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I've had the pleasure of visiting The Point twice, both times in winter.
So, now that it is spring and the woods and mountains around Lake Saranac are bursting with color, I can only wonder how markedly different and utterly beautiful it must be. Nevertheless, I feel I've missed only what I intend to see in the future, and my memories of two bone-cold winter visits at this magnificent resort are as indelible as the diamond bright sun in an intense blue sky reflecting off blankets of virgin snow and deep green forests.
       The Point is unique in the absolute sense of that word; there is nothing quite like it anywhere. Once upon a time there was, in some profusion, for The Point is but one of many summer homes--called rather quaintly "camps"-- built by fabulously wealthy Americans at the turn of the 19th century. Among them was William Avery Rockefeller, who had what he called Camp Wonundra constructed on ten acres of the peninsular of Upper Saranac Lake in New York. Exclusive and reclusive as those camps were, President Theodore Roosevelt's admirable guarantee by law in perpetuity that a vast stretch of the Adirondacks region can never be further developed is one of the great gifts from a man who was one of America's first preservationists.
You come upon The Point by accident, for there are no signs or billboards announcing its location. You turn off one winding road onto a secluded trail leading to a gate where you are let in and welcomed at the main house by an affable crew of people dressed as casually dressed as you will be throughout your stay (with one exception I'll get to in a moment). You are then informed that while you are at The Point, you need pay for nothing beyond your room rate (which is considerable). You may help yourself to the spirits at the bar, wander into the kitchen and ask the chef to make you a snack, pick up some snow shoes in winter and trek to your heart's content, or push off in a canoe troll the placid glories of Saranac Lake. There are no telephones in the rooms (and cell phone reception is iffy), and though you are not far from civilized old towns like Saranac and Lake Placid, which are well worth visiting, you will have a sense of being far from the world you left behind. Peacefulness and utter quiet, disturbed only by the cry of the loon above the lake, are The Point's greatest virtues.

The rooms, where the Rockefellers and their guests lived, are each different from one another and named like stories out of James Fenimore Cooper--Mohawk (left), Iroquois, Eagle's Nest, Trapper, Weatherwatch (below) Evensong, and Sentinel--and there is a fabulous Boat House (below, right) where you may also sleep under a gauzy curtain. iiii

Each is done in the crafted wood and stone of the area, and the decor is impeccable from blankets and quilts to bedposts and hassocks. The bathrooms are charming, if not large, and each room has a fireplace; my only curiosity is why the electrical outlets and cords are so visibly antiquated.
There is a lavish breakfast with plenty of carbs to allow a major push into the mountains--and a light lunch, including a barbecue by the lake. But dinner is very special. It is communal, a concept that might put some people off, but on the occasions I've dined here I've found my tablemates fascinating, from just about every walk of life; conversations tend to be on a civilized, high level (as long as you stay off politics, a topic always on a very low level).
The dining room (below) in the great hall, with its walls gorgeously fitted with polished knot-free pine and an array of game heads, bespeak a time when ladies and gentlemen dressed for dinner even in the backwoods, and jackets are customary for gentlemen each evening. But on Wednesdays and Saturdays a tradition of black tie is happily upheld, and it becomes a grand and special pleasure to do so. The women dress need not be told to dress beautifully, and there is not a whiff of pretension in the evening. Well-trained, affable servers bring forth Chef Kevin McCarthy's seven-course dinners, which change every night. They are accompanied by fine wines (they are much finer than they used to be), and end with the offer of Ports or brandies.

On my last visit the menus ranged from a velouté of butternut squash with pear compote and cinnamon chantilly cream as a starter to a salad of jumbo crab meat with a touch of citrus and vanilla as a seafood plate, accompanied by Jos. Drouhin "Folatiéres" Puligny Montrachet '02. zzzzzzzzz

Braised veal with celery root purée and truffle jus followed, with Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon '95, then a pineapple sorbet intermezzo, and then a roast rack and loin of lamb with potatoes fondant and a Burgundy reduction, accompanied by another Jordan vintage, '92. Cheeses came next, then a Champagne raspberry délice ended the meal, with a South African dessert wine, Vin de Constance from Klein Constantia, '99.
On another evening we enjoyed seared turbot with shrimp and an oyster mushroom emulsion, and fine roast quail with winter vegetables, then a tenderloin of succulent bison with grilled foie gras and Madeira jus, a taste of Cheddar and an "exploration" of chocolate.
Some will then have their brandies, and some will sit before the fire; others, like my wife and me, go out for a walk in the silent woods, hopeful that a bright moon will be above the lake in an enormous sky with more stars than can be imagined and a silence broken only by a whispery breeze.

The announcement two weeks ago that gastro-entrepreneur Alain Ducasse (left) had fired Christian Delouvrier as chef of Alain Ducasse NY (ADNY) after only a few months in that position is as disappointing as it is telling. Delouvrier had been brought in to bolster the luster of Ducasse's ultra-pricey NY operation, despite a four-star rating conferred in 2001 by NY Times critic William Grimes. When the new Times critic Frank Bruni recently reduced that rating by a star, asserting that neither the food nor service merited the highest Times rating, Ducasse reacted not by supporting the efforts of his friend and colleague Delouvrier but by sending him out of the kitchen.   I felt that Delouvrier, a highly respected chef previously at the defunct L'Espinasse, had brought ADNY to its highest level of culinary excellence since opening in 1999. So did Ducasse, at least until Bruni disagreed.
     If Ducasse truly believed Delouvrier was a four-star chef, he should not have fired him solely because a transitory Times critic feels he is not. Ducasse simply caved. Fortunately he has brought in another superb chef, Tony Esnault, whose work I applauded at the Dining Room (now closed) at Boston's Ritz-Carlton.
       Ducasse explained his action to the Times by saying, "I am at the top in Paris, in Monte Carlo and in Tokyo, and I cannot remain with three stars in New York." But while it is true that his Louis XV restaurant in Monaco and his flagship Paris dining room at the Plaza-Athenée so indeed currently hold the top Michelin rating of three stars (though Louis XV lost it for one year), many of Ducasse's other 30-or-so enterprises around the world do not. He has already changed the chef and concept at Mix in NYC three times, to no stellar avail.
     The question is, does Ducasse want to create and staff what he feels is a great New York restaurant or does he merely need the benediction of three stars from the Times critic? The latter lends a sour irony to Oscar Wilde's observation that "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."   It also feeds the deeper question of how much attention Ducasse can possibly pay to any of his establishments. He says that he will now visit New York more often. Of course, the only true challenge would be for Ducasse actually to cook at ADNY every night until the Times critic slinks back unannounced for another review, which is unlikely to happen for at least another year. Ducasse, however, has long contended with some odd degree of pride that he doesn't actually cook any more, but that his management team, the Alain Ducasse Group, assures a high level of consistency in his absence.
     If the man has anything like the grueling travel schedule of restaurateur Charles Palmer, who recently said he spends at least two weeks out of the month on the road; or if, like Mario Batali, he is attending as many celebrity chef events and TV Food Network slots as there are days in the week, while opening more restaurants from here to California; or like Tom Colicchio, whose fame was built as a master chef at NYC's Gramercy Tavern but who has increasingly turned to opening steakhouses around the country; or if he is anything like, well, you know the names--Emeril, Todd, Wolfgang, Bobby Flay, Nobu--who appear in ads and on TV in their whites, pretending to be cooking at their myriad restaurants--then Ducasse must be at the very least dead tired. How can he possibly know if the daube de boeuf at his Paris bistro Aux Lyonnais was perfect last night, or did a soufflé fall at Tamaris in Beirut, or that the terrine of chicken is cold at Mix in Vegas, or the soup salty at Beige in Tokyo?
     I hear time and again from these peripatetic, empire-building, rich chef--entrepreneurs that such is the only way truly to succeed in the restaurant business today. Yet there are scores of hard-working chefs and restaurateurs mmmmmmmmmm

who cook in their restaurants almost every day they are open, often putting in 14-hour-days behind at their stove, in their office, out front, and giving all they've got to their guests, night after night. Consider Alain Passard at Arpège in Paris; Nadia Santini at Dal Pescatore in Canneto sul Oglio, Italy; and Pierre Wynants of Comme Chez Soi in Brussels, all with three Michelin stars. In the U.S. the highest accolades have long been awarded to stay-put chefs like Patrick O'Connell at The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA; Julian Serrano at Picasso in Las Vegas; Anthony Mantuano at Spiaggia in Chicago; Alfred Portale at Gotham Bar & Grill in NYC; and Paul Bertolli at Oliveto in Oakland, CA, all chefs who still believe that they owe it to their guests to be there. And they all make a very good living showing up. Christian Delouvrier (right) was one of those chefs, at the stove every night working mightily for Ducasse, if always in his fleeting shadow.
But maybe good hard work does pay off in the end. Maybe being there matters more than being famous. And maybe belief in one's own standards proves the truth of the Bard's admonition in "Julius Caesar" that "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves."

* Chef Jacques Pépin will host a 14-day culinary odyssey aboard Oceania Cruises’ Insignia. Sailing from Lisbon to Venice on Aug. 25. Ports of call include Seville, Barcelona, Provence, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Florence, Rome, Dubrovnik, Umbria and Venice Master Sommeliers and guest wine experts will lead guests through wine tastings. With airfare, the package is $3,499 per guest.. Call 800-531-5658 or visit www.OceaniaCruises.com.

* On June 5 in St. Helena, CA, the St. Helena Viticultural Society is throwing The Ultimate Open House at the Crocker Estate, in partnership with Crocker & Starr Wines, showing 30 wineries that produce wines grown within the St. Helena appellation, $25 pp. Tix may be purchased www.sthelenaviticulturalsociety.org

* On June 6, a “Meet the Winemaker” 5-course dinner featuring Annegret Reh-Gartner, president and co-owner of Reichsgraf von Kesselstat, will be held at Boston’s Meritage, prepared by chef Daniel Bruce. $125 pp. Call 617-439-3995.

* In DC, Café Atlántico holds 4 events in June to mark its fifteenth anniversary. June 6—Cata De Vinos, a South American wine tasting of the best from Café Atlántico's wine list. $120 pp.; June 15—Exec Chef José Andrés and Head Chef Katsuya Fukushima will create a menu accompanied by a selection of wines selected by Tod Victor Mostero, the Almaviva winemaker; $125 pp; June 25--Final bidding of a silent art auction featuring paintings by South American artists whose work is on the restaurant's walls. Additionally two large birds displayed in Café Atlántico, "Peacock" and "Parrot" by Sergio Bustamante will be auctioned off; June 27--Andrés and Fukushima welcome guest chefs Douglas Rodriguez of Ola in Miami and Guillermo Pernot of Pasión! in Philadelphia for a Latino dinner. $150 pp. Call 202-393-0812.

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani, Naomi Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).

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