I wrote in February about this topic and I thought it would be appropriate to refer to it here too, and add one more thought.

We are entering a new phase in American cuisine as chefs become more committed to fresh, local, up to the minute ingredients.  Less important are classic recipes, more important is perfect provenance and instant creativity.  Have the TV shows Top Chef, Iron Chef and Chopped contributed to this phenomenon?

Remember our wonderful Mondiale dinner at Bibou?  We had no menu until a week before, no pairing dinner, but we did a fantastic job with the wines and Bibou made sublime food.  This was also the case at Paramour in January.  This new reality means that your Bailliage has become more nimble, more responsive and more able to handle the last minute menus we will increasingly receive. 

A note of caution as chefs chase ingredients -- they must become more nimble too, as the timeframe from delivery of the ingredient to the restaurant and the eventual addition of it to the menu is getting shorter.  But perhaps many like it that way, it is certainly more challenging.