Although countless celebrities have wined and dined at Le Bernardin, there’s one A-lister who hasn’t sampled the French seafood the three Michelin-starred restaurant is known for — Taylor Swift.
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restaurant → win → seafood
“No, she never came,” Chef Eric Ripert told The Post.
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Ripert → come → Post
“Maybe if she reads the article, she will be inspired to come here.”
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she → read → article
The famed restaurateur revealed the notable names that have graced the star-studded reservation book at the Midtown mainstay on West 51st Street — and the star of “An Officer and a Gentleman” was the first to come to mind.
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star → reveal → mind
“Richard Gere likes to eat a lot at Le Bernardin and when he’s in town, always visiting us and it’s always a pleasure to feed him and speak to him a little bit,” Ripert, 61, said.
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Ripert → like → him
Ripert, who started at Le Bernardin in 1991 as chef de cuisine and is now its executive chef and co-owner, has also cooked for Jay-Z and Beyoncé as well as John Legend — and another superstar singer.
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who → start → Z
“Mick Jagger comes to Le Bernardin when he is in town and he’s friends with my business partner, so he’s always at ease and happy,” he added.
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he → come → ease
The celebrity chef said he doesn’t whip up anything special for VIPs, and in his 46-year career, he’s never been nervous about cooking for famous faces.
“
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he → say → faces
They choose from the menu, or they ask me to choose for them whatever I want, which is generally from the menu,” said Ripert, whose ninth book, “Mindful Cooking,” will be released on Oct. 6.
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book → choose → Oct.
“To me, every client is the same … we cannot have different standards.”
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we → have → standards
Paparazzi routinely stake out the renowned restaurant — and sometimes the guests call the shutterbugs themselves.
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guests → stake → shutterbugs
“Once it was a very powerful politician, I cannot say the name, but then suddenly we see like 20 paparazzi outside … and I said, … ‘If you want, we can get you out through other ways,’ and he said, ‘No, don’t worry, it’s me, we called them.'”
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we → say → them
Ripert said the A-list eater who made the biggest impression on him was the Dalai Lama, for whom he cooked twice.
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he → say → whom
On the Dalai Lama’s first visit, Ripert prepared wild salmon, and on the second, filet mignon — but it was dessert that made an impression on the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.
“He never really showed much emotion, except when he had the chocolate mousse,” he said.
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he → prepare → mousse
The French native, who studies Tibetan Buddhism himself, said his new cookbook was inspired by his travels to Buddhist monasteries in Asia.
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cookbook → study → Asia
There, monks follow a plant-based diet so as not to harm animals, and go without vegetables such as garlic and onions for spiritual reasons.
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monks → follow → reasons
“Onions supposedly make you sleepy when you are in meditation and also give you bad dreams …
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you → make → dreams
Garlic makes your blood circulate a bit faster.
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blood → make → ?
And warming the blood is not helpful for meditation and also, as you can imagine, a thousand monks with garlic breath is a bit of a problem sometimes,” he said.
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he → warm → problem
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Report → start → news
“They consider food as medicine …
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They → consider → medicine
They believe everything that we put in our body will have a positive or negative effect depending on what it is.”
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it → believe → effect
Ripert said Le Bernardin’s bestselling menu item is the carpaccio of tuna on a toasted baguette with foie gras.
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item → say → gras
It sold so well that he once took it off the menu so that customers could try other dishes.
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customers → sell → dishes
“And for the first time in my career I saw really angry clients …
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I → see → clients
They were very vocal in the restaurant and they were calling me to their table … explaining that it was a huge mistake and they were very unhappy,” he said.
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he → call → table
“I kind of, through an analogy, understood.
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I → understand → analogy
It’s like you go to a Rolling Stones concert and then they’re like, ‘No, we’re not going to play ‘No Satisfaction.’
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we → ’ → Satisfaction
No, it’s not happening today.’
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it → happen → ?
You can’t do that.”
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You → do → that
The Aporia
