I met Rusty in front of Le Relais de l’Entrecôte, he had just arrived.
A quick word about this relatively new Parisian restaurant brasserie. Its owner Marie-Paule Burrus started it with her father Paul Gineste de Saurs, in 1959 and very quickly became what the French call “un succès phénoménal.” With no reservations accepted, I understand more often than not, customers will line up by the front door to be guaranteed a seat. Well quite simply it’s the daily special so no use asking for a menu (there are none) because it’s going to an entrecôte, their famous Rib eye Steak cut in very thin slices and which comes to the table calling your name, dripping parsleyed butter almost crowded out by some of the best darn frites you can imagine. The crown jewel, in my humble opinion, is the sauce that is served alongside the steak. I don’t know what it is and I am still trying to figure it out but it includes a base of mustard and red wine. You, of course, will receive a great Endive Salad, a panier of bread, then two rounds of frites. All you need to decide is how you want your steak and select your wine. There are moments when all is right with the world.
But it’s not one of those restaurants where you can spend a couple of hours discussing life and the great issues of the day. Its good food, service is efficient (I dare not say fast) and busy customers get in and out in time to make their next appointment. In that sense it has a little USA flare to it but of still very French I assure you. We attacked our dish in the company of a bottle of Château de Saurs 2000 Gaillac Rouge – yes the same as Paul Gineste de Saurs the owner who has a wonderful estate with some prized wines.
Rusty and I went into our usual banter back and forth between steak and fries and endive salad. I was curious, waiting for the right moment then I asked what did he want to talk about or was he writing an article about my sauce velouté? If that was the case I was leaving right then and there. Rusty said that in the last two years he had been working the air and space market-both commercial and defense. One of the issues he was sniffing around dealt with technologies that had dual use; this was in fact the same issue that had surfaced quite recently in the press. Rusty knew that my good friend Raymond’s distinguished boutique law firm was defending a small high tech company. Rusty reminded me that The Herald Tribune had run a story about certain technologies having commercial and military applications showing up in various parts of the world and with this particular case finding their way to an Algerian firm supposedly with close ties to China according to some analysts. Rusty understood that it was all about peeling the onion. I thought to myself that in fact it was my friend Max who had first mentioned this story to me. I kept quiet on that point. Rusty took a long thoughful sip of wine then asked since Raymond and I we’re old friends would I discreetly inquire with Raymond if he would speak with him on this developing story strictly “on background.” I told Rusty I would ask.
Ever mindful of our diets we both chose the vacherin au chocolat a rather sinful mixture of meringue, crème Chantilly and fruit. Not all that bad. I finished it all.
I headed home, this time via the Champs-Élysées towards Place de la Concorde, one of my favorite walks and this being springtime, it was delightful. I suppose I needed the walk partly from having been so well fed at lunch but also to think about what Rusty had asked me to do. Two friends involved with the same story. Just coincidental?