Eating at the High-end 'Louis Cannes' in Monte Carlo

We counted five different nights, all wonderful, in three of the leading hotels in the world -- The Cannes Intercontinental, The Fairmont with bar views of the Monaco Bay. And the ultra-exclusive stop -- The Hotel De Paris of Monte Carlo (It's right next door to the famous Monte Carlo Casino. And there they don't let you take pictures of the inside. Think 007 gambling -- and you get the idea.)

The meal of this trip, and really the meal of my lifetime, took place at 'Louis Cannes' -- that's what they call 'The Louis XV restaurant' for short -- it's Alain Ducasse's Monte Carlo restaurant inside the Hotel De Paris -- and apparently he's the man in France -- and for that matter, the chef de cuisine the world over (look him up in Wikipedia if you have a chance).

At 'Louis Cannes' (pronounced 'Louie Cons') the menu is separated into chapters depending on the seasons. We have one now signed by the man who runs the place (you don't think Alain Ducasse would be there now, do you?) The guy's name is Franck Cerutti -- and from what we experienced this guy runs a ship like no other.

Where do I even begin. The food, the attention to service and attention to quality -- I haven't seen anything like it anywhere else.

First of all, there are only about twenty tables in the main dining room. It appeared that there were three staff people for each table. We seemed to have a glass waiter and his only job seemed to be getting a glass when one was needed. He was not directly placing the glass on our table. That task was passed to a waiter who answered to our maitre d', who was sort of the godfather of the table. Our maitre d' explained the menu.

I had already experienced the joy of working with the wine sommelier. I wanted more of the rose. The champagne was taken from a bottle on a champagne stroller that was carted from table to table for presentation. (The champagne was called Billecart Salmon, Elisabeth Salmon, 1998. It hit me differently in the front of the mouth, the middle of the tongue and as it went down my throat it changed. It was delightful. A champagne has never played like that for me. The wine sommelier wrote down the name of the champagne on a card so i'd have it for reference.)

Thin see-through wafters were brought to our table and these were presented in a napkin folded as an oragami-like figurine. Another small starter of thinly fried wantons was also presented in the same napkin presentation.

We were given the menu for desserts. It was explained that some required preparation time. I completely understood that pieces of art take time.

From our table we watched the service. There was cadence and order. Each dish was not directly sent from the kitchen to the table. The waiter stood at the table a foot back to get the first waiter's attention. The dishes were then taken from a silver serving tray to a table in front of ours -- a prep table, if you will. There was a warmer for those dishes not being immediately plated. As soon as my plate and my husband's were prepared they were served from the prep table.

Empty trays were immediately removed and silverware re-aligned. Each time a new course, a new place setting, new flat ware. And our waiter explained why the tongs go face down. It's to reduce the glare on the face, he said, in his best English. (He also said after working a year in the restaurant, he's got the knack of the English language. I think he speaks five languages.)

The starter in between the first starter and second was compliments of the chef for everyone. It appeared to be a miniature representation of what a vegetable garden might look like in a small cup, served with what appeared to be a vinagrette with pureed morrel mushrooms. Each sprig of vegetable was dunked in the sauce -- a beautiful blood red beet, mushroom, a thin slice of asparagus so fresh it smelled sweet. Basically, everything to remind you of a Spring garden.

Our final starter came out as a pot of baked/glazed onions, carrots, peas and asparagus. My husband had a similar dish that involved black truffles.

Clearly we didn't know how to pace ourselves through a three-hour meal and I was stuffed even before the main course arrived. (It's not that I haven't had practice. I once went through seven courses at the high-end Commander's Palace in New Orleans.)

Nothing, and I mean nothing, could prepare you for the best of what France has to offer from this restaurant. The guys that work the tables go to school simply to learn to serve. In fact, our waiter told us (only after we asked) his love in life was to serve people. They don't see it as being sub-serveant. As he told us, it's what he wants to do. To make people happy is a priviledge. And those are words right out of his mouth.

(Did I mention on the grounds of the hotel they grow herbs so the chef can have it right out side of the kitchen, fresh?)

Our main dishes were incredible. I've never had a piece of fish so fresh and so expertly cooked. When I put the fork in the meat it simply melted in. A sauce of pureed pea and olive oil was dabbed on my plate to use for the fish. I kept nibbling on the fougasse. Earlier in the evening the 'bread waiter' had rolled his craft of ten bread baskets to our table, all full of different varieties and we were told we could pick two each.

Then we had a table rolled over that featured a hunk of sweet cream butter. There was also a show to get the butter from the block onto our table. (It was some bit of delicious cream.)

The main courses were, of course, incredible. I had a white fish like I said that was cooked superbly and my husband had a dish where a pasta shell was laid down first and topped with cheese (ala mac and cheese) and then topped with a beautiful lobster meat.

We were offered cheese from a variety served out of a cheese cart. I had a delicious Camembert the waiter said was his favorite.

But I would have to say the desserts were perfect for the ending.

My husband had told them it was my birthday, so in the middle of being served our desserts, a special presentation was made to me on a silver tray. There was a chocolate sculpture with 'happy birthday' words from the pastry chef. This was encased in glass. Also on the tray was a small silver bowl and when they lifted the top there was a beautiful fluffy mound which turned out to be marscapone ice cream. This was topped with petite strawberries and set in front of me.

I thought at this point I was really going to burst. I had been looking at the chocolate cake in front of me, marveling at the small size and how much incredibly rich chocolate flavor had been packed in it (not to mention the XV printed in the pottery plate the cake was served on. I also liked the touch of gold flake.)

My husband was presented with six different kinds of Rum for his Rhum Baba. It was served in a gold bowl and after the rum was poured over the cake, a little was poured into a little glass and we were told that was to drink after finishing the dessert.

We ended the evening with cafes, floated out and rubbed the gold foot of the horse in the hotel lobby for good luck at the Casino.

And that's really as good as it gets!