Franck Cerutti
L'Hôtel de Paris - Monaco
By Laurent Feneau

Revisiting one of the most beautiful regions - that of the Nice hinterlands - Franck Cerutti has ploughed the furrow of a cuisine that is as close to the land as possible. A straight line for one of the subtlest of techniques.

It all started at the Hôtel de Paris with Alain Ducasse. That was twenty-one years ago. Rainier wanted a sumptuous cuisine for Monaco. At that time, the bearded ex native of Gascony who has since become a world renowned chef - and citizen of Monaco - was then employed by the SBM (Société des Bains de Mer). The contract signed by both parties included a very important clause: obtaining three stars in no more than four years!
However, Franck Cerutti took up the challenge. Trained by Jacques Maximin at the Negresco in Nice, he was used to palaces. But this native of Piedmont born in Nice had grown up in the mountains of the hinterlands...
"To begin with, I wanted to be a farmer", he confessed. From this unfulfilled ambition, he retains a clear love, a passionate and unbending approach to fine produce. You only have to see his eyes light up and his expression intensify when he talks about spring broad beans or June girolle mushrooms …

Leaving to return even better...
These two Southerners immediately click. "At the time, Mr Ducasse wanted "middle class Provence cooking". I immediately identified with that … ", he continued. " Franck Cerutti is the very spirit of the Mediterranean. It's in his blood and he knows how to express it on a daily basis ", stated the great boss.
However, having gained their first two stars, the chefs went their separate ways. Franck returned to Maximin where he remained for two years before flying off to Florence "in search of the roots of Mediterranean cuisine ". Just a brief interval to open his restaurant, the Don Camillo in Nice and 1996 saw the great come back. Alain Ducasse was recalled.
Red carpet time. Today, Frank Cerruti is the managing director of the four Hôtel de Paris restaurants and it could almost be said that life for him is like a long and peaceful beach. Except that with some one hundred chefs working in the four establishments (of which twenty for Louis XV alone), the chef and his teams are kept extremely busy between the grill, the smokery, the fish tank, the butchery section, the pastry section, the chocolate section etc.

An intelligent cuisine
But who's complaining? Certainly not him. And even less the client because the
Cerutti-Ducasse duo is still in perfect harmony. On the one hand, the clearly adopted classical approach - that's Ducasse - and on the other, an absolute requirement for simplicity and transparency. In other words, as in each of his establishments, Alain Ducasse is the knight who champions a sensitive cuisine by (re)interpreting regional roots while Franck Cerutti, the culinary minstrel of extremes, composes the most wonderful arrangements of produce. Oceanic tones but primarily terrestrial melodies, the exquisite French epic takes us to lands where the finest plants grow and where the most fantastic animals thrive.
Far from the roar of the powerful motorcar and the rattle of the one-armed bandits, the melody that pervades this place immediately removes those who cross the threshold from the world where appearance predominates. Paradox? But that is how the appeal of the "grand Versailles" decor of the Louis XV period works … For instance, guests will discover that the hands on the marble clocks standing at each end of the room, have stopped at noon as a reminder that the main reason for visiting this venue is first and foremost to enjoy the pleasure of the palate.

A pied à terre
No sooner has the diner been seated at table than the bread trolley provides a hint of the feast that awaits him. The trolley features the Nice Michette made with olive oil and bran, the fougasse with country bacon, the little baguette or even a bread containing squash. Ditto for the slab of butter shaped with a spoon. Palace oblige? Not really because you immediately know that you are in the real world, where everything is in its rightful place and where a perfectly balanced cuisine reigns, at ease in his Provence. For instance, here we have flash fried shell fish and crustaceans. A piece of squid and three little clams all moistened with a few drops of fish stock give Franck Cerutti the opportunity of firmly asserting the powerful flavour of rockfish.
Of course. Louis XV, it's an art that bridges a gap. Between the impudent dishes and the roguish ragout of stockfish tripettes, all that is regional and natural is there in full measure. And a fantastic flight takes over from the gentle ride.
That of the young pigeon from the Haute-Provence Alps served with flame grilled foie gras and a jus made from the giblets … That's it, we've arrived! Feet and nose to the ground. That of Alain Ducasse - South West - but also that of Franck Cerutti - an inhabitant of Nice and a hunter in his domain. There's absolutely no doubt, we are certainly hearing the song of the earth here.

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