Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Temples of Gastronomy
134
Taillevent
Why Break the Mold?
Paris, France
So what
is
the best restaurant in Paris? Poll
1,000 French gourmets and you'd get no
consensus (in fact, you might get 1,000
different answers).
Nevertheless, if what you're looking for
is the quintessential classic French dining
experience—deeply steeped in the tradi-
tions of Escoffier and Brillat-Savarin—you
can't beat Taillevent. This small, gracious
Right Bank restaurant first opened in post-
Occupation 1946, when Paris was intent
on recapturing its old glory. Under three
generations of the Vrinat family, it has
maintained its position ever since at the
pinnacle of haute cuisine.
For the price you'll pay at Taillevent
(well into the hundreds, whether you're
paying in dollars, pounds, or euros), every
element of the dining experience should
be superlative, and it is. The location is
exquisite, an ornate 19th-century aristo-
cratic town house just off the Champs-Ely-
sées, with two dining salons—one oak-
paneled with soft lighting and soothing
brown upholstery, the other airy and
bright with large windows looking onto a
garden. Service is unfailingly correct, dis-
creet, and attentive—better yet, warm
and welcoming (a virtue all too rare in
Parisian restaurants). The wine list is leg-
endarily superb, one of the best in Paris,
with a fine sommelier staff to match.
And the food, under chef Alain Solivé-
rès, more than lives up to the setting.
While you can still get classic dishes like
cream of watercress soup with Sevruga
caviar, coquilles St. Jacques, roast Bresse
chicken breast, or a beef filet in reduced
béarnaise sauce, Solivérès also draws
inspiration from the Basque country, Bor-
deaux, and Languedoc for his daily changing
menu. He might slip frogs' legs into a
risotto, do a cassoulet with crayfish, or
jazz up pan-fried duck liver with caramel-
ized fruits and vegetables. It's by no means
the most experimental food in Paris, but it
gives that classic menu a healthy fresh-
ness and verve. And anyway, culinary
innovation is not why you've come to
Taillevent.
The death of Jean-Claude Vrinat in early
2008 saddened the gourmet community;
his presence in the restaurant every night
was one of the things in Paris you could
always count on. However, diners report
that under the direction of his daughter
Valerie, the restaurant hasn't missed a
beat; if anything, it has gotten a little
sprightlier. Yes, the business expanded a
few years ago to add a more casual (and
relatively cheaper) alternative,
L'Angle
du Faubourg
(193 rue de Faubourg Saint-
Honoré;
&
33/1/40 74 20 20
), with a wine
store
Les Caves Taillevent
next door.
Yes, in 2007 Taillevent lost its third Michelin
star, which it had held since 1973, a longer
three-star run than any restaurant in the
world. (They're determined to win it back,
of course.) But in the fickle world of haute
cuisine, fads come and go; stars rise and
fall. Taillevent is a fixture you can count on.
15 rue Lamennais, 8e (
&
33/1/4495
1501;
www.taillevent.com).
(
De Gaulle (23km/14 miles); Orly (14km/
8
2
/
3
miles).
L
$$
La Tour Notre Dame,
20 rue du
Sommerard, 5e (
&
33/1/43-54-47-60;
www.
la-tour-notre-dame.com). $
Hotel de la
Place des Vosges,
12 rue de Birague, 4e
(
&
33/1/42-72-60-46;
www.hotelplacedes
vosges.com).
