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Join The Urban Rez for an exciting journey that dives into the intersections of culture, sports, and lifestyle with a fresh, global, inclusive perspective. Each 30-minute episode brings a unique blend of conversations, stories, and interviews that explore the passions and experiences that define our lives.
Wesley Knight | Marcus White 0:00
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Marcus White 1:16
and good morning, everybody. This is Marcus. Oh my gosh. I hope that you've had a great week, and as you know, Dr B and I, we love traveling the world. So today's guest is Chef George de manger from La Cantina in orange, France. And this isn't just a restaurant. It's tucked inside the antique theater of orange, a Roman masterpiece that's been staging performances for nearly 2000 years, and because the theater is still a living concert venue, the people eating down there aren't just tourists, sometimes they're the artists themselves. So today we're talking food history, pressure and what it's really like cooking beneath a world famous stage, or, as I like to say, dinner in the belly of history. Chef, George, welcome. Man, hi,
Georges Demanget 2:04
welcome, welcome. Welcome to me.
Marcus White 2:09
Man, definitely glad to have you on the show. So okay,
Georges Demanget 2:13
thank you for having me.
Marcus White 2:14
Absolutely. I'm gonna get right into it so. Man, paint the scene. What does it feel like to run a restaurant inside of a theater.
Georges Demanget 2:24
So we actually, we actually underneath the theater, like, obviously underneath the seats, because it's a natural cave. So the cave is right under in the back of the theater, because, actually they used to, it used to be the parking for the Centurion when we took the when we started, my dad actually built the restaurant. The cave was completely virgin. It was only a cave, so he had decided to make a restaurant there. And actually it was a hole in the ceiling that communicate with the theater, because they used to throw the hay for the horses. And it used to be like the thing where the horses, the drink, remember the name?
Marcus White 3:06
Like little canal, another canal.
Georges Demanget 3:09
It's a big tank where it's the name for horses. I don't know, remember the name in English, okay, but yeah, we took, we had to talk it. Took it out to make some room, because it was a huge thing. So it's like a corridor from the street, and then you get, you land in the in the cave. It's actually
Marcus White 3:24
pretty original. And that sounds cool. I mean, shoot, the theater was built and once the first century in the Roman colony arazzo arazzio, which is modern orange. But man, I just couldn't, couldn't even imagine, I mean, and I mean, and now it's protected by UNESCO, but, man, it just, it is so stunning, the fact that, I mean, the the whole wall is intact up at the theater, and it's just insane. So, you know, when did your dad realize you know that this place was special?
Georges Demanget 4:06
The thing is around orange. It's actually the theater is across a phase across is attached to the small hill called La Colin center drop. And there is many caves all around this all around, underneath this little hill. And in 1980s he used to have another cave, a restaurant in orange, which is closed now. So he did it again, I would say, you know, gotcha. And the cave was digged by the water in the Paleolithic that's that's the so it's natural. Oh yes, big time, natural. Oh, we didn't dig nothing, believe me.
Marcus White 4:44
So when, when guests walk into the restaurant, I mean, What? What? What look or like? What? What are they saying? Are they in awe? Like, what's the
Georges Demanget 4:56
Oh, yeah, they like, we have people. They just come while we like. Cleaning the restaurant in the morning or in the afternoon. People would just come inside and say, Can we visit please? Because it's quite unique to see a cave like that and to see a whole restaurant set up in it, and we have the bar, everything we have, especially for the wine cave in the back. It's a natural cave, 21 degrees Celsius all year. Oh, wow. It can be like 50 outside, or minus, 1021,
Marcus White 5:22
oh, wow, wow. So and So, since the restaurant, since sits above the seats, what can people hear and feel from
Georges Demanget 5:34
from the restaurant? Everything. Actually, if you're in a cave and you close the door, then you don't hear nothing. Because, actually, the cave could be used for a nightclub, because it's like, wow, sound stays here. But as we have a terrace, which is like attached to it, it's like a little labyrinth. Like, how do you see labyrinth? You know, when labyrinth in French is labyrinth, Labyrinth. It's like labyrinth because then you get to the terrace and then depends on the live show. You can't stay or you can't you can't stay in the on the terrace, because sometimes you do electronic music, then you can't go on the terrace. But if it's a lyric show or something else, then you can hear everything like the same, like you were there. It's right, right glue to it.
Marcus White 6:20
So, um, so tell me about the difficulties that you guys had. It's like, okay, hey, you know, I'm gonna put a restaurant here in the cave, and then you got to build everything out.
Georges Demanget 6:32
The thing is on top of the on top of the cave there is, that's actually we are lucky for this, because there is, like a small building, and since there is the building, we don't have water coming in the cave, which is a great thing. After that, next to that, there is another building, and there is the more the stairs that the Romans built that goes up the hill. So the city made, like for the water they made, the thing goes, so we don't, we are actually completely protected from, like, water, rain and stuff like that. And it feels like it's everything is perfect to do the restaurant over there. And then we just, you just have to, after use the buildings. And we made the kitchen over there, like the the room where we store everything is on top, or the first, first floor, then everything is like, so, so nice and so cute. I will say people are very impressive. Like, oh, wow, there is a cave there, and there is a wine cave there, and then there is, oh, a terrace in the back. It's like, you know, it's like, it's like an adventure.
Marcus White 7:37
And so, you know, let's talk about food, man. I mean, so share with some of the folks who have not, who have not gone yet to orange to come to your restaurant. What type of cuisine do you serve?
Georges Demanget 7:53
What type of cuisine do I serve? I serve? I will say a traditional, traditional, upscale cuisine. Because in France, if you want to go to Michelin star and stuff like that, it could be a Michelin star restaurant because of the site, of course. But restaurant business in France is a bit different than in America. You have fast food after that. You have, like, right now, there is a lot of restaurant opening where people, they don't really know how to cook, so they make, like very simple menus with nothing big deal. But I actually make everything myself. So that's why I will say upscale traditional restaurant, because I will, I do my own smoked salmon. I make Maplewood. I buy maple wood in Canada. Sorry guys. I make because I in French, we smoke it with they smoke it with another kind of food. So I make this. I make my foie gras. I make all the pastries. We make everything. And we mostly serve like fish, fresh fish that we like daily. Go get at the fresh market. And we have meats, lamb, beef. We have the rotisserie, a whole rotisserie, in the restaurant. So every day I roast some big rack of pork. Or it can be like, all different every day. So yeah, people, they quite like it, especially rotisserie in the cave. It's like, you know, absolutely.
Marcus White 9:19
And then if you had to choose what would be your favorite dish that you like to
Georges Demanget 9:24
prepare, I am talking about appetizer. I will say my smoked salmon. I'm kind of proud of it. I'm actually popular with it. Now. People, they like it, they order a lot for Christmas, because, you know, in Christmas, we eat smoked salmon and foie gras. So I get a lot of orders with that, and after that, I I do I have planchas in my kitchen, so I cook everything with plancha for the not to be too much greasy. I don't like greasy food, so I would say fresh fish, fresh meat. And I really like my job, so I quite. Of enjoy everything. But if you tell me, I like scallops and Rouge, rouge, it's, I think I will say red snapper. But in France, we have the very small one, and those ones are very, very, extremely tasty.
Marcus White 10:14
It's very good. Man, that sounds good. So going back to the theater, I know that the theater hosts major artists, and recently, again, how we met, you know, was give a big shout out to Tim, yes.
Georges Demanget 10:31
Oh yes, a big shout out to Tim, yeah, and Tim and Dave's Yes,
Marcus White 10:36
but yeah. So you know, Will Smith was there last year and performed. So when you have artists and performers that and celebrities that come through there, what, what is it like? And do the artists come in quietly? Do it like the energy in the room?
Georges Demanget 10:55
Like, okay, when they come usually, like, they try to be discreet, you know, because, of course, they don't want to be bothered from people, but once they came in that in our restaurant, especially that they can come outside from the back door of the theater, and they will have to walk like maybe 20 steps, and they will be inside my restaurant. And the thing people can't see them from the outside. There is no windows, so they like that their privacy. But I will say, once we close the door after they finish eating, if they want to have fun, we have a piano inside the cave. And sometimes stuff goes interesting.
Marcus White 11:34
Is there a an unspoken, spoken rule in the room when, when the big name walks in, we just
Georges Demanget 11:40
try to respect privacy of people. So if they want to have fun and talk and like share, we let them do what they want to do, because they actually their customer before anything. And second of all, we respect the life of well known people. So we are used to that. You have to be used to that when you own a restaurant, you know it's like, so we respect that. And if they want to have fun, we let them have fun. If they don't, we kind of like, save their privacy. I can go to some customers and be like, Please don't, don't bother them, because they come to eat as much as you can to eat, right, right? You have to respect the privacy of people when they want to be not bothered.
Marcus White 12:18
I think so. All right, so tell me your favorite after show moment, what the vibe was, and you don't have to say the artists or well known person, what's your favorite moment?
Georges Demanget 12:33
I would say, I got, I got more than one. But, oh sure, I will say, I will say, I would say, I will say, when every year we host. We are actually the cantina. They make the music's Fest on the 18th of June. And the show is, is goes on TV, on the national TV. So tell us about that the best present, the best the guy you present to. The show is well known in France, and there is different singers, like lyrics, lyrics like opera singers. And they mix it with, I will say modern singers, you know, but mostly I will say they are on this part is French, but sometimes it can be a jazz band from America, or can be some from England, it depends. And for one week we only serve them. We refuse customers. That's that's their restaurant. Then we will have all the crew which work in the theater, the sound, the lights and everything and so and the artist will come and but I think not. I think I know that it's not always that artists come eat in the same time as the other world. Sometimes the artist they came after, because they know they have the restaurant for themselves. So they will tell us, they say, Yeah, we will come eat at 10 tonight, and they will stay until two o'clock in the morning and sing and sing opera or whatever else, or tell jokes and like having fun, because I think they need to relax too after a big day
Marcus White 14:01
of work. Absolutely, absolutely. All right. Share, share another share a story.
Georges Demanget 14:07
A story. Yeah, I have a story. There's those guys. They came last year, and the crew of Will Smith's, and they came and they, they were at the table, and actually, I'm the only one to speak English over there. I hope my English is not too bad. Sorry, people, if you sometimes misunderstand me, but I don't think nothing wrong in my head. So they came and they were at the table, and I kind of knew they were working with Will Smith, but like I see with the privacy, I didn't say nothing. I said, Hello guys, I love America. I'm glad to have you here. And after I say, oh, did you guys come to see the show of Will Smith? And they went like, no, no, no, whatever. Said, Okay. And five minutes after I came back, and I would not say no names, but Mr. G just showed me a picture. He's like, I said, Okay, I knew you were working with Will Smith. Come on. You get you know, don't do that to me, man. So what I. Did is, like, we got friends, I would say, almost weekly, almost right away, and they were like, What should we eat? I said, Guys, don't worry, because I used to live in America, so I know taste a little bit, and I know how to arrange what people they feel like eating. You can't, if somebody never hit something completely French, you can't just put him like this is gonna be like you have to to understand, to ask some question to the customer, to say, hey, you like fish, you like meat, you like this, you like that, you don't like this. So after that, I arranged something for them, and they never left for five days. They came for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we had a pop at a party, but we had a couple of drinks a couple of the nights just to relax and talk and exchange some music. I love funk and RnB, so it was a good moment for me, actually a fantastic moment for me. I think more for me than for them, but it's because me. I still have stars in my head because of that so nice.
Marcus White 15:58
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Georges Demanget 16:36
The cantina already representing orange, like obviously well known address. I don't want to be full of myself, because I'm not pretentious at all, but I think we are in a three best restaurant in the city. It's a small town. It's only 35,000 people, but in the summer it gets very busy, because of all the shows and all the Historic Site. Because there is not in orange, there is not just the theater, there is also the dig, because in orange, if you buy a house, before you dig, you have to ask permission, and the city have to come see what's under the dirt, because you can find a lot of stuff in the dirt, like walls, and because it was actually a Roman city. So and then there is the arc, Triumph arc. There is a triumph arc in orange as well. And there is, yeah, there is on the mountain. There is a castle as well that Louis 14 did destroyed, because actually the city was Netherland. That's why Orange. Orange was the Prince of Orange. Orange the color for Netherlands. And Louis katourse took it back and they struck the castle because he was jealous. That's, that's a true story. Oh, wow, yeah, that the castle is half broken. It's like, it's just on top of the theater. You can see everything. Oh, wow, yeah. You go on internet, you look there is nice pictures. People will be amazed, I think.
Marcus White 17:59
And then, how do the locals describe, describe La Cantina in one sentence? In one sentence,
Georges Demanget 18:07
a nice place to go,
Marcus White 18:09
a nice place to go, Yeah, okay,
Georges Demanget 18:13
a nice place to go. Like, I would say for them, it's, they think of it like, Oh, we're going to La Cantina on Saturday. It's it's not like say we're going to fast food or whatever we're going to La Cantina, because they know I do everything myself and fresh, and they know they're not going to be they're going to have a good experience with their with their dinner. And then I don't hesitate, I'm the chef, but I don't see the people at the table and ask them what they want. So exactly I like my customers to be happy.
Marcus White 18:43
Okay, and then what's next? And do you have any new dishes or new experiences, collaborations with the restaurant or with theater events?
Georges Demanget 18:54
So what's, what's the summer is gonna be busy again? Like, I know, I know cool in the game is coming. Yeah, I'm actually glad, very happy about that. After that, there is some French singers coming in. I know, I know, in July there is a three or four Lyric Opera is going to be going on, because it used to be like, the number one spot in the world for lyrics. It used to be like, oh yeah. It used to be like, people from Japan used to come from all over the place, and they used to wear, like, even, like, I will say, 15 years ago. Still, people used to come and to wear, you know, the lady, the big, nice dress, like, in the in the 60s, 70s, you know, the nice gowns, yeah, yeah, that's it. And then the gentleman will dress with the tuxedo, with the with the tail and stuff like it will be like now that it's kind of disappear, but still, people, they like to come because the sound with opera in the theater I did saying, actually once to replace somebody, because I did some school music back in the days. And. So I'm singing, but just like part time, I would say nothing professional, but it's
Marcus White 20:06
crazy the sounds, yeah, so the acoustics there has to be really nice, and it's outdoors.
Georges Demanget 20:11
Oh yeah, it's outdoors. But you don't feel like it's outdoors when you're inside, because it's it's huge. It's huge, plus it it comes you down, because when you see those walls and the history of the thing, like, how that can stay still stand up, right? Because it's Wow, it's crazy, right?
Marcus White 20:28
First 2000 years, man, I, I can't even imagine that. And then, like, like, I was reading again, still one of the few places from that era that the full wall is intact, like there's nothing broken at all. Everything is intact, like, very pristine.
Georges Demanget 20:49
Even today I live over there. I see the wall every day. I can see the wall from my window so but the thing is, every day I step I would stop at the wall and look up, and I will have a thought. I will be like, but still there every day, like, every day, believe me, it's like, it's like, it's not nothing, like, it's not just a building. It's, it's the rocks are, I think, like, I will say the rocks will build on in the wall. I would say that they're like three feet by three feet by six feet. That a huge rock put How did they put that up exactly 2000 years ago, right?
Marcus White 21:30
And the fact that it sits 9000 people, man, you imagine back in the day at a gladiator event, and you have 9000 people.
Georges Demanget 21:39
They didn't do gladiators even over there, we don't know, we don't know the thing, this was a public theater, because if you go in, you have orange, and then you have nim. It's another city, because we are on the Via domitia. Via domitia is the road from the Romans, they made from Rome to Spain, and that road now is the highway called the a seven Highway. It is. It's the Via domitia. And all along this way you have empty theater. You have like NC the other you have arena like, what they do now, in name, they do the a lot of they do the bull the bull corridor stuff, okay, after it is on a woman, which is like 20 minutes away from Orange. There is another theater which is more for music. And those was like Public Theater, like people used to come. And actually, if I can tell you the story, the first the first seat on the bottom was like for rich people, like, and the one up, it was for, like, I will say, the bad woman's and all the bandits and whatever back in the days, and they will have to stay up. It was, it was split classism. Yes, that's it. And then we know the story. And there is a corridor inside, under the underneath the seats, who goes all around. And actually there is, I think there is two corridors, if I don't mistake, and in those corridors there is some cage. Sometimes, what was those cage for? I was not there to tell you, but me when I was young. I mean, when I was young, I distribute like programs for, like, some live show. And I remember when I saw that, I thought it was for lions. They put the lions there, I don't know, but now I don't really know what they use it for, but they really look like cages, like it's small, and then you have a metal lore, like, I don't know, I don't know the story about that, but it would be nice to go check because some I'm sure they know
Marcus White 23:41
absolutely, yeah, man. So if anyone ever is in France and and you go to orange, feel free to stop by La Cantina, and we love
Georges Demanget 23:55
to show you the place, even if you just want to see the place and not having dinner, it's okay, because we are open for visiting, like we're nice, and then doesn't bother me to every time show, because it's quite unique. So actually, I've never seen that somewhere else in my life. I never seen the restaurant like that in the cave. So it's not because it's, it's my dad restaurants. My dad built it from from scratch. No, because the cave was already there. But after everything else around, yes, it's it's quite an experience. But like I say, feel free to come, if you're in orange, comes your show, and feel free to come, and I will show you the restaurant and all these mysteries.
Marcus White 24:36
Well, sweet George, thank you again for being on the show with us. We greatly appreciate your time. Food is fantastic, so I'm glad you liked it. All right, everybody. Have a awesome Sunday, and we will see you. Stay tuned next month. Have a good one. The urban RES is underwritten by global wave consulting, international specializing. And IT solutions from network penetration testing and vulnerability management to SAP basis support and web application security. Global wave helps businesses stay secure and efficient in a digital world. For more information, global wave ci.com.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai