Star grazing

I’ve been to plenty of very nice restaurants over the years. But I’m not sure how many of them had a Michelin star or two. I ate at Jean-Georges in (ugh!) a Trump Tower a couple of times back in the day. It now has a couple of stars. Did it have that star when my husband and I ate there? I know we had lunch there a few times on trips to NYC, and it was quite wonderful.

We also ate a few times at Boulud, which I think has a star. Lunch at Bernardin once or twice. Star(s) on their doors?

Jim and I were regular NY-goers, and especially in the early decades of our travels there, generally hit at least one swanky –read: French -  restaurant. Our favorite was the long-closed Côte Basque, but I’m not sure whether Michelin was doing anything in New York when we were enjoying some absolutely fabulous meals there. That seafood terrine. So beautiful! That melt-in-your-mouth beef dish! That ganache! OMG! The only item that was not worth eating was the bread, which we never touched. Nor did we see anyone else ever touch it. We speculated that those rock-hard French rolls were stored in the ceiling, and dropped onto the bread plates daily.

Where else did we dine when we were fancy Frenching? Lutèce. Caravelle.

Both great (both closed), but we always found our way back to La Côte.

As our regular Manhattan adventures were winding down, well after La Côte closed, we discovered a rather down-at-its-heels but quite authentic French bistro, La Mediterranee. It’s closed now, too, but we always got a kick out of having lunch or dinner there. The food was quite good, the prices were great, there was a cornball piano player, and we were typically the youngest folks there. (We were in our 60’s…) Our ardor cooled after we may have gotten bed bug bitten there. C’est dommage!

But we were running out our New York string, anyway. (Speaking of dommages…)

Anyway, our New York star grazing adventures came to mind when I saw a recent article in the Washington Post on a brouhaha brewing in France.

Renowned French chef Marc Veyrat on Tuesday announced he had sued the France-based Michelin Guide after the restaurant guidebook authority demoted his La Maison des Bois in Manigod, France, from three stars to two earlier this year. Veyrat claimed Michelin’s reviewer wrongly determined a cheese souffle as having cheddar in it; Veyrat said the color was from saffron used in the dish and is now seeking documentation from Michelin to explain its decision. (Source: WaPo)

Sacre bleu! (Or, given the saffron-y color, should that be sacre jaune? I knew that my high school French would come in handy some day!)

“They dared to say that we put cheddar in our souffle of reblochon, beaufort, and tomme,” Veyrat told French magazine Le Point in July. “They have insulted our region; my employees were furious."

Cheddar in the souffle? Just say non.

And talk about umbrage. How about an insult to an entire region.

In any case, we’re talking serious eating here. The tasting menu runs from $330 to $430. (Gulp.) I guess if you’ve got three stars, or even the lamentable two stars, you get to up eating ante.

Veyrat will have his day in court in late November. Meanwhile, Veyrat is suffering:

“I’ve been in a depression for six months. How dare you take hostage the health of cooks?” Veyrat lamented during his July interview with Le Point, during which he blamed the “amateur” nature of the Michelin reviewers.

Those reviewers aren’t just “amateurs”; they’re “impostors”, who can’t tell the diff between a Reblochon and Beaufort emulsion, and cheddar – which, of all ghastly things, is a fromage of English origin. Cheddar is pretty much my favorite cheese, and – since I’ve never even heard of Reblochon or Beaufort - I guess I’ll never be a Michelin reviewer.

For Veyrat, the amateur act MIchelin imposters go beyond the insult to his restaurant, his cooks, his region.

“It scares me for the new generations to come.”

A Michelin spokesman, noting that they “regret [Veyrat’s] unreasonable persistence with his accusation,” promises that they “will carefully study his demands and respond calmly.”

I’m guessing that no starred Michelin restaurant – and there are only 27 three-star Michelin spots in France – would have any use for a pressure cooker.  But they sure are pressure-cooker environments.

In 2003, a noted French chef, fearing that he would lose a Michelin star, killed himself.

Some chefs are starting to turn down Michelin recognition. Veyrat tried to do just that when he lost a star. But the chefs can’t stop Michelin from publishing their ratings in their guides. It is, of course, up to the chefs whether they want to acknowledge the honor.

As for Veyrat, I guess it’s going to be a case of see you in court. Bonne chance, mon ami.

Me? I don’t imagine I’ll ever dine again in a Michelin restaurant. But I do enjoy remembrance of times past, when Jim and I were doing some NYC star grazing.