TEMPLES OF GASTRONOMY - TAILLEVENT - PARIS,FRANCE
Why Break the Mold?
So what is the best restaurant in Paris? Poll 1,000 French gourmets and you’d get no consensus (in fact, you might get 1,000 different answers).
Nevertheless, if what you’re looking for is the quintessential classic French dining experience — deeply steeped in the traditions of Escoffier and Brillat-Savarin — you can’t beat Taillevent. This small, gracious Right Bank restaurant first opened in post-Occupation 1946, when Paris was intent on recapturing its old glory. Under three generations of the Vrinat family, it has maintained its position ever since at the pinnacle of haute cuisine.
For the price you’ll pay at Taillevent (well into the hundreds, whether you’re paying in dollars, pounds, or euros), every element of the dining experience should be superlative, and it is. The location is exquisite, an ornate 19th-century aristocratic town house just off the Champs-Elysées, with two dining salons — one oakpaneled with soft lighting and soothing brown upholstery, the other airy and bright with large windows looking onto a garden. Service is unfailingly correct, discreet, and attentive — better yet, warm and welcoming (a virtue all too rare in Parisian restaurants). The wine list is legendarily superb, one of the best in Paris, with a fine sommelier staff to match.
And the food, under chef Alain Solivérès, more than lives up to the setting. While you can still get classic dishes like cream of watercress soup with Sevruga caviar, coquilles St. Jacques, roast Bresse chicken breast, or a beef filet in reduced béarnaise sauce, Solivérès also draws inspiration from the Basque country, Bordeaux, and Languedoc for his daily changing menu. He might slip frogs’ legs into a risotto, do a cassoulet with crayfish, or jazz up pan-fried duck liver with caramelized fruits and vegetables. It’s by no means the most experimental food in Paris, but it gives that classic menu a healthy freshness and verve. And anyway, culinary innovation is not why you’ve come to Taillevent.
The death of Jean-Claude Vrinat in early 2008 saddened the gourmet community; his presence in the restaurant every night was one of the things in Paris you could always count on. However, diners report that under the direction of his daughter Valerie, the restaurant hasn’t missed a beat; if anything, it has gotten a little sprightlier. Yes, the business expanded a few years ago to add a more casual (and relatively cheaper) alternative, L’Angle du Faubourg (193 rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré; & 33/1/40 74 20 20), with a wine store Les Caves Taillevent next door. Yes, in 2007 Taillevent lost its third Michelin star, which it had held since 1973, a longer three-star run than any restaurant in the world. (They’re determined to win it back, of course.) But in the fickle world of haute cuisine, fads come and go; stars rise and fall. Taillevent is a fixture you can count on.
By Holly Hughes with Charlie O'Malley in "500 Places for Food & Wine Lovers", Frommer's, Wiley Publishing, USA, 2009, excerpts p.118. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
So what is the best restaurant in Paris? Poll 1,000 French gourmets and you’d get no consensus (in fact, you might get 1,000 different answers).
Nevertheless, if what you’re looking for is the quintessential classic French dining experience — deeply steeped in the traditions of Escoffier and Brillat-Savarin — you can’t beat Taillevent. This small, gracious Right Bank restaurant first opened in post-Occupation 1946, when Paris was intent on recapturing its old glory. Under three generations of the Vrinat family, it has maintained its position ever since at the pinnacle of haute cuisine.
For the price you’ll pay at Taillevent (well into the hundreds, whether you’re paying in dollars, pounds, or euros), every element of the dining experience should be superlative, and it is. The location is exquisite, an ornate 19th-century aristocratic town house just off the Champs-Elysées, with two dining salons — one oakpaneled with soft lighting and soothing brown upholstery, the other airy and bright with large windows looking onto a garden. Service is unfailingly correct, discreet, and attentive — better yet, warm and welcoming (a virtue all too rare in Parisian restaurants). The wine list is legendarily superb, one of the best in Paris, with a fine sommelier staff to match.
And the food, under chef Alain Solivérès, more than lives up to the setting. While you can still get classic dishes like cream of watercress soup with Sevruga caviar, coquilles St. Jacques, roast Bresse chicken breast, or a beef filet in reduced béarnaise sauce, Solivérès also draws inspiration from the Basque country, Bordeaux, and Languedoc for his daily changing menu. He might slip frogs’ legs into a risotto, do a cassoulet with crayfish, or jazz up pan-fried duck liver with caramelized fruits and vegetables. It’s by no means the most experimental food in Paris, but it gives that classic menu a healthy freshness and verve. And anyway, culinary innovation is not why you’ve come to Taillevent.
The death of Jean-Claude Vrinat in early 2008 saddened the gourmet community; his presence in the restaurant every night was one of the things in Paris you could always count on. However, diners report that under the direction of his daughter Valerie, the restaurant hasn’t missed a beat; if anything, it has gotten a little sprightlier. Yes, the business expanded a few years ago to add a more casual (and relatively cheaper) alternative, L’Angle du Faubourg (193 rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré; & 33/1/40 74 20 20), with a wine store Les Caves Taillevent next door. Yes, in 2007 Taillevent lost its third Michelin star, which it had held since 1973, a longer three-star run than any restaurant in the world. (They’re determined to win it back, of course.) But in the fickle world of haute cuisine, fads come and go; stars rise and fall. Taillevent is a fixture you can count on.
By Holly Hughes with Charlie O'Malley in "500 Places for Food & Wine Lovers", Frommer's, Wiley Publishing, USA, 2009, excerpts p.118. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
0 Response to "TEMPLES OF GASTRONOMY - TAILLEVENT - PARIS,FRANCE"
Post a Comment