Restaurants are like people: some are big on the outside, small on the inside. Here, everything is big, even talent. Especially talent. Not just of the chef, whose vision, taste and ethics are beyond compare, but of the entire team involved in this "life-size" adventure. Jean-François piège's insistence on the "terroir" of France, which could put him in the ranks of reactionaries who don't understand the splendors of Japan and Peru, is as modern as it gets. He doesn't proclaim himself the ultimate defender or bulwark against the pizza-and-burger invader, no, he just does his job very well: highlighting the riches around him, the breeders, growers, gatherers, fishermen and all those products that keep an economy going. So yes, we love everything about this Grand Restaurant, the affection for buttered radish, monkfish liver and tuna as an amuse-bouche delicatessen, the dandelion plin bouillon des fleurs, that constant balance between rich and poor to suddenly move on to lobster simmered on vine shoots, flambéed in cognac, butternut and vine leaves in tempura, spicy bisque, or the saint pierre cooked in carrot juice butter, first peas. Yes, everything is great, without sharing, the Bresse poultry simmered with walnuts, snails, fermented garlic jus, liver reduction, small mousseline purée, a marvel of sweetness and balance. Each dish is accompanied by a list of the regions involved, right up to the "blanc à manger", which brings together Normandy and Tahiti for its vanilla. Excellent work by the chefs, in constant liaison with the dining room, totally in the mood. The wine cellar is huge, with 5,000 references on the menu, 8,000 in all, making it an insane task for the head sommelier to memorize this treasure trove, with a whole page for Rayas, another for Bize Leroy, yet another for Rougeard, everything to create a world of wine lovers and even aesthetes.
