Christian Testa has brought to the recently opened three story La Gloutonnerie a Cannes outdoor market sensibility so authentic that one could easily mistake South Beach as a shoreline along the Cote Azur. Upon entering the exterior garden ,where the first annual Art Basil event will premiere in 2012 one knows instinctively that something very special is happening here.
With black and white photos ala Hurrell, crustaceans from Maine Lobster Live twitching on beds of cracked ice, stone crabs begging to be cracked , drawn and quartered and the hand crafted salumi waiting for a juicy slab of summer melon and squinch of Florida lime these are classics reinvented.
Testa began his career at the Hotel Splendido, an Orient Express Hotel, in Portofino, Italy. Testa was uprooted and transplanted to La Coquille, Bermuda and came to shore on South Beach to assemble a team, a wine list , menu items and continental charm that diners turned out in Chanel by Donna Couture Consignment can not help but swoon. The unpronounceable name may be a futile attempt to keep out the hoi polloi. This is a Kitchen for any one who yearns for authenticity in their dining choices.
