In Paris, Two Family Affaires
Michel Setboun/Corbis
TOUJOURS? La Tour d’Argent, above, and another legendary Parisian restaurant, Taillevent, are on different paths, guided by a new generation of owners. La Tour reaches out; Taillevent cleaves to tradition.
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By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: January 26, 2010
Paris
Diner's Journal
A blog by Dining section writers on restaurants and food.
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Recipe: Sea Scallops With Sunchokes and Truffles (January 27, 2010)
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Ed Alcock for The New York Times
LIKE PAPA Andre Terrail, foreground, with David Ridgeway, the sommelier at La Tour d’Argent.
HOW do you refresh a legend?
André Terrail, the third generation of the family that has owned La Tour d’Argent since 1910, tried one possible response in December. He auctioned off 18,000 bottles of wine and spirits, including some rarities, from the 428-year-old restaurant’s legendary cellar. At one stroke, the sale added more than 1.5 million euros (about $2,100,000) to the bottom line and brought in a global blitz of publicity.
Across the city, another third-generation heir to a beloved, long-established fixture on the high-end dining scene has a different answer. At Taillevent, near the Arc de Triomphe, Valérie Vrinat d’Indy hopes that by maintaining the style of the deluxe town-house restaurant she inherited two years ago she can ensure its future.
“In taking over these restaurants, Terrail and Vrinat are faced with the same sorts of problems — how to keep them going without compromising,” said André Daguin, president of the French hotel and restaurant association. “But they are going in opposite directions. Terrail is trying some new things and Vrinat is sticking with tradition.“
Indeed, these newly minted restaurateurs must now walk a tightrope above a flimsy net. A worldwide economic crisis cannot help places where dinner, without a sip of Champagne or a drop of grand cru wine, can easily run $250 a person or more. And tourism to Paris was down at least 10 percent in the first half of last year as terror threats, the ordeal of air travel and the strength of the euro put a damper on the fancy European dining itineraries that were once popular.
And then there is the delicate matter of Michelin. For decades both places had been three-star restaurants, but in recent years the red guides downgraded Taillevent to two stars, and La Tour d’Argent to a mere one.
Whether the demotions were justified is a matter of debate here. In the latest Zagat guide, Taillevent’s food is ranked first in the city, and in December, the critic Gilles Pudlowski named both restaurants as among the “great tables” of Paris.
“I’m still a huge fan of Taillevent, but I’ve heard other people say they don’t feel that way,” said Yves-André Istel, an international banker from New York who goes to Paris several times a year and often dines at Taillevent. “It’s the luxury, the food, and also the superb, well-priced wine list that still attract me. My Parisian friends still like to go there.”
Others, though, have more or less written off the city’s grand restaurants. “It’s still not worth the money,” said David Liederman, a former New York restaurateur and frequent visitor to Paris. “On a price-quality ratio, you eat much, much better in New York.” He said his French friends rarely went to these places, except for a special occasion.
Like Mr. Liederman, American gastrotourists, even those who visit Paris regularly and stay at the Ritz or the Bristol, seem more intent on finding the latest $30 three-course bistro in a remote neighborhood than in digging into the world-famous numbered ducks at La Tour d’Argent or the saddle of lamb at Taillevent.
Both Mr. Terrail and Ms. Vrinat say that wealthy Parisians who enjoy the culinary traditions, and the ceremony that goes with them, are there on a regular basis. Taillevent tends to attract business people while La Tour d’Argent appeals more to tourists. Both restaurateurs report that Russian moguls and South American tycoons can also be counted on to buy an old Bordeaux to drink with dinner. At dinners on a couple of evenings in early November, this reporter saw very few empty tables in either of the restaurants.
“There are still plenty of affluent people out there,” said Eric Fréchon, the executive chef at the Bristol’s restaurant, which was awarded a third Michelin star in March. “Last year was challenging, but things have now picked up,” he said. “About 90 percent of our customers at lunch are Parisians, and about 70 percent at dinner.”
Without three stars, Mr. Terrail is trying some subtle moves to adjust to the economy. Over the last year he has scaled back the days the restaurant is open and reduced the number of seats in its historic sixth-floor dining room with its magical panorama overlooking the Seine, although he said he would increase the seating if the demand were there. He said he had also passed on to customers the savings when the value-added tax, included in restaurant prices, was reduced last year. Lunch went to 65 euros from 75 euros (to about $92 from $106), and a tasting menu at dinner dropped to 160 euros from 180 (to about $227 from $255).
The wine auction, the first such sale in the restaurant’s history, suggested to some that there was ominous handwriting on the wall — though what was sold, including Cognacs from 1788 and hundred-year-old wines, represented a mere 4 percent of the restaurant’s astonishing 450,000-bottle cellar.
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Michel Setboun/Corbis
TOUJOURS? La Tour d’Argent, above, and another legendary Parisian restaurant, Taillevent, are on different paths, guided by a new generation of owners. La Tour reaches out; Taillevent cleaves to tradition.
SIGN IN TO RECOMMEND
SIGN IN TO E-MAIL
SINGLE PAGE
REPRINTS
SHARE
By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: January 26, 2010
Paris
Diner's Journal
A blog by Dining section writers on restaurants and food.
Go to Diner's Journal »
Related
Recipe: Sea Scallops With Sunchokes and Truffles (January 27, 2010)
Enlarge This Image
Ed Alcock for The New York Times
LIKE PAPA Andre Terrail, foreground, with David Ridgeway, the sommelier at La Tour d’Argent.
HOW do you refresh a legend?
André Terrail, the third generation of the family that has owned La Tour d’Argent since 1910, tried one possible response in December. He auctioned off 18,000 bottles of wine and spirits, including some rarities, from the 428-year-old restaurant’s legendary cellar. At one stroke, the sale added more than 1.5 million euros (about $2,100,000) to the bottom line and brought in a global blitz of publicity.
Across the city, another third-generation heir to a beloved, long-established fixture on the high-end dining scene has a different answer. At Taillevent, near the Arc de Triomphe, Valérie Vrinat d’Indy hopes that by maintaining the style of the deluxe town-house restaurant she inherited two years ago she can ensure its future.
“In taking over these restaurants, Terrail and Vrinat are faced with the same sorts of problems — how to keep them going without compromising,” said André Daguin, president of the French hotel and restaurant association. “But they are going in opposite directions. Terrail is trying some new things and Vrinat is sticking with tradition.“
Indeed, these newly minted restaurateurs must now walk a tightrope above a flimsy net. A worldwide economic crisis cannot help places where dinner, without a sip of Champagne or a drop of grand cru wine, can easily run $250 a person or more. And tourism to Paris was down at least 10 percent in the first half of last year as terror threats, the ordeal of air travel and the strength of the euro put a damper on the fancy European dining itineraries that were once popular.
And then there is the delicate matter of Michelin. For decades both places had been three-star restaurants, but in recent years the red guides downgraded Taillevent to two stars, and La Tour d’Argent to a mere one.
Whether the demotions were justified is a matter of debate here. In the latest Zagat guide, Taillevent’s food is ranked first in the city, and in December, the critic Gilles Pudlowski named both restaurants as among the “great tables” of Paris.
“I’m still a huge fan of Taillevent, but I’ve heard other people say they don’t feel that way,” said Yves-André Istel, an international banker from New York who goes to Paris several times a year and often dines at Taillevent. “It’s the luxury, the food, and also the superb, well-priced wine list that still attract me. My Parisian friends still like to go there.”
Others, though, have more or less written off the city’s grand restaurants. “It’s still not worth the money,” said David Liederman, a former New York restaurateur and frequent visitor to Paris. “On a price-quality ratio, you eat much, much better in New York.” He said his French friends rarely went to these places, except for a special occasion.
Like Mr. Liederman, American gastrotourists, even those who visit Paris regularly and stay at the Ritz or the Bristol, seem more intent on finding the latest $30 three-course bistro in a remote neighborhood than in digging into the world-famous numbered ducks at La Tour d’Argent or the saddle of lamb at Taillevent.
Both Mr. Terrail and Ms. Vrinat say that wealthy Parisians who enjoy the culinary traditions, and the ceremony that goes with them, are there on a regular basis. Taillevent tends to attract business people while La Tour d’Argent appeals more to tourists. Both restaurateurs report that Russian moguls and South American tycoons can also be counted on to buy an old Bordeaux to drink with dinner. At dinners on a couple of evenings in early November, this reporter saw very few empty tables in either of the restaurants.
“There are still plenty of affluent people out there,” said Eric Fréchon, the executive chef at the Bristol’s restaurant, which was awarded a third Michelin star in March. “Last year was challenging, but things have now picked up,” he said. “About 90 percent of our customers at lunch are Parisians, and about 70 percent at dinner.”
Without three stars, Mr. Terrail is trying some subtle moves to adjust to the economy. Over the last year he has scaled back the days the restaurant is open and reduced the number of seats in its historic sixth-floor dining room with its magical panorama overlooking the Seine, although he said he would increase the seating if the demand were there. He said he had also passed on to customers the savings when the value-added tax, included in restaurant prices, was reduced last year. Lunch went to 65 euros from 75 euros (to about $92 from $106), and a tasting menu at dinner dropped to 160 euros from 180 (to about $227 from $255).
The wine auction, the first such sale in the restaurant’s history, suggested to some that there was ominous handwriting on the wall — though what was sold, including Cognacs from 1788 and hundred-year-old wines, represented a mere 4 percent of the restaurant’s astonishing 450,000-bottle cellar.
1 2 NEXT PAGE »
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