The Knife

Open season on picnics

The prize for first press release on summer picnic baskets goes to La Cachette, which charges $28-$48 per person. Low end gets you butternut squash ravioli with chili-corn emulsion; high is the grilled beef filet with and a smoked whitefish salad as a starter.

Unsolicited advice: Pick things that taste good eaten at room temperature and with your fingers, budget and utensils be damned. And read this.

Public Service Announcement: La Cachette

La Cachette: The first in a series of Century City restaurant reviews
designed to make life at CAA a better place for both hungry agents
and their weary, lunch-booking assistants.

Good news: Lunch at La Cachette is a lot like lunch at the Peninsula, only with better service.
Bad news: You may give up on finding the place before you can try it.

Not that I've ever had a problem with Peninsula service, but the hotel has always been very aware of its place in the hierarchy which was, until recently, across the street from CAA. They've been trained to recognize agents (and their guests) and react accordingly. (How do you train a staff in agency recognition? Flash cards?)

At La Cachette, I don't think anyone has installed a Kevin Huvane mugshot at the hostess stand... yet. For now, they're treating everyone well.

Table for one? Right this way, to the banquette. Two appetizers? Very good, although he'd recommend the duck pate before the salade Nicoise. ("It's better that way.") Ask for water and they pour... water, sparing you the whole flat-or-sparkling-I'll-have-tap ritual. (Does anyone really need a prompt to be reminded about the existence of bottled water?)

Homemade duck pate was lovely. Nicoise was very fresh and a tart pomegranate vinaigrette didn't take it off the rails. The baguettes were a little lame -- warm 6-inch flutes, but they're the bland, par-baked things you buy by the gross. And breaking off a piece inevitably creates a crumb-showered tablecloth. (Having said that, the bread comes with a ramekin of delicious tapenade with the deep-ink color, salt and sheen of caviar. Go figure.)

Of course, La Cachette still must contend with being a French restaurant, something that the menu deals with up front: "Light and delicious New French Cuisine." There's a vegan soup of the day and the crab bisque is "lightly creamed" only "upon request." There's escargot and Danish herring, but the roasted red beet tower is available vegan, without the feta. Grilled swordfish, lightly smoked salmon and Maine scallops come with lots of good-sounding things (fresh fennel savoy sauerkraut, harissa-lobster emulsion), but a restaurant that doesn't presume cream in a bisque isn't going to blink at anyone who wants green beans instead of sauerkraut. 

At lunch on Monday, the 100-seat dining room was about 50% filled. "We've definitely seen an increase since CAA moved to Century City," the hostess told me, smiling. "It's really nice."

Less nice, however, is getting there.