Confessions of a Chef

Traveling back in time. A mysterious vintage menu. And a free trip to Paris.

Scrolling through Instagram it’s easy to get the impression that everyone in America is on the road this summer. Then I opened an old book - and look what fell out.

It’s an itinerary that Pat Knopf (scion of the publishing family - and innovative publisher in his own right) - sent after a lunch we shared in the late nineties. It traces his steps from a 1970 vacation; he was demonstrating how different traveling had been in “the old days.”

Looking at it now, I have to say it sounds wonderful. Fabulous hotels. Luxurious meals. Great art, lazy days by the pool and the occasional ice cream lunch. As F. Scott once said, “the rich are different…”

The book the itinerary fell out of was Confessions of an Advertising Man by advertising genius David Ogilvy. Pat published the book in 1963 and was very proud of the jacket: when you removed it you found reproductions of some of Ogilvy’s most celebrated campaigns printed on the verso.

I’d looked at the jacket, of course, but I’d never actually read the book. Now, however, I opened it, and as I began reading I discovered that Ogilvy spent years working as a chef and wrote about it in rather remarkable fashion. Given the current mania for The Bear, I thought you might like to peruse a few pages….

Incidentally, the Monsieur Soulé mentioned below was the proprietor of Le Pavillon, probably the most influential restaurant of the last century. (Joseph Wechsberg wrote a long article about Soulé in the New Yorker, which he later expanded into the book, Dining at Le Pavillon.)

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If the Knopf trip sounds swell to you - it certainly does to me - here’s one way you might win your own luxurious week in Paris. Veggies to Table, a nonprofit farm dedicated to ending hunger in Maine, runs an annual sweepstakes for a dream vacation.

The farm’s founder, Erica Berman, lived in Paris for 20 years. One of the ways she raises money for the farm is via this sweepstakes. Here’s the first prize:

• A week-long stay in Erica’s Montmartre apartment w/balcony and panoramic views

• A chauffeur to & from the airport  & champagne & flowers upon arrival

• A Pastry tour (with tasting!) of the Marais with La Cuisine Paris founder Jane Bertch

• A bespoke Latin Quarter tour with What's Up Paris founder Rooksana Hossenally

• An insider's tour of Montmartre with Tadji Kretschmer of Inseinely Paris

• Lunch for two at classic French bistro Le Bon Georges

• Lunch for two at sunny Rhodia restaurant in the Musée Bourdelle  

• Lunch for two at Eunoe Restaurant 

• A gift certificate for the charming Treize au Jardin 

  (There are other prizes as well, including a week in Montreal. I should mention that Erica and I share a mutual friend but we have never met. )

  

  I find this menu intriguing: it’s remarkable forward for 1983. If anyone has any ideas about where it’s from. (I’m guessing Berkeley or the Napa Valley. Bay Wolf perhaps?) Any ideas?