Sunday, March 20, 2011

Chew on This

We are hungry, starving, desperate to get to Inaki Aizpitarte's newest restaurant, Le Dauphin, in Paris' 11th arrondissement. I think you know why.

This is the man behind the stove.

Designed by Rem Koolhaas as an "obsession in white," the stone, marble and mirror-covered space is flanked by floor-to-ceiling glass, and its cool, quiet simplicity serves as a stark contrast to the rioutous good time on the plate.



We recently saw two of our besties, Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert, on an episode of "No Reservations", digging into a plate of other Inaki Aizpitarte's foodstuffs. Their favorite dish was yet another celebration of white - a seared filet of rouget atop a schmear of masarpone cheese an al dente spear of white asparagus and a healthy spirnkling of elderflower. What?!? Yes, that's right, all that crazy stuff on one plate. Both of our buddies were surprised that it worked, and that it worked so well.

According to The Ripper, "Genius."

According to us, regarding Monsieur Inaki, "Hot!"

This is what the food looks like.

We were delighted to receive a note this week from the Spanish filmmaker Oskar Alegria, whose newest work was shot during the build out of Le Dauphin. In his words, "the video itself speaks about paradox, I mean, food seems to be similar to a lot of disciplines, arquitecture included, but finally is paradox what makes things work... sometimes." Thank you, Oskar, for this lovely piece.

architecture et nourriture from oskar alegria on Vimeo.

In case your eye candy craving hasn't quite been sated, you can find more of Inaki right here:




Ok, fine, one more.


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