Château de Lacroix-Laval, near Lyon. First stone of the CFA of gastronomy –
By Morgan Couturier
Eight months after collecting the keys to Château de Lacroix-Laval, the gastronomy apprenticeship training center has set the first milestone for its future. From next summer, the site should open its bistronomic restaurant, before the arrival of the first students in September 2022.
This is only the first stone of a building made to shine as much by the illuminations of its paintings as by the color of the plates that will emerge from it. But whatever, it is already written in the grayness of the first cement blocks, that the CFA of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes gastronomy “will give new life to this sublime environment”. What a place indeed, this castle of Lacroix-Laval, sketched in the 12th century, retouched in the 16th century and finally opened to the general public in 1985! But after having housed the wax dolls for a long time from 1990 to 2017, here is the establishment now ready to live to the sounds of an otherwise different melody.
Noisier certainly, but above all more gourmet, while the Château is due to open over the course of the 2022 vintage, three dining places: a gourmet restaurant with 60 seats under the glass roof, a bistronomic restaurant with 40 seats in the pillar room (from June July 2022) and a tea room, itself divided into two parts. All this, led by some 58 boarders and other apprentices on board, from September 2022, on one of the eight training courses supported on site.
Easier access to free and quality training
“This project was born from an observation: how to be as close as possible to the training expectations of our young people. It was then necessary to rethink what already exists and establish a different operation (the training will be free, editor’s note). We must pass on the keys to a better future, ”says the pilot of the project. Christian Têtedoie, under the admiring gaze of Regis Marcon. And if it will be possible from time to time, to taste some dishes from his cuisine on the spot, the gastronome hopes above all to benefit from the experience of the director of the center, Corentin Remond.
“Today, it is the laying of a beautiful building, because apprenticeship is the path of excellence to enter employment”, underlined the co-founder, while in the future, nearly 400 apprentices should exalt the 4800m2 of the building, now owned by the Métropole de Lyon.
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The fact remains that in this large-scale enterprise, the Château de Lacroix-Laval owes part of its repair to Laurent Wauquiez and the Region, stakeholder in this project, to the tune of € 5 million (compared to € 6.5 million for the Banque Populaire). “For an Auvergnat, that’s a lot,” joked Corentin Remond, taking advantage of his absence. However, as a good representative, its vice-president Jeremiah Breaud, could then find the parade to support his partner, by borrowing a few words from the late Joel Robuchon. At the CFA de la gastronomie like elsewhere, “you can’t cook if you don’t like people”!