In the very lively 11th arrondissement of Paris, certain addresses alone tell the story of an era. Behind an unpretentious façade on Boulevard Parmentier, a now legendary bistro is preparing to turn a huge page in its history. After twenty years of bustling cuisine, noisy evenings and clients as anonymous as they are famous, Chateaubriand said goodbye In the era imagined by its founder, Inaki Aizpitarte.
This Parisian address is adored by celebrities
When he took over the culinary address in April 2006 with Fred Peneau, nothing suggested the scale of the phenomenon. At the time, the two men arrived with a simple idea: to break the codes of Parisian gastronomy that was sometimes too rigid, too precious, too silent too. Very quickly, the restaurant became an unidentified culinary object, attracting lovers of great cuisine as well as artists, musicians, filmmakers and night owls of the capital.
The place quickly gained a singular reputation. In their tribute work dedicated to the establishment, Stéphane Peaucelle-Laurens and François Chevalier summarize the atmosphere of a formula that has become cult: “Very quickly, it became the noisiest restaurant in Paris.” Here, no room frozen in religious silence. We laugh, we debate, we toast loudly, sometimes until late at night.
Philippe Katerine has her little habits
The address almost becomes a character in its own right. Among the familiar faces of the place, a name often surprises:
Jonathan Cohen. Before becoming a key actor in French comedy, the performer would have worked there as a waiter. An anecdote which still nourishes the legend of the restaurant today and amuses the faithful of this address not quite like the others.
Around the tables of Chateaubriand, the stars parade over the years without ever really disturbing the spirit of the place. Frances McDormand, Eva Mendes, Bill Murray, the Coen brothers, Tony Hawk, Johnny Hallyday or even Zinédine Zidane would have taken a seat there. Figures from all walks of life seduced by a cuisine that stubbornly refuses conventions. But if he is a regular whose story is particularly intriguing, It’s definitely Philippe Katerine.
This restaurant has a great reputation
The artist, who came close to death, never hid his attachment to the restaurant or to the culinary world of Inaki Aizpitarte. He even said that a specific dish would have shocked his artistic imagination: a sweetbread tasted at Chateaubriand. An experience so significant that he assured, with his usual fantasy, that his music had changed after this meal, going so far as to evoke a sensation of leaving the body.
Because at Chateaubriand, nothing has ever been truly classic. Inaki Aizpitarte’s cuisine is built on instinct, between raw products, unexpected combinations and changing menus. The dishes are constantly evolving, refusing fixed recipes. Even the cellar has forged part of the myth: the best winegrowers in France found their place there, participating in transforming the address into a temple of natural wine. So many elements that Philippe Katerine, who suffered from an illness, adores.
