All Is Well at Taillevent

Paris - The death in early January of Jean-Claude Vrinat, the longtime owner of Taillevent, left a big vacancy not just at the celebrated Paris restaurant but in French gastronomy.

Practically until the weekend before he died (on January 7 after treatment for lung cancer) Mr. Vrinat made that temple of haute cuisine the very epitome of a grand French restaurant. He paid relentless attention to every detail of the service and especially to the comfort of his clients. Whether you dined there frequently (as Walter and I had the great privilege of doing) or were a one-time visitor making the splurge of a lifetime, Mr. Vrinat put his customers at ease. He wanted to assure that every diner had a memorable experience.

Mr. Vrinat’s presence is certainly missed, but returning there recently – both to pay our respects and to celebrate one of those “passages” birthdays – we found that nothing else had disappeared. While his daughter, Valérie Vrinat d’Indy, is now in charge of the business, she will not have a presence in the restaurant. That role will continue to be filled admirably by Jean-Marie Ancher, Taillevent’s long-time maître d’hôtel.

Mr. Vrinat was not a chef but a businessman. There have been a succession of chefs over the years, but with the current one, Alain Solivérès, Taillevent now offers a truly splendid table. In several visits over the last year we found the new chef’s preparations inspired and dazzling, while still very much in the Taillevent tradition of the purest flavors extracted from the best ingredients. And of course the pre-eminent Taillevent tradition of ultimate discretion.

On our most recent visit we had a starter of risotto d’épautre aux truffes noires, a creamy and rich combination that made the utmost of the elegant earthiness of seasonal black truffles.

Next came a triumvirate of juicy scallops, each dissected with a slice of black truffle and served in a light reduction of fish fumet.

And finally we were served tiny perfectly round noisettes d’agneau, like little filets mignon, accompanied by delicious slices of fresh baby artichokes and the airiest tiny gnocchi I have ever tasted.

In other words, all is well at Taillevent.

Following are excerpts adapted from the obituary I wrote for the International Herald Tribune’s Jan. 9 edition:

Besides the grand restaurant, the enterprise that his daughter now directs includes the Caves Taillevent, a wine store, and l’Angle du Faubourg, another restaurant. All three addresses are near one another in the elegant 8 th arrondissement.

Mr. Vrinat built his business on the foundation left to him in 1962 by his father.  From 1973 to 2007, Taillevent held the top rating from the Michelin Red Guide - the coveted three stars. In March 2007, in a controversial decision by a new editor of the guide, the restaurant was demoted to two. It was a blow that came without clear justification and that Mr. Vrinat - and his clients - could not understand.

Taillevent was unique in that Mr. Vrinat modeled his enterprise on the image he aspired to, one of constant perfection. In an age in which chefs and owners are frequently absent from their kitchens, it was a rare day that Mr. Vrinat was not present and paying attention to every detail - the silver, the haircuts of the staff, the lighting, the menu and wine list and, most important, the satisfaction of his clients. He was a taskmaster, and he demanded the highest standards of his staff.

Always impeccably turned out, sharp and smiling, Mr. Vrinat treated customers as friends, moving from table to table with grace and focus to make sure people were satisfied.

Taillevent is in an elegant townhouse near the Arc de Triomphe in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The restaurant was not noted for innovation, but it set standards that few others could meet. In many quiet ways, it was the most advanced restaurant in the city.

The menu and extensive wine list are printed on a single folded sheet, so one never needed to balance two heavy tomes while trying to make conversation. And Taillevent set wine prices that were among the best in the world. Although it is a grand restaurant with an enviable cellar, Taillevent's wine prices are among the best in the world.

Born April 12, 1936, in Villeneuve-l'Archevêque, near Chablis in Burgundy, Mr. Vrinat graduated in 1959 from l'École des Hautes Études Commerciales.

In 1962 he joined his father, André Vrinat, at Taillevent - named after the court chef to King Charles V in the 14th century - and helped to turn it into one of the most respected restaurants in the world.

A Royal Soup with Humble Beginnings

Marseille – Bouillabaisse is one of those magical words, conjuring up vivid images of azure enchantment and a blindingly beautiful Mediterranean sky. It’s a word that whispers of a special kind of French connection – a delicious one and, it now seems, one that belongs to a storied past and is lost to us unlucky ones of the present and future.

That’s because – as we have all been told – a “real” bouillabaisse is at best rare and probably now on the list of things that money can’t buy. The Mediterranean has been fished so dry that it’s impossible to count on getting the one or two varieties that are absolutely essential for that “real” mythical dish.

But there’s a disconnect between that mournful chant and the rustic beginnings of what was maybe never just a simple meal, but a basic one. For bouillabaisse was not a Carème creation, but a way of using up the tiny leavings of the day’s catch. There was plenty of flavor in those spiny rock fish but no commercial appeal – the scrawny leftovers couldn’t be sold and so there was nothing to do but make them palatable for the family.

But the working class origins of bouillabaisse actually enhance its pedigree rather than diminish it because many flavorful rituals have had ordinary, even earthy beginnings..

Those little rockfish were only scaled and gutted and then boiled, really boiled, with tons of garlic and fennel and tomatoes. As the pot roiled along, the fish were pummeled and their bones crushed and pounded to extract maximum flavor as well as to let the broth thicken and turn into a luscious stew.

Then passed through a sieve, the broth was returned to the flame and reduced further. In time more fish was added to be poached quickly. Those fish would be filleted at table and served after copious amounts of the broth had been consumed with croutons, the garlicky rouille and potatoes nearly crimson with saffron.

The key to the ingredients is a variety of fish – the purists say there must be five, or four, or not more than some other very precise number. They may include baudroie or angler fish, rascasse (scorpion fish), daurade (porgy), chapon (scorpion fish), Saint Pierre or John Dory, gallinette (gurnard), and vive, the eel-like weever. But never, ever salmon, and shellfish is debatable. Why put mussels in bouillabaisse when a great moules-marinière is even easier and more appealing?

But then purists aren’t always doing the cooking, especially not in Marseille, a city where the people are better known more for their independence and resourcefulness than for following anyone’s rules.

Those are the choices for the fish – or the obligations. Then there’s the flavoring – garlic is essential both in the stew and for the rouille, or the thick saffron-rich sauce that’s served with croutons. There are fresh tomatoes. A hearty amount of fresh fennel is essential also and it’s easy to come by in Provence since it grows wild there and perfumes even the road banks. There can also be a little of the anise-flavored Pernod to boost the intensity of the fennel as well as add a dollop of sophistication.

In the making of bouillabaisse, “authentic” is more important than “pure,” and over the years in Provence we have pursued with moderate passion a quest for a good one. On a recent September day, with enough Indian summer sunshine to make even the drabbest spirit sparkle, we once again took our quest to Le Petit Nice, a luxurious restaurant nestled into Marseille’s scraggly shoreline and looking out at the sea and, among other sites, the Chateau d’If.

Gérard Passédat, chef and owner of that redoubtable landmark, prepared a bouillabaisse like no other. Even the spelling of his “bouille abaisse” is singular, though it emphasizes the origins of the dish by describing what happens in the pot – kept over a fast flame, the soup boils down to a delicious essence. Though Passédat’s version owes much of its inspiration to that poor fisherman’s stew, it has been dressed up to reflect his restaurant’s two-star elegance.

Our meal began with a simple salad of squid sautéed oh so lightly in olive oil and flavored with parsley. I might say that our meal began several hours earlier, at the Quai des Belges on Marseille’s famed old port, since we were with Passédat when he bought the squid. After that we moved through a trencherman’s menu that included a “Royale,” at once airy and unctuous, made from that Spanish delicacy, Pata Negra ham. There was also something I have never encountered before, a “molecular” version of tomato juice. Literally, it was a scoop of tomato juice held in a ball by molecular tension on the surface. That’s not something I’ll be trying in my own kitchen, delectable and tantalizing though it was when it burst like a ripe grape on an eager palate.

And then, the serious stuff, Passédat’s bouillabaisse. The fish selection – in tiny, triple-bite-size filets arranged on a long platter – consisted of merlan (whiting), vive (weever), gallinette (gurnard), baudroie (angler fish), chapon (scorpion fish), daurade (porgy) and Saint Pierre (John Dory). A small amount of the rich broth was poured over, and the waiter thoughtfully left the pitcher of soup on the table within easy reach. There were clams and mussels in sculpted side dishes. There were potatoes and saffron. There was a spicy, rarefied rouille rich in tomatoes, garlic and saffron. There were Melba-toast thin, parmesan-enhanced bread crisps. And just to drive home the point that no fishwife was in the kitchen, there was a chunk of Brittany lobster.

At 125 euros for the menu, not counting any wine, this was not a poor man’s repast. But oh was it good.

There was wine, of course. A crisp, perfectly chilled 2002 Cassis blanc from Clos d’Albizzi and a mellow and fruity red 2000 Baux de Provence from Domaine Hauvette.

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There are of course many other places in Marseille that are famous for bouillabaisse, and one of the most charming is Chez Fonfon, which has a storybook setting overlooking one of the tiny rocky inlets off the Corniche John F. Kennedy. Traditionally bouillabaisse is prepared in two services. A bowl of soup first, with the croutons and rouille. And then the fish, removed from the still simmering pot, presented at table and then filleted as the diner watches.

Chez Fonfon, whose traditions are now being carried forward for the third generation of the Pinna family, offers plenty of charm in a beautiful setting. The night we were there was magical and the fish was fresh – and the soup wound up on my companion’s pants. He didn’t spill it, the waiter did. It was accidental of course – as he filleted the fish his platter tipped and a bowlful landed in my husband’s lap. Aside from taking it all back – which was a different kind of magical thought – the restaurant could not have done more.

My husband – thinking only of his well worn chinos – kept saying, “It’s not serious” to reassure the deeply embarrassed waiter. But from an adjoining table another diner kept responding, “yes it is, yes it is.”

Towels were brought, K2R was abundantly squirted, even a clean pair of pants was offered though declined. The owner was solicitous and the deeply embarrassed waiter was endlessly apologetic. It was a truly an unforgettable evening. And the bouillabaisse was as authentic as the experience.

Passédat Le Petit Nice
Anse de Maldormé -130 Corniche J.F.Kennedy
13007 Marseille
Tel: +33 (0)4 91 592 592
Fax: +33 (0)4 91 592 808
Email: passedat@relaischateaux.com

Chez Fonfon
140 Vallon des Auffes
13007 Marseille
Tel: +334 9152 1438
Fax: +334 9152 1416
Email: chezfonfon@aol.com

Rising Stars in Bordeaux

Pauillac, France – Anyone hoping to discover one of France’s rising star chefs would do well to reserve a table at Thierry Marx’s Château Cordeillan-Bages just 54 kilometers from the wine capital of Bordeaux.

With two coveted Michelin stars already under his belt, the creative, energetic, thoughtful Marx was also recently named chef of the year by the French restaurant guide Gault Millau. In French food circles, his name comes up each time one discusses future three-star chefs.

Balding, with intense, piercing eyes, Marx could be Bruce Willis’s twin brother. At the age of 44, he seems to be redefining the cuisine, lifestyle, and philosophy of his generation of young French chefs. A black belt in judo, Marx also gathers his staff for regular boxing sessions to help them de-stress. He is a runner, as well as a vegetarian. The Parisian-born Marx lives frugally and simply, spending three months each year in a tiny room in Tokyo, with little more than a futon and books, and as he adds, “ambition and modesty.” From his Japanese base, he fans out all over Asia during the winter months, searching for culinary as well as spiritual inspiration.

His culinary roots run deep. He has spent time in the kitchens of Taillevent as well as Joël Robuchon’s Jamin, attaining his first Michelin star at the age of 26.

But an evening at the table of his simple but elegant dining room is not made for everyone. As even Marx admits, “I’ve had plenty of clients you just said to me, ‘I didn’t get it at all.”

Look at the titles of some of his dishes and you simply may want to run the other way. Liquid quiche Lorraine? Virtual sausage? Bean sprout risotto? Sweetbread spaghetti? Wacky, yes. But Marx is not taking food to another level of perfection or enjoyment, but to a different level. Food such as his makes up open our eyes, look at taste in a new way, take our palates out of the box. In my book, none of this would be any good if the food did not offer pleasure as well as amusement, shock as well as satisfaction. And it does. Most of the time.

For me, the most satisfying, surprising, and enjoyable dish of some 15 little tastes was his smoked Aquitaine beef. Marx sears the filet ever so quickly, slices it, then sets the beef upon a miniature hibachi set above burning Merlot vine clippings. All is wrapped in clear thick plastic (the kind used by florists), tied with ribbon, and paraded to the table. As the wait staff unwraps your dinner gift, light, delicate, pleasing smoky aromas waft through the room. The end result is a meat that is juicy, delicate, sweet, and oh so gently smoked. A dish created with a stroke of genius.

I marveled, as well, at his bean sprout risotto: The tender soybean sprouts are cut precisely to the size of a grain of rice, warmed gently in a touch of butter, then tossed with a sauce of shallots, mushrooms, oysters, cream, and white wine and adorned with a slice of black truffle. You feel the drama, energy, and attention to detail in every dish. Four kinds of butter appear at the table, including an intriguing, intensely-flavored sheep’s milk butter. Little shards of cookies and breads with most dishes make for a light meal with a broad range of flavors. (The variety of homemade breads is amazing, and worth a detour all on their own.)

The choice of wines is, of course, vast. Our dinner samplings ranged from a young and flinty Sancerre to a coveted 1999 Château Gloria, vigorous, open, and a happy companion to the smoked filet of beef.

And in the parade of tiny sweet tastes at the end, I was surprised to fall in love with a sweet eggplant millefeuille, adorned with a rich, intense basil sorbet.

See for yourself and let Marx know if you “get” it.

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Yet another reason to head over the Bordeaux way is the modern, enticing, self-confident food of chef Philippe Etchebest at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in the charming village of Saint Emilion, 40 kilometers from Bordeaux. With a single Michelin star (and everyone says, a second on its way), the chef that could double as a rugby player is a meilleur ouvrier de France offering us a food that is at once modern, creative, personal, and sure to please.

The dining room at the 14th-century hotel and restaurant is soothing and cozy, with service that is careful and attentive. Starters here might include an airy sea urchin brouillade, or light scrambled eggs teamed up with a delicate lime cream, offering a fine acidic note to a dish that could easily become heavy and one-dimensional.

Bright sea scallops take on an Asian accent here: a pair of meaty scallops are quickly seared, then topped with a twirl of light rice vermicelli seasoned with garlic and ginger, anointed with a surprising, refreshing turmeric foam. Etchebest flanks the scallops with a pair of spicy madeleines and two rectangles of chilled, seasoned beets. The dish is at once inventive, surprising and satisfying.

But my favorite dish of the meal was his beautiful mousse-like round of extremely light mashed potatoes tossed with a mixture of bruccio – Corsica’s answer to ricotta – and cubes of tangy Granny Smith apple. This ethereal mixture is painstakingly studded with thin slices of black truffle and single leaves of lamb’s lettuce. This is a dish of contrasts, color, texture, flavor, even aroma. A sure success!

The pink-stoned, elegant Hostellerie is owned by the outgoing Chantal and Gérard Perse. Wines from the Perse vineyards to sample here include the rarely seen white Bordeaux Monbousquet 2001, a Saint Emilion made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape, a dry white with a pleasantly crisp acidity and an easy-going personality. Try, for sure, the 1998 Pavie, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé -- a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon -- a controversial wine that I found full of life, energy, and intensity.

Château Cordeillan-Bages
33250 Pauillac
Telephone: 05 56 59 24 24
Web: www.cordeillanbages.com

Closed Saturday lunch, all day Monday, and Tuesday lunch. 60 € lunch menu. 110 € dinner menu. A la carte, 95 to 120 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Hostellerie de Plaisance
place Clocher
33330 Saint Emilion
Telephone: 05 57 55 07 55
Email: hostellerie.plaisance@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.hostellerie-plaisance.com.

Closed Monday. Closed Sunday dinner and all day Tuesday November 1 to April 30. 32 € lunch menu. 60 € menu on Sunday. A la carte, 50 to 105 euros per person, including service but not wine. All major credit cards.

Brilliant New Simplicity in Northern California

There’s a new crop of bright, upright and unpretentious restaurant offerings in Northern California. Gone are the gimmicks, and what one can expect is food that is simple and straightforward with wine lists that will keep diners coming back again and again. Everywhere, one sees as well The Alice Waters Effect: Vegetable lovers can rejoice, for if it’s in season, it’s sure to be on the menu at these new, smart spots.

AME

One of the newest is Ame, set in the recently opened Saint Regis hotel in San Francisco. Chefs Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani have already proven their talents and the highly successful Napa Valley restaurant, Terra, in Saint Helena. At the couple’s new Ame (French for “soul”) one can expect serious, sublime fare in a warm, elegant, setting in tones of chocolate and white.

The food here has a clean, crisp edge, deftly touched by Hiro’s Japanese sensitivity and solid footing in America, France, and Italy. I loved the unusual octopus “carpaccio,” (really thin slivers of cooked octopus), layered with tiny slices of fingerling potatoes, equally lean slivers of caper berries, all punctuated by little dollops of a perky lemon aioli.) It’s a dish I’ll repeat at home, for sure. An equally good starter is the fricassee of Miyagi oysters, leeks and forest mushrooms, all tangled in an artful architectural form, bathed in a soothing sauce beurre blanc.

Main courses range from grilled quail served with sautéed forest mushrooms over a Fontina cheese polenta; red wine braised beef cheeks and sweetbread cutlet in a Cabernet Sauvignon sauce with cauliflower purée; and grilled Kurobuta pork chops from the Japanese breed of pig, with roasted winter foot vegetables and Dijon verjus sauce.

I opted for a broiled, sake-marinated Alaskan black cod – which tasted at though it leapt from the waters only hours before – floating in a delicate shiso broth and teamed up with light, feathery shrimp dumplings. The perfect wine for this dish was Joël Gott’s Sauvignon Blanc, offering equally bright, clean, flavors and a fine balance of fruit and acidity, and well-priced at $30 a bottle. Aged in stainless, as all good Sauvignon Blanc should be, the wine offered a fine balance of fruit and acidity.

The pair always surprises us with new takes on old classics and their unusual spaghettini “crabonara” prepared with fresh, seasonal Dungeness crab was a delight, rich with crab flavors and soothingly satisfying.

Desserts range from black currant tea crème brûlée on tea shortbread with Huckleberry ice cream, to a pleasant warm Bartlett pear crisp with pecan streusel and gingersnap ice cream.

Ame
689 Mission Street at Third Street
San Francisco, Ca
Telephone: 415 284 4040
Web: www. Amerestaurant.com

Open daily. From $45 to $55 per person, not including tax, service, or wine.

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REDD

Napa Valley’s Yountville has waited with anticipation, as chef Richard Reddington, formerly chef at the famed Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, California was set to open his own restaurant. We dined there right after the opening, and though I loved the food, I did not love the dining room, or the overly casual look of many of the diners (read torn blue jeans.) Something does not sit right when a bevy of well-outfitted waiters are there serving diners wearing clothes I would not even wear to take out the garbage.

The newly refurbished dining room reminded me of a wedding reception hall, all hard edges and no personality or sense of purpose. But thank goodness there was personality on the plate, and plenty of it in certain dishes.

I don’t think there is any dish that’s more of a gamble, almost anywhere, than risotto. Most often it is disappointing, either too soupy or too dense, and almost always you have that sinking suspicion that it was not made to order. Well chef Reddington can make risotto for me any day: His Carnaroli risotto with Maine lobster, lemon confit, and watercress is a work of art, creamy, steaming hot with rich, real lobster flavor, scents of the sea, laden with large pieces of lobster with almost every bite. The main course was a nice match for the 2004 Lewis Cellars Russian River Chardonnay (not inexpensively priced at $67), a wine with a nice balance of fruit and acid, a big wine but not marred by an overlay of heavy oak.

Equally brilliant was his marinated yellowfin tuna, paired with beets, radishes, and lemon oil. I never would have thought to combine them all, but they were at home together, a fine contrast of flavors, colors and textures. There they were, silken, thin slices of red raw tuna, topped with sweet and glistening baby red beets, thin lengthwise slices of radish, with just a touch of lemon oil. And each element was expertly seasoned.

His autumn salad hit the spot on a rainy fall weeknight, combining fall fruits, endive, and walnuts with a creamy Roquefort dressing. There were some strange and less than satisfying dishes, such as the Maine crab and tangerine salad with avocado and fennel bathed in a citrus vinaigrette, studded with strange bits of tangerine jelly. Equally disappointing was the sautéed skate – without flavor – awkwardly paired with butternut squash, wild mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and sage. The dish appeared to be more of an afterthought, or perhaps conceived in a cleaning-out-the- refrigerator spree.

Homey and wholesome was the superbly simple roasted chicken with a carrot and salsify ragout and potato purée surrounded by a simple juice prepared with the giblets.

Redd
6480 Washington Street
Yountville CA 94599
Telephone: 707 944 2222
email: info@reddnapavalley.com

Open for lunch Monday through Saturday, dinner daily, and Sunday brunch. From $30 to $50 per person, not including tax, service, or wine.

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FISH

The only problem with Fish, a lively fish shack on the waters of Sausalito just north of San Francisco, is that it is so far away from me. I’d like it in my backyard. What is there not to like about the freshest and simplest of seafood served right on the water?

The place is casual with a capital C (place your order at the cash register and they’ll bring the fare to your table.) Indoors there are a few tattered tables next to a fireplace, while outside, there are plenty of picnic tables for waterside dining. If it’s chilly, blankets are supplied. The menu is vast, and hard as we tried to make a dent in it, we couldn’t do it justice.

Favorites include their autumn ceviche, a mix of local, fresh white fish cured in a blend of citrus, red onions, and tangerines, with a welcome hit of cilantro and jalapeno. With plenty of crusty bread from Acme bakers in Berkeley, the feast is in the making.

We arrived the first day of crab season in early December, and quickly devoured both the simple, roasted crab, gorgeous and incredibly rich, its claws laden with sweet, alabaster meat; as well as the can’t-stop-eating-it spicy crab with Asian noodles, a meal on its own, laced with hot peppers, cilantro, garlic, and of course more of those sweet crab claws.

If it’s on the menu that day, don’t pass up the fish and chips, one of the best versions of this classic I’ve ever sampled. Bright, cloudlike chunks of fresh halibut are deftly breaded and fried, with the chunkiest, most wholesome of fries.

You can wash everything down with sips of crisp, grapefruit-like Australian Redbank Sauvignon Blanc, served casually (too casually for me) out of small Ball canning jars.

Fish
350 Harbor Drive at Bridgeway
Sausalito, CA 94965
Telephone: 415 331 3473

Open daily. Cash only. www.331fish.com Prices range from $4 for a cup of chowder $24 for a whole Dungeness crab or a baker’s dozen of oysters.

Dining with the Angels

PARIS -- I have fond, distant memories of my first days in Paris in the early 1980’s, when Sunday lunch meant sitting amidst large family tables of Bourgeois Parisians at the traditional, Burgundian Chez les Anges. Food was plentiful, robust and serious, with such classics as oeufs en meurette, coq au vin, and boeuf bourguignon, sharing star billing with Charolais boeuf en crôute, accompanied by the obligatory, creamy Dauphinois potatoes. The wine – mostly the white Rully and red Mercurey – flowed easily, and surely the meal would end with a few sips of heady marc de Bourgogne.

Now, the place that was all red velvet and Rabelaisian, is pristine, white, and modern – even a bit playful – and very much on its way to becoming a current-day institution. Jacques Lacipière – who also owns the hugely popular bistro Au Bon Accueil, also in the 7 th arrondissement – is a romantic at heart, taking over a failing business that was last a trattoria, but that also had a rather good run as Paul Minchelli’s namesake restaurant. It was home to politicians (belated president François Mitterrand) and the fashion world (Pierre Berge of Yves Saint Laurent) and of course fish lovers from all over. You were never sure what the eccentric Minchelli was up to – he loved to charge outrageous prices for cans of vintage sardines – but you were always assured of impeccable fish and shellfish, albeit the price of an arm and a leg.

Lacipière dream is to bring Les Anges back, creating a contemporary brasserie that’s convivial, open, and refreshing. If anyone can do it, Lacipière can, for he has impeccable taste, high standards, and an almost genetically coded passion for the business. He still does all the middle-of-the-night marketing for both restaurants, returning with impeccably fresh fish and shellfish, fruits and vegetables, as well as autumnal game. The current menu is loaded with seasonal stars, including wild mushrooms, romanesco and pumpkin, along with wild duck with turnips, partridge with apples, venison with salsify, and wild hare. In season fish and shellfish are abundance with scallops grilled with a curry-infused oil and turbot teamed up with wild mushrooms, pumpkin, and romanesco broccoli.

I began my little feast with half a dozen chilled, plump, briny oysters set on a pillow of thick cream nested in the oyster shell. The oysters, deftly marinated in a touch of sherry, were topped with ultra-thin Japanese style strips of crunchy red radish and a slight touch of horseradish, making for a surprising, refreshing, dish providing contrasts of color, texture, and flavor.

Another worthy starter is his offering of oversized warm – and warming – ravioli of giant shrimp, aloft in a coral-toned bisque made of rich baby crabs, or etrilles. Flavors here are full and forward, but unmasked. What you see is what you get.

Generous portions of plump, moist monkfish, or lotte, were bathed in a gentle Thai-inspired mixture of lemon grass and fresh coriander, a soothing, successful dish that surely makes me want to come back for more. And sole meunière lovers will have a field day here, with a gorgeous, fresh, alabaster sole, filleted tableside, and paired with a butter laced with lemon confit.

The wine list is brief but well-selected, and includes treasures from conscientious winemaker Jean-François Coche of Coche-Dury in Burgundy. We opted for an affordable, straightforward Bourgogne blanc (a veritable bargain at 48 euros) 2002, a textbook example of what a 100% Chardonnay should be, creamy, lush and satin-like. A wine that insists you sit up and take notice.

Chez les Anges
54 Boulevard de La Tour Maubourg
Paris 7
Telephone: 01 47 05 89 86.

Closed Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. Menu at 35 euros. A la carte, 42 to 72 € per person, including service but not wine.

Come Taste Oysters in Le Canon

Cap Ferret, France --- As I passed a display of espadrilles in the local supermarket, reading the sign that said Mettez Vous en Vacances! I laughed out loud. “Put Yourself on Vacation,” of course! Only the French would come with an idea like that.

Truly, there is nothing better than watching the French on vacation. They get into it 100%, with the proper costume for each region and for each sport. It seems that people who may be sour and serious the rest of year, turn into, well, children during those long and lazy days of summer vacation.

Come Taste Oysters in Le Canon
A recent tour of the Bassin d’Arcachon along the Atlantic Coast southwest of Bordeaux netted plenty of good time observing the French on vacation, as well as time to savor plenty of the region’s bounty. We began each day in the lively Arcachon market where indoor and outdoor stalls provided plenty of inspiration for an ideal breakfast: The cannelé – or crenulated little rum-filled caramelized cakes from Bordeaux – at the stand of the house of Baillardran beckoned, with not one type of cake, but three perfectly formed, glistening sweets. We sampled them all, of course, the lightly cooked Tendre, the Croustillant, cooked a little bit longer and offering a soft interior and crunchy exterior, and finally the Croquant, a truly dark mahogany color, so crunchy the exterior stuck to our teeth. We took a table right at the edge of the outdoor market, sipped double express and made ourselves part of the French vacation celebration.

Next step, La Route des Saveurs de l’Huitre, a driving tour that can include visits to some 21 port villages, each with its own set of oyster farmers, or ostréicultuers. One can stop for a snack or a whole meal, or just watch the farmers at work, tending the oyster beds. They call themselves paysans de la mer, or farmers of the sea, and that is what they are. Oysters have been harvested here since Roman times, but by 1859 the wild oyster crops was nearly exhausted, and oyster farming began for real.

A House with No Name, in Village de l'Herbe
A tour of the port towns --- with simple, charming names, such as Village de l’Herbe, Canon or Cap Ferret, and hard to pronounce ones such as Claouey and Gujan-Mestras – can easily fill a day or more. Many, such as Village de l’Herbe, Canon and Claouey are big enough for strolling through the rows of tiny, colorful one-room cabanes, or cabins that hug the waters. Most are dolled up with window boxes, bright red or blue trim, and each, of course, has a romantic name, such as Eugenie or Bon Abri. I laughed out loud again I came upon a pristine, newly restored cabane trimmed in red and white brick. Either the owner has a great sense of humor or a total lack of imagination for the house, quite simply, was named with a large question mark!

Each oyster farmer’s shack offers the same “menu,” for eating there or for takeout and prices are uniform and regulated. A dozen oysters will cost from 6 to 11 €, depending upon the size and the season. Our first stop was at the farthest point along the Bassin, the village of Cap Ferret, one of the most chic villages in France, where politicians and film stars make waves, as well as summer homes. Catherine Roux’s little waterside, open air dining room, Cap Huitres, was just what our palates had in mind: Superbly briny oysters opened only seconds before, a few sips of the traditional local white Entre-Deux-Mers, a pleasant enough wine made primarily from the Semillon grape, with a touch of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. At its best, it’s a fruity, zesty, lively dry white that thrives in the company of oysters. Fresh lemon, rye bread, and butter are the traditional accompaniment but here, Catherine Roux came up with what I now refer to as “special bread.” She had sliced the rye bread, buttered it, “glued” the loaf back together so to speak, then cut the loaf crosswise to make for festive, buttery, layered slices.

In other villages, such as Le Canon and Port de Claouey, one finds full-fledged waterside restaurants, such as A La Bonne Franquette and La Cabane d’Edouard in the Port de Claouey. There was no room at the charming Cabane, with real wooden bistro tables and chairs and the general feeling of a successful, well-entrenched eatery. We opted, then, for La Bonne Franquette nearby, a large, totally unpretentious open-air restaurant on the water.
An oyster shack in Le Canon
An Oyster Shack in Le Canon
The spot was true to its name, it was all familial and in true simplicity, white plastic chairs and blue oilcloth lines and all. The food was fabulous, tons of ultra-fresh oysters, some of the plumpest mussels around, and sweet, miniature shrimp from the local waters.

We all learn early on in France to only eat oysters in months that end in an “r”, September to December. Most today agree that the legend has little merit today, as it dates back to the days of Louis XIV and a royal edict forbidding farmers from harvesting wild oysters during the months ending in a “r,” the period of reproduction. During the days before oysters were cultivated, this was done to preserve the resource. That said, the oysters do take on a different color, flavor, and texture during those reproductive times. During this time of year we always ask “Are they milky?” and along the route we did indeed see signs saying “Vente d’Huitres Non Laiteuse.”

Note that while the oyster shacks remain open year-round, one will find the villages more lively and active in the summer months. Off season, one may need to pull up a rock to sit on rather than a chair for oyster sampling, but it’s fresh, one’s 100% outdoors, and on vacation, if only for a few moments.

Canelé Baillardran
Galeries des Grands-Hommes, Bordeaux
Telephone : 05-56-79-05-89.

La Route des Saveurs de l'Huître
www.route-huitre-bassin-arcachon.com.

Cap Huîtres
Catherine Roux
Quartiers des Pêcheurs du Cap Ferret
Telephone: (33) 05-56-60-67-97.

A La Bonne Franquette
Port de Claouey
Lège Cap Ferret
Telephone: 05-56-60-72-06.

Kicking Up Your Heels in Saint Jean de Luz

Saint Jean de Luz, France — If I had to choose one region in France to explore in the greatest depth, it would be the Pays Basque, a colorful stretch of France that hugs the Spanish border. Is it the pristine white houses sporting blazing red shutters and strings of welcoming Basque peppers? Is it the rolling, expansive hills that make you feel as though you and the world could go on forever? Or simply the appealing cuisine, one of the freshest Atlantic fish and shellfish, haunting and mildly spicy Basque peppers, the soothing and rich sheep’s milk cheese, and unpretentious, quaffable wines?

Saint Jean de Luz is my favorite city in the region, a manageable walking town with vast, memorable beaches and just enough to keep one busy but not frazzled for several pleasurable days. Begin the day with a bracing coffee at one of the cafes that surround the village market – on Boulevard Victor Hugo in the center of town – then wend your way through the stalls. Saint Jean de Luz is a major fishing port, so here you’ll see a variety and quality unsurpassed elsewhere in France. Come late August you’ll begin to see the famous strings of red piment d’Espelette, but can solace yourself with the dried version all year long, for seasoning sauces, sprinkling of cheese or wedges of fresh polenta.

I’d hoped to return to an old-time favorite fish restaurant, Arrantzaleak in the village of Ciboure just across the estuary from Saint Jean de Luz, but it was closed. I’d have to wait for another visit to sample the impeccable white albacore tuna grilled over a wood fire. As it turned out, I am glad they were closed, for I might never have discovered chef Georges Piron’s remarkable talent. As I sat down on the sun-filled terrace of Chez Dominique, overlooking the harbor, I had no idea what was in store. Piron, a native of Brittany, knows his fish better than most, and his cuisine has the personality and verve of someone in love with their work. As his tartare of dorade was placed before me, I couldn’t decide whether to dig in or race home to try to recreate it. The dish was a symphony of colors and flavors, with chunky, well-seasoned cubes of fresh dorade (porgy) dotted with miniscule bits of lemon confit and an avalanche of minced chives, then wrapped daintily with filets of freshly cured sardines. A crunchy chickpea galette and a welcoming confit of eggplant and cumin were not simple embellishments, but considered accompaniments.

Just as successful was the filet of Saint Pierre, or John Dory, roasted and served with cubed potatoes showered with a warm saffron vinaigrette, a touch of garlic as well as spicy chorizo. It would be hard to beat his delicate filets of rougets sprinkled with an emulsion of fresh basil and olive oil, served appropriately with a creamy mound of polenta laced with aged Parmesan.

Service here is impeccable and friendly, and it would be hard to find a better wine to pair with Piron’s food than Domaine Brana’s white Irouléguy, an obscure white from the region that wine writer Jancis Robinson calls “the essence of spring in a bottle.” I’ll second that, for this citrusy, finely acidic wine – vinified from Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng variety of grapes – seems to be in love with fish and shellfish.

Come dinner time, after a long walk on the beach and a stroll through the fine walking streets of the city, reserve a table on the sidewalk at Le Kaïku, a colorful spot on the pedestrian rue de la République right down from the beach. Here, in a 16th century house, one of the oldest in town, owner Serge Latchère runs a neat, tight ship. The place sizzles with energy, and the helpful staff helps make dining at Le Kaiku a memorable experience. We began our sunset hour dinner with plump and briny oysters from d’Oléron up the Atlantic coast, along with a perfect tartine of finely cured fresh anchovies. But it was the tuna tartare that made me want to don my new pair of black espadrilles stamped with the red piment d’Espelette and kick up my heels. A perfect fish tartare is a sheer culinary feat and one that is rarely perfection. The fish of course must be ultra-fresh, that goes without saying. But go overboard on the seasoning and you’ve completely lost it. Go timid with seasoning you have nothing but a bland mess. Le Kaiku’s version was sheer perfection, tiny cubes of tuna studded with chives and the gentle crunch of finely minced shallots. The fish was clearly not ‘cooked” by the seasoning, but left one with a fine hint of acidity. Your palate retains the clear, vibrant flavors of the sea with just a tiny boost of texture and punch. As may plate was being cleared, I looked up at the waitress and asked, hopefully, “Of course you sometimes give this recipe away to grateful diners, don’t you?” She replied as though she’d had to do so many times, and just laughed, “Even I don’t know the secret.” At home later, I think I came pretty close, showering the mixture at the last moment with a touch of sherry wine vinegar and of course a touch of the famed piment d’Espelette.

Perfect slices of local farm sheep’s milk cheese made a fine ending, along with sips of the local acidic and light Jurancon sec from Domaine Bru Baché, made from those obscure grapes such as Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Corbu. Light and straw-colored, the wine is full of exotic citrus flavors, with gentle notes of honey.

Chez Dominique
15 quai Maurice Ravel
64500 Ciboure
Telephone: 05 59 47 29 16.

Closed Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday. About 45 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Le Kaiku
17 rue de la République
64500 Saint Jean de Luz
Telephone : 05 59 26 13 20.

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. About 40 euros per person, including service but not wine.

A Take of Two Worlds in Provence

Le Sambuc, France – As we were driving home from a recent lunch at La Chassagnette – the only totally organic Michelin-starred restaurant in France – my companion acclaimed: “That meal would have been intolerable if the food hadn’t been so interesting.”

It was my second visit to this lost-in-the-country spot just outside of Arles, and my love-hate relationship was growing. I’d been to dinner once before and the food was, yes, very interesting. But when I was served raw lamb and was told “That’s the way we eat it in France,” I almost lost control.

La Chassagnette has all the qualities that would make me the most enthusiastic customer: A huge, raised organic garden, a bread oven and giant spit for roasting, a country décor straight out of the latest decorating magazine, and food you won’t find anywhere else. For good and for bad.

As the two of us arrived that Friday for lunch, we were seated at the edge of a table for 12 on the large, shaded terrace. The awkwardness began there.

“Would you like a sangria,” the waiter asked. Sangria in Provence? I don’t think so. We asked instead to see the wine list and were told we’d have to see Sebastian. Since then we refer to the lunch as Waiting for Sebastian.

La Chassagnette has no written menu. Instead they bring you food. And bring and bring. Almost everything is aesthetically presented, in canning jars or cast iron casseroles, with festive napkins wrapped around the handles. We asked and asked for Sebastian but he was busy chatting up a pair of gentlemen at the next table. We were on about our fourth of many courses before he deemed to let us view the wine list. When our wine finally arrived – a fine white Puech-Haut from the Languedoc – Sebastian corrected my pronunciation of the wine, enunciating the name five times to make sure I understood.

The parade of food began with a tapenade on toast; a collection of sorry-looking radishes set in a canning jar; gloriously delicious deep-fried beet chips; and a collection of battered and fried fare, including zucchini, zucchini blossoms, and carrots. Perhaps the best dish of the day was a giant, open-faced sandwich of thinly shaved vegetables and herbs, with bright blue borage flowers, baby zucchini, thinly sliced young artichokes, lots of fresh coriander leaves, cucumbers, and olives.

Then came what we now call Moules Shapiro. As the waitress set a giant bowl of steamed mussels before us, she said “Moules Chipiron,” but my companion heard Shapiro. There were very few chipiron, or baby squid, but the dish was a winner, with plump, steamed mussels teamed up with strips of tasty chorizo sausage.

The small bowl of cubed tuna, peas, and fava beans made me think of dishes I create as I am cleaning out the refrigerator, as did the excellent cream of sardines topped with shavings of crisp, raw cauliflower. A giant green salad, aggressively dressed with a tangy vinaigrette made my head tingle. But when we found ourselves without utensils and requested a knife and fork we were told, “Eat it with your fingers.” And so went our day.

Only two days before we headed to Marseille for a celebratory bouillabaisse lunch. And the experience at Michel, Brasserie des Catalans, could not have been more of a contrast. Walking into the restaurant was like walking into a time warp. The average age of the diners must have been about 80, with plenty of well-coiffed matrons who clearly knew their way around the place. Since 1946 Michel has hosted locals and tourists alike, and by the looks of the fading snapshots lining the walls, also it’s share of French celebrities.

Bouillabaisse is one of France’s most iconic dishes, and this Mediterranean fish soup and Marseille are inseparable. It’s a crude dish that probably began as a way for the city’s fishermen to use up unsellable fish and fish scraps trapped in their nets. Today it is a dish filled with ceremony, pomp and ritual.

At the Michelin-starred Chez Michel, that begins with a waiter parading a platter of whole fish to your table for your approval. There were those at our table who doubted the fish was fresh, their dull cloudy eyes were the telltale. While early day bouillabaisse was probably nothing more than fish boiled in sea water, today’s version consists of a stock made of fish bones, enriched with onions, orange peel, leeks, fennel, tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and saffron. (I am told that historically in Provence every vegetable garden had a patch of crocus bulbs for supplying each household with enough saffron to prepare a proper bouillabaisse.) The mixture is boiled and passed through a food mill to create a rather granular stock. Then the saffron, potatoes, and fish fillets are cooked in that liquid. Chez Michel’s version was fine, though we all commented that today our palates are so accustomed to raw fish or fish that’s barely cooked, we are a bit startled by the texture of fish that’s been boiled to death. But the ritual is fine one, spreading spoonfuls of spicy garlic sauce known as rouille onto toast rounds that are floated in the golden broth, devouring slices of potato, and plenty of that boiled fish, sipping chilled rose, and taking part in the mythic feast.

La Chassagnette
13200 Le Sambuc
Telephone: 04 90 97 26 96

Closed all day Tuesday and Wednesday at lunch. 37 € lunch menu, 60 € dinner menu.

Chez Michel
Brasserie des Catalans
6 rue Catalans
13007 Marseille
Telephone: 04 91 52 30 63

Open daily. From 45 to 75 € per person, including service but not wine.

A Trio of Australian Treasures

Melbourne, Australia — In my lifetime as a left-handed diner, only three restaurants in the world have taken note, quietly transferring tableware to my left, to make dining a bit more comfortable. The first was Taillevent in Paris, the second was Lai Ching Heen at the Regent Hotel in Hong Kong, the third the famed Chinese restaurant, Flower Drum, in downtown Melbourne.

Flower Drum is often called the greatest Chinese restaurant in the world, famed for its gigantic King Island crab meat (monsters that weigh up to 8 kilos) and some of the finest Peking Duck to be found on this planet. The elegant restaurant, filled with Chinese antiques in a warm, classic setting, is also known for its consistency.

The brainchild of now-retired Gilbert Lau. The restaurant is now in the hands of longtime chef Anthony Liu, who oversees a well-trained brigade in his long, narrow kitchen, a spot abuzz with searing woks and a quartet of chefs who roll by hand each and every pancake to wrap around the outstanding Peking Duck.

The landmark, 25-year-old restaurant has a refreshing, old-fashioned air, and is often filled with regulars who come for the duck and lemon chicken. We began our feast with a trio of dim sum-style dumplings, a delicate, moist crab dim sum wrapped in the thinnest of pastry, crab-rich and steaming hot, ready for dipping into a sublime, ginger-laced vinegar sauce. The food here not only stands the test of time, but sets itself aside for its high standards of excellence: A case in point is the fantastic local scallop dumpling, feathery, delicate, and seasoned with a fiery, first-rate XO sauce. These, along with a fat shrimp dumpling seems right at home with the chilled, nicely acidic Pipers Brook Chardonnay from the island of Tasmania.

Drunken squab followed, deep and dense poultry meat paired with the most delicious mung bean pasta, all slippery, spicy, full-flavored. Plump Tasmanian oysters were teamed up with spicy vermicelli, all chewy, briny, and spicy, well matched with the 2002 Australian Katumara Chardonnay, lightly touched with a kiss of oak. There’s no question that Flower Drum’s Peking Duck is among the finest in the world, with those hand rolled pancakes steamed tableside, filled with slivers of young 12 to 16-week old local ducks, carefully raised to be moist, and less fatty than most. As the restaurant’s able wine steward, Thomas Chung, notes “We send our ducks to the gym!” A perfect wine match for the duck is the young-vine pinot noir from the Australian Yabby Lake Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula, vintage 2002.

A finale of whole steamed trout – rich and almost cod-like in texture – was not only gorgeous but delicious, topped with a colorful sauce of fresh coriander leaf and plenty of garlic.

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Momo

The first time I met Melbourne chef Greg Malouf and was introduced to his signature modern Middle Eastern cuisine, I knew I had a culinary soul mate.

What was there not to love about chickpea battered zucchini flowers served on a cumin-braised lentil salad? Or sage-fried potatoes with sour cream and cumin salt; or Greek-spiced roast rabbit with a warm salad of crushed saffron potatoes and olives spiced with a touch of cubed Armenian sausages. It’s food with a history, a purpose, an audience, gently massaged and updated for the way we want to eat today.

In his cozy and elegant downtown Melbourne restaurant, Momo, Malouf serves food with a distinct personality and plenty of flair. What I love is that all the ingredients are quite familiar to anyone who loves Middle Eastern fare, but no one puts the pieces of the puzzle together like he does.

My hand’s down favorite of a recent weekday was his colorful vegetarian main course, brought to table in a colorful terrine. In the 60’s we might have called it a vegetable casserole, but the combination and melding of flavors were pure ambrosia, a finely tuned blending of soft squares of Moroccan-baked eggplant, chickpeas, artichokes and goat’s milk cheese, anointed and united with a bright golden poached egg on top.

I loved as well the idea of the Greek-spiced rabbit, teamed up with a colorful and fragrant salad of saffron-infused cubed potatoes, chunks of sausage and a nice dose of olives.

The zucchini flowers were golden and perfectly fried in a thin chickpea batter and stuffed with the Greek cheese, haloumy. The accompanying cumin-braised lentil salad was typical of Malouf’s ability to create deep, intense flavors from simple ingredients, lifting lowly lentils to grandeur, assisting them with a complex blend of tomatoes, onions, olives, lemons, thyme, and parsley.

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The Red Emperor

At lunch time each day The Red Emperor – a bright and modern Chinese restaurant with a panoramic view of Melbourne’s skyline and the Yarra river with its well-tended walkways --- serves up what is considered the city’s finest dim sum feast. The menu includes no less than 100 different dim sum delicacies, with a few specialties, such as fried garlic prawn dumplings and cheese-baked scallops available only on Sundays.

But a weekday lunch feast was plenty for me, with a sampling of more than a dozen painstakingly prepared Chinese snacks, including ethereally light pork and prawn-filled dumplings, all crispy and not a touch greasy, made for dipping in their fiery XO sauce. Sesame-topped barbecued pork dumplings were fashioned from Chinese lard-based puff pastry; while I’d give five stars to their dumplings filled with a generous mix of scallops, chives, and prawns. The mastery of the chefs was shown in their crystal dumplings, made with gluten-free flour, and showing at least nine pleats in the tiny, almost see-through pastry, here filled with a classic shrimp mixture. At dessert, the flakey, light pastry reappeared, the name of a heaven-sent custard tart. Diners have a choice of choosing piping hot items from the rolling trolleys, or ordering from the vast menu, all the while enjoying the sun-kissed view of the river, listening to soothing Chinese classical music as they feast.

Flower Drum
17 Market Lane, Melbourne
Telephone: 61 3 9662 3655.

Open for lunch Monday through Saturday, dinner daily.

Momo
Basement 115 Collins Street, Melbourne
Telephone: 61 3 9650 0660
Web: www.momorestaurant.com.au.

Open for lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday.

The Red Emperor
UR3, upper level
3 Southgate Avenue, Southbank
Telephone: 61 3 9699 4170
Web: www.redemperor.com.au

Open daily. Dim sum at lunch only.

Good Tastes, Great Sips, in Burgundy

Pernand Vergelesses, France – It’s the dream of any wine-loving traveler to rest à table in a famed wine village, overlooking the mythic vineyards in their peak of health, sipping that wine.

And if that’s your dream, then the pleasant little family restaurant, La Charlemagne in the Burgundian village of Pernand Vergelesses, is for you. Here, the youthful Burgundian chef-owner, Laurent Peugeot, and his Japanese wife Hiroko, have created a cheery modern oasis, offering well-priced, clean and modern fare, with a selection of local wines that will more than satisfy one’s cravings.

We sampled the bargain 22 € menu, that included a sparkling fresh, delightfully creative starter of cubed herring and cubed avocado, set in a small glass and tossed with a brilliant red beet mousse. The colors were as alive as the flavors, a fine play of textures, of salty and sweet. A main course “millefeuille” of salmon was in fact very lightly smoked strips of salmon filled with a soothing, warm creation of ultra-thinly sliced leeks that had been cooked long and slow to a melting tenderness.

The bread was truly crusty and delicious, and the giant crock of local Fromage fort – a fiery, spicy, devilish mixture of fresh cheese, black pepper and white wine – made the palate tingle. Here I discovered winemaker Philippe Delarche’s stunning 2002 white Burgundy, Pernand-Vergelesses, deliciously priced at 31 euros. (A visit to the winemaker’s cellar later in the day found that the 2002 had all been sold, so if you want some, you’ll have to hunt.) The wine was textbook perfect, pure chardonnay, a brilliant balance of fruit, acid, and alcohol, aromatic and soulfully satisfying.

Sushi lovers will be happy to know that the couple has installed a Japanese chef in a brand new sushi bar in Beaune (Sushi-kai, 50 Faubourg Saint Nicolas, Beaune, Telephone 03 80 24 02 87.)

I wish that more winemakers would look at what Olivier Leflaive and family have been doing for the past 10 years: In the center of the charming village of Puligny-Montrachet they run a down-to-earth little restaurant/tasting room – lunch only from March to the end of November – where everyone is put into a good mood by the outgoing and informative host and hostess, Pascal Wagner and Marie-Chantal Dubois. You can’t not love a place where they serve you tastes of everything from Chassagne-Montrachet to Meursault 1er Cru, on to Volnay and Pommard.

By 1 pm each afternoon the small rectangular dining room with ochre walls, bared oak-topped tables and modern tile floors rings with the sounds of good times. At one table a group of Australians discuss their annual tour of French vineyards, while at another a group well-dressed Englishmen are all seriousness, tasting with care and attention, all the while discussing the merits and demerits of current cult wine films Sideways and Mondovino.

English, in fact, seems to be the favored language here, and both Pascal and Marie-Chantal can not only carefully explain – in English – the merits of each and every wine, but also the gorgeous selection of cheeses offered at the end of the meal. The fare may well include soothing chicken cooked in “yesterday’s” white wine (“No cream, no eggs, no milk”, Marie will tell you), served with an avalanche of vegetables. The bread is outstanding and it’s hard to keep your hands off the fresh and crusty morsels.

The Hostellerie de Levernois, in the center of a four-hectare park lush with willows, ash trees and giant cedars, is a little slice of paradise. The birds are so chirpy you think you might be hearing a canned recording. The air is so still you want to hold your breath.

We arrived on a sunny evening just in time for a champagne on the terrace, surrounded by those sturdy trees and a bevy of well-schooled wait staff that seemed to be there Just For You.

The establishment has recently been taken over by Susanne and Jean-Louis Bottigiero, and a new chef, Vincent Maillard, who attained Michelin star status while chef at Alain Ducasse’s Bastide de Moustier.

In short, everything here should make it a perfect experience. I have absolutely no complaint about the service, wine, bread, or cheese course, all excellent, but the food, ingredient after ingredient lacked luster, freshness, flavor, verve. I hope it was just an off night in the kitchen, but it’s rare for a place on which so much care and attention have been showered for the food to take a back seat.

We sample two outstanding wines here, including Domaine Joseph Drouhin’s 2001 Beaune Clos des Mouches, 51 euros, an lush, rich Chardonnay that is so full of minerals you want to just stop, sniff, and sip. Equally thrilling was Domaine Hubert Lamy’s 2003 Saint Aubin, Clos de la Chatenaire, 69 euros, also full of tasty mineral flavors and a nose of ripened pears.

The restaurant – two bright dining rooms that are clean and classic but could use a bit of an overhaul – is spacious and lovely, and worth a visit if only for the wine list, bread, and the outstanding cheese tray. You have to stop yourself to not sample one of each cheese, and as we found all over Burgundy detailed information is offered with each and every one. Two new cheese to sample include young goat cheese from Nuits Saint George, one soft and creamy and aged in a saumure, or salt bring, another aged in the fiery marc, the clear alcohol of Burgundy.

Le Charlemagne
Route de Vergelesses
21240 Pernand Vergelesses
Telephone : 03 80 21 51 45
Web: www.lecharlemagne.fr

Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. 22 € weekday lunch menu. Other menus at 34, 41, 54, and 70 euros. A la carte, 60 to 70 euros.

Olivier Leflaive Freres
Place du Monument
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Telephone: 03 80 21 37 65
Fax: 03 80 21 33 94
Web: www.olivier-leflaive.com

Open for lunch only, Monday through Saturday, from March 1st to November 30th. 38 € menu with 10 € supplement from 1er Cru tasting.

Hostellerie de Levernois
Route de Verdun sur le Doubs, Levernois
21200 Beaune
Telephone: 03 80 24 73 58
Fax: 03 80 22 78 00
Web: www.levernois.com

Menus at 65, 80, and 98 euros. A la carte, 85 euros.

The Cutting Edge in Paris

PARIS – Anyone seeking the height of food fashion in the capital today would do well to visit three of the city’s most solid, appealing restaurants: Joël Robuchon’s La Table de Joël Robuchon, Le Pré Catelan, and Pierre Gagnaire. Several recent meals at all three give diners a perfect example of what’s cutting edge today, not to mention, where to go to find food that’s truly satisfying.

LA TABLE

From the whipped foie gras starter to the strawberry heaven dessert, La Table verged on culinary perfection. A seemingly simple opener of whipped foie gras in a tiny glass, topped with a concentrated, reduced port sauce and a Parmigiano-Reggiano foam was quiet music for the palate, a soothing blend of tart and sweet, soft and gentle, a first taste that just makes you want to go on for more.

The now classic Table dish of crabmeat with avocado cream arrived as a bright and fashionable statement in red, white, and black: The ethereal combination is tucked into a shiny white egg on a jet black volcanic rock stone, offset by a red lacquer spoon. Too pretty to eat? Not at all, the pleasure to the eye just precedes the pleasure on the palate.

Young chef Frédéric Simonin is sure-footed, as is the restaurants director and longtime Robuchon sommelier Antoine Hernandez, sure to find you just the right wine to highlight the experience. If all I found on the last visit was the outstanding Pouilly-Fuissé Les Carrons 2002 from the vineyards of Robert Denogent, the trip would have been well worth it. Denogent - who fittingly describes his wine as “Zen-like” - makes one of the most perfect textbook white Burgundies, a wine from old vines and aged in new oak, the epitome of pure Chardonnay with just the right balance of acid and fruit, a long finish and a food-friendly wine that seems to shake hands with what’s on the plate.

The most exceptional dish of the evening included all of my favorite foods: plump green asparagus, tiddly winks of white and black truffles, fresh morel mushrooms and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano. The dish was warm, spring-fresh, and rich, united by a drizzle of deeply colored, reduced meat juices.

Both simple and sublime, a serving of fresh sea bass, or bar, cooked à la unilateral – seared on the skin side only, but cooked evenly through – was firm, moist, cloud-like, and heavenly, flanked by tiny ravioli that resembled sliced rolls of sushi maki, some filled with red tomato, others with green olives. Original, fun, light, and delicious.

Near the end of the meal, strawberry heaven came in the form of a multiberry sorbet, a mix of fresh raspberries and strawberries all separated by glass-like sugar fence. My only disappointment was the chocolate dessert topped by a strange saffron foam.

PRE CATELAN

Chef Frédéric Anton and the staff at the classic Le Pré Catelan are all in top form, as the menu continues to reflect the riches of the season, all the while allowing the chef – a former Robuchon second – to demonstrate his creativity and innovation. Reserve a table on the flower-filled terrace or in the dining room filled at lunch time with the most flattering natural light, and you won’t be disappointed. One can almost always be sure to find his rendition of deep-fried langoustines (a Robuchon classic), here served on a crisp folded napkin, offset by a festive, deep-fried Romaine lettuce leaf and served with a bowl of Romaine lettuce gaspacho, as well as paprika-flavored whipped cream, for dipping the rich, crunchy, ethereal wonders.

Anton manages to create surprising combinations, as in his pan-fried fresh morels set in a purée of celery root and cinnamon, all topped with a tempura of tiny fried garlic flowers. Equally energizing is his rectangle of fresh turbot, set in a bed of watercress pesto, topped with pine nuts and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

On one visit he surprised us with the tenderest, most perfect trio of lamb chops, set on a black stone and served with a gorgeous herb bouquet – fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley – elegantly and beautifully entwined on a trio of bamboo skewers. Who said food is not fashion?

The wine list here offers some real treats: Try the rich, creamy, full-bodied 100% Chenin Blanc Montlouis Sec from the Loire Valley, the Cuvee Remus 2000 from Taille aux Loups, at 64 € ; the seldom-found in France, Austrian Gruner Veltliner 2000, a mineral-rich, spicy and muscular wine from the house of Kellerberg, priced at 58 € ; the 100% Syrah Languedoc Domain de Thou, at 64 €; and Geantet-Pansiot’s 100% Pinot Noir Marsannay Champperdrix 2002, full of the flavor of red cherries, at 66 €.

PIERRE GAGNAIRE

Pierre Gagnaire’s energy never stops. His table offers more creativity and innovation in a single meal that most chefs offer in an entire year. Granted, the results are not always perfect, and you have to come to his soothing, grey-toned dining room to Pay Attention to the food or you’ll be mired in confusion and probably walk away with asking “What was that all about?”

I always tell people to just sit back, relax, and enjoy. Don’t try to make notes or try to remember everything you ate, or you’ll be sure to depart in a cloud of confusion. Just go, savor the moment, trust me.

Gagnaire IS audacious. Who else would tempt you, lure you, make you fall in love with a simple giant raspberry rolled in sugar? Or a single wild strawberry, or fraise de bois, set on a wooden spoon? Gagnaire makes us sit up and take notice, become reverent in front of two of nature’s most perfect, most beautiful, full-flavored fruits. Pop the single morsels in your mouth and you wonder why we cook at all!

His starter of a hot seared ball of foie gras served with a tiny square of Japanese dried seaweed is another special moment: a miniature mouthful that offers big-time pleasure.

He almost lost me on the caramelized popcorn at one lunch, but why not have fun while we’re at it?

But Gagnaire was dead serious with his tiny clams fried in polenta and set on a bed of mushroom purée; wowed us with a Mediterranean fish flan served with a slice of monkfish cooked in tandoori spices; and made us all sit up and take notice with his tiny serving of grated coconut paired with bits of cauliflower, all linked with a purée of celery root.

Gagnaire has done away with the cheese trolley and now serves a single amazing plate of many different tastes. On one visit, the offering included a thin slice of rich cow’s milk Beaufort set on a dab of almond cream, and a slice of cow’s milk blue Fourme d’Ambert set on a slice of raw pear. Another time, the cheese plate included a dollop of fresh goat’s milk cheese topped with a red beet sauce; a single soft mound of creamy Fourme d’Ambert; a slice of Beaufort on a slice of crispy buckwheat bread; and a welcome trio of pears, including a slice of fresh pear, a paper-thin slice of dried pear, and a dollop of pear purée.

Service here is always discreet and professional, and the wine list, as well, a treasure trove to discover. Recent loves include the rich and full-bodied 100% pinot noir champagne Egly Ouriet Blanc de Noir priced at 98 € ; Vincent Dauvissat’s flinty, flowery, 2000 Chablis, at 55 €; Olivier Guyot’s 100% Pinot Noir Marsannay La Montagne 2002 at € 69; and the 100% Chenin Blanc Montlouis Les Choisilles 2002 from François Chidaine at 52 €. And if you are celebrating and want to do it up right, order the 1995 vintage Gosset Célebris, Gosset’s jewel in the crown, an aromatic champagne, well-balanced and full of finesse, dominated by the pinot noir grape and priced at 145 € .

La Table de Joël Robuchon
16, avenue Bugeaud
Paris 16
Telephone: 01 56 28 16 16
Fax: 01 56 28 16 78

Open daily. About 100 euros per person, including service but not wine.

Le Pré Catelan
Bois du Boulogne
Paris 16
Telephone: 01 44 14 41 14
Fax : 01 45 24 43 25
Web: www.lenotre.fr.

Closed Sunday and Monday (except for summer months.) 135 € lunch menu. A la carte, 120 to 140 € , including service but not wine.

Pierre Gagnaire
6 rue Balzac
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 58 36 12 50
Fax: 01 58 36 12 51
Email: p.gagnaire@wanadoo.fr
Web: www.pierregagnaire.com

Closed Saturday, Sunday lunch, holidays, and mid-July to mid-August. 90 € lunch menu. A la carte, 200 to 300 € including service but not wine.

High Style in Shanghai

SHANGHAI – If I could hop on a plane tomorrow, it would be to Shanghai. A few months ago I made my third visit in 25 years, and oh has that place changed. Everything from the airport to high-rises boasts of the biggest and the best, and the glittery city has lots to go before it fizzles. And the food is among the most exciting in Asia today. From classic Chinese to trendy modern fare, the city offers something for everyone.

WHAMPOA CLUB

It’s been a long time since I got up from the table after dining in a restaurant and whispered to myself, “genius.” But there’s surely a touch of that talent in the young, sure-footed Hong Kong-born Jereme Leung, executive chef at Whampoa Club, the bright, expansive Art Deco-style restaurant in the popular Three on the Bund complex in Shanghai.

If there are revolutions in contemporary Chinese cooking today, then it is the gifted, ambitious chefs such as Jereme that will serve as the leaders. His food is not fusion, it is not confusion, it is not all about avocadoes and papayas with raw tuna. It’s good, honest, Chinese fare that’s been given a facelift, an update, a new look with no sacrifice in flavor. In fact, it’s more like a upgrade to first class.

On one weekday dinner, chef Leung prepared a multicourse tasting menu that highlighted some of his greatest hits, many of them classic Shanghai dishes to which he’s given a personal, well-studied touch. Most of his small treasures arrive in threes, set in bowls or dishes or cups on crisp white rectangular plates, each offering tiny tastes and massive pleasures.

It was hairy crab season, so we began with the classic drunken crab, a breathtaking preparation that tasted like nothing I’ve ever sampled before, sweet, creamy with the crab roe, raw, and utterly exotic. Alongside, he offered crunchy golf-ball sized glutinous rice rounds stuffed with fresh crab meat, all pretty, crunchy, delicate, delicious. Alongside, Jereme offered a moist preparation of drunken chicken, in which the chicken is poached in a rich broth that is traditionally used for other purposes. Here, the chef chose to turn the broth into a stunning, soothing, golden ice.

His food does not always walk the straight, narrow, and traditional. So he’ll slip in a giant, pillow-like deep-fried prawn that is bathed in a thankfully understated wasabi sauce, all gorgeous, crunchy, soft, and vibrant tasting. In another dish, soft hairy crab meat and sea urchin meet in a delicate egg shell, laced with a touch of black vinegar. Alongside, a warm, deep-fried hairy crab dumpling serves as a fine, firm, contrast in this parade of tempting seasonal treats.

Gorgeous is the word to describe his presentation of foie gras, dates and celery, cutting edge food that offers welcome bits of bliss. A finale of generous portions of fresh crab in the shell laced with tomatoes; followed by sparkling fresh black cod with spring onions made for a perfect close on a stunning meal. When you go, sample the fine South African Sauvignon Blanc, Shiny Blade, 368 Nederberg 2003.

Whampoa Club
No. 3 on the Bund, 4th floor
3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road
Shanghai
Telephone: 8621-6321 3737
Web: www.threeonthebund.com and www.jeremeleung.com.

CRYSTAL JADE

What is it about a stack of Chinese bamboo steaming baskets, rich with the golden-brown color of age, coming down the aisle towards me that makes me just smile with glee. Dim sum, one of Asia’s greatest treats of little moist tidbits stuffed with all manner of delicacies, is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest culinary creations.

Sunday lunch in Asia is the perfect moment for a dim sum dumpling feast so we reserved our table and stood in line at the bustling Crystal Jade, a modern, casual restaurant in the newly restored Xintiandi section of old Shanghai.

There are no frills here, but the place is lively and efficient in the way the Chinese manage to move great numbers of people in and out of a restaurant with break-neck speed. Quite simply, this was just some of the finest, most delicate versions of dim sum I’ve ever sampled. The ultra thin-skinned Shanghai pork dumplings arrived steaming and beautiful, oozing with rich stock. It took some fancy dancing with the chopsticks not to break them before they were dipped in black vinegar, ready to devour with careful, delicate bites. The thicker-skinned Beijing pork dumplings were sturdier but no less delicious; while the sublime crab-stuffed dumplings were sheer, feathery, light and elegant in their simplicity.

I couldn’t stop myself from ordering, as well, the vegetarian bean curd in spicy sauce, a truly ethereal dish, all pillow-like and laced with garlic, perfect tiny cubes of carrots, and just the right dose of hot sauce to send me on my blissful way.

Crystal Jade Restaurant
Unit 2F, 12-AB
House 6-7, South block Xintiandi
Lane 123 Xinye Road
Telephone: 86 21 6385 8572.

JEAN GEORGES

Restaurant Jean Georges is probably the most Must Visit restaurant in the most Must Visit cities in the world. Like the Whampoa Club, it is situated in a stately 1920’s-era restored bank building with sweeping views of the river, now called Huanpu. The restaurant has been open since last April and the buzz refuses to stop.

French-born chef Jean-George Vongerichten, is a brand-name chef, with outposts all over the world, including New York, Las Vegas, London, and Hong Kong. I can’t say we had a great experience on our Saturday evening visit. Requesting a table for 8 pm we were told we should come at 9 pm and there would be a wait at the bar. Sounds like New York city all over again.

Once inside the dark, noisy, glamorous spot, I felt as though I was in an eerie night club, not a bustling restaurant. We were ushered from handler to handler, then seated at the bar, handed a complimentary drink (the waitress was not sure what was in it, but thought maybe vodka and cranberry juice and something else), offered a bowl full of greasy popcorn, palate-numbing wasabi-seasoned nuts, and left on our own. A bit of hand waving got us yet another waitperson who said maybe our table was ready.

As we entered the dining room it was half empty and it was clear that an 8 pm table would have been no problem at all.. Clearly that sort of attitude does not pave the way for a fine and happy dining experience.

The brief menu is appealing. Jean Georges has one of the most international palates around, knows his food, and knows what appeals on the plate. I could have ordered a dozen different appealing dishes, such as the crackling sea scallops with cucumber mango salad; the steamed shrimp salad with avocado and tomato; or the lobster in a spiced broth with a 17th century chutney.

Instead, I chose the crispy crab cake in cucumber and lime, a moist, generous, delicious starter marred only by the fact that it was served in an oversized soup bowl that made me feel I was eating out of a dog bowl. What’s wrong with a normal plate?

Equally welcoming – and served off a normal plate, thank you – was the crispy fried squid salad, with papaya, cashews, and a spicy sour dressing. I loved this dish, a perfect counterpoint of breaded baby squid, perfectly fried, set off by the soothing and smooth cool papaya slices and the crunchy, salty cashews. Likewise, the king fish sashimi with a Muscat grape jelly offered true satisfaction. But the veal tenderloin with smoked chili glaze fell flat: It was badly conceived and tasted like something that had come off a steam table. Spicy and interesting? No, just flabby and dull slabs of meat.

All this said, I didn’t feel as though I had to go to Shanghai to sample this food. It could just as well have been New York, Las Vegas, London, Hong Kong. That’s the point. Jean Georges has become a branded chef, just like Armani is the branded designer of the moment, with a glitzy shop on the ground floor.

Jean Georges
No. 3 on the Bund, 4th floor
3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road
Shanghai
Telephone 86 21 6321 7733.

GUYI HUNAN RESTAURANT

If you like spice, then reserve a table (and expect to wait in line) at the modern, simple Hunan restaurant, a large family place that will nearly sizzle your nostrils just walking in the door. Not much English is spoken here, but sign language should get you what you want. And if you like hot, do order the fiery hot pot chicken with bamboo, arriving sizzling in a big black pot, ready to devour with bits of steaming rice and beer or the serviceable French vin de pays d’Oc Chardonnay or Merlot. Pork lovers will dig into the giant portions of pork ribs coated with chili and garlic. For starters, try the cold chicken with chili oil (a meal all on its own), or the soothing pickled cucumbers, there to put out a bit of the fire.

Guyi Hunan Restaurant
1F Jufu Building
No 87, Fumin Road
Shanghai
Telephone: 62 49 56 28.

Highs Notes and Low Notes in Hong Kong

HUTONG - Local critics denigrate the new, trendy restaurant Hutong, saying that it’s a place for the view but not the food. Since I don’t live in Hong Kong, I feel that I can disagree. The view is spectacular, even if you are not eating, but the food plus the view makes 2 plus 2 equal 10.

There’s a lot of attitude here, for sure, from the time you call. It’s the old New York City trick, offering either a table at 6 PM or 10 PM. Who wants to eat then? After a bit of insisting, you get your table at the hour you want it. And once you arrive, the attitude calms, and if you are five or six diners, as we were, you are ushered to a private room, with a spectacular view of the harbor and all the lights of the grand high rise buildings, and you feel, already, as though you’ve paid the price of admission, and are content.

Sitting there, drinking a very crisp and very chilled French Chardonnay from the south of France, we feasted on some spectacular and super spicy fare: The two best dishes of the evening were a first course dish of razor clams in a spicy sauce, the best razor clams I ever tasted, except at the hands of chef Joel Robuchon. They were moist, meaty, festive and fun to eat, whole morsels of protein and denseness, good.

We ate a lot of dishes that night, from lobster to chicken, crab to shredded pumpkin and potato, but the other best dish of the night – no contest here – was the crispy de-boned lamb ribs. Hold your breathe here, these are fatty ribs, but the kind of fat you want to wrap your mouth around, chew and digest, inhale, adore. A new dish, something we are not familiar with, something we can think about going home and making: lamb, spice, moist, fun.

Throughout the evening , we felt part of the restaurant but not too close, part of the city, but not too close. This is the magic of Hong Kong, for you are a member of the club, but also apart from it all.

Hutong
28/F One Peking Road
Tsimshatsui
Hong Kong
Telephone: 3428 8342
Email: huntong@aqua.com.hk
Web: www.aqua.com.hk

Open daily. All major credit cards.
Highs Notes and Low Notes in Hong Kong

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VICTORIA CITY SEAFOOD - Ten years ago, when I was assigned to judge the world’s best restaurants – 10 top tables and 10 casual dining spots – the welcoming Victoria City Seafood was near the top of my list of casual eateries. After a recent midday feast at this bustling Chinese banquet-style restaurant in an aging shopping mall, I’d still put it up there. The restaurant never disappoints, and makes us all fall in love once more with the delicate, sophisticated, easy to love flavors and textures of Chinese fare.

While you pursue the varied menus here – I always go for the extraordinary dim sum – take notice of the warm, crispy, deep golden miniature fried fish, with just the right amount of salt to stimulate your appetite.

As ever, I had to stop myself from ordering a second bamboo basket full of my favorite of all dishes here, the moist, Shanghai-style hairy crab dumplings, so fragile that the waiter escorts each tender morsel from steaming basket to white china bowl, allowing each diner to douse the feather-like dumplings with the rich, fragrant, gingered vinegar. The dumplings burst in your mouth, ooze with delicate but determined flavor of the seasonal crab, creating a sort of festive party in your mouth.

Colors, flavors, textures here are varied, from the tiny deep-fried vegetarian spring rolls, all crispy and golden, and minute enough to pop each morsel in your mouth in the daintiest of fashions. The warm, egg-shaped steamed vegetable dumplings were exquisite, an artful mix of perfectly diced bits of mushrooms and water chestnuts, made me happy that I was not in the kitchen laboring over these elegant morsels. I was perhaps most surprised by the mild, silken steamed rice rolls (more like rice powder crepes) rolled like a cigar --- here a blend of dried diced scallops and shredded ham -- and arriving layered topped with a rich and elegant XO sauce. The Shanghai-style Yellow Bridge Pastry arrived like tiny sesame-topped hamburger buns, only more elegant, a yeasty warm bun stuffed with tender bits of well-seasoned minced meat.

Victoria City Seafood never disappoints, and since the big round tables are always packed with families covering multiple generations, the energy of the room will carry you along all on its own.

Victoria City Seafood
2/F Hung Kai Centre
30 Harbour Road
Wan Chai
Hong Kong
Telephone: 2828 9938

Open daily. All major credit cards.

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BO - It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve been in a restaurant that was preceded with such a hype and offered so little. Bo – also known as Bo Innoseki – is the unrivaled restaurant of the moment in Hong Kong, touted by international critics as the El Bulli of the Asia, in reference to the unparalled Spanish restaurant north of Barcelona. Such comparisons are a bit like saying that Kentucky Fried Chicken is on par with a restaurant run by Joel Robuchon.

Rather than the adjectives of “dazzling, innovative, and creative” I would say “unsophisticated, bland, just plain weird, and 100% self-delusionary.”

Bo fits the Hong Kong classification of a private club, meaning its health standards are less strict that a bonafide restaurant and hours are regulated and shorter. Some call them speakeasies, restaurants that are run out of a private home, often by well-known chefs. You enter Bo from a dreary alley, walking up the two damp flights of stairs, entering into a room that looks like it was put together five minutes before. The decorator sort of forgot to visit, as did the chef, the maitre d, etc. I don’t doubt owner Boris Yu’s intentions, but I do doubt his touch with reality. He truly believes the hype, and thinks he’s just on the coattails of an El Bulli. I am sorry, but the exhausting multicourse sampling of tiny dishes out of shot glasses and tiny Chinese cups, small plates and bowls were without class, style, meaning, or flavor. We moved from a clam topped with spicy tomato jelly and a fuyu (Chinese preserved bean curd) foam, that looked and tasted as though it was a five-year old child’s first effort in the kitchen; on to a pineapple foie gras ravioli with a bourbon sauce. Do you need to read further? Do you have indigestion yet? A lot of fuss with flavor, a lot of big talking with no foundation. The much-touted wine list offered few choices and no bargains, and the cold, modern, loft-like dining room with only three of a dozen tables taken on a weekend evening, made me sad indeed. What’s more, a white truffle menu that cost $100 US dollars included two paltry white truffle offerings, each with no more a few specks or slices of the fragrant mushroom. What’s that about the emperor’s new clothes?

Bo (also known as Bo Innoseki)
2/F T.M. Leung Building
16 Gilman’s Bazaar
Central, Hong Kong
Telephone: 2850 8371
email: dine@boinnoski.com
web: www.boinnoseki.com

Open daily. All major credit cards. 700 HK truffle menu.

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RESTAURANTE ESPACO LISBOA - It’s not often that one gets a chance to travel from Asia to Europe in a single hour’s shot, but if you catch the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau, you can pretty much find yourself moving from the land of dim sum to the land of salted cod cakes and flaming chorizo sausages, in the name of the appealing little Portuguese spot known as Restaurant Espaco Lisboa.

Here, down a small side street off the quiet Macau fishing village of Coloane, you’ll find a bustling little restaurant offering rustic, robust, authentic Portuguese fare in a cozy setting. The wine list here is extraordinary, and you can count on the outgoing director/executive chef Antonio Neves Coelho to guide you through the wine list as well as the appealing menu. At a recent lunch, we feasted on paper-thin slices of their pata negra mahogany-toned smoked ham, along with tender fried codfish cakes and can’t stop eating them slices of rich, smoky, salty Portuguese sausages – courico assado na canoa – that had been dramatically flamed in a ceramic gratin dish, all right for sopping up with the delicious Portuguese bread.

Our main course of traditional Portuguese duck rice --- arroz de pato `a portuguesa – was elegant in the heartiest of senses, chock full of rich flavor and chunks of extraordinarily sweet and tender duck.

Mr. Coelho and my dining friend collaborated on the wine choices, including two outstanding, little-known reds, a 2001 Quita de Vale Meao Douro, an exotic, full-on red wine made in the steep hills of the Douro, the home of the famed Port wine. Here, five of some 90 grape varieties were selected to make table wine in place of port, a success I’d like to see, hear, and taste more of. Likewise, the choice of a pure syrah Quinta do Monte d’Orio 2000 was ideal, beautifully complimenting the rustic duck with rice.

Restaurante Espaco Lisboa
Rua das Gaivotas nr 8 r/c
Coloane, Macau
Telephone (853) 88 22 26

Open daily. All major credit cards.

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SWATO FAT CHIU CHOW - If the Chinese love their dim sum by day, those with a bent towards the fish-based, earthy Chiu Chow fare – from the coastal region around the Shanton district of Guangdong Province – like their late-night snacks. For those in the mood for a simple, earthy, honest little meal with the locals of the Kowloon district near the old airport, then wend your way there and plan on a mini-feast.

Nothing here is in written English (though several workers speak and understand) so at Swato Fat you may need to resort to the old “point and eat” method of dining. As you enter the restaurant along a market street full of blazing colored neon lights, you’ll almost trip over the makeshift fish market set up outside, as several dozen Styrofoam boxes serve as fresh, bubbling, holding tanks for the fresh fish and shellfish.

Inside, the place is full of tables of locals as well as a growing number of Koreans and Japanese travelers who have discovered the popular eatery and here food literally flies from table to table. There is an open kitchen, miniscule but efficient, with numerous woks, deep fryers and stock pots going full blast, and a tiered buffet of the night’s offers, ranging from fish to meat, shellfish to vegetables, hot pots, to all manner of dumplings.

My all-time favorite Chieu Chow specialty remains their rich, moist, delicious goose preparation: the whole goose is braised in a vibrant broth of soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, scallions and lemon peel. The meat is then cut into generous, bite-sized pieces and each morsel is dipped into a pungent sauce of garlic and rice vinegar. In this simple, Formica-tabled setting, you could close your eyes and imagine this dish being served in the grandest of style. It has flavor, elegance, simplicity, and soul.

And the feast goes on: There’s a lively soup laden with chopped fresh celery, soothing preserved cabbage, soft and pungent bits of pork belly, and lots of black pepper for that added spice and tang. A marvelous clay pot filled with giant chunks of cabbage, dried mushrooms, and sweet carrots in a deliciously aromatic broth. Delicate dumplings, beggar’s purse style, arrive with a finely minced filling of water chestnuts and soft, pink baby shrimp. The only dish here that disappointed were the scallion dumplings, too big and too greasy to be pleasing.

Swato Fat Chiuchow Restaurant
60-62 South Wall Road
Kowloon City.

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TAI WOO - Should you find yourself suffering from jet lag, can’t sleep and are hungry in Hong Kong, then head over to the Cantonese seafood restaurant Tai Woo in Causeway Bay. Open until 3 am, this bustling, banquet style restaurant offers some truly wonderful fare. If I could return for just a single dish here, it would be their breaded and deep-fried oysters, giant specimens garnished with plenty of smoky bacon and eaten wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf. The single dish – you’ll no doubt need to halve the oysters to manipulate them – offers every manner of gastronomic pleasures, hot and cold, crunchy, soft, and salty. I didn’t want them to end. But end they did, followed by a pleasantly sweet sesame chicken dipped in ginger oil, and deliciously textures deep fried bean curd served with a red and spicy dipping sauce. Starters of chilled baby cucumbers from Taiwan were so crunchy and delectable, we ordered second portions.

Tai Woo Restaurant
27 Percival Street
Causeway Bay
Telephone 2893 0822; 2893 9882
fax: 2891 9564.

Open Daily until 3 am. 10 am to 3 pm only.

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LAW FU KEE NOODLE SHOP - After a tour of Hong Kong’s outdoor street markets – despite the ever-dwindling size and ever- plasticized wrappings – tuck into a noodle shop for a breakfast of congee, the popular Asian soup rice mix that comes with a choice of condiments. A friend and I shared a warming bowl of the soothing, steaming mix of brothy rice that had been simmering in the compact open kitchen of this famed little no frills shop. We opted for the “do it yourself’ version, which means that a bowl of liquidy, alabaster rice and broth arrives, with a side dish of accompaniments of your choice. We ordered a mix of slivered raw fish, sliced before our eyes, garnished with ginger and pungent scallions, then drizzled with oil. We slowly added the fish and garnish, stirring them into the warm rice mixture, making for a super-fresh, just cooked breakfast that kept us going well into the afternoon. After 11 am, order their selection of noodles, barely cooked, with a touch of spring onions, the way the Cantonese like them.

Law Fu Kee Noodle Shop
50 Lyndhurst Terrace
G/F, Central, Hong Kong
Telephone 2850 6756

Dominique Bouchet: Simplicity and Restraint

PARIS – In this day and age, when ultra-fresh, ultra-beautiful food – from fruits and vegetables to meats, fish and poultry – is there for the asking, the hardest task for most cooks is to keep it simple. Dominique Bouchet, one of the capital’s star chefs of the moment, certainly understands restraint, and for this we thank him.

Dominique Bouchet, you say? He’s surely not a household word, yet a look at his track record belies his quiet public persona. Fresh from a stint as chef at the Hotel Crillon, he’s been on his own – again – for just a few months, settling into a quiet street in the 8th arrondissement. (For the record, he’s also been behind the stove at Jamin in the pre-Robuchon days, at La Tour d’Argent, then at his own restaurant in the Charentes. And he’s trained, among others, chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York) His latest spot – Dominique Bouchet – is what we want today, a subtle mix of homey bistro and neighborhood restaurant. The menu is brief, crisp, and welcoming, as is the small 40-seat dining room, with exposed stone walls, quiet tones of beige and brown, and a small, open kitchen that’s as discreet as the rest of the place.

Keeping it simple, the 52-year-old chef offers just half a dozen starters, a quartet of fish, five different meat dishes and six desserts, along with a single daily special. Some dishes will just make your heart sing, like his generous plate of mixed seasonal vegetables, seasoned with fresh coriander and a shower of olive oil. On one visit the combination included baby cauliflower, carrots, leeks, asparagus, artichokes, green beans and parsnips. The mix was a welcome breath of fresh spring air on a late winter’s eve. And at 14 euros, it’s a pure bargain.

Equally bright and appealing is Bouchet’s warm terrine of rich and elegant Beaufort cheese, artichokes and ham, a pretty, compact dish served with a small green salad alongside. His simple but sublime terrine of foie gras is served with a mix of dried fruits and nuts and freshly grilled bread.

I’d go back again and again for his classic rendition of aile de raie – or skate wing – set on a bed of baby ratte potatoes, seasoned with just capers and lemon. The dish sings with freshness, a winning combination of sweet skate wing, warming potatoes with a fine touch of acidity from the capers and lemon. Equally full of clean, intense flavors is the roasted duck paired with a confit of turnips set off with just a touch of vinegar. My only disappointment over a series of visits was the seven-hour leg of lamb, which tasted over-reduced, with juices that gave off a touch of bitterness.

As if I have not already given enough good reasons to pay Bouchet a visit take one look at the wine list and you’ll do a dance. Bouchet has no huge cellar and doesn’t intend to build a huge list, so instead he prefers a steady stream of limited wines, all at good prices. The 2002 red Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Sinards, from the Perrin family at Château du Beaucastel is priced at 56 euros. The year 2002 was the only year they did not make a Châteauneuf under the Beaucastel label, due to intense rain during the September harvest. So Les Sinards actually includes the Beaucastel grapes, and anyone who does not love its rich, multi-layered quality should give up drinking wine altogether. Other fine buys include Bruno Claire’s intense, expressive 2000 pinot noir Marsannay Les Grasses Têtes, for 45 euros; and Olivier Leflaive’s classic, mineral-rich Chardonnay, Chablis Les Deux Rives, at 36 euros.

Dominique Bouchet
11 rue Treillard
Paris 8
Telephone: 01 45 61 09 46
Fax: 01 42 89 11 14
Web: www.dominique-bouchert.com

All major credit cards. Closed Saturday and Sunday. About 55 euros per person, including service but not wine.

A Plate Full of New York Flavors

NEW YORK CITY -- One could never criticize New York for lack of style, and today, more than ever, the very healthy restaurant industry here is displaying a distinctive manner that exudes confidence, variety, and substance. Gone are the days of towering concoctions that seem to exist solely to edify the ego of the chef, and back again are menus that are smart, simple, and created with the wants of the diner in mind. And thank goodness portions are now much smaller, much healthier. Here, then are thoughts from a week-long eating tour in the city:

Bellavitae:

All my life I’ve wanted that perfect corner spot, the one with friendly faces that greet you at the door, just enough style to make you feel you are in the right place, and a simple menu that allows you a light snack or a major feast, depending upon your mood and hunger of the day. If a roaring fire is tossed into the equation, I’m a goner.

Rolando Beramendi’s two-week old Greenwich Village wine bar – Bellavitae – is just that sort of place, with a large wood-burning oven, an exposed brick wall, gigantic framed mirrors, gorgeous pine floors and a quiet ambience make this a place to visit again and again. Beramendi and his partner Jon Mudder create an enthusiastic greeting committee and serve as genial hosts. For more than 15 years Mr. Beramendi has been a top American purveyor of all things Italian, including the finest, oils, pastas, and rice. So of course all those extra-virgin olive oils, 20-year-old balsamic vinegar, organic penne, and golden egg garganelli appear on his short and sweet, single-page menu.

When you go, and you must, order the you-can’t-stop-eating-them fried meatballs –perfectly crusty (and not at all greasy) on the outside, nicely seasoned, firm and well-flavored on the inside, all deep-fried in olive oil. A favorite of the evening was his brilliant, grilled radicchio, rolled in the thinnest of pancetta, quickly pan-fried and drizzled with a touch of balsamic vinegar. Don’t miss the simple and sublime fettunta, slices of freshly toasted crusty country bread that are rubbed with garlic and anointed with the fragrant 2004 vintage new olive oil from the Capezzana estate outside of Florence. One can go on, and we did, sampling a salad of fresh greens tossed with a dressing of pomegranates and balsamic vinegar, as well as perfectly spicy portions of organic penne tossed in a tomato-rich sauce arrabbiata. Meat lovers will adore the sliced steak topped with a powerful green sauce, redolent with herbs.

The Bar Room at The Modern and The Modern:

Let’s all confess that the idea of dining in a museum restaurant is generally not one that stirs thoughts of culinary bliss. Let New York’s Danny Meyer change your mind about all that. As part of the re-do of the Museum of Modern Art, Meyer has shown he can do it again, with two main-floor dining rooms with their own entrance, the casual Bar Room at The Modern and the upscale The Modern.

Brand new and already full of buzz and energy, the two restaurants sport very modern, uncluttered fare that has a strong, singular personality. Alsatian-born chef Gabriel Kreuther knows his stuff and serves it up with flair. At the Bar, you’ll find a stunning tarte flambée, a very thin-crusted Alsatian “pizza,” topped with onions, cream and bacon. This is one of the finest versions I’ve ever tasted, the sort of can’t stop eating it fare perfect for a cold night in New York. I loved, too, the tuna carpaccio teamed up with crunchy curly cress and a citrus-ginger vinaigrette. The wild salmon with a gentle horseradish crust, served with cabbage steeped in Riesling wine was lovely, as was the earthy, braised pork cheeps, served with sauerkraut and a surprising ginger juice.

I found the room a bit cafeteria-like with uncomfortable chairs and tables a bit too close. And the wall of wines along one wall is lovely, but then why is one given only a measly choice of 14 wines and two champagnes?

There’s no doubt that my repertoire of fish recipes will include dishes from the other side of the room, the more elegant, upscale The Modern, overlooking the museum’s amazing sculpture garden. I devoured the duet of fresh, cloud-like langoustines wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon and served with a spicy organic yogurt anointed with an unusual and well-flavored cardamom oil. And there is no question that buttermilk-poached turbot served with a clove Mousseline will soon appear on my dining room table: It’s a “why didn’t I think of that” sort of dish, with buttermilk creating an even smoother, richer flavor for the already regal fish. If you are in the mood, you can also feast on roasted wild boar chops with a rutabaga “sauerkraut,” chorizo-crusted cod with a white cocoa bean purée, drizzled with a spicy oil made from the Moroccan-style harissa.

The decor in this small, welcoming room is subdued, with black marble floors, a grey ceiling, black chairs, shiny stainless cutlery, and clean white china, a modern statement for the modern life. I can’t wait until weather allows for dining in the garden, for that will be a treat all in itself.

Per Se:

There’s no question that chef Thomas Keller – of Napa Valley’s French Laundry fame – is one of America’s top and most respected chefs. I’ve followed him since the 1980’s when we was working at Rakel in New York City, and if his new Per Se is any signpost, he’s not ready to stop and rest on his laurels anytime soon. The gentle, outgoing Keller has created and made famous some of the modern table’s most delightful treasures, including his oysters and pearls (plump oysters set atop a bed of pear tapioca sabayon and topped with a generous dollop of glistening caviar -- think sea, sea, more sea); and of course his famed ice cream cone, buttery homemade cones stuffed generously with a salmon tartare touched with lemon oil, chives, shallots and crème fraiche.

We sampled these, and much, much more on a recent evening, including an amazing, foamy Jerusalem artichoke soup, studded with tiny pickled Jerusalem artichokes and cilantro leaf. The dish was all that today’s food should be: Light, creative, elegant, unfussy, and satisfying. Hand’s down, the star of the evening was his home-cured, home-smoked Washington State steelhead trout roe, topped with intensely flavored dried bonita an a touch of Persian lime salt. Again, purity and simplicity reigned, food that was smooth and mouth-filling, surprising, gratifying. Feed me langoustines any day of the week and it brings a smile to my face. Here, Keller poached the Scottish delicacy in sweet butter, so sparingly that they appeared to be almost raw, and served it atop a bed of wilted spinach teamed up with allspice-infused Anjou pears.

In his new and wildly popular (reservations are taken two months in advance) dining room overlooking Central Park, Keller seems to have it all together. The wait staff is abundant, well-groomed and well-trained, and outgoing in perfectly measured way.

But I found a bit of trouble in paradise. A chef of his stature should understand black truffles, one of the world’s greatest delicacies. Respectful use of truffles means knowing they are best flattered when sliced raw, into thin rounds, so one can best appreciate the texture, the aroma. On the evening we dined at Per Se, waiters arrived with the bane of my kitchen-gadget existence, the microplane, an idiotic tool designed for the woodworking shop as a rasp for fine finishing. I wish it had stayed in the workshop. Instead of thin, flavorful rounds of truffles, we were served truffle sawdust, mounds of precious black shavings, a method that totally destroys any pleasure of the magical wild mushroom. And, like many chefs today, Keller insists on serving many many dishes out of giant bowls (sorry, but they look like dog bowls to me), vessels that overwhelm the small portion sizes and, what’s more, are very awkward to eat out of. And, Mister Keller, the menus are just too long. Halfway through, even the best-trained appetites begin to fade.

Café Gray:

Just one floor below Per Se, you’ll find Café Gray, a large, bold, glittery dining spot run by Swiss-born Gray Kuntz. Though I can’t say I loved the décor or the fact that the open kitchen overlooked Central Park (what about us diners?), there was something about the food and wine list that caught my eye in the most positive way. I most loved his harvest ragout, a wholesome winter medley of seasonal vegetables, including salsify, chayote, and cardoons in a gentle turmeric-infused sauce. Equally lovely was the steamed turbotin, set in a watercress broth and served with a sunset-orange squash sauce. Also excellent (though the name throws one off) is the skate schnitzel, fresh ray fish cooked in hazelnut butter and showered with capers, walnuts, apples and jicama.

Le Bernardin:

But during a week’s worth of dining, a single dish stands out as the best: That was at what is perhaps the best fish restaurant in the world, Le Bernardin. Ever since 1972, when Maguy Le Coze and her late brother, Gilbert, opened their tiny fish restaurant on Paris’s Left Bank, the name Le Bernardin meant top quality, simplicity, dedication to the best. It is rare for a restaurant to maintain such stature, for a restaurateur to maintain such discipline over the years. Since moving their operation to New York in 1986, Le Bernardin has been, without question, a top table.

Today, I I love the thought of everything the amazing chef Eric Ripert puts in front of you, from the complex quartet of four different marinated fluke ceviche, to the flash-marinated scallops in lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, and on to the Peruvian-inspired crab, avocado and potatoes served with yellow pepper sauce. But forever, forever, I will remember his remarkable raw tuna specialty: Imagine the thinnest slice of toasted baguette topped with a touch of olive oil, a showering of chives, the thinnest touch of foie gras, then more and more and more paper-thin slices of thinly pounded yellowfin tuna. I felt as though I was floating on a cloud, on my way to heaven.

Bellavitae
24 Minetta Lane (between Bleecker and West 3rd)
NY NY 10012.
Telephone: 212 473 5121
web: www.bellavitae.com
Email: reservations@bellavitae.com or through OpenTable.com.

Open for dinner only, Tuesday through Sunday. All major credit cards. From $30 to $50 per person, not including service or wine.

The Bar Room at The Modern and The Modern
Museum of Modern Art
9 West 53rd Street
NY NY
Telephone: 212 333 1220

Open daily. The Bar Room at the Modern: From $17 to $31, not including service or wine. The Modern: Three-course prix fixe at $74, with cheese course $88, not including service or wine.

Per Se
10 Columbus Circle (60th Street at Broadway, fourth floor)
NY NY 10019
Telephone: 212 823 9335
Web: www.perseny.com or through OpenTable.com.

Open from lunch Friday through Sunday; Dinner nightly. All menus, including five-course menu, nine-course vegetarian menu, and nine-course tasting menu, at $175, not including service or wine.

Cafe Gray
10 Columbus Circle (60th Street at Broadway, fourth floor)
NY NY 10019
Telephone 212 823 6338
Email: info@cafegray.com

Daily prix fixe lunch at $45. A la carte, $50 to $50, not including service or wine.

Le Bernardin
155 West 51st Street
NY NY 10019
Telephone: 212 554 1515
Web: www.le-bernardin.com or through OpenTable.com

Closed Saturday lunch and all day Sunday. All major credit cards. Prix Fixe lunch at $47, dinner at $84, not including service or wine.

Otto Koch Food with Flair from the Austrian Alps

Lech am Arlberg, Austria – I last encountered the dedicated, enthusiastic German chef Otto Koch in 1994, when his cooking at the Michelin-starred Munich restaurant, le Gourmet, convinced me that modern German chefs have much to offer the world of gastronomy. His food was distinctly contemporary, totally appealing and surprising, all the while grounded in strong classical French roots. Unfortunately, shortly after our first encounters he closed Le Gourmet as well as the 80-year-old Bavarian institution – Restaurant Schwarzwälder – that he oversaw.

But the ever smiling, gentle Otto Koch is back in my life again, and I am richer for it. For the past two years he has been cooking at the Austrian ski resort of Lech am Arlberg, and it was no surprise to see his restaurant KochArt awarded a fresh, new Michelin star in the 2005 guide.

As a young man, the 56-year-old Bavarian-born chef trained at some of France’s top institutions, including Paris’s Taillevent. Today his food is mature and ever modern, and bears his trademark for simplicity, honesty, and always a touch of surprise.

In Munich, his two most famous dishes included a picture-perfect mushroom cake, layer after layer of the thinnest of crepes filled with a dense, earthy, mushroom filling. It was a Koch classic and we find it again on the tables of this Austrian outpost, a dish that seems to know no era, no seasons.

But perhaps his most famous creation was a bone marrow extravaganza: He scooped out the bone marrow, sliced the bones horizontally, then filled the “boats” full of a nutmeg-infused potato purée, all topped with crispy rounds of marrow seasoned with chives and freshly ground black pepper. The wintry dish was warming, surprising, full of fine textures and aromas. How times have changed! Mad cow fears have taken such specialties off our diets for the moment. So the creative Koch re-tooled the dish, transforming it into a lusty Jerusalem artichoke puree topped with slices of seared goose liver, all served in “boats” of bamboo. Two sauces --- one of chocolate, another of balsamic vinegar – played a sweet and sour dance on our palates.

Koch and the German Robinson resort group have done considerable market research into how their customers want to eat today, with most people suggesting that people go to restaurants for entertainment first, food second. So at KochArt the chef and staff do their best to keep you alert as well as amused. Attractive young women appear out of nowhere, in kitschy costumes that flatter their lean figures and may make you laugh aloud. Food is always the subject, whether it’s a series of whisks hanging from a skin-tight robe, or a bright red strapless gown with a wine glass fashioned at the cleavage. You may be handed “a present” in a little box, only to find it contains a tiny, miniature “Big Mac,” only here a bite-sized sausage on a bun. Laughter, indeed, breaks the ice, cools one down, sets the stage for very good time.

The dining room at KochArt, located in a resort hotel in the tiny village of Zürs, is cozy and comforting. While guests gather in front of a roaring fire, Koch himself describes what diners might expect, as well as his concept of making food fun.

The dining room is warming, with pine-paneled walls, crisp white linens, clean white china, and oversized, comfortable arm chairs upholstered in a cherry red fabric.

On the serious side, Koch’s food is just what we want to eat today. A perfect filet of the freshest of turbot arrives accompanied by fresh wild cèpe mushrooms, ideal for pairing with an outstanding Austrian white wine. We opted for the 2001 Gelber Muskateller from the house of Tement. Rich and ripe, this dry white from the Muscat grape has the scent of orange blossoms, with plenty of exotic fruit on the tongue.

Next, perfect rounds of fresh scallops showered with fresh black truffles was paired with a 2001 chardonnay white, here known as morillon, from Winkler-Hermaden. The pairing was ideal, for the wine had a Burgundy-like seriousness, soft in texture and harmonious, and elegant enough to stand up to the truffle/scallop combination.

But Koch’s finest moment came in the name of juicy, rare Bresse pigeon set on a bed of rare black rice. The rice, originally reserved for Chinese emperors, is now being grown in Italy, and is certain to become one of the trendier ingredients of the decade.

Known as venere black rice from the Piedmont region of Italy, it is difficult and costly to grow, and is offered by on a few producers. When cooked, the rice retains its ebony black color, and has the yeasty aroma of freshly baked bread, retaining a crunch and texture unlike other risotto rices. With the rich squab meat we savored sips of a beautifully blended Austria red – a 2001 Cuvée Excelsior Weingut Ing from Stefan Lang – a mix no less than five grapes, including syrah and cabernet sauvignon.

KochArt
Robinson Club Alpenrose
Lech am Arlberg
Zürs, 6763 Austria
Telephone (05583) 227 1742
Fax: (05583) 227 179

Open until April. Closed Sunday and Monday. About 48 € per person, including service but not wine.

New Delhi: Food for Tingling Palates

NEW DELHI --Sometimes food can arrive as a revolution and a revelation. IS there is better way to experience and fall in love with a food than to be blown away by the experience, new flavors, textures, concepts?

I must admit that the earth shook over a recent lunch at the popular New Delhi restaurant Bukhara, a cave-like, restaurant dedicated to the cuisine of mughals, a nomadic people who were big, with huge appetites, and in love with meat. So meat we ate, in many versions, in many variations. Seated on low tables, we were surrounded by rock walls, wooden pillars, and copper cooking vessels.

The restaurant has been there since 1977, and the food arrives from an open kitchen, where almost everything is cooked in clay tandoori ovens. Quite simply, the cuisine as offered here is some of the most intense, dramatic, and pleasing food I have sampled in a long time. It is also, in its own way, very subtle.

Forget the mish-mash menus we are used to with much Indian food. Here, each creation is there for its own sake, not to be doused with sauce or yogurt, pickles or breads. It is pure and it is simple.

We were encouraged to eat with our hands (“there is something in the fingers that give to the flavor,” suggested our Indian host), devouring with passion kababs of lamb and chicken, mutton and prawns, river sole as well as tender mutton chops. We wore bib-like aprons around our necks, because as the locals like to say, this is a very messy cuisine. Each delicacy had its own character, its own history, offering a specific pleasure. Out of the medley my favorite for sure was the chicken, served in two delicate kebabs, one stuffed with a fiery green chili, another milder version stuffed with a gooey, soothing bit of cheese. Lamb appeared in all different manners, from a tender tiny mutton chop that was marinated and black pepper and figs, then pan grilled and finished in a covered pot sealed with dough, with a slow charcoal fire applied from the top, and a slow live fire from the bottom, making for a dish that is juicy, full-flavored, aromatic, satisfying. I laughed just a bit at the long cylinder of Kakori Kabab, a delicate blend of very very finely minced mutton, cloves, and cinnamon, carefully skewered, char grilled and drizzled with saffron. This was the specialty created for toothless emperors, who could no longer choose to chew their tender delicacies! Looking back, I also fell in love with the gorgeous, bright green discs of Pan Kabab, dainty patties of spiced, finely minced mutton, wrapped with beatle leaves and pan grilled. The result was as refined as it was rustic, mouth filling, amazing, satisfying. River fish arrived minced, in little paupiettes, stuffed with cheese and onions, flavored with garam Masala and pan-grilled.

I was intrigued by the digestive drink – jal jeera – made of tamarind water, roasted black pepper, cumin seeds, fresh mint, black salt, and lemon juice. The “neat” version is delicious, as is the same enlivened with a touch of vodka.

When you go, be sure to stand at the kitchen window for a bit, to gaze upon the dozens of soft, spicy kababs as they are drawn from the ovens. Ask Chef G. Sultan Mohideen to create a special menu. And do sample the amazing cool drink of mint and black pepper, one that will surely pacify any fiery palates. You won’t regret it.

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Chor Bizarre, the perfect spot for dining after a whirlwind rickshaw ride through the market streets of Old Delhi, lives up to its name, Bizarre. But that’s just the décor: Imagine a 1927 Fiat Roadster that serves as a buffet “table.” All the china is intentionally worn and mismatched, none of the chairs are the same, and walls are loaded with photos of Elvis and Marilyn, and there is a gorgeous spiral staircase that goes to nowhere. This is because the word “chor” is thief, and this is an attempt to be a thieves bazaar. Thank goodness the kitsch stops there, for the food was welcoming and fiery, and varied and sure to please any lover of Indian food. I most adored, and could not get enough of their spinach specialty, palak patta chat, or spinach leaves coated with flour and topped with tamarind chutney and blended yogurt. The dish was totally balanced, a blend of bitter and sweet, some crunch some smoothness, creating a very satisfying blend.

Equally distinctive was the Punjabi tandoor chaat, seasoned vegetables – here a mix of cubed potatoes and green peppers with pineapple for a touch of sweetness – here marinated in spiced and yogurt, grilled in the tandoori oven and sprinkled with spicy chaat Masala. The mirchi kerma, lamb cooked in hot gravy with kashmiri chilies, cardamom and cloves, was evenly spiced if a bit on the heavy side. The mouth-tingling flat, lentil papadam were crisp, delicate, delicious.

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If you’re in the mood for some sure-footed, totally traditional Indian foot with no fancy footwork, just solid, clear-flavored fare, try the warm, cozy, Haveli. Here – amid classic Indian dancers and live piano music in the evening – you’ll find some of plumpest, most succulent shrimp, marinated in a traditional tandoori Masala, then grilled over the glowing embers of he tandoori oven. Another worthy starter is chef Irshad Ahmed Qureshi’s chicken tikka, moist tandoori-roasted chunks of chicken breast, soft, gently spiced, and satisfying (and much preferable to the generally dried-out whole chicken breast.)

The restaurant is decorated like an old royal home, filled with elegant chandeliers, Indian artwork, wood carvings and lamps. The cuisine is that of the royal Mughals, yet here one can request the chef update and lighten some of the fare, so such as a fine, light yellow dal, prepared with yellow lentils and extra virgin olive oil, as well as a colorful vegetable medley – khara Masala – that combines button mushrooms, baby corn and bright green broccoli in a tomato gravy. Save room for the deliciously moist biryiani, a fine-flavored rice dish loaded with giant chunks of top-quality lamb carefully seasoned with saffron and mace.

Bukhara
Maurya Sheraton & Towers
Diplomatic Enclave
New Delhi 110 021, India
Telephone 6112233
Fax: 6113333

Open daily. All major credit cards. About 20 euros per person, not including service or beverage.

Chor Bizarre
Hotel Broadway
4/15 A Asif Ali Road
Old Delhi, India
Telephone 11/327 3821

Open daily. All major credit cards. About 9 euros per person, not including service or beverage.

Haveli
The Taj Mahal Hotel
Number One, Mansing Road
New Delhi 110-011
Telephone: 91 11 5551 3587
Fax: 91 11 2302 6070
web: tajhotels.com

Open daily. All major credit cards. About 20 euros per person, not including service or beverage.

The Mao Jackets are Gone: A Taste of New Beijing

BEIJING – I last set foot in Beijing in 1982, when travelers could only journey in groups, you needed a guide, and the roads were clogged with Mao-jacketed residents riding rickety bicycles. Restaurants were still tainted with all the negative trappings of capitalism. I remember having some great dishes during a three-week tour of China, but no real great meals. No news here that radical political changes have brought radical restaurant changes.

What better name than Made in China for a year-old, up market, smart, vibrant Chinese restaurant in the center of the nation’s capital? It’s hard not to fall in love here, with the bustling atmosphere, trim and chic wait staff, the open kitchens arranged throughout the long, narrow dining room. Try to get a table right in front of the two flaming ovens, so you can watch the careful ballet of chefs adroitly ushering the long, narrow, Beijing ducks in and out of the apricot wood-fired ovens. The roasting takes a full hour and 15 minutes, and the sleek, elongated poultry arrive at your table only seconds later. Like a trained surgeon, the chef adeptly carves the duck in front of you: first the glistening skin is carved into thin slivers with a giant cleaver. He continues the same movements without skipping a beat, and soon you’ve a platter of delicate crispy skin and meat, then again a platter of just the moist duck meat. The feast has begun before you can take a second breath. Hoisin sauce, vinegar, salt, and scallions arrive, along with a beautiful bamboo steamer basket full of warm pancakes. Season, roll, enjoy. The ducks are just 35 days old, and fattened for the last 10 days. We loved the meal with a few glasses of California’s Geyser Peak Sauvignon blanc, a grape I find pairs deliciously well with all Chinese food. This wine was luscious: it was vibrant, crisp, and aromatic and the notes of citrus and melon played well with the smoky duck.

If you are in Beijing and have already had your fill of duck, there are many other treasures here, in the hip, well-visited treasure of a restaurant . Try the pickled cucumber with shredded ginger and strips of hot red pepper, a palate opener and an excellent way to start the meal. The twice-cooked crispy pork ribs are to be eaten with the fingers, chewy, crispy, moist and touched with just the right dose of garlic. Starters of an unusual and original puree of tofu and chives, as well as a soothing portion of white beans, garlic, parsley and oil, were most welcome. Another starter of smoked duck, cut into bite-sized portions and topped with smooth chunks of white cabbage were clean-flavored, just lightly, slightly smoked, and delicious. Chef Jack Aw Yong insisted we try his double chicken consommé with cabbage and tofu. He was right to push: I have rarely tasted tofu as velvety or elegant in my life. Equally exciting were the gigantic shrimp, grilled and glistening, shrouded in long strips of scallions. Great ingredients, simple food, careful cooking, that’s what it’s all about. My only disappointment of the meal were the Shanghai-style pot stickers, made for seasoning with black vinegar. I found them too bready, not crispy enough, and lacking in flavor.

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As a single dish, Beijing Duck is probably one of the world’s most efficient preparations. From the skin and meat consumed ceremoniously in the classic pancake and garnish preparation to a steaming broth prepared with the roasted carcass, everything gets used. One of Beijing’s classic restaurants for this famed dish is Da Dong, a large, traditional restaurant on the outskirts of the city. On our visit, the place was packed with locals of all ages, downing the moist and crunchy poultry preparation with plenty of warm tea to wash it down.

The duck here is delicious, and half a duck can be ordered – preferably in advance, when you reserve – and the assortment of garnishes make for an even more adventurous meal. The encyclopedic menu includes pictures as well as English translations, so even novices can have a good time here. The wait staff will even prepare the first portion of duck for you, deftly dipping pieces of duck and duck skin in the hoi sin sauce, layering the duck with garnishes such as matchsticks of radish, scallion, cucumber, as well as white sugar (for dipping pieces of irresistible roasted duck skin) and a rather forgettable garlic paste.

We loved even more than the duck the two side dishes, a round platter of braised tofu with brilliant green and crunchy broccoli. The tofu stood in little round towers, soft and wobbly as Jell-O, filled with a spicy hot sauce. The mouth-sized towers were electric, with that soothing mouth feel offset by the spice and squish of the spicy red sauce, oozing from each end. Chinese food is often all about texture and the play of texture and here it was a single texture with contrasting colors and strengths. Equally appealing was the platter of fresh, firm, brilliant green fava beans laced with the tiniest of dried shrimp. Here the play of texture was one of dramatic contrast, with the smooth green fava beans adding a tiny bit of crunch and smooth elegance on the palate, with the shrimp supplying a pungent saltiness and dense and crispy crunch. We loved it.

At the end of the meal, after an offering of fresh fruit – excellent watermelon slices and truly delicious strawberries – we were offered a single slice of Wrigley’s Spearmint Chewing Gum. “Because of the garlic,” giggled our waitress.

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The trend all over Asia is to recapture the past by restoring or rebuilding spots of sentimental value. Tian Di Yi Jia, an elegant, upscale restaurant overlooking the Forbidden City is like that. The restaurant is a rebuilt mansion, decorated with giant comfortable Chinese arm chairs, oversized round tables, and careful lighting. There is a feeling of space, calm and quiet, with a very sophisticated style of modern, imperial, Chinese food. We most loved the thin rectangles of golden goose liver, smooth, rich and infused with a multitude of spices, making for a palate awakening starter. Equally good were the thick discs of cabbage doused in a powerful mustard sauce, the fresh and crunchy miniature cucumbers, and the tiny, moist dumplings for dipping in a fiery sauce. With the meal, we sampled a dense, tightly knit Australian red, Cap Mentelle, from the Margaret River Valley.

Made in China
The Grand Hyatt Beijing
Beijing Oriental Plaza
1 East Chang An Avenue
Beijing 100738
Telephone (86) (10) 6510 9221
Fax (86) (10) 8518 0000
web: hyatt.com

Open daily. All major credit cards. From $40 to $50 per person, including service but not beverages.

Beijing Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant
South Eastern Corner of Chang Hong Bridge
Third Ring Road
Beijing 100020
Telephone: 010 6582 2892

Open daily. All major credit cards. From $20 to $30 per person, including service but not beverages.

Tian Di Yi Jia
No 140 Nan Chi Zi Street
Eastern District
Beijing 100006, China
Telephone (8610) 85115556
Fax: (8610) 85115158-9
email: tiandicanyin@163.com.

Open daily. All major credit cards. From $50 to $50 person, including service but not beverages.

Quince Culinary High Notes in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO --- When there’s a high culinary note in San Francisco, one can usually trace some of the pleasant sounds back to Alice Waters, to whom America owes their reverence for all things fresh, seasonal, and simple.

Perhaps Quince – the city’s restaurant of the moment -- would exist without her well-guided influence, but I’m not here to argue that point. What’s true is that it’s been a long time since I sat down anywhere to eat food that was so thoroughly sincere, honest, simple, satisfying and totally without attitude.

Chef Michael Tusk got his start in the kitchens of Waters’ Chez Panisse, and then later at Olivetto, the restaurant owned by former Chez Panisse chef Paul Bartolli. So Tusk’s food is filled with that same rustic, earthy, well-crafted fare, with strong Italian influences of home-cured meats, elegant and unforgettable pastas, great seasonal vegetables all over the map, and a worthy selection of fish, shellfish, poultry and meats.

I’ll start with the dish I can’t get out of my mind, hours later, and it’s Tusk’s homemade garganelli pasta, laced with miniature meatballs punctuated with fennel seeds and showered with Pecorino cheese. When the dish was set down in front of me, I instantly remarked “I’ll take three more portions.” Few chefs in the world have the self-confidence to present such total simplicity: The loosely tubular, penne-sized pasta was cloud-like and sensual, and the marble-sized polpettini pork meatballs were like gentle punctuation marks meant to showcase the pasta. The dish was exciting, elegant, and yet subtle in the way only great homemade pasta can be.

When set side by side with the garganelli, the homemade tagliolini with fresh back chanterelles paled, while on its own it was more than a worthy rendition of a classic pasta with seasonal mushrooms.

A first course of the pungent Florentine farro and black cabbage soup was equally brilliant, laced with bits of prosciutto to escort the rustic grain – the poor man’s wheat we call spelt – and perk up the bits of cabbage.

A first course salad of escarole hearts with Georgia white shrimp and confetti-like strips of radishes was delicious, but seemed awkward. The greens just didn’t connect to the unforgettable shrimp, all soft, soothing and pink, almost as good as a French langoustine, but not quite.

I loved his mixed grill – wonderfully rare, red, and smoky skirt steak paired with meaty grilled quail and served with a welcoming chicory salad.

Michael’s wife, Lindsay, is the perfect hostess, having honed her skills at the well-known Boulevard in San Francisco. This former 19th-century apothecary shop turned restaurant has an almost religious, meeting hall atmosphere, punctuated with some haunting black and white photos taken by Italian photographer Marco Giacometti. Service here is polished and alert, and friendly without being overbearing. I do hope they will do something about the restaurant’s exhaust system, for a sour odor permeates the small, tightly packed dining room.

The wine list offers some well-priced, well-chosen selections and I loved their Austrian Pinot Blanc --- sold by the glass – and the powerful Hendry Block 28 Zinfandel, a 2001 Napa Valley red that’s a blockbuster 15% alcohol. The trick here is that the wine was so finely balanced with brilliant red fruit and good acidity that I didn’t even note the alcohol content until after I had genuflected and enjoyed.

Quince,
1701 Octavia,
San Francisco, California
Telephone: 415 775 8500
Fax: 415 775 8501
Web: www.quincerestaurant.com.
Email: info@quincerestaurant.com.

Open daily, dinner only. $36 to $60 per person, not including service or wine

Le Rouge Vif A Classic Bistro in a Tiny Parisian Village

PARIS -- There are single blocks in Paris that are a village unto themselves. You could live there, be nourished, repaired, clothed, dry cleaned, enlightened, and even uplifted without ever walking more than a few steps. The single block of the Rue de Verneuil – between Rue du Bac and Rue de Poitiers – is a bit like that.

Within a few short steps you’ll find a butcher, a cheese shop, a convenience store, a tile shop, an electric store, several antique shops, a fireplace store, a boutique that specializes in trompe l’oeil porcelain, a Russian restaurant, a café, a Vietnamese restaurant, and a little 42-seat bistro called Le Rouge Vif.

Wander into this cozy, embraceable bistro any time of day or night and you’ll find owner Patrick Rousseau racing about like a speed demon, sporting a bright red tie, spectacles, and a level of energy that knows no bounds. A bit like a modern-day Fernandel, he is there to animate a dining room that needs little help of its own. With a model modern bistro décor – sporty wicker café chairs, tables of bright tiles and wood, exposed stone walls, wooden floors that seem to make just the right sound as Rousseau runs about, and a tiny oak bar at the entrance – Le Rouge Vif is clearly a home away from home for many on the street and surrounding blocks.

He’s been there since 1995, transforming an old stable into a viable restaurant. With his charming wife Nida aiding in service, and sometimes assisted by their 14-month-old daughter, Chara, Rousseau aims to create a simple, traditional French bistro, and does it with flair. The food is classic, with daily specials such as pork and lentils or boeuf bourguignon, with some modern fare as the famed tiny ravioli de Royans bathed in cream and herbs. On a recent evening, we feasted on perfectly marinated fresh anchovies and meaty whole roasted bar (sea bass), as well as a fine salad of thickly sliced, marinated salmon on a bed of potatoes.

Specials appear on the blackboard that’s carried from the street into this tiny establishment, and change about every two weeks. At lunch, the single 18-€ menu – everyone eats the same thing – allows for swift, efficient service. Wines change almost every day, and usually include about 7 or 8 specials -- priced from about 26 to 38 euros – from all over France, including Bordeaux, Côtes-du-Rhone, the southeast, as well as Burgundy. We enjoyed a Jean Luc Colombo pure syrah vin de pays Rhodaniens, an easy-drinking wine from clearly young vines, but satisfying and wholesome nonetheless.

Le Rouge Vif
48, rue de Verneuil
Paris 7
Telephone 01 42 86 81 87
Fax: 01 42 86 81 87

Closed Saturday and Sunday .Credit card: Visa. 18-€ lunch menu; Dinner a la carte, about 35 euros, including service but not wine.