We ALL need to meet at Lavandou either today or tomorrow or both as tomorrow Lavandou is closing, maybe for good this time and we are all so sad about that! I'll be going, was there last night with Lloyd and Teazure and Nancy and many others. It's restaurant week : save on the food , treat yourselves on the wine! Drank a bottle of southern Rhone that we have sold here from Voila Imports for around $42 or so a bottle that was perfect for my Onglet steak and frites and plat des crudites ... what a lovely evening seeing so many people I know, having a chance to see Florence that I have know since she opened the restaurant more than twenty years ago. I used to be invited to share a meal with them and their staff in the late afternoon as they all got ready for their dinner service : what an honor that was to be included then. I'd be delivering wine for their restaurant and Francis would make a point of including me. I will never forget that. Merci Florence! Bonne chance dans la'venir! Vous avez fait une belle affair la-bas! Merci pour ca et pour ta gentillesse et amitie pendant plus des vingt ans! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn The piscture is from years ago when my friend Lew and I dined there! Cheers all, come and taste today with Franceen from 2-6PM, and be sure and stop by Lavandou! TONY 1/18/14
We're off to an early dinner and to celebrate perhaps one last time! Taking something special to share with Florence and the staff. I wonder if her daughters will be there tonight? That would be nice. I know that so many special things have happened there over the years, so many great meals with so many great people, some of that I have see nt there myself and have mentioned. So often I would go and see customers that I know so well, many of them dear friends now. That's really special, too. I would wave or stop and chat and that has always added immeasurably to my times there. In the past when suppliers, reps, brokers, owners and winemakers and others in the business would ask where we could - they could all go for a meal, a tasting , a good time I would mention Lavandou which has become a second home to me. The fact that Francis and Florence invited me to their meals before the dinner service will always stay as one of the highlights for me in restaurant dining, as I love France and my time that I spent there with my family in the seventies. Dining or being at Lavandou always reminds me of that and with
none of the pretense " as Ambassador Ed pointed out yesterday as he grimaced at the closing. He also spoke of " hope, and of a possible silver-lining " as he talked that the ' new ' owners would be giving them their lease as soon as they, in fact owned it : and that Florence has talked so often of needing to remodel and this will give them the time to do this, do it well, and start another possible twenty-plus years of invaluable French dining service and pleasure of " all things French - without the pretense! " I love that, bravo, thanks , merci , et a bientot Florence! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn PS : I cannot forget either how my wife and I years ago when they opened to RAVE reviews and they were half the space without the " old barber shop space " taught her how to love calamari by talking of it as " eating 'X's and O's ". I'll explain that in person to anyone that asks me. Cheers. TONY
Our son just called from New York and he, too is so sad about the possible closing of Lavandou. This cuts him to the quick and he is so bummed that he did not know as he would have liked to eat there again. He said to me : " be sure and eat my favorite stek frites ! " So , as I love that, too I may have to have again tonight the Onglet steak and frites as I also love them and consider them my comfort food and a meal that I loved back in Paris and in France when living there. On verra ce soir mes amis : venez nous joindre si voutes-etes biens 'dans le coing-quartier ' ce soir de le fabuleuse Cleveland Park 2008! A plus tard, TONY
Le diner etait, comme d;ahabitude FABULEUX! Merci Florence et Mac et tous qui travail la-bas. J'ai vu Ambassadoe Ed, Isabel, Senor Taylor qui as dinne la ce soir avec nous. Ca m'a donne grand plaisir. Le Chateau Margaus 1981 etait vraiment fantastique. Le SACY Grand Cru N.V. Champagne etait grand ausisi, le Canard, le Saumon, le porc avec le ' bacon ', le plat melanger avec le saussisons, les petits cornichons, ... et le reste, je suis fatigue en ce moment et ca ne vins pas vite a moi maintenant, les trois sorbets de framboise, mango et coconut, le tarte au citron, les profiteroles et tous le reste : magnifique, vraiment merci! ... a 9:54 PM chez nous en ce moment en Virginie du Nord ... TONY
Merci Florence! ... Quel belle affaire tout ca! N'oublie pas de me donner les noms des gens qui avont travailler chez vous ... TONY
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