To visit this month's destinations, Paris and New York, flights can be booked on Delta or through Delta on SkyTeam partner Air France. Pierre Gagnaire's lamb sweetbreads are nothing short of spectacular and unusual, to be sure, but hardly a threat to tradition. Many Parisians say that their great chefs feel constrained by the conservative, even reactionary, nature of their audience. And, more important, locals are rarely the majority in the expensive Parisian restaurants, where the breakdown is dominated by Americans, with Germans, French, Japanese and Arabs comprising the remainder of the crowd. It's not unlike the international mix you see in New York.
French food is far from dead.
You can go to La Tour d'Argent for the museum pieces, or to Gagnaire for brilliant, modern French food. But it's not the food that is inspiring chefs internationally. For that, you have to come to New York. Like French cuisine, chauvinism thrives in New York. Just ask author and regular Sky contributor Mark Bittman.