Cooking Through NYC's Famous Fine Dining Restaurants
Enter Le Cirque, an Italian-French restaurant in midtown Manhattan that first captured my attention when I was five years old. When I was little, being the aspiring chef that I was, I used to play restaurant with my plastic toy produce and tiny lavender tea set. I would make up my own dishes, pretend to cook them over a cardboard range, and then serve them to awaiting family members.
My inspiration came from a VHS that I played potentially more times than Barney’s Great Adventure. The video featured executive chefs cooking a dish or two from their restaurants’ menu. My absolute favorite participant was a very young and charming Daniel Boulud from Le Cirque. I remember being impressed by his creativity and quirky uniqueness- cooking a chicken under a brick, for example. He taught me how to plate raspberry sauce and cream into a beautiful heart design with the help of a simple knife. Since that video, I was always set on visiting Le Cirque- mostly for Daniel Boulud (at the time, I was unaware that he had already left the restaurant’s kitchen), but also for the food.