Current French Master Chef's mentioned in Bill Buford's books
1933 Michel Guérard (born 27 March 1933) is a French chef, author, one of the founders of nouvelle cuisine, and the inventor of cuisine minceur. Cuisine minceur is a style of cooking created by French chef Michel Guérard, which recreated lighter versions of traditional nouvelle cuisine dishes. Critics acknowledged that the minceur versions by Guérard tasted better and were less filling than their nouvelle cuisine originals. Last September one of the dinners I had with him featured 3 courses all made with vegetables that were exquisite and filling and a huge surprise. Guérard served his apprenticeship at the patisserie of Kleber Alix, in Mantes-La-Jolie. He worked at a number of Parisian restaurants, including Maxim's, and in 1958 won the Meilleur Ouvrier de France Patisserie, while working as a pastry chef at the Hôtel de Crillon. He also worked at Le Lido. In 1965 Guérard opened a restaurant in Paris called Le Pot-au-Feu, which in 1967 earned Guérard his first star in the Michelin Guide. The restaurant gained a second star in 1971 and was successful until it was compulsorily acquired for the purposes of a road-widening. In 1972 Guérard met Christine Barthelemy, the daughter of the founder of the Biotherm range and the owner of a chain of spas and hotels. They married, and in 1974 he moved with her to Eugénie-Les-Bains, where she was running one of her family's smaller, less successful spas. They restored the buildings, and Guérard invented a style of food, cuisine minceur, a form of healthy cooking, designed to lure health-conscious Parisians to travel the 800 km to Eugénie. In 1977 his main restaurant received three Michelin stars, and all his properties in Eugénie have been very successful, transforming the tiny village into a significant tourist destination. In 1983 Christine and Michel purchased the Château de Bachen, replanting the vineyards, and producing their first harvest in 1988. Christine and Michel Guérard currently own three restaurants in Eugénie-Les-Bains: Les Prés d'Eugénie. Part of the main spa hotel, this restaurant serves cuisine gourmand and has since 1977 received three stars in the Michelin Guide. Having been there in September 2019 I can confirm it is heaven on earth.
Chef Michel Guerard
1948 Michel Rostang was born in 1948 to a restaurant family in Pont de Beauvoisin, France. His father, Jo, owned and operated La Bonne Auberge in Antibes, on the French Riviera. Michel went to hotel school in Nice, apprenticed in the family restaurant in Sassenage (near Grenoble), Laporte in Biarritz, Lasserre, La Maree, and Lucas Carton in Paris, and returned to his family’s two Michelin star restaurant in 1973. In 1978 he left and opened Michel Rostang’s (now Maison Rostang) in Paris and received his first Michelin star a year later, and a second one the following year in 1980. In 1987 he started opening a chain of baby bistrots, four through 1993, and three other restaurants (L’Absinthe, Dessirier, and Rue Balzac) through 2000. In May of 2000, the Great Chefs television team returned to Paris from Lyon, and taped Chef Michel Rostang for their Great Chefs of the World television series for the Discovery Channel. While taping, Great Chef Jean Paul Lacombe, whom the television crew had just recorded earlier in the week in Lyon, showed up to give his support to Chef Rostang
Chef Michel Rostang
1949 Jean-Paul Lacombe (b. 1949) who currently owns Leon de Lyon is perfection, a succession of beautifully appointed intimate dining rooms which are the stage for chef Jean-Paul Lacombe as he creates his perfectly prepared dishes. The chef, the place, the food, all illustrate his nation’s culinary heritage. The personal history of Lacombe is intertwined with his family’s restaurant. Léon de Lyon harks back to 1904, a fact that is evident in its beautiful antiques and stained glass windows. This celebrated restaurant, the best in the very heart of France, became part of the Lacombe family in 1949. In 1955 it won its first Michelin star. When Paul Lacombe passed away in 1972, his wife, son, and daughter took over the reins. In 1978 Léon de Lyon won its second Michelin star; in 1981 it was selected by Gault Millau. In 1985 the restaurant was admitted to the Chaîne des Relais et Châteaux. By 1987, enthusiastic diners and critical acclaim brought admission to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Cuisine Française, and in 1995 to Traditions et Qualité, Les Grandes Tables du Monde. Lacombe creates dishes which draw on Lyonnaise cuisine and use local products, changing the menu with the seasons. Great Chefs caught up with Jean-Paul in September of 1998 to film four dishes for their Great Chefs of the World series and Great Chefs of France series: Praline Tart with Praline Ice Cream; Suckling Pig Foie Gras Terrine; Pike Dumplings; and Potato Stuffed with Pig’s Feet, Foie Gras, Truffles and Mushrooms. While filming, his personal friend, Chef Michel Rostang of Restaurant Michel, showed up to watch. We had just filmed Chef Rostang the day before. Host to Presidents, Great Chef Lacombe and his Chef du Cuisine, Guy Labonde, continue to perfect his art, updating traditional dishes for contemporary palates.
1950 Marc Veyrat loved and loathed as the craziest chef in France (born 8 May 1950) is a French chef from the Haute-Savoie region, who specialises in molecular gastronomy and the use of mountain plants and herbs. Veyrat has obtained a total of nine Michelin Stars and is the first cook to get the perfect grade of 20/20 in the Gault et Millau guide for each of his two first restaurants. He was the owner of the restaurants La Maison de Marc Veyrat (or l'Auberge de l'Eridan) in Veyrier-du-Lac and la Ferme de mon Père in Megève. He currently operates the restaurant La Maison des Bois in Manigod. All three restaurants obtained three stars. In 2019, Veyrat was awarded two Michelin Stars for La Maison des Bois, and is suing Michelin saying that the loss of one star was a miscommunication On 24 February 2009, he announced that he would cease all of his activities at la Maison de Marc Veyrat due to his declining health. The hotel is currently being run by his children. He started a chain of organic "fast-food" restaurants all over France called la Cozna Vera. The first one opened in Annecy in 2008 and was later closed in 2010. He has plans to build other restaurants in Épagny, Brussels, and Paris.
Chef Marc Veyrat
1967 Mathieu Vianny chef of reopened La Mere Brazier first owned by Eugenie Brazier (b. 1967, at Versailles). Viannay opened a first restaurant in Lyon, in 1988 Les Oliviers. This restaurant was replaced in 2001 by his new restaurant named rosemary juice that was awarded a one star Michelin in 2005. In the meantime, in 2004 Mathieu Viannay became Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In March 2008, he bought the historic restaurant of La Mère Brazier, located at rue Royale at the intersection with rue Eugenie Brazier, whose operation was effective in October of the same year This restaurant accesses the second star in the Michelin , in March 2009.
Chef Mathieu Viannay
1969 Anne-Sophie Pic (born 12 July 1969) is a French chef best known for gaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. She is the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars, and was named the Best Female in 2011. Anne-Sophie Pic was born in Valence, Drôme, in France on 12 July 1969. She is the daughter of chef Jacques Pic, and grew up at her family's restaurant, Maison Pic. Her grandfather, Andre Pic, was also a chef, who was particularly known for a crayfish gratin dish, and who first gained the restaurant three Michelin stars in 1934. She initially decided not to follow in their footsteps, and instead travelled overseas to train in management. She worked in Japan and the United States as an intern for various companies, including Cartier and Moët & Chandon, but found herself drawn back to the restaurant for her "passion". In 1992, at the age of 23, she returned to Maison Pic to train under her father to become a chef. He died three months later, and she moved to working the front of the house. In 1995, the restaurant lost its third Michelin star, for which she felt she had lost "her father's star", and spurred her to return to the kitchen. In 1997, Pic took control of the restaurant. She had no formal training in cooking. In 2007, she regained Maison Pic's three Michelin stars. This was only the fourth time ever that a female chef had achieved three Michelin stars. That same year, Pic was the only woman on French newspaper Le Figaro's list of the top twenty richest chefs in France. She opened her second restaurant, Restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic, in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009, and is located within the Beau-Rivage Palace hotel. In September 2012, she opened her first Paris-based restaurant, La Dame de Pic.
Chef Anne-Sophia Pic
No comments:
Post a Comment