Restaurants Where the Beef Isn’t

In Europe, these are tough times to be a beef eater. First there was mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which riddles the brains of its victims with sponge-like holes. It hit Great Britain hard and has spread to the Continent, where updates on la vache folle (French) and mucca pazza (Italian) are heard almost daily.

Cattle contract the fatal, untreatable disease from eating contaminated feed. But infected animals may appear healthy for years before they develop symptoms, which include bizarre behavior changes. If they are slaughtered for meat, it can infect people who consume it. (There have been close to 100 known human victims so far, all but five of them British.) Burgers, sausages, meat on the bone and organ meats are thought to pose a greater risk than muscle meat because they are more likely to contain nerve fibers, which is where the apparent disease agents-mutated proteins called prions-are found. (Scrapie, a related disease of sheep, does not spread to other species, so lamb and mutton do not pose a threat to people.)

Britain believes it conquered its mad cow problem by destroying and incinerating millions of cattle and banning the use of ground-up slaughterhouse byproducts in feed, which was the practice that brought about the crisis. But a new catastrophe has moved front and center: Now foot-and-mouth, a highly contagious viral disease, is threatening much of Britain’s livestock. Humans rarely contract the disease but can transmit it easily.

The infection causes blisters on the feet and mouth of cloven-hoofed animals-including cattle, pigs, sheep and goats-that result in lameness and make eating painful. The disease was identified in Britain on Feb. 20, and earlier this month British officials announced plans to destroy up to 100,000 animals suspected of having come in contact with it-besides the 200,000 already slaughtered in an effort to contain the disease.

Public events in affected areas have been canceled lest visitors carry the foot-and-mouth virus home as an unintended souvenir. In Ireland, Dublin canceled its St. Patrick’s Festival. Despite the precautions, the first case of foot-and-mouth was reported in France on March 13.

People planning European vacations this year must ponder: Do I dare eat the meat? Will I find any when I get there?

The answer to the second question is yes. Though hundreds of thousands of animals are being slaughtered, no one is yet suggesting that meat won’t be available.

The answer to the first question is something you’ll have to decide.

Certainly there was no shortage of beef on restaurant menus in Paris and London when I visited in late February. Bistros and brasseries still feature entrecote of beef and osso buco (veal shank), steak frites and saucisses.

At McDonald’s on the Champs-Elysees, people were digging into “Le 280,” a 280-gram (10-ounce) burger. (But McDonald’s has reported slumping European sales figures for the past two months and blames much of that on mad cow fear.)

For the wary, the simplest solution is to avoid beef while in Europe. You won’t be alone.

‘I never sold so much white wine in winter,” said our waiter at Bon, a stylish restaurant in Paris. “This winter, no one orders meat. Everyone orders fish. It’s bizarre.”

Happily, avoiding beef in European restaurants is easy. Here’s a collection of happening places in Paris and London where it will never occur to you to ask, “Where’s the beef?”

Paris

Bon: The name means “good’-as in “good for you.” Set menus at this sleek, multilevel restaurant include an all-vegetarian collection and a menu dietetique There are several sushi and sashimi options; indeed, you can skip the menu altogether and dine at the sushi bar. And there’s exactly one beef item on the menu-a steak that is listed in the menu’s “I Am Bad” category, which includes fried potatoes.

But a millefeuille of artichoke and crab, over a coarse-textured lobster sauce, tastes indulgent enough for me. Ditto for crab risotto, and sesame-scented dorade fillet over jasmine rice.

L’Arpege: Alain Passard made headlines recently when he announced that his brilliant restaurant, given three stars by the Guide Michelin, would no longer serve meat. Inasmuch as entrees at l’Arpege begin at $40 and crest over $90, we wondered what a $90 vegetable dish would taste like.

Well, it turns out there actually is one meat dish-a breast of pigeon-and still a fair amount of seafood (the highest-priced dishes generally involve lobster, truffles or both). As no one has discovered anything wrong with the seafood over here, we happily dug in.

Passard’s creations delight the mind and palate. We started with his signature amuse-gueule, or pre-dinner nibble, a lightly cooked, in-shell brown egg with maple-flavored cream and a touch of wine vinegar. Next came heavenly quenelles of avocado and prawn mousses over black caviar. Sea urchins were coddled in a broth flavored with nasturtiums.

Barely cooked scallops sat on a bed of leeks with candied shallot puree. A flawless filet of sole was paired with lemon grass-scented onions and yellow wine sauce.

I first dined at l’Arpege nine years ago, and the signature dessert, tomato confit, was the most unusual I’d ever had. The same is true today. Two small tomatoes are cooked in sweet syrup, then stuffed with a melange of finely diced fruits and nuts. Flanking the tomatoes are two quenelles of anise ice cream. This dessert sounds too weird to try, but it’s terrific.

Dinner for two: $440. I hope my boss thinks it was worth it.

Spoon, Food & Wine: From the formality of l’Arpege, we went to the anything-goes spontaneity of Spoon, Food & Wine, just steps from the Champs-Elysees. Alain Ducasse is perhaps the world’s most celebrated chef, but at the casual Spoon, he lets his hair down.

The interior is sleek and austere. Wood tables are topped with linen place mats. Shiny white walls contrast with deep-purple banquettes and dark wood floors.

Customers decide which sauce goes with a chosen dish. The salad section, for instance, lists four greens, four sauces and four accents. You can match curly endive with horseradish sauce and croutons, or sprouts with ravigote (a spicy vinaigrette) and steamed shrimp. The menu encourages patrons to “create the unthinkable.”

You’ll start with an amuse, which in our case was pumpkin mousse seasoned with Indian spices and slivered almonds, served in a shooter glass and scooped out with miniature spoons. Then pristine sea bass ceviche, matched to sauce grenobloise (capers, lemon, butter, croutons), or an odd salad of endive, pumpkin chutney and thick, pig-ear-sized pieces of bacon.

Entrees include excellent turbot with a sauce of chopped oysters, capers and onions, over a bed of barely sauteed spinach; the fish’s bones are battered and deep-fried until crisp and edible. And yes, there is a little meat on the menu, including a mini-rack of lamb and braised lamb meat, accompanied by a tagine of couscous, apricots and figs.

Desserts include “Un coup de Spoon,” a chocolate-honey bar with a hazelnut-crisp interior, crowned with a spun-sugar spoon.

London

The Square: Anti-beef hysteria has not made an impact at this stellar Mayfair restaurant. Chef Phillip Howard’s French menu includes a seared-filet appetizer, a daube of beef braised in red wine, and-gasp-roasted sweetbreads. Nevertheless, there is plenty for the meatless gourmet to consider.

One chooses either the prix-fixe three-course dinner for about $75, or the six-course tasting menu for $90. There are about a dozen appetizer and entree options.

The meal starts with a little amuse, perhaps a mushroom-red wine soup topped with a sea scallop. Appetizers include a veloute of artichoke, a puddle in a wide bowl that also has chanterelles, artichoke bottoms and a poached egg topped with a sliver of black truffle. A filet of red mullet arrives draped over a salad of fennel, pine nuts, lemon and Parmesan.

A lasagna of crab and scallops mousseline is light and airy, and so is the accompanying broth-which is shellfish-flavored, tinged green with basil and foamed, cappuccino style.

Entree highlights include crispy-skinned sea bass matched to a tasty piece of smoked eel and horseradish mousseline. And we did have a little meat: outstanding roast pigeon, served with a slightly tart Madeira sauce and a bit of liver pressed between leaves of savoy cabbage; and herb-crusted lamb saddle, so thick it resembled a slab of prime rib.

For dessert we indulged in flawless prune and Armagnac souffle, with a scoop of malted-milk ice cream folded in; a delightful fruit soup with jelled passion fruit shapes; and a sizable lemon tart with a caramelized sugar topping.

Service is correct without appearing stuffy, and waiters are conversational and friendly when discussing the menu.

Gordon Ramsay: Now that chef Ramsay has the only London restaurant with three Michelin stars, it is extremely difficult to book a table here. Hint: Tables are less in demand at lunchtime, and prices can be downright reasonable.

Indeed, at lunch you can order dishes off the dinner menu-they’re smaller at lunch, of course-in a three-course, $90 format. Or try the bargain prix-fixe lunch, a very short menu that features three courses for $45.

The chief sacrifice in the lower-priced prix fixe is variety, which can be problematic if you’re dead set against ordering meat. There are only two starter courses and two main courses available, and you choose from one or two desserts or the cheese tray. Starters might include langoustine-stuffed tortellini with a scallop and tarragon cream sauce, surrounded by ribbons of leek and tiny chanterelle mushrooms; or a cold terrine layering ham knuckle, foie gras, cabbage and chicken, with a drizzle of vivid green cilantro oil, overlapping arches of slivered haricots verts and black truffle matchsticks.

Second courses include grilled brill over brandade (Provencal cod puree) and white and green asparagus; what appears to be fine pepper on the plate is actually ground truffle. And the fearless may try braised beef shank, topped with a bit of bone marrow.

Desserts include a delicious rum panna cotta, and a blood-orange jelly with bits of fruit and orange-blossom ice cream in a martini glass.

Then there are the complimentary extras, such as the pumpkin-veloute amuse-gueule that begins the meal and the macaroons and silky chocolates that end it.

Quaglino’s: Sir Terence Conran has undeniable style, whether in the home furnishings or fine-dining arena. A case in point is this breathtaking brasserie near Piccadilly Circus, which has eye candy everywhere you look.

If you like making a grand entrance, make a point of descending the ornate marble staircase to the wide open, mirror-walled dining room with artist-painted columns, display kitchen and cobalt blue glass skylight.

Its proximity to several London theaters makes Quaglino’s an appealing pre-or post-theater destination, and to that end the restaurant offers a bargain prix fixe, available at lunch, in the early evening (until 6:30 p.m.) and, on weekdays, after 11 p.m. There are three dishes in the starter, main course and dessert categories; select two courses for about $20 or three for $25.

Starters include a tasty thyme and onion tart, potted chicken topped with a dab of pepper oil, and a mild curried parsnip soup. Among main courses, a leg-thigh portion of duck confit is nicely done. A moist piece of roasted salmon is bathed in a sauce vierge (a beaten lemon-butter sauce).

The kitchen scored well as a pre-theater destination; the meal was paced comfortably, yet we were back out the door in less than 90 minutes.

Tamarind: There can’t be too many Indian restaurants prettier than this one (and with a Michelin star under its belt, there aren’t many better ones, either). Set on a quiet side street in Mayfair, Tamarind offers an agreeable mix of contemporary and traditional decor and cuisine in an elegant room. Through a window you can watch the cook methodically move food in and out of the tandoor, a very hot, very dry clay oven.

As with most Indian restaurants, there is little meat on the menu, and no beef. The seafood selection is small, but what is offered is pretty impressive.

Monkfish cubes, marinated in saffron and yogurt, are served as a kebab, lightly grilled outside and wonderfully moist inside. Tandoor-roasted prawns and scallops come with sour grapes and mint, an intriguing mix of flavors. The braised lamb with five-spice mix is terrific, and the vegetable biryani is the finest I’ve ever had. There was a slight problem with service during our visit; when the gap between the appetizers and entrees grew to more than 30 minutes, there were apologies, extra pappadum wafers to tide us over and no fewer than three updates on our entrees’ progress. And free dessert.

*

Phil Vettel is a restaurant critic for the Chicago Tribune.