Opposite the Halles de Lyon, a gigantic portrait of Paul Bocuse, painted on a building facade, scrutinizes the gourmands. A disproportionate work, at the height of the giant. His restaurant, the renovated Auberge de Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or (Rhône), is celebrating its centenary this year, and is attracting gourmets more than ever with some of its iconic dishes: zander dumplings, whole poultry in bladders …
Six years after his disappearance, no one has forgotten “Monsieur Paul”. “The reputation of Lyon cuisine remains closely linked to Bocuse and traditional corks, analyzes Luc Dubanchet, founder of the Omnivore festival, who supervises gastronomy-related events at GL Events. It retains a very heritage, even folkloric, image, which focuses on the terroir, pork, Beaujolais. But the Lyon scene is also being shaken up by young chefs without blinders, eager for new experiences! »
For the specialist now based in Lyon, a slingshot has been at work for around ten years. Among the first agitators: Jean-François Têtedoie, chef of Café Terroir, whose stone walls were lined with bottles of chartreuse. Son of a Lyon cork boss (Florence Périer) and a star-studded father (Christian Têtedoie), he has put together a menu that slides smoothly towards modernity.
“We sometimes make “Lyonnaiseries” : brains, pack feet… I just forbid frogs which are now imported from Polandexplains the boss. But I don’t want to be only in reproduction. Rather than a Nantua crayfish sauce, which is now endangered in the region, I prefer a salmon trout from Isère with a verjuice sauce.. » His cellar, with 25,000 bottles, follows the same logic of transition: it brings together a staggering collection of Beaujolais (300 references) focused on natural wines and old vintages.
By lifting the lid of the Lyonnaise pot, we discover a bubbling, cheeky, mixed scene. Some troublemakers have been whetting appetites for a long time. The premises of La Bijouterie, a haunt of the avant-garde which thrilled the taste buds for seven years, today host the Leptine restaurant and the adventurous cuisine of Steven Thiebaut-Pellegrino. In a crazy decor mixing red neon lights and dried fish, the owner focuses on unusual products and frank tastes.
Examples? Chard leaves, which he slips mischievously into a delicatessen sauce without veal juice, deliciously acidic. “I like to go towards the unknown, he confides over a homemade bissap. When I go shopping in the grocery stores of La Guillotière, a working-class neighborhood in the city center that has welcomed migration for a century, I ask mothers what they buy, how they cook it, to inspire me. Our dish titles are very succinct, a little mysterious, it’s the start of a discussion. In the kitchen, we take turns letting go of the pan to explain to customers what they are about to eat. »
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