A family business for three generations in the heart of Joigny, the Côte Saint-Jacques is an institution proudly bearing the colors of tradition. Jean-Michel Lorain has been making two stars shine there for years.
Crossing the threshold of an institution like this is always a unique moment. It has been nearly 80 years since La Côte Saint-Jacques opened its doors in the heart of Joigny, on the banks of the Yonne.
It was there, alongside his grandmother Marie Lorain, then his parents Michel and Jacqueline Lorain, that the current chef, Jean-Michel Lorain, a figure of French gastronomy, was raised. There he learned the rigor necessary in the kitchen to reach the top – Michel Lorain obtained his first star in 1971. Since then, he has endeavored to perpetuate the image of the establishment by proudly wearing the colors of tradition – the black pudding with apples and its old-fashioned mousseline purée is a masterpiece, and the cheese platter is always a wonderful experience – while demonstrating his inventiveness – the fillet of doe with acidulated beet and blackcurrant and celeriac holds its place. It is there, finally, that he gave his restaurant a second star, which makes it one of the places not to be missed in gastronomy at the gates of Sologne and Burgundy, and which was fully booked at lunchtime, during the week, when we came.
From The chef relies on his own market garden, cultivated without pesticides, to buy fruits and vegetables: from the room, whose view opens on the Yonne below, one sees it in front. Of course, the autonomy is not at the rendezvous but it is so much better, the idea not being to cut of the added value of local market gardeners, nor to deprive them of a collaboration that contributes to a local ecosystem. Because for the chief Lorain, who created the association Dessine-nous un Avenir to defend the biodiversity and the planet, sustainable development is a necessity, both in its environmental and societal aspects.
> 14 faubourg de Paris, 89 300 JOIGNY
