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| Author: Pierre Rival; photographer: Christian
Sarramon |
Paris claims to have invented
the restaurant with the opening of Beauvilliers in 1784,
and here are over 100 dining places that keep the city
at the crossroads of culinary tradition and innovation.
Rival indulges the reader with a discerning selection
of splendid historic restaurants, notorious brasseries,
down-to-earth bistros, and contemporary hot spots. Each
is described in delectable detail. From the glittering
decadence of Michelin 3-star chef Guy Martin's Le Grand
Véfour, to Jacques Garcia's trendy Hôtel
Costes, and from Philippe Starck's Bacarrat wonderland
to the student haven at Polidor, the restaurants presented
here are tried and true; they define the delights of
dining à la française. An indispensable
black book provides the reader with contact information
for the featured restaurants as well as other exceptional
eateries in the food capital of the world. Rival covers
all the notable addresses in a volume that serves as
both a practical reference as well as an exquisite visual
feast for the armchair traveller.
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From Publishers Weekly:
Despite an introduction touting Parisian gastronomy and its two defining
styles (cuisine savante and cuisine bourgeois ), there's little evidence
of such fare in these pages. Rather, the authors of this illustrated volume
dote on décor, which is, admittedly, magnificent in most cases.
Examples of art nouveau and art deco mingle with illustrations of contemporary
design and a "post-historic" style that mixes old and new, as
Rival and Sarramon, who coauthored the more scintillating Gourmet
Shops of Paris , showcase more than 100 dining establishments in the
City of Lights. The scenes are no doubt beautiful: a glimmering chandelier
with several hundred glass drops illuminates a room at the restaurant
at the Plaza Athénée; the quintessentially French bistro
L'Ami Louis looks like a set straight out of Gigi; art deco fabulousness
infuses La Coupole, with the work of Fernand Léger and others decorating
the pillars in the dining room. Yet for all the photographs' attractiveness,
they feel oddly hollow: patrons are scant, bustling waiters nonexistent.
Ample text accompanies the images, giving a crash course in Parisian history
seen through its restaurants. Design aficionados will eat this up; foodies,
meanwhile, will require more sustenance. 180 color photos.(May)
© 1997-2005 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |
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$40.00 (hardcover)
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