Food
-
Opening Doors
Doors that celebrate Food!Exterior doors may be the first thing you notice when you enter a house, but interior doors can be quite striking, especially when they’re magnificently crafted with some of the world’s most decorative materials – and wordings.Satinato frosted culinaria edition
The unique Culinaria door collection from Bartels Doors comes in frosted and clear glass, and speaks to your senses in languages such as German, Italian, and French. How fabulous! I adore this collection because since these are interior doors, the privacy issue is less important, and you get to add a polished decorative element in your kitchen. The wordings on these high-end kitchen doors can help you make those dinner decisions without a moment’s hesitation. What’s on the menu today? Onion potato gratin, quiche, crepes, or chocolate soufflé? The Culinaria door collection exudes the right amount of ambiance and influence your kitchen craves for.Bartels Doors has been a leader in the custom door industry for over 10 years, providing the architecture and design communities with quality solutions for luxury interior doors and hardware proudly manufactured in Germany. Designer frameless glass doors, like the Culinaria collection, make a grand statement and offer the right finishing touch to any design projects. These doors are beautifully engineered and constructed to last. But I also love Bartels popular modern barn door hardware ensembles, contemporary library ladders, shower enclosures, fashionable handles, award winning concealed Tectus hinges and laminated door collections. Why not celebrate your creative personality while you’re cooking and eating in the kitchen with your friends and family? Or while planning your next perfect gourmet meal?Bartels DoorsDesign Center of the Americas1855 Griffin Rd, Suite A366Dania Beach, FL 33004
Santinato detail
Culinaria Clear Glass
-
Hidden Paris – Part II
patisseries
Cote de France
52, rue St. Placide
75006 Paris
Tel: +45 48 9253
www.cote-de-france.fr
Sadaharu Aoki35, rue de vaugirard75006 ParisTel: +45 44 485les marches europeans
Cheese shops – Laurent Dubois2, rue de Lourmel75015 ParisTel: +45 78 7058Boulangerie Jean Luc Poujaurant20, rue Jean-Ricot75007 ParisTel: +47 05 8088wine bars
Au Tonneaux Des Halles28, rue Montorgueil75001 ParisTel: +42 33 3619Metro: Chateletmuseums
Musee Carnavalet23, rue de Sevigne75003 ParisTel: +42 72 2113Metro: Saint Paul
Musee PicassoHotel Sale5, rue de Thorigny75003 ParisTel: +42 71 2521Metro: St. Paul, Chemin VertFondation Le CorbusierVilla La RocheSquare du Dr. Blanche75016 ParisMetro: Jasmin
nightlifeAu Lapin Agile22, rue des Saules75018 ParisTel: +46 06 8587Metro: MontmartreDuc Des Lombards42, rue les bombars75001 ParisTel: +42 33 2288
60, rue des Lombards75001 ParisTel: +40 26 2125restaurants with entertainment
Castel15, rue princesse75006 ParisTel: +40 51 5280Maison Blanche15, avenue Montaigne75008 ParisTel: +47 23 5399music halls and theaters
8, rue Scribe75009 ParisTel: +92 89 9090
Olympia28, boulevard des capucine75009 ParisTel: +92 68 3368Metro: Opera – MadeleineOpera Bastille120 rue de Lyon75012 ParisTel: +40 01 1752NOTE: Please notify us directly, if you believe that certain images on this post are alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Thank you.You May Also Like
Alain Ducasse’ Sweet Life
-
Alain Ducasse’ Sweet Life
Alain DucasseThe chef talks to Lettie Teague about travel, Champagne and the wine he’s ‘obsessed’ with– by Lettie Teague from WSJ“There are days when I drink only water; those are the days that follow the nights when I’ve had too much wine,” chef Alain Ducasse said to me soon after we met. What kind of night was last night, I wondered. I didn’t have to wonder long. “Today is a Champagne day,” he declared.Chef Ducasse (no one calls him “Mister”) and I met for lunch at Benoit, one of 22 Ducasse restaurants around the world and one of his two in New York.
Benoit is the casual counterpart to his more formal Adour in the St. Regis Hotel, which, in turn, is nowhere near as fancy as his Michelin three-star restaurants in London, Paris and Monaco. (Although he was born in France, Chef Ducasse became a citizen of Monaco about three years ago.) Chef Ducasse had been in New York for less than 24 hours by the time of our meeting and was slated to leave again very soon. When your empire is scattered all over the world, you can’t stay in one place for very long. He estimated that he was in an airplane at least “once or twice a week” on trips to his various restaurants and hotels in London, Paris, Monaco and Las Vegas—not to mention Italy, Japan, China and the island of Mauritius off the southeast African coast.
Did he ever drink wine on airplanes? “It is the exception,” Chef Ducasse said. (Sometimes he answered my questions in English and sometimes he spoke to his communications manager Sonia Toulouse, who translated his French.) Chef Ducasse recalled drinking some Krug Champagne recently en route from London to Tokyo. “The Asian airlines have the best wine programs,” he said.Our lunch began with glasses of Paul Goerg Rosé nonvintage Champagne, a lovely wine from a cooperative of growers. Chef Ducasse is a self-declared Champagne lover and has a private-label Champagne bottled just for his restaurants. The Ducasse Champagne, a medium-bodied, fairly rich wine, is made by the large Champagne house Lanson Champagne, because they are “very consistent,” according to Chef Ducasse.
Despite his affection for Champagne, Chef Ducasse’s cellar at home in Monaco is dominated by Burgundy and Bordeaux, many of them grand crus and first growths. But the chef said he wasn’t a snob about high-status bottles; the wines simply had to be good. “It’s not a question of price,” he said. “It’s good at five euros or it’s good at 500 euros.” What was the last five-euro wine that he had actually tasted? “It was an Italian wine. I had it in Maremma in Tuscany at my country hotel,” he recalled. “It cost about 10 euros.” (I assumed he was talking about its retail price, though of course it could have been from the hotel mini bar.)
But there was no time to inquire; the sommelier was already pouring the next wine, the 2009 Domaine Guillaman. A clean, bright white blend from Gascogny, it was a perfectly serviceable aperitif and accompaniment to the mixed plate of hors d’oeuvres that included cod brandade, veal tongue and leeks in vinaigrette sauce.
But our vinous paths diverged with the arrival of the next course: steamed loup de mer for me and steak frites for Chef Ducasse. “I was in the mood for steak at the last minute,” he said when he saw me eyeing his lunch with ill-disguised envy.
We were each served two different wines: two French reds for Chef Ducasse (the 2007 Domaine de L’Aurage Côtes de Castillon and the 2009 Gouleyant Malbec from Cahors) and a California Chardonnay (2008 Robin K from the Russian River) and a Chenin Blanc from the Loire (2009 Château de la Roulerie Anjou) for me.
The fish was good but I had to admit I wasn’t enthralled by either of the white wines; the Robin K was a bit oaky, the Chenin a touch vegetal. Chef Ducasse offered me a taste of his wines. I liked his lush, ripe Cahors, though it wasn’t an ideal match with my fish. Did he think that such things mattered, or was there too much fuss made about matching wine and food?
“There are no rules,” he said. “You have to taste the wine with an open mind. You can drink red wine with lobster and white wine with lamb.” In that case, perhaps he’d like to try my slightly vegetal Anjou or the rather oaky Chardonnay with his steak? “I’m not a fan of oaky wine.” Chef Ducasse replied.
I liked his Cahors very much, on the other hand. “If the Cahors cost less than 10 euros, it was very good,” Chef Ducasse replied. “When I taste a wine I like to know how much it costs.” (The wine is in fact about $13 at retail.)
“The world of wine is more creative than the world of cooking,” Chef Ducasse observed, growing more expansive as he consumed a bit more of the Cahors. “There are so many impassioned winemakers. I think there are more impassioned winemakers than chefs.”
Who were some of the impassioned winemakers he had in mind? “Madame Bize-Leroy,” he answered decisively, naming the director of the great Bize-Leroy Burgundy domaine. “Madame Leroy was the first to make biodynamic wines in Burgundy. She is an original.” Who else? Chef Ducasse shook his head. “I don’t want to give names. Someone will call and ask, ‘Why didn’t you mention me?'”
Ten minutes—and a glass of 2009 Château Villefranche Sauternes later—Chef Ducasse admitted to having a bit of an “obsession” with Pignan, the second wine of Château Rayas, the famed Châteauneuf du Pape estate. “It’s everything I look for in a wine,” he said, seeming to forget his self-imposed restriction on naming names.
“Food and drink is a pretense to seduction,” Chef Ducasse said, waggling his eyebrows comically as we finished our first dessert—a strawberry frasier—and made our way through some profiteroles, sipping 2004 La Coume du Roy fortified wine from Maury, a French village near the Spanish border.
Suddenly the great multi-starred Michelin chef was transformed into… Maurice Chevalier. Wine—whether it costs 5 euros or 500—can do that do you.
Oenofile
Chef Ducasse travels the globe, but he’s loyal to wines from his native FrancePaul Goerg Brut Rosé Champagne, $40
While the name Paul Goerg may not be particularly well known in this country, it is more familiar in France. It’s not a single family’s Champagne house but a cooperative of growers who contribute fruit to produce quality wines—like this elegant, dry rosé—under the Goerg label.
2009 Domaine Guillaman Côtes de Gascogne, $11Southwest France is probably best known as the home of Armagnac (a favorite drink of Chef Ducasse), but plenty of well-made unfortified wines are produced there as well, including this white blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc (the grape of Armagnac). It’s not particularly complex, but it’s refreshing, juicy and bright.
2004 La Coume du Roy Maury, $35 (500 ml)The fortified red wines of the Maury region in (yes, again) southwest France, seem to be tailor-made for chocolate. This bottling comes from Maury’s oldest producer.
2009 Georges Vigouroux Gouleyant Cahors, $13This lush, ripe, densely fruited red is made predominantly from Malbec (the balance is Merlot) in the Cahors region of southwest France. Made by Georges Vigouroux, one of the leading Cahors producers, it’s a great deal at under $15 a bottle.
2009 Chateau Villefranche Sauternes, $22 (half bottle)
The 2009 vintage was superb for both red Bordeaux and Sauternes. This modestly priced Sauternes is soft and attractive. Predominantly made from Semillon, with a bit of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, it has a pretty nose of apricot. It’s a fine companion to fruit and fruit-based desserts.
Photo credits: Jonny Valiant, and F. Martin Raminfor the The Wall Street Journal
