FSR February 2023

moments more than ever,” he says. Despite offering a more casual dining experience at Le Gratin in downtown Manhattan, Boulud questions the lon gevity of French fast-casual restaurants. “Usually, chefs go into the fast-casual market with one thing in mind: to grow it and sell it. But restaurants like mine, like DANIEL, you don’t want to grow it or sell it; you want to keep it forever. It’s a different mindset of business,” he says. “So in casual, you really have to bring something people can live on every day. You can go across the street and sit down at a French bistro every day and have something healthy.” To thrive in today’s market, the evolu tion of French cuisine involves embrac ing a new identity and distancing itself from the old, complicated reputation. “We are working hard every day to not be perceived as fine dining,” says Jérôme Sérot, a French expat who cofounded Southerleigh Hospitality. The San Anto nio–based group comprises Souther leigh Fine Food & Brewery, Southerleigh Haute South, and French-focused Bras serie Mon Chou Chou. Non-foodies might make a mistake in thinking Mon Chou Chou is a fancy establishment, given the beauty of the exterior’s architecture and name, but Sérot says it’s true French comfort food with a steak program, scratch-made fries, and a curated selection of wine that won’t break the bank. Some of the comfort dishes include Souris D’Agneau (slow-braised lamb), Plateau D’Huitres (East Coast oysters), and Côte de Porc (seared pork porterhouse). Mon Chou Chou opened in San Anto nio’s Pearl historical district in Decem ber 2020, which Sérot describes as both the best and the worst time to open a new restaurant and introduce comfort French food to the Texas market. “Part of our due diligence was to cre ate a list of everything that goes against this perception,” Sérot says. “[French cui sine] is known for being too expensive, unreachable, too complicated, with an environment that’s not casual at all. Brasserie is the exact opposite.” Though traditional French brasseries

MON CHOU CHOU EMBRACES ITS BRASSERIE ROOTS WITH CASUAL FARE LIKE RACLETTE.

JOHN-PAUL GARRIGUES

are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the current Texas market wouldn’t support that model—or not yet, he says. San Antonio’s French footprint is small, but Sérot has seen a wave of French concepts arriving on the scene recently, from fast-casual digs to quick serves. And that trend applies nationally, as well. Olivier Desaintmartin, a French chef since 1978 and a champion onThe Food Network’s “Chopped,” wanted to make a departure from the white tablecloth world of fine dining when he opened Car ibou Café in Philadelphia in 2003. Caribou’s casual, bistro environment features posters from Paris, a Belgian style bar, and country-classic comfort food at a more affordable price point. A prix fixe luncheon menu includes soup du jour or petite salad, a classic French entrée that changes daily, and a salty car amel crepe or chocolate mousse, all for less than $30. An all-day, five-course bis tro meal costs $45. “I did cut down on butter and heavy cream, and I adjusted to what people reach for with comfort food,” Desaint

martin says. Menu innovation comes in the form of incorporating ingredi ents and recipes from various regions in France, from a Brittany-inspired sea food crepe with salmon, shrimp, crab, andMornay cheese sauce for $21 to Pari sian onion soup gratinée with gruyere and croutons for $10. Desaintmartin is able to keep prices low by maintaining a lean roster of staff members, some of whom have been in his employ for upwards of 20 years. “We have full service at casual prices, but we still want waiters or bartenders to know all their wines, cocktails, [how to] set the tables and clean them,” he says. As restaurateurs continue redefin ing what fine dining and casual hybrids look like, the next generation of chefs is poised to blend the traditional and the new wave in their menus. “What we’re the most proud of … is the mentoring we have been giving chefs in America of all backgrounds, nation alities, and origins,” Boulud says. “It’s incredible, and they are all growing today and creating their own lineage.”

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