A MOLECULAR FEAST We may utilize science in the kitchen, but it doesn’t appear in front of our guests. I consider what we do an art form, and art is in many ways the opposite of science.
Dehydrated bacon wrapped in apple leather.
Gelled sweet potato, brown sugar, and bourbon, tempura-fried on a torched cinnamon stick.
Achatz serves Licorice suspended at mouth level—guests are asked to eat the dish using no hands. _____________________________________________
ABOUT L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is based on simplicity and the very highest quality food, drawing on Robuchon’s internationally renowned culinary expertise.
The philosophy of the counter where you dine at L’Atelier is one of interactivity. The eating counter surrounds the entire kitchen where the diners’ food is prepared. Robuchon utilises this format as a chef can actually gauge the reaction of his clients, and even converse with those regulars that wish to participate. In turn diners may watch their food being prepared by consummate professionals in the Japanese inspired lay out.
At L’Atelier you can eat the highest quality food in an informal, convivial environment in less than an hour should you so wish. In London, unlike the sister restaurants in Paris and Tokyo, there are another 20 seats where diners may sit opposite each other.
Robuchon’s menu delights the palate with clean incisive flavours and refreshingly unfussy presentation, the dishes being predominantly French with Italian and Spanish elements. [joel-robuchon.com]
CHEF: Joël Robuchon Born in Poitiers in 1945, Joël Robuchon originally intended to join the priesthood. But family difficulties forced him to find work & at 15 he took on an apprenticeship at the Relais de Poitiers. In 1966 Robuchon became the official chef of La Tour de France, where he learnt a variety of diverse regional techniques. At 28, he became head chef at Harmony-Lafayette, overseeing 3,000 meals a day. In 1981 he launched Jamin in Paris & within three years had received three Michelin stars. In 1996 he left his Parisian restaurant, but maintained the direction of L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Tokyo. He opened another L’Atelier in Paris in 2003 & has since established Ateliers in Las Vegas, New York & London. [squaremeal.co.uk]
REVIEWS [squaremeal.co.uk] The London branch of the French überchef’s global brand rarely puts a foot wrong with its meticulously prepared dishes & chicer than chic surrounds: no wonder it’s a magnet for Rolex-wearing types & those with generous expense accounts. While the first-floor monochrome restaurant offers a traditional three-course menu, the no-booking ground-floor ‘atelier’ is more fun: it’s a dark & sleek space, colour-schemed in Robuchon’s signature red & black, where diners perch on stools at a counter overlooking the open kitchen. Black-clad chefs assemble immaculate grazing dishes from high-end ingredients with an air of cool precision & the results are hard to fault. Artfully tiered tuna tartare looks good & tastes even better, the famous beef & foie gras mini-burger with crunchy chips amuses, & pig’s trotter on parmesan toast is a rich mélange incorporating truffle, mushroom & tarragon. As one fan declares: ‘Every mouthful is a taste sensation’. Knowledgeable but ‘abrupt’ staff keep the finely calibrated operation ticking over briskly.
Wine List: This is a judiciously chosen collection, with classics from Bordeaux balanced by interesting bottles from regions such as Languedoc & Corsica. More than half the selection is French, though the rest of the world receives good coverage – New Zealand, Australia & Italy all hold interest. Margins are not low, but there is plenty to choose between £20 & £40. Best Buy White: 2006 Soave, Tamellini, Veneto, Italy, £26. Best Buy Red: 2004 Anjou-Villages, Domaine Ogereau, Loire Valley, France, £32.
[savorycities.com/newyork] Outstanding modern French cuisine. Reserve at the counter, it is the ONLY place to sit. The outstanding cuisine is best enjoyed via ordering the small plates, which diners can mix and match to create the meal of their own design. There are so many highlights it is difficult to recommend any one over the others. Robuchon's signature langoustine dish is prepared to perfection, sweetbreads are heavenly and the steak tartare is memorable. While food is the reason to come to L'Atelier, the service makes it all that more enjoyable. General Manager and chief sommelier Stephane Colling runs a tight ship. At the counter the waiter are always within close proximity and they provide outstanding service, as do the bussers who make course presentations a special event, multiple times per meal. The wine list developed by Colling is first class containing hidden treasures, including wines from small boutique French wineries that are unknown outside France. If you are unsure, check with Colling and he will guide you to a wine. Further his wine pairings are well selected and served.
[london-eating.co.uk] The stars of the night were an amuse bouche - a shot of foie gras with a port reduction and parmesan foam. The little free pre-pudding of honey panna cotta with yogurt ice cream, raspberry and lime coulis and a little ground 'granola' was a really brilliant combination and the flavour of the raspberries lasted such a long time. Best of all was a sugar glass bauble filled with sorbets in a sauce of red fruits and some anise in there. This gave us HUGE pleasure - baubles and prettiness aside, the flavour combination again was perfect.
Service was informal and very attentive. Knowing it was my birthday, the put together a little slice of chocolate tart with a candle on a 'happy birthday' iced plate - completely charmed by that.
Next time we'll go to the ground floor, as I like the idea of trying lots of dishes.
Yelp.com I don't know what it is about L'Atelier that makes me give it three stars. The food certainly is good... Perhaps one day I really must do the tasting. And sit at the bar. That being said:
The cons? I always know the places I want to give 4 or 5 stars and though I have only been to L'Atelier twice, neither time have I walked away reeling from the experience. I think a lot of it is just that I don't find the dining room very pleasant or impressive, and honestly find the price to food ratio more than slightly ridiculous. Our waiter was nice enough, but he was not knowledgeable about the wine at all nor could he seem to get the sommelier or manager to speak to us about it. I will give him points for being enthusiastic when I asked for suggestions, but everything he suggested was related to foie gras, and I had already ordered a foie gras dish. On top of that, he just struck me as awkward.
The food: The Amuse was, as my sister noted, delightful. It came in a jigger glass, as you would expect typically from an amuse soup. This however was thick and creamy and required a spoon: warm foie gras emulsion, very nice, rich, and full of flavor.
King crab and radish - (described as: "Le King Crab" king crab in a turnip ravioli with rosemary) tasty, with the perfect amount of shaved radish and small assortment of dipping oils on the plate. I thought this was a very nice, if small, dish - but at the same time slightly awkward to enjoy all layers together.
Foie gras and eel - (described as: L'Anguille - caramelized eel layered with smoked foie gras) - compliments each other well, the foie gras does not overpower the eel at all and if it is smoked, the smoked flavor is exceptionally subtle, the eel itself just a touch sweet. I recall being bored by this last time - and since it was the predominate reason I wanted to go to *this* Joel Robuchon, it was disappointing. On this second trip, I was impressed by the meshing of foie gras (this one far more subtle than the amuse) and the subtle flavors of the eel. Not a bursting-with-layers-of-flavor in your mouth sort of plate, but well done.
"Le Champignon" (described as: portobello mushroom tart with eggplant caviar, tomato confit and arugula) - Just as the king crab dish I'd had playfully calls the slices of turnip that encase the crab meat a 'ravioli', this dish describes strips of eggplant laid atop it as 'caviar' - which to me was not playful but all around silly. Perhaps it is because I actually like some caviar (and am not an eggplant fan) and was subconsciously disappointed? I don't mind anything that has tomato confit - but found the taste of roasted tomato and semi saltiness of the eggplant to overshadow the portobello. I was not fond of this dish, unlike my dining companions.
Sea Bass - (described as "Le Bar" - pan-fried sea bass with a lemongrass foam and stewed baby leeks) - Regarding this dish - IMO it is what it is - a cut of delicately cooked and nicely presented sea bass, semi-salty, but nothing to write home about. Nothing spectacular happening with this dish.
Dessert Amuse Bouche - citrus mousse with tapioca - tastes of basil, grapefuit. This was excellent - bursting with refreshing flavor, tangy, sweet. They really hit the nail on the head with this exciting punch of joy ;)
Dessert: (descibed as "La Pomme Verte" light jivara ganache, green apple brunoise and ginger ice cream) - apple, pear, what my sister describes as oreo, came topped with an extremely thin dried slice of apple, and a small amount of gold leafing. I think the oreo was actually the jivara (or chocolate) ganache - but whatever it was - I was not fond of it. This is probably just another case of - everyone has different tastes. This dessert just wasn't my thing.
The wine I wound up ordering by my fail safe method (if it is a grape I have never heard of - I order it) worked out surprisingly well. It was a 2005 Pinot Auxerrois Blanc from Alsace - and before you call me out, yes, it was in the front of the menu and easy. It was also semi-sweet, fruity but not overpowered by it; a medium bodied white with presence. Good job Val! Good job;)
[concierge.com/travelguide/paris] Former three-star chef Joël Robuchon was hailed as the best French chef of the 20th century before he retired at age 50. Then, a few years ago, he returned to the limelight with this unlikely vehicle: a New York–style coffee shop cum tapas bar. Ironically, Robuchon wanted out of the Michelin rat race but received a star here in 2006 and a second star at his other Paris restaurant, a somewhat staid sit-down place in the 16th Arrondissement called La Table de Joël Robuchon. L'Atelier is innovative, totally nonsmoking, and fun, as long as you don't mind the counter-only service, high-rise stools, and reservation policy—tables can only be booked for 6:30 p.m. If you choose to dine later, odds are you'll wind up admiring the black and Chinese-red lacquer interior for an hour or more before ascending your stool. Begin with caviar, Spanish ham, or spaghetti carbonara, or perhaps an assortment of little tasting plates. This French take on tapas changes often but might include veal sweetbreads skewered with a bay leaf twig and garnished with creamy Swiss chard, or a tart of mackerel filet, Parmesan shavings, and olives. Then, go classic with a steak or opt for something more inventive like sublime cannelloni stuffed with foie gras and Bresse chicken. _____________________________________________
TripAdvisor Popularity Index: #20 of 5,912 restaurants in Paris _____________________________________________
Blu Dot's Smart Style (2006) John Christakos, Maurice Blanks, and Charlie Lazor are three friends who met at Williams College in the 1980s. They shared a love for cool furniture -- and a lack of funds to support their cravings. In 1996, the trio launched Blu Dot, a maker of playful, moderately priced, and easy-to-assemble pieces that filled the void between inexpensive Ikea-style goods and luxe furnishings by European firms such as Capellini.
In other words, the Minneapolis-based company's offerings are high-style but moderately priced. Blu Dot found ways to save inventory storage and shipping costs by coming up with pieces that could be stored or packed flat. They also focused on creating pieces that could be assembled without tools when possible -- and included funny directions to win over buyers used to complicated, hard-to-follow instructions. Blu Dot's strategies paid off: In 2005, the privately held company saw sales increase 50%, to $7.5 million. [...]
Buttercup Chair Blu Dot's lounge chair is made from molded plywood shaped to gently cradle a seated body. It can be used as a comfortable, lightweight, modern alternative to heavy upholstered living room seating -- and is easy to move around when redecorating or relocating.
2D:3D Series Blu Dot received attention for this series of assemble-it-yourself home and office accessories made from a single sheet of perforated metal. The concept: Each item, like a letter tray or coat rack, can pack totally flat, thus cutting shipping costs and assembly time. Owners put together each item without tools by simply pushing the seamed, two-dimensional cutouts into three-dimensional shapes.
Barbarella Table This sexy, futuristic table evokes the classic Jane Fonda flick of the same name. The base is made from a single piece of folded metal with a top simply placed on top. It features a slot to accommodate magazines or newspapers. The streamlined construction was designed to pack flat -- thus staying consistent with Blu Dot's goal of keeping shipping costs down.
Series 11 Drawer Sophisticated and sleek, this drawer set could conceivably be at home equally in a bedroom (for clothes) or a living room (as a media cabinet) -- thus staying consistent with the brand's focus on versatility. _____________________________________________
The Modern Wing The 264,000-square-foot Modern Wing - at a cost of $294 million - is the largest expansion in the Art Institute of Chicago's 130-year history. Now a decade in the making, this building makes the Art Institute the second largest art museum in the United States.
The windows are covered with white screens, lending the views a soft, ghostlike quality. This effect is reinforced by the layering of glass, which shuts out street noise and gives the sight of people walking below a particularly eerie, cinematic quality. The idea is to make you aware of the shifts in daylight — over the course of a visit, from one season to another — without distracting you from the artwork, and the effect is magical.
It is this obsessive refinement that raises Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano's best architecture to the level of art. In an age with few idealists, he exudes a touching faith in the value of slow, incremental progress. He has never fully abandoned the belief that machines can elevate as well as destroy. The beauty of his designs stems from his stubborn insistence that the placement of a column or a window, when done with enough patience and care, brings us a step closer to a more enlightened society.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum__New York City
QUOTES The Guggenheim Museum was an aggressive act: Frank Lloyd Wright hated cities. His spiralling museum was, in a way, an attack against the Manhattan street grid.
Many critics see his building as unsympathetic to art: too rigid; a difficult place to install art.
Wright died 6 months before the museum opened. ________________________________________
RELATED: Azzedine Alaia - Fall 08 What Azzedine Alaia is able to do with knitting is remarkable. He produces ruffles and poodle curls that look like lace. The skirt of one outfit, in a boiled black knit, consisted of vertical rows of overlapping circles, like sugar cookies arranged on a buffet tray. And all of these effects are a technical extension of recent work, like the pleated caterpillar dresses worn at last year’s Costume Institute party by Stephanie Seymour and Naomi Campbell, and the new crinkled cotton shirt dresses for spring that use embroidery anglaise.
COMMENTS Alaia just hits the nail on the head, doesn’t he? What’s disappointing is how little his work is photographed- I never see it in magazines or the internet or anywhere, really. I hope this collection is more widely diffused.
Thanks for the inside peek, Cathy. Alaia’s knitwear is indeed incredible - I am still aching at the thought of a skirt of his I neglected to buy on sale from Dover Street Market in January. It was simply but beautifully composed of rounded folds gathered at the waste. What struck me was really the weight of the fabric, which you don’t generally see with modern knitwear, but which was entrancingly muscular here without being stiff in the normal way we think of “constructed” garments.
Thank you for the descriptive process of Alaia…this genius at work. The invisible collaboration of his staff just to reach the stage of the designs that you saw just boggles my mind. He falls in love everytime and surrenders to his ideas and fabrics. What confidence. C’est difficile, bien sur.
Thanks for the peek inside Mr. Alaia’s atelier. I agree that he is a master of his craft, and too seldom featured in the fashion press (although maybe by his own design). His knitwear is amazing and his techniques always innovative and highly imitated. Like __, I regret not buying an Alaia skirt I should have scooped up for a fraction of the retail price at Filene’s Basement. His work is timeless and, although recognizable, it doesn’t ever succomb to trendiness.
This is going to sound a little selfish on my part, but I’m almost glad Alaïa doesn’t get splashed all over the pages of magazines, because part of the allure is that you have to seek out his work. His most faithful clients aren’t exactly buying his stuff at Barney’s but make the trek out to his fabled atelier in the Marais. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of sumptuousness where they can truly experience (and purchase) the full breadth of his creativity. He closed down his one freestanding store in New York almost a decade ago, and despite the fact various boutiques and specialty department stores stock his wares, you’re still left with the feeling that there is much more to see at his atelier, which has a seductive pull that’s very rare in this age of fast fashion.
What’s interesting about Alaïa’s work is that you notice a clear progression in his thinking. We’ve watched him evolve from very sleek almost skin tight dressing (as if he were trying to whittle the dress down to his purest form) only to move on to shapes that are almost sculptural with more volume (but still body conscious). ____________________________________________
Under the Bonnet The Tulips and Pansies show, a fund-raiser for Village Care of New York, a health care agency, held at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan, gave florists a chance to unspool their giddiest fantasies. _____________________________________________
Top Chefs on Opening Shop: Starting a Restaurant So you want to open your own restaurant despite the bad economy? While it may be one of the most rewarding business ventures, it is also one of the riskiest. Conventional wisdom holds that nine out of 10 new restaurants fail during their first year of operation. Although that rate has been debunked, the fact is, opening a restaurant isn't always what it appears from the outside looking in. With that in mind, BusinessWeek sought out top chef-restaurateurs who've earned rave reviews and awards, respect within the foodie world, and perhaps most importantly—enduring business success.
Lidia Bastianich Known for her national TV shows, cookbooks and restaurants, Bastianich received the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef award in 2002. The crown jewel in her restaurant empire, Felidia, which she opened in 1981, earned three stars from The New York Times in 1995 and 2006. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: Keep it small, value-driven, and in a beautiful setting. Keep it small, so you can control it and create something of value. It's the survival of the fittest right now—it's not the time to think about getting rich. But if you can build a business in these times and keep it stable—then you can expand on it. Remember that [success] goes beyond a pure formula. "It's time to be frugal and to be giving. Don't be afraid to give a little extra to your customers. And don't work in a vacuum. Do research. Make seasonal dishes. There's also a philosophy of cooking I was raised on: use as much of your ingredients as you can. Everybody wants a chicken breast, but what happens to the rest of the chicken? Use it.
Mario Batali Michelin-starred chef-restaurateur behind 14 restaurants, including flagship Babbo in New York City, is the former host of the Food Network's Molto Mario and Ciao America and the author of six cookbooks. He recently launched the PBS series Spain… On The Road Again with his friend Gwyneth Paltrow. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: This month… wait and keep your day job to see just what kind of world we are heading into. The one thing an economic dive does to the restaurant business is weed out the hacks and rookies. If a steady economy prevails and a miracle appears, my advice is to define your customer base in the broadest terms possible and create food and service from the heart, not the textbook or mimicry.
Daniel Boulud The French-born, Michelin-starred chef-restaurateur behind nine restaurants, including famed Daniel in New York, is the author of six cookbooks and is credited with introducing the gourmet burger at his DB Bistro Moderne restaurant in Manhattan. He was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French government in 2006. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: First, you must be financially sound. Make sure your business plan is more pessimistic than optimistic. One can always deal with success—it is easier to manage than failure. You should raise enough money [to go] for the first three months without the expectation of profitability. If you are profitable in your first month, it is a good sign of longevity. But if it takes six months to profitability, it will be very hard for the rest of your life [in business]. It is very important when you want to open a restaurant to have a name and a reputation or to create one for yourself. You have to have something special to offer people, so that they come back to you again and again. There are three things you can control in a restaurant: the costs of rent, food, and payroll. Once you have this equation and a little bit of a following, create a wonderful place and build a good team of people who can deal with any task.
Todd English Chef Todd English was named best chef in the Northeast by the James Beard Foundation in 1994 for Olives, his Charlestown (Mass.) Mediterranean flagship restaurant. English now has four other Olives locations from New York to Las Vegas, as well as nine other restaurant concepts that bear his name. In 2001, Bon Appetit magazine named him restaurateur of the year. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: It is important to make sure you have enough extra capital in the bank when you open a restaurant. It should be enough to get you through your first several months, but it would be even better if it could get you through your first year.
Wolfgang Puck The Austrian born, Michelin-starred chef-restaurateur is perhaps best known for his Beverly Hills celebrity haunt Spago and several other fine dining eateries such as Cut, a chain of fast-casual establishments across the country, and a restaurant empire that now spans the globe. He is the author of six cookbooks, the licensor of numerous cooking-related products, and a regular on the Food Network. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: Make your mistakes at someone else's expense, at someone else's restaurant, so that when you open your own, you won't have to pay for it. This means be patient, work hard, mix in a little talent, and when everything comes together, you might be ready to open your own restaurant.
Annie Somerville The head chef of Greens restaurant in San Francisco earned a national reputation for imaginative vegetarian cooking. Her bestselling cookbooks include Everyday Greens and Fields Of Greens. Advice to aspiring restaurateurs: The food makes a restaurant and draws customers in, but you have to have a great business sense or a partner with experience who understands the money flows. At times, the money flows out faster than it flows in. It is a serious business and the profit margins are so slim. Many people don't realize how complicated it is. If at all possible, I'd say that when you start go into an existing restaurant space. That is a way to go so that you don't spend all of your money just furnishing the kitchen. So many people start out undercapitalized. They spend it all opening and never make it back.
Grant Achatz at work in Alinea.
Dehydrated bacon wrapped in apple leather.
Gelled sweet potato, brown sugar, and bourbon, tempura-fried on a torched cinnamon stick.
Achatz serves Licorice suspended at mouth level—guests are asked to eat the dish using no hands.
Hong Kong
Las Vegas
London
London
Buttercup Chair3D+series-businessweek.jpg)
2D:3D Series
Barbarella Table
Series 11 Drawer
The windows are covered with white screens, lending the views a soft, ghostlike quality. This effect is reinforced by the layering of glass, which shuts out street noise and gives the sight of people walking below a particularly eerie, cinematic quality.
It is this obsessive refinement that raises Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano's best architecture to the level of art. In an age with few idealists, he exudes a touching faith in the value of slow, incremental progress. He has never fully abandoned the belief that machines can elevate as well as destroy. The beauty of his designs stems from his stubborn insistence that the placement of a column or a window, when done with enough patience and care, brings us a step closer to a more enlightened society.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum__New York City
What Azzedine Alaia is able to do with knitting is remarkable. He produces ruffles and poodle curls that look like lace. The skirt of one outfit, in a boiled black knit, consisted of vertical rows of overlapping circles, like sugar cookies arranged on a buffet tray. And all of these effects are a technical extension of recent work, like the pleated caterpillar dresses worn at last year’s Costume Institute party by Stephanie Seymour and Naomi Campbell, and the new crinkled cotton shirt dresses for spring that use embroidery anglaise.
Under the Bonnet
Rasika__Washington, D.C.
Todd English
