The Rebirth of Au Trou Gascon -- Paris 12

In 1973, a young chef from the Southwest of France opened a bistrot in an out-of-the-way part of then-unfashionable eastern Paris. The premises had been a coffee stop for cab drivers. The chef was Alain Dutournier and the restaurant was called Au Trou Gascon. The restaurant became one of the gastronomic “musts” of Paris, renowned for its traditional, Southwest-oriented cuisine built around cassoulet, foie gras, game, and wild mushrooms, plus an outstanding wine list that included older vintages at bargain prices. Dutournier eventually opened an haute cuisine establishment, Le Carré des Feuillants, not far from the ultra-luxurious Place Vendôme in central Paris. Dutournier’s wife took over as cheffe at the original bistrot, which continued strongly for many years, although in recent years, it had begun to show some fading around the edges, and it was clear that the end was coming sooner or later. Le Carré des Feuillants closed a few years ago because it lost its lease, and in April of last year, Dutournier announced the closing of Le Trou Gascon as of June 30.

However, veteran restaurant owner Gregory Reiberberg and his partner Jean-Félix Frichot took over the premises and the name and brought in Sarah Chougnet-Strudel, cheffe of Reiberberg’s one-star restaurant Regain in Marseilles. The intent was to do a refresh of the restaurant, both updating the cuisine to contemporary cuisine bourgeoise (that is, many elements traditionally from non-French cuisinies), and also refreshing the interior while still keeping much of the original look.

I was the first to arrive at just before 7.30 pm, but others arrived soon thereafter, and by 8 pm, the place was well over half full (the restaurant does two seatings at night, which encourages people to come earlier, but it also is my observation that Parisians are moving to earlier dinner times than in the past). I believe I was the only non-French person in the restaurant, and the diners ranged in age from 30s to 70s or beyond, all casually dressed.

The carte was loaded with tempting dishes.

The wine list is all wines that are natural, biodynamic, and/or organic. They are largely producers I am not familiar with, although I recognized a few quality producers, and many of the wines are from little-known grapes. Markups seemed modest. The list of wines by the glass:

Co-owner Jean-Félix Frichot acts as director of the restaurant, sommelier, and mixologist. On the website, the restaurant makes a big deal of its cocktails, but I saw only one ordered last night, and every table ordered wine, either by the glass or by the bottle — no dry January here.

I started with the sweetbreads (ris de veau) cooked crisply. The menu said with avocado, Meyer lemon, seaweed condiment, and peppery oil, but that seems to have been changed at the last minute and the sweetbreads were served with crisp endive leaves; I found no avocado:

Nevertheless this dish was highly satisfying with the crispness of the sweetbreads contrasting with the crispness of the endive.

For wine, I took a glass of the Coteaux du Lyon Gamaret from Domiane de Prapin. Gamaret is a grape originally from Switzerland and it is related to Gamay. The wine was light and easy-to-drink, packed with violet aromas and flavors; it made a good accompaniment to the sweetbread dish.

For the main course, I took the pork dish with a cream of Swiss chard and anchovy sauce, accompanied by radicchio with red lemon and confit kombu (a type of seaweed):

Both dishes were beautiful. With the pork, I found the anchovy sauce dominated too much; I don’t know if that was due to my particular tastes or if it was a fault in the cooking. The raw radicchio was crisp, refreshing, and flavorful — one couldn’t imagine a better accompanying dish.

With this course, I took a glass of Syrah, also from the Coteaux Lyonnais, the hills around Lyon. It was proper Syrah, but nothing to challenge the magnificent Syrahs that can come from the Northern Rhône appellations just south of Lyon.

The list of cheese and desserts:

They sounded and, from what I could see on tables around me, looked good, but I had no room to order more.

The check:

This meal was very satisfying for the sweetbreads and radicchio, and the new Au Trou Gascon certainly deserves another visit, even though the pork dish was not to my taste.

Au Trou Gascon

40 rue Taine, 75012 Paris

Tuesday-Saturday lunch and dinner

Tel: 01 88 61 56 31

website: autrougasconparis.fr

Métro: Daumesnil