I simply dont believe this.

I havent been to France since last fall, but I was there at that time. As were lots of other Americans at the meeting I was at. And I have been there a number of other times and I have never had this happen and havent heard of it happening. Moreover, I have been to several of the ones on this list in France. Taillevent on each visit, and I have been there a fair number of times, has had better service than any other restaurant I have been to. Pierre Gagnaire has also had outstanding service on the multiple times I have been there. I should also add that my wife and I were in Taillevent in the first week of September 2001. A week or so after September 11 we received in the mail a hand written note from the owner saying that he noticed a New York address on the reservation we just had and that he hoped we and our loved ones were safe.

Oh and the reason there are lots of French restaurants is that they tend to be real good. Several of the ones in the US are also French.