Olivier Nasti towards the 3 stars
Patricia and Olivier Nasti © GP
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They reviewed everything, planned everything, redone everything. The former Chambard of Pierrot Irrmann in Kaysersberg is almost unrecognizable. Patricia and Olivier Nasti who created a high-class hotel affiliated with Relais & Châteaux, its expert valet, the Tuscan Ricardo, its sober luxury rooms, its spa, its Marius Bar, have left nothing to chance. We can imagine that Olivier, a five-year-old hunter, MOF 2007, obsessed with Mother Nature, a belfortin rooted in Alsace for a long time, never ceases to refine his style. After having redone his decor in brown tones, enlarging his table to the bar, with its wooden or stone walls, its nooks, enriching his team, notably with the MOF sommelier Jean-Baptiste Klein, he gives a version of the ‘Alsace at once militant, conquering and tasty. The region no longer has three stars – which is quite unfair in view of what is being offered there, while the Auberge de l’Ill by Marc Haeberlin has never been unworthy, that the Buerehiesel has hardly changed in quality during the handover between the Westermann father and son, which the Fork of the Dukes like the Villa Lalique stamp their feet at the gates of supreme consecration – he is undoubtedly the best placed candidate to receive the supreme consecration. What is simmering at home, with fish from the lake cooked to the best of their freshness and truth, game, hunted not far away, ripened to perfection, top-class desserts, is undoubtedly worth the three stars. Will 2022 be the year of Nasti? Let’s wait until mid-January to talk about it again.
Rougemont gourmet capital
The Valrose team © GP
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A Swiss postcard at the gates of Gstaad: this is how we saw Rougemont until then. This small village typical of the Pays d’En Haut, where Etivaz is made in the alpine chalets, on copper cauldrons, heated with wood, with its beautiful old chalets with engraved facades, its steeple church, its priory turned castle, its sculpted fountain, its cut-paper artists, are becoming these days a gourmet capital. Edgar Bovier, who was known as a Michelin-starred chef at the Lausanne Palace, oversees both the destinies of the typical, gourmet and centenary Café du Cerf, with chef Michaël Burri. He also oversees the menu of the Roc, the restaurant at the Hôtel de Rougemont, bought by a modernized Chinese group, overseen by Jean-Jacques Gauer, owner of the Raisin à Cully, who was the president of the Leading Hotels of the World and the boss of the Schweizerhof in Bern. At Le Roc, Edgar Bovier and the Italian chef Viana Cebula play an Italian card between sea and mountain. We add the very recent arrival of Benoît Carcenat, MOF 2015, former director of culinary arts and gastronomy at the Glion hotel school, former lieutenant of Benoît Violier at the restaurant of the town hall of Crissier who reopened the kitchens of the renovated Valrose hotel at the end of July with a young and dashing. Rain of stars in sight!
Edgard Bovier au Cerf © GP
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Georgiana Viou’s rebound in Nîmes
Georgiana Viou © GP
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We met her in Marseille, in a cheerful bistro with contemporary cuisine. Former Master Chef 2010 candidate, cooking teacher and female mistress, Georgiana Viou now officiates in a charming place, an old aristocratic hotel that has become a charming town inn, the Chouleur hotel, rue Fresque, in the heart of ancient Nîmes. She works there only in the evening, from 7 p.m., delivering according to her mood and the products of the moment, dishes that evoke both Marseille, her home port, but also her African roots, on the Cotonou side in Benin. Its palm oil foccacia, dja, anchovy gravelax, its mini green peppers stuffed raw, with chicken livers, its delicious sardine as in Marseille, available in two services, with watermelon, tomatoes, watermelon vinegar, its beautiful Aubrac prime rib, goussi sauce, like its chocolate, pistachio, cherry and chili, or its strawberries with chouchou, pistachio are the charm.
Hermès pays tribute to Taïra Kurihara
André Robert and Taïra Kurihara © GP
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He was one of the pioneers of Japanese fashion in Paris. Taïra Kurihara, native of the island of Hokkaïdo, trained at the Tour d’Argent, at Prunier, at Jamin, Besson, Cagna, before becoming chef at the Cinnamon rue des Grands Augustins, then at the Petite Cour, with Stéphane Oliver, before setting up on his own at his brand and his first name, rue des Acacias in the 17th district of Paris near l’Etoile, practiced, before anyone else, French cuisine on a fresh, light, without weakness. , without unnecessary sauce or frills. In short, with all Japanese rigor. Her thing: the sea in its splendor and its truth. ‘But Taïra, who wants to’ cook, not bookkeeping“, Gave up everything on a whim and became private chef at Hermès. In the last fall-winter 2021 issue of his (great) luxury journal, “Le Monde d’Hermès”, the large luxury house of 24 faubourg St Honoré pays him tribute. Taïra, who is now Elisabeth Larquetoux-Thiry’s assistant chef, looks back on his career, recalls that he was the first chef in Paris to practice tuna tartare in the 1980s and that Joël Robuchon was inspired by his langoustine nems with grated ginger to build one of his favorite recipes. Wonderful Taïra!
The viking of La Wantzenau
Gilles Leininger © GP
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He is, for the great world of gastronomy, the “Viking”, is only 38 years old, but has had almost a thousand lives. Started at 13 with Emile Jung at the Crocodile in Strasbourg. Bought twelve years ago this “Secret Garden” of Wanzenau, just behind the station, of which he was the second, has worked in some good restaurants in the region, such as the Festin de Lucullus in Strasbourg, has participated in many competitions and won trophies or places of honor. Masse Trophy, Taittinger Prize, Bocuse d’Or, up to this star which hung in his face for a long time at Michelin and which arrived last January. It is true that La Wantzenau, with its dozen good restaurants (for 6,000 inhabitants!) No longer had a starred restaurant, since the changes of the Relais de Poste. While from Zimmer to the Mill via the defunct Barrière (now O’Pizzicato!), The stars of the red guide had waltzed quite a bit over the years. In short, Gilles Leininger has become the only star in his city of origin, the lonely gourmet artisan, who remakes the world, behind the station, the artist who changes his menus according to his desires, plays surprises, practicing menus wise (the lunch at 36 € is a real deal), punctuating his choices according to his desires, his moods, his finds, delivering, among other delicacies, a veal chop to roll on the floor. We will talk about it again very soon!
The renewal of the Relais de la Poste
Thomas Koebel © GP
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It was the star-studded restaurant of La Wantzenau, under the aegis of Jérôme Daull, then Caroline Van Maenen. The changes of multiple chefs – we briefly saw Julien Binz, Bruno Sohn, Vincent Vervisch – brought down the star. The house was bought by the Burrus who have a few stakes in Strasbourg at the Crocodile and have taken over Yvonne. Cédric Moulot, who oversees the house and owns the 1741, the Tire-Bouchon, the Saint Sépulcre, the Dôme and the Vignette, oversaw the colorful and chic modernization of the decor. At the helm of the stoves, Thomas Boeckel, who we met at Secrets de l’Orient Express in Geispolsheim, as part of the chocolate museum, still under the wing of the Burrus, signs a quality neo-classical menu. Having gone to the Crocodile in Strasbourg, the Cygne in Gundershoffen, the Kempferhof golf course, the Essentiel in Haguenau, this regular chef has the means to fulfill his ambitions. On the program of his “chef’s menu”: goose foie gras with peaches, lobster presskopf, crayfish mousseline and Nantua foam, cockerel with dauphine fries and peas or strawberries from the Clauss farm in modern strawberries.
At the new bar © GP
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Passage of the baton at Adam’s vineyard in Plappeville
Façade of the Adam’s Vine © GP
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Radical change to La Vigne d’Adam, Plappeville, a former wine-growing village on the outskirts of Metz. The founder of the place, the talented François Adam, formerly trained at Marc Meneau in Vézelay, retires as a restaurateur at the end of September to make way for Mickaël Emo, who has been its chef here since 2010 after a stint as an apprentice alongside him at 2005 to 2007 and his partner since 2013. We will remember that François Adam took over the Grignotière, a village and gourmet institution, in 1993 and transformed it into the Garden of Adam in 2003, then into the Vine of Adam in 2008. In short, nearly thirty years of pleasures and great encounters. Mickaël will transform the establishment so that it resembles him by bringing something new to the decor, more comfort with a new small intimate room. He is accompanied in this indoor adventure by his brother Morgan, trained here for two years, who is in charge of staging the house’s extensive wine list. This new table from the Lorraine region has not escaped the Michelin greets her on its Twitter feed, renting « carefully selected products, tasty recipes and a superb wine list ». For his part, François Adam continues to indulge his passion for wine with young restaurateurs and wine merchants with his “Society of author’s wines”.
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