Haute cuisine in a food truck
If you think that haute cuisine dishes only belong to the luxury sector restaurants, then you might not have heard of Stephane Le Provos and his food truck « Lobster&Co ».
We are sitting on a sunny day on one of the Parisian river beaches, enjoying the smells of nature and sophisticated food. Right in front of me there is a food truck, all painted in blue marine and funny images of lobsters — a physical manifestation of its creator’s long-time dream.
Being Breton of origin, Stephane has always been fond of everything that comes from the ocean, and the thought of creating delicious food was always in his mind. « My first dish was a kind of croque-monsieur, cooked for my friends in the garage of my father. By the way, it turned into a disaster — not only did I completely spoil the dish, but the garage was about to be burnt to ashes, » says today’s renowned chef, who has in his CV such experience as cooking for the British royal family, president of Russia Vladimir Putin, singer Elton John and many others.
His career started not just anywhere — after having graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, the internationally renowned culinary school in Paris, he spent a few years as an apprentice in La Tour D’Argent, a classical French elegant restaurant, that has been mentioned in the top list of the Michelin guide for many years. « Small details mean a lot in any profession, and I was blessed to start with real talented professionals. » Creation of sauces, combinations of tastes, the right degree of cooking — everything that we enjoy today in his dishes — was learnt there.
Then there were many years of travels, discovering of new places and various types of food. The thirst of new experiences — not necessarily in professional life — and the interest to experiments lead to a creation of new tastes and recipes. His collection grows up, becomes bigger.
Then comes this idea of opening a restaurant in Moscow, for the lovers of French sophisticated food with a touch of international experience. Le Carré Blanc opened its doors in 2003 and became Stephan’s first big project; it also challenged him as a manager to work in a completely different environment.
He says: « Definitely, it was a funny time… This mentality, so different from ours…it’s not obvious to understand, but I really enjoyed and appreciated this wideness of the Russian soul. There’s a saying in Russian ‘Those who lived in Moscow, will not sweat in hell’ — it’s rude but I like it because it expresses so deeply all the story that I have passed through. » He smiles while thinking about those years during which not only did he polish his skills as a chef and as a manager, but also he saw different sides of life and progressively got this idea of making food that would be delicious and reasonable at the same time.
After returning to France in 2010 he finally understands the concept of how it should be. « When you are in Paris, it becomes obvious that street food is in big demand here, because of the huge amount of tourists. » At the same time, as a chef he doesn’t like the idea of sandwiches; he also cares for the food to be healthy and tasty and the same time, affordable and leaving good memories. Parisian luxury lifestyle adds the last note, and the idea of a cuisine based on lobsters comes to the stage.
« I am glad of what we do these days, » says Stephane (he has two associates). Being concerned of the modern climate changes, they installed solar batteries on their truck, thus having a first and today unique street food unit that takes care of the environment. They change places, from hippodromes to city beaches to all sorts of fairs. Their next step — creation of a franchise so that more people can enjoy this experiment of blending luxury with affordability.
« In a certain moment of life you understand that pleasure is not necessarily about high prices. A good meal, a nice smile, a warmth of a conversation… I hope I manage to make my small contribution here…the rest is up to our guests to decide. »