We went to the kitchens of two doubly starred chefs, in Narbonne at Lionel Giraud and Carcassonne at Franck Putelat to speak rugby and derby, before the semi-final (Saturday May 10 at 7 p.m.). Unsurprisingly, the first supports Racing Club Narbonnais, the second, US Carcassonne. And both compare, without surprise too, a kitchen brigade to a rugby team.
The derby seen from the stoves. Besides, Franck Putelat, the matches, he sometimes watches them from the kitchen, the TV on! This is certainly the definition of an enthusiast. “I have been rugby since I was little. I played a kid in my native jura … There are clubs by my home, Lons-le-Saunier, Saint-Claude. At 14, I stopped. It was everything for cooking.”
Giraud – Bio express
1978 – Birth in Narbonne
1996 – Crillon hotel in Paris
1997 – Ritz hotel in Paris
2004 -The Saint-Crescent table in Narbonne (chef and director)
2005 – First star
2006 – elected great tomorrow by the Gault & Millau
2008 – Master restaurateur
2011 – 4 Toques Gault & Millau
2012 – Top 3 best cook of the year
2014 – Maître Cuisinier de France
2015 – 407th world restaurant on the list
2018 – Gault & Golden Millau Prize
2020 – 2 stars in the Michelin guide
Lionel Giraud, rugby, he discovered it by his grandfather, Robert, who was an international arbitrator in the 1970s and eighty. “Suddenly, I have always been interested in it. My grandfather transmitted this passion and rigor to me.” The ex-arter, who has evolved in chicks and youngest in Racing, as soon as he has a few minutes, too, looks at match images. “What I like is when the players give themselves thoroughly. When I see a blow, or come back while walking, I groan … And if I look at rugby, it’s also to keep me informed. For public relations. If a customer speaks to me rugby, I must have the respondent.”
A service is a match. Except that we have no replacement on the bench.
One supports the US Carcassonne, the other Racing Club Narbonnais. But both agree on one point: a brigade is a team. Obvious. “A service is a match. Except that we have no replacement on the bench”asserts the double starry Narbonne. “And the match, we are not allowed to lose it. Also, I compare a brigade to a rugby team in the sense or in a kitchen, I do not necessarily want the best, but the most sharing, those who know how to move forward in a team and display a warrior state of mind. Performance, it is shared, and the problems, we leave them in the locker room.”
Franck Putelat adds: “In the kitchen, there is a first, a second line, the opener, it is the same sensations. We deliver a battle. Rugby is a big family, values, a brigade also. And then, in both cases, there is a first, a second and a third half. In the restaurant, we know all the rules and forbids to make a pass forward. It is the excellence that wants it.”
First, second and third half.
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Lionel Giraud is lived both as president, manager, coach and player. “We are forced”, he notes. “We do 100,000 trades during the day, cook, sommelier, baker, the role of leader of men being the most complex. And in each of his professions, we must reach excellence”, Add Franck Putelat.
Again and again excellence. An epithet that will chant the discussion with Lionel Giraud. “For us, excellence is permanently. We have to win the games with 20 points ahead. A two-star, it’s the Champions League. Otherwise, we don’t do this job. The day is 8 am-midnight”. The Carcassonnais chef resumes: “It’s 7 a.m.- 2 a.m. even …”.
Putelat – Bio express
1969 – Birth in Dôle
1998 – Chef-Cuisinier de la Barbacane in Carcassonne
2003 – Silver bocuse in Lyon
2006 – Opens his own restaurant La Table de Franck Putelat
2007 – Wins the first Michelin star for its restaurant
2011 – Appointed cook of the year by Gault and Millau
2012 – Second Michelin star
2013 – Opening of the Le Parc hotel
2016 – Creation of the 4 -stroke brewery in Carcassonne and acquisition of the Pont Levis hotel
2019 – Wins the competition of one of the best workers in France
2022 – Gault & Mill of Gold of Occitania
2024 – The table classified in list 1000 with a note of 88/100
A priesthood. An investment at all times. Suddenly, on Saturday, neither will come to the Sports Park. “Before when it was Sunday, I went to the stadium. Now, I can’t anymore. But why, they don’t play Sunday?! I’m subscribed, obviously, because I have to support the RCN! But I don’t use my subscriber card. And it’s a shame …”, Regrets Lionel Giraud, who lives his job as a sport. “Clearly, cooking is a sport. There is pain, adrenaline climbs. We are very physically solicited, emotionally. We have to take care of our body.”
A two-star is the Champions League. We have to win the matches with 20 points ahead.
Franck Putelat cannot go to the stadium as much as he wants but likes to go for example to the Stade de France. He has a fairly intimate relationship with rugby. “The rugby players eat at home. It is a pride. I think of Mathieu Babillot de Castres, Lucas Tauzin de Clermont, Clément Doumenc, who now plays in Béziers, at Didier Lacroix, the president of Toulouse, in Ugo Mola his coach.” Dupont ? “Not yet, but I do not despair.”
During the World Cup in France, the Jurassic was part of the XV of gastronomy. “And I have red and black blood flowing in the veins. And black and yellow of course. 200 %! I will also see matches in Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, I have a good time in the stands.”
On May 23, he will participate in the 126th anniversary of the USC which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the 1975 title. “We hope that Thomas Ramos will be there!” The yellow and black that marked it the most? “Clément Doumenc”he replies. “Not long ago, he sent me a text, because he was happy with the tapas restaurant that I advised him in Barcelona.”
A prognosis? “Narbonne will win”, According to Lionel Giraud. “Carcassonne !”, Ton Franck Putelat which specifies: “I feel that the imposing itself will do it largely with 20 or 25 points ahead.” A very salty score!
