Paris, once regarded as the gastronomical center of the world, is looking to a cadre of young chefs from a country derided for its love of processed cheese - gasp, the United States - to help raise the bar.
American chefs boost fine dining in France
Jenny Barchfield
December 28, 2011 04:00 AM
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Paris, once regarded as the gastronomical center of the world, is looking to a cadre of young chefs from a country derided for its love of processed cheese - gasp, the United States - to help raise the bar.
French chefs have been opening fine restaurants stateside for years, but up until about a decade ago, the opposite would have been almost unthinkable.
Chefs such as Spring's Daniel Rose, or Braden Perkins and Laura Adrian, the pair behind the Hidden Kitchen and the new Verjus, are bringing a fresh energy to Paris' somewhat rigid fine-dining scene and infusing it with American eclecticism.
Rose, the young man behind Spring - Paris' hardest-to-come-by table, according to Le Figaro newspaper - moved here as a 19-year-old college student primarily, he says, out of laziness. He's now in his 30s.
"I wanted to finish university in a place where I thought it would be really easy. And I thought, 'the American University of Paris - English is my first language, it's not everyone else's, I probably have a pretty good chance,' " said Rose. He said he went to cooking school for largely the same reason.
After a series of apprenticeships with top French chefs, he opened the first incarnation of Spring, a 16-seat restaurant where the centerpiece was an open kitchen where Rose held court as he prepared the food - single-handedly, at first.
Rose has the reputation of being the French-est of Paris' American chefs, and the menu at Spring is unapologetically Gallic: There's no Franco-American fusion, none of the catering to special dietary needs that's become almost de rigueur in the United States - just a constantly changing medley of French classics made from top-notch, in-season products.
Taking the opposite tack is Marc Grossman, a New York filmmaker-turned-restaurateur who has set about Americanizing the way the French eat. In the land of the cote de boeuf, foie gras and escargot, Grossman founded two vegetarian restaurants, Bob's Juice Bar and Bob's Kitchen.
"I think people are always looking for something different, and in carnivorous Paris, I guess you could say we're exotic," said Grossman, whose ever-changing menu of smoothies, meat-free burgers and grain-packed muffins were the stuff of a minor culinary revolution when he first opened, in 2006. "From the beginning, the response has been enthusiastic."
Seattle natives Perkins and Adrian represent the middle path between Rose's unyielding Frenchness and Grossman's healthy California-style offerings.
At Verjus, the pair serves up amuse-bouches that chart an ideal course between French sophistication and American heartiness. The wine bar menu includes buttermilk fried chicken, roasted clams and s'mores made with high-end French chocolate.
This article appeared on page A - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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