Smile, it’s kitchen camera

A friend once told a story about dining at Spago one night, seeing Wolfgang Puck there, and then flying up to San Francisco in time for breakfast at Postrio the next morning.

When he arrived at the door of Puck’s San Francisco restaurant, who should open the door but someone who looked very like Puck himself.

For high-powered chefs who have restaurants in different cities, often thousands of miles, if not continents, apart, the question may not be Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be,” but, “to clone or not to clone.” It’s impossible to be in two or more places at once.

Or is it?

Thomas Keller, who juggles the French Laundry in Napa Valley with its city cousin Per Se in Manhattan, has it figured out. In each kitchen, he’s mounted a 32-inch plasma monitor. The one in Napa looks in on the kitchen at Per Se and vice versa.

It’s quite the gizmo. From his Yountville kitchen where he is most of the time, he can zoom in on the stoves in New York, close enough to monitor the sizzle in a saute pan, or with the remote control, pan over to the pastry area to see what’s doing.

Mostly, though, the screen is there so the chefs in the two kitchens can communicate with each other. It’s also got to give comfort on a busy night when you can see the team on the other side of the continent hunkering down to work just as meticulously and as hard.

When Keller first installed the monitors, he tried leaving on the sound, but it got confusing, he says. When someone in New York yelled, “Fire the duck,” a cook in Yountville would begin preparing the duck meant for a table at Per Se, not the French Laundry. So Keller nixed the soundtrack.

Except when the two kitchens are not in service. Then the system comes in handy. Chefs de cuisine Cory Lee in California and Jonathan Benno in New York can show each other new dishes. And Keller can show both kitchens how he wants something done, thus exercising his inner Julia Child. He recently used the screen system to demonstrate a compressed fruit technique, i.e., taking a piece of watermelon and compressing it under sous vide, which concentrates the color and the flavor.

The video monitors are useful up to a point, says Keller. “It’s nice to be in somebody else’s kitchen all day. We worked with all the crew in New York for so long and we miss them. It’s like dropping in on old friends.”

S. Irene Virbila

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Small bites

* Cecile Tang Shu-shuen arrived in Los Angeles from Hong Kong in 1987 and opened Joss, one of the first contemporary Chinese restaurants in L.A. with a reputable wine list. While its restaurant neighbors came and went on Sunset Boulevard, Joss endured. But now, 19 years later, the lease option has expired and the restaurant closed March 31. Now Shu-shuen is looking for a new location. The restaurant was always low profile with a loyal following, Shu-shuen says, “but being low-profile isn’t so great when you’re trying to relocate.” In the meantime, Joss catering is available at (310) 277-6139.

* The new French 75 Bistro in Burbank, along with the two French 75 locations in Orange County (Irvine and Laguna Beach), as well as sister restaurant Rouge in Newport Beach, have introduced family-style suppers on Sunday evenings priced at $19.95 a person. One week the entree might be coq au vin, the next, beef bourguignon. The price also includes soup or salad, a side and vegetables. French 75 Bistro, 3400 W. Olive Ave., Burbank, (818) 955-5100; French 75 Brasserie, 13290 Jamboree Road, Irvine, (714) 573-7600; French 75 Bistro & Champagne Bar, 1464 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 494-8444; Rouge Bistro & Bar, 327 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, (949) 640-2754.