Le Coucou

[The Flon]

Finally booked a table for Monday the 16th MLK Day lunch.

 

When I called I also confirmed that they wouldn't be serving brunch that day as I've been burned by other restaurants defaulting to their brunch menus for Monday holidays in the past.

LUNCH is on!

[Robert Brown]

I visited Le Coucou for dinner a couple of months ago. It's a very good restaurant. I wrote about it on my recently-created dweebsite www.engagingfood.com. I mention sous-vide only once.

[paryzer]

Esquire has an interesting profile on Chef Daniel Rose bringing French cooking back from the dead.

 

"Rose appears to have perfect pitch where French food is concerned, an innate ability to extract maximum flavor from dishes that have been around since the guillotine."

 

"At its best, the French table is unsurpassed in its civility, culture, and sophistication, the sole drawback a seemingly inevitable atmosphere of solemnity. Says Rose, "French restaurants have become too much like churches, too reverential. If they're going to be churches, they should be like southern churches, providing a shitload of fun, not all that guilt."

 

http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/food/a53886/daniel-rose-le-coucou-profile/

[Suzanne F]

I would have expected Richman to have more knowledge of the history of French food. I guess I was wrong.

[voyager]

If nothing else, Rose is a magnet for ink.

[GerryOlds]

I would have expected Richman to have more knowledge of the history of French food. I guess I was wrong.

 

As someone unfamiliar, can you tell us what's lacking?

[Wilfrid]

Ah, the pigeon, that so-French dish, beloved of the Sun King.

 

The article is a bit credulous about French cooking (Escoffier is the James Joyce, doing all his important stuff as an emigre).

[Suzanne F]

 

I would have expected Richman to have more knowledge of the history of French food. I guess I was wrong.

 

As someone unfamiliar, can you tell us what's lacking?

 

Well, he seems to not know that much of the early 20th century of haute cuisine in France was horrible: lots of roux to thicken sauces, cream up the wazoo, almost no vegetables, actually pretty dreary stuff. It might have been thought the best, but that's more because the French British, who ran the world at the time, said it was. Have a look at Escoffier: there are not a lot of dishes that people today would or could eat happiy. La nouvelle cuisine was different, but not necessarily objectively better.

 

ETA: changed per Wilfrid's point about the marketing of French food.

Edited March 22, 2017 by Suzanne F

[Wilfrid]

Won't argue the merits, but ironically it wasn't the French who sold French cuisine to the world; more the British. French chefs coming to work in London and being hailed as celebrities. Long story.

 

As hinted above, Escoffier's fame doesn't rest on anything he did in France.

[Suzanne F]

Wilf: good point about the marketing of French food. I corrected that part.

[taion]

Huh, so the OpenTable slots do show up at midnight.

 

Unfortunately, they're gone by 12:01.

[joethefoodie]

Sorta like concert tix when they go on sale.

 

What a surprise.

[taion]

I successfully booked a 9 PM Friday reservation on OpenTable right after midnight!

 

... unfortunately, I accidentally made the reservation for 4.

 

There's always next time, I guess.

[joethefoodie]

Did you cancel it?

 

If not, usually calling the restaurant the day before and changing it to a two-top is not a problem.

[joethefoodie]

Taking a little bit of a break, as we hadn't eaten here since the end of January, 4 of us had dinner last night. I felt the food was perhaps better than it's been at any other meal we've had here previously...just a very high level of technique, seasoning, etc.

 

Daniel was in the house, and maybe that makes a difference, which it shouldn't but...

 

COMP DISCLOSURE: A dish that's not on the menu yet, but may be very shortly, lobster navarin. Each of us got a taste; it was super. My guess is it will be the highest priced menu item when and if it's added.