20-11-2015
We spoke with three chefs who now live in Paris, Giovanni Passerini, Simone Tondo and Mauricio Zillo, a few days after the tragedy that fell on Paris last Friday. We wanted to hear their impressions and ask them about the reaction of the Ville Lumière
«I was at home at the time. Which is 450 metres’ from the Belle Equipe, where unfortunately 18 people died», says Simone Tondo, from Sardinia, who arrived in Paris a few years ago, and conquered the city with his bistro Roseval, closed a few months ago. He’s speaking of the terrible night on 13th November. Giovanni Passerini, from Rome, has also been living in Paris for a few years now, and here, after the great success he got with Rino, he’s about to open a new restaurant, Céros. He was also at home: «I live right where the attacks took place: it basically happened between my home and where once was Rino». Brazilian Mauricio Zillo, who conquered everyone in Milan with the cooking offered at Rebelot, returned to Paris a few months ago to open his A Mere: «It was 9.30 pm, right in the middle of the dinner service. Some people had already eaten, some were coming. Next to us there’s another bistro and the manager was outside, in the street, smoking. He then came to our place, nervous, and told us he had just heard there were some attacks taking place in Paris». Simone, Giovanni and Mauricio are three excellent chefs, we met them in Italy and we’re proud of their success in Paris. Thinking of them in the hours and days following the terrible attacks was automatic. Listening to their stories, their thoughts, helps us understand what happened and most of all how the city reacted after such bloody and brutal acts. We saw a photo, a few hours after the most agitated news on the night of Friday 13th September, published on Mauricio Zillo’s Facebook page who said he locked himself inside the cellar of his restaurant with 28 clients: «When we realised we had to close straight away, we tried, keeping calm, to tell our clients to go down into the cellar, explaining that terrible things were going on less than one kilometre from us. I closed the restaurant and we went downstairs. And we started to open bottles: it was a horrible time but we couldn’t just start to cry. We drank, we didn’t ask anyone to pay, we tried to spend that moment of tension together, united».
The photo Mauricio Zillo posted on his Facebook page on Friday 13th November with his clients hiding in the cellar of his restaurant
Passerini’s analysis is more articulated and grave: «These attacks arrived very close to my area and strike me a lot, but I must say I’m not that surprised because integration policies in France and especially in Paris are a real failure. Social tensions are profound. The X and XI arrondissement are mixed neighbourhoods in terms of ethnicity, where you can notice some social differences, they’re palpable. And they’re even quite close to some banlieue: I’m almost certain those who were shooting on Friday knew very well where to hit».
Carillon, in Canal Saint-Martin, the day after the disaster
A picture of the Tour Eiffel transformed into the symbol of peace, created by graphic designer Jean Jullien, has become the logo of "Tous au bistrot", the event launched by Le Fooding inviting everyone in Paris to fill up restaurants last Tuesday night
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Journalist, based in Milan. At 8 years old, he received a Springsteen record as a gift, and nothing was the same since. Music and food are his passions. Author and broadcaster at Radio Popolare since 1997, since 2014 he became part of the staff of Identità Golose Instagram: @NiccoloVecchia