Christophe Pelé, chef at Le Clarence, has left that establishment. It is not yet clear what he will be doing next. Andrea Capasso, who worked under Pelé the past six years is now in charge there.
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Thanks for sharing this update. I had considered dining there later this month for lunch, but will now hold off. I also happened to notice a recent odd pattern of what seems to be daily fake / spam 5 star reviews on google. Quite odd for a restaurant of this caliber.
I wouldn’t worry and I wouldn’t hold off just because Pelé is leaving.
Strong chances are that the restaurant will be just the same after he leaves, perhaps even better, since it is almost a tradition at Le Clarence that the sous-chef is actually in charge. Almost more than the chef himself. That was the case of Giuliano Sperandio (now doing wonders at Taillevent), who held the whole Clarence on his shoulders for years. Pelé is a wonderful chef and I do not mean to depreciate him in any way, but it happens that he has always needed someone unusually strong and able to support his artistic talent and changing moods.
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I had look at Google, indeed some reviews seemed weird. I guess le Clarence on the best 50 list probably attracts another type of diners than more adventurous food lovers. My post Covid meal there was simply one of the best meal I have since a few years (better than the Pierre Gagnaire meal we had a week after).
Pelé did come out to meet someone next table during our visit, he didn’t, like some other chefs went to each table to greet. I’ve always thought of returning. He will be remembered.
Yes, I originally posted just as information and more about questions of where Pelé might go than to indicate a decline in the restaurant. Certainly, at La Scène Thélème the food is as good as ever since Yoshitaka Takayanagi’s second, Rudy Langlais, took over there when Takayanagi went to Granite.
Re the google weirdness, I get the sense that the restaurant world in Paris (and indeed maybe throughout France right now) is not on solid economic footing, and the more expensive you get, the more precarious it is. Carmenere probably has better insight than I.
No particular insignt there on a general basis, but it is true that the more expensive and ambitious a restaurant is, the more precarious it gets; especially when it is not backed by a large group like LVMH or a lush international hotel chain. In the case of Le Clarence (owned by Domaines Clarence Dillon and Prince Robert of Luxemburg), this is an independent gastro, and despite the fact that the owners are not exactly misers, the place is on its own, with no hotel or satellite bistrot or brasserie to balance the finances.
However, that doesn’t explain the google weirdness to me — this is actually just weird.
