Armen Petrossian, company patriarch, with a can of osetra
"Come on, eat all you can." Armen Petrossian, The company patriarch whose name is synonymous with one of the world's most decadent pleasures isn't kidding.
Dressed in a bow tie and white lab coat, he opens several cans of a kilo of caviar in the tasting room of the Petrossian headquarters , located in an industrial park on the outskirts of Paris .
Osetra, sevruga and beluga shimmer under the bright lights, turning colors from golden brown to satin black.
I accept his offering by alternating in my mouth a series of small wooden paddles covered with sturgeon roe Cured with a distinctive flavor of salt and nuts, creamy and even fruity, to then feel them explode all over my palate.
assortment of fish
“Caviar with the best color is not always the most delicious. The secret is in the flavor and texture of the roe”, Armen says, keeping up, bite after bite, without staining his gray handlebar-cut mustache.
Despite his insistence, I have to stop.
Learning that I have a limit when it comes to caviar was not the most surprising thing about that morning. It was the discovery that Petrossian, far from what he had always imagined, it is not part of a massive European luxury conglomerate.
On the contrary, It is still a family business with almost a hundred years of life It started with Armen's father Mouchegh and Armen's uncle Melkourn escaping the Armenian genocide in the 1920s to start a new life in France.
Cécile in the epicerie
In his place of origin, not far from the Caspian Sea –rich in sturgeons–, caviar was not usually a dish designed for daily consumption and was reserved for the elite. Moreover, in France, the gastronomic capital of the world, it was still unknown.
"It took them several years to convince people," he says. Alexander Petrossian, Armen's son and the director of the company in the United States.
His grandfather and great-uncle they made use of some of the traditional dishes they had left behind (such as smoked salmon or pickled herring) to lure the masses to their doorstep, even turning to the Ritz hotel and the French luxury cruise line that built the H.H. normandie to get the word out.
smoker rack
Today, Petrossian's teal épicerie is still in the same place on the Rive Gauche, at number 18 boulevard La Tour-Maubourg, in the 7th arrondissement.
There, Armen's wife, Cécile, runs ten modest tables and a team made up of some who have been friends of the family for decades.
I always stop by the store when I'm in Paris. A few months ago I was there with my friend, the photographer Oddur Thorisson, and we devour mountains of smoked salmon (from a Pettrossian smokehouse in Angers, about 180 kilometers southwest of Paris), Russian potato salad, pâté en croûte, potato galette and, of course, caviar.
Alexander Petrossian
We chose a bottle of Bollinger La Grande Année from his champagne list, and later we added a few ice-cold glasses of Petrossian vodka to the bill.
There are times when Cécile packs me a package of caviar, blini, gravlax and other accompagnements for the train ride to my house in Bordeaux.
Yes, I admit it: from time to time I also get hold of a 30-gram can of oyster and a bag of chips at the Petrossian kiosk at airports in Paris either The Angels to make the tourist trip a little more bearable and glamorous. And let there be no doubt: a little caviar goes a long way.
caviar toast
CAVIAR: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
“The best caviar is the one that is served directly from the can to the mouth”, says Alexandre Petrossian. "Accompaniments like eggs, capers and crème fraîche only serve to hide the flavor."
Don't know where to start? His advice is simple: don't be intimidated by names and buy what tastes good to you.
“One of my favorites right now is the Kaluga Huso Hybrid, from China,” he says. “Neither too strong nor too salty and with a balanced flavor. then you have the ossetra : beautiful and large roe flavored with nuts and dark brown with shades of jade. I also like the Daurenky: it is very floral, with large and very tasty roe”.
The beluga It is reputed to be the best, but you have to go to Paris to buy it. “It has been banned in the United States since 2005.”
Alexander Petrossian
_*This report was published in the number 114 of the Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (February) . Subscribe to the print edition (11 printed issues and digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website ) and enjoy free access to the digital version of Condé Nast Traveler for iPad. The October issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available at its digital version to enjoy it on your favorite device. _