04-03-2019
Alain Ducasse, 62. At Identità Milano on Sunday 24th March we’ll pay a tribute to him (photo ducasse-paris.com)
On Sunday 24th March, at 1 pm, we’ll celebrate an important moment at Identità Milano: ex pupils Andrea Berton, Massimo Bottura, Carlo Cracco, Gennaro Esposito and Davide Oldani will get on stage to pay a tribute to the French chef, Alain Ducasse. «It’s the first time in 15 years that we homage a non-Italian chef», says Paolo Marchi, «We do so because, together with Ferran Adrià, Ducasse is the chef that has left the most important mark on the global restaurant scene in the past 30 years. Plus he’s a great admirer of Italy, of our cuisine, and products: an excellent reason to thank him».
It’s hard to describe the value of the most iconic cook of our times in just one article. The Generation Ducasse does not just include the cooks who have worked in his kitchen, but also those who admire him indirectly, from a distance. Like Niko Romito, perhaps the Italian who has best interpreted the entrepreneurial model of the chef from Aquitaine, based on training and diversification. Or Rene Redzepi, who has always admitted he grew up sighing in front of his cookbooks.
Much should be added about his many imitators, in Italy and abroad. For now we’ll illustrate the merits of the chef from Aquitaine, linking the essential moments of his incredible biography, listing all the restaurant he currently guides and selecting a series of famous quotes. THE BIOGRAPHY 1956 The son of farmers, Alain Ducasse was born on the 13th of September 1956 in Castel-Sarrazin, a village with 1,000 inhabitants in the New Aquitaine, 100 km from the Spanish border. 1972 Ignoring his parents’ negative opinion, at 16 he started his cooking career. His first job was as an apprentice at Pavillon Landais in Souston, on the Atlantic Ocean, a few km from his hometown. 1975 After reaching adulthood, he trained with Michel Guérard, now 85, a giant of French cuisine and Nouvelle Cuisine, at the time holding 2 Michelin stars in the spa town of Eugénie-les-Bains (he received the third star two years later, in 1977). From his first master, he learnt the theory and practice of the cuisine minceur, the philosophy that aims to lighten-up the French fine dining classics of the post-Escoffier era. In the winter of those same years, his ambition led him to Normandy, where he spied the technique of the legendary pastry chef Gaston Lenôtre (1920-2009), the founder of the empire named after him and the creator of the gâteau opéra, an iconic dessert with chocolate, coffee and almond.
At 31 (photo Éric Préau)
With Massimo Bottura in an archive photo
1987 He’s given the direction of Louis XV in Monte Carlo, which received 3 Michelin stars 33 months later, a lucky number: it was also Ducasse’s age at the time. In the kitchen there was one of his most important pupils, Franck Cerutti.
1995 He opens his first hotel, La Bastide des Moustiers, a countryside inn in his beloved Provence. One year later he opened a second one Abbaye de la Celle. They’re both still active. 1995 That same year he debuts in Paris too: he takes over the restaurant of a tired Joël Robuchon inside hotel du Parc in Rue Poincarè. «Since I have nothing to do in the middle of the week because the restaurant in Monaco is closed», he joked, «I decided to open in the Ville Lumière as well». After winning the general scepticism, 8 months later he receives 3 Michelin stars directly. In the kitchen there’s his enfant prodige Jean-François Piège. However, he also loses the third star in Monaco.
TITANS. With his colleague Joël Robuchon, who passed away on August 6th. "I loved his mix of freedom and rigour", Ducasse said (photo lechef.com)
VIVE LA FRANCE. With Paul Bocuse and Jean-Pierre Troisgros (photo Gérard Collomb)
With Carlo Cracco and Massimo Bottura, on the 11th December for the dinner at Identità Golose Milano to raise funds for Food for Soul (photo OnStage Studio)
I’M LOOKING AT YOU. In the kitchen in Via Romagnosi (photo OnStage Studio)
2018 The restaurant at Plaza Athénée gets to number 21 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The real result is that for the 17th time out of 17, one of Ducasse’s restaurants gets into the 50Best: no other has managed so far. In 2002, the first edition of the 50Best, it was the turn of his Spoon des Iles, Mauritius. 2019 The Alain Ducasse Group has now some 2,000 employees, at work in 7 countries and 3 continents. TODAY’S 29 RESTAURANTS All the restaurants of Alain Ducasse divided per location, category and Michelin stars (20 in total).
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Paris, France (fine dining, 3*) Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse à l'Hôtel de Paris, Monaco (fine dining, 3*) Alain Ducasse all’hotel Dorchester, London, United Kingdom (fine dining, 3*) Le Meurice Alain Ducasse, Paris, France (fine dining, 2*) Beige Alain Ducasse, Tokyo, Japan (fine dining, 2*) Alain Ducasse at Morpheus al City of Dreams, Macao, China (fine dining, 2*) Benoit, Paris, France (bistro, 1*) Benoit, Tokyo, Japan (seafood restaurant, 1*) Rech by Alain Ducasse, Hong Kong, China (seafood restaurant, 1*) La Cour Jardin al Plaza Athénée, Paris, France (bistro) Le Relais Plaza, Paris, France (classic brasserie) Le Dalí at hotel Le Meurice, Paris, France (brasserie) Allard, Paris, France (bistro) Aux Lyonnais, Paris, France (classic bistro) Ducasse sur Seine, Paris, France (bateau on the Seine) Rech, Paris, France (seafood restaurant) Champeaux, Paris, France (brasserie) Cucina Mutualité, Paris, France (Italian cuisine) Spoon al Palais Brongniart, Paris, France (oriental cuisine) Bib & Guss, Paris, France (restaurant and bar) Ducasse au château de Versailles, Versailles, France (fine dining) Ore, Versailles, France (cafè) Rivea at Byblos, Saint-Tropez, France (Provencal cuisine) Ômer, Monaco (Mediterranean cuisine) Idam, Doha, Qatar (Mediterranean/oriental cuisine) MiX by Alain Ducasse at Kempinski hotel, Dubai, The Arab Emirates (Mediterranean/oriental cuisine) Voyages by Alain Ducasse, Macao, China Benoit, New York, United States (contemporary bistro) Rivea al Delano, Las Vegas, United States (Mediterranean cuisine)
Scallops from the Chausey islands, cauliflower in brioche, kimchi of vegetal leaves, the dish prepared by Alain Ducasse and Romain Meder at Identità Milano in December (photo OnStage Studio)
Cookpot, the dish that represents the new vegetal direction taken by Ducasse (photo ducasse-paris.com)
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt