Question of the Day - 02 December 2006

Mon Ami Gabi is one of the many restaurants at Paris and something of a favorite of ours (we wrote about it in last June's LVA). While the food at this indoor/outdoor brasserie remains authentic however you pronounce it, the name, like so many French phrases, seems to lose something of its romance in translation. "My Friend" or, worse still, "My Mate Gabi" just don't have the same ring to it, somehow. So, to help you stick to the French original, here's the requested pronunciation, which we've expanded to include some of the other Gallic eateries around town. Rather than the official symbols used in dictionaries, which we don't always understand, we've used a strictly phonetic system all of our own:

• Mon Ami Gabi (Paris): pr. Monamee Ga-bee (the 'o' is short like the first 'o' in "mongoose" or "monsoon," the 'a' is short like in "apple," and the first two words are rolled together into one).

• Alizé (Palms): pr. A-lee-zay (another short 'a' sound).

• André's (downtown and Monte Carlo): pr. On-dray's (or that's close enough).

• Bouchon (Venetian): pr. Boo-shon (soft on the 'n' -- your tongue stops before it touches the top of your mouth when you pronounce it, so you kind of gently swallow the end of the sound instead).

• Fleur de Lys (Mandalay Bay): pr. Flur-d'-lease (like "fur" with an 'l', then the sound of a 'd' alone - don't pronounce the 'e', then "lease" like the lease on your car).

• Daniel Boulud (Wynn): pr. dan-YELL boo-LOO (this is straight from his PR dept. -- we found it on another site).

• Restaurant Guy Savoy (Caesars): Ghee Sav-wah (from the same site, courtesy of the man himself).

• La Crêperie (Paris): Yikes! This is a tough one. "La" is simple enough -- it's that short 'a' sound again, as in "apple" or "bat." The "Crêperie" part is where it gets tricky, thanks largely to the 'r' sounds, both of which are those guttural rolling French r's that aren't present in English, for which we should be thankful. If you just use a regular 'r' sound, you won't be too far off: cray-pair-ee is close enough for an anglicized version. The pancake itself is a "crêpe" and, as we read on another site, you can rhyme that with "step" or with "grape" and be okay -- but you don't pronounce the 's' if it's plural.

• Le Café Île St. Louis (Paris): "Le" is almost like the "loo" part of the word "look"; ka-fay is easy enough; Île is like "eel"; St. is short for "Saint" and is pronounced "San"; and Louis is like Hewie with an "l", so altogether it's loo'-kaf-ay-eel-san-lewie.

• Le Provençal (Paris): Loo' (as above) Pro-von-sal ("pro" as in "prod", "von" like "Vons" the store, minus the 's', and "sal" like in "saloon").

• Lutèce (Venetian): pr. Loo-tess (this time it's a long 'oo' like "cool").

• L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon: pr. La-tell-ee-ay d' (as above) Jo-el (rhymes with "Noël," with a soft 'j' like the 'g' in mirage) Rob-oo-shon (a soft 'n', like Bouchon, above).

  And some other useful words:

• escargots (snails): pr. ess-car-go

• Cirque du Soleil: pr. Surk (like "Turk") do (like a short crisp "I do") so-lay (short 'so-' like in "sock")

• Mystère: pr. Meest-air

Bon chance!