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A Creative Chef, Pure and Simple
PARIS - Christian Le Squer was born in a coastal village
in Brittany in 1962, and first set foot in Paris at
the age of 20, when he came to cook in a popular Right
Bank restaurant. Since then, the 36-year-old has passed
through such august kitchens as Lucas-Carton and Taillevent,
and two years ago won two Michelin stars while at the
helm of the Grand Hotel Inter-Continental's Restaurant
Opera. Early this year, he took over the reins of Ledoyen,
one of those Champs-Elysees palaces that seem to bend
in the wind: in and chic one moment, out and forgotten
the next.
Ledoyen is on the upward curve (retaining its two Michelin
stars this year, despite a change of chefs) and Le Squer
might be considered among the ''typical'' up-and-coming
Parisian chefs of the decade. His message is clear:
The ingredient is king; food should be creative and
surprising but easy to understand. - Living Day by Day
Unlike most chefs of the previous generation - the Robuchons
and Savoys, the Rostangs and the Dutourniers - he does
not own his own restaurant.
Like some of the best of his peers - Frederic Anton
at Le Pre Catelan, Philippe Braun at Laurent, Alain
Soliveres at Les Elysees du Vernet - he sees it as an
advantage. Le Squer's employer is none other than Vivendi
(the French conglomerate with such properties as the
Michelin three-star Alain Ducasse and the two-star L'Astor)
and, as he says, ''We are not going to work in the same
place from the age of 40 until retirement.
We live day by day.'' His take on grand modern French
cuisine is that it's too evolved, needs too many people
to do it right, and demands too much labor. (With 42
in the kitchen, doing 450 covers a day, he knows what
he is talking about.) He also bemoans the fact that
the generation just after him no longer tolerates restaurants'
punishing hours.
Rare is the day off and, when it comes, it's spent
catching up on the week's lost sleep. So his modern
message is to keep it pure and keep it simple. A recent
lunch in this butter-yellow mansion on the edge of the
Champs-Elysees proved that his mind moves in the direction
we want to go today: Gigantic and yet flavorful Provencal
green asparagus was paired with huge fresh morels, a
marriage of the woods and the garden, grass green and
monk's robe brown, bathed in an acidulated sauce.
His take on the meaty, manly veal knuckle, a long-braised
jarret de veau, also had a welcome modern translation,
for the avalanche of vegetables that accompanied the
meat as a garnish - of fresh fava beans, asparagus,
Swiss chard and tomatoes - seemed more like the main
dish than the meat. His signature dish - a tangle of
giant langoustines from Brittany, two of them simply
seasoned with a blend of coriander, fennel and star
anise and pan-fried in olive oil, and another pair rolled
in an herb-filled kadaif (the fine Greek pasta that
looks like shredded wheat) and seared crisp - comes
on like a fresh Atlantic breeze.
Desserts here are a delight, including paper-thin wafers
filled with lemon cream and served with lemon ice cream,
as well as some of the most delicious babas in town.
You have not heard the last of Le Squer. Look for more
to come from this flower-filled Right Bank palace.
Ledoyen
Carre des Champs Elysees
1 Avenue Dutuit
Paris 75008
Tel: 01-53-05-10-01.
Fax: 01-47-42-55-01.
Closed Saturday, Sunday, and August. Credit cards: American
Express, Diners Club, Visa. Menus at 320 (lunch only)
and 620 francs. A la carte, 800 to 1,000 francs, not
including wine.
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