Nicolas STAMM-CORBY

Chef : 1 restaurant

Presentation

"Without my husband Serge Schaal, La Fourchette des Ducs wouldn't have the same flavor, or at least the same scope," stresses Nicolas Stamm-Corby, Gault&Millau d'Or Grand Est 2023.

It all began at the Illkirch-Graffenstaden hotel school, where the young apprentice trained in Colmar with Jean Schillinger, then president of the Maîtres cuisiniers de France. Nicolas Stamm-Corby was only 25 when he decided to invest all his savings in opening a small 16-seat restaurant, La Fourchette, in downtown Haguenau (Bas-Rhin). "I had found a studio on the first floor. That same year, he met Serge Schaal, his future husband and partner. Then an environmental engineer with the Strasbourg urban community, he decided to leave everything behind to become totally involved in Nicolas's restaurant.

In 2000, the two entrepreneurs moved to Obernai (Bas-Rhin) to set up La Fourchette des Ducs, nestled in a magnificent half-timbered house dating from 1921 (the former Clos Sainte Odile, created by Ettore Bugatti). Success was immediate. "Although I trained with the Schillingers, father and son, my cooking is deeply rooted in Alsace's terroir, which is the opposite of Jean-Yves'. " On his stoves, an appetizing culinary music plays: "It smokes, it cracks and it jiggles."

In 2007, the Trimbach family offered to buy the restaurant and hotel. They accepted, dividing the 2,000 m2 into two distinct areas according to the season: on one side, Le Salon d'Hiver, listed as a historical monument, with Spindler marquetry, Lalique sconces and other patinated woodwork; on the other, Le Salon d'Été, a more sober Baccarat salon opening onto a delightful terrace. In this traditional house, brought up to date and masterfully managed by Serge Schaal, elected Restaurant Manager of the Year 2020 by Gault&Millau, the smells of foie gras, frogs' legs, pike-perch and schniederspaetle with sauerkraut tell the whole story. The customer is in Alsace!

B. G.