A Meal Observed

A reporter who spent months in the exacting kitchen of the venerable Paris restaurant Taillevent describes in lavish detail a dinner he shares there with his wife, from a cheese puff appetizer and lobster cream soup to a fantasy-inspired dessert, a meal that reminds him of his austere family suppers, the mythologies of key ingredients, and his conversations with the restaurant staff. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.