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From
Paris
From the Earth to the Moon
Stellar
Alain Ducasse Takes La Tour
By
Sophie Gayot
After
having prepared meals for a European
astronaut aboard the International Space Station, Ducasse
wants to stay high above sea-level and has obtained a nine-year
concession of the restaurants at the Eiffel Tower in partnership
with Sodexho, the number one collective restaurant group in
the world. Ducasse has been chosen over the former beneficiary
(Elior) that had presented a project with Joël Robuchon.
He is to invest personally in Jules
Verne, the gastronomic restaurant opened in 1889 perched
on the second floor of one of the world's most visited monuments.
He will oversee the bar-restaurant, Altitude 95, located on
the first floor. Both restaurants will be redecorated by Patrick
Jouin who is Ducasse’s official interior decorator.
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Born
in 1956 in the Landes region in Southwestern
France, Alain Ducasse has now spread his influence and
his name all over the world. From Michel Guérard where
he started at the age of 16, to Gaston Lenôtre, Roger
Vergé and Alain Chapel, Ducasse has received superior,
intense training. During his time spent at Vergé, he
discovered the savors of Provençal cuisine, which then
became the basis of his own cooking. At 24, when at La Terrasse
in Juan-les-Pins, we named him “one the best young chefs
of La Côte d’Azur.” The big jump occurred
in 1987, when La Société des Bains de Mer (S.B.M.),
which owns the prestigious Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo,
gave him the opportunity to express his talents at Le
Louis XV restaurant. In 1998, the restaurant was bestowed
a rating of 18/20. Three years later, Ducasse obtained his
first rating of 19/20, our top one.
By
1996, he had begun expanding his forces, moving north to Paris
to take over the restaurant left by “Cuisinier du Siècle”
(Cuisinier of the Century), Joël Robuchon. In 1998, both
of his restaurants reached the top rating of 19/20 at the
same time, making him the first chef to obtain such a distinction.
In 2001, his Parisian
restaurant changed arrondissements, moving from the 16th
to the 8th, to the Hôtel
Plaza Athénée, under the guidance of the
hotel general manager, François Delahaye.
Soon
after he opened the eponymous New
York outlet, the success continued with a third 19/20,
and three consecutive nominations on our "Top
40 Restaurants in the U.S.," in 2004,
2005
and 2006.
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Top-notch
flavors |
Ducasse
admits easily that he cannot be cooking in all of his restaurants
at the same time, but that he has set up superbly qualified
teams of chefs and managers. And we are glad he can do so
since he now has 21
restaurants worldwide. He also runs a hotel organization
(Châteaux & Hôtels de France, 538 members),
five countryside hotels, a culinary institute, and oversees
a series of cookbooks—with a total of 1,400 employees
altogether.
We
look forward to experiencing these elevated dining moments
when the Jules Verne is ruled by the knives of Ducasse in
January 2007!
P112706 |
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