You're from a village somewhere in France? I'm from a very small village by Obernai that has only about 275 people. It's beautiful, right on the German border, a very rural village. My parents both worked in nearby factories—my dad worked at an aluminum factory and my mom at wallpaper factory.
Ducasse grew up in the country, too, on a farm. I'm not really from a farm. My grandparents had a farm but by the time my dad and uncle grew up, they didn't want the family business, so they sold it. They were told, at the time, to go work in the factories. So that's what they did. I suppose it wasn't fashionable to become a farmer at the time, or it didn’t work out economically.
Do you think there’s a reason why the more famous French chefs, people like Boulud and Ducasse, come from the countryside? I don't know if that's true. But I was raised in a culture of country food: choucroute, pâté en croûte, food like that. And in France, everywhere actually, food like that can be good and strong in urban places, too.
Can you tell me about a dish on the Benoit menu that's particular to Alsace? Choucroute of course, and the tarte flambée. We make a Coq au Riesling on Tuesdays with spaetzle, and sometimes there’s an unusual spaetzle made with liver I make and serve with crudites and salad. All those things are very traditional from my region.
That choucroute garni you serve is huge. Is that really meant for one person? Yeah [laughs]. I know it's really big but it's all about generosity with that dish. Everyone says, oh my god it's so much! But it's like cassoulet; you don't want a little bit of it. These kind of dishes you have to give, really give. People start to understand now that they can share if they want to, that the portions are big here. That's part of the ambiance of a French brasserie. That's how I like it.
You've cooked at what are considered fine dining restaurants, and it seems that every other season, someone will write a big and serious article calling for the death of fine dining. Right now this seems all the more relevant. What are your thoughts about the death of fine dining? I don't like it, that word, death. It all works in cycles. I mean, fine dining may not be in the best state it's ever been, but things come back. When I was 13, wearing your trousers down to here [points to low waist] that was a shame, and now!
Everything's about the recession these days, and most food articles have some kind of recession angle. As a chef and partner, are you feeling the pressure? Absolutely. We feel it and we have to make changes. Of course, people are spending less. Customer-wise, it's not bad, though not excellent, right now. I mean, look, when I go out to a restaurant I'm certainly not ordering a $70 bottle of wine and I might even drink an aperitif at home before going out. We're all spending less. We've cut costs with staff here, unfortunately, we had to let go of a few people. And small things too, like we try to use only linens we have to—no unnecessary dirtying and washing. We look at everything.
The three-course fixed price lunch menu and the wines by the carafe, you were already doing that here? No, that's new actually, though it's something I've always wanted to do. I always wanted this place to be more affordable, you know. It's a brasserie. We did a three-course $24 menu for restaurant week and then decided to just keep it on, and also a two course at lunchtime for $19. For dinner we do a $35 menu as well. I had it in my mind to do this for a while, to help create a real bistro experience.
photo: Michael Piazza
Benoit used to be La Cote Basque. Are there any regulars still come here and order off the Cote Basque menu that doesn’t exist anymore? A couple. Not a lot. And some of them want the salad they served here, a chopped salad or whatever. And we try to accommodate them of course, we don't want to say no.
It seems like you’re accommodating other tastes, too, because you serve sliders. Except they’re boudin noir sliders. I ask the waiters to make sure people know what they're getting into. It's blood sausage, after all. A lot of French customers who come here order the boudin.
Do you like Top Chef? Yeah, I think it's fun. It’s calming. I find it relaxing to watch it sometimes. It's nice to see how people interpret cooking.
If one of your cooks wanted to go on what would you say? I’d say sure, why not. I knew a few guys at Le Cirque who went on—Andrew is one. Spike [Mendelsohn] also worked at Le Cirque. He was very clever, marketed himself well, and he seems to be doing great now.
You make all the charcuterie from Benoit’s menu in-house? We don't make the dry sausage, but we do the pâtés and rillettes. We don't do Prosciutto ourselves, of course. Although, I don't want that on the menu anymore.
Because of the increased import taxes? No. Because it's Italian, you know. Nothing against Italian products, but we have all French charcuterie so we should probably use a French ham.
What’s your advice for young cooks? Try to work at different restaurants. Let's say you want to only do fine dining, it's especially good to work at a couple places that aren't fine dining. If you're interested in Italian food, maybe work somewhere that's not Italian for a while. It's nice to have a complete culinary vision, to spend a couple of years exploring before you find what it is you’ll be doing in the long term.
Why did you come to New York? I was a kid. Well, I wasn't that young—but I had this dream of New York. I had this great offer to come here and work for Sirio. He's a magnificent restaurateur and he was well known then all over Europe, so I took the opportunity straight away. And I loved the city.
What’s your neighborhood? 89th and East End Avenue. We bought a place there 5 years ago. It's very calm, lots of families. Yorkville. I used to live on 63rd before, and it was pretty noisy.
You ever go to Heidelberg? I went there for a beer a while ago. It's fun.
photo: Michael Piazza
What New Yorker do you most admire? I have tremendous respect for Martha Stewart. I like the fact that she's very tough with everyone, but tough with herself as well. You know she expects a lot from everyone, but also from herself. I used to work for her; I still cook for her occasionally.
Has she been in here to eat? Oh yes, she's coming tonight, actually.
Does she request anything in particular? No, no, nothing like that. I mean she loves healthy food, salads, vegetables, but nothing off the menu.
Do you get a day off? Sunday is my day.
Can you name an affordable restaurant you might go to on a Sunday afternoon? Every Sunday I go to my diner on 86th and York for pancakes with my friends. It's a tradition. But I love to go to Cafe d'Alsace for a beer and a snack at the counter. And Dinosaur BBQ is one of my favorite places. And Alain Allegretti is one of my favorites, for sure. His place is not quite as affordable, but definitely worth it. I like to go for his ravioli Niçois, it's so good.
What about for cocktails? I love MOMA for a drink and tarte flambée. Gabriel Kreuther makes a very nice tarte flambée, which is from Alsace.
Oh hey, I made a baeckoffe the other day! Oh yeah, you have the mold?
No, I just made it in a cast iron pot. Nice. I used to make it all the time at home, it's so practical and so delicious.
Even for a traditional Alsatian dish, it seems like everyone makes it differently. Is it supposed to just have pork in it? Normally it’s only pork, but every village has their own version. You put the feet, the tail, the ears and then people add lamb and sausage. Some people put carrots.
I put carrots in mine. [Laughs] I also put carrots. But my mum, she would never, ever put carrots.
Have you ever put it on the menu here? No, I need the terra cotta dishes with the lid. The rim gets sealed with pastry before it’s cooked. But that would be so nice to break it open and have those aromas waft out. I made a version with black truffle here once, for a party, with pig cheeks, leeks, and potatoes. But it wasn't really the real thing. It was more like a Baeckoffe fantasy.
