Symbols, stars, numbers, and other restaurant rating systems can provide a culinary relief map of a city, but they’re inadequate in revealing the particular interest of dining out in one restaurant or chez one chef over another. A few well-chosen words go much further in whetting the appetite for experiencing a chef and his restaurant.
France Revisited therefore asked Fabien Nègre, a gastronomic portraitist and culinary philosopher who has interviewed more than 50 of the most celebrated chefs in France over the past few years, to give us three good reasons to experience some of the most respected (and stellar) chefs working in France today.
This is the first of a 3-part series examining a total of 12 chefs. The first two parts cover eight chefs whose principal main restaurant in Paris, the last part concerns chefs working elsewhere in France. Fabien’s “three reasons” appear below in their original French and in English.
The letter beside chef’s name corresponds to the location on the map (coming soon) where the chef has his main restaurant. This is not a ranking, so the order below has no particular significance.
A. PIERRE GAGNAIRE
Born 1950
Restaurant: Pierre Gagnaire, 6 rue Balzac, Paris 8th. 01 58 36 12 50.
1. A nearly genius way of creating dinners that are as unforgettable as a musical score, from the first taste of the mise en bouche to the final flavor of the mignardise.
Une capacité quasi géniale à concevoir des dîners inoubliables comme une partition musicale, de la mise en bouche à la mignardise.
2. Dazzling wine pairings, a love for contemporary art, a cuisine where the technique is absorbed in the emotion.
Des accords mets/vins éblouissants, un amour de l’art contemporain, de la technique émotionnelle.
3. Service as an invisible presence, magnificent kindness, the civilized art of the innocence of becoming.
Un service dans la présence invisible, la bonté majestueuse, l’art civilisé du devenir.
B. ALAIN PASSARD
Born 1956
Restaurant: L’Arpège, 84 rue de Varenne, 7th arrondissement, Paris. 01 47 05 09 06.
1. The mastery of the kitchen garden, the magic of vegetables.
La maestria du potager, la magie des légumes.
2. The musician of fire.
L’idée d’un rôtisseur à l’oreille.
3. The aristocratism of Paris’s 7th arrondissement.
L’aristocratisme du 7ème.
C. GUY SAVOY
Born 1953
Restaurant: Guy Savoy, 18 rue Troyon, 17th arrondissement, Paris. Tel. 01 43 80 40 61. Restaurant Guy Savoy will be moving at the end of 2011 to the Palais de la Monnaie, the Old Mint, quai Conti in the 6th arrondissement.
1. An innkeeper of the future.
Un aubergiste du futur.
2. The restaurant as the ultimate repository of civilization.
Le restaurant comme dernier lieu de civilisation.
3. The fabulous play of textures and temperatures.
Le jeu mirifique des textures et des températures.
D. CHRISTIAN LE SQUER
Restaurant: Ledoyen, 1 avenue Dutuit, 8th arrondissement, Paris. Metro Champs-Elysées. Tel. 01 53 05 10 01.
1. The grace of the earth and of the sea.
La grâce de la terre et de la mer.
2. A legendary address since 1782.
Une adresse légendaire depuis 1782.
3. Great Parisian service of international class.
Un grand service parisien de classe internationale.
© 2010
Fabien Nègre is a gastronomic portraitist, culinary philosopher, and media content producer.
Introduction and translation by Gary Lee Kraut.