Openings: Benoit
Ken Scrudato
April 21, 2008
Who says the French surrender too easily? Le big shot chef Alain Ducasse, for one, is a Gaul with gall. After his eponymous and debut New York restaurant finally raised the white flag in 2007, he quickly staged another invasion, with his universally feted and palpably less vainglorious new Adour at the St. Regis. On April 21, he further ratchets down the snoot factor with Benoit, an outpost of his decidedly more casual bistros in Paris and Tokyo. In the space that once held La Cote Basque (the 1960s society scene for lunching ladies, which legendarily hastened the downfall of one Mr. Capote), the new restaurant opts to recreate the resplendent aesthetic glories of the Belle Epoque, with engraved glass, antique posters and red velvet banquettes—as well as offering a menu of lusty French classics. Unfortunate phonetic double entendre aside, this one looks like une certaine victoire pour M. Ducasse.
Comments (14)
Posted by superfrenchie on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 01.12 pm
Should we remind Mr. Scrudato that his own country is currently taking a beating in a country that’s no larger than California and with a GDP the size of Rhode Island from a ragtag band of about 10,000 “insurgents” armed with nothing more than home made bombs and rusty riffles, or of the pitiful “retreats” of the last 40 years from third-world places such as Vietnam, Lebanon or Somalia?
The only reason Mr. Scrudato feels confortable spitting on the tombs of hundreds of thousands of French people who lost their lives defending their country in WW2, which he would never do with any other nationality, is because he knows that there is no organized French constituency in the US to respond. Coward!
Posted by Mark G., New York on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 04.28 pm
So, if I understand this correctly, Alain Ducasse has again invaded New York, and this time New York has surrendered? With a couple of hundred successful French restaurants in New York, does this mean that New Yorkers habitually surrender to the French? Have New Yorkers learned to eat with both hands in the air? Are they allowed to wave white flags before Memorial Day? How about after Labor Day? Are you beginning to see how stupid surrender jokes are? Do you think you might stop making them?
Posted by ghislain on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 10.15 am
Good post Mark G. nothing more.
Thank you…
Posted by Johnny Begood on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 12.16 pm
Hey tough guy, I hear the Marines are looking for a few good men to go to Iraq. Quit writing bigoted crap that no one cares about and go help in Iraq. SHOW us what you’re made of, SHOW us that you’re not just another coward hiding behing his computer when his country needs him. For once in your measly little existence, step up to the plate and walk the walk…
Or are you too much of a coward and too weak to handle it…
Posted by ghislain on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 01.43 pm
my dear johnny, i’m already a veterant, from the first golf war.... i would like very much to help you in afganisthan, but i’m too old!
for irak it’s not my problem, when we have told you, don’t go there, you have create the french bashing, and today, you are in irak, and it’s the french fault! this is the french bashing, you are too coward to ask at your president why you are in irak!
it’s more easy to bash the french people, your best friend , than bash your president!
who is the coward?
Posted by bernarda on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02.32 pm
Your buddies in Le Marais may not like your xenophobia shown here.
Posted by Chris on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 02.37 pm
Surrender jokes again? I didn’t see any stereotypes against the French in the review your wrote for France Today. Way to be a coward and a hypocrite.
Posted by Curtis LeMay on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 03.14 pm
Dear Ken,
An excellent analogy of the French. Surrendering, after all, and collaboration are their legacies to the world!
Pffft, who would pay top dollar for tiny portions of crappy frog food anyway…
Posted by Mainon Jeblogue on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 06.46 pm
Hey little man!
If you despise the French, why eat their food?
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Posted by Miquelon on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 11.34 am
Enough with the “surrender” cliché ! A historical fact from 60 years ago does not make a CHARACTER TRAIT.
Marc St-Aubin du Cormier - Miquelon.org
“Of course, many Frenchmen did stand up to the Nazis. Over 100,000 of them died before the U.S. ever got into the war. And speaking of forgetting things, why have the tales of the heroic French resistance gone down the memory hole?”
Harry Browne