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It is a Friday evening of March during the fashion week in Paris and Luca Pronzato, 33, launches the scene of his latest ephemeral restaurant: a dining room at 100 places attempts in the garden of the Tuileries which is an extension of the new buzzing design of the city and the form. Pronzato is the brain behind the Parisian culinary pop-up that we are ona (SO means wave in Catalan, his mother's mother tongue), and tonight is her 33rd iteration.
It took 36 hours for the pronzato team to put everything in place: of the kitchen which produces meals of six and eight dishes for around 700 covers over four days for the front of the cinematographic and cinematographic house. One of We are onaRegular collaborators, Willlo Perron – the creative director based in Los Angeles who organized shows for Beyoncé and Drake – designed the dining area. It is a show of five large round table tablecloths surrounded by 24 mirrors of oval shape with brilliant white frames (designed by Perron for No Ga, the Swedish gallery and the furniture brand).
As the dinner is served, the pending staff appear in a choreographed procession, pushing plates on chrome serving carts. The slight wink and bounces on reflective surfaces, silverware and glassware with a sparkling effect. There is an element of performance, which is more reinforced when the highly conceptual and tasty dishes, composed by a chef based in London and a gastronomic stylist Imogen Kwokare placed in front of the guests. “We like to create these moments during these crazy and creative weeks such as Salone (Milan Design Week) or Fashion Week, when the city is on fire, but you can escape in this bubble – an atmosphere that inspires the conversation,” said Pronzato about the atmosphere of another world he evokes.
Dan Thawley, artistic director of Matter and Shape, joins Pronzato for the second consecutive year. “There is a feeling of mystery and magic that they bring to the restoration which is constantly surprising, sometimes difficult, but always inspiring,” he said. He is a regular on the ONA. “I have so many memories, including a dinner inside a Parisian warehouse enlightened with neon, and even the old Casanova bedroom in a Venetian palazzo with tables meandering under the frescoes and the Passeriet.”
The opening evening in Matter and Shape attracts a crowd that includes Interview Mel Ottenberg of the magazine,, Hts journalist Laila GoharDoyenne Sarah Andelman in luxury retail and, allegedly, half of Daft Punk. Another guest, the magician David Blaine, came out of his headquarters almost all evening, delighting the guests with his towers. But it is the party designed by Kwok – which is known to imagine very original and sculptural differences and trompe -l'oeil dishes – it is the most exciting presence. Her foods ruffle on familiar classics such as the Carpaccio tuna (served with tomato quarters), the fresh wontons and its signing egg dish: rice cooked with steam, wrapped and hidden in an entire egg shell that it invites the guests to ride and crack on the table, then in season with lavages of soy sauce and sesame toass. “There are playful elements in the whole menu and lessons where guests get involved. I like them to use their hands, to interact with food, because it is a key element of my kitchen style,” says Kwok about his approach.
Pronzato, born in Paris, was intended for cooking: his Italian father and his Catalan mother have led an Italian grocery store in the city for 42 years. He and his sister spent their school holidays to visit producers and winegrowers in Italy with their parents. And after high school, he signed up for a wine management course to gain experience in the cellars.
He arrived at Noma in Copenhagen In 2015, where he spent three years working on a front-house: he adrenched his business idea for We Are Ona, which he founded in 2019. “(At Noma), we were a team of 100 people with around 45 nationalities and everyone had their own skills, their own identity,” he said. “Most restaurants are vertical, however, and my idea was to create a community of talents from around the world – to explore food as an excellent creative medium and an expression of culture.”
We have been ONA's experiences since it has become an element in the list of an international calendar that takes art, fashion and design, and has traveled from Mexico to Paris, Basel, Venice and New York. Events take place as pop-up gastronomic experiences of five to seven days and are open to the public. They include a tasting by a chief, often a young ascendant or freshly star talents, like the Mory Sacko, based in Paris, transplanted to New York, for example, or to the Mexican chief Elena Reygadaswho in March went to Hong Kong to cook in a space designed by Director and designer of French events Alexandre de Betak. Last year, for Art Basel in Paris, Pronzato brought the culinary concept of the German artist Carsten Höller, The brutalistic kitchen manifesto (Minimalist dishes of an ingredient served as a brutalisting restaurant in Stockholm), to a cavernous warehouse and abandoned in Montparnasse station. “It was incredible. Everything was in black and white – the only thing in color was food or drink, ”explains Pronzato.
The Culinary Journalist based in Paris, Lindsey Tramuta, author of the last The Eater Guide to ParisRecalls another event designed by architectural design studios based in Moscow Crosby Studios – an ode to work done at the back of the house in restaurants. For this, they served Thai dishes refined by a chef based in Berlinois Kambu Combu On the plates printed with food smear to look like dirty dishes. And they tinkered with 19 stainless steel sinks to create a work fountain as a centerpiece. “It looked like a cheeky adult in the too polite world of high cuisine,” said Tramuta, “especially given the high -level Thai cuisine of Dalad Kambhu. change.”
In a city with 129 Michelin star addresses, it can be difficult to have an impact. Because we are ONA, the novelty is paid. The most essential ingredients are unbeatable and usually inaccessible places, a limited calendar that creates an immediacy, the energy of the people involved and, of course, the kitchen that intrigues. “The gastronomy is great, but it no longer happens in a type of restaurant – this is not what it was before,” explains Pronzato. “For me, these are the additional details. It is not only food, service and the atmosphere, but the journey and the feeling of collaboration that brings a certain energy. We want to create something different – to create memories.”
