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On Fifth Avenue, amid posh hotels and shops, is a roseate version of Venice's Harry's Bar, named Harry Cipriani after Owner Arrigo (Harry) Cipriani because the title Harry's Bar is already in use in New York. Cipriani shuttles between Manhattan and Venice, dishing up unremarkable but popular food in both cities. "Business couldn't be better," he reports, noting that his New York offshoot is frequented for lunch by "lady shoppers." Perhaps they are attracted to his wanly handsome son Giuseppe, 21, the manager, who was rated by On the Avenue, a tony monthly tabloid, as one of New York's ten sexiest men. Whatever the reason, there are more than enough takers for ravioli selling at $17 for half a dozen and carpaccio, slim portions of raw beef with thin mayonnaise, which, though prettily presented, hardly seems worth $24.
Also new on the Manhattan scene is Maxim's, the legendary fin-de-siecle set piece on Paris' Rue Royale, now owned by Pierre Cardin. In the New York outpost, the semi-nouvelle French cuisine has been more memorable for its price ($65 for prix-fixe dinner) than for its excellence. The cream of mussel soup known as billi-bi, a Maxim's invention, is decently turned out, but stale-tasting duck pate and the overly complicated, overcooked saddle of lamb with basil cream could not even be considered near misses. The gaudy interior, a bad copy of the Paris setting, includes such embarrassingly corny touches as violinists serenading customers as they climb stairs to the dining room. Nevertheless, Manhattan's Maxim's is merely a model; Cardin is planning a series of casual eateries called L'Omnibus de Maxim's, after the cafe L'Omnibus already operating in New York, and a chain of Maxim's Suite Hotels. The first is soon to open in Palm Springs. Says Monty Zullo, general manager of Maxim's American operations: "All along the line, plans involve the same trading on the name, the same logo."
In addition to the owners who are working both sides of the Atlantic, there are chefs who have either abandoned their highly rated restaurants or plan to commute between the New World and the Old. Among the more strongly committed is the versatile Gerard Pangaud, formerly the owner of a two-star Paris restaurant that bore his name. He has thrown in his lot with Joseph Baum, the inventive New York impresario who created The Four Seasons and Windows on the World. Baum now runs a promising, quasi-postmodern creation called Aurora, where eclectic new French-American cooking prevails. Among the better menu choices are the roasted pigeon with sweet garlic, lime-broiled guinea fowl and a pungent lemon hazelnut torte. Enthusiastic over what he calls le reve americain (the American dream), Pangaud says, "I love the open-mindedness of this country. You can try much more than in Europe with food and with your life. Besides, there are too many expensive restaurants in Paris for the number of customers."
That open-mindedness, along with the differences between European and American ingredients, has inspired most of these newly arrived chefs to re- create their recipes. For the most part, they use domestic products and only occasionally find that they require heftier seasoning.