The Laguiole cooks, father and son, have for a long time seduced the gastronomic world, as much by their loyalty to their territory as by their creations.
A necessity at the outset, cooking very quickly became the guiding thread of a life for Michel Bras, guided by his ambition, his sense of contemplation and his endless desire to experiment. Inhabited by the Aubrac region, he draws endless inspiration from the land as well as from the skies. After honing his cooking skills with his mother at the family restaurant Lou Mazuc in Laguiole, in 1992 he opened the restaurant Le Suquet at the top of a hill overlooking the village. He initiated a cuisine that is refined, audacious, sincere, turned towards nature, with the desire to share a contemporary vision of it. After having been recognized as a trailblazer by chefs and gastronomes from all over the world, he gradually let his eldest son Sébastien trace his path in the kitchens of Le Suquet. He remains by his side to continue their culinary travels which take them from Paris to Karuizawa in Japan.
Some of Michel Bras' creations have left their mark on the gastronomic landscape. A veritable firework display that is constantly renewed according to the seasons and the days, the Gargouillou is an intimate reading of the Aubrac. Amaranth, white borage, rocambole garlic, clover, cauliflower pith, peas, tuberous chervil, chickweed, pink radish, salsify, tomato, cebette, cistre... and other vegetables, young shoots, leaves, flowers, pith, seeds or roots are mixed together, in a plant architecture, bursting with flavors and colors This dish, always served at the Suquet, near its place of germination, resounds today as one of the most beautiful tributes to nature.
The chocolate coulant invented by Michel Bras in 1981 is still a worldwide success today. Inspired by a hot chocolate with his family after a cold day of cross-country skiing, the chef achieved this feat after two years of research. This mysterious cylinder of cookie retaining a flow of chocolate lava ready to escape at the first spoonful, always arouses surprise and delight. Sébastien still honors this audacity today with a thousand sweet and savory interpretations that are just as magical, and that can be tasted, just like the original, at the Halle aux grains.
The kitchen has always been a natural playground for Sébastien. This child, lulled by the sounds of pots and pans and the scent of broths that crept into his room above the kitchens. He quickly joined his father as soon as the Suquet opened. Father and son have a relationship of trust and sometimes mistrust, but they are aware that they share the same vision and sensibility, that of a cuisine that is out of the ground, in the field, shaped by a territory and full of generosity. He has been running the restaurant's kitchens alone since 2009, inventing a spontaneous, lively, sensual "cuisine of the moment" that touches the heart more than the head.
Their sensitivity to creation has always led Michel and Sébastien to turn to places with strong architectural and artistic expression. They boldly built a vessel of glass, stone and light in Le Suquet in the early 1990s. In Millau, Rodez or Karuizawa, their cuisine rubs shoulders with the works of Norman Foster, RCR Arquitectes, Pierre Soulages and Kengo Kuma.
François Pinault's invitation to the Bourse de Commerce fits right in with this history. "Tadao Ando's light architecture will delicately brush up against the Bourse de Commerce, history and contemporary art will mingle. It's an inspiring place, one that gives breath. "says Michel Bras.
