Très Français
Simple touches transform French tabletops.
By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 9/30/2000 11:00:00 PM
The French restaurant has long been a bastion of fine dining. “It sounds a little pretentious, but people strive to be at the level of the French,” says Patrick Neyrolles, assistant general manager, Hotel de la Cité, Carcassone, France. From an early age, French children are taught table manners, food preparation and quality, and even the history of porcelain, china glassware and silverware. Among the French, there is an unusual appreciation for fine dining and elegant table and food presentations. The best way for a restaurant to achieve that French savoir faire? “Hire a French chef, and you’ll get a French look,” Neyrolles says.
French Redefined
But know that the definition of the French look is changing. In the 1970s and 1980s, French meant a maitre d’ in tails and a bow tie, crisp white cloth draped over one arm. Fine china and silver would grace the table. But the Zen influence that pervaded the 1990s altered even the French sense of style, introducing a minimalist approach to many Gallic eateries. Just as French cuisine has grown lighter, reducing the use of butter and heavy creams in response to international trends favoring healthy cuisine, French tabletop design has grown simpler, matching this new flavor.
Still, elegance prevails. “From one restaurant to another around the world, you’ll see the same [manufacturer] names,” Neyrolles says, emphasizing that quality has not gone out of style. But in many new restaurants, the presentation has been altered. Playful accoutrements cue diners in to the fact that they’re about to sample French cuisine reincarnated.
“We always try to find something original to use on the table,” says Christophe-Bruno Marziale, corporate F&B director, Sofitel. At the Sofitel Paris La Défense Grande Arche, colorful Bohemian glassware takes center stage. At other Sofitel restaurants, the point of interest may be distinctive salt and pepper shakers or floral arrangements consisting of a single flower sunk in a crystal vase filled with colorful marbles. Less formal linens, such as a simple chemin d’table at the Grande Arche allowing the textured wood tabletop itself to contribute to the design, have become standard at these new-breed French restaurants. In some cases, silver cutlery has been replaced with a stylish Italian stainless steel.
In the United States especially, simplified permutations of French design abound. At the Paris Bar & Grill, Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, Christoph Zbinden, director of F&B, says American diners who were intimidated by the air of pretension associated with French establishments in past decades have been drawn into the fold by more approachable, casual-looking bistros and toned-down fine dining restaurants.
Everything about the Paris Bar & Grill aims to ease the guest’s experience, from the “You eat what you read” philosophy of menu presentation, wherein the menu accurately and succinctly describes all dishes, to the white-on-white tableware. In fact, it is the elegant Schott-Zwiesel glassware with 12- to 16-inch stems “screaming to be filled,” as Zbinden says, that attract the most tabletop attention. “Guests see them going out to other tables and think, ‘What do I have to do to get one of those?’” he says, contributing to wine sales that exceeded expectations during the first six weeks of opening.
Detailed Design
Diners in other countries require less coddling than Americans do, and a full-fledged formal atmosphere appeals to their aesthetic senses. At the Phoenicia Inter-Continental Beirut’s rooftop French restaurant, Eau de Vie, full linens and silver decorate the tabletop. But even here, simplicity reigns supreme, as demonstrated by the omission of show plates. However, at Maxim’s in the Inter-Continental, Mexico City, care has been taken to reproduce precisely the belle epoque air of the Parisian Maxim’s, with nothing sacrificed for simplicity’s sake. All details, from the Bernardaud Limoges china to the Christofle cutlery, have been faithfully replicated.
Attention to detail is apparent throughout French restaurants—from carefully selected ingredients through to the tabletop. Like La Barbacane, the signature restaurant of the Hotel de la Cité, the hotel’s private Wine Cellar dining room features china bedecked with the fleur-de-lis, the same pattern that adorns the walls of this former Episcopal church situated within the stone buttresses of the medieval city of Carcassone. From flatware to salt and pepper shakers, the silver items on the table feature a grape motif, as do the hand-embroidered linens.
Such conscious care is apparent at the Paris Bar & Grill, as well. Non-essential items, such as flowers, are absent from the table. The remaining pieces reiterate themes present in the restaurant and hotel’s interior design, and set a subdued stage for the presentation of stellar cuisine. The linear pattern of the white-on-white service china looks stark and simple at first glance. But up close, it becomes apparent that the pattern is reminiscent of the five Ionic columns separating the restaurant from the rotunda of the 120-year-old former bank building that houses the hotel. The décor on the base plate integrates the ornate design of the restaurant’s carpet, and the flatware reproduces an interlocking pattern used throughout the hotel. In this way, the truly French eatery employs “value-added” tabletop items, Zbinden says, without overcomplicating the experience for the guest.
Sofitel Paris
La Défense Grande Arche, Paris
Restaurant: L’Avant-Seine
Seats: 110
Covers: Unknown (September opening)
House specialties: Cuisine du marche, rotisserie items
Tabletop Sources
China: Bernardaud Limoges
Glassware: Oenologue and handblown, colored Bohemian glass
Silverware: Sambonet
Linens: Not Available
Phoenicia Inter-Continental
Beirut, Lebanon
Restaurant: Eau de Vie
Seats: 160
Covers: 150
House specialties: Four season salad, tomato terrine, sea bass, chocolate fondant
Tabletop Sources
China: Bernardaud Limoges
Glassware: Schott-Zwiesel
Silverware: Sant’ Andrea
Linens: Tablet Maison de Blanc
Hotel Meurice
Paris
Restaurant: Le Meurice
Seats: 50
Covers: 90
House specialties: Menu de degustations, dessert souffles
Tabletop Sources
China: Royal Limoges
Glassware: Christallerie de Hartzwiller
Silverware: Christofle
Linens: Elis
Hotel de la Cité
Carcassone, France
Restaurant: The Wine Cellar
Seats: 8
Covers: 8
House specialties: Dinners are specially prepared by Chef Franck Putelat to center around particular products, such as truffles, foie gras, lobster, a favorite wine region (Bordeaux, Alsace, Côtes du Rhône), or a theme selected by the guest.
Tabletop Sources
China: Pillivuyt
Glassware: Schott-Zwiesel
Silverware: Not Available
Linens: Handmade by local artists
Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Restaurant: Paris Bar & Grill
Seats: 100
Covers: Unknown (Opened July)
House specialties: Cuisine created with organic ingredients
Tabletop Sources
China: Eschenbach
Glassware: Riedel
Silverware: Hepp
Linens: Not available
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