{"id":777,"date":"2020-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-new2022.chezcora.com\/?p=777"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:26:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:26:48","slug":"la-belle-omelette-10-etages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/la-belle-omelette-10-etages\/","title":{"rendered":"The lofty origins of the 10 star omelette"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Yet another tale from our first tiny restaurant, located in front of a huge building that was under construction at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One bright morning, the boss from the 10th floor ended up at our doorstep. And our waitresses, who was quite on the ball, perked up when she saw the buckaroo sitting on a stool at the corner of the counter.\u00a0 The featherweight man, with a powdery complexion, moved his dull mane of hair in a strange fashion in an attempt to read the words scribbled on a sign. He was looking for an omelette, and when he opened his mouth to order, his voice was so soft that Marie wavered several times before she was certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cWe have three kinds of omelettes, Sir. And don\u2019t bother looking, I forget to get the morning papers again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cWith cheese and roasted potatoes,\u201d the client declared. \u201cAnd with a hot chocolate because I don\u2019t want to be shivering when I walk along the 10th floor beams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our capricious Marie was immediately besotted with this construction cowboy. She reported on the escapades of his electrician co-workers, and without me knowing, told him juicy stories about the firemen, lighting up her clever face with a flash of laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From one day to the next, Antoine and his crew of bricklayers became regulars at the 10:30 break. They sat at the big round table at the front, calm and pliant, a demeanor well suited to working up high. From my spot at the back of the kitchen, I could observe them, like large birds clinging prudently to the parapet of a cornice, with barely a squawk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m., Antoine showed up at the diner and spoke to me for the very first time. He had to work overtime because the foreman of the Laduco building had noticed a suspicious expense for asbestos sheets in the elevator shafts. Antoine spend the entire morning going over his men\u2019s history and defending his crew\u2019s integrity, whom he had known for 8 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cMme Cora, would you accuse your waitress when you don\u2019t have enough flour to make your cr\u00eape batter? There\u2019s a limit to how far you can go!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From deep within this man came a sudden combative vigour intensified with the indignation of trampled rights. I listened to him, grateful that at that moment the diner was deserted. As empty in fact as the stomach of this cowboy, who was now asking for an omelette. I set to work as the man shared with me a few fragments of his life, how much he appreciated his workmates, his home in the suburbs and his favourite pastime. I was prompted to guess what it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hesitated, not sure what to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cMadame, I\u2019m like you, I love to cook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the worker began to reel off the recipe for his greatest success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grab whatever there is in the fridge: ham, bacon, sausages that I slice into rounds, and even baloney when my wife agrees to buy some. Onions, chunks of tomato, pepper, cream and cheese for grating on top of the omelette, which I serve on the biggest plate from the buffet. I crack four or five large eggs in the salad bowl and I really whisk it together. I then add the meat which I\u2019ve cut into slivers and saut\u00e9ed with the vegetables. I add the cream, pepper \u2013 because I don\u2019t eat anything that hasn\u2019t been peppered \u2013 and I pour everything into Grandma Josiane\u2019s big cast iron skillet. Next I wait, while I fill up the percolator and make 7 or 8 pieces of toast. Then I call to my wife to get out of bed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cAnd we eat the best omelette in the world, with all due respect for your expertise, Madame Cora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cAh! I forgot, I sometimes add some fresh spinach when my Carmela hasn\u2019t used all of it up for her darn Hollywood diet. It\u2019s not like she\u2019s ever going to go make movies. But on Saturdays, you can count on her cheating. She just can\u2019t resist my omelette. And I guarantee you, that if you were to serve this omelette in your restaurant, the guys would be rolling on the floor. Just saying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man, lost in his culinary passion, hadn\u2019t notice that behind the counter, as he listed off the ingredients, I was adding them to a large bowl with the eggs, cream and spinach leaves. When I had placed the beautiful omelette in front of him, smothered in extra-strong cheese, the man was moved enough to shower me with affection, for I reminded him of his mother, who was constantly doing things to bring others happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cCall your omelette \u201cOMELETTE DIX \u00c9TAGES\u201d* in honour of the guys from Saint-Marthe Masonry who\u2019ve been working themselves to the bone re-grouting all the walls on the Laduco\u2019s 10 floor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u201cI promise, Antoine. And those who don\u2019t know our story will likely think that the name refers to the 10 ingredients in the omelette. Thanks so much for the great recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s how many of the fabulous ideas for the breakfast dishes featured on our menu fell into my cook\u2019s hands. By listening, by getting to know my customers and by wanting to do things to bring them happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pssst: Bon app\u00e9tit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*This is the omelette\u2019s original French name, which literally translates as \u201c10 floors.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet another tale from our first tiny restaurant, located in front of a huge building that was under construction at the time. One bright morning, the boss from the 10th floor ended up at our doorstep. And our waitresses, who was quite on the ball, perked up when she saw the buckaroo sitting on a stool at the corner of the counter.\u00a0 The featherweight man, with a powdery complexion, moved his dull mane of hair in a strange fashion in an attempt to read the words scribbled on a sign. He was looking for an omelette, and when he opened his mouth to order, his voice was so soft that Marie wavered several times before she was certain. – \u201cWe have three kinds of omelettes, Sir. And don\u2019t bother looking, I forget to get the morning papers again.\u201d – \u201cWith cheese and roasted potatoes,\u201d the client declared. \u201cAnd with a hot chocolate because I don\u2019t want to be shivering when I walk along the 10th floor beams.\u201d Our capricious Marie was immediately besotted with this construction cowboy. She reported on the escapades of his electrician co-workers, and without me knowing, told him juicy stories about the firemen, lighting up her clever face with a flash of laughter. From one day to the next, Antoine and his crew of bricklayers became regulars at the 10:30 break. They sat at the big round table at the front, calm and pliant, a demeanor well suited to working up high. From my spot at the back of the kitchen, I could observe them, like large birds clinging prudently to the parapet of a cornice, with barely a squawk.\u201d One Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m., Antoine showed up at the diner and spoke to me for the very first time. He had to work overtime\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Une autre histoire du premier petit Cora : le matin o\u00f9 le boss de l'immeuble d'en face a command\u00e9 une omelette de 10 \u00e9tages.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}