Prunier is again, and it’s higher than ever. Most not too long ago owned by the late Pierre Bergé, founding father of the Yves Saint Laurent trend home with the late designer of the identical identify, one of the vital glamorous eating places on the earth has simply reopened below new house owners, the Swiss funding group Olma Luxurious Holdings, with a brand new menu by Michelin three-star chef Yannick Alleno.
Laurie Ochoa, Ruth Reichl, Nancy Silverton and me
So when Laurie Ochoa, meals editor of the LA Occasions; author and editor Ruth Reichl (my previous boss on the nonetheless lamented GOURMET), baking genius and restauranteur Nancy Silverton and I had one meal alone throughout the journey we led in Paris and Champagne in October (extra on that right here https://dinnerwithfriendsabroad.com/), I booked at Prunier, as a result of I knew it will be a festive event and needed to strive Alleno’s new menu.
This supremely elegant seafood home and caviar counter simply behind the Arc de Triomphe opened in 1924. As I informed Laurie, Ruth and Nancy over glasses of Champagne as we started our meal, it was some sixty-three years later that I walked via its doorways to fulfill Yves Saint Laurent, of all folks, for lunch.
The rationale for this painstakingly negotiated and punctiliously choreographed event with a captivating public-relations lady in attendance was an interview I used to be doing of the designer for a London newspaper after I’d left my job as an editor within the workplace of Fairchild Publications, the style writer that was as soon as the unforgiving arbiter not solely of hemlines and good style in its garment-industry newspaper Ladies’s Put on Every day, however the merciless choose of the beau monde’s social cachet within the pages of its slick journal W.
My English editor needed one thing “somewhat racy and a bit naughty,” however I used to be cautious of delivering these items, since few folks on the earth have been higher protected legally in these days than the late designer. Nonetheless, it was an essential story for me, and so I used to be anxious after I confirmed up for the appointment on the curiously early hour of 11am (“It’s in order that Yves received’t be excessive or drunk but,” speculated my shrewd buddy, the late Christa Worthington).
After I arrived I used to be shocked by the fantastic thing about the art-deco decor of this place after which dumbstruck and horrified to be ushered to a desk a big silver bowl stuffed with crushed ice and a metallic tin nestled on this icy mis en scene. It’s contents have been shiny and black, in order that regardless that I’d by no means eaten caviar earlier than, I knew what it was, and I additionally knew that it was an extravagance to be personally introduced with such an enormous serving of this storied delicacy.
Yannick Alleno
In contrast to Yannick Alleno, who might most likely have completed your complete tin pictured above on his personal, I’d by no means had caviar earlier than and was squeamish concerning the thought of consuming fish eggs.
“Actually, Alec!!??” Ruth mentioned.
Yup, actually. If I’ve all the time beloved to eat, I arrived in Paris with a pathetically pinched and provincial palate par excellence. Most seafood was off limits, and recreation was too wild for me. Thirty-six years later, nonetheless, I’ve grow to be an avid omnivore, and so I couldn’t wait to tuck into among the world’s finest seafood at Prunier.
And the interview with Yves Saint Laurent? Whereas I busy tasting my first caviar, one thing I instantly fell head-over-heels in love with, the designer left the desk to—I don’t know what, and by no means returned. So I sat there with the stricken PR lady for one more 45 minutes consuming caviar, oysters and smoked salmon, after which I went house to name London and clarify that the interview had been aborted.
Popping out of the Metro, I ended on the Felix Potin, a comfort retailer, within the rue de Babylone, to purchase some milk, and going into the store, I instantly acknowledged the person on the money register who was shopping for an enormous quantity of low-cost sweet.
The cashier rang all of it up, and spoke the full aloud. The designer stood there blushing and form of dazed.
I guessed that he had no cash on him, and informed the cashier I’d pay for the sweet. Then Saint Laurent checked out me and smiled sheepishly. “Merci, vous etes gentil,” he mentioned. After which he checked out me once more. “I’m very sorry. I’m very sorry,” he mentioned, recognizing me. “I don’t really feel properly in the present day. I’m very unhappy and I had nothing to say. My life could be very troublesome proper now.”
A person in a darkish go well with got here into the store, glanced on the money register receipt, handed me 200 Francs, and led the designer, who lived simply throughout the road, away.
“I hope you at the very least loved the caviar,” he mentioned over his shoulder. I did certainly.
All of us began off with l’Oeuf Christian Dior, which is a signature dish on the brand new Prunier menu. It was a sleight of gastronomic magnificence greater than worthy of the late designer, too, because it got here to the desk as a superbly coddled egg with a beneficiant spoonful of caviar on its crown and a buttoniere of chive in a pool of caviar-speckled cream. Stunning to behold, it was even higher to eat, since following the waiter’s directions that we dig right down to the underside of the bowl with every spoonful of egg, we found the feral genius of this dish, which was a hidden aspic made with essence of jambon blanc (white ham). In impact, an entire ham had been gently sweated for hours on finish and the juices it launched had been captured and used to season the aspic. This distinction between the luxurious iodine-rich caviar and meaty aspic created an ideal and really luscious concord when napped by the yolk of the egg.
Subsequent starters have been excellent as properly, together with the salmon-and-seaweed hand roll Nancy ordered, the langoustine carpaccio with caviar cream that seduced me, Laurie and Ruth.
I knew the minute I opened the menu and noticed it that I’d have sole meunière, as a result of it’s considered one of my favourite of all French dishes, and Laurie had it too, as a result of she feels the identical method. Right here it was impeccably contemporary, completely cooked, and fantastically garnished with melted butter, capers, a bit of lemon and a aspect of ethereal potato puree. Nancy had scallops with seaweed butter and a saffron sauce and Ruth ordered line-caught sea bass with a celery gelee and caviar. All of us have been extraordinarily pleased with our meals.
None of us had been planning to have dessert till the pastry tray arrived. Assured that the figs have been from the south of France and the raspberries from Alsace, we succumbed to those fantastically made tarts, and threw warning to the winds by accepting the suggestion of a glass of Champagne with dessert.
“I believe Prunier simply be probably the most stunning restaurant on the earth,” mentioned Ruth And I believe she simply could also be proper. A technique or one other, it’s a wonderful alternative for that particular meal you have been planning to deal with your self to in Paris, and it’s additionally very romantic with out making any effort to be so in any respect.
Sure, it’s very costly, too, nevertheless it’s price each centime.
And if I’ll, I’d wish to counsel that my gastronomic coming-of-age story MY PLACE AT THE TABLE: A Recipe for a Scrumptious Life in Paris can be a beautiful vacation reward for food-lovers, Francophiles, and anybody who loves a superb learn.
16 Avenue Victor Hugo, sixteenth Arrondissement, Paris, Tel. (33) 01-44-17-35-85, Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Lunch menu 68 Euros, prix-fixe menus 125 Euros, 190 Euros; common a la carte 150 Euros. www.prunier.com
