Entertainment, TV, Celebrity, Culture

Follow @2Paragraphs
  • Daily Edition
    • Gov Greg AbbottBiden’s Win Helps Gov. Greg Abbott’s Crisis Plan in Texas
    • Kari_LakeKari Lake Equates AR-15s With Rocks, Shares Bible Gun Justification
    • Sarah Huckabee SanderSarah Huckabee Sanders Accidentally Calls Kamala Harris A Great Patriot
  • Business
    • Sen. Elizabeth WarrenSen. Elizabeth Warren Laughs at Bank CEOs Doing Their Own Stress Tests
    • Randi ZuckerbergRandi Zuckerberg Sarcastically Mocks Crypto Boys Club
    • Daymond JohnDaymond John Drops Elon Musk Icebreaker on Twitter, ‘Money v. Meeting’
  • Culture
    • Mariska HargitayMariska Hargitay Flaunts Crop Top Belly Chain Photo, ‘Okay Bodyyyy’
    • Erik Drost [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsNFL QB Baker Mayfield’s Wife Stuns in Babydoll Lingerie Mini Dress, ‘Girls Trip’
    • Keith RichardsKeith Richards Shares Braless Photo of Wife, Sammy Hagar Reacts
  • Sports
    • Sergio GarciaSergio Garcia’s Wife Flaunts Legs in Tiny Cutout Mini Dress, ‘Supermodel’
    • Naomi Osaka, US Open 2020Naomi Osaka Flaunts Bare Belly in Crop Top, Reveals Victoria’s Secret Collab
    • Gov Greg AbbottTexas Gov. Greg Abbott Picks Alabama Over Houston, Fails Politics 101
  • Food
    • Jennifer GarnerJennifer Garner Reveals Her Favorite ‘Dry January’ Treat at Home
    • Dark ChocolateAre Dark Chocolate Fears Overblown? Cadmium, California, and “Ouch, Ouch” Disease
    • Wendy's restaurantWendy’s New Riddle Stumps Social Media — “Chili in Philly?”
  • Interviews
    • Cranberries_in_a_bucketDo Cranberries Really Help UTI? A Doctor Answers With New Evidence
    • Lauren Lovett The Speech Ring InventorVideo: The Speech Ring Inventor on Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
    • Surge first out gay superhero in the moviesFirst Out Gay Movie Superhero Surge Speaks on Humor, Responsibility
  • Cool Stuff
    • Ice-T on LAW & ORDER: SVU (Virginia Sherwood/NBC)Ice-T’s Wife Flaunts Brand New Range Rover With Front Seat Refrigerator
    • Bergdorf Goodman 5th Avenue store in NYCChristian Louboutin Reveals 3.5″ Spring Mules With ‘Vibrant Red’ Nail Polish
    • Cardi_BCardi B Says She Hit Jackpot With $30,000 Chanel Slot Machine Bag
  • Contact
  • Privacy

Jeremiah Tower in New York – La Grenouille and 3 lbs Pastrami

by Jeremiah Tower in Food & Wine | March 18, 2014

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

The legendary chef answers the question…What did you eat today, Jeremiah Tower?

I thought the slice of raw wagyu beef caressing a little cylinder of room temperature rice on my first night in New York could not be surpassed no matter how many days I was there. I wanted to come back to Brushstroke every day for that slippery meat, but on the second day it was clear that I had lost my faith that New York can surpass when, at a friend’s apartment, I cooked burgers made from well-larded Mangalista pork that were 60 percent bacon from the same farm. Smoky and juice-running-out-of-the-corners-of-one’s-mouth delicious. That was Sunday night and Monday at 1 pm I was walking from a frozen 52nd Street into La Grenouille–to a breathtaking interior dominated by rose and yellow diamond-colored anemones and parrot tulips. While sipping on an impressively perfect 1990 Pol Roger I looked at the menu of my favorite restaurant when I was a graduate student in the late 1960’s. For me then, it was that Michelin “worth the journey.” After cauliflower in almond cream, fried sweetbreads with celery root puree, old-and-new-fashioned quenelles de brochet (made with real pike, no less) and their sauce (as it should be made with fish and shellfish essence, a hint of Béchamel, sprinkle of cream, and a mount of butter), and then classic oeufs a la neige with spun sugar on top, I knew it still was. Our democratic vote for what to eat had ended with my host ordering Dover sole meuniere with mustard Hollandaise, ending with the restaurant’s famous Soufflé Grand Marnier with GM sabayon sauce, which he spooned down into the hot and steaming soufflé giving off breaths as he opened it. One would not be blamed for thinking these meals were enough to still the culinary soul, but others decided I needed more and took me to the new restaurant of the brilliant more-up-than-coming chef, Michael Toscano. It was a night in the lower floor of Montmartre. When I tasted the chicken liver puree covered with fried chicken skin on some warm pain de champagne toast, and fell silent while I wondered if I could help myself to my neighbor’s portion, I knew I had better stop. Greed was taking over from lust.

I rested for a couple of days with nothing but the 3-pound pastrami sandwich from Carnegie Deli and some wonderful raw King Mackerel with ginger at the John Dory Oyster Bar in the Ace hotel, until the final night. It was the penthouse of a friend of mine on lower 5th Avenue with a view of the Empire State Building from its wrap around terrace (New York had warmed to 40 degrees that night) that nearly took my breath away from the 1996 Salon – perhaps the best of this my favorite champagne that I have tasted. Until I wrapped my lips around an aged white Hermitage from Jean-Louis Chave. My breath had not returned and I was too stunned to say anything when I tried to find words as a La Tache from the legendary 1969 vintage appeared in the host’s hands. When I finally cried out my pleasure at the first whiff from my balloon glass, my enthusiasm brought forth another bottle: that other La Tache, an old Vosne-Romanee “Les Gaudichots” now even rarer than the L. T. Fascinating history between those two properties. Since the mid-19th-century, they were listed as the same land and fought until 1933 when Edmond Gaudin de Villaine bought it all. Then the Nazis arrived and some feuds were re-ignited, but that is another story. My story ends at a Houston airport stopover on my way back to Mexico with a sandwich. I sat down in my only favorite place in that airport and ordered without looking at the menu: a fried ham and cheese taking form as a croque-monsieur on pain de champagne and a glass of Joseph Phelp’s Insignia. No point going out with a whimper. // Jeremiah Tower

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Linkedin
  • Reddit
  • Email

Wines of Italy: The Far Side of the Boot

Julie Albin with Buddy

Load More

  • Recent
  • Trending
  • Popular
  • Jennifer GarnerJennifer Garner Reveals Her Favorite ‘Dry January’ Treat at Home
  • Dark ChocolateAre Dark Chocolate Fears Overblown? Cadmium, California, and “Ouch, Ouch” Disease
  • Wendy's restaurantWendy’s New Riddle Stumps Social Media — “Chili in Philly?”
  • HotPockets-ShortsHot Pockets Cooks Up Clothing with Warming Pocket To Keep 50+ Flavors Hot This Holiday
  • McDonalds McCafe TV commercialMcDonald’s Sweetens Menu, Revives Cheese Danish Pastry for McCafé Coffee Lovers
2paragraphs on APPLE NEWS | 2paragraphs Amazon Shop | SEE MORE 2paragraphs ARTICLES
  • About 2paragraphs
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Dedication
  • Map
  • Fresh
  • Law
  • How-To
  • Personal
  • Books

© 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC

  • Buffer
  • Diggit
  • Email
  • More
  • Facebook
  • Flattr
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Stumble
  • tumblr
  • Twitter
  • VK
  • WhatsApp
  • Yummly
  • Xing