No rats in Paris palace kitchens

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — Two chefs per diner, stringent hygiene and an almost military-style hierarchy and discipline -- such is life in the kitchens of Paris' top-end restaurants, the subject of Hollywood's just-released blockbuster animation "Ratatouille".

Take the Crillon, the luxury hotel a stone's throw from the Seine where the cheapest room is 615 euros (839 dollars) a night with suites up to 8,000. Deep in its under-belly down flights of steps, chef Jean-Francois Piege lords over "a brigade" of 72 cooks whipping up gourmet platters for the hotel and its restaurant.

Not far away, at the equally legendary and expensive Le Meurice overlooking the Tuileries gardens, chef Yannick Alleno has "a brigade", as it is known, of 74 -- not to mention the squad of 20 dish-washers and...