Chef Ollie Clarke
Smoked lamb carpaccio at Origins 14 – La Regalade
British chef Ollie Clarke has purchased the legendary La Régalade within the 14th Arrondissement and is transitioning it in the direction of a brand new title, Origins 14 – La Régalade. In all probability, this will probably be shortened to Origins 14 as soon as Clarke has settled in, however in the interim, the moniker La Régalade is being retained as a kind of placeholder, as a result of so many individuals know the place this restaurant is situated and in addition that it was the birthplace of la bistronomie, or fashionable French bistro motion, when chef Yves Camdeborde first opened it in 1992.
Since fashionable French bistro cooking has develop into the dominant culinary idiom amongst formidable younger cooks going out on their very own, it’s virtually onerous to think about that this cooking fashion barely existed twenty-five years in the past. That was when a band of younger cooks who’d labored with chef Christian Fixed when he was head chef on the sadly now vanished Les Ambassadeurs on the Lodge de Crillon started going out on their very own and making use of the haute-cusiine classes they’d realized from Fixed to bistro cooking.
This included the concept of utilizing luxurious meals appreciated foie gras and truffles as garnishes on bistro dishes, shorter cooking instances, a lavish use of contemporary herbs, and a choice for jus (deeply diminished meat or seafood inventory) and vinaigrettes rather than conventional French sauces made by deglazing cooking juices with wine after which elaborating them with wealthy dairy merchandise like butter and cream. Greens all of a sudden achieved a brand new significance within the context of this cooking fashion, too, and homelier cuts of meat, together with loads of organ meats, and cheaper fishes (mackerel, herring, pink mullet, and so forth.) took pleasure of place on the menus at this new breed of bistro, which additionally dismissed the canon of conventional bistro cooking, together with such grand Gallic dishes as blanquette de veau and boeuf bourguignon, as too wealthy and too heavy.
French meals author Sebastien Desmorand coined a reputation for the brand new motion, La Bistronomie, and a raft of recent guides and publications, together with Nova (not publishing) and Le Fooding (now partially owned by Michelin and so a part of the institution it as soon as took such iconoclastic enjoyment of ridiculing and rejecting) championed it. So it thrived, and to such a level, in actual fact, that it’s now a lot simpler to discover a bistronomie fashion meal in Paris than it’s a conventional bistro feed.
On my option to the restaurant on a cool autumn night time, I keep in mind the spectacular first meal I had on the unique La Régalade. First we gorged ourselves on the very good loaf of terrine de campagne that arrived on the desk with wonderful bread compliments of the home, after which I had ravioli full of foie gras below a thatch of truffle shavings and a chic dish of grilled rougets with cep mushrooms and roasted chestnuts. This meal was so good that fascinated by nonetheless makes me ravenous a few years later. So I used to be very inquisitive about how Clarke would reset the pendulum of this very well-known place en route to fulfill Bruno there for dinner.
Arriving, the look of the eating room hadn’t modified in any perceptible manner, which allowed me the pleasure of some umami-rich gnawing on outdated bones nostalgia for all the wonderful meals I’d eaten right here by the years, with completely different folks and on completely different events, over a glass of fantastic Cotes du Roussillon Domaine Modat whereas I waited for Bruno. The group appeared little completely different from the final time I’d been right here, maybe 5 years, in the past, as properly, because it remained a mix of locals, guidebook-following foreigners, French out-of-towners staying in cheap inns across the Porte d’Orleans and solidly fed Parisian regulars of various stripes who’d in all probability arrived by Uber. There was, nonetheless, a sprinkling of youthful varieties, who in all probability knew Clarke’s cooking from the times he was chef at Fish La Boissonnerie, a well-liked expat desk in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
So I discovered myself musing like some form of an uncle on the concept of getting recognized this restaurant for its total lifetime and in addition questioning why I hadn’t been right here in such a longtime. Ultimately, the explanations this tackle fell off my checklist needed to do with the truth that bistronomie turned so ubiquitous it not required a journey to an out-of-the-way nook of the 14th Arrondissement to take pleasure in or not take pleasure in it and in addition as a result of pretty much as good because the cooking of chef Bruno Doucet could also be–Doucet took this place over when Camdeborde moved to Saint-Germain-des-Pres to profitably play to his worldwide status in a front-row setting the place he might command increased costs, it lacked the sinewy originality and occasional thrillingly primal bluntness of Camdeborde’s fashion. All of this in all probability explains why Doucet determined to promote the restaurant to Clarke and focus on the 2 different Paris eating places that bear the La Regalade title, La Régalade Saint-Honoré and La Regalade Conservatoire on the Lodge de Nell. Odds are good that he in all probability desires to make some cash off of globally recognized model title on his personal depend, too–and who can blame him, with out having to fret about sustaining the attract of the unique location.
When Bruno confirmed up we ordered straight away, since he was hungry on the finish of a protracted day. After the waiter left our desk, I discovered myself earnestly hoping about what would occur subsequent, after which it did. The assistance-yourself terrine de campagne dropped at the desk as a complimentary hors d’oeuvre arrived with a thump, after which there was second thump an earthenware jug of cornichons was set down on the desk, together with a basket of fantastic bread. And we shamelessly savaged the terrine, which was very good. Oh, and by the way in which–don’t even take into consideration scolding the fats edging this terrine, because it was as scrumptious, possibly much more scrumptious, pretty much as good butter. Only for the document, possibly it’s Instagram fatigue or one thing, however I’ve additionally gone utterly off super-styled meals images and am now besotted with pictures that inform the reality.
For the reason that kitchen was clearly struggling a bit to maintain up with a full eating room simply a few weeks after the takeover, we had been additionally handled to an outstanding slice of among the best rabbit terrines I’ve ever eaten. Clarke, 28, whose meals I cherished at Fish La Boissonnerie, has clearly mastered his primary Mrs. Beeton’s cooking abilities, as a result of these fantastically made terrines might as simply have been served in a Cotswold farmhouse as a restaurant in Paris. And within the interval between the terrines and the arrival of our first programs, I couldn’t assist however take into consideration what a vastly difficult factor a reset of La Régalade would truly be, because it’s such a monument of latest Parisian gastronomy. And but…. And but the thought does happen that bistronomie has develop into fairly rote after twenty-five years, so maybe we’re longing for a scrumptious and well-reasoned change?
No earlier than I’d began mulling over this concept–what precisely may we be wanting after we sit down in a Paris bistro immediately?–then our starters got here to the desk. My carpaccio of smoked lamb with spinach leaves, pine nuts and Kalamata olives was wonderful, as was Bruno’s marinated bonite with Granny Smith apples and roasted chestnuts. After which it struck me–possibly what we would like is meals that’s much less chef-y and extra about good consuming? What made me assume that is that these starters had been intelligently conceived, well-sourced, frank and never supposed to indicate off, or bear a showy chef’s signature, though they did–Ollie Clarke’s.
For all of his expertise in Paris, I’ve a sneaking feeling that it’s not the French cooks he labored for who had the largest impression on Ollie Clarke, however British seafood maestro Rick Stein, since Stein is a cook dinner who glories in nice produce and is fascinated by getting ready conventional recipes with the subtlest of tweaks. What this implies is meals that’s scrumptious and fashionable however humble. Or meals like Ollie Clarke’s.
Even when they each had a flaw or two, our predominant programs confirmed this notion of Clarke’s cooking as feet-on-the-ground, with the great bones of significant approach, plus a sensibly shy shot of creativeness and a profound love of produce. My pork stomach was described as croustillant, or crispy, on the menu, however wasn’t. Nonetheless, the style was gently smoky and pleasantly porcine, and the garnishes of cabbage and carrots with a puree of boudin noir (blood pudding) had been logical–the greens, and intelligent–the sauce. Bruno appreciated his veal breast with honey-glazed parsley root, too. After I return, nonetheless–and I’ll, I’ll order fish, as a result of I’d be curious to see simply how Rick Stein should still be Clarke’s compass within the kitchen, since Clarke started his profession at Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, a reasonably seaside city in Cornwall.
Clarke additionally had the great sense to take care of one other a lot cherished custom at La Régalade, the person Grand Marnier souffle, which was impeccably made and as a lot of a failsafe Gallic completely satisfied ending as could be imagined. Ditto a stunningly good baba au rhum, or sponge cake gorged with rum-spiked sugar syrup, an enormous quilt of vanilla-flecked whipped cream and the charming garnish of candied lemon verbena leaves.
This was a really superb meal, and the Paris desk it made most consider wasn’t any of the bistronomie locations in Paris immediately, however relatively the restaurant Bones when Australian James Henry was the chef there. Clarke and Henry share a love of the artwork and onerous work of excellent trustworthy cooking made with wonderful produce, and neither of them must insert themselves into the story with fiddly garnishes or fussy plating like many different bistronomie cooks. So Ollie Clarke is off to a a terrific begin, and La Régalade seems good to go for a brand new cycle of quiet culinary renown with him within the kitchen.
Origins 14 – La Regalade, 49 avenue Jean Moulin, 14th Arrondissement, Paris, Tel. (33) 01-45-45-68-58. Metro: Porte d’Orleans. Prix-fixe menu 37 Euros. www.origins14.com Open Tuesday to Friday for lunch and dinner, Monday dinner solely, closed Saturday and Sunday.
