Adour Alain Ducasse 2011

One year ago Didier Elena returned to New York City to take over the kitchen at Adour, the Alain Ducasse restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel. Who is Didier Elena, you ask? He is in my opinion one of the handful of best working chefs in the United States, with perhaps the lowest profile of any chef at that level. Now 40 years old, he has been a Ducasse team member for most of his life, and was the opening chef at Ducasse's first New York Restaurant, at the Essex House hotel.

Even for those who lived through it, it's easy to forget the vitriol and hostility that surrounded that opening. It seems silly in retrospect: the prices, then thought to be so high, were just not all that bad by today's standards; and the formality of the place was more enjoyable than horrifying. At the time, I was just getting started in the food-writing field and the misguided reactions to one of the best restaurants in the history of the city really galvanized my thinking about the state of the dining culture. In 2000 I wrote an opinion piece, "Culinary Correctness," offering my take on the cultural reaction to that restaurant.

For the past decade I have not really been arms-length from Ducasse. In reporting on the original Essex House restaurant I spent a total of two weeks in the kitchen there, working closely with Didier Elena and most specifically with one of the line cooks Doug Psaltis. Doug's brother Michael later became (and still is) my literary agent. While I wouldn't count Ducasse as a close personal friend, I have broken bread with him and his wife Gwen.

So when I say I think my recent meal at Adour was earth-shattering, I may not be the most objective observer. On top of being a Ducasse loyalist, the restaurant would take no money for the meal. In my 30 or so visits to Ducasse restaurants in New York and Paris, including 5 visits to Adour, my guess is that about 1/3 of those meals have been comped. That being said, my fundamental conclusions about the excellence of Ducasse's cuisine were reached before I ever met the guy or enjoyed any sort of special treatment.

Whatever one thinks about Ducasse's original New York fine-dining restaurant at the Essex House, it's probably the case that it would not be an appropriate restaurant for Great Recession New York. Adour, at a lower price point and with less formality, made perfect sense as the next step for Ducasse. The problem was, as I experienced at a totally delicious but ultimately bittersweet meal, Adour started out by trying to be as much like the Essex House as possible. Since it was not possible, at a lower price point and with less staff, to be fully on par with the Essex House, Adour felt like it fell short of the mark. It was, let's say, 75% as good as the Essex House -- an amazing accomplishment in many ways for the opening chef Tony Esnault -- and for those who enjoyed the Essex House that was unsatisfying.

Now with the arrival of Didier Elena the restaurant has shifted gears. Elena is older and wiser, he has suffered personal tragedy and has gained a lot of perspective. Under him, Adour has stepped out of the shadow of the Essex House and become its own, completely different restaurant.

I don't think there is a better use of sea urchin anywhere I've tried it than Elena's house-made fettucine with fennel, garlic and creamy uni sauce. But it's not just the deep flavors of the dish that are noteworthy, not just the first-rate products and execution. It's the dish's soulfulness and, in at least a sense, rusticity. Elena's father was a fisherman, so he grew up on and around boats. When his father would bring up urchins, the family would remove the meat and mix it with pasta and butter. The dish as served at Adour is a fine-dining version of that childhood memory, and it feels that way. While it is attractively plated, it is not ornate. While it has a great balance of flavors, is it simple and focused on just a couple of flavors (urchin and butter). It is a triumph in so many ways.

The other dish I had that I thought rivaled the urchin was lobster with roasted sweet corn in a curry infusion. I remember at the Essex House noting that not a single dish on the early menus included corn -- which is such a strongly American ingredient. This lobster dish at Adour, though, is a full-on engagement with corn. It represents a different mindset.

I didn't have a real camera with me but I took a couple of cell-phone photos just for information purposes. The first one is the urchin and the second is the lobster. For those who have experience with Ducasse's restaurants, the haute-rusticity of these dishes will really stand out.

In the mid-1990s I ate fairly often at Lespinasse, when Gray Kunz was the chef. The restaurant was in the same space at the St. Regis as Adour now occupies, though it looks completely different. Amazingly, four of the original Lespinasse waiters are still there (the St. Regis is unionized). I think the Adour service team is quite talented, if much smaller and leaner than what we experienced at the Essex House.

Adour has a wine focus, and the list is deep. The food is designed to pair well with wine, thus the emphasis on focused flavors.

The pastry program at Adour is very impressive. The desserts reflect a strong commitment to seasonality -- our tasting of desserts was an avalanche of rhubarb and berries. The macaroons are as good as macaroons get.

Adour has not had the buzz of many of the hot new restaurants of the past few years. But I think it's better. I'd be very interested to hear what people's experiences have been.

Have not been to Adour, but I did have a wonderful meal from Chef Elena at Chateau Les Crayeres in Reims in 2008 (made all the more wonderful because afterwards I proposed to my wife - and she said yes!). I was sad for him that they didn't get the expected third star that year (which I assume may have been the impetus for returning to the US?)

I was sad for him that they didn't get the expected third star that year (which I assume may have been the impetus for returning to the US?)

I'm pretty sure the impetus for him returning to the US was that Ducasse said, "We need you in New York."

Every time I eat here I have the exact same response: this is unexciting food -- but it's wonderful unexciting food.

Nothing overly exciting, but everything very correctly cooked.

Some opinions expressed by posters elsewhere (though both do also post here). Very different frame of reference, however, as both the above quotations came from posters who dine frequently at similar styles of restaurants.

I just got a press release saying that Adour is offering a special Ducasse greatest-hits menu for the month of September. It's five dishes representing favorites at his restaurant around the world, in honor of his 55th birthday (I can't believe how young he is, considering his stature). This is how the menu is described:

...the chef’s 55th tasting menu begins with a Thin Crust Vegetable Tart, from Alain Ducasse at t he Dorchester, London paired with a Champagne, Selection Alain Ducasse. Next, a Housemade Farfalle, a seasonal, Mediterranean inspired dish from Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse, the chef’s famed restaurant in Monaco paired with Bellet - Château de Bellet - “Cuvée Baron G.” - 2009, which was served by the Chef at the Royal Wedding in Monaco. Following the signature dish from Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Paris is a Baked Atlantic Halibut, which will be served with swiss chard, preserved lemon & black pepper condiment and paired with Alain Ducasse’s favorite Burgundy - Domaine Leroy - “SA Collection” - 2006. The meat course on the chef’s birthday menu will be Milk Fed Veal Medallions, porcini mushroom contrast, roasting jus from Beige - Alain Ducasse in Tokyo paired with Cornas - JL. Colombo - “Terres Brulées” - 2005. The special menu will conclude with a signature dessert from Adour Alain Ducasse at The St. Regis New York, the restaurant’s acclaimed Dark Chocolate Sorbet, coffee granite, caramelized brioche croutons paired with a Bas-A rmagnac - Château de Laubade - 1955. Alain Ducasse’s Celebration Menu will be priced st arting at $115 per person and available with wine pairing for an additional $115.