Dining high on Eiffel's Tower

 

It's impossible to write this post without making an obvious pun about haute cuisine. Paris cooking doesn't get any more elevated than the restaurant that has re-opened today 410 feet (125m) up on the second level of the Eiffel Tower.

The setting of the old Jules Verne restaurant has always been superb, perched inside the iron girders of the tower. What makes it special now is the new boss,  Alain Ducasse, the super-chef and businessman who has 27 restaurants with 15 Michelin stars around the world.   

Ducasse [above] won the tower catering concession a couple of years ago after the old management let the restaurant slide into expensive mediocrity. Doing the promotional rounds this week, Ducasse has said that he aims to lure Parisians back onto a site that was long left to tourists, with fine, all-French cooking. 

"There won't be any nems (Vietnamese spring rolls), only French products, beef, scallops, turbot, Saint Pierre, langoustines, Limousin lamb, Landes farmer's chicken with crayfish... Even the whisky will be French," he said.

The tight confines of the tower and the need for reasonable prices has led Ducasse to aim for less majestic fare than his Paris Plaza Athénée and his other high culinary temples. They are haute couture while the Jules Verne, one of two eateries on the tower, will be "luxury ready-to-wear," he said. 

The restaurant has been remade in fashionable creams and browns. With the need to see both the view and the food, care has been devoted to lighting. They have used the outfit that illuminates the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.

With so many dollar-earning readers here, I hesitate to mention prices, but a three-course menu for lunch costs 75-euros (107 dollars) without wine. A basic dinner including drinks will cost around 250 euros (360 dollars) per person.

There are constraints to feeding people on the 118-year-old tower. Ducasse said that it was like cooking on a ship or an airliner. For safety, no gas is allowed, so they have to make do with electricity -- a method not favoured by serious chefs. Each item of furniture and equipment had to be weighed to comply with limits.

To save space for his 47 staff, Ducasse has installed a "pre-kitchen" in an old underground storage chamber below the tower. Vegetables are peeled and fish and poultry are prepared there before being hoisted aloft onto Monsieur Eiffel's contraption.

That gives me an excuse to quote again the contempt in which luminaries of the 1880s held the new tower. A protest against its construction included the signatures of  Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opéra), and Dumas the Younger. Their petition read: "We, the writers, painters, sculptors, architects and lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest with all our vigour and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower."

Comments

[Frank Schnittger]

Sounds like a good place for our annual blog reunion dinner to celebrate the death of French culture (a la Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier and Dumas). Can you arrange please Charles? Terry will have the Chicken. I will fund out of the Million Francs he owes me.

[Terry]

"Terry will have the Chicken. I will fund out of the Million Francs he owes me."

Oh my God! I was just going to ask how much was the chicken.

Never mind, Frank is paying. I'll even splurge and have a coke.

To each according to his need, from each according to his ability.

[D Williams]

Good to see that the "slide into expensive mediocrity" of the previous management has been well and truly side-stepped, and that the "need for reasonable prices" sees dinner priced competitively at only 250 euros per person - a steal surely??!! Only a quarter of the money I have left over after paying my rent after all, sure I can find some loose change somewhere for the wine too...

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Ah yes, I remember it well...the Tour: my first visit, doing 2 years in the British army in Fontainebleau. Asked for a coca-cola. Three hundred francs. (1953 prices). French soldiers got 30 centimes a day pay! Just enough for a coke in a sawdust and spit bar and here were these robbers asking for 10 times the normal price. "If you don't like it, go somewhere else," I was told. "If you call the cops they'll tell you the same thing." France! The famous Tour - what a tourist trap. Now it's 250 Euros for the kind of meal you would get on a train. Extortion. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...

[kerstin]

Surprisingly cheap for luncheon considering it is a Ducasse restaurant let alone all the trouble demanded of the kitchen
in working at the tower. Bliss bliss bliss.

[mathieu]

@Peter

So, you are saying that Ducasse is serving train food on his restaurant? You should try his food at least once before stating such things.
Go to a Dublin/London restaurant, and you'll understand what extortion: the price might be the same, but at least the food is good in ducasse establishement...
And as you were told back in 1953, if you don't like it, jst don't go there.

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Mathieu: I won't go there. I got the message. One has a choice, after all, just like in the Army: Take it for Leave it! But don't get your rag out. I would never ever pay 250 Euros for a "meal". My name is Huggins, not Muggins. Craft, not Daft. I lived in France for 23 years and I remember clearly the one really bad meal I had, in Limoges, because all the others were g r e a t! As a self-supporting author on a permanent budget, I never paid more than 120 FF about 18 Euros today. This included wine in Languedoc: 14 hors d'oeuvres, plateau of charcuterie, trout, casserole of wild boar, pigeon, rabbit or beef, cheese board of 12 cheeses including Rocquefort, and a patron and his wife who loved to see their customers happy.
I refuse to eat in a restaurant in London or Dublin. Spoilt by years in France. Distrusting the hygiene, amused by the antics of the "chefs", most of whom could not boil an egg. I would like to see 6 top French chefs challenge 6 British "chefs" to a contest. Just to separate the professionals from the amateurs. Good comedy TV, too.
P.S. One resto. on the Orb served 5 flavours of sorbet with 5 spoons. That's style. My heart breaks for the lads in the Ducasse kitchen. No gas! Quelle catastrophe!

[Frank Schnittger]

" Even the whisky will be French" - ah but will the Coke? The French will not have achived true world stature worthy of a Time cover until thay can serve Terry with a bottle of the best 2007 French Coke, Chateaux Eifel.

Terry - you said the cheque was in the post - around here that roughly equates with "of course I'll still love you in the morning" as one of the less trusted statements someone can come out with. Is there not a more disingenuously dissembling line that your lawyer's training can come up with?

[azloon]

FS:

"we're from the government and we're here to help you" (which may be lost on the french)

and the last, relating to a certain sexual practice, unfit for polite conversation in which the words 'promise' and 'mouth' figure prominently.

i was wondering what could possibly be worse than eating an expensive meal in the eiffel tower (where i became slightly nauseated in the lift). the only thing i could come up with was eating an expensive meal in the eiffel tower in a restaurant which rotates.

will the 'unwashed masses' being transported to the top of the tower in glass elevators be visable to the diners? a 'let them eat limousin lamb' sort of moment? just an idea.

the only restauants most middle-class americans could afford -- a burger king or a pizza hut -- were, i understand, discouraged from entering the competition for the concession.

de maupassant was quite a guy, knew a bad thing when he saw it.

[Daniel Strohl]

Peter,

"French soldiers got 30 centimes a day pay!"

Yes, true. But you forgot to mention that they got also 30 packs of cigarettes "Troupes" (a severely degraded variant of cheap Gauloises ...) and 16 free post stamps (FM = Franchise Militaire) per month. The red "wine" served with the "meals" was of the same quality level as the "Troupes" ...

[Daniel Strohl]

"Even the whisky will be French"

May be it will come from Alsace - I have heard that there is a good Alsatian "whisky" distiller.

I will make a reconnaissance tomorrow - we have got a good wine and liquor store ("caviste") around the corner.

[Terry]

Frank said:

"Is there not a more disingenuously dissembling line that your lawyer's training can come up with?"

Yes. "Trust me."

BTW: The coca cola in europe tastes better than the US. I am told that actually is because the coke in europe is made with real sugar. In the U.S., it is made with corn sweetener.

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Daniel: Tiens,tiens, Voila la Quille. The free postage stamps for Les Bleus on 30 centimes per day were to write: "Papa -- send MONEY." The "gros rouge" from Languedoc, the viticulteurs' insult to the French army, was "Chateau Plonk" to the Brit. conscripts who tried it, and "Troupes" were known as "horse shit and tram tickets."
Thank goodness for a little black marketeering. 9 years earlier it had been B.O.F (beurre, oeufs et fromage) In '53 it was L.C.B. (Luckies, Camels, Bourbon).
Still, we had Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, which was much better than Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery.

[mathieu]

Peter: sorry to have "ragged", I thought you were comparing Ducasse cuisine to the SNCF one... I had to defend mr Ducasse!! :), specially since the sandwich in the train are just not....food to me!
Paying 250 euros for a meal is insane, you are right, but that is what french gastronomie is about those days. I'd rather go to a traditional french resto, with a nice plat du jour and a carafe of local wine. That, to me, is what french culture is about. No flashy menu or 25 differents breads to choose from, just plain, simple and yet amazing tastes.
I have some family in the "sud ouest", and yes, I concure, price and quality are another level there.

If I had compare Dublin, London and Paris (I lived in those three towns), for sure Paris still has the best value for the money, keeping the quality in mind. If I was given 250 euros to spend and have to choose between those 3 citys, I think we both know where I'll end up!! In London and Dublin, even if you spend that much money, you are not even sure to get proper food.
French chefs versus English ones? Would be interestind indeed I'd say.

oh, and enjoy your lunch!!

[Sigognac]

That gives me an excuse to quote again the contempt in which luminaries of the 1880s held the new tower. A protest against its construction included the signatures of Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opéra), and Dumas the Younger. Their petition read: "We, the writers, painters, sculptors, architects and lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest with all our vigour and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower."
It did not stop at least one of them to eat regularly there (can't remember which one...). When challenged about the apparent contradiction, he shot back "It is the only place where we cannot see it."

[Daniel Strohl]

Re : Alsatian whisky -

I have made the announced reconnaissance, followed immediately by a fast retreat, since the bottle of Alsatian whisky is priced at
55 € (!), which is definitely too much for me, since the usual price range for standard whiskies goes from 8 to may be 25 € or a little more. As an example, I bought today a bottle of "Paddy" (is it necessary to state its origin ?) at 13.50 €. It was packed in a nice bicolour metal gift box as well.

Peter,

I didn't know the word "plonk". There are a few French equivalents for it : pinard, picrate, vinasse, piquette and, of course, gros rouge ... (le gros rouge qui tache !).

The Languedoc viticulteurs had the supply monopole of the French army. Therefore, they didn't bother at first to improve the quality of their products, until it was almost too late ...

[I'm sure that Alsace whisky is worth every centime, Daniel. On Plonk, the word was adopted by the British from Australian slang in the 1950s although the Brits think the word is their own. Australia makes wine and in those days it was pretty much plonk. My parents used to buy "flagons" -- glass barriques -- of it from local vineyards. CB]

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Whisky - a big subject. In the Dewars HQ in London they gave me their whisky with the water from the same "burn" or stream from which it was made. It is the microbes in the water which make the taste, and why Japanese or the Spanish Whisky DYC cannot compare. Some years ago the difference between a "small" and a "large" Scotch was debated in The New Statesman magazine: small being merely a dirty glass and large the same as a French "baby whisky".*** I wrote to them about the scene when three "hell raiser" actors sat down in an afternoon drinking club: Peter O'Toole ordered Vodka; Richard Harris ordered brandy (cognac) and Trevor Howard said: "Scotch".
"Large ones, gentlemen?" gushed the manager.
Howard, the most world-weary of this trio of drinkists looked at him with baleful eye and said: "Bottles".
British TV viewers were puzzled last year at a price list for whisky at a village Fete in France. Whisky 5 Baby 3 Foetus 1.50

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

P.S. At the Festive Season here is a cautionary tale about drinking and driving, from the days before breath and blood tests: A Scottish photographer ("I never drink singles") fortifying himself against inclement weather and waiting until the roads were clear of traffic, had a flat tyre on Gateshead High Street, in a torrential rainstorm, while approaching Newcastle upon Tyne at 2.a.m. He dragged himself out of the car, fell over, staggered to the boot, took out the spare, fell over, soaking wet, jacked up the car, tightened the nuts, and took the wheel back to the boot. As he was about to climb into the driver's seat, two police constables in capes stepped out of a shop doorway.
"You are under arrest." said one.
"On what charge?" said Jock.
"Drunk driving."
"Ah'm nae drunk."
"You must be, sir. You changed the wrong wheel."

[coen sickinghe]

Did Charles Bremner check the spelling of this proprietaire-chef's name?
Alain Ducasse, Alain Ducaisse or Alain Ducash.

[Very funny... I like Ducash. It would have to be Delacaisse, which is not so good. I said he was a big businessman, not just an artist. CB]

[John Gregory Flinn]

"... Even the whisky will be French," he said."

Surely that's as beguiling a statement as the Spanish calling Cava champagne, and there are many other 'Appellation' spats.
Whereas whisky is much more vicarious as a name.
Almost any other country from Argentina to Wales claims to manufacture and label its own version of 'Whisky', and some are indeed reminiscent of the real thing.
But the original Scotch always carries the status of hard currency in those places far away.

May I wish our host and all 'posters' seasons greetings, and a bottle of Glen Morangie from Papa Noel!

[Richard]

Did Charles Bremner check the spelling of this proprietaire-chef's name?
Alain Ducasse, Alain Ducaisse or Alain Ducash.

[Very funny... I like Ducash. It would have to be Delacaisse, which is not so good. I said he was a big businessman, not just an artist. CB]

Pronounced with a French "Portuguese" accent it gives the right effet (for the French every second Portuguese word ends in "sh")

[millier marc]

ducaisse , ducasse , ducash
in french there are 3 differents prononciations.big difference

[johnnie]

mathieu please name the restaurant and town on the Orb. I visit La Tour sur Orb and would like to dine. Agree wholeheartedly re Dublin resto prices and skills. lazy dull assembly cooking with a basket of inferior ingredients. Patrick Guilbaud only exception

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Johnnie: I think you mean the resto I referred to which had a gimmick of serving 5 flavours of sorbet with five separate spoons. It was on the cherry-run (which supplied German kirsch makers) between Olargues and Herepian, but it was a "mushroom" which did not last long. Of course there were lots of Brits on both the cherry harvest and the vendange all around there, and it could be a case of, as Doctor Johnson said about certain visitors when they leave: "First, count your spoons."

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

P.S: In Roquebrun on the Orb I had the bizarre experience of ordering Antelope (flown in from Africa) for my wife, so that she could boast about it in London next day, and being told that they had no red wine. In Languedoc. No red wine! It would be like that resto in Dublin ("a basket of inferior ingredients") telling Johnnie that they had no potatoes, and then producing the menu:
Soup in the basket
The Irish mixed grill (roast potatoes, saute potatoes and chips)

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Sorry - I can't resist this one: after looking over my last two comments about no wine in Langudoc and potatoes in Ireland, I remembered this, told to me by Terry-Thomas, his favourite story: "A drunk goes into a restaurant and says to the waiter: 'I'll have fish and chips.' The waiter says: 'I'm sorry sir, but I am the wine waiter.' The drunk says: 'All right, I'll have some wine and chips.;"

[Mike Zawadzki]

ARMORIK Tried this a few years ago. Very good. Distilled in Britanny. The presentation pack omits England from the map of Europe. Only Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland appear with, of course, Britanny.

Their web site is: www.distillerie-warenghem.com

If you can get it enjoy.