of country French and Italian, no frills fare that is easy to get your arms around. Until now, Paris has pretty much been a Corsican wasteland, but the new Left Bank Le Cosi seems to take care of that.

With bright orange walls, charmingly mismatched 1930’s chandeliers, highly varnished oak tables and Art Deco chairs, perky service, and a small but appealing menu, Le Cosi fits the definition of a cheap and cheerful modern Parisian bistro. I loved the first course “carpaccio” of coppa – Corsican smoke-cured fillet of pork loin that’s rolled into a sausage – served like a classic beef carpaccio, with parchment-thin slices of coppa topped with thin slivers of sheep’s milk cheese and drizzled with a touch of pesto. It’s a satisfying dish in any season, but particularly welcome on a cold winter’s night, downed with sips of Antoine Arena’s Patrimonio rouge, Corsica’s best wine, from one of its top growers (and well-priced at 30 euros a bottle.)

The first-course tarte aux tomatoes is highly recommended, luscious, deep and densely flavored and served with a well-dressed green salad on huge white plate. The main course cocotte de veau aux olives was a little stingy on the olives but served with fanfare and a flourish tableside, with the waitress spooning portions from a black cast iron casserole as if she were a Corsican mama. The roasted goat was a bit on the fatty side, but nonetheless delicious.

The classic Corsican fiadone – a rich and golden sort of cheesecake made with the ricotta-like fresh sheep’s milk cheese known as broccio -- was smooth, not too sweet or rich, just a perfect ending. Service here has an unusual touch of elegance and care: Thank you!

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Les Bouquinistes: The ever-popular Guy Savoy bistro Les Bookinistes has changed its name to Les Bouquinistes, with a new chef in the name of William Caussimon. Former chef William Ledeuil is still a partner at this always packed Left Bank spot along the river, but is concentrating full time on his own bistro right next door, Ze Kitchen Gallerie.

The bright, peppy spot has not seemed to miss a beat, and I love nothing better than sitting in the front room at the window, watching the city’s life stroll by. The restaurant has always been a model of what a contemporary bistro can and should be, meaning you can have your cake and eat it too: You get satisfaction from the familiar dishes we know so well, and yet get to be surprised by the chef’s creativity.

On a recent visit, I got a little of both. Nothing could be more modern than this appealing tempura of giant and meaty gambas, flavored with ginger, anointed by a surprising scoop of lemon confit sorbet. For the traditionalist in us, there was a super-tender, falling off the bone serving of tendrons de veau, meaty veal ribs you could eat with a spoon, teamed up with an unexpected accompaniment of stewed red cabbage seasoned with blackcurrant cream. The dish worked on all accounts and paired well with the meaty Roca Blanca Syrah from winemaker Michel Laroche in the Languedoc. The 2000 vintage was well-priced at 32 euros a bottle.

The menu here jumps all over the place, with roasted milk fed lamb from the Pyrenees roasted on a bed of potatoes and served with a confit of shallots; pan-fried foie gras served with chestnuts and glazed celery; and giant macaroni stuffed with mushrooms and pumpkin, topped with grilled coppa and white truffle oil. The dish was marred by the truffle oil – which is always offensive, and impossible to digest. (If I were queen of the world, truffle oil would be banned forever.) The food, alas, consistently lacked seasoning, something that can’t always be adjusted at the table.

Le Cosi
9, rue Cujas, Paris 5
Tel: 01 43 29 20 20

Closed Sunday. Credit card : Visa. From 30 to 40 € per person, including service but not wine.

Les Bouquinistes
52 quai des Grands Augustins, Paris 6
Tel : 01 43 25 45 94. Fax: 01 43 25 23 07

Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. All major credit cards. From 40 to 65 € per person, including service but not wine.

Taillevent Stays on Top

PARIS – In almost any field, getting to the top is the easy part. You just work harder and longer and with more discipline than anyone else and the top prize is yours.

Staying there is another story. After time, some lose the energy to keep fighting, age sets in, or maybe boredom or routine or all of the above. And there are no prizes for just staying in the game if the top is your aim.

Well, we could all take a lesson from restaurateur Jean-Claude Vrinat, the perfect example of what one can and might and should do to get to the top and stay there.

The first time I dined at his Michelin three-star establishment, Taillevent, in 1979, it was also the first time a waiter filled my wine glass without my ever noticing it. On later visits, it was the first time someone arranged the silverware to accommodate the fact that I am left handed. Oh, yes, God is in the details.

How else could Taillevent have maintained that three-star rating since 1973? Vrinat does it not only by his own rigid, unfailing self-discipline but by demanding the same of everyone who works for him. And he knows that change --- in some form or another -- is always necessary. You’ve got to keep moving, and moving ahead.

I have to say that his newest change – the employment of the talented Alain Soliveres as chef – is one of his most brilliant to date. Recently, I had two of my finest Taillevent meals ever, and look forward to plenty more in the future.

Soliveres has added a needed light touch to the Taillevent table. The 39-year-old native of Beziers, in the Languedoc, has a fine history, having trained with Jacques Maximin at the hotel Negresco in Nice, at le Chabichou in the Savoy, at Lucas Carton in Paris and with Alain Ducasse in Monaco. Since 1992 he performed brilliantly at the city’s Les Elysees Vernet. There, he introduced the world to his famous (and now much-copied) epeautre (spelt) prepared like a risotto. His cuisine has always been distinctly Provencal, distinctly personal, and distinctly pleasing. (It’s curious that at Taillevent he replaces chef Michel del Burgo , who is now at the La Bastide de Gordes, where Soliveres served as chef in 1989. In a game of musical stoves, at Les Elysees Vernet Soliveres is replaced by Eric Briffard who was basically moved aside when Alain Ducasse moved into the Plaza Athenee.)

But on to the food. Perhaps the best compliment you can pay any cook is to wish for seconds, maybe even thirds. Run, don’t walk to sample his remoulade of truffled celery root topped with paper thin slices of scallops and truffles. This pristine, elegant first course arrived like a pastry shop millefeuille, a neat, crisp-looking rectangle with its infinitesimally chopped celery root laced with truffle bits. Atop it, alternating black and white discs of fragrant black truffle and sweet sea scallops, added a cool, refreshing balance. A tiny mouthful of this creation, followed by a studied swallow of Francois Jobard’s Meursault ought to throw any self-respecting gastronome into fits of ecstasy. I had to hold myself back from asking for seconds, for I knew what was next to come.

He did not disappoint with a gorgeous piece of bar, or sea bass, cut into a big fat chunk and bathed in a bouillon rich with shellfish stock and artichokes. The marriage of sea and land was perfect, oh so light, and oh so satisfying. The moist, perfectly cooked bar was flanked with the freshest of artichokes, and just the right amount of baby clams. Again, the dish did honor to Monsieur Jobard, and vice versa.

I think it’s brave to put something as seemingly homey as rabbit on such an august menu, but Soliveres pays homage to the meaty rabbit Rex from the Poitou, again, pairing it with the tiny violet artichokes from Provence. Here, the red Nuits Saint George of Henri Gouges seems right at home.

On one visit, I was very disappointed by the moelleux au chocolate warm molten dessert. It just did not seem dense or chocolaty enough for me. But on another visit, I was blown away by his crepes craquantes au citron, a tangy, puckery-sweet lemon concoction, a fine play of crunch and cream, and the kind of dessert that simply allows you to get up from the table with fond, sweet memories.

Taillevent
15 rue Lamennais
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 44 95 15 01
Fax: 01.42.25.95.18
Email: mail@taillevent.com

Closed Sunday, Monday, and the third week of July to the third week of August. Private dining rooms for 12 or 30 diners. Menus at 130 € and 180 € , including service but not wine. A la carte, 110 to 150 €, including service but not wine.

Bistro Precision and Japanese Flair

PARIS – About once a year something leads me to pick up the phone and book a table at Le Repaire de Cartouche, one of the city’s better bistros, and one that I seem to love more with each visit. It seems that chef Rodolphe Paquin and my palate are on the same wavelength: Keep it simple, keep it honest, and keep the big flavors coming. Paquin tugs our bistro-craving chord but does it with originality, spunk, and a pleasant precision.

My last meal in this cottage-like spot included a perfectly seared wild boar steak, or cote de sanglier, this one seized in the hottest of pans for a rich, caramelized crust, with an interior so beautifully rare, it was the color of fresh raspberries. The accompaniment --- red beets in vinegar – was as fitting as it was colorful.

But the surprise of the evening was an inventive minestrone of oysters and calf’s head, a warm soup fragrant with plump oysters bathed in a creamy liquid studded with vegetables and cubes of soft and succulent tete de veau. Totally different, yet totally appealing.

Just right for the season was the terrine of blood sausage, a perfectly spiced boudin noir set on a bed of apples, accompanied by a welcoming green salad.

The wine of the evening – a red Minervois, Le Bois des Merveilles 1999 from Jean Baptiste Senat -- started out tasting like a so-so, flat Beaujolais, but grew and grew as the evening went on, tasting in the end like a rich, pure syrah with lots of punch and tons of notes. As is, it was well priced at 20 € the bottle.

Desserts were tops, with warm, moist prune clafoutis and a palate-cleansing pineapple sorbet. The crusty bread from a neighborhood bakery was so good I almost had to ask to take the basket away, fearing total overdose.

Now that sushi has well-invaded all of Paris (albeit mostly bad sushi), the newest (old) game in town is teppanyaki, a cooking method so simple as to not need a name at all. Quite simply, it’s meats, vegetables, fish cooked directly on a flat metal grill, with just a touch of oil and a bit of seasoning. ( In Japanese, a teppan is an iron sheet, and yaki is stir-fried food.)

The latest show in town is Azabu, a sushi-bar sized little spot near the Odeon, and one I can see myself returning to on a very regular basis. What is it about food that is cooked in front of you that makes it all the more pleasing? You want it all, even if it’s not for you. You salivate, your nostrils flare, you are just so hungry.

When you go, sit at the bar so you can watch the dexterous chef. He works like an artist preparing his palate, quietly concentrating on each and every detail, lining up all the ingredients and bing, bang, zoom, they are flipped on the huge flat grill – scallops, chicken, squid, foie gras, beef, pork, you name it. Everything is cooked quickly and effortlessly, some topped with a metal hood to soften the heat and slow down the cooking.

The raw is good here, too, with a marvelous beef carpaccio as well as a platter of fresh oysters served with a seriously delicious sauce ponzu, a fabulous blend of soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice and a touch of kombu, or kelp. (But these were rather difficult to eat with chopsticks, since there was nothing to cut the muscle.)

Equally lovely was a starter carpaccio of salmon, served with fresh sheets of nori seawood to wrap your own salmon packages. The main course teppanyaki chicken was moist, copious, and delicious. Wash it all down with a bottle of chilled house sake, or rice wine.

Le Repaire de Cartouche, 8 Boulevard des Filles de Calvaire and 99, rue Amelot, Paris 11. Tel: 01 47 00 25 86. Fax: 01 43 38 85 91. Credit card: Visa. Closed Sunday and Monday. About 45 € per person, including service but not wine.

Azabu
3 rue Mazet
Paris 75006.
Tel: 01 46 33 72 05.
Credit card: Visa.
Closed Sunday lunch and Monday. About 40 € per person, including service but not beverages.

Into the heart of Provence without the hype

Avignon --- There are times that the grand and fine gastronomy of France seems mired in quicksand. Too much show and not enough to show for it. A lot of flowery promises on the menu that are simply not delivered to the palate.

Well, a recent dinner at one of Provence’s shining stars of gastronomy proved that those comments don’t hold water here. La Mirande – an inviting yet august structure originally built as a cardinals palace in the 13th century and transformed into a private home in the 17th century and now a luxury hotel and restaurant – appears to be in quite fine form, despite losing its star chef. Daniel Hebet, who brought fame and a Michelin star to the restaurant has departed, leaving all in the hands of his assistant, Jerome Verriere.

The menu is modern and varied, without being self-consciously Provencal. That does not mean the dishes don’t sing of the region’s fruits, vegetables, herbs, poultry, meat and traditions. It just doesn’t insist on tugging at one’s heart strings.

A fine seasonal starter of chilled crab lasagne DID make one feel like dancing a Provencal folk dance, as it was embellished with a thick tomato sauce, a paper thin layer of pasta, and a thick and delicious layer of fresh crabmeat holding it all in place. As delicious as the tomato sauce was, though, there was a bit much of it and if you didn’t take care to go after the crab meat on its own, the sauce would have overwhelmed it all.

Chef Verriere surely wooed me with his pigeon preparation – the plumpest and most moist breasts of squab, seared and roasted with attention and respect, are placed atop an ingenious puree of Jerusalem artichokes studded with all manner of crunchy goodies: pistachios, raisins and nuts. A brilliant ruby sauce of griottes, or preserved morello cherries , served to sweeten, brighten, and round out the dish.

Equally pleasing and original was the moist and perfectly roasted lamb chops, paired with Asian-inspired “cannelloni” filled with a moist and well seasoned ratatouille. The Moroccan pastry “feuille de brique” encased the ratatouille, and sautéed to a crisp, they reminded one of the best ever spring rolls. A sauce heightened with the slightly piquant red pepper from the Basque village of Espelette helped pull the dish together.

The dining room itself is elegant without overwhelming one, and tables are spaced far enough apart to make for private, intimate dining. Even what seem like mile-high ceilings don’t intimidate or make you feel as though you are in a church, not a restaurant. The staff is youthful, they move with elegance and grace, and most are quite well informed as to what is on the menu, the plate, the wine list and the cheese tray.

The wine list is filled with temptations. Our table opted for what turned out to be two treasures: Northern Rhone superstar Yves Cuilleron wowed us with his 2001 white Saint Joseph (100% Marsanne), a wine with nose of lemon and citrus, and memories of honey. Equally fine was the 2001 Mas Amiel Cotes du Roussillon Village Carerade, a blend of 70% Grenache, with the rest divided between Syrah and Carignan. Full of the promise of cherries and plums, the wine had a fine, long finish, good structure, and a depth that felt right at home with the pigeon and lamb.

The breads here are excellent, with a mini baguette filled with seeds and grains, of which one could make a meal. The cheese tray is abundant, with a truly outstanding, well-aged Fougerus – a cow’s milk cheese from the Champagne region – plump, moist, fragrant, and served at the right chilled temperature.

Our dessert choice --- a tiny caramel and peanut tarte with a praline ice cream – was a perfect share for two contented diners.

La Mirande
4, Place de la Mirande
84000 Avignon
Tel: 04 90 85 93 93
Fax: 04 90 86 26 85

All major credit cards. Closed in January. Tasting menu at 75 €; Menu La Mirande at 47 €; Three-course Vegetarian menu at 47 €; Daily lunch menus at 28 € and 38 €.

Quiet Trends of Paris

PARIS – As trends go, the Parisian gastronomic Richter scale is always rather faint. Thank goodness. Change is slow but sure in this capital. If there is a current trend it is toward chefs doing what they want to do, spreading their wings as feel need.

Like Flora Mikula a few months ago (she moved from a crowded bistro space to in the 7th to a perfectly posh spot across from the Hotel George V) chef Catherine Guerraz left her small and intimate bistro near the Galleries Lafayette and took over the space formerly occupied by Guy Savoy’s Cote Sud.

She clearly wanted more space, a touch more graciousness and a chance to expand her already solid bistro-style repertoire.

A recent dinner here receives mixed reviews. While the food is right on target service ranged from totally inept to absolutely perfect, depending upon the person doing the serving. Orders were totally confused, we waited forever a touch of attention early on, and they were out of the wine we ordered. One hopes we can blame this on first month jitters, but the entire dining room staff needs to be corralled and taught to coordinate their moves.

As to the food the first of season scallops from Erquy were sweet super-fresh, and the raviolis of langoustines with tarragon made me one happy diner. Nothing rivals langoustines for their luxurious texture and unique, faintly nutty flavor. But the dish that made we swoon was the civet de sanglier, a glistening wild boar stew with just the right touch of gaminess, chewy and moist morsels of meat braised to a gentle tenderness. Embellished with a golden polenta galette and washed down with a delicate Santenay (the 2000 Les Gravieres from Domaine de la Pousse d’Or) the trio saved what might have been a sorry night indeed.

Alain Ducasse seems to be everywhere in the world today, and is about to place a foot in every arrondissement of Paris. His latest takeover – if you want to call it that – is the redo of one of Paris’ most classic bistros, Aux Lyonnais, near the French stock exchange, or Bourse. Along with partner Thierry De La Brose (owner of the renowned L’Ami Louis) he has done a fine job.

The 1890’s bistro – a classic Lyonnais style bistro with zinc bar, bright floral tiles and colorful deep red façade --- could serve as a museum piece or film set.

In short, if you have a gram of nostalgia in you, you will love this place. The food here is convincing and gently re-tooled. All the classic and roborative dishes of Lyon are there: the fragrant, chunky sabodet, or pork sausage; the salad of frisee, lardoons, herring and sheep’s feet; tablier de sapeur, or tripe that is marinated, breaded, and grilled; not to mention the famed Saint Marcellin cheese made most famous in the city of Lyon.

I don’t even mind that they tinkered a bit, for the flavors here are full and honest. I adored the remake of the classic sabodet, a strong and earthy sausage made with pig’s head and skin, one that warms the insides of a cold winter’s day. Rather than plopping the sausage in a pool of rich sauce, the venerable sausage is poached gently in broth, covered with a layer of potatoes, and perfumed with a lightened sauce gribiche, or mayonnaise of laced with capers, cornichons, and herbs.

Equally appealing is the classic roast chicken, garnished with tomatoes, mushrooms and onions, and deglazed with the traditional touch of red wine vinegar. The wine list is a bit pricey for a bistro. But do as they do in Lyon and stick with cru Beaujolais and you should do just fine, sticking with the Fleurie, Brouilly, Chiroubles or Moulin-a-Vent, all priced at around 30 €.

Chez Catherine
3 rue Berryer
Paris 75008
Telephone 01 40 76 01 40
Fax: 01 40 76 03 96.
Closed Sunday and Monday. All major credit cards. A la carte, 50 euros, including service but not wine.

Aux Lyonnais
32 rue Saint Marc
Paris 75002
Tel: 01 42 9 65 04
Fax: 01 42 97 42 95
Closed all day Sunday and Monday lunch. 28 € menu, including service but not wine. A la carte, 40 euros, including service but not wine.

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.

The Raw Revolution

Larkspur, California – Take a look at the menu at the year-old Roxanne’s –one of the hottest new restaurant in America – and you might well be dining anywhere in the modern world. The ever-popular gastronomic hits are all there: Sushi rolls, hearts of Romaine Caesar, Thai curry, lasagne terrine, Mediterranean platter.

But comparisons to any place you have ever eaten, or ever will, stop right there. For Roxanne’s – situated in Marin County, just north of San Francisco -- is a totally revolutionary new world concept. The owner, Roxanne Klein, goes beyond vegetarian, beyond anything you might have sampled before. She and fellow devotees call it “living food,” for no ingredient is heated above 118 degrees, on the belief that a living foods diet leads to a longer, more energetic life.

Take a look at the slight, blonde, 38-year-old Roxanne, mother of four, and you need no other coaching to believe in her theory. Her eyes sparkle, her face beams, her skin shines, her posture is perfect, her earnest demeanor is convincing. She has been a living, living foods advocate for the past five years, and that means no beans, no pasta, no rice, no dairy, no eggs, not even tofu.

But we’re here to talk about good food, and that’s where Roxanne is more than revolutionary. I was a longtime, committed, vegetarian but gave it up in the 1970’s because fare such as Walnut Cheddar Loaf was not getting me anywhere. We knew so little back then. And much like today, too many proponents of a healthy diet focus more on a fear of food than the more positive aspects of flavor, pleasure, enjoyment.

Roxanne takes what she believes and coaxes her fresh ingredients into fare that is beautiful, exciting, flavorful, satisfying. This is not hippy-time carrot sticks and celery or lists of ersatz fare designed to make you feel superior to the rest of the world. As always, the proof is in the eating, and a meal at Roxanne’s is as pleasurable as any well-prepared, well-conceived meal. To say that you won’t even notice that the food is raw is not a criticism, but a compliment to the chef’s who took the time to create such lovely, satisfying fare.

From the sushi rolls with fresh wasabi to the marinated olive and tomato pizza, on to the Thai yellow curry and the tortilla soup of fresh corn with cilantro, avocado and tortilla strips you love every bite. The food is vibrant, colorful, layered with flavors, textures, aromas. In short, you don’t miss a thing (well, except that little slice of crusty, toasty wholesome bread.)

Perhaps the best thing about this modern, elegant one-of-a-kind restaurant is that it does not preach. It teaches by example and let’s you decide on your own. Every thing is set up for you to love it: The former coffeehouse, now a clean, elegant, warm and modern fine-dining establishment seats just 64 diners, and reservations are hard to come by. There are no signs telling you that the flowers were organically grown, the tablecloths and napkins are woven from natural hemp, the lighting is made from recycled glass. No one shouts at you that much of the food here comes from the Klein family’s three-acre organic garden that includes figs, plums, pears, peaches, tomatoes, melons and edible flowers. You just sit down and enjoy.

For perhaps 99% of us, the living foods concept is new and not one we are quick to swallow or even digest. But the staff is incredibly knowledgeable and they seem to be equal partners in this new learning curve. It all succeeds because the professionally-trained Roxanne has worked hard to get where she is. Combining an equal passion for good health and flavor satisfaction, she spends hours and hours on each dish, slicing, dicing, juicing, blending, dehydrating, but never taking the soul or character out of the food. Couscous may be made from parsnips and pine nuts, blended to a couscous consistency. Noodles use in her pad Thai may actually come from ribbons of coconut. Ice cream, with a super-satisfying consistency, may well be made from nut milk. Some 25 different seasonings may go into her vegetable tajine, and food is served on warm plates, to help release natural aromas.

Wine, alas, is part of the living foods diet, because it is a fermented, not a cooked food. And the wine list, created by master sommelier Larry Stone, is one to behold. New world and old world wines are all there to enjoy, sip, and savor.

Roxanne’s
320 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939.
Tel: 415 924 5004
fax: 415 924-7294.
www.roxraw.com

Dinner only, Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday. All major credit cards. Menus at $29, $38 and $47, not including wine or service. Taste of Thailand menu, $69, not including wine or service. Tasting menu, $100, including wine but not service.

Lucas Carton: Where Wine is King

PARIS – Recently, I had two extraordinary food epiphanies, and each time they included a slice of the creamy golden, blue-flecked cow’s milk cheese known as Forme d’Ambert.

The first happened this summer while I was both reading and rather absent-mindedly eating a slice of Forme d’Ambert as part of a dinner-time cheese course. I took a bite of cheese, a sip of a red Cotes du Ventoux and suddenly my mouth exploded with the welcome, wintry sensation of fresh black truffles! I paused, was stunned and amazed, inhaled and felt as though there was a truffle in my midst. It was of course the earthiness of blue cheese in combination with the almost truffle essence of the wine that triggered the sensation, but I didn’t want it to disappear. I savored the seconds of unanticipated pleasure and only wished they could be turned into hours. Alas, it was elusive, for a second morsel of cheese, another few drops of wine were pleasurable, but no greater than the sum of the parts.

A few weeks ago, Forme d’Ambert came into play again, this time at the very end of an extraordinary meal at Alain Senderens’ Lucas Carton. This time, the first taste, the second and on to the end were far greater than the sum of the parts. The creamy Forme d’Ambert was teamed up with a rich, rosy, fragrant, buttery toasted brioche laced with sweet cherries and spice and moistened with a glass rich but not overly sweet ruby Port wine. The trio was as good as a whole meal to me, perfection multiplied by many, like a symphony of rich colors and textures on the palate, as though each was destined to share company with the other. The cheese was just slightly chilled and its buttery coolness loved the presence of the warm toast with its hint of spice and sweet, the smoothness of the cherries, then the rounding out of the alcohol on the tongue supplied by Senderens’ choice of Rozes Vintage 1985 Porto.

Today much ado is made of food and wine pairing, which is both a science and an art. As my two experiences suggest, pleasure explosions can be accidental or planned, but when the pairing works it is hard to find more satisfactory gastronomic pleasure.

After 10 years of creating special food and wine menus, Senderens decided to put wine before food and his choices are thoroughly brilliant. They are not complicated or complex, nor are they traditional. He looks for notes in a wine – whether its one of fresh or dried fruit, of toasted nuts, of wood or the woods, of iodine or black cherries, herbs of the garrigue of Provence (fennel, thyme, bay leaf), a touch of curry, butter and vanilla, wet leaves from the woods and mushrooms, honey or a confit of oranges. So when you find these elements in wines, why not just match them up with the real thing? Sounds simple, but if it was really that easy, we might be dining that way every night.

The fireworks at the elegant Michelin three-star Lucas Carton start with the appetizer menu, and such uncommon starters as fresh Manzanilla fino sherry -- with its hints of hazelnuts and iodine -- paired with soft and elegant fresh anchovy filets marinated in olive oil, the bones deep fried to a brilliant crisp, and then a touch of salty, silken Spanish ham, Jamon Iberia Bellota. The second act to this sherry-loving introduction to the feast comes as a tangle of the tiniest bay squid, or chipirons, stuffed with red pepper and smoky pork lomo, and squid tentacles fried and lightly stained with squid ink. The sea, the salt, the land all come together here with felicitous agreement.

Equally amazing and satisfying is the white Savigny les Beaune, 1997 from Domaine J. Boillot, with its elegant hints of the woods, served with a tiny deep fried “beurreck” of pastry-wrapped package of tiny petoncle scallops set in a cream of wild mushrooms, all showered with lightly toasted almonds. Here, the second act arrives as a masterpiece of creamy risotto, laced with scallops, lemon zest and ginger. Oh so complex in execution, but so simple for our palates to understand.

And that is only the beginning.

What amazed me most about this multi-course feast was not only the thought and care that went into creating such a menu but the way in which we, as diners, react to it. Conditioned to an avalanche of flavors and sensations in a single meal, I realized that we rarely have time to pause and reflect. To stop and pay attention. When a single wine and single dish seems to merge as one, we ARE forced to pause, stop, listen, taste, reflect upon our reactions to the interplay of the wine and the food.

Weeks later, what my taste memory recalls most vividly (after the Forme d’Ambert explosion) is the puddle of creamy polenta laced with white truffles from Italy, a fireworks of smooth textures, intense fragrances, rounded out by the cool Corton Charlemagne 1990 from Domaine Bonneau du Martray, rich with truffle and woodsy essences of its own.

Such a meal is not given away, and shouldn’t be. But it reflects a lifetime of study for a chef who has not stopped creating at the age of 63. Go and take advantage of his research and the knowledge.

Lucas Carton
9 Place de la Madeleine
Paris 75008.
Tel: 01 42 65 22 90.

www.lucascarton.com.

All major credit cards. Closed all day Sunday, Saturday lunch, Monday lunch. Lunch menu at 76 €, not including wine. Dinner, wine included, about 230 €.

Petit Marguery Bids Adieu to the Brothers Cousin

PARIS – My face fell when I opened the mail a month or so ago and discovered that some of my all-time favorite restaurateurs – the three Cousin brothers at the lively Petit Marguery – were hanging up their copper pots.

So imagine my surprise when I walked into the restaurant a few weeks ago to find two of the brothers – Michel and Jacques – at the stove. They are still there for the season to assure a smooth transition, while the majority of the long time staff, including the outgoing waiter Yannick, are standing faithful to their posts.

The evening also happened to open the season’s game menu, including a trio of hearty terrines, gorgeous venison, wild duck, and the Cousins’ famed mixture of no less than five wild mushrooms, carefully sautéed and showered with a generous dose of garlic. Let’s hope that this classic, traditional restaurant changes little, though it will be hard to imagine it without the Cousin brothers sparkle.

Le Petit Marguery,
9 boulevard du Port Royal
Paris 75013.
Tel: 01.43.31.58.59.

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The fall season opens with a spectacular new menu at Alain Senderens’ Lucas Carton, celebrating 10 years of the chef’s detailed pairing of food and wine. But this time, instead of featuring food first it’s wine first, with a lineup that includes no less than a 1997 red Château de Beaucastel (the best of the Rhone Valley’s Chateauneuf du Pape) with roasted Limousin lamb; a most elegant pinot noir in the name of Clos Vougeot Château de la Tour teamed up with duck seasoned with a welcome touch of ginger and mango. But the best marriage of the moment is the aromatic, exuberantly rich “vin jaune” Château Chalon 1995, served with a generous portion of turbot cooked in butter, all perfumed with curry and fall-fresh walnuts. In my experience Senderens is the first chef to offer an aperitif menu, pairing wine and food, of course. Do try the incredible marriage of 1993 Dom Perignon with onions roasted in clay. The sweet onions are enhanced with a touch of Sicilian pistachios and, why not, a generous dollop of caviar.

Lucas Carton
9 Place de la Madeleine,
Paris 75008.
Tel: 01 42 65 22 90.

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One could call it “eau de la terre”. Chef Guy Savoy amazed us the other day with a rich and outrageously fragrant mushroom soup and later confided that to enhance the perfume and the flavor or the soup, he made a broth of the wild mushroom peelings, earth and all, carefully filtering the liquid once it was highly reduced. I tried it my own kitchen and it’s clearly one of the most ingenious ways to recycle what otherwise would end up in the garbage. I can’t imagine a more dramatic way to boost the flavor of any mushroom dish.

Guy Savoy
18 rue Troyon,
Paris 75017.
Tel: 01 43 80 40 61.

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Pierre Gagnaire continues to astonish palates with his delivery of food as edible art. Some recent combinations need to be tasted to be believed: current favorites include a brilliant combination of grilled eggplant topped with fresh figs and set off by a dollop of creamy polenta enriched with the ultra fresh herbal flavor of fragrant lemon verbena. End the meal with Gagnaire’s gorgeous chocolate dessert served in an oversized shot glass: The mousse-like chocolate is flavored with a touch of spicy red pepper, and topped with a bright-colored, intensely flavored pistachio cream.

Pierre Gagnaire,
6 rue Balzac,
Paris 75008.
Tel: 01 58 36 12 50.

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Chocolate is on the minds of many a Parisian, and if the lines out the door of Pierre Hermé’s jewel-box boutique are any sign, we can’t get enough of his treats. Don’t leave the shop without sampling his “tablette” or bar of Java pure: This chocolate redefine chocolate for me, for it’s intense, rich, dark, and gratefully has a finish that lingers and lingers.

Pierre Herme,
72 rue Bonaparte,
Paris 75006.
Tel: 01 43 54 47 77.

Wine Bar for All Seasons Two bars offer delicious sanctuary

LEGRAND

Since 1880, the Legrand family has been dazzling Parisians with its sweets and bonbons, rare mustards, liqueurs and of course wines. Now, the respected family shop has expanded once again, with a new tasting center, an expanded wine course, and continued efficient service.

The new “wine bar” is not big, just a large round bar in the back of the stunning turn of the century boutique, and a shared communal table in the charming covered passageway, the Galerie Vivienne near the Bourse in the 2nd arrondissement.

When you go, be sure to enter through the stunning turn-of-the-century storefront and then gaze up at the ceiling, a masterfully arranged collection of wine corks. Try to maintain composure as you pass the colorful apothecary jars filled with special sweets from all over France, lend a gaze at some of the well-priced wines from Bordeaux, the Loire, the Rhone, the Languedoc, you name it, and settle in at the circular bar or at the communal table outside.

If I ever opened a wine bar this is the kind of food I would serve: simple, no-nonsense, and the sort that satisfies as it should. There is just a small selection of lunch-time or snack platters, including extraordinary smoked wild Norwegian trout served with perfectly tangy crème fraiche, with freshly grilled toast set at your elbow as you tuck in your napkin. I also loved the fine cheese trays – a generous assortment of five goat cheeses or five cow’s milk cheeses all from the reputable cheese shop Quatrehomme --- one served with a tapenade-like black olive cream showered with basil, another with nuts and raisins, both with a nice green salad alongside. A charcuterie platter, a cheese and charcuterie platter, foie gras, or a can of prized Rodel sardines are the remaining choices. Prices range from 9 € to 16 € per plate.

I could imagine a weekly afternoon rendezvous here, with the additional chance of ordering any wine in the shop for a 15 € corkage fee. I admit I was not dazzled by two white wines sampled from the brief list of those available by the glass. Neither the 1998 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling, with a promise of a flinty mineral richness, nor the 1999 Bourgogne Chitry chardonnay with a hopeful hint of hazelnuts, did anything for my palate. I found solace, however, in my beloved Domaine de Cascavel 2000, the silken and rich Cotes du Ventoux, fairly priced at 5.30 € a glass.

Once you have been lured to the tasting center, linger in the book shop, buy yourself a set of new wine glasses, sign up for one of their wine courses, or make a note of their next winemaker’s open tasting. And don’t forget the bonbons.

CHEZ RAMULAUD

Chez Ramulaud looks like the old-fashioned bistro of our dreams: A tattered, old-fashioned dining room decorated with bric a brac, clocks intentionally set to the wrong time, a stern-faced patron that can quickly be won over with a good smile and a choice of the right wine, and a lively, varied clientele that is there for one reason and one reason only, to have a good time.

As you enter the 1930’s style bistro – with bare wooden tables and worn patchwork tile floors --- you find wine cartons stacked up towards the ceiling and you take a look at some of the familiar labels and you know you’re, too, shall have a good time.

The wine list is one of the best reasons to set your foot into this popular 11th arrondissement bistro, with its healthy, well-chosen, list that includes the lively 100% Grenache Domaine Gramenon Cuvée Sagesse from winemaker Michelle Laurent, a remarkably pure-flavored wine that tastes of, guess what, grapes and nothing less. Equally appealing is the powerful Cotes du Roussillon Village Domaine Piquemal, a dense, purple wine made just across the Spanish border where the intense summer sun turns their fittingly named wine “Terres Grillées” (grilled soil) into a dense, deep-flavored red that’s a combination of the rugged Carignan grape tempered by the silky smoothness of the Syrah with the tannic aromatic hit of the Mourvedre grape. A fine third choice is the Domaine Gauby Cotes du Roussillon Villages, another intense red that’s loaded with flavor and thoughts of southern summers.

The food at Ramulaud is a combination of classic bistro fare --- grilled entrecote with a fabulous potato and mushroom gratin – tempered with a few modern additions. I loved the brilliant and beautiful ricotta and eggplant terrine, a full-flavored dish that served as a wave goodbye to summer; as well as the feather-light gnocchi teamed up with well-chosen fresh wild cepe mushrooms that lent a distinctive perfume and flavor to a dish that lingered for a good long time.

The bread here is delicious (I think two of us polished off two hefty basketfuls) and although the rolling antique cheese house is charming and the selection is overly generous (on a quiet night they wheel the basket to your table and you help yourself) the cheese would be less dried out if it did not sit all day in the open.

Alas, after a few visits the charm wears thin. Much of the rest of the food was consistently undercooked (rare fish is one thing, bloody rare lamb is quite another), and under seasoned, and waits for service can be excruciatingly long.

But go thirsty, with a dose of patience, and you should have a fine time.

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Espace Dégustation Legrand,
1, rue de la Banque,
Paris 75002.
Tel: 01 42 60 07 12.
Fax: 01 42 61 25 51.
Wine bar open Monday through Saturday noon to 7 pm. Epicerie and Wine Boutique open Monday 11 am to 7 pm, Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 7:30 pm, and Saturday 10 am to 7 pm.

Chez Ramulaud,
269 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine,
Paris 75011.
Tel: 01 43 72 23 29.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday dinner. Credit card: Visa. About 35 € per person, including service but not wine.

A Little Touch of Heaven

VALENCE - If God is in the details, then dining at Anne-Sophie's family restaurant, Pic, is a like a little touch of heaven. I spent the morning with her the other day, roaming through the vast and airy new ground floor kitchens, where she and some 15 other chefs work with diligence, attentiveness, and discipline, creating a modern style of cuisine that reminds one instantly of the detailed, complex cuisine of Joel Robuchon and Pierre Gagnaire.

This was my first visit in two years, and as Anne-Sophie herself is aware, she has grown immensely in this time, both in her style of cooking and in the way she runs her kitchen. Now 32 years old, this tiny fireball of a chef says she has also softened. No matter how you call it, it's not easy to be the lady boss in a super-macho world of classic French kitchens. She clearly treats her mostly male staff with gentle, sincere respect, and it sure seems to pay off.

Instantly, what I most loved about her current mode is the way she manages to weave just about every seasonal and local ingredient into her menu, whether it's peaches from the Drome, ratatouille vegetables from the nearby farmer's market, all manner of Provencal herbs, summery purple figs, or raspberries served with an ice cream made from the local wild mint, known as melisse. Her vegetable tempura uses no less than eggplant, red bell peppers, zucchini and summer savory, while plump local pigeon is coated with a luscious mixture of crushed walnuts, sweet butter and toasted bread crumbs, all seasoned with Maldon sea salt, its crystals revered for their special crunch.

A treat of the day was a visit to the modern, underground, air-conditioned wine cellar, where sommelier Denis Bertrand gave me free reign, as I poked and peered through the aisles, selecting for lunch an array of wines I knew of but had never tasted. The cellar is a wine-lover's candy store, with a treasure trove of wines, specializing of course in those of the Rhone. All the great Chateauneuf du Pape are there, from Beaucastel to Rayas to Vieux Telegraph, La Janasse and La Nerthe and on to Paul Avril's Clos des Papes. Names such as Chapoutier, Chave, Guigal, Vernay, Delorme appear as old, close friends. But the most exciting for me was the ability to share in their own regional discoveries, such as the fine elegant, Grenache-based red Vacqueyras Montirius 1997, like a rich confit of fruit redolent of blackberries and blueberries, and two outstanding unknown whites, including a 100% Roussanne from Domaine le Serre in Condorcet near Nyons, and a Vinsobres Chaume-Arnaud (a Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier blend) that taste of pure apricot kernels.

For my palate and my money, some of the best buys on the list come from winemaker Michele Laurent, whose varied clean, Côtes-du-Rhône wines that taste of pure fruit are my favorite flavors of the day. Try, for sure, the 1996 La Sagesse, a blend of 95% Grenache and 5% Syrah: It is for sure one of the purest wines I know, round, mellow, velvety, with a flirty, flattering silkiness. And it is honestly priced at 45 €.

Anne-Sophie's starters alone would serve as lunch for most of us on a given day. Miniature phyllo rolls are filled with a rich guacamole, while classic tiny meatball-like caillettes have that rich saltiness that make us truly salivate. Her rosemary sablets are a simple touch of brilliance, while piquant anchovies find their way into pastry-wrapped mini-mouthfuls.

Outstanding main course of the day include the pigeon, served with a fitting garnish of thinly sliced, butter-cooked potatoes, and purple figs roasted in sweet Banyuls wine; and the giant meaty langoustines (this not from Provence, but of course Brittany) paired with a stunning, intensely flavored fresh peach chutney, heightened with white wine, vinegar and a touch of fresh ginger. Equally inventive and inviting is the baby pig, or porcelet, the ribs simply roasted, with the cheeks turned into a soothing confit laced with a touch of licorice. All this was paired with a garnish of wild girolles mushrooms, a tasty ragout of the plump white fresh beans from Mollans-sur-Ouveze in the Drome Provencal, a crispy potato tuile and paper-thin slices of crusty, bacon-like ventreche.

There were moments in the day that I felt that Anne-Sophie was training for a marathon run, as though piling on practice miles - rather than seeing the finish line --- seemed to be the immediate goal. She is clearly in a frenzy of composition and I fear that sometimes a touch of taste is lost during all the arranging and creating. While her complex quartet of eggplant seemed astonishing in the kitchen, it had less punch at the table, and the dish would have been better with a little editing.

But all of this is done for the good of us, the diner, for she does win out on the end, not in just pure presentation, energy, intellectualism, but in the fact that we all left as very satisfied customers.

Pic
285 boulevard Victor Hugo
26000 Valence
tel: 04 75 44 15 32
fax: 04 75 40 96 03.
Internet: www.pic-valence.com
Closed two weeks in January, Sunday evening, Tuesday lunch, and Monday from November to March. Menus at 99 and 120 €. A la carte, 90 to 215 €, including service but not wine.