Les Crayeres
Les Crayeres is a mansion that once belonged to the princes of Polignac, cousins of the Grimaldis, the rulers of Monaco. The Polignacs were also owners of Pommery champagne, and until recently the chief winemaker at Pommery was Alain de Polignas, a direct descendant of one of Champagne’s most famous window: Jeanne-Alexandrine Pommery, who ran the company with distinction after her husband’s death.
Although it is on the outskirts of the art deco city of Reims (France), Les Crayeres has the atmosphere of a country house hotel thanks to the its 20-acre park. It also has the considerable advantage of being close to the Roman chalk quarries where the best champagne is stored.
The kitchen at Les Crayeres achieve fame under Gerard Boyer, one of France‘s most distinguished three-star chiefs. Boyer recently sold the mansion to Xavier Gardinier – the owner of Chateau Phelan Segur in Bordeaux – and Gardinier hired the Monagasque chef Didier Elela to be the right sort of successor to Boyer.
Elela was a close personal assistant to Alain Ducasse for fifteen years, when Ducasse opened in New York, it was Elela who cooked. Beiing in Champagne, Elela makes his dishes act as a foil to the wine. He has one menu where every dish comes with a different glass of Roederer and includes a flute of the famous Cristal with the main course.
