This week, we learned simultaneously that the world’s best camembert is from Quebec, and that more hamburgers are sold in France than the traditional jambon-beurre ham sandwiches. If we are to believe the results of a cheese competition organized by local producers in Wisconsin, the world’s best camembert is called Extra, and is made in Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec. While the...[Subscriber]
Female chefs are underrepresented in the Michelin guide, writes the New York Times. This year, the famous red guide awarded new stars to 57 French restaurants, only two of which have female chefs. The newspaper observes that the Michelin guide has "collided with the #MeToo moment." The are only 16 female chefs among the 621 Michelin-starred restaurants in France, and...
Atelier Crenn made a name for itself with a multi-course tasting menu experience at 325 dollars and dishes garnished with gold leaf. But French restaurant owner and chef Dominique Crenn is now putting her talents into simpler things. Her new restaurant, Bar Crenn, set to open in San Francisco on February 20, promises to serve the standards of the French...
While Americans watch expectantly for the groundhog to emerge on February 2, the French will be flipping crêpes with their families. Known as Chandeleur in French and "Candlemas" in English, this event mixes pagan, Celtic, and catholic influences, and is named after the candles used for a pagan ritual celebrating the arrival of the harvest. In 472, Pope Gelasius I...
French-American restauranteur Nick Ronan is known as "the Kissing Chef" in San Francisco, where he greets customers with a peck on the cheek as they step into his aptly-named bistro, Bisou. The eatery will be taking part in San Francisco Restaurant Week from January 22 to 31, 2018. Nick Ronan found himself in the restaurant world in the same way...
Le Cirque will be closing at the end of the year. This restaurant has been a shrine to French gastronomy in New York since 1974, and helped kickstart the careers of two generations of French chefs living in the United States. Eight of them shared their memories and experiences of Le Cirque with France-Amérique. Alain Sailhac, dean emeritus of the...
Due to close on December 31, Le Cirque was once considered New York’s best French restaurant. The famed institution was held up as an ideal for fine-dining in the U.S. and acted as a starting point for many French chefs that still influence the culinary scene today. At Le Cirque, the show was in the dining room as much as...
Yule logs are a French culinary tradition par excellence, and abound in American pastry shops and supermarkets during the holiday season. The yule log was originally part of Celtic culture. During the Winter Solstice — the shortest day of the year — the Celts would keep a wooden log burning throughout the night to celebrate the rebirth of the sun....
Tired of the traditional turkey? This year, why not celebrate Thanksgiving the French way — with a duck confit! Take inspiration from the world's most decorated chef, French culinary superstar Joël Robuchon, whose duck confit recipe is featured on the menu at his latest restaurant, L'Atelier. [For 2 persons] Ingredients For duck: 2 duck legs 2 Ib (1 kg) duck...
Les Trentes Glorieuses, the thirty-year period in France after World War II, saw a period of celebration and enlightenment in Paris that rebuilt the city as a capital of fashion, tourism, and, as American historian Justin Spring reminds us, food. Spring’s latest book, The Gourmand’s Way, chronicles the Parisian adventures of six American food writers — A.J. Liebling, Alice B....
Five years after the closing of his famed restaurant, Joël Robuchon, the world’s most decorated chef, is returning to New York. L’Atelier, a high-end dining establishment influenced by Japanese sushi counters, is set to open in Lower Manhattan on November 1. Mr. Robuchon has been planning his return ever since the original L’Atelier, which was located at the Four Seasons...
Alice Waters has always wanted to live like the French. Inspired by a year in Paris, the American chef brought seasonal French cuisine to Berkeley, California, where she opened the country’s first farm-to-table restaurant in 1971. Almost fifty years later, Chez Panisse remains at the forefront of “the delicious revolution” and the sprightly 73-year old is touring the United States...
A chilled corn velouté, foie gras millefeuille, and spring pea. From the wine to the dessert, the French chef Daniel Boulud’s catering company, Feast & Fêtes, pulls out all the stops to satisfy an American clientele with a taste for excellent service. “This is where it all began,” says Jean-Christophe Le Picart, sat at the Café Boulud between Central Park...
The rise and fall of this uncommon, classically French spectacle made out of something as simple as an egg is the specialty of the Rise restaurants in Dallas and Houston. The latter, which makes some 300 soufflés a night, will be participating in Houston Restaurant Week through September 4. Often described as “magic,” soufflés come out of the oven airy...
Shocking but true, a recent NPR article reveals that the classical French dish, escargots de Bourgogne, no longer originates in France. In fact, all of the Burgundy snails used to prepare this buttery and garlicky delicacy are imported from elsewhere in Europe, as far as Hungary and Ukraine. Though these snails were once farmed in France, they have virtually disappeared...
Twice a year, some of New York’s finest restaurants open their doors to eager residents, curious cross-borough travellers and determined tourists during NYC Restaurant Week. Only during this mouthwatering 4-week period, from July 24 to August 18, will diners be able to sample all five boroughs’ culinary institutions with prix-fixe menus of $29 for lunch and $42 for dinner. This...
July 10 to 23, 12 French restaurants in Chicago will be offering special prix fixe menus so that the public can sample their best dishes at affordable prices. The third edition of the city’s French Restaurant Week coincides with Bastille Day celebrations and meals will be offered for $17.89, $38, and 178.90 to echo France’s revolutionary year. Below is a...
When studying journalism at Columbia University, Aaron Lee never imagined he would become, in his wife’s words, “a Southwest Georgia boy who’s now the king of couscous in New York.” However, just a few years later, he owns and operates Bar Omar in Williamsburg, a dimly-lit restaurant in Brooklyn with a menu famous for its French-Algerian couscous and tagines. The...
From July 3rd to 16th, 42 restaurants in the New York metropolitan area will take part in French Restaurant Week, offering a special prix-fixe menu for dinner and lunch to showcase the city’s diverse range of French cuisine. As a nod to the French revolutionary year and Bastille Day on July 14th, restaurants will offer menu options for the prices...
Air France is set to open a pop-up restaurant in New York to showcase some of the French cuisine it serves in-flight. As a final course, diners have a chance to win a flight departing immediately after the meal that will land winners in Paris for dessert. Eat dinner in New York and dessert in Paris. This dream could come...
