When Daniel Boulud moved to New York from Lyon, France, in 1982, he brought his unique culinary talents and Lyonnaise traditions into top Manhattan kitchens, including the iconic Le Cirque (on 65^th street), where he was executive chef, precisely where two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Daniel is today. In 1993, the original Restaurant Daniel opened on 76^th Street, where his interpretation of fine dining à la française received immediate accolades.

Even I had the thrill of featuring one of New York City’s most favored gastronomic destinations. While my late husband photographed the scene, I took careful notes in the kitchen as I watched the chef prepare the recipe for a dish that started out as a meal Chef Boulud prepared for friends and family and evolved into an annual wild game extravaganza.

© Irvina Lew

For the past 25 years, Daniel Boulud has been involved in Citymeals on Wheels, which provides nutritious meals to New York City’s homebound elderly and for which co-president Boulud hosts an annual gala at DANIEL.

Boulud and his team work with other outstanding chefs and their teams at innumerable special events. One case in point was the recent dinner that Chef Boulud hosted at DANIEL as an homage to his French friend, the great, three-star Michelin Chef Bernard Loiseau, who passed in 2003.

At the reception, Champagne Hervé Rafflin La Nature’L was served along with three amuses of Le Relais Bernard Loiseau: les gougères feuilletée au comté, a cheesy puff pastry; sphère d’escargot à la Bourguignonne, a snail encased in an edible shell; and chips de ris et bille d’Èpoisses à la menthe, a cow’s milk Èpoisse cheese atop a rice cracker.

Before dinner, Chef Boulud displayed his own signed Loiseau menu and reminisced about their dinners together, in New York in 1996 and in Saulieu in 1998, where Chef Loiseau also introduced Boulud to the best local restaurants: “You cannot be a great cook if you don’t know how to eat well!”

© Irvina Lew

Then, the host welcomed his friend, Dominique Loiseau, a Légion d’honneur recipient.  He introduced Michelin two-star chef Patrick Bertron, who was at Bernard Loiseau’s side for 20 of the 41 years he has worked in the Burgundian kitchen. Chef Bertron, known for bringing “the local environment to the plate,” brought some of his staff to the DANIEL kitchen, where both teams worked together to produce the gourmet dinner with wines sourced from Maison Albert Bichot.

The first wine, Albert Bichot Montagny Premier Cru, a delicate Chardonnay from Côte Chalonnaise, paired well with a delicate serving of thinly sliced scallops atop a creamy cauliflower purée, with Ossetra caviar and a light beurre blanc. It was followed by a signature Burgundian freshwater fish dish: sandre sur la peau, gâteau d’échalote et son crumble, sauce au vin rouge. Here, North American Walleye Pike roasted on the skin was presented on a red Burgundy wine sauce and accompanied by a crisp basket enclosing caramelized shallots.

© Irvina Lew

The poularde à la vapeur Alexandre Dumaine chartreuse of vegetables and truffled rice honored Master Chef Alexandre Dumaine, who preceded Bernard Loiseau at La Côte d’Or and maintained its three-star status for almost 30 years with Jeanne, his wife, general manager and closest advisor. The presentation demonstrates how talent, creativity (steaming the chicken), technique and a prize garnish (truffle), uplifts chicken and rice into an ethereal culinary realm. It was paired with Albert Bichot Beaune Clos de l’Ermitage and followed by émulsion aux herbes et sorbet aux épices douces, a savory intermezzo with herb foam and spiced sorbet. The Valrhona chocolate dessert featured a rare cocoa from Madagascar in the rose des sables chocolat Grand Cru Manjari au coulis d’oranges confites, which showcased soft chocolate cream layered between cocoa biscuits arranged as an open shell above a candied orange coulis. It was paired with a rosé, Patrick Bottex, Bugey-Cerdon La Cueille, France NV.

This Restaurant Daniel tribute dinner happened to feature Burgundian specialties and is just one supremely perfect example of a typically extravagant meal served at DANIEL.

Restaurant Daniel, New York

60 E 65^th St.

New York, NY 10065

tel 212 288 0033