Boston-born, 94-year-old non-fiction film wizard Frederick Wiseman turns his gaze to one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world in “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros,” and I hesitate to say that the results are delicious. Even at a feast-worthy length of 240 minutes, I remained fully engrossed in this unflinchingly exhaustive examination of the way a French restaurant that has had three Michelin stars for over 50 years operates. Anyone wondering if Wiseman made the film in order to get to eat at Le Bois sans Feiulles in France’s Loire Valley for as long as it took to make the film is not alone.
Over the course of the drama, we spend time with restaurateur-patriarch Michel Troisgros, a master of the history of the culinary arts in France and the Far East, and learn about his very high standards as he passes the baton to his son Cesar, while his younger son Leo runs another family restaurant La Colline. We also hear about a third Troisgros restaurant. Guests at these establishments, especially Les Troisgros, often stay at a hotel also operated by the Troisgros family.
At first, we see how greens and vegetables are chosen. But soon enough the conversation shifts to fish: trout, pike and perch. Have you had a quenelle? Could you master a mousseline? In addition to the produce market, we visit a fromagerie, where cheeses are made and aged, a vineyard and a cattle ranch, where we learn about the latest techniques for raising plants and animals in organic, renewable and humane ways. Throughout the film, Wiseman will divide his time between the restaurant and its grounds and the nearby farms and markets where the food is examined and procured.
In the kitchen, a young chef steps away to read a recipe out of Escoffier’s “Le Guide Culinaire.” We watch as artichokes and asparagus are trimmed, cockles sorted, crayfish corralled. We hear about Cesar’s design for a completely open kitchen, divided between hot and cold, where everything from meat and fish to breads, cakes and pastries can be made. Brains and other sweetbreads are on the menu as are humble hams and pigs’ feet. Efficiency, order and cleanliness reign supreme. No one is screaming or having a meltdown. Gordon Ramsay would not feel at home here.
Bottles of La Tache and Puligny-Montrachet might be had for a breathtaking 10,000 euros or more. Assistants and servers are sent to nearby woods to collect flowers to decorate the plates. A farmer explains how his cattle are directed in the field using movable fences to feed evenly on the grass. Hams are smoked, bread baked. The entire, precision operation suggests something military. Menus are discussed and written. A cheesemonger rattles off the names of 30 varieties on his tray.
For all of his career, Wiseman has been pulling aside the curtain on different institutions: a public hospital (“Titicut Follies”), library (“Ex Libris”), park (“Central Park”), racetrack “Racetrack”), zoo (“Zoo”) and ballet troupe (“La Danse”). Here, he gives us a restaurant surpassing in exclusivity the one in the recent (and not very good) foodie satire “The Menu” with Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy. Le Bois sans Feiulles (The Forest Without Leaves) is a restaurant for the 1%. It is a family restaurant, if your family’s name is Bezos, a subject Wiseman strangely does not address.
Toward the end, we visit a humble shepherd-farmer who supplies the restaurant with goat cheese and identifies his goats by name. A vineyard owner speaks passionately about plants that do not “compete” with the vines. Beekeepers proffer honey. Back at the restaurant, tablecloths are ironed; vases placed on tables, a helicopter lands on a patch of grass outside. We visit a wine cellar full of treasures. Cesar mingles with his guests. How many more helicopters can be expected?
(“Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” contains obscenely expensive food and drink)
Not Rated. In French with subtitles. At the Coolidge Corner Theater
Grade: A-
BOSTON (WHDH) – Police are investigating a shooting in Downtown Crossing that occurred Thursday night.
Officials said the shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. near Tremont and Temple Streets.
When officers arrived on scene, they found a man with a gunshot wound; he is expected to survive.
Police have not said if any arrests have been made.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Local News
An East Boston father is suing ICE, alleging immigration agents unlawfully stopped, arrested, and detained him because of his race and national origin despite having his legal status, his lawyers said.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Jose Pineda, a 62-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades and is authorized to remain and work through humanitarian relief, the nonprofit legal organization said in a press release.
The suit is seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, and severe emotional distress.
“I came to the United States to escape the civil war that devastated El Salvador. I worked hard, started a family, and built a life here,” said Pineda, who works as a landscaper and lives with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. “I never expected to feel that kind of fear again, much less in the United States.”
According to the 30-page complaint, written by LCR senior attorneys Victoria Miranda and Mirian Albert, Pineda has been a recipient of Temporary Protected Status, which allows certain foreign nationals from designated countries to live and work legally in the U.S.
Pineda also had a pending asylum petition and had been granted a T visa, which provides immigration protections to trafficking victims, the complaint states.
“We will not stand idly by as ICE wreaks havoc on immigrant families. Through racial profiling, ICE agents are carrying out an unquestionably discriminatory agenda,” Miranda said in the release. “The law exists to protect people like Mr. Pineda, and it must be enforced against ICE.”
The lawsuit stems from a May 2025 encounter in Weymouth, where Pineda was driving a landscaping truck to a job site when agents in unmarked ICE vehicles surrounded him, according to the complaint.
“The aggressive nature of the questioning made it clear to Mr. Pineda that he was not being judged based on any evidence of unlawful conduct, but rather on his identity, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin,” Pineda’s attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit alleges ICE officers then “forcibly” handcuffed and shackled Pineda before taking him to the agency’s field office in Burlington.
Officers searched Pineda’s belongings during the stop and again at the field office, allegedly confiscating $600 in cash that he intended to use to pay his family’s rent. The money has not been returned, according to the complaint.
Pineda spent two days in ICE custody under what the lawsuit describes as “cruel and inhumane conditions.”
“After what ICE did to me, and after everything my family has endured, I don’t know if I will ever truly feel safe again,” Pineda said.
According to the complaint, he was held in severely overcrowded cells containing more than 40 people — at times as many as 60 — leaving little room to sit and forcing him to remain standing for much of his detention. Detainees also allegedly shared a single toilet and sink without soap or toilet paper and were not provided toothbrushes, clean clothes, or showers.
Fluorescent lights remained on around the clock, making it difficult to sleep, while temperatures became “extremely cold” overnight and some detainees received only aluminum blanekts for warmth, the complaint states.
Pineda was given only a two-minute phone call during his detention and received two bottles of water each day, along with “inadequate and limited” food and water, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Pineda has suffered devastating and ongoing physical and emotional harm that has impacted all aspects of his life,” his attorneys wrote. “Mr. Pineda brings this action to seek accountability for these violent and traumatizing tortious acts of the ICE officers and to address the harms inflicted upon him.”
According to LCR, Pineda was released following advocacy by Centro Presente, a Massachusetts immigrant rights organization.
After his release, ICE initiated removal proceedings against him depsite his humanitarian protections, the organization said. Those proceedings were ultimately dismissed.
“ICE targeted Mr. Pineda based on nothing more than his perceived national origin and the nature of his work,” Albert said in the press release. “Our laws prohibit this kind of arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Through this lawsuit, we seek to hold the federal government accountable for the violence and harm inflicted on Mr. Pineda.”
ICE referred questions about the lawsuit to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
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BOSTON (WHDH) – A pedestrian was hit and killed in Roxbury Thursday morning.
The collision occurred just before 8:20 a.m. on Tremont Street.
Police said Tremont Street was closed in both directions between Brigham Circle and Roxbury Crossing.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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