Posted on 04/11/2003 10:00:54 AM PDT by jimbo123
France's refusal to support the U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq has some New York diners in a stew, and French restaurants have been feeling the heat. Now, an effort is afoot to get New Yorkers to change their minds.
NY1's Elizabeth Gerst reports.
Some of the city's top chefs and restaurateurs teamed up at Le Cirque Thursday, to encourage diners to say "Oui" to French cuisine.
The event, organized by NYC & Company, was an effort to bolster restaurants bruised by a backlash against France. Though some stopped short of calling it an official boycott, many acknowledged they have been hurt by anti-French sentiment.
“It's definitely something going on,” said Eric Ripert, a chef at Le Bernadin. “We lost a party of 20 people and the customer called us and said my customer is boycotting the French so we cannot come to your place.”
At Le Perigord, business is down about 50 percent, forcing layoffs for the first time in its history. La Grenouille, which is owned by an American, has still received some anti-French prank calls, and says bookings are slower. The owner, Charles Masson, placed a sign in the window to tame tensions.
“We've reminded our customers that although we do serve French cuisine and have been doing so for 40 years, the restaurant is an American corporation, many of our employees are American, and we pay taxes to the United States as well,” Masson said.
Industry-boosters say no matter who owns the restaurant, a boycott will backfire.
“It is absolutely against our own self-interest as a city to start singling out people because of their supposed nationality, when we know, for example, the owners of Le Cirque are Italian,” said Tim Zagat of Zagat Surveys. “Their employees are from all over the world, and they’re all New Yorkers. Do we want to hurt them?”
To spur spending, NYC & Company unveiled an ad which reminds diners to keep New York's melting pot cooking.
“Our strength is our diversity and there is room for everyone at New York's collective dinner table,” said Cristyne Nicolas, the president of NYC & Company.
But observers warn, until French-American tensions thaw, that dinner table may still have some empty chairs.
All that butter is bad for cholesterol levels, too.
Look, the customer is always right and right now they believe that eating at a French restaurant would give them indigestion (caused by emotional discomfort).
Of course there are always French cheese and whine!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.