Daniel Boulud expounds upon his new Maison Boulud in Beijing in the August/September issue of Haute Living (a magazine that managed to turn four under our radar–happy birthday!). The site of the eatery, Mr. Boulud’s first overseas restaurant, has an interesting pedigree:
Set just minutes from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the restaurant’s location is the former American Embassy to the Qing Dynasty [China’s last imperial dynasty]. It is where Henry Kissinger conducted secret meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and where the Dalai Lama was in residence from 1951 to 1959. It is an absolute honor to be able to call such an iconic setting my Maison à Pékin.
(To his credit, nowhere in the Haute Living piece does Mr. Boulud turn the phrase "Peking duck.")
Above is a YouTube clip of Mr. Boulud in the kitchen of Maison Boulud.
