Keller, Boulud, Vongerichten Celebrate The Bocuse Restaurant

Tim Ryan, Jean Georges Vongerichten, Paul Bocuse, Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller

By James Mulcahy

We recently told you about The Bocuse Restaurant which recently opened its doors in Hyde Park at The Culinary Institute of America. Well, what would a restaurant opening be without a party? We received this photograph of culinary heavyweights gathered to cut the opening ribbon - and yes, that is Mr. Paul Bocuse himself in the middle, who was also celebrating his 87th birthday at the shindig.

Actually, when you open a restaurant that showcases contemporary French cooking, you don't cut a ribbon, you bust into the crust of an oversize Black Truffle V.G.E Soup, one of Bocuse's specialties. Other big names in the house included Charlie Palmer, David Burke and Michel Richard - they all feasted on a seven-course menu prepared by the students. And for dessert, another surprise. Bocuse was treated to a seven-foot tall birthday cake and a toast of 1926 Armagnac, the year the toque was born. File this one under epic meals.