Chef Christian Testa at La Gloutonnerie Vintage
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 and the mustard is sold in clay pots from Provence. Upon entering the palmy garden and patio for lingering in the shade ,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 George 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 can not help but swoon. The unpronounceable name may be a futile attempt to keep out the hoi polloi. No this Kitchen turns out a meal for any one who craves or insists for authenticity in their dining choices.
