HÔTEL DANIEL
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La Belle France, May 2005 |
The picturebook Hôtel Daniel, which opened in September 2004, is only a few steps from Jean-Pierre Vigato’s brand-new Apicius. While there’s no shortage of boutique hotels in the Champs- Elysées area, Daniel stands out thanks to a fresh design outlook that flies in the face of most 21st-century makeovers.
Most French hotel decorators have just finished ripping out all the 18th-century-style toile de jouy fabrics that they had accessorized with painted (or stripped) country furniture. London- based designer Tarfa Salam has taken off in the opposite direction. She’s restored those pastoral toile de jouy wallpapers and textiles . . . and matched them up with ornate Kazakh carpets, nacre-inlaid Lebanese furniture, and elaborate Chinese fans.
This eclectic credo meshes wonderfully with the openminded, 18th-century outlook. No two guest rooms are alike. Junior suite number 603, 440€, built under the Hôtel Daniel’s restaurant eaves, has a romantic blue-gray toile du lac theme and a large marble bathroom with twin hammered-metal basins and an abundance of natural light. The neighboring junior suite, number 602, has a beamed ceiling and a cozier gold/lavender ambience based on the exotic Marco Polo fabric pattern. Extravagant suite 502, 690€, has fern-patterned wallpaper that sets off Oriental inlaid mirrors and dressers.
It took two years of work to create this eighth arrondissement oasis. Amenities include Molton Brown toiletries, flat screen televisions, WiFi, air conditioning, valet service, wellplanned handicapped rooms, non-smoking rooms, and CD/DVD readers. Details are never neglected. There are lavender sachets in the closets, along with white padded clothes hangers. The breakfast room, decorated in cool, sea-mist tones, doubles as an impromptu restaurant for light salads and sandwiches.
Hôtel Daniel
8 rue Frédéric Bastiat, 75008
Tel: 01.42.56.17.00.
Fax: 01.42.56.17.01.
USA toll-free: 800- 448-8355.
www.hoteldanielparis.com.
Twenty-six rooms and suites from 270€ to 690€. (Ask about weekend rates.) Breakfast: 20€ to 28€. Elevator available. All major credit cards. |
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APICIUS
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La Belle France, May 2005 |
While we knew that Chef Jean-Pierre Vigato had moved his two-star restaurant to a new 8th arrondissement location last December, we didn’t realize how far he had moved until we visited the new venue. Vigato had maintained a snazzy upscale restaurant on the avenue de Villiers for two decades and we expected to find the same sort of place . . . perhaps bigger, probably fancier. After all, a location on the rue d’Artois — a tiny street in the business/residential district north of the Champs-Elysées — wouldn’t appear to offer many surprises.
Ah . . . but Paris is filled with surprises! Hidden behind a stone wall adorned with a bronzed Relais & Châteaux plaque, Milord Vigato’s new domain is an urban version of Versailles: an 18th-century-style mansion with a huge front garden and a circular gravel driveway. Lifelike statues of livestock, which appear to be grazing on the emerald-green lawns, enhance the bucolic mystique.
Until a few years ago, this magnificent property belonged to the Banque Rothschild. The present owner is the flashy French film producer Luc Besson (Subway, Le Grand Bleu, Nikita) and therefore, it makes cinematic sense that the ground floor has been leased to Vigato, the most movie-starrish of French chefs. If any American director decided to make a film about Vigato’s career, George Clooney would be brushing up his French accent.
The redecorating work took eight months. The bar, immediately to the left of the entrance, is the most dazzling room. High, painted ceilings — plus racks of glittery bottles behind the bar — make it look like a gigantic jewel-box. The front dining rooms, painted in an austere, mink-like taupe, are more overpowering than welcoming. A pretty dining room in the back of the restaurant, often reserved for private parties, has more intimate proportions.
The decorators clearly set out to inspire awe, but Vigato’s cuisine is far more daring in its understatement. Parisian chefs think nothing of penning entire paragraphs to describe an entrée. Cool and coy, Vigato merely says that he’s serving “john dory with pasta.” And the real miracle is that “fish with pasta” is all that comes to the table. But what fish! What pasta! This is the most splendidly grilled saint-pierre on the planet — firm, flaky, divinely flavorful — along with cup of farfalle cooked to al dente perfection in milky froth scented with anchovy. Nothing more! No Gagnaire-ish millefeuille layered with humming-bird tongues . . . not even a side salad. This is masterful cooking from a John-Waynish chef with enough self-confidence to withhold the parsley if he doesn’t think it’s essential.
The laconic menu does offer the brief comment that the foie gras de canard poêlé is an Apicius classic, which Vigato’s fans probably already knew. Again, there is no need to say more. The dish that comes to the table has a generous portion of melt-in-the-mouth duck liver with the flirtiest, most finely tuned caramelization we’ve tasted in years. The bar aux oignons — bass accessorized with a humble onion compote — is ambrosial.
Only one dish fell short. Lobster ravioli, an appetizer that shows up on every chef’s menu these days, didn’t measure up to the rest of the meal. Nothing was glaringly wrong . . . it simply failed to glitter, and was not as attractively presented as everything else. The chocolate mousse is still on the menu, and there are several desserts that present an assortment of goodies around a theme ingredient.
The wine list befits the site’s private banking heritage. With the wine steward’s help, we found an utterly exquisite 1999 Chablis Vaucoupins Grossot for 69€, but you will be very hard-pressed to find anything more modest. There is a 130€ prix fixe menu, but you must count on spending at least 200€ for two before wine . . . and possibly more if you are tempted by the highly truffled creations.
Apicius
20 rue d’Artois, 75008
Tel: 01.43.80.19.66.
Fax: 01.44.40.09.57.
Closed Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. |
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Cuisine |
Decor |
Service |
Wine List |
Value |
TOTAL |
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18 |
18 |
18 |
18 |
18 |
90 |
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