La Caravelle

Nation's Restaurant News, May 24, 1999 by Bret Thorn

So out went the shiso, and in came the garlic puree. Even the restaurant's classics were lightened by Renaud's techniques: Fessaguet's chicken Nantua -- chicken in a lobster cream sauce -- now is thickened with purees of onion and garlic rather than with cream.

"What's important," says Renaud, "is when the dish is finished, there's not much difference from its traditional form.

"Classical French food reminds us of our beginnings and what we went through," he observes, "and some of the classics are very beautiful and should not be made 'au gout du jour [to follow current fads].' Without them we cannot make the contemporary dishes."

Among Renaud's unique additions to the menu is his house-smoked salmon with mango, finished with lemon juice and chives.

"It's going to be a classic of his," predicts Rita Jammet. "I told him that. That's how traditions start -- as innovations."

La Caravelle has managed to hold on to a number of its regular customers throughout its history of 39 years and seven executive chefs.

"You have a sense that it's a private club but not private, and that hasn't changed," says Cornelius Keating, a former chairman of Columbia House who first started eating at La Caravelle in the mid-1960s and has bean going back several times a week ever since.

"La Caravelle supports those of us who have been there for a few decades, and it has also adjusted to the new generation," he says. "They still have the billy bi [mussel soup]. The duck is crisp as ever; it's no a magret, thank God. La Caravelle has adjusted to changed tastes, but I'm still as comfortable there as I was 30 years ago.

"I think the Jammets have done a wonderful job there. It could have gone downhill under different management after Meyzen and Decre, but if anything it has gone uphill."

LA CARAVELLE

33 West 55th St

New York, N.Y. 10019

(212) 586-4252

Owners: Andre and Rita Jammet

Chef: Cyril Renaud

Opened: 1960

Cuisine: French

Seats: 105

Check average: $95

Three course prix-fixe dinner: $66

MENU SAMPLER

Appetizers Delice de Saumon Fume' a la Mangue layered smoked salmon and mango with creme fraiche Billy bi Froid cold mussel saffron soup Entrees Filet de Chevreuil, Sauce Poivree au Genievre loin of venison with pepper & juniper sauce; rosemary gnocchi Homard en Sauce de Truffe Blanche lobster with truffle sauce, chestnuts parsnips Canard Roti aux Cousinettes roasted crispy duck with cranberries Quenelles de Brochet Truffees Homardine truffled pike quenelles in a lobster sauce Desserts

Creme Glacee aux Deux Citrons et Cassis lemon and lime-chilled cream with black currants Pralin aux Gouts d'Enfance peanut crunch with white-chocolate mousse Three-course fixed dinner: $66