The Scarsdale Inquirer Founded in 1901 Volume 84, Number 37 Friday, September 15, 2006 Reprinted with permission Artist weds chef in delicious 5-day celebration By JUDIE DWECK If they were in charge of the planet, the world would be filled with great beauty and good Fairy tale weddings are the stuff of dreams. health.” Every now and then, the dream comes true. Tours of the gardens of several chateaux, Start with Nicole Bartelme, a prominent New including the famous Villandry gardens — York artist, who grew up in Scarsdale. Add world herbal, medicinal, water and ornamental — famous chef David Bouley of Manhattan’s were followed by a Japanese lunch prepared by Bouley and Danube fame. Bring these two artists celebrated chefs Tadao Mikaui and Shimichi. together for a five-star celebration at Chateau The meal included tofu with dashi truffle sauce, de la Bourdaisière in France, complete with braised duck with fried eggplant, and several haute cuisine prepared by well known chefs, kinds of Kyoto sashimi. haute couture from Valentino and Christian Imagine a chateau’s moat, dry, stone-lined LaCroix, and friends and family from around and filled with aromatic plants, lit by hundreds the world, and the fairy tale becomes reality. A of candles and torches and a very long table staff of more than 20, a chef from Barcelona, strewn with fresh flowers and you have the master bread and cheese makers, vintners and setting for yet another glorious meal. The meat organic, natural foods were all part of Bouley was from pigs fed an acorns-only diet, and was and Bartelme’s wedding vision. very low in saturated fat and healthy — proof The theme of the union of these two kindred that fine dining can be healthy, one of Chef spirits was the dragonfly, a Japanese symbol Bouley’s tenets. Another dinner, bistro style, of fortitude and strength, an ability to move included leg of veal and lamb on the barbecue, forward, accept change, remember people from and blood sausage and cured meats, with the past, and celebrate new friends. Handmade entertainment by a French country band. dragonfly-embossed paper encased the menus All this led to Thursday’s civil wedding and delicate multicolored ornaments decorated ceremony in Tours and a religious ceremony at the wedding table. L’Eglise Saint Laurent. The bride looked regal Margaret Bartelme, mother of the bride, used in an elegant and simple Valentino gown at the her skills as an artist to describe the wedding in religious ceremony. Food seemed to peek out such detail, I almost felt I’d been there. at every event. The Trappist monk Père David, The celebration in Mont Louis Sur Loire who married the pair, sells health foods prepared lasted for five days with activities planned at his monastery, and the deputy mayor at the for the guests both day and evening, she said. civil ceremony owns a restaurant. Guests arriving at Chateau Bourdaisière were TOBY CRYSTAL PHOTO David Bouley and Nicole Bartelme Then it was back to the chateau for hors greeted by a storyteller lecturing on the fine d’oeuvres. In the dining room every guest was points of absinthe, then a sampling of wines, given a very long-stemmed white rose to form cheese and breads prepared by master baker a participant in my creative cooking classes for an arbor for the bride and groom to enter. Jacques Mahou, a seventh-generation baker. The wedding dinner was prepared by Chef This took place in a tent pitched next to elementary school children. I should have known that her agile hands that prepared “coconut Cesar Ramirez and pastry chef Alex Grunert. Chateau Bourdaisière, one of the two chateaux Among the courses were tomato gazpacho taken over for the wedding and a prelude to the chicken” and “meatballs and noodles” would find their way into both the art world, by career, with crab, tomato sorbet and tomato cloud, organic and haute cuisine meals to follow. all prepared with some of the 500 varieties of One of the Scarsdale residents who attended and the culinary world, through marriage. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, she heirloom tomatoes from the gardens, Brittany this fete, Betty Pforzheimer, called it “an lobster with turbot, roasted rack of lamb and extraordinary and very happy experience.” She is now an accomplished artist often working with oils on copper with her works exhibited Valrhona chocolate soufflé with coconut ice said, “Despite the ornate backdrop, there was a cream and chocolate sorbet. Add operatic warm family feeling throughout. David Bouley in SoHo, Tribeca and Rhode Island galleries. She originated the concept and structure for arias, fireworks, performers on stilts with the was orchestrating everything, but managed to illuminated chateau as the background and, of be welcoming. It was nice to reconnect with the the Tribeca Film Festival while working with Partnership for the Homeless. After the death of course, a fresh flower-topped wedding cake and young Scarsdale people who attended and see the picture is complete. the exceptional adults they have become.” her father Joe Bartelme, NBC TV producer for “The Today Show,” Nicole started researching Friday included a visit to the Caves de Vin Lester Crystal, producer of the Jim Lehrer Champigny and a family-style dinner in a cave NewsHour described the wedding as “a unique healthy foods and lifestyles, sparking an interest in organic and natural foods. She met Bouley where picnic tables were set up, and an open and joyous celebration of exquisite flavors and fire built. The groom grilled chicken on the spit, a very special relationship presided over by when she was a fundraiser for Partnership for the Homeless. After 9/11, they reconnected and and just-picked tomatoes, whipped potatoes David and Nicki.” Margaret Bartelme said, with Normandy butter, fruits and cheeses were “Nicole and David’s dynamic bonding in the the rest is history. Margaret Bartelme’s toast sums up this served. Margaret called it “a wonderful bonding Loire River Valley was powerful enough to with everyone singing and then cleaning up.” permanently enhance the lives of everyone wonderful union: “There are many ways of describing people in the arts, national treasures, The wedding of Nicole Bartelme and David participating in the five-day fete.” Bouley was like a fairy tale, and will long linger Nicole was my neighbor in Fox Meadow and and chevaliers. Here we have two spirits with great vision, creativity and a sense of adventure. in their guests’ memory. © 2006 S.I. Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.