Springtime, that glorious season of renewal, has arrived early at La Caravelle, ushered in by the enormously talented Cyril Renaud. For nearly 40 years, La Caravelle has kept New Yorkers happy with sublime French fare. When Rita and André Jammet took over in 1988, they elected to keep up with changing culinary trends by subtly updating the restaurant's classics and slowly adding new dishes to the menu. In Renaud, they have found the perfect chef to carry out their plan, bringing an ideal balance of tradition and innovation to La Caravelle. According to John Mariani, Renaud is "brilliant."

A native of Brittany, Renaud found his calling earlier than most: at the age of seven, he announced to his mother that he would be a chef, and the resolution stuck. At 13, he took his first job in a restaurant; at 15, he enrolled in professional school. Renaud served an apprenticeship at Restaurant Tillac at the Hotel Frantel (he trained in the local charcuterie, boulan-gerie, and boucher on his days off), then worked at Le Villard Palace in Paris. A stint at the Swiss restaurant Neuchâtel followed, then he headed to Brussels, where he learned complex secrets of seafood cookery at the famed L'Escailler du Palais Royal.

Hungry for new challenges, Renaud came to the States to work at Cellar in the Sky, but the bombing of the World Trade Center put an end to that opportunity. Plying his résumé around town, he happened across David Bouley, who invited Renaud to try out in his kitchen. He eventually became Bouley's chef de cuisine, but again found himself without work when the restaurant closed.

Now at La Caravelle, Renaud is reinvent-ing French food, and New York is taking notice. "Renaud," Mariani wrote in the Wine Spectator, "brings refinement and deep flavors to La Caravelle's menu." He added, "In the lightness of his sauces and imaginative presentations, Renaud manifests a Bouleysian refinement, though I think his food has even deeper flavor than does that of his famous mentor." The regulars dining on Renaud's beautiful food would be even happier than usual these days if only they didn't have to beat out the johnny-come-latelys for reservations.