Jean-François Piège

I’ve known and followed him for almost twenty years: in my opinion, he’s the most modern chef with a classic training, he’s by far more technically skilled in the 40-year-olds generation. Jean-François Piège, ex enfant prodige, has a striking career behind him (three Michelin stars as head of the kitchen of Ducasse’s Plaza Athénée in 2001 when he was thirty, two stars as soon as he arrived at the Crillon in 2005, two stars since the opening of his new “gastrò” restaurant on the first floor of Brasserie Thoumieux in 2011, “chef of 2011” according to a poll comparing all French professional chefs, promoted by Chef magazine), today he is a free and serene man, a mature, curious chef, tied to his work but certainly not satisfied with his success which he himself considers only a way to cultivate his passion and move onto new objectives.

After the Brasserie, came the restaurant named after him; on the floor above, there are about 15 originally elegant rooms designed by India Mahdavi; in November, right in front of the Brasserie, a pastry shop Gateaux Thoumieux, with cakes full of sophisticated style and incredible taste; soon there will be a modern style bistro, created with his wife Elodie… A well-read bibliophile (he has one of the most complete cook book collections in France) and, among other books, he has published a precious edition of Alexandre Dumas’s Petit Dictionnaire de Cuisine, enriched with his comments and recipes, he loves great wines, especially those from Bourgogne, and thank god he loves eating, tasting, experimenting... reinterpreting the classics, catching their essence and giving them a new appearance, without any stretching or provocation.

With an undeniable aim: a clearness and depth of flavours to be reached starting from an exasperated selection of products, the respect for their identity, the accurate precision of their cooking and their sauces. Are these the usual words used for any ambitious cuisine? They’re not. Try for example the egg blancmange, Lucien Tendret’s chicken liver and freshwater prawns royale, the veal sweetbread with Savagnin, the truffled suprème with Cour d’Armoise chicken… And while waiting to try these dishes, you can start by flipping through the pages of the beautiful book entitled “Jean-François Piège”, published in December by Flammarion.