FOOD DRINK Sommelier extraordinare Mark Slater pours wines at the exclusive chef’s table in the kitchen of Michel Richard Citronelle, left. Above, REVIEW Richard’s famed faux caviar surprises and delights diners. BY DAVE MCINTYRE PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLAY MCLACHLAN SHOWTIME Citronelle’s chef’s table puts diners center stage at one of the country’s most exciting culinary spectacles Washington’s political seat of power may be in the Oval Office, but for exists just for your pleasure. Yet there is the satisfying feeling that food it’s at the chef’s table at Michel Richard Citronelle. Menus replace everyone is watching—from the dining room, from the upstairs lounge, policy briefs and civilization’s future may not be at stake, but for a few even from the windows on 30th Street above—as you are escorted to exciting hours you can be at the center of the action as an elite squad of center stage. For a few hours you are more than diners, you are chefs prepares a parade of dishes before your eyes, an acclaimed sommelier audience volunteers in Michel Richard’s culinary magic show. pours some of the world’s most enticing wines, and a renowned culinary Many of Richard’s dishes reflect his sense of humor and his master flirts, jokes and cajoles his way around the dining room. background as a pastry chef. He has a knack for making food look like “Weren’t you here last week with a blonde?” Richard asked me when I something it isn’t. “Virtual” fettuccine is actually steamed slivers of onion, introduced him to my wife. That could be a dangerous joke in dressed lightly with cream, mushrooms and Chinese eggplant. What Washington, but the jovial chef carries it off (several times a night, most appears to be hard-cooked egg on the tuna napoleon niçoise is in reality likely) with a twinkle in his eye and a quick “How’s the food?” Schmoozing a wedge of mozzarella cheese with yellow tomato gelée as the yolk. with Richard is an essential part of the charm of dinner at Citronelle, as is Richard’s artistry—his sense of humor, his knack for flavor and his an insider’s anecdote from maitre d’ Jean-Jacques Retourné or Mark Slater, instinct for pairing unique presentations and interesting textures—achieve the sommelier. They patrol the dining room, too, but the chef’s table their greatest expression with his “begula” dish. Pearl-shaped pasta are provides greater access. And in this town, access is power. blackened with squid ink and offered in a caviar tin. Below the faux caviar lay Reserving the chef’s table also gives the most thorough exposure to a poached egg with hollandaise sauce and chunks of tender lobster. The Richard’s culinary wizardry. Here a ten-course feast showcases the flavors meld seamlessly, as if they were put on Earth for this very purpose. menu’s current offerings and the chef’s latest experiments. The chef’s The visual puns on the plate are often so elaborate that the table is at the edge of the restaurant’s exhibition kitchen, set apart from waitstaff takes pains to explain everything as it arrives at the table, lest the main dining room almost enough to create the illusion the kitchen false impressions set diners up for a fall. Slater chortles over a blogger 246 > NOVEMBER 2006 who posted a rant about the poor quality of the “caviar,” not realizing lounge. (“I hope that’s for us,” we thought more than once watching the it was pasta. And that disguised mozzarella? “We have to explain it to chefs put finishing touches on plates of succulent chateaubriand, or late- people,” Richard says, “or else they gulp it down and think, ‘Gee, that’s summer soft-shell crabs, fried crisp and arranged so their legs looked like a weird egg.’” fingers waving at us.) Once or twice during our dinner, Richard sauntered Squab breast becomes a minute steak that might convince you the bird up to the counter. There was no Gordon Ramsay outburst, but a tilt of his is a tiny cow with wings, if you can pull your fork away from the “fried rice” head and a slump of the shoulders sent a jolt of adrenaline through the that is actually minutely chopped potato garnished with raw vegetables and kitchen. Quiet professionalism transformed instantly to rigid attention as seasoned with Chinese spices. Desserts can also show Richard’s impish toques leaned over the suspect dish, discussing its nearly imperceptible sense of humor, including his haute take on a Kit Kat bar or “breakfast at flaw and making whatever adjustment Richard required. Citronelle,” a platter of desserts mimicking a traditional American breakfast. Out in the main dining room, patrons may be offered a glimpse of Not every dish relies on an inventive disguise. Escargots get star the exhibition kitchen (over the heads of those at the chef’s table) or treatment in a garlicky flan with a crunchy topping of pistachios and the glassed-in wine cellar, which offers the impression of dining in a macadamias. Swirls of eel top a crisp tart crust, their mild flavor electrified chateau’s aging cave. Two menu choices are offered here, a three-course by a ginger sauce. Halibut, the most bland of fish in unskilled hands, is a la carte menu or an eight-course fixed menu, with or without wine napped in a vibrant verbena-lime sauce and topped with slivers of kohlrabi pairings. For those lacking the time for a full dinner, the upstairs lounge and a crunchy julienne of carrot. Last summer’s popular creation was menu includes some of Richard’s most popular creations, including a eggplant gazpacho, a creamy puree enriched with buttermilk and the lobster burger that looks large enough to satisfy a shark. subtle bite of cumin served cold with cubes of crisp vegetables; it was an Inside that wine cellar, Slater and assistant sommeliers Derek elegant treatment of a familiar Middle Eastern standby. Brown and Brian Zipin preside over an impressive selection of the best “People call me a genius, but all I did was take baba ghanoush and wines from France, Italy and California. Other lesser-known but add tomato water,” Richard says. Well, not quite: There’s the richness cutting-edge regions, such as Austria, are also represented, and several and tang of the buttermilk, the snap of vegetables. of the wines are imported exclusively for the restaurant. Emphasis is on This isn’t science class, where chefs make fare that seems to defy the high-end selections and well-aged wines—including during my visits a laws of physics. But Richard does like to play with his food. He’s fond of 1995 Bordeaux offered by the glass. Yet Slater has peppered the list plastic wrap, using it to mold various ingredients into logs, burgers or, with an impressive number of small production wines below $70. ultimately, very thin disks. You’ll see a lot of circles at Citronelle. Richard may be cooking at the top of his game, but you won’t get All this sleight of hand would be meaningless, of course, if the food him to admit it. The accolades keep pouring in though: Gourmet magazine didn’t taste so good. Richard deftly pairs flavors with texture in an recently ranked Michel Richard Citronelle at number 12 in its list of the elaborate, often thrilling, choreography. “I want to create a tango in your 50 best U.S. restaurants. The James Beard Foundation nominated him this mouth, with all the flavors dancing—crunchy, crispy, creamy and fresh,” year as one of the country’s outstanding chefs. His second cookbook, Richard says. “Food that doesn’t taste good is like rap music,” all violence Happy in the Kitchen, has just been published by Artisan to rave reviews. and no passion. He punctuates his disdain with a Gallic pouf of dismissal. He’ll gladly sell you a copy and autograph it for you between courses. The restaurant’s drama unfolds around the chef’s table. Diners sit only Richard has come a long way from poor beginnings in Brittany, a few feet from the granite counter where executive chef David Deshaies in western France. A Paris apprenticeship with the great pastry chef and his team plate dishes for the main dining room and the casual upstairs Gaston Lenôtre led to restaurant positions in New York, Santa Fe and Apples are made elegant for dessert. Deshaies, center, is always in motion. Halibut hits a high note. NOVEMBER 2006 > 247 These days, age is a prominent subject in Richard’s conversation. “I used to have more energy,” he says, pushing his glasses onto his forehead and rubbing his eyes, “but now that I’m 58, a 12-hour workday makes me tired.” He wants to travel less, he says, and spend more time at home with his family in Potomac and at his restaurants. And he says he has no intention of retiring. That’s good news for gourmands. “I have the right to get older, but I want my food to stay young,” Richard says. “I don’t want my food to get wrinkles. My brain needs to stay active and keep creating the food of tomorrow.” Looking around him as if seeing the Citronelle of the future, the post-renovation restaurant that exists now only in his mind, Richard says, “Tomorrow will be better than today. And a year from now will be better still.” From our vantage point at the chef’s table, sated with food and wine, I couldn’t imagine Richard’s cooking getting better.