Boulud in Beijing

Uber-chef/restauranteur Daniel Boulud is in town to oversee the soft-ish opening of his Maison Boulud restaurant in the restored former U.S. Legation (see here for a previous post about this pretty amazing project). While interviewing the amiable (particularly for a chef: no Gordon Ramsay he, though I haven't worked in his kitchen) Chef Daniel (Wikipedia bio here for those who haven't a clue what I'm talking about), I mentioned my favorite Beijing market at Sanyuanli, piquing his interest. Thus I spent a hour or so this morning at the market watching him prowl around inspecting produce, questioning the stall owners about its origin and generally having a good time, as you can see from the picture below:

I am eating at the restaurant tonight (I know; hard work but someone has to do it) and will report further tomorrow for the benefit of all our foodie readers.