Taillevent Stays on Top

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bistro Precision and Japanese Flair

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Into the heart of Provence without the hype

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quiet Trends of Paris

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enter the Era of the Quiet Chef

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Raw Revolution

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucas Carton: Where Wine is King

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that is only the beginning.

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

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

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

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

www.lucascarton.com.

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

Alleosse Cheese Shop

PARIS -- Until I began visiting Parisian cheese aging cellars some 22 years ago, I thought that owners of cheese shops just bought cheese, tended to it for a few days, then sold it. How wrong can one be!

If you are a cheese shop owner and affineur – cheese ager – like Philippe Alleosse, you follow a cheese every step of the way, and learn quickly that yours is a métier of patience and of passion. You put out word around France that you are eager for someone to come up with a new cheese and voila, a few young and upcoming cheesemakers make an appearance. You fight for and reserve some cheeses – namely a Comte green label extra reserve – several years in advance and get to choose exactly which high-mountain chalet will tend to its upbringing, handling it as carefully as a prized wine.

You convince the Burgundian monks who make one of France’s oldest cheeses -- the subtle Reblochon-like cow’s milk Abbaye de Citeaux – to send you thousands of their cheeses to be aged just by you in a special way. You search out and finally find one of France’s rarest cheeses – the huge round of cow’s milk Bleu de Termignon from the Savoy – and handle it like the rare jewel it is. This blue (the greenish-blue comes from puncturing the cheese to create the colored veins naturally, not from injecting it with penicillium) is currently made by only three farmers in all of France. You hold a special secret (whispered to you upon the retirement of famous Savoy cheesemaker whose family had been making cheese since 1789) on how to age the prized cow’s milk disc known as Reblochon. You even suggest subtle but important changes to cheesemakers and dare to send cheeses back in you feel there has been less than normal attention in the fabrication of the cheese, or note that there may be something wrong with the current quality of milk from a specific herd. And you have refined cheese aging to such an art that you create four distinct underground cheese-aging cellars, each with a specific temperature and humidity level, each suited to the type of cheese that will be come of age there.

All this is about a passion for an art, and a very specific goal in mind. The slight, lean, blue-eyed Philippe Alleosse says it over and over “Our goal is extract from a cheese its true character, its greatest potential, its most developed and characteristic flavor.” All you have to do is taste a bland, unaged, version of a single cheese side-by-side with one with an Alleosse upbringing, and you instantly see the difference. Compare it to tasting a refrigerated tomato next one ripe from the vine, or a flavorless peach or apricot next to one that is literally dropping from its branches.

In the washed rind cellar --- cheeses such has the famed cow’s milk Epoisses from Burgundy, Reblochon from the Savoy, Maroilles from the north of France and Livarot from Normandy --- each cheese is washed and turned several times a week with a specific, and sometimes secret, brine. The brine may be a simple salt brine (Livarot), it might be a blend of water and eau-de-vie (Epoisses), or even one laced with beer (Maroilles). Here you will also find the tiny, rare disc of cow’s milk cheese known as Olivet Cendre, the only cheese in France still aged with a coating of the cinders from vine clippings, or sarments de vigne. All other ash-coated cheeses are aged with pharmaceutically made charcoal cinders.

The goat’s milk cellar is a chilly, fragrant sea of white blooms, awash with the highly perfumed lactic aromas of clean, fresh goat’s milk. Some 150 to 160 varieties of cheeses reach their potential here (up to 12,000 pieces of cheese at a time) some of them curing for several months. Some prizes here include the small cylinder known as Clacbitou, a Burgundian treat with an interior that is as smooth as silk; and the Chaibchou aux Noix, an Alleosse creation that will be sold only during the Christmas holidays. Philippe coats the young cheese with finely ground fresh walnuts, then ages it for up to 6 weeks. During that time, the tannic, intense flavors of the nut penetrate the cheese, turning it into a powerhouse of flavor.

In the cooked cheese cellar we take a trip to the high mountains – of Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and of course France – where the huge cheeses such as the 45 kg (99 lb) French Comte and 130 kg (286 lb) Swiss Emmenthal are coaxed to perfection. For each cheese Philippe has a special story, a note about aging, an anecdote. For instance, the rare and ancient breed of silky-brown, bison-like Salers cow (for his Cantal Salers fermier affine AOC ) gives a golden milk tinged with the color and flavor of their favored mountain treat, the yellow gentian flower. The breed is so finicky that they will now allow manual milking and begin to release their golden liquid only when the process is begun by a young calf looking for milk. Right now, one of France’s remaining truly seasonal cheeses, which can only be made from August to March – the Jura’s Mont d’Or – is aging, ready for us to slice off the top rind and eat the nutty, runny, lingering cow’s milk cheese with a spoon.

The bloomy rind cellar harbors some of our favorites and best known, including the famed Brie from the Champagne region (it takes weeks and lots of broken Brie to become agile enough to turn them on their rye straw mats) and all the high-fat cheeses preferred by Alleosse’s female clientele, including the cream-enriched Brillat Savarin (75% fat), Gratte Paille (70% fat), Petit Robert (75%) fat. As Philippe likes to point out, butter is 82% fat. (Whole milk is naturally 4.5 to 5% fat, so most cheeses are 45% to 50% fat.)

If God is in the details then he is there in the Alleosse cellars, where only raw milk cheese have a right to enter. Most comes from single farms or very specifically-selected dairies with a well-earned pedigree. And all of the AOC cheeses are their, those that are made according to strict historical and geographic standards that often specify breed, seasons, altitude, diet and aging conditions.

But like all fine things in life, cheese is there to give pleasure not to talked about. So here are a few pleasure tips:

To eat the rind or not eat the rind? On hard-rind cheeses such as Comte or Cantal, the rind is generally not eaten. For the pleasure of the cheese itself, discard the rind and enjoy the flavor, texture and perfume of interior. On soft cheese, such as Brie or Camembert the rind is usually consumed, although certain connoisseurs will still cut away the rind to get to the heart and soul of the cheese.

What is the best temperature at which to enjoy a cheese? Philippe Alleosse disagrees with those that feel we should eat cheese at room temperature. Better to enjoy it at the same temperature as a good wine, at “cellar” temperature, between 50 and 55 degrees F (10 to 13 degrees C.)

What wine, what cheese? There are classic combinations, such as Roquefort and Sauternes, but some other enjoyable marriages are Comte and a Vin Jaune from the Jura; a Crottin de Chavignol goat’s milk cheese with a chilled white Sancerre; and Philippe Alleosse promotes a brilliant combination, the bloomy-rind Burgundian cow’s milk cheese Chaource with a vintage Champagne.

Fromagerie Alleosse
13 rue Poncelet
Paris 75017.
Telephone 01 46 22 50 45.
Fax: 01 40 53 90 10.

Petit Marguery Bids Adieu to the Brothers Cousin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wine Bar for All Seasons Two bars offer delicious sanctuary

LEGRAND

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHEZ RAMULAUD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the Shadow of the Giant

Villes-sur-Auzon, France --- If you must have a garage to be categorized as a Garage Wine, then Domaine de Cascavel Cotes-du-Ventoux doesn’t make the cut. But if you look twice, this new, engaging wine produced in one of France’s wine boom regions is an ideal example of what a garage wine can be: small production, small yields, with wines made by intensely passionate winemakers not afraid to break the mold.

The only piece of property owned by the Domaine de Cascavel is a tiny store front space in this active little town in the shadow of the south central side of le Géant de Provence – the 1912 meter-high Mont Ventoux. The little showroom serves as an office as well as tasting room for winemaker partners Olivier Baguet and Raphael Trouiller, who produced their first vintage in 2000. Their handcrafted wine is actually made in a colleague’s cellar a few kilometers away, thanks to the friendship and kindness of Jean Marot, winemaker of the equally appealing Domaine Le Murmurium.

The Cascavel story is not typically French. Baguet grew up in the Champagne area the son of a dairy farmer. He studied to be an engineer but found that weekends spent working on his uncle’s vineyard in Burgundy were more appealing. One thing led to another, and soon Baguet was teaching winemaking at various agriculture schools in southern France. Finally, the bug hit, and rather than talk about wine, his dream was to make wine and see his name on a wine label. But there was a catch: Not a centime to his name. His equally poor current partner, marketing specialist Trouiller was looking for a project and after some quick calculating, they put together a marketing plan, invited some 100 individuals to buy stock in their idea, and with the blessing of the bank, were off. Now both 35 years old, they invite their various investors to work and play weekends several times a year, as the group trims vines, cleans cellars and of course take time to sample the fruits of their labors.

Baguet was determined to make his first vintage in the year 2000, and by December of 1999 he finally got his hands in the vines. Impressed by the wines made in the Cotes du Ventoux --- especially Château Valcombe, Château Pesquié, Domaine de Fondreche, and Murmurium – he began searching for land. What he found was 9.5 hectares of land divided into some 14 tiny parcels of land spread over three villages – all with vines of varying ages and varieties, all with very different soils. No one wanted to bother with so many little parcels, but that’s just what the Cascavel winemakers were looking for .

Compared to its better known brother – Cotes du Rhone --- Cotes du Ventoux suffers from a reputation as a rather dull cooperative wine without much character. But vineyards such as Cascavel and Murmurium are changing that, handcrafting wines with care and attention. Many winemakers here believe that because of the variety of soils, the wines produced here have the chance of greater sophistication, more complexity, more notes if you will. Because the vines stretch across the southern and western flanks of the mountain, they are protected from the strong Mistral wind, thus creating a biosphere that is lists as a UNESCO conservation area. Winemaker Marot also believes that the vast difference in temperatures between morning and night as well as the cool night breezes refresh the vines as well as the soil, also fixing the color of the grapes, thus making a wine with greater color, finer tannins, and better equilibrium between alcohol and acidity.

“I don’t have the impression that I am working,” says Marot, who left a career as a pharmacist to pursue a dream of life as a winemaker. For a long time, he firmly believed that in order to be a winemaker your father had to have been a winemaker, preferably fourth or fifth generation. Then one day he met a winemaker in Beaumes de Venise that convinced him he didn’t have to live out his days as a pharmacist. So he took in a partner at the pharmacy and began spending every free moment working in vineyards, attending wine school, and working to achieve his dream.

Now 49 years old, Marot made his first wine in 1995, beginning with 8 hectares of mostly Syrah, Grenache, Clairette and Bourboulenc vines. Like the Cascavel winemakers, he got friends and family to invest in the business.

Tastings of both wines reveal young, sturdy wines that have no sharp edges, no false notes. Your first impression of Cascavel’s Les Amidyves 2000 (60% Grenache and 40% Syrah and priced at 26 € the magnum) is of a wine that is in perfect equilibrium, with fine notes of spice and prunes, with a truly long finish. Because many of the Ventoux vines grow at rather high altitude (some as high as 400 to 500 meters) the grapes mature later in the season and can be harvested as late as November (most Rhone wines are harvested in September) Cascavel’s white wine – cuvee Jade – profits from this phenomenon, and the Clairette and Ugni Blanc grapes are harvested from October to the end of November, making for a late-harvest white that is rich, intense, and beautifully balanced.

Murmurium makes seven different cuvees, my favorite being his red Cuvée Opera (2001 at 16 €) a beautiful blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah, a powerful, elegant wine that in our blind tastings was mistaken for a Chateauneuf du Pape.

Domaine de Cascavel
Olivier Baguet
Raphael Trouiller
SCEA Baguet Trouiller
Quartier Bel Air
84570 Methamis
Tel : 04 90 61 72 18
Fax : 04 90 61 94 09
Internet: http://site.voila.fr/cascavel

Tastings at cave in center of Villes-sur-Auzon: mid-April to mid-October, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and 3 pm to 8 pm. Mid-October to mid-April, Monday to Saturday 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and 3 pm to 6:30 pm.

Domaine le Murmurium
Jean Marot
Route de Flassan
84570 Mormorion
Tel : 04 90 61 73 74
Fax : 04 90 61 74 51
Email: scea.marot-metzler@terre-net.fr

Tastings by appointment only.

A Little Touch of Heaven

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A French Olive Oil Renaissance

Nyons --- Like many of the simplest, purest things in life, we as humans make much of a complication of it. Olive oil is like that. If you think of olive oil as nothing more than the pressed juice of fresh fruit - think orange juice - then you understand about all there is to know about olive oil.

Well , not exactly. But thanks to a renewed interest in olive oil, spurred by greater knowledge of its health benefits as well as its gastronomic pleasures, everyone wants to know more about olive oil, and taste more of it. While France produces the tiniest amount of oil in the world (less than 2 percent) most of it today is of very high quality. So high that the nation now boasts of five regions that are honored with the strict appellation d'origine controlée label. The AOC, as for wine, cheese, and many other agricultural products, is a guarantee that the oil from the five southern regions comes from a specific variety of olive, from a specific geographic region, follows laws of density of planting, appropriate cultivation methods, dates of harvesting, even methods of harvesting.

So here is a simple guideline to the five regions, with tasting notes and an explanation of why the oils all taste distinctly different. Remember that there are not green olive trees or black olive trees. All varieties of olives begin life as small green fruit, and will eventually turn ripe, and black, if allowed to ripen on the tree. By tradition as well as taste, some varieties of olives are best for pressing while green and still quite bitter, while other varieties are shown to best advantage when allowed to ripen, even turn black and wrinkled, on the tree.

Here are results of a recent tasting of France's 5 AOC olive oils, with a sample of one oil from each region.

1. AOC Huile d'Olive de Nyons (AOC since 1994)
Nyonsolive, Nyons. Tel: 04 75 26 95 00.
All from Tanche variety of olives, milder, extracted, black ripe wrinkled olives so oil more yellow in color, aromas of Granny Smith apples, hazelnuts and dried fruits, very even, little bitterness, neutral but pleasantly so, like a soft breeze, harmonious, can really taste the RIPE black olive, an all-purpose oil, when you don't want the oil flavors to overwhelm a dish. This is as far north as olives grow in the world.

2. AOC Huile d'Olive de Nice (AOC since 2001)
L'Olivade Cooperative Oleicole de Nice Tel: 04 93 79 24 95.
All from the Cailletier variety of olives, black, ripe, very strong aromas, a very mild bitterness, distinctive flavor of raw almonds, a raw oil, with aromas of ripe apples and anise.

3. AOC Huile d'Olive de Les Baux de Provence (AOC since 1999).
Moulin Jean-Marie Cornille, 13520 Mausanne les Alpilles. Tel: 04 90 54 32 37.
Also now available on line, at www.moulin-cornille.com
Pressed from five varieties of olives: I like to call this the Châteauneuf-du-Pape of oils, since Châteauneuf-du-Pape can be made with 13 varieties of grapes, the Les Baux oil must use five distinct varieties of olives, making for a more complex oil than those pressed from a single variety. Complex, herbaceous, peppery, pleasant bitterness, great with cooked artichokes.

4. AOC Huile d'Olive Aix en Provence (AOC since 1999)
Château Virant, Lancon de Provence, Tel: 04 90 42 44 47.
3 varieties of olives, usually 80% Aglandau variety.
Similar to the oils from Les Baux, green to purple, peppery nose, a touch of bitterness, good over grilled vegetables, flavors of raw artichokes, good with strong fish such as rouget or mackerel.

5. AOC Huile d'Olive Alpes de Haute Provence (AOC since 1999)
Moulin d'Olivette, 04100 Manosque, Tel: 04 93 72 00 99.
All made of Aglandau variety of olives, picked purple.
Floral, heavily perfumed, pungent, not pepper, I love it! Sophisticated, smooth, taste of unripe banana, cook for cold meats, marinades, red peppers.

Great Tastes, Different Vision

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Provence Quartet

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

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

LE GRAND PRE

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

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

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

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

L’OUSTALET

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

DOMAINE DE LA PONCHE

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

DOMAINE SAINT LUC

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

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

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

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

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

Tastes from the Top

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Tribute to the American Middle West

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When modern meets classic in Bordeaux

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passion, Persistence, Passiflore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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