I left Los Angeles on a Wednesday morning, arrived in Lausanne on Thursday afternoon, had my dinner that night and was back in Los Angeles in time to take my wife to dinner in Chinatown on Friday night. But eating well is my hobby, and when I heard that my favorite chef in the world was about to retire, I decided instantly that I had to have one final meal in his restaurant.
I first ate at Restaurant Girardet in , when I got married at Lausanne City Hall, so that my bride and I could have our wedding dinner there that night. But my personal history at Girardet proved irrelevant. Then I asked my wife, Lucy, whether she wanted to go. Flying 6, miles for dinner is not her idea of a good time.
A free airplane ticket was the only way I could afford or justify this trip, so I called American Airlines, where I had accumulated enough frequent flier miles for one free, off-season transatlantic round trip. But the airline had already booked its quota of free tickets on the flights I needed. I called back every hour for four hours until I reached an agent who managed to find space and an itinerary that would work for me. My final dinner at Girardet was not as good as those four, but it was pretty sublime nonetheless.
It began with a feather-light crepinette filled with sweetbreads, tied at one end with a chive and served in a mustard sauce. Next came lobster--two succulent pieces in a sauce flavored with coriander and accompanied by Belgian endive cooked with saffron. Then, a ragout of two kinds of scallops in a Champagne sauce, topped with caviar. Like the lobster, the scallops were perfectly cooked, so fresh they were almost sweet, the texture as I like it: soft and unctuous but with a hint of firmness.
On top were white truffles. Anything would have been anticlimactic after this dish, even the St-Pierre--a whole roasted fish, prepared with tarragon and shredded ginger--and the superb wild partridge stuffed with chestnuts.
