Results for Dining Category
Jean-François Piège, 39, the chef at Paris’ hottest new restaurant, Thoumieux, grew up in France’s Rhône region, where he was mostly interested in growing vegetables. But while in his 20s he began working alongside mega chef Alain Ducasse and eventually went on to earn two Michelin stars for himself, at the Crillon Hotel’s Les Ambassadeurs. In November, he surprised French food snobs by teaming up with trendy restaurateur Thierry Costes to revamp an art deco brasserie in the 7th arrondissement. Thoumieux’s success has even brought a new term to Parisian food lexicon: “brasstronomie,” short for top-quality gastronomique food served in brasserie environment.
Why did you leave the Crillon hotel?
I won’t go into this, but let’s say that some of the propositions there, like the opening of l’Obé restaurant [last year] weren’t accomplished. Luxury was hit by the economic crisis. Maybe it was time for me to think about offering something different.
What do you think of your new neighborhood?
It’s like a little village here. Everyone knows everything about everyone. And it’s a little far from my house—I live in the 9th.
What makes this new project so special?
I don’t think anyone else does what we do here. For 50 euros, customers benefit from a real savoir faire and the best products.
In addition to the restaurant, you’re also opening a 17-room hotel at the new location, designed by India Mahdavi, plus another small restaurant with its own kitchen.
We want to create a hotel you can’t find anymore. Very charming and affordable. I don’t think that very charming hotels in a 200 or 250 euros price range exist in Paris any longer.
How did you feel the day you opened Thoumieu?
Scared. I had doubts.
Where was your best meal lately?
At the Sa.Qua.Na, [Alexandre Bourdas’ restaurant] in Honfleur.
Are you concerned about the new Michelin ratings coming out in February?
I’ve been told so many times I was getting my third star [at the Crillon] that I’m not going to worry about it. The Michelin is a business anyway.
Exterior photo: Benjamin Loyseau
The plumping protein collagen, a longtime wrinkle filler, is practically
becoming its own food group in Japan, where teas, yogurts and cocktails
enriched with it are all the rage. Women are gobbling up collagen-rich
foods like soft-shell turtles and pig’s feet in the hopes of
channeling the stuff to their skin. Now they can finish the meal with
collagen cheesecake. One version by Japanese company Meiji contains
1,000 milligrams of collagen, the amount in a couple of steaks. But
according to Annet King of the International Dermal Institute,
it’s all quite futile. “There’s no way that eating
collagen boosts collagen [in skin],” she says.
RELATED:
The Six Best Makeup Brands You've Never Heard of
Beauty obsession of the week: One heck of a hairspray
Cheesecake, syringe: Alamy Images.
When chef Shaun Hergatt opened his upscale Asian-accented French eatery, SHO Shaun Hergatt, in New York's financial district this past summer many food world naysayers predicted it would be a quick victim of bad timing. But while the New York Times has yet to run a full review (only a not very flattering Dining Briefs piece), Esquire recently named SHO one of the Best New Restaurants of 2009, Michelin rewarded it with a star and the new Zagat guide deems it "superb." Hergatt chatted with us about his fans, his critics, and why he doesn't regret opening a fancy restaurant half a block from the stock exchange in the midst of a financial meltdown.
To what do you attribute the mixed reception that SHO has received from the press?
It's purely recession driven. A lot of reporters love to talk about the recession, they need some sort of story, so they say we're very passé because it is a very fancy restaurant. But the one thing I can tell you is that Daniel and all of the four star restaurants in the city are banging with business again and I believe in the quality of our product. I've never followed trends. I've always followed quality. That's the only thing that counts for me.
How did you get started cooking?
My father was a chef and I've been in the kitchen since I was a young man. I should never have done it but I ended up becoming one too. I did apprenticeship in Australia and then I traveled and here I am in New York.
Why do you say you should never have done it?
I should have been a banker or something different but unfortunately it's a passion of mine. I think you always struggle with your own life sometimes and wish you did something else but I love what I do and I'm sort of like, how do you put it, trapped in my own circumstance. I can't do anything else!
What are your favorite places to eat when you're not working?
There's a little restaurant called Kanoyama on 2nd Avenue and 11th Street. It's a sushi bar and every Tuesday he has fresh fish flown in from Japan. I like to go and eat there a lot.
What do you hope for the future of the restaurant?
With the new ratings coming in our business has increased dramatically and I just foresee that we're going to be very successful. But with the recession we have to be patient. All I can say is that I'm going to be in the kitchen every day and making sure our guests have amazing food.
Alexis Mabille, the 31-year-old Parisian dandy and designer, is better know
for his bowties and clothing creations than for his sweet tooth. But for
years he has been a regular at Angelina, the legendary paitisserie on the
Rue de Rivoli; he has even staged several runway collections there. Now,
Mabille has teamed up with Angelina's pastry chef, Sebastien Bauer, to
create his version of the traditional yule log, or Buche de Noel. Mabille’s
cake (60 euros, about $90) is made with chestnuts, apples, green lemon and
yuzu and takes the shape of a chic handbag. The extra icing on the cake? An
elegant silver bow.
Was this a fun experience?
Yes, and I got to taste a lot of cakes. They already have quite a few orders. Maybe it will turn into a nightmare though, because the cakes take so long to make. Each of the 50 [edible] pearls need to be set by hand with tweezers.
Were there any ingredients you knew you’d definitely stay away from?
Ice cream. I always hated the look of the ice cream Buche de Noel when it was melting on the table at the end of the meal. It looked quite disgusting.
Do you cook?
Sometimes. Only complicated recipes. I don’t find it interesting if it’s too easy—I like to try out new things.
Do you bake?
I never make deserts, but I eat them. I'm addicted to vacherin (meringue with fruit and whipped cream). In my grandmother’s village, Saint Bonnet de Joux, in Burgundy, I still can order it at the local pastry shop. It’s the real thing.
Did your grandmother teach you how to cook?
No, but she was a marvelous cook. And she has a hunting ground, so she was alwys cooking big meals for hunters.
Do you hunt yourself?
No, I don’t have enough time. When I was younger, I would collect the game feathers and make dresses with them.
Will you accept other collaborations like this in the future?
I have one planned with Veuve Cliquot for next Halloween, for the US. But I don’t intend to do that many. I have other things to do, and I’m not a grocery store.
Photo: WWD
Da Silvano regulars may have noticed that the ever popular Manhattan
eatery’s owner, usually a fixture among his tables, has been absent
lately. That’s because Silvano Marchetto and his wife, cartoonist Marisa
Acocella Marchetto, have been spending time at the second location of Da Silvano, which opened in Bodrum—the Hamptons of Turkey—this past summer. The Marchettos fell so in love with the country, according to Silvano’s daughter Leyla (who is a partner with her dad in New York’s Scuderia, located across the street from Da Silvano), that Silvano is now looking to open a branch in Istanbul in 2010. “He and Marisa love the open-air markets and the restaurants there,” she says. “They came back with tons of evil-eye accessories and great tans.”
Je Sais Cuisiner, first published by Ginette Mathiot in 1932, is sort of
like the French answer to Joy of Cooking—a comprehensive culinary bible
that’s been a fixture in home kitchens for almost seven decades. Now, for
the first time, the tome (in English, the title translates to "I Know How to
Cook") has been translated and adapted for a US audience,
and the woman heading up that project is a familiar name to American
foodies: Clotilde Dusoulier, the 30-year old Parisian behind beloved cooking
blog Chocolate and Zucchini. Dusoulier, whom we profiled back in 2007,
filled us in on her favorite recipes from the cookbook, her favorite new
eateries in Paris and the American foods she craves.
Other than the language and measurements, how is I Know How to Cook different from Je Sais Cuisiner?
The French style of writing recipes is usually extremely brief. Sometimes there are three steps rolled into a very short sentence, just because the French language allows you to do that. So we reworded to make recipes easier to follow and changed ingredients here and there to be sure readers would be able to find them in the US. But overall, the American version remains in keeping with the original spirit of the book.
How about the design of the book itself? We love how your book looks.
Yeah, the original French version is not a very attractive book—it’s more functional. People buy it to keep on their kitchen shelf and use, not necessarily to read while they're sitting on the couch. But this edition has great graphics and photos that make it more seductive.
What recipes from the book have you most enjoyed cooking?
Well it’s hard to name favorites but the cassoulet is very good and there’s a recipe for apple compote with a meringue topping that I really like. It’s kind of like a lemon meringue pie but it’s apple and there’s no crust. It’s one of those old French dishes that have been a little forgotten over the decades. I actually didn’t know about it until I saw it in the book.
You’re going to be in the States in December. What are you looking forward to in terms of food?
Bagels and burgers! And I’m going to replenish my stash of chunky peanut butter because that’s very hard to find here. I will only be in New York for a couple of days but I really like Blue Hill so if I have one night available that’s where I’ll go. I hope one day I’ll be in New York long enough to go to Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
Are there any new restaurants in Paris that you’re excited about?
There’s a place that I like called Frenchie. The guy is a French chef who worked for a while in the UK and I think possibly in New York so he has that multicultural approach to food that I tend to be drawn to. And lately I’ve been going to Cul de Poule. It’s a French place, quite affordable, but it’s really, really tiny so reservations are a must. I probably shouldn’t have shared that because now I won’t be able to get a table!
Upper East Siders were bereft when Francois Payard's namesake eatery suddenly shut its doors this summer after the pastry chef's rent was hiked by a reported 50%. Fortunately, the maestro has returned to the UES just in time for the holidays, with a jewel box of a chocolate bar that opened last Thursday on the 4th floor of the Mauboussin jewelry store on Madison Avenue. Mauboussin, for those who aren't familiar, is the 180-year-old fine French jewelry firm where clients treat themselves (or their loved ones) to $300,000 diamond-encrusted bracelets. "The whole shop is all about chocolate," says the native Frenchman. "We display the pastries like jewelry, to keep to the theme of the jewelry of Mauboussin." It's much smaller than the beloved old Payard—and there's no real bakery, much less a bistro—but we'll take it.
Who's the clientele?
I think it's a nice place for ladies to hang out in the afternoon. Maybe they're going to buy a ring downstairs and have a cup of hot chocolate upstairs. We have five kinds of hot chocolate.
What are these "verrines" you're offering?
It's a cake that is built into a glass. They are time consuming to make because each layer is cut to fit the glass. You have to put the spoon all the way down to taste everything.
Any favorites?
One of the verrines has a very cool presentation: I think it's a little bit shocking. It's a white chocolate sponge, then a compote of cranberry and balsamic vinegar—don't worry, it's not shocking yet—and after that there's a dark chocolate creme brulee and a white chocolate sponge. There's a plastic syringe filled with the compote, so you can take a little more balsamic into your cake.
Did Mauboussin request you do anything in particular?
Alain Nemarq [chairman of Mauboussin] just wanted me to make one special thing for him because he loves something very, very dark, very French, like 75% chocolate—and he wants a pinch of salt in the dark chocolate. That's in the works.
Are you still planning to reopen your restaurant?
I'm still looking for locations, right now I have nothing concrete. Concrete for me is when I sign the paper. I'm still looking at many places but right now for the next two months I'm focusing on the chocolate bar.
Are you looking in any neighborhood in particular?
I'm very open—Payard was the Upper East Side but I love downtown too, sometimes. Right now there are so many places empty, so many bad landlords. Maybe I will find my dream.
Where do you like to eat yourself?
I may shock you—I love to eat vegetarian. I just met the people from Candle Cafe. I even did something very interesting with them: they asked me to go to Harlem and to teach some kids how to eat healthy. I did a pizza for the kids with red sauce and beans and tofu.
The Mauboussin shop and Francois Chocolate Bar are located at 714 Madison Avenue (at 62nd Street).
Attention, eaters
The recession has been tough on New York restaurants and the diners who love them. Now there's a new Web site that aims to bring a little joy back to the city's gourmands, and save them money at the same time.
Blackboard Eats, the creation of former Yahoo! Food editor Maggie Nemser, offers subscribers free goodies or up to 30 percent off the bill at spots like The Harrison, Da Silvano and Artisanal. Blackboard's well-edited mix of restaurants (and, presumably, the discounts) has made the site a hit in L.A., where it launched last September. Nemser is hoping for similar success in New York, even though food Web sites are hardly novelties in the city. "People are rallying over the fact that this is something new, and the restaurants are excited when subscribers come in because they know they're passionate about food," she says. Blackboardeats.com
Categories:
Five minutes with Paris star chef Jean-François Piège
Jean-François Piège, 39, the chef at Paris’ hottest new restaurant, Thoumieux, grew up in France’s Rhône region, where he was mostly interested in growing vegetables. But while in his 20s he began working alongside mega chef Alain Ducasse and eventually went on to earn two Michelin stars for himself, at the Crillon Hotel’s Les Ambassadeurs. In November, he surprised French food snobs by teaming up with trendy restaurateur Thierry Costes to revamp an art deco brasserie in the 7th arrondissement. Thoumieux’s success has even brought a new term to Parisian food lexicon: “brasstronomie,” short for top-quality gastronomique food served in brasserie environment.
Why did you leave the Crillon hotel?
I won’t go into this, but let’s say that some of the propositions there, like the opening of l’Obé restaurant [last year] weren’t accomplished. Luxury was hit by the economic crisis. Maybe it was time for me to think about offering something different.
What do you think of your new neighborhood?
It’s like a little village here. Everyone knows everything about everyone. And it’s a little far from my house—I live in the 9th.
What makes this new project so special?I don’t think anyone else does what we do here. For 50 euros, customers benefit from a real savoir faire and the best products.
In addition to the restaurant, you’re also opening a 17-room hotel at the new location, designed by India Mahdavi, plus another small restaurant with its own kitchen.
We want to create a hotel you can’t find anymore. Very charming and affordable. I don’t think that very charming hotels in a 200 or 250 euros price range exist in Paris any longer.
How did you feel the day you opened Thoumieu?
Scared. I had doubts.
Where was your best meal lately?
At the Sa.Qua.Na, [Alexandre Bourdas’ restaurant] in Honfleur.
Are you concerned about the new Michelin ratings coming out in February?
I’ve been told so many times I was getting my third star [at the Crillon] that I’m not going to worry about it. The Michelin is a business anyway.
Exterior photo: Benjamin Loyseau
Categories:
Pass the Collagen
The plumping protein collagen, a longtime wrinkle filler, is practically
becoming its own food group in Japan, where teas, yogurts and cocktails
enriched with it are all the rage. Women are gobbling up collagen-rich
foods like soft-shell turtles and pig’s feet in the hopes of
channeling the stuff to their skin. Now they can finish the meal with
collagen cheesecake. One version by Japanese company Meiji contains
1,000 milligrams of collagen, the amount in a couple of steaks. But
according to Annet King of the International Dermal Institute,
it’s all quite futile. “There’s no way that eating
collagen boosts collagen [in skin],” she says.RELATED:
The Six Best Makeup Brands You've Never Heard of
Beauty obsession of the week: One heck of a hairspray
Cheesecake, syringe: Alamy Images.
SHO Time: Five minutes with chef Shaun Hergatt
When chef Shaun Hergatt opened his upscale Asian-accented French eatery, SHO Shaun Hergatt, in New York's financial district this past summer many food world naysayers predicted it would be a quick victim of bad timing. But while the New York Times has yet to run a full review (only a not very flattering Dining Briefs piece), Esquire recently named SHO one of the Best New Restaurants of 2009, Michelin rewarded it with a star and the new Zagat guide deems it "superb." Hergatt chatted with us about his fans, his critics, and why he doesn't regret opening a fancy restaurant half a block from the stock exchange in the midst of a financial meltdown.To what do you attribute the mixed reception that SHO has received from the press?
It's purely recession driven. A lot of reporters love to talk about the recession, they need some sort of story, so they say we're very passé because it is a very fancy restaurant. But the one thing I can tell you is that Daniel and all of the four star restaurants in the city are banging with business again and I believe in the quality of our product. I've never followed trends. I've always followed quality. That's the only thing that counts for me.
How did you get started cooking?
My father was a chef and I've been in the kitchen since I was a young man. I should never have done it but I ended up becoming one too. I did apprenticeship in Australia and then I traveled and here I am in New York.
Why do you say you should never have done it?
I should have been a banker or something different but unfortunately it's a passion of mine. I think you always struggle with your own life sometimes and wish you did something else but I love what I do and I'm sort of like, how do you put it, trapped in my own circumstance. I can't do anything else!
What are your favorite places to eat when you're not working?
There's a little restaurant called Kanoyama on 2nd Avenue and 11th Street. It's a sushi bar and every Tuesday he has fresh fish flown in from Japan. I like to go and eat there a lot.
What do you hope for the future of the restaurant?
With the new ratings coming in our business has increased dramatically and I just foresee that we're going to be very successful. But with the recession we have to be patient. All I can say is that I'm going to be in the kitchen every day and making sure our guests have amazing food.
Categories:
Five minutes with Alexis Mabille
Alexis Mabille, the 31-year-old Parisian dandy and designer, is better know
for his bowties and clothing creations than for his sweet tooth. But for
years he has been a regular at Angelina, the legendary paitisserie on the
Rue de Rivoli; he has even staged several runway collections there. Now,
Mabille has teamed up with Angelina's pastry chef, Sebastien Bauer, to
create his version of the traditional yule log, or Buche de Noel. Mabille’s
cake (60 euros, about $90) is made with chestnuts, apples, green lemon and
yuzu and takes the shape of a chic handbag. The extra icing on the cake? An
elegant silver bow.
Was this a fun experience?
Yes, and I got to taste a lot of cakes. They already have quite a few orders. Maybe it will turn into a nightmare though, because the cakes take so long to make. Each of the 50 [edible] pearls need to be set by hand with tweezers.
Were there any ingredients you knew you’d definitely stay away from?Ice cream. I always hated the look of the ice cream Buche de Noel when it was melting on the table at the end of the meal. It looked quite disgusting.
Do you cook?
Sometimes. Only complicated recipes. I don’t find it interesting if it’s too easy—I like to try out new things.
Do you bake?
I never make deserts, but I eat them. I'm addicted to vacherin (meringue with fruit and whipped cream). In my grandmother’s village, Saint Bonnet de Joux, in Burgundy, I still can order it at the local pastry shop. It’s the real thing.
Did your grandmother teach you how to cook?
No, but she was a marvelous cook. And she has a hunting ground, so she was alwys cooking big meals for hunters.
Do you hunt yourself?
No, I don’t have enough time. When I was younger, I would collect the game feathers and make dresses with them.
Will you accept other collaborations like this in the future?
I have one planned with Veuve Cliquot for next Halloween, for the US. But I don’t intend to do that many. I have other things to do, and I’m not a grocery store.
Photo: WWD
Keywords
Five minutes with France's haute couture veggie farmer
Hidden at the edge of the suburban village of Chapet, 18 miles northwest of
Paris, Asafumi Yamashita’s garden produces the most sought after vegetables
for Paris gourmet restaurants. The city’s best chefs, including Pascal
Barbot from l’Astrance and Eric Briffard from Le Cinq, await his weekly
crop. Yamashita grows about 40 varieties of vegetables—turnips, tomatoes,
cucumbers, eggplants or spinach—on a 10,000 square feet field behind his
simple home.
Yamashita, 56, is just as discreet as his address, but he savors his reputation as Paris’ haute couture gardener. He returns to his native Japan every year to pick the best seeds, and he tends to his produce with fatherly care: For example, he makes a point to grow the perfectly shaped cucumber—exactly 8-inches long—required by three-Michelin star chef Pierre Gagnaire.
What brought you to France in the first place?
I first came when I was 22. I was an artist. I studied at Ecole du Louvre and I played drums. But I knew the history of art would not feed me. I went back to Japan and got into import-export business and came back to France at 40 and started growing Bonsaï. Madame Chirac was one of my customers.
Top chefs battle to serve your produce in restaurants. What makes your vegetables so special?
The quality is consistent and the taste is always the same. I grow the quality I want to eat myself, the level that is necessary to cook excellent Japanese cuisine.
Considering the demand for your products and your limited supply, how do you choose which chefs to work with?
It depends mostly of the chef’s personality. His personality will reflect his cooking philosophy. And I have no interest in selling my turnips to a cook who will make duck with turnips—it’s too banal. I prefer to sell them to geniuses like Pierre Gagnaire or Eric Briffard who are much more creative.
I’m eating one of your eggplants now, and it’s so good, even raw. Why can’t we find French eggplants like this?
It’s grown from a special seed from Japan which is very tasty. The French eggplant will soak up water and oil but it won’t have any taste. It won’t be good raw.
How do your vegetables compare to those of the famous Joël Thiebault, who is also very much in demand?
Thiebault grow many varieties, that’s his strength, but there isn’t not much difference with the vegetables you buy at your local market.
What’s your greatest satisfaction in your job?
When a chef comes and tastes my vegetables I can see a change on his face— that he is coming up with recipes at the same time he is tasting.
Yamashita, 56, is just as discreet as his address, but he savors his reputation as Paris’ haute couture gardener. He returns to his native Japan every year to pick the best seeds, and he tends to his produce with fatherly care: For example, he makes a point to grow the perfectly shaped cucumber—exactly 8-inches long—required by three-Michelin star chef Pierre Gagnaire.
What brought you to France in the first place?I first came when I was 22. I was an artist. I studied at Ecole du Louvre and I played drums. But I knew the history of art would not feed me. I went back to Japan and got into import-export business and came back to France at 40 and started growing Bonsaï. Madame Chirac was one of my customers.
Top chefs battle to serve your produce in restaurants. What makes your vegetables so special?
The quality is consistent and the taste is always the same. I grow the quality I want to eat myself, the level that is necessary to cook excellent Japanese cuisine.
Considering the demand for your products and your limited supply, how do you choose which chefs to work with?
It depends mostly of the chef’s personality. His personality will reflect his cooking philosophy. And I have no interest in selling my turnips to a cook who will make duck with turnips—it’s too banal. I prefer to sell them to geniuses like Pierre Gagnaire or Eric Briffard who are much more creative.
I’m eating one of your eggplants now, and it’s so good, even raw. Why can’t we find French eggplants like this?
It’s grown from a special seed from Japan which is very tasty. The French eggplant will soak up water and oil but it won’t have any taste. It won’t be good raw.
How do your vegetables compare to those of the famous Joël Thiebault, who is also very much in demand?
Thiebault grow many varieties, that’s his strength, but there isn’t not much difference with the vegetables you buy at your local market.
What’s your greatest satisfaction in your job?
When a chef comes and tastes my vegetables I can see a change on his face— that he is coming up with recipes at the same time he is tasting.
Categories:
Indochine turns 25
On Friday, the city's beautiful people showed up for Indochine's 25th anniversary party. The theme was officially 1920's Shanghai but the overall effect was simply downtown glamour. Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Iman, Willem Dafoe, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Patricia Field and Brice Marden were among those who hobnobbed, ate, drank, reminisced and enjoyed the night's drag performances.
Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber
Narciso Rodriguez and Francisco Costa
Julia Restoin Roitfeld
Yvonne Force Villareal
Genevieve Jones
Erin Fetherston
Padma Lakshmi
Laura Harring
Tory Burch
Photos of Watts & Schreiber and Rodriguez & Costa by Patrick McMullan, all other images by Meghan McElheny.
Naomi Watts & Liev SchreiberNarciso Rodriguez and Francisco CostaJulia Restoin RoitfeldYvonne Force VillarealGenevieve JonesErin FetherstonPadma LakshmiLaura HarringTory BurchPhotos of Watts & Schreiber and Rodriguez & Costa by Patrick McMullan, all other images by Meghan McElheny.
Categories:
Silvano Expands
Da Silvano regulars may have noticed that the ever popular Manhattan
eatery’s owner, usually a fixture among his tables, has been absent
lately. That’s because Silvano Marchetto and his wife, cartoonist Marisa
Acocella Marchetto, have been spending time at the second location of Da Silvano, which opened in Bodrum—the Hamptons of Turkey—this past summer. The Marchettos fell so in love with the country, according to Silvano’s daughter Leyla (who is a partner with her dad in New York’s Scuderia, located across the street from Da Silvano), that Silvano is now looking to open a branch in Istanbul in 2010. “He and Marisa love the open-air markets and the restaurants there,” she says. “They came back with tons of evil-eye accessories and great tans.”
Categories:
She knows how to cook: Clotilde Dusoulier
Je Sais Cuisiner, first published by Ginette Mathiot in 1932, is sort of
like the French answer to Joy of Cooking—a comprehensive culinary bible
that’s been a fixture in home kitchens for almost seven decades. Now, for
the first time, the tome (in English, the title translates to "I Know How to
Cook") has been translated and adapted for a US audience,
and the woman heading up that project is a familiar name to American
foodies: Clotilde Dusoulier, the 30-year old Parisian behind beloved cooking
blog Chocolate and Zucchini. Dusoulier, whom we profiled back in 2007,
filled us in on her favorite recipes from the cookbook, her favorite new
eateries in Paris and the American foods she craves.
Other than the language and measurements, how is I Know How to Cook different from Je Sais Cuisiner?
The French style of writing recipes is usually extremely brief. Sometimes there are three steps rolled into a very short sentence, just because the French language allows you to do that. So we reworded to make recipes easier to follow and changed ingredients here and there to be sure readers would be able to find them in the US. But overall, the American version remains in keeping with the original spirit of the book.
How about the design of the book itself? We love how your book looks.
Yeah, the original French version is not a very attractive book—it’s more functional. People buy it to keep on their kitchen shelf and use, not necessarily to read while they're sitting on the couch. But this edition has great graphics and photos that make it more seductive.
What recipes from the book have you most enjoyed cooking?Well it’s hard to name favorites but the cassoulet is very good and there’s a recipe for apple compote with a meringue topping that I really like. It’s kind of like a lemon meringue pie but it’s apple and there’s no crust. It’s one of those old French dishes that have been a little forgotten over the decades. I actually didn’t know about it until I saw it in the book.
You’re going to be in the States in December. What are you looking forward to in terms of food?
Bagels and burgers! And I’m going to replenish my stash of chunky peanut butter because that’s very hard to find here. I will only be in New York for a couple of days but I really like Blue Hill so if I have one night available that’s where I’ll go. I hope one day I’ll be in New York long enough to go to Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
Are there any new restaurants in Paris that you’re excited about?
There’s a place that I like called Frenchie. The guy is a French chef who worked for a while in the UK and I think possibly in New York so he has that multicultural approach to food that I tend to be drawn to. And lately I’ve been going to Cul de Poule. It’s a French place, quite affordable, but it’s really, really tiny so reservations are a must. I probably shouldn’t have shared that because now I won’t be able to get a table!
Categories:
Keywords
Because Chocolate + Jewelry = Heaven
Upper East Siders were bereft when Francois Payard's namesake eatery suddenly shut its doors this summer after the pastry chef's rent was hiked by a reported 50%. Fortunately, the maestro has returned to the UES just in time for the holidays, with a jewel box of a chocolate bar that opened last Thursday on the 4th floor of the Mauboussin jewelry store on Madison Avenue. Mauboussin, for those who aren't familiar, is the 180-year-old fine French jewelry firm where clients treat themselves (or their loved ones) to $300,000 diamond-encrusted bracelets. "The whole shop is all about chocolate," says the native Frenchman. "We display the pastries like jewelry, to keep to the theme of the jewelry of Mauboussin." It's much smaller than the beloved old Payard—and there's no real bakery, much less a bistro—but we'll take it. Who's the clientele?
I think it's a nice place for ladies to hang out in the afternoon. Maybe they're going to buy a ring downstairs and have a cup of hot chocolate upstairs. We have five kinds of hot chocolate.
What are these "verrines" you're offering?It's a cake that is built into a glass. They are time consuming to make because each layer is cut to fit the glass. You have to put the spoon all the way down to taste everything.
Any favorites?
One of the verrines has a very cool presentation: I think it's a little bit shocking. It's a white chocolate sponge, then a compote of cranberry and balsamic vinegar—don't worry, it's not shocking yet—and after that there's a dark chocolate creme brulee and a white chocolate sponge. There's a plastic syringe filled with the compote, so you can take a little more balsamic into your cake.
Did Mauboussin request you do anything in particular?
Alain Nemarq [chairman of Mauboussin] just wanted me to make one special thing for him because he loves something very, very dark, very French, like 75% chocolate—and he wants a pinch of salt in the dark chocolate. That's in the works.
Are you still planning to reopen your restaurant? I'm still looking for locations, right now I have nothing concrete. Concrete for me is when I sign the paper. I'm still looking at many places but right now for the next two months I'm focusing on the chocolate bar.
Are you looking in any neighborhood in particular?
I'm very open—Payard was the Upper East Side but I love downtown too, sometimes. Right now there are so many places empty, so many bad landlords. Maybe I will find my dream.
Where do you like to eat yourself?
I may shock you—I love to eat vegetarian. I just met the people from Candle Cafe. I even did something very interesting with them: they asked me to go to Harlem and to teach some kids how to eat healthy. I did a pizza for the kids with red sauce and beans and tofu.
The Mauboussin shop and Francois Chocolate Bar are located at 714 Madison Avenue (at 62nd Street).
