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| Aug 18 2007, 8:56 PM EDT (current) | Anonymous | 5 words added |
| Nov 17 2006, 10:02 AM EST | Anonymous |
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Pierre Gagnaire
Tucked into the sleek Hotel Balzac in Paris’ 8th arrondisement, Pierre Gagnaire isn’t like other Parisian temples of gastronomy. Less classic French and more avant-guard, at Pierre Gagnaire the tables are generously spaced, the service is exquisite and the food is--well, Gagnaire has some tricks up his sleeve. A dish that looks like poached apricots in cream turns out to be gently poached egg yolks set in quivering custard, rare beef is surrounded by a brilliant puree of red peach, and throughout a meal there are surprises. It’s culinary artistry at its finest.
Pierre Gagnaire, 6 rue Balzac 75008 Paris, 33 01 58 36 12 50, www.pierregagnaire.com
Taillevent
In 2003, Taillevent celebrated thirty years as a Michelin three-starred restaurant and it remains a classic French restaurant in the best sense of the word. At Taillevent, the tuxedo-clad waiters still carve squab tableside, the wine cellar holds renowned vintage bottles (an 1806 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild among them) and the dining room has been welcomed many a celebrity, including Maria Callas and Salvador Dali. Little has changed in three decades: The signature seafood sausage and fruit soufflés are still on the menu, and though the elegant 18th-century residence that houses the restaurant has been redecorated in recent years, Taillevent still feels timeless.
Taillevent, 15 rue Lamennais 75008 Paris, 33 01 44951501, www.taillevent.com
Guy Savoy
Four chefs lead a team of 20 talented cooks in the kitchen of Guy Savoy, a warm, wood-paneled restaurant that opened in Paris in 1987. This toque-clad cadre produces food that is very French, but with global touches. The truffled Bresse chicken has become a successful mainstay of high French cuisine, but the tuna tartare at Guy Savoy has touches of lemongrass and ginger. Still, despite the modern influences, Guy Savoy remains the place to go for rich, elegant preparations of foie gras and game birds, and for a cheese cart that is exceptionally fine.
18 rue Troyon 75017 Paris, 33 01 43 80 40 61, www.guysavoy.com
Alain Ducasse
The name Alain Ducasse has become synonymous with French culinary superiority, and the mighty Ducasse empire has expanded to include top restaurants in Monaco, Paris, and New York, a cookbook the size and heft of an encyclopedia, and a hotel and a training center for young cooks. Despite the global focus, the first restaurant to be headed by Ducasse, the Louis XV at the Hotel Paris in Monaco, remains among the world’s finest. The ornate dining room is done in the style of Versailles, with gilding, floor to ceiling mirrors and an enormous flower arrangement in the center of the room. It all sets the scene for the meal ahead. Top-quality ingredients, from the finest Breton lobsters to the milk-fed veal and farm rabbit, are showcased in stunning fashion. The only thing more stunning than the surroundings and the food are the prices; one could easily spend upwards of 500 Euros per person for a meal.
Louis XV at Hotel du Paris, Place du Casino, MC 98 000 Monaco, 377 98 06 88 64, www.alainducasse.com
Le Meurice
Since young chef Yannick Alléno took over the stoves at Le Meurice, the lovely restaurant within the elegant Le Meurice Hotel, it has become one of Paris’ most highly regarded restaurants. Alléno seems to have a natural sense of what flavors work best together and his pairings, while fresh and inspired, seem quite natural. The wine list, while expensive, does offer some solid options under 50 Euros and the sommeliers are happy to suggest wines to complement a single entrée or the many dishes of the chef’s tasting menu.
Le Meurice (in the Hotel Meurice), 228 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, 33 01 44 58 10 10, www.lemeurice.com
Le Cinq
Le Cinq, in the Four Seasons George V Hotel in Paris, boasts the same kind of refined elegance that has become the gold standard for Four Seasons properties worldwide. The fare highlights classic French technique while offering a lighter approach to traditional dishes. Roasted turbot comes accompanied by a seaweed caramel sauce, saddle of venison is accompanied by black pudding anointed with acidic verjus to offset the rich meats, and desserts tend towards innovative fruit combinations—a tarte tatin with licorice ice cream, maybe, or an assiette of tropical fruits. Simple yet elegant: how very French.
Le Cinq (in the Four Seasons George V) 31 avenue George V, 75008 Paris, 33 01 49 52 70 00, www.fourseasons.com/paris/dining_77.html
Troisgros
Troisgros was opened in 1930 and has continued as a family-run restaurant ever since. The standard for provincial restaurants was largely set by the Troisgros family, who insist on using fresh, local ingredients and applying the cooking technique that best showcases the raw product. The resulting cuisine is refreshingly straightforward and emphasizes the French sense of terroir, food that tastes of a particular place.
Troisgros, Place Jean Troisgros, 42300 Roanne, 33 04 77 71 66 97, www.troisgros.com
Auberge D'Ill
The Auberge is housed in a lovely Alsatian style house on the banks of a small river, surrounded by gardens. The food offered by chef Marc Haeberlin eschews nouvelle cuisine in favor of dishes that celebrate the region’s Franco-German heritage, meaning the menu is likely to feature pork and cabbage in sublime preparations, nicely accented by local white wines of superior quality.
Auberge D'Ill, Rue de Collognes 2, 68970 Illhaeusern , 33 03 89 71 89 00, www.perso.wanadoo.fr/hoteldesberges/ (link doesn't work please edit)
Arpège
Chef Alain Passard shocked the world when he announced in 2001 that his world renowned restaurant, Arpège, would shift its focus from the meats and seafood that have traditionally dominated French cuisine to a concentration on vegetables. Passard embraced the challenge, elevating humble legumes from side dishes to the main event. In 2002 he took his passion a step further, creating an organic vegetable garden 200 kilometers from Paris that grows the majority of vegetables used in the restaurant. Passard has proven himself as a masterful chef, and the three-star status of Arpège stands as a testament to his talents.
Arpège, 84 rue de Varenne 75007 Paris, 33 01 47 05 09 06, www.alain-passard.com
L'Espérance
Mark Meneau’s restaurant is an idyllic country retreat tucked into the Burgundian countryside, surrounded by lush gardens. Meneau sticks to Escoffier, offering roasted Turbot and Pigeon, lush cheeses from the region, chicken from Bresse and light-as-air soufflés. There isn’t much innovation in his dishes, just practiced perfection.
L'Espérance, 89450 St-Père-en-Vézelay, 33 03 86 33 39 10, www.mark-meneau-esperance.com
Olivier Roellinger
St. Malo is a small French seaside town with a long history—it was once home to the East India Shipping Company, the gateway for exotic fabric, porcelain and spices making their way East. Chef Olivier Roellinger is fascinated by the history of the town, and his cuisine revolves around this fascination. Dishes at his eponymous restaurant are redolent with spice. His “Return to the Indies” John Dory has cardamom, ginger, turmeric, lemon grass and coriander, his oyster and foie gras consommé is accented by mace, fennel and white pepper.
Olivier Roellinger, 1 Rue Duguesclin, 35 260, Cancale, 02 99 89 64 76, www.maisons-de-briscourt.com
L’Epuisette
Jutting off of a craggy piece of rock overlooking Marseille’s harbor, L’Epuisette and the food offered here reflects the restaurant’s proximity to the sea. Most of the menu is devoted to impeccably fresh seafood that has been hauled in by local fisherman, often mere hours out of the water. The fish soup should be a model for all others, its fragrant broth loaded with fish and topped with garlicky croutons and aioli. On a warm day, there are few things finer than a glass of Provencal wine and a table at L’Epuisette, watching boats cruise the harbor, delivering dinner.
L'Epuisette, Vallon des Auffes, Marseilles, 04 91 52 17 82, www.l-epuisette.com
Tucked into the sleek Hotel Balzac in Paris’ 8th arrondisement, Pierre Gagnaire isn’t like other Parisian temples of gastronomy. Less classic French and more avant-guard, at Pierre Gagnaire the tables are generously spaced, the service is exquisite and the food is--well, Gagnaire has some tricks up his sleeve. A dish that looks like poached apricots in cream turns out to be gently poached egg yolks set in quivering custard, rare beef is surrounded by a brilliant puree of red peach, and throughout a meal there are surprises. It’s culinary artistry at its finest.
Pierre Gagnaire, 6 rue Balzac 75008 Paris, 33 01 58 36 12 50, www.pierregagnaire.com
Taillevent
In 2003, Taillevent celebrated thirty years as a Michelin three-starred restaurant and it remains a classic French restaurant in the best sense of the word. At Taillevent, the tuxedo-clad waiters still carve squab tableside, the wine cellar holds renowned vintage bottles (an 1806 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild among them) and the dining room has been welcomed many a celebrity, including Maria Callas and Salvador Dali. Little has changed in three decades: The signature seafood sausage and fruit soufflés are still on the menu, and though the elegant 18th-century residence that houses the restaurant has been redecorated in recent years, Taillevent still feels timeless.
Taillevent, 15 rue Lamennais 75008 Paris, 33 01 44951501, www.taillevent.com
Guy Savoy
Four chefs lead a team of 20 talented cooks in the kitchen of Guy Savoy, a warm, wood-paneled restaurant that opened in Paris in 1987. This toque-clad cadre produces food that is very French, but with global touches. The truffled Bresse chicken has become a successful mainstay of high French cuisine, but the tuna tartare at Guy Savoy has touches of lemongrass and ginger. Still, despite the modern influences, Guy Savoy remains the place to go for rich, elegant preparations of foie gras and game birds, and for a cheese cart that is exceptionally fine.
18 rue Troyon 75017 Paris, 33 01 43 80 40 61, www.guysavoy.com
Alain Ducasse
The name Alain Ducasse has become synonymous with French culinary superiority, and the mighty Ducasse empire has expanded to include top restaurants in Monaco, Paris, and New York, a cookbook the size and heft of an encyclopedia, and a hotel and a training center for young cooks. Despite the global focus, the first restaurant to be headed by Ducasse, the Louis XV at the Hotel Paris in Monaco, remains among the world’s finest. The ornate dining room is done in the style of Versailles, with gilding, floor to ceiling mirrors and an enormous flower arrangement in the center of the room. It all sets the scene for the meal ahead. Top-quality ingredients, from the finest Breton lobsters to the milk-fed veal and farm rabbit, are showcased in stunning fashion. The only thing more stunning than the surroundings and the food are the prices; one could easily spend upwards of 500 Euros per person for a meal.
Louis XV at Hotel du Paris, Place du Casino, MC 98 000 Monaco, 377 98 06 88 64, www.alainducasse.com
Le Meurice
Since young chef Yannick Alléno took over the stoves at Le Meurice, the lovely restaurant within the elegant Le Meurice Hotel, it has become one of Paris’ most highly regarded restaurants. Alléno seems to have a natural sense of what flavors work best together and his pairings, while fresh and inspired, seem quite natural. The wine list, while expensive, does offer some solid options under 50 Euros and the sommeliers are happy to suggest wines to complement a single entrée or the many dishes of the chef’s tasting menu.
Le Meurice (in the Hotel Meurice), 228 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, 33 01 44 58 10 10, www.lemeurice.com
Le Cinq
Le Cinq, in the Four Seasons George V Hotel in Paris, boasts the same kind of refined elegance that has become the gold standard for Four Seasons properties worldwide. The fare highlights classic French technique while offering a lighter approach to traditional dishes. Roasted turbot comes accompanied by a seaweed caramel sauce, saddle of venison is accompanied by black pudding anointed with acidic verjus to offset the rich meats, and desserts tend towards innovative fruit combinations—a tarte tatin with licorice ice cream, maybe, or an assiette of tropical fruits. Simple yet elegant: how very French.
Le Cinq (in the Four Seasons George V) 31 avenue George V, 75008 Paris, 33 01 49 52 70 00, www.fourseasons.com/paris/dining_77.html
Troisgros
Troisgros was opened in 1930 and has continued as a family-run restaurant ever since. The standard for provincial restaurants was largely set by the Troisgros family, who insist on using fresh, local ingredients and applying the cooking technique that best showcases the raw product. The resulting cuisine is refreshingly straightforward and emphasizes the French sense of terroir, food that tastes of a particular place.
Troisgros, Place Jean Troisgros, 42300 Roanne, 33 04 77 71 66 97, www.troisgros.com
Auberge D'Ill
The Auberge is housed in a lovely Alsatian style house on the banks of a small river, surrounded by gardens. The food offered by chef Marc Haeberlin eschews nouvelle cuisine in favor of dishes that celebrate the region’s Franco-German heritage, meaning the menu is likely to feature pork and cabbage in sublime preparations, nicely accented by local white wines of superior quality.
Auberge D'Ill, Rue de Collognes 2, 68970 Illhaeusern , 33 03 89 71 89 00, www.perso.wanadoo.fr/hoteldesberges/ (link doesn't work please edit)
Arpège
Chef Alain Passard shocked the world when he announced in 2001 that his world renowned restaurant, Arpège, would shift its focus from the meats and seafood that have traditionally dominated French cuisine to a concentration on vegetables. Passard embraced the challenge, elevating humble legumes from side dishes to the main event. In 2002 he took his passion a step further, creating an organic vegetable garden 200 kilometers from Paris that grows the majority of vegetables used in the restaurant. Passard has proven himself as a masterful chef, and the three-star status of Arpège stands as a testament to his talents.
Arpège, 84 rue de Varenne 75007 Paris, 33 01 47 05 09 06, www.alain-passard.com
L'Espérance
Mark Meneau’s restaurant is an idyllic country retreat tucked into the Burgundian countryside, surrounded by lush gardens. Meneau sticks to Escoffier, offering roasted Turbot and Pigeon, lush cheeses from the region, chicken from Bresse and light-as-air soufflés. There isn’t much innovation in his dishes, just practiced perfection.
L'Espérance, 89450 St-Père-en-Vézelay, 33 03 86 33 39 10, www.mark-meneau-esperance.com
Olivier Roellinger
St. Malo is a small French seaside town with a long history—it was once home to the East India Shipping Company, the gateway for exotic fabric, porcelain and spices making their way East. Chef Olivier Roellinger is fascinated by the history of the town, and his cuisine revolves around this fascination. Dishes at his eponymous restaurant are redolent with spice. His “Return to the Indies” John Dory has cardamom, ginger, turmeric, lemon grass and coriander, his oyster and foie gras consommé is accented by mace, fennel and white pepper.
Olivier Roellinger, 1 Rue Duguesclin, 35 260, Cancale, 02 99 89 64 76, www.maisons-de-briscourt.com
L’Epuisette
Jutting off of a craggy piece of rock overlooking Marseille’s harbor, L’Epuisette and the food offered here reflects the restaurant’s proximity to the sea. Most of the menu is devoted to impeccably fresh seafood that has been hauled in by local fisherman, often mere hours out of the water. The fish soup should be a model for all others, its fragrant broth loaded with fish and topped with garlicky croutons and aioli. On a warm day, there are few things finer than a glass of Provencal wine and a table at L’Epuisette, watching boats cruise the harbor, delivering dinner.
L'Epuisette, Vallon des Auffes, Marseilles, 04 91 52 17 82, www.l-epuisette.com
