Latour 1982.

One chef was recruited to be the executive chef to open Le Relais a Mougins in Palm Beach for Andre Surmaine who founded Lutece in NYC, which was considered to be the #1 restaurant in the U.S.A for many years. Considered to be the most beautifully designed country French restaurant in the US. Villeroy & Boch china in Luxembourg used Latour for their national ad campaign. All menu items were presented on silver trays by multiple waiters prior to ordering while guests were having cocktails. All bottled wine over $50 was served in Baccarat stemware. Caviar and goose liver dishes were served in 120 year old family Haviland Limoge and Christofle. The menu was made of artist canvas with a watercolor of a table in the restaurant and the owner's signature. Unlike most American French restaurants, the menu items were described in English on the left and in French on the right side to reflect the American location.

(Preface to Latour's Menu)

Escoffier understood because cooking is an art it would always be ever-changing. He knew that cooking would always be responsive to contemporary lifestyles and thought. He would likely scoff at the classicists who today still insist on adherence to 19th century cooking that was created' in the days of "Grandomania" - bouffant hairstyles, Victorian furniture,.... But it should be remembered, just as a classic blue blazer has always exuded timeless good taste, so may many classical recipes be worn on better plates. Although firmly grounded in classical French cooking and inspired by nouvelle  cuisine, l've  chosen to  label  the cooking  at  Latour "progressive" (see Frank Lloyd Wright below), to better reflect that it will be ever changing especially as the creative chefs and foods of America come of age. We no longer rely on France for our sole direction and inspiration.

Architecture is cooking's closest parallel in the arts by virtue of being a necessity, as well as a luxury, and an art and a science. Remember that architecture has been typically decades ahead of cuisine in reflecting modern thought. I have adopted some maxims of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to incorporate into Latour's progressive cuisine.

There are three principles voiced by Wright  which help guide the progressive high cooking at Latour. The first principle is to be progressive and keep pace with lifestyles that are changing faster than ever at any time in history. The term recognizes America's fascination and belief in the future and the willingness of America to reach for the unknown by virtue of one of our fundamental ideals, the pursuit of freedom. However, this does not mean architecture or cooking should follow the petty whim of fashion but rather the movement of a period. At Latour, the spirit of progressiveness means we can be creative artists. As such, we have the freedom to express ourselves without being tied totally to the dishes of the past. We can create exciting new dishes that are in "sync" with the current period but we also temper creative freedom with sound scientific principles of food selection and preparation, as in Wright's "nature of materials".

The second principle I have adopted from Mr. Wright is to use indigenous ingredients from the area. In architecture this is the use of local materials to build a structure compatible with its environment which also creates a 'better sense of place'. At Latour, this principle inspires us to utilize a variety of new and improved indigenous foods  and products  as much  as possible, including produce hybrids, exotic Florida fruit, Florida stone crab,... Products are flown in from Europe only when they exceed American products in quality. These new products offer us a chance to assert more of our own creative style into food preparation and presentation and it allows us to diminish the European influence in our cuisine and develop more pride in our own offerings. Carrying this idea further, unlike other French restaurants in America that write their menu in French and translate it into English, Latour's menu is written in English on the left side and the French translation is on the right side to reflect the restaurant is located in the U.S.A, not France.

The third principle Mr. Wright espoused was simplicity, a belief that ornamentation should be inherent to the structure itself for a better sense of integrity. In cooking this means the main ingredients should be the essence of the dish. It should not be suffocated with a grandiose sauce from the 19th century....sauces should be simpler, lighter, fresher....in harmony with the main ingredient. Likewise, the presentation of the dish should have a clean and honest appearance - eliminating overkill and non essential/non integral garnishes.

Latour's commitment will be never ending, we will always search for new and better ways for our "progressive" high cooking.

Enjoy!                                                                                                    Bon Appétit!

S. Larsen, Proprietor (1982)

Latour

Location
Top floor of  Mayfair in the Grove, Coconut Grove, Florida, U.S.A.

About
Owned, developed and managed a top 10 restaurant in the U.S.A. in the early 1980's. It was the first restaurant to offer nouvelle cuisine and to fly in fresh products from Europe in Southeastern U.S.A.. Chefs in the kitchen had experience working at the top restaurants in the world including L'Archestrate, Le Vivarois and Maxims in Paris, Moulin de Mougins in Mougins, Comme Chez Soi in Brussels and Le Perroquet in Chicago.

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright