|Places| By looking out the window and seeing this field of food being grown right in front of you, it’s literally transparent as to what’s happening here – Chef James Henry Farm-fresh gourds double as decor at Le Doyenné were shaking up the traditional culinary scene (Henry, now 40 years old, had won raves for his restaurants Au Passage and Bones, and Kelly, 39, had worked at Au Passage and Yard, a popular modern bistro), they were looking for a change, a restaurant that they could control and afford and that would possibly allow for a better quality of life. Certainly, they never predicted then that they would end up spending more than five years building a regenerative farm on a historic estate almost an hour south of Paris – and that was before they even opened a restaurant. But sometimes that’s how life works: when one is actively looking for positive change, it arrives, but often in a different, more challenging form than expected. As Kelly describes it, at one point during their search for a restaurant space, they were approached by the French heir to the Château de Saint-Vrain, a 15th-century estate in a village 41 kilometres south of Paris. The estate, which hadn’t been maintained for at least 60 years, was in need of a sustainable project that could bring it back to life; the Mortemart family, who had owned the château for more than two hundred years, thought that the two chefs were the right ones to do it. “From our first meeting, we pretty much had the same vision: to bring back the potage garden, raise pigs in the wood, create a sustainable model,” says Kelly. “But we initially said no because we had never farmed before and we thought it was just too big and too far away.” They kept talking, and soon, the two chefs decided to take the risk and sign on. They taught themselves about regenerative farming as they did the work, planted hundreds of fruit trees and shrubs, and made it through Covidrelated restrictions by selling heirloom vegetables to chef friends in Paris. Instead of choosing to place the restaurant in the château, they decided to renovate the horse stables with the help of the French architectural collective Ciguë. With this decision, they made several strong statements: the stable complex is still a monumental space but one with more humble, agricultural origins; one side of the building overlooks the farm, but the two of them prefer to “show our mission through action,” says Henry. “By looking out the window and seeing this field of food being grown right in front of you, it’s literally transparent as to what’s happening here.” The restaurant finally debuted in June of last year, and shortly afterwards, the guesthouse, a wing of 10 rooms, was opened. Today, as a visitor arrives at the entrance set within a renovated stone wall, they follow a long drive that passes about a dozen-and-a-half jet-black Le Mans and spotted Maran chickens, an expanse of parkland punctuated by centuries-old trees, a pond filled with wild geese, the three-storey, 18th-century château, still closed off, before they finally arrive at the expansive stables. There is no real reception; guests collect their keys in the new farm shop, which sells vegetables and bread baked in-house by former Tartine (the cultish bakery started by Chad Robertson in San Francisco) baker Lori Oyamada. The rooms, in a way, resemble the food itself: with beautiful artisanmade objects (linen sheets, ceramic vases) and colour coming from bouquets of fresh or dried flowers. PHOTO MARINE BILLET 36 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
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