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SUNDAY BRUNCH
Social Life
Call It the Second French Revolution.

By JOSEPH HANANIA 

Los Angeles Times  Sunday January 11, 1998
Home Edition  Life & Style  Part E  Page 2  View Desk | 8 inches;  261 words

   Three years ago, the city's French chefs realized they were losing
ground to their Italian counterparts, whose food was cheaper and whose
persona was--how to put it?--less snooty. And so the Club Culinaire
Francais, an informal association of the region's major French chefs, hit
on a counterstrategy. They invited selected customers to sup alongside
leading chefs in monthly Chefs a Table promotions.

   After each of the five courses, the chefs would switch tables in a
sort of musical tables. Thus, the chefs "could show they are regular
guys," said club president Pascal Olhats, who owns a restaurant in Orange
County.

   That, anyhow, was the original plan. But something else happened along
the way. The promotions became popular in themselves, with a recent
Monday night dinner at La Cachette in West Los Angeles, a night when most
restaurants are sparsely attended, garnering nearly 100 customers, at $80
apiece.

   Moreover, some patrons like Rich Roberts, manager of a Buena Park auto
parts store, prefer the promotional events to conventional restaurant
dining, because "the chefs compete with each other, outdoing each other
with their best dishes."

   Typical was the dinner prepared by chef Jean Francois Meteigner of La
Cachette, including quail egg and caviar hors d'oeuvres; lobster and
Dungeness crab bisque soup; skate raie with raspberry vinegar sauce;
roasted guinea hen in savoy cabbage chartreuse and passion fruit
Napoleon, each of the five courses served up with its own wine,
naturellement.

   Teacher Susan Froelman, who lived in Paris for nine years, said she
likes to come because typically in L.A., "Dinner's done after half an
hour. In France, a dinner might take several hours. It's better for the
health and heart, and there's a richer interaction [between diners]."

   And, in the meantime, notice all the nice, new French spots around
town? Pas mal.

--JOSEPH HANANIA

PHOTO: Chef Jean Francois Meteigner's roast guinea hen in savoy
cabbage chartreuse with natural jus is the main course at La Cachette
Restaurant.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BOB CAREY / Los Angeles Times
PHOTO: Chef Philippe Blanchet, top, shares a toast with Mimi
Olhats, left, and Jenny Boccardo.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BOB CAREY / Los Angeles Times
PHOTO: Chef Meteigner, above, talks with Marc Bineau.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BOB CAREY / Los Angeles Times




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