Dear Chef Rachou:Because two incompetent New York City health inspectors brought unprecedented embarrassment to their colleagues, the city launched a blitzkrieg against the restaurant industry.
Thus, your fine place, Brasserie La Côte Basque, is one of the more than 300 foodservice establishments shut down for critical health code violations after that video of rats running wild in a KFC-Taco Bell unit downtown popped up everywhere just two days after one of those lazy inspectors gave the place a passing grade.
I see that the inspector who missed the rat evidence is no longer on the city payroll, and the other nitwit got his 15 minutes of fame when a security camera caught him sleeping at a bar.
But you are their most prized catch, closed since March 8—seven weeks ago as I write this. All of this has fueled speculation in respected restaurant media that at 71 years old and having been at it for 45 years, you are going to close for good.
But I was stunned when an article on the front page of The New York Times reported that you could have opened weeks ago were it not for your shaken confidence and wounded pride.
“The kitchen is ready, but the mind is not yet,” The Times quoted you as saying in the April 21 story. “I don’t deserve it. Maybe I deserve it. I don’t know.”
We first met in 1994 when it was my pleasure to interview you for a profile on your induction into the NRN Fine Dining Hall of Fame—an honor bestowed for keeping La Côte Basque one of the standard bearers of French fine dining.
Waldy Malouf, Charlie Palmer, Henry Meer and many others are proud and accomplished alumni of your kitchen and tutelage. Truman Capote, Jackie Onassis, Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck were some of the famous fannies that warmed your plush seats over the decades.
I dined at your restaurant just this past Valentine’s Day, the same day as my wedding anniversary, and was tickled that former Gov. George Pataki helped my wife take off her coat at the coat check room before he and his wife sat down to a table not too far from ours.
I told you how much we enjoyed the meal afterwards, but you were far too busy for small talk, given how packed the room was that night.
I want you to know that a philosopher named Joe Torre, who is slightly better known for managing and inspiring a losing baseball team, said something the other day you ought to have heard.
Asked why the Yankees were in last place, Torre said: “This is where you really test your mettle. This is where you earn your money. We have to not get wallowed up in self-pity.
“That’s something that’s not acceptable. It won’t happen, and it hasn’t happened.”
Do you hear what he’s saying, chef?