Breakfast in America... en VO

Et voilà la version anglaise, avec un angle un peu différent... Enjoy your reading...

Craig Carlson : from the movie camera to the frying pan

     A hearty American breakfast in the heart of Paris is what you are craving for? Meet Craig Carlson: his restaurant is definitely the place you want to go to.

     « If I had to choose between French food and American food… Well, luckily I don’t have to. » Craig Carlson did not want to solve that cruel dilemma, between his love of French haute cuisine and his need for a huge stack of pancakes in the morning. Typically, that is why this 41 year-old-American from Connecticut chose to open up a traditional roadside diner… right in Paris. Located in the fifth arrondissement of the French capital city, his restaurant is a piece of US civilization in French surroundings: In the restaurant, everything shouts « America », from a fake World Series trophy to a Pulp Fiction poster on the wall. Even if rock bands Limp Bizkit and Gorillaz may not be the kind of music you would expect in such a place, any American citizen would immediately feel like he belongs here.

     However, when he decided to open up Breakfast in America (“BIA”, as he likes to call it), five years ago, Craig’s situation was not so good. Originally a screenwriter, he directed a couple of short films and written « fifteen or twenty screenplays », but they would never get taken up. « I’m just a poor writer », he assumed, « I couldn’t get any success, so that’s the sort of point when you have to say « ok, it’s not working. » » He did not want to be one of those wannabee moviemakers who still try to make it after 60 but actually never get any fame. So he just gave up. Craig claims he learnt from his failures: « Sometimes you have to bang your head on a door several times before you stop », he concluded with a smile.

“Oh my god! The only thing I miss in Paris!”

     Craig first came to France to work on a coproduction with M6, called « the new adventures of Robin Hood », which stopped at the end of the third season. He then took a break and went back to the States and that’s where the idea hit him: « My friends took me to the restaurant for breakfast: ham, eggs and everything and I was like « oh my god, the only thing I miss in Paris! » » The opportunity was too good to pass up, so he took the bait and begged his friends from the film industry for help. « I needed to raise money, and they invested in it. It was a very risky idea », he recalls. A real challenge indeed, to settle in a country where people “only have the image of the fast food” and to convince them that American homemade products can taste like heaven too. When Craig mentions his fresh meat burgers, he proudly states that they are “different from Mc Donald’s”. And he boasts of having tricked a certain number of French people into loving American coffee, which they first dubbed “jus de chaussettes” (“dishwater”).

     In the end, 29 people, whom he had met at University in Los Angeles, and who « have much more success than I had » supported their friend, and invested in a country where they had never had business. The cinematographer of Daredevil, a director from Friends and animators from Dreamworks studios among others… All are shareholders of this young yet healthy enterprise. And are happy with it, especially when they have to come to Paris and feel homesick: they know Craig is waiting for them with home fried potatoes and bagels… Not to mention the traditional « bottomless mug o’ joe. » He’s waiting for you too, with his apron and baseball cap on. Have a taste of real American food. Oh, and the chocolate milkshake is awesome too.