L'Astrance, L'Astrance,L'Astrance, L'Astrance, L'Astrance, L'Astrance
I have a penchant for dining at places that are about to be bestowed their third Michelin star. Last year, I had a table booked at Sant Pao and within days the word came down of its promotion. This year, it was L'Astrance. I booked a table in December for a date late in January and, soon enough, there were rumors of its promotion. Let's see if I can accomplish the same feat in 2008. But unlike Sant Pao, which had already been promoted by the time I dined there, at the time of my meal at L'Astrance, its promotion was nothing more than a rumor (which was confirmed a week ago). But the circumstance made for an amusing evening and allowed me to joke with Pascal and Christophe, telling them that after the promotion they were going to have to borrow huge sums of money and move to larger and flashier quarters where Pascal will have to fancify his cuisine to pay off his bankers.
So how does a restaurant that seats twenty-five people, has a wait staff of five including Christophe, with a dining room the size of a decent hotel room, and which only serves lunch and dinner on Tuesday through Friday, manage to earn three Michelin stars? The key is in Christophe's answers to my teasing him about moving: "Things are perfect now" he told me. "We work hard for four days, have the weekend to relax and be with our families, and Monday's are for taking care of administrative work." He went on to say that, "we couldn't do it that way if we moved to a larger space." In an era where celebrity chefs are jet-setting all over the globe to open new locations while their flagship restaurants deteriorate in the process, Christophe's and Pascal's commitment to maintaining a high quality of cuisine, as well as a high quality of life, is a breath of fresh air.
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