SETTING THE TABLE author Danny Meyer speaks with Terrance Gelenter

From Saint Louis to Saint Germain  Danny Meyer has absorbed the best to produce some of New York’s finest restaurants. Here is a sampling of those Gallic influences.

TG: When did you first go to Paris?
DM:1965 (7 years old)

TG: When did you realize that Paris and French culture were important?
DM: At the age of 5 or 6, when I was aware that my dad was in the business of sending American tourists on driving drips to France, and we had French live-ins at my house, by the name of Janine,Giselle, Regine, and Jean-Jacques.  I also began to take French lessons when I was 8 at Fontbonne College in St. Louis from a woman named Madame Sonnino (her husband was Italian.)

TG: How did Paris influence your restaurants in the following areas?
Cooking techniques-
DM: Eventually, every chef must go to France.  I hired Michael Romano at the Union Square Cafe especially because of his experience in France (Michel Guerard.)  I made the decision to hire him over lunch one day at La Caravelle in New York.  When conceiving Gramercy Tavern, my fantasy was that it would be as if the restaurant were the child of Union Square Cafe on one hand, and Taillevent (Paris) on the other.

Wine-

DM: Every single list....even the one at Blue Smoke (barbecue) and Tabla (Indian) has French wines.  Many are wines I first learned about in Paris, like Sancerre, Macon-Villages, Saumur Champigny, Chinon, and Cru Beaujolais.

Green market-

DM: I located Union Square Cafe near the Greenmarket especially based on my
fond experiences of going to Bordeaux's market every morning while I was learning to cook in the restaurants La Reserve and Chez Dubern.

TG: Which 3 starred restaurants and Bistros du coin influenced your restaurants?

DM: 3-Star: Taillevent, Pierre Gagnaire (Gramercy Tavern, Eleven
Madison Park) L'Arnsbourg (The Modern)

Bistros:  Allard, Pile ou Face, A Souseyrec, Chez Michel, Chez Philippe