Walk along East Fifth Street in Edmond, a long and lively avenue lined with restaurants, and you’ll pass a Whataburger, a sushi bar and a pizza shop. Then, hidden at the end of the street, sits an opulent palace dedicated to French fine dining, helmed by a French, Michelin-starred chef. It’s unbelievable. It’s Fait Maison.
As that talented mastermind, Olivier Bouzerand, grew up in Burgundy, he never imagined he’d live in Oklahoma. But, from the time he was a small child, he dreamed of being a chef. He made all the right stops on the road to French fame and Michelin stardom: Cooking school in Strasbourg. A job at a Michelin two-star, the venerable Ledoyen in Paris, which has three stars today.
“At Ledoyen,” Bouzerand recalls, “you have to make a perfect dish every time. You can’t settle for anything less.”
Does he have the same high standard at his restaurant today?
“I try,” he says. And indeed, he does.
The next step was owning his own restaurant. It was called Le Patio and it was in the tiny, picturesque village of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain. Bouzerand, chef as well as proprietor, was rewarded his Michelin star here.
After several years, he moved on to Cannes. His restaurant there, Le Mesclun, was smaller and a bit more casual, but it was acclaimed and very popular, a well-known spot in one of the most elegant towns on the French Riviera.
At Fait Maison today, he observes, there’s no limitation on size, so he can return to the world of fine dining.
“I can do what I want,” he says with a smile. “I can be better than Mesclun, or at least more free.”
What took him to Oklahoma? Blame Cupid. Years ago, for a bit of casual diversion, he started playing an online game called Clash of Clans. So did an elegant and articulate oil executive from Edmond named Susan Wedel. To make a four year long story short, they fell in love. She didn’t want to live anywhere else but Oklahoma, and so that’s where he moved. Together, after a year or so of careful planning, the couple opened Fait Maison together.
I think everyone’s jaw drops a bit when they step inside the restaurant and see a recreation of a salon in a French palace circa 1750, complete with beautiful carved chairs, gold-trimmed cream wall paneling and crystal chandeliers. Their jaws drop even more when they’re served a tray of carefully crafted, miniature appetizers: savory macarons, gougeres and miniature quiches. Then comes a tray of six different kinds of bread. Fait maison means ‘made in house,’ and that stretches to the bread, the butter and just about everything else on the menu.
The tasting menu, which changes monthly, is the way to go. On a recent visit, it included a single plump scallop served with a frothy and flavorful celery Parmesan foam; an exquisite sea bass filet with a hearty sauce infused with langoustine and mussel stock; a tiny tartlet with spinach-braised escargot; braised veal shank with a bubbling garlic cream on top; and squab breast topped with foie gras and a rich savory sauce.
If that’s not enough, you can supplement your meal with three plates made with perfectly cooked foie gras. The foie is served as a terrine, served layered between pasta in a lasagna with black truffles, and seared and served with port wine sauce. Desserts include an elegant soufflé.
And then comes coffee, which comes from the same French purveyor that supplied both of Bouzerand’s French restaurants so many years ago. Because Bouzerand is a man who keeps in touch with his roots.
