|
Modern Elegance at the Meurice
PARIS --- Yannick Alléno is one Parisian chef
that is more than content.
‘’Complet, Complet, c’est genial!” he
says with satisfaction at the thought that, since he
arrived on September 1st, the Meurice Hôtel’s
dining room has been playing to a full house at lunch
and dinner.
This lean, muscular, 35-year-old chef seems more than
at home and at ease in this grand hotel, where he oversees
no less than 72 chefs in a series of three kitchens
spread side by side in the hotel’s vast underground
workshops.
But it is clear that his focus and his pride shines
upon the 50-seat dining room, a gracious and elegant
room filled with shimmering crystal chandeliers and
antique beveled mirrors that reflect large bay windows
framed in rare marble. Here, the youthful staff dressed
to the nines in mourning coats, with hair slicked back
and with the posture of ballet stars, whirl about as
if they are part of the show, and they are.
For me, the Meurice – long the hotel of the
aristocratic, where you are encouraged to accept luxury
as a birthright – is the jewel in the collection
of the city’s grand hotels. And here, a special
meal orchestrated by Alléno (who was awarded
two Michelin stars in 2002 while chef at the restaurant
Les Muses in the Hôtel Scribe) and his staff
can appear magical.
While not known for its bargains, the Meurice dining
room’s 55 € lunch menu is a good place to
cut your teeth: Here, the choice is vast but not overwhelming,
and offers a good look at Alleno’s fare, which
I find a surprising jig saw puzzle, served with grand
elegance and a distinctly modern sensibility.
As soon as Alléno arrived at the Meurice he
completely overhauled the kitchens, adding state of
the art ovens and a rotisserie that flatters his top
quality ingredients, including a gorgeous, moist roasted
duck that is paired with wild cepe mushrooms and baby
turnips infused with the wintry flavors of juniper
berries.
His food has style (lots of rounds upon rounds, squares
upon squares), and while flavors are generally soft
in texture, there is always a touch of crunch at the
end, filling our natural desires for a bit of snap,
crackle and pop on the palate.
Luncheon specialties may range for the purely simple – a
superb mound of tiny girolles mushrooms cooked in the
sherry-like vin jaune from the Jura – to a wintry
fricassee of suckling pig, anointed with sage butter
and a fresh artichoke mousseline.
I spent a morning with Alléno in his kitchen,
and snapped up some home-style recipes that have already
been incorporated into my own repertoire, including
a winning gratin of Swiss chard stems: Poach match-stick
sized stems in chicken stock, layer in a gratin dish
with sprinklings of grated Parmesan, heat beneath a
broiler, then finish it all with miniature cubes of
Parmesan, tiny bits of celery leaf and bay leaf and
a shower of well-toasted pine nuts.
No matter the menu, his food combinations are always
out of the ordinary, but never go over the edge toward
wackiness. For instance, thin slices of abalone – ormeaux – cooked
in salted butter seem right at home with the earthy
nature of fresh white shell beans and wild cepe mushrooms.
A favorite at a recent dinner was his rotisserie
saddle of lamb from small farmers in the Languedoc
paired with the classic white shell beans, here slow-roasted
in the oven in stock, with a touch of garlic, sherry
vinegar, parsley, tomatoes and the almost-smoky, just-right-spicy
red pepper from Espelette in France’s Basque
country.
The wine list can get pricy, but sommelier David Retif
assures a small selection of wines priced from 34 to
49 euros, also available by the glass. Selections might
include the Marsanne-grape based white Saint-Péray
from the Voge vineyards, or a Loire Valley red from
Château Fosse Seche.
Le Meurice
228 rue du Rivoli
Paris 1
Telephone: 01 44 58 10 10
Fax: 01 44 58 10 15
Website: www.meuricehotel.com
Closed Saturday lunch and all day Sunday. 55 € lunch
menu. A la carte, 100 to 155 €, including service
but not wine.
|
