Guy Savoy covets the Petit Retro

The Little Retro © Maurice Rougemont

Nothing is yet recorded, nor official (at least before the end of August). But everyone (in the whole of the chic 16th district at least) is talking about it: Guy Savoy is about to buy the Petit Retro, this jewel of a bistro all in classified mosaics and vintage 1904, with its chic and alert zinc, its two rooms ( the first of which is authentic), its beautiful traditional cuisine and its motivated team. He could place his lieutenant Irwin Durand there, currently in charge of the starred Chiberta on rue Arsène Houssaye in the 8th arrondissement. The future kitchen of the place? It should remain faithful to the gourmet tradition of a real Parisian bistro. As the three-star hotel at the Hôtel de la Monnaie aptly puts it: “ in such a setting, one can only respect the spirit of the place“…

Do you know Rebecca Beaufour?

Rebecca Beaufour © GP

The boss of the Michelin guide, Gwendal Poullennec, explained last March in Cognac that there were not enough starred women and that he wanted to look into the subject in order to broaden his palette. We therefore send him dare dare to feast at the sign of Dante, at 14 rue de Paradis, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, where he will discover the cuisine of Rebecca Beaufour. This young 28-year-old chef studied economics, choosing her work placement with Alain Passard at l’Arpège, where she will have the revelation of the cuisine in which she will make her profession. She took classes at the Ferrandi school, went on an internship with Passard, then at the Ritz, at the Espadon, alongside Nicolas Sale, before the Grand Véfour with Guy Martin, before the Senate where she rubbed shoulders with three MOFs, including the Bocuse d’Or Fabrice Desvignes, future chef of the President of the Republic. She learns rigor, humility, the product, its seasonality. Now she is taking over the former 14 Paradis, which was previously called Paradis, in the street of the same name, which she dedicated to the Italian author of Hell, and which she made a charming table, contemporary, full of energy, offering a small lunch menu at €28, but also a more expensive menu with beautiful plates to share. The awhite sparagus with trout roe and egg mimosa, sea bream ceviche with tiger leche, octopus and piquillos or even pork bao confit with whole hake in a salt and thyme crust show what good wood it is made of heated. This is a real talent in the making.

The Marcel according to Denis Martin in Sète

Eric Martin © GP

The Marcel? You knew this Art Deco table, located near the quays of Sète, to which Fabien Fage gave his star. His second, Denis Martin, 33, a native of Avignon, who had been at his side for four years, notably in the Charial-Baumanière group, and who also worked at the Hôtel d’Europe, then for Daniel Boulud at the Ritz. -Carlton of Montreal and at Michel Kayser at Alexandre in Garons near Nîmes, replaced him at short notice with alacrity, lavishing a lively, creative, sunny cuisine, of good quality, similarly starred, carrying high the colors of Sète and those of the Great Noon. On its program, ideas of the sea and the season, which sing the glory of seashells and the Mediterranean, like a signature mullet or an anthology monkfish. As a bonus, the dynamic Eric supervises a counter with a few tables at the legendary Sète market where he talks about local delicacies on a daily basis. Name of the place, open every lunchtime: “The Marcel aux Halles”.

Valère Diochet in Narbonne

Valère Diochet in the Mediterranean © GP

Do you remember Valère Diochet? This intrepid Vendéen, won over to the love of Alsace, remained fifteen years under the rule of Antoine Westermann, at Buerehiesel, after classes – hold on tight – with Guy Savoy in Paris, Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, Le Cerf in Marlenheim, without omitting the Negresco at the time of Jacques Maximin, then of the maestro Dominique le Stanc, was the artist of the Krutenau in Strasbourg rallied to the virtues of good value for money, asserting himself as the champion of the genre, with a menu less than €20 at the Pont aux Chats brand. For six years, he had disappeared from our radar screens and had become the executive chef of Karl O’hanlon, at the Château Les Carrasses in Languedoc. Now he has become the signature chef of the high-end gourmet residence at Château Capitoul in Narbonne, created by the same Irish investor. The table (the Mediterranean) bears his name in the subtitle, the menu is his own, even if he benefits from the very Occitan coaching of Lionel Giraud, the two-star Narbonne chef at the Table de Saint-Crescent. The score he performs, with two chords in the kitchen, for about twenty covers, testifies to flawless rigor and precision. In short, we feel that the star that is still missing from its panoply is very close.

Mory Sacko replaces Jean Imbert in Saint-Tropez

Mory Sacko at Louis Vuitton © LV

One “top chef” hunts the other. In Saint-Tropez, on the legendary Place des Lices, Mory Sacko takes the place of “To Share” by Jean Imbert in the White 1921 hotel, belonging to the LVMH group, under the Cheval Blanc brand. Its concept, sponsored by Louis Vuitton, one of the group’s luxury brands: a largely locavore cuisine, very vegetal, mixing travel spirit, with products from here and spices from elsewhere. With, at lunch, variations around theekiben, legendary meal tray from Japanese stations and trains, but also taiyaki, dorayaki, grilled meats and kakigori, other refined and gourmet Japanese dishes. The name of the place: “Mory Sacko at Louis Vuitton”. The opening: June 17.

Régis Campana at the Edouard VII Theater

Régis Campana and the cacio e pepe © GP

Regis Campana? We met this gentleman restaurateur, who was the son-in-law of the late Rocco Anfuso, at Veramente in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, where he received the best people in the capital in a boudoir trattoria setting for quality Italian feasts. Here he has become the host and manager of the successful table, under the name of Lazzi, of the Edouard VII Theater where Juan Arbelaez recently officiated with Benjamin Patou’s Moma Group under the name of Froufrou. The place, on the terrace, with its colonnades and its tables facing its closed square has a magical side. With a little imagination, you’d think you were in Rome between the Trevi Fountain and Via Veneto and you could see the splendor of the Dolce Vita Federico Fellini style recreated there. The table setting is neat, the wine list is resourceful, the pasta is homemade, the quality products and the (Italian) dishes parade with charm and precision. The poivrade artichoke with parmesan is very recommendable and the spaghetti cacio and pepe, made to measure on the pedestal table, with pecorino romano and pepper appear in the top of its kind, not only in Paris, but also in Rome…. Let’s say!

Lilian Grimaud in Noirieux

Lilian Grimaud in Noirieux © DR

Dark? A few steps from Angers, on the edge of the Loir, this quiet 17th century manor house, with its farmhouse annexes, its tufa stone, its slate roofs, its nine-hectare park, its terrace overlooking the greenery, offering calm , softness, rest, affiliated with Relais & Châteaux, had long been marked by Anja and Gérard Côme, who were for a long time the chatelain and starred innkeepers, then boosted by Marco Garfagnini, who has since joined the Airelles de Courchevel group in Saint Tropez. The new head chef of the house is a local from the stage: Lilian Grimaud, a native of Doué-la-Fontaine, who once had his star in Cholet, in Passé Simple, before becoming an itinerant consultant chef. He thus returns to the Angevin region with the desire to restore its gourmet luster to this noble residence.

Farewell to Jacqueline Lorain

Jacqueline Lorain with Catherine and Michel in 2011 at the Left Bank © GP

She was our Burgundian aunt, our suburban godmother. ” I was born in the Faubourg Saint-Denis / And I remained a real kid from Paris“, she sang this refrain from Mistinguett at the top of her voice, laughing, recalling her Parisian and popular origins. Born in April 1936, a refugee during the war with her parents in Joigny (Yonne), she fell in love at the age of 18 with her cook husband, whom she will push to three stars at the legendary Côte Saint-Jacques, created by the parents of the latter. Jacqueline Lorain was not only Michel’s wife for some 65 years and the mother of Jean-Michel, born in 1959, and Catherine, born in 1965, she was above all a builder, to whom we owed the chic decor of the place in shades of blue (his favorite color) and the famous tunnel under the road leading the restaurant to the river. She was also, of course, an outstanding sommelier and a high figure in the world of wine in Burgundy, an emeritus taster whose husband or friends, like Bernard Loiseau who introduced her to us in 1981, praised the ” exceptional palace“. A Pommard Clos from Citeaux from Jean Monnier, a Volnay from Lafarge, de Montille or Potel, a Chablis from Raveneau, Dauvissat or Adhémar Boudin (like “the dead man”, at the GAEC Chantemerle at the Chapelle Vaupelteigne , which she contributed so much to make known) extracted fair and precise comments from her, delivering moments of intense pleasure to her interlocutors. She will have joined Michel less than a year after the death of the last, in July 2021, as a last act of loyalty. Dear Jacqueline, you will remain warmly present in our hearts. We raise our glasses thinking of you. Condolences to Jean-Michel and Catherine, who continue your work of fervent hospitality.

Bernard Bach in Villemur-sur-Tarn

Bernard Bach and the young Garrigue team © DR

He “betrays” the Gers for the Tarn! Bernard Bach, who entrusted the stoves of his two-star house in Pujaudran to his nephew and second William Candelon, is not retiring for all that. He has just been hired as consultant chef at l’Alto, the gastronomic table of the Château de la Garrigue in Villemur-sur-Tarn, where he has become the gourmet “coach” for a young team on the job. The goal? Get the star very quickly, with his disciple Mourad Ouabdeslam, and dishes in the spirit of the great South West revisited such as duck foie gras cooked in the flavor of spices with honey, pears and pine nuts or even farm guinea fowl of Labajeu in two cookings with its cromesquis, its caramelized endive and its walnut juice. To be continued…