Gastronomy beyond borders and clichés

Enrique Casarrubias came to France to complete his culinary training in his native Mexico. After a stint in the kitchens of the George V and Crillon, he joined Akrame Benallal, becoming his second in command. Endorsed by Gault&Millau in 2016, he opened Oxte in 2018, which welcomes its guests on the outskirts of Place de l'Étoile. Here, you'll find all the hallmarks of the great dishes of French cuisine - juices, sauces, high-quality produce, impeccable dressings - with the added flavour of Mexico. A few examples of dishes that embody this union: pigeon served, of course, with its own juices, but also a mole, that subtly chocolatey, terribly fragrant sauce that is one of the emblems of Mexican cuisine; or red mullet just seared à a la plancha, accompanied by a range of corn-based preparations, including huitlacoche, a parasitic corn fungus, a delicacy that, for Mexicans, is as tasty and sought-after as truffles.

Gault&Millau: How did the idea for your restaurant come about?

Enrique Casarrubias: Originally, I wanted to return to Mexico and open a restaurant with my wife. But Akrame Benallal asked me why I didn't do it in France. In France? In the land of gastronomy? I guess the more complicated it is, the more I like it! Because opening a gourmet Mexican restaurant on Place de l'Étoile was no easy task! In fact, I opened in January 2018 and closed in May, because there were no customers... It must be said that there used to be a restaurant here that changed owners every six months, and had done so for years. We tore it down, renovated it and, in the end, word-of-mouth worked. At first, I was criticized, especially by Mexican chefs who asked me why I was doing gourmet Mexican cuisine. Well, because I'm proud to be Mexican! And then, when they realized that it worked, these same chefs got involved.

G&M: Were customers surprised by this "fusion" between French gastronomy and Mexican products?

E. C.: They were wondering where the chili con carne and tacos were! They were used to folk cuisine. But there's more to it than that! Mexico is three and a half times the size of France, and each region has an incredibly rich cuisine. And I used a lot of ingredients that might have frightened them, especially those who don't eat spicy food. It's true that in Mexico we eat a lot of chillies, but they're not necessarily hot. They're flavor enhancers. What I realized is that, in fact, the cuisines are very similar. My mother used to make gravy with bits of meat that she colored, carrots and so on. It wasn't until I came here that I realized why. Mexican cuisine is a family affair, and we do things out of habit, the way we've always done them. When you arrive in France, you realize that everything has been written down. France was the first country to put cooking in books, and that's something that doesn't exist anywhere else. That's why it's so important! And you're proud of your products, which wasn't at all the case in Mexico. In Mexico, we only ate foreign products. The directors of the cooking schools were French, the teachers American, Italian... And there were no Mexican chefs running top restaurants. Even Enrique Olvera, one of Mexico City's greatest chefs, had opened a French restaurant first. So it's great to see chefs now taking up Mexican cuisine! Times are changing, and we're going to make the most of it!

G&M: Where do your products come from?

E. C.: I can't say I only use local products. I still get my dried chillies from Mexico, because over there they're dried in the sun, and here the result isn't the same. But I'm lucky enough to work with producers - Sylvie Albrand-Bolmont from the Quyvie farm, Bruno Cayron, Pierre Gayet - who not only grow our vegetables, but also use fresh Mexican ingredients, and that changes everything! We've brought in seeds, sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, and there aren't many growers who accept that. We started tomatillos five years ago, and now a lot of people ask for them. When I first opened, I used to bring in dehydrated huitlacoche and mix it with corn to restore its original taste. Here, we knew about this mushroom, but we used to burn it! I called Pierre Gayet and asked him, "Send it to me; I'll buy it from you!"To make good food, you have to get on well with your producers.

G&M: Do you feel you've invented a cuisine that didn't exist before?

E. C: No, because these cuisines do exist. The products and spices exist. You just have to be daring. Some people come here and try to reproduce my cuisine. It's a source of pride. It means they're interested in what they've eaten. And that's good. We're making noise!

Oxte

5 rue Troyon, 75017 Paris

Read Gault&Millau's review