My favorite meals (I didn’t cook)
From Paris to London to Aspen to New York City and back home in Austin. Great dining has taken me around the world and no matter where you are a big slice of the total dining experience is about the ambiance. The atmosphere and service are just as important as the food and wine. At some point food preparation only goes so far to impress, atmosphere and service take it over the top.
A drum roll please….
My favorite dining experience was at the Hotel Plaza Athenee in the Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee Restaurant. This restaurant is in Paris and is Alain’s flagship restaurant.
My dinner companions were Betsy and Michel Bernardaud and my great friend Mike Reese. The Bernardaud family have been making French porcelain for hundreds of years and they get rock star treatment whenever and wherever they dine out. Mike Reese and his wife Pam designed interiors of planes for Arabs. Timing is important when designing and charging top dollar. Mike’s timing was spot on, the Arabs would say “I want it like my brothers but better”. The Sultan of Brunei holds the record for the largest fleet of planes.
Pam would help with the design and bring a softer touch to the finished product. They would buy the best porcelain the Bernardaud’s had to offer to put on the planes. Price was no object. At the time when Mike and Pam were slowing the plane design business down Michel asked them to design a line of porcelain. So, they did and Michel produced Mike’s unique new line of plates, etc. Once the dishes were ready for presentation the Bernardaud’s have a restaurant incorporate their newest tableware with a 5-star meal. I was tagging along for the deluxe ride.
The great thing about flying with the Reese’s is their plane flies faster than all commercial planes. You know you are flying fast when you look down and you are passing the commercial planes. The Reese’s plane flies just under the speed of sound. Austin to Paris is a mere 8-hour journey. The other benefits are there is no suffering of jet lag and there is no limit on what you can bring back.
Mike and I had loads of extra time so we went to the best and oldest restaurant supply house in Paris. Mike is a self-taught chef and was thrilled to show me around the shop. When I have to ask “what’s that for” you know it’s unique. I could have shopped for hours, but I started to feel guilty because I wasn’t the only one bringing goodies home on Mike’s plane. I was struggling to exit the shop as both of my hands were busy juggling all of my newly purchased treasures. I started to push the door open with my foot when I realized that a kind soul was holding the door open. I looked up to say thank you and realized that the kind soul holding the door open was none other than Gordon Ramsey. The next day Chef Ramsey was doing an interview on skyTV about his newest restaurant. The interviewer asked him how many nights did he cook in his new restaurant? He reached across and touched her blazer and commented on how nice her blazer was and asked her who was the designer. She replied, Ralph Lauren. Gordon’s immediate comment was “Do you think Ralph stitched that coat?”. There was not another comment from the interviewer about Gordon cooking!
Back to the hotel. I knew the hotel (Plaza Athenee) was special when I rounded a corner and ran into Leonardo DiCaprio and simultaneously spied Jennifer Aniston having hot tea on the porch while I was trying to be nonchalant. Everything in my room was gold leaf. I thought I was in Trump Tower!
Chef Ducasse’s restaurant was off of the lobby of the hotel. The maître d knew the Bernardaud’s by sight. I knew we were in for a special experience. The staff was middle aged and very crisp, career servers. Michel ordered the wine as we perused the menu. A very nice Burgundy for the red and an equally delicious Chablis for the white. Michel did something I have often done when going through the wine approval ritual, before giving his approval for the red wine to be opened, Michel felt the temperature of the bottle with his hand as the thermometer, making sure the bottle is cool. 60 degrees Fahrenheit means the red has been stored properly. If it’s temperature is restaurant hot, it has been stored improperly. After the wine tasting and approval process, our Captain Waiter rolled a tray with a large silver bowl filled with chilled champagne to our table and poured everyone a complimentary glass. The kitchen sent out an amuse bouché which was a prawn in a lemon garlic sauce.
I ordered foie gras followed by turbo which was very fresh and de boned table side. Everyone had a salad following their entrees. We had not an inch to spare in our bellies for dessert, just enough room for an espresso or tea, or so we thought. Our wait staff wheeled over the cheese cart and each cheese description was so enticing and irresistible. We got a slice of many of those cheeses. A plate of chocolate petit fours was served along with the cheeses. Betsy Bernardaud ordered lemon herb tea. Another cart (in France they are called gueridon or Jerry Don) was wheeled over with potted live herbs on display. With silver scissors our waiter clipped fresh lemon thyme into a steaming tea server to steep. Now that’s fresh.
The entire meal was perfect. What took it over the top and made the experience unforgettably special was the attention to details, such as the fresh thyme to make the herb tea.
Onto London and The Savoy. We stayed at the Sanderson hotel, home of Spoon restaurant. The Sanderson is a very hip artsy boutique hotel. We had several good reasons to visit London. My daughter was living in and teaching school in London and Sara’s adopted son, Cory was in London following a girl and adventures. While we were in London, thanks to the internet we knew that Hudson’s had just received a number 1 rating by Dale Rice. We are always looking for a reason to celebrate and need very little good news to celebrate, so off we went to the legendary Savoy. We had good seats to see Monte Python and the Holy Grail a play in the west end and The Savoy was close to the theater so we were able to get to the theater quickly after a lavish dinner. I was in a celebratory mood, so I ordered big expensive wines. The food and wine were exceptional but the service and ambiance were over the top. There is something about a centuries old restaurant.
Our Captain Waiter presented the bill in a leather folder. In Europe the waiter is the runner and the captain stays on the front floor. The captain takes the orders and serves. The waiter is more like the American busboy. At Hudson’s we called busboys “back waiters”.
When the captain presented the Savoy bill he opened the book, gasped and then said playfully, “oh…I’m sorry, would you like a tour of the kitchen”. He was assuming a tour of the kitchen would take the sting out of the bill. Well I did enjoy the tour. You could see years and layers of remodeling. There are parts lost in the remodeling that can’t be replaced. We finished the tour and made it to the theater on time. We really enjoyed David Hyde Pierce.
Next stop New York City and Thomas Keller. I have eaten at French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in NYC. At both restaurants I ordered the tasting menu. While the tasting menu was tasty and creative it was too much food. Between the two restaurants, Per Se was victorious, the food was great at both restaurants but the extra details at Per Se made it the clear winner. Two of the staff members at Per Se had worked at Jeffrey’s Restaurant in Austin and they alerted the restaurant manager that I was a fellow restaurateur. Having the staff know me was a big plus and we got special treatment. It also didn’t hurt that Mike Reese ordered the most expensive Chardonnay on the list. The Chardonnay was a very limited production wine, only 2 oak barrels, about 50 cases. Per Se and The French Laundry got the total production of those 50 cases. Our waiter explained that they had 2 milk cows In Vermont that supplied the cream for our butter. I jokingly said “what are their names?” The waiter responded with their names. One of the courses was wagyu beef, thinly sliced and raw and it was served with a selection of salts. Black salt and pink salt both from Hawaii, French salt, smoked salt, herb salt, nine salts in all. It made the carpaccio extra special. To say I love salt is an understatement. The waiter was very knowledgeable and informative. The restaurant is on the 10th floor of the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle and the multiple leveled dining room has a magnificent view of NYC which added to the ambiance. The only distraction was Trump Tower. At the end of our flawless dinner, we were taken on a tour of the restaurant that was over the top. When we walked into the kitchen the first thing you saw was the expediting table surrounded by at least 8 garnishers.
I later learned that the garnishers were all interns and they paid the restaurant $1000.00 a month for the privilege of being there. Wow, what a scam. They also had a video camera focused on the expediting table, as did the French laundry, and each kitchen had a monitor so the Per Se and the French Laundry could watch each other’s production in live time. Per Se will remain one of my all-time favorites!
In Aspen, one of my favs was the Parlor Car. It was a restored railroad dining car from the Victorian age with all the frills. The food was classic European cuisine, rich and heavy…all tasty and the atmosphere made it a fun and great dining experience. One night when we dined at the Parlor Car, the staff applauded at the conclusion of our meal because we made it through the entire meal without a single snort. Again, the ambiance and service sent it over the top.
Back to Austin and it’s restaurant scene. It is more about beer and BBQ but I have seen that change in my decades in the Austin food scene. David Bull and Tyson Cole are the standout chefs in ATX. David Bull began his Austin career at the Driscoll hotel. The Driscoll has a lot of old Austin history. You feel like you have wandered into a time capsule. It is elegant and old, a great combination. David’s cuisine matched the architecture. He since has opened and closed Congress Restaurant and is currently and successfully running Second Bar & Kitchen.
Tyson Cole took sushi and Asian cuisine to a new level at his restaurant Uchi. He combined flavors that surprise and really work. The seafood is always very fresh. When Tyson expanded and created Uchico another Asian/sushi restaurant he put Paul Qui at the chef spot. Paul was an up and coming chef. Tyson made the right choice putting Paul in charge. Mike and Terri Burke joined us for the Uchico tasting menu. It was super. This high-quality food was rich and clean at the same time. The food was tops. It superseded the atmosphere. The restaurant is always full. Paul Qui went on to win “Top Chef” on the Food Network. I was enjoying an interview with one of the winners of “Top Chef” when he was asked how he would spend the prize money. He said he would buy several things, one purchase being a kefir lime tree for about $6000.00. I felt I was a winner. I bought my kefir lime tree for $5.95 in front of a local grocery store.
The following recipe is for an Espresso rub and is one of my “go to” recipes. It has a unique flavor. We put it on elk back strap before we grilled it. The combination of espresso, ancho chili and chocolate have a unique flavor. It can go on most grilled foods. It’s great on beef or poultry or any wild game such as venison or quail.
Enjoy
Ingredients
¼ cup espresso (dry)
¼ cup ancho chili powder
¼ cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 tablespoon of sea salt
Process
Mix all the ingredients in a shallow casserole pan.
Season the meat you’re going to grill with a liberal amount of sea salt. Remember you are seasoning on the outer layer so be liberal.
Next roll or sprinkle or rub or all of the above with espresso mix.
There should be a generous coating of the espresso mix on the exterior before you grill. If you grill to medium well or higher, the grill meat will have what appears to be a burnt crust. Not so, enjoy.