“I always wanted to have a restaurant. It was in my head from a very young age, from the moment my father [le journaliste Franz-Olivier Giesbert] started taking me to restaurants. But it took me a while to figure it out. I was not a very good student, I did a year of ecology at the Sorbonne which was a disaster and my father gave me an ultimatum: “Either you find your way or we cut off your supply.” I dreamed of being an auctioneer, I loved art, but when it was explained to me that, in addition to a master’s degree in law and a degree in art history, you also had to be a graduate of HEC or Polytechnique to have the slightest chance, I gave up.
I met Guy Job, who was the TV producer for my father and chef Joël Robuchon, for his show “Bon appétit bien cours”. It was he who encouraged me to enroll in the Ferrandi hotel and restaurant school. I said to myself that, to set up a restaurant, I had to learn to cook. For the first time in my life, I worked like crazy. I devoured cookbooks, I worked day and night.
“I set up an organic pizzeria in delivery with a former classmate, but it seriously lacked conviviality. I wanted a place where we could sit, share a moment. » Alexandre Giesbert
I did internships with Eric Briffard, Pierre Gagnaire, and I ended up knowing what I was doing. After the first year, I went to work at the Anacreon, a traditional restaurant in the 13e arrondissement, run by an old-fashioned chef who threw dishes at us when we missed them… I prepared my first beef bourguignons and hare stews there. It was hard, but it forged me.
I then worked at Christian Etchebest’s Troquet, in the 15e district, for two years. It was a real bistro, the type of place I dream of having one day, with emblematic dishes such as egg mayo, salmon meunière, profiteroles… After that, I started, I set up a organic pizzeria in delivery with an old classmate, but it seriously lacked conviviality. I wanted a place where we could sit, share a moment. I left the business after two years, but that’s where I met my future partner, Julien Ross. I joined him on his bistro project, Roca, where I worked in the kitchen. We were right in tune with the times, it was a hit.
Then we set up a real pizzeria, Roco, then Daroco, with an Italian theme. We tried other things, but, in the end, it was Italy and its emblematic recipes that won out: vitello tonnato, pizzas, pasta carbonara… I love all these dishes, but the recipe that makes the happiest remains the beef bourguignon. Maybe because it reminds me of my mother’s beef and carrots? In any case, it is a dish that I have learned to master over time.
I understood that, to succeed, you have to master the sauce. Brown the meat well, before wetting it, bind with a roux, use a broth, and good wine… It’s a perfect dish, which cannot be reinvented, but which can be refreshed with a little ginger, pickles of onion, a smoked mash or even a few crumbs of Fourme d’Ambert. »
Daroco Bourse, 6, rue Vivienne, Paris 2e. Daroco 16, 3, place Clément-Ader, Paris 16e. Daroco Soho, Manette Street, London W1D 4AW.