When I went to a cheese shop, I knew that's what their specialty was. Then you looked at as individual entities and brought them all back together to create something. Just the way that the city is structured, you never went to a supermarket you went to your vegetable vendor, you went to your meat vendor, you went to your fish vendor. I can't say that it was a specific dish, but it was the markets, the bakeries, and the vegetable stands.
Did you find a particular French dish that inspired you? But I never dove into the actual culinary history.
#REBELLE BOWERY HOW TO#
I learned some French techniques along the way like how to make some sauces and how to make a roux, very standard, basic stuff. No, this was my first time working in a French restaurant. I just kind of packed my bags, got on a plane, and would just figure it out when I got there.ĭid you know anything about French food before arriving in Paris? I finally did my research and found out who he was, realized that he had a restaurant in Paris, then said, "Well, I better go to Paris." I didn't speak any French, I didn't know where I was going to live, I didn't know where I was going to work. I thought, once I'm done working with Mike, I'd love to go work with Alain Ducasse. Anyway, I was asked for two dishes off the station I was working on, so I put up two dishes, and he looks at me and says, "They better be the best dishes you've ever cooked." Again, my chef was freaking out: "Alain Ducasse is back in the restaurant!" I still had no idea who this guy, Ducasse, was. The following year, we had opened up a second restaurant and Alain Ducasse came back in. I had no idea who Alain Ducasse was at this point in time, but my chef did, obviously, and he was freaking out and very animated. When I first started cooking in New York City, I was working with Michael Psilakis at his first restaurant. I guess what drew me initially to French food was travel. What exactly drew you to French food and Paris? But the best way to see the massive French influence in New York is in its food. Our connection continues to grow over the fields of politics, education, business and more. We have both been heroes of monumental triumphs and victims of heart-piercing tragedies. North America was another land of opportunity for the French, who had fled across the Atlantic seeking religious freedom as early as the 1500s. Look at the iconic work of Parisian artist Vahram Muratyan, whose obsession with New York sparked a beautiful collection of illustrations. Look at the expat movement, where Paris became an artistic new home to young Americans of the Lost Generation, disgruntled by the impact of World War I. Just look at our two major cities, New York and Paris. If American interest in France's election is just a small indication of our connection, there is a strong historical and cosmic exchange between the two countries. One of the most common species of foreigner in New York is from a nation that was America's first ally and remains a strong source of influence to this day: la France. Entrées $12-$24.Springtime is when New York City unravels from its icy shell tulips peak out their vibrant heads, grilled street meats waft tantalizing scents in every direction, and a potpourri of tourists migrate here like sweet-singing birds, chirping in all sorts of languages. Open for dinner Mondays through Saturdays. The experience is gouty but elegant, and, tonight, the Bowery is our Boulevard Saint-Germain. ♦
By this point, there has been a lot of wine. It wears a jaunty hat of Chantilly cream. The cherry clafoutis is to share, a spontaneous act of generosity from the kitchen, hearty and delicate at the same time. There’s a vegetable in quotation marks, and it’s not gimmicky: a velvety, rich “beet” bourguignon, better suited to May in New York than its beefy brethren. What’s best about Rebelle is that it is contemporary but not trendy. A first course of fluke and lemon sounds familiar, but then you taste the brown butter and sherry and it’s new. Much of the menu involves American tweaks to Gallic classics: fried shallots on a lamb tartare haven’t been put to such good use since last Thanksgiving’s green-bean casserole, and the creamy lobster sauce on sweetbreads evokes a New England chowder. So, four courses, fifteen hundred wines on offer, and food that looks like it involves tweezers but also tastes good.