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LA TUPINA
Pleasure
Before anyrthing,there is pleasure.C’est d’abord le plaisir qui
a fait la Tupina.
Pleasure of people who stop by, Jean-Pierre Xiradakis'pleasure,
always searching for the best products...Pleasure of people who
know the place, and want to share with
friends and visitors something rare and precious, pleasure....
To share and give pleasure, you need trust.
Trust is a difficult thing to earn. Jean Pierre Xiradakis has achieved
the difficult task to be trusted a long time ago with a simple
but demanding formula : real products and recipes.
Authentically
South West
He was born at the right place, near by the great gasconny river,
coming from the Perigord and the Pyrenees.
So
much to do growing in between ducks, vineyards (Gironde, Dordogne,
Gers, Basque country), this south west, land of gastronomy, viticulture,
fat beef and lamb from Pauillac, these rivers full of aloses, pibels...All
of that has been Jean Pierre Xiradakis'hunting territory from the
beginning 38 years ago.
« Authentically South West », for him, is not the sentence written on top of
the door step but a way of life.
Recipes ? Jean-Pierre first started with his mum's favorites. He has
put them together in a cook book called « La cuisine de
la Tupina ». From the Basque country to the Dordogne, from the Gironde
estuary to the deep end of the Gasconny, there is a culture of taste
he has found in the collective memory.
« The
old ladies'secret, standing in front of their fire place, he says, stands
in the fact they were cooking for the people they loved." At la Tupina,
hearts are not only in the menu but everywhere around.
Place and people
Authentic products and a caring chef are not enough, you
need a good staff.
La Tupina staff is a mix between professionalisme and elegancy.
There is no "small client", the pleasure of someone unknown is
as precious as the pleasure of someone famous. Question of tact
and efficiency. Authentic at La Tupina is an attentive and precise
service.
We still have not talk about the place. The place is really important.
Jean-Pierre Xiradakis has once again chosen authenticity.
Stone, wood, fire from the fire place, the warm intimicy of a traditionnal
restaurant, the comfort essential to great pleasure, every element
is here to convey a warm and peaceful atmosphere. Pleasure...
Celebrity
You can not hide important things for too long, one day or another,
people talk...
It
has not taken too long before La Tupina started to have a reputation
abroad. Quite a few famous people are used, when in Bordeaux, to
coming Rue Porte de la Monnaie to forget for a while politic and
show biz : in Bordeaux, when Johnny, Jacques, John or Elmut are in
a restaurant, it is Jean Pierre who cooks.
Domestic and international press have talked about it. La Tupina,
second best bistrot in the world according to the New York
Herald Tribune, 14 pages in the demanding Saveurs, "Best meal
of the Year" for the Times of London, voted as one of the best
restaurant in the world by the magasine Restaurant and mentioned
by journalists from Japan, Germany, Greece, China, Italy, Spain,
Russia, Australia, Corea... La Tupina collects one ather the
other press releases...
This reputation has driven Jean-Pierre Xiradakis to export
his passion in Chicago, New York, LA, San Francisco, Santiago
de Chile, London...
But
Jean-Pierre doesn't forget his home land, he walks throughout
the Gasconny, taking a way or an other according to his mood
and inspirations. He has put together the best walks in some
books " the pedestrian of Bordeaux", same for Paris, Marseille,
Toulouse and the main cities...What he likes best is to walk
throughout the vineyards., you may find them in his collection
"Guide du Vignoble Pas à Pas", he goes on TV and radio shows
to talk about this region he likes so much.
Sometimes you will see Jean-Pierre at la Tupina, sometimes
you won't, it doesn't make any difference. The genius of important
people is to prove that they are not essential.
A local tradition
But in a strange way -a wise way- for Jean-Pierre Xiradakis,
the most important customers are the local, the ones who come
often. Bourgeois or students, they enter the door, facing
the fire place, to honnour one of their guest or to celebrate
a birthday.
Happiness is sometimes just a step ahead : the lunch menu is
affordable for all purses...
Some people, teenagers in the 60's, become hungry and handsome
seniors see with pleasure the young generation discovering
the world...and La Porte de la Monnaie. They see " Chez Xira",
their parents used to say "Chez Jean Pierre"..
Having dinner at la Tupina, in Bordeaux, is a family tradition.
The young brothers
« If it could last! », used to say Napoléon's mother. Jean-Pierre has done everything
he could for that, and it has a lasting effect. Products are still chosen according
to the same selection, recipes a professionnal service, the comfort of the rooms.
JPX
taste for contemporary art is everywhere : on the walls, you can see pictures
of some of his friends or pictures disovered in art galleries...After all, Jean
Pierre Xiradakis is a bit at home in La Tupina, it is half way between a restaurant
and a home.
Fashions never last. The decorative and hungring "nouvelle
cuisine", the impersonal self service...None of these fashions
have never stopped anyone to sit, a hungry smile to their
face, in front of a plate of foie gras.
A simple recipe
La Tupina is a concept of our time, a time when people
look for value, quality, authenticity in food, drinks,
places, people and shared moments.
Simple like happiness, universal like pleasure.
Why didn't we think about it before?
May be because simplicity is rather difficult. You have to be strong
not to consider fashion. You need a great optimism to believe that
taste for the real things is enough for a table to light up. And
you must remember that a restaurant atmsphere is at least as important
as what you will find in your plate.
For the rest, it is the unbelievable will of this Gascon
with an exotic name, an amazing sum of work, care, imagination...It
could be a recipe. Cooking time : 38 years.
The price for pleasure.
Opened
every day until 23h
6, rue porte de la monnaie 33800 Bordeaux
Téléphone :+0033 5 56 91 56 37
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