Vintage Insatiable Critic: 1973-1975

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THE HIGH AND THE FLIGHTY

January 22, 1973

“…Are real New Yorkers getting hooked on Rainbow Room speed? A festival air lingers even with all ethnic armies in retreat…” more

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ANDRE SURMAIN GATHERS HIS ROSEBUDS

January 23, 1973

André Surmain loves his life. Antique motor cars, Majorca, sailing, his family…his name, his triumphs, adventure, but not necessarily the incessant detail of running New York’s most consistently pleasing French restaurant – Lutèce…more

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PAUL BOCUSE COOKS THE DINNER OF THE CENTURY

February 5, 1973

Glory and three stars in the Guide Michelin are not necessarily convertible into big-time loot, and one day the great chef of Lyon, Paul Bocuse, realized he was never going to be as rich as the man who put cassoulet into cans... more

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THE DECADENT DELIGHTS OF BREAKFAST IN BED

April 30, 1973

Breakfast in bed is one of those unnatural acts that can be supremely delicious when performed by two consenting adults… more

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CHEZ LA MÈRE CHARLES: A MOUTHFUL OF STARS

May 28, 1973

It is a glorious feast, at a modest $24 for two. Its equal in New York would block traffic and bring critics to their knees… more

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HONOR THY PASTA

June 11, 1973

The most exciting and adventurous Italian restaurant in New York survived exactly two weeks.more

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STAR STRUCK AT HUNAM, A CHINESE ROUNDUP

October 1, 1973

Haute wok circles of New York are dazzled by Hunam… Uncle Tai’s Hunan Yuan has the grandest prices for edible chinoserie…David Keh previews his Chinese Seafood House… Shun Lee Palace rides the Hunan mania…Uncle Lou is back at Szechuan East... more

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MY WEEKEND BLACK BOOK FOR LOVERS, CHILDREN, AND GOURMETS

October 29, 1973

Some Sundays are safest confronted on the horizontal from under an ancient resurrected patchwork quilt while someone who loves you braves the flare of sunlight to bring home pumpernickel onion rolls from Zabar’s...more

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NOBODY KNOWS THE TRUFFLES I'VE SEEN

November 12, 1973

All over France, chefs are hoarding the fattest duck livers. The Grande Bouffe is no plodding parable. It is us. Awash in a torrent of champagne -- even aloft, lest throats parch between breakfast and lunch…more

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MORE CONFESSIONS OF A SENSUALIST: THE DINNER FOR WOMEN

January 28, 1974

“What’s that under your arm?” a Customs officer asked. Bocuse gave him a flash of what looked like little black golf balls. “Just chocolates,” Bocuse said. And got $200 worth of truffles past the peril point… more

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CHIC TO CHIC AT GERTRUDE'S

May 20, 1974

The Insatiable Critic rubs elbows with celebs and big shots at popular Gertrude's. But how is the food?...more

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GAEL AMONG THE BRIES

June 10, 1974

There is champagne on ice in my Parisian friend's fridge -- and Contrexéville, the water that claims to keep you thin. Neither strikes me as balm for traveler's malaise. But here is a green-gold pear. One bite, and suddenly I know I am in France. The pear is a rare kind of miracle. It tastes intensely like…pear. And so the insatiable sybarite is on the loose again in Truffleland...more

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LOSING MY HEAD AT MARIE ANTOINETTE'S

June 17, 1974

Freshman bons vivants navigate Truffleland by the stars…the Michelin astrology of France's greatest tables. Sauce-stoned and muzzy, the gastronomic tenderfoot basks in the elegance and grace of la grande cuisine... more

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PARIS IS MY OYSTER

June 24, 1974

Less is more. What an elegant idea…so Zen. Obviously I’ve been blinded too long by the school of “more is more.” But the taste of the insatiable voluptuary is in for a shock. Certain Parisian kitchens are enchanted by an almost Oriental simplicity. Come be stunned by a raw scallop...more

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LOVE IS HUNGRIER THE SECOND TIME AROUND

November 11, 1974

The city vibrates with autumn’s new beginnings. But alas, courtship at table is trickier the second time around. The price tag on advanced romance is staggering…more

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I LOST IT AT THE BATHS

December 22, 1974

Among grande bouffe-ists the search for slimming miracles goes on. And now Chef Michel Guérard has defatted the soufflé… I want to believe in the curative spring. After all, I still believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. I close my eyes. It is almost time for dinner. I do believe in dinner… more

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THE $10 CHALLENGE: MARCELLA HAZAN

February 10, 1975

Show us how to feed four celestially, with wine, for $10, New York asked three talented cooks…visions of chicken hearts en brochette haunting our sensibilities. Off they went...more

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THE PALACE: HOW THEY ATE IN POMPEI BEFORE THE LAVA FLOWED

April 28, 1975

Decadence never goes out of style. It simply convolutes into greater surrealism. Rome burns…fiddlers play. Empires teeter…there's no room at the orgy. As Noah pulled up the gangplank and the torrents began to fall...more

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GAVROCHE: PATCHWORK AND WHIMSY

May 29, 1975

A wee and precious nook on East 58th Street's budding restaurant row, nurtures my recurring schizophrenia. Yet relax stern critical bite, and the clumsy imitation of serious cooking can be somehow pleasing... more

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PLEASE DON'T EAT THE CALLA LILIES

June 26, 1975

Suddenly, with neither rhyme nor reason, just gay abandon, the flower of the hour is the calla lily…Sometimes the advance of chic can be an anvil chorus: Lucite. Lucite. Lucite. Or chic can be sneaky. All of a sudden everyone is bisexual and eating caviar our of a hollowed new potato... more

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NANNI IL VALETTO

June 28, 1975

Northern Italian gastronomic macho has invaded what was once the Running Footman, a weakly chic 61st Street restaurant of virtues small enough to dance on the head of a pin. With a wry sense of linguistic continuity… more

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IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL WITH MOTHER KAUFMAN

August 8, 1975

Well, unless Patty Hearst is captured playing croquet on the White House lawn, or Golda Meir is trapped having breakfast in bead (bacon and eggs in a pita) with Anwar el-Sadat in a hot-sheet motel on the Gaza Strip, it looks as if the summer of '75 may come to be known for the Great Saloon War...more

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