Laura Pelou

A 2021 winner of the Gault&Millau Young Talent Award, Laura Pelou waited a year before opening her restaurant, Gram’s, in Toulouse last fall in the lively Rue de la Colombette neighborhood.

With this intriguing name, the chef pays tribute to her grandmothers—both cooks—who, along with her father (also a cook), taught her to appreciate the fine flavors of the Aveyron region. It is this regional heritage that she carries within her—the one she wanted to bring to the heart of the “Pink City” through dishes she describes as “simple and expertly executed.”

Toulouse is also her hometown. “I’m from Aveyron, but since my mother was expecting triplets, my parents preferred the big city, ” she explains. And today, the city welcomes her with all the flavors of Rouergue and Aubrac. It was at Quentin and Noémie’s restaurant, L’Univers in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, that she honed her skills to further refine her vision.

Having her own restaurant, serving her own local, rustic cuisine in the heart of the metropolis—that’s her vision, that of a modern young woman who surprises, much like Laetitia Visse in Marseille, by working with offal and all the best cuts of Aubrac beef, veal or beef ribs, short ribs, which she finishes “à la capucin,” or even the iconic aligot with sausage. Add to that the pâté-croûte, the pot-au-feu terrine, the must-try lamb sweetbreads, and all the hearty dishes of the moment… finger-licking good.

M. E.