Stories
Creator
Franck Audoux
Historian, gastronome, self-taught, and an impassioned expert, Franck Audoux takes a distinctive approach to the cocktail, both poetic and scientific. Through his perfect mastery of his subject, he casts a vision, an expertise and a desire for excellence that is found in each cocktail of the CRAVAN menu. A cultural, societal and historical approach to mixology that comes to life in his book, "French Modern Cocktail" published by Rizzoli NY.
After studying history and working for 10 years in a contemporary art gallery, Franck Audoux turned to gastronomy and became a founding member of the restaurants Chateaubriand and Dauphin in Paris. A few years later, he opened CRAVAN at 17 rue Jean de la Fontaine, in a building from 1911 by Hector Guimard, and shook up the Parisian cocktail bar scene by opening in the 16th arrondissement.
Know-how
Every cocktail evokes an association.
Franck Audoux speaks of a principle of connection, which he applies to both his creations and his collaborations.
In France, the cocktail was born from the geographical connection between the two sides of the Atlantic. As Franck Audoux describes in his book "French Modern Cocktails", the cocktail is an American creation imported into France as early as the end of the 19th century, when the 1889 Paris World Fair elevated it to fame. From then on, cocktails were naturally considered "American Drinks". Everything from the beverages themselves to the bar names were in English. The connection lasted 40 years, until the 1930s when France reclaimed its alcoholic beverages by deciding to condemn this mixed drink and promote wine. In 1930, Paul Reboux in "Le Nouveau Savoir-Vivre" summed it up in a few words: "the cocktail is an offence against good taste".
The entire debate about the cocktail lies here. Is it an enhancement or an impediment to good taste? How can it taste good when it is the result of so many mixtures? The mission Franck Audoux took upon himself with CRAVAN had one objective: the quest for a perfect balance where each flavor combines while retaining its integrity, following an essential and direct logic. This is even truer in the so-called "Champagne Cocktails" (Royals), a series of creations that take the risk of mixing exceptional wines.
In a world where there exists a certain uniformity of thinking, of being, the possibility to step outside the box and make exceptions to established rules is rarely encouraged.
At CRAVAN, we believe that in our world in transition, we need to change the way we think and do things. We are convinced that we need free spirits to achieve this.
Our purpose is to create spaces for these free spirits who will help imagine the world of tomorrow.
