As you walk down Calle Sant Joan de Reus towards the small Atzucac restaurant, in the place where Ferran Cerro successfully cooked before (now in a larger space a short distance away) it is impossible not to ask yourself questions: What has a guy come here to do? like Xavi Franquet, for so many years in charge of the kitchen of one of the gods of French gastronomy, Michel Guérard. What is he doing in Reus, his city, which he recognizes as not an easy gastronomic place, in a simple house like the one he chose to start his own business without imagining that the tsunami of a pandemic was almost upon him.
But you have to sit at one of the tables and get down to business to get the answer. She makes the cuisine that she masters and that she likes, tasty and well done, without paying attention to fashion. Do not expect cebiches or tatakis from him, or tartars or baos or anything like that. In a small and noisy dining room (oh, the acoustics of restaurants!) they offer a lunch menu for 27 euros that offers a choice between various starters, main courses and desserts. They themselves describe the menu as "informal, carefree, homemade and of quality" and warn their clients that they will find classic dishes and flavors with a modern interpretation, following that maxim that attracts them to seek elegance within simplicity.
Some of the statements in the letter arouse the same appetite in us as those snippets of Franquet's long experience under the great Guérard that we try to capture every time he approaches the table. This is how we discovered what he and his wife were like, with whom he will tell us that he got along very well despite the respect that this woman with an boundless capacity for observation imposed on her companions who controlled every last detail of what was happening in the universe of Les Pres d'Eugénie les Bains. Franquet was there between 2001 and 2004, made a break to go to El Bulli (“Guérard knew I was interested and managed it without telling me”) and returned as assistant chef in 2007, to stay until 2010.
How could all that experience not be reflected in culinary tastes and in what comes to the table. Some dishes, such as the delicious mushroom ravioli with white vermouth sauce, toasted bacon and pine nuts, are a tribute to a Guérard classic. "It was very hard and there were times when I had a terrible time, and when I broke down: I started crying in full service and was unable to do anything." But if he was there, he explains, "it's because I wanted to and I don't regret it." He says that the chef who "had an immense influence on the evolution of haute cuisine and was the first to collaborate with the industry, advising Nestlé", could glare at you or kill a morning's work if he saw the slightest mistake. in the presentation. "But we were called les enfants and we were like a family."
Franquet is enthusiastic about working in the delicatessen, something typical of French chefs. He prepares an exquisite cap i pota terrine with turmeric or a delicious pate. Starters such as the grilled leek marinated in vinegar or the braised artichokes in white wine with a cream of chestnuts and Alforja secallona are followed by interesting fish such as baked sea bass loin on a buckwheat flour blini or an exquisite hake from longline with sautéed fennel, green olives and squid ink sauce. And tasty meats, such as the entrama roasted with garlic and herbs or the "civet" of trotters and pork cheeks with sausage, warm lentils and pickled onions, as well as classic desserts, such as the Russian cake with hazelnut praline. The chef from Reus is interested in wines and he himself prepares his brief but interesting selection that he offers in the Arnau Rubio room, who was a student of Franquet while he was a professor at the Escola d'Hosteleria de Cambrils and whom he describes as his absolute accomplice.
