*The salad au crottin chaud is one of these rare specialties to which it is possible to assign a plausible paternity (or, rather, maternity). It first appeared in the early sixties on the menu of Les Belles Gourmandes, the terrific restaurant of chef Henri Faugeron, located on a little side street off the rue du Bac in Paris. Faugeron, who later moved to the hoity-toity 16th arrondissement, went as high as two Michelin stars, but never to three. He told me it was a little old Parisian lady, a passerby who stopped to inspect the menu posted by the front door—a favorite pastime for pedestrians everywhere in Paris—and came into his restaurant one morning to suggest he add a dish she enjoyed making herself: heating a goat cheese to nearly melting and serving it on salad with a good, strong vinaigrette. He was so impressed that he wanted to offer her a free meal for it. She refused and disappeared like an aged fairy godmother into the carbon monoxide haze of boulevard St. Germain, never to be seen again.