ThomasKeller

It's no surprise that New York and Napa Valley restaurants dominated the top spots at Monday night's James Beard Awards held at Lincoln Center. Foodies of every stripe -- from Food Network stars to French Laundry chefs -- were in attendance at the black-tie event. A red carpet was even set up in the new courtyard outside Avery Fisher Hall so the truly food-obsessed could catch a glimpse of chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Lidia Bastianich and Alton Brown, the evenings co-hosts. (Pictured above is Brown, JBF president Susan Ungaro, Bastianich and Ted Allen arriving on the red carpet.)

The big awards of the evening went to New York's Marea for Best New Restaurant; Tom Colicchio of the Craft restaurants (and a regular "Top Chef" judge) won the Outstanding Chef Award; Daniel Boulud won the Outstanding Restaurant Award for Daniel, another New York restaurant; the Outstanding Pastry Chef award went to Nichole Plue of Redd in Napa Valley; and Timothy Hollingsworth of Napa's famous The French Laundry, won the Rising Star Chef of the Year Award.

Backstage, talk turned to to food trends -- something fine-dining chefs don't look kindly on -- and the seemingly omnipresent locavore movement. And we even found out where these top chefs are excited to eat.

True foodies think nothing of spending exorbitant sums on their passion. Fine wines, and four star meals, often in foreign countries, are their version of luxury. The names they drop are not Prada or Manolo but Keller and Ripert. Twenty-five years ago Ariane Daguin from France and her partner George Faisan started D'Artagnan. It was really the first company to focus on providing consumers in the United States with food products from Ariane's native region of France, Gascony. It has become the premier supplier of specialty food products from the foie gras to truffles to high end American restaurants and gourmet shops.

This February the company celebrates its 25th anniversary with a week long celebration in New York starting on February 17, 2010. The highlight of the festivities is a "32 Star Progressive Dinner" on Saturday February 21rst. The special event features celebrated chefs from the Gascon region of France in various four star kitchens around Manhattan. The evening kicks off with cocktails at 5pm after which the participants will board the "Armagnac-fueled" bus to experience each course at a different 4 star restaurant.

Participating chefs include:

• Daniel Boulud with Jean-Marie Gautier, M.O.F. of Hotel du Palais, Biarritz
• Jean-Georges Vongeritchen with Michel Trama of Aubergade, Puymirol
• Daniel Humm with Jacques & Laurent Pourcel of Le Jardin des Sens, Montpellier
• Thomas Keller with Hélène Darroze of Restaurant Hélène Darroze, Paris
• Eric Ripert with Thierry Marx of Cordeillan-Bages, Pauillac and Philippe Urraca, M.O.F.

The above list is just for the main course! There are others chefs cooking their native cuisine for the other courses. Wines from top producers including Chateau Lynch Bages will be featured and Trou Gascon Armagnac will be served on the bus between courses.

The finale occurs at Le Bernadin where all the chefs will celebrate after dessert. Seating is limited and costs $600 per person for the evening.

It's black truffle season and Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Yountville is celebrating with a tasting menu and the return of a delicious favorite Bouchon's black truffle French fries. The classic French fries are tossed with chopped fresh black truffles, fleur de sel and truffled clarified butter and are offered separately or as a supplement to selected menu items.

The Perigord tasting menu is a three-course prix-fixe option that includes a complimentary Terrine de Joue de Porc amuse-bouche and selection of mignardise. Shaved black truffles will be available for each course and special wine pairings designed to enhance each dish will also be offered. The menu includes gooseneck stuffed with black truffle sausage, creamy polenta, sauce Périgourdine, cassoulet of rabbit leg confit, foie gras, tarbais beans, matignon of garden vegetables and rabbit jus and baked Cabécou wrapped in puff pastry with truffle-prune jam. It costs $70 per person and accompanying wine selections will be available for $40 per person. Shaved black truffles will be offered supplementary for $15-$20 per course and the black truffle French fries will be available for $17 or as an accompaniment to selected menu items for $14. The special fries are available through January.

The ramp up has begin for the long-anticipated opening of Chef Thomas Keller's first Los Angeles restaurant, Bouchon in Beverly Hills. Chef Keller now has a total of seven Michelin stars to his credit (three for The French Laundry in Yountville, California, three for Per Se in New York City and one for Bouchon in Yountville). Bouchon in Beverly Hills will feature classic bistro favorites and seasonal offerings as well as a raw bar featuring a wide array of oysters on the half-shell from both the west and east coasts. Bouchon in Beverly Hills will open on November 18, 2009 in the Beverly Hills Gardens building located at 235 North Cañon Drive and is already accepting reservations.

Bar Bouchon, a French wine bar with an extensive wines-by-the-glass selection and small plate offerings will open in mid December 2009 and will be located on the first floor of the restaurant. The restaurant's small plates menu will feature a variety of both classic and seasonal potted foods, salads, charcuterie, cheeses, tartines, sandwiches, caviar and desserts. Vin de Carafe, a Bouchon wine program that brings recognition to local vintners will feature unique selections to showcase wine producers in Southern California. Each exclusive selection is blended specially for the restaurant one barrel at a time to showcase the distinct personality and flavors of the featured winemaker.

Bouchon in Yountville, California has announced the latest installment of their innovative France tasting menu. The menu available now celebrates the classic dishes of the Gascony region. The three-course prix-fixe option is also available with special wine pairings. Situated in France's rural Southwest region, Gascony is home to such prized delicacies as Foie Gras and Armagnac. The menu includes seared foie gras and duck confit rillettes with caramelized pears, Swiss chard and chestnut puree; braised pork shank with red wine braised cabbage, pruneaux d'Agen, watercress leaves and young turnips with Armagnac-pork jus; and roasted apples with crispy phyllo and whipped crème fraiche.

Bouchon Yountville's Chef de Cuisine Philip Tessier created the concept and vision of the regional menus. Each pays homage to the most treasured dishes of the featured locality, showcasing traditional techniques and flavors. Bouchon Yountville is open daily for lunch and dinner from 11:30am until 12:30am. The Gascony regional menu will be available as a 3-course prix-fixe option for $60 per person and accompanying wine selections will be available for $35 per person. This menu is only available until October 25. For more information or to make a reservation, please call 707-944-8037.

Lovers of food and wine hardly need a reason to head to Yountville, California to eat at Thomas Keller's Bouchon but I'm going to give you a couple anyway, starting with the new Provence tasting menu. The Provence regional tasting menu will be available as a three-course prix-fixe option (accented by amuse-bouches and mignardise courses) beginning August 4th through August 9th. The menu showcases traditional flavors and dishes including Filet de Rouget en Escabèche which is a chilled rouget accompanied with garden radishes, artichokes, navel orange, pickled garlic, piquillo peppers and parsley; a traditional Bouillabaisse with monkfish, shrimp, crab and mussels; and peach clafoutis with lavender honey, and house made toasted almond ice cream. The prix-fixe menu is $60 per person

Bouchon is also showcasing local wineries through the Vin de Carafe wine offerings which feature unique selections specially crafted for Bouchon one single barrel at a time by Napa Valley winemakers.Each new installment will feature a different vintner, including both a red and white offering. Vin de Carafe is available by the glass or en carafe for the table to enjoy and will be an ongoing addition to the restaurant's customary wine list. The first selections include the 2007 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Jason Kesner and the 2007 Coombsville Cabernet from Andy Erickson and Annie Favia. Vin de Carafe selections are available by the glass for $8 or en carafe with prices ranging from $25-$50. For more information or to make a reservation, call 707-944-8037.

Chef Thomas Keller will be having his first ever Las Vegas book signing later this month. Keller, considered one of America's best chefs, will be at Bouchon at the Venetian, from 6-7:15pm on June 16. The event will start with a brief question and answer session. Under Pressure, Keller's latest cookbook is dedicated to the science of cooking sous vide, a technique used in all of Chef Keller's restaurants. Copies of "Under Pressure" will be available for purchase the day of the event for $75 plus tax. Keller's other titles including "The French Laundry" and "Bouchon" will also be available for $50 each plus tax (they're available online for less but how many chances do you get to meet Keller?). Like his other books, "Under Pressure" is for those home cooks looking for a real challenge and a chance to cook high-end restaurant fare in their own kitchens. Interested parties may RSVP for Chef Keller's event at Bouchon by contacting Annie Kang Drachen at akangdrachen@bouchonbistro.com.

Nearly too cute to eat, this Spring Bonnet Cake is a Mother's Day offering being sold at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in New York City. The bonnet cake comes in two flavors lemon cake with fresh blueberry compote and almond Streusel and a vanilla angel cake with fruits of the forest and almond Streusel. Individual cakes are $9 each.

At the start of March, one of New York City's priciest restaurant's Masa dropped its menu price. It's a good time to eat in New York City for less because, as the Wall Street Journal reports, another of the city's premier dining destinations, Thomas Keller's New York restaurant, Per Se is introducing an à la carte menu. Since the restaurant opened, Per Se has only offered two multi-course dinner tasting menus at $275 a pop.

The à la carte menu which is served only in the restaurant's lounge, lets customers sample a few of the famed chef's dishes. You don't even have to make a reservation months in advance, you can simply walk in. The menu changes nightly and includes items that are part of the tasting menu served in the dining room. Of course you'll still be spending quite a bit, wine and cocktails start in the $15 to $20 range and most dishes are around $30 to $40.

Those who can spend $1,500 might want to get into French Laundry on December 9. That's when Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz are hosting the third of three spectacular 20 course dinners. The first was held at Keller's New York restaurant Per Se, the second was held at Achatz's Chicago restaurant Alinea and the third will be at Keller's French Laundry in Yountville, California. The chance to have two of the top chefs in the U.S. cook for you is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Those who can attend can expect Keller's exquisite attention to detail and Achatz's inventive cuisine on course after course bound to feature truffles, caviar, foie gras and other expensive ingredients.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--NBC Today Show travel editor Peter S. Greenberg has listed his home in Sherman Oaks for $2.395 million.
--Emmy winning director Todd Holland and actor Scotch Ellis Loring have sold the Studio City house that's been their temporary home for the last two years while they were remodeling their principal Mulholland Drive residence for $1.66 million. The buyers are songwriter Pamela Sheyne and her husband, Nigel Rush.
--Irwin Yablans, an executive producer of the original "Halloween,"has listed his Hollywood Hills home, shown above, for $2.95 million. The property website for the three-bedroom, 4 1/2 -bathroom traditional home near the Sunset Strip is here.
A hilltop vintage Spanish villa in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles owned by French artist Sylvain Copon has hit the market for $1.899 million. The home, which was built in 1939 has four bedrooms and is full of charming details such as and-hewed wood beams, bronze window screens, an octagonal breakfast room and is decorated with over 800 Batchelder tiles. The property website is here.

From Newsday Real LI:
--An Upper Brookville, NY home used in the filming of Gossip Girl is on the market for $12.9 million. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--James Seuss, the chief executive of Cole Haan has put his four-bedroom getaway home on Shelter Island on the market for $1.485 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Jenna Jameson has put her Hollywood Hills home on the market. It's our estate of the day later today.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Earlier this year, Roman Abramovich spent nearly $50 million for two houses in Snowmass, Colorado, now another wealthy Russian, energy tycoon Eugene Shvidler has paid $14.5 million for a house in the same town.
--In nearby Aspen, a mansion has sold for $20.75 million to a Greenwich, Conn., family, making it one of the biggest purchases in the area recently. You could say they got a deal though, after all the house was listed at $27.5 million when we checked it out as an estate of the day last year.
--Baseball player Mike Piazza has put his condo in the the Murano at Portofino development in the South Beach area of Miami, Florida on the market for $4.9 million. The listing is here.


From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--NY Yankees Alex Rodriguez is in negotiations to buy a four-bedroom unit at 15 Central Park West.
--Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter have sold two apartments in the vintage 27-story Art Deco tower at 1 Fifth Ave. in Greenwich Village that had a combined assking price of $8.75 million.
--Chef Thomas Keller has closed on a new condo two years after signing a contract at 20 Pine St. He aid $1.46 million for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the Armani-decorated former Chase Manhattan Bank building.
--Male model Tyson Ballou is taking one of the first apartments in the Charles, a planned 34-story condo with 45 units at 1355 First Ave. Ballou is rumored to be buying a two-bedroom with a terrace priced in the vicinity of $2.5 million.

From the Luxury Property Blog:
--Kenneth Brown, star of HGTV's reDesign, has listed his loft in The Broadway Hollywood building for $1.899 million. He designed the pad himself and you can check out his work on the two-bedroom space at the listing here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Renée Zellweger has gradually created a $8.2 million spread in a co-op at 82nd Street and Madison Avenue. A real estate trust called the East Coast Group, which has been connected to her past deals just paid paid $2.8 million for a unit on the same floor where she also owns a $2.2 million space and a $3.2 million combined-unit co-op she bought last year.
--Cardboard magnate Dennis Mehiel who was once a nominee for lieutenant governor of New York, and his wife, Karen put their 10,350-square-foot duplex condominium at the Carhart Mansion on the market this week for $35 million. They bought the five-bedroom space in September 2005 for $15.5 million. The listing is here.
--Anilesh Ahuja, the former head of the multibillion-dollar mortgage-backed securities group at Deutsche Bank, bought a five-bedroom apartment at 120 East End Avenue back in 2005 for $7.5 million. He has sold it for $9.3 million and the deed has him at the penthouse at 807 Park Avenue, a 5,577-square-foot space currently on the market for nearly $16 million. The building was once owned by Sean Combs.
--Anita Mandl, the wife of architect David Mandl who died a year ago, has sold the apartment that he built for the two of them at 280 Park Avenue South. Shel sold it for $3.1 million and is moving to a smaller condo in the building.
--The Upper West Side apartment that belonged to cookbook writer Karen Hess, who died last year at age 88, has been sold for $1,911,000, according to city records.