Boston Restaurants Pay Tribute to Julia Child

[Photo: Gaslight Brasserie/Cal Bingham]

Julia Child would have turned 100 on August 15th this year (she passed away days shy of her 92nd birthday in 2004), and restaurants around the country, including many in Boston and Cambridge, are paying tribute to the legendary chef, TV personality, and author with Julia Child Restaurant Week from August 7th to August 15th. (Conveniently enough, Boston's own summer Restaurant Week(s) takes place over the following two weeks, so you can get your prix-fixe-ing on throughout most of August.) While Child's legacy is international, she was a local fixture as well, living in Cambridge for over 40 years. Her kitchen provided the setting for three of her television series, and when she retired to California in 2001, the entire kitchen was moved to the Smithsonian.

As Child is most notable for bringing classic French cooking into the American home, Boston-area participants in Julia Child Restaurant Week include an appropriately French contingent of Aquitaine, Clio, Gaslight Brasserie, Grill 23 & Bar, Harvest, Lumiere, Menton, Petit Robert Bistro, Pigalle, Rialto, Sandrine's Bistro, and Sel de la Terre.

Participating restaurants will serve a selection of dishes from 100 of Child's classics, narrowed down from her nearly 3500 recipes by a committee including chefs and writers such as Jacques Pepin, Dorie Greenspan, Ruth Reichl, and Amanda Hesser. At Menton, for example, the four-course menu includes saddle of lamb and baked Alaska, while Pigalle will serve a five-course menu that includes sole meuniere and split pea soup. Bon appétit!

· Julia Child Restaurant Week [jc100]