Well sure, it was incredible food, but it wasn't about the food Saturday at the Maisonette. It was about Jean-Robert de Cavel and his very last night in the Maisonette kitchen.

        A full house of mostly regulars ran managing partner Michael Comisar ragged as he tried to oversee the party crowd, many of them wolfing down a specially prepared 11-course meal. And different wine with every course, so you know the party got plenty loose as the night wore on.

        “Is this a great wake or what?” asked theme park consultant Dennis Speigel, flashing a tiny picture of de Cavel that he had pinned under his lapel.

de Cavel

        Among the regulars there for three hours of non-stop food: Roger and Janet Ach, wondering “What boycott?” Car dealer Jeff Wyler, cooling his heels in the bar waiting for the rain to let up. Jock stars' attorney Reuven Katz (Johnny Bench, Pete Rose); longtime Jean-Robert fans Jimmy Sattler and Leigh Orlov, who flew in from Fort Lauderdale to join in after cleaning up storm debris at the Watch Hill home they just sold; florist Dennis Buttelwerth who has placed a zillion roses on Maisonette tables; Downtown Cincinnati Inc. light rail adviser John Schneider and wife April, who found 11 courses so daunting she had to slip into the bar to smoke; Paula's Gourmet Deli owner Paula Kirk with two friends who Speigel claimed were the Witches of Eastwick; former Maisonette maitre d' and loyal de Cavel friend Richard Brown, who's now at the Palace.

        Mary Lou Lind, 27 years a server at Maisonette sister restaurant LaNormandie, was there to party, provide historical perspective and plan more parties.

        “I was here his (de Cavel's) first night and now I'm here on his last,” she said, fiddling with a pink fur purse and tottering on 4-inch yellow heels. Sort of a human parentheses, someone called her.

        She was also talking up a 40th birthday party for de Cavel: “It's during Gourmet Sensation (the annual Hospice fund-raiser that assembles 25 or so chefs to work their magic), so we're going to party there after it. I already hired a band. Be there.”

        She was also planning an after-party for Saturday night. “I'm sure tonight is going to be a late one,” she said about midnight or so. “I know Michael (Comisar) had extra champagne, and we can't let it go to waste.”

        She was just finishing the cheese course at that point and wondering if de Cavel could whip up some truffle omelettes.

        There was also plenty of talk about Jean-Robert at Pigall's, the restaurant de Cavel is opening on Fourth Street, probably in January, once the building is renovated.

        “Of course it will be spectacular. That's all he knows how to do. I just hate the idea of all these months without his food,” Sattler said.

        “We'll just have to have more parties,” Lind offered, fending off retailer Chris Mitchell, who wanted to steal her fur purse for the dashboard of his car.

        Chef de Cavel stayed in the kitchen through most of this commotion, finally making an appearance in the dining room a little after midnight. To a standing ovation, no less, before the crowd waddled off for nightcaps at Jeff Ruby's and Havana Martini Club.

        E-mail knipenquirer@yahoo.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/knip

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