Fulgurances is a springboard for ambitious and talented sous-chefs attempting to cut their teeth on shrewd patrons ready to play the game before hopefully one day opening their own restaurant.
What’s unique at Fulgurances is that chefs change throughout the year: the restaurant, the location, and the team stay, but each new chef brings his or her own flavor.
A group of three young entrepreneurs started this challenge in the 11th arrondissement in Paris. They wisely pick a sous-chef who will represent their establishment for the time being, and they don’t hesitate to go beyond French borders to find the hidden talents.
Raphaël Calisto (second from the right) with the team
They started in October 2015 with Chloé Charles as the first resident. She was the sous-chef at Septime for about two years and worked previously for David Toutain. Cooks coming from Ireland, London, Estonian, Portugal, and of course France followed her.
The current chef is Mariana Villegas from Mexico. After she studied at the Culinary Institute of America, she worked for Danny Meyer’s team in NYC before going back to Mexico to work at Pujol – the best restaurant in Mexico City – for chef Enrique Olvera and then joined the team at my favorite Mexican restaurant: Cosme – Olvera’s restaurant in NYC. I’m sure she’s going to surprise us with her talent and her multicultural background.
The décor at Fulgurances is bright and welcoming. The tables and bar are made of raw wood with irregular shapes, which creates a rustic-modern atmosphere. It’s an open kitchen concept, giving us a chance to talk to the chef at the end of the service and get to know him or her better.
On July 10th, Chef Raphaël Calisto was our chef in the kitchen! He treated us with an excellent and creative three-course lunch menu for only €25.
Raphaël Calisto grew up in Portugal, where he trained in different gastronomic restaurants before being noticed by the Michelin-starred Belgian Chef Kobe Desramaults. After working for him in Ghent, at De Superette, he decided to take over the kitchen at Fulgurances to test his ideas before flying on his own.
The menu was well thought out and the dishes refined. We started with an amuse-bouche: cheese mousse wrapped in a leaf, a unique presentation full of flavor.
The dishes were creative, and every one of them had their own little ingredients that made them special.
Monkfish served with smoked eggplant and linseed.
Sliced lamb panoufle with a sliver of cabbage was the other choice of appetizer.
Ray served with green beans and coriander seeds and meadowsweet.
Beef cheek cooked in red wine and presented with zucchini and sorrel leaves.
The dessert was a caramel flan prepared with meadowsweet. It was served tepid, and I liked it that way, but it was supposed to be cold – small hiccup.
I am looking forward to hearing about Calisto’s new restaurant and try it.
Hopefully, I can plan a trip to Paris before the end of December to try Mariana Villegas’ cuisine. Anyway, I will be excited to find out about the next resident at Fulgurances.
Fulgurances
10 Rue Alexandre Dumas, 75011 Paris
📞+33 1 43 48 14 59
Price: $$
Tuesday – Friday: 12:30 – 2pm, 7:30 – 10 pm
Saturday – Monday: Closed
Metro line 9, station Rue des Boulets.
