One Saturday afternoon last month, six second graders from P.S. 295 in Brooklyn got a head start on the fine-dining life when they visited the acclaimed French restaurant Daniel. There, five waiters presented them with a seven-course tasting menu (after the trio of canapés and an amuse-bouche, naturellement). The meal was overseen by the star chef and eponym himself, Daniel Boulud, whose goal was, he says, for the children to really discover a lot of flavor, a lot of layers, a lot of texture. These discoveries included Smoked Paprika Cured Hamachi (the most-foreign thing for them, Boulud says), Crispy Japanese Snapper (which they loved to see) and Wagyu Beef Rib-Eye (a big success). To capture the childrens reactions, the magazine asked Jeffrey Blitz, the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, to make a video. The initiates seemed to enjoy the experience, but that isnt to say they loved all those flavors and textures. At one point, after tasting a custom-made nonalcoholic cocktail, 7-year-old Chester Parish said: This is, like, the only good course. Its yummy.
