Читать книгу The Restaurant, A Geographical Approach - Olivier Etcheverria - Страница 19

During the 19th Century, the flow of eaters and, correlatively, the locations of restaurants mainly moved towards the west of Paris [ORT 90]. The Parisian geography of restaurants was modeled on that of urban transformations, in particular the layout of structuring openings (boulevards) and the organization of a traffic network linking the center with the new districts.

Rolande Bonnain explains:

“When prostitution played too much of a role in the activities of the neighborhood [Palais-Royal], the establishments that did not live off it migrated to the Boulevards, where the great cafés and restaurants were frequented and cited by Alexandre Dumas or Balzac could be found: the Grand Hôtel, the Café Anglais, the Café de Paris, the Maison Dorée, the Café Riche. The appearance of the neighborhood was no longer the same: wide avenues where private cars traveled, large establishments where luxury could be seen in the decoration and the number of seats offered by the restaurant. All the Parisian activities were gathered there, divided between money and entertainment: banking, luxury shops, theater, music, dance and the press were crowding boulevard des Italiens and the surrounding area.” [BON 75, p. 120, author’s translation]

The geographical spread of restaurants can be linked to the new socioeconomic and urban dynamics of Paris:

“The restaurateurs, in their travels, followed the phases of Parisian emigration […]. From 1815 to 1830, this greatness was not reduced; but perhaps, as it spread, it was less real, less solid and less sustainable than in the previous era. Thus, the number of restaurateurs increased; these establishments, with admirable intelligence, addressed all needs and all distractions; they were placed at all levels of society, and spread in the existence of each other and in life in general new facilities, of which they had not found anywhere the traces and the indication. This was the true and first merit of the restaurants in Paris during these 15 years.” [BRI 03, p. 93, p. 98, author’s translation]

At the same time, it followed, supported, maintained and reinforced the urban “staging” of the city of Paris.

Thus:

“Under the Empire a new geography was emerging. The Palais-Royal no longer had a monopoly; establishments opened in the Les Halles district (Le Rocher de Cancale, rue Montorgueil) and already on the main boulevards (du Temple, des Italiens). An isolated individual to the west, Ledoyen, foreshadowed the success of the Champs-Élysées district. At the Palais-Royal, customers came to enjoy themselves, but their place of activity was close; from then on, it was the places for walking and the theaters that attracted restaurants.” [PIT 91, p. 166, author’s translation]

The boulevard des Italiens – the Boulevard – (Café Anglais, Café Hardy, Café Riche, Maison Dorée, Café Foy, etc.) is particularly elegant. Eugène Briffault specifies:

“At La Chaussée-d’Antin, the lunches of the Café Anglais; Hardy’s famous ramekins and Riche’s skewered kidneys attracted the young and elegant world. It was cheerfully said ‘that you had to be very rich to dine at Hardy’s or very bold to dine at Riche’s.’” [BRI 03, pp. 93–95, author’s translation]

Indeed, Café Riche, at the corner of rue Le Peletier, was renowned for its exorbitant prices, rated by Pierre Andrieu:

“In 1867, the value of the business of the Café Riche was estimated at one million [francs.]! Certainly the most expensive restaurant in Paris. The cuisine was incomparable: the shrimp sole, which was lovely to taste with a Bouzy red, was magnificent, and the Riche sauce, the chef’s secret, made all the well-off gourmets in Paris up their game.” [AND 55, p. 55, author’s translation]

Along the boulevards, there were theaters frequented by an audience that appreciates dinner after the performances in the restaurants. Similarly, private firms or lounges were also sought. Rebecca Spang explains: “Better suited to confidential tête-à-têtes than expansive sociability, the restaurateur’s new spaces emphasized the private, the intimate, and the potentially secret” [SPA 00, p. 78]. She explains: “‘Personal’ needs and ‘private’ desires dominated the mythology and rhetoric of the restaurant; they were what separated the restaurant from other forms of public eating” [SPA 00, p. 79].

Café Anglais was renowned for its facilities and, more particularly, for one of them, the Grand seize. The last act of Jacques Offenbach’s comic opera La Vie parisienne, premiered on October 30, 1866 at the Palais-Royal theater, took place there – a rondeau by Métella narrates a late night in this room:

Quand vient le matin, quand paraît l’aurore,

On en trouve encore, mais plus de gaieté !

Les brillants viveurs sont mal à leur aise,

Et dans le “Grand Seize”, on voudrait du thé !

Ils s’en vont enfin, la mine blafarde,

Ivres de champagne et de faux amours,

Et le balayeur s’arrête, regarde,

Et leur crie ! Ohé ! les heureux du jour !

(When the morning comes, when the dawn appears,

You can still find some, but no more cheerfulness!

The bright shining ones are uncomfortable,

And in the “Grand Seize”, we’d like some tea!

They finally leave, the pale appearance,

Drunk with champagne and fake love,

And the sweeper stops, looks,

And screams! Ahoy! The happy ones of the day!)

The boulevards promoted and directed denser and more varied travel through a wide and flat sidewalk leading to smooth traffic, sidewalks that facilitated easy and pleasant pedestrian traffic and gas lighting that allowed safe night traffic. Thus, François-Régis Gaudry underlines:

“Under the Second Empire, the boulevards were the aorta of Paris, draining dandies, marquises, lions, mistresses, courtesans, politicians, journalists and stock market people. In this worldly fauna, writers were a species apart. While they know how to mix with the crowd, they also had their favorite addresses. They were not necessarily the best, nor the most expensive, but those where the bosses knew how to welcome them. Several of them were entitled, in the gazettes, guides and other testimonies of the time, to the nickname ‘academic restaurants’.” [GAU 06, p. 105]

These are Peter’s (24, passage des Princes/5 bis, boulevard des Italiens), Café Américain/Grand Café Capucines (boulevard des Capucines), Café Brébant (boulevard Poissonnière) and Marguery (boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, formerly boulevard de la Porte-Saint-Martin), for example.

As an extension of Rue de Rivoli, Place de la Concorde and Avenue des Champs-Élysées are gradually being affected by the geographical spread of restaurants, as demonstrated by René Héron de Villefosse:

“After the winning boulevards of the Palais-Royal, here is the Champs-Élysées, which show the ends of their branches. We are still in the middle of greenery, in 1852, but, from 1855, exhibitions followed one another, giving birth to the giant palace of Industry which witnessed the satellites of the Dioramas, café-concerts and other summer restaurants appear all around it, from which we keep some charming samples. The Marbeuf district was built, the Étoile was completed. Prince Napoleon, the Duke of Morny, Princess Mathilde, the Païva, the Duchess of Alba came to be housed there. Let’s not be surprised to see the birth, on rue Royale and in its west, of a series of surprising representatives for gourmet food and refined people, not to mention the Mabille ball!” [HER 56, pp. 194–195, author’s translation]

On Rue Cambon, the restaurant Voisin was run by Braquessac, a winegrower in the Bordeaux region, with chef Choron. The Prunier restaurant opened in 1872 on rue Duphot. Grilled meats, snails and sheep feet in chicken sauce were served there, but the restaurant was especially famous for its oyster dishes: oyster soup, fried oysters and Boston beef fillet. On Rue Royale and Place de la Madeleine, Lucas opened up, followed by Francis Carton, Larue, Weber and Maxim’s. Indeed, René Héron de Villefosse points out that:

“The 1900 exhibition dedicated Maxim’s to the world view. The main entrance was Place de la Concorde, surmounted by a statue of the Parisian woman, due to Moreau-Vauthier, perched on a golden ball and topped by the ship of the city of Paris, surrounded by electric light bulbs and entirely risqué. Maxim’s happened to be the bar, café, restaurant, the nearest box to this onlooker trap. No foreigner of any brand, who came for the giant event, who did not come to Maxim’s for dinner.” [HER 56, p. 259, author’s translation]

At the beginning of the 20th Century, still in a logic of axes, restaurants progressed to the Bois de Boulogne: “It was the great fashion of Ledoyen, the Pavillon Élysée, Laurent, the Champs-Élysées, the Pré Catelan, the Pavillon d’Armenonville, Madrid, the Grande Cascade and the Bois de Boulogne.” [PIT 91, p. 172, author’s translation]

Valérie Ortoli-Denoix underlines:

“No major operation having replaced Haussmann’s work, the previous trend is confirmed. Nine thousand restaurants are spread throughout the capital, almost all of which are served by the metro. Ignoring the east where an anarchic development of poor neighborhoods is taking place (Charonne, Ménilmontant, Belleville), the restaurants mentioned above are associated with the simultaneous development of rich neighborhoods in the west (Champs-Élysées, Monceau, Passy, Auteuil, Champ-de-Mars). The periphery and the recent boulevards des Maréchaux, traced on the site of the Thiers enclosure, have only few votes. The Seine and the axis Gare de l’Est – Boulevard Saint-Michel are still borders delimiting Paris into four zones, including the northwest which dominates.” [ORT 90, p. 23, author’s translation]