| Tuesday, October 19, 7:00 pm
Members $125, guests
$150
In a town where restaurants open and close faster than it takes
Jennifer Lopez to find a new husband, remaining at the top of New
York’s restaurant heap for 25 years is no mean achievement.
Yet not only have David and Karen Waltuck done just that with their
elegant, French-inflected Chanterelle, but they’ve also managed
to stay happily married throughout. Their secret? We can’t
comment on their relationship, but as for the restaurant, here’s
how then-New York Times critic William Grimes explained
it on the occasion of the restaurant’s 20th anniversary: “In
a city of neighborhoods, [the Waltucks] have created a neighborhood
restaurant almost without equal—a warm, welcoming haven dedicated
to cooking at a very high level.” He gave the place three
stars.
Time Out New York’s current Eating & Drinking Guide praises
Chanterelle’s “generosity of spirit,” its “alert,
cordial and refreshingly knowledgeable” service, and its “opulent
cooking.” This past June, Bob Lape of Crain’s New
York Business awarded the Waltucks and their team four stars.
Chanterelle, he stated, “has never been as famously fine
as now.” Our own judges are well within the mainstream of
critical opinion, too: Outstanding Restaurant Award in 2001, 2002,
and 2003. Last May, the Waltucks took home the Outstanding Restaurant
Award, adding it to a shelfful of trophies that includes Beard
Foundation 2000 Outstanding Service and 1996 Outstanding Wine Service
awards. Stylish and gracious, with food to match, Chanterelle is
like many of the best wines on its superb list—it keeps getting
better.
The excellent wine service, by the way, can be credited in no
small part to Roger Dagorn, who for more than ten years has served
as Chanterelle’s master sommelier and wine director. Lape
described him as a “sommeliers’ sommelier.” The
Chefs in America organization anointed him Best Sommelier in New
York, and he was twice first runner-up in the national finals of
Best Sommelier of French Wine and Spirits. When Dagorn isn’t
hard at work selecting expert pairings for Chanterelle diners,
he can be found lecturing, writing, consulting, or teaching.
How have other New York landmarks fared in the last quarter century?
Consider Donald Trump’s marriage to Ivana in 1977, just two
years before the Waltucks opened Chanterelle, or Cats, the
musical, which opened two years later. These days, Trump is going
for his third walk down the aisle. Cats’ last meow was
heard in 2000. As for Chanterelle, “25,” Lape stated, “is
the perfect age.” |
