France still shows the way, says a master

Le Bec-Fin took a break last week from its latest incarnation as the city's fanciest burger joint and Monday-night BYOB, and hosted a pair of blow-out tasting meals that harked back to its not-so-long-ago glory days of prix-fixe haute cuisine.

A visit from Guy Savoy, famous French toque and longtime Georges Perrier pal, was the occasion for the special guest-chef dinners.

About 180 people attended the $200-per-person eight-course feast, which highlighted signature dishes from Savoy's eponymous Michelin three-starred restaurant in Paris (and its sibling in Las Vegas), including truffled artichoke soup and a whole guinea fowl poached with truffle juice inside a pig's bladder that looks like an inflated dinosaur egg when it's rolled into the dining room for presentation.

"Many truffles!" the silver-stubbled Savoy, 56, said with a wink as he sat down for a chat at The Inquirer between meals. In the wide-ranging interview, he touched on topics ranging from his friendship with Perrier to his personal approach to cooking and the so-called death of French cuisine.

Here are some highlights:

Question: Do people in France still remember Georges Perrier?

Answer: Yes, of course! Georges, for me, though he's not much older, was a master when I was younger. Like Paul Bocuse, like Jean Banchet [of the now-closed Le Francais near Chicago], like many of the older chefs. He represented the American dream for us. Today it's very popular to come to the U.S.A. But 42 years ago [when Perrier came], it was an adventure.

We come from the same area, Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. And there is also Georges Perrier's joie de vivre. We share that. It's important to our craft.

Q: For people who've never been to your restaurants, how would you describe your unique approach to cooking? Would you call it a "naturalist" style?

A: Exactly! First and foremost is the product. I'll work around one [main ingredient] per dish and try to get to the very essence of it. For example, we begin with an oyster dish called huitre en nage glacee. At the bottom of the shell I'll put a thin layer of pureed oyster with just a touch of cream. I'll place a raw oyster on top, and then on top of that a gelee made from the oyster juice. It's entirely oyster.