Son of an emblematic former Berrichonne player, Clément Besset is at the head of a gourmet restaurant in New York. Travel Travel.
New York (USA) is a great city. Only problem: you can eat very badly there, which constitutes a serious handicap for any gourmet on the goguette across the Atlantic. Fortunately, gastronomic islands float here and there in the city, often run by French expatriates. The Fradei, an establishment located in the heart of Brooklyn, is one of those havens in which it is good to come and eat. And in addition, it is Clément Besset who is the proud owner.
Praised by the New York Times If you don’t know the son, you’ve probably heard of the dad. Philippe Besset was one of the most emblematic players of Berrichonne football. More than 320 D2 matches to his credit under the colors of Castelroussines, which places him just behind his former teammate Raymond Olejnik. Philippe Besset is also selections in French junior, military and university teams, alongside Platini, Battiston and other Pécout. In short, a cador. Clément could have followed the same path dotted with success. Member of the Stade Rennais training center, he was then a professional trainee at the Stade Lavallois. But rather than a career strewn with pitfalls, the young Besset finally decided to resume studies in economics punctuated by a university internship in the United States. The beginning of the great adventure.
At 43, Clément Besset has not completely given up football since he still plays it for the simple pleasure of it with the French team in New York. But the big deal now is this restaurant of which he is now the sole owner, which even had the right to an entire page in the prestigious New York Times. The feared food critic Pete Wells delivers an enthusiastic portrait of the restaurant “which takes up a space barely larger than an RV in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood.”
No menu and wine served by the glass An atypical place, without a menu, with quality products prepared by two American chefs who did their humanities in France. The wine served by the glass can be from Saumur or Chinon and it has been lovingly selected by the partner of Clément Besset, an oenologist originally from Missouri. Long prevented by the Covid-19, dad and mom Besset have just visited their son in the company of friends from Berry. The opportunity to check that the jersey once worn in the France team by Philippe still sits on a wall of the establishment. In fact, the son or the father, we do not know who is more proud of the other!
