FORK PLAY 49 MARCH 11, 2009
Bouley's Versailles. Kimchee Tacos. Daniel Roasts Sirio. Trading Down.
Dear Friends and Family,
A reader asks why I haven't yet blogged about the newest incarnation of Bouley Restaurant at 163 Duane  Street in Tribeca (212 964 2525). It's because I'm a sucker for a sad story. Poor David got such a thrashing from the critics, including me, for his effort across the street at Secession - let's be honest, it was well-meaning but half-baked. So I wanted to give the guy all the time he needed to get his newest kitchen in this Four Corners of Bouleydom purring.
David is an obsesser and his maniacal perfectionism spills over onto every surface of this house - from racks of apples perfuming the entrance to antique doors, decrepit imported beams miraculously restored, his usual vaulted ceiling, here wearing 12-karat white-gold crackle varnish, giant flora on canvas covering the walls, intricately inlaid old wood floors and stone from the same quarry used at Versailles, to the voluptuous fall of rose-blush tulips on a pedestal.
On Monday I was a guest at a private party that had taken over the place. With Moët poured from magnums, Chassagne Montrachet, a Gattinara Reserva, and a battalion of graceful minions drilled in old-world-style service, I felt a rising fever of great expectations. But alas, it did seem a long Bouleyesque pause waiting for the opener, a delicate flan of organic cauliflower, tomato coulis and salmon-trout. I wouldn't dream of judging Bouley's Tribeca Versailles at a private party. I want to go back, but we need to be four and I'm looking for equally curious companions who can afford to pay their own way, if not mine.
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Pork Belly, Perfect Pizza and Tacos with Kimchee
On my last evening in Los Angeles I met friends for a farewell drink and was bowled over to see the notorious  Korean Taco Truck parked curbside. All week I had begged friends to find it for me. In LA wherever you are, it's too far to drive. Then I saw the story "Kimchee Goes With Tacos" in Wednesday's Times Dining. (No, Pinch, I didn't read it online. Print addict that I am, I walked to Starbucks and bought a copy.) So I'm the last word on tacos with kimchee - short ribs in red chile flake vinaigrette. Yum. Did I write yum? What is the world coming to?
For more on what I ate in LaLatown at Animal, Pizzeria Mozza, Jose Andres' new Bazaar in Beverly Hills and Rivera - the good, the bad and the ridiculous - click here and go to this week's BITE at InsatiableCritic.com.
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Ten Reasons to Love Sirio
To make it feel like Sunday in this time of broken  dreams, Daniel Boulud staged a relaxed "Blue Jeans, Black Truffles, Burgundy and Blues" as his annual benefit for Citymeals-on-Wheels, this year honoring Sirio Maccioni, with guest chefs Michel Troisgros and Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison Park.
Why does Daniel love Sirio? "1. Because he's NOT French." So began Boulud's ten reasons to love his one-time boss. Laughing, he continued:
2. Because he learned the restaurant business from the French.
3. Because he has John Wayne looks and Marcello Mastroianni style.
4. Because he's kissed the hand of every princess on the Upper East Side.
5. Because he has three incredible sons but still won't give up.
6. Because he invented Pasta Primavera - the only dish at Le Cirque the chefs were forbidden to touch.
7. Because he swears at you in Italian and kisses your ass in English.
8. Because his favorite food is his wife Egi's gnocchi.
9. Because he is America's greatest restaurant business hero.
10. Because without Sirio Maccioni I might have been a short order cook.
 The thrill of the evening was Humm's sublime Nova Scotia lobster with potato, leeks, celery and black truffle. The last time I tasted lobster that exquisitely just-barely-cooked was at Fredy Girardet. No one at our table could quite believe it.
If you know Daniel even a little, you know he rarely sleeps and seems to run on Energizer batteries, seeding a growing global empire. That same passion fuels a string of events the newly-crowned four star chef dedicates each year to raising money and awareness of the city's 17,000 frail homebound elderly, a cause he has embraced.
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Trading Down
"'Trading down' is the mantra...the gentler and kinder feedery has dimmed the glitz, shaved the tab, unstarched the hauteur to woo battle-dazed New Yorkers. Welcome to the morning after... Yes, it is unnerving to kick the Perrier habit cold turkey, but you'll save a fin at every meal drinking eau du tap. Tomorrow is already here."
Sound like this morning's news? Well, it's how I began my review of Rakel and Richard Krause's Rose Café in New York, February 26, 1990. Read The Ballad of the Glad Cafes in the Vintage section of Insatiable Critic by clicking here.
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Photos of David Bouley and the Bouley Restaurant may not be used without permission from Steven Richter. The Daniel Boulud photo may not be used without permission of Owen Franken. The Mozza photo is by Barry Michlin
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