Le Transvзrsal

[fresh_a]

Young wunderchef Inaki Aizpitarte has left La Famille and opened an apparently pretty cutting-edge restaurant in the new MAC/VAL contemporary art museum in Vitry sur Seine , in the Paris 'burbs. They just got three stars in the Figaroscope, and I was wondering if anyone had been there yet? Someone I know went for the opening and thought it was pretty great, with inventive dishes like liquid boudin noir and liquid purée, and frozen "Intuit" beef in olive)oil ice. Anyone been?

Figaroscope review (in French)

Omnivore review (in French)

Here's what their own website says about it:

The restaurant Le Transversal with chefs Laurent Chareau and Inaki  Aizpitarte offers different eating suggestions.

For lunch, the "garde manger" menu with hot and cold raw products:  the "variations du jour" with recipes inspired by bistrot cooking. For dinner, the "miniatures", a tasting menu consisting of ten  dishes, followed by the "zoom", a close-up on one of these dishes. Snacks are available at any hour during the day at the Transversal.

Edited December 16, 2005 by fresh_a (log)

[Felice]

Young wunderchef Inaki Aizpitarte has left La Famille and opened an apparently pretty cutting-edge restaurant in the new MAC/VAL contemporary art museul in Vitry sur Seine, in the Paris 'burbs. They just got three stars in the Figaroscope, and I was wondering if anyone had been there yet? Someone I know went for the opening and thought it was pretty great, with inventive dishes like liquid boudin noir and liquid purée, and frozen "eskimo" beef. Anyone been?

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Oui, I went this week, but for lunch, which appears to be quite different from dinner. The waiter described the dinner menu as a "menu gastronomique". He said the chef serves some ten or so courses of his choice for about 40-50 €.

For lunch they have two plats du jour and then something titled the “formule garde-manger” (what I had) where you can choose from some 40 different small dishes (ingredients really) divided into 9 categories like "Végétal” which had Asperges de Navarre, radishes by Joel Thiebault, 3 varities of beets, smashed potatoes and even a plate of just “three or two clementines”; “Crustaces et Pelagigues” had small plates of shrimp, oysters, scallops; “Charcuteries” had raw and cooked foie gras, rabbit rillettes, and jambon cru; “Poissons” had wild salmon, anchovies with Ondarroa olive oil, etc. The menu states that all of the products are of the highest qualitiy, small artisanal producers and indeed everything I had was delicious but very simple. The idea is to order lots of little things to put together and share. So, you could order the pears from the “Végétal” section and dip them in the melted chocolate in the dessert section. Or you could order the sun-dried tomatoes and pair them with amazing buffalo mozzarella. I thought the whole thing was very fun and will definitely go back for dinner.

The only downside is that it is quite far out. I read that the metro was Porte de Choissy and was assuming I could walk. Luckily I looked up how to get there on the RATP site before leaving and realized that I would need to take a bus from Choissy. The bus drops you off right outside though, so it’s not too bad.

[fresh_a]

I will definitely go for dinner this week, and keep you all posted. Please do the same!!

[John Talbott]

I will definitely go for dinner this week, and keep you all posted. Please do the same!!

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I too ate there and will report in my December new restaurant posts soon (maybe tonite).

[fresh_a]

Can't wait!

[John Talbott]

Can't wait!

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Wait no longer.

[fresh_a]

I didn't

[Judith Gebhart]

I didn't

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I am awaiting a response from John and anyone else about their experience at this young French operation which has immense appeal to us. We are old Francophiles; more recently Spanish converts. Our heart has always been in France but the French have not embraced with great zeal their newest, most innovative, irreverent and talented chefs. I await a more comprehensive review with anticipation. Judith Gebhart

[John Talbott]

I didn't

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I am awaiting a response from John and anyone else about their experience at this young French operation which has immense appeal to us. We are old Francophiles; more recently Spanish converts. Our heart has always been in France but the French have not embraced with great zeal their newest, most innovative, irreverent and talented chefs. I await a more comprehensive review with anticipation. Judith Gebhart

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Judith - If you click on the link I gave two posts (Dec 16th) above it'll take you to my review. Felice also posted her reaction on Dec 16th. Those, plus Fresh_a's blog, which he linked to, are it so far.

[fresh_a]

and I'll be updating mine soon...

[John Talbott]

An amazing happening is about to happen and was revealed to two of us this afternoon (yes, I have a reliable witness). Inaki Aizpitarte, after some 60 days, has once again been seduced/induced to move, this time from Le Transvзrsal for Le Chateaubriand and depending on how your hear it, will either run both or gradually transfer his affections from the 94th to the 11th. So, I suppose the good news is that you no longer will have to deal with the tramway and bus lane construction to get to MAC/VAL and can instead go directly over to Goncourt; the bad news is that we don't know whether the shift will mean driving the level of cuisine towards the mean or elevate both. Stay tuned, one of our "team" will be eating in Vitry-sur-Seine tomorrow night and will surely report on the food at that moment. Whatever Aizpitarte's lengths of stay and level of involvement at La Famille, Refectoire + Transvзrsal, makes you kind of wonder, non?

[Laidback]

An amazing happening is about to happen and was revealed to two of us this afternoon (yes, I have a reliable witness).  Inaki Aizpitarte, after some 60 days, has once again been seduced/induced to move, this time from Le Transvзrsal for Le Chateaubriand and depending on how your hear it, will either run both or gradually transfer his affections from the 94th to the 11th.  So, I suppose the good news is that you no longer will have to deal with the tramway and bus lane construction to get to MAC/VAL and can instead go directly over to Goncourt; the bad news is that we don't know whether the shift will mean driving the level of cuisine towards the mean or elevate both.  Stay tuned, one of our "team" will be eating in Vitry-sur-Seine tomorrow night and will surely report on the food at that moment.  Whatever Aizpitarte's lengths of stay and level of involvement at La Famille, Refectoire + Transvзrsal, makes you kind of wonder, non?

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It could be that Aizpitarte will replace Michel Del Burgo as the peripatecian of this new decade.

Edited February 10, 2006 by Laidback (log)

[John Talbott]

It could be that Aizpitarte will replace Michel Del Burgo as the peripatecian of this new decade.

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I was thinking of Gilles Epie actually.

[fresh_a]

I thought I already mentionned this before... that his partner Laurent Chareau seemed a little worried about Inake's level of participation in TRANSVERSAL. He spoke of the opening of the CHATEAUBRIAND as being his main focus. He is still a quarter partner of TRANSVERSAL, but when I spoke to them about it I got the idea it was a sort of "consulting" type thing..

[Carlsbad]

I think I've said this before, but where else do you get this kind of information?

[fresh_a]

?

[Carlsbad]

I meant that in a positive way.

[fresh_a]

Me? Where do I get this information? I read everything, keep my ears open, and have lots of contacts.

[Laidback]

Me? Where do I get this information? I read everything, keep my ears open, and have lots of contacts.

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fresh_a,

what do you hear about the talented but "here today gone tomorrow" Michel Del Burgo?

Edited February 14, 2006 by Laidback (log)

[John Talbott]

I think I've said this before, but where else do you get this kind of information?

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Me, I was eating at Le Bistral and the staff told us in a review of wha's up, heard this, oh boy!

But I think your point Carlsbad is that eGullet is pretty plugged in. I love it that certain French critics read it for "wha's up."

By the bye, I just tumbled/stumbled on a new part of an old source too - lesrestos.com which I was using for the wrong reason. It's a mine of wha's up.

[Felice]

I went to Transversal again last weekend, this time for dinner, which is a quite different experience from lunch. At dinner there is a set menu-surprise with ten miniature courses for 38 €.

Here is the menu, which was given to us at the end. I took a few photos but I'm sorry to say they didn’t turn very well.

Menu Spécial

“Poucet Lolo monte en haut du pommier pour souffler ses 20 printemps”

Pépin bref, long de pomme

This one was a bit strange. It was a single apple seed on a large plate. No one really knew what to make of it. I thought it would perhaps set the theme for the evening, but apple didn’t really appear in any of the following dishes. Perhaps the answer is in the phrase above written on the menu.

Macarond foi de morue

A macaron of cod’s liver. I loved this one, the sweetness of the macaron went well with the saltiness of the cod.

Jaune Gelé

Raw egg yolk suspended in soy jelly, served with dried seaweed and dried tuna.

Sant Jacques “bis gout” en sushi chaud-tiède

Slices of raw and seared scallop with saffron rice over squid ink.

Calamars sur un air de chorizo-clementines

Carlamari with a « choirzo » foam and clementines.

Sardines filet, gelée de volaille, olives

Mini potau’f

This was a deconstructed “pot au feu” with brightly colored vegetables strewn about the plate and a small bowl of broth.

Rôti du beuf, huile de pomme de terre, gras de jambon

Tender roasted beef with a puree of potoato. The beef was topped with a paper-like substance which melted in your mouth, which was the ham fat.

Prédessert: Tour de Poire “Vitry sur Beurre”

Delicious pears in carmalised butter

Ile Planante, mangue œufs mimosa, huile figee, arc de sechouan

This was a mound of airy eggs whites with mango and solidified oil, and a spicy flower.

I enjoyed everything, some were good, some interesting, some delicious. Overall I was quite happy with the experience. However the group I went with, all French in either their late 20s early 30s, were not so thrilled. One girl was disgusted by all of the different forms of oils used even in the dessert and proclaimed that it was “infect!”, not an adjective a chef likes to hear. Others felt it was pretentious.

Fresh A, I know you said you were going for dinner, did you? Thoughts?

Edited February 18, 2006 by Felice (log)

[fresh_a]

I didn't actually. I ate almost everything on the lunch menu, met Laurent, Inaki's partner, and reviewed the restaurant for a publication, but I have been too busy to dine there yet, and it is a little off the beaten track...

[John Talbott]

what do you hear about the talented but "here today gone tomorrow" Michel Del Burgo?

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As Fresh_a, Margaret Kemp, Le Figaro and others have noted, as of September he'll be at l'Orangerie on the Ile St Louis.