A Meal Observed
Many consider Paris's Taillevent to be the premier example of classic French cuisine. It is more than a restaurant; it is an institution. It's the kind of place Thomas Keller dreams of building: he told Anthony Bourdain in A Cook's Tour , "You don't know the chef's name at Taillevent, do you? No. It's the restaurant you remember--the institution. The tradition."
But dinner at Taillevent isn't cheap, even if you're already in Paris. Andrew Todhunter's A Meal Observed offers a chance to eat there vicariously. The book describes a single meal Todhunter and his wife enjoyed at the restaurant, after he apprenticed there for three months.
By itself, the meal takes up a small amount of the book's text. Todhunter describes the dishes and the drinks, the interactions with the service staff, and his reactions to the flavors and the ambience. But Todhunter uses the meal as a structure for discussing the workings of the restaurant, based on his interviews with the staff and his own apprenticeship. You learn about the cooks, their attitudes and training, and the exacting techniques they have to learn. Todhunter goes farther as well, and portions of the book are almost memoirs of his life as he remembers key incidents involving food.
Todhunter's vantage point is unusual. His apprenticeship allows him to give perspective on what went into the dishes, and what is probably transpiring in the kitchen as he eats. He is also, by his own admission, not a foodie. He enjoys food, but this is, it seems, his first elegant meal. This makes his impressions more visceral, more awe-tinged. He is still disappointed in some of the dishes, and it's interesting to see how even a "non-foodie" can perceive things that aren't quite right.
If you are looking for an exposé on the goings-on at Taillevent, a la Kitchen Confidential, you will be disappointed. Instead, A Meal Observed reminds me of Ruined by Reading, a book-length essay about how reading became a part of the author's life. Todhunter's book is a meditation on food and how it forms a relationship between cook and eater, how our own lives shape our reactions to what we will and will not eat, and how people communicate about food.
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