of the Palais-Royal reveals the invention of an urban apparatus, that of the ‘urban passage’ (W. Benjamin, J.L. Déotte). In the sense that the Palais-Royal can only be seen from the inside. For it is an urban palace within the city, a fragment of a city, surrounded by narrow streets; the perspective thus passes to the second degree.” [ALK 08, author’s translation]
It is a scene of political power. Long remembered for its associations with the absolute monarchy and the Bourbons, it took on a new political dimension after the French Revolution, which explains the location of many restaurants.
The restaurant is animated by the practices of political actors and crossed by political speeches and imaginations. In this sense, Méot is a “political” restaurant:
“The most famous example of these princely cooks converted into revolutionary restaurateurs remains Méot. A former Officier de Bouche to the Duke of Orléans, this colorful character opened his establishment on 26 May 1791, within the hotel that belonged to the Chancellery of Orléans, located on rue des Bons-Enfants (at the corner with a passage ending in the arcade 177 of the Valois gallery)…. All the trendy dishes were served there, even if it meant cooking them in a revolutionary sauce. To accompany turbot fillets, the sauce made of butter, lemon juice and herbs was no longer called ‘ maître d’hôtel’ (master of the hotel), an expression with too noble a connotation, but more simply ‘ homme de confiance’ (trusted man). Similarly, care was taken to avoid introducing into the dish with the Queen’s veal nuts, which were carefully renamed the Director’s veal nuts. Among all the Parisian restaurants, Méot was the model child of the Revolution. Wasn’t the 1793 constitution drafted in a lounge that was removed from his establishment? Didn’t Robespierre, Danton and Saint-Just appear in the worst hours of the Terror? Wasn’t the execution of Marie-Antoinette finally celebrated on October 16, 1793? The members of the Revolutionary Court enjoyed a béchamel of fins and foie gras, a fine roasted chicken, 12 larks per person and champagne!” [GAU 06, pp. 29–31, author’s translation]
Jean-Robert Pitte therefore stresses: “The same link between taverns and parliamentary life has long been observed in London. Thus, French haute cuisine, descended from its pedestal, remains linked to the exercise of power, as it was under the Ancien Régime.” [PIT 91, p. 162, author’s translation]
According to Adil Alkenzawi:
“Cardinal Richelieu’s choice of this place is significant: symbolic and political. The intention of Richelieu and his architects was not limited to locating the palace complex in the center of the city of Paris, but rather to creating an urban centrality in the form of an ‘urban passage’ that can be understood as the foundation of an appropriate ‘world place.’” [ALK 08, author’s translation]
Over time, the political dimension of the Palais-Royal continued and grew stronger: the facilities of the State Council in 1875 (1, place du Palais-Royal), the Constitutional Council in 1958 (2, rue de Montpensier) and the Ministry of Culture in 1959 (3, rue de Valois).
It is also a cultural place marked by the Academies (Academy of Sculpture and Painting 1661–1692 and Music 1773–1781) and theaters (théâtre de Beaujolais and then the Palais-Royal in 1784 and, above all, Théâtre-Français, founded in 1680 and installed Salle Richelieu since 1799). The cultural atmosphere was recently reinforced by the installation of Daniel Buren’s contemporary art device Les Deux Plateaux (commonly known as the “ colonnes de Buren”) in 1986 in the main courtyard. The esthetics of the columns are essential:
“By combining technical and esthetic functions, the galleries and columns acquire the status of a rule of concordance or common denominator that determines the inscription of objects on the Palais-Royal site […]. The double Buren plateau at the Palais-Royal is an arrangement mentioned with the particularity of essentializing the columns […]. Thus, the double Buren plateau can find a deeper meaning in the 18th Century plateau. Buren’s invented modernity does not deny the classic, but creates equivalents: two materials for urban writing.” [ALK 08, author’s translation]
In front of the Comédie-Française theater, Place Colette, the Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre metro station was estheticized by Jean-Michel Othoniel in 2000 with Le Kiosque des noctambules (aluminum mesh frame with colored Murano glass rings). For Adil Alkenzawi…
“[The Palais-Royal] an urban site, where architecture, sculpture and landscape blend together. Its garden, planted with lined trees, adorned with flowerbeds and a central basin, still contributes to its identity in the heart of the capital, a green interior cut away or protected from the city that is accessed through galleries and peristyles suitable for walks, strolling and entertainment.” [ALK 08, author’s translation]
Eugène Briffault insists on the centrality of gourmet cuisine:
“The Palais-Royal was then the center of all those whose pleasure occupied their lives; there, the noisiest restaurateurs had gathered; at their head, there was Véry and the Trois Frères provençaux, whose memory will not perish. Around the Palais-Royal were gathered distinguished houses: Beauvilliers, Robert, and this other trilogy, whose gastronomy created made a pun: Rô, Méot and Juliette; we also mentioned the Veau qui tette, this Celebration of the Parisian bourgeoisie. At that time, each house had a special reputation. Robert excelled in all beef dishes and in ordered dinners; the Veau qui tette owed its prosperity to sheep feet; there were some who boasted of double grilling; the Frères provençaux made their fortune with cod with garlic, the famous brandade and their flawless cellar; at Rocher de Cancale, Baleine flourished by the high quality of its wines and its excellent fish; the Cadran Bleu and its gallant mysteries made Henneveu a success. Some food lovers, more extravagant than delicate, enjoyed partaking in the wonders and masterpieces of each cuisine in the same day; others enjoyed dinner in reverse, starting with dessert and ending with soup: extravagance of stomachs delirious and jaded with all flavors.” [BRI 03, pp. 95–96, author’s translation]
According to Adil Alkenzawi:
“Taken as a whole, the Palais-Royal is not quite an architectural project, but the expression of an ‘open urban project’ and the invention of an urban writing medium that is ‘the Plateau’: the invention of an urban esthetic […]. Three things have not changed in all the Palais-Royal’s formation-transformation phases: the concept of ‘urban passage’, the relationship of the elements of the architectural project to their common urban inscription support, the plateau, and the meaning of the Palais-Royal’s development and extension (perpendicularity to the Seine as the city’s structural axis).” [ALK 08, author’s translation]
Thanks in particular to its restaurants, the Palais-Royal functions as a hub, animated by centripetal flows. Dense and varied, it is attractive (attraction socially constructed according to the representations). It reveals a particular concentration of restaurants, as well as other commercial activities, including food shops, from which it is logical to believe that they are linked to it if not necessarily. It is a hub of services, jobs and potential customers. This polarization explains the installation of the first restaurants, their density and diversity, and also the permanence of this singular concentration even today.
In addition to the density and diversity of the restaurants, the urban centrality of the Palais-Royal is also revealed by the permanence of a “great” restaurant: Le Grand Véfour (2 Michelin stars). This presence, even today, is explained by the sociocultural realities, landscape amenities and ideals of the Palais-Royal. Le Grand Véfour helped to maintain them and thus make the Palais-Royal a hub that always polarizes. Located at the corner of the Beaujolais gallery and the Joinville peristyle, it is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris still in operation (see Figure 2.4).
