Chef, though I have tried and tried over the years to enjoy it, its gustatory allure is lost on me. But for one time, in a shaded restaurant in Cannes, my buddy and I , NYC bartenders both, had just driven from Sienna, or was it Pisa? On a hot summer day in 1996, to meet our host Jean-Pierre at his seaside resto for lunch. How we made it, considering our penchant for late nite imbibing, remains to this day a mystery. But that sea urchin, plucked from the adjacent shoreline, cracked open in front of us, its briny treasure within at a table full of young and tan, French and Americans, with freshly baked baguette for scooping it out - I can still hear the tearing crunch of the loaf and taste of the sea - the chilly mineral fruitiness of the Sauvignon Blanc to go with … that was the only time I’d ever enjoyed sea urchin …
Hi Chris, and I want to say this is about the best comment ever on my Substack. Youe completely nail what sea urchins are about and where to eat them, that fresh. And the wine to go with it all.
Fo me it was a cold November lunch at Le Bar Aux Huitres on Paris' Montparnasse, the urchins having just come in from Iceland. Those are still my benchmark.
One weekend my wife and I ate an early lunch at Galatoires, her favorite restaurant in New Orleans, and one I lived near back in 1967. Being early we snagged a great table near the captain's stand in the back of the first floor thus being able to see everything going on I began chatting with the captain and it turned out we had both dated the same girl when we were in college. She lived in Harrisonburg, La. Also, The captain, David had been a fraternty brother of my brother at LSU in Baton Rouge. Well, we chatted more than I ate. David gave me the table number and told me whenever we were to be in New Orleans to call him and he would reserve that table for us. Small world!
Grazie, Chef! From the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate you and all the ways your unique stories teach on so very many levels. Cheers!
Grazie back to you Chris!
Chef, though I have tried and tried over the years to enjoy it, its gustatory allure is lost on me. But for one time, in a shaded restaurant in Cannes, my buddy and I , NYC bartenders both, had just driven from Sienna, or was it Pisa? On a hot summer day in 1996, to meet our host Jean-Pierre at his seaside resto for lunch. How we made it, considering our penchant for late nite imbibing, remains to this day a mystery. But that sea urchin, plucked from the adjacent shoreline, cracked open in front of us, its briny treasure within at a table full of young and tan, French and Americans, with freshly baked baguette for scooping it out - I can still hear the tearing crunch of the loaf and taste of the sea - the chilly mineral fruitiness of the Sauvignon Blanc to go with … that was the only time I’d ever enjoyed sea urchin …
Hi Chris, and I want to say this is about the best comment ever on my Substack. Youe completely nail what sea urchins are about and where to eat them, that fresh. And the wine to go with it all.
Fo me it was a cold November lunch at Le Bar Aux Huitres on Paris' Montparnasse, the urchins having just come in from Iceland. Those are still my benchmark.
One weekend my wife and I ate an early lunch at Galatoires, her favorite restaurant in New Orleans, and one I lived near back in 1967. Being early we snagged a great table near the captain's stand in the back of the first floor thus being able to see everything going on I began chatting with the captain and it turned out we had both dated the same girl when we were in college. She lived in Harrisonburg, La. Also, The captain, David had been a fraternty brother of my brother at LSU in Baton Rouge. Well, we chatted more than I ate. David gave me the table number and told me whenever we were to be in New Orleans to call him and he would reserve that table for us. Small world!
THAT is how to run a great restaurant!