At
65, Michel Richard Is Tackling the New York Dining Scene
By FBWorld Team
Over
more than three decades, Michel Richard
has risen to the highest ranks of American chefs, with
acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles and Washington. But
as everyone in his business knows, making a big debut
in New York's tough, trend-happy dining scene is something
else entirely - especially when you're 65.
And
he is not arriving on tiptoe: Pomme
Palais, his pastry shop and cafe, is set to
open this month at the New York Palace Hotel, and two
restaurants in the hotel will follow. The prospect of
starting anew here at this stage in his career, he acknowledged,
is somewhat daunting.
"I'm not known in New York," he said in an interview
at a test kitchen in Harlem. "Nobody's waiting for
me here."
Yet
the move is a bit of a homecoming for Mr. Richard. He
came to New York from France in 1974 as part of the team
that helped Gaston Lenôtre open a fancy food shop
and patisserie on East 59th Street. The store closed after
three years, and by then, Mr. Richard had decided that
America was for him, though not necessarily New York.
He is making his return at a time in his life when other
chefs might be thinking about golf.
"I
don't know why he is doing this at 65," said Thomas
Keller,
the chef and owner of Per Se in New York and the French
Laundry in the Napa Valley, who added that New York was
a city he once struggled in. "It's a lot of responsibility
and a huge amount of effort. I love Michel, but New York
can be unkind."
The
new venture at the hotel will be called Villard
Michel Richard.
The
REST OF THE STORY.
By
Florence
Fabricant
Courtesy of NY Times
|